Feet To The Fire!

It’s hard not to be disappointed with the American Press. They’re supposed to hold people in power’s feet to the fire. They’ve gotten as lame as the Democrats.

Every time I hear someone state how successful Bush’s “Surge” was and I don’t hear the reporters calling them on it makes me want to scream.

The objectives were to leave breathing room for the Iraqis to figure out how the three sides could share power, share the oil, and live in peace. None of these things have happened and the Shia, who are the majority, seem to have no intention of sharing anything with the Kurds and Sunnis.

Violence slowed with the Sunni awakening. We were paying them to stop fighting us. It seemed to be working but the minute we handed that situation over to the Shia, they stopped paying, wouldn’t put them in positions of power and violence is on the rise.

Republicans come up with distractions like the Acorn scandal. It’s really sad because Acorn has done a lot of good, but there are going to be problems when you’re dealing with the poor and the ignorant. Real people are messy and there was definitely stupidity there.

If you want real scandal you can sink your teeth into look at Blackwater. Infinitely more corrupt. Check out Naomi Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine.

The press is our only hope against an irrational world but most of them seem too cowardly to call out the spin doctors. And you know how I feel about the reliability of public opinion.

One More Hurdle

The health care debate has passed one more hurdle. It got past the blue dogs in the Senate. The rest of the civilized world is scratching their heads wondering why the largest economy in the world doesn’t have single payer-not for profit heath care.

The employer based system we have started during World War II. The government was trying to keep inflation in check and put caps on workers’ salaries. Employers got creative and found other incentives.

Now we expect them to provide our health care. This is an enormous burden for them and is one of the main reasons companies move to other countries.

It’s also why I have to turn jobs I really want down. I’ve been offered good salaried jobs by UPS and Fed Ex but they only hire part time to avoid paying benefits. I can’t feed my family on the income from a part time job.

Okay, we’re so entrenched in a corrupt medical industrial complex that the compromise “Public Option” was introduced. We all need to be covered for a rational system to work and obviously some of us won’t be able to afford it so there you go.

The public option has not only gotten so watered down it won’t work, but it will probably drive the cost up. Allowing states to “opt out” defeats the whole purpose. And I know the red neck state I live in won’t participate.

If this stupid version of health care reform passes it will hurt all of us and the obstructionists will say, “See, told ya so!”

The blue dogs have a chance to really affect positive change in the American quality of life. The fear campaign leveled by the right has gotten to their constituents and the American attention span has never been strong. Politicians care more about being reelected than making a difference.

We are all subjects of a corporate oligarchy and I’m growing too tired to fight back.

Marching For The Lord

I drove by Planned Parenthood the other day. The usual group of protesters were marching with their “Pray To End Abortions” signs and bloody fetus photos. I am often compelled to ask them if they teach contraception. If they don’t, they’re part of the reason abortions happen.

I’m compelled but I don’t. These people scare me. Remember the good Reverend Donald Spitz commenting on my vegetarian post? He was appalled that I would consider abortion clinic bombers anywhere near as evil as The PETA twits that throw paint on fur coats. He asked me to bow and pray with him to ask the Lord’s forgiveness.

My friend ‘Drea had her car keyed. Someone ran a long scratch down the length of her car because she had a bumper sticker that read “It’s a Choice, Not a Child.”

Pro Choice advocates don’t act this way. Rational people don’t act this way!

If your dogma doesn’t allow you to consider the termination of life before consciousness or the ability to experience pain just remember, it’s none of your Damn business!

No one wants abortions to happen. Let’s get real about education and maybe we can actually bring the numbers down.

If you want to end abortions, you should support Planned Parenthood.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_viol.htm

Thou Shalt Not Want

Kiss My Bling!

More on Health

Republicans' fix for our broken healthcare system seems to boil down to tort reform and allowing us to shop for insurance across state lines.

I agree we need a system that ignores state boundaries but if you if you apply that to our current system you get young people trying to get away from a pool of folks that include the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions. This of course would lead to higher costs in those areas.

As for tort reform, it’s in place in Missouri already. It has lowered insurance costs for doctors by a third. It hasn’t had any effect on our premiums at all. If you’re permanently crippled by medical negligence you’re only allowed $300,000 in this state.

Malpractice suits only add 1 ½ percent to the cost of insurance in the most inflated studies.

It reminds me of climate change deniers that claim global warming is controversial because 1 ½ percent of people watching it aren’t convinced. Most of these “experts” aren’t even saying it’s not happening, they’re saying they’re just not convinced.

Recent polls show Americans are beginning to believe human influenced climate change may not be real. It’s pathetic and we should all be ashamed of ourselves for letting this happen.

As far as health care costs go, we need to put doctors on salary, have “not for profit health insurance (like the rest of the civilized world), drug companies have to stop creating new drugs just to take the place of the old ones whose patents have expired, and focus on preventative health care. You know, like educating people about nutrition and stopping the subsidies of crap crops like corn.

We need to feed cows grass. They would die from malnutrition if they weren’t fed vitamin suppliments. Corn is only good for Fritos and popcorn. It’s a stupid source for bio fuel that leaves as big a carbon footprint as oil and the politicians all know it.

I’m on a rant now. I hate the Democrats as much as the Republicans. They’re cowards with their hands in the pockets of big money. The republicans, at least, aren’t cowards. They unashamedly lie and steal.

Ads

I just noticed a petition to stop government run healthcare in the ad to the left. I do not endorse these ads. I wish I had some control over their content. Public opinion is being manipulated by big money and most people are sheep as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes I think we deserve the corporate rule we live under.