Sanford gets no support
MYRTLE BEACH -- Gov. Mark Sanford always has been a loner, but on Saturday he didn't have a friend in the House. Not a single member of the House Republican Caucus spoke up for the embattled GOP governor in this oceanfront city at an organizational meeting that wrapped up with a 45-minute discussion about why Sanford should resign or be impeached.
Kennedy eulogized for keeping dream alive
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was laid to rest Saturday night alongside slain brothers John and Robert on hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery, celebrated for "the dream he kept alive" across the decades since their deaths.
These two news snippets above reveal a lot about what two flawed men did with their lives after they fell to temptation. Let's throw in another, Bill Clinton. Kennedy as a young man of 37 years made the horrible mistake of (1) committing adultery, (2) drove under the influence (3) and after several attempts to rescue his female companion, left the scene of the accident. Arguably even a man from a less wealthy background would have had to pay huge fines for DUI and leaving the scene but bottom line it was an accident; a tragic horrible accident and rich or poor there would have been no imprisonment involved. Civil suits for wrongful death would be expected but not jail. Kennedy publicly and tearfully acknowledged the horrible mistakes he made. He was contrite and repentant and dedicated his life to righting the wrongs suffered by those with no one to stand up for them. He served in the Senate writing and passing more than 300 bills to help people who had no avenue to help themselves. He supported, voted and helped pass 1100 bills that again were the foundations for helping preserve individual rights for every citizen. He came back to the faith of his youth, sought counsel with the church and became a different man. He fulfilled the dreams and promise of his brothers whose lives were tragically cut short by assassination. He loved his family and was in his last days surrounded by their love.
Clinton was a politician of many accomplishments and I am sure, a man who loves his daughter and his country. However he was not someone I could admire for his moral fortitude, his faith in God and his willingness to confess his flawed acts and with contrition seek the forgiveness of the nation. I say the nation because when a man in office commits these acts of adultery, he does not just betray his wife and family but also betrays the trust of the nation and the trust of his peers. The consequences for that should be meaningful especially if in front of the public one seeks to escape these consequences not by truly asking forgiveness and meaning it but rather by building a screen of lies and calling in political favors to continue in office with the premise that although he is at fault, that fault lies in his personal life and is immaterial to how he does his job as President. Clinton accomplished a lot but it should not go without noting that his legacy will always have the name of "Slick Willy" and his statement of, "I did not have sex with that woman." attached to it.
Sanford seems to be modeling his defense on the Clinton model but it is a little more offensive and arrogant. There is no remorse at all evident. He is defiant both in his positions and verbally in staying in office and stating he has done nothing that should require him to resign. He seems to think that holding office is not a privilege but is his right. His legacy is yet to be written but I would not think he should be optimistic in that regard. he has broken the public trust, he has betrayed the public, his children and his wife. His record in office is more of an obstructionist rather than someone who is productive and creates a better place for his children and the children of the citizens of this state.
I would hope that the Republican Party in South Carolina is not just positioning itself by the overwhelming condemnation seen in the news article above. Is this just another bait and switch? In other words are they positioning themselves to convince the public of their "righteous" intent when in the end they will use the law to say well we could not legally impeach him and then just close the books with a public censure of the governor? I suspect this is what we are being set up for. I hope that either he will abandon his present position and seek to emulate Teddy Kennedy and carry on or I hope that responsibility, morality and love of family and country will prevail and he will be impeached and removed from office.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Forgive Us and Help Us
Below is my reply to a friend who is obsessed with the fear that a health care plan run by the government will result in a Socialist state and other distractions and fears being planted by mis-information being spread by insurance companies and their lackeys.
You know recently I had to be hospitalized and like you was horrified at the bill. I could have stayed at the Plaza in New York for less. LOL. Unfortunately, I had to meet our deductible and out of pocket levels first, so my bill was a great deal more than yours. As far as the State Health Plan goes, it is far less than the plan I had before retiring from The Post and Courier but it is all we can afford. In South Carolina there are a lot of retired military men and woman and I don't think they realize what it is like for those of us who don't have that insurance or health system to fall back on. However I am like the majority of Americans and when retirement, unemployment etc. hits we are out of luck. When Mary retires, frankly, I don't know what we will do for insurance. I guess we just won't get sick.
Like you I am vehemently against a totally socialist health care system and I might point out that in Britain where the majority of my relatives still live, you still have a choice, if you have the money to pay for independent health care insurance. Some do (my better off relatives) and some don't and have the government run health plan and having just lost my Aunt Dorrie and knowing her experience with the government plan, she had no problems. She died and in talking with surviving relatives I do know that no test was ever denied and every avenue to help her was pursued up to the time of her death. She was 88 years old and until her heart started failing her she was a vibrant, involved deaconess in The Church of Ireland. It is because of her experience and that of my grandmother who died years ago that I don't have the same fears that some in this country do about a government plan. Nor do I fear that it will bring about socialism as it has not not done so in all the many European countries that offer some version of a government health plan option. Cold war ideas and fears don't apply here as far as I am concerned. As the generations of people that were born after World War II come into retirement age as I have, there will be more and more elderly citizens with no insurance because they simply cannot afford it. Medicare helps but it is nowhere near enough to foot the entire bill if a retiree becomes seriously ill.
