Call it whatever you want, just do it!

I commented on a post over at Busted Knuckles' place, the Ornery Bastard that dealt with 'socialized medicine.' BK's joint is always a good source of info, rough and tumble debate and a new swear word or three. Add him to your blogroll somewhere near the top. (Just beneath my link..."wink")

I've received a couple of emails from friends asking to post it here. Scared Stiff replied to my comment his approval, for which I thank him.

Here it is, for good or bad...

Seems I'm hearing a lot about 'socialized medicine' these days. Congressman Alan Grayson's introduced legislation to allow any adult to buy into Medicare. The cost would depend on one's age bracket.

Call it Medicare for All, call it single payer, call it socialized medicine. Shit, call it Melvin - I don't give a fuck. I'm fucking almost $8,000 dollars in debt because my fucking insurance co. has a problem paying my doctor. I racked up $60 in phone charges to get them to pay $50 for a fucking office visit - that was covered by the goddamn policy!

Britain, Sweden, Canada... all those 'pathetic' countries have health care for all. They also have efficient transit, great universities and a standard of living that ain't so bad. We're not talking Bangladesh here. Here in the States, we can't get a goddamn bridge built without cost overruns, time sucking delays and years of bitching. Then, they charge you a fucking toll because it took so goddamn long and cost so much.

The free market is a fucking lie. It ain't a market and it sure enough ain't free. It's just another excuse to screw the little guy out of his money. The 'free market' makes billionaires out of millionaires by sucking the life savings out of the working man.

Our gov't ain't perfect. That's for damn sure. But it seems most of the problems I see come from the greed and hypocrisy of some of our leaders. Who the fuck was in charge of this place while the Debt was run up? Who put our best and brightest out in the desert to end up in a steel box? Who stands in the way while those leaders who are worth a damn try to get us back on track?

Medicare needs some fixing if it is opened for us all. That's our job. Make sure that doctors and hospitals get what they deserve and in a timely manner. Make sure that prescription drugs are affordable and available for all, Medicare or not! One of my prescriptions cost me, with co-pay, $200 for two weeks. The same drug 100 miles north in Canada costs $4. What the fuck.

I don't give a rat's fucking ass what it's called. I'm sick to fucking death hearing about 'socialized medicine', and 'nanny-state' and 'government takeover' or any other bullshit out there.

We're Americans goddamnit! We don't have to copy anyone else. We can do shit OUR fucking way. Raise taxes? Why? Pass laws that have teeth against the corruption and graft run rampant on Wall Street. Make the motherfuckers pay their goddamn taxes like the rest of us. Close the loopholes for these bastards. Bring our men and women home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Put people back to work fixing our infrastructure, national parks and that 'new' technology I keep hearing about. Putting another 10 million people to work puts more money in the Treasury. Paul Krugman (Nobel fucking prize winner) can tell you about that.

There's no goddamn reason why Europe has a better transit system than us. Or health care. Or standard of living. Seventy years ago they were a smoldering ruin thanks to WWII. It took American dollars to rebuild them. We did it because that's who we are. We do what's right.

We have the means to do this shit for ourselves. The only thing keeping us from doing it is fear - fucking FEAR. It's time to sack up and get to fucking work. Fuck the bullshit pissing and moaning, we got to get our asses to work and clean this place up.

Face it, our government is US. We put them there, we keep them there, we live with what they do. If you don't like it, change it!

Thanks to BK for giving me the opportunity for the rant and the platform.

So Mote It Be.
David A.

Charity begins at home

If you haven't already, go over to the Ornery Bastard for BK's post on charity. He puts it out there like no one else can. It's real, it's succinct, and it's raw...just the way it has to be. No flowery verse, no pussyfooting around; just wholesale truth, naked and impertinent.

The kind of truth that gets served to you when you fuck up.

Well, we fucked up. This country is in a tailspin and thousands of our neighbors are in a fucking sinkhole. Good people, damn good people of every color, shape, religion, and status are swirling around the bowl like the last turd. What are we doing about it?

I watched President Obama's speech yesterday and I was moved. Not because it was a rousing barnburner or the greatest oratory since Lincoln at Gettysburg; no, I was taken by it's simplicity. He spelled out what the fuck is going on with the economy, what he plans to do about it and why. He is telling us 'Why'. When was the last time a president went on national television to tell us in plain ol' fucking english why he's doing something? Certainly not in the last eight years.

