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!
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.
Because of some comments on a recent post I did about Hummers, there are a few things that I think bear repeating, a few things I want to clear up in regards to what my blog is about and what it’s not about.
In another recent post, I talked a bit about the Rage on the Radio (iTunes) story I watched on Bill Moyers Journal. The story includes a report about a man by name of Jim David Adkisson who shot and killed two adults and wounded seven others at a church in Knoxville, Tennessee. The reason? According to reports on both MSNBC and CNN, Adkisson did it because he was frustrated with not being able to find a job, was on the verge of losing his food stamps, and blamed Liberals for it. Since he couldn’t attack any known Liberal political figures, he attacked a church with known Liberal teachings instead. According to his affidavit, Adkisson felt that the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets. The question is though: Where did he learn this?
… police found in Adkisson’s apartment, books by popular right-wing talk-radio personalities who berate and denigrate liberals. One of the books police found in Adkisson’s apartment was Michael Savage’s “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”. In it, Savage calls liberals “the enemy within our country;” “an enemy more dangerous than Hitler”; “traitors” who are “dangerous to your survival” and who “should be placed in a straightjacket”. Like Adkisson, Savage accuses liberals of “[tying] the hands of our military”.
Words hurt. People can get hurt by the things that others say in the media. That includes what bloggers say too.
Then there’s Rush Limbaugh and his description of Operation Chaos, especially the part where he condones the act of violent riots with burning cars and the whole bit.
And, finally, there’s Ann Coulter. Regardless of whether you support Obama or not, when someone insinuates that Obama worships Lucifer and compares his book to Mein Kampf, that’s really stretching it thin. But it doesn’t stop there. She goes on and on in many blog posts and TV appearances spreading hatred for Liberals, about how Liberals are godless and that they are all liars. Hell, she even wrote a book called “Godless”. I’m not even a Liberal and even I find all this offensive.
What these people say can have a dramatic impact on people. Their words have influence and can hurt people. But while I don’t condone this sort of talk, I don’t condone outright banning these people from doing what they do. Our First Amendment rights give us the freedom to say what we want and express ourselves. I would never in a million years ask anyone to forfeit that right. While I don’t agree or condone this sort of talk, I do hope that these people understand that they must be responsible and held accountable for what they say. Words do hurt, people.
Which brings me to the point of my blog. Most readers don’t know me. Most people don’t know what I’m really like. Yeah, you can get an idea based on what I write about on this blog, but even then you’re only getting a very minute chunk of what I’m all about. Chances are that if you met me you might even enjoy a conversation with me. As such, I would ask that anyone reading my blog to not pass any judgement or stereotype on me based on anything I write. I’m far from being the sort of hate monger who writes things that actually motivate people to do bad things.
I tend to rant here and there and try at best to offer something constructive as much as possible. But my rants don’t hurt anybody. I don’t resort to calling people names and using stereotypes and labels. All I’m doing here is voicing my opinion. My blog is after all called Steamd for a reason. Occasionally I will write about things that piss me off. If you don’t like what I write then simply don’t read it. It’s that simple.
In the case of the Hummer post, I formed a broad generalization about Hummer drivers. Yes it’s generalized but in no way, shape, fashion, or form does it motivate anyone from committing an act of vandalism. I made it very clear at the very beginning of this post that I do not condone the act of vandalism on anyone’s vehicle. That includes what the old man did. All I said was that while I do not agree with the act of vandalism, I understand the motivation of what would cause someone to do it. Like I said, I may be generalizing a bit about Hummer drivers.
Just to be clear, here’s the main points I was trying to make in the Hummer post: Being that the average Hummer only gets 10/15 MPG, what part of that generalization isn’t true? How many Hummer owners do you know that actually care about environmental issues and energy conservation? Although it’s a broad generalization, how much of that isn’t true? Do any of them care at all about the environment? Does smog levels bother them? What about alternative fuels? Would Hummer owners like to see a Hummer that gets better gas mileage? Those are the questions I’ve been asking. My opinion is that most don’t care. But that’s just my opinion. It’s not stereotyping. It’s deductive reasoning.
My opinions and what I do on my blog isn’t even remotely close to the kind of media that other bloggers and media personalities are spewing out every day. I don’t spread severe anger and hate. I’m far more constructive and rational in my thoughts. I may get fired up here and there but that’s not hurting anyone. I’d much rather get fired up and express myself rather than let real hate mongers have their way. But that’s just me.
