The SoapBoxers

Division. What comes to mind when you think of that? Brown vs. Board of Education? Well that is more segregation than division but I believe the two are closely related. In today’s world I think of politics when I hear the word division. Why? Because we are so divided today that I have trouble believing it. On a positive note it isn’t just Democrats vs. Republicans. However, closely aligned to that is still primarily Liberals/Progressives vs. Conservatives.

There is no denying that our Country became more divided as President Clinton’s problems grew. For those old enough to have been interested in politics there was the investigation into his land deals (Whitewater) and of course the Monica Lewinsky scandal. My favorite quote occurred during his grand jury testimony over the Lewinsky scandal (aka Zippergate). Clinton answers a question, “It depends on what the meaning of the words ‘is’ is.”

Then George W Bush came into office. Two jets crashed into the towers changed our country forever on 9/11/2001. We seemed to unify on 9/12/2001 but we quickly divided again. On 9/12 it seemed that traditional U.S. values and security of our country came to the forefront for most people. However, that didn’t last and the mudslinging we saw during the Clinton era surfaced again. That lasted through the entire eight years of his presidency.

A small fraction of the population really went over the edge and began to speculate that 9/12 was an inside job; meaning that the September 11th terrorist attack was planned and executed by the government. They call themselves “9/11 truthers” and I can’t think of many subjects that will incite fury in more common people than that. I’m just a layperson when it comes to using drugs, but in my opinion these individuals are certified crack users. (More division!)

In 2010, we see an even greater division than we have seen in the last 15 years. The hope and change being proposed today in Washington is certainly controversial. Most of it is supported by Liberals and opposed by Conservatives. Moderates (true moderates, not liberals masquerading as moderates like my wife’s step-dad) seem to swing either way depending on the topic. However, as the Obama Administration moves forward with more change, we’re seeing and hearing from moderates that they are leaning more conservative. Think of the issues: healthcare, tax increases, bailouts, closing of Guantanamo Bay, etc. Definite division.

For eight years we listened to liberals criticize George W Bush. Today if I criticize Barack Obama, it doesn’t matter if it’s related to his stance on a political matter. It doesn’t matter if I oppose the healthcare changes, rising taxes, TARP and the handling of the TARP repayments. Suddenly if I disagree with Obama, I’m a racist, I’m a bigot and I’m the bad guy. Liberals imposing this sort of double standard creates more division.

I heard yesterday on the radio a story about Rahm Emanuel and his statement regarding a liberal group’s ad campaign regarding Obama’s healthcare overhaul. Emanuel’s comment was simply, “Fu**ing Retarded”. When I think of division, this is a big one. He alienated the democratic group that was sponsoring the ad, he alienated individuals with developmental disabilities and their families/friends, and he alienated people that just don’t take kindly to the degradation of a class of citizens like that.

How about March 2009 when President Obama appeared on the Jay Leno show. BO told Jay that he had bowled a 129. After Jay complimenting him on his bowling score, the president laughingly says, “It’s like the Special Olympics or something.” More alienation, more degradation and yet more division.

I’m probably dreaming, but I envision a day when we can be a more united country. A country that lives like it is 9/12 again. I would be a fool to think that we would ever agree on everything. I would still like to see at least one (significant) area where we could agree—as a country.

Right now, we’re seeing more division than I can ever remember. I was a young boy when Jimmy Carter served in office. However, I still remember the talk about him around our house and those of our friends/family. That was a divisive time period, but I still can’t believe it was near what we see today. I hope and pray that in the next few years we unite as a country and move forward with truly positive change to get us back on the right track.

Squeaky…

Welcome to the second edition of my rant that appears here once a month on The Soap Boxers. My first post was on Christmas Eve and now this my second is on my 32nd birthday. So Happy Birthday to me and let us move on to the main topic of this months rant, The State of the Union.

Now I am not one for taking too much out of speeches like this and would rather just see the results of what is said happen, but last night’s address was a quite telling and interesting one. For one if one were just to glance upon it and not have any knowledge that the President was a Democrat, the tone of most of the speech was more conservative in nature. Remorse for deficit spending, praising cutting taxes, planned cuts in further taxes, and freezes in spending. Wow this is that socialism all the teabaggers have been all up in arms about? Anyways, let’s break down a few components addressed on the night.

Bank Bailouts:

I think this was a big populist piece of the speech that needed to be said and in the end really made the Republican party look by their reaction on the surface what they really are loud mouthed, hypocritical corporate tools. Bailouts were bad, needed to be done, most of the money has been returned and the rest is in the works to be returned through charging the banks a fee is the topic from the speech in a nutshell. It was the last part I am referring to that appeared on the surface to paint the Party of No for what they really are and not the populist voice they are trying to use.

