The Electric Chair

It’s been a while, and I need to take a few minutes of a break between work projects, so why not catch up with current events. But before that, just some fun stuff.

My youngest son turns 1 year old Feb. 1st, while the other children have recently turned 13 and 12. I love my family, and have been blessed with greats kids and a wonderful loving wife. Lately I feel like I have a pretty wonderful life. There are thing I’d love to change in my life (my financial situation, the location where we live), but with such a great family, I can overlook those things and enjoy my life.

Avery is so much fun. He’s become quite attached to me lately… probably because I’m the “fun” one. I pick him up when his mommy is busy and can’t attend to him instantly (ya i’m spoiling him). We play a lot, and he’s developing a fun and goofy personality. He’s also so very smart. He’s going to start walking any day now, as he’s already trying and his favorite thing to do is to have us hold his hands so he can walk over the entire house. He loves to climb stairs too (practically by himself) — much to the dismay of his mother. He’s definitely got some words now, even if they are hard to understand. The few baby signs (Sign language) we are consistent with he definitely understands, and I expect him to start repeating some of them any time. Watching all of these developments and how quickly they go by is very fun.

Ok, on to the news…

Health Care

Today is going to be an interesting day. The 60th seat of the Democratic Senate lock is likely to be broken today when Brown wins. That *should* change the game on Health Care, but I’m worried it won’t. Clearly the American people are *not* with our representatives on this brand of health care reform. The public wants reform, but they don’t want what is being shoved down our throats, and the arrogance of the Democrats in forcing it upon us is incredible. It’d be so easy for them to regain the public trust they’ve lost lately by being honest, and toning down this legislation into *real* reform instead of trying to control everything. Alas, I think these people are power drunk and don’t really even know what they are doing.

So if Brown wins, what happens? Well, I think the arrogance continues in one of three ways: 1) They refuse to seat him quickly, allowing their super-majority to stick until they pass it. 2) They use reconciliation to pass the bill with 51 votes. This would be the ultimate betrayal since that option is only for financial bills. So either they change the rules, break the rules, or change the bill in such a way that it becomes a finance bill. Either way, it’ll be a sad day for democracy. 3) The house decides to just accept the Senate Bill that was passed as is, which means they don’t need to do another vote and the previous Senate vote holds. Yet another sad day. Reference: Salon.com article

Looking Forward

Look, I recognize that the American people gave the Democrats the big majority (not the super majority mind you, that took a power hungry former Republican to make that happen), and those officials acting upon that vote is proper, except that now with a clear populace rejecting them, they continue down the wrong path. If I were a Republican election strategist, I’d be cheering for the Democrats to act so arrogantly, because it will be their demise. In fact, I think it already *is*. But in the end I want what is best for *everyone* in this country. I want the Democrats to realize their mistakes, and do the will of the people that elected them. I don’t want Republicans back in power because Democrats suck. I want them in power after they learn to be moral people and also do the will of the people who elect them. I’m looking forward to the 2010 elections, but at the same time I worry for the country. Yes, I’m quite sure Republican are going to cut the Democratic majority to almost even, maybe even better… but I have so much distrust in all politicians right now that I’m not giving the overall outcome much hope.

The Underwear Bomber

Someone asked me why I hadn’t blogged on this. I guess the whole thing is so ridiculous that I’m (almost) at a loss for words. Our government failed us. I don’t expect every attack to be prevented, but I do expect better of the money we give them. When a man gets on a plane with an explosive, and actually starts to set it off, that was a failure. When the man was on the Terror list, and gets on, that’s a failure. And for Napolitano to actually say the system worked, is arrogance in the highest. What worked was the diligence of the passengers on the flight. The only good thing that happened out of the whole thing was when Obama actually admitted that the buck stopped with him. Damn right it does, now fix it and stop trying to destroy our security with bad decisions like Gitmo and trying KSM with the same rights and courts as an American citizen. Do you know that’s going to cost $280 million or more. What a joke. He already said he’s guilty, he wants to be executed. Fine, make him a martyr, don’t read him Miranda rights and let him hurt *again* the victims families by giving him a “microphone”. What this government is doing is dangerous in both its action and inaction.

Much more to say, but gotta get back to work…

Take a look at this:

This kind of rhetoric is evil. It’s purely an attempt to stop debate. “Anyone who thinks this health care reform bill is bad is a Obama Hating, Right wing Militia, Aryan Group member”. It’s utterly preposterous.

