By now you’ve probably heard that Sarah Palin has chosen to resign as Alaska governor. She has stated many reasons for why this decision was made and, while they are likely all highly legitimate reasons, the main question that still has not been answered is this: Does this mean you’re out of politics?
Right out of the gate, even before the crux of this announcement has been reached, Republican pundits are already defending her decision to resign as governor. Now, I don’t know if there are other circumstances surrounding her resignation because it’s too early to tell. Regardless, why others within her party would be so quick to defend her is rather perplexing. Seems a little hypocritical to me because, let’s face it, if any Democratic governor decided to do the very same thing you can be sure they would be criticized to the hilt by Republican pundits.
Aside from any reason for the resignation, the fact of the matter is that Sarah Palin has proved that she can’t finish what she started. As an elected official, unless there are extenuating circumstances, you have an obligation to do your job and finish your term. By failing that obligation, Palin is breaking her promise to the Alaskan citizens who voted for her. Any way you slice it, there is no positive spin to this resignation. It’s a bad decision through and through.
What makes this decision so bad is that it makes it difficult to see her realistically run for President in 2012. If she does plan on running for President then she has a lot of explaining to do. How can anyone expect her to run the country as President when she can’t even finish the job as Governor of Alaska? As far as I’m concerned, this is the death of Palin’s political career. Yet another grand example of how the Republican party is retreating into insanity.
When I read this story it just pissed me off. Here’s the part that really did it for me:
….Late in the hearing, [Bart] Stupak, the committee chairman, put the executives on the spot. Stupak asked each of them whether he would at least commit his company to immediately stop rescissions except where they could show “intentional fraud.”
The answer from all three executives: “No.”
Lord forbid that executives will be required to reduce their compensation to ensure that patients can actually pay their medical bills. All it does is further support my argument that a public healthcare option isn’t optional. Personally I’m more for a single-payer system. Sorry execs but my body isn’t a commodity. More on that soon.
Been a while since I’ve posted anything on my blog. It’s not that I haven’t had time or had anything to write about. Honestly, I’ve been dealing with some health issues lately and have found it hard to really write anything. I’m getting back in the swing of things though.
Just today, I stumbled on a few videos with right-wing neo-cons Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh claiming that Obama might possibly have something to do with Chrysler closing down mostly Republican dealerships:
What a crock of shit! These guys lack any common sense whatsoever. Why on Earth would Chrysler allow Obama or anyone on Capital Hill to dictate to them who they can and cannot allow to sell their cars? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. It’s not Obama’s job anyways to dictate how Chrysler runs their business. The only thing Obama asked for was a business plan before he allows for bailout funds. That’s just common sense.
No one really knows exactly what the criteria was for which dealership contracts Chrysler was renewing and not renewing. My guess is that they went down the line city by city and picked the ones that provided the most consistent sales and profitability. Chrysler is a business first and foremost. As such, they’re not going to cancel the contract on a successful dealership on the basis of their political affiliation. That’s just stupid.
As usual, this is just the usual crap Malkin and Limbaugh spit out. Their spin consists of taking an array of disparate facts and coincidences and throwing them out there as proof that Obama and liberals suck. These guys really need to get a grip. Jeez!
Thanks to memo released by the Obama administration, we now learn that at least two suspected al Qaeda leaders were waterboarded at least 266 times. Here’s how I feel about torture…
I don’t believe that torture should be used no matter what the circumstances. This is real life dealing with real human beings. This isn’t an “us vs. them” issue. It’s an issue of humanity. This isn’t the TV show “24“. People really need to get that kind of destructive thinking out of their heads.
The so-called “War on Terror” isn’t about fighting terrorists as much as it is about fighting an ideology. In order to fight an ideology you have to refrain from activities that the enemy is accusing you of doing. By committing any acts of torture we are only adding fuel to the flames.
Think of it like this: Allowing torture in certain circumstances is the equivalent of Mahandas Gandhi saying that there are times when it’s ok to shoot someone with a gun in self defense. To fight terror you have to change the way you think and take a much more worldly view of the problem. This isn’t an issue that you can make go away by simply torturing and bombing suspected and/or known terrorists.
Knowing that the Bush administration allowed for this level of torture does nothing but illustrate just how much of a failure the Bush administration was on the war against terror.
I swear, I wonder why my wife and I live in Farmers Branch. Thanks to our lovely mayor, Tim O’Hare, our city has to pay out a million dollars in fines due to the shitty way he and the rest of city hall dealt with some stupid immigration laws they were trying to pass. Sorry, Timmy, but regardless of how you feel you’re not above the Federal government! So now our city is forced to pay out a million dollars of our taxes to the advocacy groups who paid out the ass to ensure that Farmers Branch didn’t pass these laws. Thanks, Tim, for wasting our tax dollars for no reason. Very much appreciate it.
