Republican Senators' Twitter addresses & Phone#'s

List of Twitter Accounts &  Phone#s for Republican Senators by State

@SenShelbyPress        Richard Shelby        (R-AL)         202-224-5744

@SenatorSessions       Jeff Sessions           (R-AL)         202-224-4124

@lisamurkowski             Lisa Murkowski       (R-AK)        202-224-6665

@Boozman4AR            John Boozman          (R-AR)       202-224-4843

@SenJohnMcCain       John McCain             (R-AZ)        202-224-2235

@SenJonKyl                 Jon Kyl                        (R-AZ)        202-224-4521

@marcorubio               Marco Rubio               (R-FL)         202-224-3041                                                                                     

---no Twitter---               Saxby Chambliss        (R-GA)       202-224-3521

@SenatorIsakson        Johnny Isakson            (R-GA)       202-224-3643

@stevekingIA               Steve King                    (R-IA)         202.225.4426

@mikecrapo                Mike Crapo                 (R-ID)           202-224-6142

----no  Twitter--             James Risch                (R-ID)           202-224-2752

@SenatorKirk             Mark Kirk                      (R-IL)            202-224-2854

@SenatorLugar          Richard Lugar              (R-IN)            202-224-4814

@SenDanCoats         Dan Coats                    (R-IN)            202-224-5623

@ChuckGrassley        Chuck Grassley           (R-IA)            202-224-3744

---no Twitter ---             Pat Roberts                 (R-KS)           202-224-4774

@JerryMoran              Jerry Moran                  (R-KS)           202-224-6521

@MitchMcConnell      Mitch McConnell          (R-KY)            202-224-2541

@SenRandPaul         Rand Paul                     (R-KY)            202-224-4343

@DavidVitter              David Vitter                  (R-LA)            202-224-4623

@SenatorSnowe        Olympia Snowe           (R-ME)          202-224-5344

@SenatorCollins        Susan Collins               (R-ME)          202-224-2523

@USSenScottBrown  Scott Brown                 (R-MA)          202-224-4543

---no Twitter ---             Thad Cochran              (R-MS)          202-224-5054

@SenatorWicker         Roger Wicker              (R-MS)          202-224-6253

@RoyBlunt                   Roy Blunt                      (R-MO)          202-224-5721

@Mike_Johanns         Mike Johanns               (R-NE)           202-224-4224

@SenDeanHeller        Dean Heller                  (R-NV)            202-224-6244

@SenatorAyotte          Kelly Ayotte                  (R-NH)             202-224-3324

@SenatorBurr             Richard Burr                (R-NC)             202-224-3154

----no Twitter---            John Hoeven               (R-ND)             202-224-2551

@robportman              Rob Portman                (R-OH)             202-224-3353

@jiminhofe                  Jim Imhofe                     (R-OK)             202-224-4721

@TomCoburn             Tom Coburn                   (R-OK)             202-224-5754

@SenToomey             Pat Toomey                   (R-PA)              202-224-4254

@GrahamBlog           Lindsay Graham            (R-SC)             202-224-5972

@JimDeMint              Jim DeMint                     (R-SC)             202-224-6121

@JohnThune              John Thune                     (R-SD)             202-224-2321

@SenAlexander         Lamar Alexander           (R-TN)             202-224-4944

@SenBobCorker       Bob Corker                     (R-TN)             202-224-3344

@kaybaileyhutch         Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX)              202-224-5922

@John Cornyn            John Cornyn                   (R-TX)              202-224-2934

@Orrin Hatch              Orrin Hatch                     (R-UT)              202-224-5251

@mikelee2010           Mike Lee                        (R-UT)              202-224-5444

@SenRonJohnson     Ron Johnson                  (R-WI)              202-224-5323

---no Twitter---              Mike Enzi                       (R-WY)            202-224-3424

@SenJohnBarrasso  John Barrasso                (R-WY)            202-224-6441

Ballot Box Love

 The following is my comment to a Paul Krugman quote on MoveOn website 11/18/11

 Here is the link to that page.

http://front.moveon.org/its%2Dmorally%2Dindefensible%2Dand%2Dthey%2Dknow%2Dit/?rc=daily.share&id=33030-15358038-%3DUUFL7x

We do not need to reinvent the wheel.  We have a beautiful and amazing Constitution, written for us by men who wanted citizens to be free of the greedy and to have a say in the life they led. We also have obligations as citizens.We have the ballot box and we have our vote which the greedy and corporations cannot buy if we do not sell it to them. Keep your eye on the prize and don't let the "reality show fraud" turn you from our goal of a country that works and cares for the many, not just the few.  We can fix everything we need to fix, and set ourselves on the road to a future that works for us all by using the ballot box as it was intended.  The difference in between us is that "We the People"   love our country and we care for each other; the greedy only care about money and we are a disposable tool for them to get more of it.  We must stop them legally, strongly, and by our voices and our presence at the ballot box.

