I Can Actually Think For Myself

Why is it that every time I express a view in political matters someone thinks that I'm just a huge fox news fan that doesn't think for himself. Let me say that I absolutely love the Glenn Beck program and I think that he is a very intelligent man. Anyone who has seen his show in the last 3 or 4 months can walk away from it saying that they may not agree with his opinions but you cannot deny the facts that he puts forth. When I start to talk to someone about what's going on in the political world today or the events in this country someone has to say that I'm either ignorant republican or I just repeat what I hear on Fox. Whatever happened to just being conservative and having conservative views? Bill O'riely says things that I don't agree with and I don't always think Rush Limbaugh is right. I have watched other programs like NBC and MSNBC and even HLN and you can't get anything out of those programs. They will only cover national and presidential matters for a short time. When they do cover it they only show the light side of it and not the whole truth. They never show video of people disagreeing. They do however let newly seated senators get on and completely ridicule and demean Sarah Palin and Ms. America. Fox has never let a senator come on and completely dismantle the president. There are things that are happening that I don't agree with and I can talk about because I am educated on those matters. I'm not the smartest person but at least I pay attention and try to learn new things before I form an opinion.

We are spending tons of money. We just allocated 2 billion dollars to brazil to drill for oil off shore when we won't do it here. Democrats have said they will try to pass healthcare reform with reconciliation if they can't get one republican vote. That's an old tactic of splitting up the bill so you only need 51 votes. The congressional budget office has already shown that we can't pay for the healthcare bill by cutting medicare or any other way for that matter. We fall more into debt every second and congressman are just now starting to come around to the fact that we actually expect them to read the bills they pass. We have that stimulus package worth almost 800 billion that we were told we would be able to monitor and see where those funds are going. Can anyone find that? I doubt it. I hope everyone is paying attention and that we can get things changed fast because we are falling at a record pace and may not know it until it's too late.

thanks for reading, God bless America.

Straight Forward View Of Public Healthcare Option

I understand that it is unfortunate when people are not covered by an insurance company because of a pre-existing condition. I also disagree that companies should be able to drop coverage because of a new condition or sickness that arises in a paying customer. Our government wants to pass a reform that does a number of things:

1. create a public, government run option with multiple choices for multiple prices.
2. prevent companies from denying coverage for a pre-existing condition.
3. prevent companies from dropping a person's coverage when a new condition arises.
4. require companies to cover all routine procedures such as colonoscopies, regular check ups and the rest of the everyday things that they may not cover now.

Now this all sounds good if those things fit in your category but we need to look past our initial reaction to really think about what this means and what consequences passing this bill would have. If you force an insurance company to cover all routine procedures that they do not cover now it will force them to raise prices to cover these new expenses. That means for all of us Americans like myself who pay each month for our health insurance or get it for a lowered price through our employer that our price will be increased. Another thing that will raise the price is when a company can't deny someone coverage when that person is going to be a client that requires that company to pay more than usual expenses. Saying you can't deny me health insurance for a pre-existing condition is like saying you can't deny me car insurance because of a past accident or DUI. More people who are going to cost a company more money means that company has to raise it's prices. That is a fact. I wish everyone could have healthcare but it's not possible.

Now to creating a public option. It would be a choice of coverage plans at different prices, which would have to be lower than any private company offers now in order to be more affordable. What happens when the government can give you healthcare coverage at a much lower rate than a private company who was just forced to raise their prices because of new coverage rules? Obviously that private company would be run out of business. I can't imagine a way they could stay functional unless they cut huge numbers of employees which would increase our national unployment by hoardes since we are talking about a huge industry. Less people working would have a negative effect on our economy. And if you think that our government doesn't want to phase out private insurers think again. In 2003 our now president said at an SEIU conference he was "a proponent of a single payer healthcare option" even though today he said "I haven't said I want a single payer system" and in 2007 he said he'd like to see us eliminating private insurers in 10, 15, or 20 years.

If these companies are going out of business or raising their prices then people will be forced to drop their now expensive coverage and join the government plan. Now this government plan is run by the government, not by business men who have been running the actual medical coverage industry for decades. Now that the insurance companies are losing customers or employees or shutting down all together there are still going to be plenty of people who still can't afford insurance even on the government plan. How will we cover them? Raise prices or taxes on those who can afford it to cover the ones that can't? Offer a near free option with the same coverage for people who don't make enough money? That wouldn't be fair to the people who are paying more for the same option. We have to understand that we can't have different prices for the same things just because someone is poor and someone isn't. Maybe we should put more time and effort into finding everyone a job. I don't believe there is a way to offer healthcare to the entire nation while being fair to everyone and not completely eliminating the private healthcare sector. I would love to hear any ideas that wouldn't raise prices or cut jobs. By the way there was a recent rasmussen poll done that showed out of the some 46 million americans with no insurance, 43% of those could afford it and chose not to purchase it.

