A couple of thoughts.

Hi all. Been busy, been sick.. you name it.

First of all, Someone needs to put a muzzle on Liz Cheney... I mean really. We've come to a time where she'll even criticize the President paying respects to dead soldiers returning. I mean WHO CARES how Bush dealt with it. Obama is his own man. And it's not like he asked the Press to come along so we could see him there. The press is mandated to go.

Secondly... I'm as Woman's rights as the next lady... but of all the fights there are, is it best to focus our time on the fact that President Obama plays basketball with men and no women. I mean, how many women honestly could play basketball at that level where it would be a challenge for the president. Let the man have his recreation.

Thirdly, if I see one more ad for the 23rd Congressional seat. I might just lose my mind. It would be different if I got to vote in that damn election.

When are we going to get the picture?!?!

Here's a surprise. The Health Insurance Companies released a "report" that states if the Baucus Bill passes in the Senate, then customers rates will increase dramatically over the next 10 years. They already go up 30% a year!!! I mean, honestly, how much more can they rape the system with a straight face. They just gave all of us Americans the middle finger.

There is a bright side maybe. Maybe we will get off our asses and get the Public Option in the bill. It's the only way to prevent the health insurance companies from getting away with this. They will never contain costs. They will ALWAYS raise the rates because they are greedy, corrupt, heartless individuals that let people DIE every day despite having health insurance.

Did you hear about the 2 month old baby that was denied coverage because he was at the 97%ile for height and weight. They baby only gets breastmilk. There is no way to overfeed a breastfed baby. Is this what we've come to now?

Congratulations Mr. President.

I woke up this morning and saw the Breaking News Banner. I always get nervous because you never know what that could be. Once I cleared my eyes I saw that President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. I will say I was surprised. But I can understand why they gave it to him. He has touted his diplomatic policy since he was running for president. He has followed through on reaching out to a lot of countries. We were a country that bullied everyone and now we are trying to restore our respect for them.

And then as I was listening to the news, I got angry a little bit. President Obama was handed a bunch of shit when he took office. He's been doing all he can to clean up the mess that Bush left us, while trying to get some of his policy initiatives passed. Nothing happens overnight. We are so impatient that we are discouraged that things are getting done quicker??? We need to get off of his back. Day in and Day out... he gets nothing but criticism. No gratitude, NO thanks, no nothing. And this, for me, was vindication to a certain degree that at least the international community is appreciative of his efforts. All that nonsense about how the Olympics going to Rio was a reprimand against Obama??!! This proves that that's not the case.

So, congratulations to you Mr. President. I appreciate the hard job that you have and that you are trying to make our country better.

What a difference between these two women.

I heard Michelle Obama speak last Friday about what she sees as problems in the healthcare system. Now, remember that she worked as a hospital administrator for quite some time but she didn't mention that. Instead she talked about how not having reform impacts families and women. Insurance companies often charge more for women because they have more needs, esp in the realm of childbearing. This should really cause more outrage. We complain about the amount of terminated pregnancies, yet women do not get the resources that they need. C-sections are actually considered by some to be preexisting conditions, and sometimes a mere pregnancy can be considered that as well. As I listened to Mrs. Obama speak, I realized that we need more strong women out there fighting specifically for us. This is the type of thing that has been lost in the world of death panels and rationing.

Then there's good ole Sarah Palin. She was speaking to business people in Hong Kong, and it has been reported that she was trashing President Obama. I remember years ago when the Dixie Chicks dared express their opinions of President Bush and they faced a backlash that devastated them. I'm not sure what even makes her an expert on the American economy to be talking to these folks anyway.

It is interesting how the two parties have their goto people representing different ethic, gender, etc groups and the ones that fall into that role.

Since when is promoting staying in school considered Socialism?

Okay... we've officially hit a point where the GOP is "off their rocker".

President Obama plans to give a little pep-talk to school kids next week as they return to school.
His plan is to talk about staying in school, working hard, and achieving educational goals.

Sounds good right? I would like my kids to hear that positive message.

Nope,

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer issued a press release Tuesday slamming the plan, saying he is "absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology."

Seriously? I don't even know what to say here.

If President Bush had been thoughtful enough to do this, I'd have been thrilled. I'll even give him the benefit of the doubt that he had talked about the importance of exercise to children, if I remember correctly... I don't think that's an indoctrination to the conservative agenda.

The fact is that no matter what this president does, the GOP will be against it. President Obama has a long standing record of fighting for Education. Let's see the GOP try and step up and do something to help kids graduate besides taking away sex education.

More thoughts...healthcare and Ted Kennedy

Gosh, this summer has been so busy. I've had so much to say, but not a lot of time to write it.
I'm saddened by the passing of Ted Kennedy. I was actually shocked when I woke up last Wednesday and saw that he had died. I know the tumor was malignant and by all accounts he wasn't doing well the past couple of months, but for some reason I just thought he would conquer it, like he had done with so many things in the past. It takes a special man to have been born wealthy, yet champion time and again for the poor and underprivileged. To fight for civil rights and to hold his family together after so much tragedy.

I would hope this would put the fire under the Democratic Senators asses about how important healthcare was to him. The Republicans are trying to spin it into a case where he would have compromised with them... but I don't see it that way. He would have fought until the end to get a bill with some meaning. I woke up this morning and saw that Pres Obama is finally gonna come out and talk about what he sees the healthcare reform needing. That has been sorely lacking, leadership from the White House. With so-called bipartisan talks going on, and then the Republican Senators being sleazy behind closed doors about how they are trying to kill it? The writing should be on the wall for Pres Obama. I'm not saying the Dems are off the hook here. They need stop wimping out on things.

The fact remains that the Republicans are probably gonna think they won either way. If they defeat the Public Option part of reform, they will think they have dealt a big blow to the president and that they can stand against him on everything (well, they've already done that to a degree)... they will have gotten what they want, AND then they can BLAME it on the Dems by saying... "You had the House, the Senate and the White House... you could have gotten it done." If the Dems get the Public Option, they can cry and whine about the lack of bipartisanship and ... let's face it... It would take awhile to get it going, so they could say that it wasn't working.. blahblah like they are with the Stimulus package (which, is actually working.)

If we're (the dems) going to get blamed for anything, everything anyway... shouldn't we get what we want, and what's best for the people? No one would dare touch Medicare now, and that had to be jammed through with only Democratic support.

What this is really about to the Republicans, is that if Obama achieves anything worthwhile, esp the elephant in the room (healthcare), then voters may likely keep Dems in office. Isn't that sad, that this is what our country has come to?

I'm no fan of President Bush... however, if he had done anything that would have benefitted the country and risk keeping him in office, I'd have been okay with that.

If the President lets this get away from him... as much as I admire him and love his policies/ideas, I would definitely have to think about voting green party in 2012. He needs to keep his word. His whole campaign, he talked about the public option.. and many people voted because they liked his ideas. He needs to stand by them and deliver.

What you can do to throw your hat into the ring.

Here is a funny article about ways to be involved should you want. Got a good laugh.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-wyskida/five-things-you-can-do-ab_b_262534.html