Wednesday, September 18, 2013

BULLY, BULLY, BULLY!

Comedic Talk Show Hostess, Advocate and
Socially Conscious Woman Extraordinaire,
Anti-Bullying Activist
Ellen DeGeneres! Yay Ellen!



Don't Forget Your Second Wind Is Billy Joel's suggestion
It's not always easy to live in this world of pain
 but don't forget it, you'll get your second wind!
Please hang in there.
You ARE worth it, I know! been there, done that.
"You probably don't want to hear advice from someone else.
I would't tellaya if it hadn't happened to me.
Sooner or later you'll feel that momentum kick in."
<3
:)
Thank you Ellen DeGeneres. Thank you CNN daytime.  Even thank you AC 360.  Thank you to anyone who is aiding in placing the focus on bullying among kids and young adults especially.  I was bullied mercilessly as a child as an adolescent and am still recovering from the scars.  I was not referred to as Steve in junior high school. 

Not that it's relevant, but I am neither homosexual, nor bisexual.  I was, perhaps, behaving in a less testosterone- ridden way than most boys my age in the society and culture of the day in 1960's suburban America 
--maybe somewhat effeminate might even be an apt description, but I'm hardly subjective enough to offer an accurate appraisal. 

My nickname chosen for me by virtually all my fellow pupils was "Fem."  It was my misfortune that the brand new over-the-counter pharmaceutical "Femiron" and the consequent Madison Avenue ad campaign had hit the airwaves simultaneous with my arrival in 7th grade.
I entered Kindergarten at the early age of 4, due to accident of birth and grew up consistently the smallest and weakest, physically in my class.  As Janis Ian sang so poignantly all those years ago in that awesome tune of the day, "At 17", I was always last when "choosing sides for basketball."  Even after the last girl was chosen.  Tough situation for a little boy.  I couldn't hit a ball for beans, couldn't jump, run, or kick well at all.  Gym teachers despised me, and I them.  Different time.  Even the President's Council On Physical Fitness' emphasis on athletics injured me, the way it was presented.  I hated jocks as a kid, for example, grew my hair long and reacted badly in many ways.

I never took up arms like the kids at Columbine, though.  Never committed suicide, though thoughts were entertained, obsessively, at times.  Not even close to that now.  If any kids read this, please know that it ends.  My life today is so full and so rich, and I have so many friends, such a wonderful family, such a great home, and such great cats, and so many opportunities in my life today that I wouldn't trade my life for any one's on earth.  Just hang on, please, you'll make it.  The cliche goes:  "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary situation."  Catch phrases like that used to enrage me, but its so true. 


Your Unabashed Author, Happy Steve Alexander
Happy After A Bit Of A Bout Of Unhappiness Really!
Hang In Pleeeeeze!
All My Friends Will Tellya I'm Actually Kind Of A Jokester Today,
Ifya Can Imagine That After Being A Junior High School Bully Victim!
loloLOLOLOL
ShehehehahahahHAHAHA!
:-D
You Can Do It!

Billy Joel's corny but awesome tune, "Second Wind" is appropriate.  If you can hang on, just for today, believe you me, that old second wind will indeed come along and you will fly and celebrate indeed!  Please don't do it. Talk, instead--you can find someone who will.  The whole journey is worth it in spades, and I have no regrets, not even of being bullied.  Absolutely not!

Janis Ian's Awesome Tune "At Seventeen"
helped keep me going day by day back then.
I knew I wasn't alone.
Others "knew the pain of Valentines that never came" and
"whose name's were last when choosing sides for basketball."
You're not alone either.
I luvya; and so do others. They just maybe don't know what to say.
It's hard. I know. But you can do it!
You ARE absolutely worth it! And life will be beautiful soon. Even though
today may seem like forever. It endz. It does. I know.
I was called names, bullied and abused by classmates. Then it was over.
Now I have friends, family, pets, a great home, a successful and
happy life. And I get help
and get to try helping others every day.
That's the best part. I promise!
<3

So my nicknames included three primary ones that began with an "f".  "Fem," as I've mentioned.  "Fairy."  And the other "F" word hurled at homosexuals by homophobics who imagine they just might have some sexual ideas of their own others might not find acceptable so they hurl them at those they perceive as vulnerable.  HOMOPHOBIA IS HORRIBLE AND NEEDS TO END!  And I didn't even have any such tendencies, I can only imagine the nightmare for kids who are in a homophobic environment.  What a nightmare.

