December 14, 2013

So as of today, in order to post a comment on Huffington Post, you have to verify your HP account by

linking your HP account to your Facebook account and your HP posts will be linked to your Facebook account.

No thanks. This is too much intrusion by HP in my opinion. I have a Facebook account for only two purposes. One, I had to sign up with FB in order to access the information for my 35th high school reunion which I wanted to attend. Two, my daughter-in-law posts all new pictures and everything related to my 3 grandbabies on FB and it's convenient for everyone to check it out there.

Other than those two things, I would not use FB for anything. I'm too old for that kind of thing, although I know plenty of people my age, who spend entirely too much time on FB.

November 19, 2013

MSNBC just aired a more complete video of the mother who was pulled over in New Mexico

where the mother and son got into a tussle with the police before the mother put the kids in the car and drove off. I saw this video for the first time last night also on MSNBC, on Politics Nation, and after seeing the version today, I feel deceived by incomplete information. The tape today shows a policeman talking to the woman from the passenger side window explaining to her why she was being pulled over. It doesn't show everything, and doesn't say how long the complete tape is, but it certainly differs from what I saw last night.

The tape later shows the woman out of her vehicle and appearing to be acting erratic, before the son got out of the car. With all the issues we have with race relations in this country, I'm disappointed that Politics Nation chose to air an incomplete account of the story, and I say this as as a black woman who has been pulled over myself a time or two, and felt that the officer was not as respectful of me as I was of him (or her).

Rev Sharpton has been trying to rebuild and mainstream his image. I don't think the selective airing of this video served him well IMO.

November 8, 2013

In reading through the messages about Billy Graham's last sermon, and that Sarah Palin

and Donald Trump were guests, I was reminded of an article that I read about Palin the week that McCain forced her on this nation back in 2008. In the article, it discussed Palin's background and it said something to the affect that,"...although she considers herself a christian, she stated that she (and members of her family) have never belonged to any church or any organized religion. She stated that she taught herself about God by reading the Bible. ..."

I remember thinking to myself at the time, that must have been awful hard to do since, I, having been brought up in the church and attending religious schools from 1-12th grade would have had a lot of trouble understanding the meaning of many things in the Bible had I had to read it and interpret it myself. By the end of her first week on the McCain campaign trail, I was convinced that, this woman is an idiot. About a year ago, I tried to search for that earlier article and could not find it with so much out there now about her on the internet. But I remain convinced that the woman is a snake oil salesman and a fraud when it comes to her peddling her books on religion, because none of her actions convince me that she has a religious bone in her body. I'm not moved by her flags on her lapel or her Star of David necklace worn at Tea Party rallies.

So the fact that Palin and Donald Trump were at Graham's 'final sermon' just convinces me even more that this was a convention of snake oil salesman, rather than anything else.

November 6, 2013

Does anyone know how many provisional ballots were cast in VA and how many have been counted?

Also, what about absentee ballots?

I would also like to know how many of those 40,000 who were cast off the rolls showed up to vote.

November 5, 2013

Do these people know no shame?

President Bush's former White House Chief of Staff, Andy Card on Morning Joe this a.m. and made the following statements:
"...Obama mislead the people. Words do matter at the White House. I blame the White House Staff... Obama has lost the confidence of telling the truth to the American people. ..."

Too bad the so called "Journalists" on the show, (Mark Halperin and John Heilemann) were too busy hocking their book to call the Spade, a Spade.

I think it's time to eliminate "freedom of the press" protections from 'Journalists' who are not truly 'Journalists' in the pursuit of "the Truth" but rather self serving entertainers in pursuit of of a payday. That would eliminate all of Faux News. When Chuckie Todd says that it's not the "journalist's" job to inform the public, and decipher "truth" from fiction, those so-called Journalist are no longer entitled to 'those protections' and freedoms that the 1st Amendment provides for a Free Press.

I've always felt that we had lost our way as a nation when newspapers began permitting their political reporters to write and sell political books, while employed as a reporter/journalist. It just seems to me that you have compromised your objectivity when you start swapping news and information for profit. Where does truth stop and sensationalism start?

October 31, 2013

Chris Mathews last night on Hardball said what I have been thinking aloud for some time now

Who is 'barely-half-generation', canadian-born, son-of-a-cuban-born-on-cuban-soil Raphael Ted Cruz to declare who is a real American and who ain't. To think that he and his cuban born immigrant-via-Canada father have the audacity to open their mouths, and speak to who is American and who isn't, and question President Obama's status as an American, is the height of hypocrisy and really takes a lot of Chutzpa, simply because he is trying to provide health care insurance to those Americans who need it.

If I were President Obama, I would tell Raphael Cruz Sr. and Raphael Cruz Jr. (borrowing a quote from Col Jessep of "A Few Good Men&quot "...I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. ..."

