The Conservative Republicans' Delusion

During the Clinton years I had to endure a constant harangue from my conservative Republican friends and family about "The Rapist" (i.e. Bill Clinton) and "The Bitch" (Hilary Clinton).  It got so bad that I hated to visit my Mother and my brother who lived with her because they would work themselves up into quite a lather after listening to Rush Limbaugh.  Hey, I wasn't too thrilled with Clinton either after he double-crossed the GLBT community by signing into the stupid "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and Defense of Marriage Act.  But that didn't make a difference to them, they felt they had to hold me personally responsible that "The Rapist" was president.  Never mind that the Clinton Years were some of the best for the economy of this country in a generation.  No, the GOP Hate Machine was in full force to delegitimize Clinton by impeaching him.  Of course Clinton was reelected for another four year term thus throwing the Republican Haters into a frenzy of self-delusion.  

After the Clinton eight years we got Bush. Need I say more?  I'm not even going there where that the Republicans probably stole both elections.  Look at the mess Bush Junior left us in,  but not to my conservative Republican friends and family. Soaked in their Fox News paranoia they think all the problem is the Democrats blaming Bush for everything that ever went wrong with this country.  Delusion.

So now we have Barack Obama reelected as president for a second term.  This after four years of the conservative Republicans trying to delegitimize President Obama as a Kenyan, Muslim, Socialist, Hitler, and homosexual.  Delusion.

Barack Obama, only the third president to be reelected with a 50% majority since Ronald Reagan,  the other presidents being Roosevelt and Eisenhower.  

So now I am being bombarded again by some of my conservative Republican friends with their paranoid conspiracy theories that President Obama is a Socialist Muslim Terrorist who stole the election and is hell bent to destroy this country.  The Mau Mau are coming!  

Friends, I have to be blunt here.  I'm 71 years old and frankly, I am tired of fighting these delusional people.  Friends, relatives notwithstanding, I am tired.  I can't imagine responding to their fantastical delusional conspiracy theories for the next four years.  I just can't.  

I've tried to figure out what makes these people tick.  Is it racism?  Maybe that's part of it.  I really don't know.  This is what I do know.  I heard a quote today form a columnist that I never heard of before that sums up my feelings best.  This is the quote:

The GOP’s Shrinking Tent

“If you believe in climate change, finding a path to citizenship for millions of hard-working and the right to marry the person you love, there is no place in the Republican Party for you.”

Timothy Egan – New York Times 11/30/2012

So friends and relatives, do not send me any more of your hateful e-mails, snide comments, and put-downs because I voted for Barack Obama.  I have better things to do with my time than respond to you and try to explain reality to you.  My suggestion for you is to arrange an appointment with your therapist to get to the root of your hate filled delusion.  

I'm running out of time folks and I am tired.  Take all that energy you're putting into hate and try to do something positive for this country that ALL OF US LIVE IN.  

Take a deep breath and connect with reality.  

And please folks, stop telling me what I can or cannot post on my Facebook page and blog.  As I have said many times before, if you don't like what I post on Facebook, unfriend me.  If you don't like what I post on my blog, then don't read it.  Last I heard this was a free country.  Check the U.S. Constitution that you're so fond of quoting to justify owning your automatic rifles, somewhere in that document is a mention of free speech.  It's called "The Bill of Rights".  Applies to gay men and women, black men and women, Hispanics, Asians, young people, women and yes, even white men. 

Fun Romney Loser iMovie!

Hey folks!  Spent all day making this new iMovie.  Oh I do love making movies.

My friend Don McK. sent me a fun compilation of photos of the Republican losers.  By the way, do you think the Republicans learned anything from their loss?  Uh......I don't think so.  Take a gander below of the newly appointed House of Representatives committee chairmanships.  Notice what they have in common?  Ah yes, ALL WHITE MEN.  

Keep on keep on Rethugs Republicans.  

Here's a clue guys, the Angry White Man vote is shrinking.  Something you all might want to think about if you ever plan to win another presidential election.  Just saying.  

