In case you thought voting in November settled direction for this country, think again. I had hoped that we could have a period of wait and see, but it's not what's happening. From the far right, exemplified by Rush Limbaugh, is coming a cry that they want to see the country do worse because if Obama succeeds with his ideas, if people do better, it threatens their ideas and power.If you followed the recent Republican gathering in DC, CPAC, you already know what the right wing activist wing
I have a lot more to say about this but coming. What I heard from the right has made me decide to continue writing more frequent political blogs. It's not like something I want to do because there is a lot that I would rather be writing about, but I am mad. I am tired of distortions of the record. I will take this forum to express what I feel about Republicans who support leaders like George Bush and Bobby Jindal.
There is a group of people in this country who only believe what they hear from the right wing. They are the ones who watch Fox and listen to people like Rush Limbaugh. They post in their blogs or send on the emails with vicious jokes that they claim are innocent but are anything but. They are the ones taking to the streets in marches.
There was the woman in San Diego, who was interviewed on Fox, with a sign as she said, No Taxation without Representation. She kind of amended that by adding-- without enough representation.
What that means is we have a group in this country who think since they didn't vote for someone who won most states and had a 3 million vote margin, he's not the real president. They then disclaim the need to pay taxes, and would like to throw him out of office with their vocal and nutty minority. There are many like her who haven't yet taken to the streets but feel the same way. Who are they? They are the 30% who supported Bush no matter what he did. Many of them listen to Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Sean Hannity and nod their heads in agreement.
I am taking a deep breath and putting together some more writing on the subject of why those of us on the left are mad too. Mad as hell at them (not at Bush but at those who enabled him and are still here) and aren't going to sit and take it anymore. These people enabled the problems that we face but now when they lose an election suddenly they want a revolution, they want chaos, they want to impeach, they want to get their way because for 8 years and more they have gotten their way.
The right wing controlled Congress during much of Clinton's administration and instigated a stupid and damaging impeachment just to stop him from being effective right when bin Laden was plotting attacks on us. *taking some more deep breaths Ommmmmm*
These wing-nuts we heard from at CPAC want to rewrite history to make it all somebody else's fault, and their mind-numbed robots accept whatever they say because it's what they want to hear.
Apparently, from what I read and see in these 'marches', they think that the war they supported was going to be free but the actual $1,000,000,000,000 and counting should now be ignored in looking at our problems of crumbling programs to help people and an infrastructure that won't take another 20 years of neglect!
Those speakers at CPAC know who they are speaking to in the country. They know their audience. I do too. The other side hasn't been reasonable and they now, listening to what they said at CPAC, only want to cause nothing to work. That's their way to suceed. I have lost all interest in trying. They are acting like spoiled kids who didn't get what they wanted for a present. If we don't get equally mad on the left, and stay that way, they will get their revolution and heaven help us all for the results.
From now on with all political posts, there will be a sentence at the top to warn off the ones who prefer to not think of such things. I understand. I prefer not too but I don't feel I have a choice right now.
Just so you know my life is not filled up with anger and upset (well the Hughes Net system for our broadband was out last week and that was upsetting), here are two from the photos Farm Boss took Friday night of the moon with Venus riding close and adding to its power.I am thinking someone needs to come up with some new pagan rituals for that kind of a moon. Maybe Paul, Shadow of Diogenes, can write it a poem sometime. Wiccans have good rituals for the moon but I think mostly full moons or new moons. This combination is deserving of its own ritual.
Farm Boss took it with several settings to get different impacts, those that the eye could see but the camera had to be taught to see. Maybe it's that way for many of us with life. What do you think?
20 comments:
i am still trying to comprehend the wing-nuts on the far right. "the rest of us" were "forced" by threats from the right wing to accept G.W. Bush the first time - remember that? the "margin" of win was so small and quite likely attained by illegal means..... and now with a rollicking and overwhelming majority of voters choosing Obama, they seem to think this election was "stolen"?! I agree - they are spoiled, but more frightening is that they have that sense of righteous contempt for the "rules" that can breed disaster - and they seem to prefer disaster to loosing. too bad it's not just a football game.thanks for writing - thanks for thinking!! :)
Love that photo of the moon and Venus.....I saw the same sight in my sky last night and just stood and stared at it, because I loved it.
