Book Review: Lincoln's Boys

Lincoln's Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln's Image by Joshua Zeitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic book for Civil War buffs and armchair historians. We owe a lot to John Hay and John Nicolay for recording the history they witnessed and sharing their insights of the man who made it all happen. A book that should be read by all who would pervert civil liberties and deny rights to those different from themselves whom they don't particularly like... Amazing how things don't change even after 150 years! Lincoln's image as the Great Emancipator may have been a product of Hay and Nicolay's ten volume biography, but America is in need of Lincoln's leadership on moral issues now more than ever.

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Our Flag (God Bless America!)

Happy Memorial Day... 

Here's a short video to remind you of what the flag means to many Americans.

The Mitt Romney Memorial “Bring out the Poor Vote Movement

Hello again. Yes, it’s me, the “mad-as-hell” woman who in my first video made a $2 bet with Mitt Romney that he’ll never make it to the White House. 

February in the US is Black History Month. Living in the St. Louis area, I’ve visited the Old Courthouse and stood in the courtroom where Dred Scott sued for his freedom. In its 1857 decision regarding Scott’s case, the Supreme Court held that blacks could not be citizens of the United States.

Essentially the court said that Dred Scott and his family were property and not human beings. They were things to be used by the rich without monetary compensation and without thought to their dignity and self-worth. 

Hmm… A parallel to the plight of today’s working poor might be in order here. Funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In July 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was passed giving the right to vote to all male citizens regardless of race. It seemed too good to be true the newly freed slaves. Of course, most good things come to an end all too soon.

By 1896, the Supreme Court held that the states could impose segregation so long as they provided similar facilities—the formation of the “separate but equal” doctrine.  It wasn’t until 1954 that the Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in itself was harmful to black students and, therefore, unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Movement had begun.


Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. “had a dream” and stuck to it in spite of difficulties. So by the time I started first grade my reading materials featured stories featuring children of all races, as opposed to my older siblings’ boring  all-white “Dick and Jane” stories.


From the struggle of Black Americans we learn that when rights are systematically taken away from most economically and socially disadvantaged, step by step these rights have to be restored—hopefully once and for all.


In honor of the Fourteenth Amendment and the protections it gives to all Americans, I propose that we pledge ourselves to a new endeavor to help restore our rights as citizens… I call this, “The Mitt Romney Memorial Bring out the Poor Vote Movement”.  


If the poor don’t matter to fat cat politicians, because the poor are not seen as a large voting bloc, then maybe it’s time we change that perception. Maybe it’s time we help the poor be heard via the ballot box. Perhaps it’s time that these millions of struggling Americans are seen as human beings worthy of dignity and compassion instead of easily forgettable slaves to be used, abused and then downsized when CEOs decide to give themselves million dollar bonuses instead of investing company profits for the well-being of the workers.


Here are just a few ways we can help “Bring out the Poor Vote”:

1.      Let’s register to vote those who have been displaced by failed mortgages, lost homes and jobs and other financial hardships. If you know of someone who is living on their parents’ sofa or a family sharing a home with another family, perhaps they’re not registered to vote in the district they’re living in currently. We need to make sure these displaced voters are eligible to vote come November. So please help these struggling Americans get the necessary paperwork together in time to receive their voter’s cards. It’s a great way to meet your neighbors.

2.      Volunteer to babysit for a single mom. It’s a great way to help working parents who aren’t able to easily get to the voting booth with little ones underfoot. I’m sure they’ll appreciate having free hands to mark their ballots and a few minutes of respite from demanding little ones. You might even make some new friends!

3.      Help organize transportation for those without any means of getting to the polls. Distances between polling stations in suburban and rural areas can be quite large, so offer your neighbors a lift there and back again. It’s yet another way to make some new friends.

Yes, it’s time we as the 99% made our voices heard. We’re mad-as-hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. Let me know what ideas you have for helping to Bring out the Poor Vote, and I’ll keep you informed as to when Mr. Romney pays his $2 bet.

