An Open Letter of Senator Ted Cruz

Dear Senator Ted Cruz:

Please be quiet.   Your plot to shut down the government and cause the full faith and credit of the U.S. to default to force the repeal and/or to defund Obama care has failed. Please stop saying the American people want Obamacare repealed.  IT IS NOT TRUE! There are the majority of us that want Obamacare in this country.  That is why President Obama was re-elected.

You represent only a thimbleful of people in this country.  Yes, that thimbleful may want Obamacare repealed but they are a small minority in Texas.  They do not speak for and do not represent the entire country.  I realized you are the"hero" to these people in Texas, but to the rest of the country you are the  "devil."

I am from Ohio, and there are many here and throughout the the other states in the U.S. who welcome Obamacare.  It is high time that everyone in this country is covered medically.  I for one am tired of paying the medical bills through my premiums, doctor bills, and hospital stay costs to cover those with no medical insurance.  Medical insurance and care is not a privilege - it is a human right, and it is high time this country join the rest of the countries of the world and compassionately cover everyone.  

Even those of us who want Obamacare are not happy with everything in it.  But, we are willing to COMPROMISE to have it, and realize we cannot have it all our way.  If it was up to me, I would prefer a single payer medical insurance for everyone.  Medicare for everyone in the country would be fine with me.

Although you work for the constituents that you represent, you have a higher responsibility to work with others in congress in the give and take of passing legislation, paying our country's bills and working together for the betterment of the country as a whole, not just your area of Texas.  You are an embarrassment to the rest of the Republican party.

Where are your ideas for the betterment of this country?  Where is your positive leadership?  So far, all I have seen and heard from you is negative.  You want to destroy and tear apart instead of build.  Your only focus is to destroy Obamacare, but you don't offer anything in its place.  If you are so brilliant, why haven't you come up with the Republican version of medical insurance for everyone?

You have come across as as foolish buffoon to the rest of the country and the world. You would rather see our government shut down, our country default, throw our economy and the world economy into a tailspin to get your way.  That is not governing a nation.  You have a duty and a responsibility to also work with your party and congress to govern this nation.  This is not the time to be a maverick when we have so many problems to be solved in congress.  We need unity not division.  United we stand; divided we fall.

Sincerely,

Suzannah Walker
Ohio 


Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker

Malala Yousafzai - an inspiration to the world

I am saddened this morning to find out that Malala Yousafzai has not won the Nobel Prize for Peace.  She is so deserving of this prize and I really think the Nobel organization / committee has made a big mistake.  

Malala is unstoppable in her fight for girls to have an equal education in Pakistan, elsewhere in the region, and throughout the world.    Although the Taliban have tried to kill her and have actually vowed to complete the job of killing her, she stands straight and tall and poised and in a strong voice vows to continue her fight for education.  And she is only sixteen years old.

Malala is an inspiration to the world.  Are you listening world?  Here is a young girl who will not be intimidated by one of the worst terrorist gangs in this world.  What is wrong with the adults in the world?  May we have half the strength this young girl has.  

While our American government dithers over whether to open its government and pay its bills, this young woman has the strength and the fortitude to stare down the Taliban on her quest for an education.   She is my hero.

And, what is wrong with the Nobel Prize organization / committee not to have granted their illustrious prize to this girl?  She is peacefully working see that all girls have a full -rounded education in the land of the Taliban.  She has put her life on the line for her beliefs.  She has said that the Taliban can kill her, but it can never kill her cause.  

Like another young girl from a different era, Anne Frank, Malala's spirit will live on no matter what the Taliban says or does.  You can kill these young girls, but you cannot kill their spirit to live, to love, to grow, to learn and to do what is right in this world.

Young girls in this world, if you think you cannot make a difference, I urge you to look at the lives of Anne Frank and Malala Yousafzai and use them as an example that one girl can make a difference in this world.

Nobel Prize committee, how can you not give your peace prize to this girl?  How can you look at this photo of Malala, who has valiantly fought back from the jaws of death, and has gone on to continue her fight for equal education for girls in her country and region and not give your prize to her?

Here is a young girl who stands for something in this world.  Her determination and perserverance in the face of death is remarkable.  In an age when we commiserate over the superficial pursuits of youth, here is a strong, grounded girl who knows what she wants in life and what is good for her and all girls world-wide.

What a blow it would have been to the Taliban if Malala had won the Nobel Prize for Peace.  It would have been a blow to them without ever a shot being fired.  Talk about peace!  Malala oozes peace and yet you have ignored her.

It is a shame the Nobel Prize for Peace has become so politicized.  While I am not against the organization that did win - their stopping of chemical weapons is important work in Syria and elsewhere in the world - it is this girl's fight for education that is more important to obtaining world peace.  For without education and without the world's support for education, and working together to find and learn peaceful methods to correct the conflicts in this world, there really will be no world peace.  

