Contagion, Disasters, Debt and Suicidal Politics

There is a huge amount of nattering about the international debt situation, from the problems in Greece to the raising of the ceiling in the U.S. debt limits. What I find interesting is this: there is an assumption that the banks, the lenders all have the ultimate sway over the political decisions. Now, normally most people have to live with bills, and most people realize they are paying those same bills to cover services or goods. We all shrug and accept this as “normal” in daily living.

Admitting that you or I have gone nuts with money, debt and then face the idea that not only are our bills out of our control, but our lives depend on the good graces of some money lender, bank or otherwise, can bring up some pretty harsh anger. Losing control over our own lives is one thing we just do not want at any price, period.  BUT, we shrug, admit we were not all that wise and get our anger under some control, then attempt to pay what we can afford.

Now, when we find out that the lenders are using shady lending, and banking institutions like Wells Fargo are fined, then we increase our anger. Some may just fall into a despair and feeling of hopelessness. This will compound our problems in ways most of us don’t realize.

Illness comes along and most just say “I am sick, and tired, and feel as though my body is being attacked by some virus”, which is literally true, to a point. Those who get sick are feeling sick and tired, of the way their lives have gone, of the way the world around them is treating them, and their bodies are acting completely in accordance. When despair replaces our joy, when feelings of powerlessness replace our feelings of accomplishment, when our own inner sense of true self worth becomes a sense of hopelessness and utter helplessness, we are “sick and tired”. This illness, no matter how temporary or long-term is meant to teach us to find our own power ” OUR ability to act effectively in the moment”.

Am I nuts here talking about the international debt and illness in one post? NO.

Think about it. The worry, the stress, the “giving up” of the nations is not all that much different than our own personal “giving up”, shrugging and acceptance of our inability to DO SOMETHING. We all live in a town, a city, a political area, and we all are living in the world as it exists now. When our town mayor, our city mayor, our regional representative, anyone who is representing our area, our interests goes out, we expect them to reflect our lives, our desires for a better life, better town, better country. We choose to have them go out for us.

Fanatics, no matter whether they are one single person in a village or a person who is elected in any form, is going to be one person who will do what they “see as the right thing to do” regardless of ANY consequences. There are now some who are elected to office what will take the “contagion” of debt to the extremes and will do anything to tackle that, regardless of whose lives are “afflicted” as long as the money and the lenders are pleased. When fanatics gain sway, they bring with them the ideas of “powerless people”, of “the means will always justify the ends, regardless of suffering imposed on others” and that thinking moves far faster than any virus, any mosquito, any animal ever could and will infect very quickly.

You may have thousands in debt, and you can choose to be the fanatic, force children into prostitution, for example, to pay the bills, and you may justify this as them being a part of the family that “needs to pull it’s weight”. Few of us would agree. Or, you may choose to try to find a second job, putting your own energy into attempting to solve this problem. Some of us would see that as a good action.

There are some who just give up, abandon the house, car, whatever item is carrying that debt and walk away, begin anew. “Let the bank deal with this!!” Many have done just that. BUT, the world leaders cannot just walk off, and let the “bank deal with this” unless the people are willing to allow the lenders to be the ones running the financial and social well-being of the entire country. There are two ways the people can respond, or act effectively. One way is by saying “we can and will deal with this” and find ways to do that, without  causing others to suffer, or by causing a lot of others to suffer. The idealist or the fanatic.

The fanatic lives, thrives and loves fear, they use it to make others cower, to make others bend to the ideas of the fanatic. The idealist is the one who demands the BEST from the people, the one who believes in the healthy and caring people who chose the idealist to lead them, not by demand perhaps, but by example.

Confused yet?

Illness is a TEACHING tool, used by our inner selves, our bodies to say “HEY, there is something YOU need to change!” Pay attention. Living in fear is probably the worst way to go, because we are then projecting failure, disappointment, misery and above all a sense of helplessness that literally starves our bodies and our selves of the daily vitality.  Living in despair is choosing to live on the road to serious illness. When countries fall into the fear, despair, and hopelessness trap, then that country is facing much more than just financial disaster, it is becoming ripe for mass illnesses. Disasters are part of the same learning process as bodily illness is, there is something that needs to be changed!!

Countries, cities, towns, villages, and families are all OUR context for our lives, so why is it that some people who are living in the middle of a mass illness NEVER get sick? Why are there villages, towns, cities, even countries that don’t have huge debts? Why do some people have absolutely no illness even without any inoculations or constant washing of hands?  All of these are good questions for everyone to think about. Are these people and places somehow far more “blessed”, wise, above the common?

No, they all had problems, they all were much the same as everyone else, except for on vital thing. THEY believed in themselves, in the ability they had to deal with their lives without causing others any pain, but with the idea that they could act effectively. Those people who seemed untouched by the Black Plague (which killed MILLIONS) the mass epidemics that are war, the mass effect of fanatics (the survivors of unspeakable misery) all had one thing in common. They did NOT follow in the mind set of misery, powerlessness, hopelessness, despair and fear. They adjusted, they learned, they used their own small lives and their own ability to be active! If one thing did not work out well, they did NOT think they failed, they moved their own belief into another way of doing things, of thinking about their lives and then tried that. They acted on the inner sense of self-worth and the inner sense of power to change their lives, which in turn, changed others.