Another Con Man Bites The Dust

Yes folks, yet another con man revealed.  This time it is the much revered General David Petraeus. The almost God like figure that George Bush couldn't get his nose far enough up his ass.  Yes, General David Petraeus was caught dicking his biographer.  The man who so loved the camera before he was revealed as just another egomaniac who believed his own press, went in the back door to Senate hearings that are trying to gin up a Watergate like controversy so they can delegitimize our duly elected president.  Yes folks, those same Rethuglicans Republicans are at it again but I digress.  That is a subject for another blog posting.  Yes folks, our BRAVE general snuck in the back door.  Need I say more?

Oh, I think I will.  Here is a partial gallery of other con men, i.e. phonies who were found out.  So many, so little time.  One good thing, we have found out about them before they could do any real harm.  No, let me take that back.  Petraeus did talk President Obama into a surge in Afghanistan in 2009 which failed TOTALLY, thus resulting in the loss of the lives and injuries of many truly brave men and women of our armed forces.  Thanks Dave, you fuck face.

Memo to the Mittster: you can get people to vote for you if you don't like them.  That's Rule #1.  I wish I could take some satisfaction in knowing that you are ashamed of yourself now for the selfish, out of touch fool that you have shown yourself to the whole country but I still don't think you get it.  You bastard.  Go play with your car elevators.

George W. Bush, the WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY.  His presidency would be laughable except that it resulted in the needless deaths of thousands of innocents and ruined lives of their families.  Keep smiling.  He doesn't get it either.  Go clear some brush.

John Edwards, he of the $250 "I Feel Pretty" haircut.  Fucks another woman while his wife is dying of cancer.  A real man.  Uh huh.  Notice something all of these bastards have in common?  They STILL don't think they did anything wrong.


Oh I know, some of you of differing political persuasion that I am are wondering where is Bill Clinton?  I'll tell you where he is.  He is the MOST POPULAR MAN IN THE WORLD.  

So he got a blow job in the White House while talking on the phone to a member of Congress.  Here's the difference, NO ONE DIED.  

And last but not least, the most hated man in America.....er White Man America, President Barack Obama.  What did he do wrong besides being a socialist, Kenyan, Muslim?  HE'S BLACK!  He's also the president of the United States for the next four years.  Deal with it.

I'll take a man any day, black or white who is fighting for the middle class.  I'm not bothered that a black family is sitting on those expensive and historic White House sofas.  Are you?

The Final Count

The election results are in!  Florida went for President Obama.  All that voter suppression that the Republicans shamelessly imposed on American citizens backfired and only got more voters out to the polls even if they had to wait in line six, seven and sometimes eight hours.  

The Republicans are in the second stage of grief now, anger.  They're trying to figure out what happened.  Uh, you got beat guys.  Not REAL HARD to figure out.  The MAJORITY of the American voter didn't believe your lies, didn't want to go down the Road of Ruin by electing a pathological liar.  They didn't elect a man as vice president who wanted to eliminate Medicare by turning it into a voucher system and to privatize Social Security.  As the Republicans were so fond of saying after the 2010 elections:  "THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN."  

I for one am thoroughly enjoying watching the Republican clown entertainers on Fox and other conservative propaganda outlets try to process through their narrow minded heads what happened.  They cannot fathom that there is more to the American voting electorate than Old Angry White Men and their Obedient Wives.  

Get used to it Old White Guys (and the Obedient Wives), you're losing power.  This is a diverse nation of old, young, white, black, brown, yellow, red, gay, straight and everything else.  Your day has passed.  I know it may take a while to figure out but it is called EQUALITY.  Look it up, it's in the Constitution.

Celebrate!

Hey folks!  I made another iMovie!  And this one isn't about me.

You all know how much I LOVE making iMovies.  I felt the need to make one celebrating the reelection of President Obama by the MAJORITY of our DIVERSE American voters.  Don't you just love the way democracy works?  Those men who wrote out Constitution a few hundred years ago knew what they were doing didn't they when they insured that an election couldn't be bought by a few wealthy millionaires are billionaires.

The people have spoken and Barack Obama is our president for another four years.  They have rejected the lies and false promises of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and the special interests who own them.

