My latest painting.

Connected

Over the summer I have been working on a series of paintings. My paintings of late have had certain elements that did not register until now. The elements of connecting lines and spheres and angles have been a constant theme, but until now I took them as a pleasing experiment in abstraction letting the painting direct me to its finish. On our anniversary trip to Fredericksburg, Texas a few weeks ago, my wife and I were taking a leisurely tour of local galleries when it struck me. My art was trying to express something hidden in its lines, shapes and forms. It was about how we are all connected. Our world, each person, each creature, each plant…our Universe is all connected somehow.

Okay, so what does that mean, we are all connected? How are we connected? With so much going on in the World today, with so much strife and conflict, how are we all connected? We seem hell-bent on proving just the opposite, that we are separate from one another. Each of us is an island unto ourselves. And since we are separate beings in our current, prevailing world view of things, we must look out for number one to survive. In a world of chaos and danger, we must look out for our family, our tribe, our state and our own nation. We have developed this perception of “us versus them” with US being ME, the individual or US the group of people who are perceived as the same, with the same beliefs, same look, same gender and so on.

So how do we see ourselves? Are we isolated beings mindlessly struggling to survive in a hostile planet? I’ve got mine…you go scramble for yours! Or are we all connected to the world and the people around us? What I do to you, I ultimately do to myself. Our perception has a lot to do with how we interact with our fellow human beings and the world that surrounds us.

If we see ourselves as isolated beings or groups of beings, I suppose it is easy to see others as lazy, inferior and undeserving of the many blessings we have accumulated through effort and hard work. Why should we share what we have worked so hard for? It would be easy to see people in need, people without our resources as “takers.” Why should we cooperate and lend a helping hand? Why should we participate in finding solutions to other people’s problems? Other people are not our concern, if they are outside our family, our home, our ethnic group, religion,

sexual orientation, social status, our political party or our nationality. I suppose it is easy to see resources as something scarce, something to compete for and possess.  The more we have, the easier our lives and the more power and influence we accumulate. As long as we feel safe, with enough food, clean water and fresh air to breathe, why should we care about war or famine far away or even… if the polar ice caps are melting? What does that have to do with us? I suppose it would be easy to go to war with other nations, other people that don’t look like us, don’t value what we value, believe what we believe or pray to the same god. We don’t have to care; we only have to survive with our beliefs and way of life intact. We are isolated. We are separate from those around us and we act accordingly. Survival of the fittest, the smartest, and the wealthiest would make sense.

It Comes...

But now, if we see ourselves as connected to everything around us, it might be easy to understand the need to care. What we do to others and the world around us…we are doing to ourselves in a larger sense. How we treat other people, how we respect and protect the environment that sustains not only us, but the rest of humanity becomes important. What we do to others, what we do to the air we breathe and the water we drink comes back to us because we are connected to the whole. Problems of humanity now become our problems to solve. Hunger, poverty, inequality become our personal concerns. When we pay forward, when we lend a helping hand, when we find a solution that eases another’s suffering, we are doing it to ourselves because we see that abiding connection to one another. We have that fundamental understanding that in fact, we ARE our brother’s keepers. We seek to find better solutions for education, healthcare, social security and employment rather than merely cutting costs and defunding essential programs that millions depend on. We begin to see and understand the potential in everyone. We reach that higher spiritual truth that when we are blessed in life, it is not ours to hold on to and horde. It is ours to spread around for the greater good. What greater truth, what greater commandment than the words Jesus spoke in the Bible to “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”?

My current series of paintings, I realize now, were speaking of a greater truth about our connection to the Whole of everything that is. Whether man should be considered in terms of his good or evil seems almost irrelevant. Perhaps the thought of which holds more Truth…isolation or connection should determine our evolution or destruction.

Food for THOUGHT…

Happy 4th of July!

I just watched the movie Gettysburg for the umpteenth time. I wanted to watch it in honor of the 150^th anniversary of that famous Civil War battle. It was the turning point of the war. As I watched it, I was reminded of all the trials and tribulation our country has faced since it was born. In this one battle lasting 3 days, July 1, 1863 to July 3, 1863, over 50,000 Americans on both sides lay dead, wounded or missing. It remains the costliest war in terms of American lives lost in our history.

I remain puzzled how America ever got to the point of war against itself, brother against brother. How did a people born out of such hardship, oppression and strife, people of common ancestry language and vision come to the point of being able to kill one another? I know the Geo-political things that lead up to this terrible chapter in our history, but how did we as human beings reach that point that we could kill our fellow Americans in these horribly bloody battles?

