The Cantina

First off, I’m opposed to any and everything that is “big government”. To add to that, many of these bills that pass through are so large, loaded and complicated that even the experts don’t understand them. My initial feeling down in my spine is that I don’t want government to get involved with universal healthcare, at least until such a time that the corruption and greed that the insurance industry and the medical industry enjoys is repaired.

Right now you have a system that is wildly out of control. I saw an ad for a urologist three years ago in the paper. The starting salary was $375,000 per year. That tells me something right there. Medical supplies are through the roof. Just google some and you’ll see. Example: I buy a new below knee prosthesis about every three years. The cheapie costs $6000. It takes about a day to make and it has about $250 worth of parts in it. So why is it so expensive? Because it’s a medical supply. Why are medical supplies so expensive? It’s because it’s part of the medical and insurance wildly broken and corrupt system.

It starts with malpractice lawsuits. (Yes, of course layers had a part in making it this way) Judges and jurys hand out outrageous settlements in malpractice cases. Those awards must be paid for, so doctors and medical suppliers charge outrageous fees for medical services so that they can afford malpractice insurance, so that judges and jurors can continue to hand out outrageous lawsuit settlements. That’s why you see $7 dollars for an aspirin on your hospital bill. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You go to the doctor or the hospital and get your care and then they bill your insurance company, who of course denies the payment. Then they go back and forth with paperwork for several months saying “you owe me this” and “I’m not paying you that”. They have to hire people to generate all of this paperwork and their salaries translate to higher medical costs, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg too.

These are just some of the things that are wrong with the current healthcare system in America that need fixed BEFORE we even try to get government healthcare coverage for every American.

I got into an interesting discussion on Facebook the other day. You may have seen this picture.

Well, everyone started either ragging on or defending Obamacare and I was no different. I was one that was ragging. But then I did a little looking into exactly what PCIP was which is what is referenced on her sign. It stands for Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. So what is that? Well, it varies state by state but in Pennsylvania it means that basically, insurance companies have to insure you even if you have a pre-existing condition. You have to pay for it, but they they have to make it affordable and they have to offer it. That’s where I was wrong. I had assumed that the government was just paying for some slacker’s medical bills with my tax money. I admit. I was wrong.

Well, this I agree with! It’s just like the “high risk” car insurance for bad drivers. It’s not paid for by the government and our taxes. It’s paid for by the person who needs it. Sure, you and I pay too through higher premiums, but in the grand scheme of things, I can live with that. People have pre-existing conditions and everyone, including myself is tired of seeing the big fat insurance companies slamming the door in the faces of people in need. Perhaps someday I’ll get the chance to read more about Obamacare. I really wish they’d simplify their bill passing and stop porking every bill they pass though with thousands of pages of self interest bullshit. Bottom line, I like the thought behind PCIP but I get the feeling that this is a bright point in an otherwise dark bill.

Tags: Politics by Ron
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This is a post about the prosecution and persecution of Rod Blagojevich. When is enough enough? When is enough too much? The man did what every politician does and what every successful businessman does. He had something that was worth something and was holding on to it and shopping it out for a better offer. If that is corruption then we better build some high walls around Washington DC and string them with razor wire.

What really pisses me off is the amount of tax payer’s money the government is willing to spend on a man who’s career they already trashed and drove wildly into debt. The first trial already cost millions. Now they are talking re-trial, only because in their own minds they didn’t get it right the first time.

Blago isn’t a bad guy. He’s not a threat to anyone, in fact, he wants to be a positive force, not a negative one. It would serve no one any good to imprison him. This is crazy. Let the man do some good for Illinois and for the country.

Here are some statistics and a good idea.

Based on the January 2005 point-in-time counts(the most recent stats I could find), an estimated 17,133 people experience homelessness each night in Illinois.

* 70% were living in shelters and transitional housing, while 30% were unsheltered.
* 79% were single adults and 21% were persons living in families.
* Slightly less than half (46.6%), were from Chicago and Cook County. Outside of Chicago, the highest concentrations of homeless persons were in the Continuums of Rockford (6.8% of state’s homeless at given point in time), East St. Louis/St Clair County (6.7%), and Northwestern Illinois Continuum (4.7%).
* 28.5% were chronically homeless according to HUD’s definition.

