Conservative Arguments FOR Healthcare Reform

Here are conservative argument for health care reform that I think any fair-minded person can agree with regardless of your political affiliation or beliefs.

By passing comprehensive health care reform we have the opportunity for the federal government to truly affect the general welfare in a positive way for all Americans as guaranteed in the United States Constitution. How? It's simple. A healthy nation is a productive nation. Think of all the man-hours being lost today due to workers being ill, in pain, or disabled. If we were all just a little more healthy, a LOT more would get done and therefore, more money would be made and we would ALL prosper.

Also, healthier citizens are happier and that means less crime and violence as well as less division and hate. It would mean less domestic violence and less child abuse. More jobs and better salaries means less burglary and theft, less homeless, less hungry and less poverty. And, of course, it would result in more business too because happier people have a tendency to do more and spend more money. This stuff is just common sense, but it rarely is brought up in the debate for health care reform. Why are you opposing it again?

Let's say you just care about more jobs and economic growth. Great! The 'public option' being proposed by Democrats will give a competitor to the insurance industry to bring costs down. The insurance that businesses provide to their employees will be cheaper and some will even take the public option. That means more small business jobs and more profit for small businesses. The CBO reports that, despite claims by HCR opponents, private insurance companies will actually gain MORE customers due to lower costs.

Want more business arguments FOR health care reform? If 47 million people suddenly have health insurance, there is sure to be an increase in demand for medical services and pharmaceuticals, so expect the stocks for these providers to do extremely well. Those businesses will need to hire more people to meet this demand, therefore more jobs created due to health care reform. Salaries will also be positively affected. The public option is good business, good for jobs and good politics!

But what about the conservative principle of fiscal responsibility, you might ask? The answer is simple: We can't afford to keep things the way they are. Our broken health care system represents 16% of our Gross Domestic Product. Health care costs are leading individuals to bankruptcy at an alarming rate. If nothing is done, it will only get worse. That means less income in the form of taxes for all levels of government and therefore a loss of public services you've taken for granted your entire life. Without economic growth, the only way to go is down. A public option would clearly be good for business, good for American's health, productivity and overall prosperity.


We are still feeling the negative effects from eight long years of a conservative administration and 'representatives' who completely abandoned this supposed principle of fiscal responsibility by turning a surplus into record deficits. When a Republican president wanted to drop bombs, they never questioned the cost, but if Democrats want to reform a broken health care system which will directly help American citizens by protecting our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, suddenly we can't afford it?

Yes, health care reform directly affects all three of these inalienable rights set by our founders in the Declaration of Independence. The "Life" part is obvious. Healthcare is essential for life. "Liberty" involves how insurance companies currently profit by denying health care benefits as well as the lack of real competition in the industry. Currently most people get insurance from their employer. When costs come down, you can choose between companies and coverages because they will be more affordable. It is also an injustice infringing on your liberty that an insurance company decides what medical treatment you get and not a doctor. At least we can vote for whoever represents us in government. That is the power of our great democracy. Your "Pursuit of Happiness" is being infringed on when insurance companies take advantage of you, for example, by denying coverage based on a pre-existing condition or refusing to pay for your benefits solely for their own profit and greed. Obviously, healthiness contributes to happiness and lower costs will reduce financial hardships which are a detriment to an individual's well being. With all three of these inalienable rights currently in jeopardy by a broken health care system, I am shocked that more true conservatives don't come out in support of health care reform.

10 More Conservative Arguments FOR Healthcare Reform

1. Illegal immigrants are explicitly not covered.

2. Legislation does not subsidize abortion.

3. Insurers that deny lifesaving treatment, or ignore Living Wills can no longer keep these practices secret.

4. The bill promotes entrepreneurship by letting people keep their healthcare when they quit their job and start a business.

5. More Choice = More Freedom. The public option is OPTIONAL. It's another choice designed to give much-needed competition to an out-of-control insurance industry that is making record profits by denying health care benefits.

6. Emergency room care for the uninsured is guaranteed at public expense so it makes sense to bring these people into the insurance system, and to offer less expensive, long-term preventive healthcare. This will reduce costs for everybody.

