MY ONLY POST ABOUT ELECTION 2012

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

No secret that I was not an Obama worshipper back in 2008.

But, I’m voting for him this time around.  There are other blogs out there who piously state that they don’t have a “dog in this race” to which I say…bullshit!

Do PUMAs really want the Supreme Court to go to the Rethugs? Do you really want your wives and daughters to lose all rights to make decisions about their own bodies?

Do you really want a “bishop” who asked a pregnant woman with blood clots that threatened her life why she “should have it  “easy” by choosing to abort?

Have you taken the time to peek out beyond your own noses to see how this country could deteriorate in so many ways?  Regardless of who wins, we’ll have continued hard economic times…but there’s more to life than economics.  Do you really want to elect a mob that apparently disrespects women, blacks, Hispanics and just about everybody who isn’t one of THEM?  Especially if you aren’t a  “Christian” THEM?

Recently, I’ve been listening to Mike Malloy again on my Kindle Fire via TuneIn.  Mike, a true progressive now sadly relegated to asking for donations to keep his show on the air, once held the view that a loss to the Republicans would create the final catalyst for change to the system if they finally screwed up.

Well, he’s changed his opinion.  He has come to the conclusion that at this juncture in time, to allow power to fall back into the hands of the GOP might finally quash any chance to win back our system.  They will be in a position crush the life out of the middle class and pave the way for the ultimate corporatization of this country.  Liberals won’t have a chance to breathe.

For Mike Malloy to come around to this position is a big deal.  Apparently, some lefty blogs don’t see it this way.  But, frankly, there is too much at stake to allow the GOP into power, regardless of what you think of Obama and the Democratic Party.  No matter what, they are about all we have at this point.

So, that’s it. If you really want to see the guy whose foreign policy advisers come from the Bush Administration get back into power (something like 17 out of 25 are former Bushites), go ahead and don’t vote.If you want this bully CEO to come in and follow right along with the likes of all those GOPers who think rape is not a big deal, who think women are sluts if they get birth control in their health plan, who is right in line with the party that now shoves vaginal probes at us for no medical reason...go ahead and don’t vote.

If Romney wins this election, what will you be saying then? Will you blame Obama…or yourselves?

Me? I’ll be blaming a lot of people who are still stuck in 2008 and refuse to face the reality of the political world we live in now.  It’s time to grow up…

OK, Ready to Lose What Little We Had Now?? A Story About CRUMBS…

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted.  Not terribly inspired by politics and in the wake of the election, ready to break every radio in the house so my mother can’t listen to “talk radio” anymore.

Heartbreaking results in New Mexico CD-2. Harry Teague was not my first choice to run for the seat 2 years ago, but he beat Steve Pearce.  Pearce never showed up, voted against the health needs of returning vets from Iraq, and when he did show up, his meetings weren’t exactly town halls…more like a select few.  Teague, to his credit, was back all the time, held many, many meetings with constituents, and even helped get something done for a family that had been neglected for years…an honor that had been overlooked. Meanwhile, there was talk about how Pearce had turned his back on vets who wanted to question him about his record.  I had kept a list of his votes on vet issues and the VoteVets.org literature AGAINST Pearce was a mirror of the info I had compiled. (VoteVets.org is a bipartisan group, by the way.)

Well, in this heavily retired military area along with a HUGE active military presence including White Sands, Pearce won. Which makes you wonder….WTF??

I could understand a little more if a new person were running on the GOP side. But, the same piece of crap who scorned the district for 4 years and the vets who live here???

Meanwhile, at the state level, Nate Cote, whom I first helped get elected 4 years ago, was defeated by a piece of crap named Ricky Little who put out so many lies about Cote that the latter had to have fliers printed up and wrapped around a campaign doorknob hanger in an attempt to save his reputation.  Nate did many wonderful things for the district, including helping out the Animal Shelter, which desperately needed help.  The man was a vet, too…but he got no respect.  Little won…a guy who thinks mammograms shouldn’t be paid for by insurance or some such.

Now, we hear this ridiculous BULLSHIT out of the Republicans whining about how “partisan” Obama  was (while all they did was stonewall everything, even their own Heritage Foundation health plan that grew up into Romney Care). And we have to hear their plans to AGGRESSIVELY derail funding, etc. with long range plans to repeal it all, even the good parts, I imagine, so that we can all buy insurance across state lines (that will do SQUAT), blah blah blah. These people are VICIOUS. And, they are BAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

To top it off, we have Susana Martinezn as governor-elect who wants to repeal the legal use of medical marijuana because there are SOOO many great Big Pharma drugs to ingest (which, according to a nurse I know, aren’t as effective as pot).   And, what the hell, let those mining operations off the hook  by getting rid of the waste pit rules….And if we’re really lucky, Martinez will be a clone of Chris Christie in my home state of New Jersey and destroy the teaching profession in favor of chums running charter schools with my taxpayer money and doing the school voucher thing!  YAY!  AND, let’s not forget, she’s NOT pro-choice, to top things off! Her money came from a big developer in Colorado and that guy Perry in Texas who funded the Swiftboat campaign against John Kerry.  Nice bunch of friends she has.  She has NO legislative experience, so we’ll have to ferret exactly who will be pulling her strings. Lots of money came in from Houston, too, so we can only imagine what happens.

