The Sp(Oils) of Politics. Tragic and blameful.

I’ve decided to break off again from writing my book to weigh in a bit on the catastrophe in the Gulf that is rapidly threatening to spread out even farther. Let’s first take a look at this from a consumers standpoint and we will eventually come full circle.

In 2007, the US was the #1 consumer of oil. We used approx; 20 bbl/day. (billion barrels of oil per day). China was #2 at around 7 bbl/day and Japan 3rd with around 5 bbl/day. In 2008 China actually overtook us at #1 and we moved to #2. Complete statistics are now muddled in truths/untruths and profits.

The AAA Atlas of Population & Environment list the US as the Worlds largest consumer in absolute terms. On the list of the Worlds 20 major traded commodities, the US takes the greatest share in 11 of them. We like our big cars and energy. We want our heat in the cold as we must be comfortable. We have a need and desire to have all we want when we want it. I know I do. Do you? This creates demand. Demand creates opportunity to supply. This is where it gets corrupt my friends.

Snapshot of the last 10 years or so:

Bush’s regulations and Cheney’s deregulations & Clinton’s lack or foresight enabled the current state of events. The current Administration’s Interior Department inherited a cesspool of corruption from the back room meetings and backdoor deals that went on during the Bush Administration. BP didn’t start drilling and changing their practices over the last 16 or so months. The relationships between Big Oil companies and the Federal Government had been a love-fest during the Bush/Cheney years. Personal relationships between Cheney & executives from BP, TransOcean and Halliburton had been widely known. Cheney had secret Energy Commission meetings with Big Oil Execs &  hunting trips with Supreme Court Justices. Did those meetings help the Big Oil companies get the OK to pass on the $500,000.00 remote shut-off switches that could have prevented this spill from being as bad as it was? Is this type of information getting any play on Fox News or at Tea party rallies? If oil starts showing up on the beaches in Florida, would that be enough to really find out who is really at fault.

Also, to call this catastrophe Obamas ‘Katrina’ is not really appropriate in my opinion. This event can and will probably have an impact on a Generation of people who make their living in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Restaurant owners and employees and more. I am in no way minimizing the impact now or to come. However, with Katrina, people were dying in the streets. They are two totally different measure of tragedies. I believe that Bush inherited a very much broken FEMA, as Obama has inherited a very much broken Minerals Management Service.

Everything now relies on how we respond right? Here’s a response for you. GOP Rep. Joe Barton from Texas during the Congressional hearings with BP CEO Tony Hayward last week said ” I think it is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private Corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a $20 billion shakedown”. He of course was referring to the $20 billion escrow account the President demanded of BP to pay out claims against BP by people of the affected Region. Republican Rep Barton then went as far as apologizing to BP on Americas behalf. I REPEAT: “Apologized to BP on Americas behalf.”

Who do you want in your corner America? Again, don’t let petty prejudices and misdirection allow you to vote, think, compromise and protest against your own interests.

Something to think about anyway.

He ain’t heavy, he’s my stimulus.

Here we are, about a 1/3rd of the way through the $787 billion budgeted stimulus plan and we have so many naysayers talking about how the Administration has failed and/or the stimulus didn’t work. Here is where I have some fun. It is literally ignorant and irresponsible to refer to something that is only a 1/3rd of the way through as a failure. Now the Wall Street Journal has already this week showed us in ‘living color’ the hypocritical nature of a bunch of Republican congressmen/women who took the stimulus money for their individual states and championed to their people as to how some jobs were created and saved and/or the money was put to good use. However, when it came down to actually giving any credit politically to the Administration they have nothing but contempt and criticism for the stimulus. Even worse, they have in turn led some of their more impressionable and/or closet racist followers to believe that failureof the stimulus is the case. I will try to help put the stimulus into a more ‘here’s the bottom line’ type of speak so that even the cheap seats can follow. ( A rather sarcastic sports reference) Thank you very much!

Much of the first 1/3rd of the stimulus was to maintain social services and government jobs and to provide tax cuts for workers. Now, the pace and direction of stimulus spending are about to change.

Infrastructure spending is on hand for year two of the stimulus program.  Private-sector employers will benefit a lot more from this. The way I look at it. Those private businesses that are run by Republicans that would rather keep a partisan stand to spite their businesses getting money to help them gain momentum or hire and/or keep employees should refuse the money and it should be noted so that when the money helps other businesses the partisan bullshit won’t hold water. I wouldn’t allow them to take the money then around election time have Rush or Glen of the mouth. ( My clever stool spouting reference ) Thank you very much!

Note this: Many Republicans leaders have criticized the relative lack of private businesses hiring directly attributed to the stimulus.

Oh what tangled web we weave when we weave webs…. (My clever Bushism) Thank you very much!

This week is the stimulus program’s one-year anniversary. Is there anyone who can with a straight face say that it didn’t keep us from going into a deeper recession? Not to mention that the stimulus is still largely incomplete.  It’s still got a whole lot more to do. That’s why it’s easier to mis-inform and scare you about it now so that they have more ammunition bearers to help with the Tea Party, Lunatic party or radicals party mis-information gatherings..

