Michael1942's Blog

How do we rescue hostages? Call Israel! Apparently  the American public is in a hostage situation with the House holding up government funding that keeps the country running. Think about the vacation you take and planned to take, what about the sight seeing tour you were going to take some friends and relatives on to National historic sites? Forget about it! The House has decided its better to close down the government rather than create a budget to keep the country running.  The Affordable Care Act is law, changes need to be made in the structure of amendments but to the degree that it would improve it  not dismantle it. By the time 2014 arrives , millions of Americans will have taken advantage of this health care law and to undo, repeal or even upend this law is as near to massacre of civilians  as any mid eastern country. There has been more negative, erroneous and misinformation presented on this than in Watergate (for those who remember it). We are in the clutches of  crazy people  who in their insanity think we approve of their actions. The end result of this will be that Affordable Health Care will still exist and many of them come election time will not.

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With impending implementation of the ACA (Affordable  Care Act) aka “Obamacare”, there are many naysayers and supporters but the most surprising thing is several financial papers and a consumer’s magazine has stripped all of the “Government speak” from the act. Why is it that the Congress can state that the health care act will kill jobs, break companies and is a train wreck when they have no idea how it works? The aforementioned publications have laid out how the plan works and what it does in plain language but the Congress could not get there. It appears that  we have a group of legislators and pundits who through some odd quirk in their thinking cannot be bothered to get the facts and  comment based on those facts yet independent publications can. I submit that our faith in politicians and pundits is ill placed and can be better used by reading something other than the comic strips. When the initial portion of the health care act went into effect, it gave immediate relief to many yet this was not mentioned to any great degree by anyone who could have created  more coverage on the positive effects. What is the real reason for this onslaught on the American people? The one that I can think of is  greed and ignorance plus the backing of powerful moneyed backers whose sole interest is maintaining the “status quo” which is keeping the poor, poor and the general public beholding while creating more wealth for themselves and their associates. These big money individuals own companies that provide us many products and services but only as long as we pay for them and don’t complain. The reading material that should be required for all of us  are the financial publications as they have more information on the economy and what causes the shifts than the dailies which may get the information days and weeks or even years later.

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Reading several opinions and commentaries by Charles Krauthammer, I understand that he has had a long and illustrious history in Medicine, political speech writing and other advisory positions, Despite his obvious qualifications in those fields and his many awards for his body of work, he has seemingly gone off the rails. It is one thing to speak out on any subject but to proffer hate, misinformation and  possibly Racism is not what a well respected writer needs to do. It is wise to remember that no matter  what, the truth is always a constant in public discourse. I have read many of Mr. Krauthammer’s articles and opinions and see a common thread of bully tactics coupled with what appears to truth but more like the opinion of an angry person who has not been able to completely fulfill his life dreams or aspirations. This failure to achieve whatever it is has given way to more intolerant writings based on innuendo and “Fox “type reporting  which is dredged in  sensationalism rather than fact. Mr. Krauthammer’s credentials suggest he is better than his output in the last 10 years. I would suggest or even urge Mr. Krauthammer to reinvent himself as the person he once was so his real self can be enjoyed.

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The real reason for anti Obama anything is Race! Looking at all of the fights and struggles in Congress, the huge amount of false advertising and the negative media coverage is evidence enough to highlight the still obvious racial divide in America. I question the idea that someone would want a CIC who is incompetent just because he is white rather than a non white or female who is. We in the United States have a unique society that was spawned by every known ethno religious group in the world so we can be called Americans, a society of world citizens. The only true Americans are the native Americans, who we have strived to annihilate through wars and segregation. The society we destroyed and made almost irrelevant has a better structure than our current Congress yet we felt they were the savages. When alcohol was introduced, we called them drunken Indians, when largely unpaid labor was forced on humans stolen from another country, we called them property. How can a country that was built on slave labor, destruction of an existing society be called the land of the free? Our freedom will begin when we end all segregation and follow the law of the land as was intended by the founders even though they were initially perpetrators of the same acts against Native Americans and the stolen humans. In the years 2007 until now the virulent Racism reared its head and was fed by the Captains of industry through massive donations to their hopefuls and even now are still pouring fuel on the fires of distrust and separatism. There are more Americans who are not on board with these actions but not enough speak out against it. Nothing is free  so those who have not paid in through action need to pay in now!

