Ahhhh, Mom. Healthcare, again????

Ok, Atlanta officially has a new mayor by the name of Kasim Reed. I definitely offer my congratulations to him and all the other city officials elected in the recent run off for a job well done. I will have to postpone my other comments on or newly elected officials for a later post because I simply have to discuss this health care debacle. I am in utter amazement that the Democrats have managed to royally screw this one up. If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times, Democrats need to have a come to Jesus meeting, and I do mean ASAP!!! I am furious with Republicans for their complete sabotage of any and all legislation that has been put forth. However, I at least respect them for sticking together and giving the Democrats a resounding H*LL NO when it came time to vote on the issues (more importantly, I didn't expect any better from them). My disgust really lies with the conservative Democrats in the Senate. They obviously believe that if they don't side with Republicans on healthcare, they won't be re-elected to office. Let's take a moment to look at this situation, shall we?

A conservative Democrat generally comes from an area that has a more conservative constituency whether it be made up of republicans, independents, or democrats. Given the current climate for Republicans (meaning they are in control of NADA), it is safe to assume that they will be sticking together come the next election cycle. This means that a conservative Democrat can let go of any fantasies that there will be a bevy of Republicans lining up to cast a ballot for him/her because Republicans almost always tend to tow the line. This leaves independents and democrats. Independents are a toss up right now. There are many of them who have become disillusioned with both parties meaning they could just stay home. Now, more right leaning independents may vote for our conservative Dem, but they also may decide to toss their vote to the Republican (it's anybody's guess). The conservative Dem has a better shot with a more left leaning independent. However, our candidate's best shot for re-election would be with the democrats. The problem is that democrats are not known for towing the line like republicans. If enough democrats feel like a candidate is not supporting the party's agenda, they will pink slip him/her in the blink of an eye using a myriad of methods.

Now, I can respect anyone who has a legitimate difference of opinion on the way we should reform healthcare, but if a person does not like the way in which the bill is being drafted, he or she has to offer a viable alternative. This stance of just saying no in order to defeat this bill is disgusting and should not be allowed to go unpunished. Therefore, it is time that the Senate leadership (paging Harry Reid) haul some of these "troublemakers" into the back room of the Congress and tell them a few things. The most important being that come next year if they choose not to get on board with the healthcare reform agenda, they can expect to be looking for a new job. There will be no support coming from the democratic party monetarily or otherwise (and contrary to popular belief, they most certainly are going to need this party). Bottom line, if you can't support us now, don't even think about looking for us later. For independent senators such as Joe Lieberman (who actually flip flopped on this issue), he should expect to be stripped of his chairmanship as soon as is humanly possible. Although it is a little late, democrats still have time to get cut throat with some of these senators and "beat" them into submission.

The left is now saying that the bill should be dropped and picked up after the 2010 elections. I'm not sure if I agree with this stance either. It is quite possible that healthcare reform could be dropped and never picked up again. I don't think that the whitehouse and congressional democrats have come this far to drop the ball now. However, I do agree with progressives on the left who say that maybe Harry Reid needs to consider utilizing reconciliation to pass other parts of this bill such as the public option or medicare buy-in (by the way, where the freak are seniors on this buy-in option. You screamed and hollered about death panels, and all of a sudden you are mute on this issue. It is absolutely EGREGIOUS!).

Finally, president Obama has to get his head in this game. I can fully appreciate all of the other issues that are on his plate at this time, but we are at the do or die portion of this healthcare debate. Now is the time that he has to really step up to the plate and push this reform through. More importantly, he is missing a big opportunity to link healthcare reform to jobs. It occured to me after hearing the death knell ring for the medicare buy-in that President Obama and congressional democrats did not do a good job linking the buy-in to jobs. The medicare buy-in would have allowed seniors in their late 50's to early 60's to buy into medicare. Therefore, it would allow for people in this age range to have an affordable healthcare plan. One of the main reasons that people in this age range continue to work is so they can have affordable healthcare. If people in this age group can afford healthcare, they may just choose to retire earlier at least at the age of 62 (when you can start collecting Social Security). Retirement opens up jobs for younger workers who are in desperate need of employment right now. My own mother recently chose to retire early, but she almost stayed longer at her job because she wasn't sure about how she would afford healthcare (thankfully, other things fell in place which allowed for her retirement). My father could retire in a couple of years, but he will more than likely continue to work because he needs to be able to afford healthcare. The case needs to be made that in some instances healthcare and jobs go hand in hand. Ultimately, I understand that Republicans are playing the obstructionist role in this debate. However, democrats (including President Obama) are not doing themselves any favors by sitting back and letting them take over the stage (ala Kanye West at the VMA's) when it comes to this issue. Democrats have to get out there on the airwaves and help Americans understand that this healthcare bill is needed to move this country forward, and they won't rest until a GOOD healthcare bill is passed and signed into law.

Proud to be an American....