Occupy has already changed the dialogue and They are taking notice of us out here.  Keystone XL got derailed. We turned the tide when we sent 50,000+ letters and made God knows how many phone calls to congress and the President  The Balanced Budget Amendment today got stopped dead in its tracks....can you imagine that happening 2 months ago. Some Republicans even voted against it.  The Republicancer will keep trying to stop us but we will not be stopped.  Slow and steady wins the race. We will not fix it all at once, but I am hopeful that by next election time we will be voting in a strong majority progressive House and filibuster proof senate.  We already have a President who will sign the bills if Congress can get the bills to him. In all likelihood he will appoint 2 Supreme Court judges in his next term and they are likely to be progressive or moderate.  If not, we will still have the ability to vote to amend the constitution to state that corporations are not people.  The Ayn Rand worshippers are on the wrong side of history. We will not be "objectified" because we are not objects, we are human beings with rights and needs.   We are many - They are few.

Reponse to Post by Robert Reich about 2012 Campaign

 This is my response to an article by Robert Reich  in Nation of Change.
 http://www.nationofchange.org/why-we-may-be-store-passionless-presidential-race-1321107895

I am not passionless about Obama. I am a fan of Mr. Reich's and agree with a lot of this but I think he is unfair in many of the things he says about the President. He knows full well that constitutionally Pres.Obama cannot do it on his own. The President and the Democrats have been hamstrung and knee-capped repeatedly with record numbers of filibusters used for nothing more than to totally stop government in its tracks.

Can you imagine how frustrating for the President and Democrats in Congress and Senate ; how mentally exhausting it must be to try to persuade the other side when they've made it clear they will not agree to anything you want just to make sure you fail. The President knows they don't care if the country fails and Americans are hurt but he cares so he tries to save what little he can. In spite of zero cooperation from the Republicans, there was phenomenal progress made in the first two years. There is a long list of accomplishments by this President since he's been in office, and yet it is never enough, and spoiled brats and lazy people scream "why hasn't he done it all?"

Where were you in 2010? Were you pissed off and sitting it out or  making a point by voting for the RWNJ Teapartiers just to teach the Pres. and Dems a lesson?   When you lay down with dogs, you WILL get fleas and that is exactly what many did in 2010 much to our dismay. Now we are infested with people, like Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, Joe Walsh, Scott Walker who will take the country down just to have their way. The whiners said "Why didn't we get single payer?" (there was not enough support to pass it) and stamped their feet like 2 year olds and didn't vote. We heard "Why didn't he close Guantanamo?" (because Congress wouldn't let him) and so people pitched a fit and "showed him" and voted with the Tea Party.  President Obama is a President, not a King. He cannot push these bills through without help.

Hopefully you have you seen what's been happening lately. People have gotten engaged in their government and thing ARE changing and you need to help. Stop whining and get out in the streets and register voters, Occupy something, vote in every election, run for political office.  Get off you knees and take your country where it needs to go, instead of whining and dragging your feet. Stop watching Reality TV and start watching CSPAN when they are debating and voting on issues. Call your Senators and Congressman and tell them what you want. Make them aware you are paying attention to what they are doing. Write them, email them, tweet them...all the time. Everyday. Go to the Whitehouse.gov site and tell the President too. Stop watching "Dancing with the Stars" and call your government officials instead. The Obama Campaign was never "yes he can" it was "YES WE CAN...but once the 2008 election was over "WE" went missing in action

Un-reasonable People

My response to post about the SuperCommittee  

 http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011104328/reasonable-people

I don't agree that taxes raised on the the 1% require equal, or any, cuts to the 99%'s insurance programs--I refuse to call them entitlements. The 99% has already been "cut" to the bone and is bleeding heavily from every orifice. We need every insurance program we have.... and more....like healthcare for all. We need to take it out of the hides of those who aren't paying their fair share of the freight of the weight of running this country; we need to put the cheaters and thieves that destroyed the housing and banking market in the for-profit prisons they like so much. We, the 99%, are telling them enough is enough. 1% you've had your 30 years of gains, and now it's our turn.. We the People are the 99% and we will #Occupy and we will win.

The Occupy Movement

 Response to Michael Moore comments on Keith Olberman from article in National Memo

http://www.nationofchange.org/keith-olbermann-interviews-michael-moore-about-occupy-movement-1319299608

I love Michael Moore but his call for both Repubs and Dems to embrace the Occupy movement ignores the fact that the Occupy movement is saying they don't want endorsement from any groups because they don't want to be co-opted by any groups.  They are happy to have Unions and people with differing agendas join in the Occupations but the problem comes in when each group starts lobbying for their special wants and needs and insisting that their way is the only way it can be.  What we all want is Social Justice, and that includes economic, political, medical, environmental, old age security, or whatever you believe important.

