heaven05
heaven05's Journalwhy ask that question?
free is relative, now, true. Yet I grew up in a time where skin color different from the then majority skin color meant having very little human and civil freedom in amerikkka, merrily. Could not vote with out jumping through 10 hoops vs none for the 'majority' skin color, eat in restaurants, use public toilets with 'white only' signs and having to observe a myriad of other restrictions on movement, where one could live, who one could love. THAT TYPE OF FREEDOM. Maybe you can't understand living without those types of freedoms, I suspect you can't. But, never mind, does NOT matter. If everyone is free, all are free. With some not free, all are in shackles and chains. If you can't understand that then nothing more need be said..
well
with everyone free, all are free, with some not free, all are in chains and shackles. That's my take.
It is possible
you are right about the numbers, but my take is there were a hell of lot of those roaches in the woodwork. Always have been there. A white POTUS caused no fear of loss of perceived white male/female entitlement and privilege. A man of color was a nightmare, for them. And that virulent racism is in the halls of power in this country. There was a lot of knashing of teeth that first inaugural ball. I heard it all the way here in the middle of the country. Well every since viet nam, I have one place, as a citizen of this country, no more, no less. Let someone TRY to make me feel inferior or subordinate to them for any reason and there would be trouble. 
yeah, yeah
all that is true. American politicians of a certain political party are racist POS. American politics has always had a racist element to it. A large element in it. Southern strategy in the 70's, white racist democrats were used by Nixon to defeat a liberal who might have leveled the playing field even more. Reagan was one of the most racist pigs we've had as a POTUS. GWB with his neocon racist policies had a whole cabinet full of them, set up this voting mess we have now with their conservative mindset. His father putting a clarence thomas in a SCOTUS seat was a fucking joke after a brilliant justice like Thurgood Marshall had vacated. I could go on and on about how large that racist element is now, but what's the use you can't see, I can't care. I have lived a while in this country and I say racism has gotten worse with the ascension of Barack Obama to POTUS. No, you don't get the point.
all that
these people, SCOTUS and state legislatures, have shown me is how long some hateful, racist and stupidly evil people would wait to screw the minorities and poor out of their right to vote, again. Have to fight for the right to vote again after 50 fucking years. Damn, amerikkka is a shameful country with racist reactionaries just chomping at the bit to put certain people back in the cotton fields when they assume the reins of power and have no doubt they are on the way. Oh wait that cotton is in china now, india also. Cornfields?
one light year
5.88trillion miles. Truly amazing, our universe. I watched the stars for years. Great place to go when I'm tired of the grief on this little, yet important ball of dirt. Why important? So far we are the only sentient creature found in all those trillions of miles and billions of light years we can view because of the Hubble, Chandra, Swift telescopes outside our atmosphere. Good watching. It's fun. Excellent post, thank you.
Irresponsible people
I've noticed that a lot. People are backing out of parking lot spaces not even looking, just backing. Face forward, no right or left. I always bless my driver training instructor decades ago. His admonition> "Drive defensively, like the other person is going to do something stupid". Like, that person doesn't look like they're going to stop at that light and in the last couple of years that was the right call a few times. Slow down when coming to a green light intersection, assume nothing. Four way stop sign. Entering busy street. Look left, right then left again proceed on clear. These have helped me in 49 years of driving cars, eighteen wheelers and trucks of all sizes. One important one on trucks on expressways. Try to stay out from behind them on fast roads. They do shoot rocks out from tires. Truck tire flaps or not. If you're stuck behind one at speed make sure they have tire flaps and back way off(thanks texas-t). They do help some on the rock problem. Happy driving.
Oh and yes, glad you are okay. 
Hope the pain goes away soon and you heal okay.
I do feel your pain
after seeing this type of poverty, in my visit to Viet Nam, I am reminded of the real world poverty, misery and grief that is different from our poverty and deprivation here in amerika. The corruption, greed and general lack of empathy by the mega rich 1%ers is evil. Our ability to live peacefully and comfortably on 25k in this country is problematic, to say the least with the cost of medicine and all the essentials of just daily survival. That's not to say that you are wrong in your analysis. Compared to what you have seen and experienced in India 25k a year is a dream unimagined by a majority of the poor there. Being retired, my yearly in come is 28K. In this country, amerika, not easy to live on. Just clarifying a point.
Their poverty is and has always been because of corporate greed, official government corruption, religion and general lack of caring or empathy about the poor and their station in life as created by the 1%ers in the culture there and in the affluent west of Europe and especially amerika. My income does not, to my understanding have anything to do with that poverty there unless I have stock in company's that have slave labor camps devoted to the clothing apparel business that most of the 97%ers are forced to buy and most everything else made there and in china. When it comes to income here being a direct result of slave labor, ask Romney and his ilk to explain greed and corruption and the american corporate way of doing business in this day and age to that woman with the dead child. Occupy is an attempt at good that I fear has been co-opted by the PTB before it can gain too much power. I have my suspicions of that movement also. The thing that will change the political direction of amerika is a political party truly representative of the 97%ers in this country. With the corporate and banking influences that control this country, I don't think it's possible to create that. Money is too powerful a god here. The needless death and suffering generated by the powerful in this world, as exemplified, eloquently, by the mother-grandmother wanting to cremate her dead child speaks volumes to the inequities created by corporate lust for profit and official greed and corruption in all governments that enables this misery to continue for generations in India and around the world.
Miserable death as experienced by the children or adults in poverty like that or war is not pretty. It's as ugly and mind distorting as anything I've ever witnessed. The smells of death, extreme poverty and deprivation is something I can never forget. I salute your post. Made me think and remember.
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Name: hansGender: Do not display
Hometown: midwest
Home country: us
Current location: anywhere, usa
Member since: Thu Jun 14, 2012, 11:34 AM
Number of posts: 18,124