The "water cooler" talk for the past couple of weeks at my job has been about Tiger Woods. Anyone who maintains contact with the outside world knows by now that Mr. Woods has admitted to cheating on his wife, Elin, and he was in a very unfortunate car accident. Now, there are all types of speculation as to how and why this car accident actually occurred. The most popular "rumor" is that Elin found out about Tiger's affair (or affairs given the laundry list of women who have outed ya boy) and commenced to whooping his "bleeeeeep". Therefore, Tiger ran out of the house ( a bit under dressed) and crashed his car. Now, there are many lessons that can be learned from this incident. I am only going to mention the two most important lessons in my opinion. First, many women want the richest, most powerful, and famous man on earth to be their husband (you know how the song goes: money, power, respect is the key to life). I'm not telling anyone what type of man to like or dislike, but if this is your ideal man, then you need to understand the issues and complexities that come along with this type of life. It is highly likely that there will be numerous women throwing themselves at your man. Also, you can probably expect to have a difficult time maintaining your privacy because the paparazzi is always just around the corner. It has to be difficult for any man or woman in that position to stare down temptation everyday and always make the right decision to go home (now, just because it is difficult doesn't mean that anyone gets a pass to cheat. Cheating will now and forever always will be WRONG!!!). This brings me to my second point, men need to understand that today's woman is not like yesterday's "girl". If Tiger Woods and Steve McNair have taught us (especially men) anything, it is that adultery can be a dangerous and deadly game to play. The days of the silent mistress who knew her place are over. The "unsuspecting" wife who would look the other way is no longer around or at the very least on the decline. It would be very wise and prudent to think and pray over adultery these days versus letting another part of the anatomy do all of the "thinking" for you. Having said all of this, I actually am starting to feel sorry for Tiger Woods, and, yes, I do know that everything that you do in the dark will come to light. However, at some point we should let this man try to repair his family in peace (for goodness sake, the media was even making a big deal about his mother-in-law going to the hospital for irritable bowel syndrome. I mean, really, reaaaaalllly?). As much as I enjoyed the SNL skit from last Saturday (come on, it was gut busting funny), it is now time to give this man a break.



Anyway Tiger's infamous debacle was overshadowed this week by the guilty verdict in the Amanda Knox trial. For those who may have had more important things to focus on this week (like Christmas shopping), Amanda Knox is the American girl who was accused of murdering her room mate in a sex game gone wrong (or something like that). Apparently, there were three supposed players in this murder. Amanda (aka Barbie), her boyfriend :Raffaelle Sollecito (aka Super Mario/Luigi), and Rudy Guede (aka Riley Boondocks). The first person tried and convicted by the Italian courts was Rudy Guede whose case was pretty much open and shut. Rudy's DNA was found in the victim, her toilet, and in the blood surrounding her body so not much to argue with there (also, it appears as though Mr. Guede was a known drug dealer and thief in the neighborhood and oh yeah, he's black so he KNEW that he was going to jail). Next up was Amanda and her boyfriend who it appears initially lied to the police and using a very old and tired playbook blamed the crime on a black man who was found to have an airtight alibi for that night. It has also been stated that Amanda did not seem very remorseful about the death of her roommate (apparently, spinning cartwheels at the police station isn't a good way to express your grief, who knew??). Long story short, Amanda and Mario (er, Raffaelle) were found guilty and sentenced to approximately 30 years in prison. An appeal is already in the works, and it does appear that there was some fishy business going on in regards to the prosecutor's case so they may just win (Secretary Clinton has already been contacted to look into this "situation"). Whether they lose or win an appeal, my question is: Have they and all other Americans learned our lesson?

What lesson is this, you ask? I am interested to know if Americans have finally figured out that people in other countries don't give a rat's arse about me, you, or any other American citizen being,well, American. I believe travelling the country and, indeed, the world is one of the greatest experiences and luxuries one can allow his/herself. Exposure and education about the world around us is a key remedy to selfishness and ignorance. However, lately, it seems that all to often Americans have "forgotten" how to conduct themselves overseas. The minute we leave American shores and land on foreign soil, we are subject to the rules and regulations of that country. Therefore, I don't think it is necessarily a wise decision to go snooping around in countries that are openly hostile to the United States. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were over in North Korea (can it get any more hostile?) trying to get a story and got busted. Now, they say that technically they were on the Chinese border and unintentionally crossed into North Korea. Hmmmm..., I don't know if I buy this story. Even if I did buy the story, why were you that close to North Korea that your pinkie toe could cross into their territory anyway? The sentence for Laura and Euna was 12 years hard labor (Another call to the state department). In July, 3 American hikers are arrested in Iran (definitely no love lost here) for illegally crossing the border between Iraq and Iran. They were then charged with espionage (Yes that's right, each one of us would like to use our one call to phone a Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State for the United States). Again I ask why the freak were they close enough to Iran that they could be picked up on Iranian soil and charged with espionage?

People, common sense has to prevail at some point. We have to take responsibility for our actions, and we can't always depend on our government to bail us out when we "accidentally" fall into someone else's country or blatantly show disrespect in another country (spinning cartwheels). Come on, Hilary Clinton has far more important things to worry about than continuously bailing Americans out of jail in foreign lands (of course, she may have some experience being married to "I didn't inhale" Bill). Anyway, I say the buck has got to stop here. I believe that Americans who legitimately are taken hostage in a foreign land should receive aid, but if you are just out "hiking" or spinning cartwheels on someone else's turf (particularly those countries known to be enemies of the United States), then you have to suffer the consequences on your own. Ultimately, Americans should enjoy themselves when travelling abroad but always be mindful that we are guests in someone else's house and we should conduct ourselves accordingly.