poeticdesires

Category: Liberal

  • Religion and Reproduction

    This is a straight-up rant. This post isn’t meant to be sexy. It’s not specifically about sex, or fucking, or all the fun things my life occasionally entails. Fun Fact: In high school I was voted Most Opinionated. Here is a taste of why.

    [Side note: I was also voted Most Boy Crazy. Snicker as you wish.]

    NEWS FLASH: Catholics use birth control. Jews use birth controls. Muslims, Buddhists, and even Atheists use birth control. And you know what, that is just one of their many rights as American citizens.

    In various religions, it is against their most conservative practices to use condoms, the pill, the patch, the ring, the matchstick, and/or the morning after pill. But you know what, people still use them.

    Why?

    Because condoms help against spreading disease. Because some women don’t want to get pregnant. Because sex is fun and is often enjoyed for more than procreation. Because I wouldn’t want to have the child of my rapist. Or my cousin. Or my father. Because, as Americans, it is our right to choose.

    I can’t help but be pissed when I hear Republican Presidential candidates equate the new healthcare rule concerning contraception coverage to an assault against religious freedom. Unless someone is removing the pills from their dispenser and shoving them down your throat, there is no assault on religious freedom.

    You know what is an assault that involves religion? Trying to force your views and practices on people who do not share your beliefs, namely your employees who want to prevent pregnancy but can’t because you refuse to cover the medication in their healthcare plans.

    This mess has less to do with religion and more to do with women’s reproductive rights. But conservatives don’t want to talk about that. Women don’t have sex for fun. What am I talking about? Meanwhile, those of you who’ve read my blog, or yah know have had hands on practice, know that thinking is utter bullshit.

    The new healthcare rule is, in fact, a step to give women more freedom with their reproductive rights.

    Hey Catholic hospital, you’re a fucking hospital first! Hey Catholic college, you’re a fucking college first! And you know what? Plenty of your employees aren’t fucking Catholic!

    So yes, you need to cover this portion of their healthcare in your plans just like you cover vasectomies and Viagra. And even if an employee is Catholic or Jewish or Muslim, they get to choose what goes into their body, if they want to use condoms, or have sex for fun, or prevent a pregnancy, whether from a lover or from a rapist.

    I get so sick and tired of members of the right spouting bullshit trying to trump up the vote. This time they’re speaking to misogynists who still believe they have a say in what I do with my body. It’s my fucking body, assholes. Step the fuck off!

    Mitt Romney, while governor of Massachusetts, passed a law requiring Catholic hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.

    Please, re-read that last statement.

    It is important because of a few choice points: 1- If the law was created, it usually means they had to make it in the first place, as in Catholic hospitals were NOT offering emergency contraception to rape victims. (Lemonade moments in-fucking-deed) 2- Romney is a fucking opportunist hypocrite, criticizing the President on reproductive rights after having signed into law similar rights in his own state. & 3- What the fuck, Catholic hospitals!?! Seriously, what the fuck!?!

    I was baptized Catholic, and reached my first communion before my mother converted to Baptist. I went to a Catholic middle and high school. I went to a public college. I call myself Christian because I believe there is something greater than myself. Call it God. Call it the essence that is life. There is something.

    But you know one thing I did learn while suffering through Religion classes I gave little to no weight to: There was this cool guy named Jesus who, if he were alive today, would be a Socialist. Feeding the poor. Healing the sick. You’re probably going to hell if you’re rich. And, shit, keeping the wine flowing and the party going. Cool guy.

    One part about this current “debate” that I find incredibly disturbing is the Quiverfull movement. First, no birth control whatsoever? Not even the rhythm method? Scary. But beyond that, the idea that you can have enough children to eventually out populate the left/liberals/Democrats, and thereby usher our country into a conservative utopia, downgrades women into baby making machines, children into votes, and liberty and freedom into just buzz words.

    But hey, why am I surprised? I’m a black woman and a bleeding heart liberal. It isn’t like this country has been so welcoming of my kind, even if I was born here.

    [Fun fact: go Google ‘Mississippi apendectomy’. I just learned about this a few months ago. This country is so fucked up.]

    /rant

  • Fair and Balanced

    Recently I performed a civic act and showed up, early, for jury duty. 