Chalk up Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse as being another corrupt politician who has no idea what the term “Intellectual honesty” means.

It does him no good either. Honest people cannot listen to that and take the man seriously.

If I bore you with my story, skip to the bottom for “lessons learned”, because I can find politics and debate in anything.

On Sunday, October 18th, I headed to Decatur to DJ at Atlanta Varsity Showdown.  I wasn’t feeling that great, and had a scratchy throat.  I sucked it up, picked up a red bull and fulfilled my obligation.  At that point, I really just figured I was tired and run down.  During the drive home I quickly changed my mind.  That night I felt awful, and couldn’t sleep.

I took the next day off work, and rested… hoping that a day of rest would make me feel better.  So Tuesday I attempted to carry out a normal day, and for the most part I did, but I certainly wasn’t feeling great.  On Wednesday I felt a bit better, and I felt I was on the road to recovery.

How very wrong I was.  On Thursday I felt like I had been in a hit and run, and a serious cough had developed.  I took Thursday and Friday off of work, figuring I’d use those days, and the weekend to recover.

by Monday it was clear I was not getting better.  My symptoms were night sweats, completely achy body, headaches, congestion, intense coughing, and lack of sleep.  By this point I had already concluded that I had the flu, and not only that I had H1N1 (Swine Flu).    I decided this because about 3 weeks before I had the “Seasonal” Flu shot.  I wasn’t scared, as I watch and read the news *a lot*.  I knew that H1N1 wasn’t any more dangerous to the average person than any other flu, and I’ve certainly survived many a flu.  So I called the doctor, and went in that day. He said I probably have Swine Flu (no, I wasn’t tested). He told me to take Mucinex DM, and gave me an antibiotic, because I had developed Bronchitis (This is standard with me… every time I have any sort of respiratory infection, it almost always develops into bronchitis… this has been the case ever since I chose to go on the skiing trip with Krista and her family when I had a cold/flu when I was in High School.  By the way, my wife immediately quarantined me from the rest of the family.

The Musinex did nothing for me (I hear you all gasping, as apparently the entire world thinks this is a miracle OTC drug.  Well it sucks for me!), and my cough got much worse.  My coughing fits got so bad that my body would rebel and I’d start throwing up.   On Thursday I called the doctor back, told him my symptoms were worse.  He agreed to see me again.  He tested my lungs, gave me an inhaler, changed my antiobiotic to Levequin, and gave me TussionEx for the cough.

That helped.  The TussionEx is beautiful, it really slowed down the cough and helped me get some amount of sleep.  I eneded up taking the entire next week off of work to recover.

I began working on Tuesday of the next week (this week), but I’ve still been pretty sick.  The cough won’t completely go away, and I am very weak as my appetite has not fully returned, but all in all I feel dramatically better.  The Quarantine has partially ended, but I still sleep alone as I’m not pleasant to be with at night yet(the night sweats are terrible, and the coughing is still sporadic and annoying).

Lessons Learned

So that’s my story.  There are some lessons to be learned from this:

There are a lot of misconceptions about the flu and swine flu.

1) 90% of flu cases being diagnosed right now are H1N1.  If you think otherwise, you are fooling yourself.  There’s really no reason to test for it because it’s the flu, and you treat it the same way regardless of the strain.  For most people there really is no difference between H1N1 and any other strain.  It is true that they have noticed that children and pregnant woman are taking it a little harder than other people.  The theory is that H1N1 is showing worse symptoms for people who have strong immune symptoms.  Perhaps that means I have a strong immune system, or perhaps the Seasonal flu shot I had this year actually made it worse.  Or maybe I’m just getting older and things are hitting me harder.

2) I made the mistake of saying “H1N1″ is the seasonal flu this year to a number of people.  What I meant was that “the current season of flue is Swine Flu”.  Flu season usually really starts in January, and it’s very possible that a new batch of flu illnesses will hit the public. I still stand by the idea that if you have the flu right now, i’d bet money it’s H1N1… it’s “in season”.

