Two young women who have been friends since age two, and the eldest sister of one of the women
got their families together for the holiday.
Everyone there had health care.
Five of the adults are safely retired.
Five children, 14 and under attended..
Three of the children were covered under a mom or a dad.
One of the children was definitely covered under a mom's insurance.
One other was probably covered under a dad's.
Two adults were working, and wouldn't talk about whether they were covered at work; but two
others (one with no children) were definitely covered at work. We spoke only briefly about
health care.gov except to say a computer cannot cover you anyway. Go to an insurance company.
Of the adults, eight women and four men came to dinner.
All the women were single except our hostess; though two women were there with significant others.
Three of the single women were divorced.
The men were all married or paired.
One divorced couple was there with an adult son and his girlfriend and three of his young children with her. Though he was only forty-five, he had done time, had a newly discovered twenty-eight
year old son, and a twenty-five year old daughter in Florida.
We had to assume that for the two adults who wouldn't say, they did have health insurance because the children, it seems, were all covered.
Two of the working adults were social workers. One seemed to be an accountant, speaking about the
twenty-two levels of financing to save the Detroit Medical Center, ten years ago.
One was principal of a charter school.
One was an advertising professional.
One was in graduate school.
Other professions didn't come to light.
Dinner was all homemade save the jellied cranberry sauce and one of the cakes. The hostess had spread the cooking out over a two day period.
We ate a flavorful, tender turkey, stuffing with gravy, green beans with corn bread, (Oh, the
Honey-Baked ham was the brand named ham.) the cranberry sauce, a tender, fluffy mac and cheese.
Desserts were two sweet potato pies, a pound cake, and an Italian cream cake from Knudsen's Bakery
on W. McNichols in Detroit. No one can do that cake better. The store has been there more than forty
years.
We also talked Detroit politics. The buppies, young (Black Urban Professionals)
believe we have a new mayor. No one else believed it.
The buppies were thirtyish.
All in attendance were African American. But two were related to mixed race families. One had
a daughter who was married to a white gentile. The other had a daughter who married a Jewish person.
We talked for a while about how last Sunday's Patriots/Broncos game nearly gave me a heart attack.
I don't always scream at TVs, but that day I was beside myself that I had stayed up late to see the
Pats go down 24/0 at half-time. I wanted to spit nails at high velocities.
Even though New England won in the end, I have barely forgiven them for what we put them through.
A couple of us lamented that Lovie Smith isn't coaching, and we expressed high hopes for the Lions.
We talked a little about institutionalized racism, but not much. Buppies seem to believe each racially
motivated incident is sui generis.
None of the rest of us could understand why they think that true until we decided none of them know
the history of the "struggle".
The youngest member of the dinner party got picked up by his divorced mom before he was ready to
leave. He was an only child, so having four adoring fans between about nine and thirteen was a dream so great he couldn't have imagined it.
Buppies seem to believe in charter schools, and are dubious about union professionals- equating the
individual problem persons in some cases with unions themselves.
I guess we weren't all deep thinkers, but we covered so many topics.
We didn't get into criminal justice or rap music.
Next time ... maybe at a book club meeting.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Republicans Destroyed The Health Care Website?
If Republicans hadn't been constantly so giddy day after day about their impending government
shut down last month, we would not have seen so many people so panicked they were going to lose
a chance for health care that they all flocked hurriedly to healthcare.gov at once. Everyone who
wanted health care was worried the government would be shut down long enough to keep them from
having a chance to sign up in time to get insured before January,
The site was designed to let people in through thousands of turnstiles. Instead, people trampled and
overran each other, toppling the turnstiles en masse.
shut down last month, we would not have seen so many people so panicked they were going to lose
a chance for health care that they all flocked hurriedly to healthcare.gov at once. Everyone who
wanted health care was worried the government would be shut down long enough to keep them from
having a chance to sign up in time to get insured before January,
The site was designed to let people in through thousands of turnstiles. Instead, people trampled and
overran each other, toppling the turnstiles en masse.
President Kennedy- Early And Taking Requests
Why do pundits keep saying President Kennedy was late to the table of the civil rights movement?
I thought that was George Washington?
Didn't Washington fight the Revolutionary War based on principals of freedom and pursuit of
happiness for all Americans and on no taxation without representation?
Didn't he think labor theft was taxation?
Whose happiness could a slave pursue in the country where he or she was born?
Was Jefferson late? Did either he or Washington attempt to work out the birthright of their slaves
as citizens who lived and worked hard in this country every day?
Was the NAACP late during and after emancipation and so many regular lynchings?
Were not hundreds of years of those failures not dumped into President Kennedy's lap, triggered
by the murders of Emmett Till and countless SNCC and CORE sit-in youngsters after WWII?
President Kennedy did send needed troops down south when governors there attracted mobs
as they blocked entrances to schools directed to integrate.
He did ask Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. how the two of them could best interact to peacefully foster civil rights for all Americans.
He did drag the Mississippi River for young college student victims- repeatedly, agonizingly.
He did call Myrlie Evers when Medgar was martyred.
He did welcome Dr. King into the White House.
He did welcome the historic March On Washington.
He had begun talks on legislation to protect all our rights when that awful bullet took his life.
Unlike the then Vice President Richard Nixon, Senator Kennedy promised during the 1960
Nixon-Kennedy debates, to work on civil rights in our country.
When elected, he did just that.
President Kennedy was attempting to re-encode civil rights, and the rhetoric regarding the equality of all men into the U. S. constitution when he was prematurely cut down in his prime.
