The War on.... WTF?!?!?!

(Thank you to Sharon Navarrette for the picture of a tent city in Hawaii)

Middle Class Blues - (hed) PE 

In my last entry I spoke about the War of Christianity.  A contrived war by Christians on those who are of a different religion, race, or sexual orientation.  But lets take a deeper look at this war, this time from a political perspective.  There is a war on the middle class, the poor, women, minorities, immigrants, gays (trying to be PC on that one Larry), different religions, Atheists, the Homeless, the working poor, the unemployed, the elderly, drugs, and anyone they do not see as being worthy of holding the same rights and privileges they hold. 



If you find yourselves in one of these groups you are thinking "No shit", but keep this in mind dear readers, not everyone is aware of this fact.  I know what it is to loose the opportunity for a job because I am poor, struggling to live within my means, which are no means, I know what it is to loose a job opportunity because I am homeless, and have no physical address.  I know what it is to be unemployed, I am there right now, and the fact is, the longer you are unemployed, the harder it becomes to get a job.  I was the working poor, taking everything I made just to keep working the same dead end job, just to keep from loosing said job until I could find something better.  I know what it is to call for a balance on my checking account, only to find out that no matter how carefully I kept tabs on it, I was overdrawn, I know what it is like to have services interrupted because you chose between paying a bill, getting gas, or eating.  Then I became unemployed, I was denied benefits, so this non-extension does not bother me on a personal level, I never had it, so it won't affect me.  But this is not the case for people who did get in, who are depending on it until they can find something.  It is not there now, they lost it, tagged as being lazy, looking for a "gubernment handout".  This is not true.  Sure the economy is getting better, McDonald's and some are now hiring at minimum wage, and those jobs are quickly filled by who gets in the door first.  Ah, back in the day I was sitting comfortably in the upper middle class, I was well off enough to keep money in my pocket, just in case I saw something that I wanted, and was lazy enough to not want to pull out a debit or credit card, enter a pin or sign my name.  It is amazing just how quickly you can fall, one month I was doing that, a few months later, I was robbing Peter to pay Paul.

(A Second Life park bench)

I have seen the Elderly eating cat food and dog food.  I took an elderly woman shopping once, and she was stocking up on cat food.  I asked in a joking manner if she had picked up a bunch of cats I knew nothing of.  She told me, as she turned red from embarrassment, that cat food was a good source of protein and if mixed with some other things, you really could not taste the difference between cat food and a tuna fish salad.  You know before they come for your or my guns, they will come after our parents and grand parent's Social Security.   The christian conservatives scream about death panels, the drain Social Security places on the economy, but the truth is, it is not a drag on the economy, it is a slush fund for their bullshit wars, and pork projects.  Anytime something falls short of full funding, they hold up Grandma and Grandpa.  They put them in the situation of eating Alpo, then blame them for not saving enough for their old age.  You do not know this but my Mom suffers from degenerative disk disease in her back, she has been placed on pain medications to ease her pain so she can function.  The war on drugs is not always about the illegal ones, it is also on prescriptions.  Did you know, each and every time I take her to the pharmacy, someone better produce some ID to get them.  In a perfect world, it would not be needed, but in this world it is.  In this world if something happens, after I have given my ID, I have a lovely bulls eye on my back.  This is true for anyone who gives their ID out to pick up somebodies prescriptions.

There is a war on immigrants in this nation as well (Sheriff Arpaio’s Racial Profiling Campaign to Cost Maricopa County $22Million - See more at: http://aattp.org/sheriff-arpaios-racial-profiling-campaign-to-cost-maricopa-county-22million).  Sure he is not the only one, he is the most famous of them all.  This type of behavior is occurring everywhere, from laws that allow for police to stop anyone they want and demand identification.  Did you know in West Virginia, where I reside, an officer can compel me to provide ID, and show him at least one method of paying for anything, or I could be arrested as a vagrant. 
But this is not a war on anyone right?  My Grandfather, his mother, and the remains of his family immigrated here after WWII.  He spent the first decade of his life in the new world as a migrant worker, because outside of a handful of areas, you were not hired, immigrants were looked down on, and being Jewish made it that much worse.  It was only after he moved back north, that he was able to get a steady job, working coal, build a home, and eventually live out the American Dream of owning his own business.

There is a war on women, and I will be honest, I haven't a clue how to get into this.  I have never encountered the problems with this, I am a man, I get paid either the bare minimum, or I get paid what I am worth.  This is not true for women.  Back in the day, my Mom held a few jobs, she never was paid the same pay rate.  She made a great deal less than the guy she graduated a head of in class, with a better GPA, and more fitting majors than he had.  Granted this was several decades ago, but it hasn't gotten much better.  And if you are poor, or a minority and a woman, its worse.  It is like having three strikes against you before you even walk up to bat.  Soon the authors at this blog home to have a young woman here to better fill in this section, and this cause.  Because when it comes to this, I am a complete idiot.

Then we have the war on gays.  We have multiple gay men and women assaulted, and murdered because of their sexual orientation.  People proudly proclaim that the "gay can be prayed away".  Gays have been experimented on to cure them of their "affliction".  Then we have this assault on gay marriage. And guess what, its wrong.  If two consenting adults want to get married, there should be no issue with it.  Its not hurting you, it is not hurting me.  If it is not hurting anyone, if it is not infringing on what you can do, ignore it, or get on the bus and say "Screw it, let them get married".  Its not that hard, it just requires that you grow up.

We are not a group of bronze aged sheep herders.  We are supposed to be enlightened, more evolved.  I am Jewish, I am a Rabbi, when I can I work a real job, rather than sit and wait on people to support my ass.  Personally we were all brought forth on this planet as a human being, we should all just get over ourselves, and see people for what they are.  Living breathing beings, who feel pain, who bleed when they are cut.  Drop the bible schtick, and get over it.  Your religion is no better than mine.  Just because you are a man, you are no better than a woman.  If you are rich you are just a few steps away from being poor.  If you are working you might not be as secure as you think, and might be unemployed.  If you are straight, you are straight, the same can be said of those who are bi-sexual or gay.  Just the same, if you are straight, do not hold yourself in higher regard than someone who is not.