How ironic that the man who fooled the American public once, George W. Bush, actually was right when he said (and I quote exactly):

"Fool me once and uh, I can't get fooled again!"  

The Day After

I woke up this morning and realized that last night wasn't a dream.  President Barack Obama was reelected for a second term. 

This election proved that no matter how much money was spent by the 1%, they couldn't lie to the majority of the American voters who rejected the most deceitful, and secretive man ever to run for president, Willard Mitt Romney.  

This election proved that the majority of the American voter can only be lied to so much before they see through the lies and realized that the election of the vacuous Mitt Romney and the heartless Paul Ryan would begin the destruction of the social safety net that was begun with Franklin D. Roosevelt.

This election proved that all the racial dog whistles didn't prevent the majority of the American voters to see past the race of the man and know that the person who will look after THEIR interests and not the 1% was Barack Obama.

This election proved that a candidate who , at a secret $50,000 fund raising dinner for his rich benefactors says the following:

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what.... These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. So he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean, that's what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

will not and SHOULD NOT be elected the president of ALL THE PEOPLE of the United States.

Last night the majority of the American voters elected a man who believes that ALL Americans deserve an equal chance to succeed in America.  

Last night the majority of the American voters elected a man who believes that the young, old, white, black, straight, gay, rich, and poor ALL deserve a seat at the table.  

Last night the majority of American voters elected a man to be president of ALL the people, not the privileged 1%.  

Last night the majority of American voters proved that they could not be lied to and could not be bought.

Romney Gets His Ass Handed To Him

Where's Clint?

Hey folks!  Did you see last night's presidential debate?  Sure you did!  Well, I was going to write a long blog posting about it but decided instead to just post photos with captions.

Obama: "Oh God, do I HAVE to shake your hand?" Romney: "I'm going to roll over you again!"

Wary gladiators enter the debate arena 

Romney:  "I'd like to strap you to the roof of my car"  Obama:  "I'm going to wipe the floor with you."

Obama: "Do you know how you can tell Governor Romney lies?  He opens his mouth."

Obama:  "Oh no you didn't just say that!"

Romney:  "WAW! WAW! WAW!"

Obama:  "Governor Romney, could you stop lying for just one minute?"

Check out Romney's VERY TIGHT smile - this is the smile of a CEO who isn't used to being challenged

The Real Romney - a mean, viscous, soulless CEO who will eliminate your job and take the money saved and put in a Swiss bank account (or Cayman Islands)

President Obama exposing yet another Romney Lie

This is the way a pissed off former CEO looks when his lies are exposed

Anne Romney:  "I can't believe I married this douche"

Michelle Obama:  "Now THIS is the Barack I know!"

The Accusatory Fingers

See you all in Boca for the Final Round 

Obama Caves

I don't know where to start with my response to Obama's cave in last night to extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich.


Even though I knew he would give in to the Republican demands for tax cuts, I felt sick to my stomach when he made the announcement last night.  My feeling was one of betrayal.  


Remember what he ran on?  NO TAX CUTS FOR THOSE WHO MAKE OVER $250,000.


Another campaign promise broken.


Here is a partial list of campaign promises that Obama has not kept:

• End of tax cuts for families making over $250,000 a year - Obama said he will support an extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans for two years
• No taxes for seniors who make less than $50,000 a year - since Obama was elected president there has been no mention of this campaign promise
• Withdrawal from Iraq - we're still there
• End of DADT - Obama's Justice Department appeals court rulings that attempt to stop expulsion of gay service members until if and when Congress repeals the DADT law 
• Withdrawal from Guantanamo Bay - we're still there
• End of wireless wiretapping of American citizens - we're still doing it
• End of torture - we're still doing torturing

Obama and his administration touts their "accomplishment" the health care bill.  This is the same health care bill in which they didn't even fight for the public option which would keep costs down by competition.  Obama promised in his campaign that all negations would be conducted in public over C-SPAN.  Didn't happen.  Negotiations with the drug and insurance companies were done behind closed doors.  A deal was worked out where the insurance companies would get 43 million new customers with the mandatory provision of the health care bill but without the public option.  Again, Obama supported a bill that made it look like something was "being done" but in effect it is a lousy bill because the insurance companies will only raise their rates to cover the provisions of the bill that requires insurance companies not to cap their maximum payout and turn down people because or prior medical conditions.  

