Don't Lie To Me

I have to start by saying that I do not follow party lines when voting and I do not put forth any particular ideology. I vote for whom I think will do the best for this country and I strive to be fair in any assessment of politicians and entities that control them. I do not take issues lightly, nor do I strive to hold up an agenda, I want the truth plain and simple.

In 2008 at one of John McCain’s political rallies, a woman was caught on tape shouting into McCain’s microphone that Obama was an Arab, upon seeing where it was headed McCain pulled the microphone away and said, “That is not true, Mr. Obama is not an Arab, he is an American”.  Bravo! That one time someone actually stood up to the incredible political propaganda, but it was just for an instant. Just that one time in all the campaign stops a major player actually stood up to the ever increasing fibbing about opponents.  But righteousness and apparently the issues stopped there for McCain became someone he was not to appease the far right and his party, and it cost him the election.

John McCain was someone whom I could easily have voted for had he not run against Obama and I did vote for him over Bush in the 2000 election primary. He has often been credible in my view, but soon after that day he allowed his parties’ pick for Vice President, to go on and on with her little innuendos and white lies to cover her incredible lack of understanding, and coupled with McCain’s inability to control her, I became wary. Much of the country in 2002 was obviously turned off by the mean spirit in that camp so they gravitated to Obama who stayed on the issues. The rest is history in terms of that election anyway; or is it?

The little white lies never really died because Sarah had a taste of the celebrity and it became profitable for her to stoke the fire.  Fox, sensing that the lies were influencing some folks brought her on board, tutored her and paid her well to sell an ultra conservative agenda.  I never understood conservatives being attracted to character assassination for it is so not Christian like, but they are and in droves. John McCain never entered that game, but neither did he “refudiate” the mountain of fodder that was starting to ferment. McCain did as he was paid to do; he went back to work representing his country and his policy in the senate and stayed clear of the floating debris.

The noise did not stop with the end of the campaign; on the contrary it escalated. The two biggie political parties were scrambling for “Tea Party” votes for the mid-terms and there seemed to be no end to the rhetoric. Fox, seeing that fabricated propaganda had worked for Karl Rove and the Bush campaign against John Kerry, continued to funnel false information into the pipe.  They added to their over stuffed quiver, shameless talking heads that for the most part have zero credentials in journalism or education for that matter.  For nothing more than political reasons they have broken the sound barrier in “journalism”. They have rattled the windows and opened the doors for an anything goes, free-for-all when it comes to winning ratings and keeping their lobbyists happy. No one was arguing against it save for some folks at MSNBC and they came across too catty to sway the migration to the feeding frenzy.

How easily folks gravitated to them and their propaganda baffles me. People for some reason do not see the mind twisting even as it is hitting them between the eyes.  I am not “picking” on Fox as some would have you believe, it just happens to be the one network out there that consistently perpetuates the untruths. It spends hours repeating over and over again how they are the only ones who tell it to you straight. They dropped suggestion after suggestion that you were somehow not an American if you dared to think for yourself or gather other information. The very idea that I or one of my fellow Americans is a socialist because we happen to want some control of our health care cost is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard, yet I have personally been on the receiving end of that accusation by friends who watch Hannity. I was told by a friend of mine that I was beginning to sound “anti-American” because I felt that we were barking up a post in Iraq. It was my opinion that Bin Laden was the one we should be treeing and we had not even made much of an effort to get him. These friends of mine are not given to diving off the deep end and are rational Americans typically, but they have been sucked in by propaganda as regular converts to Fox Network. Karl Rove showed in 2000 how effective it could be when behind the scenes he cultivated the “Swift Boat” story telling all of us John Kerry was anti-American for his behavior in Vietnam.  In truth, John Kerry was decorated many times for his combat performance and his veteran comrades stand with him on his integrity. In the end the man had every right to be critical of the butcher machine he and others were caught in. In the name of fairness, I have to say at least he served his country unlike many slandering him or his golden boy opponent who skipped into the Air National Guard to avoid the draft.

