February 04, 2011
April 17, 2010
Healthcare passes and we're ALL still here
T-minus 25 days and counting since Congress passed health care legislation and - nothing. The world did not spin off into the abyss, kids trudged off to school, parents headed for the office, life went on.
That's got to really suck for T-baggers and their ilk who surely expected Revelation-like plagues, disasters and disappearances once President Obama signed the measure into law. Of course, none of their doomsday predictions materialized, so what's a disappointed right wing extremist to do these days.
How about ramp up the number of death threats to Congress? Since passage of the health care reform bill there has been a threefold increase in serious threats to members of Congress, which Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance W. Gainer says are nearly all from opponents of health care reform. The threats range from the vulgar to death threats.
WAY TO GO, TEAM! Because that's America does when it doesn't get its way. We tell the other side, we're gonna kill you!
Man, are we ever polarized. And I hate to be nay sayer, bit it doesn't look like there's much hope for a reconciliation. It's either I get mine or I'm going home. And before I do, I'm gonna kill you!
Yes, we ALL are still here - the crazies, the pissed-off, the high and the mighty, the self-righteous and the simply selfish. Even Rush Limbaugh is still here, even though "Rash" told one of his callers he would leave the country and move to Costa Rica if "Obama's freedom killing and life threatening health care plan" passed. Well, it did and the big man is still here, which is surprising because it's got to be a whole lot easier to get fake scrips your Oxycontin jones in Costa Rica than here.
Pretty soon ALL the fresh out of ideas Republicriticals are going need something to medicate themselves with, because the rest of their doomsday scenarios also aren't going to be realized, and then what are they going to do? Imagine the downer that's coming when we wake up a year from now and:
1. The government takes over economy.Not likely in this capitalism economy. Too many BIG TIME investors would lose a lot if the government took over health care. Insurance stocks are doing just fine, and both pharmaceutical companies and hospitals just picked up a whole lot of NEW customers who now have insurance. Bottom-line: the private sector will always control the market.
2. The federal debt explodes.That didn't seem to be a big concern when the Republicans blew the debt out of the stratosphere during their eight years at the wheel. If the debt does go up, health care reform won't be the cause. According to the Congressional Budget Office, new health care taxes and cost savings will reduce government deficits by $143 billion through 2019.
3. Businesses implode: Not the smart ones. Business will do what business has always done. Yes, companies will have additional costs, just as they do every year when health insurance premiums go up. Smart businesses solve problems. Stupid business asks Congress for bailout money.
4. Doctors will pack it in.And do what? Doctors already don't like the current system because insurance companies tell them what to do - and since when have you ever met a doctor who didn't like giving and calling the shots. Docs are worried about dollars, and how health care reform might cut into theirs. We don't need more rich doctors we need affordable health care. Don't worry about doctors. The AMA will do that for you.
5. We'll get socialized medicine. We've got "socialized" security and I don't hear the uproar about that. Look, under the new reforms you get to keep your existing health care, you have more health care choices and a bunch of your fellow Americans who didn't previously have any coverage can now get health care of their own. Sounds pretty "American" to me.
Want to know what is really going as a result of health care reform?
Democrats who supported reform will lose their Congressional seats in the November elections and Republicans who opposed reform will gain seats. Business as usual in the polarized ping pong game that is our political system in America.
The only thing that will have changed is that one side will go down having voted to make America better. That not socialism. That's patriotic and it should be celebrated.
The other side will have managed to hold on to what it prizes most in America, position and power. That's anything but patriotic but we're not likely to see a tea party which condemns that.
January 04, 2010
December 01, 2009
Stick a fork in, America. You're DONE!
America’s greatest days are way long gone.
We once cured disease and invented amazing technologies. The world admired and respected us. We once were something pretty special. Now we're just a punch line at the end of a bad joke.
We've become a nation of self-absorbed little Trolls who couldn’t care less about our country. We create our own messes and avoid taking responsibility for them. We ignore all ideas not our own.
We’ve got the collective memory of a snow cone. As long as it looks like us, talks like us and doesn’t cost us money; it’s all good. Just don’t ask us to sacrifice anything because that would mean having to unplug our IPOD and expose ourselves to the real world and perhaps an original thought.
If you’ve been paying attention, and most of us haven’t, it’s easy to understand our fall. Here's my own Top 10 list of WHY AMERICA IS DONE. It’s scary because it says more about who were as a people than all the bumper stickers on our hybrid SUVs.
