Archive for the ‘Activism’ Category

Judge Sonia Sotomayor blocks provision of Obamacare that would force all employers to provide birth control to their employees. This is a narrow decision that only applies to religious groups. I believe that this is the correct decision as the government has no business telling religious groups what to believe. This would have  forced a religious group to provide birth control to their employees. This would have gone totally against their beliefs. Catholic do not believe in birth control and the government should not force him to do anything against their faith. This is not only healthcare but religious faith in the government should be out of this

As per normal with me nowadays I am once again posting something late. This is still as important today as it was 4 days ago. November 11th is Veterans in the United States. Some may still call it by the name it once has as Armistice Day. That was when the guns fell silent in the war to end all wars, WW I. The agreement lasted a little over two decades and once more the world was at war again. That is all in the past and we need to remember the past. I was reading the Freedom Alert that my Senator, Jim DeMint uses as the title of all his emails to me. I intentionally left out the honorable part ’cause I am not so certain he is that honorable. The way I look at it pretty much all politicians are out to grab all they can and not worry about what will happen after we are dead and gone. The VHP a project  of the Library Of Congress’s American Folklore Center. We are losing approximately one thousand vets a day. Once they have passed there is no way to get their side of the story.

But I transgress. What I want to do is try and get everyone involved in the Veterans History Project. You can visit the Library of Congress and download the VHP field kit. Visit their home page and in the upper right there is a search box and you can simply type Veterans History Project. Your results should right on top. Visit the appropriate link then download the ebook that explains what they need and can use. There is an address inside of the papers that gives you the physical location to forward all of the information you have gotten. We need top remember the past and the sacrifices that they made so that we can live our life without the fear that could have happened if not for their bravery. I say thank you to all our veterans and try to speak to each and everyone that I see wearing caps and colors from their units and branch of our military. Try it. Next time you see one our vets proudly (and rightfully so) displaying what branch of the military their were in or a unit patch. I try speaking to each and every vet that I see and express my gratitude for their sacrifices and heroism all for us back at home. I am proud to say I am a veteran as was my father one brother and my sister also served. Us children were too young to go to war in Vietnam and I tried but they found my lie about my age. The next time you see a vet, young or old you should look them in the eyes and tell them “Thank You” for everything you did for us at home. I feel blessed knowing our family had so many vets. I feel lucky to have gotten to talk to WWI, WWII, Korean and Vietnam  vets. I felt I was in the presence of heroes every time we would go to the VA medical center in Asheville NC. I listened to many tales, but one really stands out in my memories. I was joking around with a elderly black man in the visitors area when grandpa was a patient. I told him he looked a little too old to be from WWII and asked him if he was a WWI vet to which he told me he was not a WWI vet. He told me he served in the Spanish American war. This excited me as I had never spoke to a vet that old. I was very surprised as that meant he was nearly a hundred years old. After he told when and where he served I was really excited. So I asked him did he charge up the hill with Teddy Roosevelt. That is when he told me that they only let him take care of the mules. It brought that ugly “race issue” to the front. We never talked about that but I later learned about the race card as they would not let a black man and a white man serve together. He did have an extremely important job but it was such a shame that he could not charge the hill and serve with the other men. Either man could actually get killed doing his duty but they had to segregate the races even on the battlefield where all men were equally killed.

I am glad to report that race no longer plays as a reason for rank, pay grade or units. That is the way it should be. No man is better than another simply because the color of their skin is different.

Today I site here feeling very privileged. I just got through a private screening of a movie that is to be released later this year. It was a documentary about our failing health care in the United States. The working title is “The Health Care Movie” and is narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. It compares our health care system to Canada’s health care system. Seeing it made the plan we have here in the good ol’ USA pale in comparison to theirs. They believe in taking care of their citizens and not favoring huge corporations over the masses. They also see it as a basic human right. Something we agreed to, and ratified when we signed the “The Declaration of Human Rights”. If you look it up and start reading go down to article 25.  There you will find us agreeing that health care is a human right. But I am off topic here somewhat.