7. Accountability for costs, quality, and value of providers, suppliers, and administrators is public.

8. Coverage does not discriminate by type of illness or ability to pay.

9. Both the Preamble and Article 1 Section 8 of our US Constitution guarantee that the government will promote and provide for our defense AND general welfare. If you believe that the federal government should provide a military for defense, then you should also support the idea of providing health care for all US citizens.

(BTW universal health care would require a 'single-payer' system and not the 'public option' being proposed by Obama and Democrats in congress. Liberals are compromising because a solution to this problem is THAT important.)

10. A Republican party that often cites their own moral values as an advantage should put compassionate common sense in front of ideology and partisanship.


There sure does seem to be a lot of good conservative arguments FOR health care reform. Wonder why you never hear Republicans or right-wingers talking about these positives? Unfortunately, that's because it seems to be all politics and no common sense with so-called 'conservatives' these days.

CONFIRMED: Obamacare includes "Death Star"

As the great Sarah Palin says "In honor of the American soldier, let's stop making things up!" so I am not going to hide the truth any longer about the Democrats' motivations for attempting to reform health care for Americans.

It's official! Cleverly hidden in the legislative language of H.R. 1138 is a provision to spend at least $77 TRILLION DOLLARS on the Obamacare Death Star which is scheduled to destroy Earth on October 10th, 2010 or "O-Day." Darth Barack's true agenda is now clear: The death of each and every living organism and the destruction of our beloved home planet itself!



Some say that, since he never could produce a birth certificate, Obama is secretly an evil Sith Lord in disguise who has come to eliminate the human race under the guise of providing universal health care. His hypocrisy must be as strong as the force! It is said that his ultimate decision to destroy the Earth came while attempting to get valuable information from a female "domestic terrorist" who had been caught attempting to protest at one of Emperor Obama's Coruscant city-planet-hall meetings. Without some sort of rebellion, led by a forgotten son that is somehow able to find the one weakness (which is hopefully left open) in the Obamacare Death Star to exploit, then we are doomed.

More facts about Obamacare to worry about before our ultimate demise on O-Day:

- At the age of 65, seniors are thrown into a Sarlacc Pit.

- (Thanks to a tip from Mr. Bob A. Fett) It outlaws private bounty hunters by providing a Empire-run system making it impossible to compete.

- The disabled and handicapped are frozen in Carbonite indefinitely.

- Expect massive cuts to Mon Calamari-care.

- The Empire will have direct, real-time access to individual galactic credits standard accounts.

- Wookies are not covered under any circumstances.

- A R2 unit will perform your colonoscopy.

- Yoda is forced to speak using a linear sentences structure.

- They will issue a mandatory Imperial ID Holocron that will spy on you.

- Jar Jar Binks will be your Health Czar.

- Emperor Obama has dozens of Czars or "Darths."

- Blaster and Lightsaber wounds are considered pre-existing conditions.

- Clone-marriage is legalized.

- Tauntauns used for emergency warmth AND preventative dental care?!

- Illegal Ewoks are fully covered.

- There's not enough Imperial credits to cover the entire galaxy so expect tax increases on your Speeder Bike.

- Greedo shoots first, asks questions later.

- Public money would be used to fund a Rancor Pit under Jabba's palace.

- There will be an Empire between you and your Medical Droid.

AL.com is Guilty of Censorship

Recently I've been taking the truth to the people in al.com's politics forums. It has been a daunting task as the vast majority of people who post there are right-wingers who promote any and every lie being told about the Obama administration and Democrats with ZERO facts to back up their delusional opinions. I have always conducted myself in an appropriate manner and followed the website's policies without deviation.

However, It didn't take long before my posts, and only my posts, were being deleted for no reason other than some moderator obviously didn't like what I had to say. Today my account was disabled. My crime? Setting the record straight on the common lie that health care reform legislation will supply free health care to illegal immigrants. I was even able to find a blatantly right-wing news source to support the fact that both the House and Senate versions of the bills actually prohibit subsidies to illegal aliens, but the al.com forum moderators can not handle the truth.