Anyway bottom-line, it is not that I am totally in favor of the present healthcare plan being offered but rather it is that some kind of plan is direly needed or we, the aging are going to be abandoned and left with no insurance and all because this country is so obsessed with whether their political party is right or wrong and whether this issue can be used too get back into power. Both parties are totally guilty of this and it is this type of inaction over this issue and many others that has been going on for years. This is one of many reasons why I abandoned the Republican Party last year and decided to vote independently for someone, anyone, who would try to move forward and not stay with the status quo which if we stay in will result in the neglect, the abandonment and the death of millions of the elderly, uninsured and yes unemployed. I remember well how long it took as college graduates for both my daughters to find jobs that actually had benefits and health insurance. Theirs is an experience that millions of parents know about and have experienced, yet we equivocate until once again nothing will be done and the executives of the insurance companies sit and rub their hands with glee. Happiness because I and millions of others can die uninsured for all they care because really isn't life all about a free market?
And perhaps the greatest disgrace and it saddens me to the point of tears of frustration is that so many of us who are blessed with jobs and have insurance look down the ladder of life and say, "screw you" and kick those under us in the face until they drop off to their eventual deaths. It enrages me that some would hold up the cross or the flag and call this plan a plot of the devil and the eventual apocalypse for everything Christian and American.
Please, God, take their hearts and remind them of your words, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." "For I was hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in." Read the book of Matthew in the New Testament and Jesus speaks very clearly to us about how he wants us to treat those less fortunate than ourselves. I find that the apostle Matthew was best at telling us the story of Jesus's message of love.
God forgive them and God help us.
You know recently I had to be hospitalized and like you was horrified at the bill. I could have stayed at the Plaza in New York for less. LOL. Unfortunately, I had to meet our deductible and out of pocket levels first, so my bill was a great deal more than yours. As far as the State Health Plan goes, it is far less than the plan I had before retiring from The Post and Courier but it is all we can afford. In South Carolina there are a lot of retired military men and woman and I don't think they realize what it is like for those of us who don't have that insurance or health system to fall back on. However I am like the majority of Americans and when retirement, unemployment etc. hits we are out of luck. When Mary retires, frankly, I don't know what we will do for insurance. I guess we just won't get sick.
Like you I am vehemently against a totally socialist health care system and I might point out that in Britain where the majority of my relatives still live, you still have a choice, if you have the money to pay for independent health care insurance. Some do (my better off relatives) and some don't and have the government run health plan and having just lost my Aunt Dorrie and knowing her experience with the government plan, she had no problems. She died and in talking with surviving relatives I do know that no test was ever denied and every avenue to help her was pursued up to the time of her death. She was 88 years old and until her heart started failing her she was a vibrant, involved deaconess in The Church of Ireland. It is because of her experience and that of my grandmother who died years ago that I don't have the same fears that some in this country do about a government plan. Nor do I fear that it will bring about socialism as it has not not done so in all the many European countries that offer some version of a government health plan option. Cold war ideas and fears don't apply here as far as I am concerned. As the generations of people that were born after World War II come into retirement age as I have, there will be more and more elderly citizens with no insurance because they simply cannot afford it. Medicare helps but it is nowhere near enough to foot the entire bill if a retiree becomes seriously ill.
Anyway bottom-line, it is not that I am totally in favor of the present healthcare plan being offered but rather it is that some kind of plan is direly needed or we, the aging are going to be abandoned and left with no insurance and all because this country is so obsessed with whether their political party is right or wrong and whether this issue can be used too get back into power. Both parties are totally guilty of this and it is this type of inaction over this issue and many others that has been going on for years. This is one of many reasons why I abandoned the Republican Party last year and decided to vote independently for someone, anyone, who would try to move forward and not stay with the status quo which if we stay in will result in the neglect, the abandonment and the death of millions of the elderly, uninsured and yes unemployed. I remember well how long it took as college graduates for both my daughters to find jobs that actually had benefits and health insurance. Theirs is an experience that millions of parents know about and have experienced, yet we equivocate until once again nothing will be done and the executives of the insurance companies sit and rub their hands with glee. Happiness because I and millions of others can die uninsured for all they care because really isn't life all about a free market?
And perhaps the greatest disgrace and it saddens me to the point of tears of frustration is that so many of us who are blessed with jobs and have insurance look down the ladder of life and say, "screw you" and kick those under us in the face until they drop off to their eventual deaths. It enrages me that some would hold up the cross or the flag and call this plan a plot of the devil and the eventual apocalypse for everything Christian and American.
Please, God, take their hearts and remind them of your words, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." "For I was hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in." Read the book of Matthew in the New Testament and Jesus speaks very clearly to us about how he wants us to treat those less fortunate than ourselves. I find that the apostle Matthew was best at telling us the story of Jesus's message of love.
God forgive them and God help us.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Myths vs. Facts
Don't Let the Myths About Health Care Reform Scare You.
There are special interest groups trying to block progress on health care reform by using myths and scare tactics. Like the notion that health care reform would ration your care, hurt Medicare or be a government takeover. Actually, these are false statements.
All of the health care reform plans currently being debated in Congress would ensure that you and your doctor are the ones making decisions about your health. The majority of working Americans will continue to receive their health care through their employer. In addition, health care reform will strengthen Medicare by eliminating billions of dollars in waste while lowering prescription drug prices.
Throughout the debate on how to fix what's broken about our health care system, AARP pledges to help you cut through the noise and find the facts about what health care reform means for you and your family. When we see special interests using scare tactics, we'll make sure you're given the facts so you can make informed decisions about health care reform.
The following are some of the most common myths being spread about health care reform and the facts that prove them wrong – click here to watch a video by AARP on the myths and facts of reform.
Myth: Health care reform is socialized medicine.
Fact: Health care reform will preserve the employer-based health care system, meaning an estimated 200 million Americans will continue to get their coverage through their employers.
Fact: For people buying coverage for themselves, there would be a range of private health plans to choose from. Also, the so-called "public plan" option would seek to give American consumers another choice if they can't find affordable, quality coverage in the private insurance market. The goal of the "public plan" is to give consumers the best value for their money and force greater competition among insurance plans for our business.
