Top Ten Reasons I Won't Vote for Mitt Romney: # 4

Reason # 4 why I won't vote for Mitt Romney?
Because I love my planet, and think everyone on it deserves to be able to breathe, live on uncontaminated soil, and have safe water to drink.  I want my children's children's children to be able to see amazing sunrises, beautiful fall colors, swim in sparkling clean water, and climb tall mountains.  I want them to hold insects in their hands and marvel at the way a flower blooms.  
I want all of us to use less--energy and resources.  I want to see if the wind and the sun can help provide energy for our planet, and I want to stop going to war over oil.  
I want all of this, and I want a thoughtful discussion amongst all peoples of the plant.  ALL people--not just the ones in power, and not just the ones who think they own the land.  
Back in 2008, there was talk about drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.  People, who were concerned about nature, and preserving some areas of our nation as unspoiled as possible were fighting against drilling there.  Then the Republican Convention started, and I heard the 3 most chilling words I believe I have ever heard:  "Drill, baby, drill!"  Chanted over and over by delegates, these words seemed to whip the crowd into a frenzy, and made for a raucous welcome for one Sarah Palin.  

Here's what she said that night: 
"Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines...build more new-clear[sic] plants...create jobs with clean coal...and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative sources."  She took direct aim at Obama's environmental stance with the quote, "What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?""

I was chilled to the core by those words, accompanied by the renewed refrain, "Drill, baby, drill."  I could not believe the ignorance and total lack of regard for our planet that Sarah Palin showed through her words, and I could not believe how the others in the room jumped in, lock-step, behind her.  

Thank the heavens she and John McCain were not elected.  Truly--thank the heavens.

Barack Obama was elected, and as part of his stimulus, money was invested in wind and solar power.  Locally, we've seen an explosion in the number of wind farms; they are quite a startling, majestic sight, within 4 miles of city limits, and in city limits as well.  

I look at them, and have hope for the future of our planet.  

Then I started to hear GOP members of Congress, complaining about regulation and red tape when it came to the environment.  The "Representative" from my district made it his personal mission to stop government interference in the production of incandescent light bulbs.  Really.  

Then the BP Oil Spill happened, and I hoped it would be a wake-up call to all of us; a reminder that we cannot drill to the bottom of the ocean without a foolproof way to safely do it.  BP, and all other oil companies DO NOT have such a plan.  Did not need one, did not see a need for one.  Words cannot convey the scope of the damage to the planet, and yet, and yet...the oil companies want to do it again.  There's money to be made, putting holes into the ocean floor--into the earth that does not belong to them, into the earth they cannot heal if something were to go wrong. 

I really hoped we had learned, and that the chilling cries of "Drill, baby, drill." would never escape the lips of any other fool.  

Turns out not all of us have learned lessons from the BP Oil Spill.  It's easy to forget about all that oil, all that destruction, when you're counting your money, taking over companies, gutting them, and planning to run again for president.  It's easy to forget about the environment--the environment your grandchildren will inherit--when you're sucking up to the far right of the GOP, kissing asses and taking pledges of support.  

And it's easy, ever so easy, to smirk into the camera at the GOP convention, during your acceptance speech, and utter these words, 

"President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. MY promise...is to help you and your family."

I was as dumbfounded, as chilled as the night I heard, "Drill, baby, drill."  

Could Mitt Romney really be that blase about the environment, care that little for our planet?  Yes, he could.  

Here's Mitt Romney's energy plan:

In part, it reads,

"Romney’s plan would make states the custodian of energy production on federal lands within their borders and allow them to implement their own federally-approved leasing practices. Such a move would effectively shift responsibility for permitting, leasing and environmental regulation from the Department of the Interior to states, with the hope of speeding energy development by cutting red tape."

In other words, "Fuck you all.  I'm going to help a very few people make a whole lot of money.  When they're done, we will have no mountain ranges to look at, no safe shoreline, no breathable air.  But they'll have more money.  God bless America!"

Absolutely amazing.  

And then came Sandy.  

I'm not voting for Mitt Romney.  I care.  Do you? 

Top Ten Reasons I Won't Vote for Mitt Romney: # 5

Reason # 5 why I won't vote for Mitt Romney? 
I'm putting political issues aside for the moment and focusing on character.  I won't vote for Mitt Romney because he has a pattern of bad choices, which reveals much about the man. 
I know this came out in May, and I know we all have short memories, but I think it's really, really, really, important to remember that Mitt Romney is a bully.  
"Oh," you say, "that happened when he was in high school.  Don't we all have things like that from high school?"  
No.  I don't.  I never held another person down and cut their hair.  Did you?  
And, if you did something like that, don't you think you would remember it?  And be a human enough to own up to it, and apologize for it, no matter how much time had passed?  Mitt didn't.  Well, he did say he did some "pranks" in school and was "sorry if he hurt anyone".  In other words, he didn't give a shit.  Not about the act and certainly not about the boy he mangled.  
Maybe we as adults can live with a bully in the White House, and maybe some of us would welcome one, but we have to think of the message our kids would absorb from that.  Are already absorbing from their churches, the media, and those televangelists who think it's their moral duty to make sure gay kids are ridiculed and beaten because they can.  And don't think they don't read, or listen, or watch--you put this bully in the White House, and those kids who are different?  It's going to be open season on them in the hallways of school.  Because the message will be sent, loud and clear.  
And do you remember Seamus the dog?  I urge you to follow the link to the story, just to refresh your memory.  It's written by the guy who unearthed the story in the first place.  He makes some good points; I was particularly struck by what he said about how it related to Mitt-the-Man.  
Mitt-the-Man does not get it.  He has never had to think about the feelings of another being.  Basically, he sucks at empathy.  He's awkward, and you only have to look at his "this is my sincere" face to know there's no there there.  I can't imagine him greeting families of dead soldiers or hurricane victims.  My guess is he will never do it.  
Perhaps all I've written here has just made Mitt MORE attractive to you; you think it would be great to have a shrewd, stone-hearted, "man" in the White House.  One that will stand up for 'Merica.  We've had those types before, and it usually doesn't end well.  
Because Americans want to know that they are understood.  They might want a "heart of stone" bully in the White House, until they need something.  Like FEMA.  Like a well-considered plan before going to war.  Like health care because their child has been diagnosed with some heinous disease.    
Mitt IS a calculating bully.  You only have to Google it.  Type in "Romney bullies" and you get 95,000,000 results.  Because Mitt's bullying ways didn't end with the gay kid he gave a haircut to, or Seamus the dog.  He's been a bully during primary debates, and was rude, interrupted, spoke over, and came real close to actually touching the POTUS.  
Bullies don't change their ways, not unless they're called on it.  Mitt hasn't , nor will he ever be called on it.  Perhaps we just need to make sure he's got no way to bully our country.