Apparently, if you're liberal you get censored and banned, but if you're a wingnut - any crazy conspiracy theory you want to write about, regardless of facts, is perfectly okay. Not only that, but the wingers frequently use childish name calling and rarely engage in anything even vaguely resembling civil discourse. It is clearly obvious that al.com does not want any dissent from the right-wing talking points, propaganda and lies that are the only opinions allowed on their forums. In their forums it is practically North Korea - not the America where our right to freedom of speech is held dear and they should be ashamed of themselves!

Republicans Propose $700 Billion Giveaway To The Health Insurance Industry

Republicans have just announced the "Empower Patients First Act" which is their answer for health care reform. When the details of this plan are examined, it becomes clear that this would be a disaster for ordinary Americans while also being the health insurance industry's dream come true.

First, their plan would deregulate the insurance market and dismantle state-level consumer protections by allowing insurance giants to sell their plans nationwide without fear of oversight. Republicans usually claim to care about states rights, but this would completely undermine any regulations state governments have imposed on the insurance industry to protect their citizens. For example, state regulations requiring the most basic of necessary services such as breast cancer screenings, prostate cancer screenings, pre-natal care and hospital stays for new mothers will become immaterial if you bought your policy from another state. These regulations are there for a reason - to protect consumers. Companies will charter in states with scarce regulations solely so they can make more profit. With no reforms, the for-profit healthcare system will ALWAYS find ways to take advantage of people and that's exactly what this plan would encourage.

The Republicans also want to subsidize the private health insurance industry. Yeah, sure! They're making record profits so let's give them MORE money?! The idea is to give private health insurance subsidies to lower-income individuals and families which, of course, sounds like a good thing but this is done only with tax incentives which are practically worthless to the unemployed or those who can't currently afford health care. Also, subsidies in the absence of other reforms will simply increase the cost of health insurance for everybody else, leading to another inflationary spiral in health care. No ideas to reduce costs or improve competition, no protection for those with pre-existing conditions, no ways to cover those in poverty without insurance, no real impact on 50 million uninsured Americans. This is nothing but a $700 billion giveaway to the health insurance industry.

Finally, there is no comprehensive plan to pay for this Republicans healthcare reform plan. In order to fund subsidies, the bill calls for a 1% annual cut in Federal discretionary spending each year for the next decade, yielding about $120 billion. Although this would result in major across-the-board cuts in federal spending, it still leaves nearly $600 billion unfunded. Republicans say they can find "inefficiencies" in the health care system to cover that $600 billion shortfall, including malpractice reform, but fail to offer specifics. In fact this will add an extreme amount to the federal debt. Yet another fundamental Republican belief - fiscal responsibility - is thrown away for the corporate interests that fund their political campaigns.

This plan proves that Republicans are clearly on the side of this huge corporate interest and not with the American people. The fact that they want to go back to the failed policy of deregulation and that they even want to give those making record profits more federal money with no way to pay for it all shows their true nature and who they truly represent. This kind of deregulation has already proven itself to be a horrible idea in the failed finance industry which was eventually required to be bailed out by the federal government. Perhaps that is their goal for the insurance industry as well? First remove oversight and then bail them out?! I wouldn't put it past them.

They call this the "Empower Patients First Act" when it is obvious that it should be called the "Enrich Insurance Companies First Act." But hey, at least the Republicans finally have a plan!

Idiocracy

In a recent article, Reuben Navarrete 'flunked' Obama on economics. This is so biased and idiotic I don't even feel the need to respond. So I'm just including the link and if you feel so inclined, you can read the column yourself. The one thing I would like to point out is (because the more the GOPers say this, the more it pisses me off) just because you come up with an 18 page 'pamphlet' and call it a budget 2 days AFTER the President says he hasn't seen a proposal from you, that doesn't make his previous statement untrue. Now if you had released it BEFORE his comments, then you could say that wasn't true. Damn - ya'll just think you can say shit doesn't stink and people will believe you, don't you?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/27/navarrette.obama.economics/index.html

They've gone beyond hoping to actually planning and denying

So now Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana who apparently thinks Americans have the mentality of a 5 year old, is trying to set himself up as the leading Economic Expoert in the country. In a recent interview he said the GOP needs to embrace its role as the loyal opposition to President Obama and the Democratic Party.