Fact: Every proposal that Congress is considering would allow people to choose their own doctors and hospitals.
Bottom Line: Health care reform isn't about a government takeover. It's about guaranteeing all Americans a choice of health care plans they can afford.
Myth: Health care reform means rationed care.
Fact: None of the health reform proposals being considered would stand between individuals and their doctors or prevent any American from choosing the best possible care.
Fact: Health care reform will NOT give the government the power to make life or death decisions for anyone regardless of their age. Those decisions will be made by an individual, their doctor and their family.
Fact: Health care reform will help ensure doctors are paid fairly so they will continue to treat Medicare patients.
Bottom Line: Health reform isn't about rationing; it's about giving people the peace of mind of knowing that they will be able to keep their doctors and that they will always have a choice of affordable health plans.
Myth: Health care reform will hurt Medicare.
Fact: None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.
Fact: Health care reform will lower prescription drug costs for people in the Medicare Part D coverage gap or "doughnut hole" so they can get better afford the drugs they need.
Fact: Health care reform will protect seniors' access to their doctors and reduce the cost of preventive services so patients stay healthier.
Fact: Health care reform will reduce costly, preventable hospital readmissions, saving patients and Medicare money.
Fact: Rather than weaken Medicare, health care reform will strengthen the financial status of the Medicare program.
Bottom Line: For people in Medicare, health care reform is about lowering prescription drug costs for people in the "doughnut hole", keeping the doctor of your choice, improving the quality of care, and eliminating billions in waste that is causing poor care and medical errors.
Myth: Health care reform is too expensive – we can't afford it.
Fact: The President and Congress have committed to producing legislation that will be paid for so it won't saddle our children and grandchildren with debt.
Fact: If we do nothing to fix health care, families with Medicare or employer-based health coverage will likely see their premiums nearly double again in the next seven years.
Fact: If we do nothing to fix health care, the share of your income spent on health care will nearly double in the next seven years.
Bottom Line: When one in three Americans say someone in their family skipped pills, postponed or cut back on needed medical care due to the cost; when countless bankruptcies are related to medical expenses; when the number of uninsured approaches 50 million; when government spending on health programs rises so rapidly that it jeopardizes other priorities; and when employers struggle to pay for the costs of health care, the fact is, we can't afford not to fix health care.
Myth: Health care reform means the government can make life-and-death decisions for you.
Fact: Health care reform will NOT give the government the power to make life-and-death decisions for anyone regardless of their age. Those decisions will be made by individuals, their doctor and their family.
Fact: No one, including the government or your insurance company, will be given power to make life-and-death decisions for you.
Bottom Line: Health care reform isn't about putting the government in charge of difficult end of life decisions. It's about giving individuals and families the option to talk with their doctors in advance about difficult choices every family faces when loved ones near the end of their lives.
Help us fight the myths and demand health action now: Pass this email along to all your friends and contacts in your address book.
There are special interest groups trying to block progress on health care reform by using myths and scare tactics. Like the notion that health care reform would ration your care, hurt Medicare or be a government takeover. Actually, these are false statements.
All of the health care reform plans currently being debated in Congress would ensure that you and your doctor are the ones making decisions about your health. The majority of working Americans will continue to receive their health care through their employer. In addition, health care reform will strengthen Medicare by eliminating billions of dollars in waste while lowering prescription drug prices.
Throughout the debate on how to fix what's broken about our health care system, AARP pledges to help you cut through the noise and find the facts about what health care reform means for you and your family. When we see special interests using scare tactics, we'll make sure you're given the facts so you can make informed decisions about health care reform.
The following are some of the most common myths being spread about health care reform and the facts that prove them wrong – click here to watch a video by AARP on the myths and facts of reform.
Myth: Health care reform is socialized medicine.
Fact: Health care reform will preserve the employer-based health care system, meaning an estimated 200 million Americans will continue to get their coverage through their employers.
Fact: For people buying coverage for themselves, there would be a range of private health plans to choose from. Also, the so-called "public plan" option would seek to give American consumers another choice if they can't find affordable, quality coverage in the private insurance market. The goal of the "public plan" is to give consumers the best value for their money and force greater competition among insurance plans for our business.
Fact: Every proposal that Congress is considering would allow people to choose their own doctors and hospitals.
Bottom Line: Health care reform isn't about a government takeover. It's about guaranteeing all Americans a choice of health care plans they can afford.
Myth: Health care reform means rationed care.
Fact: None of the health reform proposals being considered would stand between individuals and their doctors or prevent any American from choosing the best possible care.
Fact: Health care reform will NOT give the government the power to make life or death decisions for anyone regardless of their age. Those decisions will be made by an individual, their doctor and their family.
Fact: Health care reform will help ensure doctors are paid fairly so they will continue to treat Medicare patients.
Bottom Line: Health reform isn't about rationing; it's about giving people the peace of mind of knowing that they will be able to keep their doctors and that they will always have a choice of affordable health plans.
Myth: Health care reform will hurt Medicare.
Fact: None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.
Fact: Health care reform will lower prescription drug costs for people in the Medicare Part D coverage gap or "doughnut hole" so they can get better afford the drugs they need.
Fact: Health care reform will protect seniors' access to their doctors and reduce the cost of preventive services so patients stay healthier.
Fact: Health care reform will reduce costly, preventable hospital readmissions, saving patients and Medicare money.
Fact: Rather than weaken Medicare, health care reform will strengthen the financial status of the Medicare program.
Bottom Line: For people in Medicare, health care reform is about lowering prescription drug costs for people in the "doughnut hole", keeping the doctor of your choice, improving the quality of care, and eliminating billions in waste that is causing poor care and medical errors.
