Day: September 28, 2009

Safire Dies!

Another sad day for us that depend on the media for accurate and well informed news and opinions.

VOA is reporting:

William Safire, the renowned wordsmith and conservative political pundit has died of pancreatic cancer in a Rockville, Maryland hospice at the age of 79.

William Safire was most famous for having been former U.S. President Richard Nixon’s speechwriter, and for the three decades’ worth of influential conservative columns he penned for the liberal New York Times newspaper.

Safire was known for taking forceful conservative positions on most issues, and never mincing words when opposing others’ views,” Safire said. “His scathing commentary on Bert Lance, a high-level Carter Administration official, garnered him a Pulitzer Prize in 1978. But Safire said he was careful not to make his criticism “personal.”

Yes, a sad day….we have lost Cronkite,  Russert, among others and now we have lost Safire.  As a  liberal, I seldom agreed with his conserative views, but I read them and enjoyed them…..he NEVER used vile language or misinformation (lies) to make his point…his was a well thought out position to whatever subject he attacked on that day…he will be missed….he was a journalist and a great analyst.

With his passing we are slowly but steadily losing all our “true” journalists and in their passing they are leaving us with the jokes that disguise themselves as doing journalistic work.  We are looking at O’Reilly, Hanerity, Limbaugh, Beck and on and on,,,,these types can NEVER wear the mantle of journalist…a journalist reports the news…jokes make the news fit their reports….big difference….Safire was thought provoking, the ones mentioned are joke provoking…..

So, goodbye Mr. Safire you will be dearly missed and the country will be the worse at your passing.

2009 Anal-Ocity

Yet another piece of crap coming from the GOP on health care….this time the Chairman Steele does it again with a great anal statement and a very delusional way of thinking.

I would like to thank thinkprogress.com for the word and the thoughts.

Yesterday, in an address at Philander Smith College, a historically black college in Little Rock, RNC Chairman Michael Steele implied that the late Martin Luther King Jr. would be disappointed with President Obama’s leadership.

“Dr. King would be disappointed in the political leadership of this country for failing to address the least of us,” Steele said.

It seems I am always finding these types of BS…I hate to be the one to tell Mr. Steele but he is wrong.

Dr. King once said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

Since he was addressing a group at a college maybe he should take advantage of a government program and take a couple of cl;asses on Black History.  He sadly needs to be updated on historical events and sayings.  We cannot blame his ignorance on No Child Left Behind, since he too old to be a product of that piece of crap.

What If The Health Reform Fails?

Sad to say that it is appearing that it may be stalled forever. The rhetoric is flying around Washington as well as the air ways. If the program fails…who can we blame?

I do not know how many readers can recall the health reform debate back in the mid 90’s, but I will help you out….the debate now is about in the same shape as the Clinton admin’s attempt to correct the health care imbalance….btw….their health reform failed!

So if the health care issue fails, whose fault will it be?  My best answer is that the Dems will blame the Repubs for their opposition and political posturing….but the truth of the matter is if it fails the Dems have NO one to blame but their own membership.

Dems have a majority in both houses and they still cannot move legislation through them.  Whether it is because of spending or wording or lobbyists or….whatever…the Dems are killing their own legislation.

One reason is that the Congress has not passed any major legislation since the Medicare days of the 60’s…I think they just do not know how to work the system any more.  They just cannot find the handle…if practice makes perfect, then the Dems inability to pass anything is purely because they are out of practice.

The Dems cannot control the conversation…they do not know how.  The polls show that 80% of Americans are happy with their present health care and another poll shows that 72% want the public option and yet another poll says the health care is #3 on the people’s mind behind the economy and the deficit.

The conversation is about money and politics, but where is the conversation about the people?  The whole health care conversation will hit the air waves soon…coming to a townhall near you…..the Congress is on break soon and the talk will be …not about the health care bill itself…but rather that it will be a failure or cost too much or will be a death sentence of the elderly (an absurd piece of BS).

This whole debate would be humorous if it were not so damn pathetic……elected Reps allowing Americans to die or go in debt or worse…just in the name of politics.  Unless the Dems get their crap together…they will lose this debate and the health care we get will be just a reflection of what it is now.

Something to think about…the government already runs the VA and vets seem to have no prob with it…the government runs the health care program for Congress and I do hear any complaints…and they run Medicare…this is where there is some bitching…but here the probs are that Drs and hospitals and even insurance companies overcharge the government…it is not that it is run badly but rather too many trying to defraud…..think that over……

And we pay these a/holes to play these games….how intelligent are we?  Keep in mind also that when the Repubs were in the majority health care was not a big or important issue….but their answer to the problem was for everyone to go out and invest in a health savings account.  They were NEVER serious about health reform and they will not be serious if they defeat it this time.

So it is health care NOW or quite possibly NEVER!