3) People are terrified of the Swine Flu.  I was in the pharmacy when a woman walked up to the counter asking for the season flu shot.  The pharmacist said their store, and most of the others were out.  I interrupted and said I had the shot, and it didn’t do me any good.  The other woman’s eyes got wide as she asked me “You have the flu?”.  I said “yes”.  She said “What kind?”.  I said “You can only guess”.  She bolted from the store, while the pharmacist was happy to continue to talk to me at a few feet length.  The bolting lady wasn’t even within 20 feet of me as I was talking to her.  I understand not wanting to get sick, but that kind of fear is unjustified, and rather ignorant.

4) There’s a lot of debate about immunization, and frankly it surprises me.  Bill Maher (not my favorite person), questioned the entire science behind it.  In fact, he said something that I found quite hypocritical. (Links to video at the bottom) On his show, Chris Mathews, a guest, asks Bill “Why are fighting this fight”.  Bill responded “Just to say we need a debate about it, just to say that the science is not settled … this is not settled science like global warming”.  *Groan*  Global warming science is *not* settled, and when anyone says it is, grab your wallet, because you’re being taken for a ride.  At any rate, there is something to what he said despite his ignorance and being completely wrong in his reasoning.  Immunization for diseases that don’t mutate every year is different than seasonal and commonly mutable diseases.  I got the flu shot this year for the first time ever in order to hopefully prevent my baby from getting the flu, and having to get the shot himself.  Turns out that was at best possibly a useless gesture, and at worst made my H1N1 case worse.

5) Almost everyone I told that I had swine flu was surprised and concerned in a way I know they would not be if it had been regular flu.  It seems that people only listen to the scary details about H1N1 and don’t listen to anything else.  I encourage everyone to head over to the CDC website and read what they have to say. (http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/qa.htm).

This is the video that Bill was responding to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB5DLf1Qt78

This is the video I referenced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPrLCIoxe8Y

When the white house dug in their heals and made the statement that Fox News is *not* news, they also made a statement that Fox would not have access to any Whitehouse advisors or staff until at least next year.

Fox, of course, made sure it’s viewers knew about this. Then, of course, came the News Pool interview where Fox was denied the interview, while all other networks were not, until all of the other networks came to Fox’s defense, ultimately forcing the White House to back down.

What I find most interesting is the fact that Hilary Clinton will be on Fox tonight (on On the Record.) What’s even more interesting is the fact that Fox hasn’t made hay of that fact at all.  They are advertising it like any other interview, as though there was no Anti-Fox history from the White House.  One wonders if Greta will ask any questions about it, my guess is no.

The cynic in me sees it this way: The White House backed down, contacted Fox, and said “Alright, we’ll give you access to our staff, but let’s drop the feud on both sides”.  The White House was losing that bit of PR *badly*, and I think they took steps to stop the bleeding, while Fox, in the interest of news and ratings, decided that having the ability to Report the News was better than the PR/Ratings improvement the “See, we told you so” would bring.  They can let people, like me, do it for them.

One of the big stories lately, at least in my mind, is the Administration’s attack on Fox News.  This sort of attack isn’t new of course, as all of my friends on the left have long dismissed Fox News as anything but legitimate.  It’s no secret that I’m a Fox watcher and don’t totally agree with their assessment.

Their criticism usually centers around the idea that Fox is a “Right Wing” Network, and is completely biased to the right.  I think that oversimplifies things, and dismisses what Fox really is.  Anyone that denies that the programming on Fox leans to the right would be insane.  It is clear that Fox is the network to watch to find right commentary (I use right in the political sense, not the factual sense).  To say that Fox News isn’t a news network is not correct, however.  If you are one of those that disagrees with that statement, I simply ask you this: is MSNBC a news network?  Is it more of a News Network than FoxNews?

I asked myself that question this morning.  I attempted to look at the two networks with a blind eye (which is hard to do, but I think I did it).  I’ve concluded that the two are a result of each other, and are the Yin and the Yang of Cable News.  I attempted to analyze CNN too, but found that of all the networks, they were the most “News” Centric, and ultimately left them out of my comparison (which makes sense, and good for them — though once I took my “Neutral blinders” off, I still think CNN leans left). CNN does have commentary shows, and they do lean to the left, but compared to the other networks, this amount of programming is pretty minor.

