Equal rights

Washington D.C. is the latest place in this country allowing gay marriage. Good for them! I am proud to live in Massachusetts where gay marriage was legalized a few years back. I remember the arguments against allowing same sex couples to marry. One of my personal favorites was that it was "an assault on traditional marriage!" Well, I woke up that first day next to my wife. I looked over at her and thought, "Well, I don't feel any different than yesterday, my wife is still here and we are still married." MMMM, I thought to myself, "I do not feel like I have been assaulted."

I have yet to hear a legitimate argument that would continue to disallow marriage between persons of the same sex who love each other with the same depth and conviction that many different sex couples feel when they marry. I strongly believe that I have not heard one because one does not exist.

No, all of the laws pertaining to marriage, serving in the military and / or general discrimination are not born of something logical, they are a product of fear and hate. Fear of something hard to understand and hatred of something that is feared. This is why only four states and now Washington D.C. in the country allow gay marriage. this is why we went from a total ban on gays in the military to the compromise of don't ask don't tell.

Don't ask Don't tell is something short of an abomination but far short of equal rights. The political climate of 1993, when this was implemented, allowed for this small step in the correct direction of allowing openly gay persons to serve. A little bit more political courage would have allowed for a complete lift of the ban but it was not to be. It is shameful that we have had 17 years go by without and adjustment to that policy that would have effectively lifted the ban completely. After all, one would have to be very naive to believe that the military has not had gay members who have served well over the years of its existence.

I think that the bottom line here is this. The country has made some strides in relation to gay rights. It is, however, not where it should be. Remember, it is not equal if it is only sometimes.

Lies my Congressman told me

From time to time I listen to the opposition and wonder, where do they get their facts from? I mean, it is one thing to oppose someone or something on principle, but to oppose someone or something just because you can is something else entirely. given that, I must ask one question. How is it that the Republican party and its minions determined that they are entitled to their own facts? How is it that in spite of evidence to the contrary they stick to those "facts" and repeat them over and over again knowing that many will not challenge them? How do they get away with the big lie?

On the way home tonight I heard a talk show host go after Barack Obama for giving the military a 1.4% pay raise. I looked it up, it is 3.4%. Now, you could argue, if you wanted that 3.4 is not enough. Why lie about the numbers?

I have heard several Republican Senators rail against reconciliation as something rarely used and never for major health policy or for something as expensive as health care reform. I looked it up, reconciliation has been used for the Bush tax cuts and for Medicare Part D. Expensive and health policy.

I have heard many republicans spout off that there had been no terrorist attack on American soil during Bush's term. I looked it up, there were several attacks on our soil, including the shoe bomber and the anthrax attacks.

I heard Sarah Palin and members of Congress talk about death panels. I looked it up, it is end of life counseling that goes on everyday in this country between doctor and patient or doctor and health care proxy. the reform bill pays doctors for this service.

Some have said, and still say that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. I looked it up, he was born in Hawaii.

The list goes on and on and on. It is hard to argue with an opponent who has no interest in arguing issues with you. they only want to stop the President's agenda and feel that the only way to do so is to demonize it. One would have to ask why this approach? Perhaps they cannot defeat the agenda on the merits of their arguments so they resort to lies.

