Politics
If Aliens Attack?
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | Politics | 3 Comments
I was listening to a program on television and they were talking about Oath Keepers. They are, from what I can gather, a group that believes they should have the right to carry concealed weapons. They seem to be recruiting police and former Armed Forces people and from what I heard they seem to be getting an Army.
If you don’t believe me look at their web site
This isn’t the only group that seems to be forgetting that our country is named the United States of America. I think that they should realize that it is exactly this unity that gives us our strength. Of late, the Birthers, the Oath Keepers, and a lot of our elected Republicans among others, seem to be suggesting that the Bible was wrong and a House divided against itself can stand.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think that one of America’s strengths is the fact that we encourage dissent but it is the after-effect that I am worried about. When I was growing up if you didn’t get the laws that you wanted you redoubled your efforts especially at election time.
The latest action seems to be that of the petulant child ” If I don’t get my way I’ll take my state and secede.” Which finally brings me to the point.
America is often called a melting pot and I think that we should revise that idea to being a stew pot . The gravy being the rich and they affect the majority and the minority. The other parts of the stew still retain their own ideas and customs but they are still part of the stew.
Even though we are separate we should be like a big family. I may talk about my brothers but don’t assume that you can. We should be working towards that idea.
I remember a television series called V that was about aliens that took over Earth. While there were a few humans that sided with the aliens; the majority fought side by side with their fellow humans despite religion, creed, skin color to defeat these invaders. Maybe the SyFy channel should run the series again.
What About Mono-tasking?
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | Healthcare, Politics | 1 Comment
I know that the new way of doing things is to multi-task but there are things that might better be done with a laser focus. One of those things that should have been mono-tasked is President Obama’s healthcare inititiative.
Instead of going to try to get the Olympics, or going across the country trying to get the birther vote, he should be concentrating on the votes that count. President Obama is a Constitutional lawyer he should know that the votes that count are the ones that will give him the sixty votes.
The Democrats seem to have forgotten that they won the election. They also seem to have forgotten that the people elected them to get things done. If they don’t get things done, they may not get re-elected.
If President Obama got the healthcare with a public option that he and the majority of Americans want, then he could be in a better position to help those Congressmen and women that need to be re-elected. He should be concentrating on those people to get their vote.
He should forget about pleasing the Republicans and remember what he said after his Presidential win: that he is the President of all the United States. While the public option may not please everyone, it will please the majority and that’s what our laws require.
Speaking of what our law requires. why don’t we do away with the filabuster option in the Senate? The House has done away with it and I think that the Senate should too. The filabuster makes it almost necessary to get a two thirds vote which should be reserved for Amendments.
P.S. Today is my daughter’s birthday. Every day, but particularly at her birthday, I am reminded I may never create a breathtaking sunset or a Mona Lisa but having a part in creating this Awesome human being makes me thankful to God, and Da Vinci jealous.
P.P.S. Happy Birthday!!! Anjanette Love Dad
Easier to Ask
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 | Life, Politics | No Comments
Grace Hopper is credited with the quote “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission,” so she might be to blame. This seems to be the rallying cry of the last few weeks.
The two most recent occurances seem to be from Joe Wilson and Kanye West. At this time the House has decided to formally rebuke Republican Representative Joe Wilson for his “You Lie” comment.
The Republicans are crying that the Democrats are politically motivated. They are saying that they should be talking about healthcare; that they are wasting valuable time. Was this the same Party that wasted time with the Clinton Impeachment? I guess the difference is that they were the ones wasting it then.
I know that many people feel that freedom of speech is at stake here but we don’t truly have unrestricted free speech. You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater. So, yes, there are times when the government has decided to restrict our free speech for the public good.
I have friends that don’t have the same religious views as I do and I know that if I talk to them about religion I might lose friends. If I were to invite them to my house and embarass them by attacking their religion I would be solely responsible for losing their friendship and also a poor host. Not only was Rep. Wilson a poor host, he was also an embarassment to the people he represents. I’ve often heard about Southern Hospitality, if this is an example then I’m staying in the North.
