I started this blog out of frustration with the news media. I’m from a generation that watched the news for information. Today the news is just a regular television show. It’s about creating and entertaining an audience. The weather news people hope for some catastrophic event to report on, hopefully locally. The national news people seek controversy in the interim they settle for silliness. At this time when we look to the news people to inform us on ACA better known as Obama care, we get drivel. As an example, the lead stories and headlines talk about cancelled health policies. Then when you get the whole story it’s about the discontinuation of substandard insurance policies. This is just an example. I try to be informative on this blog and I research every topic I opine on. It’s apparent I can’t use the news media as cliff notes in talking about the Affordable Care Act or any other important matter. In closing I just want to say Ted Cruz is a bad joke.
I want to give a shout out to Masondan for his courage in writing a book about the current state of male chauvinism and in nexus feminism. He is also taking this from a religious point of view. It takes a lot of introspection to try to tackle this subject matter. I am in deep thought as to my true feelings in regard to this topic and true to the name of this post ,I may vary from the norm a little.
I like strong women as I am the son of a strong woman and the father of a strong daughter. My mother was a home maker during my youth only entering the workforce when all her five sons were out of high school. I tend to believe that people are too easy to resort to stereotypes when discussing this issue. Congratulations to Masondan for his recent engagement and much luck in his endeavors to tackle such a subject.
Nobody wants to say it directly so I will. The problem with the health care law is that its founding principle is to cover people it is not profitable to cover. The insurance companies are for profit companies and forcing them to cover a segment of the population that it is not profitable to cover is an incongruent proposition. Covering people with pre-existing conditions and having no caps are not good business for insurance companies. I am not saying that this is not a noble undertaking, I’m just saying it complicates matters.
Senator Cochran came closest to saying what I just said. I think a more realistic law would have focused on preventive care and the young or the law should have gone whole hog and the government should have taken over health care. I know that the federal government will not take over health care and I understand that health care is needed by many who can’t afford it. Let’s hope that the ACA survives my pessimism and in the future universal health care will become the norm in America.
Well here we go again, talking about something I know nothing about. No problem, I’m good at that. Today it’s about the braces that my daughter decided she needed since she’s an adult. The other day she went back to the dentist to get something called anchors installed. As she explained this to me during her Oh dad lecture, this procedure seemed simple enough. Well not so fast. It seems her teeth are too close together so she needs special spacers to go with these anchors. Why you ask are her teeth too close together. Well best I could understand, she has too many teeth. Well I asked her, Where did you get these extra teeth? She replied, I have no extra teeth, I just have all my teeth. Huh? Something about wisdom teeth and teething when she was twenty and hurting but all is good. Whew! Well I started counting, do I have too many teeth for dentures, do they hurt. I decided after the count that I certainly don’t have too many teeth and I will forgo dentures if they hurt. Well I guess that’s all for this update oh yeah they did have to yank out the old spacers and this and that. Well what kind of glue do they use for dentures and does it taste like chicken? I think there was more to the lecture but I can’t remember.
Ted Cruz continues his expose’ of himself. It’s apparent that he does not consider governing a job requirement for being a senator. Contrary to the deference given to senator Cruz by the media, I question whether he is qualified for his job. His political acumen seems lacking. The American public at large, contrary to his declarations of support, do not see his actions in a positive light. Hey Ted, let me stop here. You’re too smart to be serious in your act as a Tea Party senator. You’ve been pulling my leg all along. How foolish of me to think you are talking seriously. It’s all a hoax, like Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of H.G. Well’s novel War of the Worlds in 1938. I just want to know when will you let the rest of us in on your little prank. It’s no longer humorous, but I must admit you had me going.
Whew! Man did the media really fall for your little joke. They’re still reporting that you seriously wanted the government shutdown and also default on our debt. They’ve even reported that you’re saying the Senate Republicans were wrong in not following the House Republicans off a cliff. Man you had me. You are joking aren’t you Ted. At some point in the near future you’re going to take your position as a U.S. Senator from the great state of Texas seriously aren’t you Ted? Come on Ted quit joking, a lot of people are not getting the joke.
