Okay, this is the latest Weird Deal. I catch C-SPAN the other night, watching the investigative subcommittee report its findings to the larger Congressional committee regarding NY Rep. Charlie Rangel’s ethics violations. It took them two years to get all the crap from the guy in obvious delay tactics (yawn) and committee personnel changes (two yawns).
Just read that the committee is now beginning its work on the Next One…Rep. Maxine Waters from CA, a lady whose husband sat on the board of a bank for which she arranged government assistance…
Stoopid American Thots: That is ONE VERY BUSY subcommittee. And no one volunteers for those committees. :^) But this is the part that made me sit straight up and wonder WTF does THAT mean? “Waters, like Rangel, could settle her case by arranging a plea bargain with the ethics committee.”
What are they “bargaining” with? On both sides? Geez. Apparently ETHICS VIOLATIONS punishments are bargaining chips. Double down and split the pair. Any side bets that the American people get cheated?
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Yes, Let's Talk About Slavery
Sitting in an American public school classroom, I learned all about the evil whitey slave-owners and the noble, African people brought to the US in chains on slave ships. If only life was so black-and-white, and good and bad so simple to discern.
But, it’s not.
There were good white people fighting to end slavery (Civil War), Quakers aiding the slaves in their struggles (Underground Railroad), white men who fell in love with black slave women (Thomas Jefferson). (Actually, Sally was paid a wage for her seamstress skills, making her an employee not a slave in today’s terms, and their children were all legally “freed” and lived as “whites.”)
Was Thomas Jefferson an evil whitey slave-holder? I see a man forced to live in a time under societal circumstances that would not allow him to marry his life partner and true love. Think of all the arranged marriages in societies all over the world. There have always been societal laws over there (wives), and over here, Real Life (mistresses). Thank God he had Sally for comfort and support as he did his life’s work of helping to create the greatest nation this planet has ever seen. I digress. The point is was he an evil man ruthlessly raping one of his black female sex slaves or a man in love? How could any of us claim to know for sure? They had six children.
I have never felt like an evil whitey, although I was born with blonde hair and blue-green eyes. I was also born with the intelligence to look another person in the eyes and see their heart and true measure. This is not found in skin color.
When I imagine my family history, I see a lot of poor farmers, Cherokee Indians, and fighters (soldiers, warriors). My grandmother always laughed and winked when she called us “Black Dutch” – a term used for many generations to hide mixed-race blood between whites and Indians and whites and blacks. My half-blood Cherokee ancestors claimed this to avoid removal. (I have as much Native blood as many on the public dole, but my people chose a different path, to live in the future, not the past.) Why am I discriminated against for certain opportunities for NOT looking like I have mixed blood?
My Cherokee ancestors could have been slave owners, too. I recently read a fascinating side-by-side comparison of how African slaves and their NATIVE AMERICAN owners lived (found in an OK history text book). They struggled together as practically equal partners to live in a harsh, pioneer environ. They did the same work, ate the same food, slept in similar beds, children reared and educated equally. I see this as people working together to survive. Imagine you are a settler who needs more hands, help – one option is purchasing a slave family to live and work with you.
Did you know African tribes captured other African tribes and sold them into slavery? Our moral outrage demands we find a villain to blame, someone to PAY for the sin of slavery. The conquering tribe? Those who purchased (US plantation owners)? Those who bought and used the cotton (British textile mills)?
Let’s look at the world economic picture the latter part of the 1700s. Cotton plantations in the US deep South were pitted against those in India for the business of the British textile mills, victor determined by cheapest prices, of course. Both were snatching up the world’s supply of slave workers to drive down labor costs. Not quite the situation of “the master” just not feeling like shining his own shoes.
Actually, our time engaged in slavery was brief (in the grand scheme of world history), a dangerous flirtation, a powerful seduction. Then we snapped back to our senses, to our values of right and wrong. The ancient Greeks had no such moral issues, as entire conquered armies were enslaved as a matter of policy. Another common occurrence in the Old World involved forced marriages between a Conquering and Conquered People, to ensure future peace.
As you can see, this whole slavery thing is kinda complicated and convoluted. And yet, we want someone to blame, someone to pay. If only people would fit nicely into Good and Bad categories based on skin color, then we could guilt their descendents into giving the rest of us money or advantage. But good and bad cannot be determined by skin color.
I am writing this today for two reasons:
1. To give Obama a how-to map for truly a “Post-Racial” America. Reparations and special treatment based on skin color are bulls***. Get rid of ‘em. Polls based on skin color are silly, too. Census questions, government studies, counts of military members, college students, drug abusers, criminals, focused on skin color, why? Why? Ridiculous. It ignores an individual’s free will. Maybe they’re in the Army, university, or jail because THEY CHOSE IT. The only official discrimination still happening is Affirmative Action. Abolish it. It’s reverse racism, pure and simple. Don’t endorse it any more. The remnants of racism in our society is a societal issue, not a political issue. No matter how many laws we make and throw at it, societal attitudes change slowly and mostly through positive personal experiences. Official reverse discrimination only retards the pace of change by undermining those positive personal experiences.
2. To give dumb racist organizations like the NAACP something meaningful to do. They need to shift all their resources to today’s world stage where REAL SLAVERY is still happening! At the height of the slave trade in the 1780s, 80,000 Africans were brought to the entire NEW WORLD annually. Today, between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across borders as bonded laborers or sex slaves annually, according to the US State Department. Most are women. I’ve even got a new name for the NAACP: something like the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity.
