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Category Archives: My Opinion

The Show Begins


Many of us know or have heard the theme to a cartoon show called “The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour” but as a reminder  the Lyrics are listed below:

ARTIST: Jerry Livingston and Mack David
TITLE: Bugs Bunny Overture (This Is It)
Lyrics

[From Television Theme Song]

Overture, curtain, lights
This is it, the night o’ nights
No more rehearsing and nursing our parts
We know every part by heart

Overture, curtain, lights
This is it, to hit the heights
And, oh what heights we’ll hit
On with the show, this is it

Tonight what heights we’ll hit
On with the show, this is it.

This is just an introduction what the next 4 years will bring. The current flap is over how many people were in the National mall, this was contested on air by the Trump talking heads in spite of photographic proof to the contrary. It appears that we will now have a wave of superlatives instead of facts on what the administration is doing, will do or has done. Looking at what is happening right now and what has gone before we need to prepare for talking points instead of facts. I fully understand that Trumps’ rise is due to his “telling it like it is” but the reality is that “telling it like it is” can come back to haunt you as it seems to be doing even now. The true reason for Mr. Trump’s  ascension is the dissatisfaction with the Government over the past 10-20 years. The “Government “as a lot of folks see it is the President, wrong, the Government is the Congress ,those people we vote for election after election who do very little on our behalf no matter what they tell us. Our elected officials for the most part take the idea of ” when we want your opinion. we will give it to you” to a new level and continue to offer obfuscated information that strokes the public ego while continuing their poor governing ways. No matter what party you associate with , it is wise to push your representative to do what is correct but first you must decide what you want as opposed to what is needed for us all and what is possible. Remember that what you ask for can bring unseen issues that will adversely affect you later with the blessing of your representative. Keep in mind that the people who represent us in Government do not have job issues (save our vote),medical coverage issues or retirement (pension) issues thus it is in our (voter’s) best interest to research the person who represents you now before the next election cycle, you may be surprised what you’ll learn.

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What’s Really Important?


Who attends or doesn’t the inaugural and subsequent after party matter? The coverage on attendees has taken precedent over the hearings on cabinet appointees. The potential good or harm that can be done by these appointees is more important than the celebrants of a party. For instance : there is much talk of spending and taxing. It is a fact that no matter what is said about deficits and surpluses, you cannot spend money on infrastructure without revenue to back it. The revenue is and always has been gained through taxes. The taxes that many of us do not like paying or want to pay. It appears to be the general consensus that we pay too much in taxes but we still want what we want. Understand how America (and most of the modern world) works, every government has to be funded some how. This funding is usually taxes obtained by levies on payrolls, purchases or property. The current administration as well as the new one will have to address the issues of presenting proposals to use existing or creating new ways to finance the country’s needs. The barrier to this is and always will be the United States Congress. The political fighting has always been the biggest sticking point except for the few times where we had real legislators who understood how stuff should be done. You can be dissatisfied and unhappy about paying taxes but without them we would have no functioning government and possibly a worse method of financing the Government such as  confiscation of funds, goods and services. To address the question: “What’s really important?”, elect representatives who will do the job beginning with local, state and federal elections. Ignore the soaring rhetoric and so called “telling it like it is “because it is not “how it is”!

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Just Remember


Just remember that this past election is not about race, wealth or lack of as much as change as hoped for under President Obama. While Obama attempted to make those changes , many Americans were not behind him. In not supporting him we allowed the neer do well Congress to continue their evil ways which created many of the ills that the non supportive voters were suffering under. Now we have Donald trump who “will drain the swamp”! The changes that will come will ultimately help or harm voters. Keep in mind that the Congress is powered by many of the same people who denied President Obama’s attempts at bettering the American voters lives. Remember the distracting rhetoric about birth certificates, religious affiliation and other things that had nothing to with Governing. The next several years will reveal the true nature of the long serving Congress and Mr. Trump meanwhile the American people who are so often cited will have to remember and pay close attention to what Government is doing in their names without their explicit permission.

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Tipping Point?


