Tea Party

So, this Tea Party thing...you guys are just tying your own nooses and don't even know it. I really hate to be so graphic, but there's no other way to describe it. You are so stubborn/stupid to listen to anything other than Fox News (Republican Propaganda Machine) to realize that it's the billionaire Koch brothers who are bank-rolling the whole Tea Party movement, and who have a heavy hand in crafting the Republican legislation that cuts taxes for the rich, raises them for the poor and middle class, and gives large subsidies to oil companies. Guess what the Koch brothers' main business venture is? Hmmm...need a hint?...just a few more seconds.....OIL!!! Kindly see my last post, paragraph 3. You gripe and complain about not wanting higher taxes (your taxes are lower under Obama than they were under Bush, YES IT'S TRUE!) but you vote for Tea Party candidates who do the will of their sponsors, the Koch brothers. You've been duped, fooled, wool's been pulled over your eyes! Do some research, don't listen and believe blindly to what these people tell you. Educate yourselves, read. Find something other than Fox News from which to get information. It's owned by another billionaire, Rupert Murdoch, who has a vested interest in Republicans winning races. Again, smoke in mirrors. Just as GOP politicians talk one game and legislate another, Fox News alleges to report the news while manufacturing lie after fictitious lie.

Hey America, the GOP Hates You...

...Unless that is you are among the richest 2% of Americans. You know, our political landscape has grown beyond conservative and liberal. It is now between rich and poor. I've been saying it for years now. It doesn't matter if your views are conservative or if they are liberal. The question is what tax bracket do you fall under? And my point is proven most recently by "Representative" Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and his budget bill. It really makes you wonder who he's representing. Well, let me tell you.

First, he's proposing to cut taxes for the richest 2% of Americans from 35% to 25%. Man, I'll bet all those billionaires really need all that extra money right now. They might just go out and create an extra job or two...just like they did during the Bush years...oh wait, that's right, they didn't. They shipped jobs overseas and gave themselves massive pay raises. Oh but his budget gets even better. Guess who gets to pay for those tax cuts for the rich? We do: the elderly, the poor, and the middle class, in the form of tax increases, cuts to and ultimately elimination of Medicaid and Medicare. Yeah, ol' Representative Ryan wants to give our elderly a nice voucher they can take to the private health insurance industry where they can purchase health insurance...at greatly increased rates. So let me get this straight. We're going to take a very popular Medicare program away from our seniors, which they absolutely don't want, and make them pay more for their health insurance, which they absolutely can't afford as it is, and make our millionaire friends in the for-profit health insurance industry even richer than they already are. I suppose we'll be hearing of their year-end bonuses pretty soon.

Let's see, what else, oh yeah, Ryan's 2012 budget gives subsidies to the oil industry. Is that in addition to the subsidies they already get? The oil industry is raking in record billions of dollars in profits each quarter and most Americans are struggling to buy the gas they need to get back and forth to work each day. So our friends in the oil industry are padding their pockets with even more millions to add to their billions.

But guess who gets to share in the sacrifice of Ryan's budget? Our kids! That's right, Ryan's budget cuts funding significantly for public education. Are our schools not crowded enough? Are our teachers working with too many supplies? Oh, it must be their terribly high salaries. No wonder our education is lagging far behind other countries. They are also cutting Pell Grants for millions of deserving college students. Republicans are more interested in corporate profits than in our kids' ability to compete in the global market against kids whose superior educations have prepared them.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. This bill is 1000+ pages and just came out a few days ago and we're just beginning to understand it. These are just a few bullet points. In nursing school, my classmates and I were taught critical thinking skills. We were taught to take objective data and subjective data and use these to try and determine what was going on with a patient. Our nation is sick. There is a multiple system dysfunction. It's not just Republicans to blame, or Democrats. But based on the data I have observed and the policies that have gone forth from the mouths and pens of Republicans in the last three decades I say this, it will be a cold day in hell before I vote for another Republican.

30 years of GOP policies of deregulation, tax cuts for the ultra rich and largest corporations, and tax increases on the poor and middle class have nearly bankrupted our nation. Republicans would have you believe it's the unions, the firemen, policemen, the teachers and nurses who are bankrupting our cities, counties, and states. Are we so quick to forget that it was the corporate giants like Citigroup, Bank of America, and AIG that nearly drove our economy into ground through their greedy and unregulated practices? And do we remember what then happened? We, the middle class tax payers, paid a $700 billion bailout to these companies to keep them from going bankrupt because they were "too big to fail". Then what happened? The CEOs of these companies enjoyed some of the biggest bonuses they've ever received. Why shouldn't they? After all, they had just pulled the biggest scam in history. They took our money, lost it in excessively risky practices, and then took our money again. It was ingenious.