I could barely read the story of Mahabouba Muhammad, found in the new book “Half the Sky,” due to the tears standing in my eyes. This young Ethiopian girl was SOLD to a 60-year-old man as a 2nd wife. Then she tries to deliver her baby by herself in the bush, suffers “fistula” injuries (hole between birth canal and internal organs). She stinks of leaking waste, fellow villagers take her to the edge of town for the hyenas to eat. She drags herself to a hospital, where she is healed, learns to read and write, and helps similar patients. WHO estimates 2 million women with untreated fistulas worldwide, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. A simple surgery can fix.
I want to ask every person in America, young and old: Now tell me again why you can’t or didn’t go to college? Or pursue whatever dream you have? Exactly what is holding you back? Ohhh, your great-great-great-great grandparents were brought here as slaves, probably from sub-Saharan Africa…I see.
But, it’s not.
There were good white people fighting to end slavery (Civil War), Quakers aiding the slaves in their struggles (Underground Railroad), white men who fell in love with black slave women (Thomas Jefferson). (Actually, Sally was paid a wage for her seamstress skills, making her an employee not a slave in today’s terms, and their children were all legally “freed” and lived as “whites.”)
Was Thomas Jefferson an evil whitey slave-holder? I see a man forced to live in a time under societal circumstances that would not allow him to marry his life partner and true love. Think of all the arranged marriages in societies all over the world. There have always been societal laws over there (wives), and over here, Real Life (mistresses). Thank God he had Sally for comfort and support as he did his life’s work of helping to create the greatest nation this planet has ever seen. I digress. The point is was he an evil man ruthlessly raping one of his black female sex slaves or a man in love? How could any of us claim to know for sure? They had six children.
I have never felt like an evil whitey, although I was born with blonde hair and blue-green eyes. I was also born with the intelligence to look another person in the eyes and see their heart and true measure. This is not found in skin color.
When I imagine my family history, I see a lot of poor farmers, Cherokee Indians, and fighters (soldiers, warriors). My grandmother always laughed and winked when she called us “Black Dutch” – a term used for many generations to hide mixed-race blood between whites and Indians and whites and blacks. My half-blood Cherokee ancestors claimed this to avoid removal. (I have as much Native blood as many on the public dole, but my people chose a different path, to live in the future, not the past.) Why am I discriminated against for certain opportunities for NOT looking like I have mixed blood?
My Cherokee ancestors could have been slave owners, too. I recently read a fascinating side-by-side comparison of how African slaves and their NATIVE AMERICAN owners lived (found in an OK history text book). They struggled together as practically equal partners to live in a harsh, pioneer environ. They did the same work, ate the same food, slept in similar beds, children reared and educated equally. I see this as people working together to survive. Imagine you are a settler who needs more hands, help – one option is purchasing a slave family to live and work with you.
Did you know African tribes captured other African tribes and sold them into slavery? Our moral outrage demands we find a villain to blame, someone to PAY for the sin of slavery. The conquering tribe? Those who purchased (US plantation owners)? Those who bought and used the cotton (British textile mills)?
Let’s look at the world economic picture the latter part of the 1700s. Cotton plantations in the US deep South were pitted against those in India for the business of the British textile mills, victor determined by cheapest prices, of course. Both were snatching up the world’s supply of slave workers to drive down labor costs. Not quite the situation of “the master” just not feeling like shining his own shoes.
Actually, our time engaged in slavery was brief (in the grand scheme of world history), a dangerous flirtation, a powerful seduction. Then we snapped back to our senses, to our values of right and wrong. The ancient Greeks had no such moral issues, as entire conquered armies were enslaved as a matter of policy. Another common occurrence in the Old World involved forced marriages between a Conquering and Conquered People, to ensure future peace.
As you can see, this whole slavery thing is kinda complicated and convoluted. And yet, we want someone to blame, someone to pay. If only people would fit nicely into Good and Bad categories based on skin color, then we could guilt their descendents into giving the rest of us money or advantage. But good and bad cannot be determined by skin color.
I am writing this today for two reasons:
1. To give Obama a how-to map for truly a “Post-Racial” America. Reparations and special treatment based on skin color are bulls***. Get rid of ‘em. Polls based on skin color are silly, too. Census questions, government studies, counts of military members, college students, drug abusers, criminals, focused on skin color, why? Why? Ridiculous. It ignores an individual’s free will. Maybe they’re in the Army, university, or jail because THEY CHOSE IT. The only official discrimination still happening is Affirmative Action. Abolish it. It’s reverse racism, pure and simple. Don’t endorse it any more. The remnants of racism in our society is a societal issue, not a political issue. No matter how many laws we make and throw at it, societal attitudes change slowly and mostly through positive personal experiences. Official reverse discrimination only retards the pace of change by undermining those positive personal experiences.
2. To give dumb racist organizations like the NAACP something meaningful to do. They need to shift all their resources to today’s world stage where REAL SLAVERY is still happening! At the height of the slave trade in the 1780s, 80,000 Africans were brought to the entire NEW WORLD annually. Today, between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across borders as bonded laborers or sex slaves annually, according to the US State Department. Most are women. I’ve even got a new name for the NAACP: something like the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity.