It is difficult to write about this past national election. The over the top rhetoric ( as defined: the art of  using words effectively  or showy, elaborate language that is empty or insincere) has allowed Mr. Trump to prevail with the oft stated idea that “he tells it like it is”. It is unfortunate that this statement or sense of what he says is all it takes to get support from voters. The real messages are lost even when they are plainly out of line, impractical or outright lies. The basis of Mr. Trumps surge to the top is simply the failure of the two existing parties (Scamocrats and Dupublicans) to do their jobs. This almost all having to do with the Congress. We have lost sight of the real problems in Government. The once noble members of Congress have stated their fight for their constituents while denying or not pursuing better health care, correct taxing scales, protection from predatory companies of all sorts. Looking at health care: the members of government have a healthcare plan that would be considered a “Cadillac plan”, they will have a nice comfortable pension and have in office perks (franking privileges (postage free mailing).  It is difficult for me to believe how few of us understand how Congress is paid and the benefits of the office. We spend too much time on the “big” election and not enough on the smaller ones or we vote party lines. The folks we have put in office time after time have come to expect your vote, not earn it. If we do not start examining the work of the Congress and how it affects us all, we will soon see the same failures as we have seen in the past. How many remember that the Congress that was in place when President Obama was elected stated” that this President will get nothing passed “. Those “nothings” are laws that affect us all in some way. All of this was along party lines with fancy subtitles such as “Conservative or Liberal”. We as voters need to forget the labels and vote what ever party you want but not be fooled by the same sound bites and buzzwords that mean nothing and gain us even less. If as a voter you identify only with one party without looking at individuals in that party then you are certainly giving up your voting rights and power.

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Narrow Focus


This past election has shown how narrowly focused many people are about Government and the people they elect. Any government and the elected representatives should ( and many times do) have to look at the whole picture involved in regulations on anything that affects us. Each area of the country have at once different and the same issues. These issues cannot be considered in a microcosm. While the coal miners have issues with health issues related to coal miners (with fierce fights on that issue), there has been no real information regarding the effect of Fracking on the coal industry. Fracking with its side effects has driven the price of gas and oil down relegating coal to a side line thus reducing the working mines to a fraction of the output they once had. This reduction has caused the decline in mine work and workers with no assistance from the representatives of these areas save a mouth full of blame on someone else. It would appear to me that these representatives should have been investigating or advocating for the Affordable Care act aka “Obamacare” which has a provision for the care and treatment of the mine workers who contract Black Lung Disease. It appears that some of these legislators have failed their own constituents in not recognizing the unhealthy conditions that they have to work under. When several mines closed  the workers were left without jobs yet none of the elected dim wits sought to get or institute any retraining and  maintain health services. They did have time to block anything the President was doing while fostering the notion that He was “killing coal”, it seems now that coal is killing the miners but the Legislators are still standing on the sidelines now hoping a Trump Presidency will allow them to continue their nefarious ways. It is unfortunate that big Coal has bought and paid for the lives of the miners through “gifts” to the Lawmakers. It would be interesting to see what the lives of the Mine owners are like compared to the mine workers. The elections have shown that politicians and candidates focused narrowly in each area  to maximize their vote count even though that focus was inadequately represented in rallies and meetings. Essentially “ALL politicians and candidates LIE! to get what they need to gain office! These lies no matter what small truth is used as a lead in to get your attention are still just lies and do not nor will not benefit the people of the United States.

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Smoked??


I am trying to understand why smokers blow smoke out of the windows of their car and fail to realize that they have more smoke in their lungs than the amount that is blown out of the window. If the reason for hanging 1 hand out of the window for ashes and the smoke from the burning cigarette or what ever the media is , then why smoke at all? All of the known issues due to smoking & using smokeless products should be enough to convince anyone that smoking is bad for you aside from the high cost of smoking (or using smokeless products). Current cost of a pack of 20 is about 5 to 8.00. A carton is $50 to $80 each or the price of 3 to 8 fill-ups in your car, a Doctors visit for a check up, oil change/ car wash or just a meal at a nice restaurant. What’s in your lungs?

