The Big Swap

So the President's Administration decides to swap 5 captives for an American Sgt. At first one must ask, why? Who knows? I feel there is a back story here that we aren't being let in on yet. Maybe this guy is a secretly embedded intelligence part of the machine. Judging by the looks of his Dad, I doubt it, but who knows?

But what no-one is talking about is the fact that the Obama administration's total of Gitmo detainees released isn't 5. It's 87. Yes, it's happened before.

But here's the thing: The Obama Administration is way behind. The George W. Bush Administration released 532 of them and got nothing in return. At least this administration got a captured Sgt. back!

So if you weren't willing to cry foul and scream bloody murder while the Bush Administration were releasing 532 of the Gitmo supposed, with no proof, illegal hostages, denied legal process guys, then just shut your mouth now.

And here's the other thing. Under the watch of this administration hundreds of top Taliban and Al Quida leaders have been killed. These five detainees, that FOX News has dubbed "five star generals", but in reality were not big shots, will go back to a place where all of their homeboys in the gang have been bumped off. They will have to start getting their street credibility all over again. And as soon as they do, we'll clip them. I predict that in a year or so, these 5 will be dead.

And thanks Obama Administration for sucking FOX News in. They are now on this and off Bengazi. And Eric Cantor loses his Primary? That was truly the first step in Hillary owning the White House. Mr. Cantor was reasonably working on realistic, workable immigration reform. Know what just happened? A lot of brown voters just got pissed off. So there's that.

The Mid-Terms

Most people in America are Democrats. So the Republicans spend a lot of time figuring up a lot of ways to not let Americans vote. Voter fraud (less than .002 percent in US history) becomes a huge issue. Demanding photo IDS from 92 year old citizens who never learned to drive. Yeah, there you go.

In the Mid-Term Elections only about 35% of the populace show up to vote. When that happens, Republicans tend to do very well, because Republicans show up at the polls. Republicans win big. And then they get the false notion that since they won big, it must mean America must agree with them. And then they go about doing their mayhem.

And then a Presidential Election comes along. 55% of the populace shows up at the polls. And the Republicans get knocked on their ass. And they don't get it.

Yes the Repubs will probably do very well in the mid-terms, understand THEY are the reason DEMS will do well in the Presidential race. The Repubs will believe the reason they won big is because their economic policies were correct, and then they will set upon a course that only makes them look stupid. A usually acknowledged phrase is "While watching your wallet, vote for Democrats. While voting Foreign Affairs vote Republican."

We Democrats LOVE the Tea Party. They keep us in the White House.

This is historical and classic. Yeah, go nuts on the mid-terms!

Keystone, and oil prices, and other myths.

A battle cry of every President in recent memory is the old worn-out "we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

My question is simply this: Why? What difference will that make?

When most people think of foreign oil they think of those dreaded brown middle-eastern people. If Americans don't like Arabs there are better reasons than the fact they've got us over a barrel. (And the barrel has "Oil" printed on the side.)

But the fact is, only about 4% of our oil is imported from the middle east. Four percent. So what are we really get so worked up about? We import most our oil from Canada, and a great deal from Russia (ever wonder why we are being so cautious about the Ukranian take-back?)

And as far as foreign dependence, oil companies are pumping more oil out of the ground than they have in 20 plus years. In fact, in roughly 2011 the cry "Drill, Baby, Drill" was replaced by "Fracking For The Future." Oil and natural gas are currently hitting mighty healthy levels (never-mind those living near fracking sights.)

Just two years ago 5% of the oil being refined into gasoline at east coast refineries was from domestic oil. Today 50%, yes 50% is coming from domestic oil. Along the Gulf Coast? Their use of foreign oil has dropped by 25% from what it was a couple days ago. So this begs a couple of obvious questions.

If we are obtaining so much of our own oil, why haven't prices dropped? The answer is simple. It isn't about where the oil comes from. Whether it comes from the middle east or east Texas, it's all about whose hands it falls into. And it falls into the hands of about 5 major oil companies. And although these folks keep bringing in record net profits every quarter off the backs of the middle class primarily, our Republican friends in Congress still believe we must maintain the subsidies these companies enjoy....yeah we actually pay them to rape us.

To quote the Detroit Free Press/News from May 26th, 2014: "Reducing the reliance on foreign sources of energy has not led to lower prices though." It's NOT about where the oil comes from folks. It's about the evil, greedy hands it falls into.

Perhaps it isn't generally realized, but Canada is totally oil independent. One hundred percent. And guess what? The Canadians pay as much or more for their gasoline than we do. So what is the advantage of being "energy independent?" There is none. None. So who cares where we get the oil from?

Even though the oil is under our feet the price is out of our hands. The rapist?....I only got the first name. It's Exxon.

