Ramona | dagblog

Personal Information

Website

http://www.ramonasvoices.com

Favorite Quotes

"Leave safety behind. Put your body on the line. Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind - even if your voice shakes. When you least expect it, someone may actually listen to what you have to say. Well-aimed slingshots can topple giants. And do your homework." . Maggie Kuhn

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. Dorothy Parker

"Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow ... money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands" - Abraham Lincoln

It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.-John Steinbeck

The moment you limit free speech it's not free speech. -Salman Rushdie

Biography

Ramona used to write nice feature pieces for newspapers and magazines, along with columns that, yes, got testy once in a while (Ronald Reagan was president. What could she do?) but were basically and overall nice.

But then. . .

. . .then came the hanky-panky and subsequent impeachment of Bill Clinton! Then Bush v. Gore! Hanging Chads! Katherine Harris! Supreme Court busy bodies! 9/11! War with Iraq! (Iraq??) The right wing! The religious right! The TEA PARTY, for God's sake!

Whatever she is today is the fault of all of the above. She is not to blame.

Cal Thomas, Humanitarian: An Oxymoron if Ever There Was One

By Ramona on Sun, 08/16/2009 - 7:16pm |

Of course we're special. We're so special, in fact, that a whole lot of us lefty heathens work doubly hard to ensure a quality of life for all. A far cry from what Thomas and his kind have been advocating. They're in the business of picking and choosing--who lives and who dies?--and a cynical business it is. They've chosen--proudly chosen--obscene, royal profits over needless suffering of the masses.

Happy Birthday, Helen Thomas. Oh, and You Too, Mr. Prez

By Ramona on Thu, 08/06/2009 - 1:26am |

I loved watching, one by one, all of those powerful Leaders of the Western World trying to suppress a sigh, wishing they could make light of this little woman's questions, but having the decency to honor the long-held Helen Thomas protocol by answering thoughtfully-- like grown-ups. Then George W. Bush took over the White House. Helen was moved to the rear of the bus, and my heart sank.

My Words on Bill Moyers' Lips - I'm Speechless

By Ramona on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 1:38pm |

(So there's no confusion about the way it's worded, this is a cross-post of my original blog at Ramona's Voices.) I missed Bill Moyers Journal on Friday night, and I was away from home all day yesterday until about 8...

Read more about My Words on Bill Moyers' Lips - I'm Speechless
31 comments
2478 reads

That Jefferson - What a Spoilsport

By Ramona on Wed, 07/29/2009 - 12:47pm |

We are still frantically thumping our chests, pretending that America is alive and well, while the rest of the world sees us as we really are--a sad and sorry lot. But ain't we got fun. . .?

Read more about That Jefferson - What a Spoilsport
88 comments
2041 reads

Maher Socks it to the Profiteers - Why hasn't everyone else?

By Ramona on Fri, 07/24/2009 - 12:04pm |

So many of us have said for so long that this isn't the America we've known and loved. We've shouted until we're blue in the face that letting the obscenely rich get obscenely richer by sacrificing the entire middle class MAKES NO SENSE.

Cronkite, McCourt and Ivins - Stilled Voices Still Going Strong

By Ramona on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 11:25pm |

Frank McCourt died on Sunday. Walter Cronkite died on Friday. Molly Ivins died more than two years ago. As near as I can tell, none of them had much in common with the other, but yesterday I couldn't stop thinking...

The Fight for Health Care, Part 2 - My Man Stupak takes 'em on

By Ramona on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 3:16pm |

In my last post I tried to shine light on the abuses of the health insurance industry by highlighting Bill Moyers' Journal conversation with Wendell Potter about their efforts to keep the American people from knowing how universally acceptable Universal...

Bill Moyers shines light on the health insurance mess - a Journalistic Best

By Ramona on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 12:41pm |

There are so few mainstream investigative journalists in this country anymore, I have to wonder in whose pockets the MSM has cozily slipped--and why.When one of our best investigative newspapers has slipped to such depths that it's publisher invites health...

83-year-old blogger skewers Palin and Pals - Priceless!

By Ramona on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 12:38pm |

Some mornings I just ramble around, reading online stuff here and there, finding things that either inspire me or crack me up--and I ramble so much I have no idea how I got to the places I've been. Such was...

Chamber of Commerce vs. Labor Unions: Guess who Wins?

