May 24, 2012 · 2:23 pm

A POLL BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL…

A POLL BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL…

Louise Annarino

May 24, 2012

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

It is estimated that William Shakespeare coined approximately 135 phrases in common use today. The quote above is a line spoken mournfully by Juliet on her balcony, as Romeo lurks below in the bushes. It is one of Shakespeare’s most memorable lines. Juliet has been taught that Montagues are bad. Romeo is a Montague. In coming to know him she learns that this is stupid point of view. Whatever his name or family affiliation, he is still the same person.

Obviously, this is a lesson many of us still need to learn. Political strategy developed and perfected by Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, Grover Norquist et al. over the past 30 years continues to demonize opposition candidates within and outside its own party. Ironically, Newt Gingrich himself was a victim of this strategy during the 2012 Republican presidential primary.

The 2012 Republican primary was very ugly. How ugly? So ugly it stunk. Last night, Dan Rather told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the 2012 campaign is the worst campaign he has covered; and, he has covered eleven campaigns.  When he says, “There have been bad ones before, but this is the worst so far,” he is not exaggerating.”I hope I’m wrong about this,but I think by the time we finish with this campaign, not only will it be a three billion dollar presidential campaign – three billion dollars – but it will be ugly enough to choke a buzzard before we get through with it.”1

Media buzzards are circling the candidates, waiting to pounce on any sign of weakness as measured by daily polls. At the close of this piece is a list of poll info sites. Reviewing them may be fun, but not necessarily very useful. Watching them over time, one realizes that a single media story can shift the results temporarily; an aggregate of stories can shift it substantially.

Call in more buzzards, the admen, to create stories funded by PACS and SUPER PACS; some true, others created out of whole cloth without a stitch of truth.  Does it matter if the ads are true or false? “…a rose by any other name would smell…” as bad. To most of us, the whole thing stinks! Are we so overwhelmed by the stench of lies we can no longer smell the roses of truth?

As for the polls, they are not “truth” either. Even the best efforts fail to consider large numbers of our populace. A recent report on the 2010 census with strong outreach to historically undercounted persons, shows both an undercount and an overcount, although an improvement over past years.

The overcount was “due mostly to duplicate counts of affluent whites owning multiple homes.”  On the backside of the count, the census missed about 2.1 percent of black Americans,1.5 percent of Hispanics (1.5 million people), about 5 percent of American Indians living on reservations and nearly 2 percent of minorities who marked themselves as “some other race”. “While the overall coverage of the census was exemplary, the traditional hard-to-count groups, like renters, were counted less well,” Census Bureau director Robert Groves said. “Because ethnic and racial minorities disproportionately live in hard-to-count circumstances, they too were undercounted relative to the majority population.”2

The disparities of the census count which occurred in every community over many months makes daily polls made via landline phones even more suspect. Who are these people who have the time to answer the phone and answer questions? Not the working poor. Not young men seeking to make their fortune by sheer effort of will, not minorities suspicious of white people asking a lot of questions.”We remain deeply troubled by the persistent and disproportionate undercount of our most vulnerable citizens — people of color, very young children and low-income Americans,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League and chairman of the Census Bureau’s 2010 Census Advisory Committee.2

The breakdown analysis of the census shows the following:

—Renters were undercounted by 1.1 percent, while homeowners were over-counted by 0.6 percent.

—Broken down by age, men 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 were more likely to be missed in 2010 than other age groups, while women 30 to 49 were over-counted; that is a pattern consistent with 2000. Adults 50 and older had over-counts of their population, while some young children ages 4 and under were missed.

—The District of Columbia had the highest shares of people who were missed, at 2.2 percent. West Virginia had the highest over-count of its population, at 1.4 percent.2

Polls and the census are useful tools; but they are merely tools, not truths. Political ads are useful tools; but,they are merely tools not truths. Too often these tools are being used to tell us “Montagues” are bad. Unfortunately, that messaging leaves us with no good choices. Such a paradigm undermines our faith in our  political system.

What can we do? Look at the record of accomplishments for each candidate;is it broad and deep,or narrowly focused? Watch how each candidate plays to a specific audience; does he factually present his record, or play on people’s fears and racism? How do the candidate’s surrogates describe their candidate; with a recitation of the factual record of each candidate, or with an ad hominem attack on their candidate’s opponent? Does the candidate talk down to voters, or respect them as equals? Does the candidate acknowledge our current situation in a realistic manner, or in a bombastic fashion?

Whom do we trust to assess candidates? Not political ads. Not polls. Not news analysts. Not all these buzzards! Trust yourself. Use your head. Set aside the stupidity of thinking a person is bad because of his name, the color of his skin, or even his party affiliation. Look for truth. Feel it in your gut. Replace fear with knowledge. Learn to know the candidates as well as you know your self; even if it means you have to learn to know your self first! This is your country. This is your election. Own it.

