Tuesday, November 17, 2009

GOP lawmaker: Islam 'some savage religion'

Economic booster or 'Gitmo North'?

Don Manzullo should not be an elected Representative. He took an oath to uphold the Constitution, and here he is calling Islam a "savage religion." Has he never heard of the Freedom of Religion? I have lived and traveled in the Middle East among Muslims and found that most of them are no different than you or I. Like me, they want just to live in peace, work, support their families and find killing another human being repugnant.

Even though I, personally, am a Christian, this hateful Representative has done nothing here but reinforce many Muslim's distrust of us.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same

Last summer, during our stay-cation, we revisited a local Victorian Village/museum and one of the buildings we toured was a turn-of-the century (1900) hospital.  The guide mentioned that back then, it was mainly the rich (who overpaid to compensate) and the poor who went to a doctor, the Middle Class mostly treated themselves at home.

Not much has changed.  The poor in this country and the more affluent (who overpay to their insurance companies to compensate) get treated. It is what we call the "working poor" and lower Middle Class that can't afford medical care or qualify for some sort of affordable insurance and end up treating themselves, as long as possible, at home.

Not much, it seems, has changed.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Republican Deficits

Historically, it is Republicans who increase the deficit.  "From 1946 to today, Democrat have presidents pushed the deficit up by 3.2 percent per year. Republican presidents, on the other hand, increased the budget deficit by 9.7 percent."  Over 86% of the current deficit was inherited from previous administrations.

Don't get me wrong, Obama may be better than Bush, but there are a lot of things I don't like about him either.  As a Christian, I know that no human government will ever be perfect, we, rather, await the Kingdom of God, but, in the meantime, we ask the best of our government that it can do for its citizens.

Corporate versus Government Health Insurance

I am against health insurance - it adds nothing to health care except cost - and should be banned as a ponzi scheme.  Not having insurance companies to pay the bill would lower health care costs because hospitals would have to be competitive and charge what their customers can pay - or go out of business.  Health insurance, itself, is actually a form of corporate Socialism where the policy holders pool their health dollars while the corporation handles the money and takes a hefty cut for themselves.

It is proper to rely on government to help with things that individuals cannot do themselves - roads, bridges, libraries, a military, snow removal in the North, hurricane cleanup in the South, etc.  Having government run health insurance would replace government overhead with the current usurious corporate overhead but, at least, citizens, through their elected Representatives would have a voice.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Politics, Not Religion, At Heart of Health Care Reform Wrangle on Abortion

Politics, Not Religion, At Heart of Health Care Reform Wrangle on Abortion

Health, is not a privilege - well, it is now - a privilege reserved only for those who can afford it, but shouldn't be (and stands contrary to Jesus' teaching in scripture).

With thousands of people dying each year due to their inability to obtain medical insurance or pay for treatment, it is hypocritical of so-called "pro-life" people to hold these people's lives hostage over abortion. It underlines the point often, legitimately, made that "pro-lifers" only care about fetuses' lives, but their concern for life ends with a baby's birth.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The News

The News is only as Liberal (or Conservative) as their corporate masters allow them to be.  The purpose of corporate news is to collect advertising revenue and promote Corporatism (Is anyone so naive as to believe that the economic system we have in the US is Capitalism?).