Shame on me! When a
tragic event happens hundreds or thousands of miles away, it has been far too
easy to detach my feelings and emotions from the event. However, since this latest senseless act of mayhem happened in my own
backyard, it takes on whole new feelings of anger, sadness and that
overwhelming sense of helplessness. I
have friends and associates who have been directly impacted by the shooting
yesterday in Parkland, Florida. And,
yes, I am angry and extremely sad, but I pledge to not be helpless. Because, I’m Mad As Hell!
We have a serious problem in this country…and it all stems
from a government that has been bought and paid for by lobbyists. We are all complicit…we have allowed this to
happen by not exercising the right to vote against those that refuse to protect
the people of this country. Our elected
officials are only interested in getting elected, and could care less about
doing what is right. I am not only talking
about the 2nd Amendment fanatics and their refusal to consider any
common-sense gun laws, but also those officials that refuse to consider
anything that is an antithesis to their largest donors – whether it is the NRA,
the Koch Brothers and their fossil fuel interests, the insurance industry or
the entire military-industrial complex.
Today, we are talking about a 19 year-old, who can’t even
legally buy a beer, having had the ability to buy a military style assault
weapon. An assault weapon that should
not be legal for any individual to own is too prevalent in our society. I am not talking about taking away your
hunting rifle or even your personal protection handgun. But, there is no reason for an individual to
own an assault weapon, except to cause havoc – this is common sense. But, common sense is not something that is
ever applied to policies that are in opposition to the ideals of those that
donate large sums of money to own our politicians.
Mr. Trump has said that we will do “anything” to help. I am calling bullshit…. you won’t even
address common sense gun laws. That
might upset your overlords at the NRA.
Our “esteemed” Junior Senator, Marco Rubio, won’t even say the words, “gun
control.” He started to stammer when
asked to address the problem. Since he
has accepted over $3 million in donations from the NRA, HE IS part of the
problem – a gutless, less than a human being parasite, that could care less
about doing what is right.
In 1976 – 42 years ago – The movie, Network, was released and the main character, Howard Beale provided
a famous rant…it is eerie how 42 years later, it is still apropos……
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows
things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing
their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers
keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's
nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know
the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching
our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen
homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to
be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like
everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the
house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say
is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my
toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just
leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I
don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write
to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't
know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the
crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got
to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to
get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get
up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,
'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get
up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and
yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have
got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as
mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out
what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first
get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and
say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
So, today we sit watching our TVs and listen to CNN or MSNBC
or, god help us Fox News, and hear some newscaster tell us that there are 17
fatalities and 14 more injured and that there has been a school shooting every
60 hours since the beginning of the year and all we say is please leave me alone with my TV, my Ipad, my Iphone , my Facebook and
I won’t say anything. Just leave me alone!
Well, I am not going to leave you alone. I am mad, and I want you to get mad! You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, and my children and grandchildren are HUMAN BEINGS,
Damn it! Our lives have value! So, Get up out of your chairs, and say it: I’M MAD
AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE! And then, use YOUR POWER – your vote - and let’s
find people that want to do the RIGHT THING and truly drain the swamp of ALL of
the miscreants that have become the ruling class.
And The Journey continues………………
