Was it good for you too?
I was swept away in the last presidential election with promises never before so genuinely offered. It boggled the mind! Imagine the thought of a black man becoming the leader of the free world. And, should he attain his goal, gay people (and all other previously oppressed minorities) would experience freedom unlike never before. OK, so now you are free to serve in the military if you are gay. WOW! Isn't that special! Now, even if you are gay, you can sacrifice your life for some oil producing shit pit on the other side of the world so that some higher-up in the political world can profit from your blood. Now here is the good part of the Obama administration, before he makes a hasty exit, after pissing away billions of dollars on bail-outs, he will raise our taxes and deprive senior citizens of Medicare benefits and reduce social security. What is the bright side of all this? We live in a democracy! No matter what your sexual orientation, gender,beliefs, you are getting fucked. Isn't that special, Mr. President? What has all this to do with sex? If you are over fifty, try to keep it up and while considering your future.
I was about 21 years old and walking along the beach on Corfu and this Greek guy started screaming at me. I thought he was nuts at first and then somebody translated his rant for me and he was screaming at me because my government overthrew his democratically elected "socialist" government, installed a handy group of colonels to run the country, sold them torture equipment, taught them how to use and and told them who to use it on. And he blamed me????? I'm a 21 year old fresh out of the Army, trying to find myself, pseudo hippie and he blames me. Turns out he was right. My government did engineer a coup and overthrow a democratically elected government because back in those days we couldn't tell the difference between communist and socialist not that we have any right to determine the political choices another country makes. (Remember shut up Irish guy) But we did anyway and yes we did sell them torture equipment and supply CIA operatives to help these primitive people jump into the 20th Century of Torture. Isn't America wonderful.
Fast forward 30 some years and we are in the midst of a political and financial crisis. And what are we doing about it? We still elect the same clowns year after year. After all we're comfortable, what does it matter. How many of you emailed, US mailed, called or even cared enough to notify your 2 senators and 1 congressman to get off their fucking overpaid butts and gut the budget, shut the loopholes and start acting like adults. My guess, less than 1% of you did. I own a little over 300 shares of GE and it pisses the hell out of me that last year they paid less in taxes than I did. The same can probably be said for many of the other companies in my portfolio. It also pisses me off that we subsidize tobacco (STILL???) huge farmers, oil companies and make it profitable for US companies to move jobs overseas and get a tax break for doing it. Why does this go on? Because the people responsible according to that Greek guy 30 years ago let it happen. That's us dudes. We are the us in US. It's our government. If we let the kids in Congress keep acting up, guess what, they will continue as long as we let them get away with it. So enjoy your saunas, gay bars, pretending we're almost equal and the nice clothes. Sit back and relax, they like it that way. Keeps you quiet and not asking pesky questions much less sending nasty emails.
Did you read my remarks about the wars? I opposed them from the start. If not, reread my prior posts.
The neocons had to control Afghanistan--it's the crossroads for oil pipelines from Uzbekistan and other landlocked former Soviet republics to get to the sea. And, it's rich in opium poppies, which are used for high grade drugs and imported in diplomatic pouches not subject to search.
They wanted the oil in Iraq... remember the bullsh*t we got served? "The war will cost us NOTHING. Iraq will pay for it in oil revenues." How's THAT working out for us?
Now, hotpepperbear. I haven't forgot about you. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Cantor want a Medicare Advantage system to replace the direct Medicare bureaucracy? Are you in the health care field at all? I have been a medical biller for more than two decades and have a good bit of experience with this issue.
Currently, there is a program, begun under Bush, that is called Medicare Advantage. Almost every state has such plans available. Under Advantage, the recipient's premium paid for Medicare goes to an HMO that is approved by CMS (Centers for Medicare And Medicaid Services). They are very similar to Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) that are approved by the states to offer HMO services to Medicaid patients. Most happen to provide excellent care AND save the affected states money. The ones that don't usually don't get recertified, so there's an incentive to provide it.
In the Medicare Advantage plans, the patient still pays his regular monthly premium from out of the Social Security check. Instead, however, of going to the various Medicare intermediaries (insurance companies that manage the Medicare contract for CMS) and having them administer the funds, an approved HMO gets the money, and is expected to manage the patient's care. Many Advantage plans also offer prescription drug coverage, and some give other services that Medicare normally wouldn't cover, such as preventive care. The patient chooses whether to take Part B under regular Medicare, or one of the Advantage plans, such as offered by Humana, Aetna, Cigna, Tricare, the Blues, United Health, and others.