I could barely read the story of Mahabouba Muhammad, found in the new book “Half the Sky,” due to the tears standing in my eyes. This young Ethiopian girl was SOLD to a 60-year-old man as a 2nd wife. Then she tries to deliver her baby by herself in the bush, suffers “fistula” injuries (hole between birth canal and internal organs). She stinks of leaking waste, fellow villagers take her to the edge of town for the hyenas to eat. She drags herself to a hospital, where she is healed, learns to read and write, and helps similar patients. WHO estimates 2 million women with untreated fistulas worldwide, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. A simple surgery can fix.
I want to ask every person in America, young and old: Now tell me again why you can’t or didn’t go to college? Or pursue whatever dream you have? Exactly what is holding you back? Ohhh, your great-great-great-great grandparents were brought here as slaves, probably from sub-Saharan Africa…I see.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Everybody needs to stop with the racism. I feel that we had made such strides in race relations…until Obama was elected. What a stoopid paradox, indeed.
I feel it’s apparent that Obama was elected only because he was “packaged” as a black man, and many of those who voted for him had no clue about his policies or agenda. Why is he touted as “America’s First Black President,” technically inaccurate. Why not “America’s First Half-Black Half-White President”? Why not be just an American, since we’re all mixtures of this and that. BECAUSE his promoters PLACED emphasis on race and plan to keep it there for another 2 ½ years, whipping the masses, the grex venalium, into a frenzy.
Sad. Have race relations digressed 20 years? It sure feels that way to me. A person who appears white cannot disagree with the president’s policy without being accused of racism. And that is very frustrating to those who feel this accusation is a way to undermine and discount their true position on the policy.
Then Obama brought his own reverse-racism to the office, which adds more fuel to the fire. It’s almost as if he and his strategists sit around and think up new ways of stirring the pot. His administration emphasizes whatever external “package” a person offers over substance, qualifications, in its appointments and seems to choose hot-button areas in which to push when the timing is just not good. He polarizes us instead of brings us closer together as a country.
If only he could offer us more…like the wisdom and life experience and dignity of a Nelson Mandela. I think Oprah would rock as a POTUS! Imagine the phenomenal cut in pay and power she’d have to take, though. But the sound bites! Her strengths are communication, connecting with common people and managing her public perception every day of the week!
Heavy taxation, government programs, and unenforced immigration laws over the course of many years and administrations have fed this situation of heightened race relations as well. An increased population clamoring for LIMITED resources can really bring out the ugly in people. Taxes are simply too high, and the people carrying that heavy tax burden are angry and trying to use whatever tools and means they can to understand, pinpoint cause, and protest. Those people with less power and means, hotter temperaments and less personal restraint will rely on more primitive solutions such as verbal attacks and violence. Those people on the other side with less means, hotter temperaments, and less restraint will respond in same. They drag everyone down with them – into Angry Mob Mentality.
Two episodes of the television program “Who Do You Think You Are” come to mind. Awesome show tracing family histories of celebrities. Emmitt Smith’s blood test revealed he is ONLY 81% African. The other percentages were Native American (7%) and European (white – 12%). I was flabbergasted because he “appears” to be such a dark-skinned man. But my shock was nothing compared to that of Spike Lee who found out one of his relatives was a white SLAVE-OWNER (gee, does that put him in the same category as me and other light-skinned people that one assumes descended from slave-owners?) Hmmm.
Point being: No one is alive TODAY who was a slave-owner in the U.S. pre-Civil War. Why are we still talking about it like it happened yesterday? Why are we still blaming and compensating for it like it happened yesterday? For Gawd’s sake, people, get OVER it. The only thing holding any of us back is ourselves.
I suspect if we all had a DNA diagnostic, we would find WE ALL HAVE the blood of slaves AND slave-owners in our veins. We are the melting pot, the salad bowl, the land of fascinating, stimulating, exciting diversity. Do NOT let the stoopid turn us into a pack of mongrel dogs.
I feel it’s apparent that Obama was elected only because he was “packaged” as a black man, and many of those who voted for him had no clue about his policies or agenda. Why is he touted as “America’s First Black President,” technically inaccurate. Why not “America’s First Half-Black Half-White President”? Why not be just an American, since we’re all mixtures of this and that. BECAUSE his promoters PLACED emphasis on race and plan to keep it there for another 2 ½ years, whipping the masses, the grex venalium, into a frenzy.
Sad. Have race relations digressed 20 years? It sure feels that way to me. A person who appears white cannot disagree with the president’s policy without being accused of racism. And that is very frustrating to those who feel this accusation is a way to undermine and discount their true position on the policy.
Then Obama brought his own reverse-racism to the office, which adds more fuel to the fire. It’s almost as if he and his strategists sit around and think up new ways of stirring the pot. His administration emphasizes whatever external “package” a person offers over substance, qualifications, in its appointments and seems to choose hot-button areas in which to push when the timing is just not good. He polarizes us instead of brings us closer together as a country.
If only he could offer us more…like the wisdom and life experience and dignity of a Nelson Mandela. I think Oprah would rock as a POTUS! Imagine the phenomenal cut in pay and power she’d have to take, though. But the sound bites! Her strengths are communication, connecting with common people and managing her public perception every day of the week!
Heavy taxation, government programs, and unenforced immigration laws over the course of many years and administrations have fed this situation of heightened race relations as well. An increased population clamoring for LIMITED resources can really bring out the ugly in people. Taxes are simply too high, and the people carrying that heavy tax burden are angry and trying to use whatever tools and means they can to understand, pinpoint cause, and protest. Those people with less power and means, hotter temperaments and less personal restraint will rely on more primitive solutions such as verbal attacks and violence. Those people on the other side with less means, hotter temperaments, and less restraint will respond in same. They drag everyone down with them – into Angry Mob Mentality.
