Thoughts from the past year

March 2004

My Thoughts Drift Away.....

It's a beautiful day,
The lawn fills with smiling faces.
The sounds of years past delight my ears.
Dancing and singing and enjoying the day.
I look to the sky, my thoughts drift away.

How many will die today?

I think of all those who live in fear,
as I listen to the music and enjoy my beer.
Enjoying the day with all the smiling faces.
Do they know how many will die today?
While they partake the sounds of the past.
I look at their faces and realize they do not.

I mention to a friend my thoughts.
With tears running down, I look at the ground.
I pray for the souls that will be set free.
I pray for the mothers and fathers.
I pray for the brothers and sisters,
for the husbands and wives,
and for the daughters and sons.
All will have to live without their loved ones.

I try to enjoy the moment once more, but I cannot.
My soul cry's for all the death we have caused.
I pray for peace in all humans that we can enjoy our moments.
Precious moments we choose to blow away, forever.

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For Sale-Your Vote

August 2004
At first I was going to put a FOR SALE sign in my yard and put this in the info tube. I was advised by many that I could bring harm to my family if I did. I decided against it.

FOR SALE
THE OFFICE OF THE US PRESIDENT
HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY?

ECONOMY
Has the economy gotten better? College tuition's have gone up every year. In Florida we voted to reduce class size but don't have enough classrooms. We also voted to have preschool in the public school system. There is no money for either. Property taxes go up annually as well as homeowners insurance and the utilities you need for your home. We all pay more for gas and at the grocery store. Where is this good economy?

Since I started working as a teenager money has been taken out of my pay for social security. Funds is being borrowed against this money. We cannot count on that money being there when we will need it in our elder years.

They say unemployment is down but there are less and less new jobs every month. They don't take in account that when unemployment benefits run out that person is no longer counted as an unemployment figure. The benefits run out and they still cannot find a job. The jobs that are out there, they want you to be proud that they will pay you $10 an hour and not offer you any benefits. Minimum wage has not gone up as fast as we are paying for goods and services.

The tax break is dividing the country financially even more. The average salary in South Florida is $42,000. The average home sales for $250,000 which means the average person cannot afford housing. We are making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Its not about taking care of one another. Its about who has more in the end wins. Greed is killing. We should be thankful for what we have.

HEALTHCARE
My mother has to take medication or she would have more health problems than she already has. Her husbands company has had to change insurance company's every few years because the rates go up. She is paying more in CO-pay's for her doctors and her medicine than she was a year ago. Her insurance company is deciding what brand of medicine she should be on and is not paying for the one her doctor prescribed her to take.

Like 43 million Americans I do not have health insurance. Three years ago my husband and I decided to drop our health coverage because the monthly premiums were almost as much as our mortgage payment. We are on the most part healthy and rarely had to visit a doctor. We will have a lot of finical problems if an illness or accident does happen. A gamble we have to take. Like so many Americans.

OUR FREEDOM
Since we allowed 9/11 to happen by not paying attention, we have been scared into giving up our rights as Americans. We are not allowed to protest if we disagree. They can have everything and anything searched without our permission or knowledge. How much freedom do you want to give away, to pay?

THE WAR ON TERROR
Did we increase or decrease the terrorists? The Iraq war is already in the billions of dollars of which our children will have to pay because it was decided we would go against what the rest of the world community to fight this so called war on terror. Meanwhile because we did go against the rest of the world citizens we are breading more hate in the youth of the American haters which is going to cause more lives of our children in their future. That is the biggest price to pay to keep the same members in office. All the funds that have gone into taking the evil Saddam down could have paid for our children's schools or our parents medicine or health insurance for all Americans. Since we all now know that there were no WMD's the only reason there was to bring this country to it's knees was because of the bad things he did to his people. A few miles south of us sits Castro who also does bad things to his people and nothing is done. Korea admitted they had WMD's at the same time but nothing was done to them. Now we are pulling out 70,000 troops to bring them home to defend the homeland and leaving us vulnerable overseas when we should be bringing home the national guard and reserve home from the desert of Iraq to defend our homeland.

