graysmoke

Futility Personified

2011-07-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

" THEY" know it.....but just in order to create more opportunity to whack away at President Obama they will go through the motions by debating and passing a bill that is going to be DOA in the Democratic dominated Senate.

Just goes to prove how insatiable the desire is to destroy Obama and who cares if the country goes down the tubes!!!!!

And Boehner in total denial about his role in causing market uncertainty and possible downgrading even if his bill is a corpse.

graysmoke

OUT OUT OUT

2011-07-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Boehner and Tea Partiers need a dunking in Boston Harbor, preferably with weights. They should not be allowed to hold the country hostage while practicing their total intransigency and rigidity of political philosophy.

President Obama, please stop dreaming.......these folks have never had any intention of being accommodative to compromise. You were elected by democrats, independents and a few leftover moderate republicans now extinct. We deserve your devotion to change that is possible and with the T. P.-ers that is not going to happen.

Get on track again and hold to OUR convictions. Use the 14th amendment in order to end the stalemate...........the country must move forward and no longer be held catatonic by the crazies.

graysmoke

The Political War

2011-07-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

Well Well, who would have thunk? Beast Boehner sets the president up to use as a punching bag........again. This isn't about the debt ceiling or even additional revenue, this is all about 2012 and preventing Obama from that second term. The extremes to which the Repugs are going tell me that they are very very afraid of this certainty. They are willing to risk the whole pile of chips on this......no matter what calamity a default on debt would result in, no matter if seniors dependent on social security get those checks automatically deposited to their bank accounts allowing them to have food on the table and maybe some of their scripted meds.....no matter the unemployed, no matter the unemployment rate, no matter anything........just be in cahoots with McConnell the monster on preventing that 2nd term.
FEAR my friends does strange things to politicians. It has been a zoo in Washington for a long time but the current collection of animals in Congress are dangerous breeds, betting the whole country on their chip.

I hope President Obama vetoes their weird proposals and invokes his ability to resolve this under a unique move backed by the fourteenth amendment.........strange times call for strange solutions especially when you can't deal with the zoo inhabitants.

graysmoke

MY DANDER UP UP UP AND AWAY

2011-07-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Don't you have questions about this anomaly? seems the perfect scenario for a conspiracy theory- or a political under-the-table footsie game?

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-companies-churn-profits-jobs-dont-210015904.html

I maintain that the corporations are withholding the jobs and why, isn't it obvious---they want the republicans in power so they can increase their robber baron tactics unimpeded by regulations or God forbid paying a realistic tax to the country that harbors their consumer base.

This is not a new feeling or idea with me, I have pondered this often and I really think there is a lot to it.........the punk repugs go along so they get their re-election coffers filled.

However I think this is going to backfire, they have lost cover.

graysmoke

GUTTER CROWDING

2011-06-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

AAAARRRRRGH -- that's me gagging on the latest dirt...........one can hardly take a breath without aspirating the political garbage created by this epidemic of pants dropping -- it is turning out to be one of the most commonly shared traits in both parties.......who says they can't get together:(

The Weiner and Edwards currently running episodes are overlaying the previous headlines concerning Schwarzenegger and Ensign. With the prevalence history is revealing, they are probably confident that another will soon come to light and gray theirs out...........

Is there a valid value in morality any more? I can only answer for myself........YES and the sooner we disqualify those with such personal histories from public office, the better. And I don't mean by some legislative action but just by individual moral action in the voting booth.

Permissiveness must have some limits........rationalizing, justifying etc. aren't antiseptic enough. The political trash is bad enough with influence peddling, lobbyist legislating, money dictating action, etc.....without the lewd, and lascivious being added.

I am weary of being sickened by it all............VOTERS: choose your candidates with care.

graysmoke

Liar-IN-Chief

2011-05-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

For brazenness Gingrich ranks numero uno..........here's why:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/newt-gingrichs-dubious-claim-of-a-normal-no-interest-charge-account-at-tiffany/2011/05/23/AFGPJ69G_blog.html?hpid=z2

Anyone that would vote for this individual for any public office needs to have their head examined. To be so completely unself-aware also boggles those who have any ability to analyze this soiled politician - it is a sad commentary on America that he could believe that voters would prefer him in the highest office of the land.

Give us a break!

graysmoke

A QUESTION OF "ins" ??

2011-05-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

So holding public office doesn't give the public a "right" to know about the personal quirkiness of the servant office holders?

Here we are, flooded with media details regarding Senator Ensign, Governor Schwarzenegger, and somewhat tangentially, the has-been Newt Gingrich et al.

I was somewhat amazed a few mornings ago at several call-in viewers on the Republican line reserved for them by WashingtonJournal/C-Span, declaring "it" is none of our business.

I beg to differ. I see a clear relationship between INtegrity and INfidelity........how can one expect a public office holder to be faithful to his oath of office if he cannot even abide by a sacred oath to the legal spouse? No vote of mine will knowingly go to electing candidates with impaired character- and Gingrich's lack of perception of how his infidelity antics have impacted any possibility of him becoming a viable presidential candidate is an example of how removed such politicians are from the general public and of the values so necessary for trust.

Begone already.

graysmoke

A MEGADOSE OF COMMON SENSE

2011-05-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of Paul Krugman and his column today in the NYT should be a "must read" for all interested in the current congressional gridlock.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/opinion/09krugman.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

graysmoke

UNAVOIDABLE "IFFING"

2011-05-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Don't you wonder ----- I sure do, that "getting" Bin Laden should have happened eight years ago and may have if Cheney/Bush hadn't taken the focus off to Iraq.

Isn't it better to have a president that has more "upstairs" ? And maybe now those detractors that question his commander-in-chief qualities, will batten down their loose lips.

Let's hope for the country's sake, President Obama gets a second term.

graysmoke

Planning Trumping????

2011-05-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Am I the only person that thinks release of the long form birth certificate had the motive of setting up the script for the President's Correspondent's dinner performance?

graysmoke

ABRA-CA-DABRA Budget

2011-04-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

In Congressese a cut is money that isn't spent.....so revealed by the Washington Post and using such rabbits-from-the-hat fudging, the reported 38 billion budget reduction morphs into just 358 million. Ah such wand waving. graysmoke

REAGAN LEGACY REVISITED

2011-04-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Skimpy air controller coverage, inherited from the Reagan years, just doesn't fit today's increased traffic up there in the wild blue yonder. I doubt that it is willful sleepiness that has cause the recent spate of incidents, more likely exhaustion. graysmoke

RyanCare

2011-04-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

So.. Mr. Ryan thinks the health insurance corporations are going to insure us? I would wager that 97% of seniors over the age of 78 have multiple conditions that would eliminate them from ever being considered for coverage. We may have histories of cancer, cardiac disease, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, pulmonary diseases, high blood pressure, DVT, asthma, allergies, you name, some in this cohort will have probably more than one condition that would cause the insurers to deny coverage. Mr. Ryan is just plain crazy. Medicare works like a co-op for us, we pay into it in our healthy years and hopefully many years even after sixty-five before the degenerative diseases or those caused by unhealthy life styles catch up with most everyone.I am certain in my case that I would not be insurable at this point in my life and probably haven't been for since diagnosed in 2003 with mycobacterium avium/intercellulare plus two types of bronchiectasis complicated by episodic hemoptysis. Where on earth has Ryan been? graysmoke

RyanCare

2011-04-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

DIE! graysmoke

POLITICAL EXTORTION

2011-04-08T08:16:00.000-07:00

What a farce.........the T-Potty-ers are practicing tyranny by minority and Speaker Beast Boehner is totally cooperative in this tragedy. I am hoping that President Obama vetos any bill with social agenda riders. Call the bluff, if they persist and the government is shut down perhaps they will all go jump into Boston Harbor. (Wishful thinking!) It seems we will find out if the Democrats have the spine to resist this --- frankly I have just a tiny hope that they will finally realize that giving in to the beast only perpetuates tyranny. Why are the extremists behaving this way. My read is that they are terrified that President Obama will be elected for a second term and that politicking in this manner lessens that prospect, but I think it will just backfire. Watch out for we independents --- our numbers are getting stronger and stronger and I don't think we will lack spine come the next national election cycle. graysmoke