People who are homeless in Illinois have a variety of characteristics. Of the total persons who are homeless at a given point in time, sheltered and unsheltered, in Illinois:

* 9.5% are veterans
* 24.5% are severely mentally ill
* 33.8% have chronic substance abuse issues
* 4.2% are living with HIV/AIDS
* 22.6% are victims of domestic violence
* 5.3% are unaccompanied youth under 18

Here’s the idea. Take that 20 million dollars that they want to spend on a Blago re-trial and put it in a fund for the homeless in Illinois under the current governor’s control. Sentence Rod to one year of community service for lying to the FBI, and let him use that 20 million, through the current governor to get down and dirty and help the homeless. Everyone in Illinois would benefit from this. No one will benefit from spending 20 million dollars to re-try Blago. If you ask me, I think that that would be a worse crime than anything Blago every even thought of doing.

Rod, I hope these BLEEPING mother BLEEPERS get out of your A** and let you go back to doing some good in the world.

Tags: Politics by Ron
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Amazing isn’t it. If you add up all of the money that Obama has spent in the 50 days that he’s been in office on stimulus, bailouts, spending bills, and other democratic policies that he recklessly signs as they cross his desk, you’ll find that he’s spending our tax dollars at one billion dollars an hour. These are my tax dollars and your tax dollars. No, that’s not right. These aren’t even dollars yet. These are your children’s and grand children’s tax dollars.

That’s impressive. That’s change. Sheeple wanted change. You got change. Everything but change in your pocket.

His policies have decimated my stock portfolio and your 401k plan. Your retirement nest egg is history folks. You are being led into an existence now where you will have to rely on the government to take care of you for everything, but the government is putting itself into trillions of dollars of debt at an alarming rate. So when the time comes that you need to be taken care of, it’ll be ching way, screw you, sorry we’re broke. It’s called socialism. The next step is communism. I find it ironic that the namesake of a democratic society can be the ones who propel us into socialism. Don’t you?

Everyone thought they bottomed out in November when the market crashed. But then Obama came along and with his lack of understanding of the free market, cut my already 50% losses in half again, just since his inauguration. But that has nothing to or little to do with the spending of a billion dollars an hour.

While Obama campaigned against earmark spending and says he’s against it, he just signed a bill with 9000 of them. My god. This is insane. Every democrat that voted for this asshole owes me and the rest of America an apology. I want it now… or no… Maybe I’ll wait, because it’s not over yet. No.. no, it’s just begun.

Tags: Politics by Ron
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Thanks Kimmer. I’ve been obsessed with this ever since you sent me that article. (Read my earlier post on the subject if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

I almost hate what I’m about to write because it’s going to sound so……Democratic. But I think it’s common sense. Illegal immigration is a huge problem in the good ‘ol US of A. I could sit here and type all the reasons and costs of why it’s such a big problem, but why do that when the government already did. You can read the staggering numbers right at this study on the Center for Immigration Studies website. For more information, go to the root domain right here and follow some of the links.

You’ll learn some amazing numbers and some really stupid ideas on how to fix the problem. Like building a big fence. Like assimilation and granting citizenship. Perhaps you’ll read long enough to read about political asylum.

All bad ideas if you ask me. All are reactive measures that don’t even look in the direction of the real problem, let alone address it. The real problem is that the mexican people that are desperatly trying to enter this country are trying to escape the horror of extreme poverty, disease and starvation. You don’t see Mexico’s elite scaling a fence or hiding in the back of a manure truck trying to get here. You don’t see Mexico’s businessmen and Mexican doctors running through the Arizona desert. You see Mexico’s poorest, most destitute people trying to save themselves and their families from a lifetime of misery.