Two episodes of the television program “Who Do You Think You Are” come to mind. Awesome show tracing family histories of celebrities. Emmitt Smith’s blood test revealed he is ONLY 81% African. The other percentages were Native American (7%) and European (white – 12%). I was flabbergasted because he “appears” to be such a dark-skinned man. But my shock was nothing compared to that of Spike Lee who found out one of his relatives was a white SLAVE-OWNER (gee, does that put him in the same category as me and other light-skinned people that one assumes descended from slave-owners?) Hmmm.
Point being: No one is alive TODAY who was a slave-owner in the U.S. pre-Civil War. Why are we still talking about it like it happened yesterday? Why are we still blaming and compensating for it like it happened yesterday? For Gawd’s sake, people, get OVER it. The only thing holding any of us back is ourselves.
I suspect if we all had a DNA diagnostic, we would find WE ALL HAVE the blood of slaves AND slave-owners in our veins. We are the melting pot, the salad bowl, the land of fascinating, stimulating, exciting diversity. Do NOT let the stoopid turn us into a pack of mongrel dogs.
Another Case of Stoopidity
How many times is it now that Obama’s White House has jumped the gun and spoken out on racial situations “without all the facts”?
(I’m not even going to freak on him too much about the facts thing because it is hard in today’s media environment to find facts. Bottom line is: Question everything. And that goes for you, too, Barry.)
The big story the last few days has been about a USDA employee speaking at an NAACP function, during which she described an instance in her past she acted in a discriminatory manner against a white farmer. The audience cheered this. However, she was using the anecdote to illustrate her personal journey beyond that racist mindset. Her comments were taken out of context, spun, and used by the far-right media to assert that reverse-racism was occurring today. Wow, aren’t we all getting sick of being emotionally manipulated by the media, right and left?
Well, the USDA and WHITE HOUSE demanded her resignation without anyone checking the facts or even asking for her side. Stoopid, inexcusable to not even LISTEN to the accused. Really, really un-American. No trial, just judgment and punishment. Stoopidity breeding stoopidity. One stoopid action deserves an equally stoopid reaction. The White House apologized, the USDA offered her a nice, new position.
The feeding frenzy is almost over, but allow me to be the one to point out the real villains. The NAACP crowd cheering her description of her former racist mindset, BEFORE she got to her punchline. Please see the skanky NAACP for what it is – a bureaucracy, an organization trying to justify its existence.
I plan to return to MY mindset that they are no longer necessary or relevant and ignore their ridiculous presence despite their best efforts to engage the world in their hate-fest. The National Association for the Advancement of Who? Obviously, an “NAACP” is no longer a needed thing if we have situations like a “Colored Person” discriminating against people under her power. How much further do “Colored People” need to be “Advanced”?
And the other villain? Do I really need to say it out loud? Didn’t Barack Obama promise me an America where race no longer matters?
(I’m not even going to freak on him too much about the facts thing because it is hard in today’s media environment to find facts. Bottom line is: Question everything. And that goes for you, too, Barry.)
The big story the last few days has been about a USDA employee speaking at an NAACP function, during which she described an instance in her past she acted in a discriminatory manner against a white farmer. The audience cheered this. However, she was using the anecdote to illustrate her personal journey beyond that racist mindset. Her comments were taken out of context, spun, and used by the far-right media to assert that reverse-racism was occurring today. Wow, aren’t we all getting sick of being emotionally manipulated by the media, right and left?
Well, the USDA and WHITE HOUSE demanded her resignation without anyone checking the facts or even asking for her side. Stoopid, inexcusable to not even LISTEN to the accused. Really, really un-American. No trial, just judgment and punishment. Stoopidity breeding stoopidity. One stoopid action deserves an equally stoopid reaction. The White House apologized, the USDA offered her a nice, new position.
The feeding frenzy is almost over, but allow me to be the one to point out the real villains. The NAACP crowd cheering her description of her former racist mindset, BEFORE she got to her punchline. Please see the skanky NAACP for what it is – a bureaucracy, an organization trying to justify its existence.
I plan to return to MY mindset that they are no longer necessary or relevant and ignore their ridiculous presence despite their best efforts to engage the world in their hate-fest. The National Association for the Advancement of Who? Obviously, an “NAACP” is no longer a needed thing if we have situations like a “Colored Person” discriminating against people under her power. How much further do “Colored People” need to be “Advanced”?
And the other villain? Do I really need to say it out loud? Didn’t Barack Obama promise me an America where race no longer matters?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tea Parties and Grandmas
Primary elections are here July 27! Yeah! Need to get serious about making my choices. I’m registered as a Republican so that I can participate in a primary. In the R-primary for governor, we have Mary Fallin and Randy Brogdon which interestingly enough serves to make one of the many points I’ve already tried to make on occasion.
Randy Brogdon was quoted in the national media as part of a frame-up story to portray the TEA party as a bunch of crazy, gun-toting, militia nut jobs. The story made it seem that he was part of or somehow represented the TEA party in Oklahoma and could speak on its behalf. I think he’s a two-bit state legislator from some backwoods place here in OK. After more research, he says his pro-state-militia quotes were taken out of context by the Associated Press, which could be a distinct possibility as well...