    In this particular instance of a ritual everyone has to go through, sooner or later, everything went right. Our summons time changed from 8:30am to 1pm because no cases were on the docket for the morning. Almost everyone showed up early. We had a nice lady for our point of contact. We sat through a not-horrible ten minute video explaining the process. We patiently waited for a case to arise. Not three hours later, we were all informed we could go; no cases would be held that day. It should have been an almost enjoyable experience.

    But the moment that has stuck in my craw, the instance that continues to nag me in my side…

    At the end of our instructional video, the judges “thanked us” by showing a picture of each and every one of themselves. And as judge after judge passed on the screen, I got angrier and angrier. The video had spoken about how just and fair our legal system was. It spoke about our laws and equal rights. And yet, as I counted, picture after picture, there was a sea of whiteness.

    The final total, when the video ended, was one black man, one black woman, six white women, and fourteen white men. Fourteen. As in more than the sum of the rest of the judges. As in double the number of women. Yeah, fair and balanced my ass.

    I don’t know if I was the only person who noticed this. I don’t know if anyone else cared. But it pissed me off something big.

    When people of my race are more likely to be arrested, more likely to be incarcerated, more likely to die under the death penalty, how can anyone deign to say our judicial system is fair and balanced?

    Don’t get me wrong; I have no desire to have been born anywhere else. I know good and well, in many other countries, I would not even be allowed to drive a car, let alone receive the education I worked for, and live the open life I have. But the rights I do so enjoy are marred by how far our country still has to go.

    Occasionally I have moments when I regret my decision to have gone into theatre, regret using my intelligence on my writing, regret not pushing myself into a profession that could help people of my race in this country.  Waiting in that jury lounge was one of them.

    When I visited my mother today, in the home where I spent half my life, I was reminded of how poor my family is. I actively forget how old her house is, how hard it was for her to raise me, how much money she still owes me that she borrowed ages ago. I actively forget how my extended family struggles, how my home city, behind its veneer, is splintered and broken.

    But when I sat there in the jury lounge, ready to start writing and zone out for a few hours, reality slapped me in the face. Because our country’s legal system is not fair and balanced. My future children have the deck stacked against them. And if anyone wants to argue with me, go look to see what the makeup of your local judgeships are.

  • Letter To My Senator

    Recently a letter has been floating around the Senate. It’s a pledge to pass the Public Option through budget reconciliation, a Parliamentary maneuver and way to bypass filibusters. It is the way CHIP (The Children’s Health Insurance Program) & COBRA (what I now have) were passed, along with FIVE Bush era tax cuts and multiple amendments to Medicare & Medicaid.

    After doing some research on the internet, I found out one of the two Senators in my state had not yet signed the pledge. I called his office asking why. The nice lady on the phone said she had no information as to why he had not signed, but assured me my Senator supported the Public Option.

    I, in turn, sent him a letter (email through his contact page). It reads as follows:

    Senator,

    Recently I heard 22 Senators have signed a letter pledging to pass the public option through budget reconciliation, including your Senate counterpart. I’m contacting you to ask why you have not signed as well.

    Republicans in the Senate have worked to block almost all legislation and reform, including the public option. I, as one who would seek to use this new government program, want your support to bypass a Republican filibuster and pass the public option by reconciliation.

    I know your job is far from easy. I know you have pressures I could not imagine. But Sir, I, along with many others in your state, need the public option.

    I’ve applied for heath insurance multiple times through the individual market and have been rejected due to my weight. Currently I work multiple part time jobs, making me ineligible for group coverage. I had group coverage at an old job, but in December of 2008 I accepted a new position with the promise of health insurance benefits. They never came. Recently, I was let go from the new position. I still pay my high COBRA premium, $435 a month, but that leaves me with less money for all my other bills.

    The public option is the best way for me to seek insurance coverage I know will not be taken away, nor include premiums that can be raised to obscene amounts. My COBRA coverage runs out at the end of May. I will then apply for the statewide high risk pool, known as MHIP, as a last effort to keep insurance coverage. No one should ever have to worry about loosing health insurance. The public option would make this so.

    Sir, the public option is for people like me, not in perfect health, but still wanting health insurance in case the worst happens.

    Sir, please support us, and sign the letter pledging to use reconciliation for the public option.

    Lets see if/how my Senator responds.

  • The Bill Bomb

    The Rachel Maddow Show, in order to raise awareness, interest, and passion for the legislative process, is currently running an online contest, asking viewers to re-brand the filibuster, because, as she notes, it’s just so boring.