The right side of the aisle sat in silenced with grumbling faces and muttering to each other as the President stated that the rest of the money would be returned through charging the banks a fee. It was one of many points on the evening where the President put the opposite party on notice on the night.

SCOTUS Decision:

The one almost “You Lie” moment of tonight’s speech came as the President addressed last week’s decision in the Supreme Court that allows Corporations no restrictions upon advertising for or against or donation to candidates for office.

When the President stated that this decision was wrong and opened the gates to corporate interests both domestic and foreign to control our electoral process, Justice Alito was seen shaking his head and mouthing that is not true. With all do respect to Justice Alito it is entirely true. The decision allows corporations to no loner have restrictions on the amount of money they can spend for a candidate for office and they are also allowed to run their own ads for or against a candidate any time they wish. Thus turning our elected officials into nothing more than corporate prostitutes.

Now I am not naive, corporate interests have dominated Washington and local elected offices as well for many many years and that was not going to end regardless. However this decision basically means corporations can basically buy their own candidates to run for office that will run solely on putting their interests first and the actual interests of their constituents last. Welcome to the Corporate States of America in 2010. Now the President did state that he wanted to see Congress address this, but honestly without a change in the makeup of the court I don’t see anything being able to stick with the wording of the majority opinion in this case.

“Politics as Usual”:

One moment I really enjoyed was when the President talked about even in light of recent election of the 41st no vote on everything the Democrats still had one of their highest majorities in congress in decades and basically told them to grow a pair and get things done for the American people. Then on the other hand told the Republicans if they want to sit there and block and delay ever single thing that comes before Congress then they need to own up to it themselves and they are the sole reason that nothing is getting done.

Bipartisanship is a two way street, not where one party completely stands their ground while the other makes every concession they can just to continue to have the other side say, well that is not good enough still. Should be interesting to see how this unfolds by the midterm elections. Will the Democrats actually gain the muster to just bear down and things done on their own? Hopefully so. Will the Republicans decide that their actions of doing nothing be seen in that light finally and decide to actually do the job of elected office and actually doing something? Probably not, but I can always hope.

Job Creation:

I would have liked to seen a more laid out point of job creation. It was a nice start in what was laid out, but the approximate 30 million jobs to be created is just a minor repair to the damage that has been done, but then again it is only the forecast for the upcoming year.  [Editor’s note: I’m verifying the 30 million figure with Angry Squirrel]

Student Loans:

Being a person paying off student loans it was a nice thing to hear about increasing Pell Grants, creating further tax credits and also the provision to forgive student loan debt after a certain period of time.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell:

I wish it would have been done as promised in the first year in office, but better late than never guess. I’ll believe it when I actually see it, but the repeal of this insane and useless policy will be a great day when it comes. A recent report from NPR stating that 1/3 of women in the U.S. Military are raped while in the military is just one of the many more things threatening to the morale and discipline of the armed forces then the sexual preference of your fellow officer.

Well those are just a few of the points I will touch on from the speech, all in all it was a nice speech with some actual meat to it in proposals. Might not be entirely memorable down the line but for his first State of the Union address it was done well.

Now for a monthly tradition to start for my posts, The “Bad Nuts of the Month”. Our trained squirrels are busy each month figuring out the good ones from the bad, and the worst three nuts will be placed on display here before they go where where all the bad nuts go, down the garbage chute.

Bad Nut #1: Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh on the Haiti Earthquake

The evangelical christians’ equivalent to the Pope and El Rushbo the Cracker Drug Addict were really off base on the disaster in Haiti. Robertson stated that the Haitians got what they deserved and this was some sort of wrath for a deal they supposedly made with the devil to gain their independence from France long ago. Rush on the other hand stated that people should not give a dime or a minute of their time to help the Haitian people as it would only be playing into Obama’s hands in garnering respect form the light and dark skinned blacks in this country.

Then again nothing out of either of these two guys mouths really shocks me, but they are a couple of the worst nuts of the month. Rush would also make the list for his comments about Obama attacking Jews because he is going after the banks comments, but there is no need to list the same person more than once on the list.

Bad Nut #2: James O’Keefe and Friends

I guess the joke’s on James O’Keefe, the officials in Mary Landrieu’s offices were not gullible to believe he was actually a phone repairman as the idiots at the ACORN offices were to fall for him actually being a pimp. Now after entering the offices on Federal property under false pretenses to perform a felony O’Keefe and his buddies are now going to be facing some mandatory federal prison time.

Bad Nut #3: South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer.