The United States hi-jacked -over and over again- the very wood citizens ever attempted to use to build an enfranchisement table out of the right to vote.
Were the civil rights leaders who weren't on the Edmund Pettus bridge when
Congressman John Lewis marched across it and into a screaming crowd backed up by
gun-toting, billy-clubbed badges late to the table?
None of our leaders gave us each and every right we deserved to exercise at the moment we asked
for them. However-
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy helped build the table he came to early.
He invited all the rest of us to try to feel a tiny bit safer if we wanted to have a seat there beside him.
All hail, to Camelot, and to one of our most forthright civil rights leaders, President John F. Kennedy
I thought that was George Washington?
Didn't Washington fight the Revolutionary War based on principals of freedom and pursuit of
happiness for all Americans and on no taxation without representation?
Didn't he think labor theft was taxation?
Whose happiness could a slave pursue in the country where he or she was born?
Was Jefferson late? Did either he or Washington attempt to work out the birthright of their slaves
as citizens who lived and worked hard in this country every day?
Was the NAACP late during and after emancipation and so many regular lynchings?
Were not hundreds of years of those failures not dumped into President Kennedy's lap, triggered
by the murders of Emmett Till and countless SNCC and CORE sit-in youngsters after WWII?
President Kennedy did send needed troops down south when governors there attracted mobs
as they blocked entrances to schools directed to integrate.
He did ask Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. how the two of them could best interact to peacefully foster civil rights for all Americans.
He did drag the Mississippi River for young college student victims- repeatedly, agonizingly.
He did call Myrlie Evers when Medgar was martyred.
He did welcome Dr. King into the White House.
He did welcome the historic March On Washington.
He had begun talks on legislation to protect all our rights when that awful bullet took his life.
Unlike the then Vice President Richard Nixon, Senator Kennedy promised during the 1960
Nixon-Kennedy debates, to work on civil rights in our country.
When elected, he did just that.
President Kennedy was attempting to re-encode civil rights, and the rhetoric regarding the equality of all men into the U. S. constitution when he was prematurely cut down in his prime.
The United States hi-jacked -over and over again- the very wood citizens ever attempted to use to build an enfranchisement table out of the right to vote.
Were the civil rights leaders who weren't on the Edmund Pettus bridge when
Congressman John Lewis marched across it and into a screaming crowd backed up by
gun-toting, billy-clubbed badges late to the table?
None of our leaders gave us each and every right we deserved to exercise at the moment we asked
for them. However-
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy helped build the table he came to early.
He invited all the rest of us to try to feel a tiny bit safer if we wanted to have a seat there beside him.
All hail, to Camelot, and to one of our most forthright civil rights leaders, President John F. Kennedy
Why Are We Shopping On Thanksgiving?
What is wrong with these nutty American market practices?
They are giving us all super sales at the exact time we should be on our way to grandma's house?
Say we get to grandma's. We have to be careful to leave for a few hours to be time for sales?
How about the store gives me an honest price, any day.
Thanksgiving is the one day of the year kids can be sure they are free to play all day with family.
Children are guaranteed a four day week end and good home cooked meals every day for families
not grocery challenged.
America has all but killed childhood already. Now when do the children get to interact with extended
family. When they meet relatives it can give them a sense they themselves are extended, especially when they recognize everyone knows them or knows of them. Instead of those moments settling in,
someone gets up to go buy a camera because they can get it for less than it is worth?
Why are we so obsessed with not paying a fair price? This is a costly obsession. Even if you are
someone who makes only 7$ an hour, when you spend two hours getting in and out of a crowded store, you have used up 14$ of your time.
If you are unemployed, talk with your family members about their jobs. When the week-end is over,
go to dollar store.
Salespeople have had their days interrupted so I can buy cheap towels?
Stores don't even pay overtime or holiday pay any longer. Are we to waste our own time and theirs?
There are exceptions.
If your family is intolerable, go home Friday. Or do go to a movie if your kids actually like Auntie
Grace's three hours of magic tricks. Movie workers are accustomed to splitting holiday shifts.
Whatever you do, please don't go to "the sale" at precisely the moment a white snake slithers out of
the woods at midnight, so that you can be banned from "the sale" the second someone hears the clock
strikes "eye of newt".
Hocus pocus - pay a fair price. Later. On your holiday, eat something.
They are giving us all super sales at the exact time we should be on our way to grandma's house?
Say we get to grandma's. We have to be careful to leave for a few hours to be time for sales?
How about the store gives me an honest price, any day.
Thanksgiving is the one day of the year kids can be sure they are free to play all day with family.
Children are guaranteed a four day week end and good home cooked meals every day for families
not grocery challenged.
America has all but killed childhood already. Now when do the children get to interact with extended
family. When they meet relatives it can give them a sense they themselves are extended, especially when they recognize everyone knows them or knows of them. Instead of those moments settling in,
someone gets up to go buy a camera because they can get it for less than it is worth?
Why are we so obsessed with not paying a fair price? This is a costly obsession. Even if you are
someone who makes only 7$ an hour, when you spend two hours getting in and out of a crowded store, you have used up 14$ of your time.
If you are unemployed, talk with your family members about their jobs. When the week-end is over,
go to dollar store.
Salespeople have had their days interrupted so I can buy cheap towels?
Stores don't even pay overtime or holiday pay any longer. Are we to waste our own time and theirs?
There are exceptions.
If your family is intolerable, go home Friday. Or do go to a movie if your kids actually like Auntie
Grace's three hours of magic tricks. Movie workers are accustomed to splitting holiday shifts.
