The main objective of this blog is to explain and promote progressive, democratic and human rights oriented opinions expressed in my book:
The book: Click Here
a common man’s (not so common) opinion
The book is available as a paperback from www.Amazon.com,
or it can be reviewed, downloaded, or ordered as an E-book from Smashwords.
The book contains progressive opinions about lots of issues, both already published as editorials and letters to various newspaper editors (LTEs), as well as unpublished pieces of writing, – all free to be copied and published under your own name or pseudonym, used “as-is”, or modified, changed, expanded or embellished upon as you see fit. The overall intention is to spread the opinions advocated here, for what I see as common good and advancement of equal rights and common sense. You may agree or disagree, – that’s up to you. Either way, I would appreciate your opinion. In the following menu pages you will find the table of contents for the complete book, and the importance of opinions in a modern, democratic society. At the end I have included a Synopsis that asks WWW=What-Went-Wrong? Th suggested explanation is RRR=Racism-Religion-Republicanism, with the latter mixing up the other two in a royal mess.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 HEALTH, WELFARE, EQUALITY & Beyond
1 Family Planning, Abortion Rights & Personal freedom 7
2 War on Women 11
3 Health Care – A Human Right 16
4 Gay/Lesbian Rights 23
5 Circumcision – The Cruelest Cut 27
6 Gun Control 33
CHAPTER 2 HUMANISM, MORALITY & Beyond
7 Humanism, Atheism & Moral Issues 48
8 Liberalism v. Conservatism 55
CHAPTER 3 RELIGION, IMMORALITY & Beyond
9 Religionism & Morality 60
10 Faith, Belief & Twisted Views 69
11 Praying Life Away – For What? 78
12 Racism & Antisemitism 83
13 Atheist Pat Tillman’s Fate 86
14 Catholicism 88
15 9/11, Islam & Terrorism 91
CHAPTER 4 POLITICS, DISHONESTY & Beyond
16 Thoughts on Election 99
17 Democratic Voting v. Electoral College 106
18 Republicanism>Authoritarianism>Trumpism 118
19 GOP – a Gray Cult out of Touch 153
20 A Gallery of Repubs 165
21 President Obama’s Legacy 170
22 Unpresidential Trump’s “Legacy”? 183
23 Presidential Qualifications 208
24 Mitt Romney’s Qualifications 209
25 Torture: Illegal! 212
26 Military Problems 215
CHAPTER 5 GOVERNMENT, MISMANAGEMENT & Beyond
27 Supreme Court & Disorder 224
28 Secret Service 231
29 The Secular Constitution 232
30 Work, a basic right? 235
31 Taxation and Republican Confusion 237
32 Socialism vs. Capitalism 243
33 Social Security 249
CHAPTER 6 STUPIDITY, IDIOCY & Beyond
34 Dangerous stupidities 250
35 Climate Change & Man’s Contribution 264
CHAPTER 7 BEYOND
36 A Relationship Over & Beyond 270
37 “Christmas” Hijacked 271
38 Crossing Guards & Traffic Safety 272
39 Advice on Writing an LTE 290
40 More on Books 297
41 Progressive Organization Links 300
EPILOGUE 301
MY STORY 304
SYNOPSIS 309
REFERENCES 314
COMMENTS
SYNOPSIS
WWW: WHAT WENT WRONG?
This enormously interesting and wealthy country called The Unites
States of America, has had, and still has, so much to offer the rest
of the world. Let me just mention some of the gifts, like its nature,
scenic wonders and desirable vacation spots, music, movies, arts,
Disney, literature, science, inventions, technology, medicine and
medical breakthroughs, sports, Nobel Prizes, Peace Corp, Doctors
without Borders, a melting pot that attracts the best from all over the
world, a rich language relatively easy to learn and spoken all over
the world, – and vital help to fight Nazism and help ending World WarII.
A model for the rest of the world, I would assume, an example to
follow in every respect!
