Uphill climb

Thursday September 25, 2009

. . . .Straight off into it today.

. . . . .Article 31: "Every citizen has the right to health care. The state takes care of public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and medical institutions."

. . . .That's straight from the Iraqi Constitution. Follow the link and it will take you straight to it.

. . .So, the logical equation is this. Since George W. Bush sacrificed 4,000 lives, good young American soldiers, and spent billions in Iraq to get that Constitution in place; fully funded and voted for the the majority party in the House and Senate, the Republicans; why is it that a single-payer public option is good enough for the Republican party and the Iraqi people, but not the American people.

. . . .I don't buy a bit of their argument, not one bit of it, and it falls apart when examined closely. If, if as stated, the private health insurance companies are barely making profit margin, and stand to close down, then the public option will not provide a price break for people at all, since it would have to negotiate service prices at near or below cost levels, making it level on the same playing field as the privates. If, if as stated, the private health insurance companies offer good, better or best options, and people will not be forced to switch plans, then they will remain competitive, and just as in, schools of choice, the best will prosper even further.

. . . .If however, the private health insurance companies fear the public option because it would expose their pricing structure and their denial of service structure, the logical equation for what is occurring right now becomes crystal clear.

. . . As well, that small piece of evidence would indicate that the Republican Party is, in fact, not opposed to the public option, but instead, as evidenced, views it as a fundamental part of a nation's first Constitution in it's building of of a democratic Republic.

. . . .Again, sheer logic, and based on evidence, that being behavioral evidence, it would indicate then some forced relationship between the Republican party and the health insurance companies is now happening and driving that behavior.

. . . .I'm just saying.

. . . .Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, provides evidence as well, that the Republican party does in fact believe in the public option, and has voted for it, on insurance. It was property insurance, and it was retroactive as a matter of fact. When Senator Trent Lott's home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, and his private insurance denied his claim, the two Senators from Mississippi went straight to Washington, drafted a bill, and formed a public insurance option for property, and promptly Senator Lott signed up and got his house paid for. Fact check and evidence here.

. . . .This is how bad it is, Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kentucky (more on that lunatic state below) is begging for 72 hours to let the damn lobbyists read the bill! The lobbyists, not us. Senator Jay Rockefeller has had enough, and finally fired off on the Senate floor (why not? Joe Wilson can do it) "The insurance industry is running some people in this mark-up" Check the video here.

. . . .Now, I've been railing on for some time about the Right wing, Republican Hate machine; Representative Michelle Bachmann of Anoka, Minnesota, Glenn Beck's drooling idiocy, Limbaugh's racism on and on ad infinitum, I'm sure to many people's point of saying "enough already". . . .to those of you who said that; screw you, I didn't say it loud enough to you.
. . . The worst has happened. A 51-year old Census worker; a single father of two, a cancer survivor who worked two jobs; who was a teacher and a census taker was found hanged in Clay County, Ky. with the word FED carved into his chest. His truck was found 15 miles away, laptop and personal effects intact inside it. He was found on Sept. 13, the murder occurred on Sept. 12. That's right. . .Glenn Beck's 9/12.
The Feds are now investigating. The story was kept quiet, but finally broke yesterday.
The first thing that the Righties are doing is pointing the finger saying "dope country", "meth lab". . . . .Wrong, dunderheads.
The very last thing that a good dope grower or meth lab owner wants is State and Federal police crawling all over the county doing forensic evidence, going door to door, searching homes and fields. No, if it was a dope farm or a meth lab, there would have never been a body, it would have been fed as slop to the pigs, the truck would have scrapped out into parts within 4 hours, and the laptop would have crushed.
This was one of Beck, Limbaugh, and Bachmann's bunch; the 9/12 Teabaggers who have now been so emboldened, so fired up that they now feel fully justified and righteous. I know that some of you still watch Glenn Beck, that mentally deranged twisted ex-morning zoo FM hack and his twisted Mormon philosophies. . . .if you do, and continue to, you deserve one another.

. . . ."When fascism comes to America, it will come draped in the flag, and carrying a cross"
- Sinclair Lewis

. . . Another word on Beck, from postmodern conservative James Poulos, via Andrew Sullivan.

A word about Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck is the worst. But why? Not so much because of who he distrusts or why. From where I’m standing, Beck is so awful because he theatrically combines and conflates performances of ultimate sincerity with performances of ultimate sarcasm. I think this is a telltale sign of a soul disordered by a confusion of love, power, and resentment. It becomes impossible, in such a person, to tell quite where their selfless solidarity, their egotism, and their hatred borne of weakness begin or end. And the titillating quality of this unstable charisma is precisely what they latch onto and exploit to become less a famous person than a famous happening. Their individual being becomes incidental to the phenomenon they represent. They actually corrode or dissolve their own identity in order to experience some hugeness that seems impossible to experience as a normal, integral human being. Any actual pomocon looks on that kind of allure as troublesome and dangerous, and the kind of person in thrall to it as no pomocon.