Myth: Health care reform is too expensive – we can't afford it.
Fact: The President and Congress have committed to producing legislation that will be paid for so it won't saddle our children and grandchildren with debt.
Fact: If we do nothing to fix health care, families with Medicare or employer-based health coverage will likely see their premiums nearly double again in the next seven years.
Fact: If we do nothing to fix health care, the share of your income spent on health care will nearly double in the next seven years.
Bottom Line: When one in three Americans say someone in their family skipped pills, postponed or cut back on needed medical care due to the cost; when countless bankruptcies are related to medical expenses; when the number of uninsured approaches 50 million; when government spending on health programs rises so rapidly that it jeopardizes other priorities; and when employers struggle to pay for the costs of health care, the fact is, we can't afford not to fix health care.
Myth: Health care reform means the government can make life-and-death decisions for you.
Fact: Health care reform will NOT give the government the power to make life-and-death decisions for anyone regardless of their age. Those decisions will be made by individuals, their doctor and their family.
Fact: No one, including the government or your insurance company, will be given power to make life-and-death decisions for you.
Bottom Line: Health care reform isn't about putting the government in charge of difficult end of life decisions. It's about giving individuals and families the option to talk with their doctors in advance about difficult choices every family faces when loved ones near the end of their lives.
Help us fight the myths and demand health action now: Pass this email along to all your friends and contacts in your address book.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
A Grandfather's Perspective on...
Sometimes the things we say hurt other's feelings and we realize it and regret it but thoughts and emotions brought about by our everyday experiences sometimes fill us to the point we have to let them out. Sometimes, that's what a blog is for. Do we mean everything we say to the extent we have said it? No but if you are going to let off steam, the best thing is to preface it with an apology and then let it rip. Here goes.
Many things have changed and changed radically during my lifetime. No I am not talking about the price of a bottle of Coke (5 cents when I was a boy) or my weight or where I live. I am talking about changes in public opinions regarding previously accepted standards for ones lifestyle. I grew up never worrying about what my mother put on the table or whether she bought it from a local vegetable stand or a grocery store. We ate what she prepared and we were told by our Doctor that we were good healthy children and as long as we ate our meat, potatoes and vegetables and drank milk daily we would always be healthy and strong. We did and we are still relatively healthy and strong. In Biblical terms we are all going to make our allotted 3 score and 10 years and then some (barring any accidents or catastrophes).
My mother gave us oatmeal for breakfast and my Father gave us fried toast and eggs on weekends or Mother cooked French Toast or Pancakes. Lunch was a standard PB&J sandwich with Milk. Supper was meat and vegetables or a casserole. Mother did love casseroles (something she said was great about America, the casserole). I guess they don't make casseroles in Northern Ireland, the country of our birth. Saturdays all was the same except supper and that was a grand ensemble of leftovers and what was left from all of that, went to Lassie, our Cocker Spaniel and my first dear friend. However then came Sunday, oh Sunday. It was a day when we couldn't wait to get home from church and smell the excruciatingly wonderful aromas seeping through the house from the kitchen oven. Roast beef, chicken, ham and all the great side dishes that went with them were awaited with great anticipation until finally we heard, "okay, time to eat, let's go"! No one held back, no salads were served unless Mother was on a diet and then she had a salad for lunch during the week or cottage cheese and peaches. But not on Sunday! You ate, enjoyed and asked for seconds before your sisters got it. Then came dessert, simple fare during the week but always more magnificent on Sundays. No Jello or canned peaches or lemon bars or strawberries on lady fingers with whipped cream on Sundays. No Sundays there was a magnificent cake created and iced by the famed pastry chef, Ursula (my mother) or a presentation of a flaky crusted pie with ice cream. No boxed cake mixes or store bought pie shells allowed here. La Chef Magnifique made all from scratch and perhaps it was fitting that on Sundays we not only sang "Glory to God in the Highest" at church but that our tummys joined in a silent refrain of joy for which no musician has yet composed a fitting melody.
But all the culinary delectables aside, science and geeky men and women who probably never had a Mom who could cook more than a TV dinner, brought all this to a crashing halt. When we were already grown (and healthy) and in our 30's we were told our sacred Mothers had poisoned us! It was like someone stuck a razor blade in a Halloween Apple and America was forever terrified and stopped having Halloween at all. Oh God! What are we to do?! The lard that my mother used to fry with, bake with and flavor with was poison! The fantastically delicious Roast Beef that we ate on Sundays was toxic to our bodies! Potatoes, my heart's dearest love, potatoes and their calories spelled only doom for us all. Butter was toxic, gravy was taboo, milk would coat your arteries with sludge and what were we to do? Who stole the flake from the cake or the pastry!? Some evil geek Doctor raised on TV dinners and jello all his life! Find him, kill him and hang him up to display his perfidy and lies he brought upon us!
But no one listened to me. The geeks won. The war is over. I have come undone. Now we have vegetarians who give us dissertations on how to be humanitarians, how to save a leaf, a tree, a cow and be kind to our planet. Why is no one ever listening to me? I love a leaf, a tree and the beasts but I was taught that they all had a purpose and a place. Now you come and smack me in the face? You heartless soul, they say. You wastrel. You are the cause of all our impending doom. Your mother was a despicable murderer for feeding you the way she did they say. Your generation and theirs is responsible for every foul thing befalling this planet and your values and wants and desires should be packaged up and thrown in the trash. We disown you and your generations, they say. That is how a Grandfather feels. If everything he experienced in life and loved was wrong then his life was totally meaningless and his generation a total failure.
