Work Worth Doing

A note to our “leaders” on foreign policy and counter-terrorism:

Dear almost-exclusively-sirs,

Across the world, children are encouraged to fulfill their potential. In any country in the world, a child may grow up to be an artist, a doctor, a baker, a lawyer, all manner of professions.

Nobody grows up wanting to be a terrorist.

But when you bomb his village and he grows up seeing the bodies of his family members every night when he closes his eyes….. when you tear him from his family at the border during a time when his family are his greatest developmental need….. when you escalate the bloody conflict in his homeland and pretend to call it freedom and democracy, and then after he makes a long, hard trek and spends every penny he can find to try to seek shelter here, you slam the door in his face…..

You are the reason that child grows up to have hatred in his heart. He doesn’t ‘hate freedom’, he’s not driven to it by his religion… it’s you.

You made him a terrorist. You created that hate, and you act surprised when it comes home to bite you.

If you truly want a world free of terrorism and war, then let America lead by example.

Show the world that a nation is made great not by the size of its arsenal by by the size of its heart.

But… you don’t want that world, do you? If there were no terrorism or war, there would be no more juicy deals for defense contractors who make large campaign contributions. And that would obviously be awful. Especially since at that point you might actually have to focus on things like jobs and healthcare and the environment.

But unlike war, that is work worth doing.

Show us that you can do it.

I dare you.

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Knee Deep In Sugar

My part of Florida is under a declared state of emergency over water quality. By-products from sugar production are being pumped into Lake Okeechobee, and released down our rivers toward the ocean.

Many of the beaches on which our economy depends are covered every morning with the stench of thousands of dead. Fish, turtles, whales, manatees. All dead in the name of corporate profit.

People are getting sick from the very air. Beachside restaurants are unable to bring in enough customers. Property values are dropping rapidly.

Mr. Putnam, candidate for governor, has been the beneficiary of over NINE MILLION DOLLARS from the sugar industry whose sole interest is profit.

Senator Marco Rubio and Governor (and Senate candidate) Rick Scott have likewise been heavily bankrolled by the sugar industry.

The only way we reverse this is through action.

I’m calling on each and every one of us to cut down our sugar intake, starting today. We can skip that one treat a day.

I’m calling on each and every one of us to vote down these politicians and their literally poisonous acts.

I’m calling on each and every one of us to save Florida’s wildlife, its beaches and its economy.

And, if they truly believe it’s not a problem, I’m calling on Messrs. Putnam, Rubio and Scott to come down here for a swim.

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