THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: Pathetic...

I am sorry that I have to keep returning to the Vatican pedophile issue but it just will not go away or better yet, the Vatican together with its bishops and cardinals throughout the world will not let the issue go away by constantly defending and even deflecting their guilt. I, for one, cannot let their absurdist pronouncements go unchallenged and will at every turn, point out how absolutely ludicrous their positions are which in turn, points to how absolutely low the Catholic Church’s credibility, in all realms, has fallen.

The latest absurdity comes from Mexico and Bishop Felipe Arizmendi, bishop of the San Cristobal de las Casas Diocese in Chiapas State, Mexico.

The bishop sought to blame the priestly pedophile problem on the country’s public-school sex education program. His words, “In the midst of the invasion of so much eroticism, it is not easy to remain faithful in celibacy or in respecting children”.

More words, “When there is generalized sexual licentiousness, it is more common to have pederasty”. For those who don’t know, pederasty is anal sex between an adult male and a boy.

In essence, he is saying that the public-school sex education program creates a milieu that makes it hard for priests to keep their celibacy vows?

I hope you are getting the gist of what this bishop is trying to say in a speech to a convention of bishops. He is saying that because of the public school program, it is NOT EASY for priests to resist having anal sex with young boys so they should not be blamed if they stray into the forbidden.

What about the greater majority of males in this world who are never tempted by pederasty or who are not pedophiles? Most men are normal but it is becoming very apparent that many priests are not normal men which give credence to the proposition that the priesthood is a magnet for abnormal men.

For the bishop to try to blame priest’s proclivities on a school sex-education program is totally idiotic and as one professional counselor in Mexico said “Those of good conscience in the Church should stop this absurdity and find good help”.

Another said, “Blaming the problems that the Catholic Church has had with priests sexually abusing minors on sex education makes no sense…it borders on the pathetic.”

And that word PATHETIC seems to describe the feeble attempts by the Catholic Church to defend and deflect its collective guilt of child molestation.

I once again call on each country’s justice system(s) to prosecute to the fullest extent, the crimes committed by individual priests as well as the crime of covering up those crimes by the criminals’ superiors.

VATICAN: Homosexuality is not pedophilia - morons!

The Vatican has been mounting a fierce defense of the Pope and of the Church amidst increasing evidence that the Pope and the Church were complicit in allowing priests to practice their pedophilia through a failure to act on their part, quickly and decisively to end such crimes either through Church law or the local criminal justice system.

Recently the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarsisio Bertone, speaking in Chile, blamed or linked priestly pedophilia to homosexuality and not as a result of the Church’s celibacy requirement, defending the Church’s unwavering and totally illogical and unsupportable insistence on priestly celibacy.

This statement raised such an outcry among various groups including gay-rights groups, the Chilean government and the French government, that the Vatican had to clarify that Bertone was not speaking as an expert or a professional in psychiatry, psychology or medical matters but merely referring to some studies he had read that link homosexuality and pedophilia.

Here is where the Vatican’s incompetence in all things earthly or human really shines through. Just think, these are the guys that claim the moral and ethical authority in all things earthly as coming from God himself and here they are, stupid as dirt, making stupid statements that show off their ignorance for the world to see. But will Catholics see the light? Catholics have been conditioned for thousands of years to just do as they were told and not to use their brains to independently think things through. I was on track to become one of those robots as some of my friends did but I was saved by some rebellious brain cells I possessed which pulled me out of the hole I was sinking into – and here I am!

Just to be clear. Pedophilia is a sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Pedophiles are usually men, attracted to prepubescent boys; homosexuals are attracted to other members of their gender, homosexuals are not known to be pedophiles.

Homosexuals and pedophiles are drawn to the priesthood; homosexuals because they will be among other men (priests) who hopefully are also homosexuals and many are. They don’t have to explain why they don’t like females; they are forbidden to engage females through their vows of celibacy.

Pedophiles are attracted to the priesthood because they will be among children who revere them as people very close to God who will teach them right from wrong and help them become good and righteous members of our society. The pedophile priests have it easy as the prey is convinced that people of God would never harm them so what they are doing must be sanctioned by God.

Celibacy, a vow to forgo all sexual relations (intercourse) and therefore marriage cannot be something healthy heterosexuals want to deal with or experience no matter how strong the perceived calling from God. In fact, many priest, enraptured by the priestly vocation as a mixed up teenager realize their mistake once they gain some adult wisdom and experience and many leave the priesthood even though they would stay if the vow of celibacy was lifted.

