tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60094403330410817462024-03-13T03:02:44.436-07:00ByersAwareObservations on current affairs -- government, politics, ethics, human rightsByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-79509168016863448512014-05-31T17:03:00.000-07:002014-05-31T17:05:06.984-07:00Morality, Anyone?
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<h4 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><em>Most of us like to think we are moral. So, when did our nation become dominated by people who place their own luxury above another person's survival?</em></span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><em>The brief "minimum wage" message below was written by a fellow named Earl Dibbles Jr. It has been posted on tens of thousands of Facebook pages. My comments follow. Please share your opinion.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-color: #999999;">Don’t like the minimum wage? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #999999;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #999999;">If you’ve got minimum skills, minimum education, show
minimum motivation, and provide a minimum contribution to the workplace, why
the hell should someone be forced to pay you more?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Well, think about it.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Is that the kind of person you see when you are served by a waiter or
waitress, buy a burger at McDonalds or a garden tool at Walmart? Those Walmart
workers, paid an </span><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="font-size: large;">average</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
of about $19,000 a year, <em><span style="color: blue;">contributed enough to the workplace</span></em> that profits from
their labors have provided six Walmart owner families with as much wealth as
the total combined wealth of the poorest one-third of Americans. But they earn so little that we
taxpayers keep them out of abject poverty by providing <span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: red;">$400,000 a year</span><span style="background-color: lime;"></span></span><span style="background-color: lime;"></span> worth
of Medicaid, food stamps, earned income credits, and other services for those
workers at every average Walmart store.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And six Walmart families--four of whom are among the 10 richest in the nation-- get the extra profits from the help that taxpayers give to their employees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Minimum education? <o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">If those minimum wage workers have minimum
education, is that because they are lazy? Or is it because they are born with below average IQ, which is one half the people in the nation? Or because they were born to a single low-income
parent in a ghetto where they face danger of getting shot or robbed or beaten
on the way to school? Or because they have poorly motivated teachers with too
few supplies in a school house that is falling apart? (See a recent New Yorker
article on the Newark schools.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">One More Thing. <o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Census Bureau records show there is a single Wall Street hedge fund manager who makes </span><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="font-size: large;">$1.4 million an hour.</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
This is as much as 85,000 school teachers combined. What does he do? He moves
money around for the very wealthy people. And he gets paid even if his
investors lose money through his efforts. He pays only 15% tax because his lobbyists got him (and other hedge fund managers) a special provision in the tax law. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;">Who contributes more to society, the
hedge fund manager or the school teacher? How about 85,000 school teachers?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><em>Those are my opinions. What are yours?</em></span></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-23989341680930682072013-11-19T12:37:00.000-08:002013-11-19T12:37:38.759-08:00TruthExchange: Scrooge Is Among Us<h2>
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<i style="font-weight: normal;">Christmas is drawing
near. It’s time to watch out for Santa Claus, and also for Scrooge.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></i></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">This is a summary of information from the 24/7 Wall Street
blog. It is based on a survey done by Glassdoor.com.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Ten of the largest U.S. employers pay their workers an
average of about $19,000 a year, or about $9 an hour. They pay their CEOs an average of $15.3
million a year, or about $7,356 per hour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Those are rough averages, based on 40 hours a week and 52
weeks a year. CEO compensation varies from the two highest of $28.9 million at
Starbucks and $20.7 million at Walmart , to the two lowest of $1.3 million at
Sears and $11.1 million at Krogers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Walmart is the largest U.S. employer, with 1.4 million
workers. The smallest in this group of 10 low-wage companies is Starbucks with
120,000 employees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">The other eight employers in this list are McDonald’s,
Target, Krogers, Yum! Brands, Sears, Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Red
Lobster), Macy’s, and TJX Cos. (Marshall’s, TJMax).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Another report currently in the news estimates that the
employees at a Walmart Supermarket in Wisconsin receive $900,000 a year in
taxpayer support because their low wages qualify them for Medicaid, food stamps,
and other benefits. </span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"> Estimates made in
other states a few years ago placed the taxpayer cost at $400,000 to $800,000
for each Walmart store. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></i></div>
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<i style="font-weight: normal;">So, in a sense, what
we don’t pay at the cash register, we pay in taxes to supplement with food
stamps the low wages of the person who operates the cash register. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Walmart management disputes the salary figures for its
employees, citing $25,000 a year average. Much depends on how figures are calculated.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</h2>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-8821434942900441372013-11-18T15:05:00.000-08:002013-11-18T15:05:19.953-08:00Conservative Health Care<i>A converted former right-wing Republican contributed this story:</i><br />
<br />
<b>Luci and Her Visitor</b><br /><br />Luci was sick at heart. <br /><br />On the way
home at 10 PM, from her second job as a cleaner, the stars finally aligned and
three pieces fell into place; she saw an open drugstore, she had twenty extra
dollar in her purse, and she remembered she hadn't had her period since -- well,
she couldn't really remember. It had been at least four months. She stopped at
the store, and bought a pregnancy test.<br /><br />She'd missed periods before,
which her girlfriend Katya had put down to overwork, bad diet, and the strain of
trying to raise a child with almost no money. Luci and baby Liza lived in a
fleabag motel which served two types of patrons -- those who rented by the hour
(Luci could hear their rutting through the thin walls), and those whose only
alternative was the street. A tenement-style apartment would be cheaper, but
Luci found it impossible to save up a security deposit. Liza, a terrible two,
was cared for by the kindly old lady in the next unit, who cleaned the motel
toilets in lieu of rent. Luci had no idea what she'd do if the old lady died or
moved away. <br /><br />Luci had been home for ten minutes, and had gone straight
to the bathroom with the test. She knew she had to go next door and collect her
child, but first she had to compose herself and find some strength. The test
had been positive.<br /><br />Luci knelt by her bed, her face on the threadbare
blanket, and sobbed. "Dear God, why?" she said. "I'm not a bad girl. It's
just that I get so lonely, and when some man looks at me cross-eyed, I get
pregnant. Billy told me I looked pretty, gave me one beer after work, made love
to me in the bed of his truck, and then he never called, and now I have his baby
in me. It's not fair. Help me, God. Help me."<br /><br />There was a sighing as
of wind, and a dim red glow appeared in the corner of the room. A voice said,
"I vill hear your petition." The voice had an Eastern European
accent.<br /><br />Luci didn't stop to question the reality of the apparition. She
poured out her heart -- the poverty, the dead end jobs, the pain of trying to do
right by Liza, and now the unexpected pregnancy -- a pregnancy in a state where
an abortion in the first trimester was hard to get, even if you had money, and a
pregnancy in the fourth or later month was unobtainable.<br /><br />"So vy did you
fall pregnant?"<br /><br />Luci confessed her lapse in judgment, precipitated by
loneliness and some unaccustomed alcohol.<br /><br />"This is vat you need to do.
Fly to San Francisco. Check into the Four Season hotel. Speak with the
concierge. She can set everyting up."<br /><br />Luci was dumbfounded. "What would
that cost?"<br /><br />"If you are careful, not more than ten tousand."<br /><br />"Ten
thousand?" Luci screamed. "I don't have ten!"<br /><br />"Den svallow your shame,
and see your GP. He can refer you to an OB-GYN who takes your employer's medical
plan."<br /><br />"I don't have a GP. And my employer doesn't give me medical. I
have two part-time jobs, and neither have benefits."<br /><br />"Vy do you have such
miserable jobs?"<br /><br />"Because I can't find anything better. Say, what sort
of angel are you, anyway?"<br /><br />"And vy can't you find anything
better?"<br /><br />"Probably because I'm a high school dropout. As you ought to
know, angel or lady or whatever you are, I can barely read. I can't even add
without a calculator."<br /><br />"And vy is dat? Are you lazy, or stupid, or
boat?"<br /><br />"Well, I wasn't lazy. I tried hard. But my teachers were all
shit; fifty kids to a class, and we all got A's and B's. One teacher actually
said, 'I'm not going to let a bunch of stupid kids destroy my career. You will
all pass. Let somebody else tell the principal that you're
unteachable."<br /><br />"Ant vere you unteachable? Vat is dat, if not
stupid?"<br /><br />"I don't know. All I know is, my Mom couldn't help me. She was
a dropout, too. I had no place to study at home. My teachers went home at
four. The school library closed at four."<br /><br />"So vy didn't your mother put
you into a better school?"<br /><br />"We were POOR! Don't you get it?
