Corzine v Christie

Gov. Jon Corzine supports families like mine and citizens like me, Bush's former Prosecutor Chris Christie supports the Insurance Companies, which act like families like Don Vito Corleone's. As President Obama, Vice President Biden, and former-President Clinton highlighted last week, those differences could not be more clear:

Corzine: Expanding Health Insurance Jon Corzine expanded health coverage for over 100,000 more kids and signed legislation to require insurance companies to cover autism screenings.	Christie Sides With Insurers Chris Christie would give insurance companies free rein to drop coverage for critical procedures like mammograms and autism screenings and would give them $100 million in tax breaks.
Corzine is Protecting Paid Family Leave Jon Corzine is one of a handful of governors to pass paid family leave that lets people care for newborn babies or sick relatives while still getting paid.	Christie Isn't Standing with NJ Families Chris Christie opposes paid family leave, and would allow hospitals to discharge new mothers less than 24 hours after they've given birth.
Corzine Defends The Right To Choose Jon Corzine strongly supports a woman’s right to choose.	Christie is Anti-Choice Chris Christie supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.
Corzine Has Provided Historic Tax Relief Jon Corzine has provided more property tax relief than any other Governor in New Jersey history.	Christie's $2 Billion In New Taxes Chris Christie said he would side with right wing governors and reject $5 billion in federal stimulus funds, including money for education, which would lead to a direct $2 billion increase in property taxes.
Corzine Supports Responsible Gun Laws Jon Corzine fought for a one handgun per month law.	Christie Is Backed By The Gun Lobby Chris Christie is backed by the gun lobby and even opposes banning guns that fire bullets to pierce a cop’s bulletproof vest.
Corzine Has Made Education A Priority Although he cut state spending, Jon Corzine increased funding for New Jersey schools by $1.8 billion and expanded pre-K education.	Christie Thinks It's "Babysitting" Chris Christie calls early childhood education "babysitting" and his rejection of federal stimulus funds would have undercut the real progress we've made in educating our kids.
Corzine Stands With President Obama Jon Corzine is endorsed by President Barack Obama, and is in step with our President's vision for our country. Together, they will work to lead our state and our country out of this global recession.	Christie Stands With President Bush Chris Christie would side with other right-wing governors to obstruct Barack Obama's agenda and would have rejected federal stimulus funds, driving up our property taxes by over $2 billion.

Corruption in Politics

There are corrupt politicians in both parties.

When a corrupt Democrat abuses power a lot of people benefit, and a few people Really benefit. When a corrupt Republican abuses power, A few people really benefit, and a select few REALLY REALLY benefit.

Consider Clinton and Bush. The worst thing Clinton did was he didn't pass a single payer / Medicare law and create a universal health care system. The worst thing he is known for is “hooking up” with a young woman to whom he was not married. The worst things Bush did were destroy the economy, invade Iraq, mire us in Afghanistan, ram the Patriot Act thru Congress, ignore the FISA law on wiretaps, suspend habeus corpus, outsource the military to his friends, botch the emergency response to Katrina and Rita – those things are so much worse than an inappropriate relationship between consenting adults, even tho one had significant power over the other.

One difference is scale. Clinton's affair with Lewinsky should have been a private matter; it should not be a public matter. It did not, or should not have effected policy. Every one of Bush's failings is a policy failure that profoundly diminshed the strength, health and well-being of the United States and many citizens.

Love them or hate them, they is The President

Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush. Love them or hate them, they were The President, as Obama is today.

Tannersville, Pennsylvania is a small town of a few hundred people, the heart of "Real" America, and I was in the home of some real Americans.

• Carol, a beautiful young college student and athlete,
• Daniel, her father, a former athlete, originally from Moscow, USSR,
• Elizabeth, her mother, a physician, originally from Brooklyn, New York.

They are real salt of the earth Americans. Daniel had trouble getting established in the U. S. until he retrained as a therapist. Elizabeth's biggest challenge was figuring out what to do. She didn't want to be a teacher, like her mother. She studied accounting, like her father, then she went to medical school, like her brother. She really wants to write children's books.

I was at a funeral for Francine, Carol's grandmother, Daniel's mother-in-law, and Elizabeth's mom.

Alice, another friend of the family, was there with her husband Bob, a former Navy "swab," currently a Merchant Marine. Bob loves the sea. He sailed all over the world. He hates President Clinton. So does Alice. I'm not sure who hates him more, but the hate is palpable. I didn't ask how they feel about Obama.

President Clinton has been out of office for close to 9 years, but it looks to me like the nature of the Presidential gig is such that people either love them or hate them, forever. President Reagan left office almost 21 years ago, and people still either love him or hate him. (Personally, I don't regard him as a good President, but no longer regard him as "the worst in my lifetime." It's not that he looks better, but that the bar got lower.) Ditto for Nixon, who was elected in '68, inaugurated in '69, and who resigned in in disgrace in August, '74.