My point today is that members of the Vatican including the Pope are clueless about the real world and the people that inhabit that world and yet they profess to speak from some higher ground of wisdom; a wisdom they derive from God and all I am saying is that this a bunch of nonsense that needs to be exposed by subjecting those holier than thou twits to earthly justice and throwing them in an earthly jail to pay for their sins against humanity and damnn their souls to eternal hell.

POLITICS: A Civil Republican / Dying Breed?

Another thing I noticed on CNN that went against some of my generalizations about Republicans and Right Wingers.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) was at one of those town hall meetings filled with Tea Party types or the lunatic fringe (should not equate all Tea Party members with lunatics since I agree with some of their positions) but I digress…

Anyway, a lady asks a really stupid question about Obama’s Health Care Bill something like am I going to jail if I don’t buy health insurance? Coburn tells her that she has been listening to FOX NEWS too much and that their news reports are made up to incite! Can you believe this guy?

Coburn, who was a strong critic of the Obama Health Care Bill, defended Speaker Pelosi as a nice lady. Amid boos and hisses, he said that you can disagree with someone but that does not mean you have to hate them for disagreeing with you.

He then proceeded to lecture the crowd about CIVILITY.

Now this is what I am talking about as far as political discourse is concerned but is it too late? Are gentlemen politicians like Coburn a dead or dying breed? Is the new political force in this country the FOX NEWS bred lunatic fringe and all new politicians will try to court these lunatics by saying what they want to hear like FOX NEWS does?

I salute Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and hope there are other Republicans like him but I am afraid the reality is that his breed is dying because being a gentleman and intelligent are actually negatives to the lunatic fringe.

IRAN: Helping Iraq stabilize?

I read something about Iran and Iraq in today’s New York Times that went against my thinking. I remarked before that Iran, being all Shiite, would try to help Iraq form an all Shiite government and to further this goal, Iran may actually help to make that happen.

In today’s paper, Iran was quoted as saying that Iraq would be served best if a Shiite / Sunni coalition government was formed; how do you like them apples?

A secular coalition of Shiites and Sunnis actually did win the election by a slim margin showing that Iraqis in general probably support a coalition government but the existing Shiite party in power was not going to recognize the victor and, as I have been suggesting, destabilize the country by not having a government at all and allowing al-Qaeda to run wild through the streets which they are doing right now.

It appears that the Iranians are not all stupid even though most in power are. They see the reality on the ground in Iraq and must have reached a conclusion that a civil war in Iraq would not benefit anyone and would only keep American troops there even longer than planned for…

POLITICS: Stupak calls it quits?

I know I have been hard on Bart Stupak, a fellow Pole and fellow Michigander for obstructing the health care bill with his stupid anti-abortion stance, but to make him quit after all these years in Congress?

Well, obviously it was not me that made him quit but more ominously, was it the Tea Party and its fringe of lunatics? Stupak says it is not and has been thinking of leaving for some time now.

I don’t know if I believe him. The idiots on the Right have threatened politicians and their families, who voted for the health bill; some have actually been arrested – can you even believe it?

The Stupak case is doubly interesting because it is so IRONIC. He stalled the health bill due to lack of specific anti-abortion language (no federal money for abortions) and he is being hounded by anti-abortion nut cases?

So this good Catholic who took an anti-abortion stance even though pressure against him was fierce, is being demonized by anti-abortion forces for eventually signing the health bill? It makes no sense to me but there was an organized drive to protest against him in his Congressional district to drive him out of office – and they succeeded with just the threat and no actual protests.

This is what I mentioned before as being scary; when these idiots actually influence and cause things to change for their benefit. The loss of Stupak is bad for Michigan because his 18 years in Congress gave him seniority and power which he could use for the benefit of Michiganians. Yes, I wanted him out of office because I was mad at his obstinacy but now I am afraid that the person replacing him may be a flaming Tea Bagger!

POLITICS: Palin on Nuclear Policy?

Many, many issues this week but let me start about the nuclear treaty signed by Obama and Russia and the new nuclear policy outlined by Obama. I think and many if not most experts on nuclear issues agreed with the president that the treaty signed with Russia was excellent and the new nuclear policy declaration was very good and much needed.