  1. http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/05/dan-rather-worst-presidential-campaign-124418.html
  2. http://hosted2.ap.org/OHCOL/0798b35a2b9245c790110b1366b5cc82/Article_2012-05-22-Census%20Accuracy/id-51befaeae7d3442c967b4e951b5466e5

Poll Links:

http://www.nationalpolls.com/obama/independents.html

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/

http://electoral-vote.com/

http://www.politico.com/2012-election/presidential-polls/

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May 23, 2012 · 6:11 pm

THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT IS OVER

THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT IS OVER

Louise Annarino

May 21, 2012

Memorial day is just ahead, a time to remember those who filled a place in our hearts and minds we had no way to access on our own. Now, they have gone to a world we do not know but hope and long for, depending on our faith to bring us home. Whether we are Christian,Muslim,Hindu or Jew,agnostic or atheist, we can each identify with E.T.’s solemn entreaty to the children who loved him as he pointed skyward, “E.T. go home?” When those we love leave us it becomes winter in our souls. We are discontented, anxious, even angry. We say things we do not mean, statements indicate more about what we fear than what is true about those who left us. It is a winter of discontent.

Many Americans are in their gardens.The bird feeder is full, the bird bath in use, the compost spread. They spend time weeding, identifying the reborn perennials, dividing and moving them, and planting new seed. They do not ask if their plants like the spot they have chosen for them, but the plants will tell them with drooping stem or browning leaf edge. After a winter of discontent, anxious for the sun’s return, often angry over slick roads and crazy drivers, we find peace in our gardens. Spring brings hope for increased growth and abundance, a richness of color and diversity after a long grey-spell.

We have been through a winter of discontent with our political leaders,as well. Anxious over the excessive use of the filibuster by Senate Republicans, the deliberate block of Democratic House bills and appointments in Republican-led House committees which keeps President Obama’s legislative agenda locked away in committees to prove to us his promised change is a farce, the ease with which both Democratic and Republican parties cozy up to lobbyists and media, and the dead on arrival gridlock make us angry.

No one is satisfied with where we are as a nation. We are in winter’s grip even as we face a new political season, a new spring seems impossible. There is a calculation in play, a deliberate disorder to the natural ebb and flow of our political seasons. A Republican Party strategy was being designed even while President Obama was being sworn in on Inauguration Day.1  The Washington,D.C. garden of governance was being put to bed for the winter, a winter meant to last for the next 4 years.But, we cannot truly be without hope. Surely, we nation of farmers who tamed a wilderness, the world’s breadbasket, we who sing of “amber waves of grain” understand that after the winter comes the spring.

Much of the work by a gardener is unseen, testing and amending the soil to prepare for seeding, researching and reviewing past and future gardening practices, noting weather fluctuations and expected weather events, anticipating new technologies, finding the money to buy the best tools, incorporating new practices into old routines, preparing the beds, choosing the seed. Much of governance is unseen. It is just as tedious as gardening. Each can result in great productivity and abundance. We know when a gardener is on the right track. We can see the garden greening as plants begin to grow. But, watching plants grow can be as boring as watching paint dry. We really only understand how much progress has been made at the summer season’s close, when the garden has passed its zenith. That day is in the future. Neither the Obama administration’s accomplishments, nor our gardens are yet in full swing. For example, The Affordable Care Act does not become fully implemented until 2014. Growing a health care financing system which combines private/public sector efforts across 50 states with diverse delivery of care constructs, increased services, updated technology, best-practices and most cost-effective reviews etc. takes time. A gardener understands growth does not happen overnight. A gardener does not lose hope when change comes slowly.

This presidential race is not about change; change is occurring. It is about the direction of change. We can decide to govern using the same practices which nearly destroyed our garden of state and the entire world’s economy; or, we can move forward with the vision Barack Obama has for the sustained growth of this nation and its ability to offer the promise of abundance for all of its citizens. The difference between the candidates could not be more pronounced. The choice is backward or forward.

Furthermore,as Benjamin Byron points out, “…there is something rather odd going on in this presidential race. The Republican candidates — currently interested in courting conservative voters interested in shrinking the size of government, reducing debt and deficit, and reducing the tax burdens on individuals and corporations — have all submitted proposals that would, in most cases, increase deficits and debt over the next 10 years. Surprisingly, it is President Barack Obama’s budget proposal that has received the best scoring on reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio over the next 10 years.” 2

America was once untamed wilderness, and Libertarians such as Ron Paul revel in the freedom of the wilderness. There is a place for wilderness in each of our lives, and in a part of our garden. But, wilderness is a frightful task-master, and most of us are not up to its challenges. Too many would be left to struggle and die alone in the wilderness suggested by Mr. Paul. Civilization arose when wilderness was tamed. This is the role of government: to tame the wilderness.

When I visited Hilton Head, S.C. the first time I was appalled by the manicured, faux-garden island. It’s beauty left no room for spontaneous growth and abundance, no allowance for divergence of color or form. Like Mitt Romney, it seemed stilted and stuffy, with a controlled appearance meant to calm and orchestrate one’s compliance with the norm. We each need such places of calm in our lives and in our gardens; but, we need freedom to explore and ignite ideas which upset the norm in order to grow abundantly.