Then we have Kanye West who interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech to inform us of his opinion. Now he had the opportunity to vote like everyone else but he felt that we were waiting to find out, not what the majority of people thought but what Kenye thought: guess again. Now I could understand if it was Jay Z up there cause he was going home with Beyonce but I think he has too much class to do that. Maybe that is the answer. We may live in a classless society but that doesn’t mean our society shouldn’t have class.
Damn You! Liberal Media
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | Life, Politics | No Comments
President Obama has brought a very glaring problem to the attention of the public. We are being indoctrinated. Now I’m not talking about the disgusting things that the President suggested in his speech like our children getting a good education; no, I’m talking about the despicable things that the liberal media has forced us to believe.
I remember the first time it happened to me. It was 1965 and the media put on this ridiculous show called I Spy. The liberal media wanted us to believe that Blacks and Whites could work together and even be friends. They wanted us to believe that Blacks could become Rhodes Scholars. The sad part is that I felt that way already due to a previous indoctrination from my mother but that was when parents actually taught their children right from wrong.
This was sort of when the flood gates openned. Soon we had the groundbreaking Kirk kissing Uhura which is kind of funny when you think that Kirk had already interacted with a green Orion slave girl and no one complained. Soon we had Chico and the Man espousing the view that Hispanics and Whites could get along. What next World Peace?
Better to Die
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 | Politics | No Comments
I had a friend who went out drinking and the next day someone asked him how he was feeling. He said “I would have to get better to die”. I feel the same way. I have the flu and it is knocking me for a loop. This therefore may be very short.
I noticed that we have been awash in forgiveness. The Scottish have just released the Lockerbee terrorist, Michael Phelps is appearing in commercials again and Eliot Spitzer may run again.
At one time the things they did would have been the end of it; their careers would have been over,they would have served their sentences and they wouldn’t be selling subs on TV. The question is do we stand for anything?
When I grew up we used to have this ritual as a prelude to a fight. We would draw a line in the sand and tell the other person to cross it. If he crossed it the fight would be on but, of late, we seem to be drawing more and more lines in the sand,
When Bruce Jenner or Mark Spitz won the Olympics they were role models and because he isn’t on a reality show Mark Spitz still is. Nixon wasn’t allowed to finish his term because of Watergate and he didn’t even use public funds to do it and we used to let people who terrorized our country or our allies die in prison. When did we become wusses?
Are We The New National Socialists?
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 | General, Politics | No Comments
Those who don’t know their history are destined to repeat it and make fools of themselves. The right has been yelling about how the left is leading this country towards socialism and yet the right seems to be heading towards National Socialism. National Socialism is historically known by its German form Nationalsozialismus or Nazi for short.
I hesitate saying this because name calling has, of late, been an activity reserved for the right but there may be some validity to this. The Nazis were politically on the right,they were fanatical about their country they didn’t want any immigrants polluting their racial purity and after the war they tried to exonerate themselves from their atrocities with the plea “ We were only following orders”.
This” following orders” cop out seems to be the way our government is going to decide on the torture problem. The government seems to be waffling on whether they should hold people who were under direct orders from officials higher up responsible for their actions. Well what goes around comes around and usually bites you on the ass. The world and in particular the United States held German Nazis responsible and some of those faced death if they disobeyed the orders, which to me seems a lot more threatening then possibly losing your job.
We once faced a similar decision with the MyLai massacre where 300 -500 men , women and children were massacred. The only one convicted of a crime was William Calley. At the time, the press talked about indicting people up to and including The President. Then as now, the truly guilty will skate by.