He, I guess, has decided he needs to become the voice of the GOP, since Limbaugh got so much flack that it backfired. He stated that that is their responsibility to herald in a new era of fiscal responsibility - before it's too late. Seriously? Again, does he not know that it was his party that's basically been in control for the past 28 years but somehow they aren't responsible for this financial cesspool we're in?

He then went on ' "Thanks primarily to the Republicans in the House of Representatives, the Republican Party has once again decided to be the conservative party in this country," Jindal said.'

When did they STOP being the conservative party of this country? Granted, they shifted their primary focus from fiscal conservatism to social conservatism but they've never stopped being conservatives.

Now as far as them being pretty much the responsible for the economic cesspool we're in, Cheney had an answer for that.

'Whether the Bush administration should have done more about the economy: “We did worry about it, to some extent. … I don’t think anybody actually foresaw something of this size and dimension occurring. It’s also global. We only control part of the world economy – a very important part.” '

So..... the world, which has based their currency on the value of the dollar, was facing an economic meltdown and they did worry about it...... TO SOME EXTENT????? He also said that the Bush administration shouldn't get much blame for the current economic situation, since they weren't paying THAT much attention to it. That's not exactly what he said but I paraphrased because that was the implication I got. That, since they spent most of their time concerning themselves with the 'War on Terror' and how to treat their prisoners instead of concerning themselves with the economy, they aren't responsible for it. Instead, he wants to gloat about 'keeping us safe' when in reality, their policies regarding their dubbed 'Axis of Terror' countries have actually made us MORE of a target and has been an excellent recruiting incentive for Al Queada.

Ah GOP, please just go away. I don't care if you go away mad, just GO AWAY!

The GOP is keeping me busy today

So Geithner has a bank plan to try and save our banks thereby freeing up credit and getting the 'demand' part of our 'supply and demand' economy. Now I'm not saying that it will work or not, it is a risk. However, if it works it can get credit flowing again which will help increase spending. These are desperate times and sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

Of course, par for the course, the Republicans are offering to come to our rescue.

' Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, argued that Geithner should have instead adopted an insurance-based plan put forward by the congressional GOP last fall.
Under that plan, banks would have paid over time for any assistance required to clear their books of toxic assets. "The Republican insurance-based model institutes a system of government insurance guarantees to provide certainty to investors," Cantor said. "It would act as a containment plan to wall off toxic assets from the rest of the economy and bring liquidity back to our financial markets." '

Let's see - last fall when you had control you couldn't even get your own plan passed? Wow, it must really suck. Or maybe we should take a second look at it since things that most Republicans are against usually turn out to be a good idea.

Now I don't want the country to go another trillion dollars in debt either but if McSame had won, we would still be going into that much debt and then some because he wanted to stay in Iraq for at least 100 more years in order to stabilize the area. At least this trillion dollars is getting spent here on our companies.

Now to be fair, not all the members against the plan are Republicans.

'Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, slammed the plan, saying it treated banks better than taxpayers. The plan "involves a thousand times as much money as AIG executives received in bonuses, and it would make the American people a thousand times as angry, except for the fact that it is so technical that the American people may not fully understand it," Sherman said in a speech on the House floor. Taxpayers "are going to overpay for some, they are going to underpay for others. They are going to make money on some. They are going to lose money on others. [But] when they make money, half the profit goes to Wall Street. When they lose money, 94 percent of the loss goes to the taxpayer." '

Now if that is true - and I can't comment because I haven't looked at the proposal yet - this thing called 'work' getting in my way - then I don't agree with it. If that's a correct interpretation of it then I would say vote against it. Because it should be more equitably split between Wall Street and Taxpayers. When we make money, it should be 60/40 (Wall Street/Taxpayers) and when we lose money it should be 80/20 (Wall Street/Taxpayers). Why should taxpayers have to shoulder the burden of their losses yet again? And why shouldn't more of a share of the profits go into paying off this loan from us to Wall Street? I understand they want to make money but we don't want to die in debt to the government.