So, being the geek that I am, I created a spreadsheet comparing the 24 hour programming cycle of MSNBC and FoxNews.  I put the programming into categories:

• (N) – News/Fluff – These are strict news shows, or semi-news/fluff shows.  Fox and Friends fits the News and Fluff while Special Report with Bret Baier is strict News.  (Need the MSNBC Equivelents?  Morning Meeting is News and Fluff and MSNBC News Live is strict News.
• (R) – This is a show that is hard right or leans Right.  In my list i separated that into (MR) too, as Morning Joe on MSNBC is definitely right leaning, but has more of a moderate tone sometimes.
• (L) – This is a show that is hard left or leans left.  I debated whether Chris Mathews was (L) or just (ML), and eventually gave him the (ML) rating.

Further, I noted that even the news shows could have a lean to them.  On Fox it’s fair to say that almost every news show has a bit of a right lean, at least in comparison to any other news network (It’s my belief that the other networks lean so far left that even fair reporting looks “right”, but that’s probably my idealogy, so for the sake of this “study” I’ve accepted that Fox has a bit of a right lean in their regular News).  I also accept that the MSNBC leans left in most of it’s news reporting. Whether or not those two lean each way equally is open for debate.

Both networks repeat their opinion shows multiple times. I did not clarify the number of shows in my study, but rather the hours of programming.

So here are my results, feel free to look through your programming guide and compare with me. In the 24 hours news cycle:

• Fox News has 16 hours of News Shows
• Fox News has 8 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Right
• MSNBC has 8 hours of News Shows
• MSNBC has 3 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Right
• MSNBC has 13 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Left
• Fox has *one* business show (which leans right), while MSNBC has one Medical show (Which i’ve noted neutral)

Based on this I think the following conclusions are legitimate:

• Both Networks have a strict Political Lean
• Fox has more “News” programs
• MSNBC attempts to look more moderate and Balanced, and indeed does carry a commentary show that counters all of their others.  Fox lost their only “balanced” program when Colmes Left and Hannity and Colmes became just “Hannity”.

In case your curious and don’t want to do the analysis yourself, here are the shows and my classifications

FOX

• Fox and Friends (N/F) (3 hours)
• Americas NewsRoom (N) (2 hours)
• Happening Now (N) (2 hours)
• The Live Desk (N) (2 hours)
• Studio B With Shepard Smith (N) (1 hour)
• Your World with Neil Cavuto (BR) (1 hour)
• Glenn Beck (R) (2 hours)
• Special Report with Bret Baier (N) (2 hours)
• The Fox Report with Shepard Smith (N) (1 hour)
• The O’Reilly Factor (R) (3 hours)
• Hannity (R) (2 hours)
• On the Record with Greta Van Susteren (N/F) (2 hours)
• Red Eye (N/F) (1 hour)

MSNBC

• Morning Joe (MR) (3 hours)
• Morning Meeting (N) (2 hours)
• MSNBC News Live (N) (4 hours)
• Dr. Nancy (HN) (1 hour)
• Andrew Mitchell Reports (NL) (1 hour)
• Hardball with Chris Mathews (ML) (3 hours)
• The Ed Show (L) (2 hours)
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann (L) (4 hours)
• The Rachel Maddow Show (L)  (3 hours)
• First Look (N) (1/2 hour)
• Way Too Early with Willie Geist (N) (1/2 hour)

Conclusion

Now, if you’ve stuck with me this far… let’s quickly discuss what our administration is doing.  They are targeting a network because of it’s lean, and claiming they do not report news.  I think this is hypocritical and wrong.  MSNBC’s lean certainly looks like they have been in the tank for Obama.  I think Fox, despite the number of right wing commentators, has generally given a fair shake to the left in their news and interviews.  There is definitely an attempt to delegitimize each of the networks by their idealogical opponents.  I think that’s the wrong way to go.  The first amendment is a wonderful thing, and commentary is appropriate.  Perhaps the lean of the news show is problematic… but if you approach your intake of news and commentary with a skeptical and questioning mind, you can certainly make your own opinions.

We do not need a news Fairness Doctrine, we do not need to trash the news networks, and we do not need “Diversity” in the news and Radio… it’s already there!  The Free Market has already taken care of this.

The administrations efforts to dismiss Fox may backfire on them.  Their attempt to pat the other networks on the head has even CNN questioning the administration. My fear is that this backdoor attack on the first amendment is just the first step, however.  Obama just today dismissed FoxNews as “Talk Radio”.  If one did this, and the “Diversity Doctrine” (The new version of the Fairness Doctrine) makes any headway, that would allow the government to essentially shut down FoxNews.  Did you know that the government is attempting to fine Fox $30 million for “Wrong statements and indecencies”?  This is exactly the sort of thing Chavez has done to his critics… shutting them down.  No government should ever control the media. And of course it’s completely hypocritical, as I’ve shown that MSNBC leans way left.