Whatever you do, please don't go to "the sale" at precisely the moment a white snake slithers out of
the woods at midnight, so that you can be banned from "the sale" the second someone hears the clock
strikes "eye of newt".
Hocus pocus - pay a fair price. Later. On your holiday, eat something.
What We Lost When We Lost President Kennedy
We lost traffic patterns.
We lost a cool head, in the leadership on which way to go, and how to get there.
We ourselves were in the thick of it all. So we lost our President in the commotion.
...We lost the 'assured clear distance ahead'.
We lost a cool head, in the leadership on which way to go, and how to get there.
We ourselves were in the thick of it all. So we lost our President in the commotion.
...We lost the 'assured clear distance ahead'.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Republicans With A Black President
Republicans will use anything they can to attack a Democratic President.
Some of them are racists; but more to the point, they know they can represent all the racists willing to vote. What else do they have?
How many votes will Republicans get in any race if racists stay home?
Republicans don't have numbers any longer. All they have are procedures.
They have to use what they can to make use of outlandish procedures in order to represent
underrepresented minority points of view.
That means they have to have all the racists they can muster ( and some people willing to sometimes vote with racists) if they are going to continue to represent anyone at all.
A great many Republicans know that Barack Obama is the legitimate leader of the free world.
But how many of them can admit that?
They have to placate the millions who believe we are still a country of 150 million.
I'm sure many Americans want to believe we are still a relatively small populace. However...
We are twice that now. We really are not in Kansas anymore; and even if we were, we don't live on
the prairie any longer.
Why did Atlas shrug? (by Ayn Rand)
He wasn't up to the task of knowing, or of figuring it out past the point where one group simply
exploits all the others. That was then.
This is now.
Some of them are racists; but more to the point, they know they can represent all the racists willing to vote. What else do they have?
How many votes will Republicans get in any race if racists stay home?
Republicans don't have numbers any longer. All they have are procedures.
They have to use what they can to make use of outlandish procedures in order to represent
underrepresented minority points of view.
That means they have to have all the racists they can muster ( and some people willing to sometimes vote with racists) if they are going to continue to represent anyone at all.
A great many Republicans know that Barack Obama is the legitimate leader of the free world.
But how many of them can admit that?
They have to placate the millions who believe we are still a country of 150 million.
I'm sure many Americans want to believe we are still a relatively small populace. However...
We are twice that now. We really are not in Kansas anymore; and even if we were, we don't live on
the prairie any longer.
Why did Atlas shrug? (by Ayn Rand)
He wasn't up to the task of knowing, or of figuring it out past the point where one group simply
exploits all the others. That was then.
This is now.
Thank You Martin Bashir
The diaries kept by proud slave owners and torturers are the truest slave narratives to be found. Slaves didn't often repeat the real horrors they suffered. In my family, the stories were only barely
whispered if someone who had suffered mentioned a circumstance. No one was allowed to bring
up or question any indignities forced on a family member during or immediately after slavery.
I appreciated Mr. Bashir's honesty and frankness because he wears the mantle of an observer who
has no investment in either exaggerating, or providing cover, for the nightmare American slavery was in the U.S.
Many in any in 19th century America, however, fought a war for the rights to continue these practices. Many in 21st century America seem eager to do the same again. They've even asked the
government for drones.
People still praise the antebellum south represented in the diary Mr. Bashir presented in his
broadcast of November 15, 2013. The diary was that of an owner-animal.
There are those in this country who want very much to return us all to barbarisms the states, not our
country, wish us to endure. Justice John Roberts is one of those people.
Many Americans would that any state in this country could legally treat citizens of the United States
of America any way a state should choose to treat them.
And we have yet to name the barbaric ones, unless it's to call them "owners"
Slavers kidnapped people from their homes and families and stuffed them into crushing ships' holds.
Slaves were forced to work, while having all wages stolen from them, and all family continuously
subject to "owners".
The time has passed long ago for us to call these inhuman vicious some other thing than "owner"
or "master".
No group on this planet could have failed to amass fortunes using the tactics these people used.
And those tactics required only a tiny modicum of intelligent thought.
whispered if someone who had suffered mentioned a circumstance. No one was allowed to bring
up or question any indignities forced on a family member during or immediately after slavery.
I appreciated Mr. Bashir's honesty and frankness because he wears the mantle of an observer who
has no investment in either exaggerating, or providing cover, for the nightmare American slavery was in the U.S.
Many in any in 19th century America, however, fought a war for the rights to continue these practices. Many in 21st century America seem eager to do the same again. They've even asked the
government for drones.
People still praise the antebellum south represented in the diary Mr. Bashir presented in his
broadcast of November 15, 2013. The diary was that of an owner-animal.
There are those in this country who want very much to return us all to barbarisms the states, not our
country, wish us to endure. Justice John Roberts is one of those people.
Many Americans would that any state in this country could legally treat citizens of the United States
of America any way a state should choose to treat them.
And we have yet to name the barbaric ones, unless it's to call them "owners"
Slavers kidnapped people from their homes and families and stuffed them into crushing ships' holds.
Slaves were forced to work, while having all wages stolen from them, and all family continuously
subject to "owners".
The time has passed long ago for us to call these inhuman vicious some other thing than "owner"
or "master".
No group on this planet could have failed to amass fortunes using the tactics these people used.
And those tactics required only a tiny modicum of intelligent thought.
We Do Not Need (healthcare,gov)!
Insurance companies should be marketing to people and signing people up for insurance. They don't
need a website for that, and neither do we.