POOR!"<br /><br />"Many poor people overcome many obstacles and achieve great
success. Vy veren't you vun of dem? I vas."<br /><br />"Many poor people? How many
is many? Out of how many millions of poor people? Are most of them
...fools?"<br /><br />"Ach, dere it is. As Herbert Spencer said, 'The only
consequence of saving fools from their folly is to fill the world with fools.'
The world is full of fools because misguided people helped fools like you.
Vell, I'm not going to make the same mistake."<br /><br />"Go to hell!" Luci
screamed. "Who, or what, are you, anyway?"<br /><br />"Vat you should say is, 'Go
BACK to hell.' I am da ghost of da great philosopher Ayn Rand. In recognition
of my great visdom, Lord Satan has appointed me ambassador to the human race in
general, und to da Republican Party in particular."<br /><br />"Great wisdom, my
ass. Just go to hell. Or back to hell. Whatever."<br /><br />"Of course, Lord
Satan did not SAY it vas because of my great visdom. He is such a tease. Vat
is said vas, 'I'm kicking you out of hell because I can't stand the sight of
you. You'll never be a demon, you're already too big a bitch.' Funny, is it
not?"<br /><br />"Yeah. Hilarious." At the red glow faded, Luci's eyes fell on the
room's single closet, a dusty alcove with no door. Between her threadbare
clothes, there hung a wire coat hanger.ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-40368964054585954472013-11-13T20:20:00.000-08:002013-11-13T20:20:46.228-08:00Truth Exchange: ACA Is Great<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you read or listen to Republican obstructionists, you get the idea that the Affordable Care Act is a disaster. Listen to ordinary people and the story is different. Note this unsolicited response in an Oklahoma newspaper about one man's early enrollment:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">By <a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/users/profile/rdmill-166">R.D. Miller </a>on</span> Nov 13<o:p></o:p></div>
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The ACA is great. I enrolled and went from 700 bucks per
month to 328 starting in Jan. My old deductible was 10K and the new is about
6200.. There seems to be a lot of ranting about a good thing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My 700 bucks a month was via my wife's policy as a state
of Oklahoma teacher. My new policy for me will be BC/BShield and cuts my
insurance in half or more. My doctor and hospital choices will not
change. <o:p></o:p></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-80125635177042131612013-11-11T07:20:00.000-08:002013-11-11T07:20:59.063-08:00Job Creators?How often are voters taken in by the pious slogans of conservatives about "job creators" and "makers" and "takers?" Bob Bianchini of Tulsa offers this insightful observation:<br />
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<span class="fn"><span style="outline-color: invert; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="outline: invert none 0px;">By Bob
Bianchini, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa</st1:place></st1:city></span></span></b></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Batang; font-size: small;">Frank Wang, who is
paid $75,000 a year as president of Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics,
rejected an opportunity for a large raise because he feared the adverse impact
it likely would have on one or more of his employees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Batang;"><br /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Batang; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span>A consultant
had recommended a salary range of from $87,212 to $130,818 for his position. "I
told our finance guy that I would decline any increase because 70 percent of our
expenditures are for personnel, and I likely would have to let someone go or
reduce someone's work hours to get the pay increase," Wang
said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Batang; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Batang; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span>Compare that
to the president of a Rhode Island-based toy company, whose pay was bumped up
from $25 million to $28 million, at the same time the company let 170 employees
go. Can you imagine how many jobs the so-called "job creators" actually would
create if they had the same attitude as Wang? Don't hold your
breath.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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--ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-11205981330261269142013-11-10T12:53:00.000-08:002013-11-10T12:53:49.954-08:00Is Medicaid Anti-Christian?If you ever wonder what evangelical pastors think about government helping the poor, this link from CNN will enlighten you. <a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/08/the-obamacare-question-pastors-shun/">http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/08/the-obamacare-question-pastors-shun/</a> . I personally have had Baptist ministers give me the same interpretation of Christian theology that you will find in this article. I don't mean to exclude other denominations; I just have not asked them.ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-27918206402580074672013-11-05T10:38:00.000-08:002013-11-05T10:38:02.225-08:00Truth Exchange: Blame Dems for Saving World<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>A Republican sought to get even with a Democrat who had posted a list of the Republicans'negative accomplishments. He sought to do it with sarcasm, which immediately backfired on him. Here is his sarcasm, followed by our response:</i></span></b></div>
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px;">By Ch</span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 8.5pt;">arles Reed </span></b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 4;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">A Democrat posted a list, of the Republicans' accomplishments in the last 100 years. So, I
think it only fair to name a few of the Democrats' "accomplishments."<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">1</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. World War I: 53,000 killed; total casualties,
204,000<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">2</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. World War II: 400,000 killed; total
casualties, 1,078,000<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">3</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. Korean War: 50,000-plus killed; total
casualties, 103,000<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">4</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. Vietnam War: 53,000 killed; total casualties,
153,000<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The sad thing is that most
of these men were from 17 years to 23 years old. Thousands lost legs, arms,
eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">I guess maybe for some
people this pales in comparison to things like Watergate, the Great Recession
and shutdown of the federal government for a few days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> <b>Truth Exchange</b></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Mr. Reed,<br style="outline: 0px;" /><br />
</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Can you remember a little incident known as Pearl Harbor? If President Roosevelt and Congress had not responded with war, you would be speaking either
Japanese or German today and ruled by either an emperor or a dictator. You seem
to approve of that idea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Do you also like
the idea of a nuclear armed North Korean dictatorship controlling the great industrial
capacity of South Korea, if Truman had not intervened?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Or even Europe and England ruled by
Germany, in whatever form it might have taken, if we had not entered WWI (which
historians now label as "the useless war" but which, nevertheless,
would have ended with a German victory if Pres. Wilson had not first shipped
supplies to England and then joined in the fighting.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Vietnam was a
terrible mistake, taken by a Democratic president. 1968 I made the mistake of voting for Nixon, who promised to end the war but instead expanded it into Cambodia and also brought us Watergate. I
regret that personal mistake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Without Democrat President Roosevelt's
job-creating and bank-regulating emergency actions, my family would have
starved during Hoover's Great Depression. So, I would not be here to chide you
for your ill-considered statements. Presuming you survived all those other
calamities, I suppose you could thank Pres. Hoover and the conservatives in
Congress for that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-54444703319444177102013-11-02T19:08:00.000-07:002013-11-02T19:08:17.178-07:00Give and Take: TruthExchange<h2>
Health Care? Who Needs Health Care?<o:p></o:p></h2>
<h2>
<span class="fn"><i><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal;">This posting responds
with facts to false claims made against the health care act in Oklahoma.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></h2>
<h2>
<span class="fn"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 10.0pt;">Michael Brakey,
Skiatook</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal;">,OK </span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">The rollout of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://healthcare.gov/"><span style="color: #457d9d; font-size: 10.0pt;">Healthcare.gov</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">has been a complete disaster. Stories of the site malfunctioning are
being reported everywhere. Regular Americans are having extreme difficulty
signing up. Liberals like Sen. Joe Manchin and entertainer Jon Stewart
("The Daily Show") think a delay of the individual mandate would be a
good idea.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">Some Obama-supporters are beginning to face increased costs for health
care. Health-care companies are laying off Medicare doctors in droves. For
instance, United HealthCare just fired thousands of Medicare Advantage doctors.
That means less supply of care.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">The Obama administration exempted Congress from "Obamacare."
President Obama delayed the mandate for big business. Why shouldn't the mandate
be delayed for all of the American people?<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<i>TruthExchange<o:p></o:p></i></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;">Mr. Brakey, do you have any interest in truth? Or do you just want to
scare people the way you are scared?<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> United Health Care has not "fired"
Medicare Advantage doctors. It has merely removed some doctors from its
network. This does not affect the availability of those doctors to treat other
patients.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> At last account, the CEO of United Health
Care made $5 million a year, even after the company had to pay $900 million in
a lawsuit for backdating claims. And that was before the Affordable Care Act
kicked in. It doesn't sound like the company, or the doctors, are suffering too
much.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> The Obama Administration did not
"exempt" Congress from Obamacare, whatever you meant by that. Read my
response (below) to Rob Morrison.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> And, finally, Sen. Joe Manchin is far from
being a liberal. He is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> Halloween is over. It’s safe for you to
come out from under the covers and stop being afraid of hobgoblins.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="color: windowtext;">R</span><a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/users/profile/bobmo-157"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">ob Morrison,
Tulsa</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> Mr Brakey, Oblameo is all about political
payback; that’s why he gave Congress and big business special favors regarding
Oblameocare. Don’t think for a second that he "cares" about the
little people. He and his central planners will not be deterred from their
mission, which is to shut down the insurance industry. The Oblameocare website
was such a big success that only 6 people signed up the first day. <o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> No wonder the serpentine Kathleen Sebelius
wouldn’t answer the congressional question when she was asked whether or not
she would enroll in Oblameocare if she had that option. Her answer was “it’s
against the law for me to enroll in the health plan…” That encapsulates the
ignorance and elitist arrogance of the Obama administration. They had no
intention of ever signing on to this mess.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> Why is it that some Republicans are stepping forward and announcing that their
staffs were forgoing their subsidies and joining Oblameoare? Why is it that not
a single Democrat has stepped forward offering to do the same thing? It’s
called hypocrisy.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h2>
<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">TruthExchange</span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> Mr. Morrison, Congress has the <i><u>burden</u></i> of special, and costly<u>,
restrictions</u>, not favors. Sen. Grassley amended the law so that Congress
members and staffs have to give up the employer-based coverage that every other
large employer provides and instead buy the insurance individually on the
exchange. Grassley, a Republican, hoped this would make members vote against
the law. It did not.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> Nearly
half of the members of Congress are millionaires. They can afford the change.