We need debate, we do not need to stifle it.  Do not dismiss something simply because your politics say you must, and don’t let our government do it either.

I’ve noticed lately that people are coming out and demonizing insurance companies.  Oh, I’m sorry “Big Insurance”.  Because today, the best way to make something sound bad is to call it big, except big government, because we all know what a good job they do for us.  But I digress…

Insurance companies are called horrible because they try to make a profit at the expense of their customers.  The idea, I’m quite certain, is for us to all starting hating our insurance companies so that we’ll support the public option, which everyone knows is a step to a single payer system (if you argue with that, you aren’t paying attention.  Obama and several ranking democrats have all said that their goal is single payer, and this is a stepping stone to it.  I have respect for those who at least believe in that option and don’t hide it, but Obama has gone against his own words and refuses to admit what he said just a few years ago.)  There I go digressing again…

Yes, we’ve all heard the horror stories about people who can’t get insurance.  I have a brother who called me a few weeks ago saying he and his doctor thinks he has lung cancer, but can’t afford to get a biopsy and find out.  My heart breaks, and I immediately scan my thoughts about heath insurance, health care reform and public options.

I’m against most of the health care “reform” that has been proposed.  I don’t think it would save my brother.  I am most definitely in favor of reform though.  There are a lot of ways to do this.  Demonizing the companies that provide 90% of the covered with care, however, is not the way to do it.  Is there corruption?  Probably.  Is it wide-spread… probably not.  What makes sense is  to root out the problems, find ways to allow insurance companies to be able to cover more people and still make a profit (profit is *NOT* bad).  In short, get the government out of the way where we can, and get them involved in the areas where they must.

That, of course, won’t close *all* the gaps in health insurance coverage.  People like my brother, who haven’t held much of a regular job, let alone one that would provide health care, are still going to be left out in the cold.  For these people we do need some sort of “public” option.  Extending Medicare would be one possibility, and I’ve heard several others proposed.  Co-ops and exchanges are valid choices for some of the leftovers.  In the end I do believe government will have to provide for a small amount of citizens, but they do *not* have to take it over to do so.

Back to the demonization.  I had my own run in with the system.  My insurance company sent me a rejected claim for an MRI I had recently, and then a bill came from the MRI office for a bill of $1080.  Naturally I was pissed off.  So I called the doctors office and got the run around from them for weeks.  Eventually I went back to the insurance company.  Now here’s the rub… They were the most gracious, friendly, and accommodating people I had talked to.  They did all the leg-work for me… they called all the necessary physicians, got the necessary documentation, and got the ball rolling.  The whole mess was the fault of a lazy doctors office with whom the insurance company had made multiple requests for appropriate information.  (To be fair, I’m willing to accept that the process is far too complicated, and the doctors office just made an honest mistake — except that when I tried to deal with them, they started giving me the “it’s not our fault, you take care of it” line).  The insurance company had no desire to deny my claim, they just needed the appropriate records.  Fair enough.

I have good insurance… my company and I pay dearly for it.  I work hard, and I don’t feel guilty at all for having a plan that’s better than many Americans.  That’s not to say I don’t think others deserve care.  Not at all.  We, as generous Americans, should  do what we can to help those who *truly* need help.  I’d be proud if my tax dollars went to that in the form of health care vouchers or something that still worked within a non-government run system.  I can’t think of one thing the government gets involved with that doesn’t get worse.  We shouldn’t strive to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator, we should strive to bring everyone up!

I’m not a kook, and I don’t believe our government is run by Nazis.  I do, however, understand the true definition of fascism.  Fascism is a political philosophy that stands for a strong centralized government, with severe economic and social controls and forcible suppression of opposition (paraphrased from the dictionary).  It’s a valid theory of government, just not one that I happen to believe in.  I do believe those who are making the laws want to take over health care, and they probably have the best intentions in their hearts… it’s hard to think otherwise.  What they want falls in the definition of Fascism however, whether they believe in it or not (I doubt they do).  I just cannot believe based on all my years on this earth, and what I have seen, that a government run health care system is right for this country and will benefit the most people.

