Today's Tweet

Current scotus ruled 8-0 against Judge Gorsuch's legal theory concerning children w/ disabilities. He's out of the mainstream. #StopGorsuch

— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) April 6, 2017

We have to push back against what seems like a constant pressure to move us further towards a system that predicates the value of a human being almost solely on the potential for that human being to put money in somebody's pocket.

Dots

The federal budget is a statement of our values. And our values are now nothing but the kind of Friedmanesque "Rational Self-Interest" that says as long as I get what I want everybody else can take a flyin' fuck at a rollin' donut.

John Oliver:

This is not a philosophy of governance. This is a fucking robbery.

Keep This In Mind

(Paraphrasing)

"You don't have to tell me about your values. Just show me your budget and I'll know exactly what your values are."

--Joe Biden's dad

On Facebook Today

This is where I stand. To me, Facebook is a useful vehicle for my passion and activism.

Our 45th President, his power-hungry cronies taking positions of authority in his Cabinet and administration, and the majority of Republicans in Congress are a real and active threat to me, my way of life, and all the people I love.

Some people are saying that we should "give him a chance", that we should "work together" with him because he won the election, and he is "everyone's president."

This is my response:

•I will not stand for disgracing our country with deplorable acts of treason against the citizens of the United States.
•I will not stand for mistreatment of our veterans, the disabled, our children and elderly.
•I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for 8 years.
•I will not "work together" to privatize Medicare, cut Social Security and Medicaid.
•I will not "work together" to build a wall.
•I will not "work together" to persecute Muslims.
•I will not "work together" to shut out refugees from other countries.
•I will not "work together" to lower taxes on the 1% and increase taxes on the middle class and poor.
•I will not "work together" to help this man use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his family and cronies.
•I will not "work together" to weaken and demolish environmental protection.
•I will not "work together" to sell or give away American lands, especially National Parks, to companies which then despoil those lands.
•I will not "work together" to ignore or undermine our treaties and commitments to Native Americans or their rights and lands.
•I will not "work together" to enable the killing of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them.
•I will not "work together" to remove civil rights from anyone.
•I will not "work together" to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.
•I will not "work together" to slash funding for education.
•I will not "work together" to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
•I will not "work together" to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.
•I will not "work together" to eliminate the minimum wage.
•I will not "work together" to support so-called "Right To Work" laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way.
•I will not "work together" to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts.
•I will not "work together" to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women.
•I will not "work together" to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons.
•I will not "work together" to put even more "big money" into politics.
•I will not "work together" to violate the Geneva Convention.
•I will not "work together" to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.
•I will not "work together" to deny health care to people who need it.
•I will not "work together" to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of a "pre-existing condition."
•I will not "work together" to increase voter suppression.
•I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny.
I will not “work together” to eliminate or reduce ethical oversite at any level of government.
•I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
•I will not support anyone that thinks its OK to put a pipeline to transport oil on Sacred Ground for Native Americans. And, it would run under the Missouri River, which provides drinking water for millions of people. An accident waiting to happen.
•I will not "work together" to destroy the separation of church and state.
•I will not "work together" to obliterate the separation of powers and the importance of having three co-equal branches of government.

This is my line, and I am drawing it.

•I will stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the beating heart that is the center of Life itself.
•I will use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will LISTEN.

That "winning", "being great again", "rich" or even "beautiful" is nothing, when others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.

If you agree feel free to copy and re-post (this results in larger numbers of people seeing a post), and if you want, sign your name below ours. Also, if we have left anything out, feel free to add it to this list.

Signed:
Patricia Rollins Trosclair
Andrea Dora Zysk
George Georgakis
John Christopher
John Bowles
Patrick St.Louis
Carla Patrick
Darnell Bender
Vickie Davis
JMichael Carter
Janice Frazier-Scott
Rev. ELaura James Reid
Jeanette Bouknight
Rev. Dollie Howell Pankey
Gerald Butler
Carolyn McDougle
Vaughn Chatman
Adrienne Brown
Gary Trousdale
Steven E Gordon
Isis Nocturne
Debi Murray
Maureen O. Betita
Mona Enderli
Fernie James Tamblin
Myrna Dodgion
Alan Locklear
Tom Wilmore
Jackie Evans
Donna Endres
Lora Fountain
Roberta Gregory
Heather A Mayhew
Stevo Wehr
Nathan Stivers
Jen RaLee
Joan Holden
Leigh Lutz
Deborah Kirkpatrick
Linda Levy
Tom Rue
Nancy Hoffmann-Allison
Beejay McCabe
Michael James Myers
Edward T. Spire
Rupert Chapman
Dawn R. Dunbar
Robin Wilson
Monique Boutot
Laura Brown 💪🏼
Susan Aptaker
Steve Katz
Bonnie Wolk
Risa Guttman-Kornwitz
Angela Gora
Butch Norman
Sharon Tolman
Sue Zislis
Maurice Hirsch
Satch Dobrey
Jim Krapf
Don Starwalt
Deb Johansen
Daniel Anderson
Diane Kenney
Rebecca Koop
Nancy Shuert
Bill Pryor
Patrick Lamb
Bob Travaglione
Margaret Ragan
Martha Peters
Steve Wilson
Lauren Sullivan
Scott Bevan
Roger Saunden
Susanne Lavelle
Benita Yimsuan
Kathryn Scarano
Kathleen E Neff
Evey G Quines
Debbie Dey
John Dennehy, Jr.
Marsha Vaughn
Henry Kielarowski (Apollo)
K. Paige Wheeler Fleury
Amy Righter
Lisa Ruben
Ruth Rogow
Melody Keen Haller
Gil Friend
David Eisenberg
Rudy Sovinee
El Fraser
Chico Huff
Kim Clarke
Leland Sklar
Chris Beveridge
David Kevin Sweet
Guy Rocky Stroup
Frani Mulleaux
Chuck Gurney
Marty Martin Eigenberger
Jen Sepanski
Troy Welch
Mike Goyette
Beth Brown-Pettit
Gretchen Lynn Demarah

Pick A Side

In today's little fit of nostalgia, I'll say that we used to have movies for grownups where the lines were drawn pretty clearly. I'm not saying there's always a perfect dichotomy, but most of the time, there's a fairly obvious distinction between what's right and what's not, and art should illustrate those values for us - or at least reflect the values we manifest in living our everyday lives.

At some point you have to be able to step back and take a look at your own position. An art-form is supposed to help us with this self-examination thing, but it seems like something's shifted, and we've been pushed off kilter.

When I look back on some of the great movies that helped us figure ourselves out, and I start to wonder about overlaying those lessons onto our ideological alignments today, I can't help but think an awful lotta people would find themselves on the wrong side.

12 Angry Men

Seven Days In May

It's A Wonderful Life

Executive Suite

I promise this is not just me wanting to go back to some simpler time - there's no such thing in the first place. 

But what I'm always going to be harping on is that we have to be committed to believing as many true things as possible and not believing as many false things as possible. And we have to keep learning and relearning the skills we need to know the difference.