Category Archives: Politics

Calculate How Much Obamacare Will Cost You

The Kaiser Family Foundation has a fairly decent calculator to help you figure out how much your health insurance will cost you if you need to sign up under an Obamacare plan (which most of you will not have to do).  Most states are completely flubbing getting information out to the public prior to the implementation of the signup tomorrow.  It’s good that someone was able to collect everything and put it in one place.  For instance, just try finding out any information about the Illinois plan.  Sheesh.

The costs shown in the calculator are for the Silver plan and plugging myself in for various states seem to indicate that health insurance is going to be pretty affordable for those that don’t get a subsidy.  $211/month for where I live.  $270/month for the national average.  This is comparable to what I pay now with a $5,000 deductible and fairly comprehensive coverage, but it’s hard to compare the two since items like that are not included in the calculator.

T minus one day till the exchanges open.  Things are about to get interesting.

Ode To Ted Cruz

At one point during yesterday’s fake filibuster, Ted Cruz read from the book “Green Eggs and Ham”.  A man adamantly refusing to give Obamacare a shot reading a book about adamantly refusing to give a meal a shot.  Irony meters hundreds of miles away burst into flames.  And it also screams for a little parody.

"That President there!
That President there!
I do not like that President there!"

"Do you like Obamacare?"

"I do not like them
you total square.
I do not like
Obamacare."

"Would you like it
if it helped the broke?"

"I would not like it
if it helped the broke.
For all I care
they can have a stroke.
I do not like 
Obamacare
I do not like it
you total square."

"Would you like it
if it were cheaper?
Would that make it
a definite keeper?"

"I would not like it
if it were cheaper.
That does not make it
a definite keeper.
I do not like Obamacare.
I do not like it you total square."

"But look, it covers
preconditions.
Surely that's a
noble mission."

"So what it covers
preconditions.
That is not a
noble mission.
I do not like Obamacare.
I do not like it you total square."

"What if the benefits
were proven true?
Then would it be
the right thing to do?"

"I do not care
if it all were true.
Just try and convince me
till your face turns blue.
You cannot combat
the lies I'll spew.
And to those this would help,
a big FUCK YOU!"

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				The Speech I’d Like To Hear Obama Make
			

								


				

			
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening.  A few years ago, an unprecedented thing happened.  Republicans in Congress risked the full faith and credit of the United States of America by threatening to not raise the debt ceiling.  The debt ceiling is an imaginary number that, in the past, has solely been used for political grandstanding of the highest order with the full realization of all involved that the debt ceiling MUST be raised lest America suffer the gravest of financial catastrophes.  I say to you now that the debt ceiling will never again be used as a weapon to be brandished to force political concessions like it was in 2011.


Congress has two choices before it.  Raise the debt ceiling.  Repeal the debt ceiling.  Nothing will be given in return for either of these options.  It’s time for Congress to prove that it can be part of the solution and not just part of the problem.


Regardless of Congress’ action or inaction on this issue, I promise the American people this:  The debt ceiling is the gravest of National Security concerns.  It affects our government’s ability to function and our ability to effectively defend ourselves.  I will do everything in my power to protect America from this crisis.  As this crisis looms ever closer, there are many options available to me and I promise to use any and all of them to ensure to America and the world that the full faith and credit of the United States is sacred and shall not be infringed.


Thank you and good night.


A guy can dream, can’t he?

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Why The American Disdain For The Poor?
			

								


				

			
Have you ever been trying to merge on the highway and you’re doing everything right but there’s this person who very purposefully speeds up so you can’t merge between him and the car in front of him?  It seems to happen quite often.  It’s as if the offender is trying to prevent a stranger from taking advantage of them in some way.  In the end, they gain nothing and they actually risk injury by driving recklessly.  This is similar to how many Americans seem to view the poor.


This view was highlighted beautifully by the surreptitious recording of Mitt Romney telling a gathering of rich people that 47% of the population are moochers.  This is an incredibly galling statement coming from someone who made his fortunes by trying to create as many of those “moochers” as possible by taking over companies and firing people and then selling the companies.  It’s like when your big brother grabs your arm and punches you with your own arm and asks you, “Why do you keep hitting yourself?”  But he’s just one unconscionably rich person who has spent his entire adult life devoid of any contact with poor people.  There were millions of others in the United States who were nodding sagely at Romney’s comments, though.  Most of them cannot use Romney’s excuse of studiously avoiding poor people.


