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Granted, even if health care costs are to blame in some situations, to compensate for rising costs, we can't have a heartless system where hospitals have financial departments to place a lien on your home prior to providing you a surgery. Now if socialized health care is the solution, then so be it. What's always amazed me about the capitalist system is that the people that fear shared benefits are usually puppets for those that reap the rewards of a winner-loser system, yet these people aren't making anything off of the deal anyways. I always ask why someone wouldn’t stand for a fairer system that everyone would benefit from. Even they would save.

I guess until your health and finances are at stake from a single blow could an opponent of health-care-for-all really see the light in thorough reform. Many persons that suffer from ailments at an early age are plagued with a resultant financial burden for life. I shouldn’t win a Nobel for saying that situations like this can be avoided.

If a public option requires all to buy in, then that's the way it has to be. Now we still could have an adequate system without a public option, but for many, including myself, the public options seems like the only hope there is for cost protection. Face it, without an employer-sponsored health plan, coverage is way too expensive in this economy. Having health care is like going to the casino. The casino wouldn't let you play unless they knew they were going to win. And furthermore, if you become a financial burden, they can refuse you the service, and they do it all the time to people. A public option might have a greater trickle-down effect, one that could actually influence provider (hospital and doctor) fees.

I've noticed that medical talent is available. There are persons from throughout the world (e.g., India, Mexico) that will work as a doctor for a modest rate. So then, let's welcome them along with programs for converting foreign medical talent/education to US standards. I don't need an expensive doctor, I just need licensed health care. And in this age of information, care is more standardized than ever before, so you would think costs should decrease as information and practice normalizes. Let's standardize the insurance costs and then, in turn, make the rest flex and standardize the provider and equipment fees to pave the way for healthy, not in-the-poor-house, families---a stronger generation and economy, a stronger US.
]]>Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:31:25 PST1268026285
Why would some Democrats like to stop us from understanding the new Health-Care-Bill? What is the meaning of the sudden private meetings, less coverage of citizen tea parties and ignoring the public demands to answer questions in a straight-forward manner?

Watch this short video. Shocking pages & sections in the bill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcBaSP31Be8
View the video link!

Even, "Ryan29" might not like what is written in this bill.

Phew... it is very scary for me!]]>Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:57:23 PST1264978643 Here's another issue. Sarah Palin. Honestly, you want her to lead the free world? Madness. She has no knowledge of Foreign affairs, other countries, cultures and pretty much anything. She couldn't even finish her term as Gov. Something the people of Alaska voted her to do. I have yet to hear this women say anything of substance.
Republicans seem to be screaming for less government these days. Hmm, wasn't it huge companies that usually give overwhelmingly to Republican candidates who got us into this mess economically, screwed a lot of hard working Americans, and THEN SAID THEY WOULD GO UNDER unless the GOVERNMENT BAILED THEM OUT. and why? So they could keep making money. Now, less than a year after the bailout, Banks are posting record profit and giving bonuses out like candy. That's ok right, since they are paying back the money? without oversight, Banks, insurance companies, and other controlling groups (Big Oil) would run roughshod over the country and the world. it's not like they don't own so many people already. That's Capitalism right? It's bullshit where a few get rich at the expense of many.
And now on to my favorite moron, Rush Limbaugh. You love this man because he compares our President to Hitler. Here's one of the fattest of fat cats, a man with his 500 million dollar contract, who preaches hate and intolerance all day long. From day one he has been against everything the rightfully elected president has done or tried to do. of course he doesn't want to see health care passed, why should he? he's rich, he could care less about the common man. Yet you eat it up. I find it amazing that Republican politicians make no secret that they do not believe in equality for all, that only people with money matter, yet you eat it up. Makes me want to puke. at least the Democrats make it sound good.
In the end, nothing will change too much till we get off a two party system. I'm an Obama supporter, yes, but I think he could do more but he has to play politics. We need to see a powerful independent party that can attract those smaller groups of people who see something wrong with the current system in place today.
Peace and Love to All
Ryan the Great
]]>Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:52:16 PST1261252336
The men told investigators they tried to connect with Islamist militant groups in Pakistan and were intending to cross the border into Afghanistan and fight U.S. troops. These men were born and raised in America with all the schooling everyone gets in the USA, etc. “These are America citizens in the news.”

All were reported missing a week ago after one of them left behind a note of militaristic farewell. “It was a video saying Muslims must be defended.” Think about this for a good moment before you write it off. This behavior is driven by the “religious fever” that all of the Muslim community is now being known for. “All the Muslims,” yes I said all of them.