Stick with me here for a minute. Say you have an asshole neighbor. Say that asshole neighbor has a dog chained up out back. Day after day and week after week you see this dog tied up out in the back yard of your asshole neighbor’s house. The asshole never gives him any fresh water. Maybe once or twice a week you actually see food in the dog’s dish. There’s no shelter. No box or doghouse to get in out of the rain and snow and wind. Just a poor shivering, starving dog trapped in a life of misery with an uncaring asshole in charge of his destiny, chained to a tree in the asshole neighbor’s back yard.

Then one day the dog gets so thin from the abuse and starvation that he slips out of his collar and breaks free. First thing he does is go to the trash cans and knocks them over to get something to eat because he’s starving. Let’s say you’re a nice person and actually put out a bowl of food and water for him and he sneaks up to your porch to get it. The asshole neighbor sees this, beats the dog and chains him back up to the tree, but since he’s an asshole, he doesn’t change anything. He still starves the dog and putting water out for him is a pain in his ass so he only does it once a week.

All the dog can think about is the glorious day that he broke free and got someting to eat and some fresh water. So now the dog thinks about breaking free all the time, and he does.

Does this make that dog a bad dog or is that just a good dog in a bad situation with natural survival instincts?

I think the answer to the illegal immigration problem lies in working with the Mexican government to put an end to their extreme poverty problem. I think if we spent half of the time, effort and money we spend now on the unsuccessful illegal immigration tactics that we currently employ and put that energy towards creating an environment where these desperately desperate people had some food, education, medical care and career opportunity that they wouldn’t be so quick to slip the chain, jump the fence and run to the neighbor’s house for food and water.

I think the solution lies in helping them out where they are so they don’t want to leave.

It’s time for a true story. I lived in Dauphin for about 12 years of my life. Every day when I’d drive home I’d pass this house that had a cute little Chow chained to a tree out front. The dog rarely had a bowl of water. It was always upside down and bone dry. For months I drove by and saw the dog getting thinner and thinner. I could see his ribs from the moving car. Still no water. That was the dog’s existence. No matter what time of the day or night I went by, he was there. Chained to the tree. No food, no water.

Finally late one night I stopped and unhooked him and put him in my truck and took him home. That’s right. I dog napped him. I fed him and gave him all the water he could drink. The next day I took him to the vet and got him shots and worm medicine that he badly needed. I took him back home and kept him for about three weeks until he started looking nice and healthy again. He was a nice dog. I thought about keeping him, but I couldn’t. I am a lot of things but I’m not a thief. Here’s what I did.

I taped a note to his collar and took him back one night and chained him back up to his tree. The note read something like this.

“I took your dog. He was in dire need of food, water and a vet. The rest of his medicine is in his doghouse. If I see him being neglected again I’m going to kick the shit out of you and then turn you into the authorities for neglect and abuse”.

Believe it or not it worked. They put an unspillable water dish out there. Half the time I’d drive by, he wasn’t there. I imagine he was in the house or somewhere. At least he was getting some kind of attention. He never lost weight or looked neglected after that either. I think they must have got the note.  The moral of the story?  I saw one of God’s creatures desperately in need and I took action at my own time and cost.  I brought him back to a stable level of health and then put him back where I found him with some insightful instructions and menacing consequences if those instructions weren’t followed, and I saved a life.  The same philosophy could easily be applied with the immigration problem.

Anyway, I’m glad I could share that story with you. That was back in the mid 80’s and I’m sure the statute of limitations has expired on the dog napping and threat charges that I could have gotten arrested for, but the meat and moral of the story remains the same.

The answer to the problem lies with creating a suitable environment where they are, so that there is no reason to escape. It’s common sense really. The only Canadians we see breaching our borders are rich ones who want to retire in Florida. Think about it.

Tags: General, Politics by Ron
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Hate is a strong word. That’s why I used it. When I was younger I never really payed much attention to politics. I was blissfully ignorant of what was going on in Washington and even in my own state as far as politics go. Now that I’m getting older, I’m paying more attention to it, and it really torques my screws. Especially the proposals of the democratic party and what they believe in.

Tonight’s source of my anguish is the SCHIP tax. For those of you who don’t know, SHICP stands for State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the tax I’m talking about is the tax increase that they are going to put on tobacco products to fund it.