The only details that matter are that the US and Russia will not make any new nuclear bombs and will reduce by 30% their existing stockpiles; believe me, we still have enough to blow the world up countless of times.

The other detail is a declaration saying we will not use nuclear weapons against countries that do not have any. Special attention was paid to Iran and North Korea, in essence warning other countries that are thinking of developing nuclear weapons to reconsider for their own benefit.

As soon as the treaty and policy was announced I thought, I wonder what the lunatics on the right are going to do with this.

Predictably, Sarah Palin (2012 candidate for president) immediately stated that Obama is endangering our country by weakening it and is scared to punch someone in the mouth that punched him first (not using nuclear weapons against someone that attacked us with non-nuclear weapons such as biological weapons).

When a reporter told Obama what Palin said, he responded that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense agreed with the policy and they know a little bit more about nuclear policy than Sarah Palin does to which she replied that what does a community organizer know about nuclear policy.

Palin was appearing at a conservative’s convention with other 2012 presidential hopefuls; she had the most support (loud) at the convention for demeaning our president at every turn. I realize that politicians must attack the incumbent to show how they would lead differently but Palin has brought politics down to its lowest point (if that is possible) by not disagreeing on specific issue points but by using provocative sound bites that bring cheers from the morons that idolize her but by themselves, have no meaning like stupid kids calling someone senseless demeaning names.

As I mentioned before, this type of gutter politics reminiscent of a lynch mob mentality is scary if it actually has clout with people (evidenced by FOX NEWS and their growing viewers) and if it actually can cause something to happen like politicians to quit (Stupak) or others to run based on those gutter politics and sane people to join in on the insanity. More on that later…

TEA PARTY: Who are you?

Just a quick note about the health care bill protesters or Tea Party members or whoever those bozos are that can’t seem to stop screaming about something they object to. I am now convinced that they scream the same old shit without knowing why they are screaming.

This morning I was watching CNN while exercising and a story came up about Congressional Representatives going out into their districts to help people understand the Health care Bill and what it means to them – brave souls after the previous Town Hall Meetings debacle.

In this case, it was a female Representative that seemed pretty much in control of her meeting. People asked questions and she answered them until it came to one fat-ass blond that proceeded to scream her question. The Representative acknowledged her question and said that she will now answer her question BUT it became obvious that this screaming twit did not ask her question to get an answer; she was there to scream, get on TV and disrupt the meeting just like in the Town Hall days.

The Representative was ready, she said she will answer her question but if she did not quit screaming, she would have her removed for trying to disrupt an important informational meeting that others were attending to learn details about the health care Plan – and she had her ass kicked out! Now that is what I call taking control of your meeting!

I have no problem with people wanting to protest or to ask hard questions about the Health care Plan but I do have a problem with people who’s aim is just to cause mayhem by disrupting a legitimate public forum called together for the good of the public.

I have a feeling that whatever legitimate gripes the TEA PARTY originally had (and I agreed with many of them), their message has been taken over by absolute morons that are racist, homophobic and just plain stupid, basking in the limelight that media affords them on the evening news.

I salute the female representative from Florida and hope the other representatives learn how to handle these jack-asses by throwing them out on their asses and I hope the Tea Party (serious) members can get control of their message and their members – I doubt it…

VATICAN: Defending the indefensible!

Top Cleric Rips New York Times Over Pope Coverage - AOL News

I am amazed at the extensive and consistent media coverage of the Pope and the priestly sex scandal. My Wall Street Journal had two huge articles today with one an opinion piece by an apparently Catholic editorial writer. The New York Times is just full of them and the Vatican is letting the Times know it is not pleased.

One editorial writer says that the media is doing the Vatican a favor by finally exposing the whole sordid cover-up and forcing it to act; something it should have done years and years ago but the Vatican is not seeing it that way. The Vatican is saying that the media is taking the acts of a few priests and making it into an attack on the Papacy as well as the entire Catholic Church.

I think the Vatican is somehow trying to distance itself from the acts of priests in various countries. When victims brought charges against the Vatican saying the Vatican employed the priests that violated them and therefore responsible for the actions of those priests, the Vatican countered that those priests did not work for the Vatican.