Then there’s Mary, who served as Lt. Gov. for 12 years, then went to DC as a freshman Representative, decided all those people “up there” were crazy and wanted to come home and make a run for guv. She is a very polished lady, strong-minded, with a clear anti-tax, fiscal responsibility stance. Almost 15 years ago, she was touched by controversy when the ex-husband accused her of an affair with a highway trooper, if I remember right…now she’s remarried, and if there was any truth to the matter, let’s hope older and wiser. Mary has ran a brilliant campaign (see previous posts), she gets my vote. And probably my volunteerism after the primary.
Now here’s the interesting part. Mary has received the endorsement of Sarah Palin (who is evolving into the cover girl for the TEA party) and has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge sponsored by the Americans for Tax Reform. So whoever wins, is it a “victory” or a “defeat” for the TEA party in Oklahoma?
I’ll say it again, in case anyone missed it: The TEA party is a valid social movement still without formal structure, organization, or official representation. It is under attack in its infancy from crazy anti-government hate groups trying to hijack the movement to serve their purposes, the national media trying to whip up a story for the day, Republicans trying to defend and win back their base they’ve lost, and Democrats trying to discredit anyone who wants to stop funding their over-the-top social policies. When poll results are released in the media regarding anything TEA-related, ask yourselves, “Who the heck are they polling?” I’d like to join the TEA party, but I want to join the real one with a strong, national, official presence and message (that will eventually emerge), not one of the unprofessional splintered factions at the state level.
The TEA party is NOT an offshoot of the Republican party or the Democrat party, more of a crystallization of Libertarian sensibilities, if one feels they must assign parentage. The movement is still clarifying and pounding home its message and mission of anti-tax and fiscal responsibility. It is made up of former Rs and Ds, “whites”, and “blacks.” There is no “left” or “right,” more like “none of the above.” Its only goal is to stop the crazy-ass stuff going on with the money before our country spends itself into oblivion.
The last thing I would like to expound upon is: PLEASE VOTE. Our great-grandmothers starved and marched and protested, were beaten, imprisoned, and declared insane in their struggle for the vote. An email detailing their horrific treatment at the hands of Woodrow Wilson and his cronies circulated a few years back. Here’s a link to it on snopes.com, who has confirmed the details as TRUE.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/womenvote.asp
So, please do it for your great-granny.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
One Scary Jack-O-Lantern
Wow, orange is NOT in Lindsay Lohan's color wheel. It clashes badly with her fake orange tan. More importantly, will she still be able to tweet behind bars? Enquiring minds want to know.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
More of the Same
The West Virginia governor-appointed replacement for the recently deceased Senator Byrd is Carte Goodwin, a young Democrat lawyer. I guess we don't have enough of those running around the nation's capital. This is the interesting part that I wanted to share with you, though -- a rumor, gossip, in the comments after the CNN.com news story...
"Carte Goodwin's late father, Stephen P. Goodwin, happened to be chairman of the West Virginia University Board of Governor's during the 2007-2008 school year when the Pittsburgh Post Gazette revealed that Governor Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch, was awarded a M.B.A. degree despite being 26 credits short. In the fallout from what the Post Gazette called a "seriously flawed' decision fraught with favoritism", WVU President Michael Garrison, the provost, the Dean of the College of Business & Economics, and chairmen Goodwin resigned. The connections should not be ignored."
If any truth is found in this, I will be disgusted. I am sooooooo tired of this kind of politics. The deals, back-scratching, tit for tat. It feels like nobody cares about us, the little people, any more. We just get the bill. I wonder what new crap I'm going to be buying for West Virginia under the new Goodwin/Manchin regime.
"Carte Goodwin's late father, Stephen P. Goodwin, happened to be chairman of the West Virginia University Board of Governor's during the 2007-2008 school year when the Pittsburgh Post Gazette revealed that Governor Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch, was awarded a M.B.A. degree despite being 26 credits short. In the fallout from what the Post Gazette called a "seriously flawed' decision fraught with favoritism", WVU President Michael Garrison, the provost, the Dean of the College of Business & Economics, and chairmen Goodwin resigned. The connections should not be ignored."
If any truth is found in this, I will be disgusted. I am sooooooo tired of this kind of politics. The deals, back-scratching, tit for tat. It feels like nobody cares about us, the little people, any more. We just get the bill. I wonder what new crap I'm going to be buying for West Virginia under the new Goodwin/Manchin regime.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Representin' Texas-style
No, I definitely do not want to "dialogue in a civil manner" with this dude! He charges at people, smacks the table near them, and looms over them threateningly. So glad I'm not one of his poor constituents! How does he get votes -- "vote for me or I break your leg"?
http://www.breitbart.tv/another-democrat-congressman-loses-temper-on-camera/
The Buzzards Are Circling
Somebody dug up Fidel Castro and put him on TV, where he immediately accused the USA of trying to orchestrate nuclear war by sinking that South Korean ship recently. (South Korea presented evidence that North Korea did it.) Dementia? Alzheimer’s? Old Habits?
As if we had the money, resources, smarts, and motivation to do that.
No, there’s another one that I will not be sad when he dies for real. Move along.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Texas Toes
How the hell did I end up with Texas flags on my toes???? Well….it was one of those “lost in translation” moments. I pointed to the pretty exploding fireworks design with glittery sparkles, and then the pedicurist proceeded to paint whatever she wanted to. And by then I realized that she was supposed to close her shop 30 minutes ago and had agreed to stay open late to accommodate me walking in with no appointment. So how could I complain? She was in a hurry to go home to her family. It was her simplified, quick attempt to create a US flag I suspect, and I applaud the effort. At least they’re going in the right direction, and she did it upside-down.
