Why Tea Partiers are fighting back

I look at the recent Tea Party demonstrations, to the speeches of both Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann, with inflammatory rhetoric and I try to think what is the purpose of all this, who is feeding all this and who are the people attending these demonstrations.
If people look at what they have submitted to the federal government in income tax, they can see that 95% of the population has seen a reduction of their taxes, unless you are making $250,000 or more.
We also look at the recent poll of tea party demonstrators and it shows us that they are satisfied with medicare and with social security, they feel that what they paid this year in taxes is fair, they don’t feel that Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, they are college educated people, who would vote republican if they had the chance, they view Obama as a socialist. This is what I find the most amusing of all. I don’t think they know what socialism really is.
Nine out of ten are white.
This, more than anything else is where the issue is in my honest opinion.
What, I think, it really comes down to is that they feel that minorities are getting a better deal under this administration.
This, again, is ironic, because in many places 50% of young African Americans are unemployed or under employed, and the same can be said about Hispanics.
But the biggest issue that Tea Partiers feel, some of whom have gone to wars for this country , is that it is changing. That in many states minorities have a bigger say in the outcome of elections.
Hispanics helped Obama win the last presidential election in several states, not just the usual ones such as in Florida, California, New York, but also in states such as Nevada and Colorado.
I have had friends of mine tell me that one of the reasons they were not happy with the Health Care reform was because now, when they wanted to go to the doctor, they would have to wait longer.
I find that not only discriminatory but also offensive.
This country has had a history of embracing people from different countries and backgrounds, but it seems because the physiognomy of the country is changing, in other words white people are feeling that in a generation they will be a minority they are trying to fight back. Unfortunately the methods by which they are doing this, such as spitting at Representative Lewis, a figure of the civil rights, insulting or threatening other members of Congress, calling Gangster this administration, carrying guns to demonstrations will only insight violence. They remind of people in the Middle East fighting back against the West.
My savior said many years ago that “Those who live by the sword shall perish by the sword”.

Proposal of Wall Street financial reform

It is wonderful to see the leadership of the Republican Party taking sides with Wall Street, which is what they always do, take the side of big business before taking the sides of the public.
But what makes it even more interesting is how they are twisting the facts so that the American public, confused and still bitter about having to bail out the big banks and other institutions that caused the crash of 2008, doesn’t know that what the GOP is trying to defeat is a bill that would protect the public from future bail out.
They have spent the last few weeks quoting GOP pollster Luntz: that the Democrat financial reform bill will lead to more bailouts. Unfortunate for the republicans, as this may seem, the reality is the opposite, the party that proposed the largest bailout, and who does not want to reform the financial system is the Republican Party.
The Democratic reform bill passed by the house proposes that if large institutions collapse Wall Street will be held accountable, not the taxpayer. Any cost of dismantling a firm will be paid first with the assets at the expense of shareholders and creditors.
Republicans, it seems, will not go ahead with that. They have decided to filibuster any proposal of reform.
It is time for the Democratic leadership to make the GOP members in the Senate stand there and filibuster, in front of the cameras, and tell the American people that the reason they want to defeat this proposal is because Wall Street has then in their pocket.
It is very sad to see a party that has had no proposals, no ideas, and who’s only intention is to try to defeat, not just the White House’s ideas but also anything that would help this great country move forward after the deepest recession since the Great Depression, and that has broken every record of filibustering since it lost the majority in the Senate in 2006.

