The Understanding poem - Libations Friday 10 Sept 2010

We build Peace in our lives a moment at a time - and this is a poem story of how it can start early in childhood as it did for me.







The Understanding


My thoughts flew back to primary school
When I heard the news today about a woman in Iran
Who was condemned as a scapegoat for evil men.
Women in her culture are considered subhuman and
Deserving of whatever is heaped upon them.
They just have to bear the injustice and cruelty.








I remember another female who was blamed
Through no fault of her own. It was accepted.
The kids at school thought it fine to harm her.
The kids at school treated her as subhuman.
What was so horrible about her that everyone
Thought it acceptable to treat her shamefully?

She was French-Canadian.








My father was stationed in Maine during that time.
Eleanor’s father moved her often as he followed one
Engineering project to the next engineering project.
Her mother had died the year before and Eleanor,
Well, Eleanor felt lost and alone. She forgot how to smile.
Then one day Eleanor came to our school to join us.







I could tell Eleanor needed a friend so I walked up to visit.
Eleanor was surprised at the offer of kindness and friendship.
I asked why and she replied, “Because I’m French-Canadian.”
To which I answered, “So? What has that got to do with anything?”
“Do you want to play with us on the swing set or not?” She followed
And we enjoyed laughing while we pushed our swings higher.







Soon the kids began to gravitate away from our area.
It was as if we were contagious. Then a boy called to me.
He whispered in my ear, “She’s French-Canadian, you know.”
He scampered off to join the growing group away from us.
“I tried to warn you,” Eleanor said sadly. “It’s always like this.”
“Do you want me to go?” Her eyes pleaded not to send her away.







“Keep swinging,” I said. “They aren’t going to spoil our fun.”
Eleanor slowed her swing, wondering what was going to happen next.
Soon, a group of big boys bunched up together to approach us.
Eleanor wanted to run away from them. I stopped my swing and stood up.
The boys told me not to friend “the French-Canadian.” I shook my head “No.”
The boys moved closer, trying to intimidate me. I asked what was the problem.
“Because she’s a French-Canadian,” they accused like it was a dirty word.
“Let me see if I understand you correctly. You hate her because she is French and from Canada. Correct?” They nodded a “Yes.”
“Now has she ever said anything cruel to you?”
“Well, no,” said the lead boy.
“Has she ever insulted or harmed your parents or any of your friends?”
The lead boy scratched his head while his sidekicks nervously shifted their stance, “Come to think of it, no, she hasn’t harmed any of us.”







“So, what’s the problem?” I asked.
“Well, she is French-Canadian,” stated the lead boy.
“So, what you are saying is that she is of French heritage and was born in Canada. Yet she speaks English just like us. She acts like us. What’s the problem?
“Do you and your parents live at Camp Stupid or something?”
I was losing patience with them.







The big boy started to grow angry at me for calling him “stupid,” raising his fist.
Fighting ready, I was the strongest football kicker, well placed on mean boys.
Both Eleanor and the group standing behind the lead boy were growing scared.
I might have been the size of a gnat compared to the lead bully but he did not hit me.
The crowd knew I wasn’t scared of him and would stand my ground no matter what.
The crowd drew away from the boy when they realized he could not break me.







Suddenly, the boy slowly lowered his fist and a strange look came over his face.
I recognized that look and was thankful for it. It was the look of awareness.
He looked at me then at her, shook his head, mumbling about French-Canadians.
The boy turned to leave and then looked back at us, gesturing us to follow.
“Well, come on, do you two want to play with us or what?”
He saw me give him a suspicious look, not trusting his next move.
“Camp Stupid is a bad place. None of it makes any sense of why not to like her.”







Eleanor glowed with acceptance – at last. Such was my first foray into civil rights.
It was one of many firsts of negotiating with bullies, some dangerous, some not.
I stood my ground before that day and stood my ground for decades since then.
But I never forgot how good Eleanor felt that day when she learned that being
French-Canadian no longer carried a stigma for her. That day all the power was
Taken out of those two words, and now, well, they were just words.