The news media has an overblown sense of the need for computer efficacy.
If the Supreme Court hadn't struck down the rights of people qualifying for Medicare under the new
law, we wouldn't still even be waiting for websites.
If Congress had funded the roll out properly, we could have a much quicker website.
If the Republicans in Congress hadn't terrified people so with the "shutdown or repeal" farce, millions
of people wouldn't have felt the need to get to the website all on the same day!
I mean, people were desperate for health care, but not everyone was as desperate as it seemed the day the website crashed!
People who are eligible for insurance now can get signed up at an Insurance Company with or
without "healthcare.gov"!
I hope people are not going to all be confused enough to believe computers are so powerful that they
can take away the right to health and well-being in the United States of America.
I hope America will not be callous enough to jeopardize the health and well-being of the 30 million
this law could insure so that the 4 million can hang onto worthless insurance.
Only insurance companies can offer policies which comply with the law. POTUS can't do that unless
we do adopt a single payer option.
Not all 4 million people with rotten policies are going to insist on keeping them anyway. But for those who do, hold on to them. Ignore insurance company letters. Those policies are worth as much with the companies honoring them as they are with the companies refusing to honor them. Whether you keep them or not- you've got nothing.
If we do have healthcare.gov, we should have several websites by several names:
1- singlemomshealthcare.gov
2- singlewomenunder50healthcare.gov
3- singlewomenover50healthcare.gov
4- 2parenthomes healthcare.gov
5- singledadshealthcare.gov
6- singlemenunder50healthcare.gov
7- singlemenover50healthcare.gov
8- marriedcouplehealthcare.gov
9- non-traditionalfamilyhealthcare.gov
Each of those websites can funnel people right to insurance companies. Let the companies report how
many people are insured with them, The only other website citizens need is: healthcarecomplaints.gov.
Knowing these slippery, sly corporations masking themselves as persons- that is a website which might legitimately crash often!
need a website for that, and neither do we.
The news media has an overblown sense of the need for computer efficacy.
If the Supreme Court hadn't struck down the rights of people qualifying for Medicare under the new
law, we wouldn't still even be waiting for websites.
If Congress had funded the roll out properly, we could have a much quicker website.
If the Republicans in Congress hadn't terrified people so with the "shutdown or repeal" farce, millions
of people wouldn't have felt the need to get to the website all on the same day!
I mean, people were desperate for health care, but not everyone was as desperate as it seemed the day the website crashed!
People who are eligible for insurance now can get signed up at an Insurance Company with or
without "healthcare.gov"!
I hope people are not going to all be confused enough to believe computers are so powerful that they
can take away the right to health and well-being in the United States of America.
I hope America will not be callous enough to jeopardize the health and well-being of the 30 million
this law could insure so that the 4 million can hang onto worthless insurance.
Only insurance companies can offer policies which comply with the law. POTUS can't do that unless
we do adopt a single payer option.
Not all 4 million people with rotten policies are going to insist on keeping them anyway. But for those who do, hold on to them. Ignore insurance company letters. Those policies are worth as much with the companies honoring them as they are with the companies refusing to honor them. Whether you keep them or not- you've got nothing.
If we do have healthcare.gov, we should have several websites by several names:
1- singlemomshealthcare.gov
2- singlewomenunder50healthcare.gov
3- singlewomenover50healthcare.gov
4- 2parenthomes healthcare.gov
5- singledadshealthcare.gov
6- singlemenunder50healthcare.gov
7- singlemenover50healthcare.gov
8- marriedcouplehealthcare.gov
9- non-traditionalfamilyhealthcare.gov
Each of those websites can funnel people right to insurance companies. Let the companies report how
many people are insured with them, The only other website citizens need is: healthcarecomplaints.gov.
Knowing these slippery, sly corporations masking themselves as persons- that is a website which might legitimately crash often!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
TPP
I understand why Trans Pacific Partnership is not popular with Labor and the left. However, what
they will have to do is get together en masse, and craft something they would like, to see if it would
fly as far as keeping America competitive in the worlds of manufacture and trade.
President Obama has had advisers from the best sectors of business and law brief him on the growth
of China, Governor John Huntsman one of the most thorough among them.
The thing is, either we find a way to control the Pacific Rim, or China will. If China does, military
threats could easily ensue.
The President has put his heart and soul into supporting new technologies and training so that American labor can represent a more sophisticated labor force. Manufacturing here cannot be dependent on what it once represented. We will have to move on from mining and heavy metals, for instance.
We will be leaders after the paradigm shift. But we do have to find some way to embrace a shift from rote behaviors in our workplaces, to behaviors which complement and update intelligent machines. We have to do this in ways which will accommodate swiftly changing demands in marketplaces expanding and expanded by amorphously shifting variables.
they will have to do is get together en masse, and craft something they would like, to see if it would
fly as far as keeping America competitive in the worlds of manufacture and trade.
President Obama has had advisers from the best sectors of business and law brief him on the growth
of China, Governor John Huntsman one of the most thorough among them.
The thing is, either we find a way to control the Pacific Rim, or China will. If China does, military
threats could easily ensue.
The President has put his heart and soul into supporting new technologies and training so that American labor can represent a more sophisticated labor force. Manufacturing here cannot be dependent on what it once represented. We will have to move on from mining and heavy metals, for instance.
We will be leaders after the paradigm shift. But we do have to find some way to embrace a shift from rote behaviors in our workplaces, to behaviors which complement and update intelligent machines. We have to do this in ways which will accommodate swiftly changing demands in marketplaces expanding and expanded by amorphously shifting variables.
