It is the time of year when people look back at what has happened over the last twelve months.  A time to celebrate victories both large and small and to lick the wounds from our defeats.  A time to rejoice in new members of our life and to remember those who were lost to us.

This last year has been, to put it mildly, one hell of a ride!

I doubt there is a single person in the world that has not seen some type of drastic change in their life or their lifestyle in 2009.  Lets face it folks, we, like so many before us are living in a turbulent time and sadly it looks like the rough weather will continue in the year to come.

The year began with a MAJOR changes in the attitude of the government of my own country, The United States Of America.  One of the hardest things for a person to do is admit they were wrong or acted in a shameful manner.  When it comes to a nation, with all its different factions, it becomes almost impossible for the admission to be made.  Though I am not proud of many of the actions my country has taken over the last few years I am very proud that the vast majority of my countrymen are now admitting that our country has been wrong in many ways and are ready to stand up and make sure that we go back on a righteous path.

My country also witnessed the election of its first black President.  Though I did not support him during the primaries I feel our country can have faith in President Barack Obama.  He is truly a man of the people and is looking to lead our country into the future.  He is a major step forward when compared to the “I do not read”, “your either for us or against us” cowboy President he replaced.

While this President is bringing new hope for the future to most Americans, sadly, he is also bringing about a sense of loss for others.   We now have the likes of “teabaggers”‘ “tea partiers”, “Deathers”, and “birthers” to contend with.  We also are forced to contend with politicians that have sucked so much blood money from corporations that not even the flea bath of the last election can shake these ticks off.

This last year has seen the elevation of liars, quitters, idiots  and cheaters to iconic levels.  With names like Palin, Prejean, Sanford and Beck leading the way.  It has also seen those who care about the people of our nation rise to the challenge with leaders like Reid, Franken and Sanders in the Senate and Pelosi, Franke and  Grayson in the House.

We have seen the fist steps of both taking runaway corporate greed down and multi-billion dollar rescues of banks and insurance companies.  No matter where you stand, you now know the facts of Americans losing their homes, their jobs, their health and their very lives due to this greed and deep down we all know it must stop.  That is a goal for the year to come.

On the environmental front we have finally seen the United States, one of the largest polluters in the world, begin to look toward taking steps to correct this problem.  Granted though they are small steps, most of us have moved beyond the state of denial we were in for so long.  I am sure that larger steps will be taken in the year to come and even bigger steps the year after that.  We are now on the path of helping ourselves by helping our world.

Many of us seem to be growing upset at the pace with which we are moving forward.  They rail that things are taking too long and that it is too hard to get what the majority of us want.  I say stand fast and hold your ideals.  What you fail to see is that we are moving forward.   Remember that nothing happens overnight.  It has taken years, and in many cases, decades to create the problems our nation and our world now face.  It is unrealistic to expect change overnight and it will take time. The important thing is, we are moving forward and are no longer stuck in neutral.

If we all keep working together we can make the year to come better than the year that is ending and in truth isn’t that what life is all about?   Making tomorrow better for ourselves and the next generation.

So have a great New Years Eve, celebrate and be happy.  Be safe, be responsible and rock on!

Happy new year from all of us at LunaCanus.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

By BobbiV

Sometimes you see something that gives you hope for logic and intelligence to win out over ignorance and fear.  When I watched this video I felt a little bit of that kind of hope.  The whole idea espoused here is almost elegant in its logic.  It was also nice to see a video with people actually considering what they were saying and giving a thoughtful opinion.  It sure beats the spittle throwing screaming of the teabagger and birther types with their knee jerk reactionary spiel.  It also far out classes the Christians and conservatives with their wailing about the end of the world as we know it.

I post this video here for all the readers of luna canus as an end of the year gift and to hopefully inspire some logical thought on the issue of marijuana and the so called drug war.

Let us hope for cooler heads on this subject in the decade to come.  Maybe, if we are lucky, solutions may be in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and a safe celebration.  Hello to the second decade of this young century and may it be more sane and prosperous than the first one.  Enjoy!

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont  and Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts are currently sponsoring a bill in the senate that would allow more waivers to be issued for who can and can not be buried beside our fallen soldiers in the National Cemeteries.

This bill is being brought forth, due in part to a mother who wishes to be buried beside her son.  Traditionally these waivers have only been issued to the spouses of our fallen heroes.  Though I can totally understand her wishes and sympathize with her and  I am a strong supporter of our troops  I can not, in this case, agree with her.

Burial in a National Cemetery is not mandatory for a soldier who has seen or fallen in combat.  Burial in these cemeteries is optional and the choice is that of the family.  If she wished to rest beside her son,  she had the option of burial at a private cemetery.  Then there would be no issue.

The sad fact of the matter is that space in the National Cemeteries is limited.  If you grant a mothers request to lie beside her son then what of the father of a solider?  A son or daughter of a solider?  A brother, sister, cousin or life long friend?  Where and how could you draw the line?

It is not a matter of cost or a matter of respect for the honored dead.  It is a matter of choice and living with a choice once it is made.