It is obvious now that Obama the president is not the same Obama the candidate. 

"Change that you can believe in?"  

No, Obama has proven by his performance the past two years that he takes the course of least resistance. 

Bill Clinton was right, Obama gives a good speech. 

Mark this date on your calendar.  Obama will be a one term president.  After last night's action, in which he didn't even fight for his campaign promise not to give tax cuts for those who make over $250,000, he has lost his base.  

The terrorists Republicans have won.

Christmas = Family

As you all probably know, I have no trouble coming up with subjects for my blog postings.  I try to keep my postings positive, upbeat and happy.  But sometimes this is hard to do because of the constant state of crises or near crises that we all live in these days.

The past several days I have been very upset over what I see as he impending cave in by Obama to the Republican demands to extend the Bush tax cuts for the very rich.  I wanted to write a blog about my profound disappointment in Obama in the weakness that he has constantly shown in his dealings with the Republicans.  But I hesitated because do I really want to add on all that angst here in this wonderful holiday season?  Others are doing it already.

Then there is the subject of the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy of excluding gays from the military.  I wanted to write about the Angry Old Man of the right whose hatred of Obama is so intense that he is totally out of touch with reality that he is threatening to filibuster any vote to repeal this ridiculous, unfair and discriminatory 17 year old law.  Of course I am speaking about John McCain.  This man literally makes me gag when I see his face appear on television and when he speaks.  Do I really want to vent my disgust (war hero or not) against this Angry Old "Get Off My Lawn!" Man?  Others are doing it already.

Then there is the subject of Wikileaks, where Julian Assange has released hundreds of thousands of State Department documents thus embarrassing the United States government.  Now we're all hearing how this is threatening the lives of our service members and state department employees and others in foreign lands who cooperate with our State Department.  Mike Huckabee, the former governor or Arkansas and future presidential candidate is calling for the death penalty for Julian Assange.  Funny, I don't remember the likes of Huckabee calling for the death penalty for former Vice President Cheney or Karl Rove when they outed Wilson's wife as a CIA agent.  Where was the outrage then?   Do I really want to pile on my outrage against this obvious double standard?  Others are doing it already.

No, what I'll do in this blog posting is express my appreciation for the fine people I work with at the hotel where I work part-time.  Pictured on this blog is my boss (the young man lying on the floor and yes, he is young enough to be my grandson) and his family - his wife and daughter and his parents.  This to me is what Christmas is all about, families.

Merry Christmas Mike and family!

Profound Disappointment

Resident  cat on Rehoboth Boardwalk this morning.

A federal judge yesterday ruled that the 17 year old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is unconstitutional and should be discontinued immediately.

This is good news.  The bad news is that the justice department of the Obama administration will appeal this decision.

This is the administration of the same Barack Obama that pledged during this campaign to do all he could to end the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.  

Does it sound like Barack Obama said one thing during his campaign but is now acting differently once he is in power?  If you thought that, you would be right.

What was the campaign slogan?  "Change That You Can Believe In?"  Well, guess what?  That was a lie.  

I am profoundly disappointed in President Obama and his lack of leadership on this issue.  

Vice President Joe Biden is running around the country telling those of us unenthusiastic Democratic voters to "stop whining and buck up."  Biden is a jerk.

Susan Collins gets on the Senate floor and tries to have it both ways by saying she believes in the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" but has to vote against a bill to "discuss" the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", because it doesn't permit amendments.  Collins is a jerk.

This is what is going to happen.  Eventually "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be reversed.  It is going to happen.  

As more gays and lesbians come out of the closet and those in power realize that gays aren't those extreme examples seen in gay pride parades like nuns on roller-skates and gyrating men in thongs, they will see that gays like me are not a threat to their lifestyle.  Being gay isn't contagious.  

I'll vote this November.  I'll probably vote for Democratic.  I cannot see voting for a nut bag like Christine O'Donnell.  

One thing is for sure, I'll never vote for Obama again.  He's just another lying politician (like Clinton) who takes the gay vote for granted.  