Gun Enthusiasts
I see it now.
Gun enthusiasts are free to buy and carry arms without regulation because they stay home.
Obviously they could care less about going to the movies.
They aren't going to attend high school, college, or even grammar school it seems nowadays.
They could probably care less about the mall.
They may be inclined to get groceries because one of them nearly shot the man who had Congresswoman Giffords' attacker just about disarmed.
The things the rest of us worry about- a gun enthusiast may have no reason to care one way or
the other.
A group of armed koo-koos stood outside a restaurant where a group of four moms in Texas were
meeting to discuss gun regulation. So the second amendment, along with corporations, both drown
out the first amendment now?
Good luck to Texas.
Let them secede if they like...but allow normal people the time to get out first.
Spanish is a beautiful language.
If Texas secedes, all its citizens will be speaking Spanish very soon thereafter.
Mexico will not lose the second time around!
Gun enthusiasts are free to buy and carry arms without regulation because they stay home.
Obviously they could care less about going to the movies.
They aren't going to attend high school, college, or even grammar school it seems nowadays.
They could probably care less about the mall.
They may be inclined to get groceries because one of them nearly shot the man who had Congresswoman Giffords' attacker just about disarmed.
The things the rest of us worry about- a gun enthusiast may have no reason to care one way or
the other.
A group of armed koo-koos stood outside a restaurant where a group of four moms in Texas were
meeting to discuss gun regulation. So the second amendment, along with corporations, both drown
out the first amendment now?
Good luck to Texas.
Let them secede if they like...but allow normal people the time to get out first.
Spanish is a beautiful language.
If Texas secedes, all its citizens will be speaking Spanish very soon thereafter.
Mexico will not lose the second time around!
Health Care Is Not A Website
Health care is many other things,though, care is the operative word.
One can find care for one's health in many places. A computer is not one of them, unless someone has
run into Hal from 2001 A Space Odyssey, Hal could probably cure anything.
In the meantime, let's get our health care the way we get gas for our cars. We go to where the commodity we need exists. We'd rather do it in our PJs after dinner. Whatever. Let's just do it- regardless. We all have to have competent health care.
One can find care for one's health in many places. A computer is not one of them, unless someone has
run into Hal from 2001 A Space Odyssey, Hal could probably cure anything.
In the meantime, let's get our health care the way we get gas for our cars. We go to where the commodity we need exists. We'd rather do it in our PJs after dinner. Whatever. Let's just do it- regardless. We all have to have competent health care.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Employers Are Lying About Obamacare
I know a lady who works as a hotel maid but has been told by her employer she has to have $78 per
week deducted from her pay because POTUS insists everyone have health care. I explained to her that was an absolute lie. I asked her to tell her bosses she would get her own insurance. This lady did
just that, and the hotel stop talking about deducting such exorbitant funds. This is happening in Michigan.
I have a friend who works for one of the county municipalities in Illinois. She cleans the court houses. Her personnel office told her she has to pay about $75 per month because Obama insists everyone have health care.
She doesn't make enough to pay that, so I asked her to tell them she will get her own health insurance.
They came up with a plan which will cost her $30 per month. I don't see why she should pay that either. A group policy should be cheap enough for the county to pay for its employees; but she is over fifty, so I kept my mouth shut.
When I spoke to her again, the county had decided she would have to pay $75 a month starting next year because she smokes.
Her overweight co-workers were told they'd be charged even more.
I wanted to ask her if she worked for the wacky tea party Lake County. But it's her job, so I wouldn't
do that. And I know she doesn't read blogs.
When I speak to her again, I think I will ask her if smoking and excess weight aren't pre-existing conditions.
week deducted from her pay because POTUS insists everyone have health care. I explained to her that was an absolute lie. I asked her to tell her bosses she would get her own insurance. This lady did
just that, and the hotel stop talking about deducting such exorbitant funds. This is happening in Michigan.
I have a friend who works for one of the county municipalities in Illinois. She cleans the court houses. Her personnel office told her she has to pay about $75 per month because Obama insists everyone have health care.
She doesn't make enough to pay that, so I asked her to tell them she will get her own health insurance.
They came up with a plan which will cost her $30 per month. I don't see why she should pay that either. A group policy should be cheap enough for the county to pay for its employees; but she is over fifty, so I kept my mouth shut.
When I spoke to her again, the county had decided she would have to pay $75 a month starting next year because she smokes.
Her overweight co-workers were told they'd be charged even more.
I wanted to ask her if she worked for the wacky tea party Lake County. But it's her job, so I wouldn't
do that. And I know she doesn't read blogs.
When I speak to her again, I think I will ask her if smoking and excess weight aren't pre-existing conditions.
Tamerlain And Dzokhar
Why would anyone considering themselves to be Caucasian immigrate to the U.S. by coming to Boston, expecting to assimilate?
Someone steered this family so wrong. Even the mom became radicalized.
I sure wish the sisters well. However...
Either a person is from Boston, or not from Boston.
Either a person is East Coast blue blood or not East Coast blue blood.
Even Southies, from early 20th century immigration, are Southies.
Boston is more or less a closed society, unless one is going to stay a short or finite amount of time.
Maybe some reincarnation of the Daughters of the American Revolution would be accepted. But of course, their clothes would be funny.
Attempting to be a Bostonian can only offer more and more profoundly disappointing failures
as an attempt continues.
Someone steered this family so wrong. Even the mom became radicalized.
I sure wish the sisters well. However...
Either a person is from Boston, or not from Boston.
Either a person is East Coast blue blood or not East Coast blue blood.
Even Southies, from early 20th century immigration, are Southies.
Boston is more or less a closed society, unless one is going to stay a short or finite amount of time.
Maybe some reincarnation of the Daughters of the American Revolution would be accepted. But of course, their clothes would be funny.
Attempting to be a Bostonian can only offer more and more profoundly disappointing failures
as an attempt continues.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
A Black Man As President
I heard Allen West say several days ago on Fox News, that President Obama wasn't black enough
to be considered a black man.
Well one thing is certain and two things true- Allen West definitely is.
to be considered a black man.
Well one thing is certain and two things true- Allen West definitely is.
Southerners Still Love George III
Back in the 17th century, American colonial farmers did beg the English Parliament and the British King, George III not to institute slavery in their colonies.
To their way of thinking, it would mean their ancestors and their families had left Europe and suffered and died to begin again for no apparent reason.
With all the work being done by slaves, how could an ordinary man secure work, or competitively
plant and farm.
George had other things on his mind.
Britain had shelled out big big money to protect American settlers from America's native populations,
and to fight the French-Indian War for them.
France and Spain were growing richer by the day from their slave-holding colonies in the new world.
As these countries were ever present threats to Great Britain, George felt if they got enough money
to launch and execute another attack on British soil, they would do so. They would most assuredly do so if they saw British coffers under a strain, or running dry. France especially, just loved land.
Besides, British people were in Parliament regularly to complain they were being worked long hours
at workplaces with few or no opportunities to take a break, eat a morsel, or relieve oneself.
The men complained bitterly that they made so little money, they had to succumb to employers' demands they bring in their wives to help with the work. Then, these same employers began to demand a man's children come in to become part of the workday.
Children testified their work got slower after mid-day, but if they began to miss something at their
work stations, or nod without meaning to, they were rapped sharply across the knuckles with some
sort of wood measuring stick. So Parliament and the King felt obliged to take that pressure off citizens at home, even if it introduced hardship to citizens abroad.
American colonists begged to be spared life in a place where landed gentry would become as rich as
can be, while the remaining colonists could find little to do to sustain themselves.
Apparently, by and by, Abraham Lincoln came to agree with these colonists; but I suppose of course by then it was too late. Emancipation of American slaves came more than two centuries after
slavery in the colonies began. By then, the disenfranchised turned their bitterness toward those who
could do nothing about it.
The slaves were available to be able to absorb all the hatred the average colonist could muster.
No ear was available to colonists in England. After a time, many of the poor among the colonists thought England should be willing to send the slaves back home.
They had no hopes of asking plantation owners to alter the money machines.
They were by then too proud to admit how lost was their cause.
They opened up whole-heartedly to what would centuries later be termed the Stockholm Syndrome.
Even today, so many southerners identify with the glories of slavery. So do their minions!
And yet, what could my ancestors do that theirs could not?
Now that my brethren are trying to catch up as well, we are to get no credit for having built the new
world. There was no real industry here before my ancestors arrived. Of course they brought forth the
crops which made these colonies rich enough to fight Great Britain- and win.
They made the country rich enough to offer immigrants work at the turn of the 20th century and since.
All of Massachusetts, all of New York got richer than rich right there in their harbors where the slave
trade was built, and where slave products were bought and sold. Naturally, all the patents involved
over the years went to owners, then to other Caucasians who happened upon such patents.
Are those of us who are descendants of African slaves not to be proud of them who built America, who only survived because they so loved one another? Well...
I hear, though, that Burkina Faso is lovely this time of year.
To their way of thinking, it would mean their ancestors and their families had left Europe and suffered and died to begin again for no apparent reason.
With all the work being done by slaves, how could an ordinary man secure work, or competitively
plant and farm.
George had other things on his mind.
Britain had shelled out big big money to protect American settlers from America's native populations,
and to fight the French-Indian War for them.
France and Spain were growing richer by the day from their slave-holding colonies in the new world.
As these countries were ever present threats to Great Britain, George felt if they got enough money
to launch and execute another attack on British soil, they would do so. They would most assuredly do so if they saw British coffers under a strain, or running dry. France especially, just loved land.
Besides, British people were in Parliament regularly to complain they were being worked long hours
at workplaces with few or no opportunities to take a break, eat a morsel, or relieve oneself.
The men complained bitterly that they made so little money, they had to succumb to employers' demands they bring in their wives to help with the work. Then, these same employers began to demand a man's children come in to become part of the workday.
Children testified their work got slower after mid-day, but if they began to miss something at their
work stations, or nod without meaning to, they were rapped sharply across the knuckles with some
sort of wood measuring stick. So Parliament and the King felt obliged to take that pressure off citizens at home, even if it introduced hardship to citizens abroad.
American colonists begged to be spared life in a place where landed gentry would become as rich as
can be, while the remaining colonists could find little to do to sustain themselves.
Apparently, by and by, Abraham Lincoln came to agree with these colonists; but I suppose of course by then it was too late. Emancipation of American slaves came more than two centuries after
slavery in the colonies began. By then, the disenfranchised turned their bitterness toward those who
could do nothing about it.
The slaves were available to be able to absorb all the hatred the average colonist could muster.
No ear was available to colonists in England. After a time, many of the poor among the colonists thought England should be willing to send the slaves back home.
They had no hopes of asking plantation owners to alter the money machines.
They were by then too proud to admit how lost was their cause.