No, far from that, unfortunately! We are not what we could, and
should, be! So, what went wrong? The answer to WWW is RRR, –
Racism-Religion-Republicanism, and a combination of these three
Rs running rampant, – and more and more so and accelerating
during this century!
RACISM
Racism has always been with us and is still running rampant in this
country, lately more so among Republicans, who over the years
have become more like the old, very racist Democrats of the old
South, while today’s Democrats are a far cry from the old South. As
described somewhere else in my book (p. 84), even a Nordic white
like me has been taken for a “nigger” and been exposed to racism,
from people of the Republican persuasion. Blacks, colored people,
and Asians are still not treated as equals with the rest of us,
encountering deliberate difficulties when trying to execute their
constitutional rights, like voting, especially in some Republican
controlled areas. Even black history, so important to understand and
remember, is being banned in certain Republican states, – partly to
hide the atrocities perpetrated by white Christians against our
colored brothers and sisters. Same with books exposing colored
stories and history, are banned. Yes, there’s a lot to be ashamed of,
but to hide history, forget it, and risk repeating? That’s outright
stupid!
It isn’t all that long ago when black people weren’t even allowed to
learn to read, not to mention acquire more basic education. After
having served faithfully in WWII, a million black soldiers were denied
the GI benefits awarded all white soldiers. Even in the 60’s I
remember how outraged even some white women in the South were
when a few black girls finally were admitted to higher education,
shouting, and making fun of them. The poor black girls needed the
National Guard for protection!
That’s not a good example for the world.
RELIGION
Both racism and republicanism are closely tied in with religion, and
thus made far more powerful and dangerous, – as well as attractive
to those with a need to look down on someone, anyone!
Although secularism is increasing even in this country, ever so
slowly, we are far behind the more progressive countries that long
since have realized that religions are fantasies, based on made-up
story books. There is no manlike figure high up in the sky, watching
us! While Republican president Bush the elder said that he didn’t
think that Atheists should even be citizens, even today some
politicians must hide their lack of belief in order to attract enough
voters, while neither Bush nor Trump would have been selected to
offices way over their heads, without evangelical support, as well as
the Electoral College. Evangelicals flocked to Trump when he
shamelessly lied and presented himself as a “true Christian”, –
whatever that means. Bush jr. attacked Afghanistan and Iraq
because “God” told him so! How dangerously superstitious can you
be, with massive support from equally superstitious, uneducated,
and misinformed masses!
And now the US Supreme Court is saturated with so-called
Catholics, who on behalf of a party referring to themselves as
promoters of freedom, have taken away one of women’s most
fundamental rights, namely, to be in charge of their own body, the
right to safe abortions when needed, for their very own, personal
reasons. It isn’t that long ago when Catholics were pretty much
banned! What has changed? It all sounds very arbitrary.
There should be no doubt that religion in this country has helped
both racism and republicanism, – as well as making blatant stupidity
socially acceptable, while sanctioning dishonesty! The QAnon
nonsense is running as rampant as any other religion, Mega
churches are thriving, “In God we trust” is still being printed on our
money, while Congress conducts prayer breakfasts and other
events supporting superstition. The original, unifying Pledge of
Allegiance is still contaminated with the “under God” that was added
in the 1950s, allegedly to fight “godless” Russian communism, – with
the latest Russian dictator now embraced by Republicans! Even Fox
TV is run in Russia as supporting evidence of alleged American
support for the current dictator, further underscored by Trump’s
unabashed admiration for Putin.
Does the expectation that religious followers believe the made-up,
often impossible stories in the scriptures, make it easier to promote
conspiracy fantasies? There should be no doubt about that, as silly
as it sounds.
That’s not a good example for the rest of the world.
REPUBLICANISM
The last two Republican occupants of the White House, which I
reluctantly refer to as “presidents”, namely George W. Bush jr. and
Donald J. Trump, were not backed by the majority of the voters.