Lying has consequences.  Got that Joe Biden?

Stop Whining

Our Vice-President - Joe Biden

My longtime friend (since grade school) Lar has lived in Delaware for over thirty years.  Joe Biden has always been his senator.  


When I lived in Pennsylvania, I was always put off a bit whenever I mentioned Joe Biden and Lar would have a negative reaction.  Lar is a pretty reasonable guy.  I could never understand his organic dislike for Joe Biden.  Lar likes everybody and if he doesn't like them he rarely, if ever, expresses his dislike for them.  However, with Joe Biden Lar doesn't hesitate to express his dislike for the former senior senator from Delaware.  Lar's dislike of Joe Biden is visceral.  


Now that I live in Delaware (since 2006) and have experienced Joe Biden first hand, I understand my friend Lar's dislike.  Joe Biden is a self-important, vacuous, arrogant phony.  


Yesterday Joe Biden again proved what a flatulent, pin headed, arrogant, pompous ass he is by advising those Democrats and Progressives who are disappointed in the weak-kneed and promises not kept Obama administration by advising those Democrats to "Stop whining and get out and vote for the Democrats."  


Hey, what a way to win over the base!  Is this man a genius or what?  Insult your base.  That's what you do to get them out to vote on election day.  Then he goes out and says "Buck up!"  Obama said the same thing later on in the day.  They obviously got their talking points.  


So why should we Democrats and Progressives vote for the Democrats?  Obama and Biden say that the alternative, the Republicans lead by the Tea Baggers are worse.  Hey, there's another good reason to vote Democratic.  Never mind that this administration has been rolled repeatedly the past two years by the Party of No, the Republicans.


 Never mind that they let the likes of Joe Lieberman get away with his nonsense. 


Never mind that they passed a phony health care bill without a public option. 


Never mind that the absurd law "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is still on the books.  


Never mind that Obama can't even take a leadership role and at least put a stop loss on any further discharges from the Armed services of our gay and lesbian members. 


Never mind that even though as judges overall the DOMA act, Obama's Justice department is still challenging those actions. 


Asked why, Robert Gibbs airily explains away the Justice Department actions as "pro forma." 


Hey, I thought when we voted for Obama we voted to change the way things were done in Washington.  Apparently that was a lie.


So Joe Biden addresses dissent and disappointment in the Democratic base of his party as "Stop whining" and "Buck up."  


I have choice two word answer to Biden but since this is a family blog I won't say it here.  However, what I will say is that now I understand my friend Lar cannot stand Joe Biden.  I can't either.


What a pompous ass.  

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

President Obama made a promise during the election that the ridiculous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy would be discontinued.  Just recently he said, "It will happen this session of Congress."  Well, it isn't going to happen.  The repeal of the DADT bill isn't even going to come up for debate, much less be repealed.

When President Clinton was running for president he promised to lift the policy of banning gays from the military.  When he encountered opposition, he caved.  Thus resulting in the absurd "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which has resulted in ruining thousands of careers of dedicated gay men and women who only want to serve their country.  When Clinton caved, that's when I stopped listening to him.  I never believed anything he said since.  I still don't to this day.

I believed Obama when he was running for president and said he represented "Change we can believe in." Well, I believed.  Now that Obama and the Democrats are in power, I see that they are doing the same thing Clinton and the Democrats did back fourteen years ago.  They took the gay and lesbian vote for granted.  They assume gays like me have no where else to go.  In a way they're right, I would never.....NEVER vote for any of the Republicans today as long as they remain in lockstep to destroy the Obama presidency. 

What I can do is not make any more contributions to the Democratic Party.  And, for the first time since1964, I will probably not vote.  Ironically I cast my first vote for Barry Goldwater.  Back then I was a Republican when a Republican had real values.  Ever since the Republican Convention in Houston where Pat Buchanan drummed out of the party gays like me, I left the Republican Party.  Those cheering white folk who approved of Buchanan's hate filled diatribe reminded me too much of the Good Germans who cheered and gave the Nazi salute to Hitler at the height of his power.

No, I'm not going to be the Charlie Brown to the Lucy Democratic Party anymore.  Bye.