Most of the money alocated to specific projects hasn’t been paid out yet, and there are still an additional $195 billion in tax cuts on the way. Let me repeat that again. $195 billion in tax cuts money on the way. How impressionable and feeble minded do you have to be to see that as a ‘fail’ , a bad thing, communist or a Government takeover? A takeover of what, help and assistance?

The bulk of the money proposed for projects like new rail lines and water projects, about $180 billion, will be spent this year.

Now the first year of Infrastructure spending didn’t really have a big impact on net employment, simply because a lot of the activity was mechanized. Do you really think there won’t be any jobs created from the aforementioned rail lines and water projects?

Many agencies have been holding competitions to decide which projects should get stimulus grants, vetting applications for grants for initiatives such as high-speed rail construction or electric-vehicle projects. In some cases, federal agencies have had to go as far as set up entirely new programs. There has also been $20 billion allotted for doctors to create electronic medical records, $4.5 billion for an energy Smart Grid and $7.2 billion for broadband networks. You will see this probably towards the end of this year to early next year.

(Do you start to see a pattern here?)

I used to wonder and get angry at how Obama could be so cool, calm, collect and quiet when confronted by all this bullshit. I am now beginning to get the picture. Many of the radicals and naysayers tried to make it seem as though if the seas didn’t part and everyone wasn’t running around in new jobs and a ‘Barney’ type of euphoria after the first year, that Obama failed, the stimulus failed, the bailout failed and Cash for Clunkers failed. This is not the case people.  Spending by state and local governments has about the same effect as spending in the private sector, and not cutting a job has a similar macroeconomic impact to creating a new one. Recipients of stimulus money say they are currently funding the jobs of about 595,000 people. However, in reality, as many as two million jobs have been supported directly or indirectly by stimulus money. Government data has indicated that most of the jobs supported by stimulus spending belonged to public employees at the state and local level, including about 325,000 teachers and school staff. This cannot be a bad thing can it? I didn’t vote on Bush for his first term but I did for his 2nd term. I just didn’t think Kerry could do the job. If Bush had made these choices I would applaud him. Funny part is, so would most of the Republicans downplaying the choices right now. Subsidizing those jobs avoided layoffs, or state and local tax increases that could have further undermined the economy. But they didn’t result in substantial hiring of people who had lost private-sector jobs. Let this thing play out people. Check out the chart below and hopefully it can help to shed a little more specificity into the stimulus breakdown.

Until next time my friends. WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION!

“Next stop….Scaryville USA…All Offboard”

While I have been writing my book I have stayed away from writing any new posts regarding todays politics. I thought I would sit back and just see if the hatred for Obama being voted in as President would eventually just kind of fade away and politicians for the most part would begin to move toward doing the right things for their constituents. NOT!
It’s still very apparent that the hatred of equality, racism and indiffence still seem to have a place in power. I see myself as middle of the pack intelligent. I have my issues with doing the right things in my own life. However, my actions affect myself, my friends and my family. I am not in a place of so much power that my daily ignorances can affect the lifes of so many. Ladies and gentlemen this is where our elected officials are the most important. We expect and hope that they will allow our best interests to drive their opinions and effforts. This is the basis of voting someone into office. Our elected officials are now for the most part what I believe is what is holding this Country back. I know that my idea will not be widely embraced, but I believe that we should have another round of elected officials. Those without party distinctions, but common sense. It is apparent that there will be no accord between Republican and Democratic Politicians. Partisan objectives show no sign of slowing down and that is apparently never going to stop. If a Black President can’t be enough motivation for politicians to come together then they never will. It is now up to us citizens to just accept that and move on with another branch of Government. We can call them ‘DemoRubs’. Sorry Independents just sounds too weak for me. As DemoRubs what we would be called on to do is to actually evaluate matters of importance and change in this Country and spread those actual facts to the American people. That doesn’t mean that I would gather a bunch of brothers in an auditorium and say, “man we need reparations’, just as I wouldn’t expect a room to be gathered to say that we need to break off from the rest of the Country because there is a scary Black man in the White House. It’s a two way street. We cannot allow the wheels of evolution and progress in this Country to be decided by white men between the ages of 55 to 75 years old. I wouldn’t expect a group of black men between the ages of 55-75 would be a basket of fairness either. That’s is just not common sense. No offense mind you. I’m not a racist at all. However, men that have had the majority of their adult lives with the reality of most other races being below them can’t be expected to see things completely equally. How can they? When I was a kid, if you went into any of the barber shops that my dad took me to, believe me, you wouldn’t expect those guys to be very partial if they were in a position to control votes and speak for so many. They wouldn’t be fair minded about it. Even if they didn’t want to admit it. Human nature is exactly that. Human. That doesn’t make it right, however, it does make it so. I’m not in anyway implying that people over the age of 55 are all racists regardless if they are black or white. I am saying that it may be inherently harder for them to change. I mean, without the help of many white people, slavery would never have ended. Civil rights would never have been passed and lastly, Obama would never have been elected. However, politics just like everything else in this World, needs to evolve as well. I propose that people of all races and ages above 21 should throw their names in the hat for a seperate form of elections. Call it a kind of watchdog group or civilian oversight group. People would have to still be vetted. However, lobbyist and Corporate entities cannot be a part of the process. I think we can get a lot more done if that were the case. At the very minimum, it would cut down on the amount of mis-information and rebel rousing. To those naysayers that would believe that it would be too hard to get that implemented. WHAT ELSE IS BEING IMPLEMENTED RIGHT NOW OUTSIDE OF SEPERATION AND HATRED?
Let me know what you think America.
NOTE: For all you radical conservatives out there who will look at this without thought process, let me help you out.
I definitely drink too much. I probably smoke too much weed. I can be a little self centered at times. However, I’m a great son, friend, brother and father. I am also the LAST person you want to have a public debate with. Think about that before adding an ignorant comment or response. Add a contact website or email address so that my response can’t be hidden for lack of bullshit.
Friends?

