BUTLER FOR MICHIGAN SENATOR?

Sunday, January 29, 2006

To: The Canton Observer
Re: “Butler says he can attract independents”, Jan. 29


Senate candidate Keith Butler appears like an attractive Republican candidate to challenge Debbie Stabenow. As a Republican, I can understand his anti-choice stance. As a Detroiter, knowing full well about the countless unwanted infants that end up tortured and murdered in the city, I would think keeping abortions legal and available would be the compassionate thing to do but then I forget that for anti-choice crowd its’ all about the fetus; they don’t really care what happens to the child after birth.


Janusz M Szyszko

EVOLUTION IN MICHIGAN

Sunday, January 29, 2006


To: The Detroit Free Press
Re: “Bill may stir Darwin probe”, Jan. 28

Representative Brian Palmer (R-Romeo) wants to require all science teachers in Michigan to challenge all scientific theories, “Bill may stir Darwin probe”, Jan. 28.

Will Rep. Palmer require teachers to challenge Newton’s Theory of Gravity or Einstein’s Theory of Relativity or does he have a specific theory in mind, say Darwin’s Theory of Evolution?

I think Michigan science teachers are quite capable of teaching the subject without direction from a politician that does not appear to understand the concept of “theory” in a scientific context.


Janusz M Szyszko

THAT OLE' SPYMEISTER BUSH

I am all for spying. If we did it right, we would not be in the shit that we are in right now. How about this - if the CIA and FBI just did what they are paid to do, we would not be in the state we are in now. The CIA and FBI are just plain incompetent. For that matter, our whole government is incompetent and a bunch of crooks at that. Don't get me started...

Anyway, it appears BUSH has been spying on Americans for some time now WITHOUT following legal procedures in place for just such occasions. He says he has the right...

I don't know about all that and a bunch of lawyers could argue that fact for eternity without coming up with a conclusion. I see only one problem.

BUSH has lied on many, many occasions. He lied about the War on Terrorism - Bin Laden is still doing his thing and we are in Iraq cause he lied about Saddam and Iraq and WMD. He lies all the time!

If he was anybody else, I would have allowed him to sidestep our laws to keep us safe BUT I can't trust a word he says and therefore I WANT a judge or somebody to OK his spying. I want BUSH to be made to respect the Constitution and our Laws and FOLLOW them or be made to follow them. If he refuses, impeach the asshole.

Janusz

MICHIGAN GOVERNOR HAS SOME GOOD IDEAS

I have just listened to the State of the State address by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm - my wife made me.

Although our governor has some definite socialistic tendencies as all Democrats do, she did have some ideas that may actually benefit the state.

One was to have the State of Michigan administer 401(k) plans for business' that do not have any pension plans - at all.

The old guaranteed pension plans that are killing old companies, should be thrown out. Honor the existing ones but do not allow any new hires into the plan - give them the 401(k). This is pre-tax money coming out of the employees pay and stored tax free for retirement purposes. Companies that chose or are able to afford contributions to said plans would only enhance the employees pension savings.

The 401(k) does not cost a company anything but administrative time, which is also cost. Many small companies do not bother to offer a 401(k) for those very reasons.

The State is proposing to take care of those administrative duties for companies that do not want to. This would supposedly entice more companies to offer the plan. This would benefit the employee because the employee would have some kind of pension plan instead of no plan at all.

This would not cost the state much since companies like Fidelity do most of the work for them. I consider the 401(k) plan by Granholm a "good" idea worth pursuing.

Another of her ideas was providing medical insurance for the "working poor" that do not now have any insurance because their employers do not offer any. She plans to do a State and Federal plan. I am not sure how something like this could be structured but I think the overall idea is sound.

I have long maintained that the problem with our health care in this country is the uninsured. By law they have to be treated, usually in ER and therefore super expensive. All people that have insurance are paying for these uninsured through higher and higher premiums.

My solution has been MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE just like auto insurance. Many plans would be offered from bare-bones to deluxe. Everyone would have some type of coverage.

Before you say impossible let me point out that the elderly are already covered MEDICARE. The really poor are also covered MEDICAID. Many workers are covered by their employer's plan. Who does it leave?

Well it leaves the working poor that cannot afford the expensive policies offered by Michigan companies because they are, by law, prohibited from offering cheap, bare-bones policies.
Governor Granholm's proposal would cover the working poor. So who in the hell is left?

Well, young people that feel they will never get sick. Cheap policies and the fact that they HAVE to have insurance would take care of that. Who else?

Well, you also have those that just don't want to spend their beer money to buy insurance - give them a ticket for violating the mandatory insurance law or throw them in jail - problem solved.

Janusz

LEAVE WAL-MART ALONE !

I have been hearing a lot of negative comments about WAL-MART for a long time now. My wife is part of the anti-Wal Mart brigade and shops there only in emergencies - they always have what you want.

I am not saying that Wal Mart is not guilty of some of the accusations but I draw the line when State Legislatures are passing laws that compel businesses like Wal Mart to do certain things. In this case, the laws are mandating companies with 10,000 employees or more, to contribute 8% of their payroll to employee medical insurance coverage.

