Anti-Obamacare Nazi Propaganda

I have an anxiety disorder. Because of it I have panic attacks. I have never had a full out panic attack about anything political, though. Until today. I cannot even explain how it happened. A friend of mine in a group on G+ posted this video and I watched it. I began shaking. And before I knew it I was working to catch my breath. Sometimes when I type the words, "I just can't take it" they seem exaggerated. They really aren't. 

I am now crying. I'm so sorry to lay this all on you. It is so unprofessional to define my panic attack to you but I feel it is relevant, too. I have only just recently started to research Obamacare and its many Republican attackers. I knew I supported Obamacare and I had thought for decades that the fact that America is the only major industrialized nation to not have universal healthcare is quite telling of why we are so unbelievably fucked up as a nation. I have met some people on Facebook who are sincere victims of the Republican push to get rid of Obamacare. Their stories broke my heart and I am hoping to find the time it will take to really dedicate to an incredibly in-depth series on these tragedies. 

The millions of lives the right is jeopardizing by playing games with healthcare is heartbreaking. I cant think about it without getting sick. I am one of them and I don't even think about it. I can't spend time wondering what will happen if my governor, who happens to hate Obamacare, gets rid of our funding. I would probably be in full panic attack mode every day.

Since I started becoming more involved with social media in the last several months, I have had a revelation about the means by which those on the right are brainwashed into believing the absolute bullshit they do. It is astounding to hear them quote a rewritten Bible or history. They blow my mind. So I started researching their history and tried to figure out how this was accomplished.

I have always been fascinated by people and how they think. It was because of this fascination that I have been researching the Nazi propaganda and the Holocaust for about 30 years now. I have been struck by the profound commonalities. I wrote a piece in April where I compared the beginnings of the two movements and their propaganda ploys. The article is really long and one day I mean to break it up into several pieces. But I guess its saying something that it is only a comparison of the two and it is so long.

The group that made the bullshit video above is called Freedom Works. They are a propaganda group who literally spin every issue possible to the will of the billionaires who need the teabaggers to follow their agenda. Their web site isn't only just as hateful and devoid of any sensibility, it is a mirror of the tea party web site I found when I was researching their propaganda techniques and came across their spin doctor, Jerome Corsi. This Freedom Works site has different categories where you can select your talking point and then you can get all of the opinions you need by the professional bloggers for this Super Pac. Yes. It is a Super Pac. And yes, they literally give you your talking points. This site is an absolute revelation to me. It is, apparently, where the teabaggers get their rewritten history and contrived understandings of the Constitution.

I think all Americans on the left and even in the center who are also terrified of the extreme right need to be aware of their rhetoric so we can not only counter it in discussions with teabaggers, but with confused people who pay no attention and get their information from teabaggers. This shit cannot go on. I can't take it. I realize today's post is about as fluid as a brick and I sincerely apologize. I wanted to give this information to anyone who was looking to understand the propaganda you are up against when ignorant people demand that Obamacare is such an evil.

Domestic Violence Rates Have Gone Up. But Who Gives A Shit?

I will admit, I know nothing about boxing. I don't know the names when the big fights are coming up and I don't know their life stories. Honestly, if the Buckeyes aren't playing on Saturday, I could give a shit about sports. So after the big fight last month I read that the guy who won the fight, Floyd Mayweather, had been arrested or cited 7 times for domestic violence. I sat silent when I read that and went numb.

Eventually my eyes wandered back to the computer to read the rest of the story. My mind was racing. I hoped the article answered my biggest question, "How does someone commit 7 offenses and not have been sentenced to a lifetime in jail?" Of course, there is no answer. This is not shocking. This is our society. We have plenty of excuses for domestic violence. We have plenty of opportunities to dismiss allegations and blame the victim. Maybe she was asking for it? Why didn't she leave if he was so mean? She is lying so she can go after him for his money.

I literally ache when I see stories about abusers being offered opportunities to enter society without having been sentenced or even referred for intensive therapy. The fact is, no one gives a shit. And we proved it by celebrating a huge sporting event and excitedly waiting to see a man, who should be removed from our society for his violence, display profound violence. And we paid him $180 million to do it.

I was in an abusive relationship 23 years ago. He was a monster. When I finally got away from him I didn't date again for 17 years because I couldn't figure out what signs I had missed and didn't want to make the same mistakes again.

I don't like to ever think of myself as a victim because I have always been very independent and outspoken. I have always taken care of myself and have sincerely, and quite naively, never feared any person or situation. Because he was actually crazy, however, I didn't defend myself. I was pregnant when the abuse started and my desire to never make things worse, coupled with the understanding that his rage had no limits, was the only reason that I never tried to fight back. I doubt anyone who knew me just a few years earlier in high school would have imagined me ending up where I had. But there I was.