Please, please, man up you red-robed shit-heads and accept the responsibility for your failures which allowed child molestation to go on and on while you wallowed in your holy crap! The Vatican has an absolutely dictatorial hold on everything Catholic so please don’t pretend you don’t know what your priests are up to; all of them.

Documented reports to the Vatican from Bishops pleading for help with pedophile priests show how the Vatican and specifically Ratzinger basically ignored those pleas and thus allowing the molestation to go on for years. No, there is nowhere to hide anymore boys and you are now exposed as incompetent nincompoops playing God!

I was happy to see that some Bishops and Cardinals are not waiting for the Pope to fess up but are apologizing to the people and directly to the victims of priestly crimes. I think many of them are sensing that criminal charges can be brought against them in the country or city where the crimes occurred and the Vatican will not be able to protect them as it can itself by claiming national sovereignty. Local clergy are citizens of their locales and subject to the laws of those locales so jail is a distinct possibility.

This is truly a historic time and even my saintly Catholic mother is saying “hang them high…”.

IRAQ: It's not Over Yet!

Secular Strongman Allawi Beats Iraqi PM Nouri Al-Maliki in Election Upset - AOL News

Iraq is back in the news as predicted. The elections establishing a “democracy” are not a done deal and as I have said many times over, may not be something that is possible although I do hold out a glimmer of hope which I have not up to this point.

A democracy in the Middle East is anathema to many people living there. Iran prefers a THEOCRACY like it has; rule by clerics. Iran also prefers the Shiites to be in charge. Saudi Arabia prefers the Sunni to be in charge just like under Saddam Hussein? The Kurds are staying quiet and gaining military strength for when both come after them and their oil.

The election results gave a victory (2 seat edge) to AYAD ALLAWI who is a Shiite BUT is leading a SECULAR (non-religious) party of BOTH Shiites and Sunnis; how about that.

Allawi beat out NOURI al- MALIKI, the current Shiite office holder who has no support among Sunnis.

Recently there has been a lot of carnage in Baghdad and vicinity with the aim at destabilizing the whole political process because there is a power vacuum until a stable government is formed.

A little history note, most political powers crumbled specifically because they could never mount a peaceful transition from one power to another. This is where the US is not only different but that difference has made the US great; peaceful power transitions. Remember Bush and Gore? In other countries that would have led to civil war but not here – ever!

Most of the attacks are credited to the remnants of al-Qaeda who would lose out to a stable Iraq. Iran may be helping al-Qaeda try to disrupt the power struggle to get the clerics in Iraq to assume theocratic power based on the inability of the secular parties to stop the violence – get the picture?

This is pretty complicated and Iraq is at the focal point of going one way or another; stability or civil war. We know what the people want (peace and stability) but they don’t hold the power as in a true democracy; it’s the people with the guns and the bombs.

Our troops are ready to pull out by September so it is all up to the Iraqis and if they have the people’s greater good at heart and a bright future for Iraq or if it is all about personal power, religious power, control of the oil wealth, etc.

Can we guide this pivotal moment? I don’t think so. It is sink or swim for the Iraqi people and I hope the leaders in this game think of the future and not just about today!

VATICAN: The Pope is guilty of what he condemns?

How pitiful is this; a priest molesting deaf boys at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, Wisconsin. The poor boys could not hear the pedophile coming and then could not scream loud enough when he was molesting them. The boys covered their heads with their blankets and cried.

The culprit was the Reverend Lawrence Murphy who was a powerful priest there from 1950 to 1974.

This is like one of those old Bing Crosby movies (Boy’s Town) but with a sick twist.

The reason I am even bringing this case up is the direct relationship of this case with the current Pope. Benedict was then Ratzinger the Cardinal and in charge of reviewing complaints about pedophilic priests, etc.

Evidence suggests that the Pope not only did nothing about the complaints against Murphy but may have blocked a secret canonical trial that may have at least dismissed Murphy from his position (and telling the cops about this never entered their minds at all).

So here we have what you might call “a situation”. Is the Vatican a sovereign country or entity and therefore its members protected from local prosecution? Can the Pope be tried by the Vatican and dismissed if found guilty? The Papacy has a long history and I actually took a course on Papal history so I know there have been some pretty bad actors in the Papal office but I don’t remember any being removed from office; I think a few were assassinated but not legally removed.

