Why The Republican Party Is Unfit To Lead

Those so manipulated by the rightwing establishment are often criticizing the government for being too big but they would not have to fear government so much if they the people had more control over it. If we had more real democracy the people influenced by the extreme right would not have to fear an uncontrollable central gov't but at every opportunity the rightwing republicans oppose giving the people more control over their government when they oppose campaign finance reform that would take the money out of politics. The danger is that the wealthy are buying off the government to the extent that they the rich and powerful can command the government to do whatever they would like. But why don't the rightwing Republicans want reform of money in government? Because they represent and are the rich and powerful. If all this were not so tragic it would be ludicrously funny but what is happening is the theft of control of the government by the rich and powerful from the people all the while brainwashing the populace with the notion that government is a problem but it is only a problem for the rich and powerful and the rightwing Republicans that represent them or are them.

In this complex crowded world we live in today it takes healthy government to help organize and integrate(Tea Partiers, no this does not mean racial) society in order to function efficiently. There is a need for oversight and regulation on larger influential entities that we know, now from even recent history, need oversight. In all this there are laws enacted in order to mete out justice appropriately across the board but there are also those who would like to see few laws exist so that people can be deceived, manipulated and exploited for gain.

This is not a case for big government but is a case for effective government or government healthy enough to fulfil these functions. There is always downward pressure from the rich and powerful on these ideals because they more often than not represent business and corporations that if they had their way would exploit the system and it's people to the farthest extent in order to maximize profits.

So the people who clamor and complain about big government are primarily the rich and powerful that stand to profit the most from the lack of responsible regulation lost in the downsizing of government. The rich and powerful oppose big government AND oppose honest(congressmen not bought off) government and it is this presposterous ideology that they through the establishment media continue to shove down our throats. So how long will we fall for this really stupid deception. The people do not want their government bought off ,they want congressmen truly answerable to them so that they can trust government more but isn't it so sinister that the Republican rich and powerful promote both point of views, that government is generally the enemy and that campaign finance reform is bad. Can you possibly see what is going on now? Can it be made any simpler than this. Is it this crowd that you would have back in power, the crowd that opposes healthy government and opposes removing money's influence over it, the very thing that corrupts it causing you to fear it.
I would submit that this is not even about competency or crediblity, this is more about good and evil and there are certainly more issues regarding good and evil but if you cannot get your voice/vote expressed to oppose evil you are already defeated and in American politics what is more evil than that. I would also submit that to support this continued state of corruption is disqualification for and betrayal of what our government stands for. It is the core reason the rightwing Republicans are unfit to lead.

Make no mistake if the Republican party is in power these issues of rooting out money's corruption of the election process will not even come up for the people to support and if the last Republican congress is an example just the opposite will occur, i.e. E street and Jack Abramoff as they fervently opposed campaign finance reform and now bless the Supreme Court for it's ruling in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which opens the door for mega-corporations to use all the money they want to influence elections.

The rightwing establishment certainly has it's influence on the Democratic party but if the Democrats, free from the lock-step mentality of the Republicans, retain power some Democrats will bring these issues about money's corruption to the fore and when they do it has to be our responsibility to make as big a noise as possible. It is the chance we get and this time we better take it. The old axiom is still in play, "Democracy is not something you have it is something you do, if you don't do it you don't have it".

Resist the amped up emotions from the manipulating pundits of fear and greed and go to the polls voting with clarity of head, strength of heart and the hope that we really can make a difference if we don't give up.

The Religious Right Standard - Tax Cut Money Over People

At one time in our nation fundamental christianity supported issues of social justice as well as issues of personal morality but today as it turns out too many, questionably under the mantel of fundamental christian, on the religious right have become a throng of political and religious hypocrites pining after their tax cut money. Under the churning and grinding of the prosperity doctrine against the integrity of fundamental christianity the particular issues of social morality have become little more than peripherial moss hanging on the granite boulder of tax cut MONEY in the hearts of so many selfish but deceptively quaint "me oriented" right-wing people about the heartland. Those issues are means and excuses to an end, the end of getting more money, the new creed Reaganism gave the American heart back in the 80's. It was no longer a shame to be greedy but it was time to look out for No.1 self and the No.1 issue of getting more money at any cost and the rise of that spirit killed the social stigma against greed that was a part of Christian teaching for 1,950 years and turned a real spiritual rebirth in the 70's into a waxing cool subservience to the "prosperity" creed of the 80's. Thusly you have the falling society you have today reaping as it should economic collapse.

So in light of all this why should the world be drawn to any Christian teachings when the world can see it's associates are just hypocrites that so easily accepted landslide legislation for the rich without mandate with a heart where money trumps principle and profit is honor. If only you could sell greed and it's pursuit as an honorable purpose in the christian life and so you have tried that too so that now you're converts can be at peace with selling out to money but finally destitute of any real spiritual foundation. What remains is just emotional fervent passion in a house of cards built on sand in the eye of a hurricane but without spiritual eyes from a spiritual foundation how will you ever see it.

Tragically you do not and you will not and so it is how you so easily accept rightwing ideology as your family and friends suffer without health insurance. You see health insurance for everyone means tax money going to them, not you, and in your heart money trumps principle as it has now so many times over so many years.

A Return To The Rightwing Is A Return To Idiocracy

Well we don't have to wait for the future to get dumbed down. We've got a present movement in the nation that wants to return to favors for the rich, favors for oil, favors for anyone with the dough to pay. A movement that wants a return to -
- Republican government that favors secret spying on US citizens; favors torture, so displaying its lack of character when the going gets tough,
- a government that squandered global goodwill after 9-11 for an ignorant invasion of a beaten down country,
- a government that would give over major metropolitan port security to a former friend of terrorists because...they have oil money influence,
- a government that drags its feet on it's own people it swore to protect in the Hurricane Katrina natural disaster because those people are not so rich, so influential, so white and priviledged,
- a government that sold it's soul to E street and Jack Abramoff,
- a government that pretends an ideology when it is really arrogant idolatrous service to the rich and if it had it's own way would continually oppose wise regulation of Wall Street, health insurance companies and offshore oil drilling but maybe worst of all would oppose reform of campaign finance corruption because the reform would remove the wealthy's means of influence, the bribery, the buy offs that prevent your will and your voice from being manifest along with necessary regulation of corporate recklessness and all this from those who would call themselves christian, right and responsible.
It is an "ideology" exposed built around the priorities of money instead of the priorities of people. Call it a return to oligarchy, a return to plutocracy, call it corporatocracy but whatever you call it, call it on it's own level. Call it what it is, a backward shadow of something worse, a return to Idiocracy.

Vote Republican and the future is a no-brainer.

Larger Deficits, Fewer Jobs If Republicans In Charge

Nothing is more important to Republican politicians these days than jobs and the deficit, that is, at least according to Republican politicians
The only problem with that is the things that Republicans have said they want to do won't actually boost employment or reduce deficits. In fact, much the opposite. If Republicans were in charge from January 2009 onward--and if they were now given carte blanche to enact the proposals they want to enact--the projected 2010-2020 deficits would be larger than they are under Obama, and fewer people would be employed. According to the CBO, The Congressional Budget Office that both Republicans and Democrats agree is the final arbiter in budget matters, Obama's stimulus plan is projected to increase budget deficits over the next decade by $814 billion. However Republicans opposed the legislation, refused to provide an alternative, and now insist that it's been a total failure. So let's be generous and subtract it from their side of the equation. Obama deficit, $814 billion. The GOP deficit, $0. Next up is health-care reform. Obama passed it; Republicans want to repeal it saying it will increase the deficit.

Unfortunately for the GOP, though, nonpartisan experts tend to disagree. Just this Tuesday, for example, the Congressional Budget Office released a letter saying that Obama's health-care reform legislation would "reduce the projected budget deficit by $30 billion over the next 10 years,” while repealing the law would generate "an increase in deficits... of $455 billion... over that [same] period." Factors those figures into the equation and the Obama deficit falls to $784 billion. The GOP deficit, meanwhile, rises to $455 billion.

The final piece of the puzzle is the Bush tax cuts. Obama wants to extend them for the 95 percent of taxpayers making under $250,000 a year; Republicans want to extend them for everybody but the Democratic proposal would add about $3 trillion to the deficit during the next decade, while the GOP plan would cost $3.7 trillion. That brings the total Obama deficit to $3.784 trillion over ten years, and its GOP counterpart to $4.155 trillion.

So assuming that the Republicans would've spent $0 to stimulate the economy in the wake of the largest economic collapse since the Great Depression--an unlikely scenario, given the very real risks of inaction--their proposed policies would still produce a deficit $371 billion larger than President Obama's.

With regard to jobs, it's a similar story. So far, Republicans have only said they'd do--or that they would've done--two large-scale things the Democrats haven't: 1) scrap the stimulus and 2) extend the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning over $250,000 so as not to (in Boehner's words) "impose job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses."
How would these measures affect employment? Regarding the stimulus, the answer is pretty clear. In a report out this week, the CBO estimates that between 1.4 and 3.3 million fewer people would be employed right now if the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act had never made it through Congress. Split the difference, and the pro-stimulus Obama moves ahead of the anti-stimulus GOP by about 2.35 million jobs.