One of the frontrunners for the Republican nomination in the next gubernatorial race in the state as well, Bauer stated that aid to the needy should be cut for some very interesting reasons. Me paraphrasing it does not do the idiocy of the man justice so I’ll just put the quotes from him on this issue in full context.

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better. You see, for the first time in the history of this country, we’ve got more people voting for a living than we do working for a living.”

He then goes on to rant about requiring parents to take drug tests and if they don’t pass then their children don’t deserve anything from the state at all because of that and that parents should be required to attend every PTO meeting or school event or you shouldn’t receive any benefits and that we should take away the huge monetary draw public assistance is (LMAO) by reducing benefits the more children you have.

I used to live in New York City, Court Street in Brooklyn to be exact.  One fine Tuesday morning I woke up late and decided to take the subway in, rather than riding my bike.  It was a pretty typical, boring subway ride.  I came up out of the subway to a big booming sound followed by thousands of people screaming.  While I had been underground a group of fanatical extremists decided to murder thousands by crashing an airplane into World Trade Center 1, more commonly known as the North Tower.  I had come up the subway station stairs just after 9:03, right as another airliner was flown into World Trade Center 2.  We all have our own stories for that day, but I’d like to talk about the thing that makes me almost as angry as the attacks themselves that followed in the weeks and months after; the political football that was played.

A lot of us were swept up with the emotions following 9/11 – even I found my self not completely disagreeing with the angry mobs and their internet toughguy cries of “glass parking lot!” – a reference to using nuclear weapons on those responsible.  After the initial anger passed I realized how stupid I was, since the likelihood of any single nation perpetrating attacks of that magnitude was slim to none.  I calmed down and went on with my life, but there was an agenda to be pushed and fear is a powerful tool.  The Cheney administration deceitfully guided the United States into a war in Iraq under the guise of pre-emptively stopping Saddam Hussein’s completion or acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.  It has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that no such weapons were found in Iraq and proven with modest doubt that Dick Cheney deliberately moved us toward war using fear to complete the stated goals of his neoconservative think-tank Project for a New American Century.  The extreme left-wing blogosphere also speculates that Cheney and his friends at Haliburton had a lot to gain financially from such a war, speculations that I certainly don’t disagree with.

Let me sum up that previous paragraph, TL:DR it for you internet meme fans:  Dick Cheney lied to get us into war in Iraq.  I won’t deny that Saddam Hussein was a disgusting man and overthrowing him – in and of itself – isn’t a bad thing, but at what cost?  Over 4000 Americans have lost their lives in combat operations in Iraq.  Over 30,000 have been wounded.  One trillion dollars has been spent on war since 2001.  Trillion.  1,000,000,000,000.00.  Figures like that should be pretty sobering, yet we continue to allow politicians play political football so that they can gain at our expense.

There is a growing trend in US politics to sensationalize a contrary position simply to oppose the other party even if it’s on a subject you agree with them on.  While that is disgusting in and of itself, playing politics for your own benefit is far worse.  A perfect current example:  Joe Lieberman.  Here’s a quote from the Connecticut senator from 2006:

“My proposals were to basically expand the existing successful public health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid…. When it came to Medicare I was very focused on a group — post 50, maybe more like post 55. People who have retired early, or unfortunately have been laid off early, who lose their health insurance and they’re too young to qualify for Medicare. What I was proposing was that they have an option to buy into Medicare early and again on the premise that that would be less expensive than the enormous cost. If you’re 55 or 60 and you’re without health insurance and you go in to try to buy it, because you’re older … you’re rated as a risk so you pay a lot of money…”

Yet as was reported in the past few months, he has vocally and almost singularly derailed any expansion of Medicare or Medicaid.  The health care industry sees Medicare or Medicaid expansion as a bad thing, a threat to their profits.  Joe Lieberman has received almost two and a half million dollars in campaign contributions from the health care sector and his wife is a lobbyist specializing helping health care companies make more money at your expense.  A majority of Connecticut residents have said they want not only a public option but a single-payer system.  Do the math in your head:  Joe Lieberman, elected to represent Connecticut is playing political football, and he’s doing it for personal gain.

Both these examples, Lieberman and Cheney, show people’s willing to put other’s lives on the line so they can get more money.  This is the political environment we live in today:  your votes are bought by advertising paid for by corporations that care more about making money than about your well being.  The dystopian future presented in the cyberpunk genre of corporations running the world with a monolithic, uncaring, capitalistic face is not so far off, we merely have puppets named Lieberman, Cheney, or Gingrich as a pretty public face to make the hard pill of political football easier to swallow.

Ignorant. Stupid. Naive. Reckless.

