THANK YOU HILLARY!

Finally, someone had the balls to stand up to those Republicans in Congress and say: YOU TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!

Do they really think they are gaining points with the American people by blaming her for all the people in the world that hate us, and would kill us if they had the chance?

Here is my response to Senator Rand Paul’s comment that Hillary should have been fired for not protecting our people in Benghazi.  If Clinton should have been fired for 9/11/2012, than most certainly President Bush should have lost his job IMMEDIATELY after September 11th 2001.  I only wish President Obama had said this when he was being attacked.

Did you know applications for our foreign service actually went up after these attacks? 

Secretary of State Clinton: “Our men and women who serve overseas understand that we accept a level of risk to protect this country we love.  They represent the best traditions of a bold and generous nation.  And they cannot work in bunkers and do their jobs.”

I know we cannot protect every American in the wide world.  The Congressional Republicans want to blame everything on Clinton, but the mature, adult response is to take responsibility for your own actions or lack of them, just like Clinton has done.

The real problem with Social Security and Medicare

Just read a great article about what the real problems are as we discuss the future of Social Security and Medicare.

Here’s a quote: “There are legitimate reasons to be worried about entitlement spending.  But the fundamental question is not how much longer the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are going to be solvent.  The question is how much we’re willing to spend to insure that the elderly have affordable access to health care and some financial security.” 

James Surowiecki at the New Yorker says raising the Medicare eligibility age is not the answer:  “…you could extend the life of Medicare indefinitely if you restricted it to people over eighty-five, but that doesn’t mean it’s smart to do so.”  LOL!  And the beat goes on with the dummies in Washington…

Colorado Law and Marijuana Use

As many of you may not know, we are dealing with the medical use of marijuana issue up here in northern Colorado, and the legalization issue state-wide this Tuesday.

You didn’t think you could get away without me adding my two cents on that one, did you?

Lately I have been noticing everywhere in the American mainstream media how common it is for us to make light about drinking too much in our society.  It seems everyone likes a good joke about getting tipsy and doing stupid things.

Everyone except those who have lost loved ones to this terrible addiction.  Let’s ask the “Mothers Against Drunks Drivers” how they feel about losing their sons and daughters.

Here’s the MADD facts on death from alcohol abuse:

Alcohol-impaired driving is the most frequently committed violent crime in the U.S.   On average someone is killed by a drunk driver every 40 minutes, and in 2007, nearly 13,000 people were killed in drunk driving related crashes.

Each year, approximately half a million people are injured in crashes where police reported that alcohol was present—an average of one person injured approximately every minute.  An estimated three of every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash at some time in their lives. (NHTSA, 2001)

Now add on to these numbers the millions of families and lives ruined or destroyed by alcohol addiction.

Sure glad alcohol is legal!  I haven’t heard of many medical uses for alcohol, but researchers worldwide are daily finding new medical uses for cannabis (THC.)    In addition, I so rarely hear of deaths from marijuana use, especially compared to alcohol…

According to new studies, unemployment is more of a “gateway” drug to serious addiction than cannabis.  New research suggests that there is far greater danger of addiction to hard drugs like heroin, from overuse of prescription painkillers, not from occasional marijuana use.

P.S. Nov. 7th: What do you know, both measures passed yesterday!  Now we will see how the federal government reacts…

The false dichotomy before us:

LOVED this video, which offers definitions of what liberal and conservative really mean.

Here you will learn the conflict in our country is not between liberals and conservatives.  See it and you will probably find, much like me, you agree with just about everything both of them have to say.

I also love diversity and fear big government, especially one so big that it might try to tell me what religion I can be, or that I do not have control over what happens in my own uterus.

America is great because of individual freedom.  Let’s keep it that way!

So THAT’S the problem…

I kid you not, I just read a comment attached to an article about Mrs. Clinton taking full responsibility for the Benghazi attack.

Here it is:

“The truth is from day one Obama tried to claim that the attacks on 9/11 had nothing to do with his foreign policy, which was and is a bald faced lie designed to spin this into something other than what it was. This attack had everything to do with his foreign policy, and anyone who buy his line of BS deserves pity for being so naive.”

[HINT:  The Republicans under Bush were in charge from 2000-2008.  They famously ignored the excellent intelligence which  predicted a terrorist attack against America, culminating in 9/11.  And as far as I can see, the Republicans never had the integrity to stand up and take full responsibility for any of it.         Nice job protecting us!]

OK folks, this is the kind of stupidity we’re up against!  You cannot make this stuff up!

The man who always says nothing

I think I’ve finally figured out why most Americans aren’t responding well to Mitt these days.

Besides the fact that he’s stinking rich, and determined to get richer at the expense of the less fortunate in the U.S., he always says nothing when he speaks, and in a very inauthentic way.

