The Cletis Shoppe

     Occasionally, I will use my blog to showcase my design shop at Spreadshirt. My twitter account is @CletisStump if you wish to contact me. This is my pinned tweet.

     Below are some items I created for twitter followers. They are posted with permission. You may tweet these kind people for their views. 

     Click the image to enlarge.

@josnoopy29

    

@wildthing404

@notbeck

@catra922

@kaalax008

(Diva wrote the poem.)

@Eich97706

Own It And Change It

Did you vote for Donald Trump? Were you determined to make America great again? Did you really believe he was going to drain the swamp in Washington? If you truly thought you voted to make America great again, your'e wrong. Here’s what you actually did.

You voted so Republicans led by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan can destroy the Affordable Care Act, turn your Medicare card into a voucher, and take away the Social Security check that sustains many of you.

Note: They will do this incrementally and word the legislation so skillfully you'll think you’re getting a good deal. Trump will sign the bills with a smile on his face.

Apparently, you also voted to shred the Constitution and turn America over to Putin. Honestly, I doubt treason is acceptable to you just because you're a Republican. Still, isn't your silence a form of acceptance?

Trump, McConnell, and Ryan lied to you. You know it. They are not Christians and they are not patriots. Their god is money. They are opportunists looking to make a buck even if  that means the destruction of our Republic.

The first step toward changing this is for you, your family, and your friends to own your part in this. If you truly do respect the Constitution and love America, you'll turn on these snakes and remove them from office.

Sit down with your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Talk about it. Get the truth out. If  we allow this, our children and grandchildren will pay the price.

Find the courage to stand up. It really is up to each generation to preserve our democracy.

Acceptance by CJ Montez

   I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico of Spanish descent. My family did not come to America through Mexico. There was no America and no Mexico when they arrived. I speak Spanish but it is an archaic form of Castilian Spanish. I am steeped in a culture rich in the traditions of the Spaniards who were my ancestors and the Native Americans who lived and worked with them.

   I studied Spanish and Chicano politics at the University of New Mexico and have taught school all of my adult life. I have traveled extensively and studied in Spain and in Mexico. Therein lies my complicated response to Governor Mike Pence and his three dismissive words ... That Mexican Thing.

   The Mexican people are truly some of the warmest people in the world. They are proud – kind, accepting, and generous. They are fiercely patriotic and live a life rich in tradition, family, and love. The community ... lo bueno de la gente ... share and share alike ... matters above all. I made many dear friends in my time in Mexico ... people I still communicate with and embrace as family.

   I love Mexico but it was in Spain where I found myself ... a connection so vital to the understanding of what I am that I’ve returned time and time again ... the music, the food, the language, the people, the architecture, the land ... to all of these things I feel an intimate connection. I was accepted. No assumptions were made about my heritage or my language. I was welcome ... period.

   More than anything it is a desire for that acceptance that drives me to write this commentary. I am an American citizen born and raised in my beloved New Mexico. Sadly, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t struggle for acceptance. Native Americans revile me if I claim my Spanish heritage. And, although I derive great joy from my job as a teacher, there are those in the Mexican community who look down on me because they believe I am Mexican and that I choose to deny my people.

   The truth is I have denied who I am for much of my life. My surname is Spanish and often misspelled. Few people care. I adore my students and have been instrumental in their successes and those of their families. Few people care. There is a box marked Mexican where I have been placed by a society determined to keep me there. I have self-identified as a Latina, a Mexican American, and as Hispanic when truly I desire to just be me ... an American proud of my great nation and of my rich Spanish ancestry.

   Tuesday evening I was shaken by Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence's lack of understanding and empathy. Friends I’ve known for years failed to note that an entire country and its people had been summarily dismissed as inferior – discarded and shoved aside as expendable. In my twenty-two years of teaching, it never occurred to me to dismiss the language, customs, and traditions of my students and their families.

   I lashed out at the media for its insensitivity. I lashed out at Pence for his ignorance. Many responded positively. Then, I realized something. The people responding to my comments reflexively saw me as Mexican American. I would be honored to be counted among those proud first, second, or tenth generation Mexican Americans but I am not Mexican nor am I Mexican American.