 The propaganda machine has armed itself against folks who might question the lies by repeating the message that other “news” channels and anchors are biased, not telling the whole truth or at the very least, grossly misinformed.  Sure news companies have some bias, as do reporters, but by and large I have not heard them spend time telling me outright that everyone stinks but them; never.  Sarah Palin told audiences that only “real Americans” showed up at her rallies…so the rest of us are not American and the "real" ones are in some sort of exclusive club? I beg to differ; my family has been in this country since 1740 and like it or not, that makes me an American and a real one.

We have also been led to believe through innuendo lately that only Christians are Americans and the rest of the beliefs are marginal at best. Christianity is part of our heritage I agree, but what about the American Indian that trumps us all when it comes to America? The Latin Americans who occupied much of the southwest, California and Texas, what of them and their Peruvian and Inca heritage in this country that stretches back to at least the 1500’s? What about the Jews we invited to come here to escape the tyranny of Germany, or the Afro-Americans who were drug from their Muslim and tribal roots of Africa? We certainly use the services of some to clean our rooms and scrub the floors and in the 1940’s they designed our bombs. They are our athletes, our teachers, our politicians and our ministers… are they not credible Americans? Someone said to me once that we needed the Pledge of Allegiance back in schools because we were simply turning into anti-American socialists. It is interesting and amusing to me that a socialist minister back in the 1930’s wrote that pledge.

I have to pose a few more questions in response to some of the trumped up accusations and catchy phrases that are swimming around the cesspool…What is democracy if it is not opposing views and different ideas? Do you really want linear thinking in the United States? Should we follow one line of thinking and if so whose? What is the “real” America? And, finally do we really want any one religion running this country…wasn’t that why, in part that we left the UK in the 1600’s? Isn't that exactly what we are doing in the Middle East; fighting dictatorships?

I am baffled as to why we are letting this happen. We are turning against each other over propaganda provided by the very banks, big oil, business and insurance companies who are breaking this country or taking our jobs overseas. Why are we sitting night after night soaking up others agendas instead of learning the facts and making up our own minds and in support of the ones who will help us? The people pulling at us for attention have their hands out and their pockets open and will stop at nothing to fill them both.  They are often paid by big business or they are big business such as the case of Fox Network who owns about anything to do with media including a network in Saudi Arabia, or GE who is a major network owner. Talk about the ability to control our thinking. For some reason it is so easy to sway people these days and what better method than to pump it night after night on the talk shows disguised as news.  Or send out email lies that cover the world in two hours flat. I asked one of those aforementioned friends of mine if she actually believed the whole deal about all the shit supposedly hidden in the health care bill like death panels and such and she said, “Yes I do, because I have heard it too much.” ‘Whoa’ I thought, this is powerful stuff.

Powerful indeed…one Republican legislator even went so far on camera to say that college kids were incapable of voting because “they were idealistic” and “voted by emotion” and people were repeating him the next day on Facebook... “this is our country we are talking about", they cried! Good grief, don’t we all vote to some degree on emotion?  What we have here is not mental voting ineptness, rather college students often vote Democrat, so if the republicans can shut that down it helps them out. Political parties re-draw voting district boundaries all the time for the same reason. It will look mighty funny down the road when enrollment drops in the states who pander to this crap. My generation worked hard to get the right to vote at 18 years of age…they were sending us to Nam, we sure as hell ought to be able to vote and I for one will be crying foul if legislation like this is allowed to pass.

This is our country I am talking about and I am of the thinking that if you have a good product I will buy it and that includes your politics. You do not have to make stuff up about how rich you are or how real your hair is, just stick to the issues. Don't lie to me that your heritage is more credible than mine. Republican Bob Inglis lost his SC House seat in the midterm election of 2010 for refusing to lie along with some of his colleagues and heads of churches regarding Democrats in general, but particularly Obama. I applaud him for staying with the truth. He alluded to the pressure on him to go with the lies by saying, “I was always taught, ‘thou salt not bear false witness’.”