Now, back to the larger world. A country is much like a personality, with it’s own beliefs and abilities. When troubles come, as they always MUST, then the country can respond by abdicating the ability to act effectively, or it can draw on the idea that this is a lesson that MUST be learned. A kind of illness or affliction. IF the fanatics are “running the country” , then the solutions are going to be ones that CAUSE pain and suffering, the means are “justified” and all the suffering is “for the greater good”. IF the sickness is financial in nature, then money MUST be taken and from ANY PLACE, except those who have the money. The wealthy are regarded as those who are NOT the failure, not the cause of the sickness, but those who have succeeded and must be revered for doing so. The poor, the impoverished, the ones who have huge debts are the ones who, according the belief of the fanatics, are failures and must, accordingly, pay the price. The idea is that the people who HAVE money, the wealthy, are doing something right! Wealth is regarded as success, debt now becomes “failure”. Remember, this is the view of the fanatic.

IF, however, there are leaders who are NOT infected with fear, who believe in the ability of everyone to ACT EFFECTIVELY in the moment, then there is a huge difference in the way the country will behave. Leaders REFLECT the beliefs of the people, and when those leaders are not infected with fear, hopelessness, failure, powerlessness, hopelessness, and are reflecting that back to the country, then there is a HUGE difference in how the country deals with the debt, the sickness. Such a leader will find ways to bring out the best, the most innovative, the ability to LEARN and change behaviour. Obviously, most people are not of these extremes, but somewhere in the middle, like most of us. There are some who would be “suicidal politicians” who DEMAND that the country NOT increase the debt, but put misery and pain onto the country “in the cause of financial good”, justifying that demand using any means. Those politicians will demand that there be NO change in fiscal taxation, no change in the status of the wealthy, no change in the way those who are “successful” are treated, and demand that others who are seen to be “financial failures” are the ones that face this sickness alone. Those “suicidal politicians” have NO intent to be elected again, but to impose a solution on the country according to a “promise” that MUST bind all who made that promise, regardless of the outcome.

Here is where the idea of contagion works it’s worst. The fear, the demands, the fanatical ideas can create a HUGE amount of hopelessness, powerlessness, and eventually a mass “illness” appears. It can appear as rioting, it can appear as natural disasters, it can appear as an epidemic, it can appear as a war, but IT WILL APPEAR! The natural zest we all have to MAKE A BETTER WORLD is the best and  healthiest zest for living we have. What can I do? What can you do? Find ways to keep ourselves out of the mind and contagion of despair, hopelessness, and live  and act with our own desire to be the best we can be, to change what does not work well for us, to use our own creative selves and above all, to love, respect and believe in ourselves as good, decent and caring people. . When trouble comes, then you and I need to stay out of the mind set of despair, fall into the idea that sickness must befall us, and to become the ones who act, who believe we can and will deal with this, without falling into the pit of hopelessness, despair or act as if we don’t have any thing we can do.

Are the banks at fault? According to the fanatic, no. Are the lenders the “victim” here? According to the fanatic, yes. Strange way of seeing things, but there are lessons to learn and one of them may just be that the money world is one of “making a profit, at any cost, by any means” which may just be part of the things we all need to learn. Or the lesson may be that the Quality of our lives, the peace and growth of each of us, does not depend on how much money we have, or don’t have, but on whether we are able to live with a sense of purpose, a sense of  worth, a sense of our own value as people, actors and those who can act without fear.

Republican Louis Gohmert, Calling YOU Out, YOU get “Socialized” Medical Care

I got information from Louis Gohmert about his television interview on Fox News today, and decided to try and get more information on the man, his Congressional district and his views.

Well, it is very revealing.

First off, he is a veteran, served in the U.S. Army as a Captain, which gives him a lifetime supply of medical care under the V.A. at a very low cost to him and his family.

Second, he is a member of Congress, which also gives him the opportunity to get “socialized” medical coverage through Congress.

Third, this comes from his own website:

If Congress insists on forcing this healthcare abomination onto American citizens, then those who vote in favor of it should be required to step up and become the first customers of the disastrous government program they have created.

I refuse to vote in favor of a health care reform bill that has not been given an appropriate amount of time for personal review by both Members of Congress and American citizens. I will oppose any legislation that lets the federal government snatch power and control away from patients and their doctors.

Health Care abomination? Mr. Gohmert, YOU have the health care abomination NOW, as a member of Congress!

Now, who are his voters and just how many would be benefited by the health care “abomination”?

The last census I could get reveals some interesting facts.

Mr Gohmert’s own home town of Tyler, Texas has:The median income for a household in the city was $34,163, and the median income for a family was $43,618. Males had a median income of $31,728 versus $22,397 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,184. 16.8% of the population and 13.0% of families were below the poverty threshold. 23.3% of those under the age of 18 and 12.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

The people living in Nacogdoches are even worse off.

About 20.9% of families and 32.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.4% of those under age 18 and 13.3% of those age 65 or over. Even if you take in the student population, that is a remarkable number of people living in poverty.

Yep, that is right, a very large number of people living below the POVERTY threshold, which means a good number of his own constituents are those very people that would benefit.

Mr. Gohmert is a lawyer, so I would be willing to bet at least $1 that he makes far more than the median income, and is quite capable of buying private insurance.

The rest of his district is not much better off. Longview has an average of 15% below the poverty threshold.

The entire district has LESS than 2% earning more than $200,000 per year. Yes, less than 2%.

So, here is a Congressman calling the reform an “abomination” and his own constituents are living with low incomes, higher than average unemployment and mostly white. Yet he wants this reform to either be put off indefinitely.

The claim that the government “snatches power and control away from patients and their doctors” is, at best, a bogus one. I can bet that the current private insurers in this district are, in fact, denying the patients the ability to go outside the “care area” and to talk to any doctor they want to, even IF they could afford the cost.

Mr. Gohmert, YOU are Busted. YOU get Congressional health care options, YOU get the Armed Services health care option, YOU can afford private insurance.

YOU are the one who needs to realize just who you represent and what THOSE people need, not some kind of grandstanding and rhetoric.

Health Care Fines Create a New Criminal Class?

I have been watching the various versions of the bills coming out, and one version sounds ok, but really has some aspects to it that are very troublesome.

This version would have within it the demand that EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the U.S. be forced to pay insurance premiums, and that there would be find levied if those persons did not pay. $750 per year for a single person who refused or could not afford to pay for the insurance, $3500 per year for a family if they could not afford to pay.

INSURANCE MARKET REFORMS

All bills bar discrimination based on gender or pre-existing medical conditions, guarantee coverage and seal in benefits with no annual or lifetime caps.

The Senate Health Committee and Finance Committee versions would allow variable premiums, while the House bill would eliminate co-pays for preventive care.

COVERAGE

The Senate Health Committee bill would require individuals to obtain coverage, with government help if necessary, or pay a penalty of up to $750 per year. Employers with more than 25 employees would have to pay 60 percent of coverage for workers or pay $750 per year penalty.

The House bill also has both individual and employer requirements, while the Senate Finance Committee bill is likely to include a mandate for individuals to obtain coverage but not for employers to help pay for it.

Now, from doing some quick research, I have found out that those people would be imprisoned for non-payment! Basically this would allow the federal government to punish the poorest in the country, and there are some states where the “3 strikes” laws would effect this too.

So, what would be the possible outcomes? A single person who is, perhaps, homeless or barely getting by would be fined $750. If they could not pay or refused to pay for insurance, then those people would be off to prison. The federal government is basically becoming a vicious bully here. Do not pay for insurance and you become liable for imprisonment, do that 3 times and that poor person literally gets a LIFE SENTENCE? That is truly vicious. Where does the idea of the “American Dream” fit in here?

If a family, like those of someone like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, or many others who happen to be born into poverty, could not afford those insurance premiums, then their fathers, who were doing the best they could, would end up in prison!

The insurance companies love this idea! Force families to go without, force people to pay premiums, force every single person to get CORPORATE insurance or go to prison. That is truly a scheme worthy of Machievelli! It is well known that the insurance corporations DEMAND that they get every single person into their pockets, and, if you refuse or cannot pay, then the federal or state government will be in the position of putting the poor into prison for non-payment.

Remember, this is FEDERAL law, so the penalties could be nasty indeed.

The U.S. Supreme Court has placed limits on incarceration for nonpayment of fines. In Williams v. Illinois, 399 U.S. 235, 90 S. Ct. 2018, 26 L. Ed. 2d 586 (1970), the defendant, Willie E. Williams, was convicted of petty theft and sentenced to one year in prison and a $500 fine, the maximum sentence allowed under the applicable statute. When Williams was unable to pay the fine upon completing his year in jail, he was kept incarcerated to “work off” the fine at a rate of $5 a day. Williams appealed, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, no state may increase the sentence of a defendant beyond the maximum period specified by statute for failure to pay a fine.

Shortly after the Williams case, the Supreme Court ruled that a state may not convert a fine into incarceration if the conviction warrants only a fine. In Tate v. Short, 401 U.S. 395, 91 S. Ct. 668, 28 L. Ed. 2d 130 (1971), the defendant, Preston A. Tate, was unable to pay $425 in fines for traffic offenses and was committed to prison to work off his fine at a rate of $5 a day. The Supreme Court ruled that a state may not “impos[e] a fine as a sentence and then automatically conver[t] it into a jail term solely because the defendant is indigent and cannot forthwith pay the fine in full.”

Neither the Williams ruling nor the Tate ruling prevents a court from imprisoning a defendant who is able, but refuses, to pay a fine. The court may do so after finding that the defendant was somehow responsible for the failure to pay and that alternative forms of punishment would be inadequate to meet the state’s interest in punishment and deterrence (Beardenv. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 103 S. Ct. 2064, 76 L. Ed. 2d 221 [1983]).

In a case of willful nonpayment, the court may order incarceration for a period of time specified under statute. In Kentucky, a prison term of up to six months may be ordered if the unpaid fine was imposed for the conviction of a felony. Nonpayment of a misdemeanor fine may result in a prison term of up to one-third the maximum authorized term for the offense committed. For a violation, the maximum term is ten days. This amount can be cumulative. For example, if a person refuses to pay the fines for ten violations, that person can be incarcerated for one hundred days (Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 534.060).

Now, I do realize that this is a PROPOSED version of the bill, and the fines have not been defined as misdemeanor or a higher form, but the law is there to put people who refuse (which means they are likely to face much the same penalties as fathers who refuse child support, or those who would be deemed as criminals) to pay health insurance premiums.

Even if the fines did not put people in prison, the state or federal statutes do provide for liens, garnishment, or other means that penalize the people.

If this law version goes through, then basically the federal government becomes a tool, a puppet, of the insurance industry. That same industry apparently has no qualms about cutting people down when they are already at the bottom rung in society. The insurance companies have put literally millions into lobbying for the federal demand that every person BUY private insurance, instead of putting those same millions into affordable health care clinics, cutting down on the profits payable to Wall Street investors, or even doing something as simple as donating those same millions to non-profit organizations overseas.

Nope, the insurance companies are trying very hard to turn the federal government into puppets, using the Senate Health and Finance Committee members.

So much for a compassionate, caring and decent society.

President Obama’s Speach to School Children, What is the Problem Here?

This is the text of his speech. Read it, and try as hard as you can to find a damn thing political about this, I dare you!

I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a
good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave.
If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something
new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you.

Too bad some people shoot their mouths off before even knowing what the President was even thinking about, never mind putting into this speech.

There were some parent in hysterics over this, believe it or not. Obviously there were some out there who were using scare tactics and innuendo to get people emotionally overwrought, but what bothers me is the whole bloody uproar. What on earth did they expect him to say?

From CNN report:

Many conservative parents aren’t buying it. They’re convinced the president is going to use the opportunity to press a partisan political agenda on impressionable young minds.

“Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me,” suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH. “I’m an American. They are Americans, and I don’t feel that’s OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now.”

School administrators are caught in the middle of the controversy. Some have decided to show the president’s speech, while others will not. Many, such as Wellesley, Massachusetts, superintendent Bella Wong, are deciding on a class-by-class basis, leaving the decision in the hands of individual teachers.

“The president of the United States has asked us to facilitate his outreach to students. And in that vein, we have decided to honor the request,” Wong told CNN. “We’ll trust in his judgment.”

Republican leaders have not shied away from the debate. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a possible contender for the GOP’s 2012 presidential nomination, said Friday the classroom is no place to show a video address from Obama.

“At a minimum it’s disruptive. Number two, it’s uninvited. And number three, if people would like to hear his message they can, on a voluntary basis, go to YouTube or some other source and get it. I don’t think he needs to force it upon the nation’s school children,” he told reporters at the Minnesota State fair.

Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer released a statement this week accusing Obama of using taxpayer money to “indoctrinate” children.

“As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology,” Greer said.

“The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the president justify his plans … is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.”

I am appalled at the utter stupidity of some of these assumptions! There have been SEVERAL Presidents who spoke to school children over the years. “Justify his plans”? What are you smoking, Jim Greer? Must be damn good stuff because you have lost touch with any kind of reality here! Same goes for Minnesota Governor Tom Pawlenty! What are you smoking? Or have you taken your medications lately? Wow! “Force it upon the nation’s school children”?

Shanneen Barron, if this speech is that scary, then I very strongly suggest you never, ever read any book beyond Grade 1 Level. Those are far more scary, especially the tween books with mysteries, death, and even romance at age 12! Good Grief! GET A GRIP!

I have a feeling that the Republicans just wanted to put the whole White House, President Obama, and the Democratic Party in the darkest light possible.

The uproar has NOTHING to do with this speech, but more about trying to garner votes in the mid-term elections.

There is a saying: “There may be some who believe you to be a fool, but the only proof may come when you OPEN YOUR MOUTH!” I guess some have proven just how big a fool they are.

“Get Government Out of Health Care!” O.K. Will Do!

There are people who are screaming this from every possible vantage point. “Get government out of health care!” “I don’t want government running ANY health insurance or health coverage!”

O.K. Fine! Here goes!

The government listens to the voices of these people and here is what government does.

Medicare A and B, as of 2:00 PM today, is now null and void. As of that time every single person who had this coverage MUST buy private insurance. Medicaid is also null and void as of 2:00 this afternoon. Anyone seeking benefits from this program are now expected to get an insurance policy and use those benefits.

The Military Health services are being sold to private corporations. Any and all military currently in the service and any veterans, as well as their families are now required to obtain private insurance at their own cost. Veterans Administration offices as well as all hospitals, clinics and other services are being closed at midnight.

All Federal employees are, as of midnight, no longer covered. This will include the F.B.I, C.I.A., F.D.A., and other federal agencies. Those who are employed by any federal agency are now expected to buy their own private health insurance on the open market.

Members of Congress, Members of the Senate, and all their staff and family members are NO LONGER covered by the group insurance plan, as of midnight tonight. This will include every staff employee, including those in the embassies around the world, their families, and all staff attached to the embassies, including security services and janitorial.

The federal government is also hereby mandated to enact the clearing of any other health care insurances covered by government, from State employees to local City and Town employees. This will require that all Fire, Police, and Emergency Services persons must now buy their own health coverage from insurance companies.

All hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses and other personnel are now asked to find other employment, as their services are no longer required. The Federal government is putting all buildings up for sale in an auction format.

Get Government out of Health Care Services? This is what you are demanding, so this is what you get.

Republicans Strategy on Health Care, “Just Say NO”

There are so many lies out there now about the Canadian health care system, it is almost impossible to enumerate them, let alone try to correct them. But, I will give it a shot.

First off, our system is, in fact, an insurance system with payments and monthly costs to employers, not some free system paid for totally from taxes. Each family MUST be covered, and, if the income is above a certain level, each family pays premiums.

Doctors are NOT bound by any government, but do and will have the ability to open a practice and to become a business entity, incorporate. Doctors are free to move wherever they want to, and can, in fact, make a very handsome living.

What really annoys the hell out of me are some of the selective advertisements seen in the U.S. that somehow portray our system as being selective on the treatment and allowing people to be untreated. IF anyone has a life-threatening condition and requires immediate treatment, they do get it, provided they have seen a doctor in the first place.  Some of the ads from the Conservative groups in the U.S. portrays a woman who claims she “will die” from not receiving an operation on her brain. That was, and is, a completely false assertion. That woman had a CYST on her gland, and the cyst could, NOTE could, cause her to lose sight in her eye or eyes, which is certainly NOT cancer, NOT a death sentence.

I grew up when people were billed for visiting the doctors and even then, people were suffering needlessly because they had lost a job, had been ill, and had no way to pay. Tommy Douglas was Premier in one province, and he introduced the concept of a health care system. Imagine! One man who wanted to see every citizen in his province healthy. Wow!

There are so many lies about this that it boggles the mind. Single payer systems usually are cheaper than the current system in the U.S.  The cost of medical services in the U.S. is far higher than here, around 16% of GDP in the U.S. and around 9% in Canada, yet we manage to have every single person insured and our hospitals are working well.

In May of this year, the Republicans admitted that the health care system in the U.S. MUST be changed, must be fundamentally altered.

“The status quo is no longer acceptable,” political strategist Frank Luntz wrote in a confidential memo to congressional Republicans earlier this month. “The overwhelming majority of Americans believe significant reform is needed — and they see Republicans (and the insurance companies) as the roadblock.”

“It is time to publicly admit that the health-care system in America is broken. Costs are rising at an unacceptable rate — more than doubling over the last 10 years, which is nearly four times the rate of wage growth. Too many patients feel trapped by health-care decisions dictated by HMOs. Too many doctors are torn between practicing medicine and practicing insurance. And 47 million Americans worry what will happen to them or their children if they get sick.”

Here is where some lies get going. There are many people in the insurance industry that have put out messages to Congressmen, Senators and others that are just flat out lies.

This is from a letter sent out by Doctor Frank I. Luntz, to Congressmen, Senators and anyone lobbying to stop the reform of the health system in the U.S. It is available in PDF form on the internet.

“In countries with government run healthcare, politicians make YOUR healthcare decisions.
THEY decide if you’ll get the procedure you need, or if you are disqualified because the
treatment is too expensive or because you are too old. We can’t have that in America.”

Sorry, that is a lie. What is the reality is that there are people who stand between Americans and their doctors, but that person is an employee of the insurance company who is being prodded by stockholders in the company to increase the profit margin of the company, hopefully by dumping people who are ill.

If there is no available treatment in Canada, then the health care system here does, and will, pay for patients to go to the nearest place to get that treatment, even in the U.S. AND the treatment is paid for by the insurance in Canada. Believe me, American doctors LOVE to see Canadians come there for treatment because they are GUARANTEED payment.

Here is more of the “information” Doctor Luntz asked others to use against the current reform.

(19) Always place protecting the doctor-patient relationship an essential priority for any
healthcare initiative. Your three most powerful phrases are:
—     “No Washington politician or bureaucrat should stand between you and
your doctor.”
—     “Decisions about you and your healthcare should be between you and
your doctor and no one else.”
—     “Let your doctor decide.”

Yes, there are rules for this……

WORDS THAT WORK
Federal standardization is healthcare by committee – and we don’t need the inefficiencies of government committees making healthcare decisions.
Doctors are our true experts. The best system is where a patient and a doctor make the decisions about care. Doctors have to go through a pretty rigorous plan to get “Dr.” next to their name, and the overwhelming majority of them are great doctors.

We don’t need some committee rationing care and telling people what they can and can’t have. We need to give patients the best choices of health plans and doctors and let them make their own decisions.
– Senator Jim DeMint

Sorry, Senator, but there are no such committees here. Doctors are quite able to make the decisions without anyone from the government interfering.

(15) ISSUE: Federal Standardization. Oppose this policy idea by attacking bureaucrats in the name of protecting the doctor-patient relationship. Polling reveals two attacks that work best against the creation of a federal panel that would determine a standardized approach to medical care.
—     “It would have federal bureaucrats determining healthcare standards rather than the doctors who are actually providing the care.”
—     “It will take the power away from patients and doctors to choose what treatment the patient receives and give it to the politicians in Washington.”

Yeah, and where is there any mention of any federal bureaucrat determining standard of care? I seriously doubt any politician, even a wildly “socialist” one, would ever want to get involved in this at all.

“WORDS THAT WORK
This plan may sound good rhetorically, but at the end of the day, we are moving very swiftly towards a Washington-engineered, bureaucratic controlled, healthcare system. And we all know that when the government gets in the middle of anything, the quality can quickly diminish.                                      – Eric Cantor”

Oh really Mr. Cantor, then I guess the military and the FBI, CIA, and many other things have gone down in quality then? The federal aviation system is now poor in quality?

That argument is what is known as a straw man argument. BUT, I am wondering if they really do think that any federally run system is guaranteed to fall in quality just because it IS run federally.

(13) Maximize your attacks on the Democratic plan by choosing the BEST words. For instance, calling it the “Democratic plan” isn’t your best bet; doing so makes it political in the wrong way. It makes the issue Republicans vs. Democrats – which doesn’t favor you. The issue needs to be Americans vs. Washington. So here are the words to use:
   “This plan puts politicians in charge of your healthcare” is even better than “bureaucrats.” Bureaucrats are scary – but at least they are professionals. But politicians? They bring all the wrong things to something as vital as healthcare. Both words do damage to the Democratic plan, but “politicians” does the most.
   “Washington” beats “Government.” Washington has all the problems of every other level of government, and more.
   “Washington Takeover” beats “Washington Control.” Takeovers are like coups – they both lead to dictators and a loss of freedom. What Americans fear most is that Washington politicians will dictate what kind of care they can receive.”

Does this look and sound familiar? Yes, it definitely should because this script is written expressly for those who have no idea what else to say, or how to say it.

Now, to get to the other side of this thing.

1. Bureaucrats do exist, and they do interfere with the care you and many other receive now, but they are not from any government, but within the insurance industry. They are in front of those stockholders who DEMAND that at least 20% of every dollar the insurance companies get, stockholders will receive.

Don’t believe me, then maybe you will believe someone who worked in the industry for decades.

WENDELL POTTER who worked for CIGMA for 15 years.

“Well, I was beginning to question what I was doing as the industry shifted from selling primarily managed care plans, to what they refer to as consumer-driven plans. And they’re really plans that have very high deductibles, meaning that they’re shifting a lot of the cost off health care from employers and insurers, insurance companies, to individuals. And a lot of people can’t even afford to make their co-payments when they go get care, as a result of this. But it really took a trip back home to Tennessee for me to see exactly what is happening to so many Americans.”

“I went home, to visit relatives. And I picked up the local newspaper and I saw that a health care expedition was being held a few miles up the road, in Wise, Virginia. And I was intrigued.

I borrowed my dad’s car and drove up 50 miles up the road to Wise, Virginia. It was being held at a Wise County Fairground. I took my camera. I took some pictures. It was a very cloudy, misty day, it was raining that day, and I walked through the fairground gates. And I didn’t know what to expect. I just assumed that it would be, you know, like a health– booths set up and people just getting their blood pressure checked and things like that.

But what I saw were doctors who were set up to provide care in animal stalls. Or they’d erected tents, to care for people. I mean, there was no privacy. In some cases– and I’ve got some pictures of people being treated on gurneys, on rain-soaked pavement.

And I saw people lined up, standing in line or sitting in these long, long lines, waiting to get care. People drove from South Carolina and Georgia and Kentucky, Tennessee– all over the region, because they knew that this was being done. A lot of them heard about it from word of mouth.

There could have been people and probably were people that I had grown up with. They could have been people who grew up at the house down the road, in the house down the road from me. And that made it real to me.

I had been in the industry and I’d risen up in the ranks. And I had a great job. And I had a terrific office in a high-rise building in Philadelphia. I was insulated. I didn’t really see what was going on. I saw the data. I knew that 47 million people were uninsured, but I didn’t put faces with that number.

Just a few weeks later though, I was back in Philadelphia and I would often fly on a corporate aircraft to go to meetings.

And I just thought that was a great way to travel. It is a great way to travel. You’re sitting in a luxurious corporate jet, leather seats, very spacious. And I was served my lunch by a flight attendant who brought my lunch on a gold-rimmed plate. And she handed me gold-plated silverware to eat it with. And then I remembered the people that I had seen in Wise County. Undoubtedly, they had no idea that this went on, at the corporate levels of health insurance companies.

“It was just the most difficult. We call them high profile cases, when you have a case like that — a family or a patient goes to the news media and complains about having some coverage denied that a doctor had recommended. In this case, Nataline Sarkisyan’s doctors at UCLA had recommended that she have a liver transplant. But when the coverage request was reviewed at Cigna, the decision was made to deny it.”

There it is, a company denies health care for their own patient because they NEED to have profits and patients who get ill cut into those profits. Nataline’s doctore recommended treatment, life saving treatment, and she was denied coverage by some damn bureaucrat in some damned corporation more concerned with profits than healthy customers!

Michael Moore came out with his film “Sicko” and this is what the industry saw and did.

Again, words from Wendell Potter.

“I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie. But the industry, from the moment that the industry learned that Michael Moore was taking on the health care industry, it was really concerned.

The industry has always tried to make Americans think that government-run systems are the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, that if you even consider that, you’re heading down on the slippery slope towards socialism. So they have used scare tactics for years and years and years, to keep that from happening. If there were a broader program like our Medicare program, it could potentially reduce the profits of these big companies. So that is their biggest concern.”

This is what the industry saw as being true about the Moore film, and certainly does NOT want YOU to know.

That we shouldn’t fear government involvement in our health care system. That there is an appropriate role for government, and it’s been proven in the countries that were in that movie.

You know, we have more people who are uninsured in this country than the entire population of Canada. And that if you include the people who are underinsured, more people than in the United Kingdom. We have huge numbers of people who are also just a lay-off away from joining the ranks of the uninsured, or being purged by their insurance company, and winding up there.

And another thing is that the advocates of reform or the opponents of reform are those who are saying that we need to be careful about what we do here, because we don’t want the government to take away your choice of a health plan. It’s more likely that your employer and your insurer is going to switch you from a plan that you’re in now to one that you don’t want. You might be in the plan you like now.

But chances are, pretty soon, you’re going to be enrolled in one of these high deductible plans in which you’re going to find that much more of the cost is being shifted to you than you ever imagined.”

HERE is where YOU get to give more money to the insurance companies for service that is actually going to be paid for with higher costs. YOU really want this??

All of this and more is on the following site:

Wendell Potter exposes Insurance Resistance to Health Reforms (video)

“REP. JOHN BOEHNER: The forthcoming plan from Democratic leaders will make health care more expensive, limit treatments, ration care, and put bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions rather than patients and doctors.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL: Americans need to realize that when someone says “government option,” what could really occur is a government takeover that soon could lead to government bureaucrats denying and delaying care, and telling Americans what kind of care they can have.

SEN. JON KYL: Washington run healthcare would diminish access to quality care, leading to denials, shortages and long delays for treatment.

REP. JOE WILSON: How will a government run health plan not lead to the same rationing of care that we have seen in other countries?

REP. TOM PRICE: We don’t want to put the government, we don’t want to put bureaucrats between a doctor and a patient.”

Hmmm wonder where that comes from??

“The industry doesn’t want to have any competitor. In fact, over the course of the last few years, has been shrinking the number of competitors through a lot of acquisitions and mergers. So first of all, they don’t want any more competition period. They certainly don’t want it from a government plan that might be operating more efficiently than they are, that they operate. The Medicare program that we have here is a government-run program that has administrative expenses that are like three percent or so.” Wendell Potter

“You told Congress that the industry has hijacked our health care system and turned it into a giant ATM for Wall Street. You said, “I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick, all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.” How do they satisfy their Wall Street investors?

Well, there’s a measure of profitability that investors look to, and it’s called a medical loss ratio. And it’s unique to the health insurance industry. And by medical loss ratio, I mean that it’s a measure that tells investors or anyone else how much of a premium dollar is used by the insurance company to actually pay medical claims. And that has been shrinking, over the years, since the industry’s been dominated by, or become dominated by for-profit insurance companies. Back in the early ’90s, or back during the time that the Clinton plan was being debated, 95 cents out of every dollar was sent, you know, on average was used by the insurance companies to pay claims. Last year, it was down to just slightly above 80 percent.

THIS IS A PLAN TO SABOTAGE THE REFORM, TO ENSURE THAT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES FORCE EVERY SINGLE PERSON TO BUY INSURANCE FROM THEM. Make no mistake, they want Congress and the Senate to do NOTHING! That would be the ultimately desirable outcome.

This is what the GOP want.

The GOP plan would make the health benefits that companies provide their workers count as taxable income, and then use that money to provide tax credits with which individuals could purchase their own health coverage. Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who advised the McCain campaign, said the new plan goes further than previous Republican offerings. For instance, it would provide new incentives for insurers to offer coverage to people who now have trouble buying it because they have pre-existing health conditions. It also puts more emphasis on preventive care and sets up “state exchanges” — similar to the one now operating in Massachusetts — in which individuals and families could comparison-shop for insurance plans.”

In short, the GOP want to keep the insurance companies happy, and force YOU to buy the coverage. What?? That must have the insurance companies smiling gleefully!

When I first heard of Pre-Existing Conditions, I had absolutely NO idea what they were or how they factored into health care.  Then, I found out and was totally appalled and disbelieving. If a woman had, at one time, a yeast infection (which, by the way, can happen in babies) then she could and, in one instance, be denied health insurance coverage. What the hell??

If I lived in the U.S. and applied for health insurance, then I would possibly be turned down because I DID have Rubella twice in my childhood and my titre count is higher than normal. What in hell does that have to do with any health issues I now have? Or, because I did have gall stones at one time, and have not had them at all since, I am refused coverage? Bizarre!

I guess it comes down to not knowing that this type of exclusion is unknown elsewhere. If you are not aware that other places don’t even know what a pre-existing condition is, nor that it is grounds for exclusion of health coverage, then you come to think this practice is normal. Believe me, it is NOT.

I can go and get health care even though I have had Rubella twice, had gall stones (and have my gall bladder) and other things including yeast infections because of the effects of taking an antibiotic or other medicine. It is inconceivable to me that I would not!

Integrity In Life Creates More Than Is Known.

What with all the fiascos in banking, government, even personal life, there is one theme I have noticed. A serious lack of personal integrity.

There is the old story of porkbarrelling in politics, and that goes to even the city or village level. When someone in an office is more interested in buying friends and buying influence than becoming a good leader, the whole of society suffers. Add to that secrecy and you have a very volatile mix.

The most obvious examples are those of Idi Amin, George Bush, and many others who abused the office of leader. What most everyone forgets is that there are really NO secrets that will remain secret. The truth will always come out, somehow, somewhere. Perhaps it is revealed from simple, honest, and wondering curiousity, perhaps it comes from wanting to find that very truth.

There have been people who have lived openly, honestly, with few, if any secrets, and they find that integrity is easy, almost automatic. What most people who keep things secret find out is that telling someone, even a stranger, of the secret, will take away the power, the condemnation that the secret holder fears. Try it! When you reveal a secret, most of the time people will shrug, maybe be surprised, but there is also a feeling of release of the power of the secret to bind us up, make us fearful.

The contrast between two people can be very stark. We instinctively know when someone is NOT telling us the entire story, the real truth, and we become suspicious, less trusting and definitely want to know the truth. When we try to keep something secret, we develop a habit of keeping more and more of those secrets. Yes, we can do this from very good intentions, to avoid hurting someone we love, to avoid revealing the whereabouts of someone who can be killed (think of the Holocaust and Schindler) and sometimes those secrets have to be kept. BUT, unless there is a literal life and death situation, secrets can cause more problems than just being honest enough to reveal what we know.

Integrity means taking these chances, taking the risk that someone may just understand and learn a lot by us being honest enough, strong enough, to allow someone to know what we may THINK is the worst of us. Again, think of Schindler. After the war, his story was revealed, the truth did come out. So, again, the secrets do become revealed.

Now, think of someone like O.J. Simpson. The evidence, for me, gives compelling truth that he did kill. He may have been found, in a court, to be innocent, but the underlying instinct we all use makes us want to avoid him, to question every word he utters. Our instincts may be far more accurate than any jury, court, or other official institution.

Integrity is part of our human heritage. We rely on it when we go to buy a new car, find a flawed product and expect to have the product either taken back or replaced. We rely on integrity to form a basis of our personal relationships. So where do things to haywire? When we try too hard to please, perhaps our parents, or our bosses and let our own integrity fail. When it comes to things like politics and business, integrity is often ruined, denied, and the outcome is that we find out the truth and feel betrayed.

This may be the one lesson that the world needs right now. That huge, deep, painful sense of being betrayed by Wall Street hogs, presidential secrecy in several countries, and above all the betrayal of the very people we choose to stand up for us in our elections has become pandemic, or so it seems.

Leaders are rare, it seems. Leaders will be honest enough to tell what we need to know, even if it shows our own failings, or our own successes. Leaders will be the ones who LISTEN more than talk, and actually want to understand the situation from all points of view, then take the path of BEST choice, not necessarily the most expedient, the easiest, or even the most profitable.

Business needs LEADERS, people who work and demand integrity within and from those who work with them. The plumber who is known by the locals as being the best, the honest person, is often the busiest, yet we will wait. The food server who is good, honest, and works to the goals of doing the best they know how, with honesty and integrity, are the ones we ask for. The business man who stands by his company, who works to improve not only the bottom line, but the working conditions, the spirit of his company, the integrity that will be his own bottom line, we all want to work for. Why? Because THEY LISTEN! They grow and learn!

