I liked Arlen Specter -- he always seemed to go against the prevailing wind. The Senate could use a few more like him.
At least, he wasn't a tool... unlike Richard Burr ® of North Carolina. Burr is part of the problem -- elected in '94 with a promise to leave in 12 years ("Contract With America," item 10), he has stayed and stayed in D.C. I'd thought Burr would share the North Carolina value of not voting for something without paying for it -- the only exception is during a time of Constitutionally-declared war. But Burr fell in with the other smiling Republicans and voted for, as a Representative, George W. Bush's inflated and unbalanced budgets and, as a Senator, Bush's infamous Plan D for Medicare -- the largest expansion of government into health care since the start of Medicare, an expansion that wasn't paid for. And Burr blames President Obama for his own irresponsibility. Frankly, Burr is an embarrassment to North Carolina,
Godspeed, Arlen Specter. We'll miss you.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday, October 08, 2012
Post #356 Defending Obamacare....
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness -- that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Are all men created equal? Absolutely: The Declaration of Independence, like the Constitution, does not classify people according to sex or race. The Declaration of Independence's central proposition -- equality -- applies to men and women alike, regardless of skin color (or religion, for that matter). The observed inequalities of individual men and women -- in intelligence or strength, for examples -- are insignificant and dramatically underscore the ways in which all human beings, as a species, are equal in their nature. The Declaration of Independence speaks of "all men" and not "all human being" because the former is a more rhetorically powerful way to describe mankind.
Yes, the preceding paragraph came, word for word, from the American Heritage website. If the preceding paragraph does not match your own bigotry, take it up with the American Heritage folks. Another way to think of this is that all humans have equal value -- everyone has an equal standing before the law.
The Declaration of Independence enshrines three basic rights: the rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. The right to Life protects the individual's ability to take all those actions necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of his life -- buying health insurance, for example. There is only one fundamental right, from which all other rights are derived: A man's right to his own life. Life is the vessel which carries both our Liberty and Happiness. Therefore, our government's #1 responsibility is to secure our unalienable right to Life.
Obamacare promotes freedom by giving real choices for all responsible citizens (those with health insurance) and targets the irresponsible (those without health insurance). If you have ever been mugged by Life, you will understand the tyranny -- the despotism, not of government, but of the social dynamics that define our health care system.
Continuing with Mr. Jefferson: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce [citizens] under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." To do less than securing our unalienable right to Life is sowing the seeds of discount and an eventual Revolution!
That President Barack Obama was not able to better -- simply and clearly, defend Obamacare at the debate was disheartening. I do not want a President who 'stays above the fray;' I want a President who brings the passion. Of course, Mitt Romney remains part of the problem.
Are all men created equal? Absolutely: The Declaration of Independence, like the Constitution, does not classify people according to sex or race. The Declaration of Independence's central proposition -- equality -- applies to men and women alike, regardless of skin color (or religion, for that matter). The observed inequalities of individual men and women -- in intelligence or strength, for examples -- are insignificant and dramatically underscore the ways in which all human beings, as a species, are equal in their nature. The Declaration of Independence speaks of "all men" and not "all human being" because the former is a more rhetorically powerful way to describe mankind.
Yes, the preceding paragraph came, word for word, from the American Heritage website. If the preceding paragraph does not match your own bigotry, take it up with the American Heritage folks. Another way to think of this is that all humans have equal value -- everyone has an equal standing before the law.
The Declaration of Independence enshrines three basic rights: the rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. The right to Life protects the individual's ability to take all those actions necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of his life -- buying health insurance, for example. There is only one fundamental right, from which all other rights are derived: A man's right to his own life. Life is the vessel which carries both our Liberty and Happiness. Therefore, our government's #1 responsibility is to secure our unalienable right to Life.
Obamacare promotes freedom by giving real choices for all responsible citizens (those with health insurance) and targets the irresponsible (those without health insurance). If you have ever been mugged by Life, you will understand the tyranny -- the despotism, not of government, but of the social dynamics that define our health care system.
Continuing with Mr. Jefferson: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce [citizens] under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." To do less than securing our unalienable right to Life is sowing the seeds of discount and an eventual Revolution!