Then they say, oh no we didn't mean it that way. We just want to point out an improvement that you can make in your lifestyle and it will mean so much more to our health and our planet. What do I get, I ask? Your life will be extended 6 years. That is wonderful isn't it? Six more years to be old and now considered useless and my values and dietary habits to be tossed aside. Well my mother had something else in her possession, something we were not very fond of at all. So why don't you take that extra 6 years put it in Mother's enema bag and cram it where the sun don't shine. Oh and while you are at give me a piece of pie and a little ice cream.
I have had it and I am not going to take it anymore. It was my mother's generation and mine that brought us through wars, fought and conquered diseases like Polio, Smallpox, Measles Mumps and countless others. We developed and delivered the first space craft, the first man to walk on the moon. Oh yes we had our failures and our tribulations: the Edsel, Vietnam and others but we hung in there and kept coming and you know what; we also delivered the greatest accomplishments of our lifetimes. We gave life to our children. We loved them and raised them and I pray to God that in the big picture we did that right because now I am told we didn't do much of anything else right.
Please do me a favor when you see your parents today, tonight or whenever you can, say I love you, I still need you and your life was not worthless and all wrong. Then take them out to an ice cream parlor and buy them a sundae. Hey, they might even pay for it! LOL
Many things have changed and changed radically during my lifetime. No I am not talking about the price of a bottle of Coke (5 cents when I was a boy) or my weight or where I live. I am talking about changes in public opinions regarding previously accepted standards for ones lifestyle. I grew up never worrying about what my mother put on the table or whether she bought it from a local vegetable stand or a grocery store. We ate what she prepared and we were told by our Doctor that we were good healthy children and as long as we ate our meat, potatoes and vegetables and drank milk daily we would always be healthy and strong. We did and we are still relatively healthy and strong. In Biblical terms we are all going to make our allotted 3 score and 10 years and then some (barring any accidents or catastrophes).
My mother gave us oatmeal for breakfast and my Father gave us fried toast and eggs on weekends or Mother cooked French Toast or Pancakes. Lunch was a standard PB&J sandwich with Milk. Supper was meat and vegetables or a casserole. Mother did love casseroles (something she said was great about America, the casserole). I guess they don't make casseroles in Northern Ireland, the country of our birth. Saturdays all was the same except supper and that was a grand ensemble of leftovers and what was left from all of that, went to Lassie, our Cocker Spaniel and my first dear friend. However then came Sunday, oh Sunday. It was a day when we couldn't wait to get home from church and smell the excruciatingly wonderful aromas seeping through the house from the kitchen oven. Roast beef, chicken, ham and all the great side dishes that went with them were awaited with great anticipation until finally we heard, "okay, time to eat, let's go"! No one held back, no salads were served unless Mother was on a diet and then she had a salad for lunch during the week or cottage cheese and peaches. But not on Sunday! You ate, enjoyed and asked for seconds before your sisters got it. Then came dessert, simple fare during the week but always more magnificent on Sundays. No Jello or canned peaches or lemon bars or strawberries on lady fingers with whipped cream on Sundays. No Sundays there was a magnificent cake created and iced by the famed pastry chef, Ursula (my mother) or a presentation of a flaky crusted pie with ice cream. No boxed cake mixes or store bought pie shells allowed here. La Chef Magnifique made all from scratch and perhaps it was fitting that on Sundays we not only sang "Glory to God in the Highest" at church but that our tummys joined in a silent refrain of joy for which no musician has yet composed a fitting melody.
But all the culinary delectables aside, science and geeky men and women who probably never had a Mom who could cook more than a TV dinner, brought all this to a crashing halt. When we were already grown (and healthy) and in our 30's we were told our sacred Mothers had poisoned us! It was like someone stuck a razor blade in a Halloween Apple and America was forever terrified and stopped having Halloween at all. Oh God! What are we to do?! The lard that my mother used to fry with, bake with and flavor with was poison! The fantastically delicious Roast Beef that we ate on Sundays was toxic to our bodies! Potatoes, my heart's dearest love, potatoes and their calories spelled only doom for us all. Butter was toxic, gravy was taboo, milk would coat your arteries with sludge and what were we to do? Who stole the flake from the cake or the pastry!? Some evil geek Doctor raised on TV dinners and jello all his life! Find him, kill him and hang him up to display his perfidy and lies he brought upon us!
But no one listened to me. The geeks won. The war is over. I have come undone. Now we have vegetarians who give us dissertations on how to be humanitarians, how to save a leaf, a tree, a cow and be kind to our planet. Why is no one ever listening to me? I love a leaf, a tree and the beasts but I was taught that they all had a purpose and a place. Now you come and smack me in the face? You heartless soul, they say. You wastrel. You are the cause of all our impending doom. Your mother was a despicable murderer for feeding you the way she did they say. Your generation and theirs is responsible for every foul thing befalling this planet and your values and wants and desires should be packaged up and thrown in the trash. We disown you and your generations, they say. That is how a Grandfather feels. If everything he experienced in life and loved was wrong then his life was totally meaningless and his generation a total failure.
Then they say, oh no we didn't mean it that way. We just want to point out an improvement that you can make in your lifestyle and it will mean so much more to our health and our planet. What do I get, I ask? Your life will be extended 6 years. That is wonderful isn't it? Six more years to be old and now considered useless and my values and dietary habits to be tossed aside. Well my mother had something else in her possession, something we were not very fond of at all. So why don't you take that extra 6 years put it in Mother's enema bag and cram it where the sun don't shine. Oh and while you are at give me a piece of pie and a little ice cream.