My Rebuttal to Mitt Romney’s “I'm-not-concerned-about-the-very-poor” comment

My Rebuttal to Mitt Romney’s “I'm-not-concerned-about-the-very-poor” comment:

This is a time people are worried. They're frightened. They want someone who they have confidence in. And I believe I will be able to instill that confidence in the rich American people. And, by the way, I'm in this race because I care about rich Americans.  I'm not concerned about the very rich. They have plenty of safety nets. If any need repair, they’ll be able to effectively lobby Congress to fix them.

I'm not concerned about the very poor; they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the American people, the 1 to 5 percent of rich Americans who right now are struggling with paying more than 15% in income tax, and I'll continue to take that message across the nation. 

Thank you Mr. Romney for making it oh-so-clear where your political leanings lie… Very near your wallet.

We at the Mad-As-Hell Party are focused on all struggling Americans. We could focus on the rich. But that's not our focus. We focus on the very poor because so many fat cat politicians who make $21 million a year don’t focus on them enough. Maybe it could be they’re too busy making $10,000 bets with each other.

Mr. Romney, I’d like to make a bet with you. I bet you that you will not make it to the White House in 2012. Hmm—how much would you like to bet me, an underemployed, struggling-to-survive American? Ten thousand? Well… let’s see what I have in my wallet to bet… two dollars. I look forward to your two dollars very soon, Mr. Romney. It’ll go a long way to fix my “safety net”.

Sincerely yours, 

Cindy A. Matthews

If you’d like to comment on my rebuttal, please do so in the comments section below.  And you can join the discussion on Facebook at The Mad-as-Hell Party page. Thank you.

It's Official--The Middle Class is No More

It’s official--the middle class is no more.

When the icon-of-middle-class-America starts lowering its prices and changing the lay-outs of their stores, you know that an era is passing.

JC Penney announced that as of February 1, 2012, it will permanently slash all of its prices by at least 40% with what their CEO Ron Johnson said is “a sweeping overhaul of its stores and strategy.” Soon middle-class America will discover that Target and Wal-Mart aren’t the only cheap department stores on the block.

I don’t know whether to be thrilled or sad. I’m thrilled to know I no longer have to wait until the “after Christmas sales” (which, of course, began before Christmas these past few years) to find bargains. But deep down I’m feeling confused and more than a bit sad. It’s sad because, if you add Sears’ recent announcement that it will close many of its retailers, you’ll realize there’s no longer a range of department stores in between the lowbrow of Wally World and its ilk and the upper-crust snobbism of the Lords and Taylor/Saks 5^th  Avenue type of stores. 

JC Penney won’t be able to maintain its high quality of clothing and merchandise, I fear, because with dwindling price tags, how will the executives continue to bring home those big paychecks they’re used to from the profits? They’ll have to start stocking the cheap, made-in-China crap that fills Wally World’s shelves. Possibly JC Penney will be able to keep their quality products available at these discount prices, but the only way is probably by slashing their employees’ rate of pay by 40% and hiring only part-time and seasonal workers (while downsizing the number of full-time Penney’s employees still on the books). Either way, this news doesn’t look like a happy ending for a lot of folks.

Underpaid/underemployed/unemployed Americans will be forced to shop at stores with low quality goods, and the “fat cats” (who live off the interest of their large offshore bank accounts) will continue to shop at their high end designer fashion boutiques. Nothing new there, really, but for a while at least some Americans thought they had the right to be called “the Middle Class”.

Face it folks, most of us reading this blog are in the bottom 99% with no hopes of ever becoming part of the top 1%. Do the math, look at your checkbook, and tell me where you’ll be shopping (if you can afford to) next week.

(For another example of how 99% of Americans have been taken advantage of, read:  Emblematic of 1 Percenters, Cooper Tire Punk’d Workers)

How are you coping with the ever-widening gap between "haves" and "have-nots"? Any tips on where to find a decent paying job? Please share your comments and concerns below... Perhaps if the 99% sticks together we can make the world a better place.