Again, I haven't heard Obama discuss this nor have I read it so until then, the jury is still out on this one. It will all depend if what the naysayers are saying is true or not or if they're just spinning it to get people against it when they don't fully understand what they're against.

The GOP Sings the 'Doom Song'

So now wishing Obama will fail isn't enough. The Republicans are 'predicting' that if Obama's budget passes it will lead to 'doomsday'. You know the one that all economic strategists said was the best way to recover economically during the campaign - yeah THAT budget will apparently lead to doomsday.

First of all, they're assuming that Obama is intending to keep operating in the red even though he has said repeatedly that once the budget is balanced and the economy has started to recover, he will adjust his economic policy accordingly. You know, the opposite of 'staying the course' - the mentality that got us into this mess in the first place. Second, they won't admit that Obama has a clear, logical plan even though the leading economists of the world said it was the best economic strategy that had been proposed - a lot better than the one submitted by McCain.

So apparently the GOP now considers themselves Economic Experts. You know, those people who have been in charge of the economy for 8 years but don't consider themselves responsible for the current financial situation. Suddenly they have all the answers. Where were those answers over the last 8 years?

They also don't seem to understand the fact that people are sick and tired of their 'scare tactics' style of politics. One of the main reasons Obama was elected and remains hugely popular despite this being the worst recession since the Great Depression is because he offers hope. He believes in the greatness of this country and the ability of the people being able to pull ourselves up by our boot straps.

"Congressional Republicans on Sunday predicted a doomsday scenario of crushing debt and eventual federal bankruptcy if President Barack Obama's massive spending blueprint wins passage."

This despite the fact leading economists predict that, while the economy will bottom out this year, we will begin to recover early next year. So here's yet another example of Republicans ignoring statistics and facts in order to try and scare people into begging the GOP to save us. You know, from their own policies that led us into this financial quagmire. Yeah - they want us to ask them to save us from, well, themselves.

"The practical implications of this is bankruptcy for the United States," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. "There's no other way around it. If we maintain the proposals which are in this budget over the 10-year period that this budget covers, this country will go bankrupt. People will not buy our debt; our dollar will become devalued."

"Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the banking committee, said Obama would have to scale back his budget, given a Congressional Budget Office report Friday that the president's budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade — more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush's presidency. Shelby predicted that number could reach $20 trillion in coming years as Obama guides the country to 'the fast road to financial destruction.' "

If we maintain the proposals in the budget over a 10 year period, thanks to the ending of the 'War On Terror' and Obama's plan to go through the budget line by line and eliminate wasteful spending, like $75 screw drivers, then by the end of 10 years, we should be operating in the black again. You know, like we did during the Clinton era. Also, his plan to go through with Universal Health Care and increase assistance for college students who perform civil service will decrease the financial burden on the average American thereby increasing the amount of 'expendable cash' which will lead to increased spending and an increase in sales taxes which will help pay down the deficit. But things like that - you know, logical thinking - apparently escapes the GOP.

But just in case they're right, let's all learn The Doom Song now. Here's a link to get you started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqcn_TPu4qQ

A Former Republican Tells It Like It Is

On a recent appearance on CNN's best show, D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, a once evangelical leader and former Republican Frank Schaeffer exposes the truth of what has become of the GOP.

These people are ideological enough that they'd rather take our whole country down and be proved right than be patriotic Americans and stand up and do the thing that every American who loves this country would do right now, which is to support the President whether you voted for him or not.

Watch then entire interview in the video below.

Selfish Mother Fuckers

So Limbaugh has been up to no good again - surprise, surprise. First, he says he wants Obama to fail because Obama is a liberal and liberalism is BAD for America. Oh really? Remember those 8 years of prosperity we had under Clinton? And that was even with the Republicans butting heads with the Democrats and forcing major concessions. We would already have Universal Health Care if not for the Republicans and I wouldn't be thousands of dollars in debt right now.

"What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?," he asked the raucous CPAC crowd during his 90 minute address on Saturday.