Today, there are so many parallels in our country to the years leading up to the American Civil War. Instead of Northern abolitionists and Southern slave holders, we have Liberals and Conservatives. Instead of slavery, we have abortion, gay marriage, immigration and a host of other hot button issues to divide us. Every day the politics and hateful rhetoric seem to ratchet up one more notch. Lincoln would feel right at home with today’s Congress and the Right’s disdain for the Obama presidency.

The more I study history, the more I see the same play being staged over and over. Only the actors and the location and the time are different, but it’s the same play. Until man evolves to a point that violence can no longer be the answer…history is doomed to repeat itself.

On this 4^th of July, we need to ask ourselves, how did Americans get to that point where they could kill one another, and then take a step back. As a country, we cannot afford to repeat that dark history. Let’s remember that no mater our disagreements…we are still Americans and we are still the United States of America. We must come together, reason, compromise and get things done with respect for one another. We must find ways to work together as one people, as Americans, before the fabric of this grand experiment in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness comes unraveled.

Food for THOUGHT…

Choosing America’s Path?

I am so tired of political gridlock in Washington. Why is it that so little has been accomplished by our national law makers since the mid-term elections of 2010? As a Progressive, I see the need for so much to be done and yet political partisanship has stymied just about every attempt to recover our economy, put Americans back to work and move on.

When I first got the right to vote at 18, I voted for Nixon. I also voted for Reagan and Bush Sr. My early politics were with the Republican Party because they seemed to be a party of action. After our long war in Vietnam, our nation needed healing. It needed to move on and get things done. With the fall of the Soviet Union, America was thrust into a leadership role and we embraced it, getting a little “too big for our britches” as time went on.

As I got older, I became more socially conscious and more liberal in my politics voting for Clinton and coming to believe that we have more than enough issues right here in the good old U.S.A. among our own citizens and their needs. Healthcare, the environment, jobs and maintaining our nation’s infrastructure became more important to me than trying to be the world economic leader and policeman. But as I was becoming more liberal, a good portion of my fellow Americans were becoming more conservative, more militant and more focused on wealth, power and religious intolerance. Over time we stopped being the shining example to the world. We were becoming the enemy, the bully, preaching do as we say, not as we do.

Today, I barely recognize my old Republican Party and I wonder how and why they ever got to this point. They have become a party of obstructionists, the Party of No, the Anti Party. With the rise to power of the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party, we have seen our nation come to a dead stop, mired in partisanship not seen since just before the Civil War. We have come to a crossroads in our nation. As Americans, we are going to have to choose our next path. Will it be one of divisiveness, stalemate and perhaps another civil war or the path of cooperation, diversity, progress and growth?

I searched the internet for examples of bills that have been blocked by Congress just since President Obama took office in 2009. I can only guess why the first Black President of the United States has stirred such animosity in the hearts of conservative Republicans, but I shall not go there. Instead I suggest we judge this current Republican Party by their actions, or in this case, inactions.  A website, www.addictinginfo.org provided a partial listing. Here’s just a short list of some of the bills that Republican leaders have blocked, or attempted to block, since Obama became President:

Tax on Companies that ship jobs overseas- A bill that would have eliminated a tax break that companies get when they ship jobs overseas. Republicans blocked this, allowing companies to keep the tax break they receive when they ship jobs to other countries.

Political Ad disclosure bill- Would have required all donors to political campaigns to reveal themselves. Republicans blocked this, not once but twice.

Subpoena Power for the Committee investigating the BP Oil Spill – Give subpoena power to the independent committee responsible for investigating BP’s roll in the oil spill. Republicans attempted to block this.

The Small Business Jobs Act -would give LOCAL, community banks access to billions of dollars to loan to small businesses. Republicans blocked this, then attempted to block it a second time and failed.

The DREAM Act- Gives immigrant youth who were brought here as children a path to citizenship by earning a college degree or serving the military for 2 years. Republicans blocked this.

Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”- Would have repealed the law that forces gay and lesbian services members to lie about their sexuality and gives the military the right to discharge soldiers based on their sexuality. Republicans blocked this many times and Democrats were finally able to pass it with the support of just 2 Republicans.

From Crooks and Liars - When John McCain led the filibuster of the Defense Appropriations Act yesterday, he blocked far more than the DREAM Act and repeal of DADT. Here are just a few of the other blocked provisions, courtesy of Mother Jones.

