Perry's 'Black Cloud'

What a racist statement! Perry was obviously speaking about Obama with that metaphor but I am more interested in hearing how he plans to change the weather. He is a prophet, after all. I want to his sunny days ahead plan because it is far too easy to mudsling and much harder to offer solutions. I think the entire Tea Party is strange for thinking it is a good idea to place themselves in the 18th century. If they want to travel back in time and regress so badly, they should focus on building a time machine to take them back to the time when slaves had both parents, women were submissive to men and Puritans would preach 16 hours a day. Bon voyage!

That being said, racism is very trendy. I would argue that Abercrombie and Fitch's statement adds credibility to them being racist. It is blatant discrimination against the cast. I do not agree with some of what they do on television and it is disturbing how misogynistic some of their viewpoints are but capitalism allows them to purchase that brand and America allows them the freedom to wear it on television. The Jersey Shore cast has the right to be tan and wear Abercrombie. Insert bad humor in that former statement but I seriously do think that the brand is racist and I think that the models in the ads are the only ones who should wear their clothing. In all honesty, the overpriced brands are manufactured in China and therefore, one is better off wearing the generic brand made in the same factory.

Speaking of labor, what ever happened to the movement to end child labor? Have the corporations strengthened to the extent that we no longer question if our shoes and other imports are fair trade? There are so many ways that we can help each other. I hope that we all give everything our best. Profit ssometimes costs lives. We must question everything. I have been reading "Happy at Last: The Thinking Person's Guide to Finding Joy," by Richard O'Connor and he mentions that Buddhism doesn't have a word for sin, but it has a word for ignorance. I don't try to proselytize but that statement is very powerful to what is being exploited by the Tea Party. 

Presidential Letters to Family Members of Military Suicides

I had a friend, who is in the Marine Corps, mention that he has been having a lot of classes dealing with suicide. I had even noticed that there were free classes being offered by the state with a limited number of slots available for suicide prevention and call centers. It is an unfortunate theme. I watch Democracy Now in order to receive unbiased news with more in-dept coverage of issues that is often ignored or reported briefly by the corporate media stations. The journalists reported that there were more suicides than combat related deaths and that President Obama will send Presidential letters exclusively to the families of those who were in a war zone when taking their lives. This will exclude any suicides that have occurred previously and those who have done it upon returning to their home or base. It is more compassionate, in my opinion, to send letters to all military members who have committed suicide. They, sadly, gave their lives for their country, too, albeit in a different manner. Mental Health is easily neglected by the military. I feel that I am not at liberty to discuss my mental health with anyone--even those that could potentially help me because stoicism is valued by military and society. I have always believed that I will be unemployable if I ever discuss my issues with anyone. I cannot imagine the psyche of those serving in the military. I used to have a friend that would tell me that he was crazy and I could not pretend to know what he had been through, but I could listen. I was sure that he had seen a lot of crazy things, having deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, but I could offer empathy. I could offer myself as someone who is trustworthy. I wish that everyone could find that in someone. I wish that the President and others would write letters to give their condolences for such veterans. The military members follow orders and these suicides demonstrate those who were also casualties of wars.

Business versus the Presidency

Education is a lie, for the same reason that Donald Trump supposedly decided against running for President in 2012: business is his true aspiration. Even though I believe it was simply a "save" for him when discredited by Obama's birth certificate and the killing of bin Laden,  business--indeed-- is very lucrative.

I once dedicated myself to reading only the business section of the newspaper and the study of success. As consumers, we are encouraged to buy but not to produce. We consume television but do not create our own vlogs. We read books, but do not write. This is what tightens the grip on our wallets.

Note to capitalists everywhere: produce your own materials. As much of it as you can. If you can grow your own food, start a garden. There are so many creative minds that are not using their potential. Find a way to start a business and bypass higher education. The debt of a failed business in a capitalistic society is worth more than the debt of higher education loans.  

Was Obama's Libya Attack Impeachable?

Fellow Democrat Dennis Kucinich believes so and I remain confused. I am confused because there are other areas in the world that have their government committing similar crimes and there is no military response from the U.S. and the other allies; when a lot of countries gather together and bomb a country, isn't that considered a World War? And finally, what is our objective and exit strategy? There is too much confusion. Peace is simple. When a U.S. Air Force man ejected from his plane in Libya, he was not attacked. The countries bombed Libya and now no one wants to take responsibility. The U.S. has said they are not trying to kill Gaddafi--that would be a criminal act, but to bomb his compound is. . .? Why can't someone arrest Gaddafi? He appears to be in the compound and the U.S. will not kill him, so does this mean that another country's military can kill him? I don't know. Too many questions and the news does not answer any of them.