I know my liberal friends truly do think that this health care reform is best for us, and many of them believe in a single payer system.  I challenge them, however, to truly step back away from their ideals for a moment, and try to see things from the side of the people who have seen government ruin lives every day.  Those of us who see government corruption, greed of money and greed of power destroy individuals, groups, and businesses.  Where we see the successes come outside of the government.  We see true generosity come from individuals, not the government.  Bring us back into the debate, and don’t shut us out.  As we also truly want what’s best for everyone and this country.  I believe we can provide everyone health care who needs it without the government taking it over.  We can empower insurance companies with better competition (open the business borders for example!), we can correct problems in the system (put some regulations on denying preexisting conditions), encourage different type of health care plans like catastrophic care plans versus preventative care plans.  Stop with the demonization of those who already do more than the government can.  Stop with the snarky comments about “Teabaggers” (that one just makes me livid).  We don’t oppose your ideas just because they are your ideas.  We’re better than that, and so are you…

To be fair, there are many on “my” side of things that need to step away from the partisan stance they are taking.  While I believe our politicians actually do *not* have our best interests in hearts, I believe most of those outside of the beltway do.

I don’t have all of the answers, and the system will never be perfect, but let’s stop playing partisan politics and bring people together for a legitimate discussion on the best way to provide the best care in the world to all of our citizens who need it.

“I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow yhou’re not patriotic.  We should statnd up and say, ‘We are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration.’”

– Hilary Clinton, April 28, 2003

“An ugly campaign is underway, not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt civil dialogue.  These disruptions are occuring because opponents are afraid not just of differeing views but of the facts themselves.  Drowing out opposing views is simply un-American”

– Speaker Nancy Pelosi, August 10, 2009

“The Last time I had to confront something like this was when I voted for the civil rights bill and my oponent voted against it.  At that time, we had a lot of Ku Klux Klan folks and white supremacists and folks in white sheets and other things running around causing trouble”.

– Rep. John Dingell, August 10, 2009

Apparently if you protest or just disagree now, you’re un-american, and racist.  Nice.

There are so many problems with the Heath Care non-debate that I don’t know where to start. I call it a non-debate because I really feel that debate is trying to be stifled.  How?  Let’s go through some of them.

1) The congressional leaders have said they are going to pass health care reform. It’s going to happen with or without Republican support. With or without Full Democratic (they’ve promised to use the nuclear option to pass it if they have to) and without the input of the public.  It doesn’t matter what the people think or what the other elected officials think as long as they have 51 senate members.  Obama was quoted as saying he doesn’t want to hear from the opposition, he wants them to shut up and get out of the way (“I Don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking” — http://bit.ly/3ZkSi).  It’s disingenuous to say those that disagree with you created the problem.  It’s certainly arguable that it’s been the liberal plans that have created much of the problem.  Either way, the debate should be open… telling the people to shut up is arrogant.

2) The White house has asked people to report misinformation by emailing flag@whitehouse.gov. This is truly big brother, and probably illegal.  What it is for sure is an attempt to stifle debate through intimidation.

3) There are many people swarming our leaders, asking legitimate questions, bringing up valid concerns and using their Constitutional right to assembly and free speech by protesting.  In some cases things have gotten a bit out of hand… but most cases are quite civil.  Those who are hell bent on passing their brand of reform have labeled these people as a mob.  Even worse, they are of course nefariously “organized”.  Whatever.  As one of these type people myself, I can assure you I’ve not been asked, persuaded, offered money, or anything to go to a town hall meeting and questions our leaders, but the first chance I get to attend a Town Hall… I will be there.  These people, right or wrong, are true patriots in questioning our leaders, and expecting them to listen. It seems the left thinks that they are the only ones who have the right of assembly.  In fact, they are the ones organizing, as now union leaders, and groups like Acorn are sending their members to “fight back” against the real grass roots. (http://bit.ly/lyv4p)  The only AstroTurf  here is coming from those pushing Obama’s brand of reform.

4) There are also a lot of rhetorical tactics that are being used to shut those of us who are concerned.  The most obvious one is the notion that if you’re opposed to what’s going on now, you don’t want Heath Care reform at all.  That’s not it at all.  We certainly do want reform, we just don’t think the Obama brand of reform is good at all.  Other standard tactics are personally attacking those who are the mouthpieces for the opposition.  As though the fact that some of us have character flaws completely invalidates our arguments.  It’s a ridiculous notion, and just plain intellectually dishonest.

