Month: May 2013

States Refusing To Expand Medicaid Are Victimizing The Poorest, Saying Their Lives Do Not Matter, Only That They Are Born!

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It is amazing how states that are anti abortion are also, in many cases, very willing to victimize the poor, once they are born, by refusal to expand Medicaid for the most needy!

So the idea seems to be to make sure everyone is born, and then you are on your own, as far as health care, if you are unfortunate enough to be the poorest in our society in those states, all of which are “red” or Republican states!

Among the states that will punish people who are poor, include:

Texas
Florida
Georgia
Alabama
Louisiana
Mississippi
Kansas

Altogether, about half the states will resist Medicaid expansion, and therefore determine that the lives of the poor who have no medical coverage do not matter!

And IF these people go to emergency rooms, they will get minimal care, and it will cost more than covering them under Medicaid!

So people who believe in the “right to life” are willing to see lives shortened, as long as they are born! After that, you are on your own, including children and the elderly!

What hypocrisy on the part of these state governors and legislatures, and the Republican Party, and yet the people in those states vote Republican out of ignorance and promotion of racism and nativism!

Absolutely unbelievable! Is this the kind of country we want to live in and promote for the future? The concept is maddening!

Washington State Bridge Collapse Another Reminder Of Need For Massive Infrastructure Investment Without Interference Of Politics!

Ronald 72 Comments

News that the Interstate 5 Bridge north of Seattle, Washington, collapsed last night, causing two vehicles to plunge in the water and cause three injuries, is a reminder of the crisis we face in this nation, regarding the urgent need for massive infrastructure investment, with an aging public works system all over the country, and with the reminder of the much more disastrous bridge collapse in Minnesota on Interstate 95 in 2007, which caused the death of 13 people and the injury of 145 others.

Instead of constant politics, and claims we cannot afford such investment in infrastructure, this is another warning of the potential for much greater disasters because of short sightedness on the part of Congressional leaders, who refuse to face the facts that it is the job of the federal government to provide necessary funding for such projects, and if that means higher taxes, so be it!

Religion And Prejudice: Again Evident In Reaction To Boy Scout Decision to Admit Gay Youths

Ronald 11 Comments

The news that the Boy Scouts Of America will allow gay youths as members is a half step, as it still bans gay youths once they reach 18, and gay scout leaders, and that will have to be adjusted over time.

But it is extremely disturbing to see Religion being utilized to promote prejudice, bias, hate and discrimination against gays, as if they choose to be gay!

So we see the Mormon Church, the Catholic Church, and evangelical Christians employing very “Unchristian” values, and also Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Muslims, refusing to recognize how many of each religious group are gay, including some of the protesting leaders, who are “in the closet”, and are true hypocrites!

And it is disturbing that one family, as an example, with five sons, is removing all of them from scouting, as, supposedly, the children asked to be removed, and if that is so, that means they have been taught to hate and to despise gay people, when they will have to cope with plenty of them over a lifetime!

And who can be sure that some of these kids, or others, are secretly gay, and totally paranoid and fearful of being found out, and might cause them to commit suicide because of their guilt and their burden that they know they will NOT be accepted by their own parents and other family members?

This is all very sick and disturbing, but after all, we all know that elements of organized Christianity were infamous for nativism, racism, sexism, and antisemitism in american history! So what else is new?

Fortunately, the number of young people who accept gays is a clear majority and growing, and organized religion is losing adherents rapidly, so when the more devout and older bigots in society pass from the scene, we will have a much more tolerant and open minded society, free of their prejudice, hatred, and bias!

Why Do Black Republican Conservatives Need To Be So Confrontational And Vicious Toward First Black President Barack Obama?

Ronald 6 Comments

There is something about black Republican conservatives that makes them be horribly confrontational and vicious in their attitude toward our first black President, Barack Obama.

So we have the examples of the following, who accuse the Democrats of promoting a “plantation mentality”, and condemn welfare, food stamps, gay rights, Planned Parenthood and other programs and groups, which they claim “enslave” black Americans:

Former Congressman Allen West of Florida, now gracing Fox News Channel as a contributor
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott
Dr. Benjamin Carson, renowned surgeon who has flirted with running for President
Herman Cain, past GOP Presidential contender
Star Parker, syndicated columnist for Scripps-Howard newspapers
Bishop E. W. Jackson, Lieutenant Governor nominee in Virginia
Mackubin Thomas Owens, Professor at US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island
C. Mason Weaver, Radio Talk Show Host
Reverend C. L. Bryant, Tea Party activist and Fox News contributor

Meanwhile, 90 percent of African Americans, including many in the growing black middle class, embrace the Democrats, and most are not looking for “handouts’ or “freebies”, and are insulted by the decision of these people above to spew such hatred and venom, and to undermine all of the good that is being done by our 44th President!