If you want to read the bill that is being proposed then google House Resolution 3200 or HR 3200. You'll find out that it is extremely long and has a lot of "sections" and "subsections". It looks like an unbelievably long tax form.

Thanks for reading.

Take Some Responsibility as a Parent

I'm reading the news paper and there's a story in here about a high school principal's wife, who is also the school counselor, having sex with a student of that school. Says she gave the student alcohol and weed and had sex with him (not all at the same time I don't think). The student was of legal age so it can't be considered rape and he said that he initiated sex with the counselor. Now of course the mother of the student is upset and wants there to be as many charges pressed against the woman as possible. She wants to see her charged with rape even though her son is the legal age and said he initiated the sex. Now I'm not supporting what the counselor did by any means. She has a husband, she's a school employee, and she provided a minor with illegal substances but this kid's mother is putting all the blame on the teacher and not the kid who's old enough to know what he's doing. Why don't you take time to bd upset at the counselor but also think about the job you did raising that kid. I mean he does drink and do drugs and have sex with older women. Maybe you could have taught him better as a child and this never would have happened. That's just our problem. Everyone wants to pawn off their responsibility on anyone else. Take some blame yourself mom. You gave this kid the opportunity to initiate sex with a faculty member and probably never even talked with him about drugs and alcohol. The counselor deserves consequences for what she did but if I were that judge, I'd put that kid's mom in a damn parenting class.


Thanks for reading.

Go To Town Hall Meetings!

I like seeing the turn outs at these town hall meetings being held by Democratic members of congress. They call it their listening tour and that's what the people are there to make sure they do. The crowd reactions really show that the people of this country are educated about current events and that they realize sometimes they only way to get your voice heard is to yell! I wish they would host a meeting close to my area because I would be at the front of the line. The bad part of all this is that the members of congress aren't just listening and taking the constructive criticism. They are attacking and trying to brush off informed, concerned Americans as "fringe groups" or "angry mobs". These aren't people who have been sitting around waiting for their moment to get back at the Democrats because they didn't win the election. These are real people with real jobs and real ideas. They may not know how to operate a congress or be qualified to run for political office but they do know what they want from the elected officials that work for them. They know how they want their lives to be and what decisions should be made. Nothing is more irritating then some political official telling a single American citizen that they don't know what's good for themselves. Do what you were elected to do and listen to the people who are missing work, crowding into these meetings trying to get their voice heard. Don't dismiss them as planted protesters. One that's kinda funny is that a congressman has scheduled his next town hall meeting at a childrens' hospital and sent out an email saying how inappropriate it would be to use loud voices inside. Nice way to try and quiet your constituents. The same people who can't even read the bills they vote on because they are "too long" and take up too much time to read are telling us that they know what's best for us. That's ridiculous and I hope those officials know that they can ignore this country and pass this huge healthcare reform bill but they will notice that the people aren't happy when they aren't re-elected. If anyone does go to one of these meetings then please voice your opinion. Don't be rude or inappropriate but be firm and don't let them take your voice away. We are just as important as the politicians that sign and vote on these bills.

Thanks for reading.

My UFC 101 Picks

Ok to all my UFC fan friends...here are my picks so Eddie bring on your comments!
btw I have no idea who the favorites are to win or what kind of odds are out so if I'm way off base then oh well. Whatever here it is.

Starting with the co-main event, Anderson Silva taking on Forrest Griffin. Forrest is really good standing up and can take a beating while Silva is also a very dangerous striker but some doubt his ground game. I think Silva's ground game is doubted because he rarely has to use it. my pick is Silva. He's faster, more elusive, and I think his striking is better than that of Griffin. Even though Silva's last fight was hard to watch and drug along till the decision, this one will be over in the 2nd! That's right i said it...they'll stop the fight in the second.

Now B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian is gonna be a good one...for the first few minutes. Florian is good and I like his jiu-jitsu but B.J. might just be too good. Kenflo won't get to use those dangerous elbows because B.J. won't find himself in many helpless situations. I think Penn does a lot of stick-and-moving and takes advantage of Kenflo's take down attempts for some nice counters. I think B.J. will submit him in the third but it will be a good fight up until that very moment.

I believe Amir Sadollah loses via split decision to Johny Hendricks. I think Hendricks is probably a better striker and neither have a really impressive ground game from what I've read.

Kendall Grove is going to demolish Ricardo Almeida with some crazy high kick or nasty elbow combination. I do not expect that one to go to decision.

Josh Neer has lost 2 of his last 3 fights to the Diaz brothers which are 2 really good fighters. I think Kurt Pellegrino's ground game wins the fight though. Pellegrino via submission (possibly triangle choke).

George Sotiropoulos will win in a unanimous decision against George Roop. Giving it to Sotiropoulos for his experience since Roop has been to decision in his last two UFC fights.