Just as with a regular HMO, the patient chooses a doctor who will be his primary care physician. The PCP then refers the patient to specialty care, and manages what services the patient gets. These are actually cost-saving plans in several ways: 1) Medicare intermediaries, already strained, have fewer patients to process claims for. 2) The insurance companies take the same dollars Medicare would get (money follows the patient) and then administers the health care for their people. 3) The bureaucracy does not have to be as large to administer patient care, just to oversee that the insurance companies are actually doing as they are supposed to.
And you know what? Medicare Advantage plans are very popular with the senior set. Many use them, they have a marketplace to choose from, and select the plans which give them the most benefit. If this is what Cantor wants (and Obamacare *eliminates*), then I have no problem with it. It would be more care for more patients at less cost.
And while we're at the "raising retirement age" boogeyman, let's talk about it! Under the current rules for Social Security, my full retirement age is not 65. Rather, it is 66. Those adjustments were made twenty or more years ago in an attempt to "save" the program. What's not being considered is the fact that, when SS was first implemented, the life span was much shorter than today, and there were 11 active employees paying into the system for every retiree. Now, life expectancy can be in the mid 70s, and currently, there are fewer than 3 active employees paying in for every retiree. WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
This is a long enough reply. Fire away!
Really? Really! Really!!!
First, Bearlyy, unless I miss my guess, Dublin has neither been annexed by nor admitted to the United States. Since you do not live here, you are not affected directly by the conditions we have. Therefore, your opinions on what's happening domestically have no value to me. Nor did I ever say Obama had done nothing right. Whilst we are picking nit and being devil's advocate, isn't Ireland's economy a basket case and one of the "PIGS" in the EuroZone that's ready to collapse that currency? (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, & Spain). I don't know enough about internal matters in Ireland to comment, so, I won't.
See, Sarge, I can be dismissive, too!!!
I REPEAT, FOR THE HARD OF HEARING---I AM NOT A REPUBLICAN---I AM NOT A DEMOCRAT!! A POX ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES!!! IS THIS CLEAR ENOUGH YET???
AND, YET AGAIN, I AM NOT DEFENDING BUSH! THERE IS NO DEFENSE THERE WHATSOEVER.
I will stipulate that economic conditions at the close of the Clinton Administration were far better than when Shrub inherited the office and proceeded to f*ck things up. I was far better off then, too. And, when the market tanked in 2008, I also opposed the AIG bailout, the Goldman Sachs (aka Treasury Dept Revolving Door) bailout, the "too big to fail" banks which SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO FAIL, and so forth.
"Compassionate conservative," my ass! It's just another name for "socialist light." It's all about making the government an all-powerful god and subsuming the individual for the collective greater good.
I reject it out of hand. Is that any clearer? Hellooooooooooooo????
I screamed loud and long about the Patriot Act and its running roughshod over our civil liberties... not just gays, not just straights, not just Republicans, not just Democrats, but ALL of our citizens' civil liberties.
The Department of Homeland Security was a wet dream of the neocons from the get-go... even before the Shrub "won" the presidency. They already had plans to institute such an agency once a "precipitating event" happened... and that, of course, was ready-made: 9/11. They knew about it beforehand, FBI agents were starting to connect dots and then got shot down, told it wasn't important. Foreign intelligence agencies, from Germany to Russia, and others had warned the CIA and the Shrub of such an event.
And, yes, Obama the pro-gay president.
The Defense of Marriage act got overturned in a federal court. Who was it that said it had to be appealed? The Attorney General immediately filed an appeal. Was it BUSH's AG? Hell, no, it was Obama's. "We have to defend the law as it currently stands..." Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse you???
Yeah, and he's a big fan of gay marriage, too! The latest I heard was: "I don't support full marriage rights, but I'm coming along on the issue. I do favor civil unions."
The Log Cabin REPUBLICANS took DADT to court, and it got overturned. Did it rest there? Noooooooooo, Obama's DOJ asked for a stay to give the military time to think it over. And, oh, yeah, it should be repealed by Congress, who gave the military even more time. Now that it's "certified" that the military is "ready" there'll be another few month delay til it's fully implemented. And service members were, until recently, STILL being drummed out under it... months after the court overturned it. Yeah, real pro-gay.