I feel this whole sex abuse cover-up by the Vatican is too big to be ignored by the Vatican itself or the Catholic world at large. Yes, the Vatican has been very successful at hiding skeletons in closets for many, many years (centuries) but could this be a skeleton they no longer can hide?

Here again the Vatican can just ignore the entire hubbub and say they only answer to God so bite my ass; so the only way to reach the Vatican and force it to take responsibility for its actions or lack of is for the Catholic faithful of the world to rise up and demand action and change. I do not feel optimistic that this could happen but I feel somewhat buoyed by Germany’s PM Merkel saying she is going after the priestly criminals and will make them pay.

This whole situation is historic and as you have noticed, I am fascinated by it because as a history nut and especially a Catholic history nut, this is my ultimate cup of tea and I will be staying close to the action…

Pope Allegedly Knew About Wisc. Pedophile Priest - AOL News

Pope Allegedly Knew About Wisc. Pedophile Priest - AOL News

HEALTH CARE REFORM: Republican Bullshit Cometh...

The health care reform bill will be signed into law by President Obama today but the Republican fury at its passage is bordering on the absurd but don’t be fooled, the fury is calculated to win votes in November so are they on to something?

In our state of Michigan, our Attorney General Mike Cox (who is running for governor) is joining other Republican Attorney Generals by challenging the constitutionality of the federal health insurance mandate. I am no constitutional lawyer but judicial history tells us that federal always trumps state so basically they are pissing up a rope.

I just wrote Cox a letter saying what the hell are you doing? You represent the state of Michigan and its citizens and no one gave you permission to challenge the federal government and especially waste our tax dollars doing it.

But he is a consummate politician and Republican. He had his mandatory public confession of adultery with his Republican wife standing behind him in total support. He is now embroiled in a controversy involving our crooked as they come, former mayor Kilpatrick. He white-washed an investigation into a strip party and a fight at the Mayor’s mansion that eventually led to accusations of murder of a stripper who performed at the party. Cox obviously did not want to be on the wrong side of a mayor that controls the black vote in Detroit and potentially could help him in his bid for governor.

Anyway, back to the Republican backlash. I mentioned before that I have never seen such vitriol on both sides of the political isle (but mostly Republicans)(did you see crowds calling Lewis a Nigger and calling Frank a Faggot?) but historians tell us that this has happened before (many times) but now with YouTube and Twitter and 24 hour news, we keep seeing the angry and rude outbursts over and over and over again till we think the whole country feels that way. FOX News is famous for trying to make people believe the whole country is up in arms even if they have to show protest clips from protests having nothing to do with health care reform – and they get away with it!

Can the Republican spin machine convince the rest of the nation to believe in their deliberate lies and over-reactions? Well, they can if the Democrats don’t get united and start fighting back with FACTS!

One thing to remember is that any bill can be changed if parts of it are deemed not to work well. If you remember, our Constitution was not going to be ratified until the writers agreed to a Bill of Rights; same with the health care bill, some parts are just not going to make it in the end but the parts that make sense to MOST people of both parties, will be left in place so the sky is not falling like the Republicans want you to think so let the process begin.

THE REPUBLICAN SPIN MACHINE NEEDS TO BE CHALLENGED AT EVERY TURN – PUSH BACK THEIR BULLSHIT WITH FACTS…

HEALTH CARE: The Day After!

Well here we are the day after the big health care vote. People at work were asking what now? How is this going to affect us? What will it do to our business?

It is remarkable that this debate has been going on for so long but practically everybody I speak to today about the subject know next to nothing about the details. I believe the same of the people that scream at the top of their lungs against Obama Care yet don’t really know what they are screaming about.

The one thing I noticed about the debate in Washington, DC is how vitriolic it has become. You may disagree with the legislation but don’t make it out to be the end of the world and don’t make out your opponents as murdering scum not fit to be Americans; what the hell has possessed these people?

The political division among parties and hell, even intra-party has become palpable and people are getting turned off by it saying it is rude, stupid and does not serve the country well. In fact many are saying Congress is worthless as a governing body, filled with only self serving hypocrites that want TV time to show their constituents what a great job they are doing.

I think Congress is behaving like many Americans are behaving. Remember the town hall meetings where people shouted idiotic comments at Congressmen trying to discuss the health care plan which basically stopped all meaningful debate right then and there. Congressmen are following the lead of these morons by acting just like them.

