Probable 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is vilifying, lambasting, disparaging, bemoaning, dissing and trashing the health care reform bill to anyone that will listen. Basically, the ex-Massachusetts governor is embracing the fear mongering and all out LYING that's been done about the legislation over the past 18 or so months by other BIG HEALTH-supported Republicans.
In Romney’s words, the passing of “ObamaCare” was "an unconscionable abuse of power." Romney also complained about "the extreme tactics" used to enact this law - most noticeably a process called “reconciliation.” And THEN, he whined about not having been consulted on the subject by the President or Congressional Democrats.
Of course, THE FACTS tell a slightly different tale. ObamaCare bears a striking similarity to “RomneyCare” – health care reform that was crafted by Romney and friends and became law in Massachusetts while Romney was governor. All that stuff about people HAVING to buy health insurance (the MANDATE) was HIS IDEA and was in the legislation he sponsored. Actually, the MANDATE is a dsamned good idea. Why? Because a lot of the adult Americans who haven’t been buying health insurance are younger people who are healthy as horses and consider themselves bullet proof. Why would THEY need insurance? Until something terrible happens. Then they end up in an emergency room and we wind up footing the bill, which can amount to tens of thousands of dollars. When these youngsters finally dive into the insurance pool, with financial help from their Uncle Sam, they will help spread out the risk factor.
And that reconciliation thingy so many Republicans are going on and on and on and on about? That Mr. Romney is going on and on about? It’s been used 22 times in the past 9 years – 16 times by the GOP.
Mitt Romney is supposed to be this intelligent and financially savvy guy. Did he somehow forget about RomneyCare? Is he unaware of the Republicans' use of reconciliation? Is his brain addled? Is he just plain dumb? Or is he lying with the skill and political expediency of Machiavelli?
Friday, March 26, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Today iS WORLD WATER DAY
Millions of people across the globe have no daily access to clean water. Women in rural parts of China, Africa and throughout Asia often walk miles to and from the nearest well. Just getting enough water for the cooking and drinking of a family can fill up 6 or even 8 hours. It's easy to see why millions and millions of girls and women never become educated (no time) or develop real support systems (no time).
Most of us can't imagine a scenario in which we turn on a tap and nothing happens. But even in America water systems are antiquated and crumbling and industrial poisons and perscription drugs are seeping into groundwater supplies. WE are over pumping our aquifers (natural reservoirs beneath the Earth's surface)while praying for rain as more and more folks migrate to arid and semi arid regions within our borders. Forget climate change ... unfortunately for us, droughts in the west and southwest of this nation have often lasted 30, 60 or even 150 years over the past 11,000 years.
Let's say you have a checking account from which you take money every month and to which you never make a deposit. Eventually, the money runs out.
America's surface and ground water caches are a lot like that bank account - and so are the pipes and wells and pumps we built decades ago that we have rarely properly maintained or replaced.
That bill is coming due and when it does, the scrabble and infighting over water will become ugly right HERE.
What can we do, any of us? Know where your water comes from. Know what kind of shape the pumps, pipes and wells are in. Know how much it costs for your water agency to deliver this precious commodity to you. For example, it may cost them $100 an acre foot, $300 an acre foot, $600 an acre foot? (An acre foot = about 326,000 gallons and is a common water measure.) But if your water source is endangered for whatever reason and your water company has to look for additional sources of water, you're talking REAL money - water entitlements in California are about $5,000 per acre foot.
So the next time you turn on the tap, think about it. And the next time you think about "my water" try to remember - it's OUR water.
Celebrate World Water Day!!!
Most of us can't imagine a scenario in which we turn on a tap and nothing happens. But even in America water systems are antiquated and crumbling and industrial poisons and perscription drugs are seeping into groundwater supplies. WE are over pumping our aquifers (natural reservoirs beneath the Earth's surface)while praying for rain as more and more folks migrate to arid and semi arid regions within our borders. Forget climate change ... unfortunately for us, droughts in the west and southwest of this nation have often lasted 30, 60 or even 150 years over the past 11,000 years.
Let's say you have a checking account from which you take money every month and to which you never make a deposit. Eventually, the money runs out.
America's surface and ground water caches are a lot like that bank account - and so are the pipes and wells and pumps we built decades ago that we have rarely properly maintained or replaced.