I have had it and I am not going to take it anymore. It was my mother's generation and mine that brought us through wars, fought and conquered diseases like Polio, Smallpox, Measles Mumps and countless others. We developed and delivered the first space craft, the first man to walk on the moon. Oh yes we had our failures and our tribulations: the Edsel, Vietnam and others but we hung in there and kept coming and you know what; we also delivered the greatest accomplishments of our lifetimes. We gave life to our children. We loved them and raised them and I pray to God that in the big picture we did that right because now I am told we didn't do much of anything else right.
Please do me a favor when you see your parents today, tonight or whenever you can, say I love you, I still need you and your life was not worthless and all wrong. Then take them out to an ice cream parlor and buy them a sundae. Hey, they might even pay for it! LOL
Friday, August 14, 2009
Moosenuts, Peanuts and Wingnuts
Below is an excellent article by respected author and columnist, John Avlon. In the the last paragraph although directed at an extremist on the Left, it should also be taken as similar advice for those on the extreme right such as Sarah Palin. My feelings regarding healthcare have already been stated in my prior blog and I urge everybody Democrat or Republican to abandon this melee and seek some common ground where we can work together with reason and civility to solve the health care problems of this country. It has nothing to do with politics, it has everything to do with every individual in this country.
Wingnuts of the week
Posted: 06:33 AM ET
John Avlon - CNN ContributorFiled under: Wingnuts of the week
Editor’s note: John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
Lyndon LaRouche (L) and Sarah Palin (R).
It’s become the summer of the wingnut. Unhinged eruptions at town halls are becoming standard operating procedure, as forces from the right face off against forces deployed by the left. Politics, it turns out, follows the line of physics: every action creates an equal and opposite reaction.
This week’s wingnuts are stirring the crazy pot with accusations and associations – on the right, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin makes her debut appearance on the wingnut list with a fanatical Facebook rant and on the left all time wingnut Lyndon LaRouche resurfaces with an ugly new poster of the president as Adolph Hitler that is appearing at town halls.
It’s hard to remember that Sarah Palin was unknown one year ago, before being nominated to serve as McCain’s VP in late August 08. Now no longer the Governor of Alaska, she remains a powerful political presence on the right and is considered a likely contender for president in 2012. There have been times when she’s been unfairly attacked in the past, but this past week she jumped the shark in my book, cementing her reputation as one of the most polarizing political figures in America with this fear-fueled outburst on Facebook to her friends and followers:
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.”
For sheer fear-mongering that aims at the heart of familial emotions this statement is perhaps unprecedented at the major league level of recent American politics. It should be needless to say that none of the various bills circulating through congress contains a “death panel.” The outcry over her statements was so widespread that even partisan Republicans distanced themselves from her comments (in a refreshing bit of candor, Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson said Palin’s statement was “nuts.”) Soon Sarah Palin followed suit offering an apology and calling for more civility in our politics, but that only added insult to this injury.
Just as you can’t retreat to move forward or quit to fight even harder, you can’t wade into a policy debate by saying the president is going to kill your baby at the hands of a death panel and then call for civility.
Yesterday, Palin doubled down on her comments and tried to save some face – though this time avoiding the words “evil” or “death camps” and pointing instead to provisions of a House bill that she says would ration care to what she calls “unproductive” members of society. Her sidestep of those terms is its own commentary, but for those who want additional back-up, you can refer to our friends at PolitiFact.com, who rated her comments the coveted “Pants-On-Fire” rating. Sarah Palin, you’ve earned your membership in the Wingnut Hall of Fame.
On the left, old-time crazytown conspiracy theorist and quasi-cult leader, Lyndon LaRouche, made a surprise reappearance on the national political scene, earning him entry into the Wingnut Hall of Fame.
Wingnuttery at this summer’s town halls has hit epic proportions, with unhinged attacks on President Obama ranging from accusations that he is everything from a communist to a fascist. But when posters began appearing showing President Obama with a Hitler-mustache, bearing the slogan “I’ve Changed,” the outrage was obvious. The source of the posters was not.
Lyndon LaRouche, himself a former communist and several-time fringe presidential candidate exists far off the political grid, but he’s been most routinely associated with the left. When his self-styled followers have run for office in the past they have generally run in Democratic primaries. (Although they’re probably best known – if at all – as people handing out conspiracy theory pamphlets on street corners and airports.)
The recent uptick in comparisons of the President of the United States to either communist or fascist dictators is just unacceptable. This is not political theater; it demeans our country to associate our democratically elected president with dictators who murdered millions in their names. Lyndon LaRouche is a crank who manages to dupe a few lost individuals every decade. This newest hate-fueled “addition” to American politics is just the latest and hopefully last reason to name Lyndon LaRouche a wingnut: a certified card carrying member of crazy town.
Wingnuts of the week
Posted: 06:33 AM ET
John Avlon - CNN ContributorFiled under: Wingnuts of the week
Editor’s note: John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
Lyndon LaRouche (L) and Sarah Palin (R).
It’s become the summer of the wingnut. Unhinged eruptions at town halls are becoming standard operating procedure, as forces from the right face off against forces deployed by the left. Politics, it turns out, follows the line of physics: every action creates an equal and opposite reaction.
This week’s wingnuts are stirring the crazy pot with accusations and associations – on the right, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin makes her debut appearance on the wingnut list with a fanatical Facebook rant and on the left all time wingnut Lyndon LaRouche resurfaces with an ugly new poster of the president as Adolph Hitler that is appearing at town halls.
It’s hard to remember that Sarah Palin was unknown one year ago, before being nominated to serve as McCain’s VP in late August 08. Now no longer the Governor of Alaska, she remains a powerful political presence on the right and is considered a likely contender for president in 2012. There have been times when she’s been unfairly attacked in the past, but this past week she jumped the shark in my book, cementing her reputation as one of the most polarizing political figures in America with this fear-fueled outburst on Facebook to her friends and followers:
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.”