Speaking of the truly guilty, Dick Cheney is ranting about how the torture helped keep America safe.The fact that most of the usable information was garnered before we proceeded with the illegal torture doesn’t get me as mad as something else. All this time I could have kept America safe by torturing someone, which means I didn’t have to have those cavity searches at the airport. On top of that Cheney is saying that we owe these torturers our thanks for preventing further attacks which is tantamount to denying that my efforts to prevent a further attack by brushing and flossing have amounted to nil.
I assume that Bowe Bergdahl the pfc captured by the aTaliban and facing a beheading is more then thankful that Cheney’s SS set the standard for torture at what we can get away with.
A Very Immodest Proposal
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 | Economics, Healthcare, Politics | 5 Comments
Blame it on the Republicans, they brought it up but I think in fairness we should at least consider it . Of course I am talking about the health care death panels.
The Republicans claim that the new health care bill has a provision in it that would allow for doctors to decide for the elderly when they should die. While it is inconcievable for me to think that doctors would want to take over a job that heretofore was left to God and the insurance companies that’s what the Republicans are saying. At first I was appalled at the thought but upon sober reflection I might see where it would have advantages.
When I used to go to Kmart they had a thing called the Blue Light Special. This was an item at a really low price that would last only a few minutes. People would crowd around a litle blue flashing light frantically grasping for a chance to get the sale item and in a lot of cases, I couldn’t understand why. Was it the item itself? No, because they would have bought it even if it was a Vanilla Ice record (Yes a record).
Perhaps the flashing blue light had mystical power that would make people do what you wanted them to do. No, cause I went around with a flashing blue light on my head and women still wouldn’t go out with me. What made it work was the time limit.
So maybe as we approach our later years, if we have an expiration date we might start clawing at enjoying life and appreciate it more. Instead of older people begging off doing things with the old refrain “No I can’t do that I’m too old” they might change it to “Hell yes I’m doing that, cause next week I go before the Death Panel.
I don’t know how this Death Panel would work though. Would relatives have a say in it? Cause that might prove to be a boon to the economy. Say you have a rich old aunt who is selfishly keeping her investments to live on. She has indicated that you may be the heir to her fortune but year after year with each new birthday you see “your” money being squandered by the old bitty on things like food. Now, if you were on the Death Panel you might soon be able to stimulate the economy with your modest yacht and Lamborghini purchases.Who would have thought that being on a Death Panel would be patriotic?
If we do institute this we may see an increase in healthier seniors, especially if the Panels have a physical fitness portion. We could televise it on pay per view which would defray the cost of the wonderful health care we are getting. Face it we all know that wrestling is staged and yet people pay millions to see that. Here we would have people literally fighting for their lives on television, I know I would pay to see that. I mean you haven’t lived till you’ve seen Seniors Dodgeball.
If we are really going to cost cut however we might want to consider an alternative. Maybe we should do away with babies. First of all they don’t vote, which could be a big stumbling block for the Senior Death Panels. Second anyone who has gone to a pediatrician knows that those immunizations cost a bundle, most of the old folk either have had the disease or the shots. Third with the possible exception of a few broken hips, senior aren’t as accident prone as children. Children are always skinning their knees something that seniors don’t often do. Not to mention the paucity of incidents of seniors putting peas up their noses.
I’m beginning to lean towards the idea of those Death Panels on two conditions: I get to serve on the Panel and I get an exemption from having to go before one.
P.S. Thanks to Jonathan Swift for the inspiration
Shout! Shout!
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 | Healthcare, Politics | 2 Comments
Once again, the healthcare czars are enlisting the uninformed to do their work. Their latest tactic is to try to stop information by shouting at anyone who actually wants health care.
According to the numbers, the majority of Americans want a public option for healthcare. I can’t for the life of me think of why anyone, other then the healthcare industry, would not want a public option.
