When there were princes and princesses, kings and queens, they taxed the serfs into starvation. Lo and behold! Our Republican "friends" have come up with a very similar idea. How very clever. Take away income tax that might pinch the rich now and then and tax ordinary people who work for a living and may make no more than minimum wage -- which puts them into the poverty pocket. It's cleverly called the "fair tax." Fair! Give me a break. There is nothing fair about it. The rich pay proportionately less, the poor pay proportionately more. Nice going, guys.
If there is immorality, this kind of tax would define it. It's stealing from the poor and struggling middle class to let the rich dance on their tables...overjoyed that they have fooled the masses yet once again. First the banks stole properties, turned them over to "investors," people with cash, who are now renting them at inflated rates -- and whoopee -- the state will jump in and tax those rents! Wow! And that is only the beginning. Healthcare this is already exorbitant, especially if you don't have -- maybe can't afford -- health insurance...and food. Yes, even food. Buy a can of tuna fish and a loaf of bread and pay a tax...even if you can't afford to buy more than those small items. You've emptied your pocket and the state has gone skipping down the street with your money. A state, incidentally, not known for it's honest and ethics. Pay your friends well seems to be the well-used modus operandi.
Good luck, Georgia. Revolt at the polls -- don't wait. Flood the halls of the Capital and scream at the "leaders" who want to steal your scalp.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
I resent being among the working poor!
No matter how much I work, my money gets sucked out of my hands before I can even count it.
About our economy -- Do you remember when you could watch your television for free? You didn't have to purchase cable? Your telephone was a landline and it was cheap? You could live and work without having to pay for internet? And there was a certain joy in going to the mailbox and finding a handwritten note...we also talked to each other and got together a whole lot more.
If we go back further, before the suburbs were a fact of life and interstate highways meant we risked out lives to go out the door and get in our cars (which also cost us a fortune (cost of cars, registration, fuel, repairs, insurance, tolls)...walking didn't cost anything except shoe leather and it kept people healthy. Little wonder that we're poor, even those who work are now known as the "working poor." How cool is that? Marketing experts figure out how to sell us more and give us less. And all of us have too much junk. Not treasures, junk.
Today the stock market is going gangbusters. Yeah, and the middle class can no longer afford to invest. Isn't that terribly, terribly interesting?
We're a democracy, why can't people "get it" and vote people into office who will stand up for our rights? How can we let ourselves be so bamboozled the corporate elite that lock us out of their worldfacebook.com? Okay, we did a very decent job of getting a great president into office -- but how could our country get sold down the river by so many people in Congress who pander to the rich? It doesn't make sense to me at all.
About our economy -- Do you remember when you could watch your television for free? You didn't have to purchase cable? Your telephone was a landline and it was cheap? You could live and work without having to pay for internet? And there was a certain joy in going to the mailbox and finding a handwritten note...we also talked to each other and got together a whole lot more.
If we go back further, before the suburbs were a fact of life and interstate highways meant we risked out lives to go out the door and get in our cars (which also cost us a fortune (cost of cars, registration, fuel, repairs, insurance, tolls)...walking didn't cost anything except shoe leather and it kept people healthy. Little wonder that we're poor, even those who work are now known as the "working poor." How cool is that? Marketing experts figure out how to sell us more and give us less. And all of us have too much junk. Not treasures, junk.
Today the stock market is going gangbusters. Yeah, and the middle class can no longer afford to invest. Isn't that terribly, terribly interesting?
We're a democracy, why can't people "get it" and vote people into office who will stand up for our rights? How can we let ourselves be so bamboozled the corporate elite that lock us out of their worldfacebook.com? Okay, we did a very decent job of getting a great president into office -- but how could our country get sold down the river by so many people in Congress who pander to the rich? It doesn't make sense to me at all.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
A Right to a Roof
I just posted this on facebook and thought how ephemeral those posts are -- there a minute and then gone forever. So here it is:
You know, I have friends who are gay and I have all the sympathy in the world for couples who want to get married. They do deserve equal rights. However, I have much more concern for people who are homeless and living in the streets -- maybe dying in the streets.
In Germany, shelter is a RIGHT! Can't we be that civilized? What is wrong with us? We are the number ONE country in the WORLD? And we can't house our people? Tell me what is wrong. I need to know. It troubles me enormously.
Women selling themselves? And they get arrested when they really don't have any other options? This all makes me sick and not so proud of my country.