In other news. . .I am sick of hearing about these "Tea Party" people, too. Conservatives and party should never be included in the same sentence. They seem like homophobic zealots who resort to religion to defend their lame arguments. I used to like Victoria Jackson, the has-been from Saturday Night Live, but she is relevant to politics and pop culture? No wonder she is no longer funny--being associated with the Tea Party and being closed-minded is a bad route to take for a so-called comedienne.

If Ms. Jackson was so offended by the Glee kiss, she should have turned off the television. The only attention that she could attract came from her latching onto a popular show in order to bash homosexuals and spread her weird Tea Party/religious viewpoints.

I have to fake it until I make it because today I am not feeling like giving anyone the benefit of the doubt and I am losing hope in them--not hope itself, but hope in a few people. I wanted Obama to make those changes that he spoke about so frequently throughout the campaign and after the election. I have not seen positive changes. I do not care what race or party the President of the U.S. is from; what I do care about is how he treats the people in the world. War is inhumane. I hope that no one ever has to see it. Bombs, blood, bodies and fear. A thirty-year-old in Afghanistan has only known war. That is unbelievable. I hope that peace comes. I continue to seek ways to help those who are in the crossfire. I do not treat military members with disrespect or protest because they are following orders. Those who commit the shocking crimes such as Abu Gharib, and the most recent trophy pictures in Afghanistan, were probably allowed to join the military instead of doing jail time--yes, there really are waivers for certain psychos and other people who need punishment or rehabilitation rather than to serve in the military. I'm rambling, so take care. Hasta Manana.

Job creation

The unemployment papers: this blog continues. . . I was thinking about how Obama can create jobs. I thought that since we have public libraries, we can also have public gyms. Maybe I suffer from delusions of grandeur, but I find this a great idea. There is an obesity epidemic in the U.S. and this could help target it. Some people cannot afford gyms. Every military base that I have ever been on has a gym--some have several gyms and they are free. Obama will often frequent the gym on the Marine Corps base during his vacations in Hawaii and I think it would be great if every American had access to a free gym. I can anticipate those saying this is Socialism but it is far from it. There are dietary guidelines set forth by the government. They stipulate the amount of meat, grain, etc that people should eat and the government also says we need so many minutes of physical activity a day. The people in the green food movement say that this mandates how we should eat; that argument is logical, in my opinion. A gym would create construction jobs, personal trainers and so forth. It is healthy and the only caveat is that some may become injured due to the equipment, overexertion or another cause. I would propose this to Obama, Congress, and whoever else who supposedly listens. I think that they listen a lot closer during elections. I have written to all of them because without a job, there is not much else to do and the only response that I received did not answer my question. I was upset. I had believed in the democratic system. I eschew politics, religion and other issues in order to make and maintain friends. I know that sounds apathetic but it is not because I chose to instead write directly to those members of Congress and the President, who could make amendments but ignored me. I hope to one day have public gyms become as prevalent as the public libraries. I think that there also has to be some way to compensate the stay-at-home parent. Parents have a very hard job: raising children. I had seen a calculation done of how much a stay-at-home parent would receive annually if he were compensated for his hours at work and it was a substantial amount of money. Granted, it is not a traditional job, or something that is revered but a stay-at-home parent is an asset. I was a latch key kid. My parent was unable to spend time with me because he was a widower with a full-time job in the military. I used to admire those kids that were able to have their parent on the field trip or other events where the parent could attend. I think it is great if a child is able to have the support and time with the parent. If anyone would like to elaborate, please leave a comment. Sorry for always having such anecdotal/stream of consciousness posts. I hope they will become better organized and more logical in the future.  

The Bread and Circus

Study History. That is one subject that I feel strongly about because of the trite saying, "History repeats itself". History may not repeat itself in the contemporary in the same manner as it occurred in the past, but there will be certain recognizable themes: the classics.

The Bread and Circus refers to my least favorite celebrity: Lindsay Lohan. Sadly, Lindsay Lohan has become a classic. Let us forget about poverty, health care, unemployment, war and every other international and domestic issue in order to focus our attention on Lindsay Lohan and the Prince's wedding.