(Please join the discussion on Facebook at the Mad-As-Hell Party page, too.)

Fighting Cancer: Money Matters More Than Medicine

I wasn’t sure when I’d write again about Mom’s cancer battle, but today’s fiasco has inspired me. And I’m definitely not inspired in a good way. To put it bluntly, it was made more than obvious to us that in the eyes of Medicare money matters more than medicine.

Mom’s been undergoing chemotherapy since August, and according to the doctor and oncology nurses she’s been doing quite well on the drugs they’ve been infusing her with. While no one can honestly say that she’s out of the woods yet, she’s been making good progress and her doctor had scheduled her for more chemo sessions and another body scan in a couple of weeks. You can imagine our surprise then when we walked into the office for her weekly chemo session and the young office manager was forced to inform us, “Sorry, we can’t treat you today. Medicare says you can’t have any more chemotherapy.”

Of course they’ll fax in documents and medical notes and what-not to the paper-pushers at Medicare, but who’s to say that Medicare won’t take their sweet ol’ time deciding if additional chemo sessions are worth it? What’s six months to a career bureaucrat? It’s a water cooler break! But what’s six months to a cancer patient not getting treatment? I guess Medicare doesn’t shed any crocodile tears if the patient isn’t alive when they finally make their decision.

Mom is fortunate that she has supplemental private health insurance, but for some reason it won’t pay its 20% unless Medicare pays its portion first, and if Medicare isn’t paying… Then of course that means they don’t pay, either. I can’t figure that out—you pay expensive premiums for insurance that doesn’t pay when you need it? Sounds like something from a classic Monty Python sketch, “The auto insurance that only works if you don’t use it” sketch. It seems at this point if Mom wants to continue to get better and receive chemo treatments, she’ll have to pay out of pocket. Unfortunately, our last name isn’t “Gates”, so she doesn’t have an endless bank account.

I know Mom’s case isn’t unique. I’m certain that every day thousands—maybe millions—of Americans are told that they are no longer worthy of receiving life-saving medications or medical treatments. It seems to me our government has found a rather unique way to cull the “surplus population” (as Ebenezer Scrooge labeled them in Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol). The U.S. may not force you into having abortions and sterilization procedures like the Chinese do to prevent population growth, but instead it waits until you’re retirement age and then it lets you waste away from lack of healthcare. It allows you to labor as the working poor without any health benefits with the freedom of keeling over in your tracks if you happen to get sick. How kind.

I saw an “Occupy Findlay, Ohio” group camped out in front of the Hancock County Courthouse this morning. It seems even in small town America people have had enough of an uncaring government and want to make their voices heard. Maybe Mom and I should join them?

 

Please feel free to share your experiences with Medicare, unresponsive health insurers, and other injustices the 99% of us endure on a daily basis in the comments section below.

Please pass this blog/link along to others who feel put upon similarly. If we create enough noise, perhaps someone somewhere in a position of power will grant us justice.

In any case, even if we’re not here to see the results of the revolution, perhaps we can help start it.

Feel free to join our Facebook page, The Mad-As-Hell Party. Let the politicos know we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!

The Buck Stops Here Because We're Mad-As-Hell

The Buck Stops Here Because We’re Mad-As-Hell

by Cindy A. Matthews

Everything seems to be going downhill quickly these days in the US economy and in the political arena. Not being a politically active type of person, I can’t imagine the stress and horror die-hard Wall Street types and party members must be feeling lately. My husband and I discussed the dire situation we’re all in the other day and hit upon what we feel is the perfect solution to all our problems.

We simply need to junk the current two party system and begin again.