Denny Lyon
Copyright 6 Sept 2010
All Rights Reserved



Dennys Photo Gallery: Swinging Good Fun! - Check out some wonderful photos from around the world validating how much we all have in common as children: we love to swing! (These photos are just a few of the gallery.)



Photo Credits


Blonde girl and boy swinging high photo by wsilver @ flickr

Single boy on long swing black and white photo by Divine in the Daily @ flickr

Empty swing at Navajo nation in Arizona photo by shulamit0903 @ flickr

Brunette girl posing on still swing photo by Brittany ((Halo)) @ flickr

Great fun swinging high "Weeee!" photo by annnna_ @ flickr

Balance of power of boy and girl facing off photo by Ken Wilcox @ flickr

Fighting boys photo by Aislinn Ritchie @ flickr

Mean boy with a gun photo by comenKlein, J. Scott 2 @ flickr

Child's shadow as he swings photo by miamism @ flickr

Girl in red dress swinging photo by anthrovik @ flickr

Empty swing by the tree of battle photo by Robb North (a Canadian photographer) @ flickr


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Cartoons: American and World Politics, Tea Party - 24 July 2010

*** Check out the latest from the cartoonists this week as they weigh in on the Sherrod unjust firing after they were all set up by Fox News lies. And some Tea Party funnies as a bonus.




Funny Einstein photoshopped as a rocker


From Denny: Talk about a news story that got so many "legs" (as they say in the news biz) that it got up and ran out of the neighborhood: The Unjust Firing of Shirley Sherrod. What this story has is all the right elements. It has injustice at the core of the story at a time when injustice runs rampant in our business world, economy and culture.

It has racial and gender aspects that just prove "the more things change the more they remain the same." Too many women have been waiting for their time of acceptance and to be treated like first class citizens in their own country instead of being treated like second class citizens. What makes it worse is when there are women like the Republicans who join "the masters" and condemn their fellow slaves mindset. Women who turn on other women without hesitation or thought of giving them the benefit of the doubt until the dust settles.

American female culture never has been terribly nice and usually very nasty in how women throw each other under the bus. And American women wonder why most men don't take them seriously enough. The problem is that the women who are serious, thoughtful, energetic about doing more for society and hard-working, like Sherrod, get short shrift because they are lumped in with the common perception of "the destructive maligning woman."

Nothing speaks to acceptance like being given the benefit of the doubt and be allowed the chance to explain the situation after you have been a loyal public servant for decades. Instead, Sherrod was immediately dismissed without a hearing, without a chance to explain the entire situation. More importantly, she was not given a proper investigation. Because she was female it was assumed she was a problem so her own Democrats dumped her unceremoniously. It had less to do with being black as her own President assumed she was guilty without so much as a thought as to maybe she should get a chance for an investigation first before firing.

What also needs to be addressed by the federal government is a return to the media restraint that was in force before 1987. There was a time (yes, it really is true) when everything that marched out onto the airwaves as news had a high standard of proving the veracity of their facts. There was a time when facts were separated from opinion in news stories whether they were on the air or in print. There was a time when every news program was demanded to accurately present both sides of the story.

The standard is to check your news story facts at least three times before running it in print or on the air. Fox News NEVER checks their facts as they are an entertainment network not a news network. After this incident the President needs to kick out Fox News from the White House briefings and to hell with the howling from other press people. They can threaten to not come back and the White House would just be the better off for it. The reality is that all the network news hounds will back down because they all want in on what is going on to deliver their news stories for profit. Obama was foolish to back down the first time when he first took office and wanted to kick out Fox from the White House press briefings. He should have trusted his instincts.

There was a time that people like Rush Limbaugh would have been jailed and heavily fined for the caustic lying he does regularly on the airwaves. Mind you those are supposed to be public airwaves and yet the government continues to give them away for free to blowhard versions of broadcasters like Limbaugh to make millions off of every year. The taxpayer should get a percentage of his earnings every year for his use of the public airwaves.

It's time Congress visit legislation about true privacy as well as the libel laws and update them. We would put an end to the majority of the political character assassination from the Republicans if the Democrats developed some steel spine and created privacy laws to include people running for office and restricted some things that the media can publish about private lives and family members. Maybe they ought to take a look at France's privacy laws.