My daughter called me out of the blue and said she was going to the dentist. I immediately started thinking of something to say to console her. Then she said she was going to get her teeth cleaned. Well I thought that’s better than a root canal. The day came and she survived the dentist, my words, teeth cleaned fait-accompli I thought, as she related her experience to me over the phone. Well she said, ” I have to return for another appointment”. Well this young lady is in her thirties. Maybe that root canal was lurking after all. Immediately I tried to recall those words of comfort I had prepared for such a happenstance. As I pondered, out of the phone came these words, “I’m getting braces”. Braces I thought, isn’t that for young kids, teenagers even. By the way didn’t she get braces when she was younger. Don’t say anything I thought, maybe I misheard, I don’t hear as well as I once did. Yes, she repeated, braces. Okay I thought. You must understand I’ve never had braces, and I thought only teenagers got braces. So not being familiar with the subject matter and not desiring to hear the inevitable, Oh dad, conversation, I quickly changed the subject.
The day came for her to get braces and then in a text, I think that’s what it’s called, she said her mouth hurt. Hey my words of comfort were about a root canal, what do I say about braces? Well being quick on my feet and quite the wordsmith, I replied, “Oh”. This quickly lead to the Oh dad lecture. It seems, it is not uncommon for adults to get braces. There is pain initially in adjusting to them but in around two years, you’ve got that beautiful smile. Well I guess I’ll get more of the lecture next week. Something about spacers and anchors or well I don’t remember just stay tuned. I thought I was supposed to give the lectures at least I wanted to. Well I’ll soon need dentures, they don’t hurt do they.
I am fond of trying to read things written in old English. I have not been very successful. I guess I need to study old English but to date I have not and the results show. I know that in the law there are words of will means something is not set in stone but shall means must. In following politics closely it is apparent that in Washington D.C. words don’t mean the same as they do in regular English. Politicians say one thing, and when the political pundits repeat it to me it has a totally different meaning than what I think I heard. For this reason I am amused at the current crisis in the nation. It appears that the people have sent some politicians to Washington who also don’t understand Washington speak. These new politicians may not be of a mind to do what’s right for the Country, but I understand fully what they are saying. The fact that these politicians don’t know the ways of Washington or care to learn has them speaking in a language I understand better than the pundits.
It appears to me that the Tea Party was a third party movement that was hijacked by the Republican party. The Republican party with Michael Steele as chairman was reeling from his spending habits and no discernible vision. With Dick Armey as lead dog and Michael Steele as opportunist the Tea Party movement was hijacked and Republicans reveled in the victories wrought by this movement. Now Dick Armey has unceremoniously been sent back to Texas and Michael Steele was stripped of his Republican bona-fides and exiled to MSNBC as a paid punching bag. To the dismay of their Republican hijackers this Tea Party bunch turned out to be rambunctious and demanding. They refused to wear their shackles and soon had the run of the House. The Republican elite enjoying the energy of their new House guests decided to plot a plan to keep these new House guests in place. Unbeknownst to their Republican hosts these new guests carried a virus that soon overcame their hijackers.
That brings us to the present state of politics in Washington. The Democrats not being infected by the Tea Party virus have grown a spine and the Republican hijackers have no say in their used to be House. This would all be so humorous, you know the part about the hijackers losing their House to the hijacked, except these Tea Party people don’t want to engage in the work of governing. Their mission is to seek and destroy. The President has decided to go toe to toe with the new rulers of the House. The pundits can’t report what’s happening because of a language barrier and all manner of havoc is set to be unleashed upon the country and all who depend on us. Pardon the havoc is already unleashed, I’m just waiting on the damage assessment.