I am a business owner and a firm believer in our capitalist system and in a free marketplace. I have always provided health coverage to my employees (25 years) but lately have found it necessary to ask them to pay a small percentage of their health insurance premiums because those premiums are getting way out of hand.

No one compels me to offer health insurance but most business owners will tell you that it is the best way to find and keep good employees. I will continue to provide health insurance to my employees as long as I can afford it.

Now, States like Maryland have passed laws mandating 8% of payroll to health benefits. West Virginia, Wisconsin and MICHIGAN are looking at passing similar legislation. They are obviously supported by various UNIONS in those States.

This to me smacks of SOCIALISM / COMMUNISM. What made America great is our capitalist system. We are the envy of the world - why would you want to fuck it up. Remember what happened to the Soviet Union?

Wal Mart is a business and like any business has to do everything in its power to survive in the business world. If it is a public company, it is responsible to its shareholders - they are the owners of the business.

Wal Mart employs thousands (1.5 million) of people throughout the country. The employees are free; they are not forced to work at Wal Marts. They can leave for better jobs anytime they want.

Wal Mart is a successful business - it makes money. Wal Mart management is doing a good job. Once State government starts dictating what Wal Mart has to do, management can no longer do its job - the company is now compromised.

In Quebec, Wal Mart was forced to accept a union - they closed and left 200 without jobs. Wal Mart may have to do something similar in the United States. In Michigan, Wal Mart employs some 20,000 people. What would happen if it basically closed up shop. I think the State of Michigan would get the message and so would every other state in the union.

Yes it is playing hardball, yes it is brutal but what would you have them do. The entire capitalistic system in the U.S. would be in danger and with it the welfare of all Americans.

Remember that here in Michigan, auto companies are basically fucked because unions have made health care expenses so unmanageable that some firms may now face bankruptcy. Why do we want to do the same to Wal Mart? Are we that stupid?

Janusz

SAM ALITO ANOTHER BUSH PLANT?

My last blog talked about John Roberts and the fact that he probably is a loyal BUSH man who will represent the far right in his Supreme Court decisions as evidenced by his stance against the Oregon Death With Dignity law with Scalia and Thomas.

If Sam Alito is a Roberts clone - we are all in trouble.

Originally I thought that Alito, a son of immigrant parents, was probably raised well and taught the value of common sense and fairness and could think for himself and was not brainwashed by any one philosophy. Listening to him at the Congressional hearings I took his side and believed that he was a decent guy who would make the right decisions based on the Constitution and his conscience. Lately though, I have been having doubts.

More and more information is coming out about his judicial history and it does not look good.
Are his ideas and opinions set in stone? He says they are not but do we believe him?

We must remember that previous nominees who appeared to be very conservative at the outset, have turned out to be wise and fair once they got on the bench. We have to believe that once on the bench, appointed for life, Alito would not be bound to anyone person, group or philosophy - he could be his own man. It has happened before, can it happen in this case?

The problem is that our freedoms are at stake. I feel more threatened by BUSH and his kind than I have ever felt threatened before. Bush is even scaring Republicans because he is not a true Republican, he is on a mission from his god and will use whatever means to accomplish his mission - that is toooooooooooooooooo scary. Alito could give Bush unbridled power over the country.

Anyway, there is not much we can do to prevent Bush from loading the Supreme Court with these right wing fanatics. We are at his mercy. We can only hope that the next president will get a chance to appoint judges that will counter these fanatics and prevent them from doing too much damage to our country.

Janusz

JOHN ROBERTS SHOWS HIS TRUE COLORS!

John Roberts, Chief Judge of the U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the minority (6-3) on the OREGON SUICIDE LAW. This one act shows he is a BUSH man all the way through. Roberts joins Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in the minority dissent - what a group to be in.

Let me explain what the Oregon "Death with Dignity" law is all about and why was it brought before the Supreme Court.

First, the people of Oregon have voted a "number" of times to make legal their "Assisted Suicide" law. The law allows the terminally ill a procedure where they can ask to be put to death with drugs. The law has been in affect for quite a few years. Not many people have used the law - I think around 200 over the years.

The law has many safety features and the fact that all the bad things people predicted would happen if this law passed - never came true. The people of Oregon wanted this law and are happy this law is on their books.

In comes BUSH and ASHCROFT. They don't like the law and they don't give a shit what the people of Oregon like or want. They say U.S. Federal Law says you cannot use drugs to kill people. Lower courts say the State law takes precedent over the Federal Law. The Supreme Court obviously agreed with that decision.

The troubling part with this case is that BUSH and his cohorts does not care for what States and their citizens want. They want the Federal Government to be god and govern all the people whether they like it or not. I find this attitude dangerous and a threat to all our freedoms. This is similar to the TALIBAN where only they know what is good for us.

We already know that SCALIA and THOMAS are pure conservatives that react only one way to cases brought before them - knee jerk conservatism. To see ROBERTS join this group is very disheartening but not surprising. One can only hope that ALITO will not join this group or this country is in deep shit.

Janusz