These are just a few words I think of when I consider Barack Obama’s decision to continue with the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It’s been said by many Homeland Security and terrorism officials that Yemen is the new Afghanistan. This means that the new terrorism training location and the safe haven that terrorists (Al-Qaeda) are currently residing in is Yemen. The attempted airline attack on Christmas Day by Abdul Mudallad has ties to both Al-Qaeda and Yemen.

Let’s consider Guantanamo Bay for a moment. There were roughly 100 Yemini detainees at Gitmo. I remind you that Gitmo has been reserved for prisoners that are the “most dangerous of the dangerous”. We have already released roughly 20 of these prisoners to YEMEN. There are around 10-15 that are expected to go to trial (in the US) which leaves about 70 prisoners that could very well be released back to Yemen.

I’m a layman regarding this subject. However, this layman would like to apply some common sense to this subject. How stupid is it to release potentially 100 prisoners back to the hot spot for terrorist training? Why would we ever dream of strengthening the enemy by sending reinforcements to them? Meanwhile, the other countries of the world are pointing and laughing at us because we act weak. We focus on getting H1N1 shots to the Gitmo detainees while our own citizens do without. In countries like Switzerland they are making stand against Islam by banning any new Minarets in their country. Why are we (in the United States) so focused on being politically correct that we help Islam grow while other countries try to stifle that same epidemic growth?

What about keeping us safe while we are flying? How many of the terrorists in Gitmo and in the terrorist attacks fit a certain profile? [Pause for reflection] When are we going to wake up and use the intelligence and knowledge that we have? If we know that people traveling from specific countries or that have lived in specific countries have a higher potential to be terrorists why not use that information? If we know that Muslim males between the ages of 15-40 are more likely to carry out Jihad on us, why not use that information? Yes, I’m talking about profiling. No holds barred profiling.

Is it so bad to profile that liberals would rather see hundreds of lives lost instead of inconveniencing a few Muslims to extra searches? Have we become a country that is so politically correct that we’re willing to put aside all common sense so that we don’t offend someone?

Conservatives speak up. Liberals wake up. The time has come for all of us to get back to the way we thought on 9/12. Remember the Towers falling and people jumping. We need to do all we can to keep our citizens safe. The failed Christmas Day bombing by Abdul Mudallad was one of luck—–luck that Abdul either cracked under pressure unable to make his bomb work or luck that the bomb maker did a poor job to start with. Either way, I believe that we have been spared massive loss of life purely by the Grace of God.

I hope that 12/25 was a wakeup call for the USA.
I hope that the closing of Gitmo will be stopped or at least paused so that terrorists are not brought onto US soil or released to receive more training. Our leaders need to evaluate this threat more before simply trying to appease their constituents by fulfilling a campaign promise that was founded on lack of information

I hope that the US Agencies will work together better and share information.

I hope that we will all finally wake up and be willing to call a spade a spade and a terrorist a terrorist. If that means profiling, so be it. My family, friends, neighbors and coworkers are worth it to me.

Squeaky…

Today, we welcome The Angry Squirrel to the staff of The Soap Boxers.  He will take a liberal stance as a writer for the Political Observers segment.

Christmas Eve is here and “Hooray!” the Republicans decided that they needed to beat the weather to get home to their families instead of continuing to stall the vote on a healthcare bill. Granted, the Senate version is now a whittled down piece of crap with other sweeteners added in to get the last few conserveadems on board for the “needed” 60 votes. The current bill passed by the Senate will now go into conference with the House when Congress resumes after the holiday break and will more than likely look similar to what the Senate is passing or look even worse than it does now.

I mean do we really need to cover costs in Nebraska, Louisiana, and so on just to get this piece of crap through? I think not, but that’s not what they decided to have done.

The only real piece of reform in the entire bill is not allowing insurance companies to deny or drop coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Granted they will be allowed to charge you a nice chunk of change more to be ale to have the privilege to be covered by them now, and guess what you’ll have to suck it up and pay whatever they want to charge you because you are required to.

That leads me to why this is really no reform at all, or more aptly put reform in name only. Mandating coverage without having a competitive mechanism in the system to keep costs down or in check is just asking for the situation to get worse, and it will. More people will go bankrupt because the costs of healthcare will go unchecked still under this bill. If you can’t afford to pay the premium which is required of you will be forced to pay a penalty right now of 2% of your income. Granted like everything else in the bill it won’t even go into effect until a year or two after the next presidential election, but still, just like everything else in the bill the only real benefactor of this is the health insurance industry. Because it is not the government that will pocket these fines it will be the health insurers that will get the penalty.