And can we stop all the blubbering about the Keystone Pipeline? Seriously in exchange for a few summer jobs, Americans are willing let Canada run a pipeline through our country for us to trip over forever? By the way, NONE of the oil would benefit the USA in any way. All the oil would be shipped out of New Orleans bound for Europe and Asia. So we can we get off the President's ass about this? Bush wouldn't have stood for this. Reagan would have laughed at them. Nixon would have told them to go screw themselves. So folks, stop with the nonsense about this stupid pipeline. It ain't gonna happen. Not with a Democrat in the White House, or a Republican in the White House. It's a bad idea that will never be realized.

Let Canada run the Keystone Pipeline across their country, not ours. And let's stop worrying about where the oil comes from and instead worry about the ways American Corporations are dreaming up to screw us.

If we were totally energy independent tonight, you'd be paying $4.95 at the pump.

Benghazi and Bridge-gate.

Well, Governor Christie of New Jersey has made what I believe is an error. He hired a public relations firm to put together a "study" to convince everyone he had no knowledge of the recent lane closure on the George Washington bridge - an apparent retaliation to a mayor who didn't support him in the last election. The lane closures kept traffic snarled for hours, and allegedly an ambulance was stalled and it cost someone their life. But Governor, methinks thou doest protest too much.

Hiring a PR firm to do your bidding and compile "evidence" to prove you're innocent? This reeks of guilt. Stop. It's better to let everyone speculate. Most of America was never caught in the mess trying to get into New York. Keep that in mind. And the American people have a memory shorter than a fat baby's dick. Just keep your mouth shut and move on. This only proved to me that you were in on this. And I feared they were only doing a Benghazi on you.

What do I mean by that? The way that FOX News continues to make a "story" out of  the Benghazi attacks on our consulate (when it is long forgotten on everywhere else) as a pre-emptive attack on Hillary Clinton. I was thinking maybe this was reciprocal. But now.....C'mon Chris.

I certainly think it is a strong possibility, as I predicted a year ago, that Christie will face off against Hillary Clinton in 2016 for the Presidency. In the past I have predicted that Christie will win by a nose (Republicans always get back in again after Democrats have fixed the economy for them - usually a mess Republicans made), but now I'm not so sure.

Christie enjoys the reputation of being a moderate, although actually he's far from it. But his recent actions of going on and on about the Bridge scandal, makes me think this is simply a Republican ploy to keep his name continually in the headlines.  Like the "debate-every-week" thing the Republicans did last election cycle to keep their names front and center. I truly hope the Democrats do the same thing this time.

Let's just see what transpires in the next few months. Christie might still be a tough sell to some of my Right Wing Republican buddies who are still angry that Christie didn't spit on the President of the United States when they went together to look at Hurricane Sandy damage.

Chris.....methinks thou doest protest too much.

Gov. Chris Christie & Bridgegate, and Unemployment.

Okay, in case you've been living under a rock, or were just rescued from an island where you spent your time talking to a volleyball, there has been a bit of scandal coming out of the swamps of Jersey. It seems that a few of the Governor's insiders took it upon themselves to bitch slap a New Jersey Mayor because he'd failed to endorse Christie in the last election. These overzealous idiots were obviously blinded by the light and think that this is how they should operate, and supposedly unbeknownst to Christie, arranged to have a few critical lanes shut down getting to and on the George Washington Bridge going from New Jersey to New York. There were people stuck there for hours, people were hopelessly late for work, and sadly emergency vehicles couldn't get through. In one case, a gentleman allegedly died because the ambulance couldn't get him to the hospital in time.

Governor Christie held a press conference that was over two hours in length, approaching the length of a Bruce Springsteen show. In it he denied any knowledge of the dirty deed and has fired the morons responsible. Good. That's a start. And let's hope these pieces of excrement never work in politics again. Although FOX News has probably already hired them as ethics gurus.

But here's the deal. I believe Christie. I believe he had no knowledge of this stupid act, and in no way endorsed it, or approved of it. Sometimes people that work for you do dumb, idiotic things. When it was discovered he acted appropriately by firing the culprits. That should be sufficient. He says he's tried to build a track record of integrity, and I believe he has. But like the bridge, folks, it runs both ways.

Although there are currently 2,723,000 Federal employees (not counting the military) this is the lowest number of said employees since 1966. I would hope that if one or more of these two million plus people do something stupid, people wouldn't automatically blame the President, this one or any other, for actions of employees many levels below him that he'll never know or meet. But in today's climate President Obama would probably take more heat for some prank an IRS agent in Barstow, California pulls than Governor Christie will take for this disaster perpetrated by his second in command. Let's hope not. And let's not pile on Christie, and naturally assume he did something wrong. There is currently no evidence to support that. Let's just go with "innocent until proven guilty."