Keep the Government off of my Medicare

I want to be self-determined.I'm going opt out of social security and Medicare so that somebody with some balls who cares about me can make me some real money. Y'know: Wall St. Free enterprise raises all ships.And I know goddam well that I don't need anybody keeping me informed about Aspartame being fucking as poison as plutonium. I'll stay on top of that myself. Besides they just changed the name. Way to go freedom-fighters. That'll throw those ninnies at the FDA for a loop. And another "besides," Proctor and Gamble was a childhood friend of mine. And as long as Blue Cross keeps sending me those nice flyers about how I should take walks and avoid jaywalking I know that they have my health front and center in their market-based value system.This weekend I'm gonna tear down all the traffic lights in my neighborhood and put up my own. And I'm going to see if I can get a Chamber of Commerce from some place REAL type place like Arkansas or South Carolina to come here and get true-blue business ethics put in on these dildos in Massachusetts who think the fact that post-rent control apartments have price tags like zip codes, owners who spend weekends in Antiqua and more rats than cockroaches is some kind of indictment of the human race's readiness to embrace unsupervised rugged individualism. Lord Almighty, what I wouldn't give to see a Louisiana local sheriff walk into my living room and explain to me about the Bill of Rights today. Let's get back to freedom, double-goddamit.I'm going to form a fucking group (a group,A GROUP; NOT A COLLECTIVE. I'm no fucking Socialist) and see if I can organize a bunch of us to get rid of organized labor around here. Being constantly scared shitless of being exploited is good for a man.And if I've got any time left, I'm going to see what I can do to save Jim Bunning's job in the senate. If a president with Alzheimer's was good enough for the land of the free, it ought be good enough for the homo-loving, Godforsaken U.S Senate.Anyway, this all has me pretty busy. Nuclear freeze, my ass. Nuclear family!!!! And Mary Magdalene WAS a whore, by the way. Not an enlightened follower. Not a lover of Jesus. A WHORE. If there had been Glenn Beck back then, we'd have the evidence. Read your bible, Commie Satan-minions. And pray to God Obama gets no more Supreme Court appointments. They'll be MORE Jewish and Hispanic whores on the court. No more whores. Whores made us eat the apple. Whores and that snake. Liberals love snakes, you know.Whoa am I mad. Whoaaaaaa.

I wish I could take credit for this one but I can't. Credit goes to my brother for saying it better than I ever could. One other note - the title to this post is actually a quote of some tea party member at one of the many protests recently organized by Dick Army and the rest.

Nuclear Option

The talking points are out in full force. The Democratic plan to reconcile the health bills that have already passed the house and the Senate are being referred to by Republicans and Fox news as the "Nuclear Option." Scary isn't it? This conjures up images of explosions that devastate everything around it. Lamar Alexander has publicly worried about the Senate actually surviving if the Democrats use the reconciliation process of passing a bill with a simple majority. Alexander must have a short memory because he voted for several pieces of legislation via this process, including the two Bush tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug program. Where was his concern then?

Back to the phrase "Nuclear Option". This phrase was actually coined and used by Republicans as a method to break the filibusters on several Bush judicial nominees. They proposed to get rid of the filibuster all together mid-session. That was the Nuclear Option, not what is going on today. The lies are coming now fast and furious. It is time to pass reform and move on.

Muslims and Missiles

The new logo for the missile defense agency has made the news. It looks like, according to some, a mix of the Obama campaign symbol and the Muslin Crescent and star. Now, this has made Fox news as well as CNN. Why is this news? The tin foil hat crowd is pushing this as the latest conspiracy theory on Barack Obama's love for Islam. Here is the problem with this. the logo was designed and approved by the Bush Administration. So much for the Muslim and Missile connection.

Reconcile This

Harry Reid has agreed to push health care reform under reconciliation rules. This means that we nay have something useful out of Congress that is something akin to real reform of the system instead of a hodgepodge of items designed to garner at least one republican vote. This is great news for much of this country.

This is great news for those being thrown off of the rolls due to pre-existing conditions.

This is great news for those who cannot afford insurance.

You know, it still amazes me how anyone living on Main Street USA could actively be against such reform. Of course, I understand a little bit. From the beginning the move towards reform has been slowed down by lies (such as the Death Panels) as well as congressional inaction. Well, now Harry Reid seems to have had enough. I say full steam ahead on the public option, full steam ahead on reform. to those standing in the way, I have one thing to say to all of you. Reconcile this!

Tax cuts? Oh, those tax cuts.