501 C IRS Regulation: GOP Attack Is To Destroy Ability To Tax, And To Transform America!

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The Internal Revenue code includes 501C, which is designed to give non profit organizations an exemption from federal income tax, with the non profit organizations to be engaged in “social welfare”.

It is NOT designed to give protection from income tax to organizations engaged in politics, but that is exactly what has been going on, allowing left wing and right wing groups to be protected from taxation, while engaged in political activities, which was NOT a purpose of the IRS regulations.

In so doing, the right wing groups have now mounted an attack on the IRS itself, due to the activities of IRS bureaucrats in Cincinnati, and this is exactly what the Tea Party groups want—to destroy the ability to tax, and transform the nation’s future to an extremist agenda, with ultimate aim of destroying the New Deal and Great Society!

If their attack on the IRS is successful long term, it undermines the ability of the nation to deal with its domestic and foreign challenges, so this is not a light matter in any sense! It is an issue of the long term survival of the ability of the national government to do its job!

Top Three American Cities Now Have Jewish Mayors, A First, But Will New York City Elect Anthony Weiner To Succeed Michael Bloomberg In November?

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For the first time in American history, the top three cities in America will have Jewish Mayors.

We already had Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, and now we have Mayor Elect Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, who has a Jewish mother, and a fafher of Spanish, Italian, and Indigenous heritage, which is why his name does not sound Jewish! Garcetti will also be the youngest Mayor of Los Angeles, at age 42, in the past century.

However, Bloomberg is finishing up his third and last term, and the only Jewish candidate who could succeed him in the Mayoralty is former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who was forced to resign over his exposure of x rated pictures on the internet two years ago.

Weiner is attempting a comeback, and has $5 million in his bank account, plus name recognition, although a lot of it might be seen as negative, because of the sex scandal which brought him to resignation.

Is there redemption for Weiner, as there was for former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who won back the former Congressional seat he held before he was Governor, and in the wake of his pursuit of a lover in Argentina, while married and having three sons?

It is hard to know at this point, as New York City can be a forgiving place, and has already as an announced candidate the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, a woman who is a declared lesbian and is married to her partner: and Bill De Blasio, the NYC Public Advocate, whose wife is African American, while De Blasio is white.

Certainly, there are some who would not like someone involved in a sex scandal; or a married lesbian; or a white guy married to a black woman! So there is plenty of room for outrage by people of different stripes, who do not like any or all of these situations.

But this is modern America, and NYC represents a microcosm of that America, and the issues of sex, sexual preference, and race will play out and, likely, elect one of these three individuals as the next Mayor of NYC, and if Weiner wins, again, we will have the top three cities in America with Jewish Mayors!

The True Heroes Of Natural And Man Made Disasters: Teachers, Nurses, Paramedics, Police Officers, Firefighters!

Ronald 24 Comments

Again, with the Oklahoma and Boston Marathon tragedies, as so many others, it is PUBLIC servants–teachers, nurses, paramedics, police officers, firefighters–who are the true heroes, doing beyond the call of duty to rescue and save lives!

But yet, these public servants are constantly pilloried and condemned, if they demand a living wage and decent benefits, as appreciation for their services, while people in the world of business make outrageous salaries and perks on Wall Street, and think that they deserve what they get, despite having messed up the economy, causing the Great Recession of 2008, as they have in every recession since the Great Depression!

We are told to worship Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase, and other bank CEO’s who, by all justification, should be in prison for their actions!

We allow the Koch Brothers and the Walmart heirs to run rampant without any consideration of how they exploit their work force, and these are just examples, not the only ones.

We have Apple and Walmart and Target and numerous other companies which exploit foreign workers, and do not give a damn about safety or a decent living wage for these poor women and men who died in the disaster recently in Bangladesh!

It is time to hold these corporate leaders and companies accountable, and stop complaining about public servants who deserve respect and dignity and better pay for their sacrifices and dedication to the people they serve!

Joplin, Missouri; SuperStorm Sandy; Moore, Oklahoma: Reason To Pay More Taxes To Help Our Fellow Citizens!

