Simple question for the day.

Whether you are gay or straight, do you think that you could be convinced to change your orientation?  The "religious" right thinks you could. I guess they don't think much of you. (oh wait, that is not news)

Nuf said.

As the Supreme Court hears arguments regarding Health Care, I began thinking about an acquaintance from the flea market. He and his wife are struggling antique dealers with no heath insurance. He's a rabid "Conservative" who thinks that Obama is the worst and that Obama's policy's are completely intrusive. Last fall his wife had a minor heart attack, went to the ER, spent a couple weeks in the hospital, with specialists etc. Fortunately she is fine. in receiving care, she ran up a 5 figure plus bill. But who paid for her care? They didn't, we did. Jimmy's (an alias) attitude is "Hey, they have to take care of us, when she got sick the ER had to take her and the hospital can't get anything from us because we have nothing." Yes, this is as close to an exact quote as I can recall. I asked if he still thought that the new medical insurance laws were bad and his response was simple. "The government can't tell ME what I have to do." ay yi yi.

Okay, now let's look at the facts. Whether or not they were insured, his wife would have had the heart attack. Whether or not they were insured, the same care would have been given. Whether or not they were insured, the bill would have been about same for the care given. (In fact, more than likely it would have been lower becuase their insurance company would have had a contract for services with the hospital). The only difference is that in 20 years they have not contributed a dime to health insurance and we all paid their bill. That is how insurance works, you contribute and if you need, you are covered. What my acquaintance did was get coverage after the fact with no contribution.

On the steps of the Supreme Court today, Santorum railed at the very thought of the Government telling anyone what to do. Hey Rick, every single day in hundreds of ways, the Government tells us what to do. On the Federal level, it tells us who must register for the Selective Service, it tell us what drugs are safe and legal, it tells us what standards of safety must be maintained by airlines, and on and on. On the State level, government tells us that we have to have the elevators in tall buildings inspected, it tells us we cannot operate a motor vehicle without insurance, again and on and on.

This is what Government is for, to protect and provide for the best interest of all. Every American (both legal and undocumented) already has heath coverage in that no hospital can refuse to care for a patient in need. Why not try to better the system and make sure every American participates by paying a share of the costs of this care. Why not see that young adults are able to stay on their parents policies while transitioning into being productive members of society. Why not insure that a pre-existing condition does not disqualify anyone from receiving coverage. These are all successes of the Health Care laws passed under Barak Obama.

Dear Tea Party and friends, cut the political crap. Start caring more about the people and less about winning the Republican nomination.

Nuf said.

Using all census date through 2000, the web site http://howmanyofme.com figures that in the United States there are:

7 people named Joe Blow
743 Ronald McDonald
221 John Doe but only 17 Jane Doe
48 Peter Piper
78 Betty Crocker
4 Karl Marx
1 Barack Obama

"1 or fewer" people named Rick Santorum
"1 or fewer" people named Mitt Romney

Do we get to choose? I'll take the "or fewer"

Nuf said

Following my post yesterday, I was sent the following quote:

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right” - Abraham Lincoln.

While a brilliant line by an incredibly gifted orator, Lincoln's quote completely misses the point. (Or perhaps exemplifies the point perfectly.)

Whether or not there is some higher being that is "always right" is completely irrelevant. What is relevant is in 2011 there are a very small handful of predominantly, middle aged white men in places like Rome, St. Lake City and Tehran, who feel that they and they alone each know what this "right" is and that they and they alone know how this "right" should be accepted by the 7 billion inhabitants of the world. Again, these are just men, human beings, mere mortals, who feel empowered to speak the "right" for a presumed higher being.

More troublesome, is that there are (currently) just 4 middle aged+- white men in the Republican party, competing to be the most powerful person in the world and each of the 4 feel a special connection to this knowledge of "right." The "right" that each of these believe has done harm to millions and the election of any one of these 4 to the most powerful position in the world could only bring devastation to millions around the world. One's personal belief system is a wonderful thing, but history has shown over and over that zealotry and forced conversion to a belief system will fail each and every time. This country was made great by its protection of the rights of others and by the people's tolerance of other's rights. This history is collapsing under the weight of the current era of right wing extremism whose fire is fanned by self serving politicians willing to say and do anything to get elected.

nuf said

A couple thousand years ago, the population of the earth was roughly 200 million. There was a nice guy, okay a really really nice guy,  who was a paradigm of selflessness and kindness. His teachings were inspirational and a variety of fan clubs were formed to honor his life.

Unfortunately for the past 2000 years these fan clubs have fought war after war against each other and killed millions just because they were not a member of the right club. Roughly 500 years ago an inquisition began that lasted over 300 years with the sole goal of forcing the beliefs of one fan club on the disbelievers. As recently as 60 years ago, 6 MILLION human beings were exterminated because one crazy zealot and his supporters did not think theirs was the right fan club.

Today, zealots around the world try to push their club upon third world countries and the less educated. In India, China and Africa, the beliefs of these fan clubs cause untold misery upon women by refusing to support health care initiatives that would better the lives of these women.

And now,  all of the Republican Presidential candidates claim to be guided by one or more of these fan clubs. They claim that they support each other's fan clubs and believe that while their fan club is the "right" one, the other fan clubs are kind of, sort of okay. They pronounce that this country and its population should be guided by the belief of the fan clubs that follow a 2,000 year old nice man. Thanks, but I think the Constitution separates the operation and decisions of government from the beliefs of fan clubs.

Nuf said.

Barack Obama is NOT the first Black President, he is the first President who happens to be black.

While he would not be the first President with belief in christianity, god forbid (tongue firmly in cheek) Rick Santorum were elected President, he would however be the first christian President. Santorum's decisions and choices would not be based on the constitution nor the best interests of the country and its citizens. His actions would be based on religious zealotry and biases. Is this what the country needs or wants?

nuf said