Socialism?

Well here we are in capitalist land having bailed out Ford and GM and thinking about bailing out Wall Street. This from the bunch who think that universal health care is creeping toward socialism. My, Marx must be spinning around and around in his grave.

What happened to my country??

So, here we are in a near financial meltdown. And this is whose fault? Who has been in charge of this country and economy for the past 8 years? And now we get to bail out the people who contributed to this mess. Let me get this straight. If I screw up at work, I get fired. If I am the head of Fannie or Freddie or all the investment banks that are in death throes, the American taxpayers bail me out.
It is so sad, really. We wasted all this money and lives on a war that was not necessary, started by people who lied to us; went from a surplus to a deficit and now the policies of the Bush bunch have us on the brink of financial Armagedon. And what will we use for money to bail us out? We will borrow. What will be decimated because we have no money to fund them -- NIH, NIMH, CDC, EPA, FDA, education, health care, social security? The legacy of the Bushies will be felt long after everyone forgets that arrogant jerk and his condescending smirk.
When I came to the states in the 1950s, it was a land of opportunity and times were good. We had moral direction, people respected the U.S. around the world. My parents would not recognize what has become of it.
Now Sarah Palin may be our next prez, if the wrinkly white haired dude kicks it. Omigod, the interview with Katy Couric was just plain embarrassing. I don't like Couric that well -- news reporter lite is what I call her -- but she is bright. She could barely keep it together talking with this empty suit. Empty suit. A fine metaphor for what has become of the greatest country in the world. Michael Moore ---- HELP!

Revenge

Ok, so for whatever jerk put me on McCain's listserv, you are not funny and you are trivializing the political process and my right to free speech. Not that the Bush/Cheney/Rove bunch did not do that already. Did I ask for this? I have now gotten 8 emails from that wrinkly old dude's campaign cluttering my mailbox that is SPAM -- read unwanted email. I would never have so little disrespect for someone as to put them on a listserv with which I obviously know they would disagree -- i.e. Obama, Clinton, etc. As my cleaning lady asked of her son once -- have you no honor? The answer is obvious.

Spin talks - truth walks

THE SPIN:
A. Black teen pregnancies? A 'crisis' in black America.White teen pregnancies? A 'blessed event.'
B. If you grow up in Hawaii you're 'exotic.'Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential 'American story.'
C. Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you're 'unpatriotic.'Name your kids Trig and Track, you're 'colorful.'
D. If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without f ully vetting the individual you're 'reckless.' A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a 'maverick.'
E. If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African American voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works, and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced . If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia. If you are a Demoratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an 'arrogant celebrity'.
F. If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are 'energizing the base'. If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are 'presumptuous'. If you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a 'shoot from the hip' maverick.
G. If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are 'an elitist', 'out of touch' with the real America. If you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero.
H. If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an 'empty suit'. If you are a part-time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an 'experienced executive'.
I. If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are 'extremist'.If you believe in creationism and don't believe gobal warming is man-made, you are 'strongly principled '.
J. If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years with whom you are raising two beautiful daughters you're 'risky'.If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
K. If you're a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of your unborn child.But if you're a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you're spunky.
L. If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you 'First dog.'If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you 'b eautiful' and 'courageous.'
M. If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
Spin Talks - - Truth Walks

Sunday's editorials and columns

Sunday's editorials and columns were enough to make one want to move to New Zealand or somewhere else far, far away. Daniel Rubin of Philly's Inquirer, who is covering the Fumo trial, observed that a majority of the jury pool had not even HEARD of Fumo -- ack! Their own state senator from Philadelphia. This led him to musings about the presidential race and conclusions that perhaps we deserve the presidents who we get. The Times' Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, and Thomas Friedman were all on the same page as well.
What IS it with most of the media though? How come that nobody but a few have jumped all over Palin's inane contention that she is ready to take on the world because Alaska is so close to Russia. And I am ready to take over for Warren Buffet because I own Berkshire Hathaway stock.
Why isn't anyone focusing on trigger happy McCain instead of talking about Palin's glasses.
I think I'll consider moving to New Zealand.