Their staffs, however, are ordinary working people with families to support.
This will be a burden to them.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> Previously, about two-thirds of the premiums
for their insurance was paid by their employer. About 95 percent of all
Americans who have health insurance today get premium support from employers,
or belong to Medicare. Only people who have or need individual policies—and,
now, Congressional members and staff—are eligible to use the ACA exchanges.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> And,
wrong again, Mr. Morrison. Secretary Sebelius was exactly right. As a Medicare
recipient, the law prevents her from getting additional insurance through the
exchanges. Try FactCheck.org for a full explanation. <o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> The Affordable Care Act was passed to make
insurance available to those who have none, not for those who have insurance
available for them through their employers or Medicare.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-20903830239892909642013-10-31T19:19:00.000-07:002013-10-31T19:19:52.254-07:00Warren Buffett Veers Right<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Newspaper Ignores Facts, Panders Right-Wing</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">By
Bradley C. Byers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two years ago, billionaire Warren Buffett became a minor hero to
Democrats and liberals when he wrote an op ed in the New York Times and told
Charlie Rose on CNBC that the richest people should pay at least as much tax,
as a percentage of income, as his secretary pays.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Using himself as an example, he said that he pays about 14 percent while
some of his small office staff pay as much as 31 percent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since that time, Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group has been buying
newspapers in small to medium sized cities. As of March 2013 he had bought 28
papers, and in July he purchased more. He has said he hopes to save those
newspapers, as well as turn a small profit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In doing so, he brought hope to some
communities. Tulsa, Oklahoma is a good example. Although clearly declining in
size and staff, the 95,000 daily circulation Tulsa World had held to its
reputation of solid reporting and even-handed editorials that tried to lead
readers to a better understanding of national issues than they were getting
from right-wing talk shows and the internet. This, in a state with a solid
tradition of right-wing politics.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every state-wide and national office in Oklahoma
is held by Republicans. And in the 2012 primary, Tulsans elected a tea party
Republican over a strongly conservative Republican incumbent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, many in Tulsa looked to Buffett’s
purchase with hope that it would not mean the imposition of strongly
conservative interpretations into the newspaper’s staff-written editorials.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">But that was not to be. Mr. Buffett’s newly appointed publisher
immediately announced that the newspaper would “reflect the views of the
community.” The result became apparent on October 29 when the lead editorial
concluded: “…if the Obama Administration can’t put together a working website
with years of advance notice, what would lead us to conclude they can actually
do anything about health care costs?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="outline: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day, the editorialist followed
with “The flawed
roll-out of the "Obamacare" exchange system put the administration's
competence in question.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a letter to the editor, a long-time
reader challenged the basis of such conclusions. “That’s like saying ‘if an
army cannot advance through a mine field without losing some soldiers, how can
they win a battle?’ Republicans planted mines and fired artillery at every
possible moment to try to stop Obamacare from working. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Obama planned for the states to set up
the websites, using Federal dollars. But 36 Republican states refused, while challenging
the law in court and trying 43 times to repeal it. So, after waiting for the Supreme
Court to rule, the Administration had the hugely complex job of setting up
websites covering those 36 states, with different insurance companies and
policies in every state. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“As a final effort,” the letter continued,
“Republicans shut down the government in a futile attempt to remove funding for
Obamacare. And now the Tulsa World tells us the resulting start-up problems are
‘proof …that the federal government has no place in this business (of health
care) in the first place.’<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“To the editorial writers we used to
respect, RIP. To the owner, Mr. Buffett, and the present staff of editorialists, ‘for
shame.’”<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
### <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Bradley C.
Byers, of Tulsa, is a retired journalist. He writes the blog ByersAware, where
this article will soon appear.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<a href="http://byersaware.blogspot.com/2013/10/freedom-to-be-ignorant.html">http://byersaware.blogspot.com/2013/10/freedom-to-be-ignorant.html</a>ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-82334124731680287932013-10-30T20:30:00.000-07:002013-10-30T20:30:38.866-07:00Freedom To Be Ignorant<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My Money or My Life</span></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In one of
Jack Benny’s enduring jokes, he was accosted by a highwayman who demanded, “Stand
and deliver. Your money or your life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After a pause,
the highwayman repeated: “I said, your money or your life!” To which Benny
responded: “I’m THINKING.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lots of
ordinary Republicans hate government in any form, as much as Benny pretended to
hate spending money. Republicans like spending money. Just not on taxes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 162.95pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So they complain:
“The government thinks it knows how to spend my money better than I do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That “my
money” comment always puzzles me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 4;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> I'm puzzled
about how to spend "my" money without paying taxes. Doesn’t the
government print and mint that money? No taxes, no government. No government,
no money. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> The Republicans that I know like
to play the slot machines at the casino, and they like to buy guns. Could they raise enough chickens and
potatoes in their back yards to do that? First,
though, they’d have to trade some chickens to get someone to teach them how to
read the directions at the casino and the gun show.. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Oops
again. They’d need some potatoes to pay for riding the private toll road to get
to the casino. Takes lots of potato digging.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Darned
government, anyway. It just interferes with our freedom to be as ignorant as we
choose to be.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-82957006267931100982013-10-21T13:19:00.000-07:002013-10-21T13:19:08.135-07:00Obamacare: A Mushroom Cloud<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
According to the new editorial chief
of the Tulsa World newspaper, prosperous businesses refuse to hire new people
because they are uncertain about details in the
Affordable Care Act and worry about future changes. That, plus the
potential that the national debt will “wreck the U.S. economy.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
And, the editor writes, if you already
have a job and insurance, the Affordable Care Act is “costing you the
prosperity of an economy growing fast enough to make sure your children and grandchildren
have jobs and insurance too.” This, he says, is the most effective argument available
to opponents of the act.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
As evidence, he cites the decision of a mushroom farmer who has 300 employees and 250 contract
workers. This farmer said his business needs another 100 people. But he won’t
expand because of “ever-present concern”
about possible rules changes in the Affordable Care Act, and the potential for
the national debt to wreck the economy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This mushroom
farmer is used by Oklahoma’s Sen. Tom Coburn to attack the ACA and the national
debt. There was no acknowledgement by the senator or the editorialist that the
number one uncertainty in the nation is an economy devastated by a recession -- a recession triggered by Republican policies of tax cuts and deregulation long before the
ACA was anything more than a dream.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so it
goes in the World of conservative Republicans who just last week cost the nation’s economy an
estimated $24 billion by shutting down government for 16 days. And they seem ready to do so again next January.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">None So Blind</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Christian
bible contains a verse to this effect:<i> “There is none so blind as he who will
not see.” </i>Last week a writer for Salon magazine showed just how true that verse
can be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three couples
appeared on Fox News to complain about how much they are suffering because of
Obamacare. The Salon writer, who has
worked on insurance issues for a western state governor, was suspicious. So, he
spoke with each complainant by phone, and then did some research on the web.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first
couple said they cannot expand their business because of Obamacare. But they
did not disclose on Fox that they have only four employees. Obamacare does not
affect businesses with fewer than 50 employees.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second
couple pay $13,000 a year for insurance that excludes one of their children because
of a pre-existing condition. They complained because their carrier has advised
them it will have to make changes in their policy under Obamacare. They have
not explored any options. They hate Obamacare.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the
reporter did explore the options. He found the couple could get a
policy on the exchange that would cost 60 percent less and would also cover
their child.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The third
couple are self-employed. They pay $10,000 for health insurance. They said their
insurance company told them their premiums will go up by 50 to 75 percent
because of Obamacare. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Again, the
reporter checked the exchange. He found a policy with equal coverage that would
cost the couple 63 percent less, not more.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> Indeed, there are none so blind as
those who will not see </i>– beyond the ranting of Ted Cruz and Fox News.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can read
the Salon story on AlterNet at http://www.alternet.org/print/media/fox-news-coverage-obamacare-was-extremely-misleading.<o:p></o:p></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-18503754043695159202013-10-18T10:12:00.000-07:002013-10-18T10:12:02.813-07:00Give and Take--Will ACA Collapse?<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A newspaper in a tea party state printed this letter Oct. 18:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 15px;"> </span> <i> Yes, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. But "we the people" didn't get to vote on its passage. It was forced on us by a Democratic House, Democratic Senate, and Democratic president.</i></div>
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<i> It doesn't benefit the majority of U.S. citizens. In fact, only about 30 million are covered. But the financial impact hits everyone. We don't need to repeal it because it will collapse under its own weight<span style="font-size: xx-small;">.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10px;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> And drew this response: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">You </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;">do not get to vote personally on the laws the government
passes. You vote only on your representatives. The majority of Americans
voted for the representatives and president who enacted the Affordable Care
Act.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> They enacted it to
benefit you, and me, and most other Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> If you could set aside
your my-mind-is-made-up prejudices long enough to read objective information
about the law, you would see that it does benefit most of us. It allows people with high blood pressure or
diabetes to get insurance. It returned billions of dollars to people who were
being overcharged on their existing policies last year. It kept my 23
year-old-college-graduate granddaughter, now existing as a waitress
while searching for another job, on her parents insurance for another three
years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Despite roadblocks
thrown up by 21 states, the ACA set up web sites where people not
covered by employer-based group insurance can search for the best available
plan. Yes, those web sites have some glitches. How many computer programs can
you name that encountered no problems at start-up?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In another year, the ACA
will lower the cost of insurance for you and me when our premiums no longer
have to pay for emergency room care for millions of people who had no insurance
before the ACA. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Yes, some people who are
already insured are going to pay higher premiums, at least for a while. In
return for those higher premiums, they can no longer be dropped, yearly and
lifetime limits on coverage have been removed, pre-existing illnesses will be
covered if they have to change insurance carriers through loss of their jobs or
other reasons, and their children can remain on their policies until age 26.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> And, despite all the
claims and all the obstacles thrown up by conservative Republicans, the ACA
will not collapse. On the contrary, those Republicans are worried precisely
because they know it will succeed and become as popular and beneficial as
Medicare and Social Security. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Relax. You may object to the taste of
this medicine as it goes down, but you'll feel better in the morning.</span>ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-67830947050789645312013-10-17T15:12:00.000-07:002013-10-17T15:12:47.069-07:00A Defensive Victory<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Wednesday night brought only a defensive victory for the forces of Camelot II. A mere 40 Barbarians led a 16 day siege of the castle, brought up their battering ram (debt ceiling), then withdrew with a concession on the sequester. And they vowed to renew the siege in 3 months.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">In my deep red state, new Republican registrations this year far outnumber Democrats. Camelot forces nationwide must register new recruits door to door in below-median neighborhoods. Each household must be given a compelling list of the miseries the Barbarians already have wrought on the poor, the middle class, and the nation, and what they hope yet to do. By and large, voters have little idea of what the conservatives have done to them. Without a successful inform-and-register blitz,, their will be no spring, summer, or November victories.</span>ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-3733517543750031782013-10-17T07:48:00.000-07:002013-10-17T07:48:46.858-07:00Love for Slavery?Through Deep Red Glasses<br />
<br />
Online newspaper comment by "Jean" in a deep red state:<br />
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"The Tea Party isn't going away, any more than the slave engineers aka Democrats. The former are members of the party that freed the slaves, while the latter are the party who brought the slaves to this country and then treated them worse than cattle. But some people in this country today continue to enjoy that enslavement and show their love of that wrong by continuing to vote their slavers back into power. <br />
<br />
"I will say it again: If Obama Care is so great, terrific for you and me, then why isn't it the same for Obama and the Democrats? Get the cobwebs out of your head and think about that one for a while."<br />
<br />
The statements by Jean were posted immediately after the vote in Washington, D.C. to reopen government. They carry important warnings for everyone who has hope of restoring sanity in Congress and in state governments: <i>The extremists will never be influenced by facts. Or, as was stated long ago, "You cannot reason prejudice out of a person; it wasn't reason that put it there."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Defying all reason, Jean thinks that people who receive any form of government assistance do so because they are lazy and irresponsible, and to her this is just another way of defining slavery. Remember Mitt Romney's statement that he could not make "the 47 percent take responsibility for themselves?"<br />
<i><br /></i>
And I wonder, has anyone ever explained to the Jeans of our nation that the Affordable Care Act, in the form of state exchanges, simply provides access to insurance <b>for those who do not already have coverage?</b> She thinks that government employees, whose health insurance with private companies is jointly funded by the employer and the employees, should be forced to drop that coverage and use the exchanges to seek individual policies. But she does not want to apply that rule to her own employer-assisted policy.<br />
<br />
In short, she does not think. She merely reacts to what she hears.<br />
<br />
You and I have two responsibilities toward the "Jeans" among us. The first responsibility is to make it publicly known that we disagree with them. If we let politeness prevent us from speaking out, Jean's neighbors will assume that she is right because they hear nothing else. The "herd instinct" will influence their opinions and their votes. That's why the red states--which are largely the Deep South--are so deeply red.<br />
<br />
Our second responsibility is to tell the inactive and the uninformed among us, especially the "47 percent," the truth about the harm they are suffering at the hands of the extreme conservatives. We must get them to register and vote. If we fail to do this, the extremists will win next year's elections.</div>
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ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-5968842543400397092013-10-13T21:32:00.001-07:002013-10-13T21:33:34.532-07:00Courage Needed<h4>
Missing: Courage to Admit a Mistake</h4>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A</span></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">ccording to Encyclopedia Britannica, in 2008 Obama won more
than 69 million votes. In 2012, more than 65 million. No other candidate has
ever surpassed 65 million votes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"> T</span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">he Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was a key issue in the
2012 election. Romney promised to repeal it. But Obama got 3 million more
popular votes than Romney. Another main issue on which Obama won was his
handling of the recession.<br />
<br /> </span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">C</span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">ontrast that to support for the Koch and tea party. Eleven of their members were
defeated. As of January 6, 2013, the their caucus had only 53 members. The House
of Representatives consists of 435 members, the Senate another 100. Yet this small minority of House
members have shut down much of the government and appear ready and perhaps able
to force the United States to refuse to pay its legitimate debts. That’s what
failure to raise the debt limit would do. It very likely would throw the entire
world into economic chaos. It would soon shut down payments of Social Security
benefits, veterans pensions, Medicare and Medicaid, and disrupt business and
employment throughout the nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">S</span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">omehow this small group, most of whom have little knowledge of how
the government operates, have been able to scare a lot of Americans into
thinking they are in danger of losing their freedoms—unnamed “freedoms” that often prove to be valuable or even essential services that the government performs
for its citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">W</span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">hy? Why do the American people put up with it? Why don’t the
people who voted for these members of Congress call their offices—either local
or in Washington—and tell them that they have had enough? Does it take too much
courage to admit, “I made a mistake, but I will not make it again?”<br />
<br /> </span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"> W</span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">ill we continue to let a small but loud minority set the agenda for the whole
country?"</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-12713286347616333672013-10-12T20:14:00.001-07:002013-10-12T20:14:35.143-07:00Give and Take Once More<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Who’s Afraid of
Healthcare?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> Annie posted on “Politicususa” : </span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What I don’t get is how anyone can defend the healthcare Act. So
many Americans are seeing their hours cut, our healthcare costs are rising
because of it. Friends who did not have insurance were encouraged because the
Act was passed, only to learn that they could better afford healthcare before
all this was put into motion.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> COMMENT: Annie, if you are
getting this kind of false information from friends, you need to find better
friends. If from members of Congress, you need to listen to members who know
what they are talking about (among those to avoid, Michelle Bachmann and her belief that Obama is
supporting al-Qaeda and bringing the biblical end times; she read it in the
bible). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> There is no credible
information that what you claim to be true is happening on more than a
piecemeal scale. Your favorite Congressmen tell you the people don’t want
Obamacare, and yet 8 million started the signup process in the first week,
although the deadline is not until mid-March.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> FactCheck.org says,</span> <span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“<span style="background: white; color: #444444;">The fact
is, some will pay more and some will pay less. Some currently uninsured
Americans will pay little or nothing because of the law’s expansion of Medicaid.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> That
Other Guy’s Too Fat </span></b><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Concerning
the shutdown, a reader wrote</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt;">: </span></i></span><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I think this country
needs to trim the fat. If your government job is not essential to the running
of this country, then it should not exist.</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> COMMENT: National parks
are not essential. But that's the first thing House Republicans threw a fit about when they
learned that the parks are a part of the government they voted to shut down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Is NASA essential? Do
you want to shut it down permanently? How about the FDIC that guarantees to pay
for your savings if your bank fails? It is not essential to the hourly wage
worker who has no bank account or savings. How about food and drug inspections?