He was an absolute puzzle to me. I like to really try to understand people. I am very good at it. There was no understanding him, though. Nothing needed to set him off. He would switch from happy(ish) to violent with no warning. He controlled every aspect of my life. I wasn't allowed to answer the phone or the door. I was not allowed to have company. I was not allowed to go anywhere without him. He would not let me be alone in my home. If I went to the bathroom, he came with me. If I took a bath, he would sit on the toilet the entire time. My family and I became all but estranged. I now understand that all of these are common tactics for abusers. At the time, however, it was beyond my comprehension that a person could behave the way he did.

He liked to taunt me when he was going to hurt me. Sometimes he wouldn't end up hurting me because, I guess, the threat was enough fun for him. Asshole. He often used objects to hit me in the head. He said it didn't leave a mark. I'm sure it did, but my hair covered it. Dickhead. He dragged me through the apartment by my ponytail at 8 months pregnant. He chased me with a hammer. And the night before I had my daughter he actually broke her crib throwing me into it and then pummeled me so many times that my entire left side was bruised when I went to have her the next morning. Motherfucker.

The worst was a couple of weeks later, however. I was not listening to him. I was exhausted and wanted to take a nap. But I wasn't allowed to take a nap in the bedroom because he couldn't see me. I took the baby and went to bed anyway. He kept peeking around the door and making creepy voices to wake me up. I got pissed and told him to leave me alone. He tore into the room and jumped on top of me on the bed. The baby was sleeping in the crease of my armpit and he was on my belly. He put his hands around my throat and choked me. I could tell by his eyes that he wasn't going to stop. I kept trying to get him off of me but couldn't. I was thinking that there was no way I could leave my child alone in this world with him. I was desperate to get away. I needed to get him off of me. I noticed that the white ceiling beyond his head above me was turning blue. I knew that was it.

I woke up. Obviously. But I had no reason to believe that I would. With help, we were able to get away from him that next week. I found a police officer and asked him to take me back to my house and remove my boyfriend because he was abusive. He asked me whether or not my boyfriend lived there. I said that he did but assured him that only my name was on the lease. He asked me if he had lived there longer than 2 weeks. I said that he had and could not believe the direction it seemed this conversation was going. He then asked me if he had ever received a piece of mail at the apartment. I told him that he had. The officer finally told me that my apartment was his legal home and I did not have the right to remove him and make him homeless. He could only take him if he was arresting him. He asked if I had proof of the abuse. He noted that I was neither bruised nor bloody and then asked me if I had any witnesses. I looked at my witness, my 3 week old daughter, and thought, "This has to be a joke."

No joke. He followed me to my apartment and offered me an escort. He said I had 5 minutes to collect all of our things so that we could move out of my home. No shit! This was the law in 1992. And it was 4 days before Christmas. The officer told me that we could go to a homeless shelter if I wanted to and that I could press charges against my abuser in the morning. But, he assured me, without any evidence or witnesses he would not be charged. So, with that encouragement, I left the state.

Last year when the video of Ray Rice knocking his fiancée out was released, someone posted it on Facebook. A friend of mine commented that we had no idea what the woman had done to instigate the situation and suggested we wait until the whole story came out. I knew that people thought that way, but I was offended that someone I had called a friend would say something like that. It was like she betrayed all women. She betrayed me. I was pissed. I was sorry that typing in all caps was the best that I could do because I desperately wanted to get in her face and scream.

There are certainly women who are vicious. I accept that some women will lie for attention or to get back at a man. They exist. They are awful, spiteful people. But to go into any conversation about a woman being abused assuming that they may not have been? Or to look for an excuse and make her the instigator and, in turn, justify abuse? That is not only cruel, but its dangerous. You cannot hold every woman accountable for things that other women have done. You cannot ever allow yourself to believe there is causation beyond the abusers own violent intentions.

It is incredibly difficult for a woman to even come forward. There is often a lot of fear, shame, dependency and loneliness in the back of their minds that they have to come to terms with before they can even think about seeking help. No facet of society (and especially any member of the female half of it) can initially question the validity of an abuse declaration. The first instinct and action must be for their protection. The alternative is unthinkable.

I don't have a passive bone in my body. I am tough. I am smart. I am resourceful. I am strong. I am brave. I am responsible. I am independent. And I was abused.

It can happen to anyone. And it does. I am quick to point that out to people when they look for reasons to disbelieve a woman's accusations of abuse. No one knows what is going on in another persons home. My abuser was, quite literally, a sociopath. He could convince anyone that he was a good guy. It was fascinating to watch. The converse, however, was a nightmare to experience.