Now, to the dark side of this. Torture, no matter where or who does it, violates all of us in some way. It violates our sense of integrity, our sense of human being. When someone like Cheney or Bush or Idi Amin or anyone else chooses to use their power to try to keep things like this secret, we find out, one way or another. The ripples of this DO go out, tarnishing the countries, the people, and, like each individual in any relationship, we feel betrayed, soiled, and the instincts of others around the world become suspicious, mistrusting and the entire population of whatever country has tortured is lessened in integrity. Not fair, maybe, but that is the price of living with a democracy, with elected officials. Idi Amin being the exception here.

The dark side is less obvious when it comes to business, because we don’t elect those people, but rely on them to be honest. But the ripples STILL go out. We all mistrust a company that will pollute then keep that a secret. We feel betrayed by companies that will hide dangerous practices, such as hiding the dangerous chemicals they use on our food, our land and put into our water.

So, for each individual, no matter whether you are president, prime minister, premier, or the local farmer, truck driver, student, teacher or business owner, take the time to check on your integrity. Are we living up to the goal of being honest and open? Are we listening and learning?

We WANT to have the farmer who will NOT use hormones that screw up our health, we WANT the teacher who demands the best from themselves and us, we WANT the business owner to have a decent company that we can trust, we WANT leaders to be open with us, to LEAD, not be bought out because of some monetary rewards or status. we WANT integrity.

Obama and Justice Department Release Secret Bush Memos

Looks like Mr.’s Cheney and Bush have an exercise in temper control now that the Obama administration has chosen to release some very damaging documents!

Memos written for or by the previous administration and president.

What is here is totally revealing for the way the abuse of American civil rights are seen as totally acceptable, as well as the deliberate flouting of virtually all international laws regarding war, those captured, and any possible “terrorist” activities. This is totally sickening when you realize just how much abuse the government and some of the agencies used, could use, and that every single person living in the U.S. was under threat from being arrested WITHOUT any warrant!

The so-called “legal” opinions are outrageous! More to come later.

Obama, Slam Those Salaries, Now!

I knew at least two months ago that the CEO’s and other fat cat exec’s would find a way to circumvent the ceiling on their bonuses, their income, and get the money.  Quelle Surprise!

They made over 100 of the upper echelon in one company “partners” to get around this,in others,  they just thumbed their noses at the taxpayer, the government and took the money anyway.

I have yet to see anything to get those damned Credit Default Swaps under control, and with the serious lack of legal recourse, the fat cats are eating out on the taxpayers of the entire world. Remember, most of the banks do have international branches or connections.

President Obama, put those ceilings into law, harsh penalties if they violate, and make damn sure they do give you full disclosure on every damn cent of taxpayer monies they are spending. No excuses, no hiding, nadda.

If necessary, put a full investigation using every federal agency, including the IRS, the FBI, and the Wall Street agencies. Stop this abuse of trust now.

As for our own government here, there is an equally apalling lack of investigation, oversight, accounting, so I can gather the same is happening in Japan, Korea, the U.K., Belgium, Germany, and virtually every country tied to this disastrous mess.

Here is where diplomacy comes in, there MUST be an international cooperation, an international accounting, and definitely an international effort to kick these guys where, obviously, they need it, in the wallet.

Damn this is a mess!

Buying Only American Can Sink America

Loyalty is great, especially to your family and friends. When it comes to a country, loyalty can be good, but sometimes it has a double edge to it.

The drive to use the tax funds to restart, restore, whatever you want to call it, need not be tied to buying only American goods. Why? Well, as a lot of the US citizenry now are finding out, there are things you need to get from other countries. Oil and power are just two.

Blocking the import of goods such as steel, aluminum, and so on can backfire on the jobs the US and President Obama are desperately trying to create, restore and build. Erecting trade barriers also breaches some of the very trade agreements that the US wants to keep!

Like most other things in life, we live by cooperation, and this does mean we have to deal with countries outside our own.

Let’s see if I can simplify this for myself here. I need power to run a factory, but I don’t have enough local supply to do it. I set up a contract, an agreement with someone to buy it. In exchange, they want to buy what I produce. Sounds like a fair deal to start with.

Later, they cannot buy my goods, and because their own financial problems are causing headaches, they want to put that power to use in their own area. So, I can choose to refuse to buy their power, and up go the barriers. My own jobs go, along with the prosperity I was developing for myself.

While I can understand their reasoning, they NEED what I produce as much as I NEED the power.

This can get to be truly childish and petty, but in the real world, it can create huge disasters.

The US NEEDS oil, power, goods etc. from other countries as much as other countries NEED the goods from the US. It is symbiotic, if you like.

There ARE international agreements in place that need to be honoured, need to be kept, and integrity is one of the ingredients in international trade. I know there are some in the US that want to shut the doors, hunker down, and, while I can see the fear, the loyalty and the desire to make sure there ARE jobs coming, I can also see why the trades and the goods NEED to move.

What most people in the US don’t realize is that the supplies of some goods are NOT found within the US, they just are not there. Foods come from outside the country, along with a huge number of other things. Stop that and the US faces some pretty nasty results. Power is not totally generated within the borders of the US either, it is purchased from neighbouring countries, mostly because the private utility companies have NOT invested in creating more power, especially cleaner and more efficient power. The brown-outs in Los Angeles are symptomatic of this problem.

Some rant on about “Buying Amercan” without realizing just how much of the goods and other things come from outside the country.

Right now, the choice is within the bill facing the government, and I hope that someone will really take a hard look at what they are asking for  with the clause to “Buy American” and create international trade barriers.