The best gardeners are those who take time to test the soil, feel the wind, learn the lay of the land and research what grows best given current conditions. The best gardeners are those who experiment to see what actually works, moving and adapting plants and treatments to get the strongest, most productive plants for sustained success, even if it takes a lot more work and a little more time. They don’t mind getting dirty, hot and sweaty; looking bad to make good on the promise of a healthy future for the garden and for the country. They leave room for wilderness to ignite our dreamers. They create spots of calm certainty for our most staid thinkers. They are the hope for our country and for our civilization. They are those who garden the middle ground. President Obama is the one candidate who can create such a garden of governance.

1.Method to Republican ‘Madness‘,May 5,2012,Consortiumnews.com, By Robert Parry (Originally published March 31, 2010) http://consortiumnews.com/2012/05/05/method-to-republican-madness/

2. Barack Obama Debt Plan Reduces Deficit While All Other Republican Candidates Increase Deficit, Polycymic, Next Generation News and Politics, Business, National Debt, by Benjamin Byron,  http://www.policymic.com/articles/4895/barack-obama-debt-plan-reduces-deficit-while-all-other-republican-candidates-increase-deficit 

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May 18, 2012 · 2:00 pm

TIMEKEEPER: FOREWARD

TIMEKEEPER: FORWARD

Louise Annarino

May 18, 2012

 

Who keeps the time

to say

when change

is on the way ?

Or marks the place

we stand

where change

meets new demands?

Or opens the book

which tells

which change

expands and swells?

Or fills the gap

between

which change

remains unseen?

 

Who is this time

keeper

Of mutual discourse,

Of unfulfilled promises,

and half-way-there schemes

which lack the votes or means

to reach the goals we set

together once?

Was it less than four years ago?

It seems so

much longer when

we went to vote

for better times and thought

we could rely on

One another to reach across

the aisles, for once.

 

Who is this time

keeper

staunch and loyal

president

who remains faithful

to the pledge

that time is on

Our side

with history pointing the way

and setting the pace

despite those who place

Obstacles in our way

to stop the metronome

and stand in the way

to delay progress

until election day?

Vote OBAMA! Keep time by marching forward together.

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May 18, 2012 · 6:43 am

LESSONS FROM MY KITCHEN

LESSONS FROM MY KITCHEN

Louise Annarino

May 18, 2012

 

For years I was a good cook, and a great baker. Then a few years ago, nothing seemed to turn out right. Cakes fell on one side. Cookies were either burnt or raw. Pie crust was soggy. It was so difficult to produce a tasty product I nearly stopped trying. Friends and family stopped asking for a sweet from my kitchen, turned down my offerings, and made strained faces as they said they were “not hungry” when offered a treat. I gave up, believing my baking days were over; others would replace my efforts with their own. Recently, my oven died. A new oven was installed. Suddenly, my cooking and baking skills were restored, my productivity increased, and the demand for my sweets increased. The secret? I now used an oven whose heat was regulated. Baking, like any productive endeavor, is both an art and a science. There are rules to acknowledge, recipes to follow, and regulated patterns to maintain proper heat to alter the interaction of the ingredients for successful cakes-pies-cookies. Baking for a family is not without risk, but less demanding than baking for a huge family wedding. Baking a wedding cake and catering the event is an enterprise too big to fail. Throwing a burnt batch of cookies out to the birds is no big deal; failing to deliver a wedding cake is.

 

Regulations are not meant to restrict an enterprise, but to make it more productive. Following rules and regulations is not counterproductive; it assures the common good will be served by the success of the enterprise. It encourages growth and productivity. It assures certainty which reduces fear and risk to manageable proportions. regulations are good and necessary. Not just in kitchens, but in the corporate world as well.

 

What do we mean by too big to fail? Consider the nation’s biggest banks collective holdings: In 2008,the nation’s biggest banks held $6 trillion, 40% of the nation’s wealth; today, $8.5 trillion, 56% of the nation’s wealth. the bail out first orchestrated by president George Bush, and later adopted by president Obama, successfully avoided the loss and actually increased the gain of Wall Street Banks. While unemployment continues to drop slowly, wealth of the banks has increased quickly and dramatically.

The unemployment rate hovers around 8% at best, and in our minority communities it has slid to 40-50%.1 Meanwhile, CEO and upper level executives of Wall Street enjoy million dollar bonuses,on top of multiple-million dollar salaries. Wall Street’s golden boy, JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, earns about $20 million per year before bonuses and perks.2

 

This same Jamie Dimon recently announced his bank lost $2 billion in a “sloppy” and “stupid” trade whose “red flags” he and others had seen for months but which he had characterized as “a tempest in a teapot”. “We made a terrible, egregious mistake,” Dimon said in an interview that aired on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “There’s almost no excuse for it.”1 There is no “almost” about it, Mr. Dimon.  There is NO excuse. Later, Mr. Dimon indicated the loss had doubled to $ 4 billion, a drop in the bucket for JPMorgan Chase, if not for its investors.3

 

The Obama administration and Democrats in Congress did manage to enact financial reform legislation to rein in such sloppy/stupid and speculative derivative trades, before the Republicans gained complete control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election. The Dodd-Frank Bill may not have been strong enough for most economists, but has been under unceasing Republican attack. Republicans have blocked every effort to expand financial reform measures, and to implement rules to enforce Dodd-Frank; and, they have refused to confirm Richard Cordray to oversee the newly-created  Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, forcing President Obama to make a recess appointment, also opposed by Senate and House Republicans.