Thales Leites wins by TKO over Alessio Sakara even though I think Leites should be ashamed of his last "fight" against Silva. But Sakara is 4-4 in his last 8 fights. Not that impressive.

Thanks for reading.

Hottest Coach Right Now Yes But Best?...Not Quite

I will say this again because my gator fan friend is killing me with this Urban Meyer talk. He just signed an extension and now makes like 4mil a year. He is the hottest (not looks wise you pervs) coach in college football right now and he has the hottest player in the NCAA. He has an impressive record and two national championships in the last three years. He coaches in what many agree to be the hardest and most competitive conference in college football, but could there be someone with a more impressive resume? Someone who coaches another national powerhouse and not some mountain west or sun belt team? I think there is and his name is Pete Carroll. Here are some stats courtesy of usctrojans.com: He's been at USC his entire 8 year career and has a winning percentage of 85.4% at 88-15. That's the best of any coach in D-I with at least 5 years of experience including Meyer at 83-17. Only him and Bob Pruett have that many wins in their first 8 years since 1900. In his 15 losses, only 1 was by more than a touchdown...ONLY 1!!! He's never lost a game in November. Meyer has won 4 total conference championships between the mountain west and the SEC, while Carroll has won 7 conference championships in a row. He's been in 7 straight BCS bowls in his 8 year career. He's 32-7 against AP top 25 teams. He's won at least 11 games a year for the past 7 years. He had USC ranked No.1 for 33 straight polls. He and Meyer have both won 2 national championships but Carroll did it two years in a row and lost in his 3rd straight national championship game by 3 points. Now I'm not a fan of the trojans and I'll say that Urban Meyer is currently the hottest coach in the NCAA but I won't be so ignorant as to say that he is the best in the game. Use the whole SEC vs. Pac 10 arguement and USC doesn't have a lot of competition if you want but you don't go to 3 straight national championships and win 2 if you aren't that good no matter what conference you're in. I mean Ohio St. wins their conference a lot and is usually ranked high but they get blown out in the big games. Meyer has an impressive record but he simply has not done as much as Carroll in the last 8 years.

Oh yea, Carroll was also named coach of the decade this year by Lindy's.

Thanks for reading.

Cash For Clunkers

There are plenty of opinions about the Cash for Clunkers program. Now here's mine. I think the program as it is doesn't service the American Economy as well as it could. In fact there are some definite negatives. It has taken on more transactions than it could handle and has dealers' requests backed up to the point that some are sending things through three or four times with no response. Plus it takes a while to determine a "clunker". Sure the commercial says 1984 or newer, has to get certain gas mileage but there is a 136 page booklet of requirements that must be met. Now getting people to buy new cars and bring business into car dealerships is a positive for the auto industry, or should I say the new car industry. While this program does help sell new cars, it deals a blow to the used car industry which is where most dealers make most of their money anyway. It's taking all these used cars, of which most are perfectly good, running cars, and removes them from the market all together. Think of how many people can't afford a new car and would find one in the "clunkers" that are being destroyed. Also think of the revenue it's taking away from the dealers that could resale those "clunkers" to someone who isn't in the new car market. Another thing is that the parts from the "clunkers" can only be sold for up to six months after the date of trade. That is hurting the used parts companies and wreckers that get to demolish the cars but then can't sell the parts for more than six months. The final problem I have with this program is that the engine must be completely disabled by draining all the oil and filling the engine with sodium silicate which will render the motor permanently unusable. That same motor is then sold to China. They take that metal and resource and manufacture their own products which we are going to buy from them in the form of something else in the future and believe me, we are not going to settle our debt to China by selling them used car engines. I think they are using the green movement to promote this when our biggest problem is our own economy. Sure this program is taking cars off the road which don't get impressive gas mileage but it's such a small percentage that it won't have an impact on the global warming myth that everyone is freaking out about. Besides, you can trade in a car or truck under this program for something that gets just 4 more miles per gallon. Now there's a lot of people who traded in their old car which was paid off for a new lexus in which they couldn't afford without this $4500 rebate. How many of those people do you think will still be making the payments once they lose their job or some small unexpected expense comes up? Seems similar to when we gave people loans on homes that they couldn't afford if the rate changed (which it did). But who cares about that since these loans aren't for $200,000 plus. The dealers won't feel the sting when that happens but the banks that hold the titles to those autos will. Sounds like the Government is doing nothing but giving away more free money to add to our astronomical debt and taking perfectly good used cars off the market at the same time. The only thing that the success of this program proves is that the American people like getting free money. It's still not clear if this program will get another 2 billion dollars to continue since it did run out of money in less than a week but i'm hoping it doesn't. Let's not get overly excited about some program with a ton of stupid rules which did so "well" that it ran out of money early. Success is going to be judged by the effects this program has on the next 5-7 years.

Thanks for reading.