Friday, September 4, 2009

David Letterman on Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin - Great Routine!

GA GOP Treading on Dangerous Ground

Two Republican Georgia state legislators have indicated that they will introduce legislation to block health care reform in Georgia should it pass Congress. They have put all of their eggs into the Tenth Amendment, which states that power not given the Federal Government by the Constitution is reserved for the states. The bill would be a proposed state constitutional amendment, which would have to be ratified by two thirds of Georgia's voters.

Such an amendment might pass in this state of right wingnut Republicans. However, the future of health care in the state would be bleak, not to mention the state's budget which would be broken by the numerous wrongful death lawsuits and challenges to the constitutionality of the amendment. It would also result in a mass exodus from the state by folks seeking health care.

Florida is seeing an exodus at the moment, due to unwise moves by state and local governments in that state. Florida Power and Light, the "socialist" public utility in Florida is increasing its rates drastically. Many local governments are increasing taxes at an alarming rate, while poorly managing their staffs and agencies. Floridians do not pay income taxes, so there must be a way of raising funds for government operations. Local tax and sales tax rates must increase in order to continue operations. The area where I live has become to refugee camp for Floridians. We are overrun by them and they are changing our culture and ruining our area as they did in Florida.

If Georgia tries this unwise move and other Republican states follow suit, some states are going to profit greatly as people leave to go where the pastures are greener and health care costs are cheaper. The ramifications are not pretty. Health care costs will rise as employer health care plan costs increase due to fewer participants and tax coffers will shrink, leading to higher taxes.

Then there is Medicare. If state voters reject federal health care reform, will that reject Medicare as well? There is no difference. Medicare is a public health care option and that is what these backward hacks are against. It appears that there will be a host of seniors without medical care. Democrats should jump on this as the Republicans jumped on the "death panels."

Republicans will try anything to try to regain power in this country. It looks as if state rejection of health care reform will be the next trick up their sleeves. Their shills will continue to follow them with chants of "health care isn't a right!" Medicare is not a right either but those folks' mothers and fathers depend upon it for their health care. Furthermore, with retirement plans falling through the cracks, the young folks in this country are going to have to provide their own health care at an exorbitant rate when they retire, if something is not done soon.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The "Rev." Steven Anderson - He Who "Prays" for the Death of the President

After seeing the video of this guy, who says he hates the President and prays for his death, I decided to do a bit of research about him. His church's website was a good place to start. There I found that the "Rev." "holds no college degree but has well over 100 chapters of the Bible committed to memory, including almost half of the New Testament. " This, apparently, qualifies him to be a preacher.

The 27 year old, so-called preacher has had several run-ins with the law in recent months. Most recently, in April, he was detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint, when drug sniffing dogs hit on his car. After refusing to talk to agents, he was forcefully removed from his car and tasered to bring him under control. There have been other incidents of his confronting law enforcement authorities. It seems he has decided that border patrol checkpoints are unconstitutional and he is not going to obey them. Interestingly enough, he claimed police brutality, but never filed a complaint. One has to wonder why the drug sniffing dog hit on his car.

Anderson's church has an interesting doctrine. It is very fundamentalist and backward. The last three statements of that doctrine are as follows:

"We believe that life begins at conception (fertilization) and reject all forms of abortion including surgical abortion, "morning-after" pills, IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), birth control pills, and all other processes that end life after conception.

We believe that homosexuality is a sin and an abomination which God punishes with the death penalty.

We oppose worldliness, modernism, formalism, and liberalism."

Pay close attention to the first of these statements. I know that the Rev doesn't have a college degree, but it does not require a college degree to understand that invitro fertilization is not a form of abortion, nor are birth control pills. The next thing you know this bunch will be calling for the death penalty for doctors who perform vasectomies and stoning for men who have the procedure performed.

The second statement, not surprisingly, calls for death for homosexuals. One would expect this kind of hatred from one who openly preaches hate from his pulpit. The final statement is so wide sweeping, one has to wonder if Anderson really understands what he is saying. In fact, formalism, which is, basically, adherence to a strict doctrine, is very fundamentalist, a direct contradiction of his supposed beliefs.

Finally, he tries to get political with the rejection of liberalism and demonstrates that once again, he does not know what he is talking about. Freedom of speech and the basic rights of man are both tenets of liberalism. John Locke a proponent of liberalism wrote that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions." By including this term, the Rev. Anderson shows his great need for a college degree.

Anderson, an anti-Obamite fundamentalist is taking on the law enforcement agencies of the Federal Government, primarily. At this point it appears that he is probably trying to provoke the Border Patrol and others to try to make the right wing point that under Obama the government has become totalitarian. However, Border Patrol checkpoint policies have been in place for years and have nothing to do with the current administration.

Anderson is no more than a small minded fool, who is trying to fill his church coffers and make a name for himself by playing on the fears of those who are of similar ilk. He has started his church and feels a need to attain mega-church status, where he can live the life of Armani suits, private airplanes, and multi-million dollar estates. What better way to accomplish this that to appeal to the extremist right wing of society that is searching for leadership and a return to power and has an extreme fear of change.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Baptist Preacher Prays for the President to Die and Go to Hell

This has to be the epitome of blasphemy. A preacher in the pulpit prays for the President to die and go to hell. And he calls himself a preacher. I cannot imagine a preacher in any church that I have ever attended standing in the pulpit and saying such a terrible thing. They were so much more intelligent. What would Jesus do? I kind of think he might run the so-called preacher out of the church like he ran the money lenders out of the temple. Don't you think?

This man, Steven Anderson, I will not refer to him again as a preacher, is stationed at the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona. The best part of this is that the Secret Service paid him a visit after the President's recent visit to Arizona. It seems that the wingnut, who was carrying an AR-15 assault rifle near the President's appearance there, is one of the Faithful Word Baptist Church's faithful. He was present at the service, when the other wingnut advocated death for the President. Can you say assassination?

I hope that the Secret Service keeps a very close eye on these two along with the rest of that congregation. He was not relieved of his position the next day, so it can be assumed that the other wingnuts in that church approve of him. Therefore, any of them could be capable of committing murder for him.

As bad as so many people disliked G.W. Bush I never heard anyone openly advocate his assassination. Such a statement as the so-called pastor made is un-American and treasonous. So much worse than the Dixie Chicks saying that they were ashamed of Bush. They were ostracized and blacklisted. So what about this nut in Arizona? Shouldn't there be protesters out front next Sunday demanding that he be tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail?

Today I watched the final game of the Little League World Series. One of the Chinese-Taipei players listed his role model as Barrack Obama. The rest of the world tried to tell us how bad G. W. Bush was and many did not listen. The rest of the world is trying to tell us that we have a good president, but many are not listening. It is a shame that the rest of the world sees it and we do not. Our preachers want to kill him or stir their congregations up enough that they will kill him. No wonder so many people are fed up with the organized Christian religion in this country. There are so many idiots leading it.