End of a Decade an Year end Thoughts

Gather the Horses by Charlie Mars

So here it has come December 31, 2009 and we have seen probably one of the most drastic almost revolutionary decades in this country's history. The pendulum has swung to both ends though in my humble opinion no where near as extremely left as it has to the right, but then according to the wingnuts I am an extremist communistic, socialistic fascist liberal trying to soialize this great country. Uhm ok maybe they are right in part. However unlike their uneducated or just plain lazy mouth pieces (aka Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, etc) I have taken the time over and over again to read both the Declaration of Independance and Constitution. I have taken the time to read the personal letters and speeches our Founding Father's left us and so when I say they would be greatly disappointed in us a the governing population and ready to hang, for political treason those who pertend to lead us.

First of all it is a reflection of you and me the people of this ountry who sit's in our governing bodies be it the local city council all the way up to the White House. Don't lik your official then go to work to get a new and better one elected. So it goes without saying change or more governmental responsiveness comes from us not large campaign donors. Yeah guys you might want to look past those great TV sound bytes and slogans and verify if what your candidate says now matches what he/she has stood for and supported in the past. Once in remind them as often as necessary that yes Bank of America, Verizon, Comcast etc have deep pockets for nice campaign war chest building, but it is your fingers not theirs that do the walking and talking inside the voting booths.

Do not let organizations spoon feed you information about what is going on, you will only hear their slant and side and the truth often lies in between. Take for example the recent health reforms undertaken by Congress. We heard all sorts alarmist accusations by opponents of the reform, often those opponents like Dick Army's Freedom Works organization were funded by the health insurance industry like "death panals for granny", or government take over of your health insurance and socialistic medicine. All that seems to have died down now that the health insurance lobby got what they wanted. Talk about a specialized socialistic medical plan hows this? Mandated rules telling us we MUST buy health insurance policies from companies already making money hand over fist while not covering customers for what they paid for. Yes that proviso is ending but what is not ending is the accepted practice of these insurance giants being able to harge us whatever they want to with no regulations, they are still exempt from anti trust laws and there is NO public opton to maybe offer competition to bring down prices for us the consumer. I have heard analyst predict that health insurance costs will rise to 17-25% of your family's earnings on of before 2017, and insurance companies openly say they are raising prices on premiums because of this legislation. What they fail to mention is they will be getting a low cost customer base (younger healthier folks who usually don't but insurance now, will be forced to or fined). They don't talk about the fact that yes they can no longer turn you away for a pre-existing condition but they can charge you higher rates that those who may be disabled due to these conditions can't afford so they will get a tax payer funded subsidy to help them buy an insurance plan (hey if a hospital does something like that isn't it called double billing?). Socialized medicine? Hell this sounds more like facist medicine to me, you have no choice? Of course the unremarked upon little consequence of all this is there is no cap on insurance ompanies who can continue to raise premium prices and eventually we will be giving all our incomes to the insurance giants who run this country.

Then there are the political shinnanigans we all seem to accept as part of the political process, but something we all should be appauled over, not to mention what passes for so called journalism these days. Yesterday Dickless Cheney got on his computer and typed up a piece of crap about the Obama's lak of understanding about the war on terror and inability to handle it. He sent it off to Politico which automatically published it and all of a sudden it was news. The problem is the opinion piece was so factually inaccurate (and I am no longer Obama's biggest fan either) it was laughable and should have read, "The Demented Ravings of an Angry Old Man". Will Politico take this opinion piece and print it if I send it to them? Hell no I have easily verifiable facts in this opinion piece what fun are those? Yet it was only yesterday it seems Cheney and the whole Bush crowd were condeming folks for saying less pointed things about the Bush Administration and in some cases calling for the the censureship of such critics. Realax though Dickie I didn't support it then I don't support ensureship now either though I am dropping Politico from my must read list.

Finally hats off to Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post. I read their New Year's Resolution piece this morning and it kinda of inspired this article. Yes people there is a way to affect change in this country and this piece offers a good way to provide a bit of payback out there for all of us (this includes the Tea Baggers). Take your money out of the big banks like Citi, Chase, and BOA and put it in your community banks. Those are the banks that need the help and in return will help you. They didn't engage in the risky hedge fund trading designed to decieve investors that led to the financial melt down, they gave loans to the pzza shop down the street from you where you get real New York or Chcago pizza. They gave it to the locally owned cleaners and Carpet Stores that serve your community. They are the banks you an walk into and are greeted by name because they recognize you are their neighbor. Huffington Post is launching a web campaign called moveyourmoney and you can find out more by clicking the link to their site. Lefties and righties can unite and take back this country by banding togather and effecting change here's a small step but with enough acting on this we an make a huge impact on the scene in a less violent fashion then pitchforks and torches (although I still think that isn't a bad idea). I am including their film based on the movie It's a Wonderful Life for you enjoyment too, along with a song from Charlie Mars that encourages one to "ride on forward no matter what others say"

Happy new years to one and all and especially to those who have dropped by to read my opinions every once and a while. Will try to do more in the upcoming year.


Once Upon A Time In America