I have seen all kinds of posts on AR that made the hair on the back of my neck stand; heck, I have probably written some that had the same effect on others.  This morning, though, I woke up to the most shameful display of indecency.  The post in question has thankfully been removed in short order - but the impact remains.  It was a petition to have two members of Active Rain removed from this network, ostensibly, in the quest for civility.

Some of you have seen it.  Some of you have even signed it. 

Few things surprise me on here anymore, but I must say I found it strange that some of the signers of this petition were the same people who rallied behind the only member I am aware of who's account on AR was terminated by the staff.  Same people screaming ‘freedom of speech' every time they believe their voices are being silenced.  Some of these folks, while we always disagreed, I even respected, until now.  That includes the author of the post.

Call me old-fashioned, but I have this fundamental belief that there can be no civility without decency; I believe also that when one gets the hang of their very first TV remote or car radio, they learn to change the channel, should programming disagree with their preferences.  Few of us would pick up the phone and scream bloody murder at the movie director for having disliked it.  Fewer still would try to get the director or the actors fired for it.

So here we are, supposedly all adult enough to drive, drink and BLOG.  For some of us, this network brought business. For others, we are a few friends richer for having joined.  A few real or virtual friends who get us is no small feat either.

But I think it's safe to assume that those of us who contribute content to AR on a regular basis have invested quite a bit of time, energy and talent.  It's safe to assume that we have established an emotional connection to people in the groups we post to.  It's probably safe to assume that we all CARE if we stay or go, for our own reasons.

So here is my little petition to AR:  let us assume that we are, indeed, adults, and do not reward those who click the "FLAG" button at the slightest provocation or incite the community to have members they dislike banished.  Let's all learn to just change the channel, if we object to a specific poster's personality or opinion.  Last I checked, no one is holding a proverbial gun to any of our craniums and forcing us to read that which offends us.  And for those who are easily offended, grow thicker skin or talk about puppies.  Anything else will inevitably give you heartburn, and make those of us who take the whole freedom of expression thing rather seriously not want to engage in conversation with you on any topic. 

Lastly, while I agree that personal insults of any kind have no place on this platform, or any other for that matter, I, for one, would hate to see our ability to speak freely on subjects that we are passionate about stifled.  I have seen quite a few posters here proclaim that as a right.  Most rights come with responsibilities.  So by all means, delete comments that offend you, voice your dissent, if you so choose, but grow up some.  What you believe is your right to free expression is the same right by which any one of us can disagree with you, and it has to remain that way.  Tolerance for opinions that are contrary to your own is the gold in freedom of expression's currency.  It is also a fundamental mark of honor and decency. 

Let's all do the honorable thing and lay off the ‘flags', because at the end of the day, on the receiving end of you clicking that button is a human being you probably don't know.  Because one day that human being can be you... And lastly, because it makes you a vindictive bully in the eyes of those who matter - your peers.

There was a time I complained publically about the dire state of our healthcare. I didn't buy into the right wing arguments that the US had the BEST healthcare in the world; after all, there were all these numbers coming out that kept contradicting those statements, like our infant mortality rate, and life-expectancy rate when compared to other nations. But I must retract. I was wrong.

We MUST have the best Healthcare in the world, if only because WE are paying twice as much for it as Norway, France, the UK, Canada, et al. Of course, in those countries, every person is, indeed, covered by the government, and we all know that governments are corrupt, inefficient, and, at times, downright evil. We, the greatest nation in the world, rely on the inherent goodness of Private Insurance Companies. Profit-driven, they know that what's best for us is to shut the hell up, and be glad that we live in a free country, where they are free to grant us the safety of insurance or not, and where we are free to pay our own damned medical bills if we are un-insurable. If they had to take on additional risk of insuring those who might actually require care, we are good enough capitalists to realize that our premiums would have to be raised, cause the stocks have to keep climbing; cause the profit margins only travel in one direction, and that's up, and god knows patriotic Americans will not begrudge insurance giants their hefty profits - they earned it.