And if we do, then maybe someday, they'll follow suit.

Oh, and referencing my last post.....unemployment has just fallen to 6.7%.

More Jobs and the Unemployment Rate Falls to 7%

At both elections the people were crying "Jobs! It's all about jobs!" Well folks, all but three months of the Obama presidency jobs have been on the rise. This administration has been doing what it set out to do. Create jobs and improve the economy. Last month's job figures just came out. 203,000 new jobs were created in November. Unemployment has fallen from 7.3 to 7%. Not bad Obama Administration.

Now detractors are going to claim "these are just McDonald's/Convenience Store jobs and jobs created as holiday temporary help." Not so say the experts. These are good, high paying jobs that are sustainable. There is one question though...after the government shut-down, were the government employees called back counted in these numbers? Too early to tell...but we should know soon.

The point is, we are headed in the right direction. Why people keep denying the facts....I don't know. I do believe that someday, and it may be in the distant future, students may get past the black/white thing and this will be known as "the great Obama recovery."

Because that's what it is. He's done the job. And sadly, once Democrats get things running smoothly again, people get comfortable and elect a Republican who screws it all up. And then the people come clamoring to Democrats to fix it again, and of course they do....and so it goes. And sadly, so it goes.

An Inconvenient Mess

What an inconvenient mess the Affordable Healthcare Web-Site debacle has become. Any other company planning a roll-out of this magnitude would have spent months, maybe even a year, testing a rolling out the site in layers. And frankly there is no company that would ever need to roll out something on this kind of grand scale.

But this website rollout was not given that kind of time and courtesy. Why? First and foremost because of the arbitrary dates in the law. Hey, did the web designers, health care specialists, the architects of the law, and accountants ever have a meeting? Secondly, there was a strong opinion that the law was going to be stricken down by the Supreme Court and so many agencies and designers were not as aggressive as they should have been. And then when the law was not overturned, lots of people were suddenly scrambling. I witnessed that here in Michigan. This was not the fault of our Republican Governor....he was begging legislators to hurry up and get it completed. It was not, and we are behind the 8-ball. Not so, in some of the states that got serious and got the job done and have vibrant marketplace web-sites.

But a bad web-site roll-out does not equate to bad law. This is a much needed law whose time has come. We will never have a vibrant economy again, until the Affordable Health Care Act is up and (finally!) running well. Out of control health care costs are things that have been dragging our economy down and down and down. The President, and most serious economists get that. And we as an American Public demanded that the President we elected do something about the economy. How does one do that? Attack one of the biggest reasons it was tanking.

What do I mean you might ask?

Most worthwhile economists will agree that health care costs have been rising 20% higher than the rate of inflation for roughly 20 years. That is a tremendous burden on the economy, because it takes money out of our pockets to pay for health care that we could be spending on other things. This is a serious and major problem that has to be tackled by this President, the next President, or the President after that. But sooner or later, this problem has to be faced head on.  President Obama, never one to shirk his duty, jumped in.

One of the problems is, he didn't have people on TV explaining the law, he didn't send hundreds of teams out into the field to answer questions and clear up misnomers about the law, and there is a lot of confusion out there. Do you know a friend of my Dad's actually posted that Obamacare would put insurance companies out of business? She actually thinks that the government is going to be the insurance company. That is sad. And that is the Administrations fault.

Is the law perfect? Of course not. But our dysfunctional Congress, instead of negotiating to tweak the law to make it better, keep up the dog and pony show of tying up Congress' work day for one meaningless vote to repeal after another.

Another big factor is that in 1986 President Reagan signed into law one he very much favored called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act or EMTALA.
This law states that no person can be denied health care treatment at an Emergency Room just because they don't have insurance and can't pay. But the thing is, this was totally unfunded. So basically, this is a form of socialized medicine paid for by us... in the form of high premiums, high deductibles, and huge co-pays.

So President Obama proposes that you and I stop footing the bill. He thinks that if people could afford to buy insurance of their own, it will lower the bill you and I pay. (It won't initially, but in the long run, us regular guys are gonna love this.) At first, the insurance companies will come in a little high to protect themselves because of all the confusion, but as time goes on and everything starts running smoother, they will be going after business hard and it will drive the prices down. Including the cost to you and me.

I really hope the deadlines don't have to be delayed. Why? Because then the Tea Party will keep trying to figure ways to kill a law that our nation desperately needs. But if have we to stall the deadlines by a month or two, they can only have two or three meaningless votes to repeal it in that amount of time. Maybe they can bring it up to 45 times.

And you know, they have never found time to vote on the jobs bill even once.

Go figure.