AMERICA KICK THE HABIT

I smoked for nearly 40 years. I smoked after I was diagnosed with End Stage Lung Disease. I’d pull out the oxygen tubes and light up. Once the tubing caught on fire and it burned a line in the carpet before I stomped it out. I was a “I’ll smoke if I damn well please!” kind of person. But even I knew better than to take medical advice from the tobacco companies. And I certainly didn’t like it when Rep Boehner Handed Out Tobacco Lobbyist Checks on House floor right before a Tobacco Subsidy vote:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d3a_1284581246

Why then don’t people object when the National Rifle Association brags that they control elections? The NRA Even Bragged That They’ll Work Out Of President GW Bush’s Oval Office. And they did.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/050400-01.htm

In Fact the WAR ON TERRORISM (Which is war on a tactic so it will never end)has been great for business! In 2007 there were 90 guns for every 100 persons. That was before the “Obama gonna get your guns” Fear Campaign.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201109260004

The gun lobby funds Republican candidates has always warned that “(fill in the blank Democrat) will take your guns!
Fox Noose had this NRA picture on it’s website for years.  It was still there the day of Gabby Giffords shooting while Shep Smith was wondering “Why people believe President Obama is going to take you guns?”

Did he take guns? NO.
No instead, Obama has allowed, on his watch, guns to be carried for the first time in the US’s national parks. He has watched as the courts have stripped Washington and Chicago – two cities troubled by high gun crime rates – of their stringent controls on handguns.

When you tell gun rights people that they tell you that according to National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, the Obama administration’s lack of action on gun control issues only proves just how diabolically anti-gun they are.

If you’ll believe that then Mitt Romney is downplaying his Mormon religion because Job One will be mandatory conversion to Mormonism.

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/beck-and-nras-lapierre-warn-insidiou

Now, I know that controlling guns will NOT END VIOLENCE! I also knowthat the way the NRA reads the Constitution we should all own WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRUCTION AND A FEW DRONES. I’m not taking about that. I’m talking about the power of the NRA and the lies they tell to keep us afraid and shooting each other. The NRA is about selling guns. And selling influence.
Does it ever occur to these gun loving Ameriicans that they call them gun “DEALERS” fo a reason.

Jared Lee Loughner was suspended from college and had been in trouble with the police. And yet he could buy a gun and go on to shoot Gabrielle Giffords and kill six others.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/08/28/us-world-firearms-idUSL2834893820070828 

 AMERICA KICK THE HABIT!

The Parable of Sheep and Goats

Capitol hill goats, devour seed corn
The beast is fed, the Lamb is scorned.
                      

                      Matthew 25:31-46       
                   The Sheep and the Goats
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels
with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will
separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right
and the goats on his left.    

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you
who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom
prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was
hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you
gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited
me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and
you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to
drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or
needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or
in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did
for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you
who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger
and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not
clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or
thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison,
and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do
for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous
to eternal life."

Republican Staw Poll Made for TV Movie

Like made for TV movie – Produced by Wall Street money and directed by Corporat Media – The lone ranger, Rick Perry comes a riding in from a Texas time warp to save America from liberal hippies of the 1960′s. 

Rick Perry PROMISES America that if  he is elected President  he will ‘work everyday’ to destroy MEDICARE, MEDICAID, SOCIAL SECURITY and he will sell off our treasured PUBLIC LANDS, National parks, forests to his corporate friends from Texas.

And all those Texas jobs – well war and oil that’s the way to get folks working.  WAR and OIL. 

An American Pragmatist

It’s not that there’s a shortage of good ideas.  It’s not even that there’s a shortage of funds.  It may be that there’s a shortage of willpower, of determination or even a shortage of hope.  But if we are willing to take an idea from here and mix it with some funds from there and a volunteer or two, then maybe we will solve this thing.  Not with a big WPA project.  Fighting the political battle to win approval for such a massive undertaking would deplete our resources.  In the end, the problems would remain the same.  We would have won the battle and lost the war.  I have some ideas – they are ideas and organizations that are already out there.  Some have Federal funding already, some have private funds and some would need Congressional approval.  All would, in small but very significant ways, bring us together to solve community problems.  Lets start with the smallest folks.  

School Upgrades

Our economy is frozen because Wall Street is sitting on trillions of dollars  afraid to invest. Let’s invest in our schools. Once schools were safest place in town.Where community gathered in crisis. It’s time to rebuild schools and use local labor, so that the children of those who build the schools will attend them.   When you renovate the schools, you invigorate heart of a community.  You give it a sense of pride.  At the same time you give all our kids a 21st Century place to learn.  Give them schools that are equipped with WiFi, that are Energy Efficient, a Disaster Safe Zone, and a Community center.

We don’t have to look very far to see what happens when you send your children off to dilapidated or shoddily constructed buildings.  They are our most valuable asset and we have short-changed them long enough.  Thow some money at these schools, thirty years of neglect is long enough.

The terrible earthquake that struck China’s Sichuan province in 2008 resulted in the deaths of many children, often due to the collapse of their shoddily constructed schools.

http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/2010/10/eco-schools-usa-attends-first-ever-green-schools-national-conference/

http://www.ncef.org/school-modernization/

Homes for our Heroes

What if we buy up the foreclosed homes that are eyesores and bringing down the value of the surrounding homes – renovate them and make them ADA compliant for our disabled Vets. These men and women have given the best of themselves for us and it is our moral responsibility to look after them.  Regardless of how you feel about the wars, our warriors do not have the luxury of questioning orders.  The Commander-in-Chief, regardless of party, tell them the mission is a go – and they go. 

Some have suffered traumatic brain injury and will need care and assistance for many years to come.  As a disabled person myself, I know a bit about this.  The most difficult part is finding suitable housing.  If a house is ADA compliant I am more independent and less of a burden both physically and financially on family and government help. 