 

The recess appointment to the new agency, hobbled by the lack of a permanent director, faces possible litigation as it tries to regulate banks and other financial institutions.The position of House Republican Leader,Rep. John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnel is best illustrated by Alabama Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus’, the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services,comment, “President Obama has delegitimized the CFPB and has opened the agency up to legitimate legal challenges that will cripple it for years”. Clearly, every effort will be made to stop financial reform.4

It is not simply that Republicans oppose Dodd-Frank and the Volcker Rule which stops banks with government guaranteed deposits from proprietary trading; Mitt Romney has promised he will overturn it. The Volcker Rule prevents such banks from speculating with depositors’ money, backed by government guarantees supported by our tax dollars. While AIG used market derivatives to bet on the housing market causing a world-wide economic bust, JPMorgan Chase more recentlyused market derivatives to bet on corporate debt. Again, using depositors’ money backed by federal guarantees – using our tax dollars. Clearly, why would we expect anything else? What is the incentive to rein in risk when you are betting with someone else’s money, and the taxes collected by the federal government guarantee your failures will not result in your personal loss?

To add insult to injury, Republicans argue it is morally wrong to ask those who “earn” their wealth from the capital gains made from such investments to pay the same rate as those who “earn” their wealth from their own labor, instead of the 15% they now pay. Also, they pay nothing at all until they draw down their profits. If they reinvest and take loans against these profits/assets they pay zero on the gains, living off the loan whose costs may be deductible. They do all of this with depositors’ funds backed by tax-payers’ dollars.

This same strategy of using others’ money for one’s personal gain, without risking one’s own assets is a key feature of venture capitalists such as presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Bain Capital. Do banks and venture capitalists sometimes turn a profit for their investors and the companies they buy? Yes. But, at what cost?  The recent JPMorgan Chase loss might have resulted in gain, had things gone differently. But the only risk was to depositors. Romney and Bain may have saved a few companies, while closing down most; but at what cost to down-sized workers who lost their jobs, retirees who lost retirement income and benefits, workers who lost health insurance coverage? Romney and Bain faced no risk of their own.If the company could not be saved it was sold off and Bain was reimbursed before workers or retirees, who lost most if not all in the company’s bankruptcy.

The willingness to risk loss is increased when using someone else’s money and your own potential loss is prevented by the structured guarantees which assure one will not lose one’s own profits;and, that one can avoid taxes on such ill gotten gains. Such gains are ill gotten and inherently immoral, but not illegal. That needs to change. Such change is being fought by ALEC, Koch Brothers et al, and an army of lobbyists.

Recently, the Ohio legislature, as have other state legislatures armed with sample legislation prepared and funded by ALEC, passed legislation requiring welfare recipients to take drug tests at their own cost. If they pass the test they are reimbursed. If they fail they are not reimbursed nor granted benefits for which they are otherwise entitled. The rationale? Welfare recipients are using other people’s money (government revenue) for food and shelter; and perhaps drugs. If we want to protect the funds of one set of persons from misuse by poor people-unemployed people-disabled people-and yes- those with drug or alcohol addiction in order to protect the common good, should we not also test CEO’s-investment capitalists-and bankers who are using other people’s money; and perhaps misusing it for their own gain at the expense of the common good? I can assure you the rate of drug and alcohol abuse is just as high among this group. And whom do you think launders the money for those who transport drugs into our communities? The banks.5 The street junkie denied benefits is probably not using the bank in this way, but the drug lords are doing so.

The patterns clearly favor the haves at the expense of the have nots. This is not new. What is new is that the middle class is now expendable to the haves and have joined the have nots. And the haves are doing all they can to keep the rest of us from seeing the pattern, regulating it, and saving ourselves from it.

This election is not about taking back our country; nor taking back Congress and presidency. It is about taking back ourselves. It is time to get in the kitchen, get fired up and ready to go!

