Jesus Christ

Five Years Of “ObamaCare” Successes, And Ted Cruz Is Now Applying To Be Covered!

Ronald Leave a comment

It has been five years since “ObamaCare” became law, and it has been a massive success in so many ways!

And to top it off, its biggest critic, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the first announced Republican Presidential candidate, despite saying his goal is to repeal “every word” of the legislation, is now going on “ObamaCare” since his wife will be taking a leave of absence from her Wall Street job as he runs for President! This mirrors the complete hypocrisy of Cruz, all Republicans, and the conservative think tanks who have bitterly opposed the law since Day One.

President Barack Obama pointed out this week that “ObamaCare” is the Republican and conservative (Heritage Foundation) plan of 1993, in opposition to Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton’s more expansive health care plan. Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole, the Republican leaders, who became, respectively, the Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader after the midterm Congressional elections of 1994, endorsed the plan, and Mitt Romney adopted the basics of it when he brought about “RomneyCare” in Massachusetts in 2006. And yet, he refused to endorse “ObamaCare” despite the many similarities to his own state plan, and claimed it was not designed for national adoption, and only good in his state, total hypocrisy, which marked his constantly shifting and lying Presidential campaign in 2012!

The Affordable Care Act, the official name for “ObamaCare”, has done the following over the past five years:

130 million Americans cannot be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

76 million Americans with private medical plans have received expanded access to free preventative services.

16.4 million Americans have gained health care coverage since the law passed, people who never had such coverage before now.

11.7 million people have signed up for Health Insurance Marketplace Plans in 2015.

9.4 million senior citizens have saved more than $11.5 billion on prescription drug costs since 2010.

5.7 million young adults under 26 have been able to have health care coverage under their parents’ plans.

And now, Ted Cruz and his family can be covered under a plan he has tried to destroy, and is still committed to destroying if he becomes President.

But that is not going to happen, as Ted Cruz is a Joseph McCarthy look alike and as much of a “bomb thrower” as the infamous leader of the “Red Scare” of the 1950s was, and has cost the government and taxpayers a loss of $24 million in the forced government shutdown in late 2011, a totally reckless act!

This man comes across as a total lunatic, and his dad is more extreme than him, the worst example of an nutty right wing Christian evangelical demagogue, who preaches hate and division, rather than the true teachings of Jesus Christ.

And the fact that Cruz had a captive audience of students at Liberty University, who were forced to attend his Presidential announcement, or be forced to pay $10 to the university, is totally mind boggling!

The true nature of Ted Cruz is shown by his willingness to accept “ObamaCare” while trying to smother it for the past five years, not caring about the health care and lives of millions of Americans!

Alabama And Gay Marriage: The Shame Of Roy Moore, Clarence Thomas, And Antonin Scalia

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So Alabama becomes the 37th state to see gay marriage in effect, and it is to the shame of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, and Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, that they will go down in history as hateful, divisive jurists who use Christianity to justify their hate and defile Jesus Christ at the same time.

Moore is the controversial top jurist in a state which still has the shame of being the center of civil rights controversies, including the bombing of a church in Birmingham which killed four young black girls; the use of police dogs, tear gas and high pressure water hoses against peaceful civil rights marchers in Birmingham; the spectacle of Governor George Wallace standing in the door of the Registrar’s Office at the University of Alabama to try to prevent two black students from registering for classes; and “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama, when police attacked peaceful demonstrators on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, shocking Americans who could not believe what was happening, over what was the push for voting rights.

Fifty years later, the spectacle of the leading jurist in the state of Alabama, ordering legal authorities in the state to refuse to grant same sex marriage licenses, is a mockery of the rule of law, and of obedience to federal courts and the Constitution. And to see Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia make a public denunciation of their colleagues on the Court, refusing to stop gay marriage until the Court decides in June on this matter, is a rearguard action by two Justices who are a disgrace to the Court, and has displayed constant conflict of interest in their dealings with the Koch Brothers and others who they should steer clear of. It is a clear indication of the incompetence and arrogance of these two right wing Justices, the most right wing members of the Court in the past hundred years, and a disgrace to the Court’s history with their narrow mindedness and intolerance!