10. Rep. Joe Wilson. Why were so many people shocked when the GOP "Gentleman" congressman from South Carolina shamefully interrupted President Obama's health care address to Congress? You could see this one coming from a long way out. Our politics are so screwed up its now acceptable for a member of Congress to disrespect the President during a nationally televised address and call him a liar. Imagine the absolute rage which would have come from the Republican Party if then-Senator Barack Obama had stood up and shouted down President George Bush during an address to Congress? He would have been tarred and feathered. "You Lie! Joe” claimed his outburst was spontaneous and not meant to be disrespectful. The English novelist Samuel Butler knew better when he said "spontaneity is only a term for man's ignorance." Next time, Joe, just bring your sheet to the lynching and be done with it.
8 The Real Housewives of
7. Conservative Talk Radio. I know it’s popular, but so was fake vomit for a time. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, et al. have been laughing their fat butts off all the way to the bank for years on the herd of sheep who buy their books, banter and bullshit. These are not serious people, people. These are carnies that have a sideshow to sell and keep circling back to your town because they know Original Thought ain’t high on your priority list. I get it. If all you want to do is blame everyone else not like you for all your problems, keep buying this stinky cheese. Otherwise, wake up and smell the burning crosses.
6. I Support the Troops.Really? I bought one of those magnetic car ribbons too and it lasted a week until some real American patriot stole it. That’s the extent of most Americans’ support for our troops – they won’t even fork over $4.00 to buy their own bumper sticker. It’s easier to steal it off a stranger’s car - all the pride and none of the commitment. If we really supported our Troops we would be doing much more than just putting magnets on our car bumpers. We would be demanding answers and heads on pikes as to how our best and brightest were sent off to fight a war based on either stupidity or lies. The only "Mission Accomplished" during the past eight years is that War on Terror Profiteers like Halliburton and Blackwater are getting rich while our Troops just keep dying.
5. Corporate America. Greed IS GOOD, Baby; and Corporate America has got it REAL GOOD. They lobbied Congress for 20 years to ease regulation, look the other way and ponzie-up gazillions in tax breaks and incentives; and when their investment scams and funny money-laundering wipes out
4. Tea-Baggers, Birthers and Joker Posters. Conservatives are just not happy people. The election of President Barack Obama has bent their reality and sent them spiraling into the Twilight Zone of foolish, noobish and lame behavior. They hold Tea Parties to celebrate a health care system that charges 30% in administrative fees. Many actually believe the President isn't an American citizen. Others spent some of their beer money on posters depicting the President as the Joker. These people are fresh out of meaningful ideas and solutions. What they are apparently not fresh out of is bump from Rush Limbaugh's drug stash.
3. Kanye West. Can you say, PUNK? This loser just doesn't get it. He storms onto the stage at the 2009 Video Music Awards and interrupts the presentation of the Best Female Video Award to Taylor Swift, cutting the teen singer off, grabbing the microphone and protesting in support of Beyoncé. During the same awards show in 2007, "Punkye" lost his temper and delivered a similar rant. He also took the stage at the American Music Awards in 2004, declaring he was robbed of being named Best New Artist. Interestingly, his rants always are self-serving and usually directed at female artists. I would love to see him try this crap with Toby Keith or Metallica on stage? How is it that we are so willing to put a boot in the ass of foreigners to ensure their women receive fair treatment, but we won't slap down punks like Kanye West when they disrespect our women here on our own soil?
2. Balloon Boy. Parenting in this country has fallen to a new low. The parents of 6-year-old Falcon Heene should have been suspect when they actually agreed to name their son Falcon.Now they just need to go to jail after staging an elaborate hoax involving a homemade metallic balloon which they said was accidentally released with Falcon inside. This one had it all - "breaking news" footage of the runaway balloon flying through the air and anguished tears from a family expressing fears their son was trapped inside. The truth, however, was more stark - little Falcon had been stuffed "up-up-and-away" in the family attic by Dad to create a media sensation which hopefully would lead to marketing the family for - you guessed it - a reality television show. The parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, got a taste of TV Celebreality when they previously appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap" and have since been trying to sell the idea of another reality show based on the antics of their wacky family. Hey, here's an idea - "American Family Idle"- follow the antics of the Hopeless Heenes as Dad is introduced to his new love buddy at the ADX Supermax Prison; Mom gets community service time as nanny to the OctoMom and the kids get a much needed break from their loser parents, moving into Michael Jackson's now-empty Neverland Ranch.