Since when is trying to get money to small businesses and the vast majority of individuals in this country through tax breaks and incentives eroding our foundation? It just takes his rich buddies tax breaks away, that's all. And it's only 3% for crying out loud. Can't someone making over 250k better afford that additional 3% than the ones making 30k? Talk about greedy and selfish. If I suddenly got a job making more than 250k, I wouldn't bitch about that extra 3%.

"He wants people in fear, angst and crisis, fearing the worst each and every day, because that clears the decks for President Obama and his pals to come in with the answers, which are abject failures, historically shown and demonstrated. Doesn't matter. They'll have control of it when it's all over. And that's what they want," Limbaugh said.

Really? Obama wants to instill fear??? Then why was his speech so full of hope and encouragement? I know he said it wasn't going to be quick or easy but most people don't think it will be - that's just a little dose of realism. Instilling fear in order to gain objectives is a Republican trick - they even tried it during this last election. They tried desperately to link Obama to Osama just because their names are similar and then later trying to link him to Domestic Terrorism because he vaguely knows Bill Ayers, this while ignoring the fact that Sarah Palin is married to a former secessionist. Now that it backfired on them because people are sick of the same old shtick, they're trying to blame the Democrats for doing what they're guilty of. Another Republican trick - try to deflect attention from what they're doing by accusing the other side of what they're guilty of doing. And yes of course we want control because obviously the Republican Reign of Error failed miserably and we need to fix it. Also, we actually care about ALL Americans, not just the rich white fat cats that have been standard recipients of the GOP package for so long.

"We conservatives have not done a good enough job of just laying out basically who we are, because we make the mistake of assuming that people know. What they know is largely incorrect, based on the way we're portrayed in pop culture, in the drive-by media, by the Democrat party," the conservative talk show host told a mostly young crowd of energized supporters.

No. I think we've got a pretty good idea who the Republicans are. Right wing nut jobs who don't support reproductive rights or equal rights but do support teaching creationism and intelligent design in science class. They're also racist fear mongers who desperately tried to use Obama's mixed multi-national heritage against him only to find a changed America. One that, for the most part, doesn't really care about that anymore. Most people I know are either mixed themselves (such as myself) or are in a mixed relationship. So why would we care if our President is mixed? After all these hundreds of years of being a melting pot, a lot of us are mutts.

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh reiterated his hope Saturday that the new Democratic administration will fail, rousing conservative activists to fight the "bastardization of the Constitution that the Obama plans are."

OH PUHLEASE! Bush undermined our rights with the Patriot Act and undermined our POW's rights (yes they have rights too) by placing them on foreign soil and detaining them indefinitely, all the while refusing to let them have their day in court. This, in turn, lowered our standing in the International Community. What would we do if a foreign entity showed up in our country, arrested a bunch of people with no tangible proof of terrorist activity and then detained them indefinitely? And Obama is a former Constitutional Law Professor - I really think he has a firm understanding of our Constitution and how to restore and protect it.

Republicans in Washington should try to obstruct Obama's agenda at every turn, said Limbaugh, dressed in open-collar shirt and blazer, a contrast with the blue blazer and tie uniform of many attendees. Attendees largely echoed Limbaugh's disdain for bipartisan cooperation. Failure of Obama'a agenda would be far preferable than implementing policies that will hurt the country, said Lisa Miller, a small businesswoman from Northern Virginia. Nothing personal, just policy, she said. "Everything he has done is accelerating the decline of our economic strength,"

So he and his minions are openly putting their own ideology over the good and the desire of the majority of Americans. Recent polls have shown that 70% of Americans disagree with Rush and believe he is putting his own selfish desires over the good of America. Also, Obama just got started so how can you realistically say that he is accelerating the decline of our economy? At least give him a chance to succeed or fail because other polls indicate that 60% of Americans believe Obama is getting us headed on the right track. So keep on talking, Rush. You're just helping Liberalism succeed.

And now for Jindal.

Whew, I'm tired just thinking about all the things to bitch about here. First of all, let's start with the obvious. I think he accurately portrayed what Republicans TRULY think about the majority of Americans - that we basically have the mentality of a 5 year old and must therefor be talked down to before we can 'get it'.

This is one of his quotes which made me go WTF????