PHARMA RIP-OFF

2011-04-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

I have the misfortune of being a respiratory patient with uncommon lung diseases of bronchiectasis and mycobacterium avium-intercellulare and because of those I must use a daily inhaler. The cost has escalated to where I am forced to global shop for affordability reasons and even if that weren't the case I would do it because I view the retail pricing in the United States as legalized robbery. Given that the pharma lobby prevailed when the Part D legislation was railroaded through the House of Representatives by Tom DeLay, and no negotiation on pricing was permitted, there seems to be little hope for patients to afford the necessary medications. Here is what makes me angry. A widely used inhaler containing a minute amount of tiotropium bromide in a capsule retails US for $247.99 - my Plan D carrier charges $195.56 - the plan pays $153.56 and I co-pay $42.oo - this is for a months supply. Boehringer Ingelheim manufactures it in Germany and here it is marketed by them and Pfizer. I can purchase this same drug for $9.90 for a months supply manufactured by a well known FDA approved facility in a foreign country and supposedly this is a gray area legally, buying online from an offshore supplier. But if all the major corporations shop globally for parts or off source the manufacturing - then why should a private citizen be denied the same option? I maintain that if there were ever a class action legal test that there could not be this distinction and discrimination or protection for pharma scamming the other patients that are unaware of this. Now I can fume and vent but not much else. (And yes, I have corresponded with my senator and representative about this.) This is also the case with other more commonly scripted drugs, I could use Lipitor as an example too. But I can refuse to feel like an unconvicted criminal. Bah-humbug!! And shame on Congress and the lobbyists for kowtowing to those that fund their re-elections. Democracy, anyone???????? graysmoke

"AGIN" "IT"

2011-03-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

The question of creating a "no fly zone" over Libya air space shows the usual mistake of thinking we can solve other countries problems when we have more than neglected learning how to cope with our own and also exhibits the inclination to think a military force solution will be the tool of choice........my o my.........will we never LEARN?

NO - NO - NO to the zone; to establish it would make it necessary to inflict the innocent with damages unintended but also unavoidable in taking out the enemy capability to fire at any opposing air power, whether NATO and UN endorsed or otherwise.

Let's be smart for a change -- and this isn't an item that needs to absorb our non-existent dollars either.

graysmoke

Policial Propagandist

2011-03-06T06:41:00.000-08:00

Today he was a guest on C-Span's Washington Journal, he has a new book now on the markets.

In my book, Frank Luntz fills the bill of propagandist extraordinaire, he markets political sewage and has ownership of radicalizing the Republican right-wrongers. The latter is bound to backfire significantly and I think we are beginning to hear the sounds of that. He doth protest too much - he took umbrage this morning at a caller that dared to call him "Goebbel"- - aha.

He doesn't deserve the title of linguist. He has bastardized the profession. Better that the public read some uncorrupted linguists, George Lakoff or Deborah Tannen or ask your librarian for a list.

graysmoke

THE INVESTIGATOR

2011-03-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

Read the long article at the link, then tell me --- shouldn't this man have an award as the dirtiest politician extant?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/24/110124fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all

I was aware of the allegations previously but in reading this highly detailed column, it seems I was not aware of the scope of Issa shenanigans. Only in America could such an obvious devious individual get elected to Congress. But then he is from California's conservative dump heap.

graysmoke

??OBSOLESCENCE??

2011-02-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

What to do now? Military intervention in another country possibly has been castrated by the social network instant revolution phenom. Moving equipment and personnel does not travel at byte speed nor do the decisions.

Are nations now going to be dependent on diplomacy and who might lead on that score?

IMO it is a positive move to let the individuals in any nation have the most input in deciding their governmental style. Putting a "Made in the USA" stamp on it takes away the important sense of accomplishment of these new social/political behaviors.

Peace cometh --- - now when and how?

graysmoke

T-POTTY-ers

2011-02-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

They have cornered the market on a perpetual renewable resource, their chambers continually refill with top quality BS!!

They keep on target with the main goal to prevent a second term for one of the most competent presidents this country has ever had. The daily production of such massive piles of BS seems to confirm that they have that to fear and they are really big on fear.

The threat to the U.S. is greater from the T-POTTY-ers than from any other source. Why are they dangerous? Because they are so full of Faux channel misinformation and propaganda. And what passes as comprehension of the Constitution deserves an F grade. The misinterpretation of the second amendment is testimony to that.

They are a danger also because their impact is more visible because noise matters more it seems than quiet thoughtful reflection on just what good government should be and how it can be gained.

Meanwhile the Presidents efforts to rescue the country from the disaster left by the Bush/Cheney regime are highly unappreciated.

graysmoke

Multiple Choice

2011-01-31T21:46:00.000-08:00

Most of the time, the options are not optimal in deciding whether or not to support a foreign government and that results in the type of predicament the U.S State Department finds itself now with the situation in Egypt. But somewhere along the line after the emergency laws invoked there following the Sadat assassination, reviews of whether to continue support should have depended upon elimination of the emergency contingency. To let this exist for three decades and not anticipate what has eventually evolved, doesn't compute. What is the job of State if not to have thinkers that can foresee such possibility and what to do to prevent same.

Too often the U.S finds itself stuck with a choice that should have had more points of review and added conditions that should have been met for aid to continue.

How many more Saddam Husseins and Hosni Mubaraks are on the horizon?

graysmoke

Only in America

2011-01-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

Where else could a former teen-age car-jacking delinquent become chair of a Congressional oversight committee that rules on investigations of other members that HE gets to subpoena? And he is insisting on being the supreme and final decider about it instead of following the historical practice of that power being subject to support by the ranking member.

Mr. Issa your lack of integrity would give anyone pause.

Put that one in Ripley's.

graysmoke

EXODUS

2011-01-25T08:48:00.000-08:00

So Lieberman is leaving..........wow, no more mole activity in the democratic caucus. But will someone please see that he takes the Homeland Security Department with him on his way out?

We don't need that monster of a bureaucracy and is a good place to implement budget restraint.

graysmoke

DEBATE? N-O-T

2011-01-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

Today the House reconvenes and all the media report that the agenda is a "debate" on the health reform bill.

Well that is the most debatable label one could think of. And the House majority are acting in a purely political cynical manner, wasting Congressional time (and taxpayer money for their salaries) by using time exercising spin of a matter that they all know has not a smidgen of a chance to accomplish what they purport to be doing, the Senate won't act on it and for sure, the President would veto any repeal so here we are drowning in the same old tactics. Attack - attack - attack just for the political crop of votes in the next election, nothing else and I resent this.

Why couldn't they be instead, adding a feature requiring an evaluation of mental and emotional stability for college or higher education admissions. This is warranted given the time development history of major brain diseases becoming progressively worse when untreated in that age cohort. Maybe this would prevent further Tucson horrors. And in the past it has been a requirement for children entering grade school to have certain vaccinations etc., and even in some cases, a physical.

But instead we are mired in the spin ---- political campaigning in the House Chamber and calling it the people's business.

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!

graysmoke

A MATTER OF WORDS

2011-01-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

True to form, Silly Sarah from Wasilla, engages in incendiary phrasing in her response to criticisms derived from the Tucson Tragedy. She uses a phrase "BLOOD LIBEL"-- look soon for her to deny that she knows what the historical connotations attached to those two words, means.

I wonder who wrote the text of what she delivered on the video. Maybe I can find out eventually. But meanwhile expect more denial --- responsibility is not a character trait of hers or many others in her party.......didn't she walk out on her Alaskan responsibilities as governor? Now she wants to walk away from her pattern of verbal conduct that is one of the major contributions to the nasty political weather that has settled in on opposition discourse. Don't expect any clearing of the atmosphere. But hold on to hope that she will fade from the scene after 2012.

graysmoke

Reaping the Whirlwind

2011-01-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

Again in this country we are experiencing an unbelievably tragic situation in the political arena.

I come at my views on the events developed after being a resident of Arizona from January 1987 until August 2009. And after having lived the previous 28 years in Oregon and a dozen years prior to that, in Los Angeles.

Arizona by nature has an element of frontier mentality that many there, flaunt. This is confirmed by the insistence on taking matters into ones own hands if one is displeased at official efforts regarding public issues. A huge indicator of this is the prevalence of weapons and the right to concealed carry, making it dangerous to be a driver - risking some armed citizen to misinterpret an innocent hand movement and resulting in one of the many road rage incidents reported over the last several years.

