1985

There are memories from childhood which are so vivid that when I recount them and find my audience is unable to remember, it pisses me off. It is strange, probably, but it is almost as if that was such a poignant moment in my life, it feels either wasted or less relevant if I cannot share it with someone who was there. Of the many memories from decades ago which seem to live in my mind as a near perfect reel, the one that not only continues to haunt me but seems to have most defined me as a person was in May of 1985. The memory is only mine. My whole family was there and none of them seemed to have experienced it so profoundly as to even remember it with me.

I have relayed this story a lot lately. I was only diagnosed with a panic disorder last year. The fact that it took 41 years to find that diagnosis is, to say the very least, peculiar. My first memory of an attack, of sort, was when I was 12. I was in the living room waiting for the Disney movie to come on (we didn't have on-demand back in the day and were offered a single helping of Disney once a week). I went in to the living room after dinner and whatever was on the television when I turned it on was so upsetting to me that by the time the rest of the family came in to sit down for our Sunday evening entertainment, I was bawling. My dad was angry, as I recall (although I now realize that a lot of his emotions seemed like anger to me then and he was probably frustrated by this child he could not understand), and demanded, "What are you crying about?" I pointed to the black and white footage on the television of a large pit with naked skin-and-bone bodies being bulldozed on top of one another into it.

I had no idea what I was looking at. My fathers curt reply to my response, "What is that?" was a quick, "That is from the Holocaust." I had no idea what the Holocaust was and my plea for him to explain it warranted a, "If you don't want to look at it turn it off." I could not stop crying and as my father was then angry with me for having been upset, my sob turned into that mess where you can't even catch your breath. I set myself off to bed rather than ruin the family's evening with Disney.

I did not sleep that entire night.

The few minutes of footage that I had seen of this film terrified me. It had a name. My father gave it a name. It is called a Holocaust. That means it is a thing that exists in the world. Those people who had families and friends had somehow come to a place in their lives where this was their end. And it had a name. And it existed.

My father checked on me several times that night to see if I had settled down. I was eventually able to stop crying but I had not been able to stop thinking about it and worrying about those people and wondering what you have to do to end up in a place like that. I wanted to protect all of my loved ones from having to die like that. I simply could not grasp the fact that this Holocaust existed. And it must have been a common event or my father wouldn't have explained it to me so casually. The world was terrifying to me in a way that it had never been before (and I had also recently had similar, but not as overwhelming revelations about slavery in history class and children being kidnapped by the movie Adam).

Of course, my fathers quick dismissal didn't mean that the Holocaust was a common occurrence in the world. It only meant that my father saw everything as a matter of fact and had no capacity to deliver information in a way that would be specific to this very sensitive audience. I have been 30 years now on this path to understand the Holocaust. I watch every documentary that I ever learn about. I have read many books. I can now rationalize that neither the next movie nor book will offer me the light bulb to make it all make sense to me. But I can also understand with age and historical context that this was a very specific moment in a very ugly time in World history which is quite singular in its evil and circumstance.

Today I spent the day watching documentaries on Amazon. I happened upon a Frontline video of a documentary they had released about the Holocaust in 1985. I started the movie and thought, 'this could be it.' That would certainly be the year that the memory of my first anxiety attack happened. And I have never been able to tell the story completely because even my own mind always struggled to remember what exactly I had seen. I can now say, without a doubt, that I must have turned the television on after dinner and it would have already been set on PBS.

In 1985, Frontline aired a documentary which had been a project started 40 years prior by a coalition of US and British Army filmmakers. Alfred Hitchcock even participated and refused to take pay for it because of its importance. For reasons unknown (I've found several speculations but nothing seems to have been settled), the film was never finished. In 1985 PBS put the unfinished reels together and left many minutes of completely unnarrated film. It sounds like an unprofessional piece to have not had it completed until many who had been involved were gone and so much was unknown about why the project had been abandoned in the first place. The fact that there are many minutes with no narration certainly seem strange, but that is the strength of the piece. You don't need the words. The entire point of this piece is to document the moment and place in history where humanity had been forfeit.

I can now tell you, having finished this documentary, that the footage at the end is the exact memory I have seen as I retold this story throughout my life. This is the moment in my life where my heart broke and my mind raced and my soul reached out for something to give me understanding of the world. It has haunted me ever since.

After having seen this film in its entirety as an adult, my constant demands that the sonsofbitches on the right who like to compare every aspect of the political world which might not happen to be going their way to the Holocaust must stop is now something more of an insistence. I literally can not abide their hate and conflation of history and propaganda. I can not let it exist.

I beg you to save this on your computer and watch it. It is an hour long and it is probably the most painful thing you can imagine ever seeing. But it is an imperative. We must allow our outrage to equal and exceed their disregard. We must allow our voices to be louder than theirs. There are no words powerful enough to ever explain this film. I feel confident that it would have the same affect if you watched it on mute. Our humanity dissipates a little bit more when we allow this memory to be negated by their drawing unfounded parallels.

Please watch this and shout at the top of your lungs every time Carson, Cruz or Huckabee determine that any perceived slight to their rigid societal standards should be compared to the Holocaust. Every time they get away with this shit, the impact of these truths dissipates a little more. And it creates an environment where we won't see it coming if we ever do find ourselves heading down a similar path.



CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MOVIE OR SAVE IT TO SEE SOON

Dear Media: Your White Trash Chronicle of History

As an observant and intelligent human being, I expect the Regressive Party to fall all over itself in attempts to explain why Trump has been at the top of the polls since he entered the race. Being eternally naive, however, I would expect for the media to have figured it out by now. I have heard every credible news organization (MSNBC you are getting quite close to falling to the other side of that scale) ask itself and its panelists to riddle them through their quandary for over two months now. Not only has the discussion become tiresome, their ignorance has, too.

We are still allowing our media to ask the Regressives to dictate our narrative. We still ask them to tell us why their party are not interested in the politicians they have been force fed. The rest of us can see it. Why does our society have to pretend that we are stumped? I have heard the answer countless times by party 'leaders' who say that their voters are angry with the government and have grown tired of 'politics as usual' to explain their interest in an outsider.

Of course, that outsider is out on the stump unapologetically being a racist while using no dog whistles. He puts women in their place. He tells them that all of society's ails are due to immigrants. If the far right voters are suddenly looking for an outsider who isn't afraid to tell them the exact same things the rest of their politicians have, why do you suppose that is? Let us look at what they have been promised by the Regressive Party just since 2008 when the Tea Party started trending. Let us just focus on the time since racism has become fashionable and acceptable again in our society.