"Republicans are ready to work with the new president to provide those solutions. Here in my state of Louisiana, we don't care what party you belong to, if you have good ideas to make life better for our people. We need more of that attitude from both Democrats and Republicans in our nation's capital. All of us want our economy to recover and our nation to prosper. So where we agree, Republicans must be the president's strongest partners. And where we disagree, Republicans have a responsibility to be candid and offer better ideas for a path forward."

If Republicans truly had better ideas for a path forward, why do they keep trying to pull us down and backwards? They pull us down by letting greedy corporations operate unfettered and they pull us backwards by trying to reverse Reproductive Rights (Jindal is against abortion in ALL instances, even rape, incest and mother's health) and trying to force our children to learn Creationism and Intelligent Design in Science class. First, I have no children but if I do decide one day to raise a family, I don't want my children tainted by this misinformation. If you believe in Creationism and/or Intelligent Design, that's fine. Teach it to your own children but it shouldn't be taught in science because it isn't based on Scientific Observation or the Scientific Method. Also, if it's taught in school as Theology, that's fine with me. I would actually want my children to take the class - but ALL faith based theories on the origin of life should be taught. What's wrong with giving everyone access to all the theories out there and letting them make up their own minds?

Then there's this:

"Let me tell you a story.

During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office, I'd never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: "Well, I'm the Sheriff and if you don't like it you can come and arrest me!" I asked him: "Sheriff, what's got you so mad?" He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go, when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn't go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, "Sheriff, that's ridiculous." And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: "Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!" Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and go start rescuing people."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Oh, that's a good one! He wasn't even in New Orleans at the time!!!! Also, dude, you do know that YOUR party was in charge during Katrina, right? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Sigh. I continue.

"That is why we put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families, cutting taxes for small businesses, strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers, and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs.

But Democratic leaders in Congress -- they rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history, with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a "magnetic levitation" line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."

That's right - cut taxes, just like you've always done. Except of course, you don't REALLY cut taxes. You say you do but then you recoup it back and then some like making people pay income tax on tax refunds - you know, that's already been taxed! Also, you add hidden taxes in FICA, take money out of Social Security - you know that nest egg for the elderly that's been funded by taxes - things like that. But you call it a TAX CUT so it's all okay. Well, okay, I guess I will admit you do give tax cuts - to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. Because you know, they desperately need it. Also, tax cuts won't help anyone if they don't have an income to tax. DUH!

And the Governor of Louisiana is going to question 'something called volcano monitoring'???? Really? The Governor of a state that was ravaged by and has yet to fully recover from a natural disaster is going to question the necessity of tracking potential future disasters??? After everything Louisiana has gone through, has he not learned the lessons from the past?

Also, does anyone else find it ironic that the Governor of one of the poorest states in the Union is touting his parties economic prowess?

I'm going to skip over a lot of what Kenneth.... oops, Bobby, had to say because it was more than mildly insulting and annoying and highly unnecessary in order to get to this little gem:

"In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear -- our party got away from its principles. You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust -- and rightly so."

~HEAVY SIGH~ I just LOVE revisionist history, don't you? It keeps history from becoming boring by being mired down in all those facts. Facts like since 1980, the Republicans have either had complete control of the government or at least enough of a heavy majority to force the Democrats into making major concessions, even during the prosperous Clinton years. If not for the Republicans, we would already have Universal Health Care. That would've been nice when I was fighting cancer and didn't have insurance. In the end, it almost nearly all worked out thanks to the kindness of strangers donating to Charities but it took until I was nearly done with Chemo to get approved for that assistance. So for over 4 months, I was stressed out about medical bills on top of worrying about my health.

"Tonight, on behalf of our leaders in Congress and my fellow Republican governors, I say this: Our party is determined to regain your trust. We will do so by standing up for the principles that we share, the principles you elected us to fight for, the principles that built this into the greatest, most prosperous country on earth."

Again, I ask - if you knew how to do this, why didn't you do it when you were actually in power? You know, those 28 years you were in control? There were only 8 of those years that were prosperous. Remember that? I doubt you do - you probably blocked 1993-2001 out of your memory, since Liberalism actually succeeded during that time, despite Republicans being in control of Congress. You know those 8 years where we actually had a balanced budget and a whopping 559 billion dollar surplus.