Busted Knuckles saw shit happening in his community and, instead of walking back into his house, plopping in front of the TV and saying "that's too bad. Those were nice people", he went over and gave them a hand up. It wasn't much but it was huge. A few cans of goods, a meal shared, that's all it takes. You see your neighbors suffer and you lend a hand. Anything to make their pain go away even if for only a short time.

That's how we will get back up to where we were. The only way to get out of this toilet bowl is to grasp hold of your neighbor's hand and crawl the fuck out. We can't count on the government to do it alone. the president said as much yesterday. He will put things right in Washington, we need to put things right in our hometowns. The programs he's put forth will have an effect but that's a ways down the road. For now, it's up to us.

Right now, if you've been holding your gut and watching the nimrods on Fox spewing about their 'teabagging' bullshit, you know that there are some folks in our communities that just don't get it. These are the fucks that sit on the porch and cuss at the paperboy. They see foodbanks and community service groups as 'socialist hotbeds of Liberal Fascists' or 're-education centers for the indoctrination of our youth' .

You can't connect with these people, I'm afraid they're gone too far up the rectum of the Right. There's no way to bring them back. The best way we can deal with them is to keep one eye open and move on. Watchdogs like David Neiwert will keep the hounds at bay with his investigative spotlight.

So, there you have it. You want to get out of this mess? Do you want to get back to the good times? Tired of paying $600 dollars in bills with $400 every damn fucking month? Then get involved.

"Unity in things necessary, liberty in things doubtful, charity in everything." Anonymous

Here are some places to start:

Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest)

Grow your own. Find a spot. Get a box. Even on your deck, you can grow something. Yes we can!

Community Service. Get out of your fucking house and talk to your neighbors. Get to know them, find out what they need and do what you can to help. Get your children involved so they can start on the road to giving of themselves. That's a damn sight better than those ipod-grasping, twittering, cellphone texting, bullshit yuppie spawn that herd up over at the mall.

Be Aware! Keep your eyes open to the bullshit that's being flung by the Right. This 'teaparty' bullshit is just the start. After it fizzles in the rain, their frustration will grow. When hundreds, not thousands of people show up the ridicule will be intense. They won't take it very well. We have to be ready for anything.


I'm not saying anything that we don't already know. BK just did what had to be done and we take note of it 'cause it has to be noticed. This shit should be second nature, no big thing, just part of living in America. But it's not and that's a damn shame. But we can bring it back. BK mentioned his grandparents' experience in the Great Depression. We all have those stories in our families.

In mine, my mother talks about going to the orchards in the fall and picking up apples off the ground. The trees were off limits but the orchardist would let folks pick up the fruit that fell. As a boy in the 30's, Dad had to go live with his uncle on the Colville Reservation because my grandparents were too poor to live as a family. Grandma lived with her brother and his family and Grandpa lived in a row house with fellow loggers. But they got together on Sunday to eat as a family. Today, Dad grows a hell of a garden and makes sure that all the food is taken. What they don't eat, they give to the food bank.

You would think that people who grew up without much would be greedy and selfish. I haven't found that to be the case. The most greedy, selfish people I know had it all as kids. They wanted for nothing, had grand birthday parties, cars for their 16th and free ride to college. Those folks would kick a man to take his last dime. They are Republicans.

We start now and by the height of summer we will have made a difference in people's lives. Community service is contagious. It spreads like wildfire when it comes from the heart. Even those with nothing can find something to give.

It's Stone Soup.

So Mote It Be,
David A.

Wake Up!

Busted Knuckles, over at Ornery Bastard, has a post linking to our buddy, Monkeyfister. He has a post that everyone should read, learn, and heed.

We face a catastrophe of biblical proportions in the next few months. Obama is our best bet in the White House but even he isn't the whole answer. We, as a people, need to take responsibility for our lives.

For eight long, fucked up years, the American People have been fed shit and been told it's apple pie. And we believed it. We kept eating Bush and Cheney's crap and calling it good. Well, no more!

The time to be sheep has passed. The time to be Americans again is now. My ancestors came here with nothing - abso-fucking-lutely nothing. They helped build a country that was second to none. Somewhere, down in our genes, we have the same stuff. Are we brave enough to reach down a pull that shit out? We're in this shit together, folks. You, me, the guy next door, the bum under the freeway bridge - fucking all of us.

The time is here. But now, we sit all warm and fuzzy in our homes, sucking our thumbs waiting for our Powerball numbers to hit.

