St. Patrick's Day Parade - the Spirit of Unity?

You know, I get a little sick of partisan politics, but one thing makes me sicker...exclusion from any group by deliberate act of omission. Since the beginning of this process, Billy Halstead, Elaine Hopkins, and the Peoria County Democrats have deliberately and systematically avoided and omitted Matthew Woodmancy, a registered Democrat and a candidate for 18th Congressional District on Tuesday's ballot. Matt has been shunned by the Democrats because of his criminal background, but also because he is not another "cookie cutter" Democrat.
Some people might say that is reasonable, given the fact that Matt has freely admitted he has made mistakes in the past and is trying to get past them. But the fact of the matter is this is the same old crap we all faced in High School. The COOL KIDS make the rules, and shun anyone who doesn't want to play their game.
As a matter of fact, the Democrats were so worried about Matt being the only Democratic candidate on the ballot they actually sought out Steve Waterworth to go on the ballot as a spoiler to Matt. Steve revealed to Matthew at the debate in Macomb that he was not actually thinking of running until Elaine Hopkins encouraged him to run. Steve is a great guy, but let's face it, he has no chance of winning the election. He has tried twice before and failed.
Matthew has had to fight an uphill battle this entire campaign. The Democratic party has made it clear that not only will they not support Woodmancy, but no one else better support him either. Think of what an embarrassment it would be for them to have to acknowledge that a Gay Man from a poor background who has made a couple (and it is a couple) poor decisions in his life might actually have a chance of running for office. Worse than that, how about a Democrat who refuses to "kow-tow" to the party line, who refuses to take corporate or PAC donations, and thinks for himself?
Today, the Democrats will have several good candidates in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Peoria. Dave Koehler and Cheri Bustos I know to be honest and reputable people with the best interests of their constituents at heart. The people of the 18th Congressional District also have a candidate who meets these high moral principals. His name is Matthew Woodmancy, and he will be in Block 11 of the Parade. When you see his banner coming down the street, show him the respect and courtesy he deserves. He is out their on his dime, not the party's. And he is running for Congress to serve you!

Greed is not Good

Greed is not Good

I was thinking about the Gordon Gecko line out of the movie Wall Street, you know the scene where he is standing in a room full of stockholders trying to convince them his plan for the corporation is better than management's. He blasts the company for losing money, blasts them for having too big an overhead and no real stake in the company, then tells everyone how much they stand to make if they vote for his proposal.”Greed, for lack of a better word, is Good!”

Greed is not good, since it goes hand in hand with power. Remember the “golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules”? More properly, an old saying is still true today. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." An article on CNN.com today confirms the theory. People who have more money tend to be less aware of people who do not. They are more likely to disobey the law, be rude to others, and disregard the rights of others in favor of their own self-interests.

So how do we deal with that? After all, they have the money, and that means they can afford lawyers we cannot to twist the law in their favor and buy off whoever they can't manipulate.

There is a way to make things right, but it involves getting off your ass and voting for candidates who are willing to change the government back to a Citizen Government. President Obama and the Buffett rule are one example of making things right. If we eliminate the tax breaks and the loopholes for the rich, we can start putting money back into programs to educate poorer Americans, maintain our Social Security system and Medicare/Medicaid system, and eliminate Career Politicians who are only interested in lining their own pockets instead of representing the people of their districts.

If you are reading this, and you are saying to yourself something along the nature of “Bullshit! We will never change the system, and the rich will always win, so I am not going to vote.”, Congratulations! You have just voted to maintain the status quo, to watch your Social Security benefits and Medicare/Medicaid entitlements dwindle down to nothing, and allow the corrupt and uncaring incumbents the opportunity to continue to screw you over. If you do not vote, you are voting for the rich. They do not want you to vote. They do not want you to care. They do not want you to believe.

Citizen's Rights are not exclusive!

Yesterday, a bit more bark was whittled off the tree of intolerance that has grown in Washington, D.C. and in the United States. U. S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White, a Bush appointee, handed down a decision ruling the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional. He is the second U.S. District Court Judge to do so.

In 2010, U. S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro of Massachusetts made a similar ruling. Yesterday's ruling falls at the heels of a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court that California's Proposition 8, which makes illegal same sex marriage in California, is also unconstitutional. It seems the message of the Judiciary is clear. President Clinton was wrong. DOMA is wrong!

It also seems that people are starting to realize gay Americans are entitled to the same rights as all Americans. What is upsetting to me is why has it taken this long? We continue to nitpick and haggle over "Citizen's rights", when it is obvious. The Declaration of Independence did not equivocate, and neither should we.

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created Equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...

Pretty plain, isn't it? The authors, when they penned this note to the British, they went through at least two drafts before they came to language they could all agree on. And while the political infighting led to a document less than satisfactory (slavery was shamefully allowed in the new nation, women were not allowed to vote or hold office, etc.), the principles remain the same. Are they Utopian in nature? Of course they are, and because they are people are likely to look at them and try to explain away the better parts to some weakness of character or undue sympathy. But the principles are what they are.

It is time we start that to realize to deny rights in this nation to anyone is to deny them to everyone. We can no longer afford the human failing of intolerance to continue to segregate us. We are at a critical time in our history, and we need the best and brightest of all of us, not the chosen few. We need men and women who are able to own up their mistakes and work forward to overcome the problems we have, just as they have overcome their own. We need men and women from all walks of life, from all groups represented in this great nation, to lead, to envision, and to overcome the greed and corruption of career politicians. We need vision, we need diversity, and above all, we need participation. The apathy of the American voter has led us to these circumstances. The involvement of people who care can change it. But only when we agree that every American citizen is endowed with those "unalienable rights!"

Some Thoughts on "Inside Job"

So I went to a screening of "Inside Job" last night, and was incensed by the content of the movie. Charles Ferguson who wrote, produced and directed the film, has created a film that should piss you off. If he is correct, the United States government is complicit with various firms of Wall Street in perpetrating the single largest financial fraud in history. Not only have the criminals escaped with their proceeds, something we passed laws to prevent racketeers from doing, but to date not one of these criminals has been punished, tried, or even indicted for their crimes.

There's a full synopsis on Wiki, just click the link above. I'm not going to bore you with the details here, but there is one item in particular that puzzles me. Obama claimed he would return fiscal responsibility to our government, that he would insist the wealthy pay their share of taxes, and the guilty would be punished.

Now that should mean he would clean house, starting with the Treasury and the Cabinet, don't you think? So why is Timothy Geithner Secretary of the Treasury? Why is Lawrence Summers the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council? Both of these men have questionable background in the events that surrounded the collapse of 2008. Both of these men figure prominently in "Inside Job".

I do have one important question for Mr. Ferguson. If your documentary is this important, if this information is so vital to the millions of Americans who need it, then why are you charging for it? If I know a bridge is out, and I see people heading for that bridge and say nothing unless I am paid for that information, what does that make me?

I am not questioning the validity of the information. But I do question the motives of anyone who wants to profit to do good.