I am well aware that both Democrat and Republicans take money from the same people.  In spite of that, you must be blind to say there is no difference between the two parties. I am a Democrat, and you cannot tell me that it makes no difference who I vote for...I did not vote for GWB...I did vote for Obama...there is a difference.  The RWNJs and LWNJs and Tealiban and whatever else is out there that wants "my way or the highway" needs to stay the hell out of the Occupy movement.  I'm 67, but I love the energy of this movement, I love the FDR optimism of this movement, and I love that the people in Occupy believe they can change things.  The Eyores are always with us, nay-saying with their constant mantra of "it will never work" " it's hopeless" "it's doomed to failure" .  Maybe so, but at least we aren't sitting on our hands whining about how it can't be fixed, and how we need to get rid of all the bums, and how we should throw them all out and start over.  Bull!

We have an wonderful Constitution, it does not need to be thrown over. We do not need to build the damn world from scratch. We do not need to wreck the whole house because it is dirty.   What we need is to use our votes as Democracy intended to vote in those who have the Peoples' Agenda in mind, regardless of party.  We need liberal filibuster-proof control of both House and Senate so we can get some laws passed to fix the problems.  Primarying the President, or writing in some 3rd party candidate, or writing in "the 99%" or "Occupy"  will only guarantee the GOP status quo wins. Then the President   will likely be re-elected, but will still only be able to get done those things that the GOP allows.  They will not allow votes on anything progressive, they will not agree to make the rich pay their fair share.  This President has gotten a lot done in spite of the GOP.  When not impeded by their stonewalling, he has managed to get rid of Osama Bin Laden, Khaddafi, rescue an American from Somalia pirates, and end the Iraq War.  He has shown he understand the nuanced subtleties of working with your allies so that we do not need to send our military into more unnecessary wars when a surgical strike will work.   Imagine all the stuff we could have fixed if there had been any cooperation. The Ayn Rand worshipping nutcases are not examples of true Americans.   They are not the kind of people American's have always been who care and help one another.  They do not accept that our religion in America never was something we shouted from the street corners while blaming the poor, old, weak and disabled for their own lot.   It was the quiet religion of handouts to the starving from a million kitchen doors in the Depression. It was farmers buying their brothers' farms at auction and then giving it back to the ones who lost it.  It was the everyday heroism of a country that went to work to rebuild itself by rebuilding its foundations and filling the holes and helping each other to move up.  It's the true religion that provided for our elderly and poor and starving with programs that ensured a base of security for the people.  Our religion is the brilliant Democratic Republic created in the Bill of Rights and Constitution that calls for our nation to promote the general welfare of all.

OWS UNAFILLIATED

 Reponse to National Memo story:

OWS unaffiliated

Permalink Submitted by dmcrane on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 11:18pm

I do not want OWS to become part of any Party. It should stay as it is, pushing progressive goals and trying to change hearts and minds where possible. If OWS were to become a third party, I think it would lose most of its participants, and I would be one. I am not interested in futile posturing but in results. I don't care what the Press or the pundits say about OWS because each of us know why we are involved. While we all want to change the system, most of us believe we can do it with the vote if we give our current President a strong, liberal, and filibuster-proof House and Senate. There is nothing we can't fix if we get strong control of both. We do not want it all, but we do want "All" to have enough, and perhaps a little extra to smile about as well. We want the young, and sick, and old, and disabled to be cared for properly. We want education for our children and healthcare for all. We do not have anything against being rich, but we do not want to be a rich people in a poor and angry country. I grew up Republican but I don't recognize the selfish mindset of the majority of the current Republicans. I am sorry to say, they are making all the same mistakes they've been making since the early 1900's and it has been a disaster for us every time. It is indeed time to throw the dirty bathwater out, but we do not need to destroy the house to change the water.

A Response to people saying that MoveOn is trying to Co-Opt  the #Occupy movement.

