Oh, gee. What is this middle-of-the-road-republican-leaning person have against Palin?
Depends on which one.
"Dancing With the Stars" is over, and EVERYONE agrees that Bristol Palin was awful. Well, compared to the other stars against her.....even I have to admit she did much better than I would. But SHE is NOT a star....anymore than the crybaby Bachelor/Bachelorette Melissa was. And the broo-ha-ha about it all. Some people have it right, IT IS A TELEVISION SHOW. And the producers knew it would create controversy; and knew they had to keep her on to keep ratings up. BUT.....I was also a member of the "Cowboy Nation" that kept Ty Murray on way longer than he should have and created the shocking Ty-stays, Kim-goes controversy for the semi-finals. (Even Ty was shocked, and the look on his face was....'oh, man, I have to learn yet ANOTHER dance!') So, there could very well have been a huge block of people voting for her....maybe even for the reason that she WAS NOT A STAR.
I guess what set me off on THIS was her ultimate brainwashing by the producers who seemed to convince her that there were just as many people who HATED her and her mom, and she was a normal, everyday person that her voters were backing. Yep, she swallowed that hook, line and sinker. And I think she really believes it. But I don't think it's true.
And then there's Sarah. Mom. I've never seen anyone so obviously jockeying for position. No there's really a lot of things I agree with Sarah Palin (ever notice that people rarely call her anything but her full name.....Sarah Palin?)
Except that she's ready to become President of the United States.
I don't think so. To me she looks like she's going out for Homecoming Queen more than President. And, although I agree with her sentiments, her facts need some help. She really needs to find a better PR person, because the one she's got acts more like someone doing research in a High School Library than in the real world. I listened to her talking on the TV the other day, and we agreed on the topics; but then she would make a statement to validate her position and it would stop me cold. No one, I thought, could be that stupid. Her comments were either out of left field, or sometimes she would "quote" someone......but it would either not be that person's quote or it was quoted wrong. And she would say it like any Valley Girl would, with that flip notion of "It's right because I said it."
Sarah Palin scares me. She scares a lot of people....some of them are the same people that I am GLAD she scares. But to think of her in front of other national leaders.....that scares me more than anything. She cannot be taken seriously by any of them. She has little polish (which actually is one reason I DO like her), a seeming disregard for facts/figures (which will only make her look foolish), and what appears to be a very VERY short-term memory.
What I do like is her humor and go-for-it approach.
I'm not so sure trying to "sophisticate" her will work...but then, maybe she would have more fun being the pot-stirrer, than trying to keep it all together. I would imagine that if she was a baker, there would be some really, really bizarre wedding cakes!!!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Politicking and Telephones
It's finally voting day!!! Now maybe my phone will be my own.
Is anyone/everyone else tired of being harassed (and that's what it is!) by these automated phone calls telling you who to vote for or how to vote o an issue? They always come at a bad time; mostly at dinner time, but even at times that should be family times. And the biggest offenders? Those who CLAIM they are conservative and for family values. Well, excuuuuuuuuuuse me.....2PM on Sunday is NOT the time the family/conservative candidate should be calling (or having his cronies call). I counted 10 calls for these twits between 2PM and 2:45 PM. In fact, I got three in a row from the same idiots, simply because I hung up on them!
I've got "calls" from Gov. Strickland, Sen Voinavich, and a whole bunch of people I guess I'm supposed to know from Adam (at least THEY think they are important!) telling me I should vote yes on Issue 1 (without EVER going into what Issue 1 is!) and how great it will be for the state of Ohio. No proof.....no numbers.....no explanations.....just vote yes cuz WE like it!
And vote for a change a venue for the Columbus Casino. Say what? You made a big issue about making sure the casinos were placed in strategic areas and now you want to change that? No one SAYS why.....they just say that it's a better venue and would allow the casino to start early and be done faster. And the land it was SUPPOSED to be on? What happened to that? Who's paying for 1) the referendum to be put on the ballot and 2) the land that it was SUPPOSED to be on. Who left the group and now someone else wants that money and just happens to have such and such a spot.
Ashtabula wants an increase in the sales tax, so we can bring sheriff deputies back. OK, so everyone wants the deputies back.....after all, that's what we already pay them for with our taxes. But, yeah, let's add some to the sales tax of an already dead-for-sales county. Hello......if you haven't noticed......Ashtabula Mall (now Town Mall or whatever) is only half occupied and half of THEM are going down. Only Sears and K-Mart (which are the same store now) hang around because Wal-Mart is down the street.