Obama is finding out about the love-hate nature of the gig. A South Carolinian named Joe Wilson seems likely to fall into the "hate him forever" category. In Eastern Pennsylvania, you are probably more likely to find people who hate Clinton than love him, but love or hate, you expect Americans to know when he was elected, inaugurated, and President.

And that's what I'm writing about. What is really strange is that Bob and Alice swear that Bill Clinton was President during "Operation Desert Storm" and when Bob was discharged from the Navy in 1991. We all know that Clinton was elected in November, 1992, and inaugurated in January, 1993, and serverd until George W. Bush was inaugurated in January, '01. George H. W. Bush, being elected in '88, inaugurated in '89, and serving until Clinton was inaugurated in '93, was President throughout 1991.

GHW Bush is famous for two things:

1. "Operation Desert Storm" and
2. Raising Taxes to pay for infrastructure.

It seems that Bob and Alice don't know when Clinton was President, who was President during "Desert Storm," when Bob was discharged, or who who was President at that time.

I don't know Bob and Alice well and frankly, I don't want to get to know them. I tried to explain to them, calmly, that Clinton was elected in '92 and inaugurated in "93. These are non-controversial historical facts. Whether you love and hate Clinton, whether you argue over whether he was a good or bad President, the dates of his election, Inauguration, and transfer of power are non-controversial. You won't find Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly or one of those other right-wing pundit/comic/entertainers arguing over when Clinton was elected or inaugurated. It's like arguing over whether the color of the sky or the location of the Empire State Building or the Golden Gate Bridge.

I rarely step back from a discussion. But I refused to engage Alice and Bob. I am not interested in a shouting match with people who display a basic incapacity to understand the color of the sky or the location of a bridge. As Kenny Rogers once said, we have to "know when to hold em, and know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run." This was a time to walk away, slowly. I don't know if they were out of aces; they might have had four of them, and they might have been all clubs; they sure were not playing with a full deck.

Has FOX News Gone Too Far?

• 6/30/09 Glenn Beck agrees with a guest who urged bin Laden to attack U.S. with nuclear weapons.
• 7/25/09 Neil Cavuto and a guest say health care reform will impose universal euthanasia like "Soylent Green."
• 7/28/09 Glenn Beck says "The President has exposed himself as a guy ... who has a deep-seated hatred for white people ... or the white culture... This man is a racist."
• 8/6/09 Glenn Beck "jokes" about giving Speaker Pelosi a glass of wine with poison.
  Has FOX News gone too far?

I'm an American and a patriot.

Whether or not you voted for, agree with, or like Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi, he is the President and she is the Speaker of the House. Calling for her murder, spreading lies and propaganda about proposed health care policy to scare people, and calling for nuclear terrorist attack on this country are unacceptable. These statements are akin to shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. Fox's FCC licenses should be revoked. The network should be thrown off the air. Beck, Cavuto, their guests, producers, writers, and the Fox "News" executives responsible for these shows should be sent to Guantanamo, tried for advocating and inciting terrorism, and if guilty, punished to the full extent of the law. Ditto for Rush Limbaugh, his writers, producers, and those responsible for his "hate media."

Tell FOX News advertisers to cancel their ads

Here's a list of Fox News Advertisers / Enablers, (as of 8/31/09)
Accu-Chek / Roche
BuyWaterJet.com
CancerCenter.com
Carbonite.com
Cash4Gold.com
Cooney & Conway
Dannon.com
DiscoverEasyWater.com
EmpireToday.com
EncoreDental.com
ExploreHumana.com
GoToMeeting.com
Johnson Law Group / Contact Us
LearCapital.com
LibertyMedical.com
Merit Financial
NecklineSlimmer.com
OxiClean
Pearle Vision
PulaskiLawFirm.com
Rosland Capital
ServPro.com
SmartBalance
TDAmeritrade
The Villages
VeteranMeso.com
Video Professor
ZeroWater.com

Michael Brown Consulting on Disaster Planning

This is not satire. Former FEMA Director Michael "Heck of a Job, Brownie" Brown joins Cold Creek Solutions, as a Disaster and Contingency Planning Consultant.

This is from a press release I was e-mailed:

Former FEMA Director Michael Brown Joins Cold Creek Solutions, Offers Consulting Practice for Disaster Recovery

CENTENNIAL, CO - While leading federal relief efforts for 160 presidential declared disasters in his roles at FEMA and Homeland Security, Michael Brown heard one cringe-worthy phrase repeated again and again.

"People always say, 'I never thought it would happen to me,'" said Brown. "I would maintain that anyone who has a business, or a family, needs to recognize that disasters happen and disrupt life. Businesses especially need to plan for the worst."