The Big Quotatious, the funny has been brought!

 

Here is a new list of some of my more popular quotes. Enjoy them and comment if you can appreciate some of them.

Sermon on the mountain; Oh I see, 5000 of you and none of you even brought a sandwich. No, LET ME GET IT!

You ever notice that the word ‘engaged’ has the word ‘gag’ in the middle of it?

Broken promises don’t bother me at all. I just wonder why they keep believing me.

If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask someone else first.

Women are the kind of problem I don’t mind wrestling with.

Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?

Women should not have children after 35. Really… 35 children are enough.

I was thinking of becoming a doctor. I have the handwriting for it.

Well, it all started when my dog started getting free rollover minutes….

Jesus loves you. But I’m his favorite.

I  have a microwave fireplace in my house. The other night I laid down in front of the fire for the evening in two minutes.

If a bi-sexual were to turn up missing, would they put his picture on a carton of Half & Half?

I joined health spa recently. They had a sign that said “free weights.” So I took a couple.

I tried Flintstone vitamins. I didn’t feel any better, but I could stop the car with my feet.

I like my sex the way I like basketball, one on one with as little dribbling as possible.

If I get you advantage, can I take drunk of you?

The Law of Common Sense - Never accept a drink from a urologist.

My check engine light came on the other day. I popped the hood and looked, and the engine is STILL there! Silly light..

“You have reached the breast self-examination hot line. Please press one …Now press the other one.”

OMG! What a long day. I got screwed so much at work today I better take a frickin pregnancy test.

Live within your income, even if you have to borrow to do so.

The only thing wrong with a perfect drive to work, is that you end up at work.

An asshole is someone who bites the hand that feeds him then complains of indigestion.

WARNING: Your e-mail has been returned due to insufficient intelligence.

I love the lines the men use to get women into bed. “Please, I’ll only put it in for a minute”. What are they, a friggin microwave?

I fought the lawn and the lawn won!

I don’t intend for this to take on a political tone. I’m just here for the drugs.

I  don’t know if I want to change the world or just toilet train it.

A skeptic is a person who, when he sees the handwriting on the wall, claims it’s a forgery.

Do files get embarrassed when they’re unzipped?

Some people say I’m indifferent, but I don’t care.

Joe Biden is still clapping about something Obama said last week…

Note to Joe Wilson: A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.

I think sex is better than logic, but I can’t prove it.

Scientists have discovered a food that diminishes a woman’s sex drive by 90%. It’s called “a wedding cake”.

What do you see when the Pillsbury Dough Boy bends over? Doughnuts.

Radar spelled backwards is radar. They get you coming and going.

After a certain age, if you don’t wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead.

My ex-wife used to say I was too nosey… at least, that’s what she used to write in her diary.

Is this glass half full or am I half drunk?

If you have a headache, take an aspirin, if you have a pain in the ass, break up with them.

Buffet. A French word that means: Get up & get it yourself!

A penny for your thoughts; $20 to act it out.

Act my age? I’ve never been my age before. I have no experience.

I have spent most of my money on women, drugs and beer. The rest, I kind of just wasted…

I don’t have skeletons in my closet…I’ve got a cemetery!

I’ve had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me and the second one didn’t.

Good sex can correct poor posture…or at least make it stand up straight.

I was only looking at your name tag Miss.

Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean that I don’t understand.

When the toilet paper of experience is depleted, the ass of reason goes un-wiped.

I must be getting old. About half the stuff in my shopping cart last night said “for fast relief”.

I’m dating a homeless woman. It’s easier to talk her into staying over.

In the 60’s people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

My ex-wife’s version of money laundering was cleaning out my pockets every night while I slept.

Congress; Contradictory Oppressive Nimrods Greatly Risk Every Social Standpoint.

Even rarer than a doctor who can’t stand the sight of blood Is a lawyer who can’t stand the sight of money.

When I was in high school you were searched for guns and knifes on the way in and if you didn’t have any, they gave you some.

Hallmark Card: “Congratulations on your promotion! Before you go, would you like to take this knife out of my back? You’ll need it again.”

Algebra was easy for the Romans because “X” was always 10.

A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, “I’ll serve you, but don’t start anything.”

Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is a husband!

I’m on a thirty day diet. So far, I have lost 15 days.

What did the blonde say when she found out she was pregnant? “Are you sure it’s mine?”

Hard work is its own reward, but wouldn’t you rather have the money?

They want cheap sentiment? I’ll fill them so full of sap, they’ll be blowing their nose with a pancake!

Statistics show that every two minutes another statistic is created.