They made it only thanks to the long since outdated Electoral
College, which was accepted as a compromise by very tired
Founding Fathers. Both these incompetent Republican WH
occupants ruined the economy and left a mess for the succeeding
Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Ignoring
advice from his predecessor and warning signs, Bush let 9/11
happen, and then led us into totally unnecessary, unwinnable wars
in the Middle East, causing irreparable damage. In addition to all his
blatant mistakes during his 4 years in the WH, Trump tore down
respect for our government, gave Russian dictator Putin support and
encouragement, and made it obvious for the world that he trusted
Putin more than our own intelligence agencies! Hard to assess the
importance of Trump’s support when Putin decided to attack
Ukraine, while we may never know which top secrets Trump may
have passed on to Putin and others after he stole those documents
when he parted the WH, while his predecessor, President Obama,
dutifully sent it all to the National Archive, as has been the practice,
– before Trumpian time.
Besides being a compulsive liar that can never be trusted, Trump
showed himself as a sorry excuse for a man, bragging about his p-grabbing and that he could remember 5 simple words, – making him
a despicable laughingstock across the globe. Still millions of
Republicans wanted to re-select him! Fortunately for us all, Trump
lost in 2020, while he still claims he won by a landslide, despite all
evidence to the contrary, numerous lawsuits he lost, and good, old
fashion logic and common sense. And, there is still an open question
how much both the 2016 and 2020 elections were influence by
foreign adversaries preferring someone as easily fooled and
manipulated as Trump in the WH. Republicans seem not to
understand something that obvious, or perhaps they aren’t honest
enough to admit it!
With no platform, plan or worthwhile ideas on their own, Republicans
have now resorted to doing their best to tear down Democratic
governments, with no holds barred. They even oppose programs
initiated by Democrats that they had tried, but failed to implement
themselves. Tearing down Democratic presidents, seems to be on
top of their agenda, with no regard for how much better we all were
under the leadership of the last two Democrats in particular, who
both inherited a royal mess from their Republican predecessors.
How can Republicans, even some of the few brighter ones left,
believe that it is in their own best interest to promote incompetent,
so-called Republicans, and do their best to destroy anything and
everything Democrats do, – and even threaten election workers and
their families? And to appeal to the uneducated masses of voters,
with false allegations, just to stay in power? We have even seen
Holocaust deniers invited to speak at Republican conventions, – not
to mention QAnon followers and other conspiracy theorists holding
powerful, Republican congressional positions!
And we should not forget a problem we are still struggling with,
ordinary civilians being allowed to own and run around with assault
weapons designed for war, just because the 2nd Amendment of the
Constitution has conveniently been misinterpreted by the gun-lobby.
Unfortunately, a comma in the 2nd Amendment was inappropriately
used, instead of a more precise “and”, resulting in a deliberate
misinterpretation, and untold number of unnecessary deaths,
including hundreds of school children cut down by disturbed
individuals who should never have been allowed near any kind of
weapon. In the 1930, machine guns were banned unanimously by
the Senate, while Bush jr. let a more recent, 10-year ban on assault
weapons expire!
Then we have creeps that march in the dark with torches, chanting
“We will not be replaced by Jews! These are clearly Right-wingers,
whether or not Republicans are comfortable with that classification.
What’s wrong with those people?
And, let’s not forget that it are Republicans and other right-wingers
around the world that start wars, and eventually lose them.
Democrats don’t.
And now we have a former, minority selected Republican president
promising retribution if he, heaven forbid, should be re-selected,
which apparently tens of millions want! That’s not good for the
country!
Especially the combination of Racism, Religion, and Republicanism
is running rampant!
This all raises a troubling question: How on flat Earth can
Republicans still support Trump so blindly, after all we have seen?
Don’t the Republicans understand that they are weakening the
country and putting us all, and the rest of the world, at risk? Anything
to defeat the Democrats, no matter what, even if the country slides
right off the proverbial cliff?
Or don’t they care at all anymore, beyond getting reelected, for their
very own, selfish reasons?
That’s not a good example for the world.
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