The effect of tax cuts on job creation according to the CBO, would lower unemployment by 0.3 to 0.8 percent over the next year or so but it's unlikely that extending the cuts for the richest Americans would have much of an effect on small-business hiring, which is a claim that Republicans make with some regularlity. Why? Because only two percent of taxpayers in the top two income brackets actually run small businesses. The other 98 percent of small-business owners make less than $250,000 a year and wouldn't pay higher taxes under Obama's plan.

History isn't on the GOP's side, either. If keeping the top marginal tax rate at 35 percent--the rate under Bush, and the rate that Republicans are fighting to preserve--spurs so much hiring, why didn't America experience any job growth at all during Bush's time in office? And if a top marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent--the rate under Bill Clinton, and the rate that Democrats are fighting to restore--is such a job-killer, why did payrolls grow by 20 percent during the 1990s?

The implication here isn't that higher tax rates equal more jobs. Far from it. But there's simply no evidence, either in the history books or the latest projections, to suggest that extending all of the Bush tax cuts would provide an employment boost large enough to offset the number of jobs that would've been lost if the GOP had succeeded in blocking the stimulus--let alone lasting enough to justify adding another $700 billion to the deficit.

The bottom line, then, is that recent GOP proposals would produce fewer jobs and far larger deficits than the plans Obama has already passed or currently wants to pass.

The Deficit Now If Gore Had Been Elected In 2000

So what would have been the difference in the budget if Gore had been elected instead of Bush?
With Gore elected in the year 2000 there would have been no 700 billion tax cut for the very rich(those making over 200,000 annually) in which experts have shown did very little to stimulate the economy.
Because Gore believed in a stronger regulatory government than his predecesor Clinton, the economic disaster of 2008 would have been avoided saving the country another 700 billion from the first TARP bailout but also another 800 billion from the second bailout not counting the billions that would not have been lost because of the overall economic collapse.

Because Gore and his cabinet would have believed in the competent use of government the entire federal government would have been staffed with the best available people working together to make government work as well as possible (a game changing ideological difference from the Bush administration) and with all avenues of communication working together the terrorists that carried out the 9-11 attack would likely have been detected and foiled. Experts have testified that with just a little more cooperation between the FBI and CIA we should have avoided 9-11. And before considering the billions we spent recovering from this disaster here consider another 700 billion we would have not spent in Iraq and the billions we would have not spent in Afghanistan. Would there have been some kind of successful terroist attack?, perhaps but Gore would have garnered and cultivated the goodwill of the world multi-laterally together into any venture in Afghanistan thereby sharing the financial burden.
So you are looking at a clear savings of well over 3 trillion dollars(even without considering the billions in extenuating losses from the economic collapse) and that means a surplus instead of a deficit or more correctly a big surplus instead of a big deficit.
Thats right people, the reason we are where we are is because of the incompetence of the Bush administration, the Republican congress and it's rightwing ideology which has proven unwise to reckless to catastrophic. Their ideology that promotes staffing key government departments from bank regulators to FEMA directors with apathetic anti-government ideologues has yielded it's disastrous results.

Now if that is what you want to do, go back to that kind of government then you need some serious psychological counseling or treatment for amnesia. Bush and the Repubs devastated this nation but we can make this a much better country if we stay the course we are on and fulfill the healing we have began. There will come a time for balance from the right but there is too much to be corrected before we can do that. A collapsed economy with every major bank going down the tubes is not something you heal in just a year or two but surely we have learned something about scurrilous servitude to unbridled market greed and lack of regulation.

Being smarter in 2000 would have us with a healthy surplus right now not to mention the new health care plan and other programs easily paid for upfront. Don't be afraid, be smart.


--- over 3 trillion smarter

The Limbaughs And Becks Easily Exploit Religious Right

The Republican religious rightwing, unable to face themselves or the mistakes they have made the last 10 years, turn to anyone who can come up with an excuse(explanation) for why they failed the country/trashed the country. Those such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck understanding the rightwing inability to face themselves in the past implore any convoluted reasoning for the desperate rightwing to again avoid facing their failure exploiting this weakness to the max using fearful thinking in conjuring up conspiritorial possibilities for why things did not work for them. It becomes salve for the burned consciences of the rightwing lost in the darkness of failure as they grapple for anything or any reason to explain why their "god inspired" ideology failed.

The rightwing, so rarely ever able to admit they are wrong have pinned and equated their politics to God therefore trapping themselves in an "ideology that must not fail" predicament. People like Glenn Beck are perfect outlets for these religio-political failures that must have or find an explantion besides being wrong. Wrong is not an option. The rightwing crowd beg for an out and the Limbaughs and Becks oblige at every turn and every season as if the religious right should actually never be wrong and if they, the rightwing/religious right are in perfect agreement with God they cannot be wrong....ever!
And so these rightwing TV and radio pundits have job security.

It might even be that were it not for hucksters like Beck and Limbaugh many rightwingers would have become suicidal. Remember if your politics become as one with God in such a way then your politics become infallible and you cannot be wrong. Many of those on the religious right were probably about to lose their minds and if there is any benefit at all to people like Beck it is that he may have helped save some lives. (laughing but not too loud) Seriously, facing yourself and getting real before God is not just the best option it is the only option.

You would think that if those that profess to be Christians, and were in fact true Christians, they would have the wisdom to discern their exploitation but this nation has in deed fallen away from the true spiritual wisdom and strength of God because we have allowed money, flesh and material things to dumbdown and downgrade our spiritual soul and our spiritual eyes. It is people like Limbaugh and Beck that have deceived Christians into binding a love of money ideology with faith. Every thing they preach protects the interest of those who love money whether in private or public business. As one of them often loves to say "follow the money trail" ,as if to turn this axiom back on it's original intent, but I indeed encourage you to honestly follow the money trail in all this because it is not that complicated and if you really care about it you can see through all of it to the truth.
These rightwing pundits, out of the fear that money is losing it's influence, make claims like "the teachings of Jesus might promote socialism but to that I would say who is your God? Jesus or capitalism?, Jesus or money? Let the teachings of Jesus bear fruit to the truth and if they want to decry churches that support social justice I would say there was no social justice until God brought it into the world. The Limbaughs and Becks criticize social justice because it often involves using tax dollars from the rich and powerful or themselves to fulfill the programs that deliver social justice and they love to tickle the ears of those rich and powerful with anti-social justice rhetoric because they know their own deficient deceptive thinking will be promoted by the rich and powerful in order to sway the masses to serve the interests of the rich and powerful. For the Limbaughs and Becks it's scurrilous job security. Like I say really follow the money trail. These exploiters of a failed ideology and it's adherents want to make money any way they can and they know there are those like themselves that do not want to share little at all and that want to keep all their tax cut money and it is this that is at the root of it.

If a man does not have his soul, that is his honest conscience before God, he will not have the means for courage in resisting money or fear and what you should be wary of are those who exploit, manipulate and preach without that kind of soul.

The Joke Is The Tea Party Is Anti-Establishment

Headline after headline is trying to drum up support for the Tea Party in an anti-incumbant year by claiming the Tea Party is anti-establishment but LOL for frigg'in crying out loud, the Tea Party is the establishment trying to escape higher taxation because the establishment is the $200,000 and up a year crowd. The Tea Party is the $200,000 and up a year crowd. They are one in the same. They always have been. They want to keep the Bush tax cuts which mean more money for themselves and they don't want to help pay for health care for working Americans for the same reason. They don't want to change anything, they want to keep things established for the establishment as they were during the Bush years and before. There is nothing noble, nothing protesty, nothing anti-establishment about the Tea Party. They are just looking out for their miserable selves. They are in fact the Republicans in stupid disguise and when is the media going to get real about it. On that note much of the media is also the establishment and thusly the nurturing and caring for the image of the Tea Party as some kind of "heroic" anti-establishment movement, lol again.
The truth is this year it has been essentially about the establishment trying to take back power from the anti-establishment leftwing after only a year and a half following the establishments(rightwing,tea party,republican,whatever) worst economic disaster this side of the Great Depression. Only a year and a half after laying a once in a century jobless slum at Obama's doorstep the establishment Republican Tea Partiers are crying jobs.
For some Americans, heading out of the toilet for a year and a half is more than they can take and you can be sure if America votes Republicans(tea partiers) back in, to the toilet we shall all return. Come on people,lol Wake up!

Unbridled self-centered greed one way or another always collapses on itself and us.

Want to do it again?

George W. Bush's Campaign Manager Comes Out Homosexual

George W. Bush's campaign manager and former leader of the Republican party Ken Mehlman reveals he is gay. In fact he said he is going to begin lobbying in support of gay marriage right away. In a way it's not that unusual in that it shouldn't be so unusual for those that suck up and curry to those with wealth and power to be so corrupted. This could mean that a significant majority of Republican politicians are potential gays with their nice little neat haircuts and haughty indignant manner when confronted with the truth. As an independent I can honestly say that when I see the Democrats confronted they do not act this way, they usually seem to be up to the debate but the Republicans too often act like an old white bitty confronted.

Remember when they were in power and thought they could do whatever they wanted.

Sure we want to set that situation up again?