What really is needed is some sort of non-profit entity, privately owned but government regulated that provides coverage at cost to people. This would be an affordable option for those who would want it and would also keep the costs of premiums across the board in check if they wanted to keep people buying their own product as well. If such an entity would exist it would also be cheaper because it keeps things like profit, executive salaries, a large amount of overhead, advertising and lobbying costs out of your health insurance premium. Granted Washington is tied and likely will always will be to the almighty lobbying dollar of the insurance industry so this would never happen, heck they can;t even get a remotely salvageable “public option” together that passes by the in the insurance industry pocket congressman’s approval.

The health insurance industry makes out like a bandit in this bill, I really don’t see why they are so up in arms about it. Probably faux-outrage on “principle”, but still. They’ll be getting money from every single person in this country, whether you have the coverage you purchase on your own, the subsidy given to them by the government to help lower income families purchase coverage, or the fines you’ll have to pay if you still can’t afford to live and carry their product because the price is still too much and still rising with each passing breath. They also get to keep their antitrust exemptions, and also be allowed to sell policies wherever they want to from wherever they want to. So they could go to a state with extremely loose insurance regulations and sell that policy to a place that has more strict regulations. It’s no wonder why as soon as passage of the current leg of the reform bill in the Senate that health insurance stocks rose.

Then you have the side of the debate that goes into stuff not even in the health care reform bill in the first place. Abortion funding for one, was not a real issue in the bill in the first place, Republicans and Democrats from Republican leaning districts create a false outrage that abortion would be provided on demand on every street corner and the government would have to pay for it if we passed this healthcare bill. This is utterly false and had no place in this discussion.

Federal law already bars the federal funding for abortion, so the need to put wording in the bill for it was entirely unnecessary. However they didn’t feel this was so and went above and beyond their initial call to make wording was in there to not allow for federal dollars to go for abortion. This one of the places where the House and Senate have a difference and the conservatives actually like the House plan more. Under the House bill’s wording no insurer could provided coverage for abortion as part of any policy they offer to the public if they were to receive federal funds, and well since they will be getting a 2% penalty if you don’t purchase their product or receive the subsidy to provide insurance to lower incomes, then they are all going to be receiving federal funding. In the Senate however they have wording to allow for people to purchase entirely separate coverage for abortion, but on the other hand it also will allow states to block insurance companies from offering such plans.

Wholesalely denying something that is still a legal practice is just wrong. If people want to have that as a part of their coverage and insurers are offering it, then so be it. How are you going to say that such and such dollar of such and such premium went to pay for abortion coverage anyway. Hey I might be against people getting coverage for plastic surgery, maybe we should deny people from having that in the bill as well.

In the end tough the bill that looks to be passed in Congress whenever that may be will be a complete piece of crap that is a gift to the insurance companies and will actually lock out any chance of real reform for many years to come after that. I am all for healthcare but this bill is a piece of trash and should be scrapped until we have a group in Washington that actually will reform healthcare instead of making sure it continues to be a problem for generations to come.

On a lighter note, since this is Christmas Eve I would like to wish everyone celebrating it Merry Christmas and hope all is well with your family and friends. Safe travels and well wishes to everyone this holiday season.

Next month my column will be a little more structured than just a free-flowing rambling that it is here today, kind of ended up with less time to put things together than my “grand” plans I originally had thought. Well once again have a safe and happy holiday season.

Last week, President Obama gave himself a B+. B+? Really? For what? Encouraging people to trade in vehicles that they owned just to have another monthly payment? Of course, I’m talking about the “Cash for Clunkers” program that just intended to bail out the car manufacturers. The funny thing is, most of the new cars sold were NOT American made, but Toyotas and others of the like. But I suppose all of the things he’s intended to do count. Right? I mean, that’s how he “earned” the Peace Prize.

Seems like this Administration is a system of intentions and giving. He intends to do this, intends to do that. I suppose we should be thankful that he actually did something this week … But one thing he actually did was insult the intelligence of every American this week by claiming that if the healthcare stimulus bill is not passed, that “the federal government will go bankrupt.” Really? We’ll go bankrupt if we don’t tax and spend more? I don’t know about you, but in my family budget, we don’t save more by spending more. But what do I know? I’m not a politician, just a working mother. Although I’m pretty sure that if Obama had ever taken an economics course in school, his former professors are doing a *head desk*.

Common sense is something this Administration needs to ask for this Christmas. Why encourage people to go into debt when we’re in a recession? Why claim that we will go bankrupt if we don’t spend more? Looks like common sense isn’t all that common anymore.

