the solution 3.0

So what am I driving at with all this?

Yeah, I’m a big fat lefty. And I know in my bones — that if all of us big fat lefties and all of them big fat righties could stop fearing the extreme ideals of the other side long enough to find a real meeting place in the middle, we could radically improve this country and the world on more levels than any of us could imagine.

So really what I’m saying is — the problem is the division. Divided we fall. And not enough people are trying to unite us — so that we may truly stand as a nation. I’m getting sick of being pissed at the right wing, while I’m getting more pissed at the division it’s self. I wish more people were. I wish people were saying “Hey! We are divided and it sucks! This fucking division is the first thing that we have to fix.”

Or at least start throwing some unifying ideas on the table. How about a rule for congress? Pass two bills that unite us for every one that we’re divided on. Or how about changing the structure of The White House?

Basically, the outcome of any presidential election satisfies the will of roughly half of the nation. Only about half of the country approves of any given president. When you think about it that way, it doesn’t seem right. Does it? It could even be called un-American. However, we are not likely to see it change, because the average 50/50”ish” Left /Right division in this country is not likely to change for such a long time.

We could change how we structure The White House…
How about no running mate? Whoever loses the election get’s to be Vice President. Sure, not an entirely original thought. In fact we’v seen versions of it on film and television. And by no means would it be a perfect solution to anything.

But it would, with no doubt, bring the executive branch of the federal government vastly closer to being a more complete reflection of the will of the American people as a whole. And to at least try to accomplish that… the will of the American people as a whole — That effort alone may be the most American accomplishment in the history of this nation.

But it may be that nothing so positive and unifying could ever happen here. Maybe we’v grown too comfortable with the division. Perhaps this civil cold war of ideologies has become too ingrained in our culture. The cynic in me thinks that this hatred has irreparably infected the heart our society. But my optimistic side tells me that if we were able to stop hating the Russians, we should be able to stop hating each other.

fun links

I ran across this site, cafepress.com.
This site has loads of clever stuff --

for all perspectives.

...Here are some items that amused me.

Blind Faith in Bad Leadership is Not Patriotism
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/liberal/-/pv_design_prod/p_storeid.11572568/pNo_11572568/id_4595062/opt_/pg_/c_/fpt_

Proud Member of the Religious Left
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/liberal/-/pv_design_prod/pg_3/p_storeid.13764396/pNo_13764396/id_5354440/opt_/fpt_/c_666/

One Nation Under Surveillance
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/liberal/-/pv_design_prod/p_storeid.24997293/pNo_24997293/id_7759216/opt_/pg_/c_/fpt_

Jesus was a liberal
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/liberal/-/pv_design_prod/p_storeid.14648973/pNo_14648973/id_5716589/opt_/pg_/c_/fpt_

Mark Twain on Patriotism
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/liberal/-/pv_design_details/pg_2/id_12832491/opt_/fpt_/c_666/

FOX SKews
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.aspx?showBleed=false&ProductNo=37979146&colorNo=0&pr=F

You are not an island

If you have a problem with that, move to one.


Accepting and responsibly reacting to the fact that you live in a society does not make you a communist. It just makes you a realist. I'd say that it's what separates us from the animals -- If it were not for the fact that many animals happen to have a stronger sense of social responsibility than most conservatives.

Just as ignoring your bills won’t make them conveniently go away; ignoring the less convenient elements of society won’t make them go away. It just makes them multiply faster.

A society is like an organism. What if your white blood cells were like you? This is what they’d sound like: “Yeah, I know there’s an infection over there. But how is that my fault? I’m just gunna stay over here and take care of the other white blood cells.” The long term result would be your immune system failure and death. Am I being dramatic to suggest that conservatives are killing our society? I don’t know. But, the more that you think about it, the more you realize just how organic a society truly is. And for any of you white blood cells who weren’t paying close enough attention, that body that you just let die, was your host. So you’re dead too. Get it?

Simply turning your back on the dredges of society will not make them go away - nor will it make them any less of a burden on society. Burying your head in the sand only exposes your most vulnerable side to the worst of them.

Not only are you creating your own problems, but you really are making them worse. You are driving them to a point of insolvability. Measured by the practical rule of logic and reality, the right wing mentality, in regard to how to deal with a society of people, is an absolute anti-solution.

Thankfully, this attitude of “I’m gunna sit on my porch with my shotgun and take care of mine” is on the endangered list. Growing out of that attitude is just a natural step in the evolution of our species. So while you continue to fight so hard to turn back the clock on social and mental evolution, us reality based progressives get to watch each new generation become more realistic and more progressive. Y’all had yer shot at draggin’ us back to the days of burning witches at the stake. But enough of us woke up to get us looking forward again. Because that’s where the solution is.