Actually, I'd say it evolved from the American Dream Movement that Van Jones started up. MoveOn was one of the first to sign on with it, and then other organizations signed on and many of us belonged to several of them. We realized we had many of the same goals and started waking up, and Wisconsin showed us we can be powerful if we work together.  I don't think MoveOn is trying to co-opt the movement, nor could they.  We all want Social Justice and for different people there are different "must haves"  in that scenario, be they economic, political, educational, environmental, racial,  marital, or any social injustice that you may feel oppressed over.  The important thing is that the American public is engaged and enraged and will no longer live lives of quiet desperation. We have watched our health, wealth, jobs, houses and savings go away and our cupboards get more bare and more of our children go hungry and homeless.  We blamed ourselves while working like crazy and were unable to understand what we did wrong.  We  made errors in judgement, didn't understand what was happening to us, and trusted our elected officials and suited bankers to treat us fairly. We felt guilty; surely if we were deserving this wouldn't have happened to us.  That was our biggest mistake., but it does not make us evil. It makes the ones who cheated and stole our country and her resources evil.  We do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, we love our country when she is at her best, and we will get our country back, and fix it,  The greedy will still be greedy, & they will probably still be well off, but they will be more carefully watched and regulated. Some will hopefully get to spend some time in those for-profit prisons they are so fond of running.  The pendulum of  humanity is swinging back our way.  Not all rich are evil; Roosevelt was rich and he loved America and made it strong and great and kind; Buffett is rich and appreciates what America has done for him, Henry Ford was rich and paid a living wage + that allowed his workers to share in his wealth and buy what they built. They all understood that we all benefit when the poorest among us has an education, a roof over their head, and a little pocket money to spend to buy the products we need. I am confident in US; I will continue to be confident in the 99% and I have hope for US.

Supporting the President ...in spite of his not being perfect

 This was a response to a post from someone who didn't think the President was doing enough....

I think you're wrong and I think I'll support the President on this because I'm sensible of the fact that there's probably no one, outside of FDR, who could have done better. I have no wish to bite off my nose to spite my face, lay down, and hand my country over to the Republicans.  At least I'll wait until I can find another President who after having a huge garbage truck of crap dumped on him on a daily basis from the minute he took office and almost never having enough cooperation given because we've got some damn Blue Dog Dems who need their asses kicked, no help and only gaming the system from Republicans instead of helping fix any of these problems. I'll keep this President who in spite of that managed to get some health care, save the auto industry, stop the free fall in the economy, bring the troops home from Iraq (yes, I know he sent more to Afghanistan--just as he said he would during his campaign), rescued an American from pirates, got Bin Ladin and numerous other Al Queda terrorists, and stopped the Republicans from raising taxes on the poor and middle class and from further tanking the economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling.  Now I am aware that he did not "actually" save or capture the aforementioned people himself, so save yourself a oneupsmanship rant, but he did authorize people, and allowed the right people to plan, the events.  I have been alternately furious when I didn't get everything I wanted and ecstatic about things the President did get done,  Right now, I'm in total disagreement with him on the Keystone XL project and have done and will continue to let him know it in no uncertain terms.  However, one thing I know though, if we get pissed and have a temper tantrum and don't vote, if we split the Presidential vote with another "Savior", we will lose our asses and our country in this 2012 election. That is exactly how we let them get control in the 2010 election.  We let the spoiled brat people who didn't get what they wanted, hated the idea of a black President, and wanted to make sure no one was getting anything they weren't rich enough to be "deserviing of".  We let nut cases who wanted the Government hands off their Medicare, who believe the earth is flat, who believe if you aren't a Christian, you are evil, and a whole host of other sick stuff.  I am part of the 99%, and there is not one more thing I care to give to the Republicans, the Religious Righteous, the Racists, the Rednecks, the TeaPartiers, the 9-9-9 nutcases, or the people who don't give a damn about women or babies after they are born.   If you want everything fixed, it's relatively easy.  Give us a filibuster proof and veto proof Senate and House and we can begin to fix all the parts of our country that have been broken over the last 20 years.  Thank you very much; frailties and all, I support my President..

My Post on AZCentral.com 10/14/11 regarding "for profit prisons"

Brewer/Pearce/Arpaio/Babeu, et al, are turning the prison population into Soylent Green for themselves and for their supporters. They are making huge profit off the pain and heartbreak of the less powerful. There are some things that should not be done for profit...and selling people is one of them. There is too much temptation to let the sick, weak, mentally ill, and just plain poor and powerless become part of the food chain of the greedy. When we turn our backs on the suffering of those who are being eaten for profit by this unjust system, we are endangering all our rights.

I am part of the 99%. I a 67 yr old, retired, homeowner and I will #OccupyPhoenix tomorrow. If you don't understand what we want watch this, http://www.youtube.com/watc... It is very clear and a brilliant statement of purpose. If you disagree stay home, but if you agree join us downtown at Cesar Chavez Plaza..

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/10/14/20111014arizona-private-prisons-lawsuit-ON.html#ixzz1amqJbYVC

Article from National Memo with my response.

