Perry pans Bee cartoon

Pity poor put-upon Perry.

That’s Governor Rick of the far-right leaning Lone Star State.

When Sacramento Bee political cartoonist Jack Ohman satirized the link between Perry’s disdain for regulations and the catastrophic explosion at the West Fertilizer Company plant, the governor declared it an insult to the multitude of victims in the town of West, Texas.

Perry is upset that the cartoon appeared on the very day he attended the public memorial with President Barack Obama, the man whose support for rules protecting people like the citizens of West led plant managers to avoid reporting their dangerous practices to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Consider:

• The Republican Party considers itself the ‘party of personal responsibility.’
• GOP loyalists loudly tout the infamous Citizens United decision by the right-leaning U.S. Supreme Court that ‘corporations are people.’

Conclusion: Corporations must assume the same responsibility for their actions that Republicans expect from people--the actual human ones, that is.

But, No-o-o. When it comes to responsibility, conservatives refuse to acknowledge even the slightest possibility that there could be something called ‘corporate responsibility.’

Sorry, Governor Perry, but you can’t have it both ways. People or not, corporations must pay full restitution to every single person and business whose life, health, property, and income is damaged as a result of their dangerous policies.

After all, the GOP also claims to be the law-and-order party. If the law compels individuals to pay for any damage they do, then we must, in all fairness, expect a similar result when a company does the same.
 

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, January 25, 2013
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. Florence Blvd. & N. Cameron St.

Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) will hold his weekly Peace Vigil this Friday, January 25, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the corner of E. Florence Blvd. & N. Cameron St. in Casa Grande, AZ. Tony invites anyone who is interested in showing their support for ending conflict in the world to join him. Hold out positive thoughts for that!

　

This week:

　
Another interesting week, though mostly taken up with personal tasks rather than writing, as I really would prefer. I have managed to compose some few words as part of three different projects, but I’m looking forward to being able to concentrate fully on one; then the second; and finally the great big third, my ongoing novel, Two Worlds.

My favorite part of the week was watching Barack Obama being sworn in for his second term, a direct result of the justified backlash from the GOP campaign to make the first African-American in the highest office in the land a "one-term president." I’m proud to say that Jim and I played our small part in that victory.

And to those bitter Republicans who now claim that President Obama is trying to ‘annihilate’ their party, I say why bother? Ideological conservatives are doing more than enough to destroy their own political organization from within! I’m old enough to know how sad that is.

Until 1980, I often had trouble choosing between candidates put forth by each of the major parties for both national and local offices. I’ve shared this idea before, but I must say it again: I would have been happy if Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter could have served as co-presidents--for two complete terms, at least. Both had much to offer, and they were both part of that generation of politician who knew how to work together to compromise and accomplish great things.

I’m looking forward to the time when the mostly younger moderate Republicans gain more influence within their party and start to ease the power structure back toward the center. I’m keeping my eye on several of those talented pols. They could be part of a future in which we can all share in the hope and move social progress steadily forward.

Join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world! 

Kitty-Cat Lost and Found

Barack Obama Cat Jordan rests after his four-day walkabout



Over the past weekend, Jim and I went through what some would call a minor event, but animal lovers understand how heart wrenching the experience really is: Our younger fur-son, Barack Obama Cat Jordan, went missing for four days.

Our own little Obama is a beautiful black-and-white tuxedo cat that first walked into our house at 10:00 p.m. on November 4, 2008, exactly one hour after the human Barack Obama was declared the first African-American (who is also half white, don’t forget!) President of the United States. What else could we call the little cutie that our other two cats introduced to us as their own newest ‘resident-elect’ but Barack Obama?!

I confess that since he joined our little family on the very night our president won his first-term election, I entertained several weird ideas about what would happen to our own Obama if the human one had lost this year’s election. As far as everybody in our house was concerned, it was no contest. We wanted both Obamas to stay exactly where they’ve been for the past four years.

Fortunately, the feline Obama reappeared in our kitchen late Monday evening just before midnight and promptly attacked the food bowl as if he hadn’t eaten a thing during his four-day walkabout. He then proceeded to crawl into my lap and soak up as much mommy-love as he could get for the rest of the night.

Since he’s usually pretty quiet--one "meow" is a Shakespearean soliloquy for this quiet cat--I was delighted to hear the long conversations he shared with me through that first night back home. I assumed he was sharing every detail about how he’d spent the previous four days. Unfortunately, I don’t understand Cat and he simply will not speak English, so the language barrier prevented me from comprehending the bulk of his report.