Whatever happened to folks wanting to know the truth and the issues anyway? Why are we not discussing policy instead of how straight you can shoot a gun or just how American you are?  Hell, I can shoot a gun pretty well; maybe I should run for President. Well maybe not, the media might pick on me.

A Mouthful

"We've gotten away from being a people-centered society and become a money-centered society," he said, adding that a consequence is that the have-nots have even less because the rich continue to hold a disproportionate amount of the nation's wealth.
Former President Bill Clinton

What a mouthful he said Saturday in Hope, Ark. where he dedicated the home he grew up in to become a part of the National Park Service. He also spoke of growing up listening to the older and wiser folks around him instead of plugging in and tuning out as many of us and our kids often do today. Clinton lamented American thinking today being ideological rather than philosophical saying, "There is a huge difference between having a philosophy and having an ideology. The people who made America had a philosophy," he said. "If you have an ideology you have the answer to the question before you look at the facts.'

Personally, I believe that both words have a place in American culture, but I agree that 'Ideology' by definition lends itself more readily to the aspirations of the individual groups within our country rather than the good of the whole. Either way, we are for sure catering to the rich with our government policy and it is being weakly masked as: 'for the good of the country and the economy'.

This economic recession that we are painfully going through is the best thing that could happen to big business and the rich...they have the means to continue to get rich because commodities and the stock market are booming with speculation. The politicians they "pay" can pass off any attempt to rein them in as job killing and anti-growth. Their lobbyists and subsequent legislators in tow, mouth contempt and cry foul when it appears their huge corporate profits are in danger and because we are hurting in the middle class we will agree to about anything including alms for the rich hidden by contrivance such as 'the trickle down effect', whatever the hell that is.

The big thing that we are missing here is not what is being raked in monetarily but the power that comes with it which will bury many of us down the road. Once the politicians are firmly under control of the corporations they will do all the voting through them, not just a lot of it as they do now. Right now they own a portion of the Supreme Court which is the last stop before we go off the constitutional edge when it comes to any issue. Last year they voted that corporations be treated as individuals in America and they can give any amount of money they wish to any candidate...can citizens compete with that? Can a grass roots effort happen again in this country? Not so likely at that passing.

Corporations are controlling the media as well and in no small way, and many in this country have fallen for the oldest trick in the book believing everything they hear.  It has gotten so bad that many won't even believe their friends when it comes to interpretation of the daily news, instead they swallow the talk show gang right over a cliff. Say it enough and they will believe it.

I don't mean to sound like George Orwell in 1984, but things are not looking up for the small guy. This country has always been bolstered not by the corporations and the employment they offer, but by small businesses banking in small towns all across the country. Investments used to mean that the small banks would take your money in account and invest it in the stock market directly or through larger institutions that buffered them from the risk. Bank boards made up of your friends and neighbors made the decisions when it came to investments usually in the form of municipal bonds and such that returned monies to communities with minimal risk. They lived down the street and had to look everyone in the eye on a day to day basis. Today, that same money is whisked away electronically from the "branch bank" to the larger corporate bank and pooled or "bundled" in high risk investment for much larger returns, until something goes wrong as it did in 2006. In some cases chain businesses spawned in metro areas take your money electronically right at the counter, bypassing even a deposit in the local banks.

The risks that big, corporate banks are taking are never going to be sustainable for you and I. They bundle investment coming in and high risk loans going out; they are on the edge with our money and as you have seen this past 4 years, they simply walk away. Many of the loans given in 2006-2008 are not even accounted for and worst of all the gambling was so high that banks do not even knows who owns what loans! It has been told to me that there are people living payment and rent free now because no one knows who owns the mortgage that they defaulted on; so who's to throw them out?

I am seeing more and more every day, that corporations are not even hiring folks long term...they are hiring very experienced and qualified people, but only until a given project is done then they are given their walking papers. The corporations do not have to pay vacation time, sick leave and most of all they do not have to provide health care. Employees do not even have more than a vague idea how long they will be there. And, because we are so desperate for employment these days, we will take whatever we can...we are teaching them they can get what they need with little investment in employees. Gone are the days that you meant something to your employer.