Somebody Chose To Break A Vicious Cycle

Somebody chose not to complete one of those vicious cycles of life. Somebody just refused to pass it on. Thats why there is a little light everyday someplace,somewhere, a breakdown in the thing that would suffocate us all if it could. Sometimes you can just feel it moving from person to person with each person obeying the primal order to send on the vengeful darkness again and again unable to resist the thing that must be satisfied but a little break in the circuit of the hypnotic trance of gossip,hate and mindless retribution can change everything. When you know what a difference it makes it is easier but it is never easy.

Don't think you can do it much without Jesus.
You can try but
I need all the help I can get.

Befuddle the dark ways of the world. Be the break.

Proof Americans Favor Keeping Obama HealthCare Plan

In the latest 6 national opinion polls out in July Americans favor keeping Obama's new healthcare plan. They may support changes but they reject repealing the new law. When you poll Republicans only you get clear rejection of the law which is clearly contrary to the will of the majority of Americans. The primary election in Missouri was mostly a Republican turnout so therein the deceptively magnified result by the Republicans caring more about serving those making over $250,000 a year(whose Bush enacted tax cuts will expire now) than the needs of working people unable to get healthcare.
Although voters do not approve of Obama's handling of it they favor keeping the bill and still they favor Obama handling it over the Republicans. LOL. Gotta love it!
Even in the new Fox opinion poll 57% of voters favor keeping or changing the new healthcare law as opposed to 36% repealing it.

The first question in the polls are about Obama's handling of healthcare with the second question usually concerning retention or repeal of the law.
Here is the proof Americans favor keeping Obama's new healthcare law.

Click >http://www.pollingreport.com/health.htm < for proof

:) put this in your pipe and smoke it Boehner and Rove.

Financial Reform Betrayed Under Cover Of The Oil Spill

Public perception and opinion is everything. In American politics it shapes and controls everything that bribes and backroom deals do not. In the broad light of day it is difficult to get away with the corruption but they do and in the case of Wall Street reform and Goldman Sachs it would have been very difficult to have taken the money and watered down the financial world's very deserved punishment but that is exactly what happened and only happened because financial reform suddenly fell out of the news completely. And it fell out of the news not because there was high suspense involving the regulations that should have fallen upon these Wall street firms but because there was suddenly a crisis, a disaster that captured the publics imagination, the oil polluting of the Gulf Of Mexico. Under the cover of the oil spill congressmen betrayed the people, shattered by the financial crisis, by merely slapping the hand of Wall Street firms. The result is a financial reform bill that is more farce that force.

--It does nothing to bring back the Glass-Steagall Act that once separated commercial (normal) banking from investment (casino) banking.

--It does not cap the size of banks.

--It does not link the pay of their traders and top executives to long-term performance.

--The so-called Volcker Rule has been watered down and delayed.

--Blanche Lincoln’s important proposal that derivatives be traded in separate entities which aren’t subsidized by commercial deposits has been shrunk and compromised.

--Customized derivatives can remain underground.

--The consumer protection agency has been lodged in the Fed, whose own consumer division failed miserably to protect consumers last time around.

How could this ineffectual compromise have happened?
Wall Street and for that matter any corporation that threatens a politician with millions in election opposition is easily intimidated without the publics backing and awareness of what is going on and so it was with the ensuing settlement of this reform bill. Politicians knew they might as well go along with the big money because the public was witnessing then nothing more than the Gulf Of Mexico oil spill disaster on the news. The bottom line is if the people do not know you are engaged in a courageous act against the rich and powerful then you might as well give in to the rich and powerful because just maybe they, the rich and powerful, won't make it as hard on you at election time. And so that is how it all turned out. The oil spill covered up and blacked out the news coverage of the precedings on financial reform and Goldman Sachs so that it became out of sight and mind with the American public. Interesting how just as the congressional procedings on financial reform ramped up we had a man-made environmental catastrophe in the form of an oil leak and just as you are witnessing now that oil leak is sealed at virtually the same time the financial reform is passed and if not with almost perfectly choregraphed timing the Goldman Sachs case also settled. Some things just have to be done with a distraction but some distractions just cannot be allowed to go on for show. As one manipulating dictator once said in so many words - if you make it outrageous enough the public will never believe the collusion. You wouldn't dare would you.

So once again it's about the influence of the powerful rich and their lobbyists. If you don't demand real campaign and lobbying reform you will get no other real reform and the rich and powerful will continually get their chance to run this country into the ground so bound up by greed, so addicted to their drug called money and so under it's reckless power. But it goes on and on, YOU let it go on and on.....America, you America the people, We The People let it go on and on. You could have a beautiful government if you only believed in it. You have the tools and the checks and balances but how long will you allow yourselves to be so manipulated with fear. How long will you continue to be blind fools for and intimidated by the power of money.

In Luke 16:13 it says you cannot serve both God and money.

Under God there is integrity, principles are upheld and honor stands.

And so therein is the real answer. Transformation within then reaching out to change from the inside. That is how you develop the inner constitution to stand up for what is right. It is a product and fruit of inner transformation. but I don't expect all that would push for honorable government to be Christians. Sadly it even looks as if those that would oppose the change would be of the religious right but Christian and religious right have never been the same thing that is at least according to the scripture above. There are however a lot of good samaritans out there that believe in the integrity of what America can be along with those Christians that want the integrity of serving God over money. If you have a calling to be in government consider that there is not a better calling than to bring honesty and honor to government once again. A government not with it's eyes on money but with it's eyes on truth honor and justice, the principles of God. The hard truth is the only way one can truly resist money corruption is to know on the inside that you do not rely on money but rely instead on God. Believe that or not we have a lot of work to do.

A Reality Check For The Anti-ObamaCare Rightwing

Just in case you believe the projected perception in all that political propaganda coming from the many want-to-be corporate suckling pigs running for your state corporate mothers milk dispensing office you might want to rethink what you percieve about the publics opinion of the new health-care law. In 4 out of the last 3 polls taken nationally from June to July people favor ObamaCare.

Support --------Oppose
48%------------ 41% - Kaiser poll
49%------------ 46% - AP poll
35%------------ 47% - Pew poll
49%------------ 46% - USA Today-Gallup poll

Check it out then let the crybaby politicians know what you think about them worrying more about corporate donations and tax cuts for the rich than they do your opinion.
Check it out.
http://www.pollingreport.com/health.htm

Holding Up George W. Bush With Ol' Spiritual Pride

I recently witnessed religious programming trying to whitewash George W. Bush's presidency by comparing his faith to presidents like Washington and Lincoln :)...what else can one do but laugh. I understand trying to protect anothers Christian commitment as one thing but doing so with a little discretion would add some desperately needed credibility where it has been in woeful short supply. Will they ever learn just how badly one's faith can become entangled with errant politics that lead to disastrous government. They lived it and experienced it and should be eager to articulate that sorry experience so other fledgling Christian politicians can avoid it but no they just praise G.W. Bush in glowing terms and nearly fervent passion :)... gotta laugh again. You would think that after such a miserably failed administration they would stay far from this president and his national debacles but stubborn spiritual pride can make some do the craziest things and the religious right have become prime examples of that. They still can't believe they were wrong and still can't believe it happened the way it did but the land of denial is no land to go back to.

Wall Street-Friendly Democrat Undercuts Financial Reform

The Senate conferees negotiating a final Wall Street reform bill approved a measure late Tuesday that purports to protect retail investors yet actually scraps an Obama administration-supported proposal to protect average investors from unscrupulous brokers on Wall Street, in a move one dismayed consumer advocate likened to "false advertising."

The amendment, offered by Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), undercuts a move to compel brokers -- middlemen between buyers and sellers of securities -- to act in the best interests of their clients, in accordance with what is known as their fiduciary duty.

"The Johnson fiduciary duty 'compromise' offers the illusion of investor protection, but not the reality," said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America. "The conditions that the agency would have to meet ensure that any rule it tried to adopt would be tied up in court and would probably be overturned. In short, this is just another fake fiduciary duty provision from the Senate."

The requirement attached to the study acts like a "poison pill" designed to gut the provision, Roper added, given broker-dealers' high probability of success challenging potential rules in court.

The North American Securities Administrators Association, the National Association of Secretaries of State, and AARP all support stronger provisions to protect average investors.

In fact, even Wall Street has indicated its support for a more robust measure.

"[W]e remain supportive of a new, federal fiduciary standard for brokers and investment advisers when they are providing personalized investment advice to retail investors," Andrew DeSouza, a spokesman for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a top trade group, told the Huffington Post in May. Goldman Sachs chief executive and chairman Lloyd Blankfein expressed a similar position in January in testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the panel charged with investigating the roots of the financial crisis.

Johnson's amendment, though, makes it nearly "impossible" for the SEC to act, Roper said, adding that his measure does nothing more than offer "the pretense of trying to solve the problem."

Roper, though, is hopeful that House negotiators will resist the direction taken by their Senate counterparts. "Fortunately, [Senate Banking Committee] Chairman [Christopher] Dodd indicated that this language was still open to negotiation."

But, she added, "it will take major work before it remotely resembles a provision that investor advocates could support."

And come January, investor advocates won't be able to turn to Dodd, who will be retiring. Instead, they'll have to appeal to the new chairman of the Senate Banking Committee -- and if Democrats replace Dodd on the basis of seniority, that new chairman will be none other than Tim Johnson.