I know that Christmas is the time for giving … but not MY tax money. As the Grinch said, “Bleeding hearts of the world UNITE!” Not me. I work too hard to have my tax money given to those who refuse to work. I don’t want MY tax dollars spent to fund abortion. I don’t want MY tax dollars spent for free healthcare … something that I work for.

Bah Humbug. Obama Claus can go back to the North Pole the other 364 days of the year and keep his hands out of my pockets!

Traffic is getting worse. People have less patience and shorter tempers. Americans are willing to nearly kill each other in the name of bargains. Yes, the holiday season is once again upon us. In this time of religious remembrance, I’d like to talk about things I’m thankful for and things I’d like to see in my lifetime.

I’m thankful I live in a country where write my opinion with little or no fear of reprisal from those who disagree. While some would argue that freedom of speech is being slowly trampled on in the United States, we must all remember that the privilege to speak freely must be tempered by rational thought and realization of consequences.

In my lifetime I’d like to see certain “taboo” subjects able to be discussed without people looking at you with the same face they make when one smell sour milk. Sex is the big one. Americans have a strange love/hate relationship with sex that stems from being a country with exceptional freedoms but still having Puritanical roots.

I’m thankful I live in a country where I can proudly proclaim my agnosticism and have only minimal reactions. There are places in this world where not dressing the “correct” way can get you killed, so freedom of religion is a pretty big deal.

In my lifetime I’d like to see an even bigger separation of church and state. For all you right-wing Christians who just freaked out over that, imagine this: You’re driving down main street in your town and pass by town hall. There is a lovely display out front of Muhammad fasting for Ramadan, proudly bowing toward Mecca with his prayer book … wait, what? That brief bit of outrage you may or may not have felt is not unlike what many Muslims or Jews or Atheists feel when the government has any kind of religious display over another. We can’t continue to call ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave as long as we fear religious equality and cower under 1800’s conventions.

I’m thankful for the Internet. Yes, I’m a geek. Yes, I’m probably addicted. But hey, you’re reading this online right now so you might be too. The internet is an amazing tool that allows anyone to get nearly any piece of information. It’s a wonderful diversion from life. It’s a way to communicate with people across vast distances.

In my lifetime I’d like to see a bigger government stance on what exactly net neutrality is and should be. I have no problems with communications companies making a buck off the wires they worked hard to string. I have a big problem with communications companies not clearly presenting the terms of service they will deliver while more or less being a monopoly. There are quite a few places where the company who offers a stable and reliable internet connection is the only gig in town, and with the Internet becoming almost as necessary as telephone, television, the local library, and the post office all in one, we need to prevent abuse. Any company that has stockholders to answer to will gladly screw over their own customers in a devious way if it means a few extra points on their shares.

I’m thankful for a democratic system of representation. It’s no where near perfect, but it’s better than most. The mayor of the town I live in will be sworn in tonight and he won by less than 100 votes. Knowing your vote counts is a good feeling.

In my lifetime I’d like to see more rules on political donations, lobbyists, and campaign transparency. It’s nice that we have a 2 party system when some countries still have 1 party or a dictatorship. It’s a shame the majority of both those parties are more or less owned by their corporate masters. William Gibson has written quite a few books about a dystopian future where corporations are the most powerful things on the planet and governments are more or less puppets of them, and the common man suffers. What he writes is fiction, but that concept is not. Every day lives are ended because someone cut corners because someone told them money needed to be saved. We’re almost at 2010, we should be growing more away from capital greed and more toward racial enlightenment. Do you really think Joe Lieberman is against a public health care option because of personal convictions? He’s listed as an independent, but he really should be the Etna senator.

Finally, I’m thankful I’m still employed. I have a degree in music and I’ve been lucky enough to have a job in computers that is reasonably interesting and fairly stable. My spouse has been out of work for a while and while things are tight, we’re not struggling nearly as bad as many.

In my lifetime I’d like to see this country get serious about infrastructure replacement and rebuilding. It would be expensive, yes, but it needs to be done. The I-35 bridge collapse is probably the most glaring example of infrastructure failure at the cost of lives, but it’s certainly not the only one. There are many other bridges, tunnels, roadways, etc across the country that are in even worse shape and just waiting to fail. Each one of those is also an opportunity to put people to work. Yes, it costs money to do so, but do we really need another stealth bomber or another year fighting a war on drugs that is unwinnable?

Regardless of if you agree or disagree with anything I said, may you and the people you hold dear find peace and happiness this holiday season.

Guns kill people. What an ignorant statement. Search the blogs and left news sites and you’ll find an endless number of morons spouting off that statement. Have we become a county of senseless sissies? I think not. There is just a small number of morons out there, but they are unfortunately a loud, obnoxious and never ending stream of gibberish.