What has pissed the far right off, since 2008, about politics? They are pissed off at THEIR politicians and THEIR 'politics as usual.' They have been promised that they would get rid of that Muslim in the White House. They have been promised that they would get Secretary Clinton indicted for Benghazi. They have been promised that universal healthcare would be reversed. They have been promised that abortion would be outlawed. And that is about all that they have heard. Oh media, my media. Ask yourself this, okay? Why are you so interested in politicians who try to lure voters that literally believe the President is a Muslim and who promise to oust him once they prove he is not really an American? Why are we giving voice to politicians who have had 7 (or is it now 8?) hearings on Benghazi and have yet to find anything? Why would any thoughtful individual continue to reflect on the needs and desires of a base (fucking perfect word) whose intellect allows them to rally to get rid of their own healthcare without noticing the scores of attempts which have been made and the time wasted in doing so? And why are you focused on politicians who promise to get rid of abortion rights without repeatedly reminding your audience that it has been legal for over 40 years. They are promising to come up with ways around a Supreme Court decision based on the Constitution.

The reason their constituents are pissed is because they keep hearing the same promises and see that nothing has been done. None of their promises have been kept. Of course, none of them were even possible. Why not report that?

Let me sum it up for you like this: You have spent nearly 3 months now trying to understand the mood of the people on the right who are confusing you.

Answer: These are the people who started the year identifying with the Tea Party movement which demanded American Exceptionalism and told their members in their mission statement: "By joining the Tea Party, you are taking a stand for our nation. You will be upholding the grand principles set forth in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights." These same people, within six months time have feverishly jumped ship and determined the best leader for America would be a man who not only denied exceptionalism, but announced his candidacy for President by concluding, "The American dream is dead." Then, within two months of that revelation he has determined we need to repeal the 14th Amendment. I guess they don't need to worry about having to uphold Constitutional principles any longer.

This is the very depth of the people you are trying so desperately to understand. You are attributing to them more capacity for reflection, comprehension and introspection than any of them are capable of. You might as well ask a pre-school class to analyze the Iran Nuclear deal. It almost seems unfair to put so much responsibility on them. And it is certainly unfair for the rest of America to spend 3 months listening to you all try to figure it out.

These are the people who call themselves socially conservative but disrespect and disavow the Pope. THE POPE. Traditionally, no public figure has ever been more strict on every single social issue and those on the far right are presently dismissing him altogether because he isn't tough enough. Have a quiet moments reflection on that. These are the people who believe their morality exceeds that of the Pope.

These are the people who rally and raise funds for every police officer who kills an unarmed black person. They raise money for people who want to discriminate against the LGBT community. While they do this they demand that they are being just like Dr. King because they are standing up for their rights. I literally heard this discussion on CNN last night and Jim Sciutto, the anchor filling in for Erin Burnett, was the one posing the question. I have no idea who he is but let me answer it for you easily, moron: The difference is Dr. King was fighting to give rights to people. His civil disobedience was in an effort to make society see those they were allowing to be discriminated against. These assholes who are saying they are being discriminated against because of their religion? Their civil disobedience is in an effort to take away the rights of others. They are literally fighting because they want the right to discriminate against other people. I am embarrassed as a human being that I had to answer that question for the asshole anchoring the 7pm news show on CNN. Honestly. This is our media.

You not only diminish the discourse in America when you spend so much time discussing these people and their interests, you diminish America, itself. While doing this, of course, you embolden them because their power and their unified voice becomes stronger as our focus is directed soley toward them. Close your eyes. Please. Do it. See those people in your mind. You can see them. They are wearing a tshirt with either an eagle or a flag and holding signs which are meant to demean other human beings. At least one word will be misspelled. See them? Right! Those are the Americans you are celebrating. Again, you are complicit in where we find ourselves today.

You are determining what history will remember and how we will be seen as a country. Holy Shit. My great-great-great-great grandbabies will be so confused. If you would just start making strides toward asking thoughtful questions and then seeking intelligent answers we could be on our way to a healthier future. If you could stop giving voices to panelists whose sole agenda is to write our history to meet their narrative, that would be great, too. Your great-great-great-great grandbabies will know that you were actually responsible for our chronicles. Give them something to be proud of.

While focusing on the hype surrounding these candidates, do you feel any responsibility to our chronicle for history of this election? Do you feel any responsibility about the chronicle of the American community and its ideals? Do you feel any responsibility about the chronicle of the truths behind our social environment and the truths about those who attempt to drag us down and pull us back? As such, you are presently glorifying those who are the least among us. You are giving their agenda the spotlight. I had to witness every single news station showing a woman coming out of jail with a triumphant soundtrack of "The Eye of the Tiger." None of the media took the time to specifically counter this properly. I am embarrassed and disgusted! Honestly! Why aren't you? Take a moment with this. Ask yourself what your network, magazine or online media outlet took the time to document today surrounding Mike Huckabee, Kim Davis and their White Trash Agenda. What will our great-great-great-great grandbabies think about us? What did you leave them?

Look at this giddy piece of shit reveling in the attention she (and Mike Huckabee) gets for being a hateful degenerate human being. YOU are giving her that attention. If there had been no coverage and it were just a rally full of other white trash it would not have been such a marked success, you know?

Just. Jesus Christ! I scream it in my head repeatedly. "Jesus Christ!" What do you tell yourselves? Are you proud of your work? This is just one single day. It has been going on for months. For years! Are you proud of your role in our history? Step up before the story can't be rewritten. Step up and deliver actual countenance of a present day narrative filled with facts and reflections you will be glad bore your name. Otherwise, what the fuck are you doing? And why the fuck are we supposed to tune in for you to do it?

Dear Media: You've Failed Us. Again.

I was pissed at myself for writing a piece about the awful clerk in Kentucky who has determined she is above the law and will deny marriage licenses to gay couples in her county. Her only objective is to get attention. I don't want to give her any. But I am so tickled by the outcome in court today that I just had to take a moment to celebrate. I just won't give her name. We all have seen it. There are two other county clerks in Kentucky who have jumped on her childish bandwagon. I won't list their names, either. Assholes.

Let us just reflect on this handsome Kentucky couple who tried, four times now, to get a marriage license in Rowan county and were denied each time by the county clerk. David Ermold and David Moore have been in a loving relationship for 17 years now and since June have finally been able to legally get married. Today the woman who determined it was her job to keep them from their rights was sentenced to jail until she decided that she would do her job.