Sort of interesting that she didn’t carry the Hispanic vote…

I went to the doctor today, a wonderful woman whom I’ve gone to for 10 years. She is retiring in June, 2011. A couple of years ago she sold out when her sister, also a physician became ill and ultimately passed away.  She is now an employee of a large group.  She is still in her office, but her own staff is gone and there is a revolving door of personnel. Remember, this is the BEST health care system in the world…My Canadian acquaintance here for the winter snickers.

Today, my doc commented on some of the good things in the health care law and the Republican plans to destroy who knows what.  Then she did something highly unusual. She told me that people were STUPID and that as far as she was concerned, she hoped they felt the effects as things like being able to keep an unemployed 20-something on their parents insurance disappeared, just as they came into effect.  Of course, we’ll have to wait to see what happens to the pre-existing condition hell that has been lifted as well as that requirement that health care businesses have to use 85% of their cash to actually reimburse the people they insure.   In the dentist’s office the other day, I heard Millie tell a patient that she would put his claim through but if he was terminated, he shouldn’t be surprised if the company asked for the money back.  I mean, you have the policy,  you use it,  you’re covered for care, the procedure is over,  then you lose your job and they take the money back?  Heck, that sounds like a total scam, doesn’t it?  Like taking a body out of a grave.  But, that’s what has been going on with breast cancer surgeries, so I guess we’re used to being abused here in the United States and won’t mind if the Republicans gut any good things that may be in the health care law.

I know there are many people who were hell bent on voting ALL incumbents out, no matter who they were or what they had done, even if some of it was good.  I hope they are happy now. The moment I hear any whining from ex-Democrats who voted Republican this year and who suddenly become upset that the Republicans are  in, I will tell you what we all heard back when Obama was elected….I TOLD YOU SO!!  I’m no longer a registered Democrat, but I’m not about to sit back and NOT vote against a creepy Republican at this point…and the reality is,  they are SUPREMELY creepy and vile,  so bad that as much as I detest the present state of the Democratic Party, I just can’t bring myself to let a Republican in without a fight.

I don’t like Obama, never will…have been pissesd as hell with the Democratic Party since the primaries, etc. etc.   Like my doctor, I’m mad that a public option never got a chance.  However, I am NOT a masochist!  If I had a choice between a bastard like Steve Pearce vs. a Harry Teague, I HAD to vote for Teague to try to save myself from Pearce.

My philosophy at this point centers on the word CRUMBS.  Both parties are full of CRUMBS.  But, occasionally, the Democrats will give a FEW crumbs, while we can be damned sure that the Republicans won’t give the little guy ANY crumbs.

So, there you go.

Oh, but wait!  Obama is going to meet with the GOP to work out a bipartisan agenda!!  I can’t wait!  I’m SURE everything will be OK…NOT!

***

P.S.  It was close but a Library Bond issue passed…Eureka!

Forget the Mainstream Media “Business Analysts”: Economics Prof Explains Obamanomics and Conducts Experiment That Proves His Point

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

American Lassie forwarded this little ditty which does what the mainstream media can’t won’t do–explain what extreme government control can do to a country’s get up and go.

Now, I, personally, believe in a strong social safety net, so I’ll NEVER be a Republican.  I’m not far over on the other side of the spectrum which seems to put unfettered business and profit above everything else.  Sadly, we’re in a situation now where pandering to business combined with the autocratic streak of the extreme left, is playing into GOP hands for the future.  When they get back in control on the back of their OWN misinformation and scare tactics, their own autocratic stamp will be put on our lives…the table will have been set for extreme cuts to the social services we need.  The GOP have blocked anything that even tries to help strengthen the social safety net in the past and I think they’re salivating right now at the thought of having a carte blanche in the future to wield a harsh and punitive knife so Medicare, Social Security, etc.  And many workers will suffer, as usual, at the hands of employers, as they have done for eons.

Of course, IF we actually have a sane Democratic Party that fights this in the future, we may survive, but at this point, we don’t have a sane Democratic Party, so all bets are off!

So, here is the current state of affairs explained simply. You may want to pass it around to anybody you know who is confused and needs a basic primer…Of course, things are way more complicated in real life.  After all the big banks are TOO BIG TO FAIL, so that sort of skews the curve…

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.