The definition of an optimist is a woman who loads up the CD changer before making love.

Visa is everywhere you want to be…except out of debt.

The most enjoyable way to follow a vegetable diet is to let the cow eat it, and then eat the cow.

Use of unnecessary violence in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers has been approved.

Old is when the porn movie you bring home is “Debby Does Dialysis”.

Driver carries no cash. He’s married.

Do you know the three times that most people are in church? When they are hatched, matched and dispatched.

Friends rub tummy of pregnat women congating them. Why dont they rub the dick of the dad for a job well done?

I’ve never had a problem with drugs, I’ve had problems with the police.

Kids in the backseat cause accidents. Accidents in the backseat cause kids.

Hubby: what would u do if I won lottery? Wife: Take half n leave ur ass! Hubby: I won $12, here’s $6 now get the fuck out.

Sure I had a drinking problem, but I looked at it more as a drinking opportunity.

I  think your problem is low self-esteem. It is very common among losers.

No matter if you shake and dance, the last two drops go in your pants.

Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance.

A weird thing about humans is we work till we’re sick to get a fortune, then pay a fortune to get well again.

I  ordered a self help tape called “How to handle disappointment”, when the package came, the box was empty.

10 out of 5 doctors feel it’s OK to be schizophrenic.

The trouble with ignorance is that it picks up confidence as it goes along.

You know what’s a good thing to hang on your porch in the summer, to keep mosquitoes away from U and ur guests? A big bag of blood.

I  like noise. I need noise. When it’s too quiet, I can hear my brain cells dying.

Excuses are the easiest things to manufacture, and the hardest things to sell.

Love is never angry. Love is patient. How many fucking times do I have to tell you guys that?

I masturbate! I do it like I think if I keep doing it, I’m gonna win something.

The woman who thinks no man is good enough for her may be right…. But she is more often left.

Last night my date demanded that I take her some place expensive… so I took her to a gas station!

At least Congress doesn’t make death worse every year.

Viewer discretion may be advised, but it’s never really expected.

In the beginning there was nothing. And God said, “Let there be light.”, and there was still nothing; but everybody could see it.

Success is a relative term! It brings so many relatives!

Join forces people. Together we can lick pornography.

I  saw a sign that said “seeing eye dogs only” who is supposed to read this? The dog?

I still miss my ex-wife… but my aim is improving.

Alzheimer’s advantage: New friends every day.

Youth looks ahead, old age looks back and middle age looks tired.

Okay, brain. You don’t like me, and I don’t like you, but let’s get through this thing and then I can continue killing you with beer.

It  takes 250,001 Americans to screw in a lightbulb. 1 to do it..and 250,000 to debate if it was politcally correct.

At 44 years, I finally met the woman that said those six words I wanted all my life to hear: ‘My dad owns a liquor store’.

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press 3.

A pessimist’s blood type is always b-negative.

Did you ever notice that there are more horses’ asses in the world than there are horses.

I’m at the age where food has taken the place of sex in my life. In fact, I’ve just had a mirror put over my kitchen table.

The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.

Evening news is where they begin with ‘Good evening’, and then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.

If you are what you eat, I’m dead meat.

My friend Scott is so cheap, he bought his girlfriend a part time boob job.

Last night I had a dream that all the babies prevented by the pill showed up. They were pretty pissed off.

Nothing is quite so annoying as to have someone go right on talking when you’re interrupting.

Shouldn’t all married men forget their mistakes? After all there’s no sense in two people remembering the same things, right?

This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.

I got a fortune cookie once that said “You like Chinese food.”

Don’t let people drive you crazy when it is within walking distance.

The noblest of dogs is the hot dog, it feeds the hand that bites it.

Does time fly when you’re having sex or was it really just one minute? (I’m asking 4 a friend of course).

Who says nothing is impossible? I’ve been doing nothing for years.

I was a dude before marrying. Now I’m subdued.

My ex-wife is a Travel Agent… for Guilt Trips!

There are still “incurable romantics” … which I guess means we need better antibiotics.

Campers: Nature’s way of feeding mosquitoes.

I’ve been accused of vulgarity. Fuck that shit man.

The surest sign that there is intelligent life somewhere in the Universe is that it hasn’t tried to contact us.

It’s easy to identify people who can’t count to ten. They’re in front of you in the supermarket express lane.

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Summer must be over. My neighbor just returned my lawn furniture.

Even though a marriage is made in heaven, the maintenance work has to be done here on earth!

The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

I have a sure way of not losing your money when you go to Vegas. When you get off the plane; turn around and get your ass back on it.

Dyslexia means never having to say that you’re yrros.

I’d like to help you out…which way did you come in?

Too much arousal can bring on a hard-attack.

I’m hopelessly addicted to placebos — I’d give them up, but it’d make no difference.

They say it is better to give than to receive. I say it depends on the gift.

I couldn’t afford to buy cotton so I decided to be abrasive, and steel wool.

Instant human! Just add coffee.

I’m an alcoholic, and the most beautiful sentence I have ever heard is, “Have one on the house.”

Someone who is always declaring that they’re no fool usually has some suspicions that they may be one.

Insanity is considered a ground for divorce, though by the very same token it’s the shortest mental detour to marriage.

 go from stool to stool in singles bars hoping to get lucky….But there’s never any gum under any of them.

