The Supreme Court Ruling on Marriage Equality.

I am a Christian. However, being a Christian does not disconnect my ability to think, suspend my knowledge of history, or dismiss science.

Last Friday the Supreme Court of the United States proclaimed that all US citizens have equal rights. I don't mean to offend fellow Christians, but this was a legal ruling, not a religious one.

Our country was founded by founding fathers, and they were very smart guys. They deliberately wanted to prevent the establishment of a national religion from or by our government. The Church - Catholic or Anglican - was central to most of the other countries in the world and historically in England where our founding fathers were bent on getting away from. It was critical to them that one central religion NOT be declared and NOT be incorporated into our Government or Constitution.  They knew that the establishment of some kind of national religion would someday diminish the very rights they thought were basic; rights they thought were fundamental and were meant to be recognized and protected by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Religious-based loss of basic rights had been their experience in England and they wanted to prevent that from happening here. So when somebody tells you that this country was founded in Christian/Judaeo beliefs, that is a bunch of made-up hooey.

The Supreme Court ruling was a LEGAL one about the scope of human rights for all citizens. It wasn't about morality, values, social trends, or religion. It was about the scope of the Constitution.

Rights should not be up to States to determine. If they were, black citizens wouldn't be able to vote in the south or eat in white establishments. Rights are absolute and cannot be dependent on anything other than someone is a human being and is a citizen of the United States. It those two conditions are met, OUR beliefs about morality or spiritual right and wrong no longer count.

My father-in-law used to say that the Muslim religion was an evil religion. He was equating all Muslims with ISIS. The fact is when Muslims look at Christian inspired wackos like The Nazi Party, The Crusades, The Inquisition, The Salem Witch Trials, and the Ku Klux Klan, Muslims probably think that Christianity is an evil religion. It's not fair or accurate in either case. But one religious group thinking they know THE truth for all humans is how this awful stuff starts.

Our founding fathers didn't want that to happen. The Supreme Court doesn't either. That this is now the law of the land just demonstrates that all human rights are protected. Why should I be okay with that? Because although there are lots of people turning a blind eye to the "browning of America", and sooner than we might like this perhaps will be a predominately Muslim nation. I, for one, want my rights as a Christian protected.

Perhaps if we think that this ruling is wrong, maybe we are confusing the idea of constitutional (human) rights and not what we call sin. If sin was a qualifier to get a fair shake in this nation, we'd all be in trouble.

Maybe someday historians will shake their heads in disbelief about this the same way they do about the fact that women couldn't vote until 1920, or that once blacks were once 3/5ths of a vote (that their master got to cast).  I guess only time will tell.

But now in this case equality is the law of the land.

Is This the End? Finally?

Oh the heartbreak in Washington tonight. Today the Supreme Court made a final ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act, and in keeping it entirely the law of the land, disappointed all the Republicans who want to let Pharmaceuticals and Health Care providers write an alternate plan to screw the middle class.

Health Care costs are down. Even if you work at a place that provides Health Care benefits, you are saving around $1800 a year and you don't even realize it. One out of three Americans who didn't have health insurance before this law was passed are now insured. And they are paying for it instead of us.

In 1986 President Reagan signed EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Training and Leave Act. Basically it stated that anyone who showed up in an emergency room and needed health care, must be treated whether they had insurance or not. Great! Except it wasn't funded. Which meant that you and I, by paying higher dividends, co-pays, and deductibles, paid for the uninsured. Yes, President Reagan, Saint Ronnie of the Republican Right, signed into law the first socialized medicine program.

Now, all the right wingers hate the poor so much. They're the problem. Not the wealthy leeches not paying taxes. The House has voted around 72 times to repeal the law of the land. The President acknowledged today that this is the most misunderstood law ever. Sure it is, but Mr. President, with all due respect, who's fault is that?

Send folks out to educate citizens about what this really is! Don't let the Limbaugh's and Hannity's keep spreading their lies. Because there are actually people out there that take these guys seriously. And sadly, a lot of them! So start putting these guys in check! Get lots of folks out there educating the masses about what this really is. The Hannity's and the Limbaugh's are naturally going to be scoring points if they are the only ones talking!

And so, the Affordable Health Care Act, that has already saved lives (one woman shared with the President that since they could now afford insurance, her son went in, was diagnosed and treated for a tumor. This would not have happened before the Affordable Care Act. He is alive today because of this law.

So suck it up Righties. If you think this was a bad day for you, wait until tomorrow.

We've been Trumped again.

Donald Trump has entered the field of Republicans for the Presidency of The United States of America. First, can we see his birth certificate? And not the fake one he offered when he was trying to insult our President.  Secondly, please Mr. Trump, explain all the paid actors you hired to pretend to be excited about you entering the race.

After that, good luck. But I have the feeling Don, that you're in for a long two weeks.

Update: Subsequently Mr. Trump has been asked to provide his birth certificate and passport records and has vehemently declined to share this information. 

