Ever since Obama proposed his health care bill, those on the Right who are terribly afraid of everything, became afraid of our country turning socialist, and the government telling us how to live our lives. As we saw during the Bush administration, the Right feeds off of fear, they’ll allow us to take over a country based on threats of terrorism and wmds. So it was only natural that to them any change was something to be feared.
But suggest that we do away with other social programs, like Medicare or Social Security, and they are up in arms about the government taking away their rights as citizens to retire comfortably. Even though if you look at your paycheck, a big chunk of the money the federal government takes is for Medicare and Social Security. But that’s okay, b/c we’re used to that. That’s the norm. So the hypocrisy continues.

Michelle Obama has made it her mission to lower the childhood obesity rate, and has been very successful at raising awareness about the food children eat at school, and encouraging healthy eating habits at home. But to the Right, this means that the Obamas are trying to tell us how to eat. The government is getting involved with our food by golly! “What next??”, they say, expecting Fidel Castro to have a beer with Obama any day now.
Today CNN posted a political cartoon showing a fat Michelle telling her husband that she’s expanding her healthy eating campaign to restaurants and “control American’s eating habits.” Control being the keyword, to instill more fear in the Right.
I say Fine! Wonderful! Let’s adobt an “Opt Out” program. Anyone who wants can opt out of government assistance. Which includes Obama’s healthcare plan, but also includes Social Security and Medicare. Let them keep their money. They can opt out of the healthy eating habits being taught to their children. They can opt out of healthy food recommendations, create their own buffet restaurants, and eat as much garbage as their family can shove into their mouths. Then when they have quadruple bypass heart surgeries for their clogged arteries, they can pay for the surgeries with their own money, pay for their prescriptions at full cost, and live their lives exactly as they want. I think it is an excellent plan, because we all know how great Americans are at saving and spending their own money.

If they want a government-free, no involvement or assistance life, they can have it. But for me, I’d rather pay my taxes. I like knowing that if I lost my health insurance at work, I could still afford to get it through my government.

“To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.” Sir Isaac Newton

I believe this law of motion also applies to politics. I base my theory on the following:
Barack Obama was elected in the year 2008. Sarah Palin became a national political figure in 2008. Our intentions were to elect a president who was well educated and intelligent, progressive, ambitious, and willing to do what it took to save our country. In the meantime, the opposite was unleashed onto an unsuspecting country. Sarah Palin has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Idaho, is proudly folksy and ignorant, conveniently conservative, mavericky, and willing to do what it takes to further her political ambitions, no matter the cost to media integrity.
Had we not nominated a young black candidate to the office of the presidency, the McCain campaign may not have felt pressured to add a young attractive woman to the ticket of an old white guy.
And now she is getting as much air time as she possibly can to keep her face on our televisions, even if it means going on Fox News (gasp) with ‘facts’ written on her hand with a sharpie, and several sheets of paper with ‘facts’ to back up her claims that our president is ruining our country. Despite the actual facts that the economy is improving, jobs are being created, and our reputation in the world has been much improved.
I for one, hope she is nominated by the republicans for president in 2012. It would be Obama’s easiest re-election yet.

I listen to NPR on my way to and from work every day, and my coworkers often hear me start sentences with ‘i heard this segment on NPR the other day.. blah blah blah…’ Fortunately for me, whether they’re interested or not, they smile and listen. So here goes..

I heard a segment on NPR the other day about the Tea Party, and the local public radio news covered a rally in Evansville. They interviewed a few of the Teabaggers (i find it hilarious that they call themselves that) at the rally. Of course they’re up in arms, literally, over Obama’s health care reform law. ITS SOCIALISM they cry, as if the Commies themselves were invading from Canada. Which is ridiculous of course, b/c Sarah Palin would never let them. Oh wait, she’s touring with the Tea Party right now.. we’re screwed.

Anyway, I find a few things both alarming and amusing.

1. The Teabaggers claim that the majority of Americans don’t support this bill. ERRNNNNKKK (thats my ‘wrong answer’ sound). The majority of Americans VOTED for Barack Obama, and he campaigned, very very publicly, on health care reform. It was a HUGE part of his campaign. There were debates that were monopolized by the topic of health care reform. It was a BIG deal to his supporters. The vocal minority does a good job of making themselves sound like the majority, when really they’re just the sheep following whatever radio disc jockey scares them the most. (Just wait until Ryan Seacrest starts interviewing politicians instead of the Kardashians!)

