Sunday, December 2, 2012

Out with the Old, Middle Men that is!

Our healthcare system has been breaking for years and two things can be pointed to as the cause.  One is inevitable greed of most human beings and the other is, or was the advent of the middle man or insurance industry.
Without rehashing all since I have to believe anyone reading this knows what has happened over the last few decades or certainly this past one let me say it is not an easy problem to fix.
However we have started on the road toward a great fix with the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA) also known by many in the conservative camp in a demeaning way as ‘Obamacare.’
Many doctors are now saying they will not take on new customers as a result of the ACA pointing out that they will not be paid for their increased service to mankind for those unable to pay a fair price.
I agree with the doctors although not in the manner they think.
The cause of the decrease in income for the medical community is not the ACA nor the willingness of patients to pay but in fact the ever growing community of middle men also known as the insurance industry and their friends in that conservative camp.
Logic would tell us that if we had a life threatening illness the first person we should contact would be a doctor well versed in the illness and not an accountant well versed in how to maximize profits.
Clearly one of those two will suggest how to treat the illness and the other will quietly figure out whether or not your life is that important to his corporation’s bottom line.
So I would suggest that the best outcome for two of the three parties involved in the above scenario, that’s a 67% majority of interested parties, would be to rid ourselves of the medically uninvolved entity, the insurance industry.
Sadly the greed part of the initial paragraph might then kick in and doctors being human and possibly still carrying large medical school bills would seek to order many unnecessary tests in order to pad their bills.
I am not saying all would do it but the door would be open and some would surely enter, and after that the door might become a flood gate.
So the next step would be to have a watchdog enter the arena but not one with just profits as its goal.
That entity could and should be the United States Government.
Oh my God, did this liberal bastard just suggest socialized medicine?
You are damned right I did,
We have allowed the greedy right wing to usurp words and turn them into ugly things shunned by humanity instead of embracing them for far too long!
We already have socialism in many facets of our lives and we, all of us, including the right wing not only rely on it but thrive because of it and demand it!
Things such as our military, our nation-wide system of highways, our fire departments, the National Guard and our various police forces around the country come to mind.  Should we get rid of these socialistic bastions of awful expenditures as well?
Of course not, it would be idiotic.
So why do we draw the line there?
Well simply put it’s because those things are needed by the right wing and conservatives but they would rather not pay for health care for the majority of Americans.  Many of the dissenting group are quite well off and can pay for those things themselves as needed.
They extrapolate the NIMBY (not in my back yard) to be NFMBP, not from my back pocket!
Greed once again rears its ugly head.
The government could be a fair negotiator in talks with the pharmaceutical industry for lowering drug pricing while still keeping an eye on quality drugs.
The government could continue to be a watchdog over the excesses of the medical community while still allowing a fair income.
And the government could do this and more while not demanding ever increasing profits for its board of directors or shareholders who will then demand lower taxes on that profit!
And speaking of healthcare and insurance we come to the problem of an ever increasing and aging population.
How can we best take care of our elderly?
Read on please.

When Medi-Care Doesn't!

At this time of year we are subjected to ads and commercials advising us that Medicare open enrollment is now and it ends December 7th. (Funny, that date sounds familiar for something. Hmmm.)
Those affected by this are naturally seniors and if lucky getting older every year while still under the protective arm of the Medicare system.
What the ads say however always annoys me to some extent.  They explain that you must compare plans and choose the one that’s right for you.  In other words the one blended specifically for that which ails you if you will.
You are told to do this by researching online and visiting various websites to compare costs and coverages.
The problem is that while many new seniors are in their mid sixties the majority of Medicare users are not.
The targeted audience is obviously those who have already been enrolled in Medicare. These people are less likely to be up on new technologies and less likely to have the skills needed to navigate the increasingly confusing internet.
So at a time in our lives that used to be pointed to as the Golden Years we are expected to spend more time perusing different health care plans all designed to confuse and hide certain facts so as to lure us into signing up for deals designed to make the insurer wealthier and drive customer crazy, or crazier after all these years.
Picture a ninety year old surfing the web and charting the available plans and you will realize how ripe for fraud the entire thing is!
This is all related to my next post (or actually the one I posted first so that it would appear below this and thus look as though it was in correct chronological order.)
Hopefully you read that one first but if not go back and read it again.

Friday, November 23, 2012

How Much is Enough?