• No permanent military bases in Afghanistan.
• Report identifying hybrid or electric propulsion systems and other fuel-saving technologies for incorporation into tactical motor vehicles.
• Protection of child custody arrangements for parents who are members of the Armed Forces deployed in support of a contingency operation.
• Improvements to Department of Defense domestic violence programs.
• Department of Defense recognition of spouses of members of the Armed Forces.
• Department of Defense recognition of children of members of the Armed Forces.
• Enhancements to the Troops-to-Teachers Program.
• Fiscal year 2011 increase in military basic pay.
• Improving aural protection for members of the Armed Forces.
• Comprehensive policy on neurocognitive assessment by the military health care system.
• Authority to make excess nonlethal supplies available for domestic emergency assistance.

And those were just some of the progressive provisions. On the conservative side, there are these, and more:

• Prohibition on the use of funds for the transfer or release of individuals detained at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• Prohibition on the use of funds to modify or construct facilities in the United States to house detainees transferred from United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• Prohibition on use of funds to give Miranda warnings to Al Qaeda terrorists.

And here’s the bills that Republicans had blocked when we compiled our first list;

Senator Franken’s Anti-Rape Amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill – Makes it so that women raped overseas while working for foreign contractors have the right to have their case heard in an American court instead of having their case mediated by the company they work for. Only Republican men voted against this, but it passed.

Benefits for Homeless Veterans- Would have expanded benefits to homeless veterans and homeless veterans with children. Republicans blocked this.

Affordable Health Care For America Act- Prevents insurance companies from discriminating against you on the basis of “pre-existing conditions”. Requires that insurance companies spend 85 cents of every dollar that you pay on your actual health care. Limits health insurance companies profit margins. Republicans blocked this for months before it finally passed and have vowed to repeal it if they are elected.

Health Care for the 9/11 First Responders who got sick from being at Ground Zero- Would provide billions of dollars in health care to help the 9/11 First Responders who were at Ground Zero on 9/11 and are now sick because of it. Republicans blocked this.

The Jobs Bill- Offsets the payroll tax for 1 year for companies that hire new employees, or people receiving unemployment insurance. Also gives other tax incentives to companies hiring new employees. Republicans attempted to block this.

Wall Street Reform- Puts stricter regulations on the banks, preventing them from becoming “too big to fail”. Curbs reckless spending practices that caused the banking crisis. Republicans attempted to block this.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act- Pumped billions of dollars into state and local Governments to prevent us from sinking into a second Great Depression. Republicans opposed this but now want to take credit for the parts of it that we know are successful.

Oil Spill Liability- Raises the liability on what companies can be made to pay to clean up after an oil spill. Republicans blocked this.

Immigration Reform- Republican suggested comprehensive immigration reform until Obama supported it. Now they’re rabidly opposed to it and even voted against their own legislation. Republicans blocked this. (Note: Since this listing, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill and sent it to the House. Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, has declared the bill “dead on arrival.”)

  

Unemployment extension bill HR-4213- Would provide additional aid to the millions of Americans still on unemployment who are just trying to support themselves and their families. Republicans blocked this bill for 8 weeks before it finally passed. Republicans blocked this for 8 weeks before it finally passed.

Fair Pay Act of 2009- Also called the Lily Ledbetter bill. Requires that women receive equal compensation to men for doing the same work. Republicans attempted to block this.

Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/01/03/bills-republicans-have-blocked/#ixzz2XcBCO5PX

My thanks again to Addictinginfo.org for this short, but dated listing above. Are we seeing a collective pattern here? Is this Republican Party of today the pathway to prosperity for the 99% of us in the middle and working class poor or have they become the sold out puppets for the wealthiest 1% in this once great country. I believe history shows over and over again that when you destroy the middle class in a society you destroy the bridge between the “haves” and the “have nots.” Without a healthy, growing middle class, societies ultimately succumb to their own ruin.

In 2014 and 2016 we have a chance to choose our country’s path. We are at a crossroads.

Food for THOUGHT…

Destroy the President at all Costs!

President Obama’s administration has been beset by a plague of scandals to the delight of the Conservative Right and the Tea Party crowd. The Opposition has been piling on more than ever with Obama’s re-election to a second term. Having thwarted the Right’s concerted effort to make President Obama a one term president, the President has been besieged  with efforts to bring down his presidency no matter the cost to our once great nation and its people.

Since the midterm elections in 2010 that swept the Tea Party candidates into the House of Representatives and the Senate, Washington has been at a standstill. Our Congress has been gridlocked. The Republican House has passed no substantive legislation in over 2 years and the Democrat Senate has not been able to overcome Republican filibusters. Obama appointments have been held up leaving many government agencies like the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms…guns) and the IRS (Internal Revenue Service…taxes) without agency heads to lead them. I don’t think this is a coincidence! Anything that can be used to portray this President, his policies and programs as toxic for America is being spewed into the media over and over again with Fox News being the biggest spewer.

