Friday, August 07, 2009

We might have another Thurgood Marshall. Nice.



...The most amazing thing about Sonia (click here), in my opinion, is that she has always embraced her Latina identity. While studying at Princeton, in a class that had just 20 other Hispanic students, Sotomayor served as co-chair of The Puerto Rican Club. Despite the stereotypes of Puerto Ricans at the time, Sotomayor never shied from her heritage. At college, she took numerous classes to learn more about Puerto Rico and even wrote her thesis about it. In her dedication she wrote, "To my family, for you have given me my Puerto Rican-ness."...

I believe Congressman Doggett has it mostly right. "...not to have a dialogue, but, to drown out any voice but their own."



I sincerely believe the Right Wing Media has 'whipped up' the opposition to the point of being irrational and there is no sense for the President to address them because they won't hear him anyway.

In most of the Town Hall Meetings I have seen or listened to there has been a lot of yelling with little discussion. They are beyond reason.

The Right Wing media is instilling fear in these folks and I feel badly for them. They state things such as the government has taken over our banks, Obama Motors and now they want to take over our health care. There is not a true word in any of it. None. Yet, these folks go on and on as if it was written in stone.

Wow.

The banks were bailed out. It has happened before. It has happened with S&Ls. You know Silverado and Neil Bush. The banks are being held responsible for the funds they took and they are paying it back. The USA Treasury is making 7% on the dollar. That is fairly steep by the way. It is to discourage them from having it happen again.

The Auto Manufacturers were bailed out and they weren't given free reign to do what they wanted with the people's money either. They had to present a 'viability plan.' From what I see so far, Chevy has got the edge. They are offering sporty cars without giving up power on the road while still getting incredibly good gas mileage. Not only that, but, their 'shares' the country now holds will go to the public in ten months from the date of bankruptcy. The 60.8% shares will go on the stock exchange for sale back to the public.

Tell me there is something "W"rong with this. See, because jobs have been saved and the American people are finally getting automobiles they can be proud of manufactured by an American company for the first time in modern history. I have yet to find fault with it, realizing all this was made possible by the "Paulson Pity Party." The man that wanted the economy to crash and burn in order for Goldman Sachs to receive huge amounts of money from AIG. It was contemplated and deployed and he just watched as the USA infrastructure became unraveled. Nice, huh? I think we did the best we could given the circumstances.

Now, onto health care. Where was everyone? During his campaign for President it was completely obvious National Health Care Reform was going to be addressed. There is absolutely nothing about the bill that will cost the Middle Class a dime over 10 years. That is what he promised and that is what he is delivering. Those might be the folks that are irate at these meetings. It might be.

But, the Right Wing media is using lies such as euthanasia will be employed. "W"rong. Grief Counceling is hugely different than euthanasia and there currently are not laws in the USA to allow it. I believe Oregon still has assisted suicide, but, we know what kind of back flips people have to go through to obtain that permisson and receive the drugs. Those laws were enacted for the primary reason of incurable cancer victims. Would it be nice to have most cancers completely curable and such laws wouldn't be necessary at all.

Grief Counceling has been around for a long, long time. It is employed with families for end stage of any disease or severe trauma. It has nothing to do with having a doctor perscribe euthanasia to a patient of any age. Yet the Right Wing Media is stating it will be used on the elderly in nursing homes in the form of euthanasia. It is flat out lie.

You know, regardless of the 'state of one's health' most Americans like their lives enough that they don't want it to end. The Oregon Assisted Suicide Law has seen few people seek the medications and even when they have the medications in their hands even fewer actually carry out the act.

The "Government Option." There is nothing evil or sinister about it. What the "Government Option" offers is a method to obtain health care as if one was a federal employee. Any person or family obtaining health care through The "Government Option" will have the right to choose from a menu of PRIVATE companies. My understanding is that it isn't free either. Anyone participating in the "Government Option" will have to pay the cost every month no differently than if they were on the payroll.

The "Government Option" has to exist. To begin with, all President Obama heard from people when he was campaigning was how nice his health care was as a Senator, but, the American people could not get such health care. In addition, it is a form of self regulation of other companies. If a preson can leave their insurance carrier without reprisal to take the "Government Option" it will cause a backlash to invoke change in the way Americans are treated by their health care providers. No company wants to loose members. Having a wide base of support by having large numbers of members is what provides the health care in the first place.

Monies collected bi-weekly or monthly are sent to the insurance companies and they are invested. Supposedly, there is far less expenditures than income to any company. That is their profit margin and it is allowed to exist. That is how life insurance companies work as well. They receive monthly premiums, invest them and pay on the policy when the insured dies. It is a sound principle. Where the American Health Care System took a turn for the worse is when the health care insurance companies increased their profits by denying claims. People died.

Now, when people are facing surgery they are locked out of for any reason by their insurance company, they can turn to the "Government Option" which cannot turn them away for coverage. They won't die anymore.

Is there something Un-American about this? Or. Is there something very American about this? I think it is the later. I believe what President Obama, the Senate and the House has done is care for the people of this country in a most compassionate way that will allow every American a fighting chance when they face illness or infirmity.

There is nothing wrong here. Nothing. Sorry to realize a sector of the public is vulnerable to Right Wing Media lies. Perhaps it is their access to the public for the purpose of instilling fear among the people we need to address. It isn't fair to them. I know those folks at the town hall meetings are good people and they think they are doing the right thing. But, they have been fed a huge amount of lies and fear by the Right Wing of this country. I find that very sad. If I believed every word said as well, I'd be scared, too.