We have been hearing an awful lot of what seems to be crowing from the Republican side of the aisle.  We hear a lot of conservative commentators tell us how bad health care reform is for us.  Wingnut scare tactics are being screamed at extreme decibel levels at us from dawn until dusk.  But how do the regular people on the street feel?

I am not talking about wingnuts on either the right or left.  I am talking about the people that have to deal with this health care situation as a part of their day to day lives.  Polls show that Republicans, Conservatives and Blue Dog Democrats are on the wrong side of this issue.  In other words, no matter how loudly they scream, the public does not believe in either them or their scare tactics.

Following are the results from a poll conducted yesterday by the New York Times.  It seems that John Q. Public trusts President Obama and his Progressive Democratic allies much more that they trust Conservative Republicans and their wingnut fringe friends.

Americans trust Obama over congressional GOPers on health care by a 55%-26% margin.

72% think Congress is moving either too slowly or at the right pace.

59% think Obama is moving either too slowly or at the right pace.

76% think health care costs pose a serious threat to the nation’s economy.

66% support a Medicare-style public option for all Americans.

If this is what the Republicans and their friends consider winning, they need to think again.  I hope every member of the Congress and Senate that is acting contrary to the public interest on this matter is given a lesson in listening to the people who elected them while they are home on their break.  Come on people, let’s turn up the decibel level from our side.  Let these creeps that do not have our best interests at heart know they can and will be voted out of office the next time they run, or if allowed, a recall or impeachment might be in their future.

In the words of  their mentor George W. Bush “You’re either with us or you’re against us.”

All the controversy over Lou Dobbs birther problems seems to have left him out on the fringe with the wingnut conservative Republicans.  Who would have thought a newsman like Dobbs would join the likes of nut bags like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck?  Who would have thought that CNN would lie and cover for him?  Our friends at Media Matters have put out another video on this whole subject and it is included below.

You can go here to see what CNN is claiming.  Will Lou Dobbs be what CNN stands for in the future?  Who is in charge at The Most Trusted Name in News?  Obviously not the adults or the legitimate journalists or the highly paid executives.

To hear some conservative right wingnuts tell the story, the Obama health care plan calls for Government sponsored death sentences to those who are too old or sick.  Just look at statements made by Republican Virginia Fox and druggie talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

If you are simple minded and will fall for the tall tales of these people, and I use that term loosely, then the whole point of  President Obama’s health care plan is to kill everyone!  From forcing minorities and the poor to rip babies from the wombs of their mothers to lethal injections for those that reach a certain age, they try to give a vision of death squads running amok in the name of our country.

The truth is our government recently tried to form some death squads under the command of Darth Cheney.  Running amok is what they were best at!  These ‘highly trained and elite’ forces could not manage to kill the right person when given a chance to show what they could do.  After millions of dollars in training, violating international law and shredding our constitution the sad fact is that the demented penguins in the popular Madagascar cartoon vastly outperformed Cheney’s inept death troopers.

Uber conservative and neocon zealot Bill Kristol recently admitted on The Daily Show that our government currently runs a health care plan that provides the best health care available in the form of the V.A.  Unfortunately Mr. Kristol also stated that the average American citizen is undeserving of the same quality of health care as our Vets. When pressed on the point his defense was that its just to expensive to provide health care to all of us.

We as a people seem to like to delude ourselves.  We are holding on to the out dated mantra that  The United States is the greatest nation on the face of the earth.  Sadly that is no longer the case.

Over the last ten years while health insurance companies profits have increased over 400% our nation has been in a steady state of decline.  Compared to other nations we rank at 50 when it comes to health care.  I guess we can be proud of our lead over the 51st ranked nation of Somalia. Yippee!  Not the greatest nation but greater than Somalia would be a good slogan for those that seek to block health care reforms.

While we descend in world rankings for health care, infrastructure status, education, manufacturing and even military ranking we are excelling in other areas.  Those areas being poverty levels, number of homeless, national debt, and the percentage of our population in prison.  Hey! There is a spot we really are number one at!  We have more people in prison than ANY other country!  U.S.A. , U.S.A. , U.S.A..  chant it at the next Republican meeting and be ever so proud.

Other areas that the United States is excelling in are corporate profits, executive bonuses, political corruption and good old fashioned greed.

I urge you to present these facts to your elected officials.  The ones opposing health care, education reforms, and returning regulation to the banking and corporate sector.  You know, the ones that are bought and paid for.  I bet they will either not answer you or give you several sheets of blank paper as an answer.

Think on these facts before you go into the voting booth next time and ask yourself if you really want to return such people to office or if you want to do what is best for all Americans.  The choice is yours.

Following is a video of part of the Jon Stewart interview with Bill Kristol.  For some strange reason the entire interview can no longer be embedded from You Tube and it does not appear at all on Comedy Central.  Did somebody get embarrassed at his stupidity and throw a tantrum because his wittle feelings were hurt, or that his true views were shown?  Anyway, see it while you still can.

I found this video and decided to post it here to give everyone a chuckle.  Family Guy can really hit the nail on the head and the show is usually very insightful.   This video song about marijuana is up to their usual standards. Sorry to all the Michael Jackson defenders out their.  Please bear in mind this video was done before he died.  Otherwise, it is great fun and you might even find yourself singing along.