How soon Americans forget the scandals of Bush’s presidency that make Obama’s current scandals pale by comparison.  Go to http://www.salon.com/2005/01/18/scandal_11/  for a long list of some 34 Bush administration scandals on Salon.com’s website.  Remember the Senate Computer Theft of Democratic Strategy Memos? Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force and the many Halliburton Scandals including over charging the U. S. Army? The Tom DeLay Scandal?  Abu Ghraib? Weapons of Mass Destruction? Americans have a short memory and Republicans are damn good at making mole hills look like mountains when it comes to Obama.

Look, my purpose is not to minimize Obama’s current scandals, but to try and put some sort of perspective on them. The AP scandal seems to be getting the most outcries of the three. It was an assault on the freedom of the press and it should be investigated. The biggest fault I have is not taking it before a judge to determine the threat to national security. There is a clear and present danger to letting the Government decide on its own if national security trumps the public’s right to know through a free press. But where was the outrage when Bush signed The American Patriot Act into law? That law allows for roving wire taps, searches of business records and library records as well as the surveillance of Americans only suspected, but not actually linked to terror organizations. It would seem that the “horse is already out of the barn” when comes to the protection of our Constitutional rights.

As far as the IRS scandal, Obama needs to investigate if the IRS was scrutinizing Tea Party organizations seeking tax exempt status as a social welfare non-profit for political gain. To be fair, the IRS is perhaps one of the most hated agencies in our government. Who wants to pay more taxes than they have to, especially if you are a Tea Party Republican, but should these thinly veiled political groups get a pass to abuse the system? I think not. There is a real danger here. The Bush administration also used the IRS, FBI, CIA and Secret Service to go after political opponents. Where was Fox News and GOP outrage then? There wasn’t any. Congress should be passing bills to make sure that political abuse of the IRS and other agencies do not continue under any administration…but they won’t. They think there is more political advantage to blame and pointing fingers and calling for impeachment than fixing the problem.

The continued attack on Obama over Benghazi is getting ridiculous. There were seven attacks on our embassies and consulates from 2002 to 2008, when George W. Bush was President. A total of 31 people were killed and over 60 people injured. The Middle East is a dangerous place and America and American policies are not popular there. The Republican obsession over who changed the talking points has been resolved and it is time to move on people!

Scandals have continued to plague Presidents in their second term, and Obama will certainly be no exception. But yet he, President Obama, is being made the exception by a relentless tide of conservative right opponents, hell bent on destroying his presidency and any Obama legacy before the end of his second term. What drives them? Is it hatred, racism or merely a difference in ideology? Their leaders in the Republican House continue to insanely vote for repeal of The Affordable Health Care Act a record 37 times. It is even more insane that the original idea was a REPUBLICAN idea and implemented by Republican Governor Mitt Romney for the State of Massachusetts. And by most accounts… it’s working people!

For me, this question remains. Will the Opposition pursue their obsession to destroy this American President at all costs to this once great nation or will they finally come to terms, get off their butts, compromise and get something constructive legislation done in Washington for a change? How long can this country endure Republican efforts to block legislation, block appointments, stall efforts to restore a fragile economy and jobs, thwart implementation of Wall Street reforms, deny Americans healthcare reform and a jeopardize a secure retirement for millions of Americans?  I remain hopeful for progress and change, but the “forces of Anti” are loud and strong. I guess we will find out in the 2014 midterm elections if America is tired of obstruction and finally ready for hope and change.

Food for THOUGHT…

The Evolution of Marriage

Marriage is between one man and one woman. That’s the way it was in the Bible starting with Adam and Eve and the way it has always been.  Same sex marriage is an abomination according to all of society and the Bible. It threatens traditional marriage and negates the ultimate purpose of marriage… to produce children. And so the arguments go. Traditional marriage is the way it has always been and meant to be.

The problem is that things change. Things evolve. If they did not, slavery would still be legal. Women and African Americans would not have the right to vote and interracial marriage would still be illegal in southern states. One’s sexual orientation would have to be hidden and suppressed at the risk of being a social and religious outcast, labeled a deviant, denied employment, jailed and even beaten to death. But things change and each social change has been hard fought and won in our country’s history.