 

1.Inner City Black Male Unemployment At 50 Percent, http://westorlandonews.com/category/opinion/roger-caldwell/  August 24, 2009

2.JPMorgan boss eats teapot tempest words

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120514/jsp/foreign/story_15486300.jsp#.T7ORUI7QVIA 

3.Morgan’s Corner: Banks reject any regulation, even as billions evaporate, Earl Morgan/For The Jersey Journal 

4.Richard Cordray Recess Appointment Sparks More Bickering,Obama achieves goal by appointing consumer watchdog–but risks backlash in courts and in Congress,Alex M. Parker, http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/01/04/richard-cordray-recess-appointment-sparks-more-bickering

5.How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico’s murderous drug gangs,Ed Vulliamy The Observer, Saturday 2 April 2011  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs

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May 18, 2012 · 5:38 am

JUST A THOUGHT

JUST A THOUGHT

Louise Annarino

May 17,2012

 

Citizens United says Corporations are people. A business entity has same rights and privileges as human beings. Corporations must not be regulated, restricted; nor taxed at a rate equal to individual human beings in order for the corporation to survive and thrive. It has the rights of a human being, must be allowed to act freely without restrictions.

 

Government of The United States of America is an entity of the people, by the people and for the people.  It must be limited, restricted, and not allowed to thrive or survive by raising taxes. It is not a person, thus has no rights, even though the people fought and died to create it and keep it alive. It must be constrained and restricted.

 

I get your point. I just disagree.

The GOVERNMENT is US.

Corporations are not us. Why are they entitled to more than we are?

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May 13, 2012 · 3:57 pm

Is ‘Drill Baby, Drill’ the Equivalent of ‘Kill Baby, Kill’?

“what if” near the end is powerful question we each need to answer.

Paul Phillips's avatarSparking The Left

A very interesting read appeared yesterday on CBS News’ website pointing out that many of the recent conflicts around the world, whether it is actual war or just a war of words, have one element in common: energy resources are a big factor in all.  This is an observation that is certainly uncontroversial and most people on both sides of the political spectrum in the United States should be able to easily see the reality of this fact.

These conflicts are obviously over non-renewable, limited energy resources that most countries need going forward to keep their lights on and their societies moving.  But looking at overall energy generation the countries listed in the article have something else in common.  They are mostly at or near the bottom of the list when it comes to percentage of their total renewable energy generation.

This is not to make the argument the countries…

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May 13, 2012 · 1:03 pm

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA

A Video Gift to every Mother

 

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/yTxH4Px-lNY

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May 10, 2012 · 8:03 am

ABUSERS AND ENABLERS CAMPAIGN TOGETHER

ABUSERS AND ENABLERS CAMPAIGN TOGETHER

Louise Annarino

May 10, 2012

 

I received the following e-mail tonight: “Louise: Thank you for all the e-mails with information on the campaign you have sent us and others over the past 4 years. You kept us well informed. Unfortunately, Pres. Obama publicly admitted today his preference for same-sex marriages, (emphasis mine) which prevents us now to vote for him. So, please take us from your distribution list.” I must not have understood President Obama. I did not hear him say he preferred same-sex marriage. I am certain Mrs. Obama would have been surprised to learn of her husband’s preference, from these former Obama supporters. http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/09/politics/obama-same-sex-marriage/index.html

 

The President, like many others, has struggled with his own perceptions, misconceptions, and stereotypes of those who are gay,lesbian,bi-sexual or transgender (LGBT), His past reluctance is even more poignant given his racial heritage. There are those who say he should have known better, having experienced prejudice himself. Others are grateful he was willing to openly engage in the struggle to face down his own prejudices. His journey is one we can all learn from.

 

It is 2:34 a.m. I could not sleep and decided to write. I found the above note as I first sat down at my computer. I had not intended to write about the president’s announcement. I had been thinking I would write about the similarities between the way we treat President Barack Obama and how an abuser treats his victim. The above e-mail fits right in to the puzzle that is abuse.

 

Few of us are strangers to abuse and bullying. If we have not personally been abused, we are close to someone who has been. It is never easy to be the victim, nor to be close to a victim. An abused person seeks to escape the abuse in many ways: denial, deflection, perfection-seeking, appeasement, depression, hostility, violence against self and against others, even suicide. To get close to a victim and stay close is a struggle indeed. It is hard to watch someone be slapped mentally, physically, emotionally – often all three. It is harder to the one slapped.

 

So many have told me over the past few months that they can no longer watch television news programs, nor read the newspaper, nor read on-line missives which contain one demeaning slap against President Obama after another. Even liberal commentators on MSNBC spend much of their programming discussing the attacks. There is no escaping the hateful distortions of his record, personal beliefs, character and leadership. There is no escaping the outright lies meant to undermine the country’s confidence in him. The bullies cannot even credit him with the death of Osama Bin Laden, the resurrection of the auto industry, the steady creation of jobs, the lower cost of health care, the investment in green energy, the increased production and glut of oil and gas since he took office. These abusers credit him with nothing, not even his humanity. They hide their racism behind their abuse. No wonder it is hard to watch. No wonder we cringe in distaste.

 

Obama supporters know the attacks are meant to not only act as cover for those who oppose the president, and seek to destroy his presidency and his historical record; but, are also meant to turn his supporters away from him, to make any close contact with him so unbearably hard to stomach that even his supporters cannot approach him or his campaign. This is classic abuser behavior: Separate then attack,repeat,repeat,repeat. We see it. We know it. We hate it. We avoid it; and, in so doing doing we fail our president, our country and our selves.