. . . .There is a reason that Glenn Beck, the twisted fringe Mormon apostate that he is, called for Tuesday to be his day of "Fasting and Reflection". . . .it was the first day of the Jewish New Year, and Beck, anti-Semite that he is had to make sure to point out that his form of twisted, spiritually corrupt religion took precedence in his acolyte's lives.

. . . And again, the most important issue on our plates, in our nation, gets the short end of the attention.

. . . .From the FDIC chairman: "The FDIC is broke, and taxpayers are at risk." From Bloomberg:

The FDIC’s insurance fund is going broke, and Sheila Bair is wondering aloud about how to replenish it. This means one thing for taxpayers: Watch your wallets.

. . . . . .And this Administration continues to demonstrate that it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman-Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. Top economic advisor Paul Volcker has gone public with his criticism of the President, Geitner and Summers and the fact that they will continue to go with the "too big to fail" pipedream that brought about the disaster that Paulson and Bush foisted on us. From the AP:

A top White House economic adviser says the Obama administration's proposed overhaul of financial rules preserves the policy of "too big to fail," and could lead to future bailouts.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said Thursday that by designating some companies as critical to the broader financial system, the plans create an expectation that those firms enjoy government backing in tough times. That implies those financial companies "will be sheltered by access to a federal safety net," he said.

In testimony prepared for the House Financial Services Committee, Volcker said emergency measures by the Fed, Treasury and Congress during last year's financial crisis created the expectation that the government would step in to protect failing companies, their bond holders and stockholders.

Volcker said he does not differ with the administration on most of its proposals, and takes "as a given" that banks will be bailed out in times of crisis.

But he said he opposed bailouts of insurance firms like American International Group Inc., automakers' finance arms and others.

"The safety net has been extended outside the banking system," Volcker said. "That's what I want to change." He said the administration's proposal to create a new system for winding down large nonbank companies would make that easier.

The administration should make it clearer that "safety net" will apply only to traditional banks, not investment companies or others, he added.

Volcker, 81, has emerged as one of the administration's internal critics. He serves as head of President Barack Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, but has said the administration should take a slower, more methodical approach to overhauling the financial system.

Volcker served as Fed chairman from 1979 to 1987, when he tamed raging inflation, though at the cost of painful interest rate hikes that triggered a recession.

In recent speeches, he has expressed little enthusiasm for some of the initiatives under discussion in Washington, including regulating bankers' compensation. He has said there is "ample justification" for public anger at pay practices that were "wildly excessive" and encouraged risk-taking at the expense of stability. But he warned against too much political involvement.

In his remarks Thursday, Volcker endorsed a stricter separation between banks that hold deposits and investment banks. He said the "safety net" should be limited clearly to commercial banks, while investment banks should be excluded.

"Commercial banks are the indispensable backbone of the financial system," Volcker said, giving consumers safe deposit accounts and financial advice.

Investment banks take on more risk and face conflicts of interest when they combine consumer financial services with major corporate dealmaking. Volcker said it would be logical to prohibit commercial banks from trading in securities and derivatives.

The House committee is leading the effort to pass Obama's financial overhaul. Its chairman, Barney Frank, D-Mass., on Wednesday agreed to scale down a key pillar of the financial overhaul: A new regulator to protect consumers from unsafe financial products and activities.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner endorsed the less ambitious plans, which would exempt retailers and other nonbank companies from oversight.

Referring to the meeting of global leaders kicking off Thursday in Pittsburgh, Volcker said, "A lot of what needs to be done really does require a certain consistency internationally, because these problems are global."

Leaders including Obama are expected to take up global financial regulation at the meeting.

Volcker also said he hoped the administration would work to create stronger regulatory regime for insurance companies. The White House decided not to take on that issue as part of this year's financial overhaul.

Frank and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., say they will have a bill on financial regulation ready for the president's signature by the end of the year.

Frank's plan is expected to be close to the administration's proposals. Dodd's proposals are expected to give the Fed less authority over the broader financial system and to create a single regulator for all banks.

Volcker said he supported the administration proposal to create a council to oversee systemwide risk, "so long as there's someone who's guiding the process."

The administration has proposed that the Fed have ultimate authority over those issues.

. . . .I'm so damn disgusted today, I just can't keep going.


. . . .We can salvage this shipwreck of a Nation. It will take all of us working together. It will take all of us understanding the concepts of the Great American Experiment, the political process of the Republic. It's amazing, I don't see eye-to-eye on every issue with my friends, but we respect one another's opinion, share information, share facts, and we don't talk over one another or at one another, we talk with one another. It's amazing what happens when a group of people who share the common goal of leaving a better country for their children and grandchildren can do when they sit down with one another as human beings, and realize that we each have power, and together, we are unstoppable.

