THE PRICE OF DEMOCRACY

Last Sunday’s papers carried news of a little rebellion. Retired Generals criticizing our Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a top CIA employee “supposedly” leaking top secret information to a journalist and being fired (not prosecuted) for it. The TV program “60 Minutes” featured a top CIA official explaining in detail, how the Bush Administration twisted intelligence to justify their invasion of Iraq.

The various pundits took up sides and this Sunday, they continued their debate. Predictable, columnists on the right called critics and leakers of secrets as unpatriotic (traitors) who compromised our nation’s safety. Those on the left said it is our patriotic duty to question and expose our government especially when we suspect evil doings.

Both sides make good points but I think we are witnessing something bigger here.

I feel the Bush Administration, based on its actions and behavior, is being looked on as an enemy of the people and a danger to this nation. This very real perception in turn is redefining the meaning of patriotism.

The CIA employee, a woman who is 61 years of age and close to retirement (Mary McCarthy) was considered a loyal employee with great integrity who played by the book. What possessed her to reveal to a journalist that the CIA was operating secret prisons in Eastern Europe where all means possible were used to extract the truth from suspects? The journalist went on to win the Pulitzer Prize.

The CIA official on “60 Minutes” is now retired but had a need to set the record straight. He felt used and he felt the CIA had been used and that to him was not only wrong but not in the best interests of this country and therefore damaging to this country.

The stories about retired generals criticizing Rumsfeld have drawn a lot of bitter comment. The Wall Street Journal called their actions “Dishonorable” and predictably “Unpatriotic”. The New York Times polled active officers who criticized the retired officers for not criticizing the war plans sooner and more vehemently after all they should have learned something from Vietnam.

The situation with military officers is a little different. The military, by law, is commanded by civilians. We all know why our Founding Fathers wrote the law that way but today, generals have become political hostages, having to sing and dance for the President and his Secretary of Defense just to protect their careers. Officers who criticize are just removed.

Someone said that the price of democracy is to always be vigilant, always remain on alert for dangers that threaten our way of life. If people perceive the Bush Administration as that danger, that threat to our way of life, then they will behave how their conscience dictates and that may not always agree with, what we think, are accepted rules of behavior.


Janusz

EMBARRASSED BY THE FDA

I am once again embarrassed by my government. More fittingly, I am once again disgusted by how asinine my government has become.

Specifically, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the agency protecting our health and well being, has just declared that marijuana cannot be supported for MEDICINAL use. The FDA also denied the sale of the “Morning After” pill in drugstores after most of the medical advisory board recommended the pill be made available to the general public.

The marijuana ruling goes against a 1999 finding by the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences that” marijuana’s active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AID’S wasting and other symptoms and should be tested rigorously in clinical trials”.

Some states have passed laws allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Now I don’t pretend to know if marijuana really helps people suffer less but many sick people swear by it. I have always been in favor of legalizing or decriminalizing the use of marijuana because I always felt that if alcohol consumption is legal why in the hell is marijuana illegal – it makes absolutely no fucking sense.

I realize that pushing to legalize marijuana for medicinal use is only the first step in getting it legalized for general use and that is the way our government obviously feels.

BUT what really pisses me off is the fact that the FDA is being run by politicians and NOT the scientific professionals it is suppose to be run by. In fact, many on the advisory board have quit in disgust because it does not matter what the scientific minds have concluded but what President Bush wants.

The Morning After pill could prevent unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions but President Bush thinks that the pill actually causes mini abortions and ordered the FDA to deny the public access to the pill. Do you see how this man thinks? And why should learned scientists bow down to the thoughts of this moron president!

I feel the FDA should be made an independent agency answerable to a committee of people with the education and background to be able to judge fairly and correctly if the FDA is carrying out its mandate to protect the public’s health.

Personally, my business is governed by FDA rules and I have experienced the vacillations of FDA rules based on who is in power – enough I say!


Janusz

THE HOUSE OF BUSH IS UNRAVELING!

As I peruse the newspapers this bright, springtime Sunday morning, it is quite apparent that President Bush, his administration, his plans for a better world, his plans for a better America are all kind of unraveling.