They earn it every time they say ‘no' to a claim to a paying customer, and can't be sued for it. They earn it by instituting internal policies that reward denials of claims, no matter their validity in the hopes that the customer gives up, or dies. They earn it by being good enough at what they do to recognize that Obesity can strike one as young as four-months-old, and it's simply a great business decision to deny the fat baby coverage, for years to come. Mama should starve the bastard, so he loses a few ungainly pounds, no matter that his pediatrician considers him healthy.

They earn it when they understand that acne in teens is a sign of cancer in the future, and why the hell would I want to pay for some broad who couldn't keep her face clean, while ridden with all those hormones. Or for the idiot woman who stays in an abusive relationship and gets beat up, but is too stupid to keep it to herself, and still wants to get medical insurance...

I'd say fuck ‘em. Forget reform. It boils down to our priorities, and being good capitalists that we are, there is only ONE that matters: keeping our Insurance Companies Making healthy profits in perpetuity. They are the modern day heroes of our economy, and we must keep them happy, healthy and swimming in dough. So I don't mind paying $7,900 a year one way or the other to keep them in business, and still not have any coverage. I am a patriot.
If only I had the confidence of some that there was a God to take care of me, should I get sick.

So, by all means, vote NO on the bloody idiotic bill in front of you, dear elected officials. Because for as long as Anyone's health is going to hinge on the good graces of private insurance, we, the people, will be no better of than before, only some of us might end up in jail for failing to pay our premiums.

Of course, there is that silver lining of government provided healthcare while incarcerated...

First Published on www.CoffeeDrinkersUnite.com - a social network for the progressive types.  If you have something to say and Huff Post won't print it - say it on coffeedrinkers :-)

It appears that I owe quite a few people on AR an apology...

What started out as my seemingly innocuous idea with creating the coffee drinkers network for like-minded folks has resulted in quite a few hurtful jabs thrown in all directions, secret and not-so-secret groups and chats popping up where one is free to throw stones, etc.

Now, I say "seemingly innocuous" when it comes to the intent behind my site because there is probably no such thing as absolutely pure intentions, for one.  For another, truth be told, I thought it would be rather fun to laugh at some of the more asinine comments and outbursts by the right-wingers, the tea-drinkers, the birthers et al.

Only, none of it was supposed to be directed at specific people, but rather the sentiments voiced.  Nonetheless, personal it turned and spawned ugly offspring on both sides of the political divide, just as angry and hurtful, just as driven by the mob of majority-bully-like thirst for blood.

With all this being said, I am sorry for initiating that which serves no purpose and ultimately makes all of us look and feel like jackasses, or at least, it should...

I was lucky these last few weeks to not have had access to the Internet, so I was forced to take a break from it all.  I learned that there are very, very few of you whose words I found myself missing, and fewer still whom I consider my friends, and with whom I'd want to share a non-virtual cup o'joe.  None of it is predicated on your politics, or mine.  It's simply a feeling of connecting, of knowing you in some way, of being able to read between the lines you share on these pages.  These connections, albeit few, are what makes the whole experience of vomiting words into the virtual universe worthwhile...  That's it, for me, in a nutshell.

Every once in a while I, too, get caught up in mad Diaghilev's greatest sin - that craving for "not universal love, but to be loved alone..."  I suck up your praises or revel in your frustrations at certain arguments.  But, at the end of the day, the only thing I can know with any degree of certainty is that none of us have a moral superiority over our fellow men....

There is something to be said for the doctrine of individualism, and it has nothing to do with economic models: one has to only be true to the innermost impulses of one's soul to be worthy of the free will we've all being endowed with.  One, in the end, is utterly alone, and when every hurtful word gleefully thrown at someone else stares you in the mirror - it'll darken in silence to you alone.  There are no cheerleaders in our hearts, nor bullies.  Would we be as brave and callous without the benefit of distance and anonymity of zeros and ones?

To bring this back to the original point of this post - I am sorry to everyone, no matter what side, for being the catalyst for this incessant river of vitriol.  I am sorry, too, that so many people found joy in petty insults, in stealthy attacks, in schoolyard-style bullying.  I am sorry that I've lost respect for some of you through it all.

My only wish, at this point, is that we can nurse our wounds with some dignity, and if any shots must be fired, we do not aim at the backs of those we disagree with, present company included...  That's the least any of us who believe in basic decency can muster.

