A CALL TO ACTION

It looks as though Rush Limbaugh will not lose his premiere spot on the air waves where he freely spreads his hate speech and misogyny and misinformation daily to a vast audience of over 56 million listeners. And perhaps, as Bill Maher has recently tweeted, this is as it should be.
Don’t get me wrong. I am decidedly NOT a fan.
Nor do I approve of agencies such as his and Glen Beck and especially Fox News (they being the most egregious as they actually have the audacity to bill themselves as “news” and use the slogan “fair and balanced) that spread as I stated above lies and misinformation with impunity.
But even the most heinous murderer or criminal in these United States is entitled to not only his or her day in court but to a defense, so is it granted to us under the First Amendment “free speech.”
We can argue what constitutes free speech, just as we argue what constitutes obscenity– but instead, I would like to examine what this latest brouhaha has wrought, and perhaps the good that can come from the wreckage of Rush.
We have received a good solid kick in the keister out of the complacency that the Democratic Party had fallen into as well as women in general.
Know now my fellow warriors of freedom– you may never rest.
We slayed the monster of the W regime in 2008. And just exactly how long did that triumph last?
Two short years.
And then, due to the cowardice of most of the Democrats who ran like scared rats from this President who dared have the audacity of hope and who dared push through the first health-care reform in a century, and who refused to stand up for him and instead ignored their Commander in Chief during their re-elections,  we lost and lost big.
And due to the Politics of Pout, our electorate either stayed home, or God forbid, voted the other way, and in doing so eviscerated a democratic President by giving him a divided Congress.
Why? He didn’t fight hard enough for a public option? Really. And do anyone of you really think in this highly charged political atmosphere where it took an historic 18 months to even pass a reasonable facsimile of a health care bill that this Congress would have even entertained the idea of a “European-style” public option?
Of course we should have a public option.
For heaven’s sake the only thing that makes sense is to have everyone on Medicare — but you go to Congress and try to convince the Right of that.
Do not forget, they were for the individual mandate before they were against it. Just as they were for the contraception mandate before they were against it only forcibly coming out “nay” when they clearly saw a political football. None other than Mike Huckabee signed this mandate into law in Alabama as did many Republican governors. (LA Times 2/15).
Guantanomo? President Obama is not a dictator, nor does he have a magic wand. Congress blocked that one.
Republicans don’t fall in love they fall in line.
May I submit, if we want to avoid this country from falling into the hands of the oligarchy and the Koch brothers,  as Democrats we take a page from our compatriots.
I am not saying you have to agree with everything,  but for heaven’s sake, don’t do the Right’s work for them!
Dennis Kucinich stood up on the floor of the US Congress and asked for an impeachment vote against the president. Asked Congress to impeach a democrat!
I am glad he was voted out!
For heaven’s sake!Voice your concerns about a war. Obama did just that and that’s what got him elected, but to call for his impeachment?
To what end? Another decade of Republican plutocracy and coproatocracy?
Right now 34 states are passing or have passed voter suppression laws. This will mean up to 21 milliondisenfranchised– turned away from the polls in 2012. 21 million.
And while the Dems were out of power for 8 years due to a stolen election in 200o and 2004 ( Gore won the popular vote and he won Florida; Kerry won Ohio but those votes were never disputed — Diebold needs to be examined and put out of business — we need paper trails and votes that can be examined and counted one by one) W and his administration were stacking the federal courts. Since Obama has been elected, the Republicans have obstructed and block a vast majority of his federal court appointees. What does this mean? When Eric Holder brings lawsuits against voter suppression laws, guess whose fingers weigh heavily on the scales of justice.
Become involved.
Stop playing the politics of pout.
Support with your dollars your candiates– especially women candidates.
Sexism on my part? Okay– read up about them– inform yourself– and if it is a toss up between two candidates — support the women. Why?
Because if we had 83 women in the Senate and 17 men we would never see contraception as an issue– an issue that was settled in 1965 by Griswold v Conn.
We can no longer say one person, one vote– sad to say.
But we all still have a voice.
We have seen the outrage come with every piece of legislation produced by the Right’s war on women ; with the bombast and misogyny of Rush Limbaugh; with the support given to the Rev Al Sharpton’s march on Selma to reclaim the vote; and against each new seemingly daily assault of the Right including vaginal probes, forced medical treatments, drug testing for the poor,tax plans that give continued breaks to the wealthy while placing the burden of our recovering economy squarely on the backs of the poor and middle-class, the slashing of union rights, attempts to do away with the minimum wage, and the refusal to do away with big business and big oil subsidies.
I fought in the 60′s against the war in Viet Nam. I burned my bra for the rights of women.

I am ready and armed for battle once again.
Are you?