This week, Barack Obama unveiled his budget proposal. Among the lowlights is a proposal to  cut Social Security and Medicare in exchange for a few very modest tax increases on the wealthy. And that's just his opening bargaining position. 

I decided to conduct a little experiment. I'd watch or listen to some mainstream news, such as CBS or NPR during prime news time(early morning and late afternoon), and see how many times the media mentioned this very important news. For the most part...(crickets). 

Three years ago, the Supreme Court, in what Keith Olbermann correctly called "Our Dred Scott," ruled that corporations had all of the rights of human beings and, more importantly, that  any attempt to limit their campaign contributions violated their First Amendment right to free speech in the infamous 5-4 Citizens United v. FEC decision. 

Since then, there has been a growing movement to overturn that decision. Today, on Democracy Now!, thanks to a college NPR station on my way home from work, I heard the following exchange:

I am an activist for my people. As I have grown older, I have more likely performed my activism with my words, which is the tool I have had at hand.

Sometimes I am repetitive. I am a teacher. Some lessons are hard. That's a clue to the fact that they are important. Important lessons need to be taught more than once, again and again, time and again, using different words, approaching the issue from different points of view. That's what I do. Some of you claim that I do it "ad nauseam." It's your nausea, not mine.

Many of you know me as the transsexual woman (or whatever you call me...I'm sure that it is not favorable in many instances). Some of you know me as an artist or a poet. Some of you see the teacher in me. Or the glbt activist and PFLAG parent. I am all of these. I am a human being.

I was born in a place and time. I have absorbed the life lessons presented to me since then. I am still learning.

I've tried to pass on what I have learned. I continue to make that effort, in whatever new venues are available, wherever I can find an opened eye or ear.