Now the issue of same sex marriage comes before the United States Supreme Court. The same old, tired arguments have been cited once more. Many of them, I have to imagine, were used to keep interracial marriage illegal. One pervasive argument centers on the ability of same sex couples to have and raise children. Well, they say, the ultimate purpose of marriage is to produce children and raise them in a “normal” family with a mother and father, not two mommies or two daddies.  It would confuse the sexual identities of the children. It might make them gay! If the purpose of marriage is to have and raise children, then what should we do with heterosexual couples who get married and are too old to have children, don’t want to have children or can’t have children? Should we annul those marriages? Today, same sex couples have options, if they wish to raise children. In vitro fertilization, surrogate mothers and adoption have negated that argument. I think it is fair to say that children raised by same sex parents are no more likely to become gay than traditional families.

The heart of the issue is that same sex marriages are not treated equally in all American states or by our federal government. We live in a country where our Constitution allows individual states to determine the legality of marriage. In states where same sex marriage is legal, they still have no standing on the federal level because of DOMA, The Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Because of this discrimination, same sex couples often lose out when it comes to inheritance, social security, property rights, tax advantages, and medical decisions to name a few. Same sex couples are being left hanging in a legal limbo, unless the Supreme Court resolves the issue.

Old ways of seeing and accepting things have changed so much in my own lifetime.  I can remember eating a black licorice candy shaped like little babies called “nigger babies” when I was a child. On TV, I watched black men, women and children being knocked down with water cannons and fire hoses and attacked by police dogs. They were marching down American streets in the south calling for equal rights. There was a time when only white faces were seen on television and in the movies. American sports teams were segregated. There were “Jim Crow Cars” and separate drinking fountains at train stations. Blacks were told to sit in the back of the bus. Gays were called “queers,” beaten and ridiculed. I have seen so much amazing change in my lifetime that I have to believe in human evolution. I can’t believe that loving, committed relationships don’t count for anything, that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness only applies to some Americans and not others.

It is time to accept and move on America.

Food for THOUGHT…

Electing the President

I venture to guess that a lot of Americans don’t really understand that electoral votes and the Electoral College actually elect the president. The President of the United States of America is not elected by the popular vote. Surprise! The way this works is a little complicated, but it goes something like this. We have an election, a presidential election. Citizens in each of the 50 states go out and cast their ballots for President. Each state has a designated number of electoral votes determined by the number of each state’s U.S. Senators and the number of its U.S. Representatives combined.  Each state’s designated number of electoral votes can change every 10 years with the U.S. Census and the change in population in that state which affects the number of U.S. Representatives they have. Have I lost you yet? Try this:

State Electoral Votes = # of U.S. Senators (2) + # of U.S. Representatives (determined by U.S. Census every 10 years based on population)

During the campaign for President, the candidates of each party pursue those states with the largest numbers of electoral votes since the candidate with the largest number of Electoral Votes…wins.  Now to win the electoral votes in each state, the candidate has to win the popular vote in that state. The winner of the popular vote takes all the state’s Electoral Votes or rather the actual people chosen as “electors” by their respective parties during the state primaries. If the Democratic candidate wins the state’s popular vote then those Democratic “electors “ chosen by the state’s Democratic Party get to vote at the Electoral College…after the popular election is over. This group of chosen people gets to choose the President (except in the resent case of Bush v. Gore before the U.S. Supreme Court where the Court got to choose because the vote was so close.) How are you doing? Still with me?

So this is how most Presidential Elections are decided state by state…winner takes all in each state. Now there is a movement afoot to change how this system works.  In states with Republican Governors and Republican controlled state legislatures, Republicans want to change the winner take all rule and split up the states allotted Electoral votes by districts that they have gerrymandered to favor Republican votes. As I understand the plan, it works something like this:

State A = 5 Electoral Votes

Dist. 1 (Rural Area 100 Rep v 50 Dem =Rep Wins)

Dist. 2 (Rural Area 100 Rep v 50 Dem =Rep Wins)

Dist. 3 (Rural Area 100 Rep v 50 Dem =Rep Wins)

Dist. 4 (Urban Area 100 Rep v 1000  Dem =Dem Wins)

Dist. 5 (Urban Area 100 Rep v 1000  Dem =Dem Wins)

Results:

Popular vote: 2150 Dems v 500 Reps = Dems win

New Electoral Plan: 3 Reps v 2 Dems  (State Electoral  Votes are Split favoring Reps)

With this new way to elect a President by splitting Electoral Votes in these states it would be possible for a candidate to win the popular election in a close vote, but lose in the number of Electoral Votes needed to become President. Remember, it is the electoral votes that count. Analysis of the recent Presidential Election using this new system would have resulting in Romney winning the Presidency even though Obama won the popular vote.

Perhaps it is finally time to elect our President by a straight popular vote by all voters across this country. If one political party gains the ability to manipulate the vote in their favor, do we still have a Democracy?

Food for THOUGHT…