England suffered some recent terrible, “bomb attacks” in the subways of high-traffic areas where citizens were completely defenseless, etc. The Muslims who planned the attacks were doctors and physicians. They also pleaded, “Muslims must be defended.”

This is not just a verbal statement of connection to Islamic values and beliefs. It is a direct connection to the Muslim faith itself.

A “faith based value judgment” they were ready to murder for.

When any violence is committed in the name of Islam, the perpetrators often say that Muslims were never meant to enjoy good relations with followers of other religions, specifically Jews and Christians. They invariably quote verses from the Quran which they argue prove that, “Jews and Christians” are inherently hostile to Muslims.

A Muslim’s “faith based” motivations in life should scare you!

The Islamic Muslim’s monotheistic system founded in Arabia in the 7th century and based on the teachings of Muhammad as laid down in the Koran; "Islam is a complete way of life, not a Sunday religion" etc.

“Any other religion is offensive to Muslims.”

Islam; an Arabic word which, since Mohammed's time, has acquired a religious and technical significance denoting the religion of Mohammed and of the Koran, just as Christianity denotes that of Jesus and of the Gospels, or Judaism that of Moses, the Prophets, and of the Old Testament.

Koran; (The Holy Qur'an) the sacred writings of Islam revealed by God to the prophet Muhammad during his life at Mecca and Medina. It is the sacred text of Islam, divided into 114 chapters, or suras: revered as the word of God, dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel, and accepted as the foundation of Islamic law, religion, culture, and politics. Muslims believe the Qur'an, in its original Arabic, to be the literal word of God that was revealed to Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years until his death.

Muhammad; Arab prophet of Islam. At the age of 40 he began to preach as God's prophet of the true religion. Muhammad established a theocratic state at Medina after 622 and began to convert Arabia to Islam. Born in 570 in the Arabian city of Mecca he was orphaned at a young age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection.

According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he claimed to receive his first revelation from God.
By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam; and he united the tribes of Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity.

The revelations (or Ayat, lit. "Signs of God")—which Muhammad reported receiving until his death—form the verses of the Qur'an, regarded by Muslims as the “Word of God” and around which the religion is based.
Besides the Qur'an, Muhammad’s life (sira) and traditions (sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims. They discuss Muhammad and other prophets of Islam with reverence, adding the phrase peace be upon him whenever their names are mentioned.

There are no terrorists. There are only scattered Muslim’s doing what is expected of them. This is a "religious fever" not reported.

Wake-Up! The Muslim community does not correct or attempt to punish the
ones who kill and perform terrorist acts on us everywhere, etc. They do
watch silently, hoping to go unnoticed in their daily lives because in all of them lives the Islamic fundamental ideas of their religion.

We cannot even begin to understand, "brain washing" in comparison to what Islam does to a Muslim follower. Mothers who send children with bombs, fathers who kill daughters and many more horrible acts in the name of Islamic fundamental religion.

Can we educate them without destroying a sacred part of their life?

Sadly, it seems we must wait until another Muslim want to do jihad. It is a scary notion to consider all the possible ramifications but where do we start?

A "religious fever" not reported is like a camp fire in the woods.]]>Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:59:41 PST1260554381 Presidential politics is about storytelling. Presented with a vivid storyline, voters naturally tend to fit every new event or piece of information into a picture that is already neatly framed in their minds.
No one understands this better than Barack Obama and his team, who won the 2008 election in part because they were better storytellers than the opposition. The pro-Obama narrative featured an almost mystically talented young idealist who stood for change in a disciplined and thoughtful way. This easily out powered the anti-Obama narrative, featuring an opportunistic Chicago poll with dubious relationships who was more liberal than he was letting on.
A year into his presidency, however, Obama’s gift for controlling his image shows signs of faltering. As Washington returns to work from the Thanksgiving holiday, there are several anti-Obama storylines gaining momentum.
The Obama White House argues that all of these storylines are inaccurate or unfair. In some cases these anti-Obama narratives are fanned by Republicans, in some cases by reporters and commentators.
But they all are serious threats to Obama, if they gain enough currency to become the dominant frame through which people interpret the president’s actions and motives.
Here are seven storylines Obama needs to worry about:

1. He thinks he’s playing with Monopoly money

Economists and business leaders from across the ideological spectrum were urging the new president on last winter when he signed onto more than a trillion in stimulus spending and bank and auto bailouts during his first weeks in office. Many, though far from all, of these same people now agree that these actions helped avert an even worse financial catastrophe.
Along the way, however, it is clear Obama underestimated the political consequences that flow from the perception that he is a profligate spender. He also misjudged the anger in middle America about bailouts with weak and sporadic public explanations of why he believed they were necessary.
The flight of independents away from Democrats last summer — the trend that recently hammered Democrats in off-year elections in Virginia — coincided with what polls show was alarm among these voters about undisciplined big government and runaway spending. The likely passage of a health care reform package criticized as weak on cost-control will compound the problem.
Obama understands the political peril, and his team is signaling that he will use the 2010 State of the Union address to emphasize fiscal discipline. The political challenge, however, is an even bigger substantive challenge—since the most convincing way to project fiscal discipline would be actually to impose spending reductions that would

2 Too much Leonard Nimoy

People used to make fun of Bill Clinton’s misty-eyed, raspy-voiced claims that, “I feel your pain.”
The reality, however, is that Clinton’s dozen years as governor before becoming president really did leave him with a vivid sense of the concrete human dimensions of policy. He did not view programs as abstractions — he viewed them in terms of actual people he knew by name.
Obama, a legislator and law professor, is fluent in describing the nuances of problems. But his intellectuality has contributed to a growing critique that decisions are detached from rock-bottom principles.
Both Maureen Dowd in The New York Times and Joel Achenbach of The Washington Post have likened him to Star Trek’s Mr. Spock.
The Spock imagery has been especially strong during the extended review Obama has undertaken of Afghanistan policy. He’ll announce the results on Tuesday. The speech’s success will be judged not only on the logic of the presentation but on whether Obama communicates in a more visceral way what progress looks like and why it is worth achieving. No soldier wants to take a bullet in the name of nuance.

3.That’s the Chicago Way

This is a storyline that’s likely taken root more firmly in Washington than around the country. The rap is that his West Wing is dominated by brass-knuckled pols.
It does not help that many West Wing aides seem to relish an image of themselves as shrewd, brass-knuckled political types. In a Washington Post story this month, White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, referring to most of Obama’s team, said, “We are all campaign hacks.”
The problem is that many voters took Obama seriously in 2008 when he talked about wanting to create a more reasoned, non-partisan style of governance in Washington. When Republicans showed scant interest in cooperating with Obama at the start, the Obama West Wing gladly reverted to campaign hack mode.
The examples of Chicago-style politics include their delight in public battles with Rush Limbaugh and Fox News and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (There was also a semi-public campaign of leaks aimed at Greg Craig, the White House counsel who fell out of favor.) In private, the Obama team cut an early deal — to the distaste of many congressional Democrats — that gave favorable terms to the pharmaceutical lobby in exchange for their backing his health care plans.
The lesson that many Washington insiders have drawn is that Obama wants to buy off the people he can and bowl over those he can’t. If that perception spreads beyond Washington this will scuff Obama’s brand as a new style of political leader.

4.He’s a pushover

If you are going to be known as a fighter, you might as well reap the benefits. But some of the same insider circles that are starting to view Obama as a bully are also starting to whisper that he’s a patsy.
It seems a bit contradictory, to be sure. But it’s a perception that began when Obama several times laid down lines — then let people cross them with seeming impunity. Last summer he told Democrats they better not go home for recess until a critical health care vote but they blew him off. He told the Israeli government he wanted a freeze in settlements but no one took him seriously. Even Fox News — which his aides prominently said should not be treated like a real news organization — then got interview time for its White House correspondent.
In truth, most of these episodes do not amount to much. But this unflattering storyline would take a more serious turn if Obama is seen as unable to deliver on his stern warnings in the escalating conflict with Iran over its nuclear program.

5.He sees America as another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe

That line belonged to George H.W. Bush, excoriating Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988. But it highlights a continuing reality: In presidential politics the safe ground has always been to be an American exceptionalist.
Politicians of both parties have embraced the idea that this country — because of its power and/or the hand of Providence — should be a singular force in the world. It would be hugely unwelcome for Obama if the perception took root that he is comfortable with a relative decline in U.S. influence or position in the world.
On this score, the reviews of Obama’s recent Asia trip were harsh.
His peculiar bow to the emperor of Japan was symbolic. But his lots-of-velvet, not-much-iron approach to China had substantive implications.
On the left, the budding storyline is that Obama has retreated from human rights in the name of cynical realism. On the right, it is that he is more interested in being President of the World than President of the United States, a critique that will be heard more in December as he stops in Oslo to pick up his Nobel Prize and then in Copenhagen for an international summit on curbing greenhouse gases.

