Archive for the ‘General’ 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

Got to get off my lazy backside and working on my blog again. Long with the usual resolutions like trying to lose weight and be more active in my eBay business I also intend to start posting regularly again. I’m able to use my phone now as I have installed WordPerfect on it and now post my comments and thoughts even while I’m away. Right now I haven’t even been paying attention to news or other events . So along with my resolution to start posting again I will also need to stay  informed of world events. Look for more post every day or two at the worst. Happy new year to all and to all a good bye.

I have been very lax about posting and posting something interesting lately. I’ve have had some very nasty days with my fibromyalgia. I have been reading up on the so-called Obama care. While I do see parts of a Obama Care that should be repaired. Overall it is better in the long run than anything I’ve heard out of the Republican camp. I do disagree with charging minimums that require you to purchase health care insurance. I would set a final price $100,000, and anyone making more than that would need to get their own insurance policy they could self pay or employer pay. However, if you make less a $100,000, (150,000 or more for married filing jointly) you would be eligible for Medicaid. Medicaid requirements should be paid by the  federal government. Romney has already stated that he would drop Medicaid altogether. Back in the 60′sRepublicans fought tooth and nail attempting to block Medicaid and Medicare. If not for Pres. Johnson, we would not have Medicaid or Medicare. Well that and equal rights. Republicans, including our longtime senator Strom Thurmond were against equal rights. If I remember correctly, Thurmond, holds the record for longest filibuster of all time in the USA and that he was for speaking out against the Civil Rights Bill. That is the truth behind the Republicans legacy.

If we can retain”Obama Care”starting January 1, 2014, medicaid expansion will now have a new limit. Anyone making 113% of poverty the level will be eligible for Medicaid. This is a step in the right direction. That part is good. The bad part is that it will impose a filing minimum of $95 or a 1% of the filing income minimum, depending upon which one of the two is the highest This is where I think there are problems. By 2016, they are starting to create tax credits or charges or not having insurance. More on that later.

Once again I have procrastinated about this blog. I have been rather busy with a new product line in our eBay store. As sales of Game Boys have dropped we are expanding into clothing. Mostly womens  clothing and trying to list more plus size clothing. My wife is very good at locating good used clothing. She knows how hard it is for plus size women to find nice-looking clothing. That and I am good at picking out pretty clothing especially dresses for women. This is more a labor intensive as you cannot list more than one lot at a time. It’s not actually labor as no physical labor is involved. It’s just that you can’t create variations like other clothing can be listed. I got lucky recently and was given an older version of Dragon Speak. It’s not the latest and greatest but hopefully will enable me to get more done.  Hopefully I will be able to keep up better, much better than I have been lately. I’ve been reading where military contractors have basically been using almost slave labor and Iraq and Afghanistan. I am going to look into these activities by companies like Halliburton and KBR and report that back to you.

Once again it seems that I have been dragging my heels in posting my feelings about the soldier who massacred sixteen innocent Afghan civilians. I have thought long and hard about this and feel that the US was wrong in spiriting him away in the “dead of night” so to speak. I feel like this was the exact wrong thing to do. He killed Afghans and should be dealt with harshly if we want to maintain healthy relationships with Afghanistan and its people. Instead it looks like we are going to shield him from the wrath that Afghanistan people demand. That he being returned to the US makes it look to them that we are not going to punish him as they feel he needs. If we intend to maintain relationships between our two countries we can not allow him to get out of this if he is found guilty. Whatever the out come we need to think of the ramifications in our response to this situations in that part of the world.

I am going to make this one  fast and directly. During the previous presidential administration we heard from several fronts that “Dick Cheney has no heart”. Well to all those doubters I only have to point out that Mr Cheney received a heart yesterday. That kills that thinking. I give out a sincere, get well soon. One reason for this, is that we honestly want to see him get better and for a questionable rumination, who paid for the heart transplant? While we know he can afford it we still wonder if he still receives medical care from the government as part of your severance from being such a high ranked official in our country. I believe that it is part of the great medical care that we give our government officials. The ones that can afford it the most get it for free and the ones that ones who need it the most can not get it.

 

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.

I once again am slow to get back to my blog to post and I try to show reasons why but even with the problems we have been having I still should be more regular in my posting. A big whoop de do over nothing in my opinion has caused a rift in the family. My sister in law and her two grandchildren were living with us  as one family up until just two weeks ago. Now They have moved in with her daughter the mother of the two children and it looks as if things will never be the same any more. I know our eBay business will suffer some as she was unrivaled in her ability to find awesome deals for us to purchase and then resell on eBay. We will carry on and go on without her and the kids but it seems so quiet here without them.

On the eBay front sales are sporadic but still moving forward towards Christmas. I need to make a few changes to what we have listed and make sure everyone knows that express mail is an option if they want to pay the high shipping fees. I have also been looking for a Christmas countdown clock that is up to date so I can insert it into my HTML if they will still let me use one. I have done it before but a lot of water has gone over the dam since then. Every season they make changes so we have to stay on top of things if we want to sell and make a good profit. We are pretty much like regular department stores in that we get into the black during Christmas season. Everything all year long goes mostly back into purchasing more stock to have for this time of the year. I need to get moving again and list some more items for sale as we have some very nice Game Boy Advance SP’s that are nearly impossible to find in like new condition like some of these are. As a matter of fact a few are actually new but they were opened and inspected before being put up making them impossible to list as new but “New Other” is an option. If anyone knows of a good countdown clock that I can use for free please drop me a note. Best wishes for all.

 

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

There is a country in severe trouble. There are many who have no homes, shelter and clean drinking water. Many citizens have no heat in the winter nor a way to cool off during it’s normal summer heat waves. The elderly and young children are the ones who need air condition to prevent them dying during its heat waves. Thousands are without jobs and lack basic health care for the sick. What country is this that sounds as if it is in such dire straights? The country that needs this help is not overseas where we send so much money but instead right here at home. The US is in need of help but instead they say to hell with those unfortunates and send money overseas instead. I am not saying that there are countries that do not have dire needs but we should take care of our own people first.