1. If the President wants to tell your kids to stay in school, that's a BAD thing. The tipping point which sent America over the edge was the day conservatives peed their pants over President Obama's planned nationwide address to school children encouraging them to stay in school, study and work hard to be better citizens. School officials across the nation were blasted with calls and emails from frantic parents who demanded that the speech not be mandatory for students to watch, accusing the President of injecting politics into the classroom. Many school districts, sadly including some right here in the Metroplex, decided not to show the speech. Where was the outrage when Ronald Reagan gave a similar school broadcast in 1988 or when George H.W. Bush did the same in 1991? What the difference? Oh, yeah - those guys were White and Republican.
America - it's time to do something before it all slips away. Turn off the TV and engage in some actual REALITY - organize your very own public act of resistance against the stupid, the narrow-minded, the self-serving, the same-old-same-old. Tell the bigoted and the backwards to shut up.
Enough, already.
November 24, 2009
September 16, 2009
September 01, 2009
August 06, 2009
Just answer the Damn Question, please?
I'm having one of those days.
There are just too many things to do and not enough time to get to any of it. I've got these confusing thoughts and questions jamming my airwaves, making it impossible to concentrate on any of it. My mental plate is just too full.
Here's the problem: Why can't we get any REAL answers to questions that keep being asked but are always side-stepped, slicked-out and spun so much we forget the original question? Maybe that's the planned effect - we keep asking and they keep avoiding. I guess it's working, because my head still hurts.
Still, it would be nice to get just a few honest answers to the pressing questions of the day. A REAL answer might just lead to a REAL solution, and how scary would that be? I'm not holding out much hope, but here goes:
1. Former VP Dick Cheney: He says the use water-boarding to gain information is a "no-brainer" and that "a dunk in water can save lives." The former VP insists that water-boarding is not torture, which is good because water-boarding is specifically banned as "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" by the Geneva accords. Water-boarding dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, and those guys knew a thing or two about torture. So does the United States. In 1901 Major Edwin Glenn was court martialed and sentenced to 10 years hard labor for using the "water cure" on insurgents in the Philippines. Japanese soldiers who subjected US prisoners to water-boarding were prosecuted as war criminals after WWII, and in 1968, a US army officer was court martialed for helping to water board a prisoner in Vietnam.
Question for Mr. Cheney: "Are you freakin' kidding me?"" I guess the former VP is saying anything goes in the New World Order, so its open season on our soldiers if captured by Al Queda, Iran, the Taliban or Syria. Here's what I think. Anything done in dark places because you don't want others to see what you are doing is inherently bad - like torture - and calling it anything else is disgusting.
2. Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Leadershiphave got things all locked up and still the MAJORITY can't get much done. Democrats control The White House, The Senate and the House of Representatives, and yet nothing is being accomplished to solve the nation's serious health care issue. For all the change we were promised, it's still business as usual in Washington, DC. -politicians debate and the country moves closer to a full economic meltdown because we can't find an answer to our woeful health care system. Speaker Pelosi has all the cards on her side of the aisle and her favorability rating with the American public is on par Dick Cheney! Is that what we really wanted from the Election of 2009?
Question for Madame Speaker: "WTF?"You better lock it up Ms. Pelosi and you better do so quickly. We voted the Republicans out office because they lied to us and didn't govern effectively. What are you and the Democrats in power doing differently? Stop gloating over your big election win and start governing - pass a health care bill that offers real reform and get this country moving forward. America doesn't want ultra-liberal politics any more than it wanted right-wing extremism. We want a government that listens, works and makes us proud. Do Better.
3. The Family : The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Poweris a new and scary book by author Jeff Sharlet about a Washington DC-based political organization (The Fellowship Foundation) best-know for its National Prayer Breakfast at which every U.S. President since Eisenhower has spoken. The Family is led by Douglas Coe, perhaps the most important religious leader you've never heard of. Author Sharlet infiltrated the group and reveals some troubling relationships between The Family, and many current and former Washington insiders, including members of Congress. The Fellowship has been the subject of controversy for its secrecy, involvement in sex scandals, ties to third-world dictators and oppressive regimes, and approving references to Adolph Hitler.
Question for America: Why haven't you read this book? A National Prayer Breakfast is a good idea - but a group which refers to itself "the new chosen" isn't a group I want having influence with members of Congress - some of whom rent rooms from the organization's controversial and sometimes secretive Washington rowhouse known as "C Street."
OK, I've asked. Now let's see if we get any answers. I won't hold my breath.
July 01, 2009
A visit to Oklahoma City stopped me in my Tracks
I was going to write something completely different.
My idea was to comment on how far America seems to have strayed from those self-evident truths stated so eloquently by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence. I planned comparisons of the "long train of abuses and usurpations" which the Declaration's signers first recognized as evidence of absolute Despotism and some present-day "abuses and usurpations" that we as Americans find ourselves struggling with.