It is encouraging to hear Sheriff Clarence Dubnik be so candid about the state of politics now poisoning public life there.

While a resident, I felt like, socially and politically, I was living in a time warp. Many issues that had previously been resolved in my prior state residencies were just coming into the landscape of the legislature and the county organizations.

I was moderately active there in politics. at the time being a registered Democrat. I attended monthly meetings of the Democratic club in the adult community where I resided, a gated enclave of about five thousand residents during the winter months (the majority of them from small midwestern republican environments) and an increasing number of year round residents. The club frequently had candidates involved in local elections as guest speakers as well as current office holders and a number of times I also attended the precinct general meetings so had quite a bit of exposure to local views. During the presidential race for Bush's second term, I worked as community organizer for the Kerry campaign. For the first time in the states history, the East Valley area had an office for a major Democrat candidate. Of course we were fighting an uphill battle given the history of the strength of the Republican dominance in the state. And certainly some of that influence is maintained by the large segment of the population that are Mormon. But the current atmosphere does not originate predominately locally, rather I see it as fueled by the 24/7 media blitz and the historical movement of the republican party to the far right and one only needs to acknowledge how much misinformation is injected into the gullible listeners by the constant reiteration of planned rhetoric that is based on building emotional reactions rather than thoughtful discourse done at a conversational level rather than the yelling matches and the incendiary deliverance ad nauseum of vitriolic rhetoric.

Will this change? I have my doubts.

graysmoke

Painful to See

2011-01-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

As a long term C-Span junkie I am overdosing-- I have watched hours and hours of the first sessions (oops) of the House of Representatives with the R's spinning their frame rhetoric and acquiring what should be a red face over the failure of two representatives to comply with the Constitutional stipulations that require the oath of office to be taken on the floor of the chamber and not while attending a fundraiser in another section of the Capitol. Laughfable after the grandstanding reading of the document shortly before. A big foot- in- mouth mental cartoon makes me smile.

Let's see how many Luntz-sounding phrases have been repeated so often in these sessions that one is already sick of them. For instance tabbing the health care reform act as a "Job Killer"--which there is no factual basis.

Then there is the constant uttering of "Obama health care plan" This carrys nasty pejorative meanings........and is aimed at the 2012 presidential candidacy expected by the present office holder.

Even more than repealing the affordable health care reform act, the goal is to prevent President Obama from achieving a second term, which they must greatly fear - given how much effort they have directed toward smearing every accomplishment with such adjectives as socialist, marxist, etc, which to those that listen to the cable propaganda station named in the University of Maryland study as producing voters that are dangerously misinformed and leads one to conclude they have no idea of what those labels would actually mean and they don't have the curiosity necessary to do any fact checking or to learn exactly what such terms mean.

So between now and the elections coming on 2012 -- expect to see and hear more along these lines. R's have practiced these tactics for so long they come as second nature now to them. Rarely do we see an independent thinker offer new ideas backed by factual research and a balanced view of the results of their behaviors.

graysmoke

The Race Backwards

2011-01-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

Experts at backpedalling and running in reverse are being sworn in tomorrow so back to the Dark Ages -- I will be watching to see if the results can be diverted successfully by the Democrats. At best the federal government is going to be held to a standstill and that will be very negative in this climate of crisis ( which the incoming crew's predecessors initiated during the Bush behaviors).

Boehner the Beast, and McConnell the Monster are ready to destroy the country if it means they can again claim the power to avoid governing in the interests of the populace and instead only in the interests of the corporations that provide the wherewithal for there campaign coffins.

graysmoke

ANTI-WHAT?

2010-12-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

After listening to hours and hours of the Pugs slow walking the START debate I am definitely feeling that their position is glued more to denying the President what they perceive as a political plus if it passes and do they ever want to avoid that........

It is going to be quite revealing if they get around to the final vote tomorrow. Kyl has been a nasty bulldog about it all, standing there telling the same falsehoods, Lies that is, over and over and poor Kerry having to parry over and over. What a pain, and this passes for adult behavior?

Only in Congress.

graysmoke

Richardson for Holbrook's position

2010-12-17T09:05:00.001-08:00

This would be my pick if I were sitting in the Oval Office......Richardson has a respectable and varied history of successful diplomatic assignments, and I think all parties would welcome a personality and style that isn't reminiscent of Holbrooke, although I had the greatest admiration for Holbrooke and know his loss will be hard to compensate for at State.

I'll be tuned in to see who gets put there.

graysmoke

I BEG TO DIFFER.....

2010-12-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

America needs to shape up and face the music instead of again playing musical chairs with attempts that only delay the inevitable. The medicine will get more bitter and last longer than if the tax manipulation stops.

It would also be much appreciated too if the lies would stop, like insisting letting the tax cuts expire is raising taxes........not really, it will restore rates to where they were before Bush caved in to the greed of the wealthiest, with the exceptions of Buffet, and Gates one and two.

Meantime, here is my reality.....I am facing a 650% increase in a drug that is essential as one of three used in my Big Three regimen to treat an uncommon lung disease I have. I have used this drug for six years and it is an old drug not some newly developed one, it is named ethambutol.
Medicare is changing it on the 2011 formulary from Tier 1 with a seven dollar co-pay to Tier 2 with a copay of forty-five dollars.

Further this drug is available on off shore web pharmacies at a price of only $00.81 (yes, eighty-one cents) for ten tablets of the strength scripted for my treatment, so for a three month supply it would cost under nine dollars instead of $135.00. (I take three 400 mg tablets three days per week.) This is why it is so infuriating that Medicare is prevented from negotiating drug prices by the deal with big pharma in writing legislation for Part D. Again an example of the greed of the corporate controlled government.........I will be forced to give up purchasing locally. Now what would you do?

graysmoke

TRIPLE FEATURE-

2010-12-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

Now playing indefinitely in Washington D. C.

1. FARCE -- DADT
Starring actor J. McCain in non - leading role.

2. SCENT OF FRAME scripted by F. LUNTZ

Allows a members of the cast to play double roles, declaring over and over one line, rescinding a tax cut is a tax increase, (not a restoration of rates). These parts are plums for those skilled at talking out of both sides of their mouths, cast of hundreds in this DeMille sized epic.

3. THEATER OF THE ABSURD

A new genre, Wikileaks is a serial via the internet. It is making fiction from fact.....revelatory of the news that there are no professional diplomatic standards in use in the Department of State.

graysmoke

AIDS Victims you'll never hear about on World Aids Day

2010-12-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

How many victims do you know? I mean the ones that do not have HIV/Aids? The abandoned spouses and children that are traded for a selfish life style and an absence of responsibility. I know personally how damaging this fallout is. The mother is left to be a single parent and wage earner for herself and the children. There isn't reliable support, many times a support check will bounce. It is a huge social price to pay for behavioral (?)freedom. And yes, the grandparents do try to fill the gap - in truth it isn't possible, the emotional scarring is not eraseable and who cares. Very few I would guess. Do you know of efforts on the scale of that waged to get society to settle for little personal effort to control this scourge. Maybe I am not making myself clear. We hear a lot of noise especially on a day set aside to serve as another propagands arm for this segment of society, I know of no efforts of the gay community to have programs or assistance for this category of victims.

graysmoke

MEDIA LOSS

2010-11-28T09:51:00.000-08:00

When listening to the lineup of Sunday morning political comment shows, something I have been suspecting seems to be happening. Namely, that much of the media have gone negative on President Obama. And the anchors seem to tolerate and even abet, this trend. It saddens me because it shows a lack of respect for truth as well as for the President.

In a political environment that would have extinguished most ardor of highly placed politicos, President Obama has remained on target regardless of zero cooperation from the PLUGS.

The president has my admiration for his stamina in the face of this tsunami of negativism.

Hopefully, the next two years will affirm that the President has accomplished major actions despite the filibustering of Congress, the media capitulation and the power thirst that motivates the opposition.

graysmoke

Ship of State

2010-11-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

With the monster (McConnell) and the beast, (Boehner) in charge, the ship of state will be adrift in stormy waters. There is no shame -- power is the game----not the shared needs of the citizens for which the Constitution was intended.