Why Occupy Wall Street Should Scare Republicans

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Fri, 10/07/2011 - 10:27am — 

Jonathan Alter

Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- In Florida this week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was asked about the growing Occupy Wall Street movement. "I think it's dangerous, this class warfare," he said.
Romney's right. It may be dangerous -- to his chances of being elected.
Occupy Wall Street, now almost three weeks old, isn't like the anti-globalization demonstrations that disrupted summits in the 1990s or even the street actions at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, though some of the same characters are probably in attendance. With unemployed young protesters planning to camp out all winter in Zuccotti Park (with bathrooms available only at a nearby McDonald's), it's more like a cross between a Hooverville and Woodstock -- the middle-class jobless of the 1930s and the hippie protesters of the 1960s.
With the help of unions and social networking, the movement has at least some chance of re-energizing Democrats in 2012 and pushing back against the phenomenal progress Republicans have made in suppressing voter turnout in several states.
Why? Because the tectonic plates of U.S. politics are shifting in ways we don't yet fully understand. We don't know whether Occupy Wall Street is a carnival party -- a piece of left-wing street theater that gets old fast -- or a nascent political party that revives a long-dormant tradition of class-based politics.
It's possible that these demonstrations, which have now spread to about 150 cities and campuses, will be hijacked by extremists or dissipated by obnoxiousness; the American left has practice in committing suicide. The whole thing could fade as young people find a better way of hanging out offline.
Something Consequential
But my visits to Zuccotti Park made me think it's the beginning of something consequential. So far it looks like a younger, lefty version of the early days of the Tea Party -- a leaderless, mostly organic movement with a catchy symbolic name that captures the public imagination by channeling anger against elites.
Like the Tea Party on the Republican side, Occupy Wall Street makes the party establishment nervous. It's not just that Democratic candidates have done well fundraising on Wall Street in recent years. The bigger problem is getting the activists to draw a distinction between bringing specific greedheads to justice and mocking those parts of Wall Street that are blameless in the 2008 crash and do plenty to invest in the future of the country.
Directing Anger
But a healthy rebalancing of the national conversation is nonetheless under way. The Tea Party directed public anger against the federal government in general and President Barack Obama in particular; Occupy Wall Street directs that ire against Wall Street in general and -- inevitably -- Romney in particular.
This will have no effect on Romney in the Republican primaries, of course, but in a general election it could make him the poster boy of the big banks that many see as the cause of their woes. The specifics of his record running Bain Capital LLC will be subsumed in the image of his rationalizing the actions (resisting any tax increases) of the "1 percenters."
The arguments I heard from the often-articulate protesters in the park were economic, not partisan. None of the posters depicted Romney, House Speaker John Boehner, or any other Republicans. Instead they said things like "Top 1% Want Everything," "Listen to the Drumming of the 99% Revolution," "Stop Off-Shore Tax Evasion," and "Protect Medicare, Not Billionaires."
It's easy to denigrate the movement for simplistic sentiments that lack a clear agenda. But as the Tea Party demonstrations showed in 2009, that very shapelessness is a huge asset (to use the Wall Street term). If "We're the 99 percenters" catches on, and the crazies can be marginalized, then the challenge will be to move from the streets to the ballot box, as the Tea Party did in 2010.
Voting Barriers Multiply
Lack of enthusiasm for Obama would be one problem. But the young people brought into activism by Occupy Wall Street may face other impediments. Today's Republican Party is not just anti-Democratic but anti-democratic. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University just released a disturbing report showing that changes in state laws could make it much harder for more than 5 million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012. Some states are putting barriers in the way of early voting and student voting, both of which are used heavily by the liberal base.
The most appalling laws make it almost impossible to vote without a driver's license, which 11 percent of U.S. adults don't have. College ID cards are not an acceptable substitute in several states. Texas Governor Rick Perry recently signed a bill saying you can vote with a concealed-handgun permit but not with identification from the University of Texas.
Discipline Needed
It isn't hard to see what Republican-controlled legislatures are trying to do. They want to make sure that the kind of free-floating anger expressed by Occupy Wall Street doesn't end up helping Obama's reelection. The claim that the purpose of the new election laws is to prevent voter fraud is itself a fraud, given that there's no widespread evidence of ballots cast under assumed identities.
To make something lasting of this movement, the left must move from legitimate moral outrage to a disciplined approach for electing candidates who want to make Wall Street more answerable for the mess we're in. Even as they're outspent by the Koch brothers and their corporate ilk, the 99 percenters will make 2012 a helluva lot more compelling.
(Jonathan Alter, a Bloomberg View columnist, is the author of "The Promise: President Obama, Year One." The opinions expressed are his own.)
Copyright 2011 Bloomberg.

Occupy Wallstreet "Ye are many -They are few"

'And these words shall then become
Like Oppression's thundered doom
Ringing through each heart and brain,
Heard again - again - again -

'Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number -
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few.'

.....last 2 stanzas of "The Masque of Anarchy" 

by Percy Bysshe Shelley, 

Written on the occasion of the massacre of protesters carried 

out by the British Government at Peterloo, Manchester 1819 

Full poem may be read at:  http://www.artofeurope.com/shelley/she5.htm

The World My Parents Gave Me

My 50th H S Reunion is coming up next May and our class has been responding to questions from another classmate acting as moderator.  Today's questions was "who was the most important person/persons in your life"  I decided it was about my parents.