OTHER ISSUES
There are so many issues facing us today which makes this the most important election of our life time. Environment: If we don't take care of the planet it won't take care of us. Gay Rights: I for one do not want to tell other people how they have to live their lives. We all make our own choices. Stem cell Research: This would help so many people with medical problems. Do we have the right to tell them we aren't going to try and find a cure for illnesses? When is a life a life? It's not OK to use stem cells because it is a human life but its OK to send our youth to war to die. Abortion Rights: A choice for an individual to make if they find themselves in that position. Loss of freedom is to have another choose for you.

I really do like that I can sit down and discuss the issues with people around me. I think it is a wonderful thing that we all have an opinion and we can speak our mind. We all need to be different, have different idea's. That's what makes us great as humans. We also have to treat others as we would want to be treated. I don't see how keeping President Bush in office for another 4 years is a good for me personally, as a member of my family or as a world citizen. The bad things of the past 4 years have out weighed, broken the scale over the good things. If your not outraged of the events of the past few years, or things that come out on a daily basis, you haven't been paying attention.

The worst tragedy in our countries history was played on. We were played as a people and are still being played with fear. We need to mend fences in the world and in our own land. What a big price we have paid already with the deaths of 9/11 and the war. How much more are we willing to pay? You can decide how much you want to pay by voting on November 2, 2004.

I am not real happy with the political system we have in place today. It was already decided who would represent the Democratic party before we were allowed to vote. Every vote needs to be accounted for before decisions are decided. Not just a selected few states. We are left with the choice of either Bush or Kerry. Bush has already proven he is not a world citizen and does not care about America as a whole. We cannot allow him to reside in the white house any longer so the only answer is Kerry. I'm not willing to pay my children's future with a vote for Bush. How much are you willing to pay? Human lives are at stake. This is the most important time in our life. The worst thing you can do is nothing. Lets let the majority rule. Lets demand every vote count. GO VOTE!

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I've had a lot of comments. Thank you. Some of you are so nice and others are a little vicious. wheee, the vicious ones really scare me. You people are the ones that won't get out of the isle at the grocery store when I say excuse me, aren't you. :) We all want the best and being vicious will not allow the best to happen.

I was reminded by a good friend that real change is made in congress and in the senate. So everyone please vote in your local elections. Ours are August 31. We received our sample ballot. Study the sample ballot and make the best choices we can to get make changes. Then hound the people we do vote in to make sure the changes are made.

I told my friend the reason why the presidential election was so important was to regain world respect. We need to mend fences in the world and it will not happen with Bush in the office. Never in our history has a president been protested like he was over the summer. Thousands showed up in countries that have never protested a president before That has to tell you something! They don't even want him to show up at the Olympics. This man cannot mend fences for us. We have to make this world a better place and we will not be allowed to do it if he is still in office. PERIOD!

We really are a strong people. I am reminded that with every disaster we have to deal with. Even though I do not like Wayne for what he did to my Florida Panthers, the man stood up when it counted and donated 1 million dollars to the victims of the hurricane. So did Gloria Estefon. When things get bad, it doesn't matter, rich or poor, young and old, black and whites, gay or not, we come together. We are tough and stand together when really bad things happen. Lets all be civil like I know we can be. Lets do what is right so the next Olympics the athletes can stand proud and celebrate that they are Americans instead of being told to keep it down.
Peace to all! Enjoy your moments!

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9/11/04
What I feel in my Heart

I see what I see every day,
All kinds of people acting different ways.
They say we are not for the Red, White and Blue,
It's all because we don't think like you.

I hear in the background the whispers of others,
They think we are doing good for all our brothers.
I fear the hate that they breed,
in my children's future they will bleed.

What happened to the peaceful souls?
Have we forgotten how peace grows?
It's not with the killing of other humans,
But with love all around, looming.

They come and take what is ours away,
And they say it is all OK.
Our jobs, our health care, our freedom are going
While we sit in Iraq and do more killing.

They fight the terror that happened this day
But I do not see it their way.
It is not the ones we kill in this war
it is others that will come back and give us more.

I feel in my heart that we will see the light
Just a question of doing wrong from right.
We all are humans, we all live here together
Just let your love shine and we will be here forever.

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11/3/04
The Republican National Committee announced today that the Republican
Party is changing its emblem from an elephant to a condom.

The committee chairman explained that the condom more clearly reflects
the party's stance today, because a condom accepts inflation,
halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks,
and gives you a sense of security while you're actually getting screwed.