6.President Pelosi

No figure in Barack Obama’s Washington, including Obama, has had more success in advancing his will than the speaker of the House, despite public approval ratings that hover in the range of Dick Cheney’s. With a mix of tough party discipline and shrewd vote-counting, she passed a version of the stimulus bill largely written by congressional Democrats, passed climate legislation, and passed her chamber’s version of health care reform. She and anti-war liberals in her caucus are clearly affecting the White House’s Afghanistan calculations.
The great hazard for Obama is if Republicans or journalists conclude — as some already have — that Pelosi’s achievements are more impressive than Obama’s or come at his expense.
This conclusion seems premature, especially with the final chapter of the health care drama yet to be written.
But it is clear that Obama has allowed the speaker to become more nearly an equal — and far from a subordinate — than many of his predecessors of both parties would have thought wise.

7. He’s in love with the man in the mirror

No one becomes president without a fair share of what the French call amour propre. Does Obama have more than his share of self-regard?
It’s a common theme of Washington buzz that Obama is over-exposed. He gives interviews on his sports obsessions to ESPN, cracks wise with Leno and Letterman, discusses his fitness with Men’s Health, discusses his marriage in a joint interview with first lady Michelle Obama for The New York Times. A photo the other day caught him leaving the White House clutching a copy of GQ featuring himself.
White House aides say making Obama widely available is the right strategy for communicating with Americans in an era of highly fragmented media.
But, as the novelty of a new president wears off, the Obama cult of personality risks coming off as mere vanity unless it is harnessed to tangible achievements.
That is why the next couple of months — with health care and Afghanistan jostling at center stage — will likely carry a long echo. Obama’s best hope of nipping bad storylines is to replace them with good ones rooted in public perceptions of his effectiveness.
]]>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:35:38 PST1259602538
She has written a book. So What! Isn’t that the way politicians and “celebs” put pots of gold in their pockets? The Clintons were given over $20 million in advances for their memoirs, proving the old adage that, “if you can’t be famous-be infamous.”

Meanwhile, Sarah’s book is already presold. At her last book signing event, she drew 4000 people who paid $30 each just to see her. As an aside, has anyone noticed that 98% of the books on the NY Times best seller list are written by conservatives...but never reviewed! Now that's objective jounalism.

Sarah’s book will definitely be a best seller. Her multi-city tour will be a smashing success. During the election, she drew crowds in the tens of thousands. What is going on?

The answer is that it is not about Sarah, but the “disconnect” that has grown among the Media, Washington and the average American. Americans are frustrated that their voices are not being heard. The tea parties were under-covered by the media, and demeaned by the Obama administration. Washington’s spending is out of control. Medicare is being cut by $500 billion while the Obama administration is unearthing 1/6th of the economy with Health care reform. $700 billion was wasted on the stimulus. Cap and trade is going to coast billions. Taxes are going up for everyone. Yet unemployment continues to grow to over 10%. The real number is closer to 18%. Obama is on his 20th international trip giving the same apologetic speech instead of managing the country. Even among the independents who voted for him, the polls on his leadership are dropping like a rock. Meanwhile, the Republicans have no clear leader.

Sarah is more closely aligned with average Americans values - smaller government, personal responsibility, superior military and a strong patriotic belief. They are sick of a nanny government attitude, Acorn, unelected Czars, apologetic speeches, the loons running the Congress, and a general redistribution of wealth. This is why the more the media and liberal pundits insult Sarah, the more popular she becomes. She is only a symbol of the discontent. I don’t believe she will run for President but continue to highlight the dangers of the liberal agenda. As an aside, how stupid can she be? - A mother, a mayor, a governor, a best selling author and soon to be a multimillionaire. She is doing a lot better than most of her critics and most of us.

My advice is to sit back and relax. She isn’t going away. She is a fighter and for that she has my admiration. If you’re a liberal, I would worry more about the political earth quake that is building not Sarah. Obama ran as a moderate and is governing as a far left liberal. Not surprising since he was ranked as the most liberal voting senator. He speaking skills mesmerized us in to overlooking his shortcomings. Change is coming. Not from him but to him. Fool me once - shame on you. Fool me twice – shame on me.