Economics Prof in Action

——————————————–
That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”.
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!
No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.

VOTING IN LOCKSTEP IS NOW A GOOD THING? (Not According to SOME Democrats in Congress…)

~~By Kenosha Marge

We just get used to hearing from the left about how too-too terrible it is when the right tries to muzzle and/or oust it’s “moderates’, aka too liberal members. Those evil GOPers don’t want/allow dissenting voices in their party. Big Tent? More like little pup tent. Gives us more reason to hate them.

Some sort of tent...

So now we appear superior while welcoming (yuck) Snarlin’ Arlen Specter over to our side. Because of course he was too moderate for those evil rat-bastards on the right. Ignore the fact that he knew he couldn’t get re-elected by the voters of his state. So after being promised all sorts of lovely baubles he turned to the light. Hallelujah!

Meanwhile when some recalcitrant Democrats dig their heels in it isn’t seen as being moderate. They’re ignoble “conservative” Democrats from evil conservative districts and states. They must be expunged. Or whipped into line. Threatened even.

Under no circumstances are they to show any sign of individuality or be given the right to think for themselves. Or vote the way their constituents want them to vote. Mercy me no. What an idea!

What happened to the frenzy about those moronic Republicans that voted in lockstep with their leadership and White House? Wasn’t that supposed to be a really bad thing? What’s different now? Oh right, the Democrats are in the majority, a Faux-Democrat is in the White House and now lockstep voting is de riguer.

Locksteppers...

I just can’t seem to get the whole double standard, hypocrite thing right. It’s not as if as a normal human being I haven’t been guilty of being a hypocrite or of using a double standard. There is no halo above my head and I am ashamed when someone points out my hypocrisy. And therein lies the difference because I am ashamed.

The difference between normal human beings and politicians is that we normals take offense when people call us names and insult our families.

We normals are ashamed when caught out in some wrongdoing. They are just ashamed they got caught.

We normals are ashamed when we’re caught being hypocrites. Hypocrisy is part and parcel of their DNA.

Politicians like to pretend that the drivel they spew contains words of wisdom. They also like to ignore the fact those words are a complete contradiction of what they formerly said. Evidently to them this is of no consequence.

You often read that politicians decide to ride out a crap-storm because they believe they can depend on the public’s well-known short memory. They also count on the fact that the media is usually too busy with dead rock stars, live half naked young women, and kissing the buttocks of whatever party is in power to bother with actual reporting on who said what and when.

So now the Democratic Party seems intent on eating and beating up on it’s own:

DNC targeting centrist Dems in health ads

And then there are those damn Blue Dog Democrats which must be spayed and/or neutered.

A Blue Dog...

Cause we like lockstep voting now.

Flip Flopping?

Yellow Dog Democrats anyone? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_dog_Democrat

A Yellow Dog...

Oh, for the record, here are the Blue Dogs as listed at the Blue Dog Coalition site if you want to know more…That is,  instead of just taking the word of some one ranting about how evil they are and how they must be punished for their un-lockstep ways…

Blue Dog Leadership Team

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA-03), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip

Blue Dog Members

Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
Baca, Joe (CA-43)
Barrow, John (GA-12)
Berry, Marion (AR-01)
Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
Boren, Dan (OK-02)
Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
Childers, Travis (MS-01)
Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
Costa, Jim (CA-20)
Cuellar, Henry (TX-28)
Dahlkemper, Kathy (PA-03)
Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
Griffith, Parker (AL-05)
Harman, Jane (CA-36)
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (SD)
Hill, Baron (IN-09)
Holden, Tim (PA-17)
Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
Marshall, Jim (GA-03)
Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
Melancon, Charlie (LA-03)
Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
Ross, Mike (AR-04)
Salazar, John (CO-03)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
Scott, David (GA-13)
Shuler, Heath (NC-11)
Space, Zack (OH-18)
Tanner, John (TN-08)
Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
Wilson, Charles (OH-06)

Holding Out for a Hero

~~By Kenosha Marge

The song “Holding Out For A Hero” sung by Bonnie Tyler was released back in 1984. It resonated with women who were wondering what had happen to their knight on a white horse. And it had a great beat.

Nowhere is this kind of fantasy more apparent to me than in politics. We are all looking for a hero/heroine to rescue us and make our corner of the world a better place. Heroes have to do that. I think it’s in the first chapter of the Heroes Guide To Fixing Everything and Making The World A Better Place and Favorite Recipes Handbook now on sale at Amazon.

I stopped believing in Fantasy a long time ago. Didn’t/don’t believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy or honest politicians.

When your parents try to convince you that some fat dude in a red suit is flying all over the world delivering toys to good little girls and you know that you ain’t been good but you got stuff anyway, it plays hell with your belief system. My mistrust of things told me by others was set. My jaundiced eye was locked and loaded.