Welcome to the politics of underhanded government. A lot is being said up front while lobbyists from the financial industry work behind the scenes with an influential congressmen. I knew some of the bought off congressmen would try to pull this garbage under the cover of the oil spill and other news. Here it is. You got a voice, you can stop it if you want.

Publish Photos Of Dolphins In Gulf Oil Spill

A pod of bottlenose dolphins swims in the oily water of Chandeleur Sound on May 6. Five days later, six dead dolphins were found along the Gulf Coast. Officials were investigating oil's role in the deaths. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


We know that dolphins hang around the coastal areas as well as out in the areas of the gulf and we know they certainly swim where the Deep Horizon oil rig used to pump oil. Unlike other fish dolphins and whales have to come to the surface to get air. They have to get air this way or they will suffocate and at some point in the vicinity of these expansive oil spill blobs they must surface for air. When they do they will surface and they will take oil into their spouts and since oil does not wash off they will try again and again and not because they are stupid but because they want to breathe and live. But each time oil will run into their spouts and then they will suffocate. I wanted to ignore this reality but I know it is happening and I want to see the pictures of it because I do not want this pathetic injustice of man to go unnoticed by man but I also know that much of it will, if not by repression of photos, by the very fact that much of this occurs below the ocean surface where dolphins eventually die from suffocation and sink to the bottom. I know there are photos of dolphins trying to surface for air and photos of dolphins swimming through the oil muck and I want to see these photos exposed. I want to see the trails of whales as they do the same but I do not want these things to be happening. In my heart I want to cry out "run free, run far away from this dangerous place" and even believe these beautiful creatures of the sea are listening but I know a positive approach of denial will only lead to more suffering and more foot dragging in this mess so I want to see the horror of it in the American public's face so they will so loudly speak out in protest that congress will blow all this crap wide open. Just as dogs are man's best friend on the land, dolphins have been considered man's best friend in the sea. They are the best ambassadors for the creatures of the sea and in their deaths they will be the best advocates for getting on top of all this and making sure this never happens again.

The Red-Neck Riviera Gets It's Oil

The Republicans wanted lax voluntary regulation for oil drilling as they bellowed "drill, baby drill" at the Democrats desire for wise and cautious regulation...
Now as the oil finally runs up on the red-neck riviera's pristine white beaches of those Republican states what was going around will have finally come around....in spades.

Article On Religious Right And "Drill,Baby,Drill"

The people prayed. The prayer was loud, public, unashamed. "Drill, baby, drill," the people cried. It was an odd prayer, but it was a prayer nevertheless, because the people were Republican, and they were gathered in His name. They were the "Christian" party, and the woman who led them made it clear that she believed that her Christianity amounted to a political credential. And so, when she led the "Drill, baby, drill," prayer at the Republican party's political convention and then at subsequent campaign events, the prayer was not just a bestial cry of lip-smacking greed, as it sounded to outsiders. It was about man's dominion over nature, and it was meant to answer those pantheist liberals who believe that nature has dominion over man. It was about the stewardship of our natural and national resources. For if God put the oil in the ground — under the oceans — he must have put it there for man's use, and for man to refuse such a gift was tantamount to the refusal of grace. It was sin, and so in the fall of 2008 you could not only hear the divine appeal in the cries of those whose sins had been forgiven, you could also see it on the bumpers of their SUVs: "Drill, baby, drill! Drill, baby, drill..."

You don't hear their cries right now, though. You don't hear those prayers. You don't hear from them at all now that God has answered their prayers in the biblical way — with a sign. And a not very subtle sign, at that. Indeed, if you are given to believe that God intervenes in the events of humankind, you might think that an unstoppable oil-spill currently the size of Rhode Island and soon to be the size of New England makes His preferences quite clear, in regard to offshore drilling. If you are the kind of believer who sees signs of God's judgment in diseases (AIDS), hurricanes (Katrina), and terrorist attacks (9/11), you might think that an ecological catastrophe about to swallow a fair portion of God's creation is God's way of saying that more research is needed before "drill, baby, drill" becomes the official energy policy of the United States. You might even think that in the face of such clear rebuke to her chanted agenda, the woman who inspired the Tea Party would be on her knees in repentance, alongside the Democratic president whose blase response to the threat of a few million seabird feathers getting tarred would have gotten his Republican predecessor tarred and feathered, at least in the liberal blogosphere. But no. Suddenly, people who feel no shame crediting God for the signs that told them to run for office, stay in office in the face of scandal, or leave office to "spend more time with their families" or pursue lucrative careers on television see no evidence of God's hand in the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, they stress the stellar safety record of the offshore oil-exploration industry and the accidental nature of the tragedy, as if we live in a random and capricious universe after all... as if they can see His face in a plate of spaghetti and meat sauce, but not hear His voice when His voice drowns out their own.

by Tom Junod

5 Oil Tankers Could Have Siphoned Oil Off Gulf Waters

In 1990 5 super oil tankers were dispatched in the waters of Saudi Arabia to siphon off an, up until now, unpublished oil spill even bigger than that now off the shores of the U.S. They siphoned off the oil with some sea water to prevent what you now see happening to our coastal waters. The question right now just before the shirt hits the fan is; After several weeks now, why hasn't the same thing been done here in our own country, on our own shores? I don't think any answer to that will be good enough. That competing oil companies were not willing to use their tankers to help with this will not be good enough. That the government, in surely knowing what happened in Saudi Arabia, did not compel this to happen here cannot have a good enough excuse. Oil tankers could have been used to siphon oil off gulf waters and possibly have prevented the catastrophic environmental disaster occuring right now. This from former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister. And now this begs the question; why is BP sitting on this strategy after being fully informed. Why is BP sitting on this strategy as oil fully drenches the shores destroying nearly every bit of wildlife it touches. Why are not other oil companies offering their tankers to help suck up the oil. Idiots, incompetents. If I had been running my life the way corporations and governments have been running this plutonomy of a country the last ten years I would have been homeless and destitute a long time ago. What a great job America. You let 'em take away your middle class, you let 'em siphon off your wealth to make the rich richer and you keep falling for their same irresponsible rightwing self-centered ideology time and time again. Will you now see the difference between the "we are working against you ideology" and the "we are working together ideology". Are you ever going to take back your country,America?

First 4 Months Of 2010 Yield Record Global Temperatures

Been a little backsliding on global warming lately? The first 4 months of this year have all set records globally for high temperatures. Yo, Gore.

The Rightwing Addicted And Their Drug Of Choice

If a drug addict, under the power of his drug, tried to develop an ideology that would perpetuate his drug use as an irresponsible member of society then you would have a doosey of a problem or else something that closely approximates the Republican party, the difference being only the type of drug-money. One definition of insanity is constantly repeating something harmful to yourself but continually expecting a different result. Drug addicts do this time after time and the Republicans, seemingly of no better cognizance or inner constitution, follow suit continually resisting wise regulation and discipline for the financial industry just as they were resisting it before the 2008 economic catastrophe. They resist it for health insurance companies and they resist it for banks. They are locked into this insane behavior replicating it repeatedly because their money drug keeps them in loving rememberence of it forgetting all other reality and their dealers the rich and powerful keep it coming through their runners we call lobbyists. The Republican party then with an unbroken supply line of money-drug becomes a very sick group of politicians under the delusion of their drug, a delusion that allows them to walk in lockstep against the wise counseling about past bad behavior. They see the glaring consequences time and again and yet repeat the same subservient behavior to money time and again. And you thought the kool-aid was bad.
It is sad but even sadder that when trying to get away with all this under cover, as if no one else can tell, they use another name, the "tea party" and just as with the doped out, their appearance is obvious to all except themselves.

How's That Drill Baby Drill Thing A Work'in Out For Ya?

"Drill Baby Drill" is not just Palin's but essentially the Republican mantra for years as they did all they could during the Bush years to trash wise regulation on offshore oil drilling claiming it was safe enough. If all the beaches in the gulf belonged to Republican states then that would be some justice but the price is far too high to make the point. Maybe the stupid oil serving GOP and culpable administration will get it now. We were only reminded about a month ago that the return on offshore oil drilling is much too low relative to the risk.
And so now....
This mess is unbelievable, up to 5000 barrels a day leaking out and weeks before it is stopped? If you cannot cap it and cap it fast you do not drill. There are no exceptions, there cannot be, period. The price is far too high can we not see that. With a little foresight we could have seen it but our leadership's vision is blinded by oil lobbyist influence. How our country gets screwed up always comes back to that doesn't it?, the power of money's influence.

Ok, now I'm hearing 90 days to stop the oil flow. 90 days? 3 months? Please tell me I'am hearing that wrong. We don't do that, we don't let oil run into the ocean waters for 3 months at 5000 barrels a day. Hello! How much stupidity and incompetency can this nation endure? Now, in one day we find out that we the people will be paying for any future bank failures(thanks to the rightwing) and paying for the oil spill through higher prices at the pump and while that is going on we have to sleep with one eye open for concessions to Wall Street under the cover of the oil spill.
Heretofore democracy will be a full time job. Somethings getting ready to move.
Prayer for starters.

Financial Reform Exposes True Rightwing - Take A Good Hard Look America!