The 'trickle down' from the ivory towers to Main Street has little bearing on the big picture of America; we are being fooled. Main Street runs the economic engine of this country and when it is gone, so will be America. Politicians get paid by corporate America to tell you what is good for America. The Tea Party had the right idea in that things do have to change, but the problems did not start in 2008 by any stretch and in many ways they are barking up the wrong tree.

One thing is for sure, the money talks these days and the greed is so rampant that people are shouting over the din. Everybody is talkin' at ya and we can't hear a word they are saying. Do yourself a favor and listen beyond the noise, you will find that we are all important right here on Main Street, and when we work together, for ourselves we can pull through about anything. We need to bring it back to Main Street from Wall Street.

Posturing for Greed

Good grief! They are gonna let it shut down yet and blame each other, and all for looking good for the election. The amount of money these two major parties are haggling over would not pay their wages  for a year, which by the way, will be uninterrupted in a shut down; it's everyone else that will suffer...the soldiers families, the DC employees in particular, our post office and lastly the retired. We are finally climbing out of a hole in spite of some not wanting Obama to win, and now all of them are going to stall the government and freak out Wall Street and the 401K's will suffer again.

As I mentioned, the money these clowns are arguing over is a pittance, yet they are bent. They are discussing mostly ideological programs and only because they can get under each other's skin with them and look good on paper. No one is discussing cuts from the federal gravy train. You know, oil, gas and mining companies paying a fair rate for federal land leases like the ski areas and ranchers do. Or, how 'bout closing the tax loopholes on corporations or making them at least pretend to pay their way? No, we are going to cut education and Head Start and things that keep kids off the streets and out of our overburdened jails. Oh, I forgot, they are starting to privatize prisons so they might just need inmates to keep the money coming.

In all seriousness, this is a joke and Americans ought to be ashamed of it. Like fools, we are often lining up behind "our guys" to play into this charade, but no one is winning but the legislators who have their hands out. I hate to say it, but we are to blame for a lot of this; every one of us. We have lavished in prosperity since the 1950's, paying little attention to what these milkers were doing and at the same time driving ourselves into personal debt to the point that we were paying the way for these big banks to deceive us. What were we thinking when our debt was being carried by credit card companies...how do you suppose they were covering it? By investing our real money in huge gambles and living off the interest of both.  The big fish always eats the smaller and the trophy fish are still swimming. Entitlement programs did not break this country.

The "Tea Party" had the right idea in that we should have had enough of this, but they got somewhat bogged down in frivolous topics and the notion that our country has just now been driven off a cliff. It is off the edge now for sure, but the very things that folks are coming to blows over have been going on now for a very long time; this did not start in 2008. I heard Michelle Bachman say tonight with absolutely zero shame: "When President Obama took over gas was a 1.80 a gallon. And food prices are going up....." So what is she implying, that oil has never been that high before? Hell, we paid over $4.00 a gallon four years ago to get our hay crop put up! Remember all those T. Boone Pickens natural gas ads? Food prices were expected to skyrocket this year and it is due to world happenings and corn being grown for fuel, it has little to do with anything in administration policy at least at this point.

Harry Reed tonight was talking so damn soft I wondered if he was in a library, but I did not have trouble hearing him say that it is all the Republicans fault. It is not all of any one side of the aisle holding this up. They are fighting over some of the most minuscule amounts of money; all fluff, posturing and preening to their party supporters. I do think that if the Pubs were not trying to lure the Tea Party supporters we would not be here on the door of a shutdown because the establishment know how to play this game. Likewise, I do not think that we would be seeing so much talk of entitlement monies, we would be talking about defense and Medicare that are the real drains on this economy. Do you know that these are the first conflicts in history that taxes have not been raised for? Health care will break this country if these guys don't first; that should be what we are dealing with. However, the entire next year will be spent on repealing "Obamacare", the budget ceiling and other big name things that don't amount to a hill of beans.