I have always had 5% of my check go to a domestic violence shelter called Choices. When I was leaving my abuser, the police didn't even tell me there was a shelter like that. They existed. It was a thing back then. I was told I could go to a homeless shelter. A place that really knew how to care for a woman in that situation would've been something I would have felt comfortable considering had it been explained to me. I was afraid and confused. I chose to leave my home and my belongings and leave the state. That was 1992. What is it like in 2015, I wonder? Are women treated more respectfully and given the support and options they need to move on in their lives?

Apparently, no.

[Recently] in one 24-hour period there were 18 calls per hour for help involving domestic violence in Missouri, reports the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV)" but that 47% of requests for shelter went unmet.

A survey of domestic violence programs in North Dakota found that 375 victims were served in one day last year, with 32 requests for help going unfulfilled because of funding and staff shortages.

In just one 24-hour period, local domestic violence programs across the country provided help and safety to 67,646 adults and children who were victims of domestic violence. Yet on the very same day, there were 10,871 requests that could not be met due to lack of funding.

How many times have you read or heard a headline "The recent [fill in the blank with irrelevant name] murder has reminded us of domestic violence issues." I always ask myself, "Who the fuck has forgotten?" Its society. Society manages to forget. Its the society that tells itself that it is not misogynistic. Its the society that tells itself that 'feminism' is a bad word. Its the society that tells itself that women already have equality and just need to move on. As long as society manages to exist with occasional reminders that women and children are living in terror in states which annually take funding from programs to help them, we have all forgotten. Collectively, as a society, we perpetuate these tragedies by inviting those to legislate who have absolutely no care for any lives that can't ensure their next reelection.

How do we stop this? How do we get enough Americans to pay attention and give a shit about who they are voting for? I have no idea. If I knew I would not be writing and bitching about those 'representatives' every day. But as long as they keep their positions, these numbers will continue to get worse every year. And apparently, in our society, that's just fine.

 

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??

My President

One day, thoughtful historians will chronicle the eight years of President Obama as having been remarkable for many reasons. He walked into the White House during a time when the economy was a disaster and the country was in two wars. His administration was the one who finally caught Osama bin Laden. Against the most absurd opposition, he managed to bring Americans universal healthcare. The auto industry was revitalized under his guidance. This President has been able to display an exceptional gift for thoughtful diplomacy. Against profound Republican resistance, several bills to help Veterans were able to pass and be approved by the President. The list of his accomplishments seems never-ending. The thing that people seem to miss is the fact that he is making good on many of his campaign promises. History will be able to recount every attempt, even if unsuccessful, of a leader who aspired to represent the legacy he meant to create.

At present, much of the narrative around the President is nonsensical rhetoric. Those condemning him have never acknowledged his having had a single accomplishment. The opposition literally determined upon his inauguration that they would derail all of the President's efforts. To just consider half of his accomplishments in light of that fact is remarkable. They have willfully and deliberately hurt this country in order to postpone votes to move the economy forward. They have endangered suicidal veterans by voting against a bill for them. They have endangered children presently being trafficked in the sex trade IN AMERICA because they demand the bill include a denial of their right to terminate any pregnancies that come of their experience. One of the loudest opponents to the President, who believes himself worthy of the same title, actually read a Dr Seuss book in the Senate during a filibuster attempt to keep Americas citizens from having healthcare. Their childish dissent, while demanding Americas exceptionalism, will be remembered as one of the most shameful aspects of American history, to be sure.

As for me, I love my President. There will never be a leader who will do every single thing that I want, I know that. And I certainly don't want the job so I will have to entrust the country I love to someone who is up for the challenge. I can go back to each of our Presidents through Reagan and see that their egos ran for office and determined their actions and defined their character while in office. I can say that I am sure this is not the case with President Obama. He has a humility and grace that I have never seen in a leader. It is unimaginable how much stress the job of President is to any person who takes the job seriously (lets not pretend that all who get the job or aspire toward it do), but to add on top of that the amount of blatant disrespect he is paid every day with every action and you have to be in awe of this man and his strength. As much as the 'representatives' on the right want to ruin him, they are going out of their way to show history what a profound grace he embodies. Those of us who are true patriots are offered sincere pride in America with President Obama at the helm.

This picture was on my Facebook page on Easter. I giggled, at first. It is so sweet and funny. He manages to have a sense of humor through all he has endured. It is also hopeful. He is standing next to a childhood image looking up at the Washington Monument. We are offered a vision of an innocent hope for our country. I love him. And history will, too.

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