If you're a kid and see another kid being abused by your peers, don't be afraid to talk to the bullying victim in a constructive and loving way.  If you care enough to be concerned you have the skills to say and ask the right things.  He/she most likely wants to talk.  If they don't let it pass. 



If you are a parent, a guardian, a brother, a sister, a cousin or whatever and see a kid alone, lonely, not bringing friends home or you suspect they have no friends, talk to them about it tenderly.  If they don't want to talk, make the offer.  They will take you up on it another time, I guarantee it.  And you'll both be so full of joy it's almost unimaginable.

Being bullied was my deepest, darkest secret when it was happening.  I was ashamed by it, even though I was the victim.  Have no shame.  If you love kids, talk to them, they love it!

Talking heads, shrinks, counselors and such debate whether there's more bullying today than yesterday.  Doesn't matter.  One suicide is too many.  One sad life is too many.  I saw a piece this morning on CNN about a Jiu Jitzu instructor on the left coast who teaches kids self-defense, but physical is a last resort and what he teaches is 100% defensive, not offensive.  He talks a lot about making and holding eye contact, saying thank you, please and no thank you.  Respect.  Respect.  Yes respect.  Great stuff.

I created my own solution to my problem in 8th grade that was maladaptive to say the least.  To counteract the "Fem" label I started a campaign for acceptance that included smoking cigarettes, drinking and doing one B and E (breaking and entering, I actually broke into a private home with one of the toughest kids in my class).  Fortunately I did not follow a path of felonious conduct my whole life and backed off.  Many don't. 

If we can nip bullying in the bud, before it blossoms into the black rose that it is, then maybe the Qaddafi, Mubarak, Mullah Omar, Bin Laden, Hitler, and Stalin problems can be avoided. If we can evolve in this direction and alter our kids' views of each other and their world towards an Unconditionally Loving perspective, then maybe military uniforms will be museum pieces to marvel at in my lifetime. I'd like that a whole lot! I never give up hope. And I never stop praying.

If the adults and kids in my life at that time had the courage to talk to me, I would have gladly opened up.  I understand schools today have armed guards and metal detectors.  Unabashed Left does not like that.  End bullying, and they may no longer be necessary.  Thanks to you and thanks for the Memori.  And please don't do it, talk instead.  I love you far more than my words can even begin to say. <3  <3  <3

There are oodles of local helplines and places to call if you DO find yourself thinking of hurting yourself or going the suicide route. Suicide is NOT the answer, but phone calls can be made totally anonymously; nobody needs to know who you are or that you made the call. There is also an awesome national number you can call, 800-448-3000! Even though it is sponsored by  a group known as Boys town, this suicide hotline is for everybody, especially young men, women, boys and girls who are thinking about hurting themselves. There is absolutely no shame in making the call. People who reach out and ask for help are the most courageous people I know (and I wound up spending most of my career working with patients who have emotional and/or mental disorders--and I respect and luvem all, and give them all credit for having the guts to ask for help from others!). I will close this article with one more big fat I love you and a link to the national suicide prevention hotline:

http://www.yourlifeyourvoice.org/aboutus/Pages/default.aspx

This article was first posted 2/5/12.


Originally published 4/25/11 - updated and edited 9/18/13 Peace....

Monday, July 8, 2013

GUTTING OF VOTING RIGHTS ACT BY SCOTUS PART OF CAMPAIGN TO SUPPRESS U.S. DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY


John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas
and Anthony Kennedy are 
doing all they can with their
 votes on the Citizens United
case which allows billionaires and corporations
to spend as much as they want, with no limits,
 on political campaigns
without anybody knowing who is donating.
These same 5 dudes
masquerading as "Justices" unjustly 
gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965
by striking out Section 4
which allowed for fair elections
in those states with a record
of discrimination,
 and voter suppression.

In recent years, particularly since the onset of the absurd Tea Party movement and the subsequent radicalization of the Republican party, states have been doing their utmost to limit people's access to the polls on voting days. States with Republican Governors and legislatures have passed laws requiring Photo ID cards at the polls, rendered early voting difficult if not impossible, cut the number of hours available to vote and in recent elections, especially 2012 lines at the polls due to restrictions were enormous. 
Florida election day lines in the fiasco of 2012 
in the land of Disney and 'hanging chads.'