And the idea that Christianity is brought into this by Moore, and indirectly by Thomas and Scalia, is a mockery of a religious doctrine, which distorts the true teachings of Jesus Christ, a man who promoted tolerance, open mindedness, and understanding!

Conservative Argument That America Is A “Christian Nation” NOT True!

Ronald 9 Comments

The right wing loves to say that Americans are a “Christian nation”, but that assertion is NOT true!

It is true that a majority of Americans are born to the Christian faith, whether Catholic or any of the many Protestant sects, or Eastern Orthodox.

But our Founding Fathers, while born Christian, were in many cases skeptics about organized Christianity, and certainly had no mission to promote a church-state combination, a theocracy, as they knew of the turmoil and sufferings of such combinations in European history, including Great Britain, France, the German states, and Czarist Russia, along with the effects of Islam on the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Therefore, the Constitution of the United States made clear to keep separation of church and state separate, and there is no statement of America as a “Christian nation” by the Founding Fathers.

There are plenty of statements by many Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, John Adams and others that advocated separation of church and state, and a sense of skepticism about organized Christianity being part of government.

We also have evidence that conservative Christian pastors condemned the Constitution after its adoption because of the fact that it was a document which, clearly, was secular in nature, and some called the Constitution an atheistic document, which shows how hard the Founding Fathers had worked to undermine the creation of a theocracy, which would allow persecution of non Christians or non believers in religion itself.

After the Civil War, the right wing Christian pastors tried repeatedly to amend the Constitution to make America a Christian nation and make references to Jesus Christ, but those attempts failed, and the only religious reference that would become normal was to say “In God We Trust” on American coinage.

The deleterious effect of this movement among right wing Christian pastors, however, led to anti Catholic and anti Jewish practices and laws locally, discriminating against the immigration of so called “undesirable” groups.

Additionally, for a long period of time, commerce was limited by “Blue Laws”, which banned economic activities on Sundays, finally overcome about 50 years ago, as if someone does not wish to do shopping or other commerce on the Christian Sabbath, that is their choice, but should not be imposed on others, one of the examples of what happens when theocracy and its narrow mindedness is allowed to take hold.

So America is NOT a “Christian nation”, but rather a nation of a diverse number of religious groups, with a majority of Christian sects, including Catholicism, something the majority Protestants did not wish to acknowledge!

Right Wing Propaganda About Barack Obama Refuted By Facts!

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Barack Obama has been the most vilified President since Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

There will be those who say that Richard Nixon was more attacked, and that George W. Bush was “victim” of constant criticism.

Yes, they were, as was Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Jimmy Carter, but NONE of these Presidents came under such a barrage of total lies and mistruths on such a constant basis.

Barack Obama has been attacked on where he was born (Kenya? Indonesia? anyone?), on his being a Marxist or Communist or Socialist; of being anti white (by critics who are clearly scared of having a black President); of being anti Christian (by right wing Christians who regularly lie and deceive and distort, claiming to be following the teachings of Jesus, which they most certainly are not doing); and of being a Muslim, out to spread the Islamic faith and support terrorism!  He is also accused of being anti Semitic, and anti Israel.

Meanwhile, radical and terrorist Muslims constantly are critical of Barack Obama and have called on their supporters to find a way to kill him, and Obama has brought about more deaths of Muslim terrorists than George W. Bush or anyone else; has mounted missions to attempt to save Americans captured by the terrorists; was courageous enough to arrange the death of Osama Bin Laden, when others around him had strong doubts on the mission’s success; and now has declared war on ISIL (ISIS) and mounted a bombing campaign in both Iraq and now Syria, even though the right wing says he is afraid to go to war, and is too timid in foreign policy, all of it lies and deceit spread to ignorant people who think Obama is equivalent of a “Manchurian candidate” in the Presidency.

The charge that he is anti Semitic and anti Israel is belied by the fact of the Iron Dome system given to Israel by the United States, and the fact that ISIL (ISIS) calls Obama a President “owned by the Jews”.  Right wing Jews love to spread lies and distortion about Obama, but actually such people have complained about every American President, if they do not bow to every wish or demand of the Israeli government, while we give that nation more foreign aid than any other in the world.  So these charges are totally uncalled for, and reflect badly on those right wing Jews who spread that propaganda!