Do birds fly?
Do fish swim?
Is the Pope Ital, I mean Catholic?
Can you believe how
much money we have?
I mean, DAMN!
These 2 gentlemen have donated large sums of money
to help the needy and are therefore considered
morons by Charles Koch & company

Quietly trying to help
America, Americans
and the world. In other
words another moron
per Charles Koch


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Divine Error Forgiveness

To err is human; to forgive divine.
Or is it?
Our debt was paid back by our government with our money!
It’s goose – gander time guys!!!
Why are the middle class and poor being vilified?
Basically the question is what makes them better than us?

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Addendum to LIPA Grade of F

Seaside Heights Boardwalk
and CUSTOMERS ruined by
Sandy & insulted by LIPA
But here is the key point I must make:

Sunday, November 4, 2012


Let me know what you think.

Did someone say, While Rome burned?
I wonder if that CEO had power in his home?

Con Ed:


Gas Stations:

State & Local Officials:

President Obama:

Romney and his Party:

Fox News:

Mayor Mike:

Governor Cuomo:

Firemen, Cops, First Responders:


Regular New Yorkers and others:

And Finally:
Whoever invented Daylight Savings:
Thanks guys!!

My Letter to Newsday

Dear Newsday,
I am a 28 year subscriber to Newsday.
I will miss Newsday but I would miss my freedom more.


Saturday, October 27, 2012

The More You Have The Less You Are!

In general it has been my observation that people with less give more of themselves to those in need than those who are well off.
Maybe they are sheltered from the reality of the day to day lives of billions of people who merely wish to live and enjoy their time upon this Earth without worrying that the next guy will steal everything they own.
The average person wants a leader to at least understand how much a quart of milk costs and how the rising cost of gasoline affects their lives.  The average mother or father wants their leaders to understand how important a good education for their children is and that they should not try to hinder that in any way.
And for the most part, without using the terrible word socialism, the average family wants to know that should they need help from their government it will be there for them and not vilify them for needing assistance!
But for some reason the more people make or have or, for that matter steal and hide, the less likely they are to give to the needy.  And that goes for individuals as well as government.
The mentality of these cretins starts to lean toward that of a miserly greedy selfish being who can think of only one thing, amassing a larger fortune and keeping it hidden from the tax man.
But don't think this phenomenon is just an American trait, although we seem to have some who have perfected it and even used it to get themselves in position to be elected President.
No, this is a human, or as some may argue a sub-human trait that transcends physical borders.
This week a tiny article surfaced that did not draw much attention in the States as it did not concern the upcoming election or a useless 'Page Six' celebrity.
What's a few million among friends?

The article is about the former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. 
This 76 year old billionaire - let me repeat that in a slightly different order of words - HE'S A BILLIONAIRE AND HE IS SEVENTY SIX YEARS OLD - was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in jail for the heinous yet rampant crime of TAX FRAUD!
One might ask which came first, the obscene fortune or the scheme to make it by cheating on his taxes.
I posit that it has to be a hybrid of the two but no one can argue that the two do not go hand in hand.
In America we have all kinds of proposals to help our economy and many include an arbitrary income of $250,000 above which taxes should be raised while leaving those with less alone to muddle through their daily lives unscathed.
In that spirit I ask what is the level of income, or theft, or hidden assets, above which one turns to a life of crime.
For surely tax evasion is a crime.
But that crime is multiplied ten fold when the criminal is a career politician and especially when that career criminal politician is running for President on a platform that hinges on his success in business!
This type of ploy is worthy of the highest Chutzpah award!
For those not familiar with the term it emanates from the case of the young man brought to court to face the charge of killing his parents.  He pleads with the judge, "Have mercy your honor, I'm an orphan!"
The wealthiest Americans are using a small, to them, portion of their wealth to keep or place the most friendly, wink wink say no more politicians into office.
These soon to be bought and paid for political puppets will continue to allow the wealthy owners of government free rein as they seek out more and more lucrative tax shelters and tax havens and tax friendly countries in which they can park their money far from the reach of the IRS.
The Bain Brain will prove a to be a drain
on society and the bane of every
American's existence!
One need only look at the "legal" way Mr. Willard Mitt Romney has amassed a fortune most humans can only dream of and yet pay a lower tax rate than the writer of this blog or 98% of America!
And the fact that he is close in the polls and could even win the Presidency without once setting forth an agenda for our future but constantly spewing lies about his past is enough to make any normal human sick.
When Italy has finally said enough and is throwing their long time criminal in jail please don't tell me that America is about to hand theirs the keys to the kingdom!!!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

What's in a Name? PLENTY!