It was going to be good stuff. But that was before I went to Oklahoma City. A visit to Oklahoma City changed my perspective. It stopped me in my tracks.
The words on the bookend Gates of Time entries to The Oklahoma City National Memorial convey all that needs to be said here. "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."Comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity aren't necessarily what I expected to find at the site of the most significant act of domestic terrorism on American soil. I didn't expect a lot of what I experienced there.
Like the response to the event it was meant to commemorate, the Oklahoma City National Memorial grabs you and doesn't let go. Nothing is withheld. It's riveting and heartbreaking and angry and hopeful all in the same moment.
On the morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rental truck with explosives in front of The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Buildingand, at 9:02 am, a massive blast sheared off the entire north side of the building, killing 168 people.
That's what I knew before visiting the Memorial. With each step I took, there was much more waiting to be learned.
The lesson begins outside. Across a Reflecting Pool at each end stand twin gates bearing a time-stamped frame of the destruction. The East Gate represents 9:01 am - the last minute of innocence before the attack. The West Gate represents 9:03 am, the time that changed us forever, and the hope and help began.
On the east side of the reflecting pool is The Survivor Wall, built from salvaged pieces of granite from the Murrah Building lobby and inscribed with more than 600 names of those who survived the attack. On the west side stands the The Survivor Tree, an American Elm, which withstood the full force of the attack. All the survivors of the attack are living symbols of resilience. Nearby is The Rescuers' Orchard, smaller trees which surround and protect the Survivor Tree. An inscription encircling the Survivor Tree facing the orchard reads: "To the courageous and caring who responded from near and far, we offer our eternal gratitude, as a thank you to the thousands of rescuers and volunteers who helped."
In the aftermath of the blast, children from around the world sent letters of encouragement to the people of Oklahoma City, represented at the Memorial by a wall of tiles in the Children's Area. You don't notice at first, but each tile features a small child's hand in brightly-colored paint. It takes your breath away. A perimeter fence was installed to protect the site of the Murrah Building after the bombing. More than 200 feet of the original Fence still stands and over the years, visitors have left more than 60,000 tokens of love and hope on the Fence, many collected and preserved in Memorial Archives. On the day I visited, church groups, families and motorcycle club members mingled easily together, leaving their own remembrances. The Fence is one of those places we all can come together. Moving inside to The Memorial Museum will take you on a chronological tour through the events of April 19, 1995, and the days, weeks, months and years that followed the bombing. Powerful exhibits entitled like "Confusion," "Chaos," "Rescue and Recovery," "Funerals and Mourning" and "Impact" leave you with a deep sense of the loss suffered here. There's hope too, in a gallery of Origami Cranes, and in the stories of the Survivors and through the work of the people of Oklahoma City who have rebuilt a community and remembered loved ones lost. The Memorial Museum is powerful in its ability to make you see and remember and feel. No matter where you were on April 19, 1995, you will be immersed in the emotions of Oklahoma City on that day. You will be present at the Oklahoma City Water Board meeting and experience the impact of the explosion through the only known audio recording of the blast. You will hear first-hand Survivor and Rescuer accounts. You will attend funerals and memorial services. During your time at The Memorial Museum, you are a citizen of Oklahoma City. I found myself returning several times to photos of The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Buildingtaken in the hours and days after the bombing. We've all seen those photos. For the first time in all the times I've seen those same photos, the word "scar" came to mind. The jagged "scar" across the front of the Murrah Building. The anguished "scar" on the faces of victims, survivors, families and rescuers. The terrible angry "scar" on our Nation. You will feel that same "scar" today when you stand at The Field of Empty Chairs. They stand in silence, 168 chairs in nine rows to represent each floor of the building, and each chair bears the name of someone killed on that floor. 19 of the chairs are noticeable smaller than the others - one for each of the children killed inside the Day Care Center on the second floor. Those 168 empty chairs stand silent and speak loudly. The people whose names are inscribed on the chairs are further memorialized inside the Gallery of Honor, where tributes to each are featured along with photos and personal momentos. The impact of the loss is heavy in this place. You know you are standing on sacred ground. If this Country has a Heartland, somewhere to discover our true selves, that place is a 3.3-acre piece of Holy Ground in downtown Oklahoma City. More than ever, right now, America needs to go Oklahoma City. Oh, and that other piece I was going to write? I had planned to finish with the closing line of the Declaration of Independence. I find its eloquence more in context here, and I offer it in memory of the events of April 19, 1995.
"With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
June 08, 2009
Steven G. Foster, CMP, CTA
A traveler on America's Open Road. Roll On!
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