I am now just a statistic.

I now belive that I am a statistic. Since I no longer have a full time job I don’t have health care for my son. This has now reached “boy oh boy” status. My son has been sick over the last couple of weeks. At his school there is a policy that if your child has a  fever or a cold he has to be sent home. I mean that is understandable when you consider the Swine flu and all. However, I did the parents code by buying the decongestants, the Tylenol fever reducer, the cough syrup and such. His symptoms simmered down for a  minute. So after missing 3 days of school he bravenly went back. I received a call later that  morning from the school saying that my son had thrown up in class and that the nurse said that he had a fever of 99.5. Again he needed to be sent home. I went to go pick him up and brought him home. Now since I have always basically been either full time employed or contracting, health insurance wasn’t an issue. Now however, I needed to find out what was wrong with my son and I needed to know pronto. I called to see if I qualified for Medi-Cal. This was a complicated venture because even though I wasn’t working full time, because of assets and back account balance, etc.. I didn’t qualify. Now I am a veteran so my health care is covered for life. My options for my son though were null. I was now forced to take him to the emergency room. Upon arriving at the emergency room, we waited around 1 1/2 hours to get to see the Triage Nurse. When I explained my sons symptoms she promptly asked me for my insurance arrangements and/or card. I explained to her that we didn’t have any insurance. She stated that we could see a doctor but we would be billed at the end of the visit. The nurse took my sons temperature and sent us back to sit down and wait. We finally got to see a doctor and the doctor feels around on my sons lungs a bit, looks into his eyes and listens to his heart. He promptly tells us that my son most likely has allergies and informs me to get him some Claritan and to have him take it once a day or as needed for allergy flare-ups. Total time seeing the doctor was around 15 minutes. We were billed $500.00.  That didn’t  include the Claritan either. Is this the state of health care today for the uninsured? I don’t believe that I fit the category that I hear most of the radical conservatives preaching about. About how some people just don’t work, or some people just don’t deserve the government influx of debt  that they feel they would be respnsible for helping to pay back because we are not tax paying productive citizens. Not their version  anyway. I have fought for this country, I have provided personal protection for many celebrities during my stint as a bodyguard. I  have been a software engineer, database administrator, network engineer, entertainer and writer. I feel that I am as intelligent or  more so than most people I meet. I am a good father. So my son isn’t worthy of health care without being ripped off? What does $500.00 per 15 minutes of care work out to as an hourly wage anyway? Oh I know, $2000.00. If we had been there an hour,  would the doctor had taken a urine sample from my son? Maybe even drawn some blood? Don’t those sound like some reasonable  things to do if you’re trying to ascertain what is wrong with him? We are people right? The last time I checked my son and I were  good people. We care about our family and friends and the state of our country. It apparently doesn’t care about us in the health insurance capacity. The funny thing is that our current President and some of the democratic congress want to help. They are just being met with resistance and hypocrisy. Maybe this little small instance of how the current health care system doesn’t work will be clear and simple enough for some of those critics to understand. Believe me when I tell you, I am certain that my story here is just a pimple on the major wound in health care that around 47 million people run into daily. Lets band together people and present our case. We are more powerful than a locomotive. We are able to reach tall buildings in a single bound. Look up into the sky people.

We can do better.

This is not just my opinion, and I don’t believe that I’m wrong.

Ok, enough of this crap! Bring on the socialism.

I wasn’t going to write too much regarding the health care reform issue because I thought that eventually all the lies and mis-direction being tossed around by some republicans and their radical followers would eventually stop. Well, it hasn’t.
I’m going to do my best to break this down in a sort of language that some people that are still not on board with reform can understand. That language will be FRIGGIN PLAIN OLE ENGLISH.

At this point and time health care is being run by 3 entities: The insurance companies, the drug companies, and Wall Street. They really decide who gets insured, for what, how much it will cost, what medicines they can pawn off on you, the cost and allowable doses. Now who is really in a position to kill grandma?
The insurance companies can raise the premiums on an average of 37% a year, the drug companies can continue to raise the costs of medications and Wall Street can assist in the free for all by providing the insurance companies and drug companies a running daily tally of how richer they are becoming. If their stock goes down in any way, RAISE THE COSTS OF THE COVERAGE AND MEDICINE.
The drug companies and the insurance companies cannot call the shots regarding medicare. You know why? Because it’s goverment run. The goverment, if allowed to intervene in health care, could regulate the insurance companies and keep them honest. They can provide sanctions and penalties for any types of price gauging. They can keep tabs on how much drug companies are charging for necessary drugs that help people. There aren’t any “death panels” either. The article 1233 in the house reform provision just allows for people to have ‘advanced directives’. Active military personnel, as well as veterans like myself, all have that option. It just allows for you to have doctors or nurse practioners to discuss your wishes should you become terminally ill, comatose or outside of your faculties. This allows a scenario where your family and/or doctors don’t have to guess what your intentions or wishes would be.
This is not brain surgery. This is understood by more people than the republican lawmakers are revealing. This is becoming more of an issue to defy the “Black President” than it is to actually look out for your fellow mankind.
We should actually strive for more socialism. Medicare and SSI are examples of socialism. These are avenues to where not only the rich and decision makers are covered or helped. These systems work. Some people argue that it would drive out some insurance companies and screw up their current coverages. Not true! The President has stated about a thousand times that if you like your current coverage you can keep it. The fact that there would be competition wouldn’t ruin the fabric of health care facilities any more than UPS or Fed-Ex has ruined the post office. Which is a goverment run entity by the way. Why is this so hard to understand? There have been more than a couple of republican lawmakers that have voiced their hopes that President Obama fails at health care reform. Is this the type of world we want to live in? Where partisan gamesmanship is the order of the day rather than humanity?
Some republicans and radical conservatives are asking what’s the rush. Why the need to push this through?
It took our goverment 250 years to free the slaves, another 100 years to give us equality. How many years did it take before women were officially able to vote and be equals? The time is now people. We aleady have a history of waiting too long to equal the playing fields. Below I’m going to add the definition of socialism and why it actually needs to be a way of life in many areas.