    Here is my entry, along with a link so you can vote for it, or any other suggestions you like, or even add your own idea.

    If I/you win, I/you get a TRMS sweatshirt and a mug!

    The Bill Bomb

    Because like the Shoe Bomber & Underwear Bomber, it seeks to terrorize the masses, blowing up the good works Congressmen have tried to fulfill, leading normally rational, intelligent, sane people to do irrational, idiotic, insane things.

    For example, “Sen. Lieberman has chosen to join in the bill bombing with Republicans, even though Democrats were willing to give up the corner stone of their health reform, the public option.”

    Or, “Republicans are threatening the bill bomb, sending many Democrats into crisis mode, trying to figure out what they can give away in order to have their measure passed.”

    And finally, “The Bill Bomber this session is, no pun intended, Sen. Jeff Sessions, who decided it was best to emulate his hero, Sen. Strom Thurman, than to allow the Democrats’ law to pass with a simple majority.”

  • Resist The Urge To Turn Pussy

    Congressional Democrats, the shit we all saw coming has finally arrived. Scott Brown won the special election in Massachusetts today and will soon be the new junior Senator, thereby extinguishing your paper thin filibuster proof majority.

    Now, I know there are some of you who will see this as a reason to stop pushing for reform. You believe this election was a referendum on all you’ve tried to do this past year. Do me a favor: Resist The Urge To Turn Pussy.

    Martha Coakley lost the election because she ran a piss poor campaign. She believed the primary was her battle, and has since sat back, barely acknowledging her opponent. So, when Scott Brown did surge, because people are pissed now and he espoused fake populism, Coakley’s campaign was not prepared to react. And besides, no way was a Republican going to win Teddy Kennedy’s seat. Guess what, lazy Democrats up there in Massachusetts, it just happened.

    I say all this as 1) a lesson to anyone running for office; never take your constituency for granted.

    And 2) This was not a referendum on health reform. Let me repeat that: THIS WAS NOT A REFERENDUM ON HEALTH REFORM. This was the case of a lazy chick thinking she had already been crowned the new Senator from Massachusetts just because she’s a Democrat.

    So, to the main point of tonight’s ranting: Resist The Urge To Turn Pussy. This is not the time to back down. For the past months, you’ve tried to bring in your veto proof majority, only to almost run out of time. You’ve acquiesced, you’ve brokered deals, you’ve sucked out most of the life in the health reform package. So, now that you have an excuse to kick your asses into gear, I propose two courses of action.

    1) The sensible, and, might I add, kind of close to pussy thing to do, would be for the House to just pass the Senate bill. If the Progressives choke down the piece of shit, which has no public option and its means of payment kind of screws the pooch, the matter is done. If I were in office, and in a desperate mood, this would probably be the path I would take. Wham, bam, thank you Ma’am; we have health reform.

    Now, seeing as I’m not desperate, and in fact am in a full throttle, balls to wall kind of mindset, I would choose the second option:
    2) Like I said last night, Fuck ‘Em. Time for budget reconciliation baby. Little Bush used it to push his tax cuts for the wealthy. It’s about time the Democrats used it for something more, what’s the word…moral, humane, ethically justified, greatly needed in a country where as many as 45 million people lack basic coverage, 1 million go bankrupt every year from health related bills, and 45,000 people a year DIE because they lack health insurance.

    Yeah, that’s what I would do. But then again, I’m not an elected official. But I am a person who votes. Keep that in mind.

    As I’ve shared on this blog, I was recently laid off. And of course it was a shock. However, looking back on it now, I could’ve seen it coming. There were signs the company was not in the best shape and, as the saying goes, “Last hired, first fired.” So, I get it.

    I mention this incidence in my life because I see a parallel to Congressional Democrats’ situation now. Because you weren’t paying attention, because you took the Massachusetts Senate seat for granted, you lost it.

    I also say this because Congressional Democrats have the opportunity to do what I did: take this as a kick in the ass and start doing what you should’ve been doing in the first place. Push your agenda forward. Work more, harder. Make health reform a reality, with or without sixty votes. You have the ability to do it. Now it only takes the testicular fortitude.

    Congressional Democrats: Resist The Urge to Turn Pussy & finish what we elected you to do.