Look.  There’s an honest debate that needs to happen here.  Reform should happen, but it needs to be one that is best for the country.  The lawmakers don’t always (rarely) know what’s best for us.  They need to listen to the people, and truly reform things.  I’ve got many ideas on what I think good reform would be, and I’ll share those some other time… but so do many other people.   So let’s have an honest debate… the country will be better for it.

I have a lot of friends who are liberals/progressives/democrats/raving-lunatics who might be excited that I will no longer be registering myself as a Republican.  It’s not that I’ve decided to turn off half my brain, accept the government as my daddy, and register myself as a Socialist, er I mean Democrat… no, I’ve decided that I’ll become an Independent.

Recently I’ve discovered that I have far more in common with the Libertarian Party that I do with our two big parties.  Neither party has any interest in the betterment of this country.  With little exception, our national representatives in both parties have sold their soul, and the soul of this country for the power in which they desire.

For the previous four years I stood by “our” President when I was a Republican and watched one of the biggest power grabs in History.  Republicans and Democrats took advantage of our fear over 9/11 to get things “done”.  While on many levels I support the Patriot act, and many other things Republicans tried to do, what I cannot support is how bloated these bills become with pork, amendments, and attacks on our freedom.  These came from both sides.  A good example is the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act).

The UIGEA wasn’t a bill… it was part of a more important bill called Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006.  This parent bill addressed some much needed security issues (For example, some much needed FEMA problems were addressed, and it required radiation testing on appropriate imports).  But in a last minute effort, Republican added the UIGEA to it in a “midnight drop”.  No legitimate debate.  An attempt, once again by our lawmakers, to legislate morality using ignorance, intolerance, and just plain stupidity.

The UIGEA made the funding of internet gaming illegal (Depositing and Payments of Funds for Online Gambling).  Actually, it’s not even that clear, it’s worded in such a way that so many legal acts could be considered illegal, and puts a huge burden on banks to enforce the act.  Very quickly some huge moneymaking companies decided to avoid the risk by abandoning our lands and moved internet gaming sides overseas, taking huge revenues (and taxes) along with them.  Instead of regulating (a term I’m usually not fond of either), and potentially increasing government revenue through taxes, they chose to blindly ban it.  The worst part is that those of us who want to see the UIGEA overturned are pinning a lot of hope on the actions of Barney Frank.  (Who is my second least favorite politician… and no, Obama isn’t my least… that special title is reserved for Pelosi).

The UIGEA is actually a minor infraction on the part of Republicans to me, but it is one that affects me personally as a Poker Player. Government consistently limits my rights rather than protects them.  Our republic was created in a way to limit Government and to protect my rights but more and more the opposite happens. Each of our two parties are doing this in their own self-interest and preservation.  They treat us like children that have to be told what to do, what is right, and what is wrong.

I used to believe that it was the Republican that were on my side, protecting my liberties, trying to reduce the size of government, and securing my freedom.  But the last 8 years have shown me that Republicans are just as power hungry as the Democrats, and will screw us over just as quickly to keep their power.

Case in point is Arlen Spector.  Now, anyone who had a clue knew he was what many of us called a RINO (Republican in Name Only).  As a Republican he was elected time and time again, while practically being a Democrat (just look at his voting record).  But as soon as it was clear that he would not win the Republican Nomination this time around, he jumped ship and labeled himself as a Democrat, because it is in this party he was sure to secure his stranglehold on his seat.

Of course, the Republicans applauded Joe Lieberman when he did almost he same thing and ran as an Independent when he was sure to lose the Democratic Nomination.  But at least he chose to become independent, which sounds like he kept some integrity.  But in the end, it was about keeping power.

So I no longer feel that either of our parties are looking out for me.  (The Health-Care non-debate is a prime example of this… Democrats are certainly not interested in what is best for the country, only what will get them more votes — More on this in a future post).  And despite my revelation that the Libertarian party is becoming an option, I’m not yet convinced.  So Independent it is for me.  Georgia seems to have open primaries, so my options should not be limited in primary season.  I know going Independent is the right thing to do for me.

I have a fantasy that we’ll implement term limits for House Members.  Crazy thought isn’t it?  I think if our representatives had a limited time in office, we might have more people who get elected with idealistic notions rather than continuing power.  Maybe then I’d feel like I could belong to a party again.

I’m totally feeling like watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.