Poker Girl

I am a Republican

2011-12-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

I am a Republican- with libertarian leanings.
This is what I am not:
I am not a bigot. I was raised by a Republican mother who came to the south from Illinois. She would never have tolerated the use of any slang that is what is now called racist. Our maids, and yes we had a maid because that is how black women supported themselves, were treated with respect and were fed and paid appropriately. They were never put on a bus, but were driven to and from their home by my mother or father. My father employed only black men in his business and paid one of them to be manager. Way back in the 50s. In New Orleans. I didn't go to school with black kids until high school and then it was a novelty-but I didn't make those rules.
I am not a religious zealot. Honestly, I sometimes wish I were. I am not even that religious. I believe in God because it gives me comfort, but I don't believe He is involved in my every day life. I don't believe He would care whether or not I win the lottery or that He would cure me of cancer- I am just a human on this planet for whatever reason or no reason at all. But I believe in God because it gives me a sense of purpose and hope. That's enough for me. But deeply religious people have a sense of peace that I can't obtain with my simplistic beliefs.
I am not an elitist. I have money but I didn't always. I worked two jobs to get through college. I paid for my own education and that meant I couldn't be too sensitive about fashion demands. I had 4 dresses and 2 pairs of shoes for all of college, so I majored in nursing and got a uniform to wear on some days. I recycle, eat leftovers, and I don't buy what I really don't need. I have money- but it is because I don't SPEND it! Novel concept, I know. I don't buy what I cannot afford. And I never, ever bought my kids something if I couldn't afford it. NEVER. I can't help if someone thinks I am an elitist because I have a graduate degree, once was an assistant professor in a university and like to read!
I am not disrespectful of human life in any form. I believe that if you took an embryo at ANY age, then sent it in for DNA testing, you would find it has a unique and HUMAN DNA. That makes it human. I believe that from the moment of conception, the new and unique cells are rapidly dividing- dead cells do NOT divide. So what have you got? You have a living human being- its "being" may not be so well established yet, but it is alive If you abort it, you kill it. It is that simple. I wouldn't ban abortion because I guess that killing your child before it is born is better than abusing or killing it later. Just as long as you don't kid yourself on what you have done. Especially now, adoption is an option. I was adopted. Thanks,Sarah, for not aborting me.
I am not an environmental zealot though I believe in clean air and clean water and recycling plastics to save the oceans. I believe the earth is a work in progress, and eventually it will go through a huge upheaval and kill all life forms. I believe that thermal vents in the ocean floor do spew out things that are toxic to our life forms. I believe we are just a few huge eruptions away from have a global winter. I believe we are on the thin crust of a molten planet, and that we puny humans cannot destroy this earth. We can destroy us, but not this planet. We are the ones with hubris. I don't believe that global warming is anything other than the natural progression of our planet, and that we could quit all carbon emissions and still be forced to live through the changes that occur. It might just be our bad luck to be alive during a time of change. One scientific group says one thing, yet another comes out later to refute it. Most recently the Iceland ice shelf melting debacle, So I figure all I can do it keep my personal environment clean and if everyone did the same, we'd all be okay.
I am not a celebrity worshipper. I don't care if Paris Hilton works in a soup kitchen once a year. I don't care if Matt Damon says I should pay more taxes. I don't care if Oprah mows down trees to get a better view. I don't care. I am not part of the cult of celebrity in the US- I find it ironic that in a world of true heroes and brilliant scientists and amazing technology, that we, as a society, put credence in the words of people, many of whom have never completed high school, who read other people's words for a living and are hypocrites. Amazing.
I am not a mean and stingy human who wants everyone to starve. Not at all- I donate to food banks all the time. I donate and volunteer at a collection center for children for the eastside of Seattle. I have donated to AIDS organizations and taken care of and visited my friends who lived and died with AIDS. I have personally given money to people just to keep them afloat- not a loan but a GIFT to help them get their acts together. And by the way, every person I have ever given money to has gone on to restart their lives. I have underwritten children whose parents couldn't afford their music participation. I have funded a nursing scholarship. And this post would be the first time most of my friends would learn this. I love how generous Republicans are in general. My most conservative friends are very active in their church relief programs. I love them for that.
I am not a hypocrite. I don't believe in illegal immigration, and I won't hire an illegal or use a company that does. It's pretty easy to tell. I don't believe that we should keep viewing the world as backwards and third world. It isn't 1900- it is 2011. Governments make choices now- we don't have to save their citizenry. Our revolutionary war was bloody and painful- and so will all revolutions be. By the way, thank you France! It is time to stop most foreign aid and put it into the infrastructure of the US and into saving the people of Appalachia and inner cities. I think if you are an environmental zealot but you smoke and have a dirty bathroom, that you are a hypocrite. I could go on, but I walk my walk.
I am not a corporation hater. Everything in my world that has made my life easier comes from a corporation, including my husband's job. Thanks corporations- you go ahead and make profits and I'll make some money back by buying stock. People say they can't invest but they buy alcohol, cigarettes, iphones, etc. All sorts of stuff they don't need. But they won't invest in their own future. Idiots.
I am not a believer in the sanctity of the "native American". We've done a lot to hurt the 'Indians". They did a lot to hurt us- it was really a war. But we won. Yep. America always gives back when they win, but giving back land to the Indians hurt them and has held them back by not allowing assimilation. Indians are not native to America- they came here from somewhere else also. Get over it. If it hadn't been white Europeans who came here, it would have been Russians or Chinese. No way would this land have have gone unconquered. Sorry if you don't like that. But the stupidity of judging our ancestors for what was normal behavior in the world at that time is ridiculous.
I am not a person who believes we are all equal. I raised kids- genetically alike but nowhere near the same. I can't play for the NBA but I have a gift for sight reading music. I couldn't ever get a PhD in physics but I can cook some wonderful food. I don't believe schools should cater to the least common denominator. I don't believe schools should mainstream children who cannot learn and waste valuable education dollars on them. I think parents should have to pay for their handicapped child's extra care. I don't believe that children who need special tutors for all their needs should be in a regular school slowing down the classroom for the kids who need every ounce of education they can get so they can grow up and pay taxes for the children who will never be able to support themselves. I believe we should recognize and give extra attention to the most succesful children- not the least. It is a bad system when we ignore what is going to make the system better. I'd love to know why NO ONE in my classes in school needed special treatment- but now everyone seems to have a kid with some diagnosis. I think people want to believe there is a reason why their kid isn't the smartest in the class. I once was a substitute school nurse at a small private school- at lunchtime I had a long line out the door for kids to come get their MEDS! All these children were medicated. Many because their parents wanted them to be treated with special care. Well, some kids are noisy, some are fidgety, some are imaginative- they are just kids. School is where most kids learn to sit down and shut up and it takes years to learn that. We are NOT all the same. But it doesn't mean you medicate until you have the results you demand.
I am not a person who believes that poor people can be saved from themselves. There is reason why people are poor, but generations of poverty can cripple the ambitions of children. But America's history has proven that families don't have to stay poor. Many poor families have seen a child go on to great success. Of course, I don't believe in allowing people to starve, but we've gotten to a place where a family of 4 with an income of over $40K a year can get social welfare services. No wonder states are broke. Poverty is a complex problem but until you can make everyone the same IQ and talent, there will be poor.

I could go on, but that's enough for now! I am a Republican, a libertarian and I vote my beliefs.

The Root of the Protestor

2011-10-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

So, I was in high school and college during the Viet Nam war. And somehow, having been a slight bit of a war protestor (I was in a COLLEGE that I was paying for- working 2 jobs in the summers- and I wasn't going to throw that away, so I went to class), I look at the demonstrators today and wonder what they think they are doing. But then I remember, though demonstrations have occured throughout recorded history, what these kids are doing are a direct result of what they know: that protest can work.
I have strong feelings about Viet Nam.
I have a friend who just asked what it was all for. So I replied to her-

The main reason to be there was to stop the Chinese and communist sympathizers from spreading communism throughout southeast Asia. The Viet Nam war did sort of accomplish that but even further and more importantly, the war kept RUSSIA and CHINA very busy- it kept their resources pouring into southeast Asia. It kept them busy during the cold war, and it weakened them, especially Russia, tremendously. The fall of the USSR, while linked to the failure of communism in general, is also due to the Viet Nam war. We really no longer fear what was a real and present danger in our day to day lives- that of Russian aggression and war mongering. In a very direct way, the Viet Nam war gave the German’s a reunited Germany.

Was it worth it? Well, who knows what would have happened if Russia and China had kept spreading tentacles and growing in military and nuclear strength?

I don’t know if this was the plan initially, but it certainly was the result.

The most unfortunate legacy of the war is the result it had on our generation. We (the generic “we”) became afraid to defend ourselves, afraid to save other nations and willing to watch dictators murder their own people. The liberals who pretend to be so kind hearted actually don’t give a crap about the hundreds of thousands of murdered Iraqi’s, or the mutilated women, or the child pornography- they just don’t want a “war”. Of course, no one wants war. But the kids of the 60s and 70s, the kids who were the first real generation to have a “childhood”, never grew up. Many of them are still toddlers in their minds wanting things only their way. And of course, the drugs. We passed that legacy down to our kids and grandkids. What a shame- but all in the name of “counterculture” and “anti-war”.
But yet, the protests then were close to home- our fathers, our brothers, our classmates- they were drafted and many didn't come home. 58,000 didn't come home.

So, young people demonstrating- it's nothing new. But the question is, do they even GET what the previous protests were for? They scream about corporations, but then hold a moment of silence for Steve Jobs and wave their iphones around in a moment of solidarity to Jobs. Really? It just doesn't compare. Protest is fine- it's actually patriotic. Somehow, these protestors seem foolish, ill informed and insincere. But because nothing says "party" these days like a little protest with some violence thrown in, they will run their course. It's pretty pathetic.

I’m not saying we should have killed all those young men- of course not. But the war did have intended and unintended reaches into the future.

The Upcoming Uprising

2010-08-16T17:26:00.001-07:00

Unless people feel they have no self determination, there will obviously be a huge turnout at the polls (or mailboxes) this November. This is what happens when the public elects someone who is nothing more than a campaign promise. Who is Barack Obama? Lots of people would define him by race. Some define him by a birth certificate. But no one seems to know exactly what this man is. He has the famous "look over there" defense constantly. He is a blame shifter. How can we know the character of a man until they can take blame for the things they have done? Anyone who has raised a child knows that blaming others is the job of the sneaky kid. The honest child might fib for a second, but then they will admit what they have done. Obama has no experience that counts. So he has hired some very nasty people from a very ugly political machine to be his cohorts and advisors. I believe that if I got Obama alone and looked him in the eye, I believe he would really be able to convince me of some decency. If he could just be honest for once. No one can think he is stupid. He got through law school though it is hard to tell whether he could have, as a white guy, been admitted on his merit. All things considered, he hasn't done anything brilliant or inventive or even common sensical. Which is a shame- it's probably in him somewhere. He has done a very poor job of being president. He seems arrogant, and well, he seems to be a liar. It is one thing to have bad intelligence and make a bad decision. But Obama seems to not be able to even make a decision- thus leaving such idiots as Pelosi to force bad decisions through Congress. Obama doesn't stand a chance. Not because the Republicans won't give him one- but because he has been a bully and no one likes a bully. He has insisted it be HIS way or the highway. Even if he is wrong. He has been covert rather than open. Cspan? hahahahaha- a lie. End the war in Iraq- hahahahaa- liar, rookie. He is following Bush's withdrawal strategy to the letter. Fix the economy- no, overkill it and use the funds to underwrite the bankrupt states. Rob taxpayers. Obama has no American identity- he says he is a citizen of the world as he apologizes for our nation. Those of us who have generation upon generation of family who have served and protected our nation are not into that sort of behavior. I am sure the people who really, truly did hope that this would be a man who could be a leader (even if we did not vote for him) are as disappointed as I am. I have all ready voted in my state'e primaries. And I hope my candidate wins. This is what happens when Congress is unbalanaced. It's time to bring it back into equilibrium.

The Politics of Desperation

2009-10-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

The Poker Girl has an announcement to make. She has officially become somewhat of a libertarian. Observing Democrats, Liberals, Republicans, Conservatives, etc has caused me to reach the conclusion that they have one main thing in common- they are desperate. And what has caused their desperation? The answer is simple. They have all participated in bastardizing the Constitution of the United States. Instead of being a union of states, we are now in debt to the federal government. We have, with the help of Congress and the President, over many decades, become a nation of whiners, complainers and dependents as well as a nation of taxation. The participants in the federal government have urged us to become whiners, complainers and dependants. We have been in collusion with them- electing them, booing them, supporting them and hating them. But regardless of what side you, your parents or your great grandparents took, make no mistake- we allowed them to continue to use taxpayer money. We allowed them to continue to bloat budgets and pay for programs that benefitted the few but cost the many. We allowed them to even begin an income tax to begin with. And what have they done? They diverted our attention. Partisan bickering, name calling while pleading to the average American to continue to open their wallet for the poor and disadvantaged. And we, as a caring nation, have ignored the brutal reality that eventually the piper must be paid. And to furthur the ruse, the money is taken right out of our paychecks- so that we wouldn't notice the money was gone. Paid out of our futures, our children's futures, and paid out of our very deaths. We have lost control of ourselves. And now, the federal government faces the hand in the cookie jar moment. The money is gone. Used as "federal funds" as if the government did not take money from us but rather magically willed it to appear. Taxation is now done to appease the voracious monster that is the federal government, and it is about to punish the best and the brightest- the risk takers who run businesses-and it will, sooner rather than later, destroy the most magnificent experiment in the history of the world- the USA.
Poor people are no better off now than before politicians decided to use them as a smoke screen to grab your money. All the medicaid and free clinics has made them no richer and no healthier. There are legitimate arguments to be made that poverty will always exist and that welfare has created generations of dependency. So we are asked to provide more money. The expansion of these programs, despite any proof that they are of benefit or that they provide more than volunteer groups could do, has finally reached the wall. Rather than a nation of strong states that have balanced budgets and govern their own citizenry, we are a nation of weak states at the mercy of federal regulations and actions. The craftier congressmen and women have used "federal" money to pay for their own state deficits and projects. The states with stupider representatives never see their money back. They rob Washington to pay for California. Federal spending has always been a dead end road. But no one seemed to care that the end could happen. But it has. If our federal government had not become so comfortable with robbing its citizens, we would not be in this predicament. At all.

Obamacare ? Obama No Care.

2009-09-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

When someone asks you what is wrong with Obama’s plan- point out to them that IF the inept government provides “cheap” (except to the taxpayer) health insurance, no employers in their right MINDS would offer a private insurance option. That means that PRIVATE insurers would go out of business then ALL of us are stuck on the government plan. Yesterday, I saw a radiation oncologist (the guy who does the radiation for cancer)who said that in those 1000 pages of health care “reform” is a provision to stop services like his in cases where the cancer has a poor prognosis. That means, no radiation therapy or chemo will be paid for if the cancer will be terminal anyway. Right now, chemo and radiation do provide pain management and shrinking of tumors giving people a longer life- most with more quality of life. Medicine has worked for decades to try to cure cancer. Part of CURING it is extending the lives of patients who have incurable cancer so that they can take new medications and be part of new protocols. Many patients volunteer for this, knowing it might save their children’s lives one day. It is my opinion that the Obama health care option, by denying terminal care, will essentially STOP the cures for many terminal diseases from being developed. And if that is not reason enough, then you need to think of the quality of mercy. Until you face the last year of your life, it is easy to say that a terminal diagnosis should be simply accepted without a fight. Most people choose the fight.

Find me one person who has read all 1000 pages of this bill. That should be the first question you should ask an Obamacare supporter- have they READ what this is? But I do know that the radiation oncologist HAD read the entire bill. And he thought it was frightening for patient choice and physician choice.

Then the commentator asked the best question- is medicine a BUSINESS or a SOCIAL PROGRAM? Last time I looked, there was no government sponsored coverage for legal service, technical services, repair services, etc., and I have to pay everyone who does anything for me. If the government (i.e. the taxpayer) wishes to reimburse hospitals and doctors for the amount of cash the insurance companies make them eat right now, then the citizens of the US cannot trust their congress people to do it for them. It needs to be on the 2010 ballot. Then go ask your doctor what would be best for YOU and your family.

This issue is too huge to push through in a couple of months. It is being forced on the taxpayers by their "representatives". Don't stop the fight. Until your "representative" can explain it all to you and make it easily available to you, don't let them make you a worse victim of an all ready bad, but NOT broken, system.

On The Economic Enslavement of the Working Rich

2009-07-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

The pokergirl loves to send letters to editors on the internet. It's every citizen's job to have input and interest in what is happening to their country- not only how it affects the individual personally, but also how it affects the fellow citizen. I sent a brief posting out using the phrase "enslavement of the working rich". Now, of course, I have to explain myself!
Nothing in this world is easier than annointing oneself as a humanitarian- particularly if it doesn't cost one any personal time or money. Nothing is easier than demanding that SOMEONE do SOMETHING. And in the United States, it has been decreed that those people be the working rich. Not the trust fund babies who are protected from the great tax grab by the thoughtful and expensive planning of their progenitors. But the WORKING rich. Those people who will also lose their homes and cars and jobs and money if they don't GET UP and go to work every day. The work they do is usually highly skilled in terms of requiring a specific set of abilities- either organizational or intellectual or both- and usually involves a high degree of interaction with others involving a sphere of influence and responsibility unknown to the working poor or middle class. There is a REASON why some workers become rich. And with very little thought, anyone can figure that one out. Resentment of the most successful starts very early in life. People who are not and will never be capable of great financial success learn that resentment is an easier way to deal with it than the self-realization that they simply aren't as good at it. It is easy to pick on the "rich". But rich is, and always has been, relative. If I have 500K a year (don't worry, I don't), and your house payment and maintenance expenses and personal expenses are 450K a year- you aren't rich, you just LIVE rich. There is nothing wrong with that- because in our nation, we are rapidly losing the concept that it is OUR money. We have become victims of the rapidly evolving policy of economic enslavement of the working rich. And the working not so rich. Obama, who has never run a business or issued a paycheck, as well as Biden, who has never run a business or issued a paycheck or worried about his employees, now, with a liberal and punitive Congress, feel they have a right to play Robin Hood. To rob the working wealthy. In their insulated world, they have become God-like in their omnipotence. They choose to steal what is not theirs for a form of political humanitarianism that is purely self promotional. They have taken a problem created by Congress (lack of credit regulation and promotion of bad mortgage policies through freddie and fannie) and turned it into a golden opportunity to produce a constituency of sycophants who will continue to vote for policies that keep them as the benficiaries. This is not only devastating to the core of American capitalism, but will eventually demoralize any one with intelligence and ambition. Ironically, a secular government is now placing itself in the world of "tending to the poor" that should be the primary role of organized religion. Evidently "we" are not the richest country in the world- "we" are determined to become reliant on the richest PEOPLE in the country. And there is a difference. What is happening under the incompetent and bizarre watch of Pelosi and Frank is no more than a political grab to keep the poor under the burden of government subsidy that will suck initiative out of them for generations. Don't believe it? Take a LONG, hard look at the culture of government dependency that has crippled the African American population in such cities as New Orleans. It is a city of 4 generations of welfare, and to be better or work harder is not a concept that is even taught. It is a welfare program that so crippled its recipients that when they were told to evacuate, they didn't even bring their babies formula or diapers with them, let alone a canteen of water. Why? Well, that was the government's job.
Be very careful, America, how you punish the people whose initiative has not only made them peronally successful but also has made the economy successful. It is unfortunate that some of the complainers are people of great intelligence and education who have chosen the easy way out. They employ no one, work in areas that they feel are "critical" to society but that produce no employment and little income and could easily be done by others. Those people have chosen NOT to put themselves into the grinding world of producing jobs and managing people. They simply don't count. They are the excuse makers. And for them to complain about the rich simply reminds us that there is no cure for self-indulgence.
We are always only a step away from an economy that creates dependency of 50% of the citizenry while punishing the most successful. That will FAIL, and it will take us with it. Use your common sense. If you want humanitarianism, get off your rear and go work at a shelter or in an ESL class or through your church. That WORKS. There is another irony in all of this- we have a true African president. He can really say he is African American. He is not a slave descendent. But he now proposes to enslave the working rich to his government- to use them and steal from them and punish them for simply being better. How weird is that?