Now, I gotta get this off me before football pre-season gets here!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
“I Like Money.” – Part 2
There are four “known” ways doctors get money from pharmaceutical companies.
1. Consumer sees pharmaceutical company’s TV ad and decides he has a horrible disease with a Name because his leg twitches at night occasionally when drifting off to sleep. Consumer makes doctor appointment. Doctor gets office visit fee from consumer’s co-pay, insurance company, and/or Medicare/ Medicaid.
2. Volume prescription-writing for Drug of the Month promo. Nice kickback. Everyone needs this drug! Brilliance. Consumer feels doctor is really trying to help him because he gave him a PILL. Nevermind those pesky side effects – there are other pills to address those.
3. Doctor is allowed to actually SELL some pills through his office, highly poisonous chemo drugs for example. Doctor buys at wholesale, sells at retail. Consumer appreciates this one-stop shopping!
4. Doctor becomes a marqee “professor,” professing the miraculous benefits of a pharma-drug at medical conferences and industry events all over the world for a generous fee, all expenses paid.
Notice I used the term “consumer,” not “patient.”
1. Consumer sees pharmaceutical company’s TV ad and decides he has a horrible disease with a Name because his leg twitches at night occasionally when drifting off to sleep. Consumer makes doctor appointment. Doctor gets office visit fee from consumer’s co-pay, insurance company, and/or Medicare/ Medicaid.
2. Volume prescription-writing for Drug of the Month promo. Nice kickback. Everyone needs this drug! Brilliance. Consumer feels doctor is really trying to help him because he gave him a PILL. Nevermind those pesky side effects – there are other pills to address those.
3. Doctor is allowed to actually SELL some pills through his office, highly poisonous chemo drugs for example. Doctor buys at wholesale, sells at retail. Consumer appreciates this one-stop shopping!
4. Doctor becomes a marqee “professor,” professing the miraculous benefits of a pharma-drug at medical conferences and industry events all over the world for a generous fee, all expenses paid.
Notice I used the term “consumer,” not “patient.”
Your Government Is Killing You
The FDA is in the news again – this time for approving a drug called Avandia for diabetes that the agency NOW is CONSIDERING withdrawal from the market (after so many people have died from heart attacks). How did the drug get approved? Well, I believe the process is Big Pharmaceutical submits its own test results, and the FDA says “awesome, btw, can you send me some more money, because we like money,” then rubber stamps it through. Things are cool as long as the TPS report has the right cover sheet.
So, where’s the problem? People taking the med start dropping like flies from heart attacks. The FDA has to actually go back and look at the testing the Big Pharma did. Suckage for the FDA to actually have to read and analyze something. Now they find the test was biased, poorly designed, missing data, problems were not followed up on (what types of problems exactly, you know, those dead people), etc.
Interesting that the test compared Avandia with two other pharmaceutical drugs… I’d like to know how it compared to alternative methods of healing, a nutritious diet, nothing at all. Would those poor stoopid guinea pig people have died from heart failure? (I refer to not the guinea pig people in the tests, but the guinea pig people who took Avandia prescribed by their doctor after FDA approval, before this possible market withdrawal.) We’ll never know, because that’s not the kind of test results the FDA and Traditional Medicine are interested in knowing.
A “meta-study” (which means studying the results from many of the other studies) (and we know the other studies were pretty jacked up) showed a 43% increased risk in heart attacks for people on Avandia compared to the other two drugs…I can only imagine how high the REAL number might be since the data in the other studies has already been manipulated.
BTW, did you know that in the last 35 years, the FDA has NEVER approved any NONTOXIC drug, herb, or vitamin for cancer treatment? Why is that…because their friends, Big Pharma, do not want a successful plant-based drug. They can’t patent a plant and make tons of money off it. Have I mentioned how much we like money?
Have you ever wondered why you are subjected to 20 pharmaceutical drug commercials in one evening’s viewing of television? Let me share something else with you. Henry Gadsden, CEO of Merck, told Fortune magazine in a 1976 interview that his dream was to make drugs for healthy people. He was distressed about the cap on his company’s profits since his product was limited to use by only sick people.
The constant barrage of advertising is working on the Stoopid American Masses! You can now demand that your doctor prescribe you a pill to make your other anti-depression pills work better, to stop your natural urge to pee more frequently as you age, to deal with your leg twitching occasionally when you sleep, the list of ridiculous goes on and on.
I so mistrust and despise the FDA that I even wonder what’s behind this story now. A Stoopid American might think the FDA is trying to right a wrong or come clean. I suspect that the maker of Avandia has ticked off the FDA on some other matter and this is a retaliatory spanking by the FDA or a demand for increased blood-money payments. Or that a competitor has got a different drug “in trials” and they have deeper pockets.
I know I will forget which dots I had wanted to connect, and that really bites, but wouldn’t it be crazee if 6-12 months from now we read in the news: “FDA Approves New Drug For Diabetes.”
So, where’s the problem? People taking the med start dropping like flies from heart attacks. The FDA has to actually go back and look at the testing the Big Pharma did. Suckage for the FDA to actually have to read and analyze something. Now they find the test was biased, poorly designed, missing data, problems were not followed up on (what types of problems exactly, you know, those dead people), etc.