It is sickening how they have soiled the political climate with their verbal garbage aimed at our good president. They are nauseatingly negative and solely responsive to the wealthiest and to the corporations that contribute the most to their party's candidate campaigns.

At this particular point of historical time they can do more unrepairable damage on top of what playboy Bush bequeathed to all Americans via unwillingness to pay for the war games and the corporate raiding of revenues.

S.O.S ---- anybody out there to politically emasculate these rogues?

graysmoke

Ultimate reality?

2010-11-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

I've read about the "?reality?" show starring Palin that is going to air this coming week. I can hear her humming, Ka-ching, ka-ching all the way to the bank......she has no shame, this is the ultimate exploitation of children, hers. I do not think that is standard parental behavior, at least I hope not. I do not plan to be among the viewers. Years ago I watched some of Burnett's early so called reality shows which to me were the most contrived - unbelievable trash the great wasteland has ever broadcast.

graysmoke

SILENCE SPEAKING

2010-11-08T02:17:00.000-08:00

You've heard the rhetoric, the R.s claim to know what the PEOPLE want.And so do the D's but more quietly. This is by taking the ones that voted for them as representing the total adult population of voting age. But what about those non-voters.........even with today's volume turned all the way up I don't hear a word about what interpretation is allowed those with serious political allergies.

Perhaps the silence should be heard. I am tuned in to those soundless voices. I hear they think things are so bad that whoever gets a public office can't rescue us from the folly of false prosperity and rampant materialistic goals. That the same old mistakes are destined to be repeated, at least the R's are consistent about that. We don't wanna pay for good government. Bad government is okay as long as we don't have to pay (taxes). Ad nauseum.

There is just a whisper from the D's, saying you are going to get what you pay for, Supreme Court has ruled, the corporations won. Gracias to John Roberts and Sammy Alito.

graysmoke

Changing Word Wardrobes

2010-11-08T02:07:00.000-08:00

Here it is in disguise, the Feds announcement that if you are on a fixed income then that income is going to DECREASE. In other words you just got a pay cut. This is especially punitive to savers. It seems that there is quite a schizoid view of personal finance.

Is it our patriotic duty to spend and consume in order to stay the recession? Well now you will have less to do that with and I don't "buy" into that role -- then there is all the encouragement to put any capital you have into the market, avoiding bonds ---- Ah Wall Street has you over a barrel again. But what about those of us with a limited chronological future because of age and who have already shifted to bonds.........well the bad medicine is for you.

I really was amused at the language selected to spread this news. Ah.....the Fed is buying assets. Sounds like something positive until you do a translation and find it means they are going to flood the economy with dollars so any you have will be worth much less. No wonder they try to sweeten this up.

My friends the economy is on life support.

graysmoke

Not Fitting

2010-11-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

IMHO I felt that what was needed in President Obama's reaction to the election results was absent........to me he came across as groveling and I would have been pleased to see at least a smattering of defiance.

In my lexicon of eight plus decades of distilled life experiences, you cannot coddle political bullies. All of the olive branches in the world are not likely to have even one grabbed by a republican let alone by any that are going to be in leadership roles.

As the musical chairs of shifting positions in the Congressional committees takes place during the lame duck session, it will become clearer that we are again going to be riding blind into the past not the future.

I am absolutely sure that I will not enjoy this journey and feel like going into mourning for our dear country.

I wonder how the so-called religious element that is radicalized missed the story of the Good Samaritan. Their primary goal is supreme selfishness and zero effort for anything designed for the common good.

(SIGH)

graysmoke

TROUBLE - right here

2010-11-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

In the USA, not confined to the Democratic party and again my refrain that there will be heaps more trouble if the replugs sweep the Congress or even just the House of Representatives. If there is an easy lesson - it is that you cannot succeed by going backwards. Turning back the clock to R-rule will surely produce more doom and gloom than imaginable. It is like turning over the nation to the least common denominator. And watching while the corporations run the table.

Give audacity and intelligence a chance, progress may not be satisfactory to those that expect instant cures for our many inherited public ailments but persistence and awareness along with the willingness to bear the necessary burdens of correcting the errors of the last regime, will eventually prevail.

graysmoke

A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

2010-10-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

I am dreading the results from the election if the R's get their hands on the power button.

They are definitely the ME party and not the WE .

My wish for our country is that the courage and will to dismantle the HomeLand Security Department will launch an effort in Congress to take the funds being wasted in that bureaucratic behemoth and use them instead to make our food safer, our water and air more healthful and our disintegrating infrastructure restored to acceptable standards -- avoiding these needs of the entire country puts us in more peril than the paranoid exaggeration of TERRORISTS. There might even be health benefits and less illness, fewer accidents.

Where oh where is common sense?

graysmoke

Radicalization Prize

2010-10-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

From neocon to teapartier is a giant step backwards for the Republican party and only a few elections will tell whether it will also be a slide backwards for the country.

I am hoping that their antics will serve to stimulate moderates in their party to be more influential and active but also that the Democrats will be energized into storming the voting booth November 2.

I can understand the sense of desperation that many in our country are living with, homeless, foreclosed, ill, the unemployed -- the underemployed -- the employed that are just making minimum wage, and yes, even those "making" it financially are in a state of ambiguity about what the future of the country might hold. This has the effect of bringing out the worst as one result that must be countered by those who can hold on to the future and make it something where all can enjoy life, health and pursue happiness.

The one thing that "bugs" me the most is the republican assumption that they are not to blame, they want everyone to think that this is all President Obama's fault ---- facts show the opposite -- never has there been a president that was handed the severe problems created or ignored by the previous administration. When the mass media quits tolerating this false image - then we might also achieve a more calm political climate.

graysmoke

MIDTERMS NAILED

2010-10-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

On the PBS Newshour last evening, a Friday when they have their weekly analysis fest-- the regulars were on hand David Brooks and Mark Shields -- the latter used a phrase that I think fits like a glove and I don't know if it was original or not. He described the midterms as the Sam Alito/John Roberts Memorial Election.

I hope it catches on.

I loved it!

graysmoke

Gossip or Gospel?

2010-10-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

Or -- Why I won't be reading Bob Woodward's new book.

I have seen him interviewed over and over, on four different broadcasts or more, and I think his views are not objective.

A couple of "for instances"-He states that Obama "still blames Bush" etc -- my view is that naming who is responsible for the war and economic disasters that Obama inherited is not "blaming" - it is a factual statement.

Also Woodward's conclusion that because Obama is commander-in-chief that "it" is Obama's war - strikes me as a pejorative position in choosing to report it as such. Such yellow journalism has become fashionable because it "sells" -- which seems to have become Woodward's singular goal.

Who is Woodward's continuing WH mole? It seems a lot of what is reported to be in the book is second hand (hearsay?) opinions garnered from someone that has loyalties not to Obama but to Woodward.

Thus my questioning as to how believable the allegations in the book are when compared to other reports from the oval office.

I'll take a pass, thank you.

graysmoke

MISSING THE OBVIOUS

2010-09-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

You can't play softball with the "r's" super right or centrists. Take off the gloves in these mid-term campaigns and use them as preliminaries to the main event in 2012.

A couple of instances spring to mind.

The Bush presidency is responsible, responsible for driving the economy off the cliff by never paying for anything, strictly a playboy credit card approach to responsibility - only this time the charges aren't being covered by friendly family pals but by John and Jane Q. Public.

Hammer away at "hot air" congressional representatives. The all talk no ideas or action ones of which there is an abundance.

Now if we could harness that "hot air" into a marketable energy product, we could kill two birds with one stone. One of their chief "hot air" specialists was on C-Span's WashingtonJournal this morning. The one with the surname of Lungren, one of the hard right from California. An eternal energy possibility there.

Along these lines and expanded, is the column todayin the NYT's by Tim Friedman. Now there are many approaches and views by him that I don't share but most of this column I can agree with:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/opinion/29friedman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

graysmoke

Media TOYS

2010-09-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

Silly Sarah from Wasilla has been the media toy of choice for quite a long run. Is she going to have competition from Terry Jones?

I think it might indicate common sense if we all boycotted the cable 'tainment "news" channels.

