Every election cycle we see candidates moving towards the middle.  Some call this ‘flip flopping’. 

In the past 40 years Democrats have won the White House three times.  Two out of three times was by Bill Clinton.  Bill Clinton was a master at moving towards the middle.  Many now say that Obama is following Clintons’ lead.  All our Democratic nominees would have followed Bill Clintons lead and moved towards the middle to win the GE.  This is what CNN has to say about the ‘flip flop’ GE:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/07/03/schneider.flip.flop.primary.cnn

We do have one politician that no matter what the polls say, no matter what the people want…he stays the course.  I say, “Flip flop Mr. Bush.  The majority of the country does not agree with you.”  Even Jesse Helms who was one of the most conservative in Congress worked with Madeline Albright on AIDS in Africa.  He ‘flip flopped’.

Am I disappointed in some of the stands Obama has on the issues?  Of course I am.  Do I know that Obama will not be with me on 100% of the issues?  Of course I do. 

I haven't been able to sleep much latley and have been thinking a lot.  I have put  these thoughts down. With he 4th of July coming..I thought it was relevent. 

We’ve come a long way?

I have been giving this a lot of thought.  With the Fourth of July approaching I think this may be good time for this post.

I grew up in much different times.  Things were much simpler..And better in so many ways. 

We had disease.  My sister went out to play with us one morning and could only crawl up the back porch stairs for lunch.  Yes, polio hit that fast.   I remember standing in long lines to receive my ‘sugar cube’ laced with the polio vaccine at the local school. 

Family time was ‘forced’ upon us, in a way.  Sundays there were only ‘emergency drug stores’ open a few bowling alleys.  So, every Saturday night we would take turns sleeping at our grandparents.  The night began with rolling back the rug in the living room and being forced to learn how to polka with Lawrence Welk on the television in the background.  Then baths with a bar of Fells Napta to wash even our hair.  We awoke to a pair of little white gloves for each of us and a dime to put in the collection basket at the 6:00 Mass my grandparents took us to.  By the way, not a word of English at the Mass as they were in Latin.  We were learning a third language and didn’t know it.  We already knew Slovak and a little German.  English was our primary language. We were Americans and ever so proud of it.

I never knew this until I was adult, but my grandmother could never read.  She put on such a good show no one would have known.  She came to the US at 15 years of age.  She worked in a factory in St. Louis and saved until she had earned enough for the passage for her parents and brothers and sisters to follow. 

My parents sent all 9 of us to Catholic School.  The government was helping parents with this until I was a teenager.  Then it stopped abruptly.  We walked almost 2 miles every day to school in Cleveland weather.  Two miles was the threshold for busses.  We missed it.  We were sure never to cut through the ‘beer joint’ as it was forbidden by my parents. 

We never questioned authority.  The worst thing that could have happened was an adult call our parents to complain about our behavior.  Back then parents believed adults and asked questions later.

I can remember the day JFK was shot as we were in school.  That is a day I will never forget.  People were crying everywhere you looked….. In the stores, the streets…everywhere…everyone.  We were all just ‘Americans’ back then.  Schools were closed the day of the funeral.  We sat in front of our televisions and watched…crying.

My father worked in a factory.  He drove cabs at night.  He began his career as a bolt makers’ helper.  He worked hard, and later took some college classes.  He rose from the bottom of the ladder to management with a 6 figure income and profit sharing.  He became management representation to negotiate with the Union for new contracts.  He did this fairly and always remembered where he came from.  Later he would travel abroad for the company.  That thriving plant that employed so many has been bought and sold in the last 10 years.  It has now moved and is no longer a Union shop. 

We didn’t have video games and didn’t watch much television.  Lucy and Desi slept in separate beds.  We spent our days swinging and singing on the swings in the back yard, playing baseball, hula hooping and sharing our pogo stick.  Dinner time was mandatory.  Period, no questions asked.  We discussed current events and how our days went.  And we talked about ‘the word’.  Everyday my mom would tape a new word on the fridge.  We were to use it 3 times during the day, because she said we would ‘own it’ if we did.  My mother never had to wash a dish because it was our job and we took turns.  No one complained.

Every summer I would spend 2 weeks at my other grandmothers.  She was a widow and lived on a farm.  My grandparents had ‘taken in’ a vagrant alcoholic that had no place to go and he stayed long after my grandpa died to help run the farm….free of his problem.  He was Uncle Bob to us.  There was little or no trash at grandmas.  She canned everything from meet to vegetables (all produced on the small family farm) and we just washed the jars to be used again.  Any leftover food was given to the pigs.  I still remember the crisp, clean smell of the sheets on the beds at grandma’s after they had hung to dry.

Vacations were seldom to far off places.  Driving was the only option because only ‘rich people’ flew.  We would and go to an amusement park one day; it was Tuesday ‘nickel’ day where the rides were only a nickel each.  One day was saved for swimming at East Harbor in Lake Erie.  Few swim in Lake Erie now.  It was cleaned up but now since the Great Lakes Act has been gutted; it is not safe to swim now.  The Walleye and Perch are abundant but caution is given as to how much you can eat due to high Mercury levels.

Then there was the Fourth of July.  Always the same, and always one of the best events of the year.  Family, neighbors and friends all barbecuing in the street and sharing.  We knew our neighbors by name up and down the street.  We knew about them as well.  Once a couple were divorced and moved away.  Divorce was not common them.  The event began after most went to the Parade.  It went on into the night to watch the fireworks.  The memories of the celebration are still vivid.  The unity of the neighborhood was pronounced.  No one close ever had a problem with more help then they needed from their neighbors.