"Michael Brown intimately understands planning and how plans need to be adaptable and changeable," said Paul Schwappach, principal of Cold Creek Solutions, a technology planning firm focusing on data management. "With Michael's experience and his unique view into what possibly could go wrong when looking at a plan, we can truly help clients be prepared for the unexpected."

It goes on (and on and on). It's actually pretty funny.

Brown, the former undersecretary of Homeland Security, was one of the longest-serving directors of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He led federal relief efforts for disasters including the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001, the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster and California wildfire season in 2003, and the unprecedented 2004-2005 hurricane seasons. Brown also directed the nation's response to numerous foreign disasters and terrorist attacks.

Brown and Cold Creek will work to provide clients disaster recovery and business continuity solutions rooted in a perspective that can't be found elsewhere.

There's even more ....

Maybe he learned something, but Michael Brown is just about the last person I would want advising me on disaster contingency planning. At the risk of being accused of shamelessly hawking my own intellectual property - you can hear my thoughts on We Had The Will, We Found The Way, at cdbaby.com. The song asks:

How the hell did we go from Lincoln, FDR, and John Kennedy to Bush and Cheney?
How did we go from the New Deal to Iraq and Katrina?

Truth To The Rumors (joke)

Moonbase Alpha, Luna City, Sea of Tranquility, the Moon, Nov. 44, 2033. It turns out there's some truth to the rumors that President-for-Life Obama is setting up "death panels." A task force headed by Abbie Hoffman, Anita Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Michael Jackson has set up "death lists."

The Hoffmans, Mr. Rubin and Mr. Jackson are no longer deceased. They were cloned in a secret lab on the moon. The process was started early in 2009, by Executive Order. They are now operating an underground base on the moon. In fairness it must be pointed out that because the moon is an asteroid with no atmosphere, all moon bases are undergound.

The Hoffmans and Rubin were picked because of their well-known radical politics. Jackson was picked because of his expertise in "moon-walking." The clones of Jackson, Rubin, and both Hoffmans grew up in undisclosed locations and traveled back in time to work on the lists.

This reporter traveled forward in time to meet with them, hence the dateline on this filing is 24 years in the future. This story is dated November 44 because in the future there will be only four months. The first month is February, which is Black History Month. (white history is "White people brought slaves to America. Most of the Declaration of Independence was actually written by Sally Hemmings, Jefferson's common-law wife. Abe Lincoln, who was 1/4 Black - that's why he was so tall - freed the slaves. As his cousin Abe Lincoln Jefferson noted, "White people causes all the trouble, black folks cleans up all the mess.") The other months include August, Obama's birthday month, November, Michelle Obama's birthday month, and the new month of Obama, which has both Christmas, New Years, and sometimes, to demonstrate his love for the Jewish People, Obama, who also calls himself "King of the Jews," the Jewish New Year. All months have 61 days, except for the Month of Obama, which has 182 days, 183 on leap years.)

A dispute broke out over Sarah Palin. All four wanted her husband, Todd, and at least four (4) of her children euthanized. Jackson wanted her euthanized as well. Anita Hoffman wanted to keep her around because of her value "Yes she mobilizes the wacko far right," Anita said, "But she motivates the left, and the women and just antagonizes the moderates - every time she opens her mouth." Rubin and Abbie Hoffman wanted her alive because of her "entertainment" value. It turns out that they really dig chicks with guns, and don't really care about whales, wolves, nature, or humanity.

"Having been dead," Rubin said, "we don't really care about life." We just want, you know, some action."

"And why should we care about the county that let us die?" Hoffman added.

The lists include Robert Novak, who cheated by dieing Aug. 19, 2009, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchanan, Bill O'Reilly, other right wing commentators, members of their audience and "base." Anyone who watches Fox News, Lou Dobbs, or listens to Rush Limbaugh is on the list to be "euthanized."

"America," Mr. Hoffman explained, "is a "youth-oriented" culture. And it is increasingly dominated by Asians. What we are doing is combining these aspects of life in Amerika, linking them, into a "Youth-n-Asia" program.

Here's how the program will work. People will lose their health insurance benefits when they change jobs or get sick. Eventually. 47 million Americans will not have Health Insurance. When they get really sick they will face bankruptcy. And 16,000 will die each year, one person every 30 minutes, every half-hour of every day. Wait - that's what we have today.*

Ken Starr, a spokesman for the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation said "This is intolerable. We can't have one person dieing every 30 minuutse. While most of these deaths are poor people, we have no way of restricting this to liberals. And then, even it it was one every 30 seconds, it would only amount to One Million per year. We need to kill more people faster, we need to kill 10 or 15 million a year to rid this nation of the scourge of Liberalism. That's why we need more coal, oil, nuclear power, and resultant mercury and radioactive wastes. That's why we need to bring back DDT. That's why we need to support the drug war on poor shiftless Americans who live in inner cities."

