Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Thank you, Mr. President.

Yes, the heavy lifting of health care reform had to be tackled first. Not cap and trade, not financial reform. Thank you for the vision, the effort, and the guts. Only a few of us believed.

But now, there is some business that HAS to be next. Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.

We need oxygen out here. Our local employers who have not already fallen are hanging on by their fingertips. Capital needs to flow again, regardless of it's source, be it relaxed requirements, government spending at a community level, housing subsidies. As quickly as possible, and don't worry about nuance or endless debates about what is "fair."

While you and congress try to figure out how to staunch the wounds caused by the behemoth banks, our local banks are being buried by the weight of Washington's indifference. It's a crisis, even if you don't hear much about it back there where you are all employed.

This needs to be tackled NOW, for the health of our communities, our economy, and frankly, for the Democratic Party.

Monday, March 22, 2010

"Faggot, nigger, baby killer"

These are the words thrown at Congressmen of the United States by Tea Party activists on the day of the health care vote. This is what was encouraged by Republicans from the balconies of the Capitol with hand lettered signs, words actually spoken in the chamber.

Republicans could have helped craft a bill that included their principles, brought more accountability, insisted on limitations to malpractice, increased competition, provided rationale instead of irrationality. Instead, they decided to vilify and destroy.

This is the new language of the Republican party.

Right wing gasbag

Paul Broun is a despicable political hack.

After the health care vote, Broun said to Democrats: “Are you so arrogant that you know what’s best for the American people? ... Are you so ignorant to be oblivious to the wishes of the American people?”

According to Broun, only HE knows what's best for the American people.
Broun, listen up: You LOST the last election. Obama WON the last election. So did the democrats. THAT is the will of the people. Not you, and your posturing morality.

Broun tried to prevent soldiers over seas from buying Playboy. In a stunning display of ignorance, he said that wages paid to soldiers still belonged to the government which should have a say in how those soldiers spend their money. This man is not qualified to be in government at ANY level.

Paul Broun is a gas bag. That he has stolen a coat of red, white and blue just makes him a gas bag and a thief.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Drop abortion insurance.

The abortion issue in the health care debate is divisive, unnecessary and wrong. It is time to drop it and move on to getting health care for more Americans.

Including abortion as a health care entitlement in this country at this time is simply a mistake. It was always an over reaching, an example of the hubris of the left, a bit of Bush-like "we won, get over it." They thought they had the votes to ram it through. Then they didn't.

Aside from the vitriol it was bound to inflame, we can not afford to be a nanny state, taking care of every misstep any individual is likely to make. It is time the left recognized that consequences are as important in reforming the health care system as universal coverage.

That is another use of the word "choice." Enabling every individual we want to insure to avoid any consequences of choices they make is to guarantee a system we can't afford.

It would be nice to increase premiums on people who have too many Big Macs and Big Gulps as well. If they choose to skate the thin ice of obesity, heart disease and diabetes, they and not we should pay the higher price. No, I don't know how to separate life style choices from inherited traits.

But those issue are not hot button issues like abortion. On that we also have to recognize we live in a pluralistic society, and there are some things we just can't ask our neighbors to pay for.

Otherwise they won't pay for anything at all.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

The lies of Fox "News."

They lie with numbers. They lie with "facts." Sometimes, they just lie.

Fox News is right wing propaganda. Watch this video.