Ancient Romans were mesmerized by the welfare system that provided them with food and entertainment in order to divert their attention from the circumstances that would eventually topple their empire. Entertainment has sold many things--including death.

As a child, I used to watch cigarette advertisements on t.v. granted, this was before the counterarguments about cigarettes were introduced, but there were fewer anti-smoking campaigns than pro-smoking ones. Cigarettes looked like fun. I wanted candy cigarettes until I could get the real thing. There is a lawsuit against the mass killer: Phillip Morris and the corporation of death is deciding to defend themselves.

Cigarettes should be classified as an accessory to murder. I smoked for half of my life. I started overseas at a very young age. My hatred of cigarettes crossed over that thin line to a love of them. I was under the impression that it would be fun and relieve stress. It only created stress. I lost a friend of mine in her 20s due to a smoking-related illness and that made me realize that I was willingly killing myself for cigarettes.

Smokers often speak about the psychological aspects of smoking: associated with good times, certain people, memories and so forth. President Obama has quit smoking and has publicized it because he mentioned his struggle to quit for good while he was still bumming cigarettes. To think that cancer is not a strong enough reason for some to quit shows the power of the addiction. However, because there is not a formal intervention or rehabilitation center for smoking and it remains legal and despite the risk of death and the social stigma, people continue to smoke. I told a friend that she was choosing her addiction over me when she went outside to smoke a cigarette because I treat cigarette and alcohol addiction as serious as an opiate or prescription drug addiction.

Death is also sold in the form of synthetic medicines aka prescription drugs. I grew up overseas and for the majority of my life, I had only 3 channels and no commercials. The commercials were replaced with information about the military, history and other related topics: "Practice good OPSEC" how to conduct oneself in a foreign country and as a representative of the U.S. country and military. I was shocked when I saw one genre of commercials: Drug commercials; once illegal, are now ubiquitous.

The drug trend is sleeping pills. I have friends in the U.S. military who have been to war zones. They have developed severe PTSD--post traumatic stress disorder, alcohol issues and other forms of anxiety. The cure-all is sleeping pills--it used to be motrin. I grew up under the "care" of military hospitals. I believe the military does not care at all about dependents--I even heard that the pentagon does not keep numbers of dependents--but I was fortunate enough to have health care, which is a luxury today. Anything that ailed me, was supposedly curable with Motrin. I was cured so well that I continue to have stomach problems because I was administered Motrin for everything. Years later, sleeping pills is the trend.

Sleep away everything. Sleep away PTSD because you may be teased if you express that you have it. Mental health is ignored and numbed with sleeping pills. There are too many young people that I have seen return from a war with the war zone thousands of miles away but still at war in their mind. In military culture, stoicism is regarded as strength. PTSD is supposedly for weaklings because it is in the title, "The Departement of War," that your job--your mission-- is to be the war hero. Sad, but as a perpetual optimist, I think that the government will add more jobs that will help military members and families that suffer from such mental anguish. I think there will be more anonymity, so that the sufferer does not become a social pariah or teased by their superiors and co-workers. I think that there will be more scholarships and grants given to those who would dedicate themselves to helping rehabilitate these indispensable members of society.

As explained by Michel Thomas in one of his Spanish language cds: in Spanish, an apology is given as, "lo siento," from the verb, 'sentir, to feel'. We must begin to feel instead of simply offering an apology.  

Civil Unions

The next legal hurdle that the U.S. Supreme Court must make revisions to in order for our country to progress is civil unions. This is not simply about homosexuals having the right to enter into marriage. This is also about other relationships where one party wishes to give their benefits to an heir. For example, my parent was in the military for 20 years. To the best of my knowledge, if that parent wished to bequeath me any of their benefits, it would not be permissible. However, as the military so often does, the spouse is automatically granted access to such benefits. Spouses divorce, but children are forever. That is unfair. My parent has told me that they had wanted to give me the G.I. Bill but at the time, and even today, was unable to do so. I have to research this because there have been a lot of revisions to the G.I. Bill and other benefits but that is what I was told the last time that I questioned it. Someone who has earned benefits or other assets should have the right to distribute them as they please. I would also like to see homosexuals with the right to enter these unions because I want everyone to have the same rights as me. I would also like it so that someone who has earned something can have true ownership over its legacy. With the Middle Class in a crisis, we must adjust the laws so that the Middle Class does not disappear entirely. The Constitution was written ambiguously in order for change. I hope that President Obama considers such changes.