The blasphemous woman in Kentucky went to court today for the third time. I will be honest. I am ashamed to admit that I had fears about this court hearing because it was in Kentucky and thought that maybe the judge would be partial to her case in some way. It was clear that this judge was having absolutely none of it. He decided not to give her a fine because he knew the same garbage who unite to create GoFundMe accounts for cops who kill unarmed black men would rally and do the same for her, therefore she would not really be penalized if she were fined and others took care of it. The judge found her in contempt of court and sentenced her to jail! On her way out of the court, handcuffed, her last words were, "Thank you, Judge." But. Of. Course. She clearly has received the martyrdom she was seeking.

Judge David L. Bunning, who was a GW Bush appointee said that he, too, is against same-sex marriage, but in sentencing her he implied that if he had given her an inch it would set a dangerous precedent. That was one of my biggest concerns. If they create a statute and it goes up the line we will have to deal with this in many counties.

The crazies on the right don't need to actually understand the Constitution (or the Bible, apparently) to vehemently demand what they believe their rights are when it comes to condemning the rest of us to live by their standards of hate and discrimination. No matter what happened to her today all of the RWNJs out there were going to unite and support her. So we will be dealing with her trending hashtag on Twitter. We will be receiving bullshit in our Facebook feed from family members defining their plight as persecuted Christians whose Constitutional rights are being denied. It doesn't matter that we have more than two Amendments. It doesn't matter that one of those other Amendments they have never bothered to know anything about (while demanding their mission is to support the Constitution) states none of your Constitutional rights can be used to deny another citizen of theirs. The complete text of the 9th Amendment offers it clearly:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

It doesn't matter to them that the 14th Amendment literally states she has to do her goddamned job (at all levels, not just federal or state). Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

It really is hard to grasp that these people will now raise a fuss and demand attention. Because they are the loudest they create controversy. Because controversy sells ad space the media will be all over it. And because the media lack integrity and conscience we will not be offered the important information I listed above. We will only hear crazy people spewing their bullshit and their even crazier candidates (Huckabee, Cruz, Jindal) come out of nowhere with new interpretations of the Constitution which are completely irrelevant and untrue and no one in the media will counter any of what they say. The media will offer us news bites and offer no relevant reflection because they don't have time to discuss it. There is a lot going on today, after all. Something or another happened in 'Deflategate.' Its irrelevance to me on a station who tells me it is "The Place for Politics" can't even be defined. But it got a lot more air time than the important ruling in Kentucky today. They spent over a full hour this afternoon on nothing but Donald Trump who made a pinkie promise (or something just as legally binding) to not betray the Regressive Party. They are also offering supposition about Secretary Clinton's emails and a former staffer pleading the 5th. No one knows why, of course, but that stops none of them from spending at least 10 minutes every hour with commentary from 'experts' about what might be the reason. Honestly!?

There is a lot of ridiculous dialogue popping up around what ways the county clerks who don't want to be bothered to do the job they are being paid to do and ignoring duties they swore an oath to undertake can be accommodated. It is beyond my comprehension why anyone would spend a moment of their time on a serious attempt to come up with a way to accommodate that? My answer is simple: Force them to quit. Do not offer them their pensions. Give them jail time and a fine. They swore to do that job and then determined they had a right to ignore that oath. THAT is the precedent we need to set in America. A sincere reminder needs to be sent to all of her citizens that just because a politician who happens to be considered radical (the very nicest adjective I could come up with) determines that the Constitution happens to mean something completely different than any rational lawyer or historian would explain, doesn't make it so. For Christ's sake ... He actually wants the Constitution to be rewritten to mirror the Bible.

As with people being massacred in their church or movie theater and with unarmed black men and women being repeatedly victimized by those who are meant to be protecting them, the media will find the most generic aspects of the story to repeat for a couple minutes every hour and never dig into the actual heart of the story. They will, again, fail to offer reflection on causation of society's ails. They will, again, fail to ask Americans to consider the truths behind the story and its victims.

Can the media please do an in-depth look at what we are actually dealing with and why these newly persecuted 'Christian's' are behaving like heathens? I think if the majority of Americans really understood, we could all work together to shut this down. I honestly believe that if the national media offered its audience an intelligent and introspective look at the movement and what it is saying while countering it with what the Constitution and the courts have demanded, they could really begin a healthy dialogue. If that conversation were concluded by asking every rational adult what would happen to them if they had a national public temper tantrum because they refused to do their job, it could be a pretty quickly settled discussion. But the media cannot be bothered to do something like that. Apparently the issue of an appointed government employee using their authority to deny people their legal rights isn't controversial enough.

The saddest part? I bet I know another cable 'news' outlet who did nothing but talk about it today. And that message and its rhetoric will have been well disseminated to their audience. Brilliant. And so it goes...

It Is Our Time

As mothers, we fight for the Black Lives Matter movement because they are all our babies and it is nonsense that anyone could think otherwise. As mothers, we fight for the LGBT community because they are all our babies and no one should dismiss them. We fight for everyone. We forget to fight for ourselves.

Tomorrow the Senate is going to vote to get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood. This is a VERY BIG deal. This is the womens movement. This is their attempt to get abortion on the agenda and to take away healthcare for American women. Last week Mike Huckabee suggested he would do anything he could to stop abortions and when asked if that meant using the FBI or federal troops to stop abortions, he said the use of troops to enforce was not out of the question. Abortion is legal. It has been legal for 40 years now. It is a right for women.

Is that what it would look like if a woman wanted to get an abortion in Mike Huckabee's world? Is this an acceptable idea? We have to speak out. We must demand that our rights are not disposable. I would never have an abortion. I had a choice when I had my daughter. Having been adopted and knowing how hard it is to grow up adopted, I knew I couldnt make that choice. Because of the way my brain works I knew I couldnt have and abortion. I knew that I would beat myself up for the rest of my life and focus on the "what ifs" until I made myself crazy. I chose to have a child. I CHOSE to allow the fetus inside of me to grow into a human being that I gave life to. THAT WAS MY CHOICE. No one can take any of the choices away from women. I will fight for the rest of my life to make sure that all women have the right to decide what is best for them and what to do with their own bodies.

Tomorrow the Senate is going to vote to get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood, their biggest target for their War on Women. They have threatened to shut down the government. They use Planned Parenthood as a boogey man. The monies that Planned Parenthood uses from the government goes toward cancer screenings, sex education, protection, and health care for women.   All of the things they provide enable women to make healthy choices about their bodies and their families. This is what the Regressive party wants to take away from us.