Marriage and Politics

2009-05-26T15:03:00.001-07:00

What is marriage? Well, if you ask most people they will give you a long and personal account of what THEIR marriage is or their parents marriage is. They won't think much broader than that. But they certainly won't use history to define what the parameters of marriage are. The moment a state approves homosexual marriage the dictionary changes its definitions, so the dictionary is of no help. But marriage is probably as old as mankind's entry into civilization. In prehistory, we know it existed even without glossy photographs and ugly bridesmaids dresses. Though, the dress part might have been the same. Marriages were made in many societies with little regard to whether or not the couple loved one another. Marrying for love was a novelty. Marriage was made to strengthen families and their bonds with other families. Marriage was made to form alliances between countries. Marriage was made to produce heirs. Marriage was done to keep inheritances safe. But throughout history, marriage has been a word of great and undeniable significance and was defined by heterosexuality. If a child was conceived (and in colonial America, that was usually the case), a marriage followed. Raising a child was a function that relied on marriage for its success. Rather than upholding marriage, we have allowed society to degrade it. No longer to we encourage marriage. We have loosened the laws to the point that there is socially and legally acceptable cohabitation, loss of common law marriage, and a general attitude that "marriage is a joke- everyone gets divorced". And now, the very word "marriage" and all of its historic, social, legal and religious meanings is being challenged and changed. What IS in a word? Well, I doubt there is a word with a longer heterosexual lineage than the word "marriage". To wish to preserve the very word is not a crime. Now, fewer than 1 percent of the population wants to claim the word for a union between two men or two women. Whether or not one believes that that is right seems to depend on their age. Teens and younger adults tend to not see it as a problem. And why should they? Their generation has never heard of common law marriage, or heard the history of marriage in world civilizations. To them, it is just a word. Just like the word divorce. And the phrase "everyone gets divorced". And who should we blame? You know the answer. But just because heterosexuals get divorced doesn't mean the word marriage should be used for homosexual unions. There is no social, political, or legal history for that. Do I care if gays have every right that a married couple does? No. I don't. In fact, I have written this before. GO ahead, gay friends and family, get legally committed and share your house and money and dog and bed. And make SURE all those laws you get for yourself include the right to spend A LOT in alimony and on divorce because you will get divorced, too. I WANT you to have that. But you aren't really married- you are in a civil union. Because you are gay. Marriage is such a special word and it has meant, until the last few years in a few countries or states, a man and his wife. Thousands of years of marriage between a man and his wife. Make your own history. Get your own words. But you cannot change the history of an institution that has been special and really doesn't describe what homosexuals are doing. And if you do, somehow, manage to take the word, then guess what? We'll still know you are gay. It's not like it will make you "like everyone else". And that has to be the only reason you would look another guy in the eye and call him your husband. Because you desperately want to be like us. And you don't care how much hate you start to do it. People who don't agree with gays using the word marriage are described as being HATERS. Interesting. I don't hate anyone. I just want to have the word marriage reserved for heterosexuals. That's all. That is the sad part. Marriage has always meant man and wife. No confusion. It will be decades and generations before that history will be lost in the minds and hearts of people who believe it.

Instead of a tea bag....

2009-03-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr Obama
I am not mailing a tea bag as it would be thrown away when it went through security. I doubt you’d care any way.

I am equally sure that since this letter does not praise you OR whine about my Aunt Minnie not having all the money she thinks she is owed, that you will not read this. So- to the mail screener at the White House – this is for you.

If I make 250K, but have bought a bigger house or a new car or something to celebrate, I will now have more expenses- expenses that PUT MONEY in someone’s hands who runs a business or sells me gas or gets my property taxes (for children I do NOT have who will never use the school system).
Why does that make me a target? Why do I need to owe YOU any more of my expendable income just because I have that bottom line on my W2.

You are stealing my money and the financial future of the next generation, despite what your teleprompter tells you to say. And if someone does NOT pay any tax, then THEY ARE ON WELFARE- because they are using the roads, schools, projects and things that MY taxes pay for. Why is THAT a good thing? As any landlord can tell you, when housing is cheap to rent, pretty soon the renters do not respect it. The same is for the country- when you don’t sacrifice a dime, it’s all cheap to you.

I am ashamed of what you have let Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi do.

I am ashamed that so much faith was put in your abilities, despite your glaring inexperience, and that you have abused the tax paying citizens so badly.

I am ashamed that we are letting YOU and your cronies and the idiots in the Senate bring our great country down and saddle it with debt because you believe in theoretical economics rather than giving our country a chance to regroup.

As for health care- I am a RN with a Master’s degree. I have been an assistant professor. I have worked in charity hospitals. You should be talking to people like ME for advice- not some academicians and economists who truly have never worked in a hospital a DAY in their lives.

It is useless to send you this as you are protected by the savvy remnants of the Clinton machine. I thought you had more sense than that.

You will go down in history as the worst president since Jimmy Carter. And yes, I was alive and a voter when Carter’s sorry self was voted in. We are still paying the price for his stupidity. We are a nation of states- not just a nation. I don’t want to pay for things in other states unless they are for federal use- like the interstate system, disaster relief or defense sites. NOTHING ELSE. I don't see a purpose in sending money abroad any more. We are no longer a world power with money to spare. Besides, we drain money into dictatorships where no one benefits but the rulers.

Shame on you for punishing the hard working people who start businesses and take the risk and expense of actually HIRING people. You undermine the heart and spirit of America by doing so.

I am just bereft over the loss of America. You and the arrogant nitwits in Congress are destroying us more every day.

What a shame that you will be remembered in history with such a sad legacy. You could put in a flat tax where everyone pays something. You could put in a VAT. BUT NO- that would be too easy. Too simple for everyone. It would put the tax lawyers and CPA’s out of business- and those lawyers are your friends, no? And when do we get LEGAL INSURANCE for free? Guess you and your buddies wouldn’t want that either. Just screw the doctors instead. And every day, you sign bills with pork in them.

A person who is a concerned citizen,...(I signed my real name).

The value of war

2009-03-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

I've said it before- someone in my family has fought in every war since the American Revolution. In the current war, my niece was in the Air Force serving in the Pentagon. So, it's not like my family, on BOTH sides, hasn't made some sacrifices for this country. In fact, every generation has served in the military somewhere. The Pokergirl would have been in VietNam as a nurse had the war not ended before she enlisted. I have watched a million demonstrators, and once, in 1969, I was one of them. The sadness I felt watching college classmates be shipped off was immense. During my high school years, my brother spent 3 tours of duty in Viet Nam. The injuries he suffered probably led to his early death. So it is a war I know something of. At the time, it seemed horrible. A huge waste of young men and women. A carnage. It had the byproduct of keeping young men in college studying hard. No one wanted to be draft eligible. No one could see any purpose to a stupid war that cost us the lives of our young men. The price was immense- well over 50,000. A trip to the Viet Nam War memorial in D.C. reduced me to tears for days. Those weren't just names, but solemn etchings of lives of people my age summed up in letters. No real need to read them- we knew them all.
Now in Iraq, far, far,far fewer have died and none drafted- but all belonging to someone who loves them. Each with a mother, some with a wife and children. And the loss is as painful as if there was a generation of pain as in Viet Nam.
But with hindsight, I can look hard into the history I know and believe that not one of those lives was in vain. Despite what we believed at the time. And I have my reasons.
By being in VietNam, the United States kept its mortal enemy, the USSR, very busy. In fact, so busy that we put enormous strain on the economy of Russia. The communist Chinese also were dragged into war. A long, drawn out, brutal war -purported to prevent the domino effect of all countries in southeast Asia falling into the hands of the Communists. It was tiring and expensive for every country that touched it. The French handed it over to us, and after we poured our blood on it, it was eventually over. But had we not been there, had we not stood in Viet Nam and showed we would make those horrible sacrifices, where would the Russians and Chinese have gone? What would have happened to the south Pacific islands? What would have happened to India? Who knows. And would the Russians have allowed Germany to reunite unless Russia had been exhauted and broke? That is unlikely. So now, I look back on the VietNam war with a different eye. Was it worth the deaths and maiming of so many young people who never wanted to go? Maybe not. But that is no longer the point- what's done is done. But to find some purpose in the loss is consoling.
As for Iraq- it was a now or later scenario, wasn't it? Were the people of Iraq better with Saddam? I am sorry Bush used the defense of Saddam's repeated UN offenses and his suspected weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was worth taking out all by himself. Saddam Hussein was his OWN weapon of mass destruction. Ask the Kurds. A country that used to house most of the educated elite of the mid East became a place of rape and terror and murder. But to look for a purpose in that war, aside from allowing a republic to now exist in the middle East, one only has to ask, what if we HADN'T gone in? Well, the invasion of Iraq did do one very important thing- it showed the middle East that we were fully capable of ending ruthless dictatorships. FULLY capable. It certainly got Iran to shut the hell up. And no one has come over here to hurt us since. Until Obama sent his whining missive to Iran, we had the grudging respect of the other middle eastern countries regardless of their sword rattling and shoe throwing. I would have liked to have seen that protestor throw his shoe at Saddam. It is easy to have false bravado when you are free. So have those 4400 soldiers died in vain? I think not. The history of the future is not written yet. Perhaps one day we will look back and be amazed that 4400 lives made the world a far safer and better place by establishing a fact that the US has the backs of so many people in the world.
There is a scene in the series "Weeds" when the youngest boy is sent to a new school. On his first day there, he asks who is the biggest bully in the school. The kids point to a certain boy sitting at a cafeteria table. The boy walk over to the bully, taps him on the shoulder, and then, with all his might, hits him square in the face with his cafeteria tray. He walks away knowing the bully will never single him out for humiliation. Sometimes, that is what it takes. We do not live on Sesame Street.
So maybe there is a value to war after all.

Fixing Your Economy

2009-01-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

I've addressed it before, so what's new? Nothing. When I was growing up there were no credit cards. None. You paid for your gasoline with cash. You paid for everything else with cash or a check. And not a check that bounced either. Because the money came directly out of your account within a week of writing it, balancing your checkbook was a daily activity. You didn't write a check without making really SURE you had the cash. No cash, no purchase. It was simple. There was no internet banking. So if you had to have cash transferred, you had to go into the bank to do it. It meant you were bonded to your money. You KNEW what you had. Even if you were in denial, the numbers stared you in the face. If you couldn't afford something, but you really wanted it, you did something called LAYAWAY. You went in, explained you wanted to buy it on layaway, and you put some money down-they put the merchandise in the LAYAWAY section of the back of the store, and then you paid a payment on it every week until you paid it off. Then you got the merchandise. Today it is very different- you buy it, get it and THEN pay the layaway. To a credit card company at ridiculous interest rates. The bane of contemporary American life is the credit card company. It has made debt a part of your life. Banks, in fact, discourage your fiscal health by charging you for returned check. They prefer you use their bank issued credit card. So you charge things to your credit card that you normally would have paid for. Meanwhile, your bank balance looks great! It looks like you haven't spent a dime! lucky you. Credit card statements seem to have no relevance. Some of the line items don't even make any sense- they aren't even the name of the company you purchased from. Credit cards are convenient but very, very dangerous. It is time to tightly regulate the issuance of credit cards. If a bank wouldn't give you a 10,000 loan, it should NOT be giving you a credit card with a 10,000 balance. And NO ONE should issue you a second card if there is evidence of unpaid debt on another card. This "cutting back" theory of fixing your personal economy is a great idea, but it is a much better idea not to SPEND money you do not have. In other words, if you can't pay for it up front, don't get it.

The Real Bridge to Nowhere Loan

2008-11-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

Ah, Detroit. Ah, the UAW. Ah, the American automobile industry. May as well throw Michael Moore in there- Ah, Michael Moore. Gee, I just wouldn't know how to rank those on a list of things I like the least.
So here we have the arrogant auto industry- the ones that in the 70s were TOLD to retool and make cars more energy efficient so we would never stand in gas lines again. You know, those same people who were told by consumers to price their cars fairly so that purchasing a car was not right up there with root canals in things you'd like to spend the day doing.

Think of how many times you left a car dealership feeling like you were getting screwed. Think of how many times you wondered how they could post those mileage estimates on a car and you never got within 5 mpg of that. Think of how many times you were optioned to death with over priced options just to get a floor mat.

Who likes the American auto industry? No one. Oh, it was cute enough that my father thought it was treasonous that my college roommate was bought a Toyota corolla instead of a Plymouth Fury. How could her parents, who were Louisianians AND Catholic, buy her a Japanese car? THE JAPS for crissakes. The people who tortured my uncle at Bataan. Well, those sneaky little people brought it ON and the auto industry was SERVED. My car, after my used 1965 Plymouth Fury named maroon mary, was a VW beetle (named baby blue). The main advantage was that it had a 4/40 air conditioner (all four windows open and 40 mph), and the one time I hit a dog by accident, the dog was merely stunned and the car had a dent. BUT it was so reliable. In all the time I owned it, even in a brutal Atlanta winter in which the car was so covered in ice that even a cigarette lighter couldn't melt the ice to get the key in the door, it NEVER broke down. My friends with American cars spent most of their time in the dealership being screwed for repairs.

But as the Japanese and Germans and Italians came into the market, the UAW insisted its workers be the highest paid in the world. And they'd go on strike to prove it. They eventually were paid almost double what auto workers in the rest of the industry were paid. And still they whined. The UAW developed the reputation of being thugs. In the contemporary world, unions are doing far more harm than good. And the UAW is an example of that.

My pet peeve has been the way you are treated at a dealership. As a woman, I can honestly say nothing made me madder than being treated like crap at the dealership. I always go prepared- I know the actual price of the car, the dealer incentives that are not being passed on to me, the "I'll ask my manager" line, and the complete insistence on the part of the saleman that I have no idea what I am talking about. I have to say the ONLY honest dealership I have ever been in was Tejas Toyota in Texas, where the dealer agreed with my figures, just smiled and asked for $300 more, and he threw in the window tint. What did I do? I bought my NEXT Toyota from them also. Too bad I moved from Texas or they would have sold us the next two Toyotas we currently own.

There was a car dealership near the Astrodome that gave me the non-English speaking saleman who sat me in the BREAKROOM and left me there for a half hour. At the end of that time, I saw him chatting with a salesman. I walked up to him, demanded he take me to the manager, and I said that I would never set foot in their salesroom again, and I said "THIS is my checkbook- today I was going to buy THAT car-(pointed to the car on the lot)- and now I have to drive to Humble Texas to get that SAME car from someone else." And in a bit LOUDER voice- I looked at the people on the sales floor and said "SHAME on all of you for putting me in the breakroom and ignoring me for 30 min while you chatted- you are in a SERVICE industry and you should NOT treat your customers so poorly".

It is not unusual to be treated like that in any showroom in the country. BUT not today. TODAY you can go into any showroom, wave your checkbook around, and BAM you will have a car. Name YOUR price.

But they are 30 years too late for my sympathy. If you have never had a bad experience at a dealership, I'd like to know how you did it. I still remember the disdain at the Ford dealership when I told them I didn't WANT financing, that I would pay cash for my car. Not coincidentally the worst car I ever owned. They wouldn't discount the car based on cash because, as they said, "it's nothing to us- we get the cash anyway". WELL, I guess it wasn't "nothing" since no credit is now their biggest problem.

Too damn bad. Boo hoo. Go bankrupt- then form some mergers and stop cheating people. Make a car that is safe AND energy efficient. Then we'll talk. If they are still there when THIS Rav 4 (The Twinklemobile) needs replacing.

The OBAMA survival plan

2008-11-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, we didn’t vote for him, but enough people did- and so the Democrats are after us. By us, I mean the people with common sense who don’t want their country turned into a socialist or Marxist society.

But we are stuck. For four years. And this is how this will play out-

There is NO money left. Obama has made a million promises he cannot possibly keep. There is NO money. Thanks to Carter, Clinton, Pelosi, Frank and Cisneros, the credit market is collapsing. No one will lend us money. THEY made the problem, now they get the reap the rewards. They can try to put small business owners out of business, and they can try to raise taxes on the people who are successful- but they won’t be able to do it all. Because it will be even worse if people leave the country, drop their businesses or simply change how they practice.

There is NO WAY that Obama can be a good president because he has no sense of self. He has to ask EVERYONE for advice. Lately, he’s been begging Bill Clinton to give him advice. Too bad Obama doesn’t realize that the Clinton economy was a sham based on the revenues from capital gains from the sales of dotcom companies that went bust at the end of the Clinton years. Evidently, Obama hasn’t looked at the history of the Dow.

What will happen? Inflation. Interest rates will FINALLY climb out of the cellar. A boon for a lot of savers. A bust for the poorer folks who were given some of those “special” mortgages. Sorry to say, I’d invest in apartments if I were you. Congress won’t DARE step back into promoting bad mortgages. As bad as they are, they can’t do it. It would be national suicide. So Obama cannot be the Messiah anymore.

Disillusionment will set in. All those weepy “young” voters who thought Obama was the second coming of Christ to save their future will discover they have NO future. And they will be in debt up to their eyeballs. Too bad.

Smart doctors will quit in droves. Or not take any risks. Why should they settle for 1/3 the income that lawyers have? Doctors are smarter than lawyers- and they can go to law school, too, and give those other lawyers a run for their money. No more great doctors will be left, just foreign doctors brought in- there is no POINT in doing all that for no pay when the lawyers who sue you make much more than you. So health care with any degree of excellence will be ruined. No matter what that idiot Michael Moore said about Cuba.

Then the midterm elections will swing Republican, and in 4 years, Obama will be thrown out. If not sooner by some ridiculous malfeasance – not committed deliberately, but because he has no idea what he is doing. He is only good at taking money. And if you get caught with Rezko in the white house, well, that’s probably impeachable.

If not, I advise you to take all your money-and SPEND IT! Have fun. Every time they pass another entitlement that you could qualify for if you were a little poorer- then GET POORER. That is what is rewarding! And screw all those Obama voters- they’ll be paying for YOU now! They thought they were sticking it to you working people- they were going to get something for nothing. Well, now you can do that too!
Buy a few houses (they are a lot cheaper now) and give them to your kids. Set up a trust to pay the taxes. And go take a couple of world cruises. Cash in your retirement and buy a little casita in Mexico. Initiative and motivation don’t matter anymore. Being POOR and unmotivated matters. The poorer the better. Oh not so poor that you are homeless. Just poor enough to have no savings that matter. Be sure you qualify. Make those little Obama voters work their butts off to pay for you. It’s too late to do anything about those years you spent educating yourself, because being stupid would have been an asset. You’d be better at spending your money without your conscience hurting you. Sorry- just take some advil.

The saddest part is, not every young person voted for this socialist. Some voted for McCain- and to those few , hardy souls, I say thank you. I am sorry you are stuck with the damage this guy will do to you. But don’t get mad, get even. Take your money offshore. Invest in places that want you there. You can research it and find out. And don’t lose hope. Jimmy Carter was the worst president ever and we survived him. We’ll get through this too.