30 miles east is Erie; 30 miles west is Mentor; 30 miles south is Niles......who needs Ashtabula? Gas prices notwithstanding....it will STILL be cheaper to do the bulk of your shopping ELSEWHERE. And it most certainly will NOT encourage retailers to locate here!
This is NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, people.
OK, got off track here a bit. Back to the phone.
I have a phone for MY convenience. It has a DO NOT CALL thing on it, cuz I don't WANT to listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry give a spiel. Unfortunately it does not block out the worst offenders.....the politicians, the political parties, the charities, etc. It only blocks the businesses.....and those were usually businesses that did exactly the same thing.....automatically dial numbers from the phone book and if/when someone answers it plugged into a pre-recorded spiel about siding (on your brick home). At least the charities are smart enough to use real people on the other end so they can try to talk you out of saying NO.
But the phone is still for MY convenience.....not outsiders who think everthing they think is THE way to think. I give my number out to people who want/need it for things I want to do or that I need. The rest of you clowns are impinging on MY freedom.....I didn't ask for you to call, nor do I need/want what you have to offer; if I did, I would call YOU!
So here's how it goes down this voting day:
Every person who wasted my time or answering machine with pre-recorded calls, I didn't vote for you.
Every issue that had a pre-recorded message from somebody who is or thought they were important.....I voted against.
Maybe if we all do this, we can have OUR LIVES back.
Is anyone/everyone else tired of being harassed (and that's what it is!) by these automated phone calls telling you who to vote for or how to vote o an issue? They always come at a bad time; mostly at dinner time, but even at times that should be family times. And the biggest offenders? Those who CLAIM they are conservative and for family values. Well, excuuuuuuuuuuse me.....2PM on Sunday is NOT the time the family/conservative candidate should be calling (or having his cronies call). I counted 10 calls for these twits between 2PM and 2:45 PM. In fact, I got three in a row from the same idiots, simply because I hung up on them!
I've got "calls" from Gov. Strickland, Sen Voinavich, and a whole bunch of people I guess I'm supposed to know from Adam (at least THEY think they are important!) telling me I should vote yes on Issue 1 (without EVER going into what Issue 1 is!) and how great it will be for the state of Ohio. No proof.....no numbers.....no explanations.....just vote yes cuz WE like it!
And vote for a change a venue for the Columbus Casino. Say what? You made a big issue about making sure the casinos were placed in strategic areas and now you want to change that? No one SAYS why.....they just say that it's a better venue and would allow the casino to start early and be done faster. And the land it was SUPPOSED to be on? What happened to that? Who's paying for 1) the referendum to be put on the ballot and 2) the land that it was SUPPOSED to be on. Who left the group and now someone else wants that money and just happens to have such and such a spot.
Ashtabula wants an increase in the sales tax, so we can bring sheriff deputies back. OK, so everyone wants the deputies back.....after all, that's what we already pay them for with our taxes. But, yeah, let's add some to the sales tax of an already dead-for-sales county. Hello......if you haven't noticed......Ashtabula Mall (now Town Mall or whatever) is only half occupied and half of THEM are going down. Only Sears and K-Mart (which are the same store now) hang around because Wal-Mart is down the street.
30 miles east is Erie; 30 miles west is Mentor; 30 miles south is Niles......who needs Ashtabula? Gas prices notwithstanding....it will STILL be cheaper to do the bulk of your shopping ELSEWHERE. And it most certainly will NOT encourage retailers to locate here!
This is NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, people.
OK, got off track here a bit. Back to the phone.
I have a phone for MY convenience. It has a DO NOT CALL thing on it, cuz I don't WANT to listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry give a spiel. Unfortunately it does not block out the worst offenders.....the politicians, the political parties, the charities, etc. It only blocks the businesses.....and those were usually businesses that did exactly the same thing.....automatically dial numbers from the phone book and if/when someone answers it plugged into a pre-recorded spiel about siding (on your brick home). At least the charities are smart enough to use real people on the other end so they can try to talk you out of saying NO.
But the phone is still for MY convenience.....not outsiders who think everthing they think is THE way to think. I give my number out to people who want/need it for things I want to do or that I need. The rest of you clowns are impinging on MY freedom.....I didn't ask for you to call, nor do I need/want what you have to offer; if I did, I would call YOU!
So here's how it goes down this voting day:
Every person who wasted my time or answering machine with pre-recorded calls, I didn't vote for you.
Every issue that had a pre-recorded message from somebody who is or thought they were important.....I voted against.
Maybe if we all do this, we can have OUR LIVES back.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Health care----Threats???
The big Health Care Bill passed.
I'm still against it.
Especially with all the "extra" things attached to it, that don't even RELATE to health care.
(What does college tuition and pell grants have to do with health care??????)