As to what you posted here....I just have to shake my head at all of the Rush talk and way of thinking! I too was getting beyond upset, but realized it's useless. The proof will be in the pudding as to Obama's know-how and help for this country. All of it just proves to me even more what a sick bunch we had in power for eight years and look on the bright side, Rain....at LEAST NOW we have a chance for improvement!
Terri
http://www.islandwriter.net
I do not consider myself a wing nut but I am concerned about how far left the country appears to be heading. And I do not think I am the only one. Even the Los Angeles Times has been doing stories about how they are concerned about it. If the freakin LA Times thinks we might be going too far left, the right wingers should really be worried.
As for taxation without enough representation, I have nothing against the fair election of the President, but I feel I am not being represented at all by Congress. Nancy Pelosi has done her best to shut out any Republican representation or balance in anything that she does. This has lead the wackos on the right to circle the wagons and start trying to do their best to fight back. This hyper-polarization is bad for the country. All of the country not just the Republicans. After the 2006 election the Dems had a chance to put a moderate in as Speaker and work with the President and the Republicans but instead they chose the polarizing Pelosi and the people of the country have got the short end of the stick ever since.
Oh and nice photos of the moon and Venus. On Thursday I noticed that they were close to together and very bright and then on Friday I saw an article in the news about Friday being the brightest night of the year for Venus. So we had to watch them Friday evening too.
I think we should all watch what is happening. Trust and verify is what Reagan said. I blame right wingers who supported Bush no matter what he did. Bush would have been a better president if he had been held accountable. I don't hear anything from obama yet that seems too far left but we shall see. It's just beginning and he is talking about input into the problem of health care. People with insurance don't understand how scary it is to be without and how it can ruin a middle class family. Something has to be done. He's not saying exactly what but giving guidelines. Let's keep our eyes open. It's what all citizens should do.
Limbaugh is no William F. Buckley. I cringe when I hear this know it all spill his swill! Great pics Rain !!
I love the first photo of the Moon and Venus; it's spectacular.
As for the wing-nuts, nothing will change their mind. Logic and facts are beyond them. I think the public, by the last vote, have discredited them and they are waning. If they are so desperate that the big fat liar is their leader then I think they are doomed. At least I hope so.
I think Obama's health plan is better than what Hillary wanted. But it is going to be very expensive. Hopefully it will make things better for all of us by clearing out the Emergency Rooms from being clinics and primary care doctors.
No easy solutions with health care but one thing to keep in mind is the cost of the insurance has been put on business and it is especially hard on small businesses that feel they should offer it and sometimes must to keep employees. It has not been free even for those working for government or corporations. It has often hidden the true costs.
Ah yes there are people who would like to see the United states government and capitalism collapse. They have been around for years but are more noticeable now. Maybe there is more of them. I do know some and want to help them see they could be more positive in supporting our government. I do enjoy getting e-mail from MoveOn.org. Yesterday I recieved one that I lost fromour computer but I did google this one http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5166955 This has part of the content I was so impressed with.
Primary sources are available on the internet and are worth reviewing now and then to be sure we are accurate in our discussions.
President Obama's campaign promises: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ Obama keeps in mind his promises in the Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1enr.pdf
OK I have to comment on some of your MoveOn.org points.
1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.3
I am on the fence on this one. Many Health Care experts say the cost is more likely to be at least double the $634 billion. So we will see if it is cheaper and better than what we have.
2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won't go up one dime.4
So just the rich are getting soaked. And all the people the rich are going to layoff because of this and the people that are just over $250k are going to do everything they can to reduce their incomes to avoid this tax increase. Net result will likely be much less income to the treasury than predicted.
3. Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.5
Europe has found out that all this green jobs talk does not pan out nearly as predicted. Congress cannot even get their own power-plant off of coal. More feel good do nothing waste.
4. Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.6
The war in Iraq was winding down anyway. Obama has already switched to the John McCain timetable for withdrawal and we will see if that $10billion a month gets spent here or just gets transferred to Afghanistan since the President is sending a bunch more there now.
6. Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies. 8
The money for tax increase will come from higher prices at the pump for all Americans. The oil companies do not print money to pay their taxes.
7. Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.9
Sounds good but only for families with less than $160k income. Upper Middle class frozen out of any benefit.
8. Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.10
So he is tripling the deficit then going to cut it in half. That means it will still be bigger in 2013 than it was when he took office. And that assumes that the economy fully recovers and has 3% growth next year. I am betting this will be much worse than his budget calls for.
Good thinking, Ingineer. And I am not a moveon.org fan which is one of those differences that Parapluie and I have mentioned she and I have had before. Taking your points by numbers, here are my thoughts on your points.
1. On health care, remember that currently insurance is paid for by businesses or government depending on employer-- for most who have insurance. This has been on the back of small business in particular.
If we can find a way to reduce medical costs (not a given) it will help our economy. Most people have no clue what their health care actually costs which has not been beneficial economically. Whatever is done will improve the situation.
Personally, I favor single payer and all including , medicare, government and state employees, go into it. It will require some cost controls that were not permitted when medicare upped its drug program. Right now some of the profitable companies are pharmaceuticals and insurance. Not that I want to make them unprofitable but we need to get realistic about what can be done and how much profit is reasonable.
2. 3% increase in the taxes of the rich will not cause them to lay off anyone that stock losses haven't already caused. If someone is making $250,000 a year, they are not in the bracket to worry too much about this considering all the rest to worry about.
3. Where it comes to solar and wind, many countries are ahead of us. The alternative is keep buying from the Arabs? The idea that the US should not do research is foolishness and why we are apt to be a third world country if we don't change our ways. We used to be ahead of the crowd. No longer so.
The carbon credit idea I think is nuts but nobody likes everything proposed by any candidate.
Farm Boss said a lot of research indicates it's not CO2 that is the big problem anyway but maybe things like Methane (and something else he mentioned but I forgot). This takes research, something that hasn't been done recently in responsible ways. Time to change that.
4. Likely McCain would have also gone into Afghanistan. I think it's a mistake, but I also think that Pakistan being taken over by the Taliban is something to worry about. Remember they were the real bad guys in 9/11 and not Iraq. This all could literally explode in our faces since they have nukes. What would you do?
As for when we leave Iraq, Obama said 16 months when running and now says 20. I don't see that is a big difference. Nobody except maybe the far right thought the earlier number was in concrete.
I am not thrilled that it's leaving 50,000 but they should be out by 2011-- but we have to remember that depends on whether Bush has been right and they have won the war in Iraq. We'll see about that. The lies were unreal and only now is the budget reflecting its actual cost.
6. Maybe oil companies will cover the tax increase out of their profits but either way. You like loopholes for the oil companies? I suspect with the economy down, they can't increase the cost of gas too much if they want to make any money. People are buying and driving less.
7. Most middle class families will receive help with the $160,000 income limit on extra help for college but there again, you have to decide, do you want to help everybody and if so, where does that money come from?
8. Remember on the deficit that a lot of what Bush was spending was off budget-- as in the war costs. Finally we have full accounting. Looks worse but it's only because you know what it is. The money to help us out of the slump may or may not be good but half so far was agreed to by Bush and so it's not all Obama increasing the deficit.
Especially important to me is the health care that has been a heavy burden on industry and hasn't really let people understand its true costs. We need a lot of changes there and they won't come easy.
I like the government www.recovery.gov because I am asked to think and write of how I am effected and my ideas and thoughts. It keeps my thoughts very focused on real primary content. I feel somehow my own experience may count. Some areas I have commented on are about health care and my concern that some good doctors like mine are unable to adjust to electronic record keeping. My doctor is leaving private practice to work as a hospital internist and there are not enough doctors for me to get a doctor right away. my other concern was the place volunteers have in a time when we need more jobs. My husband volunteers for the Oregon Fish and Wildlife. Is his work helping government reduce cost to tax payers or would his work be better for the economy if tax payers paid. In 1995 Oregon had a $7 million fish harvest and 10 counties list fishing as their principal industry.
The moon picture at the beginning of this post looks like a painting to me and more like what I see in the sky than the photograph at the bottom. Love these pictures. Also find Ingineer's and Rain's response to "Ten things you should know.." very interesting. I wrote my comments on these and they got lost in Internet space. When I am done with my health exams, I will answer. Next time I will do my comment in word and paste it in.