Until we are brave enough and intelligent enough to learn to end conflicts peacefully, we are far from a peaceful world.  Until we listen to the voices of the children and young girls like Malala, we are doomed to repeat our mistakes when conflicts arise.

What a brave new world would have dawned this morning had the Nobel Prize committee been brave enough to give their highest prize to Malala Yousafzai and her fight for girls' rights to an education all over the world.

Source of all photos:   Google images


Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker  all rights reserved

Friendship - a poem

Source:  Google images / maps

Friends across the miles


Over the internet and flying through the air waves


Blurred picture, but words loud and clear


Two people connect in friendship


Learn about each other and each other's lives


From two different, distinct and distant countries


Smiles and laughter rule the day and link them together


Cultures bond and connect as they do


Rather than result in hate and violence


Why can't the rest of the world be this way?

Source:  Google images / maps



Copyright (c)  2013   Suzannah Wolf Walker   all righs reserved

Shutdown Showdown - the President speaks

Source:  Public Domain

President Obama is speaking at a press conference this afternoon even as I write this. What is the subject?  What else, the shutdown showdown we presently are embroiled in in this country.   What else is there to talk about today?

The president is speaking quietly, rationally and with great common sense.  He is willing to sit down and talk to John Boehner and discuss, yes, the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, when the government shutdown ends and the debt ceiling is raised.  President Obama will not negotiate with a gun held to the heads of the American people and the government.  This is a sane, rational and common sense attitude toward this stalemate.

Congress has a duty and responsibility to do their jobs and open the government and raise the debt ceiling and pay our country's bills, according to President Obama.  But, he will not allow nor support "hostage taking" as a method of re-opening the government.   He said he won't allow this method of governing to become the new normal for America.

And, I have to agree with him.  Why must we lurch from crisis to crisis governing in this country?  Why can't the Republican party behave as mature adults as their way of governing?  Why is the Republican party behaving as "terrorists?"  

I formally worked for the Department of Defense as a teacher overseas teaching the children of our servicemen stationed in Germany.  I know how the federal government is supposed to work.  Today, none of the teachers overseas are being paid because the government is closed down.  They are expected to continue to do their jobs with no pay while this shutdown showdown continues for a second week.  

When I worked in Germany as a teacher, Reagan was President and we had to wait it out to the last hour for congress to vote for our pay to continue.  But, the difference then is congress DID IT'S JOB.  Reagan and O'Neil, the Speaker of the House then, knew how to talk to one another and negotiate the budget for the next year. (And the debt ceiling, too)

And to work for the DOD, I had to take an oath all government workers and military soldiers take, " . . . to defend the Constitution of the United States from enemies foreign and domestic."  Yes, I took that oath seriously.  And the Republican congressmen/women are our "domestic enemies" today.  They are the "terrorists", taking us hostage who are our enemies today.  We are sabotaging ourselves, our economy, our government and our country today because of "domestic enemies."

Today, the Republican party is leading us as rabid dogs, insanely and foaming at the mouth, and not knowing which way to turn or what to do when they haven't won the presidential election in 2012 and they can't have their way today.

This is the third article I have written on this shutdown showdown.  When are the Republicans going to take the American people's opinions and concerns about the government shutdown seriously and the necessity of re-opening the government sooner rather than later?  




Note:  the phrase "shutdown showdown" comes from CNN and other news programs who have coined the phrase.


Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Flower Power! - haiku

God's delicate gift


Sent special delivery


To sooth the psyche

Tropical flowers


Bright colors galore explode


on painter's canvas

Toucan you can see


Among tropical flowers


Butterfly ascends

Flower petal power 


paints pretty picture to peep


on our busy lives



All photos from Google images
Copyright (c)  2013   Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Stop the Insanity!

Source:  Google images

Stop the Insanity!  We are self-destructing as a nation!  We cannot continue in this government shutdown!  Everyone must get to work to stop this nonsense.  Stop playing the blame game.  The maturity level of everyone in DC is that of two-year-olds!

Obamacare, no matter how much anyone disagrees with it is LAW!  The majority of the nation likes that LAW because as a nation we elected Barak Obama as President in 2012.  The Supreme Court has upheld that LAW.

I don't care how many flaws are in the Affordable Care Act LAW, we have national medical insurance.  Republicans get over it and work with President Obama to implement this law instead of trying to get rid of it.  You have no right to run interference on something the majority of the nation wants. 

 If it were up to me I would have one supplier medical insurance for everyone - Medicare for all people in our nation.  I am not completely happy with Obamacare, but I have to compromise so all people in our nation are covered.  Grow Up people!