I'm against it.....but I am NOT going to make death threats about it.
I mean, come on.......DEATH THREATS? Threatening families just because you don't agree.
Well, hello people......here's a news flash for ya:
WE LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WE ARE ALLOWED TO DISAGREE WITHOUT THE FEAR OF REPRISALS!!!!!
Threats such as these are used by the Gestapo.....the SS.....the KGB....and other secret police of various third world nations. Also known as FASCISM.
Have we learned NOTHING from history? Or are we so infantile that we think bullying is the only way to get OUR way.
There is a system in place. If you don't like the way your guy votes....vote him out. Now, I recognize that someone can do an AWFUL lot of damage while he's in office, since elections are at prescribed times. But it CAN be reversed, if that's what the majority want and vote the other guys out.
If there's a flaw in democracy.....that has to be it. Otherwise it provides us with a way to let our voices be heard (in the pure and simple of it).
But that pure and simple of it......that's what we need to get back to.
Bills that discuss/promote/regard ONE thing......not with 15 additional things that have nothing to do with the original SUBJECT, let alone the bill.
Sometimes a great idea (on paper, at least) often is completely unworkable in the real world. I think the Health Care bill is in this section. I could be wrong; it will all come out eventually. Unfortunately, so mny have such a high stake in it, that they are likely to go way out of their way to prevent us from seeing it.
I really do think everyone should see the movie: "V for Vendetta". It's corny, but there are a lot of little kernels of truth in it.
I'm still against it.
Especially with all the "extra" things attached to it, that don't even RELATE to health care.
(What does college tuition and pell grants have to do with health care??????)
I'm against it.....but I am NOT going to make death threats about it.
I mean, come on.......DEATH THREATS? Threatening families just because you don't agree.
Well, hello people......here's a news flash for ya:
WE LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WE ARE ALLOWED TO DISAGREE WITHOUT THE FEAR OF REPRISALS!!!!!
Threats such as these are used by the Gestapo.....the SS.....the KGB....and other secret police of various third world nations. Also known as FASCISM.
Have we learned NOTHING from history? Or are we so infantile that we think bullying is the only way to get OUR way.
There is a system in place. If you don't like the way your guy votes....vote him out. Now, I recognize that someone can do an AWFUL lot of damage while he's in office, since elections are at prescribed times. But it CAN be reversed, if that's what the majority want and vote the other guys out.
If there's a flaw in democracy.....that has to be it. Otherwise it provides us with a way to let our voices be heard (in the pure and simple of it).
But that pure and simple of it......that's what we need to get back to.
Bills that discuss/promote/regard ONE thing......not with 15 additional things that have nothing to do with the original SUBJECT, let alone the bill.
Sometimes a great idea (on paper, at least) often is completely unworkable in the real world. I think the Health Care bill is in this section. I could be wrong; it will all come out eventually. Unfortunately, so mny have such a high stake in it, that they are likely to go way out of their way to prevent us from seeing it.
I really do think everyone should see the movie: "V for Vendetta". It's corny, but there are a lot of little kernels of truth in it.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
What happened to us?
As Americans, we are proud of most everything we do. Our History is full of our individualism; of our determination to "make it on our own"; to do the right thing; to take our lumps along with our accolades.
Somewhere, we lost it. Whether it's in business or just everyday lives, we seem to have lost our sense of accountability, our sense of responsibility and, most importantly, our sense of doing right by ourselves.
We have become a nation of victims, of whiners, of "what's in it for me?". We have given up our choice to do what we feel needs to be done to a bureaucratic government that tells us what needs to be done.
Take Health Care (please).
There are many things that are good about the new Health Care Bill; things that should have been done long ago (and everyone knows that). But the one thing NO ONE seems to know, is how this thing is going to be paid for.
Let's take a look at some things.
This will require everyone to have Health Insurance. Not bad on the surface. But that means that someone will have to pay to have it, where before they had the option to use their own money for what they deemed important. Who's paying for it? Those people who can not afford it in the first place. Or maybe those people who are taxed for it who really cannot afford to subsidize themselves, let alone anyone else. Once again, the "middle-class" gets the short end of the stick.
And, let's remember our History. Wasn't Medicaid and Medicare supposed to take care of all this? Weren't these programs for precisely those who could not afford it? Of course we all know what a debacle these programs are, with the fraud and bureaucratic bungles. Who is to say that this will not just be a bigger bureaucracy with even more problems, simply because it would have to be so huge.
Insurance companies cannot drop people who have to use massive amounts for the catastrophic illnesses. Yeah, we needed that.
Insurance companies cannot deny for pre-existing conditions. Ditto.