And here’s the part that really gets under my skin:
“Mayor Tim O’Hare did not return a call for comment Wednesday to The Associated Press.”
Yeah, when you have nothing to say, no real answer, and no way to defend yourself, you go hide in your hole and refuse to answer to the press for your actions. Good job. Tim, I think you owe it to the city that elected you to step up, be a man, and take the heat. Otherwise, your city is gonna look really bad publicity wise.
Since 2006, the city has spent some $2 million on legal fees related to illegal immigration rules and rental ordinances it has not been able to enforce, the newspaper reported.
So with the recent fees, does that mean our city has spent $3 million on this nonsense? Argh! There are far more productive projects to spend $3 million on, Tim. Immigration might be a hot topic in this country but it’s not up to Farmers Branch to lead the charge in change. Want to really change things? How about putting together a coalition between other cities in Texas and other states and rally our Senators and Representatives to actually represent us and put up bills to change things. Ever thought about that? It’s called the internet, Tim! And theres this thing on it called social networking! Use it, dumbass!
Man, I sure hope more employees of financial institutions do this sort of thing. This sort of honesty is sorely missing from our country. I applaud Mr. DeSantis for having the one trait that folks on Wall Street seem to be lacking: a conscience!
Yep, this story just keeps getting better and better. Makes me completely sick to my stomach. I mean, regardless of whether these employees had a contract or not, the CEO could have reversed this decision and not pay these ridiculous bonuses. Getting government bailout funds is a highly extenuating circumstance and one that I feel should reverse any contracts that award any employees (or ex-employees) any bonuses like this. Sorry, there is absolutely no excuse for this. AIG took an action that was completely irresponsible. How can a bank claim to be in the shit and yet feel that it’s ok to payout millions in bonuses? Seriously…when the hell is the CEO of AIG gonna get fired?!
Cough! [Spits out coffee.] WHAT?! I did just read that, right? Hold on…lemme read that again just to be sure…
Yep, I did read that right. Here’s part of their excuse:
The payments to 400 employees of the financial-services unit — some of whom no longer work at the insurer — were promised last year before the federal government bailout. Bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million.
And then they go on to say:
[Chief Executive Edward] Liddy also pointed out he won’t receive a bonus and that the company cut bonus payments for it senior executives. The top 25 executives in the financial-product unit, moreover, have agreed to accept a salary of just $1 for the rest of 2009, his letter said.
Liddy needs to go away. We own 80% of that company now. I say fire his ass!
Last week, Rush Limbaugh said some really ignorant things about health care legislation:
Ok, first off, Obama has been doing his fair share to help fix the current banking and credit crisis. However, he’s not a magician. He can’t just wave a magic wand and come up with a solution over night. Plus, he has to have the backing of Congress to pass any kind of legislation that will aid in fixing the mess. It’s a multi-layered issue and no one really knows how big the problem really is other than it’s really big.
Also, I don’t expect Obama to focus his attention exclusively on the banking and credit issues we face. That would be incredibly irresponsible given that there are myriad of other issues that our country faces that require his attention as well. Not only that but to say that the buck stops with just Obama isn’t realistic. It’ll require the efforts of everyone in Congress; not just Obama and his cabinet.
To say that all he can do is shift people’s attitudes about it is pretty ignorant. This isn’t about ideology. It’s about facing the raw facts. You can preach ideology all you want but at the end of the day if what you are preaching isn’t contributing anything to the solution then your ideology doesn’t matter for squat.
The Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill?! Seriously, Rush?! That is by far one of the most insensitive things I’ve heard anyone say in quite a while! The guy is dying of brain cancer and you’re making a statement like that?! You may have a difference in ideology and opinion with Ted Kennedy but don’t joke around about his health. It’s rude and downright insensitive and, quite frankly, deserves an apology.
Questions for Rush: What would you do? What solutions to these problems would you propose? Given that you’re so eager to criticize Obama and just about every other Democrat and Republican who doesn’t agree with you, what would the great Rush Limbaugh do if he were in the White House? Would you focus exclusively on each problem till each one is solved? Would you say that’s a good strategy? Or would you get the ball rolling on each of these issues and focus your attention as it is needed?
What the hell does Rush Limbaugh know about any of this stuff? For all he knows, the problems with the health care industry are as big and complex as the banking and credit crisis. I should know because I’ve gone through some health care issues myself recently.
For those who really want to understand one of the bigger issues with health care in this country, I suggest you read a recent Time magazine article entitled The Health-Care Crisis Hits Home. After reading it, I quickly realized just how inadequate my own health care insurance really is.