Not essential if you grow all your own food and never need medicine. How about
public schools? Not essential if you have no children, or can afford private
schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><b> ONE PERSON’S “ESSENTIAL”</b>
is another person's luxury. Are you sure you have thought this subject through?
It is obvious that a lot of the people we elected to Congress have not thought
it through. Among a few thousand other shortcomings, they have thrown another
huge setback to the backlogged processing of claims for veterans' benefits by
shutting down much of the non-essential Veterans Administration. Obviously House Republicans do not consider it essential
to compensate or care for soldiers that they sent into combat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Oh, I forgot. All the
House Republicans did was cut off the money for the VA. It must be Obama's
fault for telling the employees they don't have to come to work without pay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-52759110976741619412013-10-11T09:03:00.000-07:002013-10-11T09:03:11.949-07:00Give and Take Lock 'em Up, Throw 'em Out<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> In a local newspaper, two letters repeated the fanciful (and in my view, irresponsible) notion that the way to get a functioning Congress is just to vote everyone out office. One of them also said the immediate solution is to lock the Congress and the President in a room together and not let them out until they reach agreement.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> These recommendations came in a red state and from congressional districts that sent two new tea party members to Congress last year, and a state that ranks among the worst in education, teenage births, single parent families, health insurance, poverty levels, voter turnout, and most every other indicator of government incompetence.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> COMMENT:<i> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 13.5pt;">"...vote
them out of office and elect a Congress that will do its job."</span></i></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Tell me, how
are you going to get the voters to educate themselves on what the new Congressional
candidates stand for? We get the Congress we elect, the Congress we deserve,
because we don't care enough to become informed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Take your
two NEW local Congressmen, both tea party members. Both strongly support government shutdown,
default on our nation's debts, and doing away with a new health care system
that 8 million people tried to sign up for in the first week it was offered
(contributing to a computer overload).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> It was
clear to anyone who bothered to pay attention that they held the same
anti-government beliefs as Newt Gingrich, who was responsible for the previous
shutdown. So, they naturally fell in behind Ted Cruz, who has visions of himself
as the second coming of Gingrich and his "contract with America."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; outline: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> As for
your lock-'em-up solution, that sounds a lot like the military takeover in
Egypt where they locked up the president (Morsi) and threw out the parliament.
(I am glad they got rid of Morsi but regret the way they had to do it.)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> My main
point: Citizens have to take responsibility, inform ourselves, and then vote
intelligently instead of voting for ideology and emotion.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>The problem does not start with Congress. It starts with us.</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-79345995978111614302013-10-09T20:49:00.001-07:002013-10-09T20:49:53.280-07:00Give and Take<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> In
the Beginning….<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b> Responding to our statement that voters should become informed,
not just promise to vote everybody out of office, a reader wrote:</b><i> "This
stuff (shutdown and refusal to raise the debt ceiling) started LONG before (the
2012) election.”</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> COMMENT: Of course it did. But that election
gave us Ted Cruz to replace the laughable “second-coming-end-of-the-world” Michelle
Bachmann as leader of the Koch-and-Tea Party. And it gave Shutdown-Ted more
followers. Unless voters study the
candidates and issues, the next election could give us a Republican-controlled
Senate, with Shutdown-Ted Cruz as Majority Leader. In that case, say goodbye to
Social Security and Medicare.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Big, Bad Government</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b> The reader further claimed: </b><i>"(It) began when
President Obama and the Democratic leadership of the 110<sup>th</sup> and 111<sup>th</sup>
Congresses enacted the largest peacetime expansion of the Federal government in
U. S. history, and chose to do so during the most severe economic downturn
since the Great Depression.”</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">COMMENT: Without the
expansion of unemployment compensation and food stamps, without the successful bailout
of General Motors, without the TARP funds, we’d have failed banks, bread lines,
soup kitchens, and unemployment approaching Great Depression levels. When the economy truly tanks, government has to spend to get it back on track.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> To Budge or not to Budge(it)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b> And he wrote further:</b><i> “Obama’s 2009 budget, $1.4 trillion deficit and all,
was pushed through Congress as an emergency measure that was absolutely
necessary for the survival of the nation and its economy. But then he dropped
the ball and allowed all of fiscal 2010 to go by without a Federal
budget."</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> COMMENT: The President
presented his budget request. But by law budget bills must originate in the House
and then be passed (or modified) by the Senate, then either sent to a conference
committee for negotiation or to the President for approval.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> It takes two to
tango, and two parties to pass a budget. The Democratic Senate sent its
modified budget bill to the House last April. The House refused to appoint a
conference committee to negotiate, all the while shouting loudly and falsely
that the Democrats would not negotiate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> And they are still
shouting, while shutting down much of the government, denying salaries,
veterans benefits, military death payments, food stamps, and many other
survival needs to both public employees and ordinary citizens whom they scorn
as freeloaders or worse—and whom they DO NOT want to have health insurance.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> The present impasse
and partial government shutdown is caused by House Republicans. They will not
agree to let spending continue at last year’s level (the usual practice) while
working on a full-year budget—all because they hope to force Obama to do away
with the Affordable Care Act against the will of the majority who elected him
for a second term.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-43074301357446405202013-10-08T15:14:00.001-07:002013-10-08T15:14:20.473-07:00Throw 'em Out<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 4;">
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A
newspaper reader wrote the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">We're seeing our
401(k)s and IRAs decrease every day as Congress plays its games, but lawmakers'
pensions or salaries will not decrease. Congress is more interested in the
party than what is best for the country.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Re-elect no one.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His letter is typical of people who take no personal
responsibility for voting, yet feel justified in criticizing the results. In
the area where this man lives, two new members were elected to Congress by wide
margins last year—and they are loudly outspoken in support of the very actions the letter-writer is
deploring. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
COMMENT: You are right to be concerned. But your solution is
part of the problem. Voters in your area "threw em out“ last year-- and got two worse
ones in their place. Bridenstine and Mullen are solidly in support of crashing
the government in order to gain power for their extreme right wing Koch and Tea
Party radicals. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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The only way to get good government, Mr. Smith, is to pay
attention to what is going on and who is causing the problems. Then vote for
people who by their stated positions and by the positions of their political
party demonstrate that they are for GOOD government, not SMALL government or
BIG government. Each of us should assess our own voting record and determine
whether we have been a part of the solution or part of the problem.<o:p></o:p></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-70758592187216039852013-10-07T10:21:00.000-07:002013-10-07T14:40:17.842-07:00Koch and Tea, Anyone?<h2>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">o</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Echo Chamber Shutdown</span></span></span></h2>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> R</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">epublicans in Congress live in an
echo chamber. They hear only their own voices coming back at them and think
they are messages from On High. Columnist Pat Buchanan typified that Octobaer 5 by
arguing that the government shutdown "is all about a petulant president whose
prize program the people do not want but who insists it be imposed upon
them." The echo chamber convinces Buchanan that such an absurd statement
is truth, ignoring the 7 million people who</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> rushed to sign up for the Affordable Care Act in the first 4
days although, he says, they do not want the "prize program."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #EDEFF4; margin-left: -.75pt; margin-top: .75pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Koch Protection Racket</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #EDEFF4; margin-left: -.75pt; margin-top: .75pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">o</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">T</span>he
Koch-and-Tea Party (KTP) in the House of
Representatives have declared that they will rule the nation like a
Mafia protection racket. First, they shut down all the government agencies
except those that have funding beyond their immediate control. Then, if you
want to reopen one part of it, such as the WWII memorial on the Washington
Mall, guarantee them lots of television publicity and they will let it reopen.