I was talking about the movie I was allowed to see. It gives some shocking facts and numbers about our nonexistent health care. I hope that everyone will see this and be mad as hell. Writing their congressman  or senator mad. Everyone needs health care at some point in their lives. That is a fact no one  can dispute. The question is can you afford it? Is your insurance going to cover it. How much money comes out of my pocket? None of us can deny it. Even if you have health care you will have a co-pay and how large does that go? What if my bill becomes so large that my out of pocket money is too high for me? Will I have to sell the house to pay? Will I have to file bankruptcy because of an illness or accident? In our system all of these scenarios are not only possible but happen. A lot of times this is the story. Even a wealthy family can be bankrupted by a prolonged illness. I feel like this is a travesty that we allow for profit, private insurance companies run our health care system. They arbitrarily dictate what treatments we can or can’t have and we let them have their way in the name of democracy. If you were to remember your history you will find that Lyndon Johnson pushed medicare and medicaid through the halls of Congress. That was in direct apposition with insurance companies and their lackeys in Congress. Back then it was painted as an end to democracy and the beginning of socialism. Now it is considered essential. It is a sure fired method of losing votes if you voice a plan on cutting medicare and medicaid. It took some wrangling and over the objections of insurance companies they were passed into law. That is what we need now. someone to push expanding medicare and medicaid to cover everyone in the USA. But that is my simple plan. No need for all these tax credits and vouchers.

Anyhow that is my opinion. I have good health care from the VA but not everyone has served their country.

I was able to view the movie early because they used my sons song part of the movie. The title is Silence
Is Consent
It was really great to see my sons name in the credits. It brought tears to my eyes for him to be so honored. The song fits this movie perfectly as my son feels very strongly that everyone should have access to health care regardless of whether they have money or not. I made the song title a link to his website joshua121.   You can hear the song there on the site. I recommend that you listen to it then write your congressman or woman. Don’t forget that you have a senator that needs to know that we need health care. That is the only thing that matters to a politician, votes and how much money he can gather from corporations and others for his next reelection campaign.

I received an email today that has absolutely pissed me off to no end. It said that our President Obama wants to give Jane Fonda an award as one of the top women in the last hundred years. That makes me livid. I can still remember when she visited Hanoi during the heart of the Viet Nam war and actually fired anti aircraft shells at our planes as they flew over on their missions. That should have earned her a bullet in the base of her skull as far as I am concerned but I did not know everything and  this email described even more atrocities. I am going to copy and paste the entire email at the end of my rant. Please copy and email this link to everyone you know. Or at least copy and paste the text into your own emails. This makes me sick to my gut.

Barbara Walters comments on Jane Fonda

She can lead her present life the way she wants and perhaps SHE can forget the past, but we DO NOT have to stand by without comment to see that she is “honored” as a “Woman of the Century”.
( I remember this well)
Never Forgive A Traitor

For those of you too young to remember Hanoi Jane is a bad person and did some terrible things during the Vietnam war.  Things that cannot be
forgiven!!!!

For those who served and/or died. . .

NEVER FORGIVE A TRAITOR. SHE REALLY WAS A TRAITOR!!

and now OBAMA wants to honor her……!!!!

In Memory of LT. C.Thomsen Wieland  who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton

IF YOU NEVER FORWARDED ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE FORWARD THIS SO THAT EVERYONE WILL KNOW!!!!!!

She really is a traitor.

A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED.  KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA

This is for all the kids born in the 70′s and after who do not remember, and didn’t have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear.

Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the ’100 Women of the Century.’

BARBRA WALTERS WRITES:

Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never
known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam

The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot’s name is Jerry
Driscoll, a River Rat.

In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the ‘ Hanoi Hilton.’

Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in
clean PJ’s, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American ‘Peace
Activist’ the ‘lenient and humane treatment’ he’d received.

He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away.  During the
subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp Commandant ‘s feet, which sent that officer berserk.