Teabaggers, stop the hissie fits and stop acting like two-year-olds having temper tantrums.  John Boehner, if you don't like the ad the Dems are running at a football game in your home town, then end the shutdown showdown.  What is the matter with you, John Boehner?  Have you lost your mind?

Paul Rand, you think you and the Republicans are winning?  Are you nuts?  We are all losing - there are no winners in this type of confrontation, hostage taking and extortion.  As a nation, we are losing - there are no winners in this situation!  This is a lose-lose proposition and situation.

It is the job of congress to pass a budget and raise the debt ceiling.  This message is to both John Boehner and Harry Reid.  Both of you, get off your butts, and do your jobs.

President Obama - LEAD, for crying out loud!   You are in charge and this is happening on your watch!  If the average, middle-class American approached his/her job as you all have been doing, the average, middle-class American would be FIRED from their job.  

And, each of you major players and the rest of congress deserved to be FIRED from your jobs, because you are not doing your jobs!

How can we, as average, middle-class Americans get through to you?  At the ballot box.  Moderate Republicans, why are you not revolting and getting rid of John Boehner who obviously cannot lead his party.  You are just as responsible too for all this. 

Bottom line:  EVERYONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MESS!!!  FIX IT!!!

Source:  Public Domain




Copyright (c)  2013   Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

French Chateau for sale - a poem

Source:  Google Images

Castle Fair with


Turrets so strong


Walls impregnable


Tower reaching to the sky


By a lake so placid and serene


What fairy tales of


Medieval knights, ladies, kings and queens


Float within your solid walls?


Ahh!  Chateau for sale!


So your fairy tale dreams can come true, too.


Copyright (c)  2013   Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Waterfalls - haiku

Source:  Google images

waterfalls splashing


around plush green forestry


a moment beneath



Copyright (c)  2013   Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Flamenco! - a poem

flames of passion burning

stinging clack of castanets

 arch of the back extended

crisp clap of the hands

sharp stomp of the feet

strummed strings of guitar music

gypsy eyes flashing

 quick snap of the fan

hot Andalucian night

the spirit of Spain!

all paintings from www.google.com


Copyright (c)  2013   Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Anarchy Reigns!

Source:  www.google.com

It is embarrassing to be an American this morning as our federal government has been shutdown by BOTH the Congress and the President as of this past midnight.    Yes, anarchy reigns in the U.S.

What has happened to democracy in the U.S?  We lurch from crisis to crisis not able to come to consensus on how to handle our disagreements and problems.  No one is innocent in this fiasco.

Representative Boehner, get your Republicans under control.  Whip those tea partiers into line and make them stop holding the rest of us hostage to their pea-brain ideas.  FACT:  The Affordable Care Act is law!  It is not going away.  Yes, it probably does need tweaked, but that can be done as we move forward as a country.  Everyone in this country needs to be covered medically.  I am tired, as a medically covered American, paying through my premiums, for those with no insurance.  

Tea partiers, stop dragging us back into the 20th century.  This is the 21st century and certain areas of American life, for example, medical insurance, need to be a reality for EVERYONE in this country.  And, who do you think you are having special congressional medical insurance not available to the rest of us?

President Obama, while I admire you for getting the Affordable Care Act passed in congress and seeing that all people are covered medically whether they  have pre-existing conditions or not, you must face the fact that there are areas that do need to be tweaked.  Start meeting with and compromising with congress on this issue.

A shutdown illustrates to the world how dysfunctional our government really is and everyone, Republicans and Democrats, are responsible for this reprehensible act. Stop playing the blame game and giving inexcusable excuses and do your jobs.  

There are Americans waking up this morning to furloughs (lay-offs) and have to scramble to determine where money is going to come from to pay their bills.  Mr. President and congress, you have let down 800,000 or more of your constituents. Everyone in this country needs their paychecks and everyone gets economically further and further behind when they do not have paychecks coming in.

This issue and the debt ceiling should be no brainers for congress and the president. We have racked up these bills - now pay them!    I do not want to see the full faith and credit of the United States downgraded yet again!  How can we expect to be taken as a serious leader in this world if we can't get our own house in order?

Why should Syria or anyone else in the world listen to us?  We look ridiculous to the rest of the world.  There are third world nations that have their business in better order than the U.S.

A government shutdown is only adding to the confusion of the economic world markets.  We are dragging down the world instead of uplifting it and bringing security to all nations, let alone our own nation.  

We are destroying ourselves from within.  This is not a threat from terrorists or another unscrupulous country - we are doing this to ourselves.  When we keep repeating the same behavior and getting the same response, that is INSANITY.

STOP THE INSANITY AND ANARCHY!



Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved