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After The Rain
January 24, 2010 – 6:28 pm
“After The Rain” (watercolor interpretation)
Nikon D80: 18mm ISO200 1/125 f3.5 PSE8
Kim Jong Il To Adopt American Baby
December 11, 2009 – 12:05 pm
In video footage recently uncovered it was learned that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is adopting an American baby who’s biological parents were African American and Japanese. While Kim already has three biological sons, official spokesmen from Pyongyang confirmed that Kim, the Supreme Commander Of The People’s Army, is acting on strategic advice provided by consultants at the RAND Corporation and Burson Marsteller. It is believed by the Dear Leader and his high command advisors that in the short term the adoption will improve diplomatic relations between the “Democratic” People’s Republic of Korea and the United States, and in the long term lead to opportunities for developing new arms trading and drug trading channels for the overall improvement of the North Korean economy.
Video footage courtesy of KCNA (Korean Central News Agency):
We Are You; Don’t Forget Us
November 11, 2009 – 11:11 am
We may be your fathers, your mothers, your brothers, your sisters, your neighbors, your teachers, your waiters, your bankers, your firefighters, your doctors, your gardeners, your janitors, your grocers, your police officers, your mechanics, your plumbers, your newspaper deliverer, your postal delivery worker, your dog walker, your attorney, your garbage man, your bus driver, your employer, your employee, your rival. Out of all of those roles, and the numerous other roles other citizens have in our lives, one common thread is that we have in the past, or now, serve you and all of our extended American Family as committed members of the armed forces.
Don’t forget the sacrifices that we have and will continue to make so that all of us can continue to live a peaceful, comfortable life.
Don’t just honor veterans today, but every day.
Health Care: Congress Needs To Share The Benefits
October 1, 2009 – 10:07 pm
Throughout the entire health care debate it has been incredibly ironic that Congress seems to be forgetting that all citizens are considered equal under the law in the United States and that certain perks that they reward themselves with in terms of enhanced health care options ought to be extended to all citizens. Either that, or Congress itself should dispense with the perks and find their health care in the public market place like the rest of us. From time to time the term elitism gets thrown around in the political discourse, well this is actually a real example of elitism out of control, and elitism beyond any moral standard.
Where in our Constitution does it say that we, the citizens, through our tax contributions will pay for enhanced medical care for our members of Congress, which they will embrace and utilize to the fullest extent, while concurrently with holding access to the same level of accessible health care to all other citizens? Is this what the founders of our country had in mind, an elite governing class that would by virtue of their government health plan receive access to health care that is denied to most Americans? Are we all, who are not in government, just commoners?
Dave Gilson of Mother Jones sums it up in the following item titled “The Real Public Option: Congress’ Private Medical Clinic”:
You can’t say this enough: While members of Congress are busy protecting us from the inefficiency and danger of government-run health care, they’re receiving top-notch taxpayer funded health care—seemingly without complaint. The LA Times recently detailed the benefits: A choice of 10 insurance plans and access to a wide network of doctors and HMOs. Plus, they “get special treatment at Washington’s federal medical facilities and, for a few hundred dollars a month, access to their own pharmacy and doctors, nurses and medical technicians standing by in an office conveniently located between the House and Senate chambers.” ABC News has more on that in-house clinic for lawmakers, officially known as the Office of the Attending Physician:
Services offered by the Office of the Attending Physician include physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. According to congressional budget records, the office is staffed by at least four Navy doctors as well as at least a dozen medical and X-ray technicians, nurses and a pharmacist.
Sources said when specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.
Explains a former doc from the Congressional clinic, patients who can’t get treated on-site get referals to top specialists all over the country. “You would go to the best care in the country. And, for the most part, nobody asked what your insurance was.” And the cost? $503. A year.
What we need to be doing is holding our Senators’ and Congresspersons’ feet to the fire on this issue. Our government owes the American people the same options for health care that are available to other industrialized democracies, and from a moral perspective, the same options for health care that they extend to themselves.
If you agree with this, pick up the phone and call your senators and representative, or email them. We need to keep the pressure up. We need to tell all Democratic congress people that this is what we wanted when we put a majority in office and they have a moral and honorable obligation to act at the will of the people who gave them their jobs. Tell them to stop prostituting themselves to the deep pocketed special interest groups, and to do the right and historic thing for their country.
Corporate Abuse Of The Disabled
September 17, 2009 – 3:39 pm
This story brings home the vast difference between Republican, conservative, business values and Democratic, liberal, human values. It is also an indicator of how we, as a society in the United States, have allowed the pursuit of greater and greater economic growth and consumption influence our ethical and moral value systems at the expense of a loss of the the values of a spirit of friendship, neighborly cooperation and mutual effort at surviving and thriving on this continent, that our forebears pursued.
In a story this week by Corina Knoll, the Los Angeles Times is reporting about a landlord/tenant issue that has been simmering since late August concerning the disabled tenants at the Regency Court apartments, in Monrovia, California, who are being evicted:
Lily Hixon flung open her kitchen cupboards with pride. “Look,” she said, doing a Vanna White impression as she gestured to boxes of cereal and crackers. “I like everything organized.”
The one-bedroom Monrovia apartment decked out in Ikea has been Hixon’s introduction to independent living, a privilege the 25-year-old born with Down syndrome still can’t believe is hers. Built on an old rail yard, Regency Court Apartments is a quiet, mini-neighborhood of sage-green apartments and bungalows where Hixon greets neighbors with a wave.
But last month, she and about 20 other physically or developmentally disabled tenants, some of whom have lived in the affordable housing complex for more than a decade, were notified that their leases were being terminated.
Read More
The Power Of The People
September 11, 2009 – 12:53 am
How It Can Bring Down A Demagogue & How It Can Make Our Public Servants Listen To Us In Terms Of Health Care Reform
The twenty-four hour period immediately following President Obama’s address before Congress on September 10 produced a graphic demonstration of the power of the people. During the president’s address something previously unheard of occurred when South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson in an act of overt boorishness, heckled the president and called out the president as a liar. Ironic that this tool of the right wing extreme chose to act out right when the president was debunking the claims of the real liars who, despite the documented facts, continue to try to spread the lie that one of the objectives of the proposed health care initiative would be to euthanize (i.e. kill) elderly Americans.
joe Wilson, through his ignorant political posturing has just put Rob Miller, his Democratic opponent in the 2008 election, and his opponent in the 2010 election on the map, as a nationally known and well funded, viable candidate who could tip over Wilson’s apple cart. In this last twenty-four hour period, the netroots of the Democratic party (via ActBlue) have raised approximately $697,000 in donations for the Miller campaign, from 19,018 Americans disgusted with the fear and ignorance that the Republican party continuously tries to foist off on the public. This is a great example of the power of the people when they want to be heard.