Here’s a synopsis of “Socialism” folks. Take a look, then follow down at the end of this post.

Socialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating state, worker or public ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with an egalitarian method of compensation. Contrary to popular belief, Socialism is not a political system; it is an economic system distinct from capitalism.

Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through exploitation, creates an unequal society, does not provide equal opportunities for everyone to maximize their potentialities and does not utilize technology and resources to their maximum potential nor in the interests of the public. Therefore socialists advocate the creation of a society that allows for the widespread application of modern technology to rationalize economic activity by eliminating the anarchy in production of capitalism[4], allowing for wealth and power to be distributed based on the amount of work expended in production, although there is considerable disagreement among socialists over how and to what extent this could be achieved.

So please people, don’t let hatred or animosity be the reason. Health care should be available to all.The Veterans hospitals can really be the model to follow. We, as well as all of congress and the senate, are a part of a goverment run health plan. Are we contributing to socialism? You’re damn right! Put you and your family’s health care decisions back in the hands of the doctors and youself rather than Wall Street, Insurance companies or drug companies.
Don’t lie and sabotage something just out of spite, partisanship or racism. Do the right thing people. If happen to see, or are in any way close to one of those crazy gun totin hostility buckaroos, please calmly inform them of the truth.
I guess that’s all for now.
Good morning, good afternoon & in case I don’t see ya, GOODNIGHT!

Things that make you go “Hmmmmm”

Ok, below I will briefly talk about some topics that have made me go “Hmmmm” here of late. These arguments are not meant to in anyway be a partisan rub-a-dub, but rather issues that I personally feel are just a tad bit ridiculous if they are really thought about rather than be used as a way to bolster a political parties bargaining power with ‘John-Q-public’.
 

               1:  The Mob at Town Hall Meetings:

This situation is completely sad. first of all let me clear up some issues that really chap my hide. I have read article 1233 of the House Reform Provision and I will attempt to break it down here now so that even the ‘friggin cheap seats’ can see it more clearly for what it actually does represent.

There seems to be a claim that health care reform will create “death panels”, (in Sarah Palin’s words), that will somehow create a situation where the Goverment will somehow determine when an elderly person would be put to death in some manner because it  doesn’t want to pay for their care any longer. It’s a complete fabrication of course. The provision requiring that Medicare pay for voluntary end-of-life counseling was introduced by Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican, yes Republican of Georgia, who says that it’s “nuts” to claim that it has anything to do with euthanasia.

Ex-Governor Sarah Palin, as well as Newt Gingrich, were all for “advance directives” for medical care in the event that you are incapacitated or comatose. That’s exactly what is being proposed. I am a US Army Veteran and I, as well as any other Veterans or military personnel, can tell you that we are offered “Advance directives” too. All this option means is that you have the oportunity, IF YOU SO CHOOSE, to receive counsel from a doctor or nurse practitioner to relay your wishes regarding critical care or hospice care should the situation arise, so that no one, especially your family members or doctors, would have to guess what your wishes are if you should become say, comatose, or terminally ill and have a loss of you mental capacities. However, all the mobs at the Town Hall Meetings are being loud and obnoxious in their ignorance of this fact. They obviously haven’t taken the time to investigate or even wait to be correctly informed. It’s turned into just basically disruption & talking points to discredit our President and his goal to insure everyone. Being insured should be a right and not a privilege in this country. The reform provision also does not have an article in it to insure illegal aliens, as it has so falsely been claimed. The bill does not have options for sponsoring abortions, again like it has been falsely claimed. The insurance companies stand to lose billions of dollars if a “public health option” is passed. They have used lobbyist to spread money around to provide this misinformation and confusion so that the real facts of this bill get cluttered. I saw one couple arguing in one of the meetings that didn’t even have health care. They were just arguing because the bill is being proposed by the democratic party and a President that they don’t want to support. Is this productive? Can people really look at themselves in the mirror and actually believe that the President of the United States wants to put old people to death? Oh, by the way, CONGRESS AND THE SENATE HAVE GOVERMENT RUN HEALTHCARE!

 ”Hmmmmm….”

 

               2: The weakness that is the Democratic backbone.