I was actually hoping to give this, or some form of this a s a speech in front of an AARP group but sadly the meeting for this forum was during the morning hours of a weekday.  I work during the week and could not possibly get away so here are the thoughts that I was hoping to share with other AARP members.

We have allowed certain groups of people and politicians to define and basically ruin some good words.
One such word is Liberal.
If one has guests over and is liberal serving food and drink it is generally considered a good thing. It is certainly a nice thing to do for guests and it will be appreciated and even reciprocated should the circumstances be reversed. AT least one would hope.
Liberal tends to mean being open and caring enough for the needs of others as to try and make sure they are taken care of. And some times we may put ourselves out a little to ensure this is done.
I don’t believe it would be very nice if you were conservative with your meal should you have guests over for a dinner party, do you?
So why is the word so bad?
Why is the act so bad?
Why have we allowed a small group of greedy, selfish people to define a word that symbolizes helping others as bad?
If they don’t wish to be nice then that’s their prerogative.
We are only on this Earth for a short period of time so why look to hurt others? Why make stepping on others’ rights for personal gain your main goal?
The world would be a far better place if more people acted in a liberal manner than a conservative way.
Another word that has been usurped by a small radical group of selfish people is “Entitlement.” And not just entitlement but by simple extrapolation all forms of the word ‘entitled.’
Suppose you had some extra cash. I realize in the current economic climate that might be a stretch but allow me an indulgence.
Say you placed that money in one of our formerly bailed out banks expecting an exorbitant 0.3% interest rate.
After a year or so you decided to withdraw that money.
Would you be ‘entitled’ to do so?
Well what do you think Social Security is?
Every paycheck you receive during your working life has a Social Security deduction removed before you get the cash!  You know it, conservatives know it, everyone knows it!
So why should you not have it coming to you when you retire?
So the conservatives are correct, Social Security is an entitlement.
And you are entitled to it, period!
Medicare is the same type of entitlement with the same result!
For a long time now I have been arguing that we must stop allowing a few disgruntled people to define our lives and the issues of our time by naming and then vilifying them.
And if I may go off on a slight tangent the group of people who call themselves Pro Choice argue for a woman’s right to make that most awful of decisions concerning the life of her unborn child.
That fetus may be the result of incest or a rape and the conflict that would arise in the mind of the suffering woman would be mind boggling.
But for some reason the group opposing her anguish who, by their very nature admittedly have no dog in the hunt will infer that the "Pro Choice" people are against life by naming their group, “Pro Life!”
I would argue that the “Choice” people do in fact offer women and their spouses a choice in dealing with this terrible scenario while the other side does not and should therefore be renamed, “No Choice!”
So what’s in a name?
It turns out there is quite a lot in a name!
And we must not allow others to name us or our group or our lives. We decide what we wish to be called and we are allowed to be damned proud of the name we choose.
I am a Liberal who believes in Pro Choice and I love the fact that America is such a forward thinking nation as to have wonderful entitlements for all its citizens!

Friday, October 19, 2012


This is a quickie I'm adding on the fly. (McFly! I thought I told you...  Sorry about that.)
I have been spouting about the dangers of allowing Republicans to gain control of the government for the next four years but for some reason the evil scary right winger puppet is still close in the polls!
So perhaps people like me are not getting the message across well enough.
With that in mind I now appeal to 51% of the American populace - WOMEN!
And I offer this message, not from plain looking me but from BEAUTIFUL ladies like this!
If you are a woman; a member of a minority; over 65; UNDER 65 or just a human who earns, makes, or brings home less than a million dollars a year and are still thinking of voting for this evil right wing moron please click the above link and learn!
Don't worry, it's short and won't tax your brain too much.
Republicans are not for humans, only corporations!  And no matter how many bribed conservative Supreme Court idiot justices say otherwise CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE!!!!
Remember in November!  And remember that November is getting close!  It's just 17 days until D (as in Democrat) Day
And to make matters worse these evil terrorists blamed Mr. Obama for not getting anything done!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Suppression, It's Only Good in Cough Medicine.