My point is: the blame has to stop and it stops with us! As Mike O'Neal said the other day, "We are in this together." It has been my experience in life that the one who continues to turn up the soil is the one who has something to cover, but by and large there is no single rose in this garden of thorns, and there is need for some serious pruning. The idea that my guy is better than your guy is foolish and it is going to be the undoing of this country.

Do I have my druthers when it comes to politics? Sure, but I don't see the need to dummy down or get all fluffed up just to win. That my friends is what they are doing in D.C. and we need to send them a message that we are not going to take the infighting especially since the winners do not share the spoils. They need a message that we are together in seeing this country great and we do not buy into them taking from us. As my hubby says: "This is Robin Hood in reverse."

This stuff they are pulling now is simply posturing to satisfy the companies, churches, unions, and the wealthy in general who fund their campaign bankrolls so they can vote policy for them again. They all tell lies about each other, some more than others for sure, but tales nonetheless because they are greedy. We have to stop buying into that! One of the folks who keeps stirring the pot with white little fibs is a minister for God's sake; there is no shame when the door is open to the safe and no one is paying attention.

The First Amendment

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Bill of Rights/US Constitution.

I have heard for a couple of years now how "our founding Fathers" through their rumored flawless actions have given us freedom for just about everything, unless of course it is someone with whom we do not agree. Take for instance "the" Mosque in New York City, which several months ago just about everybody had an opinion on.  It's conception had been in the pipeline for years, but never mind that detail we are panicked. It may have been a tad insensitive, and the timing of it was purely intentional...by the media who brought it to our attention. Suffice to say, otherwise it would have been just an extension of the Mosque that was already in the neighborhood and freedom of religion we are all guaranteed would have prevailed unnoticed.

In reading the First Amendment regarding freedom of press and speech, I have noticed one thing they seemed to have left out, and that is the right to, in a pinch, fib. Not always little fibs, but really harsh punches thrown helter skelter and at whomever we see fit. Some of the punches hurled about are a downright insult to our intelligence, but they persist like the plague, eating away at our most precious document and tainting our minds. The guarantee of free speech does not ensure that the info is correct. Personally, if you ask me, the ones who yell the loudest about what our Constitution "guarantees" are the very ones who twist it at will to read how they need it to read. 

Journalism for much of our existence as a country has represented itself pretty fairly. That is not to say that nearly every newspaper or broadcast does have at least some slant politically, but by and large journalists have always played pretty fair, until recently that is. Controlled not by big business but huge conglomerates, broadcasting has run afoul of reasonable conjecture or reporting of facts. For the more stealth the ease of hiding behind the veil on the web has provided a leverage never dreamed of. Fooling folks through email forwards that seem to come from knowledgeable friends, the pawn masters climb into our brains and amazingly false information seems to make perfect sense. The old adage I grew up around; "Don't believe everything you read" has taken a back seat to sensationalism and one upance and mind bending slant.

Some of the best lies and the worst journalism have come at the hands of and are fathered by the very wealthy who can just about control every aspect of their lives and ours through the media. Mega millionaires who do not just give to political causes, but slander anyone with a varying opinion to ensure they win in the game of greed. They have planted seeds of doubt regarding anyone with opposing views, calculating correctly that we will forget that opposing view is exactly what makes a democracy work. Without differences at the helm, we have monarchy or dictatorship. It should be humorous that they can tell such tall tales and make them stick, but I am not laughing for it is tearing this country apart. Legislators that have gotten caught in the game of he said, she said cannot get out so they enlarge the story to make themselves credible and when that doesn't work they tear at the very fabric of democracy.

Media companies are often owned by folks with an ambitious agenda and their mission is to discredit anyone who might get in the way of the goal. In order to continue business as usual and make their audience feel as though they are on a "team" they bash other media outlets so ensure that their listeners stay tuned to them. They are buying voices who do not necessarily speak the whole truth, because there are huge contracts for staying the course, and that course is to win. Hang onto the tail of a strong swimming horse.

