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Tag Archives: As I see It

One Language


Suppose we remove politicians and elected officials from the equation of leaders of the vast number of countries, island republics and city states?  What if we all as human beings spoke one language?  This premise comes to mind when you hear the various commentators, pundits, experts and ex representatives to various countries, you hear  an underlying theme and that is the people  (civilians)  who  suffer the most in these conflicts are not being represented by their  spokesmen or women. The people who through lack of education and ability to have a say, have  better solutions than  anyone yet are not heard. If we all spoke one language, I believe  many of the conflicts could be resolved. Culturally  and spiritually  we would still have differences and yes we would still have radical sects but one language would allow the calmer heads to prevail and increase the global cooperation that is needed. Our elections have become popularity contests that do not always end well no matter who is elected. We have had so many  years of subterfuge and  misdirection that we no longer can see the forest for the trees. We are required by our conscience to do the right things in life , when  we  have occasional mishaps or errors  we have survived and thrived. The average person anywhere has the same goals in mind and that is living a good life, raising healthy children, educating those children and performing a service to their community through work and volunteering. Unfortunately we have all relied on the political system to work and it has not and we have had  many opportunities to correct that and have not. To put a finer point on this: the Dupublicans have and are spending more time on lost cause that tend to rile the electorate than solve problems. The Dupublicans as I see it are gearing up support for the upcoming Presidential election. With that in mind, no positive efforts are being put towards doing what is required to move us forward. When the election season rolls around , all that will be heard are the outcomes of these ongoing and unnecessary hearings and airings will be the focal points. If you are old enough to remember Watergate, McCarthy hearings and a few other “celebrated” Congressional issues have been  all the Dupublicans issues yet we  cannot seem to see the truth. If we think breaking and entering is ok for a major political then we should all vote Dupublican, if we think calling celebrities and others to Washington because of their personal beliefs (in the belief that they are communists), then vote Dupublican and if we feel that the current uproar over the Benghazi attacks is anything but a witch hunt, the vote Dupublican. Remember these are the same folks who got us into a 10 year war on literal Hearsay and has publicly espoused the idea of going into Syria (another war) while desperately trying to cut funding for the needy (Medicaid, headstart and other programs). What is that they want other than another opportunity to further lower the middle class out of existence?

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Food For Votes?


The recent discussions on the budgetary issues on  the Farm Bill, which covers the “Food stamp program”. Any cuts to that program will affect recipients of that Food program as well as the farmers who are also subsidized. Many of the recipients are unemployed, under employed as well as small farmers. These cuts will not affect the larger involved farmers as much but the angle of attack appears to be just to make cuts without due diligence as to long range effects is typical of our Legislature for the past 10 or more years. These “representatives” are more slaves to being in office than actually doing the required work.

Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite – House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., center, flanked by the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., left, and Rep. Michael Conaway, …more R-Texas, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, prior to the start of the committee’s hearing to consider proposals to the 2013 Farm Bill, including small cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program in an effort to appease conservatives who say the food aid has become too expensive. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) less

 

  • Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2013, during the committee's hearing on the Farm Bill, officially known as the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013. This is the third year in a row that farm-state lawmakers have tried to push the bill through; though it passed the Senate, the House declined to take up the bill last year after conservatives in that chamber objected to the bill's cost and insisted on higher cuts to food stamps. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)View PhotoSenate Agriculture Committee Chair …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House and Senate Agriculture Committees laid the groundwork this week for reducing the size of the federal food stamp program, approving farm bills that would shrink food aid and alter the way people qualify for it.

The two chambers are far apart on how much the $80 billion-a-year program should be cut, however, reflecting a deep ideological and at times emotional divide on the role of government in helping the poor.

Resolving those differences will be key to passage of the massive five-year farm bill that lawmakers are attempting to push through for the third year in a row. The far-reaching bill costs almost $100 billion annually over five years and would set policy for farm subsidies, rural programs and food aid.

Legislation approved by the House Agriculture Committee late Wednesday would cut about $2.5 billion a year, or a little more than 3 percent, from the food stamp program, which is used by 1 in 7 Americans. A Senate Agriculture Committee bill approved a day earlier would cut less than a fifth of that amount.

At both committee meetings, debate over the food stamp cuts was heated, with defenders of the program saying the bills would take food out of the mouths of children and the elderly. In the House, the discussion turned to the Bible.

Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., quoted the Gospel of Matthew in opposing the cuts: “When I was hungry, you gave me food. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink.”

In response, several Republicans talked about their Christianity and said the Bible encourages people to help each other but doesn’t dictate what the federal government should do. “We should be doing this as individuals, helping the poor,” said Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., offered an amendment to do away with the cuts that was rejected by the panel. “Christians, Jews, Muslims, whatever — we’re failing our brothers and sisters here,” McGovern said.

In the Senate committee meeting, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called votes for the program a moral statement.

Such deeply-held beliefs are likely to be on display when the full Senate takes up the bill next week and when the House takes it up later this summer. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., has acknowledged he will have to appease all sides as he tries to get the bill passed, balancing calls from House conservatives to cut the program further with Senate Democrats who are reluctant to touch it.

“I expect it to come from all directions,” Lucas said of the food stamp debate.

The food stamp issue tripped up the bill last year after House conservatives called for deeper cuts and House leaders never brought the bill up for consideration. This year, GOP leaders have said the full House will consider the bill this summer.

The House legislation would achieve the cuts partly by eliminating what is called categorical eligibility, or giving people automatic food stamp benefits when they sign up for certain other programs. It also would save dollars by targeting states that give people who don’t have heating bills very small amounts of heating assistance so they can automatically qualify for higher food stamp benefits.

Republicans argued that the cut is small relative to the size of the program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and that people who qualify for the aid could still sign up for it; they just wouldn’t be automatically enrolled.

The Senate bill saves money in the food stamp program only by targeting the heating assistance dollars, and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has made it clear she will not support eliminating categorical eligibility or the cuts in the House bill.

“I absolutely reject the level of cuts and the way this is done in the House,” Stabenow told reporters Thursday.

Last year more than 47 million people used the SNAP program with the cost more than doubling since 2008. The rolls rose rapidly because of the economic downturn, rising food prices and expanded eligibility under President Barack Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus law.

Republicans criticized Obama in last year’s presidential campaign for his expansion of the program, and many House conservatives have refused to consider a farm bill without cuts to food stamps, which make up about 80 percent of the bill’s cost.

The House bill would cut around $4 billion a year from food aid and farm spending, while the Senate bill would trim roughly $2.4 billion. Those reductions include more than $600 million in yearly savings from across-the-board cuts that took effect earlier this year.

Much of the savings in the House and Senate bills comes from eliminating annual direct payments, a subsidy frequently criticized because it isn’t tied to production or crop prices. Part of that savings would go toward deficit reduction, but the rest of the money would create new programs and raise subsidies for some crops while business is booming in the agricultural sector.

The Senate bill would eliminate direct payments immediately, while the House bill would phase out payments to cotton farmers, who rely on the program, over the next two years.

Like the Senate bill, the House measure also includes concessions to Southern rice and peanut growers who also depend on direct payments. The bills would lower the threshold for rice and peanut subsidies to kick in when prices drop.

There are protections for other crops as well. Both bills would boost federally subsidized crop insurance and create a new program that covers smaller losses on planted crops before crop insurance kicks in, favoring Midwestern corn and soybean farmers, who use crop insurance most often.

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We Need to Understand


Our constant bombardment of information on  immigration, taxes, fiscal cliffs, sequesters and other stuff that is presented in “government speak” requires us to either dismiss it or translate it in to our perceptive understanding which is buffered by media interpretation or spin. As voters and citizens we  need to take the lead and under stand what we are hearing and seeing (seeing is not always what we see), to do this, we can make assumptions (which are wrong most of the time) or we can read whatever we can to flesh out what information we have. Our politicians, the assorted  aspirants and the background supporters of all sorts ( who try to influence and sway the election of their favorites)  spend billions of dollars to convince us that we need  them to tell us how to vote and why. We (voters) need to understand that every day the political machine ( and their minions) is flooding the newswires with as much disinformation as possible to “persuade” us vote as they want. The real control over who is elected is in the hands of the voters (us).

 

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The Plot Sickens!