  • Man Up Or Shut Up

    I am so sick and tired of people putting all this importance and pressure on the Massachusetts Senate race. Face it DNC: you fucked up. You chose the wrong candidate for the position, didn’t realize her level of unawares about the most basic of Boston knowledge (namely that Kurt Schilling is NOT a Yankee fan), discovered her inability to run well most inopportunely (famously her snarky comment about not wanting to stand outside a ballpark and shake people’s hands), and you waited until too late to bring in the President for aid. YOU FUCKED UP.

    Lets be honest: Massachusetts doesn’t give a flying fuck about national health reform. They have a better system than the one on the table in Washington, so if it passes or fails, it won’t matter in the least to them. And, frankly, tell me a way Brown has fucked up in this campaign, past centerfolds aside.

    DNC: Ya’ll screwed the pooch royally with this one and a Democratic seat for over thirty years is about to turn red. If Teddy isn’t rolling over in his grave, he’s probably banging on the casket door so he can get out and whoop some ass.

    But, beyond this little kerfuffle, one Senator shouldn’t matter. In case we all have “New President Amnesia”, our past Commander-in-Chief was able to push through legislation without the super-majorities the Democrats now have.

    So what, you’re about to loose one Senate seat. Grow a set of balls and make the shit work. Force the Republicans to filibuster. Dare them to, in fact. Footage of any of them on the floor of Congress, blocking sweeping change that would aid 30 million American, is just what ya’ll will need for 1) public outrage to force them to stop &/or 2) re-election ads for the upcoming mid-terms.

    Republicans are currently the party of no, but when did the Democrats become the party of bend over? Your counterparts have screwed you basically from jump this legislative session. They were united against the stimulus in the House. Only one member, Joseph Cao of Louisiana, voted for the House’s health bill. In the Senate, not one voted for the Health overhaul and only Olympia Snow, Susan Collins, and, now Democrat, Arlen Specter voted for the stimulus. They’re blocking nominations just cause they want to, and no one seems to have the guts to knock a few heads and twist a few arms.

    Why has no one pulled the Chairmanship card with Lieberman? It’s this simple: We don’t care how you vote in the final ballot, but you vote with us on procedures or we’ll take your spot. DONE. One opportunistic man’s vote secured. Seriously, we spent so much time on that fool, I wanted to throttle both him and the people that bothered to listen to his senile rantings.

    Democratic party, members of the House & Senate, Mr. President: you just have to say FUCK ‘EM. Push your agenda, make them work their games, and when the American people ask who killed health reform, show footage of their threatened filibuster. When a citizen asks why their child was dropped from their family plan, show them pictures of Rep. Boehner & Rep. Cantor, Sen. McConnell & Sen. Grassley, red in the face from reading David Copperfield all night. Tell them, “I pushed for reform, but these people just worked to screw you.”

    Care more about the people you represent than trying to get reelected, and, for once, tell the people the God’s honest truth: Republicans don’t give a flying fuck about Americans. They just do what their donors tell them.

  • When It’s Easy to Be Ignorant

    Lately, I’ve been thinking about the issue of putting gay marriage/partnerships to a vote. People can’t understand why, when you poll folks one month they are for equality for gays, but then the next month it’s voted down.

    Today I read an article in Newsweek, suggesting maybe it is the portrayal of gay characters in television today influencing people’s opinions on the matter: King of Queens. I personally disagree with their argument. They cited how some characters are too stereotypical, how there are more bisexuals instead of lesbians now, and how flaming some contestants have been on Project Runway. Stretch? I would say yes.

    I think the votes in California and Massachusetts, to name a few, have precious little to do with television representations of gays. Instead, I think it has to do with the medium GLBTQ rights groups have chosen to push their fight. Sending the issue to the ballot box is a bad idea.

    I remember when I was little, going with my mother to the polls, standing behind the curtain with her while she voted. I thought it was awesome, how secretly you were given this time to help choose the destiny of our country. Unfortunately, it is the secrecy that’s the problem. When you are in a voting booth, you can be a bigot without anyone knowing.

    Putting the rights of any sector of society to a vote is ridiculous and cruel. Of course people voted it down. Can you imagine what would have happened if Jim Crow laws had to be voted down one by one? I’m sure it would have looked somewhat similar to LGBTQ struggles now. Sure, the polling would suggest some tolerance, but giving people the privacy of a voting booth allows them to keep the status quo without being called on it.

    State by state voting is not the answer. This has to be a federal fight. Slaves were freed through the Emancipation Proclamation. Jim Crow was ended by the Civil Rights Act & Brown v. Board of Education. Big society altering issues need big government’s help to push them forward. Our country does not change its evil ways easily, by any means.