The problem, I think, stems from a pathological belief that everybody you don’t know is out to take advantage of you in some way.  They just know that there are tons of moochers on welfare living off of their hard earned tax dollars despite not personally knowing a single one who is actually doing so.  This makes no statistical sense.  If the people you know who are or have been on welfare are using the system as they should, where are the moochers?  And if you do happen to know a moocher or two that are taking advantage of the system, why aren’t you turning them in?  “But I just KNOW that they’re out there somewhere!”, you might intone and you’d be right.  It’s not that there isn’t waste in the system because there assuredly is.  No system, governmental or private, has zero waste.  The problem is that there is no proof that the welfare system is more corrupt than any other system in existence.  And yet we have demands for more oversight and spending more money on rooting out waste when that money would be much better served just being given to the vast majority of welfare recipients who very temporarily need the money.


The House (and by The House, I of course mean Republicans) recently voted to cut food stamps by $39 billion.  The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this will cause 3.8 million people to be dropped from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) next year.  Most people on this program have jobs.  The jobs our economy can provide them do not even meet the lowest standard of living.  Thus the Supplemental portion of SNAP.  Our society is so afraid of poor people right now that we elected 217 people to represent us who think providing the minimal amount of food subsidies to those who actually need it is too much for government to do.  Who are these people?  How did we get to this point?


Welcome to the United States of America where the only thing we seem united against is the poor.  And we are all the poorer for it.

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				If Studs Terkel Were Alive Today…
			

								


				

			
First off, I have to say, wow is Studs Terkel an American treasure.  I don’t think I have ever read anyone that is so in touch with the American experience.  Maybe Walt Whitman or John Steinbeck.  Besides having the coolest name ever, Studs also has a way with prose that is both folksy and deep.  His words flow off the page and my mind gobbles them up like candy.


I’m currently reading “Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression”.  It was written in 1970, but the edition I am reading was released in the late 1980’s.  As with many new editions of old works, this one contains a foreword by Studs.  In it, he documents the great divide between the realities of poor people and the headlines declaring stock market boom times during the late 1980’s.  I was struck both by how little has changed and how much worse things are now.  Back then, all the good manufacturing jobs were starting to leave Chicago for points Chinese.  Occasionally, a few jobs would become available and hundreds of people, mostly blacks, would line up for a chance to get that job.  Now, the manufacturing jobs are all gone.  Nothing is being offered and no lines are formed.  We have gone from a country of hope to a country of desperation.


For a good segment of our population, there is no such thing as a good job anymore.  The choice is between starvation and eking out the barest of existences.  There is still a ladder to climb, but the rungs that can get you from lower class to middle class are missing.  If you started below the gap, you’re stuck there unless someone reaches a hand down to give you an opportunity you wouldn’t otherwise have.  If you are middle class and you slip a rung, you find yourself suddenly far below where you once were, overqualified for any job that is available and shunned by the keepers of the jobs they are qualified for because of lapses in employment.


These are the people you are fighting against if you are against Obamacare and Medicaid and Welfare and Food Stamps.  The people that use these programs are not moochers and thieves.  They are human beings trying to get by.  These are not socialist programs enacted by people trying to destroy the American way of life.  They are missing rungs inserted back into the great ladder of progress that maybe, just maybe, can be used by people to reach up as high as they can to the next rung and pull themselves up to a modicum of safety and security without the need for help from the government.


Robert Reich was on “The Daily Show” this week talking about how he thinks we’re repeating history and are on the cusp of another Progressive Era like we saw in 1901.  I hope he’s right because there are still more rungs to be replaced and we owe it to our society to replace them if we are at all to be the moral people we pretend to be.

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Self-Serving Russia Bests Self-Serving America
			

								


				

			
The events surrounding Syria over the past few weeks have been absolutely fascinating.  Someone, likely someone within Assad government, uses chemical weapons against the rebels killing hundreds of people, many non-combatants.  America does its saber-rattling threatening Assad with some sort of maybe-useful-but-limited-and-that-is-all-we-swear retaliation for the use of chemical weapons (which, by the way, Syria has never signed on the the general ban on the use of chemical weapons).  The American public wants no part in it.  Republicans both complain that Obama should have attacked Assad much sooner and shouldn’t attack Assad at all and either way it proves that Obama is weak.  Democrats mostly stay quiet.  Then Secretary of State John Kerry, in what has been described as an off-the-cuff remark, kind of snarkily mentions that all Assad has to do is turn over his chemical weapons and no bombings will happen, like that is ever going to happen.  This is quickly walked back by the State Department but not before Russia jumps all over it.  Now we have Russia brokering talks between Assad and the United States trying to come to a peaceful resolution.  Assad seems amenable to the idea and has even said that Syria will sign the Chemical Weapons Convention if the U.S. promises not to attack.


I don’t think anyone could have predicted this chain of events occurring.  Of course, getting this far is one thing, going any farther is another.  It would be a true diplomatic coup for both Russia and the United States if all of Syria’s chemical weapons are turned over.  Everyone gets to pretend to be strong and then save face.  Winners all around.  Well, except for the Syrian people, they’re screwed either way.  And with over 100,000 already dead, it’s a stark reminder that the world stage is populated by megalomaniacs more concerned with how they look than what damage they cause the people unseen, unheard, unknown.