The Rightwing, Republicans and their faux independent party called the "tea party", pretending to represent middle America, can barely bring themselves to utter words supporting bank regulations but they know they have to for the cameras so the American people will think they are on their side in the wave to the upcoming election but if it were not for that they would openly express disdain for it as they fight tooth and nail straining at a knat to oppose regulations on Wall Street.
Right now is a touchy and embarrassing time for these right wing groups because they risk having their hearts "cut out" by media spotlight and shown to all exposing them for what they are as servants of themselves,the wealthy and Wall Street. They didn't like the banks having to fork money into a fund as a disincentive for bad behaviour so they came out pathetically pretending the bailout fund would cause more bailouts but the Republicans, so under the power of Wall Street, would rather see you foot the whole bill for a bank too big to fail rather than the banks contribute to a fund to pay part of it. You see one way or another there will be another bank failure and the banks do not want to pay for any of it. If the banks know they will have to keep maintaining a 50 billion fund for bank failures then they will be less likely to take big risks with your money but as long as they have no responsiblity for it they can do as they wish and that is what the Republicans are trying to give them, no accountability and no responsiblity.

When the Republicans met behind closed doors with the Wall Street bankers they got their marching orders to essentially try and perpetuate the same ideology that gave us our economic catastrophe and to such an extent that the Republicans came out making a desperate false claim that the bailout fund, which the banks will have to pay into, would cause more bailouts while the reality is the fund is actually a liquidation fund, all this showing they will do anything to serve Wall Street,LOL. The truth is if the banks have to pay for some or all of future bank liquidations then they the banks will have strong motivation to avoid any failures therefore resulting in less risk taking with your money and your economy.
The rightwing is so full of it and what they are trying to do is serve Wall Street by keeping financial institutions free of responsibility for bank failures and behavior free of real disciplinary regulations. And it is not that the Republicans are just that stupid but it is what you get when you sell yourself off to Wall Street and it's lockstep for money mentality. If the Republicans were now in control of congress this is what you would be getting, no real regulation, no real punishment for Wall Street and most of all no real consideration for all the people that have had to suffer at the hands of Wall Street corruption.

An ideology can hide the real motives in reckless servitude for only so long. God said you can serve Him or you can serve money but you cannot serve both and so with that in mind just who do you think Bush and the rightwing were serving leading into the economic collapse?
Take a good hard look America and see who the rightwing and the Republicans are truly working for and have been working for.

How The New Healthcare Bill Helps Most Americans

Here is what the new healthcare bill will provide you and what the disenfranchised opposition party doesn't want millions of Americans to know.

--- Individuals that make $14,400 or less a year will be fully covered and fully paid for under medicaid and from that $14,400 up to about $80,000 the subsidy amount that helps pay for your insurance premium will be based on a sliding scale. Decent health insurance for an individual used to cost over $6000 annually but for an individual making $30,000 a year they will now pay less than $2000 of that $30,000 for health insurance.

--- A family of 4 that makes $29,000 a year or less will be fully covered and fully paid for under medicaid and from $29,000 up to $80,000 the family subsidy will also be based on a sliding scale.

Here is the subsidy calculator to see where you will stand -

http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx

This is serious and desperately needed help for millions of people all across this country and most of the family and friends I know, some of them having lived a long time with no insurance at all will now be fully covered. Low-income citizens have lived on the edge of financial ruin and bankruptcy far long enough in this country and it is no fun, been there and done that. It is also estimated that small businesses will save about 4% on their employee expenditure, stimulating employment nationally.

This law also insures that if you have a pre-existing condition you cannot be denied health insurance and it also prevents any insurance company from yanking you off their coverage should you come down with a serious illness. The insurance companies have, in many cases, been about putting money over people in some of the most scurrilous moves against their own clients but this new healthcare law will address that dark side of the insurance industry. It will finally bring some light and justice into peoples lives.

Republicans Pouting Again In Their Bowl Of Pits

All the bowl of pits stircrying around going on now is not new. When Abraham Lincoln resolved to free the slaves, states all across the south, stuck in their backward, fearful self-centered ways, said they would sue the government, block the law and you know the rest of the sob story. When social security and medicare was passed right-wing politicians and their states threatened to file law suits and succede the union and when the civil rights law was passed in 1964....yep you guessed it, all and more of the above. But in all my time in this world I don't think I have ever seen so much sourpuss pouty mouthed crybaby whining like I see coming from the Republicans today. What a bunch of vindictive spoiled rich kid brats that didn't get their way in service to the wealthy and powerful, LOL!! What's next? are they going to start banging their heads on the floor of congress because their sacred cashcow misguided political ideology has been corrected.
Servitude to money corrupts a soul and what a glaring example of this we see today in the Republican reaction to passage of the healthcare bill. A bill that provides help and relief to millions of Americans the Republicans do not relate to, the people who do not have the money to have the kind of political voice the Republicans regard and so the reaction is... a tantrum. If you thought you had seen pathetic you can be sure you have seen it now coming from the right. They are whining we'll get you back, we'll repeal this bill and so all I can say is please make that a promise and make my day. Two things to remember; No Republicans supported this bill and they promise to repeal it. Remember, because come November, like mama's poor baby, they won't.

Americans Support Obama's Healthcare Plan

Look at the polls that ask the specific questions about healthcare reform. These polls show that when it comes down to what is actually in Obama's healthcare plan the American people support it. But don't depend on me, look at the proof here-

http://www.pollingreport.com/health.htm

The first question in the polls asked whether they supported Obama's healthcare plan or not. Then they go down through the specific questions and are then asked again whether they support the plan. The public comes out supporting Obamacare except for two issues in the poll. They do not support requiring all people to have healthcare but nobody particularly likes that and if Americans had been asked whether they wanted to be required to have auto insurnace they would have responded the same. The other issue, that of imposing a tax on cadillac plans, can be adjusted to raise some of that revenue from taxing those making 250,000 or more a year which is essentially the House version.
Congress has clear support to get this done without making too many major changes in the healthcare bill. You hear the opposing party crying in the background but who should care since they had 8 years and their president to agree on doing something about healthcare but didn't even try. If we break out of listening to the confusing political rhetoric and negativity of the unconcerned about you and focus on the details asking the specific questions in polls soon the vast majority of Americans will say they support passing healthcare reform. The devil has had his run with this one. This time the truth is in the details.

Will America Yield To The Senator From Exxon-Mobil

If the U.S. Supreme Court cannot rule any wiser than to allow corporations and multi-national conglomerates, the wealthiest entities on the face of the earth, to spend all they want on media wide political campaign commercials that influence elections then this country is in for a load of trouble. How misguided can a judicial body be? The Founding Fathers of the nation, even though there was not an established mega mass media at the time nor a massive corporate business infrastructure, expressed concern about the power of corporations to influence politics. From Abraham Lincoln to Teddy Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy to today, presidents have expressed serious concern about excessive corporate power but five rightwing judges placed on the Supreme Court all by presidents Reagan and Bush have turned all that concern on it's head by ruling for unprecedented expansion of corporate power and influence. The danger of course is that Money will come to rule the day and safeguards against financial debacles such as the complete economic collapse of 2008 will once again become the pariah of politicians under a re-emerging hyper pro-money bee-hive mentality. In order to curry favorable campaign commercials from mega corporations politicians will shape their agenda accordingly and those that will not shape their agenda to favor the will of the corporation will be rapidly diminished. If the interest of the common good requires restraint by corporations then that interest for the common good will also be diminished if not vanquised entirely.
They will say they believe in God over money but actions will speak louder than words as they did in leading us into economic catastrophe.
If you don't know by now....

Reality Check For Republicans; Public Option Surely Favored

It is true that dragging out the healthcare reform debate when most Americans have health insurance is a tenuous situtation and doing so against the backdrop of falling jobs is riskier yet but a large part of Obama's falling popularity is continuing Bush's TARP program to give trillions to financial institutions that helped cause this nations's financial collapse and also continuing the unpopular war in Afghanistan but we only need look at the specifics in the healthcare reform polls to get a grip on reality.

Scroll down through these various polls to see the specifics that reveal the truth on what the public thinks about healthcare reform -
http://www.pollingreport.com/health.htm

Even though it will disappoint the Republicans and the "conservative" tax protestors sorely, the American public clearly supports the government completely running a healthcare program called the Public Option. Every poll that is taken so far has supported this aspect of the overall healthcare program, so to the rightwing giddy about Massachusetts put that in your pipe and smoke it or in other words cool it, you ain't goin nowhere.
The public supported the healthcare bill when it included the Public Option and only when talk of removing it surfaced did the public begin it's descent from favoring the bill and now with the Public Option clearly out of the bill have the numbers risen in clear opposition to the bill. This above all things is such a clear demonstration how members of congress are bought off by the health insurance industry, the Republicans completely and the Democrats sadly two too many. The American public clearly favors a Public Option to compete with the health insurance industry but our Congress, the representatives of that American people, do not have enough of it's members willing to deny the health insurance industry's money and vote for it and the Supreme Courts decision today to allow even more corporate money influence in elections in the face of all we now know is unbelievable and one of the most unwise the court has ever made but thats another story, yea. Think the voters are angry now? Corporations like the health insurance industry get more power as Americans still do not have their health care reform..whew!

Another point for the right wing to consider is, albeit neither party is aglow with the public on this, that when polled about who is handling healthcare better, the Democrats or Republicans, the Democrats come out on top so it's not like the public wants anything even close to the Republicans flat out ideological opposition to the healthcare bill.