By Ramona on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 10:09pm |

Labor is the great producer of wealth: it moves all other causes. Congressman Daniel Webster, 4/2/1824 With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization that ever existed. They have done more for decency,...

The Mainstreaming of Hate: That's Entertainment!

By Ramona on Fri, 06/12/2009 - 1:02pm |

As a group, they are the pop culture equivalent of necrotic carrion beetles, crawling with insectile determination from one infected open wound in the American psyche to another. The wounds include fear of race, fear of foreigners, fear of sexuality,...

Read more about The Mainstreaming of Hate: That's Entertainment!
57 comments
1743 reads

Obama's "I Have a Dream" speech

By Ramona on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 12:01pm |

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."I have a dream that one...

Read more about Obama's "I Have a Dream" speech
43 comments
1649 reads

Sure Road to Success - Stick it to Labor

By Ramona on Fri, 05/29/2009 - 9:45pm |

I can say this because I'm a liberal and a Michigander: My heart breaks for the laboring class in this country. I feel sorrow even for the workers who can't see that the unions are their only lifeline and inexplicably...

Read more about Sure Road to Success - Stick it to Labor
33 comments
2204 reads

Sometimes a Picture isn't Worth a Thousand Words

By Ramona on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 2:58pm |

Get some perspective, please. And be honest. We don't need to see those actual photographs in order to get a good picture of prisoner abuses perpetrated in our name. The evidence is surfacing daily and the word is getting out. New witnesses keep coming forward, new memos keep popping up. So how is that happening? It's happening because we finally have a government in place that understands the need for honesty and transparency.

Read more about Sometimes a Picture isn't Worth a Thousand Words
37 comments
1566 reads

Color This Purple - And Keep it Away From Children

By Ramona on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 5:13pm |

I have to say that even though I think using a coloring book that includes a drawing of the Twin Towers going up in flames as a tool to ease kid's fears about the crumbling world around them is...

Read more about Color This Purple - And Keep it Away From Children
35 comments
2861 reads

Blogorama: Of Free Speech and Miracles

By Ramona on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 7:13pm |

When I first started writing, there was no internet and thus no blogging, and thus no everyday opportunity to opinionate--or bloviate, as the case may be. If we were lucky, our opinions would be published in our local newspaper's...

Read more about Blogorama: Of Free Speech and Miracles
45 comments
3094 reads

How to Use TPM: Is there a tutorial somewhere?

By Ramona on Mon, 04/20/2009 - 4:14pm |

I've posted several blog posts here in the past month but I'm still really confused about the workings of this site.For example, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for why some posts stay on the front pages without many comments...

Read more about How to Use TPM: Is there a tutorial somewhere?
30 comments
2077 reads

The Myth of the 2nd Amendment: Shoot the damn thing already!

By Ramona on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 1:37pm |

The National Rifle Association, with their blind devotion to a lawless gun culture, has become the enemy as surely as if they were standing on our borders passing out heavy artillery to anyone with cash in hand. Their members--millions strong--are constantly, incessantly, being bombarded with dangerous faulty logic. They defend the supposed Second Amendment "right" to bear arms without feeling any accompanying obligation to defend the rights of the society in which they live.

Dr. B to the Super Rich: When will you be rich enough?

By Ramona on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 9:45pm |

"There is a growing anger in this country," Dr B said, "a growing sense of resentment. There is a feeling of fundamental unfairness. . .We saw a list of people who have made more than a billion dollars in one year. A billion is a thousand million. Can you imagine making more than a thousand million a year? And how were most of those funds made? They didn't make them by creating new jobs, building new factories, making new technological innovations which then cumulatively enriched America. They made it by complex financial transactions which few people understand. Which, in effect, just sort of swooshed off money into private pockets. . .It's almost like a huge national ponzi scheme."

Watch Out for Big Business Watching Out for You

By Ramona on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 1:22pm |

So a recession isn't a good time to be talking about forming unions. How about when times were good and Big Business was raking in the dough? When CEOs and COOS and stockholders were sitting on their satin cushions singing the praises of Free Market capitalism? When American jobs were being outsourced to third world countries, paying the lowest possible wages so that profits could go toward living the lavish life and not toward anything as mundane as sharing? Could they talk about forming unions then?

Read more about Watch Out for Big Business Watching Out for You
10 comments
2174 reads