I find it very scary that nothing the government has done, either under Bush nor so far under Obama, seems to have helped turn the economy around. It appears than none of the traditional fixes are working. For years we heard that the real estate bubble was going to break but things just continued on, getting even farther out on loan approvals, the size and price of homes, etc. Now it has burst and we seem to be striking out like blind people. I don't want to think about the ramifications but am beginning to think that our standard of living is going to have to take a big step (leap?) backwards before things will start to get better. Maybe, given time, what is being done will start to affect the economy, but until then I really don't think there is much that can be done to "fix" health care, education, the country's infrastructure or any of a number of big dollar problems.
Those pictures by Farm Boss are quite extraordinary, my dear Rain....And a Wonderful balance to the Out-Of-Balance Right!!! We cannot control The Moon, or The Osean, or anything of Nature that is Bigger than we are....BUT, we can control WHO we listen to and WHAT we choose to believe. The "right" is (as you said) like a spoiled kid who didn't get his way...even though HIS way was the Road To Ruin! I have no respect for what The Right is doing at this time. None, whatsoever. Re-Writing History; Taking NO responsability for the past---(at the very least)---eight years.
I am very glad you will be writing more Rain, even though I totally understand you not wanting to....I Say, BRAVO To You, My Dear!
Hey Rain this is kind of fun discussing actual points of what is going on and not just generalities.
We agree on many things, but will have to agree to disagree on Health Care. I do not like single payer.
Do not get me wrong I think we should do research on solar and other ways to get off of Middle East Oil. Then they can drink it for all I care. And I cannot wait to by a 2 foot by 2 foot solar panel that runs my entire house. But that is probably 20 years down the road.
And spending hundreds of billions on forcing green technology that does not make economic sense during a bad recession is bad management.
As for the Iraq timetable change, the Right does not care that he changed as McCain has said he likes the new plan. It is the far left Code Pink types that are pissed about it.
My concern is that without single payer, there cannot be a realistic way to get the costs down. Without the costs down, any health care program is doomed to failure.
Since we have an HMO, I am familiar with being limited to specialists that my family doctor okays, with not being allowed to have anything my heart my desire covered by insurance. HMOs might limit things sometimes to the detriment of the health of the patient but they are aimed at helping the average patient and sometimes some don't get all they probably would like or even maybe need.
If we do health care, there will have to be limits on what someone can have for a government paid procedure. They won't be able to allow some to not pay for insurance as a choice (poverty help will likely be needed as not everyone can afford insurance premiums) because if they come into the ER and get treatment only in emergencies, they are harder on the system.)
Someone who runs to the doctor for every sniffle has to be dealt with in a fair way or the economics of a national policy will suck up every dollar this country has.
Right now if you want a cosmetic procedure, you pay for it. Possibly the health care system will have to do that for other procedures that are experimental or not involving health but say comfort. There will have to be hard decisions made as to what should the country pay for and what should individuals pay.
One thing I would not like is where you cannot buy a procedure if you want. Some programs would force everyone to only have what the Health System has decided is enough. I think if someone can afford to pay the total cost of an elective surgery (like when I had something done with my varicose veins some years ago) then let them pay for it as I did. Even today I have some prescriptions that I consider elective and I pay their cost and do not put them onto the insurance. That is my personal choice but it seems to me only fair.
How do we deal with people who have poor health habits, like say alcohol or overweight or doing things that are at the root of their problem but they don't want to change their ways-- so they are constantly needing help?
The whole problem of working this out will be hard and I doubt Obama will get through all of what he wants or what the left wants.
We have all heard the scare stories about Canadians having to come to the US for treatment-- usually hearsay by someone who lives near the border but thinks they know. Or that you wait years for surgery in socialized medicine countries, but the people I know like it and get good care. Some have supplemental insurance that they allow the citizens to buy which is like Medicare right now (but won't stay if Obama gets his way) where you can buy adequate insurance to insure you get to have a doctor when you need one.
None of it will be easy to figure out nor will it be popular if it's done in a way that doesn't bankrupt the country. We now have options past generations never had and some only extend dying and make it a very expensive last few years.
oh and if you read today's blog,you know that green technology is much closer than you think. Solar is not that far from producing a lot of our power through large solar farms. This is a technology that will happen sooner than later if we put money into it. Other developed nations already have.
Post a Comment