The polls say the the public wants the healthcare bill to put tougher regulations on the health insurance industry not weaker regulations. The Republicans of course want weaker or no regulations at all and want nothing to do with a Public Option so they are out of it, period. This healthcare bill is not being rejected in the polls because it is too regulatory or government oriented, it is being rejected because it is not "liberal" enough on key issues.

As for Massachusetts, it has a healthcare program very similiar to the healthcare program being proposed in Congress and the Massachusetts people strongly support that healthcare program so the vote there is not related to a vote against that type of healthcare. It is a vote against the intrenced politics of that state or a vote for change intrastate. And thats not Democrat analysis, thats the words of the Republican candidate himself.

When you break down the polls and look at what is inside you see the real picture. And when the people begin getting fed up with the Democrats bumbling around there is only one other way to send a message in our two party system; vote in a Republican to raise some eyebrows.
Better start looking around, Better start listening....to the voters!

What The Healthcare Bill Will Provide For Struggling Famlies

Here is what the Senate healthcare bill will essentially provide for the poor and for struggling families. It is not single payer and it is not with a public option but it is what we are realistically looking at now. Use this data in the provisions below to figure how people may benefit.

The final healthcare bill will have to closely approximate this senate version
passed by the Senate on December 24, 2009

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(H.R. 3590)

Overall approach to expanding access to coverage

--Require most U.S. citizens and legal residents to have health insurance. Create state-based American Health Benefit Exchanges through which individuals can purchase coverage, with premium and cost-sharing credits available to individuals/families with income between 100-400% of the federal poverty level (the poverty level is $18,310 for a family of three in 2009) and create separate Exchanges through which small businesses can purchase coverage. Require employers to pay penalties for employees who receive tax credits for health insurance through an Exchange, with exceptions for small employers. Impose new regulations on health plans in the Exchanges and in the individual and small group markets. Expand Medicaid to 133% of the federal poverty level.

Premium and cost-sharing subsidies to individuals

--Provide refundable and advanceable premium credits to individuals and families with incomes between 100-400% FPL to purchase insurance through the Exchanges. The premium credits will be tied to the second lowest-cost silver plan in the area and will be set on a sliding scale such that the premium contributions are limited to 2.8% of income for those at 100% FPL to 9.8% of income for those between 300-400% FPL, except that for those with incomes between 100 and 133% FPL, the premium contribution is limited to 2% of income. (These are the provisions as drafted; however, individuals with incomes less than 133% FPL are intended to get their coverage through Medicaid.)
--Increase the premium contributions for those receiving subsidies annually by the rate of premium growth from the preceding year.
--Provide cost-sharing subsidies to eligible individuals and families with incomes between 100-200% FPL. For those with incomes between 100-150% FPL, the cost-sharing subsidies will result in coverage for 90% of the benefit costs of the plan. For those with incomes between 150-200%, the cost-sharing subsidies will result in coverage for 80% of the benefit costs of the plan. American Indians with income less than 300% FPL will not be subject to any cost-sharing requirements.
--Limit availability of premium credits and cost-sharing subsidies through the Exchanges to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who meet income limits. Employees who are offered coverage by an employer are not eligible for premium credits unless the employer plan does not have an actuarial value of at least 60% or if the employee share of the premium exceeds 9.8% of income. Legal immigrants who are barred from enrolling in Medicaid during their first five years in the U.S. will be eligible for premium credits.
--Require verification of both income and citizenship status in determining eligibility for the federal premium credits.
--Ensure that federal premium or cost-sharing subsidies are not used to purchase coverage for abortion if coverage extends beyond saving the life of the woman or in cases of rape or incest. If an individual who receives federal assistance purchases coverage in a plan that chooses to cover abortion services beyond those for which federal funds are permitted, those federal subsidy funds (for premiums or cost-sharing) must not be used for the purchase of the abortion coverage and must be segregated from private premium payments or state funds.
Premium related provisions and cost-sharing subsidies are effective January 1, 2014.

Creation of insurance pooling mechanisms

--Create state-based American Health Benefit Exchanges and Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchanges, administered by a governmental agency or non-profit organization, through which individuals and small businesses with up to 100 employees can purchase qualified coverage. Permit states to allow businesses with more than 100 employees to purchase coverage in the SHOP Exchange beginning in 2017. States may form regional Exchanges or allow more than one Exchange to operate in a state as long as each Exchange serves a distinct geographic area. (Funding available to states to establish Exchanges within one year of enactment and until January 1, 2015)
--Restrict access to coverage through the Exchanges to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who are not incarcerated.
--Require the Office of Personnel Management to contract with insurers to offer at least two multi-state plans in each Exchange. At least one plan must be offered by a non-profit entity and at least one plan must not provide coverage for abortions beyond those permitted by federal law. Each multi-state plan must be licensed in each state and must meet the qualifications of a qualified health plan. If a state has lower age rating requirements than 3:1, the state may require multi-state plans to meet the more protective age rating rules. These multi-state plans will be offered separately from the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program and will have a separate risk pool.
--Create the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) program to foster the creation of non-profit, member-run health insurance companies in all 50 states and District of Columbia to offer qualified health plans. To be eligible to receive funds, an organization must not be an existing health insurer or sponsored by a state or local government, substantially all of its activities must consist of the issuance of qualified health benefit plans in each state in which it is licensed, governance of the organization must be subject to a majority vote of its members, must operate with a strong consumer focus, and any profits must be used to lower premiums, improve benefits, or improve the quality of health care delivered to its members. (Appropriate $6 billion to finance the program and award loans and grants to establish CO-OPs by July 1, 2013)
--Create four benefit categories of plans plus a separate catastrophic plan to be offered through the Exchange, and in the individual and small group markets:
Bronze plan represents minimum creditable coverage and provides the essential health benefits, cover 60% of the benefit costs of the plan, with an out-of-pocket limit equal to the Health Savings Account (HSA) current law limit ($5,950 for individuals and $11,900 for families in 2010);
Silver plan provides the essential health benefits, covers 70% of the benefit costs of the plan, with the HSA out-of-pocket limits;
Gold plan provides the essential health benefits, covers 80% of the benefit costs of the plan, with the HSA out-of-pocket limits;
Platinum plan provides the essential health benefits, covers 90% of the benefit costs of the plan, with the HSA out-of-pocket limits;
Catastrophic plan available to those up to age 30 or to those who are exempt from the mandate to purchase coverage and provides catastrophic coverage only with the coverage level set at the HSA current law levels except that prevention benefits and coverage for three primary care visits would be exempt from the deductible. This plan is only available in the individual market.
--Reduce the out-of-pocket limits for those with incomes up to 400% FPL to the following levels:
100-200% FPL: one-third of the HSA limits ($1,983/individual and $3,967/family);
200-300% FPL: one-half of the HSA limits ($2,975/individual and $5,950/family);
300-400% FPL: two-thirds of the HSA limits ($3,987/individual and $7,973/family).
These out-of-pocket reductions are applied within the actuarial limits of the plan and will not increase the actuarial value of the plan.

--Require guarantee issue and renewability and allow rating variation based only on age (limited to 3 to 1 ratio), premium rating area, family composition, and tobacco use (limited to 1.5. to 1 ratio) in the individual and the small group market and the Exchange.
--Require qualified health plans participating in the Exchange to meet marketing requirements, have adequate provider networks, contract with essential community providers, contract with navigators to conduct outreach and enrollment assistance, be accredited with respect to performance on quality measures, use a uniform enrollment form and standard format to present plan information.
--Require qualified health plans to report information on claims payment policies, enrollment, disenrollment, number of claims denied, cost-sharing requirements, out-of-network policies, and enrollee rights in plain language.
--Require the Exchanges to maintain a call center for customer service, and establish procedures for enrolling individuals and businesses and for determining eligibility for tax credits. Require states to develop a single form for applying for state health subsidy programs that can be filed online, in person, by mail or by phone. Permit Exchanges to contract with state Medicaid agencies to determine eligibility for tax credits in the Exchanges.
--Permit states the option to create a Basic Health Plan for uninsured individuals with incomes between 133-200% FPL who would otherwise be eligible to receive premium subsidies in the Exchange. States opting to provide this coverage will contract with one or more standard plans to provide at least the essential health benefits and must ensure that eligible individuals do not pay more in premiums than they would have paid in the Exchange and that the cost-sharing requirements do not exceed those of the platinum plan for enrollees with income less than 150% FPL or the gold plan for all other enrollees. States will receive 95% of the funds that would have been paid as federal premium and cost-sharing subsidies for eligible individuals to establish the Basic Health Plan. Individuals with incomes between 133-200% FPL in states creating Basic Health Plans will not be eligible for subsidies in the Exchanges.
--Permit states to prohibit plans participating in the Exchange from providing coverage for abortions. Require plans that choose to offer coverage for abortions beyond those for which federal funds are permitted (to save the life of the woman and in cases of rape or incest) in states that allow such coverage to create allocation accounts for segregating premium payments for coverage of abortion services from premium payments for coverage for all other services to ensure that no federal premium or cost-sharing subsidies are used to pay for the abortion coverage. Plans must also estimate the actuarial value of covering abortions by taking into account the cost of the abortion benefit (valued at no less than $1 per enrollee per month) and cannot take into account any savings that might be reaped as a result of the abortions. Prohibit plans participating in the Exchanges from discriminating against any provider because of an unwillingness to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.
--Require Exchanges to submit financial reports to the Secretary and comply with oversight investigations including a GAO study on the operation and administration of Exchanges
--Unless otherwise noted, provisions relating to the American Health Benefit Exchanges are effective January 1, 2014.