 

An abuser is charming. He disarms any potential supporters of his victim with a story-line upon which he acknowledges a commonality with the victim’s friends and family. His remarks appear innocent; hidden behind his smile and slight chuckles is a comment assuming shared agreement with the victim’s poor behavior. He assures friends and family he does not blame them for the victim’s shortcomings. At the beginning of the abusive relationship, both the victim and supporters strive to please the abuser, catering to his whims, reaching “across the aisles” to make everyone feel better about what is fast becoming a “situation”, a falsity created by the abuser to separate the victim from his support group. By the time the supporters get suspicious, and uncomfortable enough to express their doubts about the abuser’s veracity, supporters have already ostracized the victim. Media personalities awoke too late to the abuse game being played out in public view.

 

African-Americans, Native-Americans, and others are not so easily duped. After all, they have been victimized by abusers for over 200 years. They understand the methodology of abuse and oppression. When I voice my outrage to white supporters they too often express a desire to avoid the election entirely. When I express my outrage to African-Americans they often tell me “shoot, this is nothing new; if my people got this upset every time, they would have committed mass suicide! You got to be tough.” They offer this wisdom, “Only white people can afford to get upset; we got to survive!” Those who think African-American voters will avoid voting for President Obama because of today’s announcement, do not understand the strength and wisdom of African-Americans to face down abusers. White supporters need to “get tough” and face them down, too.

 

We are right to feel uncomfortable. We are correct when we acknowledge the abusive behavior. We are justified in saying, “I can’t stand anymore of this!” but, we are wrong to abandon the victim so we can feel comfortable again. None of us should feel comfortable so long as any of us is being abused. That is why President Obama changed his position regarding same-sex marriage. Knowing members of the LGBT community continue to be abused made him more uncomfortable than his own discomfort with same-sex marriages, and his concern of potential political fall-out. He put aside his discomfort and chose to take the courageous path. It is time we all do so.

 

It is time we all acknowledge the abuse of others sanctioned by law, the ongoing victimization occurring daily in our local communities, and the abuse being heaped upon a president who continues to “do the right thing” while abusers attempt to undermine and destroy his every effort on our behalf, his personal integrity, even his personal safety. If you have ever suffered abuse or bullying you can see it as clearly as I can. It can keep us up at night, but it cannot stop us from supporting the LGBT community and President Obama.

 

 

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May 9, 2012 · 5:50 pm

GARDENING A SWING STATE

GARDENING A SWING STATE

Louise Annarino

May 9, 2012

 

It’s cooler today after the heavy rains that soaked my new garden beds. The 88 degree days have subsided; humidity lies like a blanket of clouds over the newly-planted tomatoes. It seems a bit risky for tomato planting, despite the burgeoning evidence that Spring arrived very early this year. It is often hard for the mind to shut out the negativity of hail, wind, snow and ice storms of past Mays. Yet, Ohioans are changing their mind-set, little by little, forced to do so or be left behind in getting their crops to market. Ohioans won’t let changing weather patterns stop their forward progress. Ohio has become a swing-state despite its conservative history; maybe, because of it.

 

In the past,late freezes often occurred in Ohio. Ohioans tend to be conservative gardeners. No root crops planted before the oak tree puts out leaves the size of a mouse’s ear. No flowers or green crops put out before the last official freeze date, which gets earlier every year.Ohioans play it safe doing what they know works, taking few risks, and turning out crops to feed the nation year after year: corn,wheat,soy beans,canola,tomatoes,peppers,pumpkins, and more.

 

Most family farms have been corporatized. We now farm chickens and eggs in tiny cages, in huge barns. Driving mile after mile, we now we see farm field after farm field turning canola flower yellow.  Diversity within a single farm is nearly obsolete. These corporate practices require greater applications of more and more  chemicals, which run off fields into our streams, our small lakes, and our Great Lake resulting in huge algae blooms which  sicken swimmers and kill fish. Chemical companies provide more chemicals to treat the algae blooms. Conservative Ohioans know it is better to prevent a problem rather than treat it after; “A stitch in time, saves nine.” But, chemical companies have lobbyists who pay better than organic farmers, gardeners, and environmentalists.

 

At the same time, backyard farming has taken hold in our cities. Smaller organic farms and dairies are emerging. Farmers’ markets are flourishing. Local restaurants serve locally grown crops, and meat from locally raised, free-range chickens or grass-fed animals. The old is new again in Ohio. Corporations are not people, so have no life-principles, nor historical memory to guide their actions. But Ohio’s people do. And they are swinging back to policies and practices they learned from their farming and immigrant grandparents. Smaller is not always less; and, is often better because a smaller enterprise’s growth can be more closely regulated and controlled for greater productivity and more positive outcomes. Ohioans are not against regulations which protect commerce, banking and investing any more than they oppose regulations to protect the soil, air and water. They are not against gas and oil wells; they are against destroying our water supply by unregulated drilling practices. One can see well heads on farms all across the state, many of which supply energy for the local farmer whose field it sits upon.They are not against wealth accumulation; they are against unregulated and unscrupulous seekers of wealth, who destroy our middle class for their personal gain.

