What's In A Name? "The Tea Party!"

Forgive the prairie expression - but I'm sure "this is ground that has already been plowed!"  And yet, the Tea Party??  Why are we still taking these people so seriously?  Why are they so powerful?  My God, they are certainly not statesmen.  They do not know what it is to be statesmen, and if they were enlightened on the subject, their first and only response would be a "no" much as a child says "no" - foot stomping and all.

Actually, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the term "tea party" is a juvenile gathering.  I think of this as a group who plays at being grown up ---- a group, that much as children often do - will refuse to continue to play if you don't play their way.

It boarders on tragic that adults chose to dress up in tri-cornered hats or hats decorated with tea bags, and thus adorned proudly dictated terms for governing.  Equally horrific was the fact that people who knew better, (after the "dress up ceased,") elected these goofs to go off to Washington, and thus put an end to "statesmanship."

Again, my imagination will not rest whenever I hear that damnable term "Tea Party."  I not only think of guests in the nursery, but I always think of the guests at the tea party in Alice In Wonderland. You remember.  The "Unbirthday Party."  My what fine  attendees there were.  High on the list was The Mad Hatter and The March Hare.  I can't get them out of my mind.  The fact that the Tea Party is taken seriously absolutely makes one feel that we have truly fallen down the rabbit hole. It is all madness.

I'm waiting through the next few hours to see how "the fiscal cliff/ rabbit hole" is or is not resolved.  Why is any part of the negotiations being done with those who demand that we consider the dictates of the "child - like politicians" of a Tea Party?   As for the cliff - "No time to say, hello, goodbye, we're late, we're late, we're late!"

Definition Of Gun: Obscene!

There was a newspaper article not so very long ago regarding a police officer confronting and killing a gunman.  Unfortunately, the well trained officer also hit four bystanders.  Now, let's go back to Wayne LaPierre's remedy of arming guards and teachers in schools.  Consider that a crazed gunman doesn't have to be accurate ever, at all, while the teacher or guard can never be less than accurate - EVERY SINGLE TIME!  Teachers come in all sizes and strengths - a problem that even a first grader can identify.  So, Wayne, perhaps you too can see the idiocy of the teacher part of your proposal as some teachers couldn't manage to handle high powered weapons, or really any weapons. As for your armed guard solution, well, "my personal teacher" explained the lay out of her school.  If one or even two guards could possibly cover the multiple levels and doors in a matter of seconds -"super powers I tells ya," would be needed!  NOT REASONABLE!

Now we come to the not at all small problem of "instant accuracy," and also, the hope of no hostage taking which is often brought on by confrontation.  Sooo, do go on, Wayne.  Maybe it's not your kiddos who are involved here, and so you can just depend on some long retired guard's marksmanship. I, for one, wouldn't depend on that skill for a second which is all it would take for a bystander to get hit.

Wayne, buddy, ole pal. Your ideas on gun safety might not be so great, but boy, can you sell guns!  You have managed to take what was once a benign sports association and turn it into a deadly, and highly profitable operation that pedals death and destruction to easily scared people. People who truly do not understand Amendment II of The Constitution of the USA.  You scam those people real well --- you know the ones ---- the people who tend toward bigotry and those who can easily be deceived into thinking that they need guns for every one of their fingers and toes.  But, Wayne, you've heard this all before.  Actually, it seems a point of pride to you.  I'll bet you could sell guns to Quakers. You are quite the guy.  When the market gets saturated with semi-automatics, you get out those fully automatic machine guns.  I'm sure they are so "FUN" they will sell themselves.

I don't want my daughter, the teacher, carrying a gun.  I doubt she could even lift that Carbon 15 Bushmaster thing.  Also, I've met a gracious plenty retired school guards.....NOPE, not a good idea. Wayne, think of it this way ------- "Bad Guys," or "Good Guys,"  ---- if there are no guns, everybody lives.

GUNS DO KILL PEOPLE!

And this IS  the time for the talk about gun control.  It is ALWAYS the time to talk about gun control. To say otherwise is infantile.  Good Lord, even a significant number of NRA members know there should be gun control. Only the gun lobby for the manufactures, and people who don't understand the 2nd amendment, and the mentally insecure - who see themselves as less than others, and yes, I will go there, need a gun to feel more "enhanced," these people will not tolerate a gun control discussion.

Some people today ask, "Who could fathom such a thing happening?" I could.  What is the purpose of having a gun that is not made for the sport of hunting?  Right!  To kill people!  Now that wasn't hard.  You kill people with guns.  There are no erasers on the end of guns!!!!!!!  If you get it wrong, you can't say oops!  A person who struggles with sanity should not be able to struggle with guns.  Children should not be able to accidentally  find guns laying around. Suicidal people should not have easy access to guns.  Guns that were meant for war turn out to be guns that are meant for "showing off," and finally guns that were meant to protect innocent people -----kill innocent people

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people!"  That is is the most ignorant thing I have ever heard.  People without guns cannot shoot people, and the subject today is "shooting" people -- shooting many people in rapid succession.  Guns do that.  You can't point your finger and get that done.  Just to belabor the point, it is very hard --- no damned impossible to shoot someone while in the throes of madness if you do not have a gun.

                                                                   
 Part  II

Because I am pro gun control, I have a difficult time with the likes of  Wayne LaPierre, so I dedicate the following to him.  Does he ever realize what he has created?  Can money buy empathy?  Can money calm fear?  Everybody has a story, and here is mine.  It is not news that my husband and I owned a pharmacy, and I was always in fear that I would get a call from the KCPD that my husband and /or a child had been shot in a hold up at the store.  When we finally closed the doors of that pharmacy, I was so relieved that we had beaten the odds , and had only been robbed at gun point in all those years - not shot dead.  My family, I thought, had survived the gun culture.