   Every year I’m sent messages of celebration on Mexican Independence Day. I am asked repeatedly how I will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo. My students cannot understand why I don’t decorate my classroom for Dia de Los Muertos. Those are all fine holidays celebrated in many communities across Albuquerque. I enthusiastically join in when I’m invited. However, these celebrations are not part of my heritage.

   I am repeatedly asked by society to deny the core of who I am ... to embrace society’s notion of who I am. I'm required to check a box on survey after survey and choose to be someone I’m not.

   I'm a good person. I care about all people. I worry as this election goes forward about how the people in the community I serve are treated. It matters that the quality of their lives be improved and that they participate fully in the comprehensive and all-encompassing society we strive to build.

   It is the overarching disdain and complete disregard Pence, Trump, and the Republican Party have for those they deem unworthy that sickens me. Thirty years of racist dog whistles ... years of manipulating laws and redrawing boundaries to suit the wealthy ... thirty years of eating away at the voting rights of non-whites in America has eroded our democracy and furthered the racial and economic divide.

   I’m heartsick and I fear for our country should Donald Trump become president. Still, in spite of this rising tide of hatred, I trust in the essential goodness of others. I have faith in a universe that has love in abundance. We need only stop looking at each other with narrow eyes and look with open hearts.

First Job by Diva

At the age of fourteen, I was hired by a white couple to watch their kids during the day while they worked. It was a summer job for me. The man worked with my grandfather who had recommended me. It paid $25 a week which seemed like a fortune.

After a week or so, the man started coming home for lunch which he had never done before. He said inappropriate things about my hair,  my body,  my skin ... then, he suggested that we could have beautiful kids. I looked so shocked he changed it to polkadot kids trying to make me laugh ... I did not laugh.

I told him my dad would kill him if he touched me. He left. I stayed with the kids until the wife came home and when I left I did not return. I told my grandmother because I knew cooler heads will prevail. I did not tell my grandfather because he would have felt guilty. I didn't tell my dad because he would have beat the man to a pulp. And, I did not tell my mom because she would've found a way to run over him. The next summer I got a different job in an office.

Editor's note: Reach Diva on Twiter @kaalax008

Beavis Butthead and Bevin

          I tend to avoid political designations. I don’t want self-imposed limitations placed on my views. By labeling myself politically, I commit to certain philosophies regarding government. I’m more thoughtful than that and have voted for Democrats and Republicans in the past.

          These days I do not consider the GOP a viable choice. Conservatism is a legitimate political philosophy and in many instances has great merit. Sadly, today’s Republicans are rarely true conservatives. Barry Goldwater and even Ronald Reagan would have no chance of being nominated for the presidency in these times. The Republican Party of old has been taken over by the least common denominator.

          Nationally, the Tea Party is in decline but, as Mark Twain noted, Kentucky is often the last to get the news. Now, come unto us Governor Matt Bevin. Let’s consider his philosophical views.

          Bevin says he loves the Constitution. Based on his website that love consists wholly of the 2^nd Amendment. That separation of church and state part doesn’t fit Bevin’s views. If he could, he’d make Christianity the official religion of Kentucky before you could say, “I ride with Jesus.”

          Like all Tea Party governors, Bevin rails against Washington and programs like the Affordable Care Act. It’s Tea Party gospel and that’s enough for Bevin and the Tea Party faithful.

           Over six hundred thousand people in Kentucky now have medical insurance via Obamacare and the consequent Medicaid expansion but that doesn’t concern Bevin. It doesn’t matter that by all objective analysis the ACA (Obamacare) has been a dramatic success. Bevin is a Tea Partier. He hates all things Obama. Facts and reasoned analysis are irrelevant.

          Bevin is also a disciple of Grover Norquist whose stated goal is to destroy our elected government. What Norquist and Bevin will not tell you is that while they are drowning the government of the people, by the people, and for the people in the bathtub they are also busily empowering lobbyists and enshrining corporations.