Nuestro 28o aniversario de matrimonio

Al acercarnos a nuestro 28o aniversario de casados me paro a reflexionar: donde fue a parar el tiempo? Como es que pasó tan rápido?
Supongo que estas son preguntas que toda pareja que ha estado casada por un cierto periodo de tiempo seguramente se debe preguntar. Pero nuevamente parece que el tiempo ha pasado rápido.
Durante los primeros años parecía que estuviésemos en las nubes. Como yo trabajaba para una compañia aérea, y porque teníamos pasajes gratis ilimitados nos daba la oportunidad de viajar a los EEUU en cuanto teníamos algo de tiempo. En el año ’83 viajamos a Nueva York 15 veces. Muchas de ellas eran por unas pocas horas. Partíamos el viernes a la noche desde Buenos Aires llegando a Nueva York el sabado a la mañana, hacer compras, ir de regreso al aeropuerto, y viajar esa misma noche arribando en Buenos Aires el domingo a la mañana. Un amigo me dijo en una oportunidad que la única forma de poder charlar conmigo era tomar un viaje conmigo a Nueva York.
Pero como muchas cosas en la vida, no duró mucho, en realidad eso tuvo un final abrupto.
Asi que, luego de analizar nuestras perspectivas, decidimos mudarnos a los EEUU. Un nuevo desafío en un país que conocíamos unicamente como turistas. Con la ayuda de la iglesia que nos adoptó, con fé, y con el amor por el otro nos embarcamos en este cambio.
Hubo altibajos.
Luego vinieron los chicos. Victoria era hermosa, todo lo que uno puede imaginar como padre.
Luego vino Ian. Se puede decir que casi desde el principio yo note que algo no estaba bien. Después de 4 años fue diagnosticado como parte del espectro de autismo. El mundo pareció detenerse. Perdí mi rumbo. Estaba intoriermente destruído. Dí vueltas en el “desierto” por un largo tiempo. Furioso, resentido, sentí que Dios me había abandonado.
He escuchado en television que 83% de los matrimonios con una criatura con autismo terminan en divorcio.
Decir que le pone presión, que produce un gran desgaste a la pareja es decir parte de la historia. Muchas veces uno piensa: ésto es todo lo que da el matrimonio? Es ésta la forma que tiene que ser?
Y un día llegue a la conclusion de que la vida, el viaje, la travesía, es donde está la alegría, el placer, con sus bocacalles, con sus altibajos, es lo que la hace interesante. También llegué la conclusion que nuestros dos hijos, con sus exitos y algunos golpecitos, y los llamé golpectios específicamente, porque no me gusta la palabra fracaso, es lo que es importante.
Y parece que no he hablado de mi compañera en esta travesía. Decir que es una roca, una persona fuerte, que es firme, con fe en su creador, sería ponerlo suavemente. Tiene defectos? Quién no los tiene. Se puede decir que tiene menos que yo. Otra persona en su lugar hubiese abandonado hace mucho tiempo. Es una gran madre, con grandes valores, que nunca se da por vencida. Ella ha enfrentado todo lo que la vida le ha tirado en su camino. Y lo ha hecho de pie.
Asi que antes de seguir escribiendo mucho más puedo decir que estoy orgulloso de decir que es mi compañera, mi socia.
Durante nuestras caídas hemos permanecido juntos. Nos hemos caído y parado juntos.

Our 28th marriage anniversary

As we are approaching our 28th wedding anniversary I take the time to reflect and think, where did the time go? How come it went by so quickly?
These are questions that I can imagine that every couple that’s been married for a while must ask themselves. But again it seems the time has gone by very quickly.
During the first few years of our marriage we were in the clouds. As I used to work back then for an airline, and because we had unlimited free tickets it gave us the opportunity to fly to the US whenever we made some time. Just in 1983 we came to New York 15 times. Many of those were just for a few hours. We would leave on Friday night from Buenos Aires, arrive in New York Saturday morning, go shopping, go back to the airport and fly back that same night to arrive in Buenos Aires Sunday morning.
A friend of mine would say that the only way he would have a chance of chatting with me was to take a flight to New York with me.
But like many things in life it did not last long, as a matter of a fact it pretty much came to an abrupt halt. So, after analyzing all the alternatives we decided to move to the USA. A new challenge in a place we only knew as tourists. With the help of the church that adopted us, with faith and with the love for each other we embraced this move.
There were ups and downs.
Then came the kids. Victoria was beautiful, all you can imagine as a parent.
Then came Ian. From pretty much the beginning I noticed that something was not right. After 4 years he is diagnosed as P.D.D., pervasive development disorder, a type of autism. The world came to a complete halt. I lost my way, I was torn inside. I wondered in the wilderness for a very longtime. Angry, resentful, thinking that my God had abandoned me.
I have heard on TV that 83% of couples that have a child with autism will end up in divorce.
To say that this put a strain, pressure on our relationship is putting it mildly. Many times you would think: is this what marriage is all about? Is this the way it is supposed to turn out?
And then one day I reached the conclusion that life, the journey, is where the fun is, with its side streets, with its ups and downs, is what makes it interesting. It is not the final destination where the fun "will be". I also reached the conclusion that both our kids, with their challenges, with their successes and unsuccesses, and I specifically called it unsuccess because I don’t like the word failure, are what really matter.
It seems I have not spoken about my companion in this journey.
To say that she is a rock, a strong individual, with faith in her creator, would be putting it mildly. Does she have shortcomings, who doesn’t. She arguably has less than me. Somebody else in her shoes would have call it quits long time ago. She is a great mother, with great values, who never gives up. She has taken everything that life has thrown at her, and she has taken it standing.
So before I go much longer I can proudly call her my teammate and my companion.
During all our falls we have always stuck together. We have fallen and got up together.
That, I think in a nutshell, is what marriage is supposed to be.