J www.pokergirl.net

Four Days and Miscellaneous Thoughts

2008-10-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on:

ELIZABETH EDWARDS
Well, Elizabeth, I FINALLY have a little respect for you. I never respected you as an attorney, or as the wife of an attorney who did so much damage to the profession of obstetrical physician. I saw you as a money grubbing liar in partnership with one of the hugest hypocrites on earth- a man who had the largest house in the county with the largest electric bill, while preaching about the poor. But that's all water under the adultery bridge now. He tried to picture himself as the perfect husband- but you, Elizabeth, well, you KNEW he was cheating. And you stupidly believed him when he said he'd quit. And then, the fertility gods decided to settle it for you. You could have pulled a Hillary, and you tried for a while. You really did. I mean, you didn't walk up and SHOOT his ass. Or run over him with a car. And I know you WANTED to. Honey- the first time he cheated, he humiliated you because he made you look stupid. But the next time, he humiliated HIMSELF. And your only redemption, cancer and small kids aside, was for YOU to leave. According to recent reports, you have removed your ring. And you are out the door. The last face you should have to see when you are dying is that of the person who cared so little for you that he could procreate and liaison with a cheap blonde. But place the blame where the blame belongs- straight on the head of your characterless, shallow, disgustingly vain husband. Here's to you, Elizabeth. Here's to you for NOT being a doormat like Hillary. Finally you realize that YOU are important- not the money, not the fame, but YOU. Go have a chat with Hillary.

SARAH PALIN
What can I say about a women who has faced this campaign with SUCH just outright courage? If the media continually attacked me, they might get me to show my ugly side. But Sarah Palin has shrugged off their crap. They have dug through her trash, gone after her kids, gone after her parenting (unlike they do to Biden who left sick, motherless kids to be a senator years ago or Edwards who WANTED to leave motherless kids to be president), gone after her clothes, her hair, her makeup, her glasses, her shoes, her husband, her hometown, her state, her ability- and through ALL THAT, she still smiles and goes into the lion's den of SNL. Sarah- we all know you are a woman so capable and good at governing that you have made the Obama team put duct tape over Biden's mouth. Because Biden even makes you look better. It is sad that you have liberal women who hate you, but they know nothing about you. I think it's great that you were so pretty in person that Alec Baldwin didn't scream at you to get your piggy little self out of politics. You are treated very poorly by the media.You are treated very poorly by old hags like Ellen Goodman and Joy Behar. And you have one thing they don't- you have the internal knowledge that you have been a GOVERNOR of the largest state in America. And you have done it well. I have no doubt you could be president one day. Obama hasn't even run a brownie troop! How can it compare?

BARACK OBAMA
I am going to vote for McCain though I prefer to vote for Romney. I've voted for years and years. I have never NOT voted. Never missed an election. Not once. I voted when I was 18. This is what I believe from reading Obama's books. He is a socialist who wants to punish succesful people, ruin the business climate with usurious taxation, weaken foreign relations by lessening our stature by bargaining with terrorists, and has listened to the voices of people who hate America. Period. But not the end. He is a Marxist because he has worshipped at the teat of domestic terrorist philosphy. He was not raised in America. He was NOT poor. His mother must have HATED her parents to be running around sleeping with black men at a time when white girls did NOT do that unless they hated their parents. Really hated them. Because if girls just disliked their parents, they at least slept with white boys. He has an agenda. And he hasn't shared that part with the rest of us. He has NO experience. Other than a few hundred days of voting present, and he voted for tax increases that he now says he will lower. Obama is FOR huge government- and wants the more succesful people to pay for it. But that won't be enough. He will have to tax everyone. He is a thief. He wants to steal from us. There is nothing I have learned about him that would ever convince me to vote for him. Oh- and he is biracial, not black.

JOE BIDEN
Crazy Joe Biden is under wraps. He is probably in a basement duct taped to a heater being force fed aracept. This may be the worst choice ever made for VP. He cannot run for office in 4 or 8 years if Obama should win. He cannot follow in Obama's footsteps. He cannot remember his own platform. He is far older than McCain mentally. He is also left two ill children whose mother had just died to fulfill his OWN agenda. All the rest of that story to date is political spin- the fact is that he WENT. NO ONE criticized that. But he's been big on criticizing Palin for having three well cared for kids at home. But aside from that- he's just plain scary. Start listening to him- he is not all there.

HILLARY CLINTON
She's campaigning all right. From her living room. Hilarious. Those half hearted efforts she is making are actually entertaining. She has no INTENTION of voting for Obama. I'd LOVE to see her ballot. She wants to run again in 2012. And if Obama wins, she will be too old in 8 years to get it done. Her only HOPE is if Obama loses. But Hillary- if you want my respect, you have to dump that sorry ass hubby. His bad heart may have slowed his head and his, well, you know, but you can't take the dog out of the hunt. He is an embarrassment and when you stayed with him, you embarrassed women everywhere. Dump the guy, apologize for the mess you made of our health care system, admit that your husband screwed the economy for the next 30 years, and I will respect you. You can throw in an apology to Kathleen Wiley. She's still pissed.

JOHN MCCAIN
McCain is a good example of why we have to stop teaching white children to be so damn nice. He won't brag, he won't say much about the incredibly distinguished family he is from, or his kids in Iraq, or his family's beneficence in charitable donations and support- not to mention adopting a child who needed surgery and a home, and his total grasp of how our government works. NO ONE would challenge McCain- no terrorist would believe McCain would stand down. In our world, it ISN'T kindergarten class. REAL people hate the USA (because they have nothing else to do), and there are REAL people who will try to kill you. In their kindergarten classes, they teach their children to hate and kill. In our kindergarten classes, we teach that everyone is the same and we must love everyone. That's CUTE and all of that, but it isn't the way the world has ever worked. We don't need a talker. We need someone with an IMAGE that is firm and unyielding to terrorists. How can anyone compare the inept experience Obama has shown in his congressional voting and associations to the life of John McCain?? I have NO IDEA.

THE MEDIA
NO ONE deserves to go out of business more than the typical American newspaper. They have lied, manipulated, written negatively spun headlines, and promoted a candidate for no other reason than the poison of liberalism. I want to cancel my subscription to my paper, but my husband likes the sports section. It is awful to me. I don't want to give the paper a DIME. I want them to go under. They aren't journalists- they are propogandists. USE the internet to get your news and use many sources- try http://www.breitbart.com/- and print out your coupons from websites. Put the ridiculous newspapers out of business- they lost their rights when they moved the editorial page onto the front page.

THE CONGRESS
I always giggle at the stupid, made -up word "assclown". But every time I watch the unholy trinity of Pelosi, Reid and Frank, I think "assclowns". But there is an army of assclowns in waiting standing behind them. I would force them to say "taxpayer money" instead of "federal funds". They have overreached the role of Congress in so many ways that it is impossible to delineate all of them. They have kept the president from having a line item veto to stop pork. That is the most INSANE thing that has ever happened. EVER. They reach into our pockets to steal cash to spend in their HOME states- which should be illegal since we are a union of states- not ONE state. They do it to get reelected and keep their cushy jobs and cushy retirement. They don't care a thing for YOU if you aren't in their district. Because you can't re-elect them. NONE OF THEM. ONLY McCain and McCain alone has resisted the lure of the wholesale theft of taxpayer money. Obama believes in that theft. If elected, Obama will steal more. He learned how to do that in Congress. Drain the swamp.

Credit and Blame-The Real Estate Debacle

2008-10-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, someone tells a story to you just as a part of their experience. Or tells you what someone told them. This is one that came from a golf course conversation. Mr Pokergirl was in a late afternoon foursome and one of the players was a builder. Not just a builder, but member of a family of "mega builders" who live elsewhere. Mr MegaBuilder told Mr P that since Clinton loosened up the requirements for home loans, the mortgage companies that handled Fred/fan money PUSHED them to build as fast as they could. It was a RUSH to finish houses that the buidlers knew their buyers couldn't afford. But the mortgage company kept demanding more houses for more and more unqualified buyers.
It made me wonder about supply and demand in houses. It's only logical that a cheap mortgage is desirable and might actually make someone rush in to buy a house. But houses are HUGE responsibilities- no more landlords. Just you. When my youngest child was desperate to buy his first (so far) condo, I kept asking him was he SURE he wanted to own something. I explained the cost of insurance, taxes, maintenance, remodeling, and then showed him the vast amounts of interest he would pay over the years, and what his return (when he sold) would be. Much less than he would think. But he took the jump at about a 6% 30 year fixed and though his condo might fall in value, he is still happy to own it and live in it. He feels more settled. But the fact is, houses that do NOT always massively appreciate, can end up costing you money if you actually add it all up. Huge appreciations in houses began in the late 70s- up until then, houses were houses. Not huge investments. Renting is really a better deal. No interest payments. No wondering about when or if to move. Freedom to leave.
Houses in my area are still very expensive. There is no where to go- the place is pretty isolated between mountains and forests that cannot be taken over. The rest is built on. BUT, having sold a house here and bought another, I can give you a fair idea of who might have a good deal of blame for putting people in houses they can't afford- REALTORS and APPRAISERS.
No on seems to be talking about them, but this is the connection:

For years, the monopolistic real estate industry has price fixed their commissions, informed you that you can't actually sell a house without them, set your price with comparables that other realtors have set prices on, then fix you up with a mortgager and appraiser. So that you, the seller, have very little say. There is no FREE market pricing of real estate. You delightedly come up with a price the comps in your neighborhood have, mentally count up your windfall, vacuum and let the victims arrive. Someone takes the bait, because realtors really want you to believe your house has appreciated like that, and then comes the fake inspection, and the fake appraisal. Oh yes, I AM saying it. The inspection says he is inspecting- but if you read the fine print, the inspector says they aren't RESPONSIBLE for what they write. I mean, they are inspecting the largest purchase you ever make, why would that $300-$500 for an inspection actually be meant to be accuracte? Then the appraiser comes, and lo and behold, your house actually appraises to the PENNY to what the sales price was! "Well, I do declare!" you say.
Of course, you have to go find another house for which the same collusion and fraud have taken place. But you'll find it. And the same situation will occur over and over again. Until, at some point, the poorest people are put in their first starter home- that costs 250,000! That is SOME starter home for a poorer person. Is that the fault of "the rich"? NO. Is that the fault of "the current president of the US?" or rather "he should not be named". NO. But it is the fault of a congress that only wants votes from poorer people and thinks putting them in houses they could NEVER afford rather than decent lower cost low income housing will get them those votes.
Though I believe in the indictment of Bill Clinton, Barney Frank and others for fraud on the American people. I also believe that the entire realtor, appraiser, inspection and mortgage industry should be taken apart until home ownership goes back to being the right of people who qualify. And home prices may take a serious jolt, which will make homeowners such as myself very angry indeed.
If realtors weren't motivated by a sales commission based on a selling price, the continual jacking up of prices of houses anywhere would not have taken place. Sellers would set their own prices and sell at that price. Of course, realtors will tell you that the seller ALWAYS sets their price. But by appealing to human greed- the sellers and the realtors- the price will always be set as high as the realtor feels they can get it. The appraisers need to be investigated for appraising homes at the exact sales price! How is that possible?? And the home inspection industry which literally only looks at things with a flashlight needs to be investigated. Cleaning out THOSE closets would help us all feel better about housing.
If home prices weren't so steep, still in most parts of the country, and if the real estate market was allowed to regulate itself, we'd all be better off. And if the fred/fan money wasn't so easy, so loose and so promoted, people who didn't belong in houses wouldn't BE in houses. Housing has not proven to be the solution to poverty- but it can be the CREATION of it.

McCain vs Obama vs the Economy

2008-09-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

John McCain has suspended his campaign in order to go do the JOB he was paid to do- be a United States senator. In order to judge his behavior, one has to look at the mess we are in. The Pokergirl would refer you BACK to her post in January of this year, which was not prescient, but rather a REPEAT of an essay written a year earlier on a different blog- which was prescient. Go back and read it.
The mess we are now in was certainly in the offing. For a LONG LONG time. It began BACK when credit cards were first issued and has led people down the road of easy credit with even easier credit line extensions. As the child of a man who paid cash for everything, credit cards have always mystified me. Mortgages are a way to pay 5 times more than your house is worth. I've always saved to buy a car! We have NOT seen the end of this. Banks are next. The US needs to save some cash for all those FDIC payouts. If you have cash, you should at least have it where it is insured.
Now, because no one LISTENED to Pokergirl, especially last January when she warned in dire words of this impending disaster, we have this incalculable mess. Well, not totally incalculable since a pricetag HAS been put on it. Bend over.
But John McCain has at least ACTED as if it is a priority to start being a senator- or at LEAST put some face time in watching the BS going on in the government. You'd think Obama would want to do the same, since WHOEVER is elected is going to have it crammed up their rears with amazing speed. They should be in DC right NOW working this out. BOTH of them. We know what the hell they think. We KNOW where they stand. Obama is just mad that all that prep work he has done might go to waste for a week. McCain has no trouble talking off the cuff. NO ONE cares what they say because they won't change our minds on a Friday night debate.
BUT they WILL change our minds by ACTING rather than talking.
This is a critical time. Don't pay those idiot CEO's, sue their board members for cash, and save the economy. Because Obama will take our money for all those taxes anyway. So let's at least USE it for this rather than handing it to people who never earned it!

Worshipping at the Altar of Abortion

2008-09-17T13:28:00.001-07:00

Abortion is a really ugly sounding word, isn't it- as if the word origin was planned to sound gross? But the worst of it is that it seems to be an issue that women use as a pseudo-religion. The "right to abortion". The fact is that it is the law of the land- though it should be the right of the state to decide, but that's another issue. The fact is that abortion is, under most circumstances, legal. The fact is that if "abortion rights" were to be truly threatened, the demonstrations by women would be so vast (I assume) and the fall out so punitive to politicians, that no one will ever attempt to over turn Roe V Wade. (Never mind that Ms Roe has regretted that decision with all her heart.)

The current problem with the religion of "abortion rights" is that obfuscates all other issues. It becomes the sole decision determinant at the voting booth. It becomes the issue that makes other women distrust and dislike other women. It becomes the "if we lose the right to abortion then we will be pregnant and in the kitchen again" issue. SO if you are a female candidate who does NOT believe abortion is a good thing, but you have left the kitchen anyway, then the fact that you are an achiever is lost. The fact that you may have, say, been a mayor, governor, and are now a VP candidate- that all becomes of no value. Because you do not worship at the altar of abortion. And for THAT, you are labeled anti-woman, For THAT, you are labeled anti-female. Of course, the one thing you ARE is "pro-life". In the religion of the Church of the Holy Uterus, you are not entitled to believe that those cells are human OR alive. You must learn to hate the women who struggle with the issue of abortion. On the one hand, it isn't fair that women have born the responsibility for the life of the unborn child. That's the negative view that some people have, but to some women that idea would seem totally backwards. But that is the way it has always been and will always be. I don't know a woman who has ever bragged about her abortion(s). I have very few friends who will admit that they have had one. So, despite the screaming for the rights, it is obvious that it was deeply painful, and somewhat shameful for a thinking, loving, caring woman to have an abortion. But whether abortion is right or wrong is not the issue. The issue is one of women who believe that an embryo is merely uterine content versus woman who feel that an embryo is a human in development. With the advent of ultrasonography, we know that the human embryo is an explosion of growing cells following an innate blueprint unique to a humam being. If we take the DNA of the zygote, it is DNA that is unique to that zygote- not another one has or ever will have that particular genetic code. If it is not human, then WE are not human.

Keep in mind that I am not telling any woman that she cannot have an abortion. I won't rally in the street to be the voice of your child. It isn't my conscience that would hurt- and maybe the women who have abortions don't actually hurt anyway. I don't blame them for what they do, and I don't seek to change laws that would be pointless to change. It doesn't mean that I believe in abortion- or that I wouldn't understand an abortion if circumstances were dire. But I personally don't approve of it as a method of birth control. I don't approve of it because it would hurt me far worse to know I could do that to my own unborn child. And I couldn't qualify it by gestational age. Or by the status of the father in my life. I couldn't. I have had a child that was a "surprise". I had many choices. How it turned out is my story, but it is important for anyone who reads this to know that I HAD a choice, and the choice I made was to have my child. Why? Because whatever it is inside of me that makes me respect the right of that human to live made me, through great stress, give my child his chance. He is grown and happy and we have a bond that cannot be broken.

This isn't about whether or not someone has that inner voice that tells them it would not be an option to take their unknown child's life. This is about what the argument of abortion rights does to the future of WOMEN in politics. There should be NO Church of the Holy Uterus- or Altar of Abortion Rights. Women need to respect ONE another- a HUGE order since most women are just always SURE they are right. I cannot understand how the National Organization for Women- which has become truly the Holy Grail for the CHU members- can say a women who believes in the value of a human embryo is not competent to hold public office- as if she would be the uterine thief and nothing else. As if only NOW decides how woman can feel. If we, as women, supported women with unplanned pregnancies- if we welcomed their children, helped them find safe and loving homes for the children they cannot keep, didn't deride them or call them names, supported birth control for OUR daughters, then we would have made real progress. But as long as the CHU and NOW say that a woman cannot be president unless she believes in abortion as birth control- well, those aren't my kind of women. At all.

And remember - it is the law of the land now. It isn't an issue. But it is the "boogah boogah" for liberals to scare women. If Reagan and Bush didn't get into it, then I would think that though it would sadden her, Sarah Palin won't touch it either.

Why Tina Fey isn't Sarah Palin

2008-09-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

The buzz over the almost dead SNL is all about Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin. But somehow, seeing Tina Fey imitate Sarah Palin made me a little queasy. What is Tina Fey? Well, to give her credit, she is a very smart, very talented woman who is, by her own confessions, a "reformed" mean girl. She is the girl that you knew in high school who was very smart, very talented and very mean. By mean, I am pretty sure you know she was the one who made fun of a girl with bad hair, bad skin, crooked teeth, a big nose, not the best clothes, braces, a speech impediment- I mean, you KNOW who she is. She probably had a small, close group of friends who laughed at everything she said. In short, she was the kind of girl I just stayed away from. Now she makes a living writing skits that make fun of people- though she has a little girl herself who is watching her mother carefully. Sarah Palin has run a city and a state. She has stood up to people without being mean but by being competent. Sarah Palin believes in herself and her place on earth. She is a solid, no-nonsense mother whose loving behavior shows in the way her children treat one another. She is not a liberal because she knows that liberalism does not work. It is the stepchild of socialism. Sarah Palin is an Alaskan woman. Tina Fey is a New York liberal. She takes her millions of dollars and convinces herself that she is the epitome of cool. But, in reality, she (and now what has become a smug Amy Poehler- a look that doesn't improve with age) is STILL a mean girl. Perhaps, to be a sarcastic comedian like Fey and Poehler, one must be so insecure and basically unkind so that they can attack people who are working hard to make something happen. Of course, they haven't looked at their future tax bills under Obama. They cling to the fear of abortion being made illegal, which is not likely since neither Reagan or Bush got that done. It has been the law of the land, despite the regret of Roe herself, for a long time now. They cling to their fear of a woman who can actually find a way to put dinner on the table by shooting it! The thought of having to ever know how meat gets put on a table appalls them. Tina Fey isn't content to have a television show. She has to find a way to be a mean girl. The question is, like most mean girls, why doesn't Tina Fey try to meet Sarah Palin? I am pretty sure Tina would be afraid to- since most really mean girls NEVER want to be alone with their "victims". In all of this, I am sorriest about Amy Poehler. Though there is a possibility that she is just another one like Tina. It goes to show you that you really never know a celebrity. Poehler is now just a saracastic mouthpiece with none of the charm that she had in the first couple of seasons she was on SNL. The show is now dead. As a doornail. And I won't watch it again. I will watch 30 rock unless it stops being a comedy and starts serving as a political mouth piece. (Though as mean as Fey is, one can hardly watch Alec Baldwin without thinking of his maniacal diatribes against his daughter and his country.) I wonder if ANY of the people who call themselves Tina's friends REALLY trust her. I wouldn't. Those mean girls never change.