For sheer fear-mongering that aims at the heart of familial emotions this statement is perhaps unprecedented at the major league level of recent American politics. It should be needless to say that none of the various bills circulating through congress contains a “death panel.” The outcry over her statements was so widespread that even partisan Republicans distanced themselves from her comments (in a refreshing bit of candor, Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson said Palin’s statement was “nuts.”) Soon Sarah Palin followed suit offering an apology and calling for more civility in our politics, but that only added insult to this injury.
Just as you can’t retreat to move forward or quit to fight even harder, you can’t wade into a policy debate by saying the president is going to kill your baby at the hands of a death panel and then call for civility.
Yesterday, Palin doubled down on her comments and tried to save some face – though this time avoiding the words “evil” or “death camps” and pointing instead to provisions of a House bill that she says would ration care to what she calls “unproductive” members of society. Her sidestep of those terms is its own commentary, but for those who want additional back-up, you can refer to our friends at PolitiFact.com, who rated her comments the coveted “Pants-On-Fire” rating. Sarah Palin, you’ve earned your membership in the Wingnut Hall of Fame.
On the left, old-time crazytown conspiracy theorist and quasi-cult leader, Lyndon LaRouche, made a surprise reappearance on the national political scene, earning him entry into the Wingnut Hall of Fame.
Wingnuttery at this summer’s town halls has hit epic proportions, with unhinged attacks on President Obama ranging from accusations that he is everything from a communist to a fascist. But when posters began appearing showing President Obama with a Hitler-mustache, bearing the slogan “I’ve Changed,” the outrage was obvious. The source of the posters was not.
Lyndon LaRouche, himself a former communist and several-time fringe presidential candidate exists far off the political grid, but he’s been most routinely associated with the left. When his self-styled followers have run for office in the past they have generally run in Democratic primaries. (Although they’re probably best known – if at all – as people handing out conspiracy theory pamphlets on street corners and airports.)
The recent uptick in comparisons of the President of the United States to either communist or fascist dictators is just unacceptable. This is not political theater; it demeans our country to associate our democratically elected president with dictators who murdered millions in their names. Lyndon LaRouche is a crank who manages to dupe a few lost individuals every decade. This newest hate-fueled “addition” to American politics is just the latest and hopefully last reason to name Lyndon LaRouche a wingnut: a certified card carrying member of crazy town.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Your Womb, My Health and Who Cares
I am distressed, becoming very very angry and a little confused. Whether it is a woman's womb or my health care, in this country the worst of all possible thing has happened. The Republican, Conservative and pseudo Religious Right segments of the political arena have chosen to politicize these issues. These are not something I wish people to be voting about because of party affiliation. They are deeply personal issues which affect all of us and we should all have that very precious right to make a decision regarding them personally and not according to government dictate.
Sounds like I am against Roe vs. Wade or the Healthcare Plan? Absolutely not! Roe vs. Wade preserves a woman's right to make her very personal choice herself, alone. The proposals for Healthcare Plans are not carbon copies of the Canadian plan or the Massachusetts plan or any other plan. Indeed the proposals so far are very adamant that a person should still have a choice to remain in an independent plan or go with the government insurance plan. You got that you lying misinforming pain in the Ass right wing idiots!! You will still have a choice!
Next item - the health care plan is in a proposal stage and both parties agree that reform is needed. The problem that sticks in the craw of the Conservative Right is that Democrats want it to give virtually free healthcare to millions of poor Americans (you know the black guy that wants to rape you and never works for a living) or (the Mexican who drinks tequila all day and snorts coke all night). "Kinder and gentler" and "a million points of light" be damned! The Conservative Right detests African and Hispanic America but don't have the balls anymore to just join the Klan and get it over with! They are racists and bigots of the very worst and cowardly kind. They hide behind the artful distribution of lies on radio programs, emails etc to gather the unsuspecting herd of closet bigots and mis-informed white Americans behind their cause.
But what do they have to offer? More of the same? More political comedy shows and mishandling of our nation's affairs like the Bush administration brought us? Have they ever been "kinder or gentler"? Perhaps we should ask African and Hispanic America their opinion on that. We all know how well their "Leave no child behind" program went. The problem with that was some of their own children started to get LEFT behind and a generation of semi-illiterates is coming to maturity without the capacity to participate competitively in a world that is slowly passing us by.
On top of this my Republican friends (yes I have quite a few) seem to loose their intelligence during these political soap operas that occur when something I actually care about comes to the forefront. They seem to believe any lie out there and help spread it in emails to people like me, with whom there is absolutely no chance of convincing to change our minds. They show me copies of The Bill when no bill is in existence. Then CNN reports everything they say and seems to never get in any ones face and point out the outright lies they are spreading. I have emailed CNN twice to find out if there IS an actual bill in existence and I don't get an answer. The media is enjoying the fray and the fights in town hall meetings. It makes their day and their news. So who can we trust any more? The media? They have abandoned news reporting for Jerry Springer tabloid style news. The political parties of our country? They can't put one foot in front of another without finding a way to politicize every issue and polarize and divide America.
So what do we do? Folks, I do not know and that distresses me. I do not know. Hate rules, lies prevail and the public interest be damned!
Sounds like I am against Roe vs. Wade or the Healthcare Plan? Absolutely not! Roe vs. Wade preserves a woman's right to make her very personal choice herself, alone. The proposals for Healthcare Plans are not carbon copies of the Canadian plan or the Massachusetts plan or any other plan. Indeed the proposals so far are very adamant that a person should still have a choice to remain in an independent plan or go with the government insurance plan. You got that you lying misinforming pain in the Ass right wing idiots!! You will still have a choice!