I heard the other night that a very small percentage of the Tea Partiers knew that the stimulus package passed in 2009 contained a tax cut for 95% of working families. Someone once said that you are not entitled to your own facts and the Tea Partiers seem to think that they can have there own facts to guide their message. The problem is that their facts are not facts at all! The tax cut is real and their grasp on reality is not. My only regret is that the tax cut that many of them received has helped them paint their signs and travel to various protests. Can we rescind the cuts for them? After all they do not believe that they are real and therefore they would not miss them if they went away. Would they?

I was just thinking again.....

Fox News is the media arm of the Republican Party 24/7. MSNBC is only the Democratic Party media arm, Monday through Friday and not 24 hours each day.

How big was the soft ball Chris Wallace tossed to Sarah Palin?

Even I thought Family Guy was a bit over the line last night to do an episode on Down's Syndrome. Sarah Palin will use it to score political points.

The White House needs to develop a spine and fast. How much have they caved on?

Speaking of caving. If the President is the commander and chief, could he just order the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell?

Wasn't TARP a Bush program designed by Henry Paulson?

Evan Bayh put the Democrats in Indiana in a bind. I think it was intentional.

Why are people afraid of health care reform if it will make it more affordable?

Tea Party? Republicans eating their own.

I was just thinking.......again.

Dissapointment

I read today on the Huffington post that the President will not make any recess appointments over the upcoming break. Once again the White House has given into the Republican Party. By allowing the confirmation of 27 of the most non-controversial nominees the Republicans once again can pat themselves on the back in victory. The White House appears to have caved in once again.

Talk to the hand

The jokes on late night to the press room at the White House have been non-stop. Sarah Palin, the gift that keeps on giving, writes bullet points on her palm and refers to her palm several times during an interview at the Tea Party convention. Well, it is funny. It is also sad. Sad that so many hang on her every word and she still has to write her core values on her hand. Sad that she appears to be so shallow that she cannot formulate and answer without looking directly at her hand. By the way, for all of you who trash Barack Obama for use of a teleprompter, you need to remember that the President is a guy who authored two books and writes much of the speeches he gives. Sarah, on the other hand, yes pun intended, can only spit out the talking points provided to her and can't even keep that together enough, in friendly political territory, that she must keep her highlights and values on her palm. If I ever see her and have to opportunity to talk to her I think I will just ask her to talk to the hand.

The Demonization of Americans and Right Wing Radio

I recently read a post on the Facebook page of someone very dear to me. The gist of the post was that we should ashamed as Americans because, while we are aiding Haiti, we are not aiding those in our own country needing help the most. I must admit that I agree with some of that statement. No, I am not ashamed that we are helping Haiti. What that country went through was a tragedy on an epic scale. For 45 seconds the earth shook and virtually an entire country collapsed to the ground. America could not, would not turn its back and for that I am proud to be an American.

The part of the Facebook post that I agree with is that we, America that is, should be ashamed that we do not take care of our own. Of course the next question that I have to process is, why?
To me that is an easy one. Here I am to offer my own opinion.

The tragedy in Haiti is easy for us to process. It is on television, we see the human suffering and we reach out to help. Also, they are not citizens of the United States, where we are taught from the earliest of ages that we offer every opportunity for success. We hardly speak of the underclass in this country because it does not fit the narrative that we have bestowed upon ourselves. This allows us to open our eyes a bit and to realize that the people of Haiti need us to help and that we can do this without puncturing the myth the universal American opportunity.

It is the simple need to protect the image we believe to be true that anyone, who is a citizen of this country, who has been left behind, fallen through the economic or social cracks has so because of some failing within them and not the system that was not there to catch them. Some are, to be fair, victims of their own inaction or worse, their own destructive nature. Yet, many of them are people not in their underclass by their own choosing but are there via situations that they may not of been able to control. We do not actively choose to assist persons worthy of a hand up because the political climate today calls for these people to be demonized.