Taken by the Indians!

Quanah Parker 1852- February 23, 1911

Quanah Parker was the son of Cynthia Ann Parker and Comanche chief Peta Nocona.  The name Quanah means "Fragrance" in Comanche.

Quanah Parker's mother, Cynthia Ann Parker (born ca. 1827), was a member of the large Parker frontier family that settled in east Texas in the 1830's.  She was captured in 1836 (at age nine) buy Comanches during the raid of Fort Parker near present-day Groesbeck, Texas.  Given the Indian name Nadua (Someone Found), she was adopted into the Nocana band of Comanches.

Assimilated int the Comanche, Cynthia Ann later married the warrior Nocona, (Also known as Peta Nocona).  

Cynthia Ann lived with the Comanches for 24 years and had three children with Chief Peta, Quanah being the oldest.  Her other two children were another son Pecos (Pecan) , and a daughter Topsana (Prairie Flower.)  

Cynthia Ann and her daughter were captured by the Texas Rangers in the battle of Pease River.  Her husband, Quanah and most of the adult men were out hunting when the Texas Rangers attacked.  

Cynthia Ann was reunited with her Parker family but she was thoroughly Comanche.  She tried several times to escape back to her Comanche home but was always recaptured.  After he daughter Topsana died of an illness in 1963, Cynthia Ann lost the will to live and starved to death in 1870.

Cynthia Ann Parker with her daughter shortly after her capture by the Texas Rangers.

Her hair is cut short in the Comanche tradition of mourning for the dead. She thought her husband died in the Pease River Battle (he didn't).  She spent the rest of her life longing for her two sons.

I'm reading a book about a child captured by the Indians in west Texas in the 1800's.  It's called "The Captured" by Scogtt Zesch.  Oh how I love a good book and this one is excellent.  I feel like I'm being transferred back in time.  It's been so long since I read a good book.

In the book I found this picture of Quanah Parker.   He was the last Comanche chief.  He ended his life as a prosperous rancher.  

Forty years after his mother died, he was reunited with her when he had her body moved to Fort Sill Cemetery, Oklahoma.  

Quanah died on February23, 1911.  Hew was buried beside his mother and sister.  The inscription on his tombstone reads:

Resting Here Until Day Break

And Shadows Fall and Darkness

Disappears is

Quanah Parker Last Chief of the Comanches

Born 1852

Died February 23, 1911

Quanah's biographer Bill Neeley wrote: 

"Not only did Quanah pass within the span of a single lifetime from a Stone Age warrior to a statesman in the age of the Industrial Revolution, but he never lost a battle to the white man and he also accepted the challenge and responsibility of leading the whole Comanche tribe on the difficult road toward their new existence."

Quanah Parker - rancher

I think I'm up on my history but I never heard of Quanah before I read this book.  I am fascinated by this man and his life story.  This morning I ordered several books from Amazon.com about him.  

In fact I have a renewed interest in the American Indian and their history.  Of course the real story of the Indians is nothing like what we have seen in the movies and on TV.  

What is especially interesting about Quanah Parker is that he was half white and half Indian and yet he was the greatest and last Comanche chief. 

I can't help but see the parallel with our president, Barack Obama.  President Obama, himself half white and half black is also a leader.  His greatness has yet to be determined if ever.  In fact, I am very disappointed in president Obama's performance so far.  I hope things change around and someone like me will look at a picture of Barack Obama 100 years from now and say "What a fascinating man."

Now here's a question:  Why hasn't someone made a movie about Quanah Parker and his mother, Cynthia Ann Parker?  I hear that the old John Wayne/Natalie Wood movie "The Searchers" was loosely based on Cynthia Ann's life.  Hollywood needs to make a movie about Quanah Parker.  You know who could play Quanah?  Keanu Reeves.  

The Good, Bad and Ugly

President Obama signed into law the new health care bill yesterday. As Joe Biden so famously said yesterday “This is a big f—cking deal!” Here is the good, bad and ugly of the whole health care debate.