Many right wingers want to deny that Obama was ever President, and that his time in office should be not recognized as legal, as they claim his election was “stolen”, when George W. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 but won in the Supreme Court, unprecedented, but based on a declared 537 vote popular margin in Florida, his brother’s home state;  and only won in 2004, because of another disputed vote count in Ohio against John Kerry.

This author and blogger has witnessed so called “friends” who spew forth right wing and racist propaganda, shocking him at the level of hatred toward our 44th President.  One so called “friend” said, when he found out I am publishing a book on Presidential Assassinations and Attempts by next May or June, that he hoped I would have to write another chapter (meaning about the assassination of Obama), which totally infuriated me, and I am not one to get angry very easily.

Another time, visiting the Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, with my younger son, three women of about age 70, 40, and 20 were waiting with us to see a Truman documentary, and it came up in conversation that the 20 year old was visiting her relatives in Missouri, but was from Hawaii.

When I said, “so you are from Hawaii, which will have a Presidential museum in the future”, the three women in unison said “EWWWWW” to my shock, and we turned away in shock and anger, since I did not want to be rude to them, but I could not believe such sentiments, as no one ever said that about Richard Nixon or George W. Bush or anyone else!

And when the White House experienced an ‘invasion” at the North Portico last Friday, only ONE Republican openly spoke out about it, and demanded an explanation as to how the Secret Service “screwed up”, and that was New York Congressman Peter King of Long Island, New York, who is far less conservative than the leadership and masses of members of Congress from his party.  Not a peep from John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and the myriad of other Republicans, including any of the likely competitors for the Presidency in 2016.  It is almost as if, secretly, they hoped for Obama’s demise, absolutely disgraceful, and reprehensible!

The right wing would suffer mightily if anything untoward happened to Obama, and if Joe Biden suddenly succeeded to the Presidency by tragedy, it would, effectively, end the Presidential Election of 2016, with Joe Biden being the equivalent of Lyndon B. Johnson after he succeeded John F. Kennedy, meaning there would be no way for any Republican to defeat a President Biden in those circumstances. Also, it would end the campaign of Hillary Clinton under those circumstances!

It is time for the right wing, on talk radio and Fox News Channel, and the think tanks that spew forth poison, to stop their attacks and show respect for our President!

The “Southern” Culture A Detriment To American Society!

Ronald 2 Comments

We have been hearing a lot about the “Southern Culture”, recently, in detrimental ways.

Apparently, part of the “Southern Culture” is to continue to discriminate openly against African Americans, Latinos, and gays and lesbians, and not apologize one iota for Southern behavior!

Apparently, part of the “Southern Culture” is to endorse abuse of women, whether wives or significant others, and give excuses for rape and smacking and beating of women if they anger men!

Apparently, part of the “Southern Culture” is for African American men, in particular, but not only them, to give very harsh corporal punishment to their children, because that is the way that African Americans in the South were taught to deal with children who are unruly and disobedient.  So it seems to be alright that football players, who as an example are often 250-300 pounds, to whip and beat their four year old sons or daughters, and claim it is acceptable discipline, particularly because these bulky football players were treated that way when they were young!

Apparently, part of the “Southern Culture” is to worship football players in colleges, which put the emphasis on sports, rather than on academics, the major purpose of a university!

Apparently, part of the “Southern Culture” is to claim to be religious, “good Christians”, while not practicing the teachings of Jesus Christ, and not giving a damn for the poor, whether minority or white, and making their lives, therefore, a living hell!

It is clear that “Southern Culture” needs to be addressed as a major detriment to American society and progress!

The Arizona Anti Gay Law: Unconstitutional And Reprehensible!

Ronald 55 Comments

Arizona has made quite a name for itself in recent years, being the infamous state that passed the toughest anti immigration bill, SB 1070, in 2010, causing an uproar, and eventually having several major provisions of the law being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, while keeping some parts of the controversial law, and hurting Arizona tourism and public image irrevocably.