Political Charade Cartoons


Shirley Sherrod shafted by her own Democrats who refused to investigate before firing her. If they had they would have realized she was the victim of character assassination and totally fabricated lies. This White House actually was foolish enough to take the word of a conservative blogger known for lying on a regular basis. How idiotic was that one?




































Big Business:










































American voters are spent:










Tea Party:




















































The saddest answer to the Tea Party racists:























Former VP Cheney's newest heart issue of getting a mechanical pump to be his new heart. That basically means he no longer has a pulse - literally, weird, huh?






Then there's the Tea Party Asian style - North Korea nutjob:






The Tea Party Afghan style:







Funny in Sports:















*** Check out more funnies from this week:

Hunh?! Are You Crazy?! Cartoons - 24 July 2010

BP Oil Spill Cartoons - 24 July 2010

Cartoons: American Economy - 24 July 2010





*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

The Social Poets
The Social Poets Fav Bloggers
The Soul Calendar
Visual Insights
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations
Poems From A Spiritual Heart
The Healing Waters
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes

Big Business to Employees: Get Fired If Get Operation to Prevent Breast Cancer

From Denny: Now if this doesn't make you angry. This woman gets fired because she found out, after testing her DNA, that she had an 80% chance of getting the dreaded breast cancer. So, as a preventative measure, she got a double mastectomy to avoid getting sick.

Now, it turns out, her employee figured they could fire her and save some money on their health insurance premiums. Talk about depraved indifference. Now what were these guys doing violating her privacy in the first place? What has her health condition and DNA have to do with her job performance? Answer: none.

Let's see, just how many laws and sense of decency did this energy company violate? Try the Genetic Information Non-discriminaton Act as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act for starters. Health privacy and human rights should be added to the list. Here we go again, women are being treated like second-class citizens in their own country. When is this garbage going to stop?

As long as there are no laws getting enforced there will be egregious corruption and injustices like this case. Just think of all the cases not brought to court because people are so afraid to make a health claim for fear of getting fired from a job they need to pay their bills. In this state of Louisiana doctors are complaining there is little surgery to be had because people injured on the job work with injuries just to avoid getting laid off.

The real inconvenient truth here is that her employer figured out she was a liability as she was getting closer to age 40 and they wanted to start thinning out the employee herd. They went for the older and sick - or those who possibly would be getting sick in the near future - and started firing them.

As long as our current federal government sits on their hands and does nothing to stem this tide in the work place it will only get worse. So, Mr. President, what do you - and this idiot Senate of inconsiderate destructive jerks - plan to do about it? Women and the entire public are tired of these kinds of constant in-your-face injustices.

Pelosi does her job exceedingly well. She has enough toughness to invite the Republicans once and if they refuse she cuts them out from further negotiations. They hate her and respect her. Reid waffles and rarely does his job, achieving a drop of what the Democratic agenda was supposed to be: helping the middle class.

When are you, Mr. President, going to quit listening to the wrong advisors in your administration that are telling you to go softly on Big Business - effectively telling the middle class "Oh, just eat cake if you are hungry!" Mr. President, quit being mollified by these guys who are telling you to sideline the big reforms and just keep the campaign money rolling into the coffers. This is no way to run a transparent and truly ethical government. Stand up for the middle class and be counted.






Pamela Fink Says She Was Fired After Getting a Double Mastectomy To Prevent Breast Cancer: (ABC) Fink Says Her Doctors Told Her She Had an 80 Percent Chance of Getting Breast Cancer


A Connecticut woman claims she was fired despite years of glowing reports by her employer after she told them she had tested positive for the breast cancer gene and would undergo a double mastecomy as a preventative measure.

"I was a great employee and I did really great work," said Pamela Fink, 39. "The only thing that changed from the time that I had a great review to when I didn't was my two surgeries."

Fink has filed complaints at the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities as well as the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that she was fired from the Stamford, Conn., company MXenergy because of her genetic testing results.

She is claiming that by doing so, her employer, MXenergy, a natural gas and electricity provider, violated the Genetic Information Nondiscriminaton Act as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act.





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