I remember once when my father was ever so disappointed in me.  We were all watching the nightly news.  The news showed pictures of a local protest march against the Viet Nam War.  My father was upset and vehemently said so.  Then my face was shown on the television as one of the protestors.  His face turned white and he left the room.  Nothing was ever said.  In years to follow my father began to question government policy.  Many Americans came to the same realization and did the same.  

Last year I decided to stop by the home I grew up in.  It was once a rural suburb of Cleveland.  I laughed thinking how small the 3 bedroom house was.  I had not remembered it that way.  I just thought it was fun to share a full bed with two of my sisters.  The huge field that was in the back yard is not a parking lot full of cars for the Honda dealership that sits there.  The ditch that was a part of our front yard is gone as underground sewers and sidewalks take their place. 

I look back at it all now and I mourn for the loss of pride we had in America.  I miss the family as it was.  I realize how much smaller the world has become.  I see it every time I go to the grocery store or out to eat.  The variety we now have from all corners of the earth. 

I still think if we take back a little of the good from days gone by…. We could be a better country and better people. 

Obama is soon to be attacked on many fronts by the likely chop shops. We need to tune up talking!

The NRA:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/30/nra-gathering-ammo-agains_n_110106.html

Black Republicans:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/30/black-republicans-launch_n_110042.html

Swiftboaters:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/30/mccain-uses-swift-boat-ve_n_110003.html

How is war a women's issue?

"Fighting Pentagon war is a women's issue because it flows out of the inherent need of capital to expand its markets and its rate of exploitation in order to survive--and women's labor, paid and unpaid, is a foundation upon which this profit system rests.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that of the 50 million people uprooted by war around the world, 75 to 80 percent are women and children. Eighty percent of casualties caused by small arms in a war are women and children in the civilian population--outnumbering military casualties. (Refugees magazine, UNHCR)

In war zones, women work daily to obtain food, water and fuel, and to care for children and elders devastated by wartime disease and trauma. The loss of a father or husband brings extra economic burdens because of many women's economic dependence on men. ("War and Public Health," 1997)

In fact, as the United States prepares to launch an all-out war on Iraq, it is becoming more and more apparent that the Pentagon drive for global domination is really a class war--a war against the poor and oppressed of the world.

It is an international war against the women and girls who do two-thirds of the world's work, most of it unpaid and much of the rest at sweatshop wages that can only feed capitalist profits. (Global Women's Strike-UK)

The United States pours more that $450 billion a year into military spending. A mere 20 percent of that could provide the essentials of life for everyone on the planet--water, sanitation, basic health, nutrition, literacy and a minimum income. (Global Women's Strike-UK)

It is also a domestic war waged against women in the United States.

A recent study of industrialized countries found that the United States had the highest poverty rate for female-headed households of all countries studied: 30.9 percent compared to a 10.5 percent average. (Luxembourg Income Study Working Paper, Sept. 2000)

In fact, 60 percent of all poor adults in the United States are women. Recent census figures show that the sinking capitalist economy here is hurting women in disproportionate numbers. Working women are 40 percent more likely to be poor than working men, and families headed by a single woman are twice as likely to be poor as families headed by a single man. (NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund)

An estimated 20 percent of African American women and Latinas live below the poverty level. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, 2002)

As the U.S. government marches toward war, states are making budget cuts to deal with an estimated $50 billion shortfall. This means that in 2003 the situation of many women in this country will worsen, in a heartbreaking parallel to the lives of women in other parts of the world.

More women here will be evicted from their homes, have utilities disconnected, go hungry together with their children. They will spend more time trying to get medical care, and will still be turned away. And women of color will bear a disproportionate share of this overall burden.

Some women will be forced by the "economic draft" of racism, sexism, homophobia and low-paying or non-existent jobs into joining the U.S. military.

Still others will suffer at the hands of men returning from war--men programmed to kill by the military who end up killing their wives and lovers, as did veterans of the Fort Bragg Special Operations unit returning from Afghanistan last summer."

http://www.workers.org/ww/2003/womwar0123.php

I have created a group for people like myself who would like to be proactive in attempting to stop an a conflict with Iran. I am hoping we could exchange ideas on things we can do to stop this confict including making people aware that the battlefields are being readied for this war now.

 We will also be exchanging news and developments.

No moderation in this group. All are welcome.

 Let's do something before it's too late!

 http://www.democrats.org/page/group/StopaWarWithIran

McCain notes on a poll were leaked to the press. Please read his handwritten notes. This is a very angry man. I am afraid. Very afraid.

http://www.236.com/blog/w/lee_camp/mccains_personal_notes_about_t_7318.php

I am and have always been opposed to the death penalty. I have never figured out why people that were anti abortion could say they are 'pro-life' when they support the death penalty.

My belief in being against the death penalty comes from being agianst killing anyone and the judicial system stacked against minorities. I am pro-choice but that is due to my belief of when life begins. I belive I am really pro-life, as I am against any killing including war.

Bill CLinton took his stand and supported the death penalty in some cases. With the Supreme court ruling this week, Obama said he would support the death penalty in cases of the brutal rape when victims are children. This is an unthinkable crime. But I still do not and never will support the death penalty.

 Everyone on here knows that I am a staunch Obama supporter. I know as BC did, Obama has to move to the center to pick up the Independents he needs to win the race.

Even though I strongly disagree with the stand Obama took on the death penalty, I still support him. I look at the big picture. I know how bad a McCain presidency would be. I know that my voice will never be heard on so many other issues I care deeply about in a McCain White HOuse. I know how bright an Obama presidency would be.

Some times we have to lose battles to win the war.