We are treated as children. We are the mothers of this country. We are the mothers of the politicians who demand we should not have a right to make our own choices with family planning. Today we have a right to our own bodies, it has been in question since we decided it was so and it became legal, but it is legal. And it is our right regardless of how other people see it. They simply must not be allowed to take our rights away.

Please do not confuse this as anything other than a very deliberate attack on womens rights. There are many things in the news this weekend that are interesting. Please do not let any of them distract you from the one issue that you can have a voice in. Demand that your Senator know your view. Demand that this issue is not about abortions but about womens rights. Demand that as a woman you will not accept anything other than a "Nay" vote which is the only way your Senator can actually represent their constituency. Planned Parenthood offers healthcare to millions of women. We are demanding that all Senators represent all women.

The best way we have is to fight by demanding the Senators actually think about the women they are supposed to be representing. Email, tweet or go on the Facebook page of your Senators. Let them know and all of the people who follow them that you demand your rights be protected. Give other people in their tweets or on their Facebook page something to think about. I also suggest contacting the big corporate donors who support Planned Parenthood and demanding that they compel the Senators represent women properly.

That is all that this is about. This is not about anyone wanting to 'save lives.' This is just another attempt to take away the rights of women. These are the same leaders who have yet to allow the ERA to pass. Please fight. Today. Compel others to do the same. Our rights must be part of the revolution we are finally seeing in America! We can fight for our babies of color and our babies in the LGBT community while we fight for ourselves, too. This is the chance. NOW is the time.

Republican Holocaust

Okay. I have fucking had it. I am not kidding. There are few things that can get me as pissed as I am right now. My body is covered in hives. I have had it with the GOP having absolutely zero respect for Americans, for history and certainly lacking all decorum when designing their dog whistles.

It doesn't even phase me any longer when they make references to the Bible because it is their own professed text and mangling the words of it should make them be held accountable by someone, especially if there really will be a St. Peter waiting for them when we are finally rid of their bullshit. The Holocaust is something decidedly more grotesque.

This past weekend, Mike Huckabee said that President Obama was trying to create a new Holocaust for the Jews. His exact words were, "take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven." Not surprisinging, that pissed some people off. And, not surprisingly, he decided that meant he needed to double down.

Now listen, you bitter, hateful old sonofabitch. We all realize you need attention because Trump has taken your actual talking points to offer America as his own and you are bent out of shape because you didn't realize they would do so well in the mainstream or you would've let up on your coded language a long time ago. But as a human being, as a citizen of this Earth, there are some things that absolutely no respectable politician would draw a comparison to in attempts to denounce their opposition. And offering foresight of a pending Holocaust because of the deal struck with Iran is way over the line. No one uses that phrase, "Marching to the ovens." Wanna know why? Its not a thing. It is a thing that existed one time in history and it is such a profound thing that no rational thinking person would ever draw a comparison to it. Ever.

When you design rhetoric meaning to be analogous to the most profoundly painful and unthinkable memories of recent history, you lessen its memory and its impact on the greater human conscience. There is nothing like the Holocaust. We want to all make sure that we never have anything like the Holocaust again. When you take repeated opportunities to diminish the affects people have when they are reminded of it, you bring us one inch closer to a place where atrocities are acceptable again.

Huckabee isn't the only right wing extremist to be using Holocaust references to entice their small minded base. I had actually set this item aside a couple of weeks ago because it made me so angry that I didn't think I could construct sentences properly.

Begin by reading this famous quote by Martin Neimoller defining the theme of complacency during the Holocaust:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

In June, a group of 'Christian' leaders met in San Diego for a conference to plot ways to further destroy our futures. Chuck Stetson, a noted speaker offered this to his audience:

First they came for the adoption ministry, but I did not speak out, because I did not do adoptions.

Then they came for the wedding photographer, but I did not speak out, because I did not do photographic weddings. 

Then they came for the baker, and I did not speak out because I was not a baker. Then they came for the florist, but I said nothing, because I was not a florist.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Please pause here and reflect on the initial quotation.

Now, after you have cooled off, take a moment to reflect on which people 'they' came for in the 30s. The Socialists? The Trade Unions? And then, of course, the religious group they didn't like? Carry that with you for the next time you are called a Nazi.

It is beyond comprehension how we, as an American society, offer a voice to these mongrels. Yes, we have freedom of speech and we also have freedom of religion. However, that should not mean that we don't demand better of our media to inform us of the antics of those who mean to lead us and it does not mean that we should allow them a pass to condemn the rest of us to endure them because of their rights.

I know that it is supposed to be above a Progressive to make nasty remarks about the way someone looks. I am immature in many ways, though, and it is not one of the things I am working on presently. With that being said, this is a picture of Chuck Stetson. Can you totally see him with horns popping out of his head and long pointy teeth?

I know that they make blanket statements all of the time in calling others Nazi's, so much so that we literally have to consider Godwin's Law whenever we want to have an intelligent comparison (wink) of their beginnings and propaganda with those of the Tea Party. The base (perfect word, huh?) that they pander to don't understand history so we can't expect them to be offended, but that doesn't mean that society should accept it. To be honest, I cannot even decide which of the declarations above are worse. I'll let you decide.



***I am actually aware that this will not have been one of my greatest attempts at writing because when I get angry it is more evident that I am pissed than anything else. My President kind of sums it up for me, though.***

Yes, Virginia, There Is A War On Women

Please take a moment to watch the above. It is only one minute long. It is true. It is a fact. I wrote about this a couple of months ago and was shocked by how many people (many women) wanted to argue with me about their belief that it was a lie.

This is why the laws we have aren't enough. Again, it is just one minute. And it is SO Important.

Okay. So we are now all starting from the same place. I admit that I am a Mean Progressive, but I am lovely to all people with open minds and I sincerely hope that this message gets out to all women, regardless of party affiliation. It is time for us to put an end to this ridiculous patriarchy we have been dealing with since we got here. 

Last weekend, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a Regressive group, held a conference in Washington DC and, curiously, the only thing you can find about it in the news is a "reported" bomb threat. You know, because the Christians in this fine nation of ours are under constant threat by all who mean to persecute them. I promise the threat was one they created themselves so they could have a means of documenting their persecution just two days after they tried to tell America that a massacre in an historical southern black church was because of their faith.