We have the Venerable (?) Mr. McConnell who contrary to the wishes of his constituents voted against additional background checks, then we have Mr. Mc Cain who wants us to interfere in Syria’s affairs on unsubstantiated use of  chemical weapons. Meanwhile the sequester goes on, the sequester that these two and their cohorts could not bother to stop by making a budget (as is their duty). Term limits are the purview of the voters not the Congress and we as voters have not exercised that option due to our inexplicable loyalty to our “Congressional representatives”. Apparently many of us have had brain damage, suffered an extra terrestrial abduction or we have blinders on, since we have kept these seat fillers in office much too long. On the other hand the small band of rebels (if you will), Tea party, et al. have managed to sway the 535 to their way of thinking and against the majority of Americans. We (other voters) are falling victim to specialty voting blocs who have no other interests than their own. These are the people who move and shake because we took our eyes off of them (due to the smoke and mirrors of campaign rhetoric). This is why our current President has had to work doubly  hard  to get anything done. This would have happened to anyone in the office right now but coincidentally with Mr. Obama. It is time for the American public (us ordinary folk) to take notice and boot the bums out!!

 

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Lets Get It Straight


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A couple of things: The firearms issue and background checks are pretty much dead in the water, primary reason is  public pressure on the Congress by some to do it and some not to do it. Lets get to what should have happened: first none of the Congressional imbeciles should have made any public statements until all facts and information was available to them, they (the Dupublicans and Scamocrats) should have put together a plan to discuss and flesh it out before voting on anything. What I believe happened: the Congressional seat fillers were persuaded to do what they did by the voting constituency ( and big money).  What we have is an issue that possibly could have been done  in a rational way but wasn’t due to the getting re-elected mindset. If you can recall any public debate or notification when the 535 framed and enacted the laws that concern their salary, pension and benefits, please let me know. Now on to firearms again. I firmly believe  that proper background checks should be done, reason: prevent ANYONE who is mentally unstable or otherwise unfit ( under age, past mental problems-if information is readily available). These ideas are not new and certainly bear a lot of discussion and scrutiny but our DXXXV cannot seem to do it for us  unless we pay them more. Last let us stop using the word “gun” as an issue, the issue is “firearm(s)” which encompasses all mechanical items that functional emit a projectile at a high rate of speed with use of a power activated system.

Update to Carry Me Out.


After writing the Carry me Out Post, I found this e-mail in my box. it sums up what I posted and more:

Healthy living leads to healthy aging

“By 2015, one of every five Americans  will be between the ages of 50 and 64. As they enter this age group, 70 percent  will already be diagnosed with at least one chronic condition, and nearly half  will have two or more.”*

Americans are now living longer, and no matter what your age, you  have the potential for good health. As people age and their bodies change,  there are additional challenges to face. Older adults can take action to meet  these challenges and maintain good health. And if you aren’t as healthy as you  want to be, it’s never too late to make improvements.

Successful or healthy aging is defined as freedom from heart  disease, cancer, and respiratory problems, as well as having good physical and  brain function. The Center for Aging and Population Health at the University of  Pittsburgh has developed the “10 Keys to Healthy Aging” guidelines for adults  50 and over to follow:

  1. Stop smoking. Many  conditions will improve or at least not continue to get worse after you quit.  And quitting can lower your risk for many serious health problems, including  cancer and heart disease.
  2. Lower your blood pressure. The ideal systolic pressure for adults is below 120. Controlling  your blood pressure through medication and lifestyle changes reduces your risk  for heart attack and stroke.
  3. Get recommended cancer screenings. Discuss your individual risk factors with your doctor. Cancer  screenings that may benefit you include skin, colon, and rectum for everyone;  breast, uterus and cervix for women; and prostate for men.
  4. Get immunized regularly. Besides  a yearly flu shot, talk with your doctor about which immunizations you need.  Older adults are especially at risk for diphtheria, shingles, pertussis  (whooping cough), flu, pneumococcal disease, and tetanus.
  5. Regulate your blood sugar. Your fasting blood glucose should be less than 100. When your  levels are greater, you are at risk for pre-diabetes and diabetes.
  6. Lower your LDL cholesterol. LDL, or low-density lipoproteins, are the molecules that carry  fats around the body. A high LDL level increases the risk for heart disease and  stroke.
  7. Be physically active. No  matter how old you are when you start exercising, physical activity, like  walking, can improve your overall health and wellbeing and even prevent some  health problems.
  8. Prevent bone loss and muscle weakness. A bone density test can help detect osteoporosis. To keep your  bones and muscles strong, get moving with weight-bearing and strength-building  activities. Ask your doctor about your calcium and vitamin D intake.
  9. Maintain social contact. Regular  socializing helps prevent cognitive decline and isolation and can improve  self-esteem.
  10. Seek help for depression. Depression is not a normal part of aging. If you feel sad most of  the time, talk to your doctor about treatment options.