That bill is coming due and when it does, the scrabble and infighting over water will become ugly right HERE.
What can we do, any of us? Know where your water comes from. Know what kind of shape the pumps, pipes and wells are in. Know how much it costs for your water agency to deliver this precious commodity to you. For example, it may cost them $100 an acre foot, $300 an acre foot, $600 an acre foot? (An acre foot = about 326,000 gallons and is a common water measure.) But if your water source is endangered for whatever reason and your water company has to look for additional sources of water, you're talking REAL money - water entitlements in California are about $5,000 per acre foot.
So the next time you turn on the tap, think about it. And the next time you think about "my water" try to remember - it's OUR water.
Celebrate World Water Day!!!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
All Americans are NOT equal but they SHOULD be!
When our nation struggled into existence, the men who forged the agreements by which we are still bound had some RADICAL ideas. For example, the idea that all men were created equal had never before been spelled out in a written state document. Even the Magna Carta, which laid out the rights of the governed in England and limited the power of the King distinguished between free men and those bound in slavery or service of some kind. Still, in the Western world, the Great Charter was a significant document for 1215 and a natural precursor to our Constitution.
But back in 1787 when the Constitution was written, the idea that one man was not intrinsically better than another by birthright was as revolutionary a concept as any that has existed on this Earth. Of course, this nation flourished with slavery. And yet, the IDEA that everyone had equal protection under the law was still a magnificent step forward.
In fact, most holy writings, ancient cultures and even a number of modern societies favor one race or one religion or one line of work over all others.
Across the globe and throughout the span of history, some have always been born into wealth and high position while most were born into poverty, servitude, ignorance, punishment, starvation and an early death often after being literally worked to death.
For women, the entire history of homo sapiens has been even more brutal - a painful truth still very much extant in this modern day. That’s why spelled out legal rights have always been and will always be of the utmost importance.
America, land of the FREE where ALL are equal in the eyes of the law …!
Really? Then why do those we employ to run our affairs of state behave as though they have been placed above We the People who put them there? When did our electeds begin positioning themselves above the law – and above us? They rarely are even censured for transgressions most of us would be summarily fired for. When they don’t pay their taxes, when they use public money for private purposes, they are often rewarded by being returned to the scene of their crimes … Washington D.C.!!!
And why can’t all of us rely on: - a lifetime pension and health benefits after just two years on the job; - a post-electorate selling (to the highest corporate bidder) of the knowledge and influence the taxpayers funded; OR - a fabulous, inclusive, affordable health plan! Our senators and congresspeople enjoy ALL of the above. Therefore, wonkissima supports the following:
28th amendment: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to Senators and Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."
But back in 1787 when the Constitution was written, the idea that one man was not intrinsically better than another by birthright was as revolutionary a concept as any that has existed on this Earth. Of course, this nation flourished with slavery. And yet, the IDEA that everyone had equal protection under the law was still a magnificent step forward.
In fact, most holy writings, ancient cultures and even a number of modern societies favor one race or one religion or one line of work over all others.
Across the globe and throughout the span of history, some have always been born into wealth and high position while most were born into poverty, servitude, ignorance, punishment, starvation and an early death often after being literally worked to death.
For women, the entire history of homo sapiens has been even more brutal - a painful truth still very much extant in this modern day. That’s why spelled out legal rights have always been and will always be of the utmost importance.
America, land of the FREE where ALL are equal in the eyes of the law …!
Really? Then why do those we employ to run our affairs of state behave as though they have been placed above We the People who put them there? When did our electeds begin positioning themselves above the law – and above us? They rarely are even censured for transgressions most of us would be summarily fired for. When they don’t pay their taxes, when they use public money for private purposes, they are often rewarded by being returned to the scene of their crimes … Washington D.C.!!!
And why can’t all of us rely on: - a lifetime pension and health benefits after just two years on the job; - a post-electorate selling (to the highest corporate bidder) of the knowledge and influence the taxpayers funded; OR - a fabulous, inclusive, affordable health plan! Our senators and congresspeople enjoy ALL of the above. Therefore, wonkissima supports the following:
28th amendment: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to Senators and Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."
Friday, March 12, 2010
America is NOT a Christian Theocracy!