All of the Regressive hopefuls for the presidency were there and pandered to their base. The jaw-dropping revelation was that one of their noted speakers was Phyllis Schlafly. She is like 90 something. Not kidding. Apparently it has not yet occurred to those in the GOP that when your esteemed speaker on women's issues has to be helped on the stage and needs to use a walker to get to the podium, it may be time to consider condemnations about your attempts to take women back to the 50's. Not only is she the physical embodiment of that truth, as she dons a dress which was certainly fashionable then, but she narrates it quite gloriously, too.

Schlafly literally opened her speech by bragging that the very room they were standing in was the one she was in when they were able to bury the ERA in 1982. When I watched it I caught myself before I let "Bitch!" come out as I recognized she is elderly. But then I realized she is also a bitch. And I let it go! She went on to tout the glories of conservatism and the needs to maintain their views. She sincerely believes that it is a bad idea for women to make as much money as men because they will find themselves unable to land a man as their egos will be bruised. The entire purpose of being a woman, according to Schlafly, is to be a wife and a mother. She publicly denounces income equality often. She even said, "The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap." And do not misunderstand me, she said this last year.

(Here is a link if you want to see her speech, she comes on at 1:08:00. The entire thing is 4 hours)

It is telling that this was the conservative leader who was invited to speak last weekend. This was the voice the Regressive Party wanted to offer to the women of their party. These were the reminders the leaders of their party believed they needed to hear. In 2015.

At this convention all of the Regressive wannabes took the stage, one after another, demanding the right for women to control their own bodies be taken away. We were reminded of proud cuts to Planned Parenthood, successful attempts to shut down various abortion clinics, passing partial birth abortion bans, etc. And the crowd cheered for them all. This was the message they wanted to hear. In 2015.

Of course this is a group who apparently only have two things on their agenda: #1 Demand our nation allow absolutely anyone to build an arsenal without a 3 day cooling off period. #2 Demand a woman have very little opportunity to choose what to do with her own body but if she can find her way to the resources needed, she needs a 3 day cooling off period.

How has it been nearly 100 years and the ERA has been unable to be ratified in 2/3 of these United States? I don't know? We are mothers. Maybe it is in our nature to worry about taking care of everyone else's needs and that has allowed the movement to go unheard. But, as mothers, it is time to recognize what society we are building for our daughters. It is not selfish to demand equality for ourselves. And it certainly isn't selfish to fight for the generations of women who will follow us. We are sharing this country and not sharing the same rights to it. And that's bullshit.

Presently the Regressive Party War on Women is moving along quite well. Of course, they have Mike Huckabee trying to explain that it is a War for Women. But, Mike, you see, a war for women doesn't assume that we don't have the capacity for reasoned judgment to determine what we can do with our own bodies or families. A war for women doesn't tell my employer that they are entitled to religious objections to my family planning choices. A war for women does not allow for funds directed to DNA testing of rape kits to be misappropriated and ensure the rapists freedom while endangering more women and perpetuating my fear. A war for women doesn't give us statistical proof of our earning a fraction of what men earn and tell us we are overreacting to demand better. And a war for women certainly doesn't champion the work of the woman who battled tirelessly to kill the Equal Rights Amendment.

So, Thanks Mike, but we will take it from here. We will carry the mantle you have managed to drop, kick and set ablaze. It is our work. It is our responsibility to inform all women that they are not remotely entitled to the freedoms they think they are. And it is important to do that while pointing out the myriad rights which are presently being taken away.

Let us not wait for the 100th anniversary of the first attempt to raise our voices.

These are my ideas to start:

You can start by going here to sign a new change.org petition.

You can go to the ERA website to find answers to whatever questions you have running through your head.

You can go here to find your Senator and here to find your Congressperson  and send them an email or a fax NOW. Save their phone number in your phone. Set your phone to remind you to call them during their office hours and DO IT. The reason the right has such an amazing field game is they have organized their crazies to do this daily. And that is why their base is so strong.

Make a list of 5 (or more) women you know who will be pissed to realize that the ERA has never passed. And insist they do the same.

Are Temper Tantrums A Good Campaign Strategy?

Not gonna lie ... I cannot think of a single physical torture anyone could lay on me that would make me vote for a Republican. However, just watching from the outside, I feel confident that I would not vote for a Democrat or Independent who behaved the way those on the right have behaved this week. What must those in the center be thinking? Honestly!

This was the headline on Mike Huckabee's blog today where he railed over SCOTUS' decision on marriage equality. So, ummm... if you were, say, President, and you decided to resist and reject the judiciary, wouldn't that make you a tyrant? Moron.

He said the court was out of control yesterday, too. When they upheld the Affordable Care Act (say those three words in your head - wonder why they needed to give it another name?) he just wanted to lose his mind. This Christian will not abide living in a country where everyone has access to affordable healthcare. God. Dammit!




Ted Cruz had a fit yesterday, too. He, along with the rest of the GOP hopefuls, cannot interpret what the court ruling said. They all believe that they are going to be able to get rid of Obamacare. Never mind what they said in the ruling. No. Really. You have to have something to rail about, right?

Teddy hasn't commented yet on today's ruling. But last week he did tell a congregation, oops sorry, I mean conference attendees, "I would encourage everyone here to be lifting up in prayer the court that they not engage in an act of lawless judicial activism." So I assume he will be upset. Dick.

Bobby Jindals reply to Obamacare being upheld is almost comical. Its comical in the way that I like to laugh at people who are really assholes and say nonsense, not like a funny joke or anything. He was really pissed off because the Supreme Court didn't take away healthcare from millions of people based on semantics. Jindal demanded that the Supreme Court does not have the final say in the land . because ... yeah.

Of course, Mister Christian was all aflutter over SCOTUS' support of marriage equality today. It is curious. Im not kidding. I cannot have a rational discussion with someone and come out of it understanding how in the FUCK your religious liberties are diminished by another persons happiness.

I don't want to bark too loudly. Maybe they don't realize what they sound like to rational people. I just hope enough of them are paying attention. Good Gravy!

Dear Media: Grow Up!

America has been given yet another opportunity to begin sincere dialogue about the problems we have with racism in our society. We have them at least once a month now. The reason we know about the events is because you report them to us. Then, tragically, you turn every single event into something fantastical that can get you ratings. 

Every. Single. Time.

I feel confident that the reason you ignore important discussions is because you know that most Americans don't want to hear it. They are quite content in their little bubbles where societal issues don't affect them. You fear they will turn the channel and watch some other network give them 24/7 nonsense. As a journalistic outfit, can you not just accept that and do your job? Can you not make it important to give America the information that they need?