The eyesore of foreclosed homes drags down the property value of most American cities and towns.  Maybe what’s left of the TARP funds could be used to buy up these homes and allow our Disabled Vets to purchase them.  Funding already exists to refurbish them.  It is another way a problem could become a source of pride in a community as they welcome these heroes into their neighborhoods.  win win.

They could be single family homes or make them group homes w/ caregivers for those who have significant injuries. It’s the very least we can do for these guys. #Homes4heroes.

http://www.homesforourtroops.org/site/PageServer

http://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/sah.asp

Paying Down the War Debt

While we are busy cut, cut, cutting, we ignore the biggest reason for the deficit – OUR WARS! Unfunded War that Bush kept “off book” .  It wasn’t until President Obama ended the use of “supplemental budgets” that Bush used to hide the burgeoning deficit that we realized how deep in debt the nation was.  Because of the secret cost, we  have failed to pay for the wars the way other generations have.

We were promised that this war would “pay for itself” with lower oil prices. IT DID NOT! In fact the Big Oil companies took the oil and jacked up the prices again.  They use oil prices as a campaign tool to ensure that only “oil men” live in the big White House.  If we tax petro products (not just gas) til this war is paid for then we will never again be fooled by the promise of “cheap gas!”  We easily ignore the cost in blood but  when it hits our wallets, we’ll notice. 

It would also be a means of defunding the terrorists – both domestic and foreign.  Most of the Petro products are manufactured by the Koch brothers cabal.  

Cost of War to the United States | COSTOFWAR.COM.

 http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/161/end-the-abuse-of-supplemental-budgets-for-war/

http://inspirationgreen.com/koch-brothers-products.html

The Medicare Option

I know the Progressives hate the idea. But why should I fund medical insurance for Rupert Murdoch? If we “means test” Medicare and allow people to enroll on a sliding scale fee.  People would join because it would still be cheaper than other insurance because Insurance charges an extra 25% for profit. The extra funding in the Medicare program would help put it in the black.  The program would thrive because – as you probably know – anyone on Medicare would rather die than go back to the hunt for private health insurance.  It is one step closer to open enrollment. which I prefer because I just hate mandates.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/obama-medicare-means-testing_n_899839.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/09/robert-reich-explains-the_n_280639.html

There!  American Pragmatism. When times are tough, and the Lone Ranger, Cavalry, Superman and the WPA are no where in sight – we do it ourselves.  One school, one house, one dime and one patient at a time.

Hijacking Democracy

We are watching our democracy being hijacked by a small minority  Americans who usually don’t pay much attention, are sitting in front of their televisions in shock.  This group, the tea party, which seemed at first to be a legitimate grass roots response to economic hard times, has lost favor with the people.  Now they see them as the American version of the Taliban.  Now they seem them as tools of the ruling class.  Puppets who no longer cry out in authentic anger but mutter Frank Luntz words like the script from an automated phone system.  They recite numbers and polls that have been discarded as false  by everyone but the Tea Party.   The world they describe, where the crippled, blind and elderly are responsible for our crushing debt does not exist.  And what they are doing, will give those who have brought economic ruin on America even more power. 

The truth is that by a margin of 73% the people support President Obama.  They support ending the Bush tax cuts.  They support reason, tolerance and social justice.  Only in the bubble of the far right do those words bring ridicule.


 

America is watching.  The world is watching.  Your children and grandchildren are watching.

Yet Another Car Analogy

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Dear Mr. President,

Speaking of the car analogy:

When you were sworn in the car was already in the ditch.  You got some guys and you dragged it up the hill and back on the pavement.  Then some guys like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich and others told you to fill the gas tank.  You decided to fill half the tank.  You said “No problem, by the time we run out of gas we’ll be in Recovery Summer, there will be lots of new sprouting green gas stations, gas will be cheap and we’ll have electric cars anyway.”  But the elders of the Democratic Party said, “No no!  You need to make sure you can get the economy all the way home.  Gas prices may go up!  You might have an oil spill, or a Japanese Nuke might meltdown or those Bankers whose ass you just saved may decide to sit on the money and watch you squirm” 

Guess what? 
You’ve fallen under the spell of trickle down.  But it never trickles down.  Nations, economies and strong societies are built from the bottom up.  We are being suffocated and starved and you my much beloved President are rearranging the deck chairs again.

Act like a Democrat.  Kick some ass. 

Hey Jamie Dimon Where’s My Birthday Money or Why I hate my bank

You know the Superman movie with August “Gus” Gorman (Richard Pryor), an unemployed ne’er-do-well, discovers a knack for computer programming. He embezzled millions from his employer’s payroll just by taking the rounding amounts.  Half a penny doesn’t seem like much until you take half a penny from a million people.  Chase is taking days of deposits from millions of people. 
 
Not long ago, my son gave me money for my birthday.  Economics being what they are, I deposited his check at Chase and walked next door to the Safeway to use my birthday money for food.  I checked out using my Chase debit card.  By the time I got home the debit had cleared and bounced.  I had $34 in overdraft fees.  When I called I was given the standard answer that they process the payments immediately but need at least three days to verify the deposits.  The problem is that my son banks with Chase!  The check was written on the account with the money he was saving to buy a house, $40,000. So I asked, where is my birthday money?  If I don’t have it – does my son have it?  “No” they told me, “payments are processed immediately.”  Then Chase has my birthday money!  Will Chase be paying interest on my birthday money? 
 
How many birthday money checks is Chase holding?  How long will we let them steal from poor?
 
While Mr. Dimon is making the rounds looking like the Wall Street Messiah – we might remember that it’s OUR MONEY he’s spending.  It’s real easy to be optimist if you haven’t missed a meal or even a manny petty.
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