Pledge of Allegiance

I'm tired of people posting exaggerations and squabbling over the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance especially blaming NBC for something they aired in July 2011 and have apologized on air twice. There have been several changes made to the Pledge since it was written, the words "under God" were added during the witch hunt for communists in 1954. Those words were not part of the original pledge. Now it seems that the words are being used as part of a witch hunt for liberals. I am against people distorting history. I realize it has always been done and will continue, but whenever I can, I will try to set history straight. A lot of history is told through the victors, but there is so much more than that. It seems to me that with choosing to battle NBC and liberals by jumping up and down and hollaring about "under God" is a conservative push to become the victors and write their version of history. Today, history does not belong as much to the victor as it did in the past. There is too much attention on every thing. I am not against the words "under God", I believe in a God. I do not want to force my beliefs on anyone else. The God of my understanding (yes, that comes from AA/Al-Anon, organizations that I also have strong belief in), the God of my understanding is a caring, loving, forgiving God that accepts everyone and whatever path they choose. I have free will and every one else does too, I rely on my belief that as Ann Frank wrote, “I believe that even bad people are truly good at heart.” 

Interpreting Bible and Constitution.

I found an article titled "Maybe We Should Stop Letting Crazy People Interpret the Bible and the Constitution". The article is more about people who pick and choose what they want out of both documents to justify their actions.  I love to read the story of the Nativity from the King James version of the Bible, it's beautifully written, even though it doesn't make a lot of historical and logical sense, but that's where faith comes in I guess. However, the King James version of the Bible is not the word of God, it is an interpretation and translation made for a King in England many centuries after the Birth of Christ. If you want to know the true word of God in the original form, you'll need to learn Greek, Latin and probably some other ancient languages to go to the original forms of the Bible, all else has been men's interpretations and inexact translations of those words, a reflection of the times and prejudices that the writer was living. The Constitution was written over 2 centuries ago, the world was a very different place, things have occurred that were not even dreamed of then, there has been changes in technology that could not have been imagined. So if you want to use the Bible and the Constitution, how about using all of them, not just a few words.

thoughts prior to 2012 election

Now I'm going to take on politics. I am so tired of the negativity - all of it. There's too much exaggeration from all parties. The Pacs & superpacs need to stop, the candidates on all levels, local, state & federal need to take responsibility for what is put on the air about them, stop the lies, stop the exaggeration that people take as fact. Give us some real idea about what your interests, intents are. It's fine to disagree, we need that, but stop the nonsense. I lived in DC too long, so I know that one person can make a difference, but we need level heads, and cooperation between elected officials.

Thoughts on how country has changed since 1970s

I'm going to express my thoughts about today and what it means because they’re rather political but, I hope not polarizing. One of the things I love most about being American and America is our freedom of speech and by extension our freedom of expression and our freedom to demonstrate those. I moved to Washington DC in the spring of 1973, I was in my early 20's. During that time the Shah of Iran was in power. Because of freedoms that exist in this country the Iranian students who lived in this country had the same right to speak and demonstrate. And they did, with one very big difference, they wore paper bags over their heads so they could not be identified and they did their demonstrations on the downtown streets of WDC during lunchtime, the busiest time of the day, nearly every day, disrupting auto/bus traffic, pedestrian traffic. Their chant was "The Shah is a US puppet, down with the Shah!"

I know that the students from Iran are not exactly the same people who, 30 years later flew planes into 3 large buildings & a 4th into a field on 9/11, but they do come from the same extremist mentality that took advantage of our freedoms, that oppose our freedoms, that want to curb those freedoms, that resent our freedoms. We must never let that happen! But with the way we are so polarized politically, we may internally combust; we have our own people trying to curb our freedoms. I do realize that freedom comes at a price and a great many people paid that price on 9/11, and many are still paying that price today. Thank you to all who have sacrificed your lives far too soon, so that we may continue to live in freedom.

To all the politicians and those of us who must vote, think carefully, stop the name calling, the lying, think of what we have paid for our freedom and what we must continue to pay, vote for what you think will help, not against someone because of their race or religion or some other irrelevant thing. Vote, vote, vote! Voting is an obligation, not just a right.

thoughts about Presidential Debate from Oct 2012

Fascinating to me, the day after the national debates reading posts from friends on both sides of the political spectrum. Everyone watched the same debate, the same people, saying the same things, but their personal interpretations are based on how they feel about the issues and the candidates and that is fascinating. One friend says, that smug a** was smirking, laughing, being a fool, didn't take anything seriously, couldn't give a straight answer, what a fool! Another person says, wow! wasn't so and so great! he had all the answers at his fingertips, he didn't let that other fool run him over, he really let him have it! Then both people say he was so good and the other guy was so rude! It is quite amusing.

Trying to educate a teenage boy about compassion.

Alex just came in and insisted I watch a video. It was about the creation of a PS female robot. She was assembled, had the perfect male fantasy female body, then she started to think for herself. Then the creator started disassembling her because she wasn't supposed to be a human woman. About that time Alex came back in the room and asked what I thought. I told him it was sexist, he insisted it wasn't because there's one just like it with a male body. I told him it was still sexist and it was what state legislatures all over the US are trying to do to women. He said "making robots?" I told him "no, making women into robots, not allowing them to think for themselves and not allowing them control over their own bodies." He still doesn't get it, but I'll continue to work on him. Bet he doesn't ask me to watch any more awesome sexist videos again. That's what happens when he has a politically minded, liberal aunt that he's living with right now! I'll turn this child into a thinker if it's the last thing I do. If he thinks for himself and makes his own decisions instead of blindly following the crowd or what he's being told by TPTB, I will have succeeded.

Happy Birthday America!

Been watching the Twilight Zone marathon off and on today. I'm struck by several things. One, the acting was very good, the props and sets were frequently minimal and the writing is fantastic. And I've also noticed the patriotism and compassion in those shows that is sorely lacking in today's world. Yes, many people consider themselves patriotic, but the lack of caring and compassion of some of those people is astounding. There's such an attitude of "I've got mine, I don't give a s**t about anyone else getting anything." It is so the haves against the have nots and instead of trying to find a way out of a welfare state and using some education to try to change things for the better, it's just "to heck with them, let 'em rot" attitude. Very Marie Antoinette of many people. Poverty and welfare is a state of mind, there is an entitlement among many people, there is a criminal element among many people, but if we "let them eat cake" when they don't have bread and see you eating cake isn't going to work. Poverty breeds more poverty, welfare breeds more welfare, but there has to be another way out of it and I think education and better mental health are a start, not a waste of money. Let's celebrate our independence by making all of us free and independent, let's get rid of some of those attitudes and find a way to work together instead of against each other. Let's free ourselves from greed, including corporate greed that is destroying our beautiful country and our natural resources. Corporations are not people, they are made up of people.And the God of my understanding wants caring and compassion from His/Her believers. Unlike some "Christians" that apparently worship at the altar of money.