I am a psychotherapist who spends a lot of my time reading other people, and to me, he always comes across as completely inauthentic in his demeanor and in what he says.

Sure he can say he’s going to create millions of jobs or fix our economy, but why believe him?  Anyone can say what they want to accomplish, but then there’s that pesky reality.

We all know no one controls the world economy, any more than the world’s weather.  The problems we face today are global and mostly predictable.

Machines are replacing human labor and taking away millions of jobs.  This was predictable.  Now how do we react in useful ways?  Will our children ever find gainful employment?  I have my doubts…

Health Care and Political Double Talk

In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, a political reporter summarized for me exactly what is so confusing about politics in American today.  He used the example of our present health insurance-based system versus health care under the President’s new, and as yet untried Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. 

He said opponents of the new system call it socialized medicine, but in fact, that is what we have now.  Most of us have health insurance, and we pay for everyone else who comes into the emergency room without coverage.  How unfair!

Under the new plan, everyone is required to pay as much as they can to maintain coverage for themselves, spreading the costs across the entire nation, not just those who feel responsible for their own health and choose to pay.

It has always seemed to me that the Republicans would get behind this program, because it rewards taking personal responsibility for your own health.

Our system is full of misunderstandings like this.  What a struggle to even begin to understand it all!

Why I don’t want a Mormon in the White House

For those of you unschooled in what Mormonism really is, please allow me to inform you.

Where did I accumulate my information?  Three years of living in Salt Lake City, and talking days on end to the son of one of the foremost Mormon historians.

Most importantly, Mormonism historically is one the most racist and sexist religions in American history.  If you live there for any length of time, you will realize Salt Lake City is one of the most homogeneous populations of what I would call, American white people.  Why?  Because other races were seen as unclean and intermarrying with them was forbidden by the Church.

They have a history of maintaining racial purity, better known as inbreeding.  To quote the famous Mormon autobiography, A Mormon Mother, the women were taught early that being the third or fourth wife of a good Mormon man is much preferable to marrying a non-Mormon.  And they did a great job of convincing the women to marry the limited number of Mormon men.  Social ostracism was a powerful tool out in the wilds of the Utah territory, and worked well for the men!

My most memorable cartoon from my Salt Lake City days was a picture of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the caption, “Let’s all sing ‘get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in bed!”

That pretty much summarizes their view of women, whose only purpose is creating  lots more Mormons.  Please note the long and varied ‘career’ of Ann Romney as the best example of this way of thinking.

Mormonism today is not so different than most other types of early brainwashing worldwide, the purpose being to tell you at every decision point in your life what you will do next. The LDS Church today is controlled by a few old, and of course MALE leaders, who enjoy having power over the Mormon masses.  It all rather reminds me of the various methods of mind control used historically by Mao and the Chinese Communist government.

Thus the emphasis on high school, go on a mission, finish college, at least for the men, and then go into business and make lots of money, so you can give 10% to the Mormon Church, which is today estimated at at least 25 to 30 billion dollars, more than many Fortune 500 corporations.

But this population is homogenous in another important way.  When the Church says vote Republicans, every single member does, like an army of automatons.  No thinking required here!  When I lived there, Utah went 95% Republican.

Do you want your country controlled by non-thinking sexist robots?  I have never witnessed such a homophobic, sexist theocracy in my entire life, and it scared me!

For a different and funny take on who Mitt Romney is, check out this NYT piece by David Brooks, a conservative commentator.

Ann Romney: “It’s so hard being a millionaire these days.”

There’s nothing more refreshing, to those of us living on no health insurance and less than $40,000/year, than hearing the millionaires complain.

Ann Romney is the first to say, her life hasn’t been easy.  No storybook marriage for her!  It seems MS and breast cancer do not respect class differences.  Imagine that.

Yes, I am sorry she has had to suffer through such difficult diseases.  HOWEVER, to quote one of my previous posts: “Being a millionaire a few times over must be awfully helpful when coping with chronic illness.”

This sort of “poor me I’m a millionaire” crap drives me NUTS!  Especially when her husband plans to take away our only access to health insurance if he’s elected!  Where would Ann be with her obviously pre-existing conditions, without Mitt’s millions?

These celebrities live in their billionaire bubbles without a clue about what is happening in the world around them.   Chances are Ann and I’s experiences living with chronic illness are not comparable.  And the way she uses her illness to say she is just like me, literally makes me sick!

It looks to me like this next election will focus on class differences in the U.S.

To that I say, “BRING IT ON!”

Hurricane Isaac, is it a sign?

Not that I believe in that sort of thing, but those that do, might say the way Hurricane Isaac is taking aim at the Republican Convention is a “sign.”

Could it be God doesn’t like the Republican platform this year?  And what does this indicate for those who believe being a Republican is like being a Christian?

Who will be less popular at the convention: Todd Akin or Isaac?

Just a little food for thought this morning…