A very few states, like my home state of CT have been doing their utmost to expand voting and render elections much easier for the populace to participate in as the most basic democratic right. In response to the decision of the Court on the Voting Rights Act, our Secretary of the State, Denise Merrill reacted more eloquently than I can: 
Democrats-Governor Dannel Malloy on the left
and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill
on the right have passed much
legislation including a pending
constitutional amendment which
will enable CT voters to
vote MUCH more easily
and before election day.
Besides the voting expansion legislation,
Governor Malloy has had to deal
with a Republican deficit and did so in
a responsible manner, he carried out his
leadership role as CT consoler-in-chief following
the Newtown massacre; he passed 
strong gun control measures
garnering bipartisan support
with his intervention in a 
stalled legislature; he led the state admirably
through the crisis our
residents have and continue to suffer
from super storm Sandy; AND he
signed legislation ending
state murder with revenge as the motive--
euphemistically called "Capital Punishment."
We need to reelect Dan and Denise,
setting a genuine example for the nation.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is worse than wrong; it is an injustice to the millions of voters in this country that face potential disenfranchisement at the ballot box due to discriminatory election laws that are still passed in many states throughout this country even today. 

This ruling is dismantles a centerpiece of the civil rights movement that thousands of brave Americans fought to enact.  This decision is an affront to the memories of those like the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. and many others who sacrificed everything to allow disenfranchised Americans the simple right to vote.

For decades, section five of the federal Voting Rights Act stood as  a critical check and balance against states and local jurisdictions that time after time passed laws in reality designed to exclude certain portions of the electorate – mostly poor, the elderly, young,  and minority voters – from casting ballots.  Recently, this federal review of local election law changes has successfully struck down misguided attempts to rig the electoral playing field in the name of preventing so-called “voter fraud” that there is barely any evidence to suggest is a real issue.  This ruling suggests to me is that basic principles of non-discrimination and universal voting rights are now under siege by those who really don’t want every eligible American to vote.

I am grateful that here in Connecticut we are moving in the opposite direction under the leadership of Governor Dannel P. Malloy – enacting Election Day voter registration, enabling voters to register online, and next year allowing voters to change our constitution to allow early voting.  Instead of restricting our citizens’ right to vote, we are expanding access to the ballot box and we must stand united with our allies in other states who will fight to prevent discriminatory election laws where they are passed.

Congress should act immediately to rewrite section four of the Voting Rights Act, which was struck down today, so that the Justice Department can continue its nearly 50 years of vigilance in protecting the right to vote for all Americans.”



In response to Secretary Merrill's statement and her work on behalf of CT voters, so totally unlike that in states seeking to win elections by choosing their voters rather than having the voters choose their office holders I wrote to her the following: 

"Thank YOU Secretary Merrill! 

Between this decision and the earlier Citizens United decision, the federal Supreme Court is transforming our election system in horrendous ways. Your work here in CT has been awesome and while Governor Malloy has been instrumental in making legislative and Constitutional advances enabling more people to vote with fewer obstacles, it has been your hard work and leadership which is setting a pattern other states and the nation should be emulating.

I join with you in calling upon Congress to rewrite Section 4 ASAP. I am certain that Senate Majority Leader Reid will be able to accomplish this in the Senate, and I certainly believe it is incumbent upon Speaker Boehner to take a firm position in favor of this rewrite, and to assure a floor vote in the House. 

I will publish a piece shortly detailing the accomplishments here in our state and contrast them with the US Supreme Court's actions, and the actions in other states in recent years to actually suppress voter turnout.

I appreciate all this work that you've done, and hope to speak with you again soon.

All the best,
Steve Alexander"

Some of the states considering or having passed
voting restrictions in recent times. 
There is no doubt that those
most impacted by
these restrictions are
 the poor and members
of ethnic minorities.

Secretary Merrill responded to my email as follows: 


"Thank you Steve, for your vote of confidence.  It is important that we all call on congress to change the formula, especially because here in Connecticut the constitutional amendment to allow early voting and no-fault absentee balloting will be on the ballot in 2014.  It is important to get that passed, and the more discussion about why it is important the better!

Thanks for anything you can do to illuminate this issue."


The last few elections have proven that this nation has shifted politically to the left. The election of the first black president-not once, but twice-and the success of Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary are evidence of that. The anti-war sentiment, the overwhelming public support of gun control measures and the sudden success of marriage equality are all evidence that the American electorate is now considerably left of center and far more inclined to vote Democratic than Republican nationwide. 
Despite all their efforts to suppress the vote and the hundreds of millions of dollars that flowed on the Republican side without accountability due to the Citizens United decision, the voting public is now so Democratic that President Obama won again handily in 2012. In order to ensure that the shift in the electorate's political position will not result in Democratic successes at the polls, the reactionary and radical Republican party of forced ultrasounds and 'Bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran' is resorting to manipulating the rules in order to steal elections (of course their first theft was in the 2000 race). The only reason the US House is in Republican hands despite more votes in-total for Democrats, is their gerrymandering because of their control of more state houses following the 2010 census. 
If they succeed in suppressing the vote, they know that when the 2020 census rolls around they can carve districts up in their favor even more so than is the case now. They believe that they have every incentive to cheat in any way they can, and the belligerent Supreme Court Five are the key to their efforts at the federal level. 
Too many people sacrificed too much to allow this voter suppression to continue. We MUST elect another Democrat in 2016 to the Presidency so we can finally tip the scales on the U.S. Supreme Court. Peace...