If you need food for your baby through the closed WIC program, just get down on
your knees and pledge everlasting loyalty to the KTP.</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #EDEFF4; margin-top: .75pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BUT, they will watch the entire government go up in
flames rather than provide funding for programs they do not like. Never mind
that doing so violates their own oath of office. </span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #EDEFF4; margin-top: .75pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">More Give and Take<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Several posts on
Facebook have said that Congress and the President should not get paid while
non-essential government workers are furloughed because the Republican House
refuses to pass a funding bill. Not a bad idea (especially if it applied only
to those House Republicans who are denying the funding). <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: large;">H</span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">OWEVER, I’m sure the President and the 257 members of
Congress who are millionaires (nearly half of Congress) can muddle through
somehow without their salaries. Did you know that the new crop we elected to
Congress just last year (Ted Cruz and company) also have a median net worth of
$1 million? I don't think they'd miss the salary very much. But the 7 million people
who ALREADY have tried to sign up for health insurance in the first 4 days of
Affordable Care Act exchanges would suffer if that insurance had not been made
available to them. (It IS AVAILABLE; the shutdown did not affect it, even
though it was the reason for the Republican rebellion.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Model
T and Health Care<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F2F2F2; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 31.5pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Oklahoma, the Governor and
Republican legislators lost federal funds for a state plan to insure <u>some</u>
low income people because of steps they took to deny Medicaid expansion under
the Affordable Care Act (which would have covered more poverty families at NO
cost to the state for 3 years, and then just 10 percent state cost afterward).
A citizen in Tulsa responded the following way:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">M</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">y
granddad's generation considered the Model T a great car. They loved its 20
horsepower engine, nifty 45 mph top speed and the great color selection
(black). </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some of our state’s politicians must love the Model
T. They praise “Insure Oklahoma.” They are not bothered by its limitations and
evidently they haven't noticed that something better has come along. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Affordable Care Act combined with expanded
Medicaid would cover more people than Insure Oklahoma does. The ACA would
accept people with pre-existing conditions. It allows children to remain on
their parents insurance up to age 26 instead of 19 (the age limit under Insure
Oklahoma). It e<span style="background: #F0F0F0;">liminates lifetime limits on
essential medical expenses. It prohibits insurers from dropping your coverage
or raising your premiums if you get sick. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: #F0F0F0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It provides free screenings and
closes the prescription “donut hole”. It sets coverage standards that insurers
have to meet. The ACA offers a greater selection of insurance products. The
state exchanges of the ACA allow you to compare fifty nine plans from five
different private insurers to pick the best fit for your family. But Oklahoma
is fighting it at the Supreme Court.</span><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #F0F0F0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While poorly informed politicians
may extol the virtues of Insure Oklahoma, it isn't adequate for the needs of
Oklahoma's uninsured. Like the Model T, Insure Oklahoma is just an outdated
clunker that doesn't provide the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Youth
Versus Wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Koch-and-Tea
Party freshman Rep. James Bridenstine used a news interview to proclaim his
support for shutting down the government rather than allowing the Affordable
Care Law to continue.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F2F2F2; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mr</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">.
Bridenstine, you are young and eager. These are good qualities. But eagerness
is no substitute for wisdom. A partial government shutdown is an extremely
damaging action, not a wise action. It does not hurt me directly, at least not
yet, but it is hurting many other people now and will cause long term damage to
many, many more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Your
stated reason for the shutdown is your desire to be rid of Obamacare. Yet,
already your House colleagues have conceded that the shutdown will not be able
to do that. Now they seem to be playing games to see whether they can wring
some kind of concessions from the majority in the Senate and from the President.
Those goals appear to be mostly face-saving rather than any realistic attempt
to provide good governance to the citizens whose interests you were elected to
uphold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
sincerely hope you have enough character to face reality in this situation, to help
pass a straightforward continuing resolution to fund government operations for
the near future, and to appoint a conference committee to negotiate with the
Senate, as the Senate has requested, on a long-term budget.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia bold"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kochs Fund Health
Care Fight <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia bold"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NYTimes Oct. 5, </span><span style="font-family: 'georgia bold'; font-size: 12pt;">2013</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14.5pt;">”The billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">, have been deeply involved with financing the
overall effort (to kill Obamacare by shutting down the federal government).</span>
A group linked to the Kochs, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, disbursed
more than $200 million last year to nonprofit organizations involved in the
fight. Included was $5 million to Generation Opportunity, which created a buzz
last month with an Internet advertisement showing a menacing Uncle Sam figure
popping up between a woman’s legs during a gynecological exam.</span>”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14.5pt;">Surely no comment is needed.
Pay attention to how often the House Republicans claim “the people don’t want
Obamacare.” These are the “people” they are talking about. Is there any doubt the Koch-and-Tea Party controls the U.S. House?</span></i></div>
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ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-52611705201427229792013-10-06T19:56:00.000-07:002013-10-07T10:21:56.221-07:00Tea Party Echoes<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #EDEFF4; margin-top: .75pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tea Party Echoes <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Republicans
live in an echo chamber. They hear their own voices coming back at them and
think they are messages from On High. Columnist Pat Buchanan typified that Oct.
5 by arguing the government shutdown "is all about a petulant president
whose prize program the people do not want but who insists it be imposed upon
them." The echo chamber convinces Buchanan that such an absurd statement
is truth, ignoring the 7 million people who rushed to sign up for the
Affordable Care Act in the first four days. Are these the people he says do not
want the program? Or are they just the millions who crave health insurance and
don’t know that the “Obamacare” they have been told to fear is actually the Affordable
Care Act?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Koch Protection Racket</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Koch-and-Tea Party (KTP) in the House of
Representatives have declared that they will rule the nation like a
Mafia protection racket. First, they shut down all the government agencies
except those that have funding beyond their immediate control. Then, if you
want to reopen one part of it, such as the WWII memorial on the Washington
Mall, guarantee them lots of television publicity and they will let it reopen.
If you need food for your baby through the closed WIC program, just get down on
your knees and pledge everlasting loyalty to the KTP.</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BUT, they will watch the entire government go up in
flames rather than provide funding for programs they do not like. Never mind
that doing so violates their own oath of office. </span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">More Give and Take<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Several posts on
Facebook have said that Congress and the President should not get paid while
non-essential government workers are furloughed because the Republican House
refuses to pass a funding bill. Not a bad idea (especially if it applied only
to those House Republicans who are denying the funding). <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">HOWEVER, I’m sure the President and the 257 members of
Congress who are millionaires (nearly half of Congress) can muddle through
somehow without their salaries. Did you know that the new crop we elected to
Congress just last year (Ted Cruz and company) also have a median net worth of
$1 million? I don't think they'd miss the salary very much. But the 7 million people
who ALREADY have tried to sign up for health insurance in the first 4 days of
Affordable Care Act exchanges would suffer if that insurance had not been made
available to them. (It IS AVAILABLE; the shutdown did not affect it, even
though it was the reason for the Republican rebellion.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Model
T and Health Care<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Oklahoma, the Governor and
Republican legislators lost federal funds for a state plan to insure <u>some</u>
low income people because of steps they took to deny Medicaid expansion under
the Affordable Care Act (which would have covered more poverty families at NO
cost to the state for 3 years, and then just 10 percent state cost afterward).
A citizen in Tulsa responded the following way:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
granddad's generation considered the Model T a great car. They loved its 20
horsepower engine, nifty 45 mph top speed and the great color selection
(black). </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some of our state’s politicians must love the Model
T. They praise “Insure Oklahoma.” They are not bothered by its limitations and
evidently they haven't noticed that something better has come along. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Affordable Care Act combined with expanded
Medicaid would cover more people than Insure Oklahoma does. The ACA would
accept people with pre-existing conditions. It allows children to remain on
their parents insurance up to age 26 instead of 19 (the age limit under Insure
Oklahoma). It e<span style="background: #F0F0F0;">liminates lifetime limits on
essential medical expenses. It prohibits insurers from dropping your coverage
or raising your premiums if you get sick. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: #F0F0F0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It provides free screenings and
closes the prescription “donut hole”. It sets coverage standards that insurers
have to meet. The ACA offers a greater selection of insurance products. The
state exchanges of the ACA allow you to compare fifty nine plans from five
different private insurers to pick the best fit for your family. But Oklahoma
is fighting it at the Supreme Court.</span><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #F0F0F0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While poorly informed politicians
may extol the virtues of Insure Oklahoma, it isn't adequate for the needs of
Oklahoma's uninsured. Like the Model T, Insure Oklahoma is just an outdated
clunker that doesn't provide the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Youth
Versus Wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Koch-and-Tea
Party freshman Rep. James Bridenstine used a news interview to proclaim his
support for shutting down the government rather than allowing the Affordable
Care Law to continue.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mr.