Interesting that the test compared Avandia with two other pharmaceutical drugs… I’d like to know how it compared to alternative methods of healing, a nutritious diet, nothing at all. Would those poor stoopid guinea pig people have died from heart failure? (I refer to not the guinea pig people in the tests, but the guinea pig people who took Avandia prescribed by their doctor after FDA approval, before this possible market withdrawal.) We’ll never know, because that’s not the kind of test results the FDA and Traditional Medicine are interested in knowing.
A “meta-study” (which means studying the results from many of the other studies) (and we know the other studies were pretty jacked up) showed a 43% increased risk in heart attacks for people on Avandia compared to the other two drugs…I can only imagine how high the REAL number might be since the data in the other studies has already been manipulated.
BTW, did you know that in the last 35 years, the FDA has NEVER approved any NONTOXIC drug, herb, or vitamin for cancer treatment? Why is that…because their friends, Big Pharma, do not want a successful plant-based drug. They can’t patent a plant and make tons of money off it. Have I mentioned how much we like money?
Have you ever wondered why you are subjected to 20 pharmaceutical drug commercials in one evening’s viewing of television? Let me share something else with you. Henry Gadsden, CEO of Merck, told Fortune magazine in a 1976 interview that his dream was to make drugs for healthy people. He was distressed about the cap on his company’s profits since his product was limited to use by only sick people.
The constant barrage of advertising is working on the Stoopid American Masses! You can now demand that your doctor prescribe you a pill to make your other anti-depression pills work better, to stop your natural urge to pee more frequently as you age, to deal with your leg twitching occasionally when you sleep, the list of ridiculous goes on and on.
I so mistrust and despise the FDA that I even wonder what’s behind this story now. A Stoopid American might think the FDA is trying to right a wrong or come clean. I suspect that the maker of Avandia has ticked off the FDA on some other matter and this is a retaliatory spanking by the FDA or a demand for increased blood-money payments. Or that a competitor has got a different drug “in trials” and they have deeper pockets.
I know I will forget which dots I had wanted to connect, and that really bites, but wouldn’t it be crazee if 6-12 months from now we read in the news: “FDA Approves New Drug For Diabetes.”
Thursday, July 8, 2010
“There Seems To Be No Sign of Intelligent Life Anywhere.” – Captain Kirk
It just never ends with this guy! Can we survive another 2 ½ years of Obama?
Captain’s Log: 7-7-2010
Obama’s New Mission for NASA: To have Bolden go where no man has gone before – to seek intelligent life in predominantly Muslim countries.
NASA Chief Charles Bolden, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan are beamed down to the Planet Taliban in the Star System Al-Qaeda on the far edge of Iraq, where they encounter a strange primitive species of people who stone their females to death, sacrifice goats, and glorify suicide bombers.
Bolden: “We come in peace.”
Immediately the landing party is arrested for wearing tight polyester pants and an alarming lack of Qur’an knowledge and thrown into a prison cell.
Bolden: “Chu, what are you doing about this?”
Chu: “I’m attempting to construct a car bomb using stone knives, bear skins, and old “boom,” in hopes of blasting our way out of here.”
Bolden: “Kagan, do you think this will work?”
Kagan: “Dammit, Chuck, I’m a lawyer, not a judge!”
Bolden: “What do you think, Benjamin?”
Benjamin: “Dammit, Chuck, I’m a doctor, not an engineer!”
Bolden: “Dammit, why is everyone around me incompetent yet the appropriate minority figurehead!”
And that folks, is the problem in a nutshell. Obama does not see NASA as the means to lead the world in scientific discovery and innovation, but yet another politically driven, social experiment specifically tasked to boost the self-esteem of Muslims everywhere. And it’s a very expensive initiative. Does an idiocracy really need a space exploration program when it can’t remember how to grow real food, eat properly, and handle its garbage?
Maybe his ulterior motive is to send all the Muslims to Mars – now that’s a change I can believe in.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Why Don’t We Just Feed Our Kids Dirt?
I know that the task of fixing our broken country seems overwhelming. It’s going to take making correct, ethical choices every day – not giving in to personal greed or pettiness or laziness at any point. We’re going to have to demand the best of humanity from our POS elected officials. That means feeding the kids decent food AND not mortgaging their futures on stoopid government-funded bulls***.
Today I add my Voice of Outrage to the School Lunches issue. Obama wanted a $10 billion increase – I think the lej gave him 8. How much was the price tag on the recent Health Care Debacle Bill? A trillion?
Do I really need to point out that the food we put in our bodies directly impacts our health? Okay, let’s go there.
1. Traditional medicine ignores thousands of years of medicinal wisdom (herbs, vitamin and mineral components in plants and foods) because IT DOESN’T PAY. They can no longer be entrusted with our health care. What does pay are unnecessary medical procedures and tests, chopping body parts, pushing pills on the American people to make their Big Pharmaceutical friends richer. (I actually know doctors who play poker with their pharma-friends on a regular basis.) It doesn’t benefit doctors to insist that patients eat healthy if they want to be well. Step One: IGNORE the AMA, its members, and its lap dogs.
2. How does one eat healthy today? NOT by buying the genetically-modified, toxic crap sold at the grocery store or in the restaurants. To explain and document everything that has happened in our food supply would require a separate thesis. And one day I will tackle that. Just trust me for now on this. On one side, how else are we going to feed 9.1 billion mouths on this planet by 2050 without doing freakish things to food in the name of science. On the other hand, we’re all getting cancer, diabetes, mentally ill, overweight stressing our hearts, lungs, bones, etc. Step Two: IGNORE the cheap, nonfood being pushed as “normal” food by food companies.