The Good:



The reform bill has two phases. First, here are some things that Americans will see change in the first 6 months the bill is in effect:

• Senior citizens will be eligible for up to $250 in prescription drug rebates to close the "doughnut hole," the costly gap for prescription pills. In 2011, a 50 percent discount on prescription drugs will be enacted.

• Lifetime caps on insurance coverage will be removed.

• Insurance companies will not be able to deny coverage if you get sick or cancel coverage already issued except in the case of fraud.

• Prohibits coverage denial or rate adjustment for children who have pre-existing conditions.

• High risk pools will be created for adults with pre-existing conditions to buy into until 2014 when they will also not be denied or have rates adjusted for pre-existing conditions.

• Tax credits for small businesses when purchasing coverage.

• Consumers will have protections against insurance company abuses through the Patients' Bill Of Rights.

• Children will be able to stay under parents' plan until they are 26 years old.

• Consumers will have guaranteed choice of doctors and plans.

• Free preventative care for all.

• All insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.



The second phase of the bill is set to be complete in four years time, by 2014. Here's what the bill will do then:

• All adults will not be denied coverage or have their rates adjusted if they have a pre-existing condition.

• Tax credits will be offered to families to help offset the cost of health care premiums.

• Individuals who get insurance through their employer will be able to purchase a state-run option of health insurance instead when their current premiums are more than 9.5 percent of their income or when their current plan doesn't cover 60 percent of the cost of their benefits. Certain middle-income families who pay more than 8 percent but less than 9.5 percent will be eligible for vouchers from their employers to purchase insurance from where the employer normally would have.

• All Americans must carry health insurance or face a fine, but there are special exceptions for economic hardship, religious beliefs and other special cases. These exceptions include if a couple makes less than $19,000, they are not required to carry health insurance.

• Medium-sized and large-sized companies will be fined if they do not provide coverage for their employees or if they do not meet a minimum standard of coverage.

• States set up insurance pools to help small companies come together to pay for insurance coverage of their employees and offer tax credits if they participate. They must insure their employees and meet a minimum standard of coverage or pay a fine.

• Flexible spending accounts used for health care costs will have a cap at $2,500 starting in 2013. There currently is no cap by law, but employers generally impose a cap around $4,000.

• Those who itemize their tax returns will have their deductible medical expenses shrink. The new bill only allows you to deduct medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of your adjusted gross income, the current law has it at 7.5 percent.

• 32 million Americans who were not covered before the bill was passed, will now be covered through subsidies averaging $6,000 per person to help pay premiums and other medical charges. This will also happen through the extension of Medicaid.



So now that you know how your coverages might change, how much will your payments change?

• If you get your insurance through your company, your premiums will not change.

• If you get insurance privately and you make under $88K, your premiums are likely to go down with the assistance of subsidies.

• If you get insurance privately and you make over $88K, your premiums are likely to go up to help cover the cost of the expanded coverage and subsidies.

The Bad:

Simply put the total, 100% Republican opposition to the health care bill that will vastly improve the lives of millions of our fellow American citizens. John Boehner, the Minority Leader is especially upset.  Probably because he now has to pay an additional tax on his tanning salon visits.



The Republicans were out to destroy the presidency of Barrack Obama. Senator Jim Demint of South Carolina said the the health care bill would be Obama's "Waterloo."  The Republicans failed.



The Republicans think they’re going to sweep back into power in the 2010 mid term elections by repealing the new enacted health care bill. They are so blinded by their hatred of president Obama and his supporters they can’t even see straight. Former presidential speech writer David Frum is correct in his current assessment that the Republicans are going down the wrong road. They are the ones going down to the road of defeat. The current version of the Republican Party (as opposed to the one I used to belong to when it was the Goldwater conservative Republican Party) is rapidly becoming irrelevant.

The Republicans are proving that they care nothing about the average American who is struggling with health care costs. They care only for their corporate masters, the drug and health care industry.



The Ugly:

The Teabaggers (their name originally until they were made aware of the “other” meaning of “teabagging.”)



This past Sunday the Teabaggers showed their true face when some of them shouted racial and homophobic taunts at some of our legislatures who were entering the Capital building for the final vote on the new health care legislation.