I would like nothing better than having the entire world bow to my will.
To some degree the above egotistical wish is in all of us.
But the obvious truth is that will never happen no matter who we are or think we are.  And that is of course a good thing.
Throughout history many have tried it from Alexander the Great to the not so great would-be Alexanders of our time.
Should this be the face
of World domination?
All political or religious dictators want the same control over their environs and the degree to which they impose their will determines their fate as well as ours.
While typically the means by which these tyrants wield their power is physical force do not discount the use of mental anguish and fear of the other guy as an important factor.
And while World domination has become harder to even contemplate controlling one's own world, the sphere within which one lives, is still in play.
We see this tactic in use every day by the Fox network of right wing entertainment news media people as directed by their mogul, Rupert Murdoch. His agenda is and for quite some time has been domination of all he can get his fingers on or near.
We cannot turn a closed eye to the inherent dangers in allowing any one person or small cadre of people enough power to control every aspect of our lives.
The experiment that is America started with the idea that no one body of government should be allowed complete control without oversight and acceptance by two other bodies.  And even then rules and laws must pass inspection, the smell test if you will of our Supreme Court.
Sadly even that august body has become politicized in the wake of the increased polarization of our political system.

How could anyone hate and fear a
14 year old Pakistani girl so much
as to want her dead?
But we at least America has not yet devolved into the toilet of religious control as has happened in many Muslim countries.
While women in America are targeted by right wing politicians for unnecessary medical procedures to keep them in line and stop them from having a say in their own bodies at least we have not started to actively hunt them down and kill them.
This week in Pakistan a group of lower than low-life creatures even Neanderthals would be ashamed to be associated with who call themselves the Taliban boarded a school bus to seek out and shoot to kill 14 year old Malala Yousafzai whose crime was she desired an education.
The cowardly act of this religious political coalition of scum and the devil has made the world sit  up and take note, for at least the current news cycle.
Malala defied the odds and lived through the heinous act but both she and her father remain under death threats from the Taliban.
They are so afraid of allowing humans an education because they rightfully fear that knowledge will prove them unworthy of life on this Earth.
But they may have actually taught  larger lesson than the ones they have attempted to suppress.
It is too early to predict the outcome of this disgusting episode but already young girls around the world are declaring themselves to be Malala!
Not nearly as graphic but almost as desperate are the tactics being used by business owners in America basically threatening their employees with their jobs if they do not support the boss' candidate in the upcoming elections.
Demanding money or unpaid time off to make mandatory appearances at fund raisers for candidates NOT OF THEIR CHOICE is tantamount to suppression of ideas and ideals.
The use of fear of loss of income to turn someone's opinion is reprehensible and un-American.
But this IS America and therefore the act, considered to be free speech is protected under our enlightened law.
But do not mistake legal for moral.
Charles Dickens once famously stated in "Oliver Twist" that, "The Law is a ass!"
And the suppression movement of the right wing sector of the Republican Party has not stopped with company-wide threats.  They have actively sought out to destroy labor unions and other Democratic leaning voter groups.  And in case that failed they have attempted to stop obvious Democratic voters from even being allowed to cast their ballots.
They claim they are trying to stop voter fraud, a noble cause indeed.
Forget 200 million voters
I love Jeb & I want his
baby brother to be
But to date the only party that has successfully utilized voter fraud to steal elections has been the Republican Party most notably when George Bush was anointed king of the White House not by hundreds of millions of votes but by a 5 to 4 decision from a friendly Supreme Court as requested by one individual, Florida's State Attorney General Katherine Harris.

Anytime someone tries to stop someone else from expressing themselves; or bettering themselves as in getting an education; or from listening other view points be they supporting their own opinions or opposing them; or merely by voting as they themselves wish IT IS WRONG!
Suppression must be called out and reported every time it is used or attempted.
It must be declared as evil and un-American or America as we know it will cease to exist.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Simplify for Fairness