The underclass are filled with crack mothers and welfare cheats! We lump everyone into categories such as these instead of looking at the individual suffering their own personal tragedy. To be sure, there are crack mothers and welfare cheats in the world yet, not everyone of them reside in the almost permanent underclass and not everyone in that underclass can be identified by either moniker. Yet, we are informed all of the time that this is who they are. We hear how they are robbing us blind and that our tax dollars are supporting those who deserve no support. No wonder we do not help fellow citizens who need our help the most. We vilify them and make them unworthy.

The next time someone laments about how we do not help people in our own country ask them if they listen to the likes of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh or Micheal Savage. Do they listen to or like anyone of the names listed here? Ask them to reconcile their choice of radio talk with their angst about not helping Americans in need. I will bet that they cannot.

What is a Democrat to do?

With the Brown win in MA. Democrats are reeling. Their agenda is in danger of falling off a cliff due to the 41 seat minority the Republicans hold in the US Senate. I would like to suggest the following points for consideration:

We need to define our agenda before the Republicans define it for us. The health care bill was demonized without pushing back.

We need to stick to our principles and avoid compromising them for the elusive 60th vote.

We need to write letters to our local newspapers letting people know about how our agenda is one that can positively affect our lives

We need to continue to fight for the middle class and the poor. We can not let the Republicans charge us with "class warfare". They have been practicing their own brand of class warfare for along time, only it is against the middle class and the poor.

We need to fight back against republican framing. How many amongst us support the estate tax but not the death tax when it is the same thing.

We need to stay involved at the local level.

We need to get out and vote. Scott Brown won the Senate race for many reasons. One of them was turnout. The towns turned out in greater percentages than the cities. If the cities turns out with the same percentage Coakley may have won.

We need to contest every race and not take any for granted. This is another reason for Coakley's loss. At a critical time Coakley was on vacation while Brown was driving from town to town defining the Coakley campaign in negative terms.

Above all we need to fight for what we believe to be right. We took a passive approach to health care and we are worse off for it.

November will be painful for Democrats but if we stand up and fight for our core values it will not be the disaster predicted.

I was just thinking............

Why are supporters of the health care bill called "Union Thugs" and opponents referred to as "people who work?"

Why is Rush Limbaugh so heartless, imagine, to call for less charity in the face of the Haiti tragedy.

Why does anyone care about what Pat Robertson says any longer.

Will the Republicans say yes to anything? What are they for anyway?

Why has Boston radio turned into a 24hr commercial for Scott Brown?

Is Martha Coakley the worst possible candidate?

Why would Barack Obama bother talking to the republican congressional retreat?

Why is it wrong to mention George Bush now when it was right to mention Bill Clinton for all 8 years of the Bush White House.

Why try to be bi-partisan when the other side just will not let you.

Why would anyone think that Fox News is fair?

Or balanced?

Why would anyone think that Glenn Beck is telling you the truth most of the time but the New York Times is lying to you all of the time? Or the Boston Globe or the Washington Post?

I was just thinking.

Coddling Terrorists

Someone has boarded a plane heading for the United States and has attempted to blow the it up while in flight. The attempt fails as the terrorist on board can not light the bomb he has planted on him. Quick thinking passengers and flight attendants subdue the terrorist until the plane lands and the authorities can take over the situation. The now captured perpetrator gets a lawyer and is to be tried through the American Justice system. The Republican party is up in arms. "Why are we coddling terrorists" they shout. "Our system of constitutional protections should not be allowed to protect the rights of people that we are at war with" they scream. "The President just does not get it!" "He is coddling terrorists!"

Does this sound familiar to you? It should since this is the line of attack the Republican party is using against the White House since the failed Christmas day bombing attempt. Yet, if we turned the clock back to the day before Christmas would this sound familiar to you? Possibly not, unless you recall the December 2001 failed bombing attempt by Richard Reid, the shoe bomber.

Richard Reid was arrested, allowed to "lawyer up" and go to court. He pled guilty and will spend the rest of his life in prison.