Matt Damon loses a Fan

2008-09-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Ah, Matt Damon- I used to just love ya, but unfortunately, you have just let me down. Oh, it was all okay that you aren't a republican, let alone a conservative. That's okay. I respect that and agree that a two party system is essential to all our freedom. But then, you just had to say this:

“I think there’s a really good chance Sarah Palin could become president, and I think that’s a really scary thing… I don’t know anything about her and in eight weeks, I don’t think I’m going to know anything about her. I know that she was a mayor of a really, really small town and she’s the governor for Alaska for less than two years. I just don’t understand. I think the pick was made for political purposes… Do the actuary tables and there’s a one out of three chance, if not more, that [John] McCain doesn’t survive his first term and it’ll be President Palin… It’s like a really bad Disney movie. The hockey mom, you know, ‘oh, I’m just a hockey mom’… and she’s facing down Vladimir Putin (of Russia)… It’s totally absurd… it’s a really terrifying possibility.”

You know nothing about Sarah Palin, and your remarks are ridiculous. Actuarial tables are done for insurance and settlements, and you probably don't have enough brains to even understand how those are arrived at. That is one of the hardest jobs in the world to get. Lots of tests and education and training. You shouldn't pretend you ARE good Will Hunting. You aren't. You are an ACTOR. Now, no longer one of my favorites. It may shock you that Sarah Palin is NOT just a hockey mom, she is a REAL mom. You know, like the woman you married -who surely must let you dominate her and put her down because she isn't even a hockey mom, is she? You must not think she can do anything either. Palin has been a mayor, a governor and now is running for VP- and frankly, could run for President because she has more experience than Obama running things. But those things aside, what is showing is NOT your political leaning. What is showing is your pure, blind hatred of Republicans and your pure, blind hatred of women. Good luck to your wife on that one. I am saddened that you are such a misogynist. You cannot give credit to a woman who is more of a man in many ways than YOU are! Is that really the issue here? She could actually FEED her family without a grocery store. You sit in your little egotistical world believing that just being an actor gives you credibility as not just an actuarial table quoter, but also as a pundit. Well, no. You need to realize that remarks like yours, Mr Damon, make women FURIOUS. Why isn't Damon more afraid that Obama is running FOR President? He is the least qualified candidate to have ever run for President- ever, in the history of our nation. But Damon obviously hasn't done his homework. Since the top 1% of our country pays 40% of the taxes right now, when Obama increases Damon's taxes, I hope he enjoys it. Damon should realize that his fame can be fleeting. Attacking Palin is fine if it is done with fairness- but what Damon said is an outright lie. When you are a celebrity and you open your mouth to call someone's supporters stupid, those people (usually close to 50% of the population of the US) aren't going to be able to love you any more. Or might wait to see your movies for free on cable. It may not break your heart to hear this Matt Damon, but I no longer care what happens to your career. All you had to do was keep your opinions to yourself.

Sarah Palin - Picking on the Mom

2008-09-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

I cannot understand why the media keeps referring to Sarah Palin’s five children without clarifying exactly what that means- unless I have missed something.

Sarah Palin has 5 kids- the oldest, Track, is in the military, totally not in need of a “mommy” at this point. Of course he loves his mother and is part of her life, as are most kids who are grown. But he doesn’t factor into her actual TIME at all. I am sure she will have military updates that most parent's won't get- but it goes with the job. Also, if Palin is elected, Track may have to be protected from the enemy as he would be a prime target for abduction, which would endanger his fellow soldiers. So, Track is a man now. Sarah can only do what the rest of us do when our kids are grown- give an opinion only when asked.

The next oldest, Bristol, is now pregnant and getting married. If she stays behind (maybe even in the Palin house to keep it safe while the rest of them are in DC), she is a wife and mother in her own right. She will have BOTH sides of the family living in Wasilla to help her out. And soon she will be 18 and an adult in many ways. If Palin STAYED in Wasilla, she’d still be the governor of Alaska and not home all day. So Bristol is not at home with a “mommy”. Only in the late 20th century have we decided that 18 is really still childhood. It is not. It should NOT be. Bristol is one strong cookie anyway to have all this attention and not be weeping with pure anger that she has to endure such scrutiny. But she has a huge loving family in a small town. She will be fine once the media gets out of her face.

The next child, Willow, is a teenager. Her dad is perfectly capable of watching over her. That would be IF she would go to Washington. She might prefer to stay with her friends in Wasilla. Who would want to go to a Washington DC school? She'd have to do what the Clinton's did- refuse to "sacrifice their child on the altar of public education" and put her in private prep school. Or perhaps she might live with an aunt or uncle or grandparents. Who knows? But at 14- well, kids go to BOARDING schools at 14 and are almost at driving age. Certainly, anyone who’s had a teenager knows that they are fairly independent. And get into trouble. BECAUSE that's their job- their brain pushes them to grow without much regard to consequence. My bet is she stays in Wasilla with the normal people.

So- that leaves a precocious and adorable, elementary schooler 7 year old, Piper, and an infant with Down syndrome, Trig. Are people SURE that First Dude Palin cannot handle that? This is a very hands on dad. People are talking as if being Vice President (or President for that matter) puts you into an isolation chamber and you never get to go home, never get to eat dinner with your family, never get to go to a PTA meeting, never get to have a birthday party, never bring your children to work, etc. How many pictures of the Kennedy kids were there playing in the Oval Office? It’s crazy. It may be the most important job in the USA, but it is still just a JOB- not a prison sentence. (Discounting harry truman’s opinion of the job!)

Why has no one pointed this out?

When RFK ran for office, not ONE person said it would make him a worse father to his megafamily. Not that I can remember at any rate. To criticize Palin for running for office when she has a super husband and really, only 2 kids requiring intense attention, is absolutely ridiculous. And of course, who knew democrats and liberals hated women SO much?

Also, if libs and dems are SURE a capable man cannot handle children, then why do they allow gay men to adopt? I mean, wouldn’t kids be dying from neglect from that??? Oh my- fathers are taking care of children- oh my! Time to panic.

It's time to GET off the liberal talking point of motherhood. It can only continue to infuriate those women who work, and those who wish they HAD.

Female is the new Black: Who Knew Women Could be so Hated

2008-09-03T12:45:00.001-07:00

As a woman who actually was THERE during women's lib- I have to say, I knew women were treated like crap. No one much cared if you boyfriend beat you up or threatened to kill you, if a frat boy spied on the girls in the bathroom (that's YOU Larry-we all know now), if your boss propositioned you and then was spiteful to you if you refused (that's YOU DR.M, the orthopedist in NO who harassed me), or if a guy stalked you and then you got called names for not dating him (thanks Richie), or that you couldn't major in marine biology because "there were no facilities out in the field for women", ahhhhhh- I could proceed from there because that is just my favorite SHORT list of what could be, if I were sensitive about it, a very long list. My husband could tell you that I know when someone is being offensive to me because I am female- I ask them "If I were a 6'4" , 290 pound black man, would you have just said/done that to me?" That's MY litmus test. The answer is seldom yes.
Anyway, since the Daily Kos and the media started peddling the story that Sarah Palin did NOT have her baby (despite witnesses) but that it was her daughter Bristol's and Sarah was doing a motherly cover-up as if this was Desperate Housewives, I have been pretty shocked. I don't shock easily. I'm a nurse. I'm a mom. I lived in the 60s and smoked some, even took a little (and I mean little) mescaline twice. I'm not a prude. I draw lines in the sand over porn and kids, and anyone who does porn being involved with kids- but that is about my one big gripe. (Sort of like Madonna writing children's books, then flashing her crotch- just not a good thing for helping giving kids a childhood free of that). Now a mother has to drag her daughter out and say "look, your horrible rumors cannot be true because she is all ready pregnant!" Good grief.
When Palin was announced, I flashed back to a dinner with a very politically savvy friend who actually held jobs in DC. We were discussing the election, and he said "I hope they pick Sarah Palin- she would be perfect". Female, determined, good record. Then dang y'all if Mccain doesn't pick her. So when the announcement came, my hubby and I both said "Wow, that Brian is prescient!" Then we both ran to look up that word to make sure I was using it correctly (just kidding).
But the Obama camp seems miffed. Why? Because really, Female is the New Black. And I mean that in both ways- females are trendy accessories because of that glass ceiling and all the glorious imagery it creates, and females are actually the new "black", as in oppressed in a way that minorities are not. But it's been a closeted suppression- more women go to med school now- why? Because there isn't any money left in medicine. More women get into law firms- but oh boy, don't have babies. Make sure you have a great nanny to surrogate parent for you. It's a ruse.
What is more frightening to women than what has happened to Palin and her family? There is a picture on the net of a very young Palin in a joke tee shirt, sitting on what looks like a dorm bed- she is fully clothed. The shirt is only vaguely racy. But bloggers call her "white trash"- a racist and misogynist type of spite typical of people who, I guess, fear young women fully clothed looking silly. The smears of Bristol Palin- the glee of bloggers who say her boyfriend "says he didn't want kids on his myspace page". Well, what teen aged boy puts on his profile that he 'wants babies"? That one was hilarious. Bristol Palin is 17. So what? I hardly consider that being a child. Until the mid20th century, girls were routinely engaged at 17. People criticize this and say "the marriage won't last". What's their point? That if you get married at 23 your marriage stands a better chance? Why should the Palin's give away or abort a member of their family just because it might be a little harder to raise this child? As for abstinence education- well, isn't that the FIRST thing you teach your teenagers- it's about more than pregnancy because disease prevention and self-respect are also issues for teens to deal with. AND, on top of that, Palin's daughter, at 17, is in love with her boyfriend. His mother told ABC news that she was fine with it, and that the kids had talked a lot about getting married. It didn't surprise her much. SO what exactly is the problem?
To have spread such horrible lies about Bristol Palin, who is just a young woman like many young women, to spread such horrible lies about her mother not being the mother of Trig Palin- I can only assume it is the height of misogyny masquerading as a character issue. These are women- and these things happen to women. Not to men. To women. Bristol's relationship with her mother is really none of our business anymore than Chelsea Clinton's relationship with her father was our business.
I've actually read posts from liberals who equate this to John Edwards and Monica Lewinsky. Well, let's see, two 17 year olds in love have sex and conceive and get married. OR, a former candidate for VP cheats on his dying cancerous wife and 2 small children and conceives a baby and hides it in expensive rental houses. OR the president of the United States seduces a willing 21 year old intern, and in the White House, while on the job, has rather graphic and unprintable sexual interludes with her. Hmmmmm. That's quite a comparison job.
Democrats need to take their party back. They need to denounce the liberals who write whatever they wish and don't care about the veracity. We have reached a new low in what we tolerate as free speech. I have said that if I were Sarah Palin, I'd sue the Daily Kos for defamation of character and libel. Because Sarah Palin has a right to her reputation. They don't have to like her, because obviously they hate women politicians. They don't have to respect her, because obviously they are afraid of any woman in power. BUT they do have to print the truth. They are cowards and misogynists and are attempting to manipulate the political system to overturn our government as it was formed by our forefathers. The women of America don't have to tolerate this treatment of a female candidate. I know I won't.
And even if you are a democrat (take back your party!) or a female liberal, you have to be stunned at the main stream media's treatment of women. And heartbroken.

Asthma and Child Abuse

2008-09-01T11:10:00.001-07:00

Today's internet health item is a report that children are more likely to have asthma if they are physically or sexually abused. Hmmmmm. Children are more likely to have asthma if there are electric lights in their houses. Or sunshine outside the window. The stunning implication of this example of "how to lie with statistics" is that you now get to suspect your neighbors if you see their kids running around with a ventolin inhaler in their pockets. What an irresponsible headline! I'm pretty sensitive about this because my youngest child has asthma. He had one, very scary, hospitalizable attack when he had the flu as an 18 month old- then didn't have another one until he came home from a camp that had used the same crappy mattresses for 20 years- lumpy moldy camp mattresses. No sooner was the front door shut behind him upon his return home then his alarmed father and I could hear him wheezing from across the room! By 22, he outgrew it though his nose still stuffs up when he comes over and I haven't vacuumed the cat hair up. He went through allergy shots (testing allergic to cat hair and dust and mold, just like me) and doctor visits for tubes in his ears and all the resultant problems of allergies. But NO ONE ever abused him. In fact, one reason he might have gotten asthma was that his room was kept very clean when he was a baby. I used lysol to clean the vinyl floor and the marimekko wallpaper in his room. He was spotlessly washed up after playing outside. His hands were washed well before eating. His food was clean. His toys were kept clean. He was hugged and read to and was generally adored by everyone in his family. He just drew the black bean and through the genetic roulette, inherited my asthma and allergies. I am nothing short of FURIOUS that any headline would imply my beloved kid, who is not little anymore but beloved as is his sister, would have been abused. Or that anyone would assume that he could have been abused simply because he had asthma. Children who are abused may live in environments that lead to asthma. They may inherit their asthma. Who knows? If you were a kid with asthma, would you want this headline out there? There are so many things factored into asthma, and we really don't know why there is an increase. But this is too much. Just too much. If a child is being abused, asthma is actually one of their secondary problems. Kids can outgrow asthma (particularly boys do), but they cannot outgrow the psychological and physical trauma of abuse.

Sarah Pallin Joins the Team

2008-08-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Once the Pokergirl was sure that Condoleeza was really serious about not being a candidate, it became a matter of curiosity as to how McCain could fill his ticket with someone who had enough experience to know how government works (or doesn't) but didn't appear to be an "old school" candidate. Sarah Pallin filled that order quite nicely. She is highly respected, has at least run a government at the state level, and most importantly, she is a woman. Now, I'm not so stupid that I think just BEING female is a qualification. Had that been true, Hillary would have not been put in her place. But neither is being biracial a qualification. So here we have 4 people running to lead the nation- and of the 4, we have the following:

50% white Senators- both experienced

25% biracial (1/8 of the ticket is black- but not American black)

25% female

So, 50% of the tickets are thinking outside of the box, so to speak.

I'd have to say that despite the insistence that white guys have ruined the world, we owe a debt of gratitude to white European men. If you look into the history of invention and medical developments, financial theories and promotion of the foundations of personal freedom, there is usually an old white guy at the forefront. You can mention slavery, but slavery exists all over the world, in all forms and in most cultures. No country has done more to try to rectify a historical wrong. All with legislation passed by white guys. So thanks white guys, you have done a great job.

I love my country. The Pokergirl was, in the past, a Registered Nurse. She worked in charity hospitals, went in ambulances all over rural Mississippi to pick up critically ill newborns, went into rural Louisiana for public health nursing, has had a gun put in her face by patients who didn't want to just spit in a jar for their TB check up, and has personally delivered a baby because the doctor wasn't in the hall at the right time. I can't be accused of not knowing what poverty is. I ate ramen noodles and spaghetti and was 20 pounds underweight in graduate school because I couldn't afford more food. I paid most of my way through college and graduate school. No, I don't know what it is to be black. And frankly, neither does a biracial person who went to an elite prep school and an ivy league college and then went into politics. Let's not pretend here. I know Obama doesn't like me- I'm white. I'm not sure what the female part inspires in him- he has two charming children who don't seem to notice they are biracial or that female is an issue. I know Obama has seen America from a distance- from reading books that I had to read in the angry 70s in an elective class in black history. Those books inspired Obama to claim black as his race- while being fed, clothed and loved, by white grandparents and claiming to love his white mother. Illegitimacy can make very angry and insecure boys.
SO, it would come as no surprise that a sensible woman, one who is honest and fights government corruption and bloated budgets, and who did not wish to abort her handicapped child, would be the one who appeals to me. She sounds like a super hero to me.
As the campaign unfolds, we will all find out who means what. But remember, President's cannot do anything without the support of Congress.
I also don't want any more money taken out of my pocket. And you cannot cut taxes for 95% of the populace (as Obama promises) and NOT tax the hell out of someone. Ah, I ramble.

Congratulations to the candidates. It is historic and really, despite my dismal view of Obama as being a socialist, amazing. I'm voting for the woman.

Hillary Makes it All About Her

2008-08-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

I have to say, Hillary Clinton has a pair. A bigger pair than any of those men around her. Because of the Michigan Florida mess, and because plenty of people wouldn't have voted for Obama if they had heard his minister speak prior to the primaries, or heard the recently released tapes of his mockery of the Bible, Hillary probably is the true candidate of the Democratic party. But to my recollection, no candidate who has sealed the nomination has EVER allowed such a dog and pony show as the Clinton clan is about to put on for the Democratic convention. Is Obama so foolish that he believes this is GOOD for him? Is he deluded enough to believe that giving Hillary and Bill and well, Chelsea for crissakes, so much air time is going to make people see him as a unifier? Well, what it makes him look like is a p***y. Worse than a wimp. He doesn't even know the rules of being the benevolent dictator- which he now is in the Democratic party. He looks weak, undeserving and easily bent. He looks like someone who cares more about what someone will say about him than about what is right. And above all, he looks silly. Like a child who wants everyone to like them, so they let the bully come to the birthday party and step on the cake. What in the world is he thinking (or not thinking) to allow the Clinton's to STEAL his convention? This is beyond belief and yet, not unexpected. I won't watch most of the convention because it is of little concern to me. But I might tune in to watch Hillary speak and watch Bill speak and watch Chelsea speak. It ought to be quite the entertainment!

John Edwards, Adulterer and Liar

2008-08-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Pokergirl has never liked John Edwards, as her loyal readers may know. Not because of the $400 haircuts while pleading for the poor. Not because of the 28,200 sq ft AIR CONDITIONED house and private plane flights while talking about the environment. Not because we know now that cerebral palsy is not the fault of obstetricians, but of mother nature, and sometimes from anoxia long before birth, thus Edwards put so many obstetricians out of practise and made malpractise insurance so high that it wasn't worth it for the docs to stay in business. Not because of his pretentious and condescending attitudes toward the so-called "poor" that we are all forced to talk about all the time, as if we are not worthy if we earn money and want to keep some. Not because his wife is dying, but he'd rather be president than take care of his small children and help them through what will soon prove to be a motherless life. No, no, no, those are just contributing factors. Those things just make him an arrogant asshole, and beneath my radar in general. His wife? Well, she married him and stayed with him. And not to speak ill of the almost gone, she's no prize herself in the character area, but we'll leave that alone. Why don't I like John Edwards? Because he is a bald faced liar. He looked into the eyes of everyone, just like Bill Clinton did, and said "I did NOT have sexual relations with that woman". He is implying she is a rather loose woman, because while he now says he DID have sex with Rielle Hunter, he says he cannot be the father of the baby that he refuses to take a DNA test for. He expects us to believe that he went to her hotel room at 2 am, held the baby, "visited" with her, and yet, he is not the father. Someone else is. So he is implying that Ms Hunter is a whore. One that he cannot stay away from because he just must go see her in hotel rooms. And hold her baby. Though it cannot be "his" baby. Oh really? Oh no, Edwards says the baby's father is one Andrew Young, who has his OWN wife and small children. And evidently, according to the Enquirer, the real Mrs Young is pretty pissed off about this cover up. I'll admit that we all have a price. Every last one of us. But look at the people in this deal: the Young family, Rielle Hunter, the beleaguered Mrs Edwards, two innocent young Edwards children, one very young infant who will have to face this all one day- and all caused by whom?- the pretty boy, the detestable and arrogant and elitist hypocrite, John Edwards. A man who KNEW all of this, but ran for president anyway. Had others not smelled a rat, he could have won. And then all this would have come out later in the middle of a presidential election. What a mess. What a liar. Perfectly intelligent people fell for this guy hook, line and sinker. Because of his rhetoric, his speeeches about morality, and possibly his looks. They gave him money, $114000 of which went to his mistress. This is a digusting human being. A man who embarrasses other men. And THAT is why I am sorry for everyone he has hurt, and I am infuriated by the nastiness that is John Edwards. As a very succesful business leader said "If a man will cheat on his wife and family, he will cheat me, because I mean nothing to him." Luckily, he will never be our lying president.

