Everyday, I am amazed how Arizona drivers demonstrate their inability to grasp the concept of merging traffic. It's "I go,then you go." What's so hard about that?
How can the burgers be "Fresh Flame Broiled" if the damn broiler machine is never on? Or does it beep like a microwave oven... Teenie tiny flame broilers. The great big one must just be for show. I told you those damn computer storage "clouds" weren't secure. Now the NSA has copies of all your naked "selfies". I text you when it's something I want you to read at your convenience. Not while you're driving. I email you to give you the details that are too long and involved to text. I call you to apologize for not texting or emailing you. I don't tweet. It's just silly. Does anyone really think that "liquid smoke" makes anything taste better? It just gives me the "liquid smoke" burps the rest of the day. After having been married and divorced twice, I was asked if I would ever marry again. I suppose the person was insinuating the "third time's a charm" rule. My answer is no, I don't think so. instead, every 10 years or so, I'm just going to put half of my stuff out on the curb. At least that way I get to pick what goes. Windows 8 = Windows ME you can touch. Why is it that my cable company only agreed to lower my monthly bill AFTER I cancelled my cable? Really! I had done everything to keep my bill below $100 a month until I finally didn't have enough left to make it worth keeping. NOW I get emails and snail mail adverts telling me how inexpensive my cable would be if I came back... Too late. I invested in a TV antenna and a ROKU. I just set up a ROTH IRA on one of the trading sites and I'm looking at the stocks I can invest in on the market. Perhaps someone can explain to me why the stock price of General Motors ( a company that had to be bailed out by the federal government or go bankrupt) is nearly twice that of the Ford Motor Company that remain solvent and needed no bailout during the entire financial crisis? Do these people really believe that GM learned anything? Or do they just think that they haven't lost enough money in the markets. This is the time of year when I have to find five things to give up so I can have my eggnog and brandy at bedtime and not gain weight... *sigh* My veterinarian closed or moved or something. Anyway he's gone and I had to put my 16 1/2 year old dog down after she had a stroke followed by a seizure the next day. I contacted a local pet hospital that came very well recommended. They were very nice and patient and took care of all the grizzly details after I sat with my dog and watched her pass. My problem is, now they are sending me discount dog healthcare coupons... ? Enough for now. Be Well.
In the first 18 months of the Obama presidency, we have seen the Republican members of congress drag their feet, put out misinformation, and finally refuse to even discuss proposed legislation, all the while collecting their paychecks and publicly funded healthcare benefits.
We have seen disrespect for the President of the United States and the OFFICE of the President of the United States on a scale never before seen in modern America.
It’s one thing to disagree with legislation, and quite another to just stop it. No vote, just cause nothing to be done at all. That is not why you were elected and put in office. You are there to govern, to lead, and stating that your feel-bads got hurt, or you don’t like the game so you are not going to play, is not an option. Just like it’s not an option in anybody else’s job.
But refusing to play may be just what we get, if some Republican and Tea Party candidates are elected.
Republican candidates and House Republican Leader John Boehner have publicly stated, “No Compromises,” for the next two years. No compromises means no work. Well, at least no work for you or I, you know the people who pay these guys.
The very definition of a political government is compromise. You want this, I want that, let’s find something in the middle that we can both live with and maybe gets us both a little closer to our goals. The idea of “No Compromise” means no governing. No action at all.
And although many shortsighted people may think that this is a good way to stop what they may not agree with in this Presidency, what do you think is going to happen if and when the political worm turns?
Even if the Republicans were to take back control of both houses, even if President Obama looses his reelection in 2012, what do you think the minority party is going to do? The same thing? You bet.
No republican legislation will make it through Congress because Democrats will use the exact same tactics now mastered by the Republicans.
But its gets even worse. Utah's Tea Party-backed Republican Senate candidate, Mike Lee, talked about the possible “Inconvenience” of a government shutdown to stop what he sees as a run-away budget.
An “Inconvenience?” Really? Let’s see Mike, you might be inconvenienced if your paycheck comes a week or so late, but the healthcare for you and your family will continue. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Post Office and other Federal Government agencies would come to a stop. Inconvenience? Putting people lives and livelihoods on the block to oppose a sky rocketing budget deficit?
Let’s pause and look to see just where that deficit came from.
When Clinton administration finished, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, they left a budgetary surplus of $86.4 billion in fiscal 2000. Again that was his last year in office and does not count any Social Security surpluses.
That was the budget condition that George W. Bush and the Republican held Congress inherited when Bush took office. In 2008, the last full year G.W Bush was in office, the Presidents budget request optimistically projected that the deficit for all of 2008 would total $410 billion.
I call his proposed budget “optimistic” because by October of that same year, 2008, the budget deficit had ballooned to 10.2 Trillion, that’s TRILLION with a ‘T’, dollars. This was not because of the 9-11 attacks, it wasn’t just because of the wars in Iraq and Afganistan, this was primarily the 700 billion dollar Government bailout of the banks and Wall Street.
And who had restricted the enforcement or eliminated the Federal rules governing those businesses? Obama? That would have been one hell of a trick as he would not take office until January 20th of the following year. It was George W. Bush and the Republican held congress.
According to the Treasury, the Bush administration added an average $500 billion dollars a year to the deficit, every year starting in 2003.
As I record this, the U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK is reading just under 14 Trillion dollars. That means with all the “wild spending” that President Obama and the Democrats are accused of, amounts to less than 4 Trillion dollars since October of 2008, four months before President Obama even took office.
And that does include Social Security, all the extra bailouts, and the stimulus package, which President Obama and the Democrats were forced to make to fix the fiscal irresponsibility of the previous administration.
What is the Republican war cry? “Cut the deficit!” How do they plan to do that? By extending the “Bush Tax Cuts” past their December 31, 2010 expiration date. .Those very tax cuts, right now, account for approximately 25% of the overall budget deficit, according to the Congressional Budget office. That’s about 3.5 TRILLION (with a T) dollars! Who has to make up the difference? You and I.
I’m not here to tell you who to vote for or who to vote against next Tuesday November 2nd. I’m saying that you should spend some time, not only listening to MSNBC or FOX News, NPR and others, but do a little digging of your own. Find the facts.
“But Chuck, how do you know all this stuff?”
I’m sitting in front of a computer connected to the internet and if you are watching this, so are you. Use Google, use Yahoo, use whatever is your favorite search engine and type in your questions. Or follow the links I have posted below. That will get you started.
But don’t just blindly believe what any politician is telling you. They are trying to get your vote and will say whatever they think you want to hear to get it from you. Don’t give that vote away cheaply. It’s yours, you earned it. You earn it everyday that you go to work, mow your lawn, take care of your family, and pay you taxes. You earn it the old fashioned way, by living everyday the best you can, as an American. Don’t let anyone sucker you out of it.
I found all of this in a little over two hours, and typed this up to boot.
================================================
Where did I find all this stuff?
Federal Employeee Health Care Program. No waiting period for Congressional members or their families and no “pre-existing conditions” are refused.
http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/