Welcome to the next 4 years.......

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11/06/04
A Friend emaild me after I sent out a list of our dead soliders:
My first thoughts of the election were, "In God I trust." I trust that His will is being done.

I wrote Back:
It's funny, or sad, how we all perceive things different. We all watch the same thing and walk away with different opinion of what we saw. Did you ever think that since we all look at something and perceive different that we would have different views about God? I feel like the so called "moral majority" just slapped a lot of people in the face for what one perceives. When I think about God I think about Love. I truly feel that there is no love between us which means there is no God between us. Isn't that sad? I always thought we did have one God for all religions. After all, there are so many different religions in this world and to say yours is the only one is ignorant. I consider myself a world citizen. Every soul was placed here by God to learn lessons. We all have different lessons to learn. Just like in the society spectrum of differences, we are all on different levels. Some of us are closer to God than others. Some lessons are harder to learn than others. Through out our life we are presented with our lesson. When we learn our lesson our soul can live in peace filled with love enjoying all that life has to offer. We did not learn our lesson because it has presented itself to us again. If we don't learn it again it will only present itself until we do learn it. And then, and only then will we live with Love and Happiness and Respect for all humans no matter where they come from, what color their skin is, what sex they are, what language they speak and yes, no matter how they choose to worship God. Here we are divided we stand and you believe this is Gods will. Keep praying Kevin, look at the world around you, what is going on. You will find the answers to your lesson.

I pray for all the dead faces who's lessons were cut short. It was decided for them. It is why I sent out all the names of the dead. So many more to die. So many more pictures to be made.
(I put a picture here of the dead soldiers faces that made up George W Bush's face.)

I e-mailed him again:
I told my mother about your email. We talked about how so many of this country thinks the way you do. Her father was a minister and she has always followed the laws of God. She wanted me to tell you to beware of false profits. So I am :)

I had another thought last night. You got me thinking :) You and the moral majority actually think that what you do is God's will. Wouldn't it be ironic if your actions and values are what bring us to our end as you so believe will happen. I think it goes back to false profits. As I said divided we stand. And there are so many of us divided.

On Thursday, Not only remember the living but remember the dead. May we find Peace.

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December 1, 2004
Dear Mr. Kerry:

This letter is in response to the letter I received from you the day after Thanksgiving 2004. WOW!

WOW George W. is killing people in Iraq in the name of America saying he is doing it for homeland security fighting the war on terror. We are breeding terror not fighting it. Meanwhile, Americans can’t afford housing, healthcare.

WOW Because of the war, and Bush wasn’t elected in 2000, I got involved in making change for our country. We all know now Gore really won. Fraud and stolen election happened in 2000. I was determined not to let this happen again. I lived with the stolen election in Florida. I had faith that it wouldn’t happen again.

WOW I wasn’t allowed to decided in the primaries who would represent our party against Bush. Only a few States got to decide you would represent us. You were already picked before Florida got to vote. I didn’t even have a chance to say I wanted Howard Dean representing us.

WOW Howard Dean is now being asked to head our party but he wasn’t good enough to run against Bush.

WOW I waited for you to start your campaign while I saw Bush ad’s all over the TV. When you got started I got to work for you to stop the madness Bush has created.

WOW I took time away from my family that I will never get back. My children are 4 yrs old and 6 yrs old. They needed me and there were many times I was not here for them because I believed in you taking our country to a better place and a better future for them. The week before the election I was putting in 12 hour days doing what I could here locally to bring you to victory.

WOW I went into debt giving you money. Every time you emailed me and asked me for money I gave you money. The last time you asked for money before the election was for the recount fund because you knew there was going to be problems from the last election. I believed in you and knew also there was going to be problems because I lived it in Florida.

WOW A few hours after we voted you conceded knowing all the fraudthat happened last time. YOU GAVE UP! The hours I gave to you and you gave up. We still do not have all the votes counted and it is December 1st. You lied and stole my money. You said you would fight for us and I gave you money so you could fight for us. YOU GAVE UP! EXIT POLLS DIDN'T LIE IN THE UKRINE AND THEY DIDN'T LIE THIS HERE.

WOW You have sent me this letter asking me for more money when you gave up. Not only are you asking for money but you ask me to put a stamp on it so you will not have to pay postage.