 

Ohioans have a history of shared community; of seeing the larger community as a living being entitled, as well as obligated, to the care of each member. Family farmers care for their own, and for their neighbors. Barn-raisings involve an entire community, sometimes for several days. No disaster is faced alone in an Ohio town. We see fewer farm towns today, but we see their remnants in our caring communities: races for “cures”, change jars on store check-out counters for struggling families, “battles of the bands” for town disasters etc. Ohioans care for one another, as best they can.

 

This is why the messages against “big government” are so insidious and so wrong-headed. The only way to make Ohioans, who are so community focused, believe them is to baldly lie that government is our enemy;and that government is taking away our money, our civil rights, our religion,our very means of survival, and our abillity to  care for one another. The truth is that for every $1.00 dollar Ohio sends as tax to the federal government it receives back $1.05 in return. Ohioans are actually getting more of their money than they give. 1

 

The federal government is the entity which protects our civil rights. Have we forgotten the Civil War? Jim Crow Laws? Anti-Miscegenation laws? Segregated schools? The Civil Rights Act of 1963?  Title VII and Title IX?  Repeal of “Don’t Ask,Don’t Tell”?  The federal government alone was able to assure civil rights protection so that slaves could be freed, African-Americans and women could vote,  African Americans could freely travel-eat in restaurants-get hospital care-drink from a drinking fountain, persons of different races could marry, children of different races could learn side-by-side, girls could play sports and be treated as equals to boys,age discrimination would not be tolerated,and everyone could serve and protect our towns, cities and nation openly and with respect. The government we are told to fear is the greatest protector of our civil right. Does this sound like your federal government is taking away your civil rights?

 

It is the federal government which grants religions tax exempt status so that church-raised dollars support only their religious tenets,not the larger community. And, it is federal dollars raised from American citizens of every religion, as well as from agnostics and atheists, which are given to religions for their “faith-based initiatives” which do serve the larger community. It is the federal government which protects those tax dollars received from all Americans from being used to promote the specific religion accepting the federal funds. This is what the Ist Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, intends by the following language: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”2  Anyone can pray in school at any time. Just don’t do it out loud. The schools are for students of any, or no religious belief; public schools are not religious schools. This does not mean public schools take away one’s religion, nor do they promote religion. This is in keeping with our Constitution. Does this sound like your federal government is threatening your religion’s existence?

 

It is the federal government which regulates the water,soil and air against corporate pollution which destroys are fishing industry, our agricultural product desirability, our own health. It is the federal government through the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, which regulates medical providers delivery of services against fraud and lowers the cost of services, which insists 80% of insurance premiums are used for medical care rather than corporate profit lowering the cost of heath care, demands no one is to be denied medical insurance due to pre-existing conditions. etc. Providing an environment and social structure to keep citizens healthy, lowers health care cost and promotes growth. Does this sound like your federal government is threatening your right to exist?

 

Ohioans are conservative farmers, gardeners, and citizens; but, they are fair and wise. Those who remember their history, who see through the BIG LIE about BIG GOVERNMENT, understand that S.B. 5’s intended purpose is to destroy unions, eliminate government workers, and undermine Democratic party support by such middle class workers;and they also see this attack actually undermines the Ohio tax base and  Ohio productivity, leads to increased foreclosures and bankruptcies, increases joblessness, and threatens Ohio’s economic recovery. It was the stimulus of federal government dollars which kept police, EMT’s, fire personnel, teachers and other essential public workers on the job despite the actions of Governor Kasich and the Republican-led Ohio legislature to reduce big government. Without “big government”,under President Obama’s federal leadership, the economic consequences for Ohio of Kasich’s small government would have been even more devastating.

 

In the weeks and months to come, as we fight off the pests attacking our fields  and gardens, we will also fight off the pests who sponsor attack ads against “Big Government”, President Obama, and Democratic candidates. These pests have also attempted to destroy conservative Republican candidates such as Lugar, and those like  Snowe and others who declined to run rather than face Tea Party Republican attacks. We can’t ignore such attacks in our gardens, nor in this election. We grassroots gardeners must prepare and amend our soil to strengthen our plants and our minds to withstand such assaults.

 

President Obama has wisely stated that this election could make the difference for the survival or failure of our middle class, of those farmers and gardeners who toil their own crops and tend their own fields, and support their own communities within their middle class means and with their middle class value that we care for one another. We believe in the goodness of community, the power of pulling together and helping others who need our help. We don’t blame the farmer for a lost crop during times of drought or flood. President Obama and the current Democratic candidates don’t blame the middle class for corporate greed and de-regulation by past administrations and elected officials which led to economic disaster. President Obama, who has sought repeatedly to find a hand to hold across political aisle, does know whom to blame: small-minded people  who promote reducing government  oversight in order to amass great wealth through de-regulation, the  people who created the lie of “big government is your enemy.”