I am a former police officer that served in Lincoln, NE a University city of roughly 250,000. I have spent the majority of my life handling and shooting weapons (handguns, rifles and shotguns). I am an NRA member, a concealed weapon carrier and fully support our rights under the 2nd Amendment.

I have spent a lot of time this week thinking about the four police officers in Lakewood, WA that lost their lives. They were taking a break when Maurice Clemmons walked into the coffee shop they were at and ambushed them. I have wondered how differently things would have played out if there had been a citizen in the coffee shop that was in possession of a weapon. Maurice’s ambush was concentrated on the officers which would have easily allowed someone in another part of the business to end the situation immediately. Had the person acted quickly enough, at least one of those police officers may have survived.

I spent a short time living in Illinois where the left wing crowd in Chicago has been able to block any legislation that would allow their citizens to carry concealed weapons. Wisconsin is the only other state in our Union that has not passed any CCW laws. I continue to ask myself why. Why would anyone want to prevent their citizens from legally carrying a weapon when statistics show that it reduces violent crime and saves lives? Do people really think that guns kill people? Do we only want the Maurice Clemmons out there carrying concealed? Remember, it isn’t the felons and criminals taking the time and spending the money to jump through the legal hoops needed to gain a CCW permit. It’s the law abiding citizens that have families to protect, the former law enforcement officers that can make a difference, military personnel and people that have grown up with guns. Why not have a trained and willing pocket of citizens that can help end violent encounters quickly?

Remember, when seconds count the police are just minutes away. I can lend a lot of credibility to that statement. When we filed reports on any incidents, we documented the time that calls came to dispatch, the time the call was given to us (the officer) and when we arrived on location. Folks, don’t be naive; it literally takes minutes to get police officers to your home or business. Here is the process: The call comes in to someone answering the 991 line. That person has to type in the details of the call, document the issue, the location, the caller’s name and prioritize the call. They then send that to a dispatcher that looks to see which officers are available. The dispatcher then calls the officers and they need time to respond. Do you really believe that the officer is just a minute away from your home or place of business? Think of congested traffic, people not noticing those flashing lights or hearing the siren. Think of poor weather conditions slowing traffic. What about when the officers are all on other calls and dispatch is urgently trying to get someone to clear their call? Worse yet, what if the dispatcher has to pull an officer from the other side of the city? These situations are reality.

It’s well documented that states passing CCW laws have reduced murder rates by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7% and robbery by 3%. Doesn’t that sound like an incentive to you? Don’t you want a safer place to live and work? It only takes a moment to think about the V-Tech shooting, Maurice Clemmons shooting, Fort Hood, etc. There are so many examples where an individual carrying could have ended a bad situation and saved lives. So ask yourself, why do the liberal politicians in our country hate guns so much? Why do they continually say that guns kill people? It isn’t guns that kill people, it’s bad people using guns (or knives, vehicles, etc) that kill people. Do they now want to ban butcher knives, vehicles, ice picks, axes, mallets and ropes for “killing people”?

All states should have CCW laws and reciprocity with other states. Gun Free Zones are just death traps and safe havens for criminals. Don’t you want a chance to survive? Remember that phrase, “When seconds count, the police are just minutes away.” The criminals are going to carry concealed regardless of the law.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Squeaky …

Seeing as my column will appear on this site on Thanksgiving, I thought it would only be appropriate to write about things that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my children. Two wonderful, healthy boys who were not “ruined” by my decision to breastfeed, delay solids until 6 months, baby wear and vaccinate. (I know, a crazy combination!)

I am thankful for my parents. They raised me as a Democrat and showed me how to be compassionate. They also gave me common sense and ethics. Needless to say, I’m pretty sure that they voted Republican the last few elections.

I am thankful for my husband. A man who served in Iraq for nine months saving others lives (he’s a medic) so they may count their blessings this day. And yes, he saved Iraqi civilians as well as our soldiers.

I am thankful I still have the right to say “Merry Christmas”. I figured I’d better get that in before it’s taken away from me.

I am thankful that the Nobel Peace Prize has finally shown its true colors as a sham organization. This award actually used to hold some meaning when it was given to people who contributed to society for the better (Mother Teresa, Theodore Roosevelt, Jean Henri Dunant, Martin Luther King Jr, Norman Borlaug). Now it is given to people who give speeches and “hope” that things change (Barack Obama, United Nations, Jimmy Carter). Oh, and a little additional piece of information. In 1990, it was awarded to Mikhail Gorbachev for “helping to bring an end to the cold war”. Really? Cause I’m pretty sure Reagan could have nuked the heck out of the USSR if he wanted to. Where’s his peace prize? Maybe I could get one for letting someone in front of me on the freeway…but I guess that means I actually DID something to earn it. Oh well, back to scouring the “Cracker Jack” boxes. Maybe I’ll find one in there.