With the above information and guidelines below, and if like the majority of Americans you make less than 80,000 a year you can calculate where you, your family and friends will fit in to all this. This is where the rubber meets the road.

2009 HHS Poverty Guidelines
Persons
in Family
or Household ----- FPL - federal poverty level
1-----------------------$10,830
2 -----------------------14,570
3 -----------------------18,310
4 -----------------------22,050
5 -----------------------25,790
6 -----------------------29,530
7 -----------------------33,270
8 -----------------------37,010
For each additional
person in families of 8 or more, add 3,600
SOURCE: Federal Register, Vol. 73, No. 15, January 23, 2009, pp. 3971–3972

This healthcare bill is a Godsend for so many families struggling on the edge of disaster but is it enough when 15 million are still uncovered? You decide, but decide quickly because they want to fast track completion of this bill. It is what our heavily health insurance "influenced" congress is willing, or should I say allowed to give us. Consider this - -

Healthcare stocks have gained ground as the healthcare debate has dragged on since summer and investors have seen changes they believe are more favorable to companies.

The S&P Health Care Sector index .GSPA has gained 32 percent since late February 2009 when Obama released initial healthcare proposals in his budget. But by comparison, the broader S&P 500 .SPX is up 51 percent during the same period.

Obama nor the Democratic congress is doing anything to scare away the money. The GOP political opportunist trumped up fears of socialist apocalypse have waned, at least on Wall Street. The investors are there to make money in different ways. Things change and a nation grows up slowly and as always, the money trail tells the tale.

Do They Know It's Christmas Time (Feed The World)

It is amazing how many people can hear this song but not hear it, so....

It's Christmastime,
there's no need to be afraid
At Christmastime,
we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty
we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
at Christmastime

But say a prayer,
pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it's hard,
but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window,
and it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing
is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them
instead of you

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life (Oooh)
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

Here's to you raise a glass for everyone
Here's to them underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime again

Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime again


***Merry Christmas and may Peace, Blessings and Love, be with you now and throughout the New Year***

Americans Favor Public Option! - 76% to 24%

Don't listen to the obstructionist politicians in the pocket of drug and insurance companies or the close minded right wing political ideologues. Listen to the American people. They clearly favor Obama's public health insurance option! In June before all the negative brouhaha began Americans favored the public option 62% to 33%. In August during the townhall furor and the barage of negative publicity they still favored the public option 52% to 46% but now in the middle of September they are returning to clearly favoring the public option 55% to 42%.
If you add the stipulation that the public option is only for those who cannot afford insurance otherwise, which is what it is actually about anyway, 76% to 24% of Americans favor the public option, yes, 76 to 24. When Americans correctly understand Obama's public option they overwhelmingly support it.
Here are the poll results to back this up - http://www.pollingreport.com/health.htm - go to specific questions on the public option-

Any notion that congress should drop the public option is then an outrage and an affront to the will of the American public. You have a few blowhard rightwing stooges and extremist ideologues stealing the stage for the rest of America that by a clear majority want the public option so it is not true that congress fears the will of the people as you have heard. They use that as an excuse for being in the pocket of drug and insurance companies that want no competition from public insurance but it is a few townhall crying rightwing extremists giving cover to congressmen. It is a few rightwing extremists out on the streets cloking the view of others down the streets, in your neighborhoods and all around that truly favor the christian social justice of a public health insurance option for the poor. In all this pray that the truth will come out in the open of the media and then proceed to make your voice known.
Wanting the public option is the christian thing to do if you care about others, others without health insurance. It is when you live your faith and love others as yourself. It is when you put your christian money where your mouth is. For the rightwing christians it is when you put people over a little economic fluctuation. It is time to get with it.

By 76% to 24% Americans favor the public option!

A Sight That God Could Weigh In On

What a pathetic sight it is to see these snivelling little vindictive republicans who already have their comfortable insurance assurance, going to townhalls to try and keep the poor and working class families from getting death avoiding health insurance. The right wing republicans heads are so caught up in their selfish failed political ideology and fear mongering that they no longer understand when to put people first. They didn't put people first with regard to the needs of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and they sure didn't put people first in the Hurricane Katrina disaster and on and on with the right wing republican party. My advice to the Obama administration is to keep on with the healthcare plan's public option, no compromise, and if the votes are there on party lines, vote it through. Shove it down the republicans throats because they no longer deserve consideration on this issue. A better idea is to take these republicans health insurance away and give it to those they would deny it to. Didn't God do something like that in the Bible? Hmmm..

Jam It Right Back To The Rightwing Crybabys

So what else do the poor baby embittered and disenfranchised of the republican religious right have to do these days? Yes, get their little bit of dishonorable revenge by callously working to deny healthcare to millions of American families by going to townhalls across this country and disengenously crying their heads off feigning they really believe it's a terrible thing. They sure don't give a care about families without healthcare but they do care about their status with the rich. Enlisted by republican operatives they do the bidding of the powerful status quo.It is unbelievable to see someone going out ot their way straining at a knat to deny healthcare to people on the excuse it opposes a political ideology and a miserably failed ideology at that which almost threw this country into an economic cataclysm but they so surely do it to gain favor with their wealthy kind.

Every American with the courage to do so should go to these townhalls and get up in the face of some of these pouty rightwing stooges. My advice? Jam it right back to 'em , in a lively civilized manner of course. Of course.

GOP Vows Unity Against Public Healthcare

Oh yes here we go again, the Republicans not caring about the poor or the 50 some million without health insurance and so ready to instransigently stand in the way of it. These 50 million do not get insurance any other way so essentially the Republicans are willing to allow the continued misery and financial ruin of so many without health insurance. A publicly supported system is the only way you realistically fill the gaps we now fully know since the system we have now has been this way for decades. It is so proven a failure and not worked and millions have paid the price for that. So who are these Republicans? The rich and already set up with health insurance, you can bet your life on that. The people that put money and an old tired corrupt system over people. It is the shame of this country that we are the only civilized nation allowing millions of it's citizens to suffer without any healthcare and yes make no mistake about it, once you go to the doctor and confirm your illness you have a pre-existing condition and yes, without health insurance. It's the catch 22 that right wing critics never consider as they complain "Well why don't you go to the doctor?" Why" Because once you do, without health insurance, you then have a pre-existing condition without health insurance so you don't go hoping somehow that you get insurance before you have to confirm a pre-existing condition but how many people have found they are too late to treat cancer or heart disease or some other disease because they have to delay around pre-existing conditions and oh yes the Republcan right wing critics love to say then that is just your own fault. That kind of stupidity is why the right wing is out of power now but their brains are so trained to continually defend the interests of power and money that they cannot ever allow themselves to feel or act like they understand the pain of others and, yes, another reason they are out of power now. After all we and so many have been through it is only an out of date, out of touch stupid political party that can now say "We vow unity against public healthcare". They might as well say "We vow unity for the continued suffering and financial ruin of millions of American families. Oh yes, American families.

The Religious Right's Religious Cult Mind

So what are the trademarks of the many religious cults we have seen like David Moses's Children Of God or Sun Myung's Moonies? The trademarks range from stubborness and refusal to listen to the opinions of others that might disagree, shielding adherents from opposing views or moreover to completely turning off any voices of disagreement and dissent. I have religious right friends that do little else but listen to right wing radio talk show hosts and religious right radio and T.V. Some of them have no idea that the Bush administration made any serious mistakes or that the last Republican congress was one of the most corrupt in U.S. history.

Encouraged by religious right leaders, there is a kind of sub-culture growing all over this country fed and propagated by a kind of cult mentality where this one sided state of mind is projected onto it's followers; people and families all across this nation. With 95 percent of all radio talk shows on the political right wing side it is not hard for this growing group to maintain it's closed world mentality, but it is a very dangerous state of mind that develops from such one sided news and media. So many sources inform us of the failures of former President Bush, the debacle in Iraq and the failure of right wing economic ideology and yet the religious right refuse to hear it unabashedly tuning out points of views that differ from the politics they have set their mind on. Parents of children on the religious right forfeit their highest responsiblility by refusing to hear the whole truth resulting in the inability to cull between the truth and the lies when it comes to war and the lives of their children that are on the line in that war. They shut out differing points of view in almost the same kind of strange deadheaded way so many cults stubbornly shut out anything contradicting their view of the world. An intransigient stubborness that is a clear earmark of mind manipulated cults. The revealing yet disturbing thing about this is that this is not a characteristic of true spiritual strength otherwise a errant cult could not in fact have it but rather it is a characteristic of mental and emotional behavior that could apply to many. The point being that when the religious right maintains it's deadman's grip on such errant and failed policies it cannot be under a true spiritual strength to remain so firm in their view but instead are under the same kind of controlled mental and emotional behavioral phenomena as religious cults and no doubt vulnerable to the dark spiritual influence that plagues religious cults. This should be a point of prayer for all those grounded in the truth.