Thank you for listening.

So here we are, trying our best to battle out the health care debate with the crazies, arguing with downright laughable insinuations (death panels, school-based-abortions, communist takeover), and the administration, instead of dissecting the bill for the moderate dems to assuage their fears - are gagging insurance companies' ability to speak to their clients.

I don't know whether or not what's in the Humana mailer is full of inaccuracies. I do not know whether or not Medicare Advantage will, indeed, be cut in its entirety, or what if any other options seniors who currently use it will be offered. It's immaterial to this conversation. I would like to know why the people that are supposed to be doing their best right now to PASS a health care bill are shooting themselves in the foot over and over again. I would like to know who, in their infinite wisdom, decided that it would be better to tell Humana to shut up than to address the points they brought up in the letter. After all, doesn't the FED have those same lists?

Your thoughts?

Originally published by me at www.coffeedrinkersunite.com - a social network for the progressive types.  Click to join.

Tracy Chapman, who's written so little and said so much...to me, one of the more honest tributes to Dylan, whose inability to not be so drunk all the time made him lose some luster.  Tonight - that's what I am litstening to; her singing Bob Dylan in some small intimate cafe, probably on the West Coast, probably to a crowd of liberals who wish they could still smoke in places like that... To a bunch of liberals who know their history viscerally.  There is no anger here, but there is soul.:-)

So the long awaited Baucus Bill is out there. Spineless bit of 'trying to appease' the repubs, find common ground and all that garbage.

I find it offensive that the bill expects to FINE people for not puchasing health insurance, but the only option for us to have insurance is to hand our money to the POS's at the helm of United, Blue Cross et al. The schmucks who would kill a person for a 10-cent increase in their freakng stock portfolios. The schmucks who believe 'being a victim of domestic violence is a pre-existing condition", the assholes who will not treat your cancer because you've had acne....

Fuck you, Baucus and the rest of you spineless dems out there for this yet another insult to the people who voted you in office, the people who rallied behind the new administration like they've never rallied before. Take you bill and your insurance exchanges/coops/pools or whatever the hell you want to call them, you know, the middle man funnelling more of our money to the insurance monopolies, and stick it up your collective asses.

Is there one of you out there, in that fab gang who isn't in it for re-election, ego, being liked, but to do the right thing? Because you all know that MANDATORY health insurance coverage without a PUBLIC OPTION is unconscionable. You've always known that. But you are weak, and scared, and therefore, useless.

At least the other side has their convictions, that don't change as the wind blows, only with each new Beck segment. At least they have balls.

Originally published by me at: www.coffeedrinkersunite.com - a social network for free-thinking progreesive types.

Here is a noteworthy excerpt from the constitution we helped enact:

"Article 30:

First: The State shall guarantee to the individual and the family - especially

children and women - social and health security, the basic requirements for living

a free and decent life, and shall secure for them suitable income and appropriate

housing.

Second: The State shall guarantee social and health security to Iraqis in cases of

old age, sickness, employment disability, homelessness, orphanhood, or

unemployment, shall work to protect them from ignorance, fear and poverty, and

shall provide them housing and special programs of care and rehabilitation, and

this shall be regulated by law.

Article 31:

First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall maintain public

health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different

types of hospitals and health institutions.

Second: Individuals and entities have the right to build hospitals, clinics, or

private health care centers under the supervision of the State, and this shall be

regulated by law.

Source:

http://www.uniraq.org/documents/iraqi_constitution.pdf

Article 32:

The State shall care for the handicapped and those with special needs, and shall ensure

their rehabilitation in order to reintegrate them into society, and this shall be regulated by

law.

Article 33:

First: Every individual has the right to live in safe environmental conditions.

Second: The State shall undertake the protection and preservation of the

environment and its biological diversity.

Article 34:

First: Education is a fundamental factor for the progress of society and is a right

guaranteed by the state. Primary education is mandatory and the state guarantees

that it shall combat illiteracy.

