Political Whispers: A Look Into Today's World of Dark Politics

IGNORANCE STILL PREVELANT IN SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

By Schuyler Thorpe
Author and Political Activist

Am I the only one around here who sees what’s going on as wrong? Like in Virginia Tech, people are still calling for a small laundry list of things:

• Continued discrimination against the mentally-ill and troubled teens.
• Tougher gun laws that don’t do anything more than to further restrict people’s rights to bear arms–regardless of circumstance.
• Allow the states complete and total access to personal and medical records; not including the federal government.
• Ignorance of the root problems while suggesting outmoded “band-aid” solutions. All because of one young man’s rampage through a Northern Illinois University campus.
  

Let’s examine the above list:

The mentally-ill and our troubled teens have been singled out because of the problems borne out from society’s ignorance of their situation. We believe that by talking to them, holing them up in some mental institution and the like; doping them up with drugs and then shutting them out of sight or out of mind–will somehow make all our problems go away.

In all essence, it just makes incidences like Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois more common–while the ignorant public continues to rally for more stricter gun laws–than enforcing the ones already on the books.

Taking away our rights to own firearms because we ourselves are to blame for the continued degradation of our own society’s delicate fabric, underpinnings, and basic support foundations–doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

As a matter of public record, the United States has the highest gun crime incidences in the world–and the mentally-ill and troubled teens make up only a small fraction of the total deaths committed by them overall.

Most of the shootings involved these days are from gang-related violence, issues stemming from spousal abuse, and convicted criminals whom are repeat offenders.

Why not enforce laws or create new ones which address these problems? The mentally-ill are not a factor in this equation. Our troubled youths aren’t either.

The calls for complete and total access to our personal psych records and health records by all states–is just asking for trouble. We’ve already seen the flagrant abuse by the feds with regards to our rights to privacy, and the telecoms’ illegal actions involving turning over our personal records to fight terrorism to our own government.

And having unqualified or vindictive people poring through personal state medical records is just plain wrong.

Just because we have some high-profile murders on university campuses doesn’t give people the overall right to start a glorified witch hunt against the mentally ill or our troubled teens.

Not everyone should be treated like a criminal because of the acts of a few individuals.

This isn’t what the system is set up for. We–the people–still have rights to privacy. Nobody–including myself–wouldn’t like it if we had our whole histories open to public scrutiny because that in turn would lead to a whole host of abuse, harassment, discrimination, and further neglect.

As before, we have always ignored the root problems of these issues by professing ignorance and applying “band-aid” solutions in the form of stricter gun laws that do nothing to address the root problems facing our society.

So long as we continue to neglect those whom need help the most, incidences like Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Northern Illinois, will surely become a common place occurrence.

And we only have ourselves to blame for that.

Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.com

Labels: Columbine, gun laws, mentally-ill, Northern Illinois, school shootings, troubled teens, Virginia Tech

posted by Schuyler Thorpe @ 5:00 PM 0 comments

THOSE WHO ARE IN MOST NEED LEFT HIGH AND DRY

By Schuyler Thorpe
Author and Political Activist

I’m pissed at my government for allowing them to walk all over us.

I’m pissed at Congress for caving in and not giving those whom need help the most.

Yes, I am talking about the tax rebate legislation–which axed financial aide for those whom need energy assistance, extra food stamp money, and those whom are currently unemployed–and would all enjoy the tax bate relief.

I know I would. I just spent three-quarters of my food stamps on food within the last 24 hours. Most of it on meat, bread, cheese, and soy milk.

I saved a little bit on the side so my wife and I can get our monthly chocolate fix. The rest I’ve set aside for later–when I need it.

To the outside observer, what I’ve done may not be such a big deal. But trying living on nearly $300 in food stamps a month–for 2 people–with the current high food prices; and you would begin to see why people like myself were rooting for Congress to pass that extra legislation for those like myself whom have been financially hurting all this time.

And came away gravely disappointed.

Why did the Republicans block the legislation that would’ve given us an extra boost? According to some insiders, they said it was too much money.

Too much money!?

Let me guess: We can blow hundreds of billions of dollars on an ill-gotten war, but we can’t blow the same amount on the home front–making sure that those whom need help…get it?

What does the Republican Party have against people like me? What did we ever do to piss them off so much??? Why must we be made to suffer so they can waste our tax-paying money on corporate ventures and oil interests? (Not to mention all those tax-cuts for the rich?)

I didn’t ask to be born into this world under the dogging weight of extreme poverty. But I certainly made many efforts to dig myself out of it--and failing each time. But it seems that the mechanisms which tells us that we can aspire to better ourselves in the long run–are the same entities which controls the purse strings of Congress.

These are the same machinations which tells me that not only can I not better myself, but I must be permanently slaved to a system that won’t allow me to do the same.

In essence, I am an unwilling prisoner in a corrupt system of democracy.

To make matters even worse, Bush’s latest budget proposal has gone ahead and cut funding from the very programs which help people like me.

Those whom need energy assistance, housing, Medicare, and food stamps.

And if you have noticed something peculiar about his allocated funds? The majority of it goes to the military and defense industries.

So they can have their precious wars.

But why not the people whom need help the most?

Because they were never a priority with the Republican Party.

The poor and the downtrodden have been made to suffer since Reagan was President. His slanted fiscal budgets heavily favored the wealthy and the rich–while giving those who needed help the least amount of money.

Thus setting into motion, a series of events which has made it harder for people like me, to get ahead a little bit in life.

We’ve never asked for the world, all we are asking for is a boost in the right direction.

Unfortunately…? Both Bush and Congress doesn’t seem to be listening.

Which means?

People like me are left high and dry. Again.

Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.com

Labels: assistance, budgets, Bush, Democrats, food stamps, needy, poor, Reagan, Republican Party, tax cuts, tax rebate, unemployed

posted by Schuyler Thorpe @ 1:19 PM 0 comments