    Make people go on the floor of the House and argue why they are not allowing highly trained men and women into our armed forces or kicking out the ones we already have. Make Senators explain why two loving committed adults aren’t allowed to bond their lives together legally, why they’re not allowed to make a family by adopting unwanted children, or why they can’t hold each other when it is time for them to pass on from this life.

    Call them on their bullshit. Make them say the hateful awful things in their hearts, and then use it against them in their next election. Make their constituents see who they really are. And testify before their committees. Make them hear your stories. Make them witness the harm their hatered causes.

    Stop giving people the voting booth excuse. Piecemeal is not the answer. Go for the piese de resistance.

  • He Did Well

    Last night, millions of Americans tuned in to watch our President give a speech about healthcare reform.

    Many people will analyze it, going over each sentence with a fine tooth comb. I, however, am not one of those people.

    Instead, I thought I’d post my Tweets from the event. I sat on my couch, furiously typing away, completely taken hold of by the event. Included are a few colorful comments from my SO, who sat and watched with me.

    – Michelle’s face: “Mmm hmm, ya’ll clapping for him now, but let’s see what happens in the next few weeks.”

    – A woman and a black man in two seats of power; nice to see, even if under these circumstances. #speech999

    – Starting with the economy; good way to base #HCR in the necessities of today. #Speech999

    – SO: “Kerry looks like Herman Munster.” #Speech999

    – “I am not the first Pres. to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.” #Speech999

    – John Dingle, example of “good” nepotism? #Speech999

    – Pre-existing conditions exclusion from HC = ME #Speech999

    – 14,000 Americans daily loose coverage #Speech999

    – True HC stories, bout damn time! #Speech999

    – Michelle face: “Get ’em, Barry. Preach truth to fools.” #Speech999

    – “Our HC problem is our deficit problem.” #Speech999

    – Single payer ain’t happening, but you got the shot out anyway. #Speech999

    – Calling the far right to the carpet. Go Barry, Go! #Speech999

    – Boehner face: “Crap, he’s doing well.” #Speech999

    – “It will be against the law for Ins. companies to deny you coverage for a preexisting condition.” Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus! #Speech999

    – Limit on out of pocket expenses; can’t drop you if you get sick. Keep it coming Mr. President. #Speech999

    – explaining the nuts and bolts of the public option; you get what Congress gets #Speech999

    – FOUR YEARS! for the exchange; low cost plans now for those who can’t afford it #Speech999

    – You HAVE to have health Ins., businesses and healthy people alike #Speech999

    – Here we go; time for the death panels, abortion, & VA #Speech999

    – “It is a lie, plan and simple.” #Speech999

    – All the Dems stood up for airing out the lies; All the Reps kept seated; Somebody had the nerve to call out. WTF #Speech999

    – “Consumers do better when there is choice & competition.” “In AL, Ins. controlled by ONE company.” #Speech999

    – Ins. companies are rewarded for dropping the seriously ill; Wall Street’s relentless profit expectations. #Speech999

    – SO in response to person who keeps shouting out: “He looks like he wants to jump out in that crowd.” #Speech999

    – Public option: less than 5% of Americans would sign up #Speech999

    – Public option: only one part of my plan #Speech999

    – RT @chrislhayes Can we add “douchers” along w/ birthers and deathers to describe the GOP house members who just booed illegal immigrants?

    – “If Amer.s can’t find affordable coverage, we will provide you with a choice.” No gov. or Ins. bureaucrat get btwn you & care. #Speech999

    – “I will not sign a plan that will add one dime to our deficits or our future.” #Speech999

    – Provision in plan to come up with more spending cuts if the savings we promise don’t happen. #Speech999

    – OMG! Eric Cantor is fucking TWITTERING! Somebody slap him, now! #Speech999

    – “Not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan.” #Speech999

    – Calling out Medicare Part D, another time the Ins. industry screwed the people. #Speech999

    – “I will protect Medicare.” #Speech999

    – Repubs not even stand up for protecting Medicare. #Speech999

    – Seriously, Repubs need to have a good ass slapping or at least a lesson in manners. #Speech999

    – Centrist Obama: will move forward to help curb malpractice claims #Speech999

    – SO on Repubs: Those guys just look sleazy. #Speech999

    – My door is open, but I will not waste time with those who want to kill this bill. #Speech999

