Perhaps the Horse Needs Obamacare?

DATELINE: THE HORSE IS DEAD BUT WE ARE STILL WATCHING THEM FLOG IT – On March 23, 2010, in the United States, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) became a reality. That’s how it works in politics – bills are proposed, presented, voted on and either passed or rejected. Not everyone is happy about it; that’s also how it’s supposed to be. Those who saw problems with the bill should accept that the majority had spoken, and turn their attention to helping make the program as effective and efficient as possible. That’s their job. That’s what they are paid to do – for bills they like and the ones they don’t like. Let’s face it, there is nothing that will be passed through any political body that makes everyone happy; that’s simply not possible. Those opposed have perspective, though, and should then use that to help make it the best possible.

Since March 23^rd, 2010, there was a presidential election. Because that election returned Obama to the oval office, his PPACA was, in essence, given majority approval by the population of the United States. Nevertheless, also since March 23^rd, the US Congress, led by John Boehner and the GOP, has voted AGAIN on the Affordable Care, not once, not twice... but 42 times. This by itself is inconceivable. No other bill in no other government has gotten 42 do-overs, still losing every one, yet still insisting on one more kick at the cat.

While they are doing this, issues of banks run amok are not addressed (then again, with Mrs. Cruz being a regional director for Goldman Sachs, Teddy certainly doesn't want to see the banks regulated). Issues of unemployment and underpay are not addressed. Issues of national security are not addressed. Issues of paying the military are not addressed. Instead, these petulant children are still stomping their feet, throwing a temper tantrum that they did not get their way. This sort of dedication is not impressive; instead it begs the question ‘what is really motivating these morons?’

Now though, the GOP has attached a rider to their attempt to quash PPACA. They have decided that if they don’t get their way, they will refuse to make available the money necessary to keep the country running. That means that, first and foremost, those people in the military will again take it on the chin. It means that those who depend on their pension checks are out of luck. It means that crime will run amok as prisons are unattended. Think about what your government does... then imagine no one doing any of that. This is a tactic that will not hurt any corporation and it will not hurt anyone sitting in Congress or the Senate because, well, they have already taken care of themselves.

Ted Cruz stood for 22 hours in a very deliberate attempt to stop the wheels of congress, to stop debate and discussion. He talked about the outrage of the people of the country because nothing is being done. HOW THE HELL DARE HE! He said that the people of the country are getting frustrated. HOW THE HELL DARE HE! He is reading Green Eggs and Ham, a book about trying things that you are 100% opposed to, as he throws his tizzy about having to swallow ‘Obamacare’. Wow. Absolutely everything he is doing is blatantly a slap in the face to the working, struggling people of the country, and he knows it.

Ted Cruz’ actions would be less disingenuous if he offered options to the problems he sees with PPACA. He would have much more credibility if, rather than supporting the gouging insurance companies and taking political contributions from big pharmaceutical companies. If he wasn't firmly and comfortably ensconced in the pockets of Corporate America, people might give a shit about what he has to say. His objections have nothing to do with the working people, the sick people, the tired people, the struggling people or the retired people of America.

Conveniently enough, issues like oil pipelines can’t be discussed or debated – they don’t want that because that might mean scientific and statistical information might come out that doesn’t support their position. They can’t discuss GMO’s and fracking, things that can and will kill hundreds of thousands of people, while politicians sit back and plead ignorance about letting the companies doing these things run roughshod through peoples’ lives. There are too many issues that they just don’t want to deal with, so let’s waste time flogging an already long-dead horse.

So, neglecting their duties for two years, while pulling in huge paychecks and donations from their corporate sponsors, while people continue to suffer in ways that they should not be suffering, wasn't enough. Playing silly-bugger with the government finances, imposing even more hardships on retired people and the military while they carry on with this charade of legislating FOR the people was not enough. That wasn't enough of a threat. It didn't work, so now they threaten to shut down the entire country. I guess you don’t have to look very far to find those new-fangled American home-grown terrorists, because they ARE playing with peoples’ lives, they are threatening livelihoods and ways of life and they are using fear and trying to force capitulation. Beware the enemy within.

The GOP has more than proven themselves to be nothing more than self-serving thugs. In essence, all thugs are self-serving; the only way to stop them, though, is to have someone with the balls to stand up and be counted, to say ‘Enough!’ Washington is, apparently, infested with thugs – corporate and political. Sadly, I have no idea who the hero will be in this scenario, who will stand up for the people, who will actually do what he/she took an oath to do. All evidence so far, though, shows that it will not be Obama. He was a man who talked the talk, but he sure as hell doesn't walk the walk. More’s the pity, and good hardworking Americans continue to foot the bill. 