There was a time, a few years ago, when I didn’t have healthcare and I went to a doctor for a checkup and he charged me $125. Three months later I went again and he charged me $89. The difference was in that three months I had obtained healthcare. So when I didn’t have healthcare and I needed a break, one of those people who used to charge according to a person’s ability to pay decided that I was more able to pay the higher rate than the multi million or billion dollar health insurance company. So it seems that the bigger the organization the bigger the savings. Think how cheap healthcare will be when we have the largest organization paying the bills
You could argue that the government couldn’t do as good a job as the private sector but that ’s why it is called an option. If it doesn’t work for you then go back to your company paid plan. I only hope that with the economy still in trouble that you won’t need the public option when you lose your job. When I left a job they offered me the option of continuing my healthcare on the COBRA plan, all I needed was an extra $1000 a month.
I realize that many people think that the Government can’t run anything efficently but these people have obviously never heard of the IRS. So I would suggest that the people shouting have nothing to shout about. The healthcare bill does not endorse killing the elderly or any of the more outrageous ideas that they are shouting about,although it might include care for the emotionally or mentally challenged so maybe I stand corrected.
Maybe We Should Try Democracy?
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 | Economics, Politics | No Comments
Most people think that what we were told in school is true. We are told that we live in a democracy but in truth we live in a representative democracy. How does this change things? Well, in a democracy the majority rules, everyone is pushing for the law to benefit themselves, and the amount of cash they have has no influence on the vote.
In a representative democracy the representatives rule, normally with the rich minority in mind. The representatives have only their job on their mind not the law or your benefit. The only reason that they pay any attention to the rich minority is because they need to get reelected and that costs money.
When the founding fathers came up with the idea of a representative democracy it was a good idea. The majority of our populace was not well educated and so it made sense that the rich, who were, should make decisions for the majority Our country has progessed since then to the point that the majority is well educated enough to make decisions about their welfare.
What I am suggesting is that we change from the representative democracy to a pure democracy. You could set it up sort of like the voting on American Idol, after all, more people vote for American Idol then for our President. Wouldn’t that mean that we would be subject to voter fraud? Well we could always get someone like Richard Daley or even our Supreme Court to oversee the election. We know that fraud could never happen on their watch.
I know that you are probably thinking that this would lead to chaos and perhaps it would. We would no longer send jobs overseas because we would realize that the extra money in wages we would be getting from the closing of the rich’s tax loopholes would make us realize that buying even America’s worst products is still keeping money in America. It would make it almost impossible for lobbyist to do their job which could lead to universal healthcare, gun control, or even not jumping into senseless wars. Total chaos!
Warren
P.S. There are now Congressmen who want to pass a bill to make it mandatory for the President to prove that he meets the qualifications to be President. Ordinarily I would think that they had gone too far but in this case I don’t think they have gone far enough. We should make it mandatory for all public officials. Does that mean that many hours would be wasted by the Congress in following the law? Not as many as they are wasting now.
Political Potpourri II
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 | Politics | 2 Comments
Once again the political equivalent of Paris Hilton has grabbed the spotlight. Sarah Palin has resigned from being the Governor of Alaska. My feeling is that she is going to go back to television as a talk show host. If Mike Huckabee can do it why can’t she?
This way she can pontificate without facing ethics questions which seems like a win for her. Alaska gets a new Governor, Wasilla can act questionably without national media attention and we may get the chance to cancel her show (talk about win-win).
The Republicans should change their name to The Do As I Say, Not As I Do Party.Governor Mark Sanford has refused to step down, despite the fact that he wanted Clinton to, for his transgressions. When Eliot Spitzer stepped down he didn’t exactly jump to defend him, yet both of them committed adultery. Both New York and South Carolina make adultery a crime.
Then, of course, we have Senator John Ensign who not only committed adultery but was nice enough to hire not only his mistress but her husband and their son as well. Talk about abuse of power. The only reason that he admitted it was that he was being blackmailed by the husband and Ensign was too honorable to be blackmailed.
The thing that worries me most is that if the Republicans keep losing their front runners they may draft me.