As Thomas Jefferson once said, “A government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything away,” so we're going to do just that--take it all away. To this end, we have started a third party that will sweep the next federal elections and clean out the seriously-self-centered halls of Congress. It will be a party of the little people (not that we can’t stand to lose a few pounds, but pasta is so much cheaper than meat when you’re living on unemployment). It will be a party made up on non-career politicians who only want to serve their fellow little people and then come home to the family farm, ranch, restaurant, shop, etc. You know—the way the original founders sort of envisioned our elected representatives would be like before all this political party bickering began in the election of 1800.

And we think we have just the right name for it.

“The-Mad-As-Hell-And-We’re-Not-Going-To-Take-This-Anymore” party or (TMAHAWNGTTTA party for short) is titled after that classic line from the classic film Network. Howard Beale (our party mascot—who needs an elephant or a donkey?) was a news anchor who told everyone to go to their windows and start screaming our party’s name until something happened to fix the world’s ills.

Network was quite a prescient story, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the mid 1970s and the early 21^st century have a lot in common—energy crisis, pollution crisis, unemployment, corrupt politicians (remember Watergate?), trouble in the Middle East, etc. So now is the time to learn from our mistakes we made forty years ago and clean up our economy and Congress and our environment all at the same time. As another little man once said, “The buck stops here,” and we’d better stop it in case it slides down further in comparison with other world currencies.

For Mad-as-Hell president we’re thinking of nominating Weird Al Yankovic. “Why Weird Al?” you may ask.Weird Al’s parody songs demonstrates he’s a keen observer of the culture and what’s wrong with it. Even if he can’t fix everything within four years he can at least entertain us with a polka version of the Star Spangled Banner. For vice president, my hubby suggests Sarah Palin (to gain the media’s notice) but I’m leaning more toward Cyndi Lauper. “Girls just wanna have fun” and who is having any fun in a time of economic and political crisis? Cyndi may just be able to help us on this very important point. (And I like how she spells our  shared first name to boot.)

Our platform will be made out of good old-fashioned, renewable wood. We stand for clean air, clean water, clean food, clean cities, clean language on the TV and clean underwear. But most of all we stand apart from those other politicians who seem to think that pointing the finger at the guy (or gal) across the aisle from them in the House of Representatives somehow defines what “good government” should be like.

If you want to join our party and start the crusade toward sanity, please feel free to forward this blog to your friends, family and other members of the human race. Tweet it up and Facebook and Google+ it to death. We’re “Mad-As-Hell-And-We’re-Not-Going-To-Take-This-Anymore” and we’re coming soon to a local, state, and/or federal office near you. We thank you for your support.

(Editor's note: Feel free to "like" our new Facebook Page: The Mad-As-Hell Party  Thank you.)

Vote Positive!

I’ve rapidly grown tired of this presidential campaign season. My weariness of all things political includes local, state and regional campaigns as well. No matter what the major political party is nowadays, they all seem to have one thing in common: They universally resort to slinging mud at their opponents rather than show how they’d go about to positively change the outcome of our current situation. In other words, negativity is the big thing in campaign 2008.

If you don’t think I know what I’m talking about, you could be right. I’m not a pundit or a Ph.D. in poly-sci. But I’ve been conducting my own non-scientific survey since the first political flyer landed in my overcrowded mailbox a month or two back. I’ve kept them all, and I’ve carefully gone through them, dividing them into “positive” and “negative” advertisements. Guess which side enjoyed a landslide victory?

Yes, I know I’m weird. I like to write—enough said. But if even a non-politically astute person such as myself can discern from the mountain of political ads that things have taken a decidedly negative tone in 2008 (even compared to the negativity of past years), then something is amiss. It seems no one has a positive outlook on life, our country or our form of government in general. Every candidate only sees the black clouds, never the silver linings.




Other than throwing open a window and yelling, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” (that famous quote from the movie Network), I think the only thing I can do is to “vote positive”. I will vote only for candidates and issues that present their platform in a positive manner. If this means I’ll have to skip voting for a few offices, then so be it.

A blank ballot is a statement in and of itself, isn’t it?