BOILING IN OIL -- Pipelines and Politicians, If You Please

DATELINE: BOILING IN OIL -- As we wait for that great leader President Obama (aka Spineless Willie) to decide on the Keystone Pipeline, I thought it might be fun to throw some numbers at you. In the past twelve years, in the United States, there have been at least 82 known pipeline leaks. Now, that doesn’t seem like a lot, I suppose, but these are the ones where there was no human involvement to cause them, and these are just the pipelines that carried those elixirs of life – crude, diesel, gasoline and, in two cases, jet fuel. This does not include the ones that were hit by construction workers because the pipeline was plotted wrong on maps or by human error. These are just the suckers that woke up one morning and decided to let that precious lifeblood of a nation land on the ground.

82 leaks – little (or in some cases big) holes that sprung out of nowhere. Just 82, you are saying. Well, yes, but let me clarify this some more. For 11 of those 82, there are no estimates for how much product was lost, so when I say that considerably more than 209,024 barrels were spilled, it is based on only 71 of those leaks. This part you’ll love... I just KNOW it. Oil company talk is 209,024 barrels, but do you know why? Well, it’s because it is a whole lot less scary when they say that than when they say more than 8,778,997 gallons. Yes, that is almost 9 Million gallons of crap spilled, in just 12 years, from just little leaks that happen.

Now, I should be clear about this. These numbers are based on researching the leaks that are made known and are recorded in information on the internet. If anything, they are low-balled, perhaps a lot. Nonetheless, here is more information for you to chew on. Of those 82 leaks, at least 40 of them, so half, resulted in severe environmental damage and contamination, almost always of water sources, many times killing animals, sometimes resulting in evacuations, and sometimes, because that shit is incredibly flammable, causing fires when it ignites. In at least one case, the spill was so bad in the water, the oil company had to burn it off – yes, they set the damned lake on fire. I bet fish and fowl were totally thrilled with that.

Funnily enough, the name Enbridge, as owners of the pipeline, came up 9 times, and Kinder Morgan owned the pipeline 6 times. Even more surprising, while these leaks were spread out over 26 US states, 8 of them happened in Illinois. I bet a lot of oilmen don’t drink the water in that state. While Illinois takes the prize for the most pipeline leaks, it is followed closely by Texas, Oklahoma then California.

These leaks, it should be noted, have occurred many times in areas where they then contaminated major waterways. In several instances, huge numbers of fish and wildlife, including endangered wildlife, were killed – and it is a slow painful death for them. In many cases, these leaks happened in very environmentally sensitive areas, where there never should have been a pipeline in the first place.

Yes, we need cars. No one is so fucking dumb as to say otherwise. We need oil and gas, but we need the oil companies to be responsible. Up to now, they haven’t been. The only guide of any significance to them has a damned dollar sign in front of it. Some of these leaks went on for considerable time because they were small, but their damage was huge. Some of these leaks went unreported for a long time, so the oil companies could ‘hide’ it. There was absolutely NO consideration given to the fact that this contamination could kill more than environments or wildlife; it could kill people. We are gonna look a right asinine lot when we have cars to drive but not one drop of water to drink. Of course, Sarah ‘Blowhole’ Palin, Mitt ‘Who’ Romney, Newt ‘No Funny Nickname Required’ Gingrich, Michelle ‘Harpies Really Were Insane’ Bachman, et all, would have given any oil company the keys to a kingdom and a ticker tape parade – without one moment of consideration for the farmland, wetlands, water tables or homes that the pipeline would casually crash over with no regard for any form of organic life, including the fucking farmers. You see, oil companies are bullies at heart, because their only concern is the money. As for the jobs, take it from someone who knows – they will be there, for a year, maybe, but not as many as they say. Then they will suddenly disappear, and the oil company won’t give a flying fuck about anyone who was promised anything, including a job and great pay. We’re talking politicians and oil companies here. Never ever forget that.

But Mz Palin and friends bring me to another point – it’s not just the oil companies who cannot be trusted. The governments have made it more than clear they would sell out their own fucking children for one vote or a few campaign dollars. The pipeline going through the US now could well mean enough money for the Democrats to purchase the White House deed for decades to come. We are supposed to trust the very same organization that slipped the god damned Monsanto Protection Act through the process to become a law without anyone knowing it? Oh, wait... that happened ‘anonymously’*. The politicians sold out our entire farming community AND our entire food supply to one company, and now they say they have no idea how that happened? I can tell you how. Monsanto is run by bullies with money – the worst sort of human excrement on the planet. They made it legal for Monsanto to do whatever it bloody well wants with our food, genetically modify it and genetically engineer it using sheep crap to make beef steaks, and there is absolutely NO recourse for anyone. They have been given a permanent golden Get Out Of Jail free card and our entire food supply was the cost. We want to sell out the water supply to the oil companies? I suppose at this point in time, why the hell not.