And by the way, Raphael Cruz, Jr., the less-than-a-quarter term Senator from Texas hails from the State with the highest percentage of uninsured in the nation, a fact that he seems to want to overlook when Sen Raphael Cruz Jr. spoke at the Health Care Forum in Austin, last week.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/107812854

http://www.coderedtexas.org/#findings

FINDINGS OF THE TASK FORCE
Overall health condition of Texans is poor
• Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured in the U.S.
• Texas cannot sustain the continued rise in Medicaid and state/county health care expenditures
• Current trends in delivery of health care in Texas will inevitably exacerbate current problems
– overdependence on emergency rooms for accessing primary care for the uninsured is the most
expensive means of delivering care
• Expansion of ambulatory (outpatient) services is an essential, more cost-effective means of
health care delivery
• Strategies that both control the cost of health insurance and ensure the most cost-effective
delivery of health care access for all Texans are needed
Texas has not taken full advantage of available federal matching funds to reduce the burden of
providing health care for the uninsured
The current county-based approach to delivery of health care in Texas is inadequate, and
inequitable
There is a significant shortage of health care professionals in Texas – professionals that
could reduce the cost of delivery of care to all Texans
Care for people with mental illnesses remains a major problem for Texas

October 30, 2013

I think Obama should invite the entire GOP over to the WH for a screening of "12 Years a Slave"

It should be required viewing for all members of Congress. So now we know that it wasn't just blacks brought over from Africa who were enslaved, but free black men and women were kidnapped from northern states and placed on ships and sold into slavery in the south. It also reminded me of the fact that the racists southerns like to talk about how they want their country back and that their ancestors built this country, when the truth is that this nation was built on the backs of blacks and whites, and chinese, etc etc alike. One thing remains however, and that is, mans inhumanity to man continues today. In order for one man to be able to inflict such demeaning and brutalistic punishment on another, you have to first convince yourself that those other people are not your equal. They are less human than you are. They are beneath you.

So I think this movie should be required viewing for all elected members of any office in any state. You can't fix what's wrong with America if you don't acknowledge your past transgressions and the impact that they have had and continue to have on people's lives. And before people start telling me that they never owned any slaves, or enslaved anyone, keep in mind that even though Lincoln freed the slaves, this nation didn't pass the Civil Rights Act until 1964, a hundred years later. In our modern age we have had unequal enforcement of laws which have rendered 1/3 of black men, felons. Even today, we have unequal financing of our public school systems which ensures that separate will never be equal. And Republican governors are scurrying to pass laws making it more difficult to exercise the right to vote.

So before congress adjourns for the year (in light of the fact that they have no agenda, this could happen much sooner that we expect) I'd like to recommend dinner and a movie.

October 23, 2013

I don't know if Dick Durbin can back up his claim about a

Top House GOP Leader Told Obama 'I Cannot Even Stand To Look At You'

but I'm almost certain that I recall reading an article within the past month that a Congressman while visiting at the White House made a statement that he couldn't stand to be 10 feet from President Obama. I recall it because my first thought was that, "than you should have stayed home". Maybe Durbin got the facts in his statement wrong.

Does anyone here recall reading such an article? It would have been within the past month give or take a couple of weeks.

October 18, 2013

I smell a rat with Obamacare rollout

I think that someone has deliberately sabotaged the ACA signup systems. After all we know about secret meetings within the GOP with the Koch brothers, Freedomworks, and Heritage, why is not so farfetched to think that as a last resort they may have plotted to keep the system from getting off the ground by making sure that people were not able to sign up and therefore making it out to be a disaster before it can get off the ground.

With all we know about Snowden and how much plotting went on with him and that guy from the Guardian, and how far back the deceit went, I would not be surprise to learn down the road that this was another plot to destroy the ACA. I work in contracting. Private contractors would have bid on and been responsible for designing this system. Today we hear about the system using 10 year old technology. This is bullsh!t. How hard would it have been for some Obama haters to plant some bad codes creating hidden time bombs into the system.

I'm curious as to what others think particularly from those of you with experience in this area.

October 10, 2013

Just received a phone call on my answering machine from Americans For Prosperity Virginia

Megan Stroud left a message from AFP Virginia. I'm here on a job assignment and living in Northern Virginia temporarily.

"She wanted to invite me to the Legislative Supercommittee Public Testimony hearing in Richmond on Medicaid expansion in Virginia as part of Obamacare. We are expecting a large crowd so come out and have your voices heard. This may be your last chance. Buses are leaving from Sterling, Fairfax and Woodbridge. We're expecting a HUGE turnout so Please call AFP at 866-730-0150 to reserve your seat. " Anyone who still believes that this is a grassroots organization has been smoking too much grass.

I think people should give Megan a call at AFP and tell her what you think of AFP and their grassroots effort to defeat Obamacare.