WOW You ended your campaign with $45,000,000. And here you are asking for money again that I do not have. Where is the 45M? Where is the recount money because you are not doing a recount or trying to make change in our voting system which we know have many problems in it. More votes than voters, machines counting backwards. Not to mention the hours we spent in line. I spent more time in line to vote than I did to pick up plywood for the hurricanes.

WOW Our country is going down and there is nothing I can do about it. Saddam killed over 300,000 of his people in 10 years. We have killed over 100,000 in 1 ½ years. I am ashamed as a world citizen to be an American. I will not stop fighting for the better of humans and my children’s future.

WOW American Democracy is dying and you helped it to its death by giving up the fight.

You know, I think I want my money back I gave to you. You did not deliver what you said you would do. You owe me and my children.

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During the Holidays:

DESIDERATA
Go pracidly among the noise and haste, and remember what peace there be in silence
A far as possible, without surrender, be in good terms with all persons
Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others
Even the dull and ignorant, they too have their story
Avoid loud and agressive person, they are vexations to the spirit
If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter
For always there will be greater and lesser person than yourself
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans
Keep interested in your own career, however humble
It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery
But let this not blind you to what vitrue there is
Many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism
Be yourself, especially do not feign affection, neither be cynical about love
For in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefull surrendering the things of youth
Nature strengthof spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune
But do not distress yourself with imaginings, many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself you are a child of the universe
No less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here
And whether or not it is clear, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should be
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noise confusion of life
Keep peace with yourself.
With all its shame, drudgrey and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world
Be careful, strive to be happy!

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Hope in 2005
Byron Williams - byronspeaks.com

01.04.05 - If 1992 was the political "Year of the Woman," then I predict that 2005 will be the year of the "Prisoner to Hope." I reached this conclusion based on my participation at a recent post-election speaking engagement.

During the question and answer period, I was asked a very direct and poignant question: "How can we have hope?"

As a result of the question, three individuals immediately came to mind: Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer was a German theologian who rejected Hitler's Germany. His understanding of Christianity caused him to take public stands against the Holocaust, South African Apartheid, and the British occupation of India.

Bonhoeffer's efforts in assisting Jews to escape to Switzerland led to his arrest and imprisonment in the spring 1943. He was executed in a concentration camp on April 9, 1945.

Susan B. Anthony was a primary figure in the Women's Suffrage movement. Through the National Women's Suffrage Association she began a nationwide campaign to win women the right to vote.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1872, a defiant Anthony was arrested for the following: "This government is not a democracy. It is not a republic. It is an odious aristocracy; a hateful oligarchy of sex... which ordains all men sovereigns, all women subjects, carries dissension, discord, and rebellion into every home of the nation."

Prior to her death in 1906, Anthony stated her belief that "Failure is impossible." By the time she died, four states had granted voting rights to women.

In 1965, King made a "people-to-people" tour of northern cities. But the growing militancy of black people in Watts and Harlem, and even in Mississippi and Alabama, caused Dr. King to reassess the nonviolent civil rights movement.

King was troubled about the American involvement in the war in Vietnam and saw the connection between the war and America's failure to improve the lives of the poor domestically. In 1967, King began speaking directly against the Vietnam War, although many civil rights advocates, black and white, criticized King's stance.

Bonhoeffer was executed days prior to Hitler's suicide and Germany's Surrender. Anthony died 14 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote. And King never lived to see that he was indeed right on the war question.

All three engaged in a hope that was bigger than themselves. It was based on a truth that they believed to be self-evident, that change needed to occur.

"How can we have hope?" is not a question that we have the luxury to pose. Implicit in the question is a sense of hopelessness.

Contrary to how many may feel, present-day America is far from any Dark Ages redux. But we are challenged in 2005 to reclaim the democratic traditions that have spoken loudest when in the minority.

The profound changes in this country that led to abolishment of slavery, women having the right to vote, the end of Jim Crow Segregation and the war in Vietnam all began as minority opinions.

The lived examples of Bonhoeffer, Anthony, and King remind us that realized hope is not something that one can confine to time. If one's hope is based on what one can see, know that such hope is accompanied by an expiration date. And that would make one a prisoner to hopelessness, rather than the prisoner of hope that is so desperately needed in 2005.