Oakland marijuana activists in California have filed a ballot measure with the California Attorney Generals office.  The measure would allow adults 21 years of age or over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.  It would also allow homeowners to grow up to a 25 square foot plot of marijuana plants for personal use.

This measure needs 430,000 signatures to get on the November, 2010 ballot.  In a state as large as California that number of signatures should present no problem.

Seven U.S. states are currently considering medical marijuana bills in their legislatures: Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina. South Dakota also has several petitions in interest of medical marijuana legalization.

It would seem that the legalization of marijuana is on its way in California and with medical marijuana either already approved or under consideration in so many other states, could it be that the legalization of marijuana is just a few years around the corner?  Well, no.  Don’t get your hopes up yet.  The Federal Government says they still will not consider any let up on the war on drugs.  It is not even close to being on their agenda.  But, if pressures both from the public and  monetary continue, the Feds might have no choice but to at least reconsider their position.  Stranger things have happened.

In a historic vote today Judge Sonya Sotomayor passed the vote in the Judiciary Committee and will now move on to the full Senate for her vote on confirmation.

I am proud of the Senators who voted for her and ashamed of those who did not.  It is high time in this country that we put all this label stuff behind us.  Enough with division by black or African-American or Latino or Latina.  If it cannot be stopped for minorities then perhaps we should start addressing everyone in our society by their heritage or leanings.  As an example we could say ‘KKK Senator Jeff Sessions or Bigoted Catholic Commentator Patrick Buchanan or Italian Wingnut Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia or’  well, you get the idea.

Sotomayor will make a wonderful addition to the Supreme Court and her record speaks for itself.  That should be enough and I look forward to a time when it is.

Here is the break down of the vote:

The vote was 13 – 6, with Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joining the 12 Democratic Senators in voting yes.

Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) voted no, marking the first time either had opposed a nominee for the Supreme Court.

Illustration is of the rarely seen joining together for the good of the whole team.  Now would be a really good time to see more of it.

Everyone who reads this blog knows where I stand on Lou Dobbs and his outlandish biased attitude on the subject of the ‘birthers’.  Instead of just reporting on the movement, he decided to side with them even though other CNN anchors and reporters had thoroughly debunked the ‘birthers’.   Now Dobbs is going so far as to claim a conspiracy against himself by other media and the left wing.  I for one, think it is high time this so called journalist is removed from the airwaves.

I received an e-mail with a link to a petition asking that CNN remedy their Lou Dobbs situation.  It is from the highly respected site Media Matters.  I am putting up a link here so my readers can also sign if they feel the same way about Lou Dobbs.  The whole idea is to get enough signatures to make CNN realize that people are not okay with this type of shoddy reporting.  Let’s show CNN that the people out here do pay attention and we don’t appreciate their actions right now.

Here is a portion of the e-mail and th link to the petition.

CNN brands itself as “The Most Trusted Name in News.” If that is to be believed, it is imperative that CNN address one of its premier host’s promotion of discredited, fringe conspiracies

So, please sign the following petition today and demand that CNN address its Lou Dobbs problem in a credible manner:

dobbsconspiracy.com

Dobbs’ relentless promotion of outlandish conspiracy theories seriously damages CNN’s credibility. It is time for “The Most Trusted Name in News” to prove it deserves viewers’ trust.

Thank you for your help in holding CNN accountable.

Eric Burns
President
Media Matters for America

I have been a lifelong football fan.  So it is with great shame that I say that the likes of Micheal Vick has been reinstated to play the game I love so much.

This is a man that actually tortured dogs for his pleasure and greed.  In addition to that this sadist NEVER ONCE has said he was sorry for doing so.  If it was up to me he would still be in prison.

If you have ever had a dog as a companion you know that they feel.  They have emotions and live to serve those they love.  They hurt, feel pain, loyalty and happiness.  They do not understand when  humans torture them to death.  They do not want to fight and have to be trained for it.  They have long been called mans’ best friend for a very good reason.

This unfeeling bastard wants to once again play the game of football.  He wants to be someone who is respected and held up as an example to children.  Oh! and he NEEDS to make tons of money again to get out of debt.  What’s the problem Vick?  Don’t you enjoy being broke?  How bout we break your knees like you did to so many dogs?  Wanna play football?  How bout we hook electrodes to your nuts and shock you if you loose a game?  That is what you did to dogs who lost a fight!

In my view you are not only a disgrace to the game but to the human race.

I congratulate the teams that have already announced that they would under no conditions sign this man.  I call on all other NFL teams to do the same.

I grew up in Kansas City and my family and friends as a child were Chiefs fans but I have been a Raiders fan my entire life.  It was a given that attending Raiders-Chiefs games was uncomfortable as a kid.  Lyle Alzado and Jim Plunkett were my childhood idols.  I say this so you know my football background.

Now I say this to the Raiders.  If you sign Michael Vick you have lost a lifelong fan.  My Raiders hat’s, shirts and banners will go in the trash.  I will not watch your games.  I will boycott your team in every way.

I call on all other football fans to send the same message to their teams.  This man should not be allowed to ever step foot on the gridiron again.

I will go on to say that if anyone attempted to treat my beloved pets in this way, or treat any animal this way in my presence I would no longer be able to share my thoughts and views with you.  I would be spending the rest of my life in prison for murder while animal killers get a slap on the wrist and go on with their torture of other souls.