The question, hard as it is to ask, is at what point would a National Cemetery, set aside to honor those who served in the defense of this nation, become just another cemetery where anyone who cared about the fallen are laid to rest?

The graves just seem to go on and on at Arlington. Let us hope for a day of no more war.

By BobbiV

This post and video is especially for any teabagger enthusiasts out there.  Very right wingnut conservative Christians, Sarah Palin followers, Beck watchers, Rush listeners and militia members will love it too.

I would attempt to explain that the video is satire.  But the truth is, you people really want things to be like this and satire is beyond your grade level.  Besides, I have been sick and I just do not have the patience or the will to explain the English language to you right now.  I’ll just say look it up for yourselves.  Yeah, right, that’s going to happen.

So I will just post the video.  For the aforementioned people it is a wet dream.  For the rest of us… not so much.  But it is funny, so I hope everyone gets their own kick from it.  However, I feel compelled to tell you teabagger types that were never going to go back to the America you pine for.  So sack up all you real Americans because a new day has definitely dawned right along with a new decade in an almost new century.  Please get scrambling so you can catch up.

I also just have to let you know-President Obama was not born in Kenya and most of us like him quite a lot.  When you look up satire also look up delusion, it will explain a lot for you about what you are suffering.  Like I said before, you simply have to catch up!

I would like to thank my mom for keeping things going the last couple of days on here and for ignoring my pleas for a swift and painless death.

As a special present for her this holiday season I have given her the greatest gift of all…my flu!  Sorry mom!

Though better I am still not great and feeling so weak I do not think I could fight my way out of a wet paper bag right now so this will be a quick post to let you know that we appreciate your support this year and hope to provide you with news you will enjoy reading in the year to come.

I would like to say a couple of things before I sign off for Christmas.

I congratulate the Senate on the health care vote this morning.  It is yet another major step forward but the fight is not over and we must continue to support those in Government that are looking to the interest of our people and not the corporations.

On the Global warming front I would like to say I do not think it is part of the normal weather pattern for there to be tornado warnings and watches issued on Christmas Eve to any part of our nation but they have been today.

To our conservative  wingnut friends on the right I ask where President Obama’s death squads were the last couple of days?  They would have been more than welcome in my bedroom!

With that I will sign off for Christmas, our family will rest and get over this flu and barring any unforeseen tragedy we will be back with the news on the 26th.

Have a safe, happy and joy filled Christmas,

Your friends at Lunacanus

Post by BobbiV

The Mensch , Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) explained a lot about community health centers on the senate floor.  The idea of community health centers was part of the dream of Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA)  for health care in America.  Because of the amendment that Sanders managed to get into the senate health care reform bill, these centers will expand…a lot.  This is a very,very big deal.

I happen to live in a very rural area in Nevada.  Without community health centers, there would be no dental care at all and little health care.  Although my town has a ‘medical center’ with all of four beds, it does not have what you could call reliable health care.  Our doctors stay for a few months at most on rotation.  A lot of our population is older.  They start treatment from a doctor only to have the doctor transfer out.  When a new doctor comes in, they often don’t agree on the treatment or even the cause of the problem, so you are forced to begin again.  Each time there is a switch there are new prescriptions, which many cannot afford.

The one saving grace of the situation is the community health center.  Although the closest one is about ninety miles away, there is a bus from the senior center that will take you to your appointment.  Besides, ninety miles out here really is not very far-just a zip down the highway to the next small town.  Actually a pleasant and very scenic high desert ride.  Any relatives that take seniors to an appointment usually find they have a few ride along friends of the older person who have coordinated their appointments and the younger relatives have come to expect this.

You may ask why people stay in a rural area like this with its lack of services.  Simply put, its because of cost.  Most people here are on a low fixed income, usually social security.  With the cost of housing and utilities in these small communities and a little extra help, most of these seniors just make it.  No way could they even come close with the costs in the bigger cities.  A lot of these  folks also value the quiet,  the lack of crime and the natural beauty in these rural areas.

I can tell you from seeing this first hand, without community health centers, a lot of these people would die…period.  They would have no, or inadequate health and dental care and they could not afford the costs of medicine to stay alive.

So, whether they know it or not, they owe a lot to the Mensch on the other side of the country.  Bernie Sanders has fought for and helped an awful lot of people in this country and those of us that know what he has done thank him from the bottom of our hearts.

Read more about community health centers at the link.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/22/818060/-This-HCR-Bill:-45,000,000-Get-Single-Payer-Vermont-Health-Care

Watch as Mensch Sanders explains community health centers on the senate floor.

Post by BobbiV

Each day Bill in Portland Maine posts his Cheers and Jeers at Daily Kos.  And every day I get a good laugh from it.  Whether he is skewering the Republican or the Democratic side, giving his humorous take on the economy or religion or any other thing, there is always a chuckle to be found in what he says.