*Promoting Preventive Services for Adults 50-64: Community and Clinical  Partnerships, a joint report from the Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention, AARP, and the American Medical Association. National Association of  Chronic Disease Directors, 2009.

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Carry Me Out


I have had several younger people whose image of aging is  different to say the least. I have been told that I need to just relax and enjoy life. Lets examine what enjoying life is, enjoying life is or should be a lifetime pursuit (no matter how long that life is). When a person has spent 25 to 40 years working and decides to retire, there has to be something to fill that gap. many of us do not have hobbies but acquire one (or more). With any amount of hobby time there still needs to be something else, I equate the lessening of activity to when your computer goes to “sleep”, it is then in a low power state. Your body goes into a low power state when you lay down to sleep but upon waking, your body almost immediately is in gear to move on. Upon retirement when one decides or elects to ease off some physical activities , the body begins to slow down and underachieve in many areas. What a person  needs to do is continue as high a level of activity as possible and including mental and physical exertions. The Body is like an automobile, you need fuel (food), you need to have movement so that the moving pasts remain flexible and you need to have a periodic check up (physical). The main thing to stress is activity to keep even the ache prone parts  flexible. A little weight lifting is a good way to work out and keep the muscles toned. There is no need to go on a weight regimen like a power lifter but some moderate weight exercise is helpful. If you have no hobbies, then get one with physical activity and do crossword puzzles or some sort of mental exercise. All of this will enhance and possibly extend your life.

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Really Dupublicans?


The ongoing rants and rages about “gun control” is more about personal freedom than controlling firearms. NO ONE has said guns will be taken away except the some of the pro gun rights folks (NRA et al.) What has been said is there needs to be more or better checks on the purchase of firearms by extension the legality of the purchasers to own or buy those firearms. The Congressional Dupublicans are more concerned about staying in office (as usual) than actually doing some real work. If the constituency that are gun owners are able to hold the Congress hostage against the will of the majority then we will continue to be in trouble. I repeat NO One has suggested taking of guns from anyone, all that has been said is we need better ways to insure folks who cannot or should not legally possess or purchase firearms are prevented from doing so. This issue has brought out the worst in many of us and primarily along Racial lines in some cases. These vocal but limited few are the people who do not see the big picture and what is required to make ALL of us safe. These are the same people who do not understand that as people (world wide) we all need to stop knee jerking our way to oblivion based on innuendo, speculation and incomplete information

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A Limerick from Martin


Medicaid Funds for the Taking

 

Abel Oldsworth, my reticent friend, and I discussed the benefits and risks in going with the expansion of Medicaid through generous federal funds that would provide health care and health maintenance assistance to several hundred Michigan low income individuals and families.  Beneficiaries would not have to use emergency rooms for their primary care, and they would not have to wait until they have multiple problems before seeking care. Further, businesses would welcome this expansion because it grows consumer purchasing. We do not understand the reasons for delayed action and came to this conclusion.

 

Some state legislators think Medicaid expansion regretful

Although saving money and lives might be beneficial.

But it’s the poor folks’ defects

Which outweigh their spending effects

And thus warrant the denials as providential.

 

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For Consideration


A brief reading of the many articles on the Bible, especially Leviticus (which are the words of Moses et al, who were all of the Hebrew Levi Tribe). Many of the writings  were rife with adherents to practices or avoidance of actions and activities supposedly forbidden by God. In reading these banned items are references to practices by other cultures such as styles  of haircuts. tattoos, etc. These practices while forbidden by the Hebrew bible at that time were no more than rules to govern them selves and their interaction with other groups of non Jewish people. These Non Jews have similar restrictions as to dress, appearance and actions related to many of the Jewish restrictions that have survived the ages to come down to us as “Gospel”. Biblical scholars interpret and reinterpret the Old and new testament have not and do not always get the real meaning correct. These literal interpretations have been the catalyst to create more religious sects and subsequent interpretations. This leaves us today with a multitude  mini sects and interpretations which in the long run loses and limits the human quality of living along side one another. In essence the “word” has separated us more than tie us together.

Think about it.

 

 

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