But enough of that. That's not the real issue. The real problem is that people continue to vote for these same Republican idiots over and over again. Why would they knowingly do that? Well, obviously, they're not knowingly doing that. I live in the South and a majority of the people here vote for Republicans, if for no other reason, for the social conservative aspects of the party, such as being against abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. And, being raised in the South, I grew up with the same ideals. The difference is, as I grew up, I also wanted to know what else the GOP stood for, and I learned quickly that it wasn't for the middle class or the poor. I get so easily frustrated because I see these so called "Christian" politicians who want to raise taxes and healthcare costs on the poor, middle class, and elderly and cut taxes substantially for the extremely rich. Jesus said the rich should sell their possessions and give what they have to the poor. Republican policies run opposite the teachings of Jesus. The point is, it's all smoke and mirrors. Republican politicians keep their voters voting for them by talking about the social issues that the people want to hear about. "We're going to defund Planned Parenthood." (Which, by the way, uses federal money for such things as cancer screenings, general healthcare screenings and vaccinations, as well as sexual health, contraception, and planning pregnancy, but NOT abortion). Yes, they talk about social issues, but all the while, they are working in Congress for their buddies in the healthcare insurance industry, the oil industry, Wall Street, or whoever filled their pockets during campaign season, millionaires and billionaires, the top 2%. Those are the constituents the Republicans are working for. It's not for me, it's not for you. It's not about conservative or liberal, it's about rich or poor.

The Original Boston Tea Party

Political commentator Thom Hartmann reads from a first hand account of one of the participants of the 1773 Boston Tea Party. Surprise! They weren't against the government! The citizens of the day were against the large corporations and the burdens they were placing on the Americans. Today's Tea partiers could learn a thing or two from one of the originals.

To The Donald...Really???

Ok, I was intrigued when Donald Trump started making noise about running for president. He's a good businessman, I won't say he's a great one, after all, he did let his casino go into bankruptcy. That seems pretty hard to do. But he is a billionaire, great with real estate. He owns many beautiful buildings in the Big Apple, not to mention his golf courses across the country. His Apprentice television series is also quite popular. Why do I like him? First off, he is a billionaire! He clearly has a lot of money, and I think, at least, he might be less persuaded by these big mega banks and corporations to make policies that favor them and that he would craft policies that would  create jobs and that are more friendly to the middle class. (At least I saw him in a YouTube video earlier this month that gave me that impression.) I started thinking to myself, although he's arrogant, people respect him, he accomplishes his goals, and if he can do for our nation what he's done for his businesses, I might feel inclined to vote for him in 2012.

But then he traded in his arrogance for straight up ignorance and joined the birther bandwagon. And I've got to be straight up honest, I just don't get it. Why on earth would a man as intelligent and educated as Donald Trump make the morning news rounds and talk about he doesn't know if Barack Obama was actually born in the United States? It's just plain ignorant. Ok, let's go over this one more time. First, the Obama campaign DID release Obama's birth certificate. You can see a copy of it at reputable sites here, here, or here. Second, an announcement was printed in two Honolulu newspapers shortly after his birth. See a couple of those previous links. If he was born in Kenya, I somehow doubt two Honolulu newspapers would have announced his birth. Third, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawai'i State Department of Health, has released an official statement verifying that Obama was born in Hawai'i and is a natural born citizen of the United States. Also, the current governor of Hawai'i, Neil Abercrombie, was personal friends to the President's parents and attests that, while he was not in attendance the day of the birth, he did see the baby, Barack, soon thereafter. Given the preceding evidence, I think the fact that Obama is a citizen is irrefutable. 


But now Mr. Trump is coming up with the most ridiculous argument of all, that no doctors and no nurses can be found that remember him being born! Um...excuse me? What? Is this guy serious? No doctors or nurses remember his birth? Well my gosh, I hope not. The man is 49 years old!! If there is a doctor or nurse still working that remembers the birth of Barack Obama that is still working after 49 years, I wouldn't want that person for my doctor or nurse. They should all be retired, at least. Sorry Donald, that is a most pathetic argument, immature, and most of all, ignorant. If I was thinking of voting for you, you have lost all my confidence in your ability to be rational, sound, and in short, to be a leader.

So Be It: Why Americans Shouldn’t Be Surprised By the Republican Agenda

This article explains exactly why I feel the way I do about Republicans and what I've been trying to explain for the last 3 years. It's a great read and I encourage all to read it and endorse it completely.

http://www.politicususa.com/en/republican-agenda

I've Started a New Business

Hello everyone! Just a quick plug for my new business I've started. It's called The PC and Networking Fix. I'm sure you've seen those commercials where you call some 800-number and they claim to speed up your computer. Well, I'm basically doing the same thing. The advantage is, I do it in your home or office, which means you are not giving over control of your computer remotely to some stranger. I speed up your computer in the following ways:

• Find and remove viruses and other malware
• Remove files and data from old software installations
• Fix registry errors
• Defrag your computer files as well as the registry
• Install more memory (RAM)

I also install and set up wireless networks (WiFi) in your home or office. This will enable you to share your internet connection with more than one computer, including laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, smartphones, and even Blu-ray players and TVs. The internet has become an integral part of our lives and we use many types of devices to connect to our families, friends, coworkers and businesses. It makes sense to have a dependable and secure WiFi network to make those connections and accomplish your work.

Please visit my website for more information and contact me if I can be of service to you.

Serving the Birmingham, Alabama area.

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC (2011)

This is an excellent explanation of how the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling of 2010 affects all American "people". This is exactly how the government is allowing big corporations take over our democracy and turn it into a plutocracy, in which we the people have no voice.

GOP Attack on Middle Class Americans – Floor Speech by Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

I wish some of my more conservative friends would wake up and see what the wealthiest corporations are doing to our great nation. Rep. Miller, my hat's off to you. This is exactly the speech all Americans need to hear and I couldn't have said it better myself.