Thomas Jefferson and other of America’s Founding Fathers (Madison, Monroe, Adams, Washington, et al) were careful to design the rules of our birthing nation so that the Church and the State would be separated by “a wall.” The drafters and signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were well aware of the way religion dictated behavior, morals, education and even the practice of medicine and science in many European countries. And how otherwise law abiding citizens were persecuted, tortured and even put to death for daring to question religious teaching. Indeed Galileo was damned to hell because he had posited and proved that the Earth rotated around the sun and not vice-versa.
In fact, the Constitution makes it plain that being a Christian – or a member of any other religion – would never be a requirement of elected office. Jews, Buddhists, Hindis, Muslims, agnostics and atheists are all welcome to serve this nation as long as they are legal citizens.
Jefferson was a DEIST and believed in some universal creative power. Although raised as a Christian, he often questioned the tenants he learned as a boy and even compiled his own version of the Good Book. It is called “The Jefferson Bible.”
One of his quotes about the Bible:
The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814
Here are some other interesting things President Jefferson had to say on this subject:
I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec.6, 1813.
In fact, the Constitution makes it plain that being a Christian – or a member of any other religion – would never be a requirement of elected office. Jews, Buddhists, Hindis, Muslims, agnostics and atheists are all welcome to serve this nation as long as they are legal citizens.
Jefferson was a DEIST and believed in some universal creative power. Although raised as a Christian, he often questioned the tenants he learned as a boy and even compiled his own version of the Good Book. It is called “The Jefferson Bible.”
One of his quotes about the Bible:
The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814
Here are some other interesting things President Jefferson had to say on this subject:
I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec.6, 1813.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Supreme Court, Cheney, Lindsay Gramm al Qaeda sympathizers?
Stunning and astonishing! On March 4, 2010, Rachel Maddow proved an undeniable and irrefutable “sympathizer connection” between al Qaeda terrorists and the current US Supreme Court, George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. Lindsay Gramm.
Building on previous allegations by Liz Cheney regarding the so-called “alQaeda 7” – lawyers who have defended terrorists in American courts and military tribunals – and using investigatory journalism techniques mastered by Glenn Beck, Maddow unloaded a bombshell of a secret – how many of our highest ranking officials are actually Islamic extremist puppets. Apparently, a vast swath of our nation’s leaders have either handed down judicial rulings favoring the rights of al Qaeda suspects, urged lawyers from across the country to defend al Qaeda suspects or actually assisted in accomplishing the release of al Qaeda suspects from captivity at Guantanamo by “proving” there was no real evidence to support prosecution.
The lengthy list of damning associations and historical facts, laid bare by an increasingly agitated Maddow during her nightly news hour on MSNBC, was shocking and disgusting. But the last blast of accusations hurled out onto the airwaves by Maddow were gasp-producing – it seems that Liz Cheney had only actually accused the “al Qaeda 7” in order to prevent her own terrorist associations and those of her father the former Vice President, from discovery.
As the show ended, a uniformed officer led Maddow away in handcuffs when it was revealed that Maddow had ties to Liz Cheney.
WHAT IS THIS NATION COMING TO?
Building on previous allegations by Liz Cheney regarding the so-called “alQaeda 7” – lawyers who have defended terrorists in American courts and military tribunals – and using investigatory journalism techniques mastered by Glenn Beck, Maddow unloaded a bombshell of a secret – how many of our highest ranking officials are actually Islamic extremist puppets. Apparently, a vast swath of our nation’s leaders have either handed down judicial rulings favoring the rights of al Qaeda suspects, urged lawyers from across the country to defend al Qaeda suspects or actually assisted in accomplishing the release of al Qaeda suspects from captivity at Guantanamo by “proving” there was no real evidence to support prosecution.
The lengthy list of damning associations and historical facts, laid bare by an increasingly agitated Maddow during her nightly news hour on MSNBC, was shocking and disgusting. But the last blast of accusations hurled out onto the airwaves by Maddow were gasp-producing – it seems that Liz Cheney had only actually accused the “al Qaeda 7” in order to prevent her own terrorist associations and those of her father the former Vice President, from discovery.
As the show ended, a uniformed officer led Maddow away in handcuffs when it was revealed that Maddow had ties to Liz Cheney.
WHAT IS THIS NATION COMING TO?
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