In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which
permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant’s frenzied
application of a wooden baton.

>From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E’s). He spent 6 years in the ‘ Hanoi Hilton’,,, the first three of which his family only knew he was ‘missing in action’. His wife lived on faith that he was still alive.  His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a ‘peace delegation’ visit.

They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that
they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper,
with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand.

When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man’s hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: ‘Aren’t you sorry you bombed babies?’ and ‘Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?’ Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.

She took them all without missing a beat.. At the end of the line and once
the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper..

Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.

I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam , and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.

I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year in a ‘black box’ in Hanoi . My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Banme Thuot , South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs)

We were Jane Fonda’s ‘war criminals….’

When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi , I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her..

I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs
received… and how different it was from the treatment purported by the
North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as ‘humane and lenient.’

Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my
arms outstretched with a large steel weight placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.

I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I
asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.

These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of ’100 Years of Great Women.’ Lest we forget….’ 100 Years of Great Women’ should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.

There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane’s
participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to
forward to as many people as you possibly can.. It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget.

RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt,
USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron,
Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343

PLEASE HELP BY SENDING THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK.

IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SEE THIS MAYBE HER STATUS WILL CHANGE

According to a study published by the Journal of Social Science & Medicine. Researchers in Montreal found out that unemployment will shorten your life span. The findings that analyzed data over a forty year span, in fifteen countries and millions of individuals say that 78% of men and 37% of women face the likely hood of premature death. With our unemployment rate at nearly 20% that means millions of Americans are at risk of an early death. Right now our representatives are wrestling with our budget trying to cut out programs that help unemployed as well as under employed citizens. The easiest thing to do would be for Obama himself to invoke the 14th Amendment and raise the debt ceiling where they do not have to cut out programs that are essential for the unemployed and poor people who comprise about half of the US. The Republicans darling, Ronald  Regan not only raised taxes in his term but he raised the debt ceiling eighteen times while he was in office. However Obama and the rest of the democrats are trying to make the Republicans look bad so they can insure that they win big at the polls when Obama comes up for reelection. I know we need to do something about this runaway debt we have accumulated but why does it have to be done by cutting out programs for the less fortunate citizens who need these services the most. Why not cut out the corporate welfare we have been dishing out with nothing in return? These tax breaks and bailouts were supposed to keep these companies in business so they can create more jobs. But that is not what they do. Instead of creating new jobs they gave huge bonuses to the very same ones that got them in such hot water financially. How did that help us out? Those huge billion dollar bailouts could easily have went to fund the very same programs the Republicans want to make deep cutbacks in or it would have went a long ways to an actual health plan that would work for all Americans. Those who do not like what is offered can always buy their own health care policy. Of course no one actually wants that as they have their greedy pockets lined with lobbyist money.

According to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts wants to establish a database with the information gathered by license plate scanners installed in police cars. The scanners will scan license plates of every car the police vehicle passes and transmit that information (along with the location) to a database that will be made available to various government agencies. The data will be kept indefinitely. Civil libertarians are raising an alarm and rightly so. This makes me wonder if “1984″ was accurate other than the timing with the date. This sounds like another move towards fascism by our government. Our founding fathers could never have known that technology would proceed as far as it has come. I am sure that if they had of known what was coming they would have definitely banned it while they were defining the Ten Amendments that guarantee our civil liberties.   So many of our liberties are being tossed out the window as our new technological feats make gathering and storing data on individual citizens becomes easier and easier. I can see where they would be of great use if they were simply used to scan the thousands of vehicles a police car sees almost everyday. If they were using the plate readers to look for a specific license plate of someone who was wanted by the authorities and they were not saving all the information gathered into a huge data base where they could check your whereabouts and track your movements maybe that would be a good idea. However scanning all those plates seen by the plate reader into a database to be used by whomever managed to get into the data base is wrong. Keeping track of your movements when you have committed no crime should not be allowed. If you live in Massachusetts you need to contact your local Senator and Representative to block this legislation.