Yes, we need oil and gas. We also need to find ways to NOT need oil and gas. We need that oil and gas to be transported safely. That doesn’t mean that they just bulldoze homes from people who don’t want the pipeline over their pristine land. It doesn’t mean that it goes over sensitive aquifers or through national wildlife reserves or national parks. The fact is, no matter what they fucking do to make it ‘totally safe,’ it is still made by humans and therefore is capable of accidental yet catastrophic failure. There needs to be strict guidelines for how they get their land and where they run their pipelines. There needs to be HUGE penalties for every god damned drop of product that lands in the air or on the ground – not some bullshit slap on the wrist. There needs to be absolute vigilance – not the relying on their state of the art computerized doodads that will protect us, because quite honestly, they fail as well, and when they do, with no human checks and balances, we are totally fucked.

So, Mister President, while you consider the pipeline – and the successful election of your democratic successor, because we KNOW that’s all the party is thinking about – give some thought to how the people have already been sold down the river – the grossly contaminated, undrinkable river. There will be oil for everyone, but there will be no one left to drive a damned car. While you’re at it, passing crap like the Monsanto Protection Act, perhaps you could come up with some new law that involves duct tape and Michelle Bachman’s gaping, stupid, idiotic maw. Now THAT would be a law worth some heavy campaign dollars.

It’s a time for responsible thinking, balance, logic and compromise. It is for this reason, I fear, that perhaps there is no hope, because these are words that don’t exist anymore in the power houses, ivory towers and hallowed halls of the United States of America. More’s the pity; it has become a living, breathing historical display of how empires crumble.


* The whole bullshit that is the anonymous inclusion of something in a bill being considered for legislation is probably the most lame-ass ignorant slap in the face to the voting public I have ever heard of, because there is no way in hell they don’t know how it got in there, but it’s just a whole lot more convenient to blame no one than be responsible and wear your convictions yourself. Shame on the entire political system for allowing this mountain of crappola to exist at all.

DAILY NEWS - FEBRUARY 22, 2010

DAILY NEWS – February 22nd, 2010

DATELINE: FRANKFURT – Lufthansa pilots have gone on strike, an action that could result in 3000 flights being cancelled over the next 4 days. British Airways is also poised to strike. To be totally honest, I have no fucking idea who to be pissed off at about this. I am pissed off. I can’t imagine how it would feel in this economy to have saved and struggled for the money to take a honeymoon or a holiday, especially those who are not in a position to do so often, and to find out the day of your flight that you are going nowhere. At least Lufthansa is reimbursing the customers, or they claim they will be. I can totally understand the position of the airline workers at being concerned over deregulation and the very real fact that their jobs are on the line. This is one of those fucking situation where there are no winners... and this is another example of how the global economy has been totally fucked over by irresponsible governments who feel the need to get involved when they can’t even run their own fucking business. It’s another example too, of how the working person takes it on the fucking chin every time. I have no doubt that holiday plans for any fucking bank CEO will be just fine though.

DATELINE: WASHINGTON – Toyota – again. You would think that a company smart enough to save hundreds of millions of fucking dollars by deliberately delaying complying with safety requirements would at least be smart enough to not brag about it in a fucking 10-page internal report. A Toyota listing their ‘successes’ report lists things like slowing down on the process of complying with industry requirements regarding side air bags (saved the company $124M AND 50,000 manpower hours), delaying installing new standard door locks (saved them $11M), and avoiding investigations about rusted truck bodies and faulty floor mats. They even negotiated to limit a 2007 recall. Among other documents is an acknowledgement that they knew about the acceleration problems years before they did any recall. Yes, Toyota, you did good. Those are great fucking successes. So, lemme ask you this, although I know god damned well that the answer is ‘settle lawsuits... many, many, many lawsuits’ ... “What will YOU do with all the money you saved?”

DATELINE: LONDON – JK Rowling is being sued for copyright infringement... again. The estate of Adrian Jacobs claims that Rowling copies substantial parts of Jacobs’ book ‘The Adventuress of Willy the Wizard – No 1 Livid Land’. All writers of the world, here is my fucking advice. When you write, keep every single fucking scrap of paper that you doodle on while writing. To be realistic, something I know many people avoid like the fucking plague, there are in reality only so many stories out there to tell. What makes the difference is the way they are told. Keep your scraps so you can protect yourself from a potential $1B settlement like this one could, rightly or wrongly, result in.

DATELINE: WASHINGTON – President Obama is about to release his newest new plan for health care reform in the US. In the event you want advice from an interested observer from across the line, and who the hell doesn’t want that, the first thing you have to do is get the fucking pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies out of the equation. As long as they fucking fund both politics and medical offices, you are totally fucked no matter what you try to do.