Now today, guess what?  I have acquired a new fear, and a very real fear at that!  My daughter, the teacher, is responsible for not only her own life, but also, the very precious lives of each and every second grader in her care.  I never foresaw this unbelievable danger.   From the pharmacy to the second grade classroom we must stand up and have that gun control discussion RIGHT NOW!

Antonin Scalia - A Bully!

Justice Scalia thinks he is funny, amusing, a wit of the highest order.  He was quite cavalier regarding his latest remark comparing laws against "equal marriage rights" to laws against "murder."  Are you laughing yet?  Well, instead of rolling about in laughter, I looked up the word bully.  My handy dandy dictionary -- Merriam-Webster tells me that a bully is a "blustering, browbeating person; especially: one habitually cruel to others who are weaker."  (In this case, I would take weaker to mean blocked from their civil rights, or the same rights our bully Scalia enjoys.)

It just does not seem possible that a man with a heart so hate filled and so homophobic in his feelings, will be able to argue the merits of the two cases on the docket in the coming session.  How can he pass judgement on that which he has already so clearly reached an opinion?

Would that Justice Scalia could - in this stage of his life - be denied a host of civil rights basic to his everyday existence.  I believe the "twinkle in his eye," would be quickly extinguished and replaced, by fear, anger, depression.....but no, not laughter.  Sadly, such people, never really know how pathetic they are.  The marriage equals murder remark was simply not funny, and the last one to know that fact is the "bully!"  

And yet, look what the bully had to say in the Supreme Court's decision to keep violent video games in the hands of California gamers based on the First Amendment...  hmmmm.... a bully AND a hypocrite!

Life's Calling - Sam Brownback

Yes, you know the drill.  We have this governor in Kansas - of course you know him  -  Sam Brownback, and he seems to be in a bit of a quandary.  You see, he lurks about in two distinct worlds.  One world attempts to govern the state of Kansas.  Things are not going well for the majority of citizens as Sam was not completely open about his goals for the state during his campaign.  He left a few things out, and so as a result, many Kansans are stunned at what is happening to the state budget's priorities.  If you can imagine the state as a car's interior, then the following list would be jammed into the back seat: schools, special needs students, veterans,  battered women's  programs,  programs for the elderly.  YOU GET THE IDEA.  ANYTHING THAT IS NOT CONNECTED TO THE KOCH INDUSTRIES.  So that completes one of Sam's worlds.

Sam's other world is that of religious leader.  (You will have to overlook the irony considering the programs he chooses to cut.)   In my opinion,  it is very very wrong for a sitting governor to become an active part of a religious revival event.  (In this case, the event was a rally organized by a group named ReignDown USA.) To quote Barb Shelly of The Kansas City Star,  "Constitutional, yes, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback crossed no church-state separation lines when he endorsed and then spoke at a large religious revival event in Topeka.  Inclusive, no, Brownback's 10-minute talk at the rally was heavily evangelical affiliated with some of the most intolerant figures in the evangelical Christian community."  Nice!  You see my point?  Sam seems to want to be an Evangelical speaker or maybe even a preacher. (Please recall Rick Perry's send-off in Texas with Gov. Brownback by his side.) He certainly is well informed with a wide background of various church memberships. (You can look those up.)  He has had an interesting religious journey.  I'm certainly no judge, but he is clearly not all inclusive. Well, who among is, after holding forth at a revival meeting?  (It tends to get the juices flowing!)

If Sam Brownback is going to be making decisions that will include my family's welfare, I would prefer that he hold off on playing the Burt Lancaster role in "Elmer Gantry," and stay out of the revivalist's tent until his term is completed.

HAPPY  HOLIDAYS TO ALL !!!!!

Decency Was Lost For One Of Our Own

BOB DOLE - While I didn't agree with him politically, decency dictated that you had to give him his due for his service to our country. Right?  Well no, not if you were the Republican senators yesterday.

Let me see if I've got this right.  A group of "tea partyish Republicans" have said NO NO NO to extending disability rights worldwide.  In short, a debate of sorts took place on the Senate floor regarding a United Nations treaty, (put forth originally by a Republican  President.)  This treaty, signed by all other nations, addresses the rights of the disabled --- easy enough!  Who in "all the world" ---- literally, --- " all the world" would vote against that  treaty????  Answer, Republicans would vote against that treaty!

In particular, my state's senators walked right up to Bob Dole (R. KS.) attending this session in his wheelchair -- frail and sick.  These sterling senators from The Sunflower State said, in essence,  "Not today, Bob!  No "Profiles In Courage" from the two of us --- Pat Roberts, and Jerry Moran.  We would
rather go forward in this shameful manner that we have chosen, --- leaving this shameful legacy minus any sign of nobility, in order that we not spill a drop of tea!

I would like to know, to whom are these men answering?  Their constituents?  Surely not!  (Even Kansans cringe.)  Their church?  Oh please, what does the bible say about helping those who are disabled?  The Tea Party?  Getting warmer!  The conspiracists who believe in those  "black helicopters" and are apparently cowed by the home schooling lobby?"  Warmer still!  Decency?  Ice cold!  Legacy?  SHAMBLES!

Thank you Sen Dole for your service.  As before, I did not agree at all with your politics, but I always honored your service.  I will never forget your shaking our hands, at the Overland Park parades --- pen tactfully tucked in your wounded fist to keep us from reaching for that hand to shake.  Our family, Democrats all ------ we remember!  Sir, you would have had our vote yesterday.