Yes, we send millions and billions to other countries. I don't mind. We are rich enough to do that. But we can't tax our millionaires and billionaires because our congress won't let them? Because the people we voted into office won't take care of those same people?
Too much is bothering me these days. And the prison system that is becoming a profit system and gleefully locking people away. Not good. We shouldn't be all that proud of how we are dealing with our problems at home.
Tonight I will go to a gathering at the home of a family whose son has been sent to prison for 15 years -- without any evidence that he actually did something wrong. The idea is to start a foundation to help other families in similar circumstances. We don't doubt that they exist. We don't doubt it at all.
Yesterday, I was in tears. A good friend -- a college instructor who went to GSU in the masters program with me -- was unglued. Her son was stopped by Douglas County police for a broken tail light. You want to put that on your list of major crimes. They dragged him out of his car and seven cops beat him close to senseless. Then, they threw him in jail with no medical care for two days. When he got to the hospital finally, his mother was able to find him and bail him out. He is left with various charges that have to be answered in court. WAAAAAT???
I'm working on an art exhibit and short film about sex trafficking in Georgia. It's been said that we are the number one sex capital in the country. Where do you start with so many issues. It's not Denmark that is rotten.
Rereading this piece, I am well aware that it is badly organized, too many problems -- which one should come first? I'm sorry for my country, worried about my children and their futures. Worried about generations to follow. I'm old and have probably seen too much and am too aware that it all seems to be getting worse. Skies are not so blue, storms are worse, trees and green fields disappearing, poisons entering our water and our food...and not enough people who care.
You know, I have friends who are gay and I have all the sympathy in the world for couples who want to get married. They do deserve equal rights. However, I have much more concern for people who are homeless and living in the streets -- maybe dying in the streets.
In Germany, shelter is a RIGHT! Can't we be that civilized? What is wrong with us? We are the number ONE country in the WORLD? And we can't house our people? Tell me what is wrong. I need to know. It troubles me enormously.
Women selling themselves? And they get arrested when they really don't have any other options? This all makes me sick and not so proud of my country.
Yes, we send millions and billions to other countries. I don't mind. We are rich enough to do that. But we can't tax our millionaires and billionaires because our congress won't let them? Because the people we voted into office won't take care of those same people?
Too much is bothering me these days. And the prison system that is becoming a profit system and gleefully locking people away. Not good. We shouldn't be all that proud of how we are dealing with our problems at home.
Tonight I will go to a gathering at the home of a family whose son has been sent to prison for 15 years -- without any evidence that he actually did something wrong. The idea is to start a foundation to help other families in similar circumstances. We don't doubt that they exist. We don't doubt it at all.
Yesterday, I was in tears. A good friend -- a college instructor who went to GSU in the masters program with me -- was unglued. Her son was stopped by Douglas County police for a broken tail light. You want to put that on your list of major crimes. They dragged him out of his car and seven cops beat him close to senseless. Then, they threw him in jail with no medical care for two days. When he got to the hospital finally, his mother was able to find him and bail him out. He is left with various charges that have to be answered in court. WAAAAAT???
I'm working on an art exhibit and short film about sex trafficking in Georgia. It's been said that we are the number one sex capital in the country. Where do you start with so many issues. It's not Denmark that is rotten.
Rereading this piece, I am well aware that it is badly organized, too many problems -- which one should come first? I'm sorry for my country, worried about my children and their futures. Worried about generations to follow. I'm old and have probably seen too much and am too aware that it all seems to be getting worse. Skies are not so blue, storms are worse, trees and green fields disappearing, poisons entering our water and our food...and not enough people who care.
Monday, September 17, 2012
You gotta see this! "The Man Who Came to Dinner"...in Roswell
There is one more weekend to catch "The Man Who Came to Dinner," the brilliant, witty play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman and directed by Robert J. Farley. Farley happens to be the director in residence of the Georgia Ensemble Theatre, a group he has led for the past 20 years to the applause of many.
This production deserves everyone's attention. The skill of Farley's direction is matched only by the talent of the actors, one after the other, who pull you into the wild and wonderful plot. Sheridan Whitehead is the most obnoxious, outrageous guest who takes advantage of anyone and everyone. He's the character you love to hate. No shame!
Years ago, I was cast as the old lady, the ax murderer, when I was in high school. How very strange to be sitting in the audience listening to the lines and going back in time. This play made its debut in 1942 -- even before I was born. No matter, the fun is still fresh and the story as tight and surprising as ever. The beauty of theater is that a new face, a new gesture, a new prop brings with it new life.