If his gamble on Iraq would have only paid off, everything would be different for him, the country and the world. But was his gamble a fool’s gamble? The men that convinced him that this is a “slam dunk” plan that cannot fail are all deserting him and the plan. Where is that arrogant, cocky Rumsfeld – not so cocky anymore?

To sell the plan to the nation and the world, Bush and his cohorts had to, for lack of a better term, lie. They played the ole’ “the means justify the end” card. Now that the “end” is not even in sight and things are going from bad to worse, the “means” are starting to look pretty bad.

The American people, who bought all that Bush threw at them are starting to sober up. They see that they have been duped. Duped into believing that the invasion of Iraq was necessary, that it was part of the war on terror, and that it had something to do with 9/11 – all lies.

As Iraq sinks deeper into civil war all our troops can do is sit back and watch. Hundreds of Iraqis are killed every day. No one is safe. No one is in charge. There is no law or order. Crazy Saddam just laughs and asks, are you better off now?

Afghanistan, the country where al-Qaeda and Bin-laden launched their 9/11 attack on the United States, still hides the terrorists, still allows them to operate and train new recruits for the war on America. The Taliban there is actually growing stronger, organizing to once again take over the country.

Iran is working to build an atom bomb. They need one to protect themselves against the new American Crusaders. Who can blame them?

Have we lost our way? Have we lost what made us great, what made us respected, admired, envied and feared? No, I think we have strayed a little and we need to get our house in order and get back on the American road we are all familiar with.

I think President Bush hurt this country more than anyone can imagine. He invaded a country under false pretenses; he lied to us and the world and his lies, our lies, are now exposed. This is not the American way. We defend ourselves, we defend the defenseless but we do not invade a sovereign nation as part of a grand plan to change the world order. That is something Hitler did.

In the first Gulf War we came to the defense of Kuwait which was brutally attacked by Iraq. We had every right to invade Iraq and topple the man that invaded Kuwait – but we didn’t. I know that the first President Bush regrets that, especially now that he sees what a mess his son is in.

A pre-emptive military strike option is a valid option in today’s world. Rogue countries need to fear that option. That option acts like a deterrent. Defenders of the Iraq invasion point to Libya and how we scared it into behaving. I agree that the Iraq invasion did have that affect but I am not sure it was worth losing all those American soldiers to just scare some people. It could have been done a different way.

President Bush’s actions also increased our vulnerability to harm by allowing, no helping, the terrorists of the world unite and grow stronger. Iraq now is the home of terrorism. This is where they train and get more deadly with each passing day. They now have more recruits, including suicide bombers, than they know what to do with. In the past, Iraq was al-Qaeda free. We could have isolated and destroyed al-Qaeda when they were in Afghanistan. But we did not and we will pay for that.

President Bush hurt this country as far as his overseas adventures are concerned but he also hurt this country internally. He divided us. In the end we may unite again but in opposition to him and his un-American ways.

He divided us by bringing religion into government, something our Founding Fathers warned us against and something this country has dealt with throughout its history with success; why mess with success? Does he have a grand plan to change the country into a Christian nation because his God told him to?

He divided us by taking HIS religious values and trying to make them ours. His values are on full display as his lies and deceits are revealed one after another.

He divided us by taking the law into his own hands. He justified breaking the law because of unusual circumstances, state of war, etc. but we are a republic which means a nation governed by the rule of law. I agree that desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures but the way our laws were disregarded borders on the arrogant and the dictatorial; it could have been done in a better way.

President Bush’s approval ratings are now down below 30% which means most of the country is no longer buying his spin or outright lies. But I do not blame the man. I think he was mislead or he aloud himself to be misled. He probably meant well.

President Bush’s Republican cohorts are running as fast and as far away from him as possible; deserting a sinking ship because now it is everybody for himself.

Will the nation now flock to the Democrats; maybe but not necessarily. The Democrats are not united and have no plan but some will say they at least ain’t no Republicans.

Hilary Clinton does not have a chance but McCain does and he is the uniter this country needs; he is an American first and foremost and then a Republican. I hope he is up to the task because it will be quite a task.


Janusz

MY HEALTHCARE PLAN IN ACTION?