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a 'ni--er.' And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a "faggot," as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president's speech, shrugged off the incident.

This past summer Teabaggers packed local town hall meetings of congressmen and tried to shout down and intimidate anyone, including the congressman or congresswoman who was holding the town hall meeting, who didn’t agree with their narrow minded views.



There is an ugliness pervading the public square that we haven’t seen since the bad old civil rights days of the Fifties when Bull Conner and his men beat civil rights activities demanding equal rights.



I fear for this country not from terrorists overseas but from the terrorists within our midst. This is our real danger, not someone who can get health care who couldn’t get it before this health care bill was signed into law.



I’m not a religious person but I am a spiritual person. I thank God (or whoever) that we have the right person leading this country at this time of our turmoil. Barrack Obama is the right man and the right time for our country. I pray for his safety.

Buyer's Remorse

To all my friends who said "I told you so." Okay, I admit it. Obama isn't all that. In fact, he's not much of anything except just another politician who doesn't get it.




I voted for him because I believed in his campaign motto "Change you can believe it." So where is the change? Looks like more of the same to me.



The only tangible change I see is that Obama did lessen the tension between us and the rest of the world. Gone is the Cowboy, in your face diplomacy of the George W. Bush regime. No more that arrogant dumb ass Donald Rumsfeld calling our European allies "Old Europe" just because they didn't buy into our unnecessary war against Iraq. The rest of the world doesn't hate us now. No more Darth Vader Dick Cheney emerging from his Undisclosed Location to threaten to bomb yet another Arab country.



But how about at home? Are we any better here? I don't see it. Obama is continuing the Bush policy of eavesdropping on domestic phone conversation. Obama has done nothing to stop the terrible wasteful practice of discharging gay members of the armed forces. At least he could put a hold on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" until Congress gets around to repealing that stupid law. And forget DOMA. Obama still believes that marriages should only be between “a man and a woman.” So what does that make me and my partner of the last forty six years? Chopped liver? I don’t have to have the word “marriage” but we’ll take the same legal and tax benefits that are accorded automatically to heterosexual couples when they get married.



Obama and his administration are trying to pass a health bill that doesn't include a public option thus preventing any competition in the health insurance and pharma industry. However, the bill does include mandatory insurance for those who don't have insurance, thus guaranteeing 30 to 40 million new customers to the health and insurance industry crooks who continue to be exempt from anti-trust laws. Obama is willing to pass the current version of the health bill just to say he did something, even though it will probably be worse for all of us.



Obama is kowtowing not only to the Chinese prime minister (that was a deep bow wasn't it?) but also to the Wall Street banks so they can continue to rob the American public blind. Did you all see that kiss ass congressional hearing of the big bankers last week? Obama talks tough but doesn’t do anything to make the bankers hurt, and they know it.



I hate to say it but I’m afraid that everyone who opposes Obama knows that he can be rolled. And they’re doing it.



Where is the "change we can believe in?" All I know is that I don't have a job now. It doesn't matter that Obama didn't keep his promise to exempt senior citizens (of which I am one) from payroll taxes. In my case it doesn't matter anyway because I'm not working now due to the slow economy. I'm "on call" from work. When we get guests start staying at the hotel, then I guess I go back to work but I'm not holding my breath.



I for one am tired of seeing Obama (or any other president for that matter) sitting in a children's classroom reading a Dick and Jane (or "My Pet Goat") book to them. Since when does a president have time to do that kind of useless activity? Is the presidency all about photo ops?



By the way, here is a message to the Republicans who are already licking their chops at the prospect of Obama failing and them getting back into power. . Just because Obama is failing doesn't mean that the majority of the American public is going to buy into their philosophy of cutting taxes for the rich and eliminating government services just so they can line their pockets. With their actions of the past year they have shown that all they care about is bringing the president down and getting back into power themselves for their own selfish reasons. Don't kid yourselves, the Republicans care nothing about the average American either. Put them back in power and they will pick up screwing the average American like they did the past eight years.



Obama this past year by his actions (or more appropriately non action) has proved that he is just another politician who makes empty promises during the campaign then gets into office he continues business as usual. Where is the “change we can believe in?”



What a disappointment.