Try to get tickets now! Last Friday was pretty much a full house.
This production deserves everyone's attention. The skill of Farley's direction is matched only by the talent of the actors, one after the other, who pull you into the wild and wonderful plot. Sheridan Whitehead is the most obnoxious, outrageous guest who takes advantage of anyone and everyone. He's the character you love to hate. No shame!
Years ago, I was cast as the old lady, the ax murderer, when I was in high school. How very strange to be sitting in the audience listening to the lines and going back in time. This play made its debut in 1942 -- even before I was born. No matter, the fun is still fresh and the story as tight and surprising as ever. The beauty of theater is that a new face, a new gesture, a new prop brings with it new life.
Try to get tickets now! Last Friday was pretty much a full house.
Traffik! A Great Theater Experience!
If anything can rock your boat, this has to be it. Yesterday, I caught the matinee at Four Stages Theater and was thoroughly blown away by the characters onstage. Each one shared a seamy, painful, personal story of how they were connected to the sex trade. Taken from real life interviews writer/director/actor Jacquay Waller conducted before putting the production together, there was the searing ring of truth to all of them.
We shared the experience of a high school girl whose stepfather was selling her and her friends at "parties" while her mother was away on business. A pervert talked about how much he "loved" the two little girls he "entertained" with the permission of their mother who collected $50,000. It makes you want to run to the lavatory and wash just to have listened.
Waller stole the show as a pimp who strutted in his fancy suit and talked about how he "loved" his girls but would kill them -- and had done so -- if they didn't bring the "paper."
In the rest room at intermission, a grandmother confessed to me that she is concerned about her granddaughter and the stepfather who is in the household and "doesn't seem right." Right out of the script.
If the performances on stage were awesome, so was audience participation at the end. Characters paraded onto the stage and the audience was invited to question them -- not as actors -- as the characters they played. Hard hitting comments put them on the spot. Why did they do what they did? Great street language on both sides. There was no fooling around or letting anyone off easy..
Traffik will be going on the road. This was its premiere. The website to follow is www.catchingdreamz.com.
There are also videos out there that The Dreamcatcher Collective, Inc. has created in association with Dreamcatcher Productions.
We shared the experience of a high school girl whose stepfather was selling her and her friends at "parties" while her mother was away on business. A pervert talked about how much he "loved" the two little girls he "entertained" with the permission of their mother who collected $50,000. It makes you want to run to the lavatory and wash just to have listened.
Waller stole the show as a pimp who strutted in his fancy suit and talked about how he "loved" his girls but would kill them -- and had done so -- if they didn't bring the "paper."
In the rest room at intermission, a grandmother confessed to me that she is concerned about her granddaughter and the stepfather who is in the household and "doesn't seem right." Right out of the script.
If the performances on stage were awesome, so was audience participation at the end. Characters paraded onto the stage and the audience was invited to question them -- not as actors -- as the characters they played. Hard hitting comments put them on the spot. Why did they do what they did? Great street language on both sides. There was no fooling around or letting anyone off easy..
Traffik will be going on the road. This was its premiere. The website to follow is www.catchingdreamz.com.
There are also videos out there that The Dreamcatcher Collective, Inc. has created in association with Dreamcatcher Productions.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
About getting famous and loving the paparazzi
This is the whole, naked truth. Sort of. Yeah.
It happened a couple of weeks ago. I struck pay dirt! Appen Newspapers called to let me know I had won the jackpot. I had won a 6-month membership to the YMCA. Whoo-hoo! I drove to their office on N. Main Street and thought, while I'm here, I'll ask if a reporter might be interested in my exhibit at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.
Pay dirt again! A very arts savvy young man appeared -- masters degree in Architectural Art and Art History. We sat down, talked and --- voila! I am so famous in this town I can barely make it through the paparazzi on my lawn. The dogs are barking all the time. It's crazy.
It happened a couple of weeks ago. I struck pay dirt! Appen Newspapers called to let me know I had won the jackpot. I had won a 6-month membership to the YMCA. Whoo-hoo! I drove to their office on N. Main Street and thought, while I'm here, I'll ask if a reporter might be interested in my exhibit at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.
Pay dirt again! A very arts savvy young man appeared -- masters degree in Architectural Art and Art History. We sat down, talked and --- voila! I am so famous in this town I can barely make it through the paparazzi on my lawn. The dogs are barking all the time. It's crazy.
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