My dad died 2 years ago, at age 93. He was a quiet, gentle, sharp witted and very capable man who could build or jury-rig anything.  He joined the Navy at age 17, prior to WWII, and retired 21 years later at the age of 38 after serving in WWII and the Korean War.  He had a HS diploma, but became an LDO officer via WWII promotion, and retired as a lieutenant,  He was born in North Dakota, and grew up in Hermiston, OR on a small, barely subsistence level farm with 1 sister and 4 brothers. 

My mom was a housewife, more talkative and social then dad, but strong, and adaptable. Thankfully no one told her that with an 8th grade education, she wasn't smart enough to teach me to read.  She read to me daily, and had me reading at 4th grade level before I started first grade.  She moved us back and forth across country several times, sometimes with my father overseas, and she had no fear of packing a car and trailer and hauling it across country on Hwy 66 with two kids in tow.  She was as feminine as they come, but as tough as nails, far from helpless, and prided herself on being capable of managing without my father.  It was the Navy wife way and she was proud that she could hold up the family on her own until he came home form war.  She made most of my clothes until I was in HS and I had the Easter dresses of every little girl's dreams. She made my formals for my Junior and Senior proms and they were gorgeous. I never saw her look at a sunset or sunrise or mountain or lake without exclaiming about how beautiful it was; she taught me to really see things and gave me a sense of wonder and joy about the world.  When we were going to a new duty station she would get all the info she could and tell us all about it, and about our trip going there, and how much fun it would be and what we'd see and all the wonderful things to do along the way and at our new home.  Instead of crying and dreading leaving, we were excited to be off on the adventure.  My beutiful mom died of Alzheimers at age 84.

So that is background on my parents, and this is what I wrote about their importance on my H S Class Facebook Page:

"My parents were the most important for countless reasons. They were so fair and reasonable, I couldn't even work up a normal teenage rebellion.  They gave me deep roots and strong wings, a solid foundation, guidance, praise, support, and certainty that nothing would ever stop them loving me.  They gave me a sense of wonder about the world, a respect for the earth, a love of the environment, joy of reading, learning, and science, a belief in helping others including rescuing strays (people and animals), and  made my home the place where all my friends were welcomed and wanted to be.  I carry these words of wisdom from my father" If you raise your voice, you've lost the argument, because as long as you have a valid point to present there is no reason to yell."  and from my mother, "If you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all."  And now, with my very important (to me)  son, I try to pass all those things on to him."

There are so many other superlatives I could use about my parents, so many magical stories, but suffice it to say that they loved each other and us and believed in the basic goodness of themselves and others.

9/8/2011 Republican Senator Twitter Accounts

List of Twitter Accounts for Republican Senators by State

@SenShelbyPress        Richard Shelby        (R-AL)       

@SenatorSessions       Jeff Sessions            (R-AL)

@lisamurkowski          Lisa Murkowski       (R-AK)

@Boozman4AR          John Boozman          (R-AR)

@SenJohnMcCain       John McCain           (R-AZ)

@SenJonKyl                Jon Kyl                   (R-AZ)

@marcorubio              Marco Rubio            (R-FL)                                                                                      

-------------                Saxby Chambliss      (R-GA)

@SenatorIsakson         Johnny Isakson         (R-GA)

@mikecrapo                Mike Crapo              (R-ID)

@SenatorKirk             Mark Kirk                 (R-IL)

@SenatorLugar           Richard Lugar             (R-IN)

@SenDanCoats           Dan Coats                  (R-IN)

@ChuckGrassley         Chuck Grassley         (R-IA)

-----------------          Pat Roberts                (R-KS)

@JerryMoran              Jerry Moran               (R-KS)

@MitchMcConnell      Mitch McConnell        (R-KY)

@SenRandPaul            Rand Paul                   (R-KY)

@DavidVitter                David Vitter                (R-LA)

@SenatorSnowe           Olympia Snowe          (R-ME)

@SenatorCollins           Susan Collins             (R-ME)

@USSenScottBrown    Scott Brown             (R-MA)

--------------------       Thad Cochran           (R-MS)

@SenatorWicker           Roger Wicker           (R-MS)

@RoyBlunt                    Roy Blunt                 (R-MO)

@Mike_Johanns            Mike Johanns            (R-NE)

@SenDeanHeller           Dean Heller               (R-NV)

@SenatorAyotte            Kelly Ayotte              (R-NH)

@SenatorBurr               Richard Burr              (R-NC)

--------------                 John Hoeven             (R-ND)

@robportman                Rob Portman             (R-OH)