This happened while George Bush was in the White House. Where was the outcry then? Where was the accusation that he was soft on terrorism or that he was coddling terrorists. You would be hard pressed to find much criticism from that time for the White House because Congress and the American people rallied around the President in 2001 in a show of solidarity against the purveyors of terror.

Today the Republican party is not rallying around anyone or anything except the effort to paint the President as weak and ineffectual. This is the same President who has ordered the escalation of the Afghan war and the same President who ordered the take down of the Somali pirates. These are not the actions of a President who can be defined as a coddler.

Try to imagine where would would be if the Republican Party ceased the baseless accusation that Democrats are weak is respects to security. One can only hope that the GOP tones down the rhetoric so we, as a country, can face our foes with a single voice in order secure the safety of all Americans now and in the future.

Regressive Tax

I have to admit disappointment in President Obama's support for a tax on Cadillac health plans. Why disappointed? Because the tax is a regressive tax that will effect lower paid workers with good company health benefits more than people with high paying jobs. So if this tax is passed onto us, and I am sure it will, it will constitute a tax increase that is greater in percentage in relation to income than for higher paid workers. For example:

Worker A makes 100,000 per year and has a health plan worth 10,000. This would add up to 800 in taxes based on what I have been reading on this. This would equal a % rate of 0.8. Now if worker B was making 50,000 with the same health plan their tax rate would be 1.6% for their high end health plan. Very disappointing approach. I would have preferred the house version that taxed incomes over, I believe, 500,000 dollars.

Of course there is another possibility to this potential high end tax. That is companies, especially if it is the company being taxed, water down their offered health plans so that they fall under the threshold to avoid the tax all together. Either way we lose on this one.

I still believe that the overall bill is worthy of support for all of the good it does, preexisting conditions, expanded coverage etc... but the funding provision that is in the Senate bill and is currently being supported by President Obama makes this reform a harder pill to swallow.

Upcoming Senate Election

Who would ever imagined that the special senate election to replace Ted Kennedy, between Martha Coakley (D) and Scott Brown (R), would have even been close. Well, it is closer than I would have ever thought it could be. Rasmussen has Coakley up by 9 points. I recently heard that it is even closer than that. Regardless of the current spread it is obvious that Brown currently has the momentum; but does he have the time?

Do you know what the saddest thing is about this? The fact that, if Scott Brown is elected to replace Ted Kennedy, his vote will be the vote that could kill health care reform.

Terror Attacks - Myths and Facts

So now we know! President Obama and his administration does not have the ability to keep us safe from Islamic extremists. This is obviously true since it is a fact that the previous administration has prevented all terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11. Well, it is true, isn't it?

This is what we are being told by various republican operatives and politicians. Rudy Gulianni just the other day stated that George Bush kept us safe and terror free since 9/11. Joining him in that chorus over the past few days has been Hayley Barbour. Prior to the Christmas day attempt Mary Matlin implied the George Bush inherited the 9/11 attack and Dana Perino has stated that there had been no terrorist attacks while Bush was in office.

This brings up a couple of questions that should be answered. First and foremost why are each of the persons mentioned above so wrong. Secondly, why are they allowed to repeat this line without being called on it?

With just a brief scan of the Internet I have found the following instances of what can / should be remembered as terror attacks on American soil.

1: Richard Reid the "shoe bomber tried to blow up a plane in December of 2001.
2: The unsolved Anthrax attacks
3: The attack on the El AL ticket counter at LAX
4: The beltway snipers
5: In 2006 someone drove his SUV onto a college campus hitting 9 people. The driver has been quoted as stating that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Mohammed Atta.

It did not take me long to come up with these events. If I can come up with these events sitting at home why can't news organizations prepping for these various interviews do the same thing?

The bottom line with this story is this: George Bush did not prevent all terrorist attacks from happening during his tenure post 9/11. To say that he did is either a lie or an act of willful ignorance.