]]>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:41:13 PST1258400473

'Going Rogue' reignites Palin divide, even in her hometown

OK, look---who is really interested in Palin and WHY? It bothers me that she is writing a book (which I'm sure she thinks is a fast track to the White House---following Obama's success with his books). But seriously, Palin represents maybe 25% of the country (at most), and that percentage is made up of the people that we want to evolve (in many ways) anyways. When Palin speaks, I feel like I'm crammed in a hot living room, against my will, having to endure an Amway presentation---I just want an exit!

So, if anyone cares enough, please tell me what value Palin brings to not only politics (because she's even trouble to McCain who, unfortunately, gave her the idea) but our country and government? She is completely transparent in my opinion, and what we see in her is not complex, just average, and she's not even good at being average. Furthermore, if Palin really wanted to serve our country, she'd disappear (except for appearances in Mad magazine, et al.), like the majority thought she would. I mean face it, it's a fact that she pisses off most people anyways and rarely has anything unique to say. She can only speak to a polarized audience. Her leading would be a disaster or a massive lowering of our nation's stock of intelligence. Yes, it would be mind numbing.

As much as I like this sticker below, it still irks me to view it. That's how distasteful Palin is to me. I mean give me reason to change my views, please, because it's rare that I don't trust someone as much as I don't trust her. But again, she's aiming beyond her capabilities in my opinion, and even worse, she's trying to force it. Too bad she didn't stay in China following her business seminar there. Maybe Greenland, or Antarctica, could use a governor. Ah, but then she'd drill both of those future refuges into the sea.



]]>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:54:11 PST1258170851

*AMBER ALERT* Somer Thompson
]]>Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:37:43 PDT1256060263 I wish that those who are advocates of looser guns laws would spend some time on the South/West side of Chicago, where school children are getting murdered, five since the school year started. I admit that these are lower income areas, high in crime, gang violence, but does that make it ok? is it all the parent's fault? or those we are less fortunate? Fuck guns, if your hunting great, use one. if you need a gun to feel safe, then I say your a fucking loser. yes, that means all you NRA loving pieces of shit. Mayor Daly, please bring a federal task force in and clean out these gangs. Chicago has one of the toughest gun laws in the nation, and yet their is still gun violence. that being said I still feel far safer here in Chicago than I did when I lived down south and could purchase a gun. What's that say? And for those of you about to retort that I don't spend much time in the bad places in Chicago, I say Fuck you, you don't know shit.
It's really sad that Erin Andrews, ESPN's sideline reporter, and a damn good one at that, can't simply be a woman and do her job. some sick, twisted loser videotapes her changing in her hotel room and I read on the internet that she brought it on herself. That's bullshit, pure and simple. It amazes me how many sick fucks are in this country. but it shiuldn't, There were plenty of you misguided losers who voted for W, and that makes me sick.
My thoughts on Health care? I say Obama should have just said fuck you and ordered the public option put in. Why shouldn't all Americans have a right to health care? Why is it all about the people who got it? Socialist? maybe, but who cares? Are we not all Americans? there is way to much of a gap between the haves and the have nots. There are already so many socialist programs in this country. To me, watching those town hall debates, people were more into screaming back then actually reading and learning what it was all about. To quote Rep. Frank, "what planet do you currently spend your time on?"Loved it! I also agree with Arlen Spector when he said he never seen America so angry. And he's right. there's a huge divide in thinking here. Having had the experience to live in the south and now a big mid western city, it really amazes me how different we are. those of you who read me should have no trouble knowing which way I lean.
Well those are some of my thoughts, I know It's been awhile since I posted, and I can only imagine what the right wing zealots are saying on this site. bunch of losers. Also, please don't tell me that you think I'm angry, I just call it like I see it. Truth is, I'm as passionate about what I believe as you right wing fucks are. Don't like the name calling, to bad, use your gun on me, I know that's how most of you gun toting douchebags feel like you got a pair of balls.
until the next time,
Ryan the Great
]]>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:24:24 PDT1254932664This film is worth watching now. Even if you think you know everything that this film will talk about, there's a huge chance that you're wrong.

Regardless of partisan allegiance, this film is a must see. But beware! It may make you hate Wal-Mart, Bank of America, health insurers, and more. It may even inspire you to get into politics---we certainly know that we need some new politicians. But don't worry because you'll also end up laughing throughout.

I saw it the day after it was released and it received a unanimous standing ovation.


Link

Michael Moore's YouTube Page

CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY' - In Theaters October 2nd "It's a crime story. But it's also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us"
]]>Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:07:56 PDT1254787676