Now, I agree that the health care program needs help and it needs funding. I do NOT believe that people that use tobacco products should carry the burden squarely on their shoulders to fund every one’s children’s health care. Alone. This is a fine example of the democratic party’s skewed view of a fair and free country and distributing wealth and responsibility.

I never had children. I never wanted children. Yet, I find myself supporting other people’s children through taxes that I pay. I pay their school taxes. I pay for a lot of children’s programs for people who irresponsibly have children that they can’t pay for. I understand the dilemma. How can you tax people who are already getting a free ride and free medical care from the government?

Here’s my alternative. If you can’t make the irresponsible parents cover the cost of their children’s health care, and you absolutely must put that burden on other Americans, who supposedly create higher health care costs by their lifestyle, pass the burden off this way.

Tax Popeye’s Chicken. Tax KFC. That’ll get a bunch of your government dollars back. Tax MacDonald’s and Tax Burger King. Tax the fat asses that are the statistics of the world’s largest obesity problem in the world. Surely you are aware of the health care costs that are the result of that. Yes, that would tax nearly all Americans, or…a large percent anyway (pun intended). Hell, you’d still get a bunch of my tax dollars. I luvs me a Big Mac now and again.

What you are about to do will drive the tobacco industry into the same situation that the auto industry is in, but for no fault of their own. It will be the democrat’s fault. People will not be able to afford those products anymore or they will boycott those products. Sales will go down and jobs will be lost. Shops and companies will close and more people will be out of work.

The tax that they plan to impose on people making less that $250,000 a year which during the campaign they said they wouldn’t do, will be along the lines as follows.

and this is the grand daddy…

Incredible.

There will be no tax increase on deep fried chicken, colt 45, Big Macs, or french fries.

Tags: Edgy, General, Politics by Ron
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My friend Kimmer turned me on to an article yesterday in the Washington Times about an Arizona rancher who’s ranch is on the Mexican border. In a nutshell, the rancher is being sued by 16 Mexicans who were trying to cross the border illegally, across his land. He held them at gun point with his dog by his side while he called the border patrol to come and arrest the illegals. In fact, he had done this so many times in the past eleven years that he has helped the border patrol arrest 12,000 illegals trying to gain access to this country by using his land as a gateway.

Now, the latest group of 16 Mexicans that he caught are suing him. You can read the whole story here.

I’ve thought deeply on this story since I read it. Just who do these people think they are? We stole this country fair and square. Our forefathers came over boat by boat and ship by ship to this land. They slaughtered scores of native Americans by introducing them to the business end of the firearms that they brought with them. They desecrated those heathen savages in every way possible, many times raping their women and killing their children until there was nothing left of them and leaving them nothing. Not even their pride. We stole this land fair and square right?

Our fore fathers brought slaves over from Africa. Ship by ship and boat by boat, cleared farm land, planted food and cotton with the aforementioned slave labor. They built this country on that stolen land and made it in to what it is today and that is something we can all be proud of right?

I am a proud American but sometimes, I really don’t feel so proud.

You can tell that I have mixed feelings about this. As a young man I thought I had seen poverty in America. I thought I knew what poverty was. I’d seen homeless people before. Not a lot, but I’d seen them. I didn’t know shit.

I went to Puerta Vallarta in about 1998 on a vacation. While I was there, I left the resort to go into town and check out some of the local shops and what not. I strayed a little farther past the outskirts of town than most Americans travel and that is where I saw true poverty. I saw true fear, hunger and despair in the eyes of innocent children. I saw an old woman in her 70s holding a baby in one hand and a tin cup begging for coins in the other while her daughter and grand daughter were trying to hawk up some business in the whorehouse a few doors down the street. These people’s best days don’t even come close to our worst. I sympathize and empathize with them. I’ve seen how they live and I can understand their desperation. I understand why they are willing to risk their lives to cross our border to make a few dollars an hour picking beans and chilies on our farms. I hold no animosity toward these people at all. They are just people, who are a lot worse off than we are, trying to survive.