Today Marc Maron's podcast, WTF, had an interview with President Obama. The interview was a revelation. We were offered thoughtful and candid reflections from our leader about the issues of race in America. These are issues that are traditionally ignored by those in leadership because they don't want to offend anyone in their base or be called out for saying something insensitive. We finally had a deep conversation with our President. You are all telling us that he used the N- word. Are you fucking kidding me? It literally gave me a vision of you sitting at your desk in third grade, raising your hand with your mouth  making an 'ooo' and begging the teacher to call your name so you can say, "Ooohhhh, teacher, Johnny said the N- word."

GROW UP!

Here is the podcast

The entire point of his having said it was to point out that just because those in society don't hear the words use as often doesn't mean the same supremacy that used to allow it doesn't still exist. He gave you something to tell us. If you truly were journalists the discussion would have started right there. You have plenty of news clips you could've shown of many politicians and pundits on the right using coded language to incite their base.

Here. Let me get you started. Take these videos and begin the dialogue in our discourse regarding why it is still acceptable for Americans to be full of hate and believe that racism is still a part of our political world.

Last week offered us plenty of opportunities to sincerely discuss race with the comments coming from the right. Their inability to empathize about how hurtful the Confederate flag would be to the descendents of slaves while supporting the people who see the flag as a proud symbol of their heritage (a heritage of their ancestors fighting for the right to maintain slavery) should be profound enough, but it was ignored and offered to us as just a matter of fact.

Here we have Lindsey Graham explaining why the Confederate Flag is an important symbol of the South and then he literally waves his hands as if to say 'over there' and says they have an "African American memorial." The memorial is, obviously, a throw away. And the pain the flag causes and its symbolism adopted by racist groups is, too.

Remember Charles Murray? The white trash piece of shit who wrote the Bell Curve? Right. The guy who wrote about how whites are genetically predisposed to superiority over blacks. Just this year in an interview Jeb Bush was questioned about solving the issues of income disparity and he went into a talk about welfare and, without encouragement, went into explaining how his ideas are shaped by Charles Murray. The rest of his answer was about welfare, and because of who he quoted, he was obviously talking about black people being the problem.

Rick Santorum telling a group of white people about how its not fair to give the black people welfare money that white people earn.

Instead of focusing on the President reminding us that racism exists, maybe give America an opportunity to reflect on why it is still deemed socially acceptable. Just last week Donald Trump, while kicking off a campaign to be our President offered us a nice look into the mentality:

Mike Huckabee is forever condemning the President for fighting against the Jews and Christians. This is his dog whistle reminder to their racist base who need to hear reminders about the rumors they started about President Obama being a Muslim and means to support Jihadists. He tells us that everything the President does is against the Jews and Christians (just like Jihadists).

 Here he tells us he was proud to have a black President and now he realizes that Obama doesn't want America to succeed. They are always telling their base that the President is sincerely trying to ruin the country.

The Chinese (all of them, apparently) lack imagination and are thieves

Maybe you could just discuss this for a single moment (from earlier this year):

Oh. By the way. Here is a journalist who gets it. Maybe give him a call and ask how its done. Editorializing is, in fact, necessary sometimes. If you do not editorialize you offer the Republican faithful only the dog whistles they are being sent without offering any rationality or asking thoughtful Americans to consider why they are hearing things they find offensive.

It is unfathomable that you all get to call yourselves journalists and then behave as if you are either employed by a tabloid or the Fox cable channel with the word 'news' in its title. 

As often as the politicians on the right offer us examples of how large swaths of human beings can be immediately dismissed or worse, you never find it important to report on that. You are literally complicit in the racism so pervasive in our society when you give a voice to the racist actors and do not either condemn them or ask your audience for reflection. 

The GOP Field of Presidential Hopefuls is Genuinely Orgasmic [VIDEO]

I have struggled for years now trying to figure out how my President, who has been such a respectful and patient leader has been maligned repeatedly by the right and America has allowed it to go on. At the same time, those who are saying the nastiest things about President Obama and are doing nothing positive for the country while trying to dismantle every means of progress we have made over the last 6 years, are supporting people in efforts to succeed this presidency that would make an absolute joke of our country.

We are still trying to get over 8 years of having looked like we were not only capable as a citizenry to elect a leader who could represent us in the world with sincere diplomacy and tact but who would go out of their way to embarrass us whenever possible. We finally have someone who can maintain respectful dialogue with foreign leaders. He has actual ideas about how to make our country better. He has the capacity to build relationships with people who oppose him in hopes of moving America forward. But those on the right refuse to cooperate. At all. And those are the same people the GOP want us to consider to replace him? How can it even be a close contest? How can anyone take this group of jackasses seriously?

Last night Jon Stewart, sadly, showed us just how far its gone. When the career of any comedian can legitimately be propelled by bringing serious attention to the embarrassment of those who are hoping to lead our country, that says a lot.

That was hysterical! And sad. Comedians used to be able to exaggerate rumors or have a little bit of fun poking at our politicians. They are now, basically, able to make us laugh at ourselves. We are the ones who are giving these assholes a voice. We are the society that gets a kick out of watching a meaningless piece of shit fire people on a television show with a singular agenda of Donald Trump entertaining himself.

When Mike Huckabee talks on the stump I get pissed. Every time. He hates everyone and wraps his hatred up in a flag and a Bible. But I understand that the GOP has worked very hard to create a base who are just simple minded enough to believe that shit. When Scott Walker or John Kasich are discussed I realize that most people in America don't pay close enough attention to their work as governors to understand that they are way farther right than the real conservative base is. And I know the GOP will try to take advantage of that. They will hope to serve us one of their more 'centrist' candidates after all of the Bible desecrating sons of bitches are able to cancel one another out. I even understand that the GOP will try to give us Jeb Bush ... just because. Conservatives are pretty easy. Here. Its a Bush. You have elected them exclusively for the last 25 years. Have another one.

Donald Trump is something else though. This is taking things too far. The other GOP hopefuls at least tried to sound like viable candidates when they kicked off their campaigns. They didn't want America to really know that they hate just about every section of America and are only trying to appeal to the teabaggers. He managed to ramble on for about an hour telling us how rich he is. Repeatedly. I will bet that if someone did a search there would be no campaign speech in history that used the words "I" or "me" or "my" more often than he did.

Trump's ego is being given an opportunity to run for President of the United States because he can afford to pay for his own campaign. He concluded yesterday by taking an actual shit on my country by saying the "American dream is dead."