The democratic leaders have not done a good enough job of spreading the facts regarding the house healthcare reform bill. Because of this lack of direction, all types of misinformation has had it’s chance to be born. The sad point is, even when it was determined how much bullshit was actually being spread by radical conservatives, the powers that be in the democratic party acted like deer in the headlights and cowered at the fact that they were being bullied. That’s not leadership! I cannot faithfully follow someone or a party that cannot even stick to the guns that they themselves have loaded. It makes no sense. There are no “jedi mind tricks” that the President can conjure to un-ring the bell of perceived weakness. The conservatives smell blood in the water and know now that they can win the battle of a smear campaign against a party that actually has control of the house. It’s ludicrous.

“Hmmmmm…”.

 

              3: Firearms at Town Hall Meetings:

Can anyone really believe that the several people carrying guns and assault rifles to a venue that the President of the United States is present at productive? The argument they convey is that they are enforcing their right to bear arms. In the history of Presidential gatherings there has not been one instance of people carrying loaded weapons to the event without the President being shot at or killed. Do you think that had the Secret Service seen Lee Harvey Oswald walking around with a rifle before even getting into the Book Depository President Kennedy would still be alive? Would Reagan have been shot if a gunman was seen walking around with a loaded weapon before he walked out to his vehicle? To allow individuals to do it now is idiotic. This is a receipe for tragedy. If President Obama was assasinated it would tear this country apart. There would be worldwide racial riots. Has anyone thought this far out? What happens if some minority groups go to a conservative senators gathering with some weapons? Would it be as welcomed or tolerated? If I wanted to express my right to freedom of having sex, should I go to a Town Hall Meeting with my dick out? The funny part is, President Obama hasn’t attempted to alter any gun laws at all. His stance is no different than President Bush’s was. To have loaded weapons in such close proximity to a sitting President is inherently dangerous. Racial wars can be started that way ladies and gentlemen.

“Hmmmmm”.

                4: Pyscho babble:

There are so many people now seemingly convinced that they are somehow losing their country to “Socialism”.

HELLO!!!!! Medicare is socialized medicine. Veterans and military health care is socilaized medicine. SSI is socialism. These are goverment run programs people. All the elderly people complaining now should opt out of their medicare programs immediately. I’d hate for you to be communist right? All the complainers that happen to be receiving SSI benefits should opt out right? Have your family and friends that are on SSI or Medicare remove themselves from it so that they cannot be considered as helping to take away the country. By the way, did I mention that President Obama did not invent SSI or Medicare? I wish people would wake up. What happens if you get what you’re asking for? Do you know where your conscience begins and ends? Oh, and to the remaining “birthers” out there, “GROW THE FUCK UP”!!

“Hmmmmm”.

I guess that’s it for now. I’m sure that radicals will disagree but that’s what so great about our country. They can. Also, I don’t believe that all conservatives have this point of view. Just the ones that are being blatanly televised. I believe that the democrats should just pass the reform bill on their own and people can watch their premiums drop and the uninsured insured while the radicals continue to babble.

 As usual, that’s just my opinion. However, If you do think I’m wrong, please leave a comment of substance and not just a talking point. That’s the problem now in my belief. Partisanship replacing actual fact.

It’s time to come clean.

 

 

 

Let me start by saying that I am not a conservative. I don’t even know if I am a democrat at this point. I am definitely not an independent. I am just an individual of the United States of America right now trying to do the best that I can. I have friends that are conservative, democrat and independent. With that said….

I think now is the time for all radical or ultra whatever conservatives to come clean on their thoughts and feelings regarding the race of the President of the United States. Now I don’t want to call anyone a racist. In some exchanges I have had with conservatives, whether it be via social media or in person, they always come back with “…how come anytime someone says anything about this President, they always have to be a racist?” OK, let’s take racism off the table then. How about we just have honest and intelligent dialog of the explanations regarding the following list of the latest tidbits of conservative complaints.

1:    Republican Congressman Thaddeus McCotter has drafted a resolution that he has now put to committee for Congress to vote on a bill to force President Obama to apologize to Cambridge police officer Crowley for Obama’s statement to wit ”The Cambridge Police acted stupidly”. I repeat, “The Cambridge Police acted stupidly”. That statement absolutely did not name Officer Crowley. I believe that even the most radical conservatives will obviously agree that Professor Gates  should not have been arrested. Officer Crowley stated in his report that he arrested Professor Gates because he was yelling and being a little unruly. However, the released recording from the police cruiser, as well as the police report from another officer on the scene, showed no evidence of Professor Gates being unruly. Also, the Cambridge Police Department filed no charges against Gates.  They did in fact issue an apology to Professor Gates for the entire incident…..I’m refering to the period from the dispatcher call to the arrest itself. The President still thought it best to speak with Officer Crowley and Professor Gates personally and invited them both to come to the White house “for beer”.  The President also held another short press conference where he stated that he could have used different terminology in regards to his comments about the incident. Was that enough for the conservative right? Apparently not. Congressman McCotter and several other Republican Congtressman are still moving forward with their resolution. Why? Not because he’s the first Black President….. right?