Next item - the health care plan is in a proposal stage and both parties agree that reform is needed. The problem that sticks in the craw of the Conservative Right is that Democrats want it to give virtually free healthcare to millions of poor Americans (you know the black guy that wants to rape you and never works for a living) or (the Mexican who drinks tequila all day and snorts coke all night). "Kinder and gentler" and "a million points of light" be damned! The Conservative Right detests African and Hispanic America but don't have the balls anymore to just join the Klan and get it over with! They are racists and bigots of the very worst and cowardly kind. They hide behind the artful distribution of lies on radio programs, emails etc to gather the unsuspecting herd of closet bigots and mis-informed white Americans behind their cause.
But what do they have to offer? More of the same? More political comedy shows and mishandling of our nation's affairs like the Bush administration brought us? Have they ever been "kinder or gentler"? Perhaps we should ask African and Hispanic America their opinion on that. We all know how well their "Leave no child behind" program went. The problem with that was some of their own children started to get LEFT behind and a generation of semi-illiterates is coming to maturity without the capacity to participate competitively in a world that is slowly passing us by.
On top of this my Republican friends (yes I have quite a few) seem to loose their intelligence during these political soap operas that occur when something I actually care about comes to the forefront. They seem to believe any lie out there and help spread it in emails to people like me, with whom there is absolutely no chance of convincing to change our minds. They show me copies of The Bill when no bill is in existence. Then CNN reports everything they say and seems to never get in any ones face and point out the outright lies they are spreading. I have emailed CNN twice to find out if there IS an actual bill in existence and I don't get an answer. The media is enjoying the fray and the fights in town hall meetings. It makes their day and their news. So who can we trust any more? The media? They have abandoned news reporting for Jerry Springer tabloid style news. The political parties of our country? They can't put one foot in front of another without finding a way to politicize every issue and polarize and divide America.
So what do we do? Folks, I do not know and that distresses me. I do not know. Hate rules, lies prevail and the public interest be damned!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!
Below is the beginning of an article in today's Post and Courier and my comments on the article and the prevailing attitude both within The Post and Courier and in the Charleston news media in general as well as with my many diehard Republican friends. I am not saying that Obama and his administration are flawless and surely we know by now, he is not Superman but for crying out loud!! Well read it.
Stimulus: Where is the money going?
By David Slade
The Post and Courier
Sunday, August 2, 2009
“Stimulus money is everywhere, and yet it’s so hard to see.
That’s because most funding that South Carolina and other states have received from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, about 75 percent of it, has been used to maintain existing services like Medicaid and education.
It would be easier to notice bridges being rebuilt and roads being paved, but most of the job-creating infrastructure work funded by the stimulus plan hasn’t started………..”
Stimulus: My Reply to The Post and Courier
Too slow, too fast, "not a fan of this administration". It is evident that this newspaper is not a fan either and has omitted some of the positive effects that have occurred so far as a result of this administration. The stock market is recovering and is poised to cross the benchmark of 10,000 any day now. Oil prices remain somewhat under control and the job losses have leveled off and are not wildly increasing as the article would have you believe. Seven months, that's only seven months folks that this administration has had a chance to right the wrongs of eight years of the prior administration's creation of this mess we are in. As we said in the 60's, "give peace a chance." For crying out loud, give it a chance!!!!
We are making progress and it is time that employers such as The Post and Courier climb out of the holes they have buried their heads in and start stimulating the economy themselves. "Create change or change will create you" was a mantra I heard before I retired. What has the news media in this town done during this recession? Retreat, slash jobs, cut families throats financially and hide hoping the government will fix it. That is exactly the attitude that every God fearing Republican used to preach against and I am NOT hearing it from Democrats! Where are their cries against big government now? The Post and Courier article says big government is not helping enough, is spending too slowly and please help us. This type of attitude is just plain pitiful. I say to the media of this town, "stand up, stop crying, act like men and women and do something!" I read a book once titled "Who Took the Cheese". I urge the management of The Post and Courier to re-read it.
Stimulus: Where is the money going?
By David Slade
The Post and Courier
Sunday, August 2, 2009
“Stimulus money is everywhere, and yet it’s so hard to see.
That’s because most funding that South Carolina and other states have received from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, about 75 percent of it, has been used to maintain existing services like Medicaid and education.
It would be easier to notice bridges being rebuilt and roads being paved, but most of the job-creating infrastructure work funded by the stimulus plan hasn’t started………..”
Stimulus: My Reply to The Post and Courier
Too slow, too fast, "not a fan of this administration". It is evident that this newspaper is not a fan either and has omitted some of the positive effects that have occurred so far as a result of this administration. The stock market is recovering and is poised to cross the benchmark of 10,000 any day now. Oil prices remain somewhat under control and the job losses have leveled off and are not wildly increasing as the article would have you believe. Seven months, that's only seven months folks that this administration has had a chance to right the wrongs of eight years of the prior administration's creation of this mess we are in. As we said in the 60's, "give peace a chance." For crying out loud, give it a chance!!!!
We are making progress and it is time that employers such as The Post and Courier climb out of the holes they have buried their heads in and start stimulating the economy themselves. "Create change or change will create you" was a mantra I heard before I retired. What has the news media in this town done during this recession? Retreat, slash jobs, cut families throats financially and hide hoping the government will fix it. That is exactly the attitude that every God fearing Republican used to preach against and I am NOT hearing it from Democrats! Where are their cries against big government now? The Post and Courier article says big government is not helping enough, is spending too slowly and please help us. This type of attitude is just plain pitiful. I say to the media of this town, "stand up, stop crying, act like men and women and do something!" I read a book once titled "Who Took the Cheese". I urge the management of The Post and Courier to re-read it.
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