Second: Free education in all its stages is a right for all Iraqis.

http://www.uniraq.org/documents/iraqi_constitution.pdf

So I am reading this article and thinking to myself:  we invaded a sovereign nation under the auspices of protecting ourselves from terrorism, which later turned into the rallying cry for bringing Democracy to less fortunate nations.  It will have cost us trillions of dollars, by the time the interest on our debt is calculated into the equation.  It made us look like total asses to the international community.  It cost us lives of our military.  It cost the Iraqis hundreds of thousands of lives of their citizens.

In the end, we are patting ourselves on the back for the peaceful and democratic nation 'we enabled'.  I'd like to know why the previous administration and all the republicans who supported the invasion, the war, and inevitably the newly drafted Constitution of Iraq had NO PROBLEM promising UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE to Iraqi citizens.  Why not one person cried foul.  Why NO ONE accused us of IMPOSING SOCIALISM on an innocent nation.

To all my obstructionist friends on the Right - please explain to me why we thought Iraqis were worthy of the government taking care of their health care and education needs, much like it's done in most civilized EUROPEAN countries you abhor so much - but here, in the US, it's OK for people to die from lack of treatment? 

The callous disregard for humanity is becoming the one true, unchanging trademark of the new GOP.  The cynical disdain for have-nots; the calculating equations of poor to lazy. The cold-hearted compassion-less worship of the flag and chest pounding brand of screaming patriotism will not hide the true nature of those who supported the war and oppose healthcare reform, those who supported the top bracket tax cuts and oppose health reform, because it cannot.

Progressives, too, are waking up from their slumber.  They, too, feel the need to protect this country and its ideals.  The difference is that they understand what those ideals actually are. 

"If you don't do your homework, the nails will go an inch deeper into the flesh of Jesus Christ", - such was the opening line of my first philosophy lecture in college.  Frank Ferrell was supposed to become a preacher or a minister, and was, as he put it, indoctrinated his entire childhood.  When he did masturbate and did not go blind as a result - he turned to reason, logic and philosophy as a way of understanding the world around him.  Of course, this was before the days of FOX news as republican propaganda machine; it was also before blogging and tweeting anything and everything that came to us via the news-that-dares-not-be-news. 

The reason he always opened his first lecture with that story was precisely so that we, the students of that exceedingly liberal institution of learning, questioned everything.  The point of learning was never about the answers, but the ABILITY TO ASK QUESTIONS, only truly stupid questions did not count.

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing broadcasters are not interested in their audience' asking questions - they are giving you the answers.  All of them.  And the answers are so black and white that you can't possibly not feel grand about being on the right side of the political spectrum.  The alternative is just too scary.

Of course, it's never about the details of any bill, or an address to school children, as in the case of impending indoctrination speech on September 8^th.  It is always about a greater, more sinister, more evil plan - a plan to destroy something we all love and cherish...our country. 

So little Janes and Johnnies everywhere will go to school and be told by the dude in the White House something or other about education.  They will be asked to set some goals, and stick to those.  They may also be asked or told something or rather of civic duty - but it won't be veiled in the bloody flag of War on Terror, hence, it will be less than patriotic, in and of itself.  Of course the oh so famous "Ask not what your country can do for you..." sentiment was not indoctrination in the least - it was patriotism, pure and simple.  And we all know that NOTHING the current administration does can be either PURE or SIMPLE. 

By all means, keep your children far away from schools on September 8^th.  Save them from impending brainwashing on all things communist.  Save them from listening to their President, because God forbid they ...gulp...find him an inspirational figure.  God forbid they like what he says - because then you are screwed.  You lose the control of your kids.  Because some day they will learn that they WILL not go blind from masturbation, they will learn that ALL MEN WERE CREATED EQUAL, and God just might be a wee bit wiser than one involved solely in doling out punishments.

This latest bit of embarrassing obstructionism and fear mongering spawned by the very same pundits that make a killing solely on Propaganda and Indoctrination is yet another testament that people acting out of fear are, indeed, dangerous.  So if you were looking for parallels to Hitler's Youth - it's your kids, not mine, that are being raised to take up arms and fight great evil, no matter how imaginary.   Your kids, growing up scared of they know not what:  "Children afraid of the dark, who have never been happy or good" - the new generation of fear mongering and scared foot soldiers for those with the mightiest wallets and smallest balls.

Cry, the beloved country, for you have spawned that which you abhor...