For years, as a Democrat, I was able to convince myself that my party, while not perfect, was better than that other party. I was convinced that the folks that voted for Republicans were somehow just not as smart or well informed as I was. I was a liberal and we all know that we’re smarter than those conservative people.

Time went by and I found myself beginning to doubt. Uncomfortable doubts that prodded at what I like to think of as my character. Small niggling doubts that made me uncomfortable with a belief system I had held for most of my life. The belief that Democrats were better than Republicans, that Liberals were better than Conservatives and that by voting a straight Democratic ticket year after dreary year I was doing a good thing.

Those beliefs were tattered and torn by the time the last election cycle rolled around. I had begun to suspect that what I thought was strong conviction might just be mental laziness and a determined effort to not discover that I had been bamboozling myself for most of my life.

With doubts becoming stronger and my whole belief system beginning to come apart at the seams we entered the election cycle of 2008. Reality met fantasy and the result was a newly hatched Independent that no longer believes that one Party is any damn better than the other. Individuals on both sides leave much to be desired in the character and honesty department. Some individuals on both sides are better than certain individuals on either side.

The cynic in me, the one that always knew that many/most/all politicians are liars and thieves was hatched and I knew that I had allowed myself to be duped and that I had been a sucker, a sap, a pigeon and a chump. Not a pleasant awakening but one made bearable by the sight of so many people who continue to be duped and are still suckers, saps, pigeons and chumps. I saw the light. They are still walking around in the dark. Thus I still get to feel superior to someone.

Any residual belief in the Democratic Party died a sad death on May 31^st 2008 when the Democrats proved to my complete satisfaction that they are just as corrupt as the Republicans. Given the Bush/Cheney bunch that took some doing.

I knew what I wanted and expected from elected officials. I had begun my interest in politics with JFK. He was a hero in our divided household. My parents, Democrat Dad and Republican Mom both voted for JFK. That alone would have earned my respect since sniping at each other over politics was just one of many ways in which my parents liked to stick knives into each other. Except for the fact my brother and I would have never been born we both wished that they had never met.

Back to politics. Having cut my political teeth on JFK I was always a bit disappointed in LBJ. But he managed to punch through some legislation that was very important to me and thus I began my career of ignoring things that were less honest than I would like as long as the job got done. I learned pragmatism and hypocrisy at the same time.

Those of us that lived through the days and the deaths of JFK, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to, needed to find heroes to replace the truly exceptional men who had been taken from us so brutally. Perhaps that’s when many of us began to make excuses and began to live with a double standard that made hypocrites of us without us noticing it happening. Or perhaps we just didn’t want to notice.

Then we spent years wandering in the wilderness with the likes of Nixon, Ford and Carter. I believe that both Ford and Carter were good men but neither man seemed, at least to me, to have real leadership qualities.

Ford however earned my undying enmity by pardoning Nixon. I quit honestly believe that George W Bush would not have dared to overreach so far had Nixon been made to face the consequences of his actions.

George Herbert Walker Bush was never a favorite of mine but I never demonized him either. The worst thing he ever did in my mind was father George W.

Bill Clinton was and is an able politician and I believe he did far more good than harm. I voted for him twice and don’t regret either vote. He could have done more had he done less nonsense.

I still didn’t believe in fantasy yet I was convinced that sometime there would come to prominence in this country a person of the stature of the founding fathers. There would come a person of depth and breadth, a person of honesty and integrity. There would come a person who saw what was needed for the short term and could still plan for the long. There would come a person who cared first and foremost for his/her country and its people and not for a political party. There would come a person that would tell the people the truths that they needed to hear and then let them decide if they wanted honest government or empty promises.

Still waiting for that kind of person to come along. All we seem to get any more are politicians, which means all we get anymore are liars.

I’m still holding out for a hero. I might be willing to settle for a good, decent, honest patriot who wants what’s best for this country and it’s people.

Or should I continue to hold out for a hero? I expect him/her about the same time as my white knight on a fiery steed. Both horse and knight are undoubtedly over the hill by now; but then so am I. And the fire in my blood? Probably just hearturn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f_HsjpSVaI

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where’s the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and turn and dream
of what I need
[Chorus]
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night
He’s gotta be strong
And he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the morning light
He’s gotta be sure
And it’s gotta be soon
And he’s gotta be larger than life
Somewhere after midnight
In my wildest fantasy
Somewhere just beyond my reach
There’s someone reaching back for me
Racing on the thunder end rising with the heat
It’s gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet
[Chorus]
Up where the mountains meet the heavens above
Out where the lightning splits the sea
I would swear that there’s someone somewhere
Watching me
Through the wind end the chill and the rain
And the storm and the flood
I can feel his approach
Like the fire in my blood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holding_Out_for_a_Hero