Damn Straight the American dream is dead, motherfucker, just not for the reasons you cited.

Can I have my fucking country back!?!?

Really??

And The Clowns Now Have a Ringleader!

I don't know. The GOP has never failed to leave me open jawed with a shaking head from the gaggle of goons they offer us every 4 years for the presidency. I consider myself a reasonable person. But I am also naive. Every time my naivete tells me that there is no way in hell [fill in the blank] will even make it through the primaries. Then every time I feel a little more detached from the country I love because it is, quite obviously, peopled with dupes and morons. This year is different, though. Somehow the GOP has managed to outdo themselves. This time the hopefuls have been repeatedly called a clown car. There is no better way to explain it.

We have Huckabee and his sincere hate for women. We have Ted Cruz who has promised to take us all back to the 12th century with both his fire and his brimstone. We are getting an opportunity to be reminded just how awful the Bush legacy is and, after six months, Jeb has finally decided that he would like to carry on those proud accomplishments. They are trying to give us Carly Fiorina because she has ovaries, I believe. And there's Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon who is the black man they will offer us this time because the GOP sincerely believes the rest of America is as stupid as their base. For the same reason, apparently, we are also getting a chance to consider Marco Rubio. He is of Cuban heritage and his parents came here to escape Fidel Castro. Except they didn't. Its all just so ridiculous. And, even though most have been running their campaigns for months now, so far we know about little more about them than a universal hatred for President Obama and Secretary Clinton, who have apparently ruined the country. Fabulous.

Today Donald Trump decided he would run, as well. He has fooled us before and tried to convince us that he was going to do it and then changed his mind. But he managed to get attention and I'm sure that is all he wanted. He has his own reality TV show for Christ's sake. He is a ridiculous human being who sincerely promoted the idea of President Obama having fooled us all with a fake birth certificate. He has managed to perpetuate the hateful narrative coming from the far right from a celebrity of his own egotistical creation having nothing to do with politics.

The only people who would actually consider him a viable candidate are the people he pays to support him and the teabaggers who will follow anyone who offers them a platform based solely on hate. Are we supposed to take seriously a man who wants to run our country and demands he can handle this economy he mocks after having filed bankruptcy four times? Or maybe we want our Commander In Chief to have nothing but pained aggression toward women who join the military and all but condone their being raped for having joined in the first place? Are we supposed to hope that the person who holds the veto pen to decide on the laws meant to protect our citizens to have spent many tens of thousands of dollars of his own money to advertise in the New York newspapers to have children be given the death penalty for a crime, it just so turns out, they had nothing to do with? This, the same man who had a public temper tantrum when those grown children finally won a settlement from the city who had abused their rights, with the help of his provocation.

I admit. I am one of those people who sits and whines every 4 years just thinking about what a tragic place we would all be in if whomever I hate most that time gets the job and I will have to end up leaving the country. I don't know how much I have ever really planned on doing it, though. This time my daughter is grown and on her own and my house is paid off. I honestly think that would be it for me. There are plenty of reasons to love my country, but if enough people come together to vote for him (while factoring in all of the bullshit that would have to happen at the polls) and he ends up leading this country, Im gone. I will take Mitt Romney's brilliant advice and self-deport. I'm thinking England. If I'm not mistaken, I'm destined to end up with Jason Statham. So I am going to go get started on making that happen. I'm sure he's been wondering where I am.


Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive

Arkansas: A Safe Haven for Child Sexual Predators

America has recently been given the opportunity to question how safe the children of Arkansas are under the protections of the Department of Human Services. The Duggar investigation was closed in 2006 (back when their good friend Mike Huckabee was still Governor) because, it was reported, the statute of limitations had expired. This fact is actually in contention as the civil statute is three years, but the criminal statute would have allowed them seven years to prosecute. If the department were concerned about the girls' well-being, they could have still proceeded with a criminal charge, but they decided to leave them in the home with their brother who had admitted to molesting them, repeatedly.

Earlier this year the department was hit with another child sexual assault scandal involving a 'Christian' Republican leader, State Congressman Justin Harris. Harris, a proud Tea Partier, is fanatic about his anti-choice stance. His right wing constituents, I suppose, think that's fabulous. He went out of his way in 2012 to set an example for the good Christians in his state to counter the evils of abortion by fostering three sisters. It would seem like that would be a great place for them. He was, after all, the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth and is on the Education Committee, as well. What's more is that he and his wife actually own and operate a day care, as well.

Initially, in September 2012, Harris and his wife had decided to foster three sisters. In adoption circles these are called "special needs" children because it is incredibly difficult to find a home for siblings to stay together. These girls had already been placed with a family together, but for some reason the Harris' determined these lovely white, blonde girls should come stay with them. Who knows why? Within a few months, however, the Harris' had two girls in their care. No mention was made at the time of where the eldest girl had gone, but she was just never discussed as if it had always been just the two. It turns out that she had been a victim of sexual abuse in her birth home, which is why the girls had been initially displaced. This child was suffering from severe trauma due to her history and was said to have acted out. Did they really expect them not to have issues? Well, no. Per Harris, the placement agency neglected to inform them that the girls "were disturbed by the trauma of their upbringing in their birth family." Right. Because three siblings looking for a new home cannot have faced any trauma. And it would have never occurred to either his wife or himself to ask why these children needed to be fostered.

Shortly after he gave the eldest daughter back to the fostering agency, Harris and his wife adopted the younger two. Within a year they, too, were too much for the Harris family to deal with (one was 6, the other 3) and they were re-homed. That is a thing. It exists. It is legal to adopt children and then decide against it and quietly give them to some other person, without doing any background check or asking the state to advise on the transfer. The man he dumped the two girls off on was a former employee of Harris' day care center. It turned out he was a pedophile.The six year old girl was molested by him and, finally, the state again became involved in the care for these children. The entire time they were living with the pedophile, the state thought the girls were still with the Harris family. They were still sending him a check for their care, after all.

The eldest child was eight when she came to the Harris family. Harris has since explained that they gave her up before the adoption of the other two girls because she was such a terror. She was dangerous and could not be controlled. He did, however, try to have her exorcised first. Good for them, on the day pictured below she was on her best behavior and able to cooperate in the perfect-family photo op for his campaign. I can't even imagine why he would need her after that, honestly.

Justin Harris is now back at work legislating for the state of Arkansas. After a three month cooling off period, he apparently thought it would be a good idea to go back to representing the children of his state and passing laws to protect them. Plenty of Americans disagree and have started this petition to force his resignation. Please take a moment to sign it and pass it on.