I am thankful that “manbearpig” I mean “Global Warming/Climate Change” has been exposed as the “greatest scandal in modern science”. Don’t believe me? Google it.

I am thankful that there is still a little common sense in the US Senate. Liebermann has said that he would not vote for a healthcare bill that has a public option. I guess that makes 40 people with common sense in the Senate (39 Republicans and Liebermann).

I am thankful that the “Obamaworship” has died down and that many Independents and Democrats are now regretting their vote. The grass isn’t always greener, is it?

I am thankful for 2010. This way we can give a nice retirement party to those who will vote for the healthcare bill.

I am thankful that 2012 is only 3 years away. I think Barack needs to spend a little more time in Chicago … as the FORMER President.

See, even if we don’t hold the House, Senate or Presidency, I sure have a lot to be thankful for.

The two big wars the US is involved in these days are getting less and less popular by the minute, thanks in part to the 24-7 news coverage modern technology brings us.  I personally was fine with our invasion of Afghanistan and very much against our invasion of Iraq, but that’s not the topic I’m going to rant about today.  I want to talk about a “war” that the US has been losing for decades:  The War on Drugs.

The War on Drugs fought its first losing battle in 1969, when Richard Nixon used the term to describe a plan to intercept marijuana at border crossings in Mexico.  That lasted 20 days because of the burden on state border guards who had better things to do than inspect legitimate traffic for illegal materials.  Thanks in part to Nancy Reagan, the anti-drug campaign saw a huge media push in the 80’s – we all remember “Just Say No.”  It’s received quite a large amount of funding, too:  $600 dollars.

Yes.  $600 dollars.

A second.[1]

The Federal government alone spent $19 billion dollars in 2003 fighting illegal drug use.  When you combine state spending the figure for this year is already over $40 billion dollars.  Surely those large sums of money are doing some good, right?  85% of high school seniors say it would be “very easy” for them to get drugs if they wanted, and that figure has never dropped below 82% in the last 3 decades.[2]  Doesn’t congress hold budget inquiries for misused or misspent federal funds?  We’ve had our elected officials in Washington get involved with professional sports multiple times in the last decade, yet none of them are questioning why we’re spending billions a year on a war that has seen no improvement.  Imagine if McArthur was still trying to re-take the Philippines in 1951, appearing before congress like Oliver Twist asking for more gruel.  That would have gone over well.

Add this economic sinkhole to a controversial yet widely accepted fact that marijuana, in terms of lung health only, is less harmful than cigarettes.[3]  In addition, the United States Department of Health and Human Services published a study in 2002 that showed less than 1 percent of Americans smoke marijuana on a daily basis, and just a small percentage of those were considered dependent.[4]  Personal anecdote time:  I know at least a dozen people who smoke pot multiple times a year.  All of them are productive members of society, holding jobs or making good grades in school.  Cigarette smoking cost the US almost 200 billion dollars a year between health care costs and lost productivity time (those smoking breaks add up!).  Pot doesn’t look so bad compared to your average Camel or Kool now, huh?

We have a war on drugs that is wasting vast sums of money and a drug that doesn’t appear to be overly harmful.  What is the point I’m trying to make?  We should legalize marijuana and tax it.  A recent Frasier Institute study showed that the price of .5 grams of weed on the street is about $8.60 while the cost to produce it was only $1.70.[5]  While that’s quite a profit, there are reasons for it, the biggest being it is illegal and not currently industrialized in this country.  But imagine if the government could get a decent sized chunk of that revenue.  In 2005 the Federal Government made 7.7 billion dollars on tobacco tax, and the state governments took in over 13 million combined.[6]  While not as many people would immediately jump to smoking pot, a big chunk of money would be simply saved from that $600 dollars a second in addition to the tax revenue you would generate.  A recent projection showed nearly a billion dollars a year could be made from the taxation of marijuana.[7]

I would think the tax revenue and savings alone would have Republicans jumping on the bandwagon to support this cause, but I fear pandering to the religious right and socially conservative crowd is the reason they don’t.

[1]  http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
[2]  http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/data/05data/pr05t13.pdf
[3]  http://www.healthline.com/blogs/smoking_cessation/2007/07/is-cannabis-smoking-more-harmful-than.html
[4]  http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/
[5]  http://economics.about.com/od/incometaxestaxcuts/a/marijuana.htm
[6]  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17170991/
[7]  http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/taxes_marijuana/revenue.html