The lovely French

2008-07-04T22:02:00.001-07:00

The Pokergirl just got home from a trip to Paris. It is a hike to get to Paris, but certainly worth it. I always resisted going to Paris. I'd heard all the stories of the French being rude and acting unfriendly to tourists. I can honestly say, that with just a teensy effort to speak French to them, I was treated as if I was the most important person on earth. If you smile genuinely, they will bend over backwards to help you. Despite lurid tales of gypsy thieves, only our uncle almost got pick pocketed. Some gypsy children surrounded the nieces and nephew and scared them a bit, but I don't think they were in real danger. Those were the only untoward things. The rest of it was great! The streets were so wide and the light was everywhere. No skyscrapers to suck the light from the pavement. I could have stayed in Paris for weeks. The French are lovely. And NO ONE is fat. You could spot the Germans and Americans by their weight and size in general. The French children, at least the ones in Paris, were all petite. It was quite a shock to get on the flight back to Seattle and see what all our processed carbs have done to our population. But I would suggest you go to Paris and have a great time. And thanks to the French for their help in establishing our independence on this, our fourth of July.

WE are the MEDIA now

2008-06-24T07:37:00.001-07:00

I have recently received quite a few emails with notes of alarm that the media is, once again, biased. The media has always been biased. Oddly, most media companies are owned by very rich and powerful people who have very little in common with the people they are trying to influence. Maybe it will work this time, and maybe it won't. BUT, it is also very clear that they no longer can manipulate us. Because in the past 10 years, WE have become our own media. With email and blogs and websites, WE have become the sharers of the truth. WE have become the people who influence one another. WE are the source and the investigators. Of course, we come with our own bias-but at least we make no secret of it. We don't pretend to be covering everything as objective journalists (an oxymoron). And we trust one another. I know if I get email from some people, it will be with a big Obama bias. Others, totally McCain. Some, on the fence wondering what is true. But the wonder of wonders is that it is the power of individual investigation and search that produces what becomes opinion. And WE do it. We don't really need a biased media when we can watch the ENTIRE, in context, version on YouTube, or when we can read the entire transcript in the online government sites. We can judge for ourselves. When the newspapers are all gone, I will personally be grateful for the lack of newspaper ink residue on my furniture and countertops. I will be grateful for the LOSS of the biased and manipulative editorials that blindly endorse candidates because they fear the other party in its entirety. After this election, I hope voters become more involved in how their congress people treat them and their hard earned money. When we can stay informed- especially using our own smarts and our own laptops-then we can continue to hold our OWN power.

Comrade Obama

2008-05-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty hard on Obama. Who knew I'd become a Hillary fan over the course of a couple of months? I've gone from thinking "Obama? Well, he's very inexperienced- not much of a real American because he was raised in foreign countries and went to prep schools- but hey- we can finally prove color is of no concern if someone is qualified" to "holy crap, this guy is a communist!" Oh, stop rolling your eyes. He has pictures of Che Guevara in his Houston campaign office- that is something we know as fact. It was addressed on the Houston news. Okay- cut him slack on that- maybe he didn't know? But now, we hear him tell a class of (wesleyan is evidently a liberal college) graduating seniors that they must forego the big house and the salary (that they could use to donate to charity and still have some left over for a nice life), and dedicate themselves to service. Hey- just like Obama! He made over a million a year- that's some life of service! Wish I had it- I should sign UP! The thing about "dedicating your life to service" is that it means you are stuck at a crappy non profit that pays about 20K a year, which makes you angry because out there is "THE MAN" and "BIG BUSINESS", and those two things then become your enemy. Ironically, THE MAN and BIG BUSINESS make our country run. THE MAN (who is always defined as WHITE) works 60 hours a week or more and worries about his company because people who are not as motivated or smart (maybe) as THE MAN receive a PAYCHECK from THE MAN. THE MAN lies awake some nights hoping he doesn't have to fire any of his workers, and that government regulations won't cripple his company, because THE MAN knows people depend on him. THE MAN donates money to charity, goes to worship, and tries to relax when he has spare time by playing sports or cards, or whatever. He can never go home and just FORGET that he is THE MAN. But the angry liberal grads who believe he should work for free always forget what makes the economy run is JOBS. And jobs come from THE MAN and BIG BUSINESS. I've worked with several real non-profits. When we needed money (constantly), we called the richest people we knew and, uniformly, they gave us money. MONEY they earned- not money they sat in a little cubible with others complainers wishing they could magically get. Obama, notoriously CHEAP with his own donations until he saw he might run, gave his cash to his racist church. A church that can afford to give millions in housing and support to its retired minister. That's a donation, but it's NO non-profit. I give about 10% of my pretax dollars to non-pofits. Not because I tithe, but because it makes me feel better. Many seniors at Wesleyan probably come from privilege. They may feel guilty, but they shouldn't. It would benefit society the MOST if these well educated young people went out and got real jobs, learned a profession, then hired OTHER people to work for them. But instead, the ones who listen to Obama, will join the miserable world of chronic complainers who hate the rich and hate business and hate success. What a shame. They could do so much more for the world by leading it rather than bitching about it. Look- if you really want to dig latrines with a bunch of high schoolers trying to get into college, go right ahead. But if you start a succesful company, you can make enough money to put infrastructure into those very places. Which is better?

The New Obama Strategy

2008-05-18T18:15:00.001-07:00

Obama has now, by all actions, proclaimed himself winner of the Democrat party nomination, and now a new side of him emerges. SOMEONE in his party has finally told him to stop acting like Oprah- full of apologies for having bad people on his show- and start acting like a true MoveOn liberal. SOMEONE has told him to stop being so affable, and seeming so nice, and well, so "BARRY", and start acting like President Barack. It has been a shocking turn around for a man who seemed lost and confused by the fact that a lot of Americans, and a lot of Democrats, found him easily led by the nose by people like his minister, his wife, and his bomber friend. Of course, Obama's questionable friends really should scare all of us. But illusions of the great biracial success story that most of America welcomed with open arms and hearts were just that- illusions. The biracial man, whose very lineage was synonymous with uniting two races, has proven to choose to be black. And not just black, but angry black. As if we, the American people, are still after half of him. And now, to prove he is no shrinking violet, he has taken to responding to his future opponent, McCain, by calling McCain "Bush and McCain". Obama's advisors have told him that he MUST absolutely, positively, come out swinging and link McCain to Bush with every breath he takes. In fact, he is to always call McCain "Bush McCain", as if Bush was the first name of McCain. It's an interesting tactic. Perhaps Obama could be called "Rev Obama Wright". And there will be more to come out of his woodwork. But he does believe now that the best defense is a good offense. And he is pretty offensive to a lot of people right now. McCain is an incredible man. He has children - but you don't hear about them or see them, do you? Not because he hides them, but because he will not exploit them. His son, James McCain, is in the military and is headed to Iraq. McCain wouldn't take years to admit he shouldn't be in a radical church or be friends with radicals. McCain, in fact, reassesses his positions all the time. And admits when he is wrong.
Bush is not running with McCain. In fact, they disagree on many things. But this is Obama's message- "I am the nominee, and my opponent is George Bush". That is not the message he should be using. Yet again, he is not about uniting, but dividing. His advisors are of the old school- they are ready to throw Obama to the wolves of political campaigns- but they don't realize that this is the one time in ALL of our political history where you'd catch more voters with honey than vinegar. It's just that Obama, like all politicians, is truly incapable of that. It's too bad. Until he turned mean, and let his face get all ugly and blue with anger, he seemed to have it all.

Run Hillary Run

2008-05-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Today I watched Hillary Clinton stand before her banner in West Virginia and declare that she was the solution to all our problems. She was going to fix the health care system that she and others broke years ago, she was going to put low interest rates on student loans, she was going to drop corn based ethanol and get busy on cellulose, she was going to save families and fix the educational system. Never mind that she has been a SENATOR for a couple of terms and could have worked to fix all that then. Same for Obama. WHERE is their legislation? Where are their successes? Oh, never mind. It's politics and why should I get involved. I should just shut up and write huge checks to the IRS, whose laws I can barely decipher. If Hillary gave all the pork she and Obama scammed from my tax dollars, maybe she COULD fix the more pressing problems. But the question is, why is this woman doing this? Is it the same face of denial that she had when she gave her Tammy Wynette speech insulting all women who have dealt with a drunk or cheating husband and had the guts to leave? Is it the same denial that she had about what she has done to health care? Is it the same denial that makes her believe that she is a feminist when she is, except for her bull dog determination to be president, misogynistic and weak in the face of her sexual predator husband? Look- I'll give her a gold star for trying. Maybe she will have the last laugh- maybe she is hoping more shoes will drop in the Obama campaign. Surely there is more there because we just don't know Obama- other than knowing he is the most liberal Congressman. Hillary has nothing to lose but some of her own money at this point. With the stock market over 12,600 and on up to 13,000, you can't blame Bush for what private lenders have done. The economy was false under Clinton, and finally fell and rose again. The false economy came from the huge infusion of capital gains taxes spurred by the sale of massive amounts of stocks in useless companies called the "dot coms". It has been amazing how the economy has recovered from that. What do I think? Well, I think Clinton is better than Obama because she is a real politician. Obama is not ready - he has no history. NONE. Other than some really scary stuff. He hasn't done a damn thing in congress but get pork money for his state. He seems confused. And he is nowhere near eloquent when he isn't scripted. The liberal media jumped on his bandwagon because they FINALLY had a legitimate way to beat the Clinton's without making the Democrat party look bad. The media finally had an option- and they ran with it. After all, backing a biracial candidate made them look magnanimous. Actually, they did it because they hate the Clintons but could never say it. Democrats are, yet again, shooting themselves in the foot. They picked two losers to run. Well, we'll see.

Tracy Flick or Hillary Clinton???YOU decide.

2008-04-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

In what is arguably the most fascinating political competition of the past 200 years, Hillary Clinton has held on like a determined bulldog to her political aspirations. It is a stunning example of tenaciousness and an unbelievable denial of fact, as well as a personal belief that a cosmic interference will make it all "right" for her. Ironically, Republicans crossed the lines in Pennsylvania to give her that victory- maybe as many as 30,000- so maybe "right" did have a hand in it. Not because republicans have a racial agenda- after all, Republicans are the party of civil rights and the eradication of separate but equal- but because it will keep the Democrats at one another until their convention. Of course, she is staying for a serious reason- she (and frankly, I) is convinced that had Americans truly KNOWN Obama, they would have voted for her. And by that logic, she has been cheated of her rightful nomination by a pretender to the throne whose past has been so hazy that it obscured the vision of the intelligent voter and blinded the young. And now time, that great bastard that never stops, has exposed the weaknesses of and robbed the extemporaneous eloquence from her opponent. If only we had all seen that PRIOR to the primaries. Yet she persists. And I wait for the cupcakes that say the equivalent of PICK FLICK. Hillary's might say "It's MY TURN!" Who knows. But certainly, if a movie were ever to show the dogged persistence of a candidate to succeed, it would be ELECTION. And if there was ever a young girl who would symbolize what a young Hillary Clinton would have been like, it is Tracy Flick. Only now the stakes are much higher. And like Tracy's election, people have been, and will continue to be, destroyed by ambition. What an amazing time.

Figuring Out Obama

2008-04-15T19:17:00.001-07:00

Barack Obama has his legions, but something about him is not quite right. Is it because we do not know him, but we feel we know Hillary Clinton and we know John McCain? Until Obama's big keynote speech at the Democrat party convention in 2004, who even knew of this man? To figure out his family history takes an internet search. We have only the impressions he gives us to go on. And going back into history is the easiest way to find an explanation of how this man got here and who he is at heart. Barack Obama often looks far away, he often lets his wife tell him what to do, and he often turns to a strong, sort of black, minister to be his advisor or "father figure". What does happen to a child whose father disappears? In the past 50 years, this has become a fairly common occurence. But a child, particularly a boy, who is abandoned by a father, is a child who is bereft. A child who learns to live in a fantasy world where he invents the excuses for his missing father's behavior, and a child who learns to make up a pat story to explain it away- that is the psychological childhood of Barack Obama. Obama's father left- left for Harvard then left to go back to Africa. This little boy, who says he remembers one visit from a domineering black man, never could fill that void. And his mother picked up another man and had another family. I don't blame her- the world is hard for women. But his mother also was obviously in it for the shock value. She was the renegade- the trail blazer since high school- with a biracial child. But instead of staying there for her child, she again asked herself what other decisions she could make that could hurt her child but benefit herself. And she kept Obama away from America for years while she made herself happy. Obama cannot claim a knowledge of the America that children know. He did not grow up in America. He knows nothing of what a biracial child or any child would have experienced. His mother finally decided that she was better rid of her child and shipped him off to his white grandparents- who loved and cared for him. His grandmother, who was not a racist but honored her gift of fear when out on the street confronted by an angry street person, took care of "Barry". Later he would dishonor her, as if to disavow her whiteness and as if to make himself seem more like an american black. So now Barack is not just fatherless, but motherless as well. Most teen-agers would find great rage in that. Most children learn to be angry and destruction when abandoned by selfish parents who pursue their own agenda. But some children bury it. In their zeal to adjust and be worthy, they become overachievers. They succeed in spite of it all. And they look back into their childhood and make excuses and extol the virtues of the very parents who hurt them. But the abandoned child looks for role models and they find them. For Obama, the abandoning father became Rev Wright, and the selfish,abandoning mother became the wife, Michelle. What else could explain Obama's devotion to a man who insults and rails against the 50% of his DNA that is white, as was his mother and loving grandmother? What else could explain the controlling arrogance of Michelle Obama, in whose presence he silences and retreats like a small boy in the presence of a domineering mother? Why does Obama misspeak so much? How does he seem to understand so little when he is speaking extemporaneously? Perhaps it is the fact that, at his core, he is not an American. He may be an American citizen, but he was NEVER an America child. We learn a great deal from a childhood in America. We share a culture and an experience. Rich or poor, the average American child is exposed to more common experience in the past 40 years thanks to television, radio and even video games, etc. Obama was not here for any of that. He has educated himself in elite institutions and probably never understood the effects of affirmative action or white guilt until someone explained them to him. Even his teenaged years in Hawaii gave him an isolation from mainland culture. I wonder what he is thinking when he looks off into the distance over someone's shoulder when they are speaking. I wonder if he is looking for the praise from the dead father and mother whose absence he could never resolve? I do have great sympathy for Obama. Because I believe that when a boy's father abandons him, that boy is broken forever in ways that cannot be fixed. That he rejects and hates the white part of himself may be his homage to his father- his plea to say he forgives the man who left. I don't think he can be our president. I don't think he really has the strength.

The Ether of Anonymity

2008-04-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

My first webpage was back in 1994 or so. Even the wayback archive doesn't have it anymore. It was fun and involved a lot of starry backgrounds and imaginary kingdoms. Friends signed up to take on various roles in the kingdom and I got to be queen. It sounds dopey but a lot of it was very funny and my subjects got to contribute beaucoup wit of all kinds to their characters. Then AOL hijacked all those older services (remember spyglass?) and put a little color into the black and white interface, and took away the necessity to C:\\ so many things- and it began to interest people who previously weren't used to serious bulletin boards. I did hate my apple 2E, but hey, who didn't? It was all still a miracle. Just like television was when it was only on 6 hours a day with 2-3 stations. Then the media bloat took place, as it does now on the net. Only now, we face an ether of anonymity. And when your face doesn't show, you can do a lot of talking out of your ass. And that is happening all over the internet. Every nose picker and hate monger has come out of the woodwork- but not TOO far. It's one thing to post your opinion, but it's another to go after someone else's. The nice thing is that most people who post retorts anonymously are usually very poor at expressing themselves. They usually attack the other person without regard to truth or decency. I took the ability to comment on this blog OFF a long time ago due to one illogical, and anonymous, of course, lying idiot. I took the ability to contact us on our family blog (which had over 10,000 visitors who had done NOTHING rude) when someone felt free to email me their political opinions and call me names- anonymously, of course. I post under pokergirl because I think removing who I am from this makes people think a little more. If they know it's just me, then their opinions of the actual ME color their thoughts on the blog subject. But the cloak of anonymity is the cloak of the coward. Throughout history it has been considered honorable to take credit for your own words and your own actions.
Also, part of going to school is to learn to socialize. And socializing means that you learn what to say or not say. The problems of the internet as a social mediator are really becoming vast. With social sites like My Space, Bebo, etc, kids learn early that being hateful or mean can be very easy. And plenty of people like the excitement and tension caused by an attack. We don't have to expend energy hunting or camping or surviving much- and the result is that the human need to expend energy is spent on the internet. And attacking others is a blood sport now. I notice that many posters on celebrity chat sites should be spending that time learning to write and spell. It isn't even a question of using texting style abbreviations, it is the BASIC spelling and use of contractions. Despite the borderling illiteracy, the hate is still driven home. Want to read some horrible stuff? Go read the political blogs. There is no analysis- no sense- no reason- no tact- no intuition- just bile and vitriol. And so much hate needlessly spread because "if the website says it, it must be true". The internet has become bloated. In fact, it's a mess. Maybe business should be separated from social and separate webs should be used. But that wouldn't solve the horrible things said under the guise of "anonymous". Do those people really MEAN what they post or are they pushing their own limits? Are they happy and proud that they have just wasted precious moments of their lives when they could be with family and friends, or reading a new book, or playing with their pet? It would all stop if no one could post. These are not informed and eloquent opinions being posted. Most are too lazy to get a blog and post their opinions. Maybe they know that no one would come? I predict that as we get older, the internet will lose a lot of interest- except for shopping and email and the news. We won't want everyone to know where we live, or how we feel about politicians or movie stars, and we won't want to share in the hateful postings. We will just be tired of it.

Throw Grandma under the Bus

2008-03-21T18:42:00.001-07:00

I love poliltics. The good, the bad and the ugly of it all. I have met a few really good liars in my time- and the funny thing about them is that they think that if they lie, then so does every one else. People who have a bad personality flaw- like lying or stealing so that they feel comfortable accusing other people of it when things don't go their way- well, those people cause a lot of trouble, because sometimes other people don't know the common thread running through their lives and will believe them. That is,so to speak, the if "I think it" then "everyone thinks it" personality. Hope that made sense. Often you can tell alot about someone just by what they say "everyone" does or thinks or has. In Obama's life, one woman stood out. Really stood out. That is his grandmother. In an era when lots of grandparents would never have taken in a biracial child, even though it would ache their hearts (if you are under 40 you wouldn't get that), his grandmother - the one who raised the selfish mother Barack was dealt- took her grandchild in and loved him and cared for him. According to Obama's own BOOK, his grandmother was generous to a homeless person who then accosted her for more money and frightened her. In her retelling of the incident, she described the man to her husband as a "black man". Obviously, to Barack, this means that grandma is now a damned to hell racist for now and forever. How could he feel good about being black if grandma NOTICED her assailant was black? I mean, how DARE she notice skin color? That is so laughable that it is tough to address. I should end it right there. But what, I ask you, is MORE noticeable than the color of our skin? NOTHING. The first thing you'd want the cops to know is the skin color of your assailant. That - white or black- eliminates a lot of suspects. But in his own racist zeal, he believes she must have thought as he did- that she judged people on skin color just as he did. But now, caught in a web of his own racism, he alters the story- lies- unless of course he was lying in the book for sympathy. Now in the new version, grandma is accosted by a black man who simply frightens her by his mere existence. So now grandma, who was the one woman who didn't fail him, is the bad person. Throw her ass UNDER the bus. This says a lot about his character. Or how badly he was brainwashed. The white guy I sat next to at my caucus lived on the same hall as Obama (Barry) in college. He said he was a normal, happy guy who was accepted and well liked in an era where most kids didn't care. Now he plays a race card, goes to a racially motivated church and exposes his kids to a racism he pretends to have experienced in the USA, where he did not do most of his growing up. I guess those votes must mean a lot to him. But when his grandma finally gets her hands on him, I hope she gives him a good old fashioned whoopin'. He should be ashamed of himself.