Friday, May 31, 2013

MICHELE BACHMANN DEPARTS: REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS REJOICE - THE QUOTES YOU'LL MISS



"You say high.
I say low.
You say yes.
I say no.
HAY LA! BABY HELLO!
HAY LA! YOU SAY HELLO, I SAY GOODBYE!"
A Beatles' sort of goodbye to Michele Bachmann.




CRAZY-EYES BACHMANN SURRENDERS!!! She claims it has nothing to do with investigations into redirecting funds from her silly Prez bid to illegal purposes. She claims it has more to do with her view that a US Rep should serve no more than the same 8 years allowed a President. REALLY Michele?? Never heard that one before! LMAO. She also claims it has nothing to do with the likelihood of losing next year. A former MN state RepubliCon chair, Ron Carey, said: “This is a great chance to exit stage right rather than have a knockdown, drag-out re-election fight. The reality also set in that she is not a favorite of Republican leadership, so she is not going to be rising up to a committee chair or rising up in leadership.” If she's being torn apart the same day she steps aside by MN GOP leadership, I wonder just WHO she IS a 'favorite of?' Another observer said she will have the chance to blink for the first time in years. Here is the sort of intellectual commentary that the US House and the American public will be deprived of now that Michele Bachmann will reside in that House no longer after the next election. 

“Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn't even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.”


On the anniversary of his death: “Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today.”


"Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too." Bachmann, who is from Iowa, mistook John Wayne the actor for John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer.


“"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence.” Which actually happened under Gerald Ford as she was trying to blame Carter and Obama for influenza strains.


“You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord.” Unfortunately for Bachmann and her stupefied audience, she wasn’t in Mass., she was in New Hampshire.

“We're running out of rich people in this country.”


“I do support a constitutional amendment on marriage between a man and a woman, but I would not be going into the states to overturn their state law.”

Michele tries outrunning CNN's Dana Bash just weeks ago.


"If we took away the minimum wage -- if conceivably it was gone -- we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level."


"But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States. ... I think it is high time that we recognize the contribution of our forbearers who worked tirelessly -- men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country." Bachmann botching 5th grade US History, unaware that most of the ‘founding fathers’ of which she spoke and is supposedly so fond actually OWNED slaves and that John Q. Adams was 8 years old at the time of the ‘founding fathers’ founding of the nation.




Wednesday, May 29, 2013

JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON MARTIN: GEORGE ZIMMERMAN WANTS MORE TIME--GO FIGURE!!!

Trayvon Martin
1995-2012

Black and White
"The child is black,
the child is white,
the whole world
looks upon
the beautiful sight."
Here performed by Three Dog Night,
originally written in 1954 in response to
the US Supreme Court
Brown v. Board of Education
decision.


So George Zimmerman, after having the benefit of a delay of 6 weeks following his admitted handgun killing of unarmed seventeen year old Trayvon Martin last February before being arrested and only following Trayvon’s family’s public pleas, state and national uproar and even comments from the President saying that if he had a son he would have looked like Trayvon, seeks a delay in his trial after absurdly being free on $1 million bail for nearly a year. THAT bail was allowed by the Florida courts after his $150,000 bail was upped when it came to light that he had hidden a successful fundraising campaign which had by then netted him an additional $150,000 in personal cash which he kept secret from authorities along with a secret SECOND passport. He was clearly not only a flight risk, but had and continues to have contingency plans to escape.

The genuine articles:
In Trayvon Martin's possession when he was
undeniably gunned down
by George Zimmerman.
The bag os Skittles and can of Arizona Iced Tea
he had bought at the store.