They opened up whole-heartedly to what would centuries later be termed the Stockholm Syndrome.
Even today, so many southerners identify with the glories of slavery. So do their minions!
And yet, what could my ancestors do that theirs could not?
Now that my brethren are trying to catch up as well, we are to get no credit for having built the new
world. There was no real industry here before my ancestors arrived. Of course they brought forth the
crops which made these colonies rich enough to fight Great Britain- and win.
They made the country rich enough to offer immigrants work at the turn of the 20th century and since.
All of Massachusetts, all of New York got richer than rich right there in their harbors where the slave
trade was built, and where slave products were bought and sold. Naturally, all the patents involved
over the years went to owners, then to other Caucasians who happened upon such patents.
Are those of us who are descendants of African slaves not to be proud of them who built America, who only survived because they so loved one another? Well...
I hear, though, that Burkina Faso is lovely this time of year.
Climate Put The Fear Of Sandy In NJ
I know Barbara Buono could have won if New Jersey wasn't so afraid of hurricanes now.
Ms. Buono would at least have made a more powerful showing.
The city has yet to recover from Sandy, and as 'W' put it, they were NOT about to change horses
in mid-stream.
The tea party types also helped to elect Governor Christie.
Americans of African descent and other minorities and progressives, even some centrists loved the idea that Christie properly sought access to, and properly acknowledged President Obama in the devastation of the Sandy aftermath.
African Americans surely bristled, visibly, and were often quite audible in their disgust with
Haley Barbour of Mississippi during the BP oil spill. What state governor leaves town during a crisis, when the President is on his way?
Again, Governor Jan Brewer left an indelible image in the hearts and minds of so many with her
bony 'Halloween' finger pointed right in the President's face, again in a time when he came bearing
good will.
To note these behaviors, an untrained observer might think POTUS had gone to order federal troops for the desegregation of southern universities.
Oh, right, southerners may still be angry about that. Maybe they were taking it out on POTUS.
But no, Chris Christie's respect for and deference to our President painted a picture of such stark contrast to those other governors, that African Americans may always be loyal to him...at least 20%
of that voting public.
And African Americans, especially those in New Jersey, will always love Christie for the way he behaved at Whitney Houston's home going.
Even suppressed, if Christie can count on that minority vote in a close national election, he could win.
If he does manage to wrangle a nomination in 2016 to go head to head with Hillary Clinton, he might
easily cement great numbers of the African American vote. That could of course
make all the difference, unless all our large cities have been emptied by then. I doubt it could happen;
but that is another Republican aim...empty the cities of their minorities.
In the scenario that Joe Biden runs instead of Hillary- well Christie's chances seem a lot more dim.
With or without President Obama, Biden already has the hearts and minds of African America.
Governor Christie has two years to get right with the rest of centrist America.
The Tea Party, of course, is in a slow burn. That should help.
As for Ms. Buono, she took one for the team.
The Democratic Party wants to be influential in getting Christie to the primaries, even if is through
deft neglect of one of their own.
Democrats don't think he can withstand prime time; but they want all possible challengers on stage
at once, attempting to look as nutty as the man or woman standing beside him- or her.
Democrats don't want a so-called "moderate" coming from out of nowhere in 2016, pretending he or
she won't do all possible to flatten progressive ideals.
Christie has two years to work with his democratic legislature on record as a middle class advocate.
He will be under the Democrats microscope.
Time will tell if he can be the homophobic, pro-life, anti immigration tight-fisted hero of the right
who nevertheless finally properly disperses Sandy money, while spurring middle class job growth.
If he can do it, democrats have a heads up for 2016.
If Republicans are grooming someone else with Christie's electorate clout, the Ms. Buono has suffered the slings and arrows of a million Democratic Party slights for no particular reason. I hope
that doesn't turn out to be the case because she seems way more progressive than Terry McAuliffe
who did pull out the gubernatorial win in Virginia. Lord knows we need all the progressives we can get in this country, hurricanes notwithstanding.
Ms. Buono would at least have made a more powerful showing.
The city has yet to recover from Sandy, and as 'W' put it, they were NOT about to change horses
in mid-stream.
The tea party types also helped to elect Governor Christie.
Americans of African descent and other minorities and progressives, even some centrists loved the idea that Christie properly sought access to, and properly acknowledged President Obama in the devastation of the Sandy aftermath.
African Americans surely bristled, visibly, and were often quite audible in their disgust with
Haley Barbour of Mississippi during the BP oil spill. What state governor leaves town during a crisis, when the President is on his way?
Again, Governor Jan Brewer left an indelible image in the hearts and minds of so many with her
bony 'Halloween' finger pointed right in the President's face, again in a time when he came bearing
good will.
To note these behaviors, an untrained observer might think POTUS had gone to order federal troops for the desegregation of southern universities.
Oh, right, southerners may still be angry about that. Maybe they were taking it out on POTUS.
But no, Chris Christie's respect for and deference to our President painted a picture of such stark contrast to those other governors, that African Americans may always be loyal to him...at least 20%
of that voting public.
And African Americans, especially those in New Jersey, will always love Christie for the way he behaved at Whitney Houston's home going.
Even suppressed, if Christie can count on that minority vote in a close national election, he could win.
Whereas the Governor hasn't yet calculated exactly how to trounce the tea party, he does knows they are no friend of New Jersey in spite of whatever else may happen. Governor Christie also knows he will not see to what extent the teas have destroyed themselves on their own until after the 2014 elections.