2: Several Republican senators and congressmen offered media sound bites and talking points fanning a flame of hate and ignorance by questioning whether or not President Obama is actually a US citizen and whether or not he was born in the United States. It has gotten so rampant that that the President had his staff get a copy of his birth certificate, his hospital of birth record, as well as the original birth notice from the newspaper of the city he was born in and had all that information posted on several different news channels. Wasn’t that enough? No, not for the right-wingers! Still the House went ahead and passed a resolution honoring the 50th anniversary of Hawaii becoming a state, as well as confirming that President Obama was indeed born there. It passed 378 votes to zero. The reason that this vote is so hypocritical is that many of the Republicans that voted yes unanimously in that resolution were the same ones that fanned the controversy via television and radio and on the House floor with talking points. Did they really believe that President Obama’s mother, father, grandmother, and also the hospital and city newspaper, had the incredible forsight to forge his birth certificate, hospital records and newspaper notice with the hope that some day he might run for President. It’s absurd…..right? Again I ask, why? It’s not because their racists right?

3:  “Boss” Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly verbalized his hopes that President Obama is “doomed to failure”. Can you grasp that?….to actually wish that the President of your country fails? Does that help the country? “Boss” Limbaugh has a reported 20 million viewers a day. That is a lot of people to influence. He constantly questions the President’s patriotism, citizenship, religious beliefs, and whether or not he’s a racist or reverse racist. He constantly degrades Judge Sonia Sotomayor and makes jokes regarding her heritage and latina affiliations. He even said, ala Ricky Ricardo, that she “….had some splainin’ to do….”. Why? He doesn’t fan these flames of hate or separatism because he’s a racist, right? Then why does he do it? Is there any reasonably sane person that could say that race isn’t the driving force behind his comments? Really? Look in the mirror America! There’s a quote from one of my favorites movies that I would like to run by you. In the movie “The Godfather”, the Don says to this gangster (Solozzo) who wanted the Don to finance his drug venture, “It makes no difference to me what a man does to make a living”. I live by that same type of credo. It even extends to how someone feels about race. It makes no difference to me how a person feels about race. You can be either a card carrying stone cold racist, a closet racist, a part time racist or just someone who just isn’t ready for the United States to have a Black President. I don’t really care. I mean, you are already in the minority now. To me, that’s progress. My things is ADMIT IT ALREADY!!!! Why beat around the bush? Why lie? Why play partisan games? Can’t you stick up for your beliefs? If you can say it in private, why can’t you say it out front? Until you can, how can you expect even your followers to put any credence in what you say? Please listen to me carefully here folks. As an African American for 100% of my life, I am very accustomed to the fact that racism is real and it still exists in America. However, it is slowly but ever so slowly evaporating and it will continue to do so. Get onboard and at least have the courage to state your stance and stand by it and stand your ground if you must. The United States affords you the right to freedom of thought and speech. Don’t hide behind inuendos and bullshit talking points.

As usual:

That’s just my opiniion, I could be wrong.

I thought I saw a Democrat, I did, I did.

I’m really not sure what I want to be nowadays. I know I’m not a Conservative. I have too much backbone to be a Democrat, and I breathe and exists so I can’t be an independent. What is a guy to do? I could always try to see a middle ground. I could see the glass half full and half empty. I could just ask for another drink. Is there anyone out there that still believes that the 2 1/2 Party scheme is still working? Everyday now there are ridiculous after ridiculous arguments being weighed on the different in the pocket Networks. If you watch CNN or Fox News, you have serious and magnified issues with the views of lets say MSNBC, BET or The Comedy Channel. I haven’t even mentioned the radio. You have Boss Limbaugh poisoning the dwindling faction that still has some “fear mongering, racially ignorant points of view”. Then you’ve got “Mancow” polluting the airwaves of Chicago. Mancow at the very least has admitted, after an on air attempt at being water boarded that lasted all of 5 seconds, that water boarding is torture and that he would have said or told anything to anyone just to get it to stop. I’m not sure if we have an “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” type of scenario going on here or not. I know that all of these Politicos have college educations. I know they have mostly all backgrounds in Law or Journalism. I know that they all love their families and hope for a good future for their grandchildren. How can the views be so fantastically different? Is one side brain damaged and the other a diagnosing physician? Were some of the college degrees bought from the same guy who sold Jack his Beanstalk Beans? I am truly amazed everyday at some of the statements made by some of the people that have a say in how our one and only Country is run. Would it be a stretch to assume that all this bickering between Parties weakens our Country. Confuses our soldiers or poisons minds and warps our thought processes. As a Nation why do we allow this? Isn’t this a nation of the People by the People? I have an idea. How about we start a separate Congress. This time we have the 200 average intelligent Americans that have dreams of a One Party system and they sit down and evaluate the major differences within the 2 parties. I know, this sounds too simple right? The people have no Law degrees? They haven’t been bought out by any lobbyist right? Their not racists or, as Boss Limbaugh would say, reverse racist right? What’s the prerequisite for making decisions that alter lives of the citizens of this Country. It can’t be common sense. Common sense doesn’t have such abstract differences on the same subject or topic. A black man can’t be white and a white man can’t be black. Makes sense? Are you still with me, or has partisanship made it impossible to really understand what I’m getting at here? If you can look in the mirror and say that you honestly disagree, please make a comment and state a better plan. However, try doing it without partisanship as your guide. If you don’t understand what I mean by that: See Common Sense above.

That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.