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Three Blind Mice
			

								


				

			
The Republican Comedy Tour just finished their Egypt gig.  Louie “Terror Babies” Gohmert, Steve “Calves the Size of Cantaloupes” King, and Michelle “Pray the Gay Away” Bachmann recently traveled to Egypt to impart their democratically styled principles upon the lucky inhabitants of Egypt.  What followed is exactly what you’d expect when the three craziest members of the House get together to talk about something they clearly don’t understand.


With dreams of American coups dancing in their heads, they praised the Egyptian military for following the will of the people and ousting the democratically elected President Morsi.  Comparisons were made to George Washington leading the Revolution against England.  They also praised the military for the brutal crackdowns on protesters which led to the death of at least one thousand protesters (just like George Washington did. Oh, wait.).  They then seemed to suggest the Muslim Brotherhood was behind the 9/11 World Trade Center attack, because, you know, the word Muslim is right in their name and Muslims attacked us ergo the Muslim Brotherhood attacked us.


The only real lesson for the Egyptian people is this: Sure you elected Morsi and he really sucked.  People in the United States elected these three screwballs too, some of them multiple times, and we’ve been a democracy for hundreds of years.  Luckily for the U.S. their power is pretty limited to saying stupid things in foreign countries.  You can be forgiven your Morsi election, just try not to let it happen again.  If you ever actually get another election.  Here, have some weapons.

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Coming Soon To All Fifty States: Marriage Equality
			

								


				

			
The Federal Government took a huge step in recognizing marriage equality today.  They IRS has stated that gay married couples would be able to file jointly on their Federal tax returns regardless of whether couples’ home state recognizes the marriage.


This bureaucratic change could all but guarantee every state recognizes gay marriage.  Why?  Paperwork.  Most State taxes borrow heavily from the Federal 1040 form.  State forms, as a result, are fairly straightforward and easy to fill out.  If State governments continue to not recognize the marriages, they will have to create new tax forms for everyone.  That would entail completely revamping the State tax codes.  Equality by papercut.  Brilliant!

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Why Are Chemical Weapons A Red Line?
			

								


				

			
I am well into Things I Don’t Understand™ territory here so forgiveness ahead of time if I’m talking out of my ass.


President Obama said a month or two ago that the use of chemical weapons in Syria by the Assad government was a “red line” that could not be crossed.  It wasn’t specified, but people have rightly taken this to mean that the use of chemical weapons would be the deciding factor in U.S. intervention in Syria.  Well, chemical weapons have almost certainly been used in Syria now and the Obama administration is, thankfully, hedging and saying that we don’t know for sure if chemical weapons were used and, if they were, we don’t know who used them.


That’s all fine and dandy, but why the “red line” on chemical weapons to begin with?  Why is a chemical attack so greatly reviled while a 2,000 lb bomb is not?  It seems completely arbitrary to me.  Do chemical weapons produce more secondary casualties than cluster bombs?  Do the effects of a chemical attack linger longer than depleted uranium ammunition?  Do chemical weapons cause massive infrastructure carnage on top of the loss of life?  Do chemical weapons produce much larger amounts of casualties than conventional weapons?  Is losing a loved one more devastating because they died from a chemical weapon?


The only thing that I can think of is that chemical weapons are more psychologically devastating to those of us 10,000 miles away.  What little we see from the devastating effects of conventional war can be written off in our minds;  oh, that person had his limbs ripped off and suffered a massive head wound, of course he’s dead.  The same can’t be said for many chemical weapons.  The body is intact, often whole.  Large groups of perfectly formed dead people causes a mental block in our heads; these people shouldn’t be dead, they look so whole.  Dead is dead, though.  How they got that way is immaterial.  The fact that the dead most likely didn’t deserve death is all that matters.

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Oh, The Fun We’ll Have!
			

								


				

			
The 2016 Presidential race has already started.  Which, by the way, really?  Ugh.  And the first bit of fun is already upon us!


Tea Party favorite, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), has been looking to follow the Barack Obama plan of joining the Senate for one term and then jumping straight to the Presidency.  Well, things are probably starting a little more closely to President Obama’s path than Ted Cruz would have liked this week.  It was revealed that Ted Cruz was born in Canada and therefore not real U.S. citizen.  Well, according to Tea Party standards anyway.  Ted Cruz actually has dual citizenship because of being born in Canada.  This is funny in and of itself because of the birther nonsense that surrounded Barack Obama, but leave it to Ted Cruz to make it even more hilarious.  Seeing this Canadian citizenship as a stain on his good name and eliminating his chances of winning the Presidency given the crazies that would actually vote for him, Ted Cruz has decided to renounce his Canadian citizenship.  Canada thanked him.