Eliot Spitzer dials 911

2008-03-13T10:19:00.001-07:00

Look, everyone else has an opinion on this guy,so I will have to give mine. I really, really, really don't care what sex two consenting adults have IF they aren't married and took a vow (which is an old timey kind of promise you make if you have character) to be faithful to a mate. So if Spitzer had been a single guy, who NEVER EVER talked about the "poor" and "homeless" as needing money or support, who was the callous type and frankly didn't give a crap about where his hard earned dollars went, then he could call anyone manner of person for his sexual desires and I could care less- as long as he could pay his ER and anitbiotics bills. I don't think that prostitution is a victimless crime- and this whole episode is an example of WHY that is true. Spitzer isn't at all apologetic- I've seen his kind. He is not sad, he is mystified at how someone as "smart" as he is got caught. He is FAR more upset about the game being over and about his being tagged. Because, if the truth was told outright, if he gave a damn about his wife or kids, he would never have done this to begin with. If I could quit smoking, he could quit prostitutes. I'm sure quitting smoking was harder. Is his wife embarrassed? Well, I wouldn't be and she shouldn't be. She should be calling in forensic financial investigators to find every last damn dime, including the 80K he wasted on call girls, and then she should ruthlessly ruin this man. He is a sociopath. And a hypocrite. And his daughters have now learned that women are basically at the mercy of men. That lives can be ruined over something as simple as sexual intercourse. And if you've had it, you know it isn't rocket science. That's why you don't need instructions. FOUR women were and always will be hurt by this man. Then there is the call girl herself- a 22 year old woman with her face plastered all over the news now. A woman from a broken home, with an abusive boyfriend or two, who discovered that she didn't have to give it away for free. There is nothing more offensive in this world than the remark that "every woman is a prostitute" because every woman has her price. That a wife will sleep with- oh who are we kidding, no one is sleeping- her husband in order to get a new dishwasher. Well, IF that is true, then it says far more about her husband than it does about her. For something so simple, it gets pretty complicated very fast. But this Mr Spitzer doesn't deserve the decent and loving spouse he has and the beautiful girls who now know just what their dad thinks of women. Everything has a price, Mr Spitzer, and it isn't always upfront. But as I say, Eliot Spitzer doesn't have any guilt- like most smart criminals, he is confused and disappointed with himself because he got caught. What a jackass.

The Buck Stops There

2008-03-05T13:41:00.001-08:00

Who’s On Second?
You know that silly comedy routine about who's on whatever base- Abbott and Costello made it famous and it's been downhill ever since? Well, that is what politics is like. No one is really sure who is truthful, because,after all, define "IS". And perjury is the rule of every court because if one side wasn't lying, there wouldn't BE a need for a court system. But nothing brings out the fun like an election. And it can be funnier and sillier than anything a comedian could write. In fact, when comedians write about politics, they come across as mean and petty and biased. So we can sit back and just watch it unfold and try to get some humor out of it. It is wise to realize that it is all a game to the true politicians. This is where being a lawyer comes in handy because lawyers don't care much for truth- they care for winning. It's their job to win. Watching Obama and Clinton is like watching a law school debate squad. The theme should be "Just win the damn thing". Remember the movie "Say Anything"? That sounds like the theme of presidential elections. I never thought I'd say this, but really, Hillary is better than Obama. Absolutely. She can at least find White House staffers. But Kathleen Willey should be posted outside the First Laddie's office to warn the girls not to enter. Hillary will REALLY be busy this time and he will be free to roam, so to speak. Anyway, McCain could win and the red button might have to be changed to another color because viagra causes your vision to be blue- and god knows if that turns the red button into purple. He'd be looking all over for that nuke em button. Look- as long as I don't have to pay more taxes to support more crap that I don't benefit from, and as long as I could own a gun IF I wanted to, and go to any church IF I wanted to- I don't much worry about it. Political office is not a tight rope- it's a spider web. Full of entanglements and entitlements. I don't trust Obama. But Hillary has all ready ruined health care in the USA- what other shenanigans could she get into (thank you Diablo Cody for bringing the word "shenanigans" back)? I'll vote for McCain unless he says something really dumb or dies first. Hell, who am I to be ageist? But people- you need to relax. You have kids and maybe a spouse and homework and housework and jobs and friends and bridge games and Rock Band to play. The economy comes and goes- stupid people come and go- but who IS president is not as important as who your mayor and governor and congress people are. Change starts at home- not at the federal level. Control the little things first. Like YOUR savings, and your retirement plans and your mortgage and your debt and your credit- if everyone did that, we would have a very sound economy. It is not anyone else's fault- it is YOURS if you didn't control your life. Teach your kids to be accountable and responsible. That is what makes a strong country. Leave the interstate highways and defense to the feds. The rest is our problem. But you can still be entertained by the grand political history of bombastic glee.

Big Business

2008-02-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

This is a post from the old website - I figured now was a good time to reprint something I wrote during the 04 elections process. Just to show that nothing changes..

Big Business (4/28/04)

Here we again in election times- some people throwing about the words "big business" and "big corporations". They get everything! Why they get tax breaks! And according to these people, these corporations are screwing you every day. Well, I don't know what they mean by that. So I started wondering, what would happen to us WITHOUT big corporations? First of all, we wouldn't be in the 21st century, would we? We'd be on a horse and HOMEMADE buggy, because the damn buggy might have led to a corporation that MAKES buggies. Guess you'd have to build an outhouse, because your bathroom fixtures and all the pipes that lead up to them are made by BIG BUSINESS. Oh, and start collecting leaves to wipe with. Better run out and get a cow- that milk is corporate, not to mention the huge meat processors. Pet food? Make your own- feed some of that cow to the dog. Throw out your computer and the incredibly cheap software you use on it. All from corporations- big successful ones. Throw away your shoes, golf clubs, car, ah hell, go live in a tent made from the skin of your cow. Because all the building materials and construction machines used to make your home came from big business. Like that cell phone? Too bad. Last time I looked a big corporation made that for you. Would someone PLEASE explain to me what the big corporations and big businesses have done to hurt me? I am sick of hearing that. I love big businesses- they owe me nothing because they provide so well for me. I don't want to have to make my own sheets. I don't want to have to walk everywhere. I love living in a country where I can buy STOCK and partly OWN a big business, and I don't have to do anything but sit back and decide if they are doing a good enough job for me, their part owner. Someone has said that the biggest problem in this country is class envy. But I mostly notice that people who really want something find a way to use their drive and energy to get it- because this is not a country where anyone stops you from your dreams- unless enough legislation is passed to ruin your drive. If you work at Starbucks, you work for "The Man". If you work at REI, you may get a rebate, but you are working for "The Man". Thank God for "The Man"- no matter what color he or she is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! People complain about jobs going off shore (except for Hollywood stars who slip away to Canada to make movies while complaining about other jobs going overseas)- well, stop bitching about big business and big corporations and get legislation passed that isn't punitive toward their success. Stop complaining about success. Without it, you'd be making those candles out of cowfat to carry to your outhouse behind your tent off your dirt road that you walk down to get your news from the pony express agent.

Obama the morning after

2008-02-12T19:54:00.000-08:00

It may be a given that Obama will be the democratic nominee. His appeal is based on charm rather than experience and on broad, sweeping notions that populist politicians have used for thousands of years. He cannot possibly do the things he says, and he knows it. But at least he says it, and now he can blame Congress for cheating him of his great "dreams". He models himself so much after jfk that he has even hired one of Kennedy's former speechwriters to craft his words. (Never mind that Kennedy stepped aside for his elders on his first go round- Obama won't risk that). But say, just say, he wins. WINS- now what do you have? Hillary was right about it- she might not have very much more experience than Obama, but she DOES know where the bathrooms are and where the staff comes from. The federal government undergoes a MASSIVE realignment when a new president, especially one from a party that hasn't been in the White House for 8 years, comes into office. With a swift and brutal immediacy the new President must find staff. The occasional newly ex-president leaves some behind that can be useful, but the new President must find hundreds and hundreds of new people who need to know their jobs very quickly. Very quickly. The most shocking transition in modern times was that of the Clinton administration- there was a distinct lack of respect for the White House because they were very young, and very inexperienced. The stories of pizza boxes on the floors, tank tops and a general demeanor of a college campus rather than a serious workplace were legend. This was from a man who had been a governor. It wasn't as if he had come from nowhere. But Obama has not had any of that experience. The day he wakes up and moves into the White house will be a sobering one indeed. He will,like all before him, owe people. Those will be the ones who get the plum jobs. Political jobs for political people and all that entails. No real background. No real responsibility- let alone for the world. TO whomever wins- and particularly Mr Obama-good luck. I do not envy your dream when you wake from it- probably the morning after your Inauguration, when you see yourself in the mirror and no one, not a soul, can tell you what to do next. The weight of the world all for you.

Barry, Ron and Me

2008-02-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I loved politics. From the time my mother cut my bangs like Mamie Eisenhower til the time I had a red knit skirt and top and pill box hat like jackie Kennedy, I was into politics. I still am. I love it and hate it all at the same time. I read and study every aspect, and I vote with a religious fervor. I haven't ever missed an election. And I sit up all night watching returns. I know the issues because I AM the issues- I invest and trade in stocks, pay taxes, am a RN with subscriptions to magazines with the innovations in health, read a lot of commentary by people much smarter than I am, own a home and keep myself insured. I was active in the school systems when my kids were in school, and I donate to charities and volunteer in the things I am interested in. In other words, I am an American. I am fairly well educated. Because of several flukes, I had to take US History UP to the first World War THREE times. Luckily it wasn't many years later that I was born, so the knowledge gap wasn't that big. We were a busy little country during that time. Lots of dates and people. (Btw, it wasn't because I failed it- it was a course in my junior high school, a history credit in my high school, and then a college credit from the University of New Orleans because my grad school wanted me to come with a history credit, and that was the only course that was available with my work schedule). And my greatest memory of political involvement is the fervor with which I believed in Barry Goldwater. I had Goldwater buttons by the handful. I went to SCHOOL with Goldwater buttons on my shirt! I wore a Goldwater button on my gym suit (yep- a blue baggy thing with snaps on the front) that they made me take off for safety reasons. When my guy, Barry, lost the election to the incredibly cheesy and annoying LBJ, I sat in my room and cried. Cried like Tracy Flick. My father, a reformed Democrat who voted for Barry on my behalf, reminded me that "no matter who wins, this country will go on and politics will go on, and it's okay". I didn't stop crying for a couple of days (My husband says that was due to my loyalty gene). But he was right. Kennedy was barely okay- the war escalated and all that changed our society forever- and it's been progressively more socialistic in our country since he took office. So today, for some reason, I wondered WHY I loved Goldwater. So I went to wikipedia, and to wikiquote, and it became very, very clear. I loved Goldwater because he was the politician that I always envisioned the founders of our country would have been. That all that sleepiness I had in American History 101 still couldn't cloud what our country was MEANT to be versus what it has become. And that patriotic fervor for the constitutional vision- well, this year it is embodied by Ron Paul. I am shocked at my libertarianism! I always thought I was a Republican, but really, in my heart, I don't like the federal government. It robs me blind! I'd give so much more voluntarily to the groups I love, but the feds take it and force me to give it to groups I don't love. I won't go farther- but I know that Ron Paul won't win this nomination. But like the patriots who dumped the tea, I have to take a stand. I have to believe that some pork loving senators must shake in their boots to see so much ground swell for a real candidate. Someone who represents PEOPLE who work and want the freedom to govern locally. So Ron, I hope you show them. I'm behind you like I was behind Goldwater. But now I know why! And the day you bow out, I will sit and cry like I did for Barry. Then I will have to go with the masses and pick the guy I wanted second. Good luck, Ron. Barry would have loved you.

Why John Edwards Can't Win

2008-01-23T19:46:00.001-08:00

Due to all the sniping between Obama and Clinton(s) (pick one), there has been some sentiment that John Edwards will slide into the position of nominee. And why? The reason given is how good he appears to be in the debates- so smooth, so eloquent. But what you are really seeing is the performance of a slick, well trained, well composed personal injury attorney who is used to manipulating juries and witnesses in order to get what he wants. Not what would be best, not what would be fair, not what would be true- but what is most going to get him 40-50% of a financial award from a jury. Personal injury attorneys are facile, and often they are facile liars. They say whatever it takes to win. But being president is not about being facile, it is, in fact, about being as brutally honest as the facts will allow. It is not about lying, as Bill Clinton learned. Bush didn't lie to the American people- he believed what he was told by the American and British intelligence agencies. That is what he is supposed to do. But Edwards has made a living being a professional liar.
If you can set aside that objection (some might agree that no lawyer should ever be president), then you must look at Edwards the person. Has there ever been a candidate with more vanity or ego? And by vanity- I mean, a $400 haircut? A 23,000 square foot house? A personal gym that is the SIZE of a professional gymnasium? As for ego- what kind of man goes on the campaign trail while his wife battles cancer? Much less drags small children around? And flies in private jets while preaching about the environment? And just possibly has paid off a mistress who is carrying his child right now?
There just isn't much more that could be wrong with this guy. Remember that it is incredibly easy to say whatever it will take to win the case. In this instance, the case is the Presidency and the reward is not 40%, but it is having your name in the history books for posterity. This guy can promise you ANYTHING and lie about ANYTHING to get what he wants. He is a PI plaintiffs lawyer and a politician- a combination of the two of the most character compromising jobs on earth. And he fails the test of common decency for me.
If John Edwards doesn't make the little hairs on the back on your neck stand up, then it is time for you to reread the Book of Fear and get back in touch with all your instinctive warning signals. This is a dangerous man.

The Credit Debt nation- the Coming Economic Disaster

2008-01-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

While the stock market exhuberantly jumped during the great dotcom debacle in the late 90s, Clinton fiddled while the country prepared to burn. Over the past 10 years, though mortgages were relatively cheaper than almost any other time in US history, usurious lenders, knowing their prey couldn't keep up with the inevitable rise in payments, encouraged people to overbuy and underfinance their homes. With glee, they profited. A day late and a dollar short to the party, the economic chiefs of the federal government once again act surprised at the shock to the economy. But let me tell you right now that those two events, certainly the first far more damaging to portfolios and retirement funds than the second, are NOTHING compared to what is about to happen over the next year as the market falls and sucks under the millions of Americans who live with crushing credit card debt. Just as no one addressed the stupidity of IPO's for companies that made nothing and had nothing yet sold for hundreds of dollars per share, and just as no one addressed the mortgage industry in collusion with housing inspectors and greedy realtors as they encouraged people to stretch beyond their means resulting in the current housing mess, yep, just as those things brought down Wall Street, so will the rampant issuing of credit to people who cannot pay their bills. As people refinance, they will be at higher levels of mortgage payments. As the housing market cools, their house value falls. They are paying for a house that is not worth what they paid for it. But pay for it they must. And as the market decompresses like a leaky balloon, so will jobs and pay. As gas rises and the expense of utilities rises, the pay check of all Americans will shrink. But most importantly, these very same people- and it is too easy to call them irresponsible- will no longer pay even the most minimal of their credit card payments. Credit card companies exist not for the convenience of everyday life, but for the usurious practice of punishing non-payments. At some point, the interest rate on the unpaid balance is laughable. There is no point in the debtor paying as the items they financed are now distant memories. They no longer even remember what they bought. We are a shamelessly acquisitive society. And millions do it on someone else's dime. When the payments stop, when the credit card company now has unpaid debt at levels in the billions, the house of credit cards will collapse. It will make the dotcom and housing busts look like minor blips. The federal government, which has loved having its nose in almost everyone's business, has ignored this sleeping giant of disaster. And it isn't the fault of the "rich"- it is the fault of EVERYONE who has one (or a hundred) maxed out credit cards whose limits were raised over and over and over by the greedy credit card companies and the stupid, greedy people who have used them as a lending institution rather than getting a loan. If you are in credit card debt, get the hell out of it. Pay your bills honestly. Bankruptcy is for thieves. The credit card companies need to be stopped from having lending rates over the current competitive interest rates. No more 25% interest rates. They should be forced to limit credit for people with unpaid balances, not extend it. It is time to stop this problem before it decimates our economy. Be sure you have stop sell orders on your stocks. Because it certainly looks like we are all in for trouble. And it will be the people who actually pay their bills who get hurt the worst. But if you think you are safe because you haven't gotten into the stock market, you aren't. When the economy derails, when people are hurt financially, everything from schools to the arts are in jeopardy. Do what you have to do to protect yourself, and don't spend money you don't have. Like your grandparents were proud to do.

IOWA 2008

2008-01-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

I am hugely political. I follow it because who we elect is really important. Particularly now that the federal government is a giant morass full of self-serving egotists that we, collectively, have put into office, pay exhorbitantly for, and not fired enough on a regular basis. Why haven't we fired them? Because then we won't get OUR pork. It needs to stop. People who become successes shouldn't have to pay more taxes just because they work harder and longer. People who save shouldn't have their estates stolen when they die. Ah well, that is not the point of this. To be perfectly honest, at this point I am totally behind Ron Paul. Totally. But I know that might not work out. Even if he got elected, I don't know if he could DO anything. So here is the analysis of the Iowa results:

Barack Obama- the Tax man. Obama is probably pretty surprised by his success. He is the epitome of what white guilt and the blinding optimism of the underemployed can do. His catch phrase should be "Let them make and we will take it!!!" When I was 15, that would have sounded like a great idea. But, unfortunately, I had parents who didn't give me stuff but made me earn it. I put myself through almost all of my college and 100% of my graduate schooling. I still save like starving pack rat. And I don't want to give it away. So Obama, who looks eerily like someone with a heart defect- and I mean that in the physical way because I think he is probably a guy with a very fine emotional heart- scares me. First of all, I think he needs to be checked for Marfan's. Then he needs to find out why his lips are dark blue. That is not a natural color for lips, even in someone who is "biracial". I keep waiting for the news that he has dropped dead- much to everyone's surprise but mine. Oh, okay, I digress. Maybe in 8 years Obama can be ready. He is SO naive, so gullible and so unicorn tears, that I just can't see it happening. It's easy to steal money from hard working people- or the dreaded "rich"- but very hard to make a bloated government work and cut back. I don't think he can do it. And by the way- why is Barack Obama considered to be an "african american". He is his OWN race. He may be a mix of two races, but it is his white mother who stuck around. Yep. Dad went on the lam. It is impossible to be biracial. It's a NEW race. Let's all think up a great name for it. (Whack?)(Blite?)

Hillary Clinton- well, was this really a surprise? Some men have come right out and said it- and those men were democrats. They WANT to vote for a woman- maybe a woman who combines her brains and her womanness- like say, Elizabeth Dole. But they don't want to listen to a woman president who addresses their primal need to escape their mother and sometimes, their wife. Mrs Clinton has made some lethal errors in her campaign. There is a difference between confidence and arrogance. She says this time she will get the health care system "right". Oh really? The health care system is struggling because of the changes she made- with help from a bunch of useless academics from places like Princeton. Tons of very bright kids are no longer interested in medicine, leaving the field wide open for foreign educated physicians. She ruined health care and made it far harder for poor people to receive care. But the worst thing she did was keep that lying cheating son of a bitch in her bed. She's right- she is NO Tammy Wynette. She is a desperate, pathethic, ridiculous woman whose husband has a serious problem with his morals. The average checker at Target has more integrity about that. Then she insults women by implying she is smarter and less "hick" then the rest of us. Well, she is no girlfriend of mine. Screw her. I'm glad men are finally confessing that her voice makes them run to the golf course or bar.