          The word that most often comes to my mind when I consider the Tea Party is childish ... as in, *Bevin has a childish view of government.* We never hear him speak of working to improve existing programs beneficial to our people. That’s not what his corporate masters require.

          Adults recognize that governing is about choosing. We legislate to bring about beneficial change and if the legislation is flawed we fix it. If there are areas where Obamacare can be improved, we should do so. If there are ways to spend tax dollars more efficiently, and therefore require fewer of them, lay out the facts and let’s make those adjustments.

          That’s not going to happen with Bevin. He is a child of Fox News. He sees what he has been told to see. He repeats what he has been told to repeat. He doesn’t understand that talking points are not the same as a serious discussion.

          Bevin’s entire campaign was largely about trashing Obama as the GOP has done for the last seven years. We also heard a lot about Hillary Clinton and Benghazi. Check Bevin’s website. He’s a God and guns man so get ready for a heaping helping of the Book of Glock.

          In many respects, we live in a wonderful age where information is readily available. Get on your computer and read about Kansas. Governor Sam Brownback brought the Tea Party’s childish vision to fruition there and, with support from the GOP controlled legislature, bankrupted the state.

           Contrast Governor Brownback with Governor Beshear who guided Kentucky through the horrible economic disaster Bill Clinton and George W. Bush left behind. Beshear made hard choices and governed as an adult. Brownback governed dogmatically and Kansas is paying the price. 

          I have no interest in turning the affairs of Kentucky over to a group of children led by Governor Matt Bevin. Nor should you … irrespective of political designation.

Barack the Knife ...

You have to give the President his due. Once again Obama has screwed the GOP. He has named a respected jurist to replace Scalia .... a moderate jurist that Orin Hatch (R UT) recently lauded as a *fine man* ... knowing full well the GOP controlled Senate will not even give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing. This obstructionism by McConnell and the GOP will not play well in November when many vulnerable Senate Republicans face the electorate.

Republicans say Obama is in his last year in office and should not nominate anyone to replace Scalia. The truth is that conservatve icon, Ronald Reagan, nominated Justice Kennedy in November 1987. Kennedy was then confirmed during Reagan’s final year of office in February 1988.

We elect presidents until their terms expire. Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court warrants the same consideration Reagan's received. The GOP is confident Americans will lose interest in this critical appointment. In this age of Facebook and Twitter, I'll take that bet.

Judge Garland Merrick deserves a hearing and Americans must demand that he have one ... quickly.

Judge Garland

I Am Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist. That’s enough for the ignorant on both sides of the aisle to condemn him.I find that somewhat odd cosidering socialist principles have been infused into our society from the beginning.

Consider This

The US Constitution is filled with references to the common good and even establishes a post office … a prime example of a socialist principle.

Through the efforts of Horace Mann, public schools funded by tax dollars began in Massachusetts in 1827. Each state followed the model … Mississippi coming on board 67 years later.

Want more? Teddy Roosevelt ... yes, a Republican ... established 100s of millions of acres as public lands. Eisenhower ... yes, another Republican ... built the Interstate Highway System. 

More? FDR brought forth Social Security in 1935. Truman later proposed a national health care law but was shouted down by the conservative rabble of his day. Thirty years later LBJ got it partly done and signed Medicare into law.

Bernie Sanders wants the next logical step, Medicare for All. His penchant for speaking truth to power ... a rare quality among politicians ... does not endear Sanders to the established players ... Republican or Democrat.

Opposition

Conservatives fight each and every socialist program beneficial to everyday Americans but strongly support socialism for corporations. Socialist subsidies for Big Oil & Big Ag are fine but don't dare speak of free education & Medicare for all as Sanders does.

For daring to speak truth to power,Sanders is assailed by today's Conservative rabble and, somewhat unexpectedly, by Democrats too ignorant and robotic to consider the breadth of his views. 

My Thoughts

If Hillary Clinton wins the democratic nomination, I will support her fiercely. She's an establishment candidate ... and far too cozy with Wall Street ... but is far more preferable than any Republican offered for our consideration.

Bernie first ... then Hillary … and never another Republican in the White House.