That President Barack Obama was not able to better -- simply and clearly, defend Obamacare at the debate was disheartening. I do not want a President who 'stays above the fray;' I want a President who brings the passion. Of course, Mitt Romney remains part of the problem.
Monday, October 01, 2012
Post #355 Who Is The 47% Not Paying Taxes?
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/09/27/who-is-47-not-paying-taxes/
As the above article from FOXBusiness.com makes clear the fallacy of Mitt Romney's 'bogeymen' -- the welfare queen, the gangbanger, the lazy wetback, ruining this country, perhaps we can finally lay to rest the bigotry of the Silent Majority and its expression in Ayn Rand's 'selfishness is a virtue' -- selfishness is NOT a virtue; it is part of greed, one of the seven deadly sins!
Wasn't Ayn Rand an atheist? Not that there's anything wrong with that! :p
After all, only 6.9% fall into that 'mooching' category -- along with students and members of the armed forces and some millionaires.
The most relevant thing I saw in that article was that four of the top ten wealthiest Americans are members of the Wal-Mart family with a combined wealth of $107 billion, and yet 50% of Wal-Mart employees referenced in that article did not earn enough to pay income tax. And that is exactly what is wrong with this country: Redistribution! From the poor to the rich....
The shame of America is not that we are letting 47% of Americans get away with not paying federal income tax; the shame of America is that we have 47% of Americans who cannot afford to pay federal income tax. Our 'job creators' have let us down -- despite our kowtowing to them.
"There's a reason we have low rates on capital gains and that's because it spurs new investment in our economy and allows capital to move more quickly," House Speaker John Boehner said. Well, maybe capital moving too quickly is the problem.
"When you create a tax cut for someone...you create an obligation for somebody else, and then you're taking away that person's money and giving it to someone else." OMGZ! Redistribution!
Tax cuts have nothing to do with job creation; tax cuts are how the right redistributes wealth. It's social engineering brought to you by your favorite (R).
P.S.: My eye surgery was canceled due to an increased risk of putting me under and....
I will be undergoing weekly laser treatments on an outpatient basis for the next six-eight weeks -- two weeks have been done so far. FRANKLY, I am more concerned with the additional 6-8 weeks of stress.
As the above article from FOXBusiness.com makes clear the fallacy of Mitt Romney's 'bogeymen' -- the welfare queen, the gangbanger, the lazy wetback, ruining this country, perhaps we can finally lay to rest the bigotry of the Silent Majority and its expression in Ayn Rand's 'selfishness is a virtue' -- selfishness is NOT a virtue; it is part of greed, one of the seven deadly sins!
Wasn't Ayn Rand an atheist? Not that there's anything wrong with that! :p
After all, only 6.9% fall into that 'mooching' category -- along with students and members of the armed forces and some millionaires.
The most relevant thing I saw in that article was that four of the top ten wealthiest Americans are members of the Wal-Mart family with a combined wealth of $107 billion, and yet 50% of Wal-Mart employees referenced in that article did not earn enough to pay income tax. And that is exactly what is wrong with this country: Redistribution! From the poor to the rich....
The shame of America is not that we are letting 47% of Americans get away with not paying federal income tax; the shame of America is that we have 47% of Americans who cannot afford to pay federal income tax. Our 'job creators' have let us down -- despite our kowtowing to them.
"There's a reason we have low rates on capital gains and that's because it spurs new investment in our economy and allows capital to move more quickly," House Speaker John Boehner said. Well, maybe capital moving too quickly is the problem.
"When you create a tax cut for someone...you create an obligation for somebody else, and then you're taking away that person's money and giving it to someone else." OMGZ! Redistribution!
Tax cuts have nothing to do with job creation; tax cuts are how the right redistributes wealth. It's social engineering brought to you by your favorite (R).
P.S.: My eye surgery was canceled due to an increased risk of putting me under and....
I will be undergoing weekly laser treatments on an outpatient basis for the next six-eight weeks -- two weeks have been done so far. FRANKLY, I am more concerned with the additional 6-8 weeks of stress.
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