Sarah Palin

I saw some Einstein tell a CBS news reporter that she was going to vote for Palin and how much she liked her. He, in turn, asked if she knew where Osama Bin Palin stood on the issues -- you know, those that go beyond her cute glasses and pregnant daughter. This dweeb admitted that she did not. I, as an informed voter wanted to know, and thereby distance myself from the Einsteins of this ilk. So, I watched Sarah Palin's interview with that twit, Charlie Gibson, the same twit that let some genius make an issue out of Obama's lapel pin. Here's what I gleaned: 1) She avoided answering any questions substantively, 2) She has a testy nasty streak that came through when pushed the slightest to answer a question, 3) That characteristic is a good fit with her running mate, who also has a nasty testy streak that comes out when he is challenged, 4) Gibson was too much of a woos to say: " Hey lady, ya ain't answering my questions.", and 5) She would make a great hawker on QVC or HSN. Why you might ask?
Well, one of the things that has fascinated me about those shopping shows (besides how anyone with above a room temperature IQ can watch them) is how much verbiage the hawkers can emit. Imagine waxing poetic on and on about the qualities of a cubic zirconium! It takes real talent to produce that many words and not say a hell of a lot. That's Palin.

Someone passed this along to me

Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor. On the community organizer front, so was Gandhi, so was Martin Luther King Jr.
Food for thought, eh?

Academic Woes

OK. So I know that I am an old curmudgeon. But I am totally convinced that academe is going to hell in a handbasket. Our university, the biggest health sciences university in the country, has decided that we should be tuition driven. Free markets, customer service -- hey, why the heck not right? NOT wrong.
Now, not only do we have to take virtually every cretin that comes in with money and a B (usually inflated) average in their undergrad, but we are pressured to keep them. The quality of the students in grad school is unbelievable. And in my profession we issue them the means for applying for prescriptive privileges. So we have people out there writing scripts after taking one semester of clinical pharmacology.
To make matters worse, the nursing profession has this nifty degree -- the DNP, doctorate of nursing practice. This is an easy way for the faculty who didn't bother to get a PhD to be called "Dr." and means one can go to school for 18 months of grad school with a total watered down curriculum and be called "Dr." So much for my 5 year struggle with a PhD.
What a sham. And the students are flocking to these programs, presumably so that they can be called "Dr."
What is the bottom line for consumers: 1) Ask what the heck kind of Dr. is taking care of you in a health care setting; 2) if it's not a DO or an MD run, don't walk, away and ask for a real doctor.

Grandchildren

Is there anything more wonderful than having grandchildren? You never have to agitate about being a good parent -- in a wonderful turn around, your kids do! HA!

Poisoned Brains

Most of my life I have been an independent thinker. I disagree with Democrats and Republicans both, but I pretty much vote Democrat. This is only because I can't stomach what the Republican party has become and -- so I hold my nose and vote.
I thought that the Bush years were some of the darkest in our country's history. But, one thing that has happened is that I have had an epiphany of sorts, as a result of this administration and then what is happening in the public arena today -- especially given the Palin nomination. UGH! The woman looks like Pebbles Flinstone. Remember her? Don't get me started on Cindy "Barbie Doll" McCain. But I digress.
My epiphany is that I now, after all these years understand what happened in pre- WWII Germany. Because that is what has happened to a good deal of our population. The lack of thought manifested by people in this election is astounding.
My husband has friends in west Texas -- an enclave of reactionary thought if there ever was one. The kind of nutty thinking (if it can be called thinking) that emerges from that part of the country makes my hair stand on end. Example, Nancy Pelosi wants to tax capital gains at 100%. How could anyone with an IQ above 70 believe something like that. Geez, it doesn't even make any sense from a purely logical point of view. One doesn't even have to go to the snopes website to know that is just plain stupid. Think about it, a wealthy and SMART woman, no matter what you think of her politics -- is dumb enough to want to propose financial ruin for herself and the country. But he keeps getting this one over and over. He's stopped explaining the logic or even referring people to snopes. It falls on deaf ears.
So, I now know how Hitler and his goons managed to take over the brains of an entire country. If people can believe the kind of drivel that comes out of the far right propaganda machine, no matter how implausible, they can also believe what the Nazis did. Sigh. I wish I didn't have that insight. Over and out.