Bridenstine, you are young and eager. These are good qualities. But eagerness
is no substitute for wisdom. A partial government shutdown is an extremely
damaging action, not a wise action. It does not hurt me directly, at least not
yet, but it is hurting many other people now and will cause long term damage to
many, many more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Your
stated reason for the shutdown is your desire to be rid of Obamacare. Yet,
already your House colleagues have conceded that the shutdown will not be able
to do that. Now they seem to be playing games to see whether they can wring
some kind of concessions from the majority in the Senate and from the President.
Those goals appear to be mostly face-saving rather than any realistic attempt
to provide good governance to the citizens whose interests you were elected to
uphold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
sincerely hope you have enough character to face reality in this situation, to help
pass a straightforward continuing resolution to fund government operations for
the near future, and to appoint a conference committee to negotiate with the
Senate, as the Senate has requested, on a long-term budget.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia bold"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kochs Fund Health
Care Fight <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia bold"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NYTimes Oct. 6, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14.5pt;">”The billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">, have been deeply involved with financing the
overall effort (to kill Obamacare by shutting down the federal government).</span>
A group linked to the Kochs, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, disbursed
more than $200 million last year to nonprofit organizations involved in the
fight. Included was $5 million to Generation Opportunity, which created a buzz
last month with an Internet advertisement showing a menacing Uncle Sam figure
popping up between a woman’s legs during a gynecological exam.</span>”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14.5pt;">Surely no comment is needed.
Pay attention to how often the House Republicans claim “the people don’t want
Obamacare.” These are the “people” they are talking about.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6009440333041081746.post-37914116985781558812013-09-30T14:07:00.000-07:002013-09-30T14:07:42.095-07:00Give and Take -- An Online Exchange<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Give and Take – An Online Exchange</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i> <span style="color: #b45f06;">Care to know what your neighbors think about current affairs? Think you can bear to see how ill-informed most of them are? If so, try reading the online comments in a nearby newspaper. You might even want to take the time to respond</span>.</i> </b><br />
<i><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><br /></b></span></i>
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><i> Here are examples from my neighborhood newspaper, in a thoroughly red state, with my responses</i>: </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Double-dare</span><br />
[A gentleman named Michael Kollar wrote on Sep. 30, 2013:]
“Before President Obama issued his "red line" proclamation, there was no chemical gas attack in Syria. After the red line proclamation, Syrian President Bashar Assad gassed his own people. It seems to me that President Obama was playing that old I-double-dare-you game and he lost.”<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b> Response by ByersAware </b><br />
Mr. Kollar, Rush Limbaugh has two excuses for his absolutely idiotic rants. First, he gets paid millions for them. Second, his drug addiction may have scrambled whatever reasoning power he once possessed.
You are at a disadvantage with your rants.<br />
Are you already working on your lame-brain response if President Obama's shrewd diplomacy, backed up by a credible and highly public military threat, brings removal of Syria's chemical weapons and an effective end to Iran's nuclear weapon development?<br />
The Washington Post has reported: <i>"U.S. and Russian technical experts were doing preparatory work for ending Syria's chemical weapons capability for months before the two nations' Geneva meetings began."</i> That's known as diplomacy, Mr. Kollar, backed up by a highly public threat of a cruise missile strike.<br />
And then Iran elected a new president who opened a process that may lead to a satisfactory inspection program to insure they do not develop nuclear weapons. So, we have a strong possibility -- not a sure thing, but for the first time a good possibility -- of avoiding U.S. military action in two more Middle Eastern nations.<br />
If that happens, Mr. Kollar, are you going to blame President Obama for NOT going to war, the way that Dick Cheney and Sen. McCain would have done?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Come To My Parlor </span><br />
<i>“The House voted late Saturday night to delay President Barack Obama's health care overhaul for a year – a move which made it almost inevitable that a partial shutdown -- which would idle tens of thousands of federal workers -- will start Monday at midnight.”</i> NBC News Sept.29, 2013.<br />
<i> “Undeterred, House Republicans pressed ahead with their latest attempt to squeeze a concession from the White House in exchange for letting the government open for business normally on Tuesday, until Dec. 15.”</i> Associated Press<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b> RedState Comment</b>: “A delay would only help Dems in 2014 mid-term elections. Let's get it going full battle-ramming speed instead.”<br />
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<b> Response by ByersAware</b><br />
Bouquets to those generous, compassionate Koch-and-tea party Republicans. They'll allow the government to operate for ten whole weeks, until Dec. 15, if the Democratic President will junk the health care law for a year and give the Koch party that much more time to try to kill it.<br />
And of course they would never dream of making further demands on Oct. 17 when the debt limit increase comes up for a vote. Or on Dec. 15 when shutting down the government once again becomes an issue. Nah, they'd never do those things. Not the Koch-partiers.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: red;">"Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly....” </span></i><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Syria and Mission Creep</span></b><br />
Edd Prothro, retired Marine Master Sergeant, wrote on Sept. 24, 2013: “Regarding the debate (on hold) about whether to launch a limited attack on Syria, and the possibility that it might (or would) escalate: I am a retired Marine combat veteran, who just happens to be a "plank owner" with U.S. Central Command.<br />
<br />
“The operative word in this question would be 'mission creep,' the expansion of a mission beyond its original goals. Or, as we assigned to the RDJTF/USCENTCOM, used to say, 'When you're up to your arse in alligators, it’s difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp.'<br />
“If we make any type of strike on Syria, there will be mission creep. The reason I know this is because, unlike the politicians and talking heads, I always was among those down in the mud, and the blood, and the stench, trying to accomplish a mission that kept changing on a regular basis. I have buried too many brothers-in-arms from missions throughout the world and over the years. I dread the thought of burying more young soldiers who have died trying to protect a foreign land and peoples who have no respect, appreciation or desire to be protected." <br />
<br />
[Well, I could not resist pointing out a few facts MSgt. Prothro had overlooked]<br />
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<b>Response By ByersAware</b><br />
MSgt., your deep concern is well-taken. But I wonder how carefully you considered your statement that "If we make any type of strike on Syria, there will be mission creep." In 1995, through NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serb forces, we brought an end to the Bosnian war. We lost not a single airman or soldier. But we ended the "ethnic cleansing" slaughter of an estimated 100,000 people and the rape of an estimated 20 to 50,000 women.<br />
The Bosnian Christian forces were judged responsible for 90 percent of those war crimes, mostly against Muslims. It was President Clinton who authorized those limited strikes, all of them against Bosnian military positions. There was no "mission creep."<br />
In Egypt and Libya, President Obama "led from behind" in limited actions that established "no fly zones" in those two civil wars. We lost not a single American life, and there has to date been no "mission creep." The eventual outcome is still in doubt; but there are grounds for hope that non-dictatorial and non-Islamic governments will in time be established in those two nations that have little history of such rule.<br />
I see no reason to believe that the limited strikes proposed by Obama against Syria to prevent further use of chemical weapons, accompanied by supplying better arms to some of the rebel forces, would lead to "mission creep" beyond what already is likely because of the involvement of the Iranians and the Hezbollah from Lebanon.<br />
Ever since World War I, Western nations have dominated and dictated to the Arabs and Persians in the Middle East. After WWII, when the Middle East territories were no longer an economic asset to Britain and France, those two colonial powers drew boundary lines for new nations that seemed to guarantee continual internal warfare among competing tribal/religious groups assigned to each nation. Thus, the new nations were likely to remain weak.<br />
The U.S., by becoming the strongest Western nation and the only remaining super power, has assumed a degree of moral responsibility (as well as oil-based economic interest) in that region. We helped Britain and France create the problems. (Using the CIA to help overthrow the elected leader of Iran and keep the Shah in power was one of our most obvious tactics.) We should now do our best to help solve the problems that we helped create, without renewed Western control.<br />
Obama's State Department has been negotiating with the Russians for months to find a way to remove chemical weapons from Syria without outside military action.<i> Whether it was planned this way or not, Obama's call to Congress for authorization of limited air strikes (presumably against the Syrian missile launching sites) gave the Russians the "cover" they needed to force Syria to give up the chemical weapons</i>. Air strikes without the "warning period" created by referring the decision to Congress, would have created a different situation.<br />
The outcome is uncertain at this point, but if it succeeds we will have accomplished our goal by threatening air strikes while delivering none. Both Putin and Obama will deserve credit, and responsible Americans should avoid trying to make either one look bad.<br />
I have great respect for your service and your views. I was a Marine officer, ultimately commander of an infantry company in the reserves, during and after the Korean War. I have always maintained that one good Marine sergeant is worth three junior officers. And I am pleased that our present Secretary of Defense was a combat non-com in Vietnam, a war in which our senior generals lied to the American people over and over again.<br />
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<b> More on Syria</b><br />
[The following is a response to another comment regarding involvement in Syria. Frank Kennedy wrote that President Lyndon Johnson had said he increased the scale of war in Vietnam because he feared he would be impeached if he did not. This, Kennedy said, was dumb, as undoubtedly it would be.]<br />
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<b>Response by ByersAware</b><br />
Frank Kennedy, when you say "dumb” I assume you are referring to the readiness of Republicans to impeach a Democrat President on any grounds they can dream up. Witness, Newt Gingrich and company hog-tying Clinton's presidency over his sexual conduct, thus diverting attention of the President and the nation from our need to eliminate the terrorists who struck the U.S.S. Cole and our embassies.<br />
That was as dumb as the present outcry among the Koch and Tea Party Republican fringe to impeach President Obama over his...<i>(make up your own reasons; they are making up theirs).</i><br />
We should not have gone to war in Vietnam (Johnson) or in Iraq (Bush). We should not have declared "We are all Georgians now" as Sen. McCain did, meaning that he was ready to go to war with Russia over Georgia. We SHOULD have bombed Bosnia as we did under Clinton, losing not a single soldier or airman while putting a stop to horrible slaughter of Muslims by the Bosnian Christians. That was in an area where we had no direct strategic interest.<br />
We SHOULD have "led from behind" (for which the Republicans ridiculed Obama) in Egypt and Libya. While we lost not a single American life, we gave the citizens there the POSSIBILITY of establishing governments that are neither dictatorial nor Islamic. The best outcome may take several years, but there now is hope where there was none before. And we lost not a single life.<br />
President Obama and our State Department have been in behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Russians for months seeking a way to remove Syria's chemical weapons without military action. Finally, by presenting his plan to Congress for limited air strikes, Obama gave the Russians "cover" they needed to force Syria to agree.<br />
Although it still could fail, this was a far better action than if the President had done what McCain, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush wanted.