Jeb Bush begins his caving in

Today recently announced Presidential candidate Jeb Bush sided with the right wing crazies and big fossil fuel interests, and denounced the Pope for his upcoming remarks regarding climate change. And just for the record, that means Global Warming.

I have oft remarked that if Jeb Bush sticks to his moderate positions he is a true contender for the White House. But today he demonstrated that Jeb is willing to cave in to the same right wing extremist policies that made John McCain deny who he really was. And this cost enormously in elections. 

Typically Americans don't elect folks they view as "extremists." For instance Barry Goldwater (too far to the right), or George McGovern (too far to the left). And Jeb Bush for most of his career has demonstrated very moderate electable policies. But today he fell into the righties trap. 

This was a good day for Democrats. 

Cops Gone Wild

An officer in a suburb of Texas was caught on video getting out of control at a pool party of young people. He was caught throwing a bikini clad young lady to the ground while swearing at her. And then a couple of black male youths approached, and he panicked, because he is most likely a chicken-shit coward in his heart, and he pulled his firearm, brandishing it at them. When they retreated he re-holstered the weapon.

Sean Hannity alleges that the two young men were behind the officer, and therefore he was right to be afraid. They clearly were not behind him, but more so approached from the front. That's how he knew they were there.

Hannity never mentions the white man who clearly was behind him. The officer never felt the need to pull his weapon on him.

The one thing that I noticed from the video is that although most of the party goers were white the  only ones the police focused on were the black ones. So, when does this start to get alarming to us as a nation?

Ferguson? I don't know. I want to be against the cop, but I found his explanation to be credible. So I'll give him a pass. New York? Are you kidding me? Absolute chicken shit tactics that killed a man of such criminal stature that he was selling cigarettes outside of the pack. Way to go crimefighters! Even if you had to use a hold that was outlawed by your own department 20 years ago. Baltimore? Oh my Gosh! Are you kidding? A hidden stop and his back gets broken? And he dies?

George Zimmerman continues his criminal rampage. When will we finally put this murdering idiot away? Probably when he murders a white person.

I spent 28 years in law enforcement. I probably worked with thousands and thousands of officers in my career. I can count the good ones on one hand. Don't fool yourself America. These guys are the ones with little dicks who got pushed around on the playground. They desperately want to be a man, so they get a job where they can put on a badge and put a gun on their waist and finally be a man. But they have no idea how to handle the power given them. They have never had any before. We need to train cops more, and not in the obvious stuff. We need to talk to them about the traits that made them feel the need to be an Officer. Because all too often they develop the mentality that "since we are the good guys, then everyone else must be the bad guys."

The Officer in Texas resigned. The Officer in Ferguson resigned. If they were so squeaky clean, why'd they resign? Public pressure? I doubt it. The departments evaluated their behavior and offered them a way to save their pensions.

Go on believing the police are perfect and always right America, if that's what it takes to get you to sleep at night. They are a great bunch of folks until that moment when you cross their path.

Short Sighted Repubs seem like a bad movie.

Republicans falsely claim that the reason the incredibly wealthy Americans shouldn't have to pay their fair share of taxes is because they are "job creators." Anyone with half a brain can see through that nonsense. If that were the case, after 14 years of tax freeloading, we should be swimming in jobs. McDonald's would be forced to pay $15 an hour, not by statute but because every person willing to work 40 hours a week was fielding offers from lots of employers. But that is simply not the case.

Upon getting elected, one of the first thing Governor Rick Snyder did was to question a growing business in Michigan and then help drive it out of the state. Solar Panels? Nope. Wind energy? Nope. It was the movie business.

After the generous tax breaks the legislature passed, that were endorsed by then Governor Jennifer Grantholm, things started to happen in Michigan. Movies started to be made here. A lot of movies. Businesses started popping up. Agencies. Caterers. Limo Rentals. Hollywood sat up and took notice. And slowly but surely Hollywood started moving to Michigan. Literally.

What would this have meant in time? Lots and lots of jobs. Lots and lots of employed people paying taxes. A lot more taxes than the tax breaks were giving up.

When the Republicans pulled the rug out from under this program they were being incredibly short sighted. There's a surprise. All they could see was the revenue they were letting get away, while the movie companies were here. I sat down and furiously wrote a letter to every representative in both Houses in Michigan. Their first response? "Where do you live?" In other words, if you don't live in my district, I don't care." But I live in Michigan you idiots!

How short-sighted were they? When Hollywood moved to Michigan, that would have meant the construction of Studios. This is not me guessing. Plans were drawn up to construct a studio on the east side of the state and one on the west side of the state. Construction people would have gotten work. Not just in building the studio, but later in building sets too. Agencies would have opened offices here. Employing lots of people. Union offices would have opened here. Unions for Actors, Directors, Cinematographers, Writers etc..... again, needing lots of people. TV Studios would have followed suit. So would the digital gaming industry. Pixar would have come for example. George Lucas would have been forced to open an Industrial Light and Magic Studio here. The studios would need all kinds of lighting people, sound personnel, Foley artists, editors, grips, stage hands and on and on. There would be a call for Extras, Stunt people, make up artists, stand-in people, and the myriad of technical people that are required to make films. Not to mention Limo services, Hotel accommodations, Drivers, Caterers, Security personnel, and medical personnel required on movie sets. All getting paid very well and then paying taxes.