John Edwards- Mr Edwards is a moral coward. He uses a dying wife and his small kids as sympathy getters. He would have my respect if he at least shut up and went home and took care of business in his 28,000 sq ft house with full gymnasium. He is the worst kind of person- he thinks he is worth millions simply because he can trick juries. How will he adjust to living in the crappy, old White House? Why vote for someone who is always looking for the angle? The government is a BUSINESS. Oh sure, Edwards knows how to talk. He has made millions manipulating juries. He knows what to say. But his wife is on her way out. He will be the sole parent to those two little kids. He is amoral and irresponsible. I can't wait to see the mud that will fly at him. In different phases of my life, I might have voted for Obama or Clinton. But never could I give up enough integrity to vote for a sleazy, ambluance chaser who takes 40-50% of settlement money that he squeezed out of insurance companies and doctors. What a jackass.

Mike "the Baptist" Huckabee- like an avenging angel, Huckabee has risen to the top with an almost ethereal ease. The lesson to the left is plain- there are ALOT of people who believe in God. There are ALOT of Christians in this Judeo-Christian nation. And most of them DON'T go to church or get all wound up speaking in tongues. But the left has demonized religion. If you vote Republican, then by definition you are a cross-carrying Bible thumper out to make everyone do it your way. Sometimes I wonder just what the hell those leftists are DOING to be so afraid of religion. What are you guys doing??And don't hand me that "Christians can't judge" crap. I've addressed that before. OF COURSE they can. We ALL judge everyone every day. We don't even need to be Christian to do that. Jesus judged people. The ten commandments are judgments on what is right or wrong. But because the left has poked religion so many times, and made people out to be racist and stupid and hypocritical for believing in their religion, now, even the people who don't go to church but sort of like a nativity scene, are all riled up. Yep, I said it. They are ALL RILED UP. And when you start poking people in their religion, then they will turn to the avenger. There are two sides to this one- and I see both of them. But when push comes to shove, I'd prefer a guy with some real religion in that office. I want him or her to think that someone else CAN punish them for stealing or lying or cheating. No one ever mentioned Clinton's religion- but they mentioned Reagan's. I don't know why the left doesn't want the right to have religion. So Huckabee has a lead right now and we will see how it works out. Everyone thought Kennedy would bring the Pope over. He didn't. But he almost got us all killed anyway. So I wouldn't worry about the religion of a candidate because I doubt Huckabee is going to have a lot of time to ban dancing in Peoria.

Mitt "the Mormon" Romney- notice the trend to indentify Republican candidates by their religion- just so voters are REALLY in the know that they might elect a Christian. And God only knows where THAT will take us all. I live near Mormon's. Sometimes, they visit. They look young and friendly. You don't see spiffy black ties like that anymore- even on morticians. Very clean and well prepared for disaster. If the big one hits up here, I am going to go visit all the Mormons I know. I can't even keep bottled water in my car let alone a year's worth in the gargage. One of my best friends got pregnant having sex (I guess that is self explanatory) in her dorm room at Brigham Young. (I don't know how she got a boy IN her dorm room back then). Her Mormon boyfriend hit the high road upon hearing the news. I have to say however, that his parents tried to stick around for her. But that is beside the point. Mother Nature wins out over religion most of the time anyway. Back to Romney. Romney looks like a president. He doesn't look like he will die any time soon (like Rudy and Barack and maybe McCain on a bad day). He is young enough to look optimistic yet old enough to look like he could do it. I can't invest much energy in Mitt. Yet. I don't care if he is a Mormon. That is not exactly like Scientology. I have to wait to see what happens here. I don't know what to think about him yet.

John "war hero from 40 years ago" McCain- proving that I, too, can be a waffler- I know one thing: McCain is probably the best candidate in the field. But he is too little, too late. His wife had some unfortunate drug issues (no worse than Obama, who is actually a candidate), and as I remember it involved theft of drugs from patients? No? Yes? Not the same as Betty Ford drinking nail polish remover or whatever that was. I can't look at Cindy McCain. But boy, does John McCain love that woman. So she must have something besides a huge leathery liver and a great plastic surgeon. McCain is the kind of guy I'd like for a neighbor. He seems so honest and so open and willing to change. But he also has a history of cancer, a wife with addiction issues, and he is getting old to pull the VietNam card. My brother was in VietNam- that doesn't mean squat now. I am sorry McCain has never had the charisma he needed. But he is toast.

Ron "get the feds OUT of my state" Paul- if ever a grass roots effort to get a candidate into office could succeed, maybe this will be the one. Ron Paul, an aging, Muppet (tm) faced libertarian masquerading as a Republican, speaks to my heart. I love you Ron Paul. I, too, cannot believe what has happened to our nation. Oh, it's not Iraq- if Iraq gets a democracy it will be the greatest story since crushing the Nazi's and Japanese. People love that as an issue but it isn't the issue. Thanks to those fighting over there, too. They are changing the world. I personally don't care if the middle east blows up-let France worry about it and I'll walk until we find gas. . But I am glad SOMEONE cares enough to go try to put one sane nation over there. But really, after the national defense and interstate highways- what the hell is the federal government there for? I'm sick of what congresspeople make for salaries and retirement while regulating MINE. Get the hell out of here. Go Go . Oh, Ron, Ron Paul- can I be your vice president?

Rudy "Mr 9/11"Guiliani- isn't he the anti-Hillary? He actually gets divorced. He throws his women to the curb like hookers on Sunday morning. I don't like him. Why? He is so skeletally unattractive- that's why. Just as Hillary is abrasive- this guy is just plain scary looking. Those teeth. Yeah- it's superficial. But I think he has (or had) a little too much fun. If you know what I mean. I don't want an emotionally complicated guy in office. I want a guy who loves his wife, preferably his first wife and maybe his second one but not his third. And I want a guy who looks like a president. Like Kennedy did, or Reagan. Clinton always looked like he was going to touch someone inappropriately. (ha and he did!) Jimmy Carter always looked scared and stupid. (no comment) I want a guy who looks like he was cast for the role. And Rudy, nice job on 9/11. But it isn't enough. Anyone can be a hero (well, except for the mayor of NO who ran to Dallas after Katrina) in an emergency. I need a reliable and somewhat predictable president. I get no feeling of that from what you say. And maybe others don't either? I do have to say I thank him for making New York City a place you can visit without being murdered or mugged. New York City, pre Rudy, was the most depressing, almost science fictional, experience of my life. It was truly dark, dangerous, dirty and brooding. In the late 70s, I couldn't get out of New York fast eough- and I'd only been there for 3 days. If you never saw it, you wouldn't believe it is the same place. Good job, Rudy. Now go retire or something.

Taxation without Representation

2007-11-11T13:58:00.001-08:00

When Barack Obama just announced he would tax more of wages to put more money into the Ponzi scheme that is social security, what he did was announce that he did not believe in the Constitution. Yep. Because using the people without their consent is what he wants to do. Steal your money. Congress is quite adept at stealing your money. The purpose of the Federal government is to provide for the common defense- and kick in some dough for the interstate highway system. And look at what has happened. They have become a monstrous cancer that no longer responds to the voter. Now even a political candidate thinks NOTHING of saying he can take more of YOUR money to fix a problem. Money never fixes problems- unless they are with your car. Solutions fix problems - and MORE money is hardly ever the solution. Sane thinking, policy revisions, and voter approval should be the order of the day in ALL politics. I am sick and tired of paying taxes. Tons of taxes. I am taxed on everything I touch and so are you. At some point, the people who work the hardest, went to school the longest, have the most experience and drive will have no more income. And with that will come no more drive. It will benefit you to divest yourself of everything you own, put it into tax free bonds and never pay tax again. If you run out of money, get other people to pay for you. That is what taxes are for now. To make you pay for other people and other states and other countries. When you pay property tax, you pay for other people's children to get poor educations and special education and have all their special needs met (regardless of that cost to children who can be educated), when you pay gas tax you pay for roads and bridges that have never been built, when you elect a Congressman you have someone who will get a retirement package that boggles the mind, and YOU pay for it. Now Obama, rather than respecting the incredible effort that goes into everyday labor- be it mental or physical- wants YOU to pay more and more. First more for social security then more for the "working poor" and then without the line item veto, roads in Massachusetts and subsidies for corn farmers and free jet rides for lobbyists. This is what we have come to. So Barack, I hope Americans can now see how little you think of them. How unimaginative you are- how party line, how full of crap. I am glad the University of Chicago cleared up your claim of having been a law professor. I saw you get a little bit of your lying self dragged over the coals by Tim Russert. You want more money for social security? Well, you can't HAVE it. You and everyone in Washington has such a blatant disregard for your citizenry. You are arrogant and presumptuous to think we will swallow more taxes. Americans don't feel represented anymore. And it's time for Congress people to stop acting like it is their show, because it isn't. It is OURS- the people of the United States. But we have grown so used to just "paying up" that we don't notice. It's TIME to notice.

The New Improved Dumbledore

2007-10-22T21:21:00.001-07:00

So J K Rowling, called "Jo" by her buds, now says that Dumbledore is gay. I don't get it. Why does Dumbledore have to be anything? I don't know what the sexual orientation of Snape is. Maybe she should have made a list for us? What is the big deal that she has to bring up the sexuality of a character in what is, essentially, a children's book? What the hell has happened to childhood- you know, that place where kids were allowed to have imaginations, not to be taught about human sexuality before they are ready? In order to have a child KNOW what gay is, you will have to tell them what straight is, which they know anyway. But then you will have to explain more than that. Believe me, only the dumbest kid is going to accept the explanation that two guys are "together". If you haven't been a parent, then you don't know. It never ends there. THEN you are going to have to have a sex talk and keep it as brief as possible though neither YOU nor your kid is ready for it. Why should children care about Dumbledore's sexuality? why should they care about anyone's sexuality? I have no idea why this is applauded. Children live in a fairly sexless world for a long time. They can observe sexuality and ask questions about it when THEY are ready. Not because the best selling author of all time has decided that there is no time like the present. It isn't old fashioned to say that children deserve some time of innocence. They are exposed to so much, and really, isn't this just a woman who choose to announce it AFTER- and LONG AFTER- she has made a fortune. If she's such a damn hero, then why didn't she put it in the very FIRST book and announce it right then? Ah- maybe no money there. I used to think this woman was amazing- now I think she is a coward. If you are going to do something, do it up front- don't sneak it in after your billion is in the bank and now you feel very self righteous and feel you now have the time to make a statement. It's bizarre.

Al Gore- Nobel Peace Prize Winner

2007-10-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

Today Al Gore, the inventor of the internet BUT not the inventor of Earth Day, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Prize, especially in any political venue, is basically a prize awarded by socialists to other socialists for socialist reasons. It is easy to see why giving a peace award to someone who hasn't had jack to do with peace his whole life makes sense. It is because the socialists of the Nobel committee would like George Bush to be embarassed and what better way than to find a way to give Al Gore an award! Never mind that other people have been FAR more active than Gore in environmental activism. Never mind that he has about 10 really serious blatant lies in his "documentary" that have been disproven. Throw all that out the window. Even then, you are left with a man who has, at times, appeared to be crazy. Done and said things that someone manic would do and say. He has had some bald faced lies about himself exposed and he just gives that stupid smile. Socialists hate the US, and many of the Swedes only like the US when a nazi is at their door. What better way to promote the cause of liberalism (though Gore, a bit crazy, is not really much of a liberal) than to make Gore a hero. Well, Al Gore is still Al Gore. The socialists think that Bush is crying tonight, but the truth is that Hillary Clinton is wishing murder was legal. This guy is the dead horse that won't go away. Pardon me if I am not in a tizzy about global warming. We'll all die from nuclear war before we die from global warming. When I was in college, the next ice age was being predicted. We have no idea how many times the polar ice has come undone in the past. We live on the big blue ball in space and it is alive. We cannot kill it- it can only kill us. I'll be in the first wave to go- not because I live in an area that would go underwater, or an area that is without water- but precisely because I do NOT live in those areas. Everyone would want to live in my house. It is crazy to award a PEACE prize to Gore- but they were determined, and there isn't an Inventor of the Internet prize, so peace would have to do! Congratulations Al. For all your efforts in promoting world peace. Oh, and for having a $30,000 electrical bill last year as well as a 20 room house. Good going, Mr Environment!

How do you spell Dr Boob?

2007-09-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

There is a woman, a certain Harvard grad, Ms Currier, who is now being given extra time in the middle of her medical board exams to express breast milk. She sued because she couldn't get her time to pump and that is a violation of (naturally) her "rights". In the interest of explaining what a pain in the ass this woman must be, she ALSO has been extended extra time because she has "dyslexia" and "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder". So I am giving out her name in case you missed it. It is public knowledge and not slander- she wants it known. That would be Currier- Sophie Currier. She will be at the Mass General hospital as a resident (after taking 2 days to pass a 1 day exam- if she's lucky). If you should happen to check into that hospital, you might request a different doctor, depending on YOUR preferences. I would personally prefer NOT to have a doctor who received special treatment during a licensing exam, had dyslexia and/or ADHD, and who obviously can't figure her way out of a paper bag because she has a LITTLE baby that doesn't drink all that much and could express her milk easily in 20 minutes. If she can't, I can show her how. Having fed a baby that way in my life, I can tell you that it is no big damn deal to express. I didn't have an electric pump either. Just a little hand held jobber. Much faster.BIG deal. Oh, she was going to be in AGONY-oh, boo hoo. There have probably been hundreds of breast feeding mothers in this exam room before her. Those women acted like professionals. And of course, some lawyer took her case and the and judge overruled the medical board. Now she gets an extra DAY because of all of her issues. Doctors shouldn't be dyslexic. Period. There is a HUGE difference between Dilantin and Dilaudid. And things like 14 mgm and 41 mgm. Whatever her disability is, she chose the wrong profession. Of course, all that special treatment she has gotten because of her "disability" means that she has received an advantage over the people who don't have a disability. She should not have gone to medical school. If she can't read, can't pay attention, can't concentrate and can't go for 9 hours with only a short break, then she should have been counseled OUT of medicine. She has probably been a BURDEN for her classmates to lug through med school, and now she will be a BURDEN for her colleagues. This isn't about breast milk, this is about her sense of entitlement. Her sense of being allowed extra everything because she is "special". Really? Well, they say every med school class has someone who finished last in the class- and I guess there should be the same expression for the most self-entitled. Would you REALLY want a doctor to take care of you who claims so many mental disabilities that would deal with your safety? She can't claim to have all this wrong with her and then say it won't matter to the patient. I say- remember that name. Thank God it came up in the media. Because now you know- there is a dylexic, ADHD, gotta leave you bleeding on the floor because she has to pump or pee, doctor about to take her place in medicine.

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/blog/2007/09/judge_rules_aga.html for the initial ruling, which was reversed in the courts.

Owen Wilson gets the Attention

2007-08-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

When all the news broke about Owen Wilson's suicide gesture, everyone acted surprised. I would assume this is because Mr Wilson seems very affable in his movie roles and rather sunny during press interviews. But you ask anyone who has gotten into a fist fight with Owen in the past, and they will tell you that he at least has a temper he doesn't seem to show everyone. It's a function of celebrity that we pretty much believe what we see. We noticed that the Hoff seemed to be a pretty sweet and uncoordinated drunk when his kids were around. We notice that Britney and Lindsay seem to have "issues". But Owen, well, he seemed immune. He didn't even have that aura of bisexuality that Matthew McConaughey has. There wasn't a hint of confusion about Owen, or a snippet of viewable depression, or a show of bad temper or even bad manners. He put forth a personna that we believed- including the lovable stoned guy on talk shows. On the celebrity blogs, if the posters there are to be believed, then Mr Wilson has had a very quiet drug problem. One which may, or may not depending on the veracity of a poster, have involved a stay at a rehab clinic- and not a fancy pantsy one either. Some say he also checked into the equivalent of the Ritz rehab also. What becomes of almost middle aged men who still believe that the girls will always love them and that their opportunities to be husbands and fathers will always lie ahead of them, and that they can drink/smoke/drug to abandon without consequence? What happens to these celebrities when they realize that they are now the "old guys" they made fun of. Owen Wilson is not a spring chicken- even if he is, make that WAS, box office gold. Did reality really hit him squarely between the eyes and make him look around at his "whole lotta nothin'"? I don't know Owen Wilson. I actually don't care about knowing him. But I care that he would believe his own hype, and take himself so seriously, that he could scratch on his arm and take some pills(allegedly) and then call his brother (allegedly). Unlike a lot of bloggers, I am not going to act as if I know what is best for him. I don't. But he comes from a stable family, has loving brothers, and surely could at least get help on some level- be it for addiction or depression or both. But frankly, with all his blessings, he just annoys me. I know money doesn't make one immune to depression, but it can buy a boatload of help. He should get help for as many years as it takes.

Holding Hands and Wishing People Dead

2007-08-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

One of my friends fervently wishes our current president was dead. And by fervently, I mean with great, deep, somewhat inexplicable anger. It is inexplicable because she doesn't know this man, or respect the fact that he has a wife and children, or that he is loyal to a fault, and decent and believes in God, and that he hasn't drafted one solder in this war, or whatever it is that would cause someone to wish him dead. Another friend said "well, wouldn't YOU wish hillary was dead?" And I was dumbstruck that anyone would believe I could actually wish someone would DIE because I didn't like their politics. I used to run for class office and things like that. I'm still pretty competitive. But I do know one thing- politicians do not really care about you. I repeat that line a lot. Because they want to be elected, they cannot be trusted. None of them. I think that most politicians pretty much think that voters are stupid and easily led. Your leaders have been leaders ALL of their lives. Trust me, even in kindergarten the other kids would wait to see what that little leader kid did first and then follow them. Only the other politicially adept kids didn't care what that kid did UNLESS all the other kids followed him. Politicians like one another because they KNOW what it is all about. During a "presidential debate" they all but wink at one another because they know the crap stirring will be done by the people sitting in front of them- that is, YOU and ME. Their hands stay clean because talk is cheap. If you gave Hillary a gun, and told her to shoot Obama, she might do it just to get him out of the way, but not because of his politics- but because she might win if he wasn't there like a big thorn in her side. But she would NOT shoot Bush. Why? Because he is not really a threat to her as a politician. Her job is safe with him. Why would someone who seems normal in all other respects blindly wish someone would die? There is just not a reasonable explanation to that. I don't wish anyone on earth would die- and it would have to be a horrible monstrous person who raped and murdered a lot of people to get on my list. I am big on solitary incarceration. I'm not holier than thou on that- I just know that war is different from daily life. People who are randomly killed in society are different from soldiers in a war zone. And politicians are different from us. They don't have to do anything for you- they just want your vote. Period. They go to cocktail parties while you sit home hating and agonizing and ruining your own life. Maybe it is time to turn off the television and enjoy your life.

The Balancing Act of Health Care Reform and the Reality of Profit.