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The Search for many things begins with curiosity. For example: why did the recent economic crisis affect the U.S. and Europe along with many other parts of the world?  What is known now and possibly surmised by some or postulated by pundits is that the same people who have paid for Congress (big money) in the form of lobbyists many of whom  were once members of Congress or associated with government service , this is the revolving door that presented us with our current economy along with the Iraq war, Afghanistan and other political obstacles to peace. The peace that would allow us to interact economically with other country’s which would at once bolster our economy and reestablish our place in the world as a leader. While in Washington the 535 are being held hostage by a few upstarts who  have the vision of running for President in the future while providing no substantial aid to a resolution of our problems. WE the People are bombarded by single issue pundits, lawmakers and powerful lobbyists  whose sole purpose is to further their own agenda at our expense.  Our (the people) only job is to embrace a bigger picture  by reading and listening to as many sources of information as possible. Modern communication has given us many methods of receiving information yet we spend more time on social sites than news sites ( no matter how biased they may be), even biased information has some value if balanced by the truth which is out there and obvious. Biased information has the sole purpose of  exploiting our fears to present their slant on things which is not in our best interest.  The simple truth is not always what we hear or see but what we sense as being real and are willing to investigate. Our  sense of duty to one another and our country is at stake since our Congress is preoccupied with future elections and current issues that are not good for us. The “Scamocrats* and Dupublicans* ”  have relied on our complacency to do what is best for them while ignoring the real issues that face us all. The cure is: stop voting along party lines, stop voting for incumbents and be prepared to have glitches in the order of things until they get it right.

*These are copyrighted 

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The deadline for exchanges and any /all insurance related departments is fast approaching,. The Congress approved this bill and it survived a Supreme court challenge yet many states have not and will set up exchanges. Our Congress is planning another attempt at killing this law by defunding it. There is no thought as to what it will do to the millions of Americans who are currently benefitting form this law and those who have yet to benefit from it. The real problem here is: The administration has done an inadequate job in explaining the law and Congress has made no attempt to understand it but the anti’s have made outlandish and untrue statements about what the law does. How can you nay-say a law that you do not understand? The realistic view is: Congress should have and still can read the law, understand the law (most of them have law degrees) and make changes where needed instead of creating a wall of misinformation, disinformation and outright lies. These are our representatives who beg for our votes at election time and continually lie to remain in office. We must remember this law does not affect their health benefits so they cannot be bothered to look after ours. The Congress seems to have no problem making decisions in the name of the people when it is to their benefit but do nothing or less to help the people.  The Governmental problems we have on both sides (Scamocrats and Dupublicans) go back before the Bush’s and Obama since many of the 535 have been in office during all of that time and done less than nothing if they got no benefit out of it. The affordable care act has more ups than downs but most of us do not know about it. There are efforts made in many parts of the country to sort this out but potential users are not actively seeking those putting forth that effort or even simply going on line to the U.S. Government website to read about it and find  what local sources are available. AS citizens of one of the best places to live on this planet we are the poorest informed because we have become complacent and allowed 535 people to think for us and become upset when they get it wrong!

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America represents the ideal in democratic societies and because of it we have nationally known columnists who proffer their personal opinions as journalism. Specifically, Charles Krauthammer, Ann Coulter and several other high profile writer along with  several cable programs that have a specific agenda that does not benefit society as a whole. These limited target writers only have to offer their personal opinions as fact and gain a following. Their opinions have very little fact and a tremendous amount of speculation, innuendo and often Racist content. This could only happen in a free country like ours, in Russia, China and several mid east counties they would be jailed for life and/or executed for crimes against the state. Welcome to America Ann and Charles!!

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