Fuck that!

Monkeyfister has the goods on what we can do to prepare for the shitstorm that's coming. He's no tin-hat freak, but a good man with a noble purpose. His suggestions should be taken to heart. Scroll down his blog and look at some of his previous posts. Talk about bloggy goodness, this shit'll save your fucking life.

READ AND HEED!

So Mote It Be,
David A.

Learning from Past Mistakes - Step One

Now the clean-up can begin. Not just the bunting and the confetti on the National Mall, but putting the People's House back together after eight years of Bush & Cheney trashing the place. Like the morning after a teenager's party at his parents' house, we have come home to a disaster zone filled with stinking trash and broken furniture. And like parents, we can't reach over and pull the gizzards out of the offending teen, we have to be responsible and put things right. Then we can start pulling out gizzards.

Which brings me to the steps being taken to clean this shit up. From personal experience, I know that if something gets fucked up, the last person to decide how to fix it is the person who fucked it up. If I trashed my parents' house, I don't get to decide how to clean it. I get the honor of picking up the garbage, hauling the trash, gluing the furniture back together and anything else my dad tells me to do. Dad gets the honor of standing over me with his belt, watching me work. What do you think would happen if I told the old man that he should pay someone else to do the clean up so I can go out with my friends?
Yeah, I thought so...

This country is broken. Broken in as many ways as you can count. Every time the Republicans took control of the situation, they made it worse. They saw this country as their personal playground. They didn't have to take responsibility for anything because they were The Boss and Bosses pass the buck. Missing money wasn't the fault of the person who took it, but the fault of the accounting geek who found out. Tearing up the environment wasn't bad if you could show how to make a shit load of money doing it. If someone pissed you off, you just called them an enemy combatant and put them in jail; no charges, no trial, no problem - simple. No one was going to hold them accountable, no one was going to call them on their bullshit; it was Good Times in the Good Ol' USA!

And the Democrats stood by and watched. They didn't raise their hand and say shit. They stood by and watched their sibling party trash the House. They watched as the furniture got broke, they watched as the windows were shattered, watched as the cat was shaved - stood by and did nothing. Now, when the time has come to pay the piper, they're standing there as the Republicans point to them and say "They did it!"

Fuck That!

President Obama has made a lot of progress in setting down what needs to be done. But what he doesn't need to do is let the Republicans to decide what happens next. They've already made it perfectly clear what they want to do. They want someone else to clean up this mess. They want to outsource it to anyone but themselves. They feel that the policies that got us in this shit hole are good enough to get us out. All I have to say on that is:

Dude, if you're trying to get out of a shit hole and the only offer of help from the Republicans is another shovel, it's time to stop asking them for help. We need to get OUT of the hole first before we start digging a new one. Understand this: the Republican Party does not want to help. They only want you to fail. Being all 'Kumbaya, let's be bipartisan' is bullshit.

This is how to solicit help from the GOP: Kick 'em in the nuts, step on their back and climb out of the hole. When they've learned their lesson, admit their mistakex and apologize, then we might lower a rope.

Sounds pretty tough, right? Sounds kinda cold-hearted and cruel. In fact, it sounds damned familiar. This is what the GOP has been doing to the Democratic Party for 25 years.

Let me pause for a moment to thank John Amato for his links above. He goes off on the same tangent as I but with a much larger audience. Right On, Brother John!

Here's the clip from the Rachel Maddow Show with Economics Professor Paul Krugman and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR).
LISTEN TO THEM!
Why?
Hell, Prof. Krugman is only the most recent recipient of the goddamn Noble Prize in Economics and Cong. DeFazio is only the Chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. They know of what they speak, they've been dealing with this shit for years.

Who have the Republicans got?
Rush Limpdick and BillO the Clown.



The graphic she had up showed that 33% of the stimulus package will go to tax cuts and only 18% for infrastructure.

Wha? 18%?

There's enough broken shit in this country to keep us busy for decades and the longer we piss around the worse it's going to get. That bridge in Minneapolis didn't fall because it was brand new, it failed because it was neglected. When will the next bridge fail, the next highway collapse or water main explode? What happens to the Gulf Coast when hurricane season comes upon us and another Category 3, 4 or, goddess forbid, a 5 slams into it?