But like I said, facts don't seem to matter to people like Limbaugh and Jindal. Ah, there's the face of the GOP for ya!

Happy President's day Dubya - (amazingly) you're NOT the worst President ever?!?

Okay, we all know that George W. Bush is the worst POTUS in our lifetime. However, C-SPAN's yearly survey of historians puts him at only the 7th worst on their list of all former US presidents.

The honor of worst American president ever this President’s Day goes to James Buchanan, who directly preceded Abraham Lincoln as president and who is largely blamed for not doing enough to prevent the Civil War.

Among the top presidents are Lincoln, Washington, F.D.R., Kennedy, and for some reason Reagan at number 10... Come on, Reagan is a top 10 POTUS? Apparently history has been pretty kind to old Ronnie if my recollection of the economy in the 80s is in any way accurate. I guess his perceived role in ending the Cold War went a long way to help his image.

The survey took into account such factors as public persuasion, economic management, and international relations, so it's easy to see why Dubya did so poorly. Below is a look at how Bush Jr. ranked in each category.



Overall, the list seems pretty accurate, but I'm no presidential historian. With some of the rankings it does make me wonder how history will judge Dubya over time. Maybe he's right, and eventually he will be vindicated....NAH!

Losers don't get to control things

So I am sick of the Republicans complaining that Obama is doing a bad job. HELLO!!!! He's keeping his campaign promises - you know, those things we elected him to do. Here's the thing, Obama TRIED to reach across the aisle and work with the Republicans and when they tried to FORCE him and the other Democrats to keep doing things the same old way, especially with the stimulus package, they found out Obama really does have a backbone. This upset them - they've had things their way for sooooo fucking long, they've forgotten how to play nice. They've had their way basically since the Reagan era because even when Clinton was President, the Reps had control of Congress so the Dems didn't get most of what they wanted. So for over 20 years, the Republicans have either had complete control or enough of a majority to force the Democrats into making major concessions.

Well now the shoe is on the other foot and guess what? THEY DON'T LIKE IT!

Know what? I DON'T FUCKING CARE!

As my friend complainotron so eloquently put it, they need to suck it and get over it - THEY LOST!

People I know around here in Central Alabama except for the hardcore Republicans, which are fewer than you might think, are SICK of all the finger pointing and whining and posturing coming out of the Republican party. A lot are pissed off about what Rush said about wanting Obama to fail - pointing out that that's not being a good American. These aren't the Democrats, mind you. These are a lot of the Republicans I know. I've only heard one person defend Rush's comments and he's a 19 year old redneck so who the fuck cares.

And John McCain - retire already. Go plant Cacti in the Arizona desert and retire. You lost - stop acting like a petulant child. How many times does it take the American public NOT voting for you for you to get the message? You're bitching because Obama played the "I won" card? Well he HAD to because you douche bags wouldn't negotiate - you just wanted to pass YOUR version of the stimulus package, which is almost all tax cuts. Dude - if people had wanted to do things the same old way, they would've voted for your ass.

So suck it up and realize that unless you want to go down as the most selfish, self-centered, hateful group of politicians in history - you need to play ball with us. It's our court now.

Eligibility Quiz

For all those who want to limit immigration, let's do that. But let's do it with a different set of criteria other than the country of origin. Let's issue an exam. But to be fair, first let's issue it to current residents - all of us. Citizens, Legal Immigrants and Illegal Immigrants.

Question One: Who is the one true God? If they have an actual answer for that, they're automatically banned

Question Two: How old is this planet? Anything less than "at least millions" - automatic ban

Question Three: How many children do you want? Anything other than a reasonable amount, say more than 4 - possible ban. If ANY mention of god, religion or 'destiny' - instant ban.

Question Four: Why do people have sex? If the answer is "Sex is for reproductive purposes only." - Instant ban.

Question Five: What is the best means of contraceptive? If the answer is 'abstinence only' or 'contraception is a form of abortion' or 'contraception should be illegal' - BANNED.