Now Governor Jan Brewer has until Tuesday to decide whether to sign a new anti gay law, that allows all public services to be denied gay and lesbian people, if the people providing the services choose not to deal with them on religious grounds. Business owners could declare their opposition to homosexuality, and refuse to give service to such customers.

Such a law is unconstitutional and reprehensible, as one’s religious beliefs do not and should not include the right to discriminate against anyone!

If such a law was to be upheld, it would, effectively, make gays and lesbians second class citizens, a sexual “apartheid”, a group that would be denied public services on the basis of someone claiming to be a “good” Christian, when there is absolutely no way that the teachings of Jesus Christ could be interpreted as promoting hate and prejudice against ANYONE!

If this could be allowed, then why not refuse services to Jews, African Americans, Latinos, disabled people, women, the elderly, etc? The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be upended, precisely 50 years after its passage!

Anyone can be anti gay, or anti African American, or anti Jewish, or anti Latino, etc in their THOUGHTS, as no one can control that, but NO ONE should EVER be able to use religious orthodoxy to discriminate, mistreat, condemn in their public activities regarding such people!

If one wishes to work with the public, one MUST serve ALL Of the public, whether one likes it or not!

Otherwise, imagine the tow truck driver who will not give service to a driver who has a flat tire; or the pharmacist who will not give service to a customer for a prescription; or the nurse who will not give medical services in a hospital to a customer on religious grounds; or the gas station attendant who will not allow a person to buy gasoline; or any business owner in any type of store dealing with the public who refuses service, including the much discussed cake maker who will not bake a cake for a gay couple (but could also be a Jewish couple, or a interracial couple)!

Realize also that many “straight” people could be wrongfully tagged as being gay or lesbian. There are people who may seem effeminate in gesture or voice who are NOT gay or lesbian. There are people who may dress a certain way that makes some people think they are gay or lesbian. There could two men or two women, with or without kids, who some might think are gay and lesbian, but are not. The fact that a majority of gay men and women do not “act” gay or lesbian (whatever that prejudicial feeling is supposed to be), makes the whole idea of discrimination even more outrageous and despicable!

This is not the Russian Federation, nor Nigeria, nor Uganda, all nations where right wing evangelicals have campaigned to pass anti gay laws! It is the United States of America, and we cannot tolerate ANY such prejudice or mistreatment in the United States!

Any professional, as in medicine, for instance, who would refuse to serve anyone on the basis of religion, should have his or her license to practice taken away, as he or she is violating the Hippocratic Oath to serve all people!

This is a time to crack down and make clear that there will be NO tolerance of any prejudice or discrimination by anyone, that it will lead to legal action, prosecution, and punishment within the limits of the law!

There is no room for bigotry in American, based on so called religious principles, in America in the year 2014 and beyond! It is time to crack down once and for all!

Pope Francis An Inspiration, But Like Barack Obama, He Will Have Major Critics Who Fear Change And Reform

Ronald Leave a comment

Pope Francis is a true inspiration to anyone who believes in the true teachings of Jesus Christ, concern for the poor, compassion for the sick, condemnation of materialism, and the understanding that all people, of whatever race, religion, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation, deserve equality and justice!

In so many ways, Pope Francis can be compared to Barack Obama, and just like Obama, he will engender hate and condemnation because he fights against prejudice and the evils of wealth, and the selfishness and greed which has arisen yet once again, on the basis of laissez faire capitalism and Social Darwinism, prevalent in the Gilded Age (late 19th century), the age of Imperialism, and resisted by the forces of change and reform in many nations in the 20th century.

But now, those evil forces have reared their ugly head again, and so the battle for progressivism is engaged in a great fight to combat those forces, within the Catholic Church, within organized religion in general, within the capitalistic economy which, in America, has no apparent problem , with the mounting acquisition of wealth by the top one percent, as poverty and the collapse of the middle class continually occur, with no conscience or concern by those who have the stack decked in their favor.

So the right wing forces, that include those who wish death on Barack Obama, will now focus also on the Pope, just as has always happened for those who promote reform and change, including in America, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and also Senator Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We should give thanks for the courage and compassion of our President, and even if we are not Catholic, the Pope, and pray for both men, that they will not fall before any attempted assassination threats of which Obama faces dozens every day!