Farewell to Joanne

Yesterday I went to the funeral of a friend from church that I’ve known for almost 25 years.
When I first moved to the US and I attended my first funeral I was shocked, to say the least, as I came from a culture that viewed wakes and funerals as a somber moment, and here I was at a celebration. I am not saying that there isn’t any pain, because that would not be truthful, honest. There is always the feeling of final farewell, but this was a joyful “adios”.
Coming back to my friend, the thing that everybody who gave a testimony about her agreed on was the fact that the thing that you would always get from her and from her husband was love. The love that God through his son Jesus Christ had shared with them. Even in the midst of a painful illness there was still joy.
Many years ago a friend told me that joy stands for “Jesus, others, and last yourself”. And that in a nutshell is what Joanne and David have shared with us, the whole idea of putting others first. We can go down the list of things that they have done, but probably the one that illustrates it better is the Homeless Sheltering. They gave shelter to homeless men on Saturday nights for 20 years.
And yes, yesterday was a celebration, to her life, to her love, to her faithfulness, cut short because of the illness that afflicted her for over a year. And in the midst of everything God always reveals himself, he is always present.
Now she is at peace.
Farewell my friend.
God bless you, Joanne.
The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.

What happens to our loved ones when they pass away

Ever since my cousin passed away in the UK 2 years ago, my aunt, her mother, has been worried, preoccupied, concerned, with her daughter soul’s resting place.
The reason of her concern is because my cousin was not a believer.
As a believer myself this things do not worry me, as I know it is not up to me, to us, to decide if we go to heaven or hell.
I believe that by the blood of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice, and his resurrection we have nothing to worry about, death has been conquered, and he paid the ultimate price for our sins, even for those who were not conceived at the time, as we were already in God’s plan.
Catholics believe in purgatory, and I find this to be troubling, because, based in what they believe nothing can stop us from going there. This is where my disagreement lies, because of the crucifixion, and Christ’s taking on his shoulders the sin of the world, he has lifted that burden from us.
Another cause of disagreement is that good work may influence in God’s decision. As I said earlier, it is not up to us to pay our way into Heaven, this is through God’s mercy, and through the suffering of his son Jesus that we can rest assured that we have a place there, at the right hand of God the father.
A good friend of mine says that the moment when we die it is over, that we do not go to heaven, that we remain in God’s memory until the time of the second coming of Jesus, and the resurrection of our bodies. I cannot agree or disagree with that opinion. I respect it because it comes from somebody who has lived longer than me, and who has more knowledge than me.
It is just a bit unsettling for some people to accept that because when Jesus is on the cross and he turns to the thief and says: “Truly I say to you, Today you will be with me in Paradise”, that statement seems to say that the moment that that thief passed away he would be with Jesus in Heaven.
As far as my cousin is concerned, which was the beginning and the relevant part to this blog, I do believe that she is in heaven, because, as I said earlier and will repeat, not because of who she was and/or did but because of God’s mercy, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our savior, to whom be the Glory.

Obama is halfway on the road to success

As the vote has come to an end in the House of Representatives and the health care bill has passed, together with the reconciliation passing as well, we can say that we are 50% on our way to having “almost all” Americans health care coverage.
Is this bill perfect? Nothing ever is in life. For those of us who were uncertain about this ever happening, as we did not see President Obama fully committed to this cause, this is a great moment.
There are some people who should take credit in the congress for this happening, nobody as much as the speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi. She is a very shrewd politician.
But the number one person who should take credit for this is the president himself. He proved tonight that he is a leader. When everybody thought, including me, that he was not being forceful enough, that he was not campaigning seriously for this, ala Lyndon Johnson, he showed us that his style can be just as effective and successful as the one who passed Medicare and Civil Rights Act legislation 40 years ago.
Just a couple of months ago I wrote a blog questioning his credentials, today he proved me wrong. And I say this with great pride and joy, as many times we vote for our leaders without knowing enough about them.
Members of congress know that it took great courage to vote for this legislation because many of them in just a few months will have to face the voters, as the opposition will be saying that this bill as Armageddon, that it will destroy the economy. President Obama said something that is true, that legislators should vote what is good for the country and not what is good for them.
Is this bill going to do everything we wanted to? Time will tell. But it is time for the USA to lay the ground work for health care for everybody, like every other industrialized nations has, as health care is not a privilege like conservatives believe but a right. Now let the GOP run next November against Americans having health care.