2. The health care reform law ISN’T Socialism. Let’s take a look at the definition of Socialism, shall we… Continue reading »

The irresponsibility of the Radical Right-wing media is horrifying. They are feeding their minions propaganda and lies, to instill fear and keep them listening. For their ratings, for their agendas. And people are taking them seriously. There are so many idiots out there who listen to Rush’s show, who watch Glenn Beck’s program, and think they’re listening to the news. Its not news, its commentary, its their beliefs. What makes Glenn Beck and Rush so qualified to tell Americans “how it is”?

Rush Limbaugh’s qualifications:

He graduated from Cape Central High School, in 1969. Because of his parents’ desire to see him attend college, he enrolled in Southeast Missouri State University but left the school after two semesters and one summer. According to his mother, “he flunked everything”, and “he just didn’t seem interested in anything except radio.”

Glenn Beck’s qualifications:

At 18, following high school graduation, Beck relocated to Provo, Utah and worked at radio station KAYK. Feeling he “didn’t fit in,” Beck left Utah after six months, taking a job at Washington D.C.’s WPGC in February 1983.
In 1996, while working for a New Haven-area radio station, Beck was admitted to Yale University through a special program for non-traditional students. Beck took one theology class, “Early Christology,” and then dropped out.

So two college-dropout radio disc jockeys are telling conservative Americans that Obama is the same as Hitler, he’s a fascist, he’s Muslim, he’s not an American, he’s a socialist, and a threat to our freedom. Why isn’t anyone countering this with a louder megaphone? Because they wouldn’t get the ratings these two losers get.

Here’s an idea: Hey sponsors, hey people who keep their program on the air.. STOP GIVING THEM YOUR MONEY.

Hey Americans who don’t buy into their lies: Contact their sponsors and tell then you’re boycotting their products until they stop supporting Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck’s propaganda machines.

Here is a list of Rush’s sponsors, send them an email! Let them know how you feel!
Boycott Rush

Here’s a form to contact Glenn Beck’s sponsors, and its working, many sponsors who have dropped him have credited this boycott
ColorofChange.org/beck

Let’s have the louder megaphone before this irresponsibility has dire consequences.

these people learned more from this young reporter about their own political beliefs than they’ll ever learn from fox opinion channel.

If they only knew how much their former president was responsible for the concerns they have about our current president.

I loved the woman who wants to expand Medicare coverage, but bury Obamacare. Say what?

I know I haven’t posted any political articles in a while, mostly due to the fact that I feel pretty satisfied with our president, but also b/c I thought I’d try to steer this blog to more general posts. Which would have worked had I posted more often after the election.

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of ads on TV suggesting that Obama’s universal health plan is going to be the ultimate cause the end of the world. They’re sponsored by “Conservatives Who Care” type of groups. As if opposition is coming from a grassroots level. Please. I can guarantee that most of these ads are funded by the insurance companies who are now worried that they won’t make the same recording breaking profits they’ve enjoyed for the last several years. In 2008 many of the top insurance companies reported a slight decrease in profits from 2007, but considering that most of them saw an increase from 2006, which was even better, I don’t think they’re counting their pennies.

One of their main arguments is that employers will stop offering private health care and rely on their employees to take on the government health insurance. Which they also argue, won’t be as good as private insurance. That’s probably true, current government run plans like medicare and medicaid aren’t as good as most private health insurance. Where they’re wrong is the assumption that employers will stop offering private insurance. What will happen is that employers will advertise the fact that they offer private health insurance as part of their benefit package, just as they do now.
Some employers will probably stop offering private health insurance, but it won’t be much different than it is now. Currently many companies are cutting back or eliminating private health insurance for their employees because it is just too expensive. As a result, many people with jobs are finding themselves uninsured.

The percentage of people (workers and dependents) with employment-based health insurance has dropped from 70 percent in 1987 to 62 percent in 2007. This is the lowest level of employment-based insurance coverage in more than a decade.