Making obvious media's sensationalizing of minor incidents ,and magnifying them into mountains, may be the only positive outcome I can think of for this nutjob.

graysmoke

The MOSQUE kerfuffle

2010-08-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

No Fareed it is not a test of our nation's freedom of religion principle. Personally I believe all organized religions do more harm than good but that is not my reason for opposing this particular planned mosque a la cultural center. If a bow to religion(s) needs to be bestowed at ground zero it should be an ecumenical project.

A mosque which represents a religion that is definitely nondemocratic should never have been considered for the site. The plight of Muslim women, their subordinated role and cruel treatment in that particular religion and the false superiority of the male, make up my strong objections to this.

Mr. President, please note.

graysmoke

my absence

2010-08-14T05:23:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it has been more than two months since I last blogged here! That is what selling a home, buying another and remodeling it will do. So all my digesting of the political scene has only created mental blogging, no time to get it texted and posted.

I am hoping to resume some semblance of regularity again.

graysmoke

BEWARE !!!! voodoo mavens at work

2010-05-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

This week a member of the Tenth Amendment task force was a featured guest on C-Span's Washington Journal--

It was a Texas representative to Congress named Culberson. He has some odd interpretations of this last amendment to the Bill of Rights- but I was impressed that a very high percentage of the call ins were not buying.

Hooray-- I needed some re-inforcement of my faith in good old John/Jane Q. Public.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_126/news/45815-1.html

Use the link if you haven't been aware of this effort by the right wingers.

graysmoke

MR. BLANK-ety-not-soFEIN

2010-05-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

Charlie Rose's interview with this GS mogul confirmed what I had deduced from watching the senate committee hearing. Mr. Blankety will never "get it" - he has been isolated from reality, in his counting house, for so long there is an impenetrable barrier.

The philosophy seems to be as long as you can win it doesn't matter how you play the game. Seems P.T. Barnum missed the truth when he said there is a sucker born every minute - in the GS world there are hundreds born every electronic pulse in our technology today. And they are trying to make the fast buck from every one that bites.

Truly: CAVEAT EMPTOR.

graysmoke

ENVIROMENTAL CHERNOBYL

2010-05-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

And yes, I mean the Gulf oil spill. Now BP wants to blame the equipment ---isn't the equipment their responsibility? And why can't those pipes be engineered with a design that would detect signs of imminent blowout? We surely have the engineering know-how and the products to do that.

Instead the government is going to get stuck in bailing BP out of their irresponsibility -- and the environment, wildlife and human inhabitants are going to again be the victims.

It is time to put more development into wind and wave energy production.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/us/02spill.html?hp

graysmoke

A Spanking New Warren Court?

2010-05-01T03:28:00.000-07:00

And of a different gender? We are speaking here of Elizabeth. A voice thankfully becoming more familiar to the public. She is the one that can explain derivatives so any Joe/Jane can understand.

If anyone ever fulfilled the order for being thorough, this law professor is the one.

P L E A S E .........let her be the nominee and judge next to be seated on the Supreme Court -- she is certainly supremely qualified. Her appointment would fill a number of gaps, the gender one is still too wide, the religion one just narrowed with the news of the resignation of Stevens, and the opposing political party can't whine about her being a "Latina" or "Black American".

But most important she has the intellectual capacity to be able to see the whole enchilada.

graysmoke

AT WHO'S BECK AND CALL

2010-05-01T03:23:00.000-07:00

For whoever netted this vile political mouth from the sewer, please come and throw him back.

I couldn't bear him when he was the regular at HN - and my tolerance has gone downhill since.

Would the anchors at MSNBC quit regurgitating his spluttering? Having his propaganda out on the air once is too much.

Have mercy...............

graysmoke

MY 'REASONABLE SUSPICION'

2010-04-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have a "reasonable suspicion" that the new Arizona immigration law Gov. Brewer signed is not constitutional. Does "reasonable suspicion" equate to "probable cause"-- this I.D. paranoia has gone too far.

It seems I have some highly placed company according to this news report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/28/AR2010042805838.html?hpid=topnews

The sooner this is voided the better - Sheriff Joe can quit salivating.

graysmoke

TAKING THEIR TIME, SAYING LITTLE

2010-04-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

I didn't watch all of the Senate Cmte. hearing hours today with the Goldman Sachs crew, but it certainly sounds to me like Hank Paulson surely was a fox in the chicken coup.

And contrary to their acclamations, they were in it to surely enrich themselves and not their clients.

Just as restoring Glass-Steagall to separate investment banking from commercial banking is imperative, there needs to be regulation separating investment firms into long position marketers of financial products, and the firms marketing the opposite position. Otherwise we will continue having firms playing both ends against the middle as they were doing in the housing derivatives concoctions.

The ordinary Joe/Jane investor gets crunched. And the economy wide repercussions can no longer be denied --- let the Enronesque charades end.

graysmoke

IMMIGRATION SOLUTION +

2010-04-26T05:41:00.000-07:00

Who says you can't solve more than one issue at a time?

Here's my suggestion for the immigration problem.

To balance things out - round up eleven million of Wall Steed vultures, CEO's, CFO's. COO's etc. plus enough corrupt politicians to even up the numbers and dump them deep in some small obscure villages in Mexico. They could no longer suck this country dry and they might rediscover their humanity.Maybe they might even experience an elemental appreciation of food and shelter.

The illegal immigrants from Mexico are not coming here to game the system. They are coming here for a basic fundamental human need, to put food in their bodies and perhaps earn enough to send money back to feed the family left behind.

I lived in Arizona from January 1987 to August 27, 2009 - so I believe I can make this judgement, the immigrants are better citizens than most of the above.

And I have a Mexican born niece by marriage from Los Mochis so some of my knowledge happens first hand. She is legal but visits family annually back in her home Mexican state.

The majority of them do have the desire to learn English but must put a priority on work to survive. They are very industrious, creative, artistic and caring for their fellow humans. Many of them have remarkable stories of survival and struggle. Hardship has taught them how to appreciate and enjoy the simplest of life's pleasures, having enough food each day and some shared shelter.

graysmoke

RESPECT AND GRATITUDE

2010-04-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

My respect for our president Barack Obama, grows and my confidence in his superior qualities of leadership does also and we move forward instead of standing still in this country, or as it was in the past regime, pedaling fast backwards.

Where were all these Tea Partiers when Cheney and Bush were ripping up the Constitution, trying to make the executive into an unequal branch of our three branches. In fact making it less like a democratic republic than a dictatorship.

I feel sure that President Obama's place in history is going to be a remarkable one. Look how communicative he has been on such a variety of issues in our complex age, instead of staying bunkered in the White House and the Vice President's office.

Let's hope the voters will be smart enough to keep Democrats in the majority and also to elect Obama for a second term. At least that much time is needed to correct the wrongs done by the previous administration.

graysmoke

TEA'd OFF !!!!

2010-04-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

Screeching Sarah -------spouting off at the mouth again. Using her thinly veiled venom to belittle the leadership and capabilities of President Obama and then sidestepping when confronted-- a la her "time to RELOAD" comment and more recently her implying that President Obama is " unAmerican".........and then when nailed by some in the media for such irresponsibility - she does the sidestep again. Does anyone see a pattern here?

I sure do. And I am TEA'd off royally.

Some Republican with some backbone needs to take her to the woodshed.......knock some sense into her.......wouldn't that be the Repug way to handle this? No nuancing-- just be aggressive - isn't that one meme of theirs?

graysmoke

TIGER/TOMCAT BEHAVIOR

2010-04-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

He may have the best golf record ever, until he gets that taken in the future by some other up and coming youngster and his aging affects his game; but as a human being, father, husband he is a failure.

How did he become a tomcat? Evidently all that golf indoctrination of being single focused left him handicapped on how his personal relationships should have inhibited his sexual behavior.

I personally believe Nike and Electronic Arts should cut him loose. What it says about these sponsors sticking with him is that the almighty dollar speaks too loudly.

The media needs to get perspective - they share some responsibility for the celebrity dominance in our culture.

graysmoke

THE NOISE MACHINE

2010-04-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

The brouhaha over the HRC legislation is going to be just a blip on the political radar screen of vocal noise.

Just wait until Justice Stevens makes his departure official and President Obama gets to submit a new nominee for that supreme court position.