Speaking of staying the course and fib for fame, I have about had it with the whole "birther" deal. What is it that makes someone even think that a Presidential candidate is not scrutinized right down to what type underwear he or she wears, not to mention that one of the few prerequisites for a Presidential bid is to be natural born. This is America, the land of the FBI, CIA, Secret Service and Military intelligence that can see a gnat on a senators ass from space; what are people thinking? Are we really that gullible? That "birther" deal is so over done that candidates are pronouncing their credibility to the far right audience by bringing it up with suspicion on their forked tongues. Do people really intend on voting for these guys? The only thing that nearly equals that ludicrous claim is that Obama is an "elitist". Really? He grows up middle class, puts himself through college, pays off his student loan, not with trust money but with his income from the degree he worked hard for and he is an elitist? Gong!

I asked a good friend of mine who is particularly gullible if she really believed all the crap she was forwarding via email about the health care bill, and she replied, "Yes I do because I have heard this too many times!" In other words, she was an easy target for the insurance companies to plant the seeds of doubt ensuring them a few more disgruntled Americans whom they could count on to leave them running this country. Even after I sent her the link to www.thomas.gov so that she could actually read the summary of the bill for herself she still professed that there was gun legislation in it, granny firing squads and it was unequivocally socialist.

Differences of opinion are healthy. They keep us strong no different than the lion keeping the elk herd in line by culling the weak; thoughtful discussion combs out the weak points in a bill and helps to produce a piece of legislation that can survive the test of time. What we are seeing in this country now however, are folks forming opinions based upon what emails they got today totally unaware of where they originated and failing to check them out. Freedom of speech does not mean the speakers tongue is not forked.

By and large things can be checked out in ten minutes or less on the Internet. You do have to pay some attention to the web address of a given site so that you do not leave one falsehood for another, but it is pretty easy to verify content. If you do not have the time to do that then change your sources so that you at least have a better chance of correct information. There are old fashioned newspapers and credible online sites where you can get news shorts from around the world.

The Thomas site has a list of every bill presented and it's status, who sponsored it and when. It is a wealth of information for the voting public. I have seen email forwards that tried to tell me that they were coming to get my guns and that there was a bill that was being presented "right now!" A quick look at Thomas told me there indeed was a bill of similar nature, the only thing was it had been sitting there for 6 years with only one senator sponsoring it and no co-sponsors. Gong!

The best thing we can do to ensure our freedom of speech is to challenge the speakers. Hold them to a standard by not buying into every line you hear. Question the information for it keeps us strong like the elk. Oh yeah, and don't believe everything you hear.

Beginnings

I grew up climbing cliffs, riding horses, fishing, hunting, bicycling, playing basketball, working and yup, writing in the Colorado Rockies. I was born third in the family of four at the end of the baby boom, to middle aged parents who had lived challenged, but good lives in the wake of the Great Depression. They were resourceful and taught all of us by example what it takes to get along in life.

My Mother in particular talked a lot of the history of her family, the local area and her upbringing. She had a way of telling a story that not only painted every detail but brought emotion to the scenes she described to the point that you could smell the dust, or hear the train coming. Her family like many of the depression era lived simple, resourceful lives and they worked together as a unit to make a living and put food on the table.

The paternal side of my family consisted of three brothers and two sisters who's lives wove together periodically from the time my Father left home at fifteen years old until they each died at various ages. They were held in common bond by the eldest sister who's job it became to raise the family after their Mother died in the 1918 flu epidemic.

All were hard working and incredibly talented, resourceful and tough in any situation, and by the end of the Great Depression there was not much they could not do. Particularly my Dad was confident and independent; he could build a barn, ride a horse, brand a cow, plow a field or run a business. He worked as a ranch hand, carpenter, business owner, mechanic, cowboy, hunting guide and still had time to follow his love of photography and writing. Both of my parents had no more than an eighth grade education but they learned in those eight grades more than most kids now in twelve.