@jiminhofe                    Jim Imhofe                  (R-OK)

@TomCoburn               Tom Coburn               (R-OK)

@SenToomey               Pat Toomey                (R-PA)

@GrahamBlog              Lindsay Graham          (R-SC)

@JimDeMint               Jim DeMint                  (R-SC)

@JohnThune                John Thune                  (R-SD)

@SenAlexander           Lamar Alexander         (R-TN)

@SenBobCorker         Bob Corker                 (R-TN)

@kaybaileyhutch         Kay Bailey Hutchinson  (R-TX)

@John Cornyn            John Cornyn                 (R-TX)

@Orrin Hatch             Orrin Hatch                   (R-UT)

@mikelee2010            Mike Lee                      (R-UT)

@SenRonJohnson        Ron Johnson                 (R-WI)

-----------------           Mike Enzi                     (R-WY)

@SenJohnBarrasso       John Barrasso              (R-WY)

http://survcast.com/State-Of-The-Ocean-Shocking-Report-Warns-Of-Mass-Extinction-From-Current-Rate-Of-Marine-Distress

http://survcast.com/State-Of-The-Ocean-Shocking-Report-Warns-Of-Mass-Extinction-From-Current-Rate-Of-Marine-Distress

Jesus was a Socialist

You must accept that Republicans do not care if you are jobless, poor, hungry or homeless. As political terrorists, they are in a position of strength because they are insulated from the pain by their money, and do not give a damn about you.  They do not care if you are sick or starving or die. If they crash the economy they will simply take their gold and ill-gotten gains and move away to make a trash heap of some other country.  They will retreat behind their palace walls with serfs to wait on them and fan them as the world overheats. They don't care if there are not public schools for your children because their children will be in private schools that you can't afford, or will be home schooled by moms who don't have to work to put food on the table. They don't care what wars they start because their children will not fight or die in those wars. They will, however,  make a lot of money from our children dying and  from people in other countries dying. The war profiteers do not fight in the wars  The children of the poor and non-whites do the fighting because the military jobs can't be outsourced.  They do not care if they destroy the climate because they will just move to the last places where there is  food and water and get rid of the native populace.

All we have going for us is our numbers and we have to stop letting them push our faces into the mud.  The trickle down economics is just yellow rain and they laugh as they piss on our heads.   We are both hampered and strengthened by the fact that we care about each other.  We care when a 24 year old unemployed father dies of a preventable brain infection.  We know it is wrong that an infection in a wisdom tooth killed him because he couldn't afford an antibiotic. If we had the medical care that every other industrialized country provides it citizens,  this death need not have occurred.  Republicans blame him for being unemployed and poor. Those of us who care try to stem the worst bleeding by giving money and our time to hold free clinics and we fight to get medical care for everyone.  We must stand together, care for each other, and help the weak.  We have to fight the policies that will subjugate us and turn us into soylent green  & cannon fodder for the Republicans hierarchy.

The Republican  Dominionist and faux-Christians, who pray in public and kill in private, have made Christianity unrecognizable. They do not do what Christ taught. It is time to hit the streets in large numbers for real and and throw the moneychangers out of the temple.

Jesus was a socialist.

Raise the Social Security Withholding Cap

The comments below are what I posted on the Washington Post Blog today, but it fits here as part of my philosophy as well: 

I've been hearing that old saw "Social Security won't be there for you" since I was in my teens, I'm in my late 60's and it is still here and keeps a roof over my head. Do I wish I'd saved more for my retirement, "YES", but what part of my life would I have changed. 

Should I have stayed in the abusive marriage I got out of at age 40, even though my son and I would continue to suffer? Should I have not quit job in my late 50's and moved to another state to take care of my aging father, a WWII & Korean War Veteran,  which allowed him to stay in his home until he died at age 93?  When my father died, and I was 65 should I have gone back to work rather than to take care of my boyfriend, a Vietnam era veteran, who was dying of pancreatic cancer and had no one else to care for him. That pretty much took care of my life from age 40 - 67.  

There is an old saying about being a housewife, that applies here "It is not that what I do is not valuable, but that it is not valued".  What I did in my life was valuable to me, and to those I loved, but it did not build up a retirement fund and is not valued by the Republican, "Ayn Rand" ,  vision of society that sees need as weakness and giving as something to be despised. I want this "insurance plan" called Social Security to be there for my son, and for his son so that when life intervenes in unexpected ways it will provide a floor for their old age as it has for mine. There is every reason to keep this program intact, and to strengthen it .

Do not believe the Republican Tealiban lies when they tell you that Social Security won't be there for you when you reach old age. Also, when the Republicans talk about only doing away with Social Security for those below age 54, I wonder what makes them think we don't care about our children's future security.  We need to raise the Social Security Withholding Cap.  I think Senator Bernie Sanders plan to leave the Cap at $106,000, but then re-start the withholding when people reach income over $250,000 makes a lot of sense.   It balances out the fact that the lower income levels have had their wages stagnate over the past 20 years, while the top income groups have seen huge increases in income yet sharply dropping tax rates.

Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan

My son is out of work, very sick with pancreatitis,  and recently got on the new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP).  This insurance coverage is for people with pre-existing conditions who can't get coverage, or can't get affordable coverage.  It started with the 2nd part of the new health plan that the Dems and President Obama got passed, this 2nd part also allows children stay on their parents' coverage until age 26, and closes part of the Medicare donut hole for medications.  At 39 years old, it is costing my son $188 a month in Arizona, which he is paying from his $940 a month unemployment pay. We are so thankful to have this available for him.  It works like my Medicare, and is at least $900 a month cheaper than any other insurance he could have gotten, even if he had been accepted by any insurance company.  During the time he did not have insurance he was hospitalized twice.  The first time he still had insurance from work, but it ran out midway through his 15 day hospitalizations while he was still very sick and on stomach tube feed.  The second time was before we could get him on the PCIP and the hospital put him out after 3 days, still very sick, still in incredible pain and throwing up every morning when he woke and with every meal.  The first hospitalization has him $40K in debt, even though he had coverage for part of it.  The second one added another $18K to that debt.   Now in addition to being very sick, he also has worries about how he will ever pay these bills.   He has surgery scheduled now for removal of part or all of his pancreas; unknown how much until the surgeon gets in there and see what viable tissue is left.   He will have a bill from this surgery, but at least it will be have a Cap on the out of pocket so that he can see a light at the end of the tunnel  I am not sure if he will ever be well enough to go to work again, although he has plans to try.  At least he is likely not to die a miserable death for lack of insurance, and sincerely thank the President and the Democratic party for passing this bill against all the resistance they had to fight to do it.

Scattered thoughts

      Just got back from a Progressive Democrats America/Arizona Chapters Conference in Flagstaff     So much enthusiasm and so many ideas flowing from engaged and caring people.  I was so glad to be with people who are in the fray and raging against the Republican Teahaddist machine. If you are not suffering and can't see that others are suffering, then just go away and contemplate your own navel.  You aren't interested in my viewpoint and I am definitely not interested in yours.  I can't make you love your fellow man if you don't, and can't give you a heart if you have fouled the loving one that God gave you.  Go away and pray to your Golden Idol loudly in the stadiums and churches like the hypocrites that you are.

      Most of the people I know are holding on by their fingernails and scared to death. They hear about "trickle down" economics and know it is the yellow stuff that the Republicans are trickling down on them.  They have either lost their job or are in danger of losing it. They are losing their medical coverage, losing their retirement,  losing their houses, going to food banks, and going bankrupt because of medical bills.  They are scared and desperate and one step ahead of losing the roof over their heads. They can't tighten their belt because that belt was sold at a garage sale long ago to put food on the table after their unemployment benefits stopped. They have been told to pull themselves up by their bootstraps when they don't have any boots because those, too, have been sold to make a mortgage or rent payment.  They've been told that they are lazy and bad because they've lost their job. They've been told these things by people who are wearing Gucci loafers and living off capital gains or ill-gotten gains or trust funds and have outsourced these jobs and hidden the profits in tax shelter countries. 

     Speaking of garage sales, they are no fun anymore. Over the past year, I've noticed a definite change.  It's no longer a house cleaning exercise and fun way to pass some weekend time. It's now whatever is left that they can sell to put food on the table, and what's left is mostly pitiful and worn out and brings pennies at best.  There's no longer anything of value because anything good has been sold months ago.  I am not the Pharisee who can walk by on the other side and pretend not to notice, or be so insensitive that I really don't see the pain, fear, and anger out here in our real world.  I am sick to death of the false Christian rhetoric that blames the poor for their own hunger, and blames the sick for their own illness, and blames the unemployed for losing their jobs to China and corporate greed.  I am heartily sick of those who want the government out of their business but want it to control what happens in our bedrooms and control a woman's uterus.   Who want to force women to have babies against their will but who time and time again have shown that they only care for that baby from conception to birth.  They don't care if that same baby and/or mother starves, or is sick or dies after the baby is born.   Frankly, my new theory is that the rich and Teahaddists are the business of farming babies for profit. I think Republicans want to grow more babies to attend their "for profit" schools, to provide cheap labor, and then to put them in "for profit" prisons as a way to make more money for corporations and their investors.  I can see the corporations, Republicans, and fake Christians sucking the lifeblood and eating the heart out of the poor and middle class of this country.  We have become Soylent Green for the rich.   


     I expect the Arab Spring will become the American Fall because the anger is palpable out here on Main Street.