Tax cuts are not the answer, they are the fucking problem. I don't want a check for $300 if I have to drive over a bridge that's ready to crumble. Keep the fucking $300 and fix the goddamn bridge. It's time we recognize that this mess is ours now, as in belongs to us. We didn't make it but we have to fix it. We have to take ownership of it in order to put it to rest. We cannot count on the Republicans to help and we shouldn't...here's why...

When Ronald Reagan made his wingnut speech about how government was not the solution but the problem, he set into motion the wheels of the GOP Gravy Train. Once they realized that they had the power of Nixon and the face of a movie star; the sky was the limit. America became their playground and they had a ball. Reagan ran up the deficit and the national debt like a drunken sailor, blaming Democrats at every step. Lee Atwater (rot in Hell, you bastard!) was Reagan's Merlin. He wove a spell of doublespeak and nuance that framed the discourse to flummox the media and the Democrats. He actually had some of the Dems believing that it was their fault.
Can you say 'Blue Dogs'? I knew you could.

When Reagan termed out, they tried to do the same thing with Poppa Bush but he was no Reagan. He screwed the pooch and got kicked to the curb by Bill Clinton. Nothing could have pissed off the Republicans more than to see a charismatic Southern jimbo like Clinton take the White House away so soon after Ronnie. Well, we saw what it did to the GOP. They went apoplectic. Lee Atwater, on his death bed, passed his magic wand to Karl Rove then died in agony. (That's Karma, bitch) Despite America's need for real leadership, Rove took out his Faustian contract and put Poppa Bush's Dim Son in the White House. Eight long fucking years of corruption, torture, graft, violations of civil and human rights, and pissing on the Constitution. The worst part... they did it without an iota of regret.

That sordid chunk of history shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Republican Party looks out for their own self interests, always thinking of '#1'. It also shows that they care as much for the American people as they do for their hired help - keep them in the dark, pay them next to nothing and if the authorities get too close, turn them over to the INS for the reward.
Self-centered, greedy, soulless cretins all. They lie, cheat, steal, and would toss an old lady under a train to get to a nickel off the ground. They have NO honor - none, zip, zilch, nada, no way, no how, not now, not never. Trust and Republicans should be treated like matter/antimatter; they cannot exist in the same place at the same time.

So, President Obama, put away your bipartisan speeches and put on your hip waders ass kickers. Take out the bulk of those bullshit tax cuts and put back the projects that were removed. I would rather have a steady paycheck repairing a bridge or installing cable across the country than a single check for a few hundred dollars.

Besides, I would only use it to buy weed anyway.

Update: I changed 'hip waders' on a suggestion from BK at Ornery Bastard. Puts the cherry on the post.

So Mote It Be,
David A.

Even the air is different...

Hope the levity below doesn't ruffle a few feathers. Just had to spotlight the absurdity of public safety concerns in the Bush era.

It's starting to sink in... We really are in for a sea change. Now, I don't expect Pres. Obama to walk across the Reflecting Pond to his inauguration but I do feel he has the goods we need to eradicate the Bush Stink that's all over this country.

Given the weather, the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial was outstanding. The performers were genuinely proud to be a part of this change. It showed in their performances. Massive egos set aside for the chance to participate in the inauguration of not only a new president and administration, but a new direction. Everyone is getting ready to participate. People realize that Obama has no magic wand, no big green button on his desk that he pushes and all the problems magically disappear. He makes the plan, puts out the pieces and we, the people, get off our fat asses and make sure the whole thing gets put together.

We expect leadership. For eight long and painful years, we've been subjected to government by frat boys. Nothing but elitist wackjobs out for their own self interests; the country and its people be damned. To those assholes, these past eight years have been more than a success, they've been a godsend. Even those who lost their money in the financial market collapse got another bonus from the Bastard-in-Chief with the TARP funds. All-in-all, a profitable adventure. The Day of Reckoning is coming for them but not until Bush and his Pardon Pen have left the building.

More on this later...right now, I'm still basking in the glow of change.

Damn... I feel like a man dying of thirst coming up on a real oasis after years of mirages.

Update: Welcome to Blue Gal!
She has graciously added this humble page to her Blogroll. Many thanks.
So, to the hordes of loyal followers of this space - both of you - go there, enjoy the words contained within and be schooled.

Update Deux: Fuckin' A! My lucky ass day! The Ornery Bastard has hitched his wagon to this ol' caboose. Go there and be stripped down and tuned up. Be forewarned, he speaks Saxon as well as I do, no tender ears allowed.