Also a note to Massachusetts politicians: Such videos will be used against you at some point. Count on it. If you don’t care about the privacy of the citizens, at least think of your self interest before voting for this.

I am very proud of my son and he is a very good musician and I would say that even if he were not my son. He, like the majority of these people who keep us entertained does not have health insurance. Besides being a talented musician he is also blessed to have other talents as well. He also has taken the simple html we used to start his first website and blossomed into a first rate webmaster for himself and others. He now owns DragonTreeStudio and creates websites for others too. I am getting off subject but what he does for musicians has started the Musicians Project and they are trying to aid others to get health care information and services.

Where I was going when I started this post is that on their facebook page they have posted about a prescription assistance program. You can find them on their web site Partnership for Prescription
Assistance
I am going to copy their mission statement off their home page:

Prescription Assistance Programs

Prescription Help is Here

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance brings together America’s pharmaceutical companies, doctors, other health care providers, patient advocacy organizations and community groups to help qualifying patients without prescription drug coverage get free or low-cost medicines through the public or private program that’s right for them.”

If this post helps even one person gain some independence from exorbitant drug prices then I have succeeded in helping them get their message out. I am proud and lucky to be a veteran so I can get almost any help with my health care from them but that leaves my wife and daughter along with my son uninsured like so many of our citizens. Most qualifying patients will get free or vastly discounted drugs.

Right now we are in the midst of an alarming rate of mortality for sea water turtle in the Gulf Of Mexico. The death rates are up over 300% so far this year. Part of this is probably due to the ecological disaster that was the Deep Water Horizon crude oil spillage that resulted in millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf and it wildlife and pristine beaches. Even taking into effect the extra deaths due to the oil spill we still have something else contributing to their deaths. Signs point to the shrimping industry as the likely culprit. Now I love to eat shrimp as much as the next person but we really need to make a change in the nets that catch the shrimp as they are also catching and drowning our marine turtles. There is supposed to be a simple remedy for this and it is a devise known as a Turtle Excluder Devise or TED. Adding these devises to the shrimp nets would surely help prevent a large portion of the turtle deaths. You can visit Defenders Of Wildlife Sea Turtle Petition
and sign the petition to urge congress to act to enforce the ESA or Endangered Species Act and make it a requirement to place TED’s in their nets. This would be similar to the way they exclude dolphin from tuna nets now. When it was learned how many dolphins were being killed by tuna fisherman people boycotted brands that did not use the safer dolphin strategies. Maybe we need the same warnings on any shrimp we consume. I feel that all creatures are important and should be protected for our children’s future. I urge you to please visit and sign the Defenders Of Wildlife Sea Turtle
Petition

Right now there is a petition drive being sent to Congress requesting that Congress establish a law to make it illegal to not report a missing child. I have seen two versions of the petition. One of them is to make it against the law to report a missing child that has been missing for 24 – 48 hours. The other version is to make it a felony to not report a child missing if it goes over 30 days missing. I personally think they could combine the two petitions together to create an even tougher law. The links are at Petition2Congress. Everyone who cares for the welfare of helpless children should visit there and sign the petitions.

There are currently two versions of a bill in Congress that would protect a  journalist’s right to keep his or her sources confidential, effectively banning the government from forcing journalists to reveal whistleblowers. One version though–the House version–gives an incredibly stupid definition of journalist that excludes not only bloggers, but freelancers, independents, and nonprofit journalists as well. For the most part, the Senate and House agree on what a journalist’s duties are and what journalism are:

“the regular gathering, preparing, collecting, photography, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”


The house version though adds this to the description of a journalist:

“for a substantial portion of the person’s livelihood or for substantial financial gain and includes a supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such covered person.”

This will eliminate freelance journalists (no boss) anyone who does it as a hobby or public service this includes most blogggers who are not paid. The government then has the right to force you to tell who told you anything that you might report about much like they tried to do with journalist Judy Miller under the Bush Administration.