Emails For Dumb Asses

I live in a retirement city in Florida.  As you can imagine, health care is big concern.  It is also a hot bet for conservatives.  Put the two together and you have a fertile field for bashing Obama Care.

While playing golf yesterday, one of my playing partners started to read an email from his I-Phone about the future of Medicare when Obama Care starts in 2014.  Tell old people their payments are going double of triple and you,ve got some wound up old fucks.

I told my friend that you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.  He replied that the email had been verified by Snopes.com.  I told him to click on the link and he was surprised to see the word FALSE pop up on his screen.

This is a great trick.  The haters who write the emails know the average person is too lazy or dumb to check out the source or truth of the information.  So, the writer says it has already been verified and the dumb asses just believe it.

My golf partner said that Snopes.com thing is just a bunch of bull shit and he’s heard similar information elsewhere --- can you say Fox News.  Oh well, there’s none so blind as those who won’t see.

When I am King I have no intention of censuring the Internet.  But, I certainly want schools to spend more time teaching kids how to fact check.  Maybe we won’t end up with so many dumb people later on.

Sorry Mitt

I was watching a Mitt Romney campaign commercial the other day and I found it a little unsettling.  Romney was trying to make the point that he has been loyal to his wife, his religion, and his country and under no circumstances would he ever apologize for the United States of America.

I started to think about the apologizing part.  First as a student of history, I can think of plenty of things this country should apologize for.  The genocide of Native Americans, the interment of Japanese Americans, and the Spanish American war would serve as good examples. 

But then I pondered it from another perspective.  Isn’t this the party of “Family Values”, aka, just act like us rich white folks.  Do you really want to teach your children to NEVER say sorry.  My mom and dad taught me at a very young age to apologize when I hurt someone’s feelings.  They spent considerable time teaching me right from wrong. 

Apparently Romney doesn’t believe the “right” is ever wrong.  But, give him a little time; he’ll probably change his mind.

Constitution Test

Now that the Presidential election season is in full swing, I would like to take a moment to debunk two themes of the Republican candidates.  One concerns the constitutionality of “Obama Care”.  People, who claim they are big proponents of following the constitution, should take time to read it every now and then.  If they go to Article 1, section 8 they’ll be surprised to find “Congress shall have the power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper…”, also known as the Elastic Clause.  The founders put this in because they realized things would come up that they hadn’t thought about.

My other pet peeve is Republicans complaining about the deficit being ran up by Obama.  Hey knuckle heads, the president can’t spend a dime without Congress’s approval.  In fact, every spending bill starts in the House of Representatives.  Last time I checked the Republicans were the majority party in the House.

When I am King, every member of the government will be required to pass a test on the Constitution.  They’ll need a score of 90%.  They won’t be allowed to vote on legislation until they pass.  Finally, a standardize test I can support.

Golf & Politics

I played golf on New Year’s Eve with a former Army intelligence officer.  We were stacked up behind several foursomes and so we naturally passed the time by bull shitting.  I was rewarded with one of the best conversations of the year.  His work in the intelligence field was truly fascinating – especially how they discovered Pakistan had nuclear weapons.  Eventually we started talking politics.  My fellow competitor was careful to mention he was a registered Republican.  I quickly confessed that I was a registered Democrat.  From that moment on we had the best give and take conversation about what needs to be done to solve our country’s problems.

 We both agreed that the election procedure is crazy.  Our politicians spend all their time getting elected.  We decided to make the presidential primary election season last only two months.  Every candidate would get free TV advertising, but it would be on C-SPAN.  We would also have a national primary election day at the end of the two month.  On other subjects we agreed to end the war in Afghanistan immediately, solved the budget problem with both spending cuts and tax increases and created jobs by repairing our infrastructure.  And this was all accomplished in the last five holes of play.  Just think what we could have done if we had decided to play another nine.  It was really refreshing to see there are still some moderate Republicans left. 

When I am King, that Army intelligence officer is going to be my Vice-King.  Were going to send the government on a two month vacation and when they get back all major problems will be solved.  Of course, we’ll accomplish this while playing more golf.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow -- I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over a month.  You probably thought the King was dead.  Not so quick.  I've just taken a little time off.  Now I am ready to get back into action.  And what better time than Thanksgiving Day?
I love Thanksgiving.  I use to think it was because I got to eat the best food and watch football with all my love ones -- although I am not sure all the love ones agree on the football part (especially when one of the teams was the Lions).
But now, I realize that the real reason I love Thanksgiving is because I have so much to be thankful about.  I've pretty much lived a charmed life.  I have a wonderful wife, grown children who are well adjusted and successful.  I have good health and relatively little to worry about.  I also realize that all this could change in a heartbeat.  So I make it my job to live each day as if it were the last.  I worry about very little and I rarely have anything to worry about.  I really have a lot of reasons to be thankful.
I also realize that everyone is not so fortunate.  For those I hope life gets better and next year they'll have something to be thankful about. When I am King, I'll do my best to help everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Seperate Church and State

Indiana is using tax payers’ money to support religion.  The government is using educational reform to fund a back door effort to support religious schools.  This year, Indiana will allow 7,500 students to obtain a voucher from their local district to fund their tuition at a private school.  Out of the 36 schools that have accepted students, 31 of them are religious schools. Next year the number of students eligible for a voucher will rise to 15,000 and the following year there will be no limit.

I’ve always opposed the voucher system because it is primarily a method to allow rich people to get a discount on their private education.  Furthermore it makes no sense to take more money away from public schools that are all ready underfunded.  But, I really object to funding religious schools.  Public schools educate everyone.  Religious schools pick and chose their students and then brain wash in their religious bigotry. 

When I am King, I’ll outlaw the voucher system.  Religious schools will still be able to exist, but they will be “separate” from the government.  That’s the way our founders indented it to be.

Hug a Liberal

Some where along the line, the term liberal became a dirty word.  Even our liberal leaders refer to themselves as "progressives".  If you listen to any of the Republican candidates you would think liberals are godless killers of the economy.  The truth be known, liberals have always been the ones looking after the well being of the everyday people, while the conservatives only care about money, especially other people's money.  Here are just a few reasons you should hug a liberal.

• If you have ever breathed clean air or drank clean water, hug a liberal
• If you haven't been lynched because of the color of your skin, hug a liberal
• If you have ever used Medicare, hug a liberal
• If you've ever driven on an interstate highway, hug a liberal
• If you don't live an an overpopulated third world slum, or just think birth control is a good idea, hug a liberal.
• If your family benefited from the GI Bill of Rights, hug a liberal
• If you're are glad the the Nazis don't control half of the world, hug a liberal
• If you've ever visited a national park, hug a liberal
• If you haven't been tortured to death in a religious inquisition, hug a liberal.

In short, if you've ever enjoyed anything of the post-stone age world, you have a liberal to thank.  When I am King and someone calls me a liberal, I am going to say "Thank You"!