I think something has changed in this country and I don’t know why. I can’t blame it all on FOX News but a good portion of the blame is theirs and their Glen Becks of the air waves. I have family members that watch FOX religiously and believe every word coming out of that network while Jon Stewart of the Daily Show keeps catching FOX in blatant lie after blatant lie.

I will have more on the changing scene in America, what influences us the most and I will be following the health care plan’s evolution to see what the impact on us all it will really have.

You must admit that we are living in truly interesting times…

White House Still Negotiating With Abortion Foes For Health Care Votes -- Politics Daily

White House Still Negotiating With Abortion Foes For Health Care Votes -- Politics Daily

RELIGION AND POLITICS: Stupid Stupak?

It's the Priests vs. the Nuns -- Again -- Politics Daily

I have spilled my vitriol on Bart Stupak in the past but here in the closing minutes of the healthcare debate, I have to do it again because the man just pisses me off so much and that from a fellow Polish-American and Michiganian.

His uncompromising anti-abortion stance in the health care debate is pure lunacy. The fact that medical abortion is the law of the land does not seemed to make a difference to him. His rabid Catholicism is the only law he is willing to obey and to me that is simply un-American and illegal.

Stupid Stupak does not want taxpayer’s money to fund abortions but what if the woman needing a medical abortion deemed necessary by her doctor but is poor and cannot afford one? Is this not where Medicaid steps in? How can Medicaid be prohibited from paying for a needed medical abortion? But here, why am I trying to use logic to argue my case when men such as Stupak do not depend on logic to back their anti-abortion stance; it’s all holy-roller mentality and does not have to make any sense and maybe that is what pisses me off the most.

Did you ever find it a little ironic that it is the men (males) that have a problem with abortion? The article I have included a link to in this blog talks about Catholic nuns who support the current health care reform bill (abortion funding and all) and the Catholic Bishops who oppose the reform strictly because of the abortion issue.

The nuns see the reform as helping poor women get the medical care they need and deserve. The Bishops don’t see real people, they see a dogma that they must defend (how Christian can you get).

If nuns were allowed to have some power in the Church instead of being Church slaves, we may have avoided all the priestly sex abuse cases from ever happening which would have been good for the Church but think of all the innocent young victims (real people); it’s not just about the Church.

I blame the Catholic Church for obstructionists like STUPAK and for keeping our society in the Dark Ages.

VATICAN: The Pope apologises to the Irish; sort of?

Pope Apologizes to Irish Catholics and Orders Vatican Probe - AOL News

The long awaited Papal letter to the Irish about their devastating priestly pedophile scandal has finally arrived.

Yes, he apologized but the letter did not contain the words that were expected and I, for one, knew that the Pope and the Vatican would just gloss over the fundamental problem that is the Church itself.

One thing he wrote I know will tick many people off. He implied that Ireland brought this on itself by becoming more secular and abandoning their old-school Catholicism. Here is where an important Irish person (maybe the president?) needs to tell the Pope to eat shit.

The Pope and the Vatican cannot be allowed to make imbecilic statements like that and get away with it. Intelligent people from around the world need to stand up and condemn the Dark Age superstitious mentality that can no longer be tolerated in our day and age.

The Pope went on to blame the Irish Bishops for the whole problem. He did not call for the removal of said bishops or their prosecution by criminal authorities. He did not blame the Vatican or the Church for anything and he made it seem like this was an Irish problem, skipping over the scandal in the U.S. and the recent discoveries of priestly child sexual abuse in his homeland of Germany where he is personally involved together with ongoing investigations in the Netherlands, Austria and Brazil.

He did not announce that from now on, all cases of priestly sex abuse will be turned over to the local police. One has to assume that the cover-ups that have been going on for ages will continue.

In other words, I did not here anything of substance from the Pope. I heard more of the same spin that has been coming out of the Vatican for a long time now. The Church just does not get it; the Vatican is still in denial, unwilling to admit that the Church is the problem and not a lack of prayer and devotion.

HEALTHCARE: Mandatory insurance or die?

The Democrats are trying to pass their healthcare bill this weekend and I kind of doubt they will do it; too many forces against them for now and they may have to resort to passing bits and pieces of the bill as I have suggested in the past.

The Republicans are being the assholes they tend to be these days and playing a tired ole’ tune saying the federal government is trying to force Americans to have health care insurance; imagine that.