No wonder he wants more time before going to trial, the guy killed a kid in possession of no more than a bag of candy and a can of iced tea. His defense that this relatively small young kid with his bare hands was a threat justifying deadly force with a handgun after tape recordings of a 911 operator ordering Zimmerman to stand down that Zimmerman ignored is absurd, even in this fanatically right wing state with its fanatical right wing laws like it’s fanatical ‘stand your ground’ law. The injuries suffered  by Zimmerman, if they WERE due to an altercation at all (and nobody’s seen THAT evidence yet) are so minor that killing his high school victim was tantamount to using nuclear ICBMs against Jamaica should it post a higher tariff than the USA would like.
The full extent of Zimmerman's injuries
in a scuffle that nobody else witnessed.
Zimmerman was not only a big full-grown dude,
he was a professional bouncer/security guard.
In hand-to-hand, he could have made
mincemeat out of poor Trayvon.


It has come to light that Zimmerman’s ‘defense’ is going to amount to an attack on the character of the deceased kid who was talking to his high school sweetheart when Zimmerman clearly profiled him as a ‘danger’ simply because of his skin coloration, his age and his wardrobe. When I was Trayvon Martin’s age, I was a regular marijuana smoker and had dabbled in attempts at growing the weed and photos from the teen’s cell phone show such evidence. There are also photos of a gun and magazine in the cell phone, and in this country today, unfortunately too many people including teens are in possession of these, but on the night of Zimmerman’s slaughter of this kid he was NOT in possession of this weapon and had never been charged with anything pertaining to gun violence or drug charges.
Zimmerman’s background is different. In July 2005 George Zimmerman was charged with shoving a police officer after an out of control drinking raid.
Zimmerman has a history of documented rage,
including a court-ordered restraining order
imposed by the court on behalf of his battered fiance,
and an arrest for shoving a cop.
Jekyll and Hyde is what his co-workers call him.

That same summer of 2005 Zimmerman’s fiancé had to get a restraining order against him because he had allegedly hit her. Zimmerman worked that year as a bouncer at illegal parties and had to be let go from that position due to his rage problem. A co-worker described him as a “Jekyll and Hyde” personality type to the NY Daily News. And as too his defenses that he is not racist in nature, his own MySpace account name denounces that myth: DatNiggyTB.

Trayvon with his brother before his killing by George Zimmerman.


The “Stand your ground” law is absurd and potentially extremely dangerous in this gun-crazy society, but when mixed with racism and Florida’s successful attempt to steal the Presidential election of 2000 when Jeb Bush was governor; and their attempts last year to steal the election again when Governor Rick Scott compelled the poor and black to wait in such long lines that he hoped it would deter them from voting (it didn’t, and Barack Obama won Florida and won the nation by such a large margin that the FL results wouldn’t have mattered); and when Zimmerman’s defense doesn’t even stand the test of the “Stand your ground”—[exactly whose ground was Zimmerman standing anyway???]—doesn’t hold water; anything but a first degree murder verdict will and should shake the very foundations of the state and of the nation. “Justice” is already a joke in this nation, but let’s not make it open season based on race once again and set the clock back to 1859 please. Peace…

Saturday, May 25, 2013

UNABASHEDLY STUPIDEST REPUBLITHIEF COMMENTS OF 2012




I've had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians


There isn't much happening now on the political front.

But we can still relish the stupidity of the

Republithief Party in 2012.

We have every right to wipe their faces in it.

So here are, for your reading pleasure,

the UNABASHEDLY STUPIDEST COMMENTS

BY TEABAGGERS, REPUBLICONS

AND RIGHT WING FANATICS

BENT ON CONSOLIDATING THE

WEALTH OF THE GLOBE. The hands down winner,

owning SIX of the ten top

idiotic unscripted comments is, of course,

Mister Forty Seven Percent himself,

the now unemployed,

Willard Mitt Romney.

I hope you enjoy

this little interlude:




    1)      Mitt Romney about Michigan: "I love this state," he told an audience. "The trees are the right height."             



     2)      Rick Perry during a Presidential debate when asked which Cabinet Departments he would eliminate: “The third agency of government I would — I would do away with, Education, the . . .  and, let’s see . . . I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.”



     3)      Mitt Romney: “I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.”



    4)      Richard Mourdock (R-IN):  ”I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”




    5)      Mitt Romney: “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.”



6)      Rick Santorum: “I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you… rape victims should make the best of a bad situation.”



    7)      Mitt Romney: "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."



    8)      Todd Akin (R-MO): “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways of shutting that whole thing down”



    9)      Mitt Romney: “ There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”



    10)   Mitt Romney looking at cookies baked at a local small business as though they were dog poop:  "I'm not sure about these cookies, they don't — they don't look like you made them. You didn't, did you? No, no, they came from the, local, uh, 7-Eleven"