Just like Patrick Tumulty, I’m on a temporary insurance plan. I switched jobs and, since my wife was still in school, we weren’t sure whether she would end up with a full-time job with benefits. As such, we decided to stick with a temporary insurance plan till we knew more. Big mistake! There were a number of discrepancies with my insurance plan within the six month duration I had it.
First, after having hernia surgery, my insurance company did not pay the anesthesiologist for some reason. Why? No clue. Guess they figured I didn’t need it. Or maybe it was because the anesthesiologist is out of network? So basically the insurance company is telling me that I have to keep up with whether or not if my doctor, the hospital, the anesthesiologist, the labs, and anyone else who is providing me with medical services is covered under my insurance plan. I literally had to jump through hoops to make sure that each and every thing was covered. In my opinion, it’s ridiculous and does nothing but cost more time and money for everyone involved…including the insurance company due to the number of bogus claims they have to process, including mine!
Second, I recently was diagnosed with colitis. I first went to a general physician (who is covered under my plan), who referred me to a specialist. The office for this doctor told me that I was covered under my insurance so, after seeing the doctor, I scheduled a colonoscopy. It wasn’t until about a week before my colonoscopy that I get a call from the doctor’s office telling me that I wasn’t covered through my insurance after all and that I’ll likely have to pay over $500 out of pocket for the colonoscopy. Great.
Fortunately the folks that the doctor’s office were great and found me another doctor who can do the colonoscopy under my insurance. However, this doctor wanted me to come in for an unnecessary doctor’s visit, something my insurance company doesn’t like. My wife thought it was ridiculous to have to pay more money just to have a doctor ask the same questions and say the exact same thing: “You need a colonoscopy!”. So I called back to the original doctor’s office and asked them to find someone who would do the colonoscopy without any questions asked. Good news is that they found someone and I got the colonoscopy done and was diagnosed with colitis. Goody!
Lastly, I have confirmed what I have always know: that pharmaceutical and health insurance companies suck. My doctor prescribed to me two main medications, one oral and one (cough!) fun one. My wife nearly passed out after hearing what a 1 month supply of one and a 3 month supply of another would cost us: $600! And that’s after insurance deductions! Are these people out of their mind? Who the hell pays $600 for prescriptions!? That’s highway robbery!
The problem is that there are no generics of the medications I was prescribed. I either have to take something different or simply not take them at all. I can’t very well afford to keep paying for these medications since I’ll likely have to take them for the rest of my life. It’s a known fact that many medications won’t have generics available unless it’s been on the market for at least three years. In the meantime, pharmaceutical companies are gouging everyone due to the patents they hold on medications that don’t qualify for generic production yet. And being that there is little to no regulation on this, the gouging will continue and American insurance companies and individuals will continue to pay a premium on name brand drugs. It’s ridiculous.
Last question for Rush: What would you have me and millions of Americans like me do about our health care problems? If you don’t have an answer then quit complaining. Sorry but I don’t see how anyone can complain unless they are able to offer an alternative.
The Crisis of Credit Visualized video is probably one of the best explanations of the mortgage crisis that I’ve seen yet. Jonathan Jarvis does a great job of using multimedia and the web to send a message. Albeit a rather simple explanation, it does shed light on the one thing I’ve been saying all along: that the problem was caused largely by banks, not by home owners. Granted, there are some home owners that were grossly irresponsible and signed on a mortgage that they damn well knew they couldn’t afford. However, it was the banks that created the conditions that allowed for this kind of abuse. So, yes, we should be hypercritical about what decisions banks make.
Imagine that you’re living off a slot machine that continually gives you a nice profit for every dollar you stick in it. Sooner or later, that slot machine is gonna stop paying off, right? Sure enough, weeks later, the slot machine stops paying off as much and yet you continue to drop money into it thinking that it’ll start paying off again. Eventually, the slot machine is completely empty and doesn’t pay you anything even though you just got three gold bars.
That to me is how I view the way banks treated mortgages. They made the decision to play slots with high risk mortgages and continually allowed more and more high risk mortgages to be added to their portfolios. In the end, the bottom fell out and the mortgages stopped paying off. Just like a slot machine, eventually any high risk investment will stop paying off if you continue buying into it.
So who’s really to blame? The home buyer who just wanted the opportunity to own a home? Or the bank who got overzealous with the prospect of making more money on risky mortgages? You decide.
I'm starting to believe that there is no such thing as media bias, just media that doesn't know how the hell to report anything.
02:29:38 PM July 02, 2009
from Tweetie
Ugg! I'm dragging ass today. Need something that'll make my veins bleed caffeine. Anybody got any Turkish coffee?
09:04:53 AM July 01, 2009
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Ugg! Enough with the Michael Jackson news already! Yes, we know his father is a douche and his doctor is a dweeb. Move along!
01:10:04 PM June 30, 2009
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