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My Opinion


The next few years will be interesting. We have a “business man ” in the White House and his influence in the election has brought out the  worst elements of America. If we compare the varied factions that have appeared in this past election to the factions in the middle east we could find several similarities. These assorted and varied factions on both sides all appear to want  the same outcomes except for the extremes of each. The worst case in each is the “I want what I want and I want to blame someone else for my issues while getting it”. Mr. Trump has tapped into that sense and has gloried in it.  His ascension has unfortunately left us with void that will be filled with the “less than what we need” people to run things. I do not believe  Mr. Trump  expected (perhaps hoped not to) win but now the real job begins, he will have to put up or shut up. Being an entertainer is a world away from Government (regardless of Ronald Reagan). At best we can expect Congress(?) to step up and do something right, at worse we can expect our trading partners and the outlier Nations to get bolder in their interactions with us. The Real issues we as voters need to pay attention to are the one the Congress address and how they address them. The Congress will use the ineptitude of this administration to do their worse to us, the voters. We can only hope that some one in Congress will continue to push back on the issues that will harm us in general. It is especially important that we as voters pay more attention to detail in this administration as well as the 535 seat fillers who really are the Government. Forget about getting the real story from the media, concentrate on reading for your self and ignore what the Congressional leaders say as they have lied before and will continue to do so. Unfortunately too many of us have missed the shift in the separation of Church and State that the Constitution calls for due to the hype put out by the extreme elements of our society. If we  do not press for the return to the real purpose of  the Constitution we will soon find that the extremists will have us all in camps for as simple a thing as being a voter and use the misreading of the Constitution as the reason.

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Gear Up For Change


The beginning of a change has begun. The recent elections have brought protests across the country but more important is the reality of a Trump Presidency. There are many things the President can change unilaterally but as many or more that cannot be altered without Congress. The real issues (so to speak) are the statements made during the election, the alt-right and Racist groups emboldened by Trump along with the potential conflicts of interests with Trump’s business interests. It must be made clear that Donald Trump has dealings with  many of the countries that he has listed as the cause of lost jobs in America. The campaign rhetoric is out there and cannot be retracted or altered to suit. The issue now is preparing  or perhaps pushing for change in the Congress. The Congress is the real cause we all need to sign on to. The long serving Congress has the sense that their positions are a calling and not a service position (no difference than hotel worker). It is unfortunate that we cannot fire the Congress without an election where the lies sound good but hide what is really happening.  Look at some of the things our Congress has done to persuade (?) us that they are open and above board: C-Span-there is nothing happening on C-span that is of consequence, the real work ids done in the halls and back offices. You may or may not remember when the issue of cameras in the Senate and House of Representatives, there was much resistance to it by Congressional leaders but eventually the cameras were put in place. With the country satisfied on that issue the Congress went underground to continue doing THEIR business, not OURS. If we as ordinary people cannot see the fallacy of this past election and the gleeful hand wringing   of  a Congress that feels they have a shill to do what they want, then we are already lost. I am stating here and now that my goal is to vote against any politician who cannot definitively tell me what they have done good or bad. Sound bites and politispeak  will not work for me and they should not work for you. Congress should!

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Simply Put


Loose lips sink ships. Loose lips from Donald Trump could sink a Nation!

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Congressional Pimps


The Congressional crapcus is again making moves to block payments to insurance companies. These companies who provide care under the ACA. You remember the ACA aka “Obamacare”, the medical plan that is designed to provide healthcare for all at an affordable price. The same plan that our Congressional pimps decried because they wanted to block anything the President did or wanted to do. These same 535 seat fillers who never read the proposed bill but excerpted it and went balls to the wall against it. The result is a system that works some what and all because the Congressional pimps did everything they could including misrepresenting the ACT to defund and delete it. This blocking of insurance payments will increase the cost to subscribers or kill the program with nothing in it’s place. If the voters of America do not wake up too many of us will end up with no coverage and the Congress will still be protected under their government system. Who do you think  Congress represents?, apparently not us!

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