The religious right has been at the head of leading so many in this nation into tragic misguided endeavors such as treating Bush like he is the anointed of God, support for the immoral Iraq war and finally it's well documented almost holy sanctification of the "no government regulation on business" economic ideology that finally brought us into economic collapse and ruin.

There is a long period of fervent contemplation and self-examination that should be upon the religious right these days but with the constant rightwing mass mental "conditioning", the tuning out of political debate fully refusing to listen to the other side of an issue in print or on TV and the fully blanketing mantra from radio talk shows running through the minds of the religious right, any checking of one's self or internal examination of opinion is never given the chance and it is becoming clear that eventual deprogramming, or that is convincing them that their political views are not the same as the timeless unchanging truth of the word of God, will be an interesting endeavor perhaps even interesting enough that it will have to be left up to Jesus himself but the religious right will say they are ok with that, just ask them. It was however the establishment religious leaders, those with stature and position to protect that at first being eager to here Him, in believing He would back up their false ways, only went on to crucify Him. Look at the politics of the religious right, this is so much of what that is all about, protecting the status quo and protecting the wealthy. They twist and dilute the words of Jesus, the words He plainly spoke, in order to protect their status quo, money serving material supporting ways. Some things never change and some refuse to change even in the extreme, in the extreme like a religious cult.

Your Love Broke Through

Your Love Broke Through

Like a foolish dreamer, trying to build a highway to the sky
All my hopes would come tumbling down, and I never knew just why
Until today, when you pulled away the clouds that hung like curtains on my eyes
Well I've been blind all these wasted years and I thought I was so wise
But then you took me by surprise

Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me
Until your love broke through

All my life I've been searching for that crazy missing part
And with one touch, you just rolled away the stone that held my heart
And now I see that the answer was as easy, as just asking you in
And I am so sure I could never doubt your gentle touch again
It's like the power of the wind

Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me
Until your love, until your love, broke through

-Keith Green

G-20 And A One World Government Within 5 Years

We are now at a crossroads in history the likes we have not seen for a hundred years and even perhaps not unlike the very beginning of this nation. The world gathers at the G-20 summit to consider solutions to the global economic collapse and undoubtedly the restructuring of the global economic structure with the real possiblity of the beginnings of a one world authority and single global currency. Should it come to that it will be an effort by the old order to preserve themselves that will precipitate what lies ahead of us. The economic catastophe at hand is just that urgent and just that serious a threat to the stewards of the old power structure.
Within 2 years, out of economic necessity, we should have the beginnings of a loosely knit one world government and by the end of 5 years we should have a full fledged one world economic order. If we do not we will probably not have one for many decades to come. All those who have wanted a singular global authority have their moment now and all who have despised the idea are nearly helpless to prevent it and indeed are most susceptible to it's financial promise and in fact many of them precipitated it. Greed over principle has brought them to this crisis and if they have learned nothing, as is usually the case, greed over principle will give them their long feared one world government. Interesting how the fruits of the misguided have befallen themselves with their worst nightmare, a socialist one world order. God did not warn about the power of money for no reason. He meant it, just like he meant his other warnings but the religious right republican status quo power structure wanted to pretend unencumbered full fledged pursuit of money was holy and that anything that would, in their own eyes, hinder the unbridled economic process in America to be unholy. In their hurried hypnotic-like pursuit of money they never took a deep enough breath to step back and take an honest look at themselves but here it is laying in their laps, the very fruits of their misguidance. As it sets there do you suppose they are learning anything now. Great obstacles they are for the religious right, greed mixed with spiritual pride in hand with their perceived necessity to think alike.

Group think must never be underestimated. It is what has brought us to the economic catastrophe we now face. Greed and the lack of regulation are said to be at the core of our present problems and that is true, however the lack of wisdom in understanding man's selfish nature allowed those in charge of our nation to ignore the necessary discipline needed to oversee this selfish nature with even Alan Greenspan bemoaning his failure to see this but what he and the rest of our misguided leadership underestimated was the susceptibility of people to the power of group think when the pursuit of money is at hand. The world of business, of banks and mortage lending companies were all of the same mind along with, most unfortunately, our own previous government. The power of that group think was the power to get people to go along and look the other way when money was to be made. It is as always what the right-wing ideologues have given us - to do anything for a buck and to be in unison in doing it. Finally with a rightwing president and a right wing congress we reaped the fruits of that anything for a buck mentality - a planet most susceptible to a one world socialist corporate state. For the status quo power structure, perserving themselves will be of the highest priority..... and so they will.

The New Electric Car and Cold Fusion

Tesla motors, the electric car developer, has passed a milestone and a tipping point in all electric car practicality. As it is unveiling it's new passenger car it is also breaking through with two developments that make this electric car practical for business and leisure purposes. They are the miles per charge and battery recharge time. Before this, electric cars were limited to around 100 miles per charge and recharge time was from 3 hours to all night. Now, the combination of 300 miles per charge and 45 minute recharge time make the car nearly practical across the board. With the slightest of preplanning you can do all you would have done with a fossil fuel vehicle or in other words the new electric car from Tesla can be charged up while you eat, shop or any number of other things that take at least 45 minutes. Restaurants and shopping malls will no doubt get together and start providing areas for charging stations within their perimeter bringing the consumer and the electric car fully together. The 300 mile range also expands the driving radius from large metropolitan areas which will now finally include the vast majority of drivers in the country who want to drive to the big city to shop and then come back the same day. The electric car will not only be an urban car owned by the eccentric and globally minded but will become a country wide car that can access distant urban areas. It is also going to appeal to the sports car enthusiasts in the city and in the country with acceleration rates of 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. For the faint of heart acceleration can still be reduced.

And cold fusion? This has been one of the most encouraging technology news weeks in a very long time. First the apparent U.S. Naval confirmation of cold fusion and then this electric car advancement. Within a couple of years the electric car can be here for everyone and the breakthrough on cold fusion hopefully beginning but the important thing here is how once developed they will work wonderfully together to help solve the global warming crisis and smog choked urban areas here and across the planet. Whether it is this Tesla vehicle or another electric car of equal performance the U.S. should begin funding and pushing it's advancement along with the pursuit of cold fusion at the forefront of alternative energy research that coupled with the electric car will largely deliver us from the planetary death trap of fossil fuels.

Interesting how, with the oil serving Bush administration out of the way, we are now seeing breakthroughs that will threaten oil company profits. All I can say is, bring it on people, bring it on. Time for this world to move ahead finally into what has been delayed for eight years:
The Real, New Millenium.

Sons & Daughters Of The Delusive Religious Right

The presidency of this nation no longer belongs to George W. Bush but how many times will we continue to see the Religious Right holding up Bush and his war on terrorism with glowing adulation treating this ex-president like he is a hero or something more.

Listening to religious right programming on T.V. or radio one would never think George W. Bush had done anything even questionable during his presidency. One would think everything had been just rosey with his Whitehouse and it's policies, policies that greatly ignored the wishes and desires of the American people of which this president desired to preside over. Such a shutting out of the truth by religious right media of what went on with his presidency reveals that age old weakness of the Religious Right and it's intolerant idealogy when they refuse to face up to facts that have clearly revealed they, the Religious Right, were wrong in the first place. They will not print the other side of the story not only because of spiritual pride but because they have elevated their misleading and delusive idealogy to the level of Godliness where there of course can be no disagreement at that level. When your political beliefs become projected up to the level of God's unquestionable Word there can be no dissent and you see it very clearly in the Religious Right's news media, so whitewashed, so onesided that many on the religious right do not even know that their religious right endorsed congress of the last 6 years was one of the most corrupt congresses in U.S. history. It is all such a robbing of the truth from the minds of the innocent and truly faithful in God.

So who suffers at the hands of this censored onesided media onslaught? Yes, the most vulnerable ones who would act upon this media deception. The sons and daughters of the Religious Right who would naively go forward into a war situation they have been misled to believe is a noble, honorable endeavor of a great and honorable president. With fervent religious like commitment they are mislead into service at the worst of times in one of the most immoral and unwise wars this nation has ever engaged in but the religious right media with patriotism and nationalistic banter continually exploit and implore young christians to support George W. Bush's war in Iraq.
It is such a sinister weaving of the youths whole concious world into a politically inflexible and narrow point of view with the net effect of insuring these sons and daughters of the Religious Right are unquestioning front line volunteers for future wars.

Only why? Because spiritual pride implores religious right leaders to elevate their ideology up to the unchallengable level of God where they think they are then free to shut everyone else out and in the process project this mentality onto their followers; people and families all across this nation that then tune out political debate fully refusing to listen to the other side of an issue in print or on TV leaving their sons and daughters to bear the weight, the bloody sacrifice of such a neglect in battle and tragic suicides.
Locked into their onesided world, but charged by God to cull between the truth and the lies with their children's lives on the line, the religious right parent forfeits their highest responsibility.
Such a neglect brings an accounting and it is a hard rain that's gonna fall.

Is Blogger Out There?

After many attempts to contact Blogger in an effort to get bx-code errors corrected it may be necessary to begin a new blog. I have been unable to edit the blog description at the top of this page for almost a year. It was tolerable for a while but time passes and things change like politics and a political blog must remain up to date so it is time to edit this front page. Unfortunately that appears to no longer be possible. Bush is gone and I'm sure people would like to know that this blog or any blog is aware of that so a new idea will be coming forth soon. Change is good.