Having said all that, do I feel that they deserve a free ticket to the US? I don’t know. I don’t know that I even deserve to be here. I don’t know that you deserve to be here either. If I steal your car like our great great grandparents stole this land, do I deserve to keep it just because I have a bigger gun? Is posession really nine tenths of the law?

These are tuff economic times, not only in this country, but world wide. Does anyone really think that a laid off GM worker is going to pick lima beans for three or four dollars an hour? Who’s jobs are they really taking or are they actually doing work that Americans are to fat and spoiled to do?

I have no answers on this. I feel sorry for the rancher whose land and belongings are being ravaged and vandalized by these people. I feel sorry for the Mexicans because I’ve seen the horror they are trying to escape. I feel sorry for the Americans who feel they deserve the luxury of $5 cups of Starbucks coffee just because their forefathers sodomized the native American culture. I feel sorry. I feel sorry that I’m somehow part of it and I don’t have the answers. I am sorry.

Tags: General, Politics by Ron
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They say a picture paints a thousand words. This one could quite possibly paint a few thousand. One thing is for sure. Something is going to get painted. I like the photographer in the backgound there “getting the shot”.

It definitely reminds us that we do indeed have a democrat in the whitehouse again, but at least Bill Clinton had the common decency to get his head in the oval office and not right out on the whitehouse lawn.

I saw this photo and I thought “what a great opportunity for a photo caption contest”. Please feel free to join in by using the “add comment” link. Okay then, I’ll start with a few of my own.

• President Barack Obama demonstrates that he’s all about stimulus.
• Obama and a few of his closest secret service friends enjoy one of the many perks of the presidency

Tags: Edgy, Politics by Ron
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God I love it when I’m right. Read it here. Now why not do the right thing and show the American people and the world that you mean business and prosecute him?

(I tried to embed the video but CNN’s video site keeps timing out). Just go there and check it out for yourself!

Tags: Politics by Ron
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What do Al Capone, Leona Helmsley, Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle all have in common? That’s right. They are all tax evaders. Now the more important question. What do Al Capone, Leona Helmsly, Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle NOT have in common? That’s right! Al Capone and Leona Helmsley are considered by the United States government to be criminals. Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle are considered by the Obama administration to be honorable men of character and respected men of his cabinet.

Doesn’t that just chafe your ass? If it doesn’t, it should.

Someone please tell me how that happens? Obama is just lumbering through the democratic field looking for cabinet members and flushed out not one, but two tax evaders. These are supposed to be people of utmost integrity according to his application process and criteria. I wonder how many more would be caught if a genuine investigation were launched.

These two crooks should be charged with tax evasion. The fact that they have now recently paid those evaded taxes after they were recommended and offered high level positions in the new Obama administration is irrelevant. That’s like robbing a bank and then when the cops find out that you did it, you return the money to the bank and plead no harm no foul. It’s ok. I really didn’t mean to rob that bank. It must have been an oversight.

I don’t think so. Not in my book.

Hey Obama. You say you want to restore confidence in America? Why don’t you start by prosecuting these two criminals and show a little integrity and character yourself. You talk about how wall street execs should be ashamed. You should be ashamed by backing these two losers. It makes me sick to watch you downplay their crimes on national tv. It didn’t take long too get a glimpse into this future. You spent two years talking the talk. This is a much different “walk” than I was expecting for sure.

Tags: Politics by Ron
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Okay, so Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed while delivering the oath to Obama yesterday. And Obama flubbed back. Is there really any question as to whether or not he’s really our president? I don’t think so. You can read the whole story here. It bothers me though that he took a mulligan on his first day in office. He asked for a “do-over” and did it today.

He’ll find out very soon that there are very few “do-overs” as president. For instance. When the CIA and secretary of defense tell you that an enemy country has weapons of mass destruction and you better act on it now or suffer the consequences, and you act on it only to find out they were wrong, you find out very quickly that there are no “do-overs”. There are no mulligans as president of the United States of America. There is no “on the job training”.

Settle in Obama and do it right. We’re counting on you. We have no choice but to count on you now. The people have spoken and they want ice cream.

Tags: Edgy, Politics by Ron
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