Being a product of outgoing parents, all I ever wanted to do was to be heard, but I was too insistent from the very first breath, as a result I was encouraged to be "seen and not heard", which was a phrase that often was applied to kids, and occasionally women. I had opinions from a very young age that were formed by observation and blockbuster outdoor experiences, but by and large I did not express them for my confidence was always in doubt back then.

It wasn't until I was in my thirties that I began to recognise and understand really who I was, or rather whom I was not. I discovered I am not a timid follower, although I spent some time in my growing up doing just that due to the aforementioned insecurities. Mind you, I never followed anyone over a cliff, but always hoped to have someone to lean on when in doubt. In my thirties I suddenly became aware of being appreciated for who I was, not what I had done and I began to thrive. I began to challenge myself and eventually the world and began to try and understand our government and politics.

Prompted by my Husband, and a good girl friend who's husband was also not registered, I re-upped my voter registration which had lapsed due to non-participation. I do not know exactly why I gave up that right as an American since I had been so proud to be one of the maiden class of 18 year old kids allowed to vote, but I had. Come to think of it,  I was incredibly intimidated by the voting machines which led me to use the three or four other excuses I ended up with. Among the excuses I gave for not voting between twenty two and thirty two years old were: 'My vote doesn't really make a difference'; 'I don't have time'; well, you get the idea...any excuse to put it off and keep me from a possible embarrassment at the hands of the machines.

You would not know today that I was an ex-patriot when it came to politics for I spend quite a lot of time trying to get to the bottom of issues that confront this nation. I spend an hour or better every morning, in the winter at least, reading two to three different news sources online, and spend the early evening while cooking dinner listening to the world news and different points of view on the tube. I take it very seriously to say the least and with as open a mind as I can. If I do not know something or am suspicious of a statement I look it up; mind you with the Internet it only takes a minute to come up with the nay or yea.

I have no use for, nor do I see reason to discredit any lawmaker simply for the sake of "winning". If you have another idea or a different take on how things should be then so be it, but name calling is not an idea nor does it foster ideas. Making up soap opera style situations do not move this government forward and simply work only to confuse otherwise well meaning individuals and that will no doubt come back to bite.

My blog is fostered by my intense desire to see fair play on the frontier of politics and to help folks understand why it is not. I am no expert on any of it, but I do understand at least some of the motives that lie under the political current and would like to share that with whomever wants to listen. Politics in general is an ebb and flow of the changing winds that must be sailed with care in order to stay in the current, but that does not mean politicians need to shoot from the lip, which is often the case these days. There are more people out there who have the "right answers" than questions to respond to. The political current of late is more like a kid with a rubber duck in the bathtub; big splashes and erratic waves with seemingly no rhyme or shame in soaking the floor just so long as they win.

As Americans we deserve to be told facts, not innuendos and out and out lies thrown around to be there for the lobbyists when they come callin'. We do not need knee jerk reaction to things, we need legislators to weigh and measure issues and do what is best for the country not what is best for the salesmen or the company they represent.

Politics have always been about winning, but the game of old was about trading favors in voting not being paid to vote a certain way. When it comes right down to it, Americans are paying politicians to vote by employing them, but we can't compete with the billions offered by special interest lobbyist that crawl around under the table. The game has changed from just winning to making a living.

The purpose of this blog is to get my heavy political comments out of social networking where folks might find them overbearing. I want folks to engage the issues here and post comments, but I do not want slander, rumor or negative talk for we cannot deal with the issues if we engage in childish games. Leave the games to the email forward crowd. Check out the issues and bring them here where we can talk about them and investigate them. Understand that everyone has an opinion, but that does not make them or you right. Every issue has pros and cons from the left and the right. If this blog turns out to be a dud and no one appreciates it, or engages through it, then I will have written my mind which always helps me see the big picture, and I have not stepped on anyone in the process. Cheers and hope to see you on the range!