On March 15th in the Detroit Free Press Mitch Albom noted that on that particular week the legislature drove the final stake into the heart of the movie tax incentives that they had been down-sizing to practical nonexistence anyway. Mr. Albom notes that the legislature argued that they were spending too much water on a little tree. What they failed to note was that when you water a little tree it becomes a big tree. Maybe even a redwood.

But sadly, as Mr. Albom notes, we never got to see it materialize. After 3 years of the tax incentives, (and nearly 650 million spent in the state), Rick Snyder was elected Governor. And although he promised to keep the program, he slashed the guts out of it.

What did that result in? Other states now enjoying what we might have had. One producer who I know for a fact loved shooting all his films in Grand Rapids, once the change was made, pulled up stakes and moved the operation down to Louisiana.

Here are some snippets of what Albom had to say: [reprinted without permission]:

"The new legislature attacked these incentives as if they wore horns. A committee hurriedly recommended their erasure. The house agreed this past week, by a 58-51 vote, largely along party lines.

If only government always worked this fast.

Look. You may like the incentives or hate them, but let's tell the truth. Fifty million isn't making or breaking this state. It's one tenth of 1% of our annual budget. And if Fifty million was being given out it meant that $150 million was being spent."

or

Because the legislature isn't attacking the "fat cats" equally.

Albom notes "The fact is, Michigan has nearly $10 billion in outstanding tax credits. Ten billion! To all kinds of businesses. The film industry is a tiny player, thus an easy target."

Michigan legislators somethimes chide, "If the movies industry leaves because they don't get tax breaks, then they really didn't want to be here." So when is it wrong for industries to want to maximize profits? They sure don't think it's wrong when it comes to oil companies, or even the big three automakers. That's why they are called incentives, to give companies a incentive to work, spend, and pay taxes here. In my town, a major industry didn't get the incentives it wanted and it went to Mexico. That's the nature of business, sometimes rightly, and sometimes not.

Some critics say they didn't produce enough anyway. We didn't get to know. It was gutted and then killed in it's infancy. It didn't get a chance to lay the groundwork and let it flourish. Yes, some say it was too much water on a little tree. But little trees become big trees.

We had a chance for Redwoods, and our Republican representatives let us down. The first step to creating jobs is to stop kicking them out of the state.

Proposal 1 Goes Down

Proposal 1 was seen as the fraud that it was. 80% of the electorate said, no, we aren't buying it.

Dear Lansing, Figure out how to do your jobs. Figure out how to work together. Learn how to lead, contribute, and govern. If you have to raise taxes to fix roads, and I don't believe you do, go ahead and do it. And then we'll deal with you accordingly. One has to wonder though, that if we cut just two of the upper echelon positions of fat in the government, say two jobs that pay 300 K a year, how many roads we could fix with and extra $600,000 dollars a year for a few years?

Here's another thing. When are we going to re-evaluate why we allow trucks to carry more weight than any of the states around us? We live in the frost belt. Allowing so much weight and subsequently trucks grinding our roads to pieces in a few years? What is the point? When you cross the state line you instantly notice the difference.

Our roads seem to be always under construction anyway. You want to know what kills the tourism dollars? Road repair. I once came back to Michigan from Ohio and passed through TWO road constructions sites BEFORE I REACHED THE WELCOME CENTER! My friends in Ohio tell me they avoid this place like the plague, because they try to come here and are stuck in constant traffic stoppages at construction sites. This is ridiculous.

And then the proposal said "the money is guaranteed to go to transportation. NOT roads. Duh!
Transportation can mean more weigh stations that are never open, more Department of Transportation Muckity-Mucks making $300,000 a year. It doesn't necessarily mean Roads as the ads tried to imply.

And dare I ask? This is 2015. We can make phones that allow the entire knowledge of the whole world at our finger tips, our TVs show every pore on an actor's face, and we love to pay 4 bucks for a cup of coffee. Are you telling me we can't come up with a material that will last 20 years once we lay it on a road? How about silicon/fiberglass roads? How about acknowledging our frost-line and building roads like the Autobahn? The Autobahn is, count 'em, 4 [FOUR] feet thick. It's been there for 50 years. No problem.

There are effective ways to deal with this problem. But temporary band-aids so that some Lansing official's brother-in-law can to continue to make a fortune are a total waste of time.

Ads with "school bus drivers" and pictures of cute little kids, and the phrase "if it cost me a penny more, I'm all for it." are sickening. It ain't a penny, honey. It's a tax that would have killed sales of high ticket items like cars and homes. And we did not buy this. The Repubs wanted us to hurt ourselves, so they could campaign on the fact that they didn't raise taxes, we did it to ourselves.

Not this time. Learn how to do your jobs.