NYT today has a new article about the possibility of Stevens' decision happening by summer.

Ear plugs will be a necessity.

graysmoke

REFRESHER COURSE

2010-03-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Voyeur visit was just a brush up for the Young Eagles on Family Values - Republican style.

After all - there is nothing like looking at all sides of an issue.

graysmoke

FREEDOM

2010-03-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

Yes siree, in this country you have the freedom to make a fool of yourself.

Exactly what the Tea Partiers are doing. They are welcome to the soapboxes. Their so-called movement displays much of the underinformed, undereducated soft belly of the Republican Party which is desperately in need of reforem. Will it reform itself or destroy itself. Time will tell.

Meanwhile all those spending their unemployment checks to run around the country protesting would be better off if they spent their time acquiring new skills that offer more opportunity and then if they need training, get into programs that could benefit them employmentwise.

But I have no doubt a significant number of them will continue improving their "fools" status.

Go right ahead.

Sunshine on this movement will reveal it for what it really is and not what the PR tries to paint it as.

graysmoke

NASTY UNDERBELLY OF REPUG BASE

2010-03-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

One might think that it would dawn on the Congressional republicans that their demogogic rhetoric is incendiary and inflammatory and fueling these groups that are going to provide the omega moments for their party.

But NO! The attacks are continuing on the Senate floor with the ridiculous efforts to kill the reconciliation bill by tripping up enough Dem votes on inane amendments that would result in voiding the bill or at least cause it to be rotated back to the House of Representative.

If any harm comes to a House member and/or a family member then ethics or criminal charges for inciting violence need to be applied and this hammering rhetoric banned. If Boehner doesn't have enough sense to monitor his own tongue, what can be expected? And the same for the Senate members like Coburn, Sessions, Hatch and company. It is bad enough that Fox allows Limbaugh and Beck to stir up the wingnut base, they do not need to be abetted by congressional members.

Lots of blame to be shared for this disgusting display of intolerance.

graysmoke

DESPERATION DEMAGOGUERY

2010-03-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

How sad to see the continued delusional HCR obstructionist activity on the Senate floor. And how sad to see John McCain further commit political suicide by scudding off further to the right because of the challenge to his seat by J D Hayworth in the Arizona race.

The Repug party seems to want to shoot more bullets into its feet. These aren't likely to be blanks. Gangrene has already set in from the earlier self-inflicted wounds.

Whatever the equivalent is for political hospice care, that needs to be arranged. Oh well - so it must wait until the next election.

graysmoke

THE NOISEMAKERS DEFEATED!!!!!!

2010-03-21T20:26:00.001-07:00

Those who use their mouths much more than their gray matter just got their comeuppance. About time.

Hooray for HCR-----hooray for reason over demagoguery.

graysmoke

WATCHING THE "PUGS" IMPLODE

2010-03-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

As I imagine many other Americans are--I am glued to the telly watching the televised floor action in the House of Representatives. It is mind boggling that the Republicans can vomit out their talking points and that there are actually citizens dumb enough to buy all that disinformation. It is so obvious, the talking point repetitions of wind-up toys manipulated by the corporate interests that just won' t hold water when given a sunshine treatment.

I am truly looking forward to the historic result that appears to be imminent today.

graysmoke

AN ACADEMIC'S VIEW OF THE HRB

2010-03-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

This link will give you access to an archived video from C-Span' s coverage of a presentation given at Holy Cross, by MIT economics professor, Dr. Jonathan Gruber.

This is the sort of information and Q&A that rides above the political power bashing that offers no reliable information.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/292478-1

You can google Gruber's name and read more on his background and areas of expertise.

graysmoke

RANTING EXCESSIVELY HONED

2010-03-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

Those blasted "r's" in Congress are at it again, incessant blathering with heaps of Luntzitis peppering the monologues.

I know passage of the Health Reform legislation is not going to put an end to their goal of destroying Obama but hopefully after this week-end, at least the frequency may lessen. And the focus will naturally switch to whatever legislation is brought to the front next.

Won't that be divine?

graysmoke

CHALABI CURSE

2010-03-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

This creep hit the news again this week. Seems he is puppeteering the Iraq election and is in the future expected to achieve his lifetime desire of being the future Saddam Hussein of the country.

All the courtesy of the Bush/Cheney regime.

graysmoke

THANK THE OBSTRUCTIONISTS

2010-03-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

The major accomplishment of the Replugs in their filibustering obstruction tactics was giving the insurance industry the time to devise and implement a huge increase in coverage premiums as illustrated by the Anthem BC/BS California example.

So go ahead, be Emily Post politically correct -- send Mitch McConnell & Co. a gratitude note.

graysmoke

LUNTZ LACED FRAMING AT THE SUMMIT

2010-02-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

This has been captured and televised by the cable news stations but not labeled for what it is.

The repetitive, "Start Over" - was particularly used ad nauseum.

What can be deduced from the programmed rhetoric?

Here's my bottom line: the replugs only favor legislation that has zero pages -- LOL.

That is a hangover from the Bush regime when they literally sat on their hands on most issues.
Leadership this is NOT!

The volume of whingeing will increase as the Dems are forced to pass by using the reconciliation option.

graysmoke

THE SUMMIT ----- or the pits?

2010-02-25T15:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some comments prompted from watching the healthcare summit.

HSA's are no solution for the unemployed or the retired.

The best care doesn't necessarily cost the most.....I know because for years I have been getting my pulmonary care at Mayo Scottsdale and believe me, their billings are more reasonable than any other physician/specialists that I use. True, they do not accept Medicare assignment, but they do the billing and the client/patient knows exactly what the itemized charges are because you get a monthly detailed statement. The benefits are paid directly to the insured and it is the responsibility of the insured to then pay Mayo. I have had minuscule out-of-pocket amounts in using their services. Their efficiency in delivery of health care is remarkable as is the scheduling program.

What I had hoped to hear never got mentioned today. I would like to know why insurers are not prohibited from overcharging for individually purchased medicare supplemental coverage. In my case, which I doubt is unusual, the premium for covering the 20% that medicare doesn't pick up, is 157% greater than the medicare premium I pay. This is just upside down. So let's look at it this way. If my total monthly premiums for medicare and the supplement total $311 -- then medicare should be getting 80% and the remainder would be the supplement ratio. This would help put medicare in the black and keep the insurance corporation vultures from eating red meat.

Another situation that irks me, are the doctors in Congress who are still practicing. That is so blatantly greedy and I certainly wouldn't care to be a patient of theirs. If they want to be a Senator or a Representative then give up the practices. Or let someone else run for the offices.

Tort reform is a huge Replug TP. Personally, there have been occasions when medical neglect resulted in tragedy and a case could have been brought, but this would have just continued the trauma because the insurers pockets would outlast mine. I know of others that have also refrained from suing. Of course there are the shyster lawyers trolling out there for cases and the bait is tempting to many people but not to the extent that is touted. The declaration that doctors order unnecessary testing as defensive techniques is more a condemnation of the lack of confidence in their profession than otherwise. I can guarantee you that an unnecessary test has never been ordered for me in all the years I have needed treatment for an uncommon pulmonary set of diseases, cystic bronchiectasis, traction bronchiectasis, hemoptysis, and mycobacterium avium-intercellulare.

And what specialist do you think is worth $524 for an initial visit? I recently moved from Arizona to Oregon and this is necessitating finding replacement physicians. I just recently reviewed the charges submitted to medicare. And that figure was like a bomb. And this is not a brain surgeon. All together the prices of medical services here are much higher than in Arizona.

Too bad every state can't have a Mayo Clinic.

graysmoke

Cheney's Probation

2010-02-24T11:42:00.000-08:00

Here's my free advice Dick:
Your mid-body girth is dangerous in someone with as much heart disease as you have.....instead of slogging toward a microphone whenever you see one and running off at the mouth....you need a different exercise, so please when you sight a mike, turn away and run, run; run all the way back to Wyoming.

That should keep you out of the goverment run hospital for a while.

And maybe choose a private hospital and pay for your care with some of those Halliburton bucks.

graysmoke

POOR DICK

2010-02-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

How out of condition he is........he should have known better than to exercise his mouth as much as he has done lately.