Stupidity is a sin.  Yep, I firmly believe that in a Democracy, stupidity is dangerous, and the one thing that our brilliant forefathers did not foresee to the fullest extent.

I am not a member of MENSA, and only hold a lowly BA, so please, spare me the elitist labels.  But I do my OWN research.  I watch Jon Stewart as occasion will allow, but do not take what he says as fact - but as entertainment, that at times, presents factual info, in addition to making me laugh. But this isn't about me, it's about what appears to be a huge shift in what we, as a nation, as a people, find acceptable.  It's about the need everyone in power nowadays feels to cater to the "average American".

I don't like "average" in anything.  I spent my whole life admiring those who were NOT average, whether through talent or will.  I don't ever recall aspiring to score a "C" or to not win a game.  Since when has it become for us not only ok to aspire to averageness, but to celebrate it?

If Joe-The-Lying-Sack-of-Shit-Plumber is the one who can sway opinions of the politicians who are supposed to represent me, than I am not game.  I don't want my life and that of my kids to depend in any way on the opinions and bullying tactics of those who scream the loudest, those who carry the scariest sounding posters to the Town Halls, those who on the best of days cannot string two freaking words together to save their souls (yep, that's Sarah Palin for those who care). 

I can put all kinds of trust in a democracy in which I have the ability to make some sort of an impact on my own life, but not the one that is overrun by the mob with combined IQ of a toddler, and not one comprised of people too LAZY to read anything that's longer than a Glenn Beck segment.

So yeah, I want my country back... The one where VOTERS are supposed to be FREE THINKING, i.e. able and willing to think for themselves, able and willing to do their own research, able and willing to engage in debate on matters that affect us all.  I want my country back.  This is not nor has it ever been an ‘average country'.  Why are we allowing it to turn into one?

I think it's time the thinking people of this country come together.  The coffee-drinkers, the elitists, the educated-enough-to-think-for-themselves, the ones who don't think colleges and universities are evil, the ones who read at least portions of the health care bill for themselves, the ones who did not think the Patriot Act was going to keep us safe... well, you get the point.

It's time for the rest of us, marginalized by the wing-nuts, to speak out!!!

So let's start a revolution.  Let's speak our minds, because there is nothing wrong with a high IQ, there is nothing wrong with being able to communicate in complete sentences, and there is nothing wrong with not wanting to have the morons decide our future.

Are you game?

As someone who takes the practice of journalism and responsibilities that go with having an audience seriously, I despise Glenn Beck.  He spews hatred for ratings, riles up the base, and has no problem misleading those who tune in.  Never mind that I am on a somewhat different side of the political fence - if he handled information in a more responsible manner, I could disagree with him and still respect him.

We have all heard our fill of the latest Beck scandal - calling our President a racist.  It was unprofessional and uncalled for, in my opinion, but are we sure we really want WalMart deciding our Television Programming?  Are we, the libs, indeed so happy that Beck is losing advertisers because of what he said?

Did any of you sign this petition on Color For Change?  Did it feel good?

See, the problem here, as I see it, is that if people want to watch his show and believe everything that comes out of his mouth, they have a right to do so without having to spend money on access to it, as hateful as some of us think it is.  The only way for that to happen is via ad dollars that go to network advertising.  I don't know too many people who evaluate the products they buy based on which particular show or program they saw them on.  I always thought that it was pretty clear that any ad on ANY program is not an endorsement of the opinions voiced.  I thought we, the consumers, were smarter than that.

One can make an argument, of course, that what Beck says on his show is or can be dangerous, in much the same way Rush and O'Reiley have been accused of same - all the way down to inciting violence.  I won't belittle those arguments, but I will only ask you this: is our (and that's all of us) access to DIVERSE sources of information, news and opinion something that we still hold dear?  Because if it is, we are engaging in murdering the future of that access.  Freedom of speech, and freedom of the press do not and never have guaranteed us that we would always like what we see or hear.  The protections are in place specifically for those times when we don't.  I whole-heartedly disagree with what Glenn Beck says, but if I were to boycott any advertiser right now, I would do so BECAUSE they pulled their ads. Because to me, this democracy is much more important than any insult, no matter how hateful, spewed from the airwaves.

Your thoughts?