With all the talk about lowering taxes for all or some or none or whatever one thing seems to have been lost. How can we run a country if no one will be funding it?
I cannot believe how ridiculous some if not all the arguments against raising the tax rate on those who not only can afford to pay a bit more but won't notice it if they do!
Can we all admit for once and for all that they are not the job creators?
They have proverbially more money than, choose you God here and yet the unemployment rate is way up.  And do you know what else is way up?  The job creators' bank accounts.
Corporate and wealthy profits have soared under the relaxed tax burden placed upon them by the right trending Congress.
Shouldn't he be
pointing at everyone,
not just the middle class?
Forget the term class warfare which is merely used as a way for those at the top to complain they are being persecuted.  Many are actually in need of being prosecuted but that's another story.
The bottom line is the country is in need of funding and must also rein in some of the expenditures it makes that are not totally necessary.
And there is the sticking point.
What do we cut from the budget?
So far we only seem to have one clear cut cut and that amounts to war on a large yellow avian creature who's guilty of trying to teach America's youth.  Can't have that!
And as long as we've decided to go after something that helps children at the start of their life why not go after something that ends their lives, war?  Can we please lower our UNBELIEVABLY inflated military budget?
If you listen very carefully you can hear the sound of General Dwight D Eisenhower spinning in his grave over the VAST MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX he so wisely warned against so many years ago.
Could we get Charles Grodin to visit the White House and hand him a copy of the budget book for analysis?  I believe we can rustle up some bratwurst.
One thing we must all realize is that in order for our lives to be comfortable and for the services we ALL want, use, expect and desire to be available we must have a certain amount of collective cash.
Put simply the overall government needs money and where it comes from doesn't matter as long as it comes!
Without going into actual dollar amounts let's use 100% as the amount needed for YOU.  And even if my percentages from this point forward are off you should get the idea.
The Federal government puts in 45% of what YOU need to live.
Your State chips in with an additional 30%, your City, if you live in one antes up another 15% with the 10% balance being forked over by your local community or town board.
If the Federal government lowers taxes and thereby decides it can only opt in for say 35% then they send a little less to the States.  In order for you live the same way you are living now the State must raise taxes or if not then the other collectors of taxes will have to chip in more.  Or rather dip deeper into your pocket.
The end result is you will still be paying the same amount of taxes but just altering the 'to whom' they are paid.
The menu to fix our economy with tax reform and benefit reform is a short one.
On one extreme side of the spectrum we can keep all spending as it is and raise taxes to cover the bill.
On the other end we can keep taxes as they are and get rid of all expenditures.
Either way is absurd so somewhere in the middle must be the best answer.
I believe without question that we must alter our tax structure for America to get back on track!
And even though I have some income, however small, from my investments I would not mind paying taxes on the profits at the same rate as I do regular income AS LONG AS ALL OF US DO!
And by all of us I mean politicians as well!!!
Let's be real and call a spade a spade people, INCOME IS  INCOME!
If you end the year with more money than you started the difference is income!
How hard is that to understand?
If we were to tax ALL income as INCOME and at the rate of income we would be on our way toward a more fair way of collecting America's life blood, AKA taxes.
For a mega-millionaire such as Willard Mitt Romney to get away with saying he pays his FAIR share of taxes and then have the unmitigated gall to blame those who make less than 1% of what he rakes in as moochers paying no income tax borders on treasonous if not at least evil!
Under past Presidents the income tax rate was always higher than it is now and our economy thrived and grew.
To believe that this winning strategy has somehow changed fits the definition of stupidity in the, 'Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result' sort of way.
During the Reagan years we were forced into trying the 'trickle down' method of allowing the wealthy to get wealthier and the only thing that trickled down was the drool on the faces of the middle class as they watched the CEOs of America disappear in the dust.
A graduated tax scale without deductions of any kind must be the starting point for a fair tax rate for all.
Just making sure every entity, individual or corporation pays a fair share of INCOME in the total and real sense of the word is a must.  To do any less would be to welcome corruption, or actually continue to allow it to survive.
Many of us hand over papers to an accountant who charges absurd amounts to sift through everything and apply every possible deduction only to then check and see if the middle class killing alternative minimum tax rate has to kick in.
Why does a corporation, which is now a person according to a majority of morons AKA the Supreme Court of the US, have a Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax?  Certainly if us mere mortals are subject to the AMT they should have a CAMT for their very own, right?
As an individual tax paying citizen who has never sent money off-shore with the express purpose of defrauding the U S Government I can say that if I lost all my deductions and ended up paying $5 more in total taxes at the end of the year I would be a far happier camper knowing we were all in the same boat!
Figuring out how much money would be placed in the IRS coffers as a result of this fair way to collect revenue is actually a simple thing since deductions would not have to be figured in.  Then we could see how much we had to work with and  how much we could spend on the humans who fund the government in the first place!
If America is to be for all Americans then all Americans must chip in and they MUST do so fairly.
It's not "America, love it or leave it" it's America, love it and help it survive!
And to those who 24/7 think of ways to get around paying their fair share of the tax burden I say put up or shut up.
The previous message was brought to you by the letters U S & A and the number 2012.