Get well soon and stay silent and healthy.

graysmoke

BAYH BYE-BYE

2010-02-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

It smells of vengeance in the timing........leaving the party little time to line up a candidate or two and it is also very selfish.....?payback for not getting asked to fill the VP slot?

He is rolling over......in spades....one request please, would he please grab Reid by the hand and pull him through the exit door with him, before it slams closed.

Wonder what offer came up that expedited this at such an inopportune time?

graysmoke

BIPARTISANSHI?

2010-02-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

Try a 'tee' for the last letter.

Repuglicans are not interested in anything but POWER, not people and not government. This must be acknowledged NOW by the executive branch.

Congress is crippled by their antics, so use what tools are available to serve the people. Use the reconciliation option to pass critical bills.

GET IT DONE. We cannot continue this death dance.

graysmoke

JUSTICE? for whom......

2010-01-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

THUD!!!

That sound was the Constitution being shoved off the cliff courtesy of Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy.

Let it be known that my interpretation of a corporation does not include it being a corporal body having all the elements of humanity that one expects in informed adult actions. A corporation doesn't have a conscience. It is a lawfully(usually) constituted entity designed to protect the investors from personal liabilities and its chief goal is profit. It cannot distinguish between fact and fiction. To permit such a non-corporal entity all the privileges of persons guaranteed once upon a time by our constitution is treasonous.

All citizens should be required to read the dissent authored by Justice Stevens and on many points with concurrence from Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Breyer.

Here's a link:

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf

You can read the majority opinion there too but first read the dissent.

This decision is especially revolting when a very large element of non-US citizens are controlling these corporations, wholly or in part. That cannot be the case with an individual citizen. Where were the basic common sense elements hiding from the majority in this ideological smelly decision. This is stuffing the ballot box and not in favor of the rights of those that are true citizens.

Pushed off the cliff with the Constitution was a resounding hunk of existing decided cases that were effectively junked.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

This is a worse sneak attack than any amateurish terrorist attempts to destroy us.
Truly.

graysmoke

WHEN ARE THE WAKES SCHEDULED

2010-01-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

Let's bet there will be one for the Health Care Reform bill and another for the D majority.

I'm off to see if the Massachusetts polls have closed yet.......last I heard Coakley was croaked.

We should get overdosed in the next couple of days with pundits talking this to death.

It is a great choice to be able to glue myself to the tube to watch the Australian Tennis Open instead of both disaster scenes. Meaning political and earthquake.

graysmoke

A Twenty-First Century HUCKSTER

2010-01-14T16:48:00.001-08:00

He is the Goldman Sachs CEO and if you listened to his testimony before the commission panel yesterday you were treated to the Gold Medalist of Hucksters.

Name: Lloyd Blankfein - and he will offer you a great definition of what passes for investing with that house of ill repute.

Totally amoral.

graysmoke

Tattle-Tales

2010-01-11T14:27:00.000-08:00

Ah ----Halperin and Heileman are trying to rake in the bucks with their book which I haven't read but am making my conclusion about their intent from all the flap that is being gossiped about on every cable broadcast the last several days.

From listening to the gnawing it seems evident that a lot of twisting out of context could be happening. Particularly the way wording the comments attributed to Senator Reid are bandied.

I don't think I will run to Barnes and Noble to get a copy of this vomit.

Why doesn't everyone boycott this selective trash?

Seems all commentators are only too pleased to abandon the security breeches and the health care reform to become Hedda Hoppers.

Can journalism sink any further?

graysmoke

Cheney should be charged with treason

2010-01-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

Isn't it enough that Obama had to inherit the mess left by the previous administration without also being targeted by the x-VP.

Cheney's false views are libelous and sinister..........and this should not be tolerated any longer. I suggest that a 24 hour seven day a week broadcast feature reading of all the missteps the last admnistration took or the actions they failed to take. After all they did nothing about the Yemen situation highlighted by the Cole attack. And please recall this was well in advance of the 9/11 attack --- however the only thing that the right-whingers were good at was propaganda framed by their Frank Lutz training.

It is very clear that this effort by Cheney is to undermine the current C-I-C -- he and his pals will just hate it if Obama does a better job of designing strategy and effective modes of fighting A/Q.

It sounds like Cheney's ailing heart is too weak to get sufficient blood supply to his brain, maybe the docs should clue him in.

graysmoke

Whingeing Award

2009-12-23T16:58:00.000-08:00

Right down to the wire we go.......Republicans howling and bleating sounding like a pen full of stuck pigs. It is just difficult to pick who is excelling at this. Maybe the award should go to Coburn. How would you like this guy for your physician - why he might pray that you wouldn't show up for your appointment. Christian my eye......he has no idea of what being one would entail. But maybe we should give multiple WHINGEING awards, one for Hatch for sure, and another for Sessions, McCain must have one too - maybe I should carve out a dozen.

What a relief it will be when on tomorrow morning the Senate has vaulted all the procedural hurdles and votes for the bill.

Peace on earth goodwill in WA DC?

Not a good bet for 2010, the R's haven't yet discovered the damage they have done to themselves and their party so the antics will continue. It'll take and election to sort it all out plainly enough for them.

graysmoke

Weekly Wrap

2009-12-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

Dean's Defection--- this seemed a sudden about-face. Puzzling and again smells more of being political than anything else.

Poisoned Process---What a charade the floor sessions on the reform bill are in the Senate. This is just intolerable....

Fearless Franken---thanks Al for having the cajones to tell Leiberman to knock it off.

The Party of "NO" and not the party of "KNOW"---can't everybody see that a high value is placed on ignorance by the Republicans, the dumber their base the higher their re-election chances become. A very good reason for the high measure of disgust they generate.

Rules Rape---Coburn and McConnell are the rules rapists. Abusing the rules now has become another republican value.

graysmoke

The ULTIMATE in Obstructionism

2009-12-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

At behest of Sen. Coburn, the Senate clerk is reading all the text in an amendment offered by Senator Sanders, there are more than seven hundred pages and anyone listening to the rapid reading will probably not know a bit more about the amendment and of course the senators are absent from the chamber so it is obvious what that tactic is. The Republicans will do anything to prevent the Democrats from passing any health care reform legislation, the reason being that they don't want the opposing party to have that victory that has been scuttled for years and years. And they don't want to spoil the source of major campaign finance contributions.

I AM SICK OF SUCH ANTICS.

Coburn needs to go back to his medical practice. I sure wouldn't want such a conniving individual though for my physician. He is under the delusion that just because he is a medical doctor he is always right.......well he isn't and he is guilty as h__ on misinforming by using the technique of selective citation even when it involves medical procedures, I heard him do this when railing against medicare regarding virtual colonoscopies.

The Republicans benefit from an ignorant base component.....thus the popularity game played by Palin and other rogues, i.e. Limbaugh, Beck et al.

Oh yes, the republican value of ignorance is important to them.

graysmoke

GET AN EARFUL

2009-12-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

Read Jeremy Scahill's NATION article on the super secret antics of Blackwater.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091207/scahill

Is this how we want our country to behave, what about responsibilities - these operations should be kept in-house.

And Erik Prince seems a delusional crackpot.I wouldn't trust him any further than I can throw a feather.

graysmoke

LOST IN CONGRESS

2009-12-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

Why nothing gets done is clearly demonstrated by Senator Judd Gregg's intention to use the archaic rules to master the "slow walk" death of the health reform bill.

You can find his engineering of how to accomplish this in an article on Talking Points Memo.

This demonstrates explicitly that bi-partisanship is mythical.

Gridlock eternal.

Is anyone going to get this overhauled into the twenty-first century before our country commits hari-kari by this method?

graysmoke

DESCRIPTIVE OF DEBATE

2009-12-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

Trying to watch and listen to the Senate do what is called "debating" the health care reform bill is about as exciting and informative as watching cows chew on their cuds.

And it is quite debatable just what this exercise is.......obstructional workout comes to mind when any of the opposing party have a turn on the rule laden operation of what passes in this august body now for debate.

And when the cud chewing ends ..... and who knows how long this takes.......the public is going to be long tuned out. Having learned more perhaps about politics and power plays than reform of the health care system.

graysmoke

ZERO PAGES

2009-11-30T14:12:00.000-08:00

Zero Pages -----the perfect Republican health care bill and that is just what they passed the last eight years.