DATELINE: VANCOUVER – Own The Podium. If there was ever a more arrogant fucking in-yer-face un-Canadian slogan, I have no idea what it could be. This plan was ill-conceived from the beginning, pissing off the competition with our smug fucking attitude that we could actually think we could buy the Olympic Athletic Accolades, but it also built huge stupid fucking expectations in the media and the public. Now, lemme ask you this. Does it really fucking matter how many medals we win in the grand scheme of things? Does it make us a better country? Not so far. Does it save lives? Does it matter if our athletes go out and do their fucking best and NOT make it onto the podium? Does that make them less than deserving of our admiration and appreciation? The whole plan is fucked. Our priorities are fucked. Maybe one day the Olympic Games will be able to be as it was intented... a competition between athletes – not fucking governments, corporations or media outlets. Too bad it will take even more global catastrophe to get us there.

DATELINE: OTTAWA – A report issued by six Liberal Senators, headed by Colin Kenny, has indicated that there is a drastic need for proper, strong oversight of the RCMP. It proposes that members of the national police force must face an outside agency that can independently review conduct, subpoena witnesses and lay charges when the need requires, as opposed to having the organization investigate itself. Well... DUH! We can see what happens when they fucking investigate themselves. They are a national institution that has gone the way of other big national institutions – like Banks, Insurance companies and Government. They have absolutely no fucking credibility, sweeping even murders and rapes under the carpet.

DAILY NEWS - JANUARY 29th, 2010

DAILY NEWS – JANUARY 29th, 2010

DATELINE: SWITZERLAND – Prime Minister Harper delivered his keynote address – to an almost empty fucking room. Then he was on a panel discussing bank regulation and in his typical arrogant up-yer-ass way argued the case for the banks and Canadian regulation of them, he soundly had his ass returned to him on a platter by Prime Minister Calderon. The words didn’t fucking matter a damn though, not nearly as much as the totally petulant pouty grade-school face on the Canadian Prime Minister, that someone would fucking dare to challenge HIS word. People, wake up... the G8 is seeing this man for what he is: nothing more than a fucking schoolyard bully with a 12-year-old mentality. Harper will go down in history as the second-most-notable fucking disappointment in Canadian politics, pretty big position considering the other runners (Mulroney and Cretien topping the fucking list). The only bigger disappointment is that willow-in-the-wind muppet-smiling idiot Ignatief, who despite having the political world at his fingertips still has not figured out what the fuck to do with it. Note to the Liberal Party of Canada – GET A LEADER WITH BOTH BRAINS AND BALLS AND LETS GET THIS FUCKING COUNTRY BACK ON TRACK.

DATELINE: TORONTO – The Canadian National Institute for the Blind will have to stop its literacy program for lack of funds. This is an organization that converts literature to brail for distribution to those visually challenged across the country. Glad we have a prorogued Parliament so these real fucking issues don’t waste the time of all you terribly erudite fucking elected officials. Thank you again Mr. Harper, for taking care of the people of this country.

DATELINE: DETROIT – or wherever the hell Honda’s are built – A new auto recall to announce, because we just don’t have enough of them right now. Honda is recalling some of their vehicles because of a faulty switch that could cause a fire in the car.

I can’t wait to hear the fucking economic analysts now explaining, like they have with Toyota, that this will just be a little blip, just like Tylenol and toys with lead paint in them. HELLO????? My bottle of Tylenol cost me $3 and would last about a month (less when Parliament is in session up here, because we all know there is nothing better for a headache than to follow fucking politics). My Toyota that I bought last year cost a hell of a lot more than $3 and should last more than a month. Wake up, assholes, and quit blowing corporate smoke up the consumer’s ass.

DATELINE:WASHINGTON – Bin Laden has released a new tape blaming Obama and all countries that did not sign on to the Koyoto Accord for global warming. He has called for a boycott of American products ‘to free humanity from slavery’. It’s a pretty sad fucking day when Bin Laden feels he can take the high road and spew human rights rhetoric at the rest of the world. I am not saying he is wrong – he could well have a valid point. It’s just that, well, considering the fucking source for the complaint, it is nothing more than a joke. Apparently bomb dropping, plane crashing and terrorism allows him to be a moral compass for the rest of us. I think he has been spending too much time puffing on the fucking poppies they beat people into growing.

DATELINE: LONDON – Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is testifying before their Iraq Commission. If this is like any Canadian Commission, the government will stop it before it gets any fucking answers and it will all be nothing more than a fucking waste of time. That said, Mr. Blair is totally fucking hawt, and I am sure he has no sweat glands.