Dear Media: I Am Running for President!!

Dear Media:

I have decided to run for President and am inviting you to the kick-off announcement for my campaign. From what I gather in watching all of your coverage, it is a bad idea for a candidate from the left to have amassed any wealth. This is very encouraging for me. Not only am I not well off, but I live in a trailer park. I am hoping to kick my campaign off here this weekend. Although I do not ride a motorcycle like Scott Walker, the guy down the road, we call him Drunk Mike, has a motorcycle. I'll bet he would be glad to ride me through the park with a flag and maybe a bullhorn or something. Would you like to come cover that and ask the Americans who live here what they would like from a leader? Because you all spend so much time finding ways to discount positive economic news that comes out each month, I guess my neighborhood would be a true representation of an American community and its needs would be the perfect projection for your audience.

My neighbors have started a SuperPac to help me get started. They have already raised enough to pay for my internet through the election. I will be running the majority of my campaign online because I don't have a lot of money to pay for travel. You are all welcome to visit me here for interviews, though. Because my time and funds are so limited, however, I would like to get a few tips from you all before you come. I hope you don't mind taking the time to help me understand.

I guess its the campaigning itself that is confusing for me. I am a Democrat and I am a woman. I notice that all of the candidates on the right are men (aside from Fiorina who even you all don't seem to really be taking seriously) and are allowed to pretty much dictate which questions they answer. Will I be afforded that same courtesy? How does it work, exactly? It seems as if I just scowl and refuse to answer or change the subject you will back down. Or do I publicly condemn you for having a conservative bias and shame you into asking me the questions I want to answer? It seems kind of rude, honestly. I would really rather not have to do either. So if you could just stick with questions that are relevant to Americans, I think we would be fine.

Although the questions the candidates on the right seem to favor are those that they can turn into a tirade on Secretary Clinton, I would really rather you just focus on the issues I would like to tackle during my 4 or 8 years leading the country. I hope that you don't spend too much of our time together asking me to trash talk any of the other candidates. I could write you a book. Or a series of books, probably. Okay. I could actually write you a series of tomes, but the point is - if I have less than eighteen months to tell my fellow citizens how I envision our future, I would rather leave my diatribes for 2024.

I sincerely love my country. I guess that I am supposed to start there. From what you have reported to me, I am then supposed to tell America the reasons I love her. I should begin by defining my patriotism. Correct? Well, I do not believe in the idea of American Exceptionalism as those on the right keep defining it. I do hope that we can work toward being exceptional, however, and I have a lot of ideas about how to get us there. Frankly, it is hard to decide how to define my patriotism in a way that your audience will appreciate. It seems that everyone has been conditioned to believe that it is found in things I cannot understand. Please forgive my naivete if I do not come off patriotic. This is all new to me. So, this weekend you all reported that Secretary Clinton was condemned at a Joni Ernst fundraiser for having "Probably never ridden a John Deere," I have! So I am hoping you can report that to Americans for me. But, I am not sure if that experience is relevant as I have never walked to school in a downpour with Wonder Bread bags on my feet. Maybe we could get clarification before you report on that. I wouldn't want a cherished childhood memory of having steered the tractor from my granddady's lap to end up being maligned because my childhood had missed any other important milestones.

I believe that a lot of what Senator Sanders has been saying has been exactly what America needs to hear right now. The word 'socialist' has been bandied about, however, and that has been offered to us as a bad word. I certainly don't want any bad words attributed to me. Can we just stick with something like 'really really worried about taking care of all Americans' or something like that? It sounds a lot better, don't you think?

Of the many issues I am passionate about, the first that I would want to discuss is healthcare. People keep telling us that universal healthcare is a terrible thing. The only terrible things I would like to tell Americans are the horror stories of real people who are suffering because their state has decided to deny people coverage. I want them to know about how 850,000 Floridians have had their medical coverage taken away by their legislatures because they were deemed 'able bodied' even though the only way they can actually be so is by paying $4000/month to cover health costs to enable them to breathe. I am sure that, before Americans go to vote next year, they would want to know the very specific details about their candidates positions on this issue. Wouldn't you think so, as an American?

I am a proud feminist and would want to make women's issues a main focus of my campaign. I am concerned, however, because although I am aware of the rabid opinions those running on the right have espoused about women, I have never heard any in the media report on them. Are those the types of issues the media just doesn't like to cover? Unlike Mike Huckabee, I believe that women are quite capable of multi-tasking, even while on their periods. All of the candidates on the right have said they want to get rid of a woman's right to chose altogether. I would like to really have a discussion about that. Will you be willing to cover it? As yet, I have not heard the media cover any of their extreme ideas about women. It is hard to defend an argument when your audience hasn't even heard it. I hope you will understand this and start reporting on the things they say to their party so the rest of Americans can make an educated choice between my vision and theirs.

Like every other candidate on the left who has ever been interviewed, I believe that we should have laws to restrict gun use by those who have been deemed dangerous. Would you please make a point of specifically telling your audience that I am not interested in getting rid of the Second Amendment? In fact, I would even go a step farther and tell them that if they would stop the discourse about taking away the Constitutional rights of a woman to decide what to do with her own body, I would gladly see to it that they keep their Second Amendment. That seems fair. Then we could knock out two extreme conversations with one sentence and get back to things that the majority of Americans are actually concerned about.

I have been struggling to understand why there is so much coverage on Secretary Clinton in the media and so little on the many candidates on the right? Maybe because there are too many on the right you become overwhelmed and just focus on the left? I hope that my entry to the campaign doesn't create a field so large that it makes you decide to stop covering politics altogether. Information really is supposed to be the service that you give Americans and it would be a shame for you to give up before you even tried.

I lack the grace of President Obama and the experience of Secretary Clinton. I am easily frustrated and get quite defensive when I am dismissed or disrespected. I fear my campaign will end before it has a chance to really begin if you refuse to cover my campaign respectfully. You all are welcome to hours of commentary on what my platform is about. In fact, I would encourage that. Although my life will offer you more than enough truly tabloidesque moments to explore and exploit, I hope that you will keep that to a minimum. I think Americans would like to be able to discern my trustworthiness and intentions with little thought to whether or not I was a jackass as a teenager or took five years to get my two year college degree. My opinions are vastly different from those you have been offering to your audiences so I hope that will be enough to warrant your time and attention.

I'll see you this weekend!

Kiss kiss,

Mean Progressive