Category: Politics

What year is this?

I have now been in Georgia camping for 12 of the last 15 months. I have found Georgia to be a state full of polite people, but then again I’ve put myself in a bubble of sorts. The campgrounds where I have stayed have been predominantly gay campgrounds which don’t represent the population at large. I was reminded of that with a story I heard from another camper yesterday.

This guy had lost his debit card and had a new one on the way. His bank had used FedEx to deliver his card overnight. It hadn’t shown up the next day. Or the next. Or the next. Finally he went to the office to inquire about it. The office people said they hadn’t seen a FedEx driver there in a couple of weeks. The camper called the FedEx office in Macon, and then the FedEx corporate offices.

As it turns out, the delivery driver assigned to this campground doesn’t like to deliver here so the packages have not been delivered. They are all just sitting on his truck waiting for who knows what to happen before getting delivered. Some of the “who knows what” has included recipeients driving all of the way to Macon (about an hour away) to pick up their packages, others getting refunds and other just not knowing what to do.

Companies shipping these products have paid FedEx to deliver them and are not receiving the services that they have paid for.

All because the guy doesn’t want to deliver here.

I don’t know what kind of crazy world this driver lives in in his head, but if you don’t do your job, you shouldn’t be getting paid for it. This has evidently been a problem here on and off for years. Why does this guy still have a job? He’s not doing it and is costing people money. Even worse, why isn’t FedEx doing anything about this?

When the camper called corporate, they told him they would be in contact with the driver and if it hadn’t been delivered that day, that they would have the driver turn around and come back to deliver it. If that didn’t happen, they said the driver would no longer have a job.

The package didn’t show up. I’ve yet to hear the final chapter of this story but will be sure to share when I do. I wonder if anyone from FedEx was around (of course they were, it went on for decades) to see what happened with the Coors Boycott that still has effects on its sales.

Here’s the fear: with the new administration removing LGBT protections and corporations quickly following (Wal-Mart, Target among others) there will be no retribution for these types of outward discriminatory behaviors not only aimed at GLBT communities but other minorities as well.

Prediction: We will see a lot more of this stuff in the coming years.

Say Goodbye to the Monarch Butterfly

This next 4 years will have devastating effects on the lives of every living being on this planet for the remainder of our existence on this planet. Every little piece of legislation we will see will harm our environment, make the people poorer and the rich richer.

The Endangered Species Act has saved countless species from extinction, including the hump-backed whale, the grizzly bear and the bald eagle. Now with animal populations decreasing by 60% since 1970, 3 billion birds vanishing and one million other species facing extinction by 2050, Trump has weakened the Act by redefining what a habitat it. By doing so, he will open up lands for oil extraction which we know further harms our existence in countless ways. This is criminal.

But what do you expect from the first elected convicted felon of the United States? This crime will seem insignificant as we sell what else will unfold.

5 Simple Rules to Un-Fuck Congress

Rule #1: Term Limits.Representatives and Senators should have a limit of 2 terms and then give up the seat for someone to have their voice heard.

Rule #2: Congress men/women get paid the median salary in their state. If they want to make more money, then they can work to raise the median salary in their state. This would make them understand the people of their state.

Rule #3: No more travel to DC or oversees travel. There is no fucking reason everyone has to be in the same room in this day and age. We have the technology to do this remotely. These people are representatives of their state, they should be staying in their fucking state rather than traveling to Paris with the taxpayer footing the bill.

Rule #4: All bills voted on should be single issue bills. If a bill can’t pass on its own merit, then it shouldn’t pass.

Rule #5: Anytime a member of Congress speaks in the media to the American people, it should be assumed that they are under oath, and can be charged with perjury for lying to the American people.

These 5 rules would un-fuck congress.

Just stop for a minute…

I rarely write or talk about politics. I think that the topic has become so divisive that it has become a threat to our well being. Our communities are being torn apart as we are almost forced to choose between two sides that encourage us to hate each other. We all know (or I hope that the majority of us are smart enough to realize) that this is being executed as designed. The two major parties pick a topic that engages our emotions so strongly that we forget that if we step back and take a look at things, we all want the same things – a safe place to live, enough food on our table, good education for our kids, and a little bit left over for some fun. Nobody can argue against that.

This machine that divides us has infinite power. Some how Trump has learned the secret to loyalty, his followers will do anything he says and nothing that he does can turn them against him. Let’s look at some of the things should turn any normal, semi-intelligent being to think twice about this horror of a man:

  • His association with Jeffrey Epstein, the sex-trafficker who killed himself after being found guilty. Trump called him “a great guy” and a “lover of beautiful women, sometimes on the young side.”
  • His attempt to turn the US into a dictatorship, throwing democracy to the wind. This, alone should be enough to turn any US Citizen who spends their time quoting the constitution regarding the right to bear arms to be afraid that the document they hold so dear was almost shredded into nothingness on that 6th day of January.
  • His statement to Iowans after a school shooting in Perry “get over it and move on”
  • Fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.
  • Telling Americans to inject disinfectant to kill Covid-19 on national television.
  • His statement that the Civil War could have been ‘negotiated’, his praise of artwork by White Supremacists and pandering to the far-right wing Christians.
  • The fact that he faces 91 charges in several cases across several states.
  • His promotion of conspiracy theories, racism and misogony.

I could go on, but I shouldn’t need to. Not only is this person not a good candidate, he’s not a good person. I’m certainly glad that when my great-great grandfather arrived here from Sweden that someone like him wasn’t in office claiming that we were “poisoning the blood” of America.

Now I’m no Biden fan either, but one cannot ignore the following facts:

  • Unemployment rates are at a historic low of 3%.
  • There are more new small businesses than any other time period on record.
  • There are over 11 million new jobs.
  • We are on track to rebuild our failing infrastructure of roads, bridges, electrical grid, passenger rail system and are investing in cleaner energies that will have to replace our dependence on coal.
  • Women and Black Americans have made historic gains in pay equality.
  • Paved the way for the legalization of marijuana by pardoning all prior Federal convictions of possession, encouraging governors to do the same, and by creating a panel to re-class and re-thing the approach we take on the drug.
  • Only 8% of Americans remain without health insurance.
  • Wages have risen
  • Inflation has decreased.

Ideally a third party candidate could win the election. I think I’m done voting for any party who’s goal is to divide and conquer. We should be about uniting a nation rather than dividing it.

Religious freedom, government jobs and individual rights

Recently the clerk of Rown County Kentucky lost a court case in which she was sued for not signing marriage licenses of same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs. She was ordered to pay $100,000 to the couple along with court costs.

This brings up several issues – individual freedoms, religious freedom, and separation of church and state.

Should this clerk be allowed to have religious beliefs that contradict her civic duties? Yes, of course – the constitution allows for religious freedom. This concept is one of the reasons why the US sought and won independence from Great Britian. Does this permit her to deny another US citizen their constitutional right to get married? No. Should she leave her religious beliefs at home when she comes to work at her government job? Absolutely. The separation of church and state disallows the government from adopting a single religion or favoring one – religion has no place in government.

This is a no brainer. It’s very clear and although the media states that it is a complex issue, it really isn’t. It’s very. clear. Perhaps if your beliefs contradict your job duties you should find another job. In this case the voters took care of that for her. She wasn’t re-elected.

Sometimes the justice system does work.