No lead or GHB please.

Although most of the content of proamericacompanies.com makes you feel like you just sat through an infomercial for the Minutemen, it is at least one source of lead-free and GHB-free toys. And in addition to child safety, the obvious bonus is that buying American Made is good for our economy.
http://www.proamericacompanies.com/toys.html

Speaking of China...
It's all fine and dandy to to say: Screw you, China. You're a bunch of bastards for poisoning our children! But that makes no difference if American fiscal policy keeps making China stronger.

Tax cuts make politicians look good. But the bills still need to get paid. So we just keep increasing our national deficit -- putting us in huge debt to countries like China. As of March of this year, China held over 321 billion dollars worth of U.S. Treasuries. It's too tragic to call it poetic justice so I'll just point it out as an interesting irony, that the politicians elected by people like the minutemen are going to be the direct cause of The American Flag having a tag in the corner of it which reads MADE IN CHINA.

Resolve or Reuse

If you privately prevent the break from healing, then you know that the crutch it’s self is somehow relieving a much bigger hurt than the broken bone is causing.

Why is abortion still legal? My beliefs on the issue of abortion put aside…
My belief in the Law of Cause and Effect tells me that abortion should have been outlawed a few years ago.

Remember? It wasn’t that long ago, that the Grand Old Party controlled every major branch of the Federal Government. They had the White House, the House and the Senate – In addition to appointing some extra right wing talent to an already ultraconservative Supreme Court. They practically had absolute power, and were in no way humble about it. Particularly when it came to any issue that would ultimately increased the wealth of people and corporations who were already wealthy.

It almost seemed to be a sidebar flaunting of this power, when they found time to rub salt in our children’s wounds, by actually appointing an oil company lobbyist to the post of chief White House advisor on environmental policies.

But what about those social issues that are so important to the religious right??? The super wealthy individuals and the big corporations got there’s… Why didn’t the grass roots heart and soul of the right wing get their pay off? That wealthy 3% of Americans who raked in the benefits of the great Republican heyday are just that… 3%. There’s no way that 3% of the vote can get anyone elected into office. That’s why they need the social conservative vote. Without it, how could enough of them get into power to spoon feed the big corporations and the nation’s wealthiest individuals?

So they’ve kept conservative social issues at the core their agenda – Often talking about these issues with preeminent expressions of utmost concern. For years and years, these debates and speeches were so passionately and sincerely delivered that we just knew it would only take a little more power. If only we could get enough Republicans in office… And then one day, PRAISE THE ALL MIGHTY! It happened!!! With a Republican in the White House, the GOP took control of both bodies of Congress.

That was a very important time in American history, because of how revealing it was. Since they had total power, they had the ability and certainly the will to make the exact changes to this Country that they thought were necessary. You see, not all issues have the same type of objective. With some issues the object is to achieve the obvious goal of the matter. But other issues serve a much larger and far more, long term purpose. For those issues it is much more important that they exist. And that they continue to exist. In fact the longevity of those issues is so important that privately, the politicians don’t really intend to achieve their stated goal on the matter. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself again…

Why didn't they do it when they had the chance?

Think about it! Really... Take a moment and THINK about it. How often does one political party have that much control?

...The answer is once in a blue moon. Right? So when that blue moon rises, you’d better believe that they’ll accomplish everything that is most important to them, while they have the chance. And now that the time of total Republican domination has come and gone, we know what they wanted most. And it had nothing to do with the conservative social issues.

They need abortion to remain legal as much as they need to be seen trying to get it outlawed. They need the Constitutional Separation of Church and State to stand strong, as much as they need to be seen trying to tear it down. They need gays to continue fighting for equal human rights as much as they need to be seen fighting against equal rights. They desperately need these issues to live and flourish. Because if abortion were outlawed, and the doctrine of evangelical Christianity became the next Amendment to the Constitution, and Homosexuality was declared to be a felony punishable according to The Book of Leviticus - If these things happened, then those issues would be solved. And if they were solved they would no longer be issues. And without those issues this party would lose so much of its base that it would cease to be a viable party.

Was it an oversight???

Did they simply forget to overturn Roe v Wade while they had the chance?

...just slipped their minds?

Not likely.

Politicians are very smart people. They are aware of what an opportunistic playing field they are on. They know exactly what they want. And they get as much of it as they can, while they can get it. And they want your vote much more than they want your social issue to be resolved. It’s like the pharmaceutical companies. They invest in the development of treatments not cures. Because cures are bad for business.

But don’t feel forgotten… They’ll keep talking about abortion.