Today he reminded me that it is Festivus, a time to air our grievances.  He airs his in his inimitable fashion and looking back on the year I find myself having the same complaints.  So I am bringing you his list.  If you have things to add or things you don’t agree with, so be it.  But I find this to be a pretty comprehensive list.

For your enjoyment:

“It’s A Festivus Miracle!”

Today is Festivus. In accordance with tradition, I submit my 2009 list for the Airing of Grievances. The following have disappointed me over the past year:

>> President Obama, for not enacting my agenda fast enough.

>> Olympia Snowe, for hanging up when history called.

>> John McCain and Sarah Palin, for being the whiniest losing presidential ticket ever.

>> The traditional media, for another year of quoting politicians, “experts” and spokespeople without asking the fundamental question: “Are they speaking the truth, or am I being played for a sucker?” Too many times the answer is: Like a Tootsie Pop.

>> Whoever felt it was necessary to take from us this year: Walter Cronkite, Ted Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Bea Arthur, Michael Jackson, Corazon Aquino, Henry Gibson, Mary Travers, Farrah Fawcett, John Hughes, Andrew Wyeth, and our 21 year-old cat.

>> Teabaggers, for achieving with ignorance and venom in the public square what a two-year-old achieves with creamed corn in his diaper.

>> Family values titans Tiger Woods, John Ensign and Mark Sanford, for thinking with the wrong head.

>> Credit card companies that skirt new federal regulations and charge 80 percent interest.

>> Joe Lieberman, walking proof that backstabbers and liars do, indeed, prosper. Remember that, kids!

>> Dick Cheney, for not going fishing more often.

>> Wall Street barons, for returning to their greedy, greedy ways and not even having the decency to pick the confetti out of their hair and the caviar out of their teeth before they tell us how grateful they are to us for bailing them out.

>> Compromises that seem to only extract concessions from the left.

>> The 53 percent of Maine voters who repealed our gay marriage law and proved that we are, in fact, not a “live and let live” state.

>> All the two-faced “concernvative” citizens and pundits who are nitpicking things Obama is doing that Bush also did but they never nitpicked him for those things, did they? Noooooooooo, they most certainly did not.

>> God, for not coming down here and straightening out this mess of a planet. She’s dating another universe, isn’t she?

To them I say…

“I HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH YOU PEOPLE!”

Me too, Bill, Me Too! Read more of Bill’s wisdom at the link.

http://bill-in-portland-maine.dailykos.com/

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Post by BobbiV

I am a parent and I know a lot of you out there are too.  Have you ever looked at parents like those of the balloon boy and wondered it it would be a good idea to require screening and a license before someone could become a parent?  I certainly have had thoughts along these lines and truth be told, it has come to my mind more than once in the last few years.

It came to my mind when I saw pictures in the newspaper of zealous Christians standing their children front row center at one of their protests.  That in and of itself is not bad, until you realize the kids are holding signs that say things like Jesus Hates You Because You’re Gay and Gays are Going to Hell among other wonderful sentiments.  When you read the story and find out these zealots were protesting at the funeral of a gay individual, you realize this is completely beyond the pale.  In my mind these people should not be parents.

I guess what I am trying to get at here is that I am very tired of seeing parents using their children for their own agendas or living vicariously through their kids.  Children should be guided and taught, but in the end they must be allowed to form their own opinions.  They are not cookie cutter replicas of their parents and parents should not try to make up for their missed opportunities through their offspring.

That you should think your child is beautiful and definitely tell your child they are beautiful and special is a given.  To get them plastic surgery just to ‘improve’ them, dress them like adults,  parade them in beauty pageants or stick them in front of a camera at every opportunity is not.  In fact, you are only turning them into attention whores with very warped senses of what is right and wrong.  Doubt that?  Witness Carrie PreJean and Sarah Palin among others.  Enough said.

Balloon Boy’s parents are an example of what is wrong with parents today.  They used him for their own selfish motives and they have most certainly damaged him and their other children forever.  Today they were sentenced for their crimes.  Not their crimes against their children, mind you, but their crimes against society.

In my mind they deserve harsher punishment and at the least heavy duty family counseling and parenting classes.  That is probably just me because I am old fashioned in my way of looking at things.  Read the article and draw your own conclusions.  I would really like to hear your opinion.

From the BBC article:

Richard Heene will be allowed to serve 60 days of his 90-day sentence on release, allowing him to work as a construction contractor during the day, while spending the night in jail.

He will start his sentence on 11 January 2010.

Mayumi Heene will begin her sentence after her husband’s to ensure their children are still cared for.

She will be allowed to report to jail on two days a week, return home at night, and serve the sentence through jail-supervised community service.

The judge also ruled that her husband must serve 100 hours of community service and write a letter of apology to the community and public service agencies which helped search for his son.

The couple have already been ordered to pay $42,000 (£26,000) in restitution for the emergency services’ rescue efforts.

Read the rest here  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8429080.stm

I really hope these kids get beyond this whole thing.  But I think it will be hard sledding for them for a very long time.  By the way, I think the press is to blame for a lot of this too.  That’s a post for another time.

courtest of Swamp Rat 2009