* This is a work of satire. However, there's a grain of truth in it. It's not that we have a base on the moon, or have cloned Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Anita Hoffman, or Michael Jackson. And it's not that we are capable of time travel. We don't, we haven't, and we're not. It's that 47 million people have no health insurance and one person dies every 30 minutes because he or she has no health insurance.

Existential Economics

A new realm of economics. Beyond Political Economics and Neo-Classical Economics, outside the realm of Ecological Economics; this new realm is Existential Economics. This is little more than quintessential American spin on the subject - DeCartes said "I think, therefore I am." Madison Ave. defines us as "We shop, therefore we is."

Move over Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, Herman Daly, we need to listen to Alfred E. Neuman.

In Bucco Lingua, In the Cheek the Tongue, a Pre-Existing Condition

New York, NY, Aug. 20. Reading thru my insurance policy, I learned that In Bucco Lingua Syndrome, "In The Cheek The Tongue," aka "Tongue in Cheek" Syndrome is now classified as a pre-existing condition, and it can be used to deny health benefits to anyone, regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. A person, or "patient-like entity" with In Bucca Lingua Syndrome only requires treatment for 72 seconds. 72 seconds is the time allocated for a "patient-like entity" to present identifrication and sign away 87.9 % of one's assets and be given a prescription for aspirin. A "patient-like entity," also termed a "patient-like asset" or "cash cow," is a person named on an insurance policy for whom premiums are collected and to whom actual medical care can be legally withheld.

In Bucco Lingua Syndrome is endemic among people who watch Saturday Night Live, Mad TV, the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, who as children watched Get Smart, or who live in, grew up, or went to college in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, parts of New Jersey, New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass, Madison, Wisconsin, Burlington, Vermont, and parts of California. It is also known to have effected people from Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Utah, but only those who left those places for New York, New Jersey, California, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, George Carlin, Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Dave Chappell and Bill Maher are the most famous celebrities who have had it.

There is no cure. However, it leads to a heightened sense of fairness and joie de vivre. It it not statistically known to negatively impact life-span. I was not diagnosed with it, but then again, I can't afford to see a doctor.

In Defense of Fat

A large percentage of Americans are "large." A significant percentage are "significant." At only 30 pounds above my ideal weight, above the weight I was in college, I'm neither. But it's noble being fat, it's selfless to be obese. Sure the basic reason is people eat more calories than than they burn off, and when you do this over time you gain weight. Over a long time, you gain a lot of weight. One extra pound a year for 50 years is 50 pounds. For an American man of average height that would be 190 to 200 pounds. And to hit 350, 450 pounds, by age 20 or 30, you're talking about a gain of 200, 300 pounds in 20 or 30 years, that's 10 extra pounds a year. But that's the scientific explanation. As any bored high school child will tell you, preferably over a pizza or nachos with soda, science is boring.

Forget science, let's take a step back and think about beauty and sexiness. Let's think about Monica Lewinsky. While she was, is, "chunky" or "big boned," and while she looks good in a beret, she never made it as a sex symbol. The height of her fame was not characterized by pictures of her in a bikini or less on the bedroom walls of teenagers across the country. She may have been interviewed for Playboy, but unlike Marilyn Monroe, another special friend of another President, she wasn't asked to pose. You're not likely to see her in the Swimsuit Issue of Sports Illustrated. If their models define feminine sexuality, and Playboy and SI hope they do, then fat chicks don't define feminine sexy.

So what we're seeing, in part, is a deliberate existential challenge to normative popular culture on the definition of sexiness. This image: very pretty girl, long hair, large boobs, tiny waist, tottering on stiletto heals, in a very short skirt – barely wider than a belt – the Barbie Doll image of sexuality – is falling, perhaps because it's top heavy. It is being challenged by our sisters, our daughters, our wives, our selves And we, who love our sisters, daughters, wives, and selves are rising to the challenge. It is being replaced with the matronly woman. A robust and mature woman. To whom you say "yes, ma-am," when asked to do something.

Fat chicks are challenging our notion of beauty and sexuality. Fat guys in Speedos, mostly from Germany, Russia, Yugoslavia, and Hungary, are joining in the challenge. They have a dream, to echo Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "they have a dream that one day their children be judged by the content of their character, not by the quantity of their skin; they have a dream today."

There's more.

Toxic organic chemicals, such as DDT, PCB's, meythyl mercury, which are in our food and water, albeit in trace amounts, which are linked to health effects like Parkinson's, and cancer, concentrate in fats and fatty tissues: breasts, brains, beer bellies. Obese people, by concentrating these substances in