. . . .I'm going to ask this of you for the next 30 days. Turn your TV off, turn your radio off. Start to use that beautiful mind that your Creator gave you, that your underpaid, underappreciated High School teachers tried to develop. If you hear something, if you read something, if someone sends you an e-mail that says "this bill will do this", or "this politician says this", I'm asking you to check it out. Check it out this way, use some of the following fact-based sites, who exist solely for the purpose of data and fact-checking.
- If whatever you've heard or read concerns a bill in Congress, use the following -
- Open Congress, it's non-partisan and devoted to a complete tracking of every bill in Congress, both houses. How a bill is developed, who is sponsoring it, what the riders are, what the discussion around it is.
- GovTrack, again non-partisan, non-commercial and open source; devoted to the same things, tracking Congress.
- Open Secrets, one of the most important ones, it tracks the lobbying money and campaign contributions flowing to your congressperson, and most of the time is a pretty good predictor of how they'll vote.
- Political Party Time, non-partisan, devoted to solely tracking political fundraisers, and letting you know exactly what parties your Representative and Senators are throwing for fundraisers and who is attending and how much money they're throwing at them to gain influence.

. . . .If someone sends something to you saying "this is so" or "that is so" or "the President/Senator/Representative said this" use the following:
- Fact Check, non-partisan, designed to separate fact from bullshit and fiction
- Snopes, devoted to the same thing.
- Politifact, devoted to getting to the truth, and separating out the lies that are spread.


. . . .I keep doing this not because I don't have faith, but because I do have faith. I have faith in the ultimate triumph of the spirit, intellect and heart of the American people. I have faith that the people I know want to leave something better for future generations, and know that something is terribly wrong, and want to do something about it. I do it because Paine and Jefferson were brilliant, unique singularities and were right.

. . . .I keep doing this because I don't believe in big imaginary friends for adults, I don't believe in alien conspiracies running the Government, I don't believe the Roswell bodies are at Wright-Patterson, I don't believe that a big portal will open up on Dec. 21, 2012, I don't believe that the spaceships will show up.

. . . I do believe that the people who have fucked everything up are greedy, avaricious human beings who have been able to steal from the American people, to harm them, who have run unchecked because no one calls it out for what it is. I believe that if we shine the light of day on it, if the people of this country have had enough, we can change it, and change it for the better.

. . . . I keep doing this because I do believe that people, human beings, unchecked will continue to do what they've done throughout history, and throughout the history of this country. Together, they will find the solutions and provide better for their children and grandchildren.

. . . .I believe in us, I believe in people. I believe in the beauty, power and grace of the individual.

. . . .I do this for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of knowing what they do, what they believe, what they know is right. I do it for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of faith, hope, love, hate, justice, war and peace.

. . . .I do it because I believe in justice, in all it's forms.

. . . .I do this everyday for the people and kids who are tattoed, pierced and inked and keep getting told to get "into the mainstream". I do this everyday for those guys who wear black that you don't understand, you just know there's something about them, and that when the chips are down, when you have to walk down a dark alley somewhere, and you know what's waiting for you at the end of it, and you can only take one person with you, that's who you want walking with you, because you know you'll come back out alive, and that guy doesn't care what it costs him.

. . . .I do this everyday for the outcasts, the misfits, the ones who don't fit and who will turn their back on you and walk away when you try to make them fit into a mold. I do it everyday for everyone who does it their way, knows that they're paying a high price for it, but the freedom is worth the cost.

. . . . I do this everyday for outlaws, cowboys, renegades, pirates and fallen angels. I do it everyday for the people who understand that rock and roll can save their soul, that redemption can be found in a 3-chord lick from a vintage Les Paul. I do it for the men and women who aren't afraid to turn it all the way up, who keep looking for an 11 setting on a volume knob that only goes to 10, who know that rock and roll's got nothing to do with age.


. . . .If right now, you're doing something you don't want to do, stop it. If you've surrounded yourself with people who want you to do or be something other than who you are, walk away. If you've got people around you who actually let it slip out that they think you "should be doing (fill in the blank here)" and it involves your life, your future, your existence as an individual, walk away, right now, and don't look back. You don't owe anyone anything. Live fearlessly. If the people around you can't accept it, can't accept you as you are, really are, they aren't and weren't friends anyhow.

. . . .Don't march to anyone else's drumbeat, don't drink the Kool-Aid, anyone's. Right, Left, conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan. Use your own mind, that's why you were given one. Examine, question, do what's right for you first, everything else will fall in place from there, quit looking for the path, you're already on it.

. . . .Come out of the gate each morning with both barrels blazing, pedal-to-metal, full-tilt boogie, all-in and balls-out, what's stopping you? Do you want to live forever? That'd be boring.

. . . .Got your back. somewhere out there in the night

. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they're ripped away from you. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, absolutely no one gets out alive. There aren't a lot of second chances, and we don't get to dictate terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. This ain't no dress rehearsal, and the curtain's gone up, it's real and right now. It's not about yesterday or tomorrow. It's about right fucking here, right fucking now. This, what you're reading, what you're hearing, is the proof, the words, the sounds and the sights of someone changing his own life and his own world and not being afraid to put it out there. What have you done for yourself lately and why are you waiting? Do it now.

The Desolation Angel
from somewhere halfway to Heaven, and just a mile out of Hell

You know someone like me, there's still a few of us left. If we have to, we'll stand at the gates of Hell and hold the last train home for you.