 

It is not big government we must fear, but the wrong government. Vote for President Obama. Give him a  congress which will protect the famers and gardeners, the middle class, the true conservatives of small towns and big cities who swing with the sun and rain to protect their crops. The rest of us! Gardening in a swing state ? Ohioans know how to  do that!

 

1.http://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/united-states-federal-tax-dollars/ , V E, Visual Economics

2.http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am1

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May 6, 2012 · 2:04 pm

AFTER THE HONEYMOON

http://photos.mercurynews.com/2012/05/super-moon-shines-on-as-brightest-and-closest-of-2012/10379/#7

AFTER THE HONEYMOON

Louise Annarino

May 6, 2012

Yesterday’s moon appeared 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than normal full moons as it passed closest to earth  all year. As our orbits grow farther apart, and the  light of reflected sun dims, will the moon be any less a presence in the night sky? Or only our perception of it as we look at it from narrower angles? Does such sudden appearance of a moon larger than we can imagine after months and years of only giving the sky an occasional glance while we go about our  daily routines diminish the moon, or us?

In the bottom cavern of my Mom Angela’s china closet, was a stack of photo albums on the right, and a cardboard whiskey box chock full of photos on the left. The photos in albums always seemed more precious for the effort Mom made to enshrine them for posterity. Four triangular holders encased the corners of each photo. They had to be licked before pasting the edges of each photo onto the black pages. It was a work of art;black and white photos against the black page,starkly elegant. This took time, so what was so special about these photos?

The photos in the albums were of my parents when they first met during the war, of each others family members standing with them in first introductions, of days spent at the beach on Staten Island when my Dad Angelo had a few hours leave, of Angelo and his sailor buddies while stationed in Honolulu, of Angelo aboard ship, of Angelo and Angela’s childhood events: first communions, confirmations, graduations; and, of simple things like Angelo riding a bike, Angela and her younger sister Millie eating ice cream cones.

These photos of my parents were 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the parents I knew in the flesh. They were the moments my parents first fell in love. They were on their honeymoon. They offered a glimpse of their true being, not parents, just  people in love with life and with one another. It was a new perspective for me. It was a honeymoon for me to look at those photos, and I looked at them every few weeks.

Mom would often end up sitting beside me before the open doors, the albums spread around me, one open on my lap. I enticed her by shouting questions to her as she worked in the kitchen. Soon, we were back in time, Mom’s face aglow as she remembered much more of her life before kids. Story after story unfolded and she became a glorious creature right before my eyes. I no longer saw her in a sauce splattered apron, hair pulled back, small brother clinging to her leg whining, an exasperated look at the clock moving too fast to get everything done on time. She became the fullness of being that was Angela, bigger and brighter than Mom.

I would corner Dad with an album, climbing on his lap to make him take it seriously and keep him from falling asleep in the chair. Running  a restaurant meant twelve hour days, six or seven days a  week. Dad usually fell asleep as soon as he hit the chair. But when he looked at the album, his first response was a happy chuckle. His tired eyes lit up, his grin awakened his spirit, his happy energy seeped from his body to mine. As he embellished the stories behind each photo, I learned about his youthful shenanigans not caught on film, how many planes he shot down during each battle he fought in the South Pacific, aboard a destroyer. How he was introduced to Mom and immediately asked her to dance; his first words to her, “I’m going to marry you.” He gave me his war medals,battle ribbons and bronze stars to keep in safety, sensing a kindred spirit in his lone daughter. He became the fullness of being that was Angelo,bigger and brighter than Dad.

Yesterday, as the moon was gathering its fullness, Ohio State University welcomed President Obama for his 2012 campaign kick-off. At such a huge rally,  President Obama appeared 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal. He showed us his fullness of being. He has been the president for over 3 years now. We have come to view him from narrower angles. We have gone about our daily routines, giving him an occasional glance. Others have tried to cast a cloud over him, take pieces out of him, dim his light and reduce his impact on our nation and on our world. But, yesterday, we looked up and gave him our full attention, and we saw him as he is – a leader who understands the tides of war and peace, who pushes the economic flow with a subtlety of purpose that increases growth without eroding profitability and productivity, who monitors the winds and tides of our environment, who strives to keeps us healthy-educated-employed. He has done so since elected, turning back the destruction he found upon his ascendance to the presidency.

The work of the moon is sometimes imperceptible but inexorable. The work of President Obama is often the same. He keeps moving us forward in the right direction, despite sustained opposition of other forces. At yesterday’s rally, we took out the photo album and rejoiced together. We each recalled the honeymoon of 2008 and the inauguration. Life got complicated after that. Reality set in, we each got busy. We lost track of the larger vision. The 2012 campaign is a chance to shine some light on what we have accomplished, where President Obama has taken us, how far we have yet to go. But, we can now see it more clearly and act with more confidence in him, and in ourselves.

The honeymoon is over; let the real work begin. Let’s knock on doors, make phone calls, register voters, get them proper I.D., get them to the polls. Let’s win this election!

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