Years ago, I stated that no healthcare reform will ever be successful if you don’t make health insurance mandatory just like auto insurance! The Republicans are trying to use this option as the threat of big brother telling you what to do.

Well, I will make you a deal. The federal government will not force you to get health insurance if you promise that when you get sick and desperately need medical care you don’t go to the nearest hospital, you just stay home and die; you got that? That is the only way healthcare reform will work. Are you willing to make that deal shithead?

I will say again that the Republicans, by using these mindless, obstructionist statements show quite clearly that they don’t care about America or Americans but only about themselves, getting back into political power and staying in power (just like the Democrats); fuck them all!

VACATION: Death on Hilton Head Island!

I have spend some great times visiting with our North Carolina friends on Hilton Head Island and we are talking years. So it was with some alarm that I read about a jogger, jogging on a beach we undoubtedly were on once upon a time, killed by a plane trying to make a landing on the beach.

The report said that the plane’s engine quit and the plane was gliding (no engine noise). The pilot’s vision was imperiled by oil that was squirting onto the windshield.

But here is the biggie, the jogger was listening to his IPOD and would not have been able to hear anything coming up on him from behind, even a gliding plane.

I don’t know if not having the IPod in his ears would have saved this jogger’s life but I am always amazed at people running or walking along the beautiful beach and not allowing nature’s sounds to enter their ears especially when you are from a big and noisy city like Chicago?

EDUCATION: Texas' stranglehold on our textbooks!

I wrote all the way back in March of 2009 about the inordinate influence of the Texas School Board on the contents of our textbooks. Well, they are back…

I mentioned before that because they buy so many textbooks, they basically control what 80% of the states buy.

This group of right-wing, Christian Fundamentalist conservatives feel that education is too left-wing and needs balance by injecting some right-wing ideology. Some say they are rewriting history and I agree with them but what can be done to stop them.

Most of the media has sounded the alarm about what is happening but the board in Texas just scoffs at the liberal media’s attempts to keep education progressive and liberal.

What are they trying to change? Well, for one, they want to downgrade Thomas Jefferson as a leading intellectual of our founding period. He was a deist (believe in God but not man-made religion) and the author of the “Separation of church and state” legal theory in our Constitution. They will replace him with Catholic Theologian St. Thomas Aquinas who at the end of his life suffered a stroke when his house of cards of reasoning for the existence of God, collapsed.

The school board wants the children to know that this nation was founded on Christian principles or better yet, was founded as a Christian nation. This is absolutely not true. The founders were mostly deists who scoffed at organized religion because they saw what a problem organized or state religions have been through history up to this point. The French Revolution was in one case, a rebellion against the heavy handed Catholic Church’s grip on French society (off with their heads).

This assault on historical fact, wisdom and truth is hard to fathom in our day and age. I guess one has to be thankful for the existence of the internet which more and more students use to get their information. The internet can also play loose with facts but the truth is there also and hopefully teachers will steer their students to sites that are objective and factual.

I still am pissed that one state’s school board and actually one man, a dentist named Don McElroy who is just a dentist but can instruct history teachers on what they should teach; just unbelievable!

UNIONS: Federal Contracts to Union Only Contractors?

The Detroit News as well as the Wall Street Journal have reported on a move by the Obama administration to award government contracts ($500 Billion a year) to be awarded NOT to the lowest bidder with the best proposal but to “responsible contractors”, read unionized contractors.

I have been telling you that even though I voted for Obama and a change from Bush and the Republicans, he is not exactly making me feel good about my vote.

Unionism was good once upon a time but now it is not good at all. To award government contracts to union only shops is not only wrong but it does a disservice to the taxpayers who would be footing the bill for basically welfare to the unions. Why would anybody in their right minds pay a premium for work that can be accomplished just as well for much less?

This is a situation where people calling the Obama administration a bunch of socialists have a point. This is a blatant push to make the unions strong again by forcing them on companies that do not want them and workers that don’t want them.

I think the “right-to-work” movement that is so strong in the South needs to enter Northern states like Michigan and obviously needs to send a message to the Obama administration that the American people will not put up with this nonsense because that is all it is.

Here in Michigan, we remain, for all intents and purposes, a union state; change will take a long time so my writing to my senators is basically useless (I will try anyway) but other states need to step up and smack Obama upside the head to clear his head as to what is good and what is bad for the country.