In 2007, 37 million workers were uninsured because not all businesses offer health benefits, not all workers qualify for coverage and many employees cannot afford their share of the health insurance premium even when coverage is at their fingertips.

The ads are ignoring the fact that 18% of Americans, nearly 46 million of us, don’t have health insurance. 80% of the uninsured are native or naturalized citizens. Contrary to what conservatives will tell you, illegal immigrants are not going to be the ones benefiting most from a government health plan.

The fact is that the more people who are insured, the healthier our population will be. Access to preventative medicine could help reduce the costlier medical treatments many people currently need. Many uninsured people put off going to the doctor because they can’t afford it. Their medical problem gets worse until they can no longer wait. By the time they see a doctor their problem is more serious, more expensive, and often times the cost is too high for the patient to pay. Next step, bankruptcy and the bill is left unpaid and has to be eaten by the health care industry. To subset the unpaid bill, health care costs rise. Those of us with health insurance have to pay the higher premiums due to more expensive health care.

Consider these possible outcomes. Yes they are hypothetical, but humor me here.
Guy has diabetes. He does not have health insurance. He tried to manage his diabetes on his own, but ends up losing circulation in one of his legs. It has to be removed. He goes to the hospital, has it removed, but can’t afford to pay the bill as he has no health insurance. Guy has to declare bankruptcy to get out from under his mounting bills. Guy has to go on disability because he no longer has a leg. Tax payers take care of Guy.
Lady feels tired and weak. She’s had heart palpitations but ignores them because she cant afford to go to the doctor. Had she gone to the doctor, she would have learned that she had high blood pressure, and could have treated it will medication. Instead she waits until she has a heart attack. She’s rushed to the ER, but oops, too late, she dies.

Again, I know these are hypothetical, but these are fairly common diseases that are treatable. Left untreated, very expensive. Had Guy and Lady been insured, even with “crappy government insurance”, their medical costs would have been much less. And because their medical costs were paid for, those of us who are also insured wouldn’t have had to pick up the tab.

The health insurance companies will be just fine. With a government health plan covering the uninsured, heath care costs will go down. With lower health care costs, health insurance companies won’t have to pay as much to the health care providers. They’ll still rake in the profits just as well as before.

I’m over the moon happy that Obama is our new president. I’m almost as happy that Dubya is not. Former President W. Bush. What a beautiful name.

What a beautiful day. It was so wonderful watching the inauguration, so many happy, overjoyed people in audience. This is truly a celebration. The nightmare that was Bush’s presidency is over, it can only go up from here. I know we can’t expect the world from one man, but after what we had to put up with for the last 8 years, a dead bird would’ve made a better president. At least the dead bird would’ve just smelled. A dead bird wouldn’t have put us into an un-winnable war and let his other bird-buddies profit off the middle class of the country. A dead bird wouldn’t have set our reputation back with the rest of the world. It would’ve just laid there, dead.

I am optimistic for our future. Hopefully someone buries the dead bird.

Yes We Did!!!!

I’m on cloud-nine. As of right now, Obama has 349 electoral votes, compared to McCain’s 163. Best of all – Obama got Indiana!!! I’ve complained before about how pointless it is to be a liberal-voter in Indiana b/c it always goes for the republican presidential candidate. I feel so inspired and proud to be a citizen of Indiana and of the US. 8 years ago, even 4 years ago, I really don’t think I would’ve believed that we could elect a bi-racial, idealistic, outside-of-the-establishment candidate. I think the US has started to redeem itself in the eyes of the world. I’m so excited to see what the future holds for us.

GO VOTE!!!

(for Obama :)

If you live in any of the following states, you can vote early with no excuse needed at specified voting locations: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

These states allow no-excuse mail-in absentee voting: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Record turn-out is predicted for election day, November 4th. To avoid waiting in (even longer) lines, go vote TODAY. Many early-voting locations already have lines to vote every day, why risk having to wait even longer to vote on November 4th. Don’t risk being unable to vote b/c the polls closed before you were able. Don’t risk being discouraged to vote by the long lines on election day. Vote TODAY. I voted last week, and even though I enjoy taking part in voting on the traditional election date, it’s kind of a relief to know that I won’t have to wait in line on Nov 4th.

For more information, see:
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/elect/absentearly.htm