2007-06-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

First let me say that I am really proud to be an American. And I believe that America is about initiative. It really is a country for people who want to get somewhere. It is also the most generous country on earth. The recent numbers of individual giving are staggering. All given to get work done through the non-profit and church sector. The system works beautifully. And for the reward for giving, not only do you get some self-satisfaction, but also you get a tax write off. The government itself is not great at giving- because your congressmen just can't do it unless it means they will get votes. Dems, Repubs- doesn't matter. If it doesn't get them votes, or allow them to trade votes for add ons for bills, then they don't care. It's their job to get votes and they take it very seriously. As for health care- if one is to be completely honest, Hillary made this mess. And for that alone, she deserves not to run. She wasn't doing anything but getting in over her head and getting the support of such academics as Uwe Reinhardt to make it all look sound. Mr Reinhardt has now become the ultimate capitalist using speaking fees to denounce all sorts of current medical care. I actually had a letter published once in the Wall Street Journal- it was quite long and they did not edit it but allowed me to vent a bit. Mr Reinhardt has become my "one eyebrowed baby". He is an expert of complaint. I remember that my kids once had an AP Biology teacher who was openly distainful of physicians (though they paid tuition in full at that private school)- she often told her kids that doctors earned too much money. But do they? How do you compensate physicians who take incredible legal risk just by opening their doors? After all, there are hungry malpractice lawyers to feed. Like John Edwards, who almost single handedly put obstetricians out of work in this country over the most debatable of issues- that of whether or not an obstetrician is actually responsible for all cases of cerebral palsy. Now, with decades of fetal monitoring, we know that infants are born with cerebral palsy even after normal deliveries. Of course, with very little thought one can deduce that during 9 months in utero, a developing fetus can encounter many episodes of hypoxia- twisted cord, compression of the cord near term, low blood pressure in the mother just from postural events- none of which have anything to do with the obstetrician. But with vultures like John Edwards practising to put obstetricians out of business, why would anyone even want to be a physician? So IF you take away the financial rewards, or what is left of financial rewards, what exactly IS the incentive for a bright (and believe me, stupid doesn't DO med school) student to do 4 years of college, 4 years or more of expensive medical education, 4 or more years of post doctoral training, and themn years of debt repayment? No other position requires such intelligence, and such dedication and sacrifice of home life. NOT ONE. So here we go again. Health care has become very expensive. Most of the expense comes from the two ends of the spectrum- the immense cost of keeping immature neonates alive and the immense cost of prolonging life that is soon to be lost. The cost of chronic disease is also in there. Countries like England solve problems by the built in delays in their system. By the time the chronically ill and failing in health elderly person gets into the care system, they are close to death and rational countries (who haven't the well developed malpractise system) allow them to die. Many countries do not resuscitate the smallest neonates. Much less carry them for months only to have most be developmentally disabled. It may sound cruel, but this is alot of the cost we talk about. As for bone marrow transplants, those are very, very expensive. You should have a very big savings account and fund raise for those- since many do NOT work. Technically they are experimental. No one wants insurance companies or drug companies to make money. Really? So they should just work for the public good? If you can get my car mechanic, grocery store and gas station to do that, I'd really appreciate it. If you want an MRI, someone HAS to pay for the machine, the person operating the machine, the scheduler who gets you into the books, the insurance coder who files your insurance, the proper person to read your MRI, the person to type up your MRI results, the person who mails your bill, the person who purchases the paper your results are copied on, the person who takes your parking ticket, and the people who buy the supplies for the MRI and brings them up to the MRI lab. Unless you can get your OWN MRI machine, this is the cost of modern innovation. In order to FIX the health care system, you have to first guarantee that profits can be made. Or you will no longer have insurance companies, physicians, professional RNs or drugs in the system. Then it won't be just broken- it will be gone. Good luck figuring out this one.

Bye Bette Midler

2007-05-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

If there has been a musical constant in my life, besides the Beatles and Elton John and Rod Stewart and...., well, it's Bette Midler. Never mind that we were born on the same day- years apart, but nonetheless, the same day. When I first saw her on Johnny Carson, I adored her. That hair- that personality- that sense of humor. But over the years, she has succumbed to the wonderfulness of herself. She got political and strident, and well, not entertaining anymore. She made bad movies and sang some bad songs. And all of that I took with a grain of salt. After all, she is far more talented than the likes of me- she has more guts too. She gained and lost weight, got married and had a late in life baby, and lived her larger than life existence. But sometimes it is best to realize what is happening to your voice. And she didn't learn from Carson that there is a beauty to retiring on top. Now we watch the incredible decline of Bette Midler into the misery of screechy, off key singing and parody performance. It is a terrible thing to see. And painful to me- because if Better is getting old, then hell, so am I. And I don't want the botox and face lifts so I guess I might even look older than she does. But her performance on American Idol was horrible- a sad and embarrassing way for her to exhibit herself. The guys at Ceasar's Palace have to be panicking right now. When Celine Dion, their cash cow, takes her final bow, who will pay money to see Bette Midler yodel her way into infamy? I actually would have gone to see her but that was before the AI appearance, and now I know. It reminded me of when we saw Wayne Newton a couple of years ago- he was AWFUL, but he was such an entertainer and had such a good backup singer that he could do his schtick and we could get free champagne. It was still a travesty and a shame, but there was a trade off. With Midler, you will get a political lecture with her bad performance. So think twice about it! I am sorry to bid adieu but I can't pay that kind of dough to be lectured and watch someone who was once my American Idol reduced to that.

Michael Moore, Health Care and Common Sense

2007-05-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Nothing gets me as surprised as the demand for Universal Health Care. One letter to an editor said the rich (defined as anyone making over 500K a year by this particular angry idiot) should pay 60% tax so that this could be done! At that rate, there will be no more rich. ZThen who will keep the economy going? And frankly, only a stupid person could even suggest that we stifle innovation and creativity and ambition by taxing it for being successful. There should be a 10-15% flat tax for everyone and everything. One person said health care is a right. No, it isn't. It isn't a basic right at all. It is a basic need, but NOT a basic right. No doctor has to treat someone just because they walk in anymore than a car salesman owes you a car because you enter the dealership. The problem with healthcare is that modern healthcare is very expensive. Rather than tax the rich, tax the fat, the lazy, the non-exercisers, the genetically flawed, etc. Of course, that makes no sense. But neither does punishing citizens in a capitalistic society if they made money. The rantings of the liberal left usually don't include THEIR money. There is no law that prohibits you from mailing in money to the federal government to support health care. If you think it's so important, then mail YOUR money in. Most people do pay for their own health care. And in many places, the public hospitals never turn anyone away. You don't have a right to bankrupt the system or steal from the "rich" because you think you don't have to pay for your own healthcare. Doctors and nurses have a lot of training, have grueling jobs doing things that most people won't even think about, and they sacrifice a great deal of personal time all at the risk of lawyers taking it back for themselves. Things like bone marrow transplants are NOT done in socialized medicine countries. End of life care is simply letting people die- not like here. Most of the technology used in socialized medicine countries comes from the US. There is a terrible, terrible price to be paid if we force more taxes on people. Healthcare itself is fine. It is the cost of healthcare that is prohibitive. The poor have always gone to teaching hospitals for care- and it is excellent care. But now, due to the chronic complainers in our country, poor people have been led to believe that if they go to public hospitals that they will be lab rats for physicians and nurses in training. It couldn't be further from the truth. I could fix health care easily- public support of teaching hospitals and clinics would help. And most of the people who use most of the health care system have diseases that are caused by lifestyle. They have to take responsibility for what they do. The tax should come from cigarettes and alcohol and sugar- the biggest problems in our society. Not from people who are working and investing. They don't owe you that.

Losing America

2007-04-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

I have heard predictions about the end of the earth- with global warming either being fact or a huge hoax, OR nuclear proliferation in southeast Asia and the middle East, or just simple extinction of the human race by bird flu, pick your poison. But the end of the United States? The great experiment that our brilliant founding fathers began with hope that a true Republic could exist with democratic principles. But the problem seems to be that the idea was smarter than the people it would be left to. Like a beautiful engine, it worked until someone threw a wrench in it. And the wrench is called the hyphen. The people who worked and planned this country, who founded the corporations that proved that only a system that allows human achievement can flourish, who established the idea of a jury of your peers, who believed that people can elect intelligent and forthright leaders, those very founders and their believers are now weeping in disbelief. And sadness. The experiment wasn't perfect, but it was the best in the world for anyone with an OUNCE of initiative. But then the notion of the government as father and provider stepped in. The uneducated and unwilling poor became the complaining demanders of entitlement and greedy politicians bussed them to the polls. The mere concept of being an employer became a curse with regulations and demands for every thing that has been decided to be a job entitlement- health insurance, social security- all things that should be an individual's responsibility. Slowly, but surely, we have eroded the reasons this country was founded- freedom from taxation without representation (now politicians want to be reelected so they vote for the most entitlement programs they can), freedom of religion (try being a Christian in what is a Christian nation- you have no rights), freedom of speech (this is the most misconstrued of all the rights because nowhere does it say you have no consequence for what you say yet people hide behind this every day), the right to bear arms (which does not mean you can murder someone)- these freedoms have been misinterpreted and their expressions misused to the point that the average citizen, who doesn't even know who his representative is, is now a constitutional law expert. Or so they think. But of all that- the hyphen is what has stolen America. Because victimhood is popular now, everyone has to have a hyphen. Why? To distinguish themselves from the great thinkers and workers of the USA over the past 300 years- and whether you like it or not, that is the white man. You know- the oppressor of the hyphens. Used to be even whites had a few hyphens- Irish-American, Italian- American. And they couldn't wait to lose them and just be Americans. The great melting pot has failed because you cannot take a cat and tell it to be a dog unless the cat seriously wants to have some ALPO. That might sound silly, but the truth is that we are who we are. And if our subculture says we are victims, then we shouldn't go to school and respect the teacher or do homework or study so we can at least get some vocational training and get a job, then we will be victims. But to call the white men who organized this country, and became the doctors and lawyers and scientists- and the vast majority of the people who did do that were white- to call them oppressors is ridiculous. No white people oppress anyone. Slaves were brought over from tribal leaders who SOLD them on many occasions. Slavery still exists throughout the world. Africa is a violent and almost unsalvagable continent. People are STILL slaves there. I don't know why we should tolerate any more immigration. It is killing this country. Not because of the white man, but because of the refusal of some subcultures to become American- which means to work, work very hard, to make your kids better than you were by making them study and be quiet in school and respect the teacher and do homework. Only then the miracle that is America can get back on track. Take all the bleeding hearts and make them teach job skills rather than handing out taxpayers money. We don't have to be unmerciful, just intelligent. What a shame if we lost this great nation. But if you continue to reward the complainers, and take money from the people who went to school and worked hard, then it will be inevitable that the workers give up. It wouldn't matter what happens in the rest of the world then. Oh- and stop calling your president stupid. John F Kennedy was a mediocre student and a president who tried to get ALL of us killed but the average person thinks he was a hero. Stop people like Pelosi from consorting with nations like Syria. And for goodness sake, learn your constitution. We are NOT a democracy! Stop saying it. We are a republic. Because of the brilliance of a bunch of white guys back in the 1700s.

Larry Birkhead Pays for Nothing

2007-04-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

I seem to be on the legal rant these days. Larry Birkhead, probably the father of Anna Nicole's poor drug withdrawn infant, just got a bill from his now FIRED lawyer, for over $600,000. Oh really. She billed for every meal, and even took others (including her husband) out to eat on Larry's dime- not to mention the dry cleaning bills. It's like your surgeon billing you for driving to work, eating lunch and buying magazines on the day of your operation. But lawyers have immunity from screwing you to a wall. The don't regulate themselves, and they think that their 3 years of reading and writing after college entitle them to fees so ridiculous and exhorbitant that they make your electrician look like Mother Theresa. Why aren't they regulated? Because they run for OFFICE and get elected and then smirk while they stick it to the medical profession and to businesses through massive regulations. But the regulations for lawyers and their fees is less than minimal. Medical costs don't bankrupt the average American- but getting involved in a lawsuit is worse than having cancer. There is no insurance to help you- not even legal insurance. Legal insurance covers the bare minimum. Not the major episodes. Lawyers do whatever they want. Larry Birkhead asked his lawyer NOT to come to Anna's funeral- but she DID. The publicity seeking whore billed him tens of thousands for doing things he didn't want her to do. Pathetic. There needs to be a grass roots effort to STOP this stuff. Lawyers don't deserve any more than electricians- and really, the electrician does his job. So what if they went to a couple of years of law school. Believe me, it can't be that hard because most people who aren't smart enough to be in science are in law school. Thousands of them. This lawyer has also done NOTHING for Birkhead. Believe me - that isn't unusual. A lawyer can bill you and bill you and bill you and you will STILL not have what you went to them for. Where is the outrage at what the lawyers do to us? The huge percentages they take from personal injury claims - do juries understand just WHO they are making rich. Does your doctor charge you once you are well for having made you well? Well, Larry, welcome to what the legal system has done to America. You people praying for no medical expenses better be praying for no legal expenses! Oh but wait- if they bankrupt you, there is always THAT corrupt system to find yourself involved in!

John Edwards, Elizabeth and the Fog

2007-03-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

John Edwards is going to continue in his campaign. Elizabeth Edwards supports this. John Edwards doesn't seem to know about the fog. The future isn't cloudy for them- it is foggy. The reality is that Elizabeth Edwards will die from her invasive breast cancer. How long it will take and how it will go, well, who can tell? But now they are in the fog. They are adults and while the fog is painful, and scary, as adults- they know that while they walk forward, eventually they will hit a wall that will reveal all. But don't these people have small children? And aren't John and Elizabeth the parents? Children don't do well in the fog. Not at all. They need their parents to hold their hands throughout it all. If John Edwards is on the campaign trail- or worse gets elected (which wouldn't happen anyway)- and if Elizabeth is having chemotherapy or radiation therapy- who holds the hand of the children? John Edwards will live to see another wife. That may sound cruel- but find me a man who hasn't gone on after the death of his wife. John Edwards can be around to run again. But the callous and egotistical behavior of a man who insists he is so valuable that he cannot step back to hold his wife and children in whatever safety net he can muster, well, who would vote for that man anyway?

Genocide by Immigration- the new American Black, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

2007-03-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

What was sillier than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama walking arm and arm in a civil rights march? Get a grip. Acting as if we are in a civil rights struggle is ridiculous. More laws have been passed, more preference given in education and hiring than any other nation on earth. We have bent so far backwards to accomodate the so called deficit attributed to slavery that we can see our own heels from behind. Anyone who denies that is a liar. Or hasn't looked at the real history of the USA in the past 50 years. As for slavery- slavery has been in almost every nation of the world at one time or another. It has been in place since antiquity. It still exists in the middle east and eastern nations. Frankly, some wives still qualify. Slaves weren't all stolen- they were SOLD by their own tribes. Go look it up in a reliable book. But that was SO LONG AGO. We have paid for welfare, entitlement, the EEOC, you name it. But because truly rich blacks don't go back to their communities and give back and open businesses and make neighborhoods rather than ghettos, well, it is a losing case. Oprah Winfrey opened her leadership school in AFRICA, for crissakes. She said it wouldn't have been appreciated or successful here. Sadly, she is right. I warned a black friend months ago that blacks were going to lose all status in this country because they would be marginalized again by the enormous immigrant population that comes here and asks for NOTHING but a job. How will blacks defend their entire race against that logic? Slavery was a piece of cake compared to some of the regimes these people have fled and wars they have had very recent ancestors die in. Though many of these immigrants don't understand American culture, they do understand the principles of capitalism and they are thrilled for the chance. No one can GIVE you an education- you have to take it. No one can GIVE you health- you have to educate yourself and take responsibility for yourself. No one can GIVE you respect- you have to stop marching and acting like a martyr and open your eyes to what is around you. This country was founded by white men - there is no lie there. Maybe a lot of the labor was done by Asians and blacks, but the great thinkers who founded this country and guided its birth were of European descent. Most great scientific discoveries were made by white men- most of them Jews. Don't hand me some crap about dynamite or peanuts. Or some obscure printing press. The world was changed by the white men that people find it fashionable to hate. But it isn't because of slavery. It isn't because of Jim Crow laws. It is just the way it was. And blacks can get strong neighborhoods and schools that will educate their children. But white people can't be the ones to give it to them. Hillary Clinton doesn't give a rat's ass (a scholarly term we all know) about them- and probably neither does Obama- unless they can bus them to the voting booth. It is time for these black "leaders" to stop stirring a long dead pot, and get a plan to return blacks to viability.Living in the past and encouraging a victim mentality is the least productive way to advance anyone's life. If they don't stop living in 1964, blacks will be marginalized in society like never before. In fact, it could almost be equated to genocide by immigration. My heart goes out to all those women who are mothers and want only the best for their kids. Maybe they can make it happen. But I sadly doubt it. Not because of the white men, but because of the black ones. Believe it or not, most white people just wish everyone had a chance. But if the chance isn't taken, then there is nothing we can do about it but pay more taxes, fund yet more useless programs and wait until there is nothing left to worry about. THAT is the real problem.

Al Gore- Carbon Yeti

2007-02-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

Oh I LOVE it! Al Gore uses twelve times the electricity of the average Nashville customer! Oh wait- it is actually 191,000 kw hours versus 15,600 for the average. Oh BOY oh BOY! Good going. Maybe he foresaw this when he was inventing the internet! Look, I don't lecture people on their carbon footprints. Therefore, I am typing this leisurely on my laptop- hell, I even pay my electric bill ONLINE! I support the company 100%. But I cannot stand environmental hypocrites. People who hop in private planes or book all of first class for 4 people or who have more than one house and who....oh well, I think if you give it thought, you can figure it out. But for Mr Environment to have such wasteful habits- and then to justify it by saying he OFFSETS it with his uses of other renewable resources- well, well, well, I sputter. That is just plain damn risible!!!!!!!! This guy is a jackass. He is a "do as I say but not as I do" kind of moralistic dumbbell. Oh sure, he went to Harvard. WOOOOO. And because his dad was in an election, he went to Nam and was a journalist for FIVE MONTHS. And people want to form a grass roots effort to get him to run for President again????? I say, bring it on. What a stupid mistake that would be. He didn't invent environmentalism. I was at the first Earth Day- holding a jar of putrid water from a local waterway. He didn't invent that movement. A generation that he is barely part of did that. So run for office Al Gore- get nominated for a very undeserved socialist prize for your efforts- but not everyone is sucked into your fantasy world where you hold yourself above us. It won't work.

Travolta Wants a Son

2007-02-28T19:26:00.000-08:00

So, fellow Thetans, what do you think? Should the Travolta family be allowed to have a son? Uh, wait- what's that you say?- that Travolta all ready HAS a son. Oh really? No, he distinctly said he wants another son because his daughter is a perfect princess and they don't NEED another perfect princess! And you don't need JT's tenth grade education to understand that he is saying that his FIRST son, Jett Travolta, is, well, not a perfect prince. Jett is, in fact, not normal. Not at all. A web search revealed a recent picture of Jett- in it, his mother looks engaged, but his father is very detached- plastic almost. And why? Because Jett is not a blessed Thetan- he is defective. And that just has to be a cosmic accident, because in the World of Travolta, bad things do NOT happen. The most recent pictures of Jett reveal a child with what appears to be faulty dentition, facial disproportion, and yet a strong interaction with his mother, despite the autism claims. This child is not normal, and in fact look as if he has a genetic component to his problems. But of course, diagnosing this will be impossible if his parents continue to say that carpet cleaner, and not defective genes, got him. I have seen pictures of Jett as an infant, and he looks abnormal then as well. The Travolta's should be getting genetic counseling before they have another son with the same condition. It is only merciful to the future child. Especially since they refuse to publicly recognize the problem their child has, and who knows what help they have for him because of this. It should be a crime. And maybe it is.

First Blog

2007-02-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

Ah, the heady experience of the first blog. I am going to take it easy on this one. I am glad Poker Girl was available now and that there are no trademark issues with that one. I am ready for blogging on blogspot and this is going to be a political and celebrity commentary site. Absolutely- because who has more in common than politicians and celebrities! NO ONE. And who gives you more to write about? NO ONE.
So if you come to this blog, be aware that I don't want feedback. Like some bloggers, I don't want to read a retort. You get your own blog and express yourself, and if I feel like knowing what you think, I will go there. You aren't going to change my views and I don't want to change yours. So get busy and just read this blog to get someone else's ideas.