Whew, it is going to be a long month in December if they are going to be blowing the hot air back and forth, to and fro for the month and/or longer.

I know exactly what Medicare Advantage programs are.....they are a huge advantage for the corporations. If you happen to have a condition that needs the attention of a specialist outside their "ahem" NETWORK you will find out just how little choice you have. You will eat up valuable time trying to persuade them to approve an outside specialist and if they do for a one time appointment, if you need to continue with this specific physician out of network, you will in all probability pay full out of pocket costs.

Then there is the doozy of a prescription coverage plan --well it really does rate an F for failure instead of a D for dumb....... requiring seniors and others to continue paying a coverage premium when at the donut dropoff you get none........coverage that is, but in the curious way that everything is set up to benefit the corporations now in this country, the screaming and hollering should be cacophonous at such usury.

And no negotiating to favor the enrollees and if you don't enrol you are made to pay an interest rate for life when you do decide to enrol ...... who dreamed that one up, arm twisting for sure. Larcenous?

Not exactly a season to be jolly that's for certain.

graysmoke

PULLING RABBITS OUT OF THE HAT

2009-11-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

If you think that is quite a trick, then you ought to get a bang from watching the Sunday morning lineup on the weekly misinformation shows.

Displaying the unbelievable metamorphosis of the R's, becoming instantly knowledgeable on inauguration day 2009 of how to fix everything that they had ignored, neglected, or denied for eight years. Polishing up their newly minted knowledge was Kay Hutchison, John Kyl, the Cheney daughter (that qualifies her as a political strategist, in case you have ever wondered about that label), Marcia Blackburn, and mislabeled Independent Joe Leiberman plus assorted others.

Those broadcasts are getting so very HO-HUM.

graysmoke

wrench-man

2009-11-17T20:12:00.000-08:00

Who is dotting T's and crossing i's????

And why?

I'm talking here about "-id" and not "-ak" - just so you will know, as in Stup.

Was he a Pitt tool?

And now he is acting oh so innocent.

Ah the stench of politics.

TA-TA LOUIE

2009-11-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

Dobbs is leaving CNN pronto........good, now if some of the vomit kings on Fox would do the same maybe cable media could hope to clean itself up.

Not many details on LD's sudden exit......

I stopped watching him many moons ago only catching fly-bys when channel surfing, enough to confimr his continued descent into being overly absorbed by his irrationality regarding some immigrants.

graysmoke

AVOIDABLE?

2009-11-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

Has the FBI again fumbled the ball? It sure looks that way---- time to replace Mueller? YES.

There are too many haystacks built unnecessarily by the ceaseless paranoid "SECURITY" screenings that now make life miserable. Will removing shoes at airports have helped identify Hasan as a threat? NO. But these senseless security pursuits result in such a surfeit of data to be processed that the system can never get to the actual culprits that need surveillance and apprehension for further evaluating.

Just as in 9/11 there were signs......plenty of signs.....that Hasan was a truly potential threat.

As days pass I feel sure there will be more revelations of how near the danger point the Major was. A human IED.

graysmoke

HOW TRUTH IS AVOIDED

2009-11-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

Of course I am watching the House debate the 3692 bill for health care reform.

It demonstrates precisely the divide between the two dominant political parties and how the congressional power is distributed among them at this point in history. The R's are confidant that they could do it cheaper and better, but one must ask - then why didn't they in the past eight years. And they perform brilliantly on the politically acceptable form of lying. Just edit what you want to do to slant the real text of the bill. They never mention that the misinformation about Medicare cuts, does not apply to regular Medicare benefits, but to the C programs otherwise called Medicare Advantage. The advantage goes to the corporations, huge subsidies transfer money from the government ( everyone's taxes) to the corporations which then maximize profits by denying coverages, not approving any out-of-network consulting or strictly limiting it and then in their compensation packages reward the top echelon with levels of bonuses etc that are beyond the average workers comprehension.

For the last twenty-two years I have lived in 55+ adult communities and have learned much about different coverages. And how they apply in the real world. Here's an example: I have a brother-in-law with a rare eye condition, he needed to see one of two specialists that had knowledge of the treatment and management of his condition. After a tedious period of begging for approval to go outside the network for one of those - he was over time granted three consults and no more......so they now pay out-of-pocket so that he can continue to have the services for this anomaly with the out-of-network specialist. No middle of the road solution where the carrier HMO would at least pay the amount they would allow if he were seeing an in-network physician.

My such a neat way to fatten up the bottom line for the corporation. This is all too common. And that is what is being addressed in the reform bill. Remember this when the R's keep harping on medicare cuts. Don't fall for their selective lying.

graysmoke

New Term/Congress

2009-11-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

Lately I have become so bored with the cold molasses speed of Congress that I have invented a new adjective.

So roll the drums, and toot the horns, please!

coddlymollowing

I think that is very descriptive........there are aggressive forms of this and passive forms.

The parties use one form when in opposition to legislation and the other form when affirmation is the goal. So make a game of coddlymollowing while waiting for the molasses to thaw!

graysmoke

H1N1 PRIORITY GROUPS

2009-11-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

For those of us over 64 - I guess we are viewed as expendable. I don't quite buy the rationale that perhaps some flu we have had in the past may have been similar to H1N1 and therefore we may have some resistance - resulting in a less serious illness and less mortality.

Cutting the age off at 64 for those with underlying conditions is very poor selection criteria because some of the underlying conditions may be more serious in those older than 64 and also it smacks of age discrimination which isn't permissible.

I also think that those individuals who think they may have the H1N1 should see their physicians and have the swab testing to confirm or vice versa. Think of what anxiety could be avoided if one has already had it and survived, no more waiting for vaccines that may become available too late anyway.

Like so many things attempted in the USA, not having enough lab resources to produce the vaccine in the quantities required and in time to provide the maximum protection, seems to again be a case of where smaller would be better, meaning if it is taking longer for the egg injection of the virus to develop to where it is ready for the next step- then having smaller but more facilities would enable the producers to time programs to minimize this problem.

Will this turn out to be a winter of worry? Seems that is a certainty for those not in the priority groupings.

graysmoke

CONGRESSIONAL CHOREOGRAPHY

2009-10-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

This health reform dance has gone on long enough. Let's get real, they need to limit the amount private insurers can raise the premiums on existing policies and/ or restrict coverage changes unfavorable to the insured.

Premium raises should be limited to inflation rate plus a small additional percentage.

As I understand the House Bill - there would be no relief except for those who do not have insurance and need or want it. That is the limited public option and I will be happy to see millions benefit from this if it gets through the coming Pas de Deux when the Senate bill and the house bill DO-SI-DO.

POLITICAL PING-PONG

2009-10-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

The health care reform bill's charade about a public option continues, it's in --- no no it's out....today it seems it's in only if congressional seats vulnerable in the next election, get to vote visibly on the floor to take it out -- so their constituent voters won't hold it against them in the mid term elections.........ping-ponging such a serious issue is just the sort of juvenile behavior abhorred by those of us that keep close tabs on what is happening in this wrestling match.

STOP this wrangling and do the job for the people who have spoken loudly and directly -- this is the only way to curb the rapacious corporate insurance vampires.

graysmoke

Cheney Brand of Courage

2009-10-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

What a colossal fool Cheney is.....does he not realize that the public knows how he dodged serving in the military with multiple deferrals......yeah, Dick you're a great example of courage.....you are brave as long as you can order others to take all the risk.

Shut up and let someone who knows that killing and violence do not produce the results required in advancing the evolution of third world countries, culturally, socially, and economically, yes Dicky Boy someone who THINKS instead of reacting is in charge and America is regaining some of its values so carelessly destroyed by you and the Bush regime. It simplistic to believe there is a military solution to these complex problems.

Dithering is a Cheney specialty -- not Obama's. And look at the company you keep, appearing on the Gaffney neocon recognition along with your felonious former aid Scooter.

graysmoke

OUTDATED BUSHIE

2009-10-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

Papa Bush is name calling ----- but what a name, sick puppy????

And only KO and Maddow?

Condolences to The Ed Show.

And BRAVO to MSNBC who have dared to break the full Nelson the neocons have had for decades on broadcast media. Now there are fact based reporters instead of the Faux News propagandists.

graysmoke