3. Government regulation has been bought and sold. The FDA is made up of employees from the corrupt food companies and pharmaceuticals. Have you seen the little USDA Food Pyramid lately? My point being that it keeps changing to reflect whoever has the most money or power. Step Three: IGNORE governmental agencies’ crazy recommendations for what comprises a “healthy” daily diet. Remember the “ketchup should be considered a vegetable” initiative?
I propose we flip those priorities (School Lunches versus Public Health Care) and put the bulk of our public funds into feeding the children properly and we’ll see less of a need for health care on the other end of the equation! The need to dope the kids with ADHD, anxiety and anti-depression meds will decrease, IQ points will jump, teachers will actually be able to teach the kids to read and reason, standardized test scores will zoom. No telling what good things can happen i.e. money saved if we get the sugar and caffeine out of the kids for a few hours a day.
It all starts with prioritizing the FOOD and then hopefully, we’ll see all these other huge, costly societal issues diminish.
If you don’t think our kids are worth it, do you think America and her future are? Did you know that a quarter of 17-to-24-year-olds are currently too overweight to serve in the military?
So, what do we do with all this allocated money? I read one excellent solution that involved the children of a local elementary school WALKING for 10 minutes to a garden area overseen by the local health department. They get exercise, sunshine, math and science lessons incorporated into their gardening, and then the harvest in their lunches.
If a school system just can’t innovate like the one described, it should purchase from local farmers, supporting them with our money instead of the Big corrupt Food Companies AND supporting a greener lifestyle that doesn’t involve transporting the non-food all over the country via truck and rail. The idea here is that each school district needs to make the deals happen with local food producers with the Correct Standards in place.
As for meat…we may not be able to afford organic, BUT certainly Real Meat is preferable to Mystery Meat. Imagine how the children could perform with real protein in their bellies. Of course, we’ll have to teach the cafeteria workers how to actually cook and not just re-heat crap.
We have to have the guts to make these changes in our thinking. We’ve got to do it for the kids.
Today I add my Voice of Outrage to the School Lunches issue. Obama wanted a $10 billion increase – I think the lej gave him 8. How much was the price tag on the recent Health Care Debacle Bill? A trillion?
Do I really need to point out that the food we put in our bodies directly impacts our health? Okay, let’s go there.
1. Traditional medicine ignores thousands of years of medicinal wisdom (herbs, vitamin and mineral components in plants and foods) because IT DOESN’T PAY. They can no longer be entrusted with our health care. What does pay are unnecessary medical procedures and tests, chopping body parts, pushing pills on the American people to make their Big Pharmaceutical friends richer. (I actually know doctors who play poker with their pharma-friends on a regular basis.) It doesn’t benefit doctors to insist that patients eat healthy if they want to be well. Step One: IGNORE the AMA, its members, and its lap dogs.
2. How does one eat healthy today? NOT by buying the genetically-modified, toxic crap sold at the grocery store or in the restaurants. To explain and document everything that has happened in our food supply would require a separate thesis. And one day I will tackle that. Just trust me for now on this. On one side, how else are we going to feed 9.1 billion mouths on this planet by 2050 without doing freakish things to food in the name of science. On the other hand, we’re all getting cancer, diabetes, mentally ill, overweight stressing our hearts, lungs, bones, etc. Step Two: IGNORE the cheap, nonfood being pushed as “normal” food by food companies.
3. Government regulation has been bought and sold. The FDA is made up of employees from the corrupt food companies and pharmaceuticals. Have you seen the little USDA Food Pyramid lately? My point being that it keeps changing to reflect whoever has the most money or power. Step Three: IGNORE governmental agencies’ crazy recommendations for what comprises a “healthy” daily diet. Remember the “ketchup should be considered a vegetable” initiative?
I propose we flip those priorities (School Lunches versus Public Health Care) and put the bulk of our public funds into feeding the children properly and we’ll see less of a need for health care on the other end of the equation! The need to dope the kids with ADHD, anxiety and anti-depression meds will decrease, IQ points will jump, teachers will actually be able to teach the kids to read and reason, standardized test scores will zoom. No telling what good things can happen i.e. money saved if we get the sugar and caffeine out of the kids for a few hours a day.
It all starts with prioritizing the FOOD and then hopefully, we’ll see all these other huge, costly societal issues diminish.
If you don’t think our kids are worth it, do you think America and her future are? Did you know that a quarter of 17-to-24-year-olds are currently too overweight to serve in the military?
So, what do we do with all this allocated money? I read one excellent solution that involved the children of a local elementary school WALKING for 10 minutes to a garden area overseen by the local health department. They get exercise, sunshine, math and science lessons incorporated into their gardening, and then the harvest in their lunches.
If a school system just can’t innovate like the one described, it should purchase from local farmers, supporting them with our money instead of the Big corrupt Food Companies AND supporting a greener lifestyle that doesn’t involve transporting the non-food all over the country via truck and rail. The idea here is that each school district needs to make the deals happen with local food producers with the Correct Standards in place.
As for meat…we may not be able to afford organic, BUT certainly Real Meat is preferable to Mystery Meat. Imagine how the children could perform with real protein in their bellies. Of course, we’ll have to teach the cafeteria workers how to actually cook and not just re-heat crap.
We have to have the guts to make these changes in our thinking. We’ve got to do it for the kids.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