You are correct. The threat of impeachment is dumb, dumb, dumb.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our Prices Are Too Low</span><br />
On Friday morning, September 27, 2013 the AP reported little chance that Congress would agree on a plan to keep the government from a partial shutdown in four days, as House Republicans refused to pass an appropriation bill unless it eliminated funding for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).<br />
Online comments in the Tulsa World supported the idea of a shutdown: <i>“If we were the richest country in the world we would have 17 trillion dollars in the bank, not 17 trillion dollars of debt. STOP spending!!! No more borrowing from CHINA! WE ARE BROKE! Live within our means, simple as that!” </i><br />
None of these statements was based on fact, nor shows any attempt to understand what is really going on.
In response to those comments I offered the following lesson in recent government history:<br />
<br />
<b>All “Attitude,” No Facts</b><br />
Reading the comments above, I find a lot of "attitude" and almost no facts. We ARE the richest nation in the world, but the riches are all stashed away as profits by Wall Street banks and in offshore accounts by corporations that are earning the highest profits they have ever earned. You can learn how much with a simple web search.<br />
<u>The national government is a "service" industry. It provides services to its citizens. We have a debt problem because we do not charge enough for those services.</u><br />
If you ran a landscaping company and charged your customers only half what it costs to pay for supplies and workers, you would go deeper and deeper in debt until you faced bankruptcy. That, in effect, is what our government has done. But it doesn't have to be that way.
<i>It is not a matter of spending too much. It is a matter of charging (taxing) too little for the services we perform.</i><br />
We created two big problems. First, we cut taxes way too low for the richest 10 percent. They earn nearly half of all the income in the nation. Second, we stopped regulating Wall Street banks and let them run wild until they crashed the whole economy. This threw people out of work at the same time we were fighting two wars on borrowed money.<br />
So, we have had to borrow more money to pay unemployment insurance and food stamps for those who lost their jobs because of our government's two big mistakes. Without that help, they would starve.<br />
In the past, with Roosevelt and semi-liberal Democrats in control, we knew what to do in a big-debt situation. At the end of World War II, our national debt from war expenses was equal to the total amount of income we produced in a year. But in 1944-45 we taxed our wealthiest people at 94 percent on the highest bracket of their income.<br />
And we used that money to put the ex-military to work building the interstate highway system, rebuilding Europe under the Marshall Plan, and sending GIs to college under the GI Bill. (The GI Bill, incidentally, not only prepared returning GIs for good jobs, it created new jobs for university faculty and staff.)
And here's what happened. We still borrowed money, but we produced more income than we spent, and we collected taxes on that income.<br />
In terms of dollars, the debt continued to grow, but as a percent of the nation's wealth (GDP), it dropped from being equal to our total national income down to only one-third by 1980, the year President Reagan was elected.<br />
Then Reagan changed course. He cut taxes and increased spending (for Star Wars missile defense, etc.). In doing so, he and Bush the First pushed the debt back up to two-thirds of GDP. When Clinton became president, the debt ratio dropped again by ten percent.<br />
But then we elected Bush the Second. His administration pushed the debt up to a new high of 86 percent of GDP. He did it by cutting taxes while spending more.
We elected President Obama to try to fix that mess. But Republicans have opposed him every step of the way.<br />
As a result of Bush the Second's tax cuts, billionaires such as Warren Buffett pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries do. Take one example.
In 2011 Wall Street's richest hedge fund billionaire, Raymond Dalio, earned $1.5 MILLION DOLLARS AN HOUR. His yearly income was $3 billion. But he paid only 15 percent in taxes. That is lower than the tax rate for a median income Oklahoma worker.<br />
Everyone benefits from government services of one kind or another. The reason we have such a high debt is that we practically give away those services to the very rich while the poor and middle class struggle to pay the bills.<br />
People need to do their own research instead of believing what self-serving politicians tell them.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Never Compromise Your Principles</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span> On September 24 a letter from the chairman of the Tulsa County Democratic Party called for the leaders of both parties to search together for ways to improve government in the state. An online comment by John Smallwood said there is no point in having principles if you are willing to compromise them.<br />
This is my online response to Mr. Smallwood and all the conservatives who share his views.<br />
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<b>Response by ByersAware</b><br />
John Smallwood, the U.S. Constitution was one hell of a big compromise. The Civil War was one hell of a big failure to compromise.<br />
With the exception of that war, the constitution has served us pretty well, with a number of amendments that were further compromises. No amendment ever got enacted with 100 percent agreement, and none would have held up if those who disagreed continued to do everything in their power to repeal it.<br />
You cannot have a functioning democracy (or republic) without compromise. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who is reputed to have said, "We have created a republic...if we can keep it" (or similar words).<br />
One recent commentator said that in today's Congress there is only 2 percent agreement between the parties--and the last time the agreement was that low was just before the civil war.<br />
Draw your own conclusions, as you will.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why We Have Poverty</span><br />
A report stated that the poverty rate is highest among unmarried households, with the greatest concentration among minorities. An online comment said that the solution to poverty is simple. Just don't have kids if you are not married.<br />
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<b>Response by ByersAware</b><br />
You want to keep from having kids out of wedlock? That's easy. Just choose to be born into a stable family--two parents, neither one beats the other or is on drugs. Neither parent is in jail. Both have a high school education. Neither one faces discrimination because he or she is somehow different. They earn enough money to feed you adequately, especially in those early months when your brain is developing the most rapidly.<br />
Also choose to be born into a neighborhood where you don't get successively raped once you are about 10 years old. No one mocks you if you make decent grades. No older kids push you to sell drugs or join a gang or have sex. You parents have health insurance and you get decent care. You don't have to drop out of school to try to help your mother pay the bills.<br />
You have a chance to achieve most anything, if you just choose the right parents. So, shame on those who chose to be born to the wrong parents. They don't deserve food stamps or any other kind of assistance. And hooray for the conservative Republicans and Koch-and-Tea Partiers who are going to make sure such people they don't get any assistance to guide them out of poverty.<br />
No food stamps. No Childrens Health Insurance Program. No Pell grants for a college education. This way, we'll make sure the kids in those one-parent families grow up to be just like their parents.ByersAwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02384292507109512992noreply@blogger.com0