Has congress cried wolf for the last time? Is the wolf really here this time? More important is the wolf rabid? Is Ted Cruz the tin man, tin ear, no heart? Is John Boehner a patriot? How long can President hold out? Somebody needs to tell the Republicans that he knows his Presidency is at stake, this isn’t 2011. Is the media prepared to accurately report this crisis? I don’t think so. That box must be hard to get out of for the media.
Well the zanies continue and the future of America is being permanently damaged at home and abroad, does the Tea Party care.
Mr. Boehner change the calendar in your office, this is 2013 not 2011, the President has learned to be President.
Today the game of chicken between the Democrats and Republicans zooms toward critical mass. Not even the most inside of the insiders knows how this will end. Trying to make sense of this potential train wreck is an exercise in futility. Yes I’ve finally come to that conclusion. It appears to me that these trains are fueled by two different accelerants. The Republicans seem to be propelled by a campaign strategy that has worked in the past, i.e. Obama care is the ” Great Satan”, the President on the other hand is fighting for what he feels is an attack on the office of the President. The political pundits say the president wants to keep his signature achievement of his presidency in tact. That may be true as far as it goes, however the real reason the President feels so strongly about his cause is the office itself. The President has been stung by the aftermath of the 2011 debt deal when John Boehner declared that he got 90% of what he wanted. He feels rightly or wrongly that using the full faith and credit of the United States as a bargaining chip by either party creates a bad precedent for the presidency. In other words one side sees this as fulfilling a campaign promise and the other is fighting for the office he currently holds.
While I don’t buy the presidential argument hook, line and sinker it is by far the most germane to the health of the country. Hopefully the grown-ups in the Senate can resolve this impasse for the good of the country. Now if these people can let me get back to finding some more satisfying topics for this blog, at least for the holiday season, I will be most appreciative. Hey I like to be humorous and I find no humor in the current state of governmental affairs.
We always brag that we have the best political system in the world. Everybody deserves to live in a Democracy we say. Now the world laughs at us at our claims of superiority. They’ve laughed before but I’ve always taken their laughter as jealously, pure envy. Not this time. It is indeed pure folly to think that this is the way to run a country. What’s going on, have our leaders been kidnapped and replaced by bots. I keep waiting for my wife to stop me during one of my rants and tell me “it’s only a movie”. She is not cooperating, doesn’t she know how much I long to hear those words. My rants become more frequent and virulent, I shake with incredulity, I foam at the mouth, nothing. This is real. I don’t want it to be real but it’s real.
We have a crisis. Is this the beginning of the end of America as we know it. Are we an emerging third world power, correction a third world power. This fight between the President and the Republicans has real ramifications. The president cannot give in, the Republican House plus Ted Cruz won’t give in. I wish I could see both sides as having a point, but shutting the government down and threatening default is serious. When destroying our country is seen as a great bargaining chip by our elected leaders, something is very wrong. When John Kerry tells other world leaders this is no big deal and President Obama says that to us Americans, they are wrong, very wrong . Then we have congressmen saying a default on our debt is no big deal, we can just pick and choose which debts to pay. A short term spending bill will not restore my faith. I know that our intelligentsia or talking heads as I call them see this as good theatre as a good storyline and nothing else. I disagree , it is a much more serious problem going forward than they see. I know, the leaders will muddle through this problem until a month or two when they do it again. They’ll look backwards and tell us move on there’s nothing to see here, we’ve done this before and everything turned out fine. But they will be wrong, the world is changing and while we are fighting to the death internally it will pass us by.
Our leadership is blind and so are we. Our problem is not the debt, or entitlements, or abortion , or whatever real or imagined problem that politicians hoist upon us to get elected in the future. Our problem is the foxes are guarding the hen house. The destruction of the middle class will be the destruction of America. The time is nigh. So let’s keep letting our leaders lead us no where while we take solace in the fact that the sand covering our heads feels so soothing.
gilmorelogic 