We live in an age of great hate, and so much of it coming from so called “religious” people, who have no clue as to the true teachings of their faith, and are only out to enrich themselves!

Pope Francis Sets A Standard For Evangelical Right Wing Christians, But Will They Accept?

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Pope Francis has been an amazing leader of the Catholic Church, after only eight months of his tenure.

He has opened up the Catholic Church to more acceptance of women’s role in the Church, and stopped the constant hatred of gays and lesbians.

He has embraced the poor, the disabled, and even the disfigured, in loving ways that promotes the true message of Jesus Christ, compassion, tolerance, and love for those less fortunate.

What are the odds that evangelical right wing Christians, many of whom hate the Catholic Church itself, will follow that lead and stop trashing those who are not part of the powerful elites, and stop demeaning women, and end the poisonous hatred of gays and lesbians?

An example of such a group is the American Family Association, headed by Tony Perkins, but there are many other such hateful organizations, who claim they are following the teachings of Jesus Christ, but are far from doing so! Bryan Fischer is one of the most hateful, divisive leaders of these extremist groups, which are a mockery of Christianity.

What are the odds that they will recognize the sufferings of the poor and the sick, and will not work to undermine the food stamp program, unemployment compensation, and ObamaCare, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security?

If one believes that these extremists are likely to become compassionate, tolerant, and open minded, as Pope Francis has demonstrated he is, then we are indeed in the land of delusion and fantasy!

Time For Change: Pope Francis View Needs To Be Accepted By Republican Party, Conservatives, And Evangelical Christians!

Ronald 1 Comment

Pope Francis has moved the Catholic Church a tremendous distance by his revolutionary statements, declaring it is time to stop obsessing on contraception, abortion, and gay rights!

Instead of promoting hate, division, prejudice, and discrimination, he says it is time to learn to understand and accept different viewpoints, and to avoid condemnation, which makes the lives of millions of people more stressful and torturous.

This is a welcome change, which is certain to cause problems for Pope Francis within the conservative, hard line structure of the Vatican, and the Pope needs to be applauded for promoting an open minded, tolerant attitude that he knows will be vigorously opposed by right wing elements within the Church.

But his bold move opens up another avenue. This is the time for the Republican Party, the conservative movement, and for the evangelical Christians who promote hate, to stop doing that, and to accept that the world is changing, and that accepting contraception, abortion, and homosexuality is not going to destroy the world!

Rather, it is the narrow minded, hateful and intolerant attitudes of these groups which is causing violence, bloodshed, discrimination, and intolerance, against the message of Jesus Christ, and undermining the stated belief of the right wing for less government intervention, which should, therefore, stop interference and the promotion of making life more difficult for gays, women, and privacy rights of the American people!

Will the Catholic Church hierarchy, the Republican Party, conservatives, and evangelical Christians listen to what Pope Francis has uttered?

Sadly, probably not, and the battle for human rights and equality will rage on, ironically against the narrow mindedness of those who claim to believe in freedom and love!

The Republicans, Scrooge, And Food Stamp Cuts

Ronald 7 Comments

The Republican Party, particularly in the House of Representatives, has declared war on the Food Stamp program, pushing for a vote to cut about $40 billion from the program, in a vote due later this week.

This cut would come over ten years, and would deny basic food sustenance to poor people, with 76 percent of the beneficiaries being children, senior citizens, the disabled, and war veterans.

As Michele Bachmann said, if one does not work, one does not eat! Isn’t that the “Christian” thing to do? Of course, Jesus Christ would approve, or would he? Anyone sane and moral and ethical knows the answer!

And particularly, when Bachmann and her husband gain federal support for their program to help gays become straight, one of the biggest examples of corruption imaginable!

Meanwhile, corporations get supported by government, and the elite wealthy continue to become wealthier, at the expense of everyone else!

How could anyone with a heart, a sense of decency, vote for these Scrooge (Charles Dickens novel) like characters who do not give a damn about those less fortunate, whether for food stamps or health care or anything that makes lives easier for those who have miserable lives through no fault of their own?