You're obviously in the tank, fully submerged. The Democrats, who use you just like they use other ethnic groups, KNOW you won't vote for most Republicans, so, they promise you anything and deliver you jack sh*t. Yet, you get one of Chris Matthews' "tingles up your leg" just cuz they say something in a campaign that they know you want to hear... and salivate over it -- just like one of Pavlov's dogs.
Really? Really!
I ranted when we went to war in Iraq... WMDs anyone? I thought Afghanistan should have been a surgical strike... knock the sh*t out of the camps, leave... let Allah sort out the mess. We didn't learn anything from when we were setting up bin Laden and he was a "good guy" working with the Mujaheddin against the Sovs. They finally withdrew after 10 years.
I was against the incursion in Libya... Khadaffi is no saint, neither was Saddam, but we are not those countries' electoral judges. It's not our place to have them tow our line. (However, it WAS what the power elite wanted--oil--and Obama the Stooge is doing his job.) Obama I = Bush III.
I don't live, eat, breathe, and sh*t gay. I happen to be gay, but it doesn't define me. It is not the thing I think about every morning when I wake up, I don't dream about it. I have sexual relations with men and live my life.
And, please, don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining! Tell that to all the folks who have lost their jobs because the economy tanked because it's been so badly mishandled. I lost my job in 2008, and haven't come anywhere close to that income since.
YES, Bush followed his handlers' demands (meet the new boss, same as the old boss) and started the economy on the downslide, but Obama bailed out his buddies on Wall Street... and BOTH decided who was "too big to fail" and who should get the largesse of taxpayer funds. And just HOW is that working out for us?
Recovery, my ass. Oh, yes, I'm sh*tting down both legs with how happy I am about my lot.
Really?
And I am really sick of his pedantic attitude while he addresses us. He can pull that crap with his daughters if he wants but we ARE NOT students in his Law 101 class! He can take his finger and shove it somewhere other than up our collective asses.
I'll admit I voted for McCain and I will also admit I also held my nose when I pulled the lever.
Can anyone come up with some tragic events which have occurred in the past 30 months and in which the media has been woefully silent in letting this guy get a "pass" on how he has handled it?
And now Nancy Pelosi is all for calling on an Ethics Committee hearing on Rep. Wu, (a democrat, I know). Where in hell was Madam Speaker when she was confronted by the antics of Charles Rangel, William Jefferson, and other who I just can't now recall?
God! And to think that I used to identify myself as a "liberal".
Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. Now just heading out to go blow something (one) else.
Yes....and did....
Australia is light years ahead with regards to gay rights and immigration, so there really was no choice. I used to think that the US was the only civilized place in the world but now realize that if you a gay person, it ranks a bit further down the list than number 1. It will remain there until the Gay population in the US becomes much more organized and political and elects gay friendly politicians. Until then, the small, so called christian lobby will continue to fund their agenda and control the outcome. I hope some day to see things change, but until then, I am very happy living in a country in which most discrimination against gays has been legally removed. We don't yet have marriage, but we have most everything else and marriage is not far off, hopefully.
You're old enough to remember the 60s and 70s... were you a "My Country, Right or Wrong" kinda guy then when Vietnam was in full swing? How about "America - Love It or Leave It!" If you weren't then, what changed?
Fact is, Obama was the Wall Street Banksters/Corporatist/Big Money/and, yes, even BILDERBERGER choice for President. No one was likely to change that. Obama, owing his election to that crowd, is being the perfect stooge. They told him to f*ck the economy--he's done a great job! And Bernanke is there to make sure he does. They told him to continue the wars... 'nuff said. Renew the Patriot Act and strip us of more of our liberties... check.
"Let me make this crystal clear:" DO NOT even try to insinuate that I'm saying this because I'm a pissed-off Republican. I am not. I am a registered voter, politically active, and not involved in either of the two corrupt major political parties, which are two wings of the same fascist beast.
I knew Obama was lying the second he opened his mouth. His handlers have worked with him for years, patiently waiting til they got him where he is today. Damn right, he's not going to buck them.
A lot of Obamanoids swear he was born in a manger in Bethlehem to a virgin. Hell, there's no real birth certificate... ANYTHING is possible--including a usurper presidency. (There's that pesky Constitution again... but that's another argument for another day.)
Sorry for the rant, but your dismissive attitude is typical of behavior I scorn. And, please notice... the attack was on your POST, not you.
For Liberty...