Ronald 14 Comments

America has gone through one natural disaster after another, more so in recent years, at greater cost of life and property.

The climate change deniers say it is par for the course, that nothing unusual is occurring, and that global warming is not the issue.

But even worse is that the same people in government who deny any concept of climate change and the need to react to it, also are the same people who, when a natural disaster occurs, fight against federal disaster aid, as in SuperStorm Sandy.

And if they, grudgingly, give up and say that disaster aid should be offered, they want the least aid possible, and only if there are budget cuts elsewhere to cover for the disaster aid.

So we have the two Oklahoma Senators–two of the absolute worst members of the US Senate at any time in our history—who represent one of the poorest states, but also a state of the oil industry, who take a hard hearted view on disaster aid, and budget cuts to compensate for such disaster aid!

James Inhofe and Tom Coburn have no problem in being “skin flints” on disaster aid, but if such is to be given, then hurt the poor, the sick, the unemployed, rather than make corporations pay fair taxes, make the wealthy pay more taxes, make all of us understand that when natural disaster hits, it is not just the people in the area of the disaster who suffer, but instead we all suffer!

It is the responsibility of all of us to help our fellow citizens, with the corporations and the wealthy being expected to pay more, but all of us need to pay more, and understand the Christian view that we are all our “brother’s keeper”!

What has happened to common decency, common dignity, and common humanity?

What has so sickened the body politic that all that matters is selfishness, greed, and lack of concern for our fellow citizens?

Is this the America that we want to live in? Is this the America that our Founding Fathers believed in when they created the Constitution? Is this the America that people have fought and died for in our wars? Is this the America we want to bequeath to our children and our children’s children?

This is a time to think about values and what really matters, rather than just money and things and possessions, and not caring about people we do not know!

It is a time to come together and strike back at these vicious right wing, narrow minded people who only care about themselves, and no one else!

Crises In The US Military: Sexual Violence, Suicide, And Poor Veterans Care

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The US military, said to be the best in the world, is reeling from three crises:

Widespread sexual violence, with the vast majority of victims being female, but also not a small number of males

The growing suicide rate among active military, as well as retired military, on the average of one nearly every 40-50 minutes around the clock.

Massive backlog in taking care of veterans benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

These crises threaten the ability of the military to recruit people, and to give needed assistance to those already in the military, as well as those who have left the military and have physical and emotional needs that are not being met, from their experiences in the military.

Psychological depression has caused an alarming rate of suicides, and sometimes, other members of the family are victimized as well.

We have always been ready to send troops overseas, without a care for what that does to the troops, mostly young males and some females, who have no clue as to what they will face when in combat zones.

But we are never ready to meet their needs when they face crises while in the military, or when they separate from military duty.

This reality is unconscionable, and action must be taken to deal with these massive crises that undermine our ability to face the challenges of the world in the 21st century!

Bill And Hillary Clinton Revisited: The 1990s And Now!

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Throughout the 1990s, Bill and Hillary Clinton were put through the constant torment of accusation, investigation, rumors, character assassination, and, ultimately, the stain of impeachment by a Republican party and a conservative movement led by party officials who were corrupt themselves, including in their personal life, but setting out to destroy President Clinton and any hope of his wife having a political future!

But Bill Clinton survived the impeachment, left office very popular, and he and his wife, an accomplished leader as US Senator from New York and Secretary of State, remain highly popular among the American people, with every indication, at this point, that if Hillary chooses to run for President in 2016, that she would leave other Democrats, as well as the Republican opposition, in the dust!

This is, ultimately, why there is the attack going on right now by the right wing to build up the so called “scandals”, that are not a scandal, but a political ploy to weaken President Barack Obama, so he cannot achieve any of his goals in his second term, but also to destroy Hillary Clinton’s prospects for the White House!

Face the facts: Hillary Clinton does not have a perfect record in public office, any more than Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, or anyone else! But to believe that her shortcomings, any more than theirs, is enough to make the mediocrity of Republican leadership or Presidential candidates able to overcome her and return the White House to Republican hands in 2016 is to live in a state of delusion and fantasy! As in the 1990s, the Clintons may be under attack, but they will triumph, ultimately in public opinion, as much as will President Barack Obama, in the face of the lunatics who wish to impeach him and remove him from office, with the odds of removal even lower than Bill Clinton faced in 1998-1999!