I have talked about how to fix our health care dilemma many times before. My suggestions appeared to fall on death ears or they were just not understood. I feel that in this state of Michigan, with a large auto industry and even larger unions, everybody was waiting for the federal government to create a universal coverage health plan where the taxpayers would pay for everybody, even those that did not pay taxes. In this way, the auto companies would save billions and billions of dollars and turn them into profits while the taxpayer would have just another tax to pay.

Now Massachusetts (see below), passed a healthcare bill that will create UNIVERSAL COVERAGE without the federal government creating another huge, inefficient bureaucracy. Please remember the systems in Canada, UK and elsewhere (socialized medicine) do not work!

Anyway, my idea was to mandate health coverage, just like auto insurance but offering many plans that would be affordable. This, in theory, would eliminate the uninsured that drain the system and cause others to be overcharged for medical care just to pay for the uninsured and there are a LOT of uninsured who need LOTS of medical care.

My plan envisioned the elderly being covered by MEDICARE. The poor being covered by MEDICAID and workers covered by their employers who would get generous tax breaks for providing health care coverage for their employees. Who does that leave?

Well, it leaves workers that do not have health insurance provided by their employers, students and others that I cannot think of at this time. In my plan, they would be offered very affordable insurance based on their ability to pay and their age (young, healthy people would pay the least). In that way the cost of providing health care to the uninsured would not impact our costs which now are artificially high to cover the uninsured costs.

Governor Mitt Romney and the people of Massachusetts have enacted a similar plan based on the same principle of eliminating the uninsured. I don’t mean executing them but providing them with health insurance.

They would penalize employers of 10 or more that do not provide health insurance by making them pay into a fund that would provide low cost insurance to the uninsured. They would also penalize people who can afford insurance but do not buy any. These people would be assessed a special tax that would also go into the uninsured pool. People buying their own insurance could do so with pre-tax dollars; another incentive.

In my plan, I would jail people without insurance or write them a ticket, just like people without auto insurance but I suppose the Massachusetts plan is more doable.

Anyway, I am going out on a limb here because a state will actually try the plan I have been screaming about for so long. Now the proof will be in the pudding. Let us see if I will be forced to eat my own words.

GO MASSACHUSETTS!!!

Janusz

HEALTH CARE SOLUTIONS!

Thursday, April 06, 2006


To:     The Detroit Free Press
Re:     “Mass. Legislators OK health care bill”, April 5.

The idea of controlling health costs by making health insurance mandatory but affordable has been proposed many times but Michigan ignored it. I suppose the auto companies were waiting for the federal government (read taxpayers) to pick up the tab.

Now Massachusetts, in a bi-partisan effort, passed a universal coverage law without a federal government takeover, “Mass. Legislators OK health care bill”, April 5.

Massachusetts had the gumption to quit whining and actually do something about rising health care costs. Let’s see if Michigan can do likewise.


Janusz M Szyszko

THE FRENCH ARE OUT OF HAND!

Can you believe that the little French twits are actually rioting over the fact that if they are under 26 they can be fired for no reason (read my blog below)?

These morons are actually burning, looting, etc. I am more inclined to believe that the situation is similar to riots here; there is a legitimate spark that starts the protest but then the basic hooligans take over when they see a chance to rob stores under the guise of a protest.

Shoot a couple of them and see how quickly they go home.


Janusz

THE POOR, POOR FRENCH WORKER!

Have you heard about the rioting in France? Do you know what they are rioting about? The people have also called for nationwide strikes to bring France to a standstill. Wow, what can bring on such determination, such passion?

What has got the French worker in a tizzy is a new law that will allow businesses in France to let go (fire) any worker less than 26 years of age without any real reason; maybe just because he or she is not working out.

You see historically, in France you cannot really fire anyone without a huge process. In many cases, businesses keep non-performing workers in their positions than risk the process of getting rid of them. Sounds like our Civil Service.

The reason for this law, according to the French government, is to get businesses to hire more young people. Unemployment in the less than 26 age group is quite large. Businesses do not want to take a chance on the young IF THEY CANNOT GET RID OF THEM if they turn out to be unproductive twits. They usually wait till workers are older and more mature, responsible and all that jazz.

So the French are rioting and striking to preserve their historic right to employment without having to worry about being let go. Remember we are ONLY talking about workers below the age of 26.

DO YOU FEEL SORRY FOR THEM NOW?


Janusz