I offered in my train of thought, altruistically (so I thought) that if worst came to worst with the US economy, this area’s economy collapsed like other parts of the country, and I could sacrifice my financial status and my belongings as long as I knew that we, as a idyllic nation would survive intact, I would be perfectly ok with that.

To my amazement, this drew literal gasps (in shock and horror I imagined) and comments about how I was “a socialist” and support “the redistribution of wealth”…

I didn’t see it at the time, and to a large extent, I still don’t really.  All I meant was that I don’t believe either candidate will be able to save the economy.  One will follow established the failed patterns and policies that got us here, the other of untested quality under the pressures of a failing economy, two unnecessary wars, etc..  Unfortunately neither party offered up a better candidate, so… They’re “what we got”.

So, what DO I believe that got me here?

I believe that government needs to stay the hell out of our pockets (as individuals. I do not feel the same view for rich corporations).  I feel that people are wholly responsible for their own status in life, good or bad,  However, at the same time, I believe that the government has a great responsibility to work for the public well being, instead of for itself, or lobbyists which is the way it is now.

I believe every human being has the right to quality affordable (if not free) health care but the system here is so broken down and corrupt that honest hard-working people in America are having to pass up on even basic health care because it costs more per month than they make in a week (if not two).

Trust me.  While I’ve been blessed enough (not a religious statement, a confirmation of my luck in life so far) to have good jobs and a steady income, I worked for it, only to have my basic Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy (which didn’t pay for anything except really major medical) go from $165 to almost $300 per month over the course of two years.

I see doctors charging $3600 for what amounts to an IV full of painkillers, a couple of X-rays and some rental time in a bed (which happened to me with a kidney stone).  All while the same doctors complain about the system and having to hire 5x the size of their necessary staff JUST to handle the paperwork from the outrageous claims.  Claims they’re forced to inflate because the insurance companies refuse to pay for anything realistic.

If, for example, said doctors charged the insurance company $600 for said services, they would have probably received $60 with a warning that they should “charge appropriately”.

While I believe that we, as human beings are responsible for our own destiny and the government should stop interfering, I also believe that it’s time for a “reboot” if you will, to fix all the problems which caused what will end up being trillions of “bailout”  debt.

While I’m sure there are those of you here who will gladly argue the point against, and I don’t want the government in my pocket any more than you do, I just think that we — as a nation — pretty much earned where we are today, and everyone is going to have to compromise to some extent to get out of it.

Just a few of my wacky socialist ideas…:

- Stop spending 10 billion a month in a war no one wants, ever wanted, or even cares about except for the wasted money.  That money alone could pay for the ever-unpopular “universal health care” (of which I’m not necessarily a fan, I’m just making a point here).

- Don’t give Alaska another dime until it coughs up the money it stole for “the bridge to nowhere”.  In fact, do a big ass audit for all states that have wasted money fudging in rider bills to grant tax exemptions to “laminated arrow makers” (see the aforementioned “bailout bill” as it was passed).

- As a matter of fact, stop putting billions of dollars into pork barrel spending and put that money into providing a realistic education to our children.  For all you stingy “me” generationalists, “children are our future” and right now, the future doesn’t look too damned bright (socially, or intelligence-wise).

- Invest in the fricking future, which includes getting away from oil dependency and if that includes building solar, wind-powered, and nuclear power plants all over the damned country, so be it.  Hell, dig out the big tree in my back yard and put up a wind turbine if it could get me out of paying my utility bill.

– (ancillary note to the trophy Veep candidate Sarah “ya betcha” Palin, it’s not “new-kya-lar”)

- Let the people who bought $500,000 houses on 50k incomes take their lumps and if that means they gotta get evicted then rent somewhere, then so be it.  Lesson learned as far as I’m concerned and I have zero pity for them.

Between said idiots and the corrupt market, it’s their dumb asses that got us here in the first place.  When I bought my house, it was specifically below what I could afford, because — let’s face it — I like having the ability to eat out and go see movies.  Now with the economy the way it is, I may need to do a little less of each, but hey, maybe I can keep the house.  Novel fricking concept.

All I want to know is, when did the ideal of a government “for the people” get phased out for “for big business and the rich corporations who are supposed to trickle down their wealth but instead go on 400k junkets the day after receiving their bailout from the government?”

Do these thoughts of social responsibility make me some sort of evil bastard?  That’s kinda the way I’m feeling right now, and that’s not cool.

Tuesday is the election day for pretty much everyone but the president (the only one I care about getting out of office)..

For over a month now, every single day, I have been besieged with between 2 and 6 seperate flyers in my mailbox claiming “this politicians a thief” or “this politician is a drunk”. “This politician didn’t pay his taxes”, “this politician will rape small children” and my favorite… “this politician gave John Kerry a personal check, so she must be the devil…” Usually, I get at least two a day from opposing canditates, each claiming the other is a scumbag — in so many words..

Add to that, the fact that these puddleducks have gotten my cellphone number and have been calling me almost daily trying to sway my vote one way or another…

I just have to ask.. “If all these politicians and hopefuls are the lowlife scumballs that their opponents make them out to be, why would I — or anyone else — vote for ANY of them?”

I mean… Cricket on a stick here people… Seriously… Think about it.

Pity there really isn’t a “none of the above” on the ballot…

You can think me “unamerican” if you want — whatever the hell that means… Since there isn’t a single good choice and the election process is all electronically fixed anyway, if anyone needs me come election day, I’ll be spending it in the shower washing the political muck out of my ears and eyes….

Robin Williams’ plan…

(Hard to argue with this logic!)

“I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for Peace. So, here’s one plan.”

1) “The US will apologize to the world for our “interference” in their affairs, Past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those “good ole boys”, we will never “interfere” again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the iddle East, and the Philippines. They don’t want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We’ll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are. They’re illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don’t like it there, change it yourself and don’t hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don’t need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign “students” over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don’t attend classes or they get a “D” then it’s back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness.. The caribou will have to cope for while .

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil.
If they don’t like it, we’ll go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8 – If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not “interfere.” They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of us know that what we give them is stolen by the beaurocrats or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don’t need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, that building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can
call us “Ugly Americans” any longer.

11) The Language we speak is ENGLISH…learn it…or LEAVE…

Now, isn’t that a winner of a plan?

The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. She’s got a baseball bat and she’s yelling, ‘you want a piece of me?’ “

Today, the US Supreme court refused to hear an appeal to overturn the Alabama State legislature’s ban on sex toys. By way of refusal to even hear the case, the US Supreme court refuse to overturn the ban.

Alabama legislators have gone out of their way to prove once again that Alabama remains the most backward-assed redneck state in the Union. Whereas on one hand the legislators tell us that we cannot mix church and state (even though laws are CLEARLY based on the Bible), now they pretend to have the audacity to tell us what we can and cannot do in the confines of our own bedroom.