    – “I will not accept the status quo as a solution, not now.” #Speech999

    – “We cannot fail. There are too many Americans who need us to succeed.” #Speech999

    – Ted Kennedy, from beyond. #Speech999

    – “What we face, above all, is a moral issue.” – Ted Kennedy letter, echoing his brother JFK #Speech999

    – Talking about Teddy finally got people to shut up. #Speech999

    – “When fortune turns against one of us, another is there to give a helping hand.” #Speech999

    – Social Security & Medicare, branded the same way #HCR has been branded now. #Speech999

    – stop the hate; communicate #Speech999

    – “We did not come here to fear the future; we came to shape it. I still believe we can act, even when it’s hard.” #Speech999

    – New slogan for reform: “I still believe.” #Speech999

    – SO: tase him, bro! RT @jsmooth995 yep, Rep. Joe Wilson totally should get censured for that heckling tonight. And by censured I mean tased.

    – Maddow: end of speech a defense of liberalism #Speech999

    – Repub rebuttal: a heart surgeon from LA #Speech999

    – Rep. Charles Boustany talking about affording reform and debt. #Speech999

    – wants to start over; ain’t gonna happen! #Speech999

    – somebody please heckle this guy, please! #Repubresponse

    – SO: Didn’t the President just say everything he suggested? #Repubresponse

    – he’s stumbling; WOW, he just threw out a website; this is so pedestrian #Repubresponse

    – Olberman: Rep. Boustany has been sued for malpractice three times #Repubresponse

    – @Cecilyk RT @markknoller AP reporting was SC Repub Joe Wilson who shouted “You lie!” after Obama said no HC for illegal immigrants.

    – RT @jeremyscahill Lord Bustany–er, oops.

    – RT @ezraklein RT @bmockaveli LA has the worst health & economic indexes of any state yet Republicans contin. to run responses f/ that state

    – RT @bugsact SC has been embarrassed enough by Gov Sandford.2 have their representatives acting a fool n DC is too much 4 one state to bear!

    – ME: The only thing I like that’s came out of SC is Stephen Colbert. SO: And BBQ.

    – I love him, but that’s what he should’ve been doing all along. RT @blurb Love how he’s strongly supporting and explaining the public option.

    – RT @jsmooth995 (for the record I don’t actually endorse tasing or any other form of violence, except in their proper place, rap lyrics)

    – SO on Rep. Wilson: That was in poor taste, there, Representative.

    – RT @Cecilyk RT @JuliaRoberts1 Tell Rep. Joe Wilson what you think about heckling POTUS: call 202-225-2452 or http://joewilson.house.gov

    – SO tried to call Rep. Wilson twice; busy signal both times. I love the internet.

    – On Rep. Wilson – SO: If I were to call him tomorrow and call him white trash… ME: Go ahead! SO: Peckerwood.

    – Olbermann: Is bipartisanship feasible when Rep. Wilson can heckle POTUS f/ the safety of the crowd?

    – Joe Wilson already is a Trending Topic on Twitter; you fuck up, we’ll call you out! Seriously, people voted for you. Act like an adult.

    – RT @Geniusbastard RT @cyn3matic Dem Rob Miller, who will challenge Joe “You Lie” Wilson in 2010 http://is.gd/35Mqe || I just gave him $25.

    – RT @Geniusbastard RT @davidshuster Senator John McCain already saying that Rep Wilson should apologize “immediately.” That’s from the AP.

    – RT @WestWingReport Photo of the Night: “You lie!” http://bit.ly/2VBhr

    – @questlove Pres. did very well, but (unfortunately) the big story is Rep Joe Wilson (SC) who yelled out “Liar!” when the Pres. spoke

    – @questlove Pres. was able to debunk rumors, say what he wanted in the bill, appeal to the right, & invoke Sen. Kennedy; he was amazing


  • #02 Mr. President – Sir, You Need To Fight

    The following is a letter I wrote to the President, concerning his upcoming speech on healthcare tomorrow.

    “We are confronted with a moral issue.” -JFK

    Mr. President,

    You are to give an important speech this Wednesday concerning healthcare reform.

    Sir, you need to fight. I know it is your nature to be the peace maker, the compromiser, but this is not the time for that.

    Mr. President, why are you letting the people that lost, the people most Americans did not vote for, take hold of the conversation and morph this opportunity with lies and deceit.

    Sir, we would love you more if you fought hard and lost, rather than settle for a compromise that will leave us left wanting.

    Pres. Truman was the father of Medicare, 20 years after his initial defeat, because he fought, and lost, but kept on fighting.

    “We are a very crippled giant, suffering from self inflicted wounds, that if we do not treat and heal, will in fact bring us to our knees and ultimately to our dome.” – Bill Moyers

    Mr. President, you inherited one of the worse set of situations our country has ever faced, but I will not let you use this as an excuse to not live up to your promises. We lost the liberal lion, Teddy Kennedy, this past week. He died without seeing “the cause of his life” fulfilled. Invoke him as your mantel, this cause is his cause, and rally the people to fight against those who see patients as profits, the poor as pathetic liabilities, and say, “No more! No more will we allow you to deny coverage, to anyone! No more will we allow you to passively choose who lives and who dies! No more will we let the least of us be treated as less!” No more, Mr. President. No more.

    This is your chance to help 45 million Americans without health insurance, thousands of Americans who’ve gone bankrupt, and thousands more who died because they could not get adequate care. There are literally millions of people who need you to NOT compromise, who need you to fight.

    Please, Sir, fulfill your promises, screw up your courage, your grit, and yell as bombastically as Sen. Kennedy would have wanted you to, “NO MORE!”

  • I CANNOT STAND DICK ARMEY

    This morning Dick Armey, former lobbyist for DLA Piper (a Washington law office) and current chairman of FreedomWorks (a conservative organization dedicated to advancing an agenda of “lower taxes, less government, and more freedom”), was interviewed on NPR by Steve Innskeep during Morning Edition.

    Yesterday, I had the pleasure of my morning nap (before work) being interrupted by Mr. Innskeep interviewing RNC Chairman Michael Steele. Steele, a man I DID NOT VOTE for in his Senatorial bid, was flustered, not able to explain how he could both support Medicare but be against a public option. I had hoped Mr. Armey’s interview would be just as informative and nonacquiescent. Unfortunately, I was left screaming at my radio on my way into work.

    Armey Encourages Good Manners at Town Halls

    There were many things said in this interview that upset me.

    He calls the interruptions, and down right theft, of town hall meetings as people acting “rambunctious” and being “colorful.” He contends the source of the anxiety of disrupting citizens as their frustration at being talked “down to like a child,” and they resent this.

    I ask: when has a representative been able to speak to their constituents freely? Because of rebellious tactics to disrupt the meetings, very few Representatives or Senators have been given the chance to speak.

    He believes “the source of the anger” of the constituents was because they saw their elected official as not taking them seriously, “as well informed citizens.” Well, when they are spewing fabrications trumped up by radical conservatives, how is one to take such unfettered lunacy seriously?

    Now Mr. Innskeep does bring up the fact that people have been instructed to interrupt town halls, and some have even brought guns to the protests outside the meeting. Mr. Armey then contends he knows of no one who has instructed people to do this, and sees these actions as counterproductive to their cause. But, I have to point out, he does not denounce those who have done it. He does not explicitly say it is wrong for citizens to carry weapons outside a Presidential town hall, nor does he say it is uncalled for when people compare our President to Hitler.

    Mr. Armey goes on to say the pro-HCR citizens are not as “intense” as the anti-HCR persons. This makes me wonder what his definition of “intense” is. Is it disruptive, argumentative, rude? Is it radical, irrational, racist? If any of these come close to what he means by “intense,” then no, the pro-HCR citizens are not so.

    Of course, my definition of intense includes ideals such as dedication, knowledge, respect, and equality. But, then again, I’m not a conservative out to push an agenda that, ultimately, would allow more people to go bankrupt and/or die because of health insurance companies. I’m just little old, fair minded, wanting the best for all in this nation, me.

    Mr Armey finishes his interview with a veiled threat to elected officials, saying should they vote for this bill, they risk not being reelected. Seriously, I screamed at the radio. Very very loudly.

    The ironic part about Mr. Armey’s conclusion is that I believe the exact opposite will happen. Should we pull this off, should the Democrats grow a set of balls, and use the power the American people granted them, they could change one the of greatest problems our country currently faces, and help millions of citizens, including myself.

    Mr. President, Democrats in the House and Senate, this is the time to make HCR happen. Sen. Kennedy died without seeing “the cause of his life” fulfilled. It is time for that change. Make it happen!