Sadly, when daybreak arrived, he disappeared again, only to show up late the next night. Once we realized this kind of behavior was threatening to become habit, we decided to lower the boom and shut the cat door for the next 10 days. A veterinarian in Georgia once told me it takes that long for cats to imprint a new home, so they wouldn’t be so apt to take off for parts unknown, especially a former home--or for strays like our cats, a previous life.

Of course, this edict was not passed down without protest. The first time Obama and his older ‘brother,’ Punkin, discovered they were locked in, they made their feelings very clear. But it’s for their own good. Still, no matter how much I explain that to them, they refuse to accept my wisdom. Typical children!

Unhappy about being under 'house arrest' with his 'brother,

Punkin Cat Jordan wants to go on walkabout too

 

Perhaps it’s fitting that I share this story on Thanksgiving Day. Jim and I believe in giving thanks every day of the year, and as vegetarians, we never gorge ourselves on turkey, or any meat at all. Instead, we try to spend our lives showing consideration for all the wonderful creatures on our beautiful planet, and for our earthly home as well. And we try to use our blessings to help build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Friday Peace Vigil, Youngstown, OH, and surrounding area:

PEACE VIGIL
YOUNGSTOWN, OH
Friday, November 16, 2012
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Downtown on the Square (Federal Plaza E. & Wick Ave.)

Ray Nakley (330-506-1999) and Ron Dull (330-518-9881) will hold their weekly Peace Vigil this Friday, November 16, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the corner of Downtown on the Square (Federal Plaza E. & Wick Ave.), Youngstown, OH. They invite anyone who is interested in showing their support for ending conflict in the world to join them. Hold out positive thoughts for that!

　

This week:

Since I last posted an announcement for the Youngstown peace vigils a couple of weeks ago, I’ve taken small steps forward, making progress with several projects on my personal agenda. At the same time, our nation took a giant leap forward that should make anyone who loves peace and respects everyone’s rights proud to be an American. Granted, it’s not perfect and there’s still much work ahead for all of us to do, but at least we didn’t move backward--again!

Four years ago, we elected the first African-American to be president of the United States. Many people believed, or at least hoped, that we’d finally shed the last vestiges of hatred and racism that had plagued our country since before its founding. The feeling of euphoria generated by such romantic delusions lasted only until the first tea-partier publicly shouted the hateful slogan: "Take our country back." Two years later, Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives and Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell loudly announced that their single most important goal was to make certain Barack Obama would be just a one-term president. Since then, their obstinate obstructionism has prevented the entire Congress from being able to pass any positive measures.

Of course, now that the voters have re-elected Barack Obama to be the first two-term African-American President of the United States, we can only hope that conservatives will actually realize and accept the destructive nature of their reactionary policies that threatened to destroy not just this country, but the entire planet. At my age, having been witness to these continuing struggles through nearly seven decades, I’m experienced enough to balance my naturally sanguine nature with a healthy dose of wariness. We will see.

And we must each continue to do our part to build a better world--without poverty and war. That is why Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan was not Yes I Can; it was: Yes WE Can!

The only way to fulfill the 2012 slogan of Hope and Change is for all of us to Just DO It! Now, LET’S GO!

Positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!
 

Birthers: Looking under all the wrong rocks

Okay, let’s just imagine, for the few fantastical seconds it takes an intelligent person who can actually read properly spelled English words to digest this message, that the so-called ‘birthers’ are actually correct. Just suppose the person that most of the world’s population consider the duly-elected President of the United States was really born in Kenya and is, therefore, ineligible to hold the highest office in his ‘adopted’ country.

If that were actually the case, then the conspiracy theorists are looking in the wrong place for proof of their suspicions. Instead of harassing Hawaiian officials in an effort to prove that original and certified state documents, along with historical newspaper notices, are all phony, they should be heading to the Dark Continent. If they're right, then that’s the only place where they have any chance of digging up any record of the birth of an offspring of the senior Barack Hussein Obama. A smart researcher would concentrate on births in Kenya between, say, January 1, 1960, through December 31, 1962.

In addition, a true detective would also be looking for the record of Stanley Ann Dunham’s overseas travels during that period of time so that her foreign-conceived child would have been born in her husband’s country of origin. Just saying.

Obviously, the fact that none of the birthers are taking any of these logical steps is proof that their mutant brain cells prevent them from any level of reason beyond the utter hatred that leads them to wage unholy war against the first African-American President of the United States.

It is something to think about.