BUT.....what about prescriptions. Yeah, the DRUG companies. Those guys who lobby for ridiculous prices. "Oh, well we put a lot of research into this and we need to get our money back out." OK, valid argument. But when a pill costs $0.15 to make and you charge the consumer $15.00, that's not recouping.....that's rape. And it's worse when the person who needs that pill is having trouble just trying to have enough to eat. Make it doubly worse by shipping the exact same pill to another country for $0.40 a pill, or less. "Oh, but we didn't have to jump through all the hoops and pay all the fees in these other countries." Well, that's OUR government's fault; not the person who needs the medications.
My biggest concern is, well cost, obviously......as in who's going to pay for all this.
I was talking to a big supporter of the Bill, and, while I agreed that there was a lot of good in the bill, I wondered where the money was going to come from.
His response: "I don't care where it comes from, we need it."
OMG. He has no idea. He makes more than the $88,000/yr that is the limit of being subsidized. I don't. He could be subsidizing ME! He has no idea that, as it stands now, HE will be taxed to pay for this bill. And, let me tell you, he does NOT like money being taken out of his check!!!
I have a friend who has been unemployed for some time. This person has taken the responsibility of getting (cheap) health insurance, even though it is coming out of the unemployment check that barely allows for food and shelter. This friend cannot understand why no one else can do that.....why so many want the Government to "take care of them", instead of just doing it themselves. Well, we know why......they want to buy their big-screen TV's, their cigarettes, their PlayStations; all the "fun" stuff. And why should anyone pay for something if the government will do it for you?
Remember the USSR? Remember Mao-ist China?
And then, we wonder why.
Somewhere, we lost it. Whether it's in business or just everyday lives, we seem to have lost our sense of accountability, our sense of responsibility and, most importantly, our sense of doing right by ourselves.
We have become a nation of victims, of whiners, of "what's in it for me?". We have given up our choice to do what we feel needs to be done to a bureaucratic government that tells us what needs to be done.
Take Health Care (please).
There are many things that are good about the new Health Care Bill; things that should have been done long ago (and everyone knows that). But the one thing NO ONE seems to know, is how this thing is going to be paid for.
Let's take a look at some things.
This will require everyone to have Health Insurance. Not bad on the surface. But that means that someone will have to pay to have it, where before they had the option to use their own money for what they deemed important. Who's paying for it? Those people who can not afford it in the first place. Or maybe those people who are taxed for it who really cannot afford to subsidize themselves, let alone anyone else. Once again, the "middle-class" gets the short end of the stick.
And, let's remember our History. Wasn't Medicaid and Medicare supposed to take care of all this? Weren't these programs for precisely those who could not afford it? Of course we all know what a debacle these programs are, with the fraud and bureaucratic bungles. Who is to say that this will not just be a bigger bureaucracy with even more problems, simply because it would have to be so huge.
Insurance companies cannot drop people who have to use massive amounts for the catastrophic illnesses. Yeah, we needed that.
Insurance companies cannot deny for pre-existing conditions. Ditto.
BUT.....what about prescriptions. Yeah, the DRUG companies. Those guys who lobby for ridiculous prices. "Oh, well we put a lot of research into this and we need to get our money back out." OK, valid argument. But when a pill costs $0.15 to make and you charge the consumer $15.00, that's not recouping.....that's rape. And it's worse when the person who needs that pill is having trouble just trying to have enough to eat. Make it doubly worse by shipping the exact same pill to another country for $0.40 a pill, or less. "Oh, but we didn't have to jump through all the hoops and pay all the fees in these other countries." Well, that's OUR government's fault; not the person who needs the medications.
My biggest concern is, well cost, obviously......as in who's going to pay for all this.
I was talking to a big supporter of the Bill, and, while I agreed that there was a lot of good in the bill, I wondered where the money was going to come from.
His response: "I don't care where it comes from, we need it."
OMG. He has no idea. He makes more than the $88,000/yr that is the limit of being subsidized. I don't. He could be subsidizing ME! He has no idea that, as it stands now, HE will be taxed to pay for this bill. And, let me tell you, he does NOT like money being taken out of his check!!!
I have a friend who has been unemployed for some time. This person has taken the responsibility of getting (cheap) health insurance, even though it is coming out of the unemployment check that barely allows for food and shelter. This friend cannot understand why no one else can do that.....why so many want the Government to "take care of them", instead of just doing it themselves. Well, we know why......they want to buy their big-screen TV's, their cigarettes, their PlayStations; all the "fun" stuff. And why should anyone pay for something if the government will do it for you?
Remember the USSR? Remember Mao-ist China?
And then, we wonder why.
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