He realizes he has nothing more to lose with those crackpots.If he does manage to wrangle a nomination in 2016 to go head to head with Hillary Clinton, he might
easily cement great numbers of the African American vote. That could of course
make all the difference, unless all our large cities have been emptied by then. I doubt it could happen;
but that is another Republican aim...empty the cities of their minorities.
In the scenario that Joe Biden runs instead of Hillary- well Christie's chances seem a lot more dim.
With or without President Obama, Biden already has the hearts and minds of African America.
Governor Christie has two years to get right with the rest of centrist America.
The Tea Party, of course, is in a slow burn. That should help.
As for Ms. Buono, she took one for the team.
The Democratic Party wants to be influential in getting Christie to the primaries, even if is through
deft neglect of one of their own.
Democrats don't think he can withstand prime time; but they want all possible challengers on stage
at once, attempting to look as nutty as the man or woman standing beside him- or her.
Democrats don't want a so-called "moderate" coming from out of nowhere in 2016, pretending he or
she won't do all possible to flatten progressive ideals.
Christie has two years to work with his democratic legislature on record as a middle class advocate.
He will be under the Democrats microscope.
Time will tell if he can be the homophobic, pro-life, anti immigration tight-fisted hero of the right
who nevertheless finally properly disperses Sandy money, while spurring middle class job growth.
If he can do it, democrats have a heads up for 2016.
If Republicans are grooming someone else with Christie's electorate clout, the Ms. Buono has suffered the slings and arrows of a million Democratic Party slights for no particular reason. I hope
that doesn't turn out to be the case because she seems way more progressive than Terry McAuliffe
who did pull out the gubernatorial win in Virginia. Lord knows we need all the progressives we can get in this country, hurricanes notwithstanding.
Michissippi
Here is the real 51st state.
Most Michiganders live in Michigan.
However, more than a million of us, including Detroiters, live in Michissippi.
The state has powers worse than those we complain about as imposed by the federal government.
Here in Detroit, the state put our elected mayor on trial...over and over again.
They finally got him, so that he was found guilty and sent to prison..
Then, they put one of our most loyal city council members in prison.
The person they tried to install in her place didn't have clean enough hands for that to work, thank
heavens.
We elected a new Mayor.
They dismissed him, putting someone of their own choosing in his place.
Meantime, they changed Michigan to a 'right to work' without unions state.
We got it on the ballot, voted it down, and they did it again. We have a 'right to work' without
proper work representation...again.
Walter Reuther is in heaven wondering how this could happen to us.
This state declared our city bankrupt, and is in court at this moment, attempting to take contracted
pensions from our retired.
They are attempting to force all our children into 'charter' schools.
Last night, during yet another city election, the state claimed someone called Mike Duggan won the
election fair and square.
That didn't happen. Detroit has two mayors. One Mayor is in prison. The other lives here as a private
citizen.
We need them back. However...
I here Burkina Faso is lovely this time of year.
Most Michiganders live in Michigan.
However, more than a million of us, including Detroiters, live in Michissippi.
The state has powers worse than those we complain about as imposed by the federal government.
Here in Detroit, the state put our elected mayor on trial...over and over again.
They finally got him, so that he was found guilty and sent to prison..
Then, they put one of our most loyal city council members in prison.
The person they tried to install in her place didn't have clean enough hands for that to work, thank
heavens.
We elected a new Mayor.
They dismissed him, putting someone of their own choosing in his place.
Meantime, they changed Michigan to a 'right to work' without unions state.
We got it on the ballot, voted it down, and they did it again. We have a 'right to work' without
proper work representation...again.
Walter Reuther is in heaven wondering how this could happen to us.
This state declared our city bankrupt, and is in court at this moment, attempting to take contracted
pensions from our retired.
They are attempting to force all our children into 'charter' schools.
Last night, during yet another city election, the state claimed someone called Mike Duggan won the
election fair and square.
That didn't happen. Detroit has two mayors. One Mayor is in prison. The other lives here as a private
citizen.
We need them back. However...
I here Burkina Faso is lovely this time of year.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Updated Is Not Cancelled!
POTUS is not an insurance salesman. And since when do health insurers not obfuscate? These
companies agreed to be grandfathered into compliance with health care law once the exchanges came online. Instead of rewriting policies so that they offer now regulated benefits, and advising beneficiaries about applying for available subsidy, these policy peddlers tell people their old policy
is cancelled due to Obamacare, and if they want a legal policy now, they must pay what...five times the previous cost in some cases?
Tell people the real story, the whole story, and nothing but the story, you phony execs.
Now we know more about why courtroom oaths are written the way they are under penalty of perjury. With better health care, we are also getting a lot of the requisite losers in these culture wars.
And while we are on the subject, let's let people go out of business if they are to provide me the
insurance of their religious belief instead of my religious belief.
Someone will come along to buy them out. Then they can use that money to go to their churches
and tithe.
companies agreed to be grandfathered into compliance with health care law once the exchanges came online. Instead of rewriting policies so that they offer now regulated benefits, and advising beneficiaries about applying for available subsidy, these policy peddlers tell people their old policy
is cancelled due to Obamacare, and if they want a legal policy now, they must pay what...five times the previous cost in some cases?
Tell people the real story, the whole story, and nothing but the story, you phony execs.
Now we know more about why courtroom oaths are written the way they are under penalty of perjury. With better health care, we are also getting a lot of the requisite losers in these culture wars.
And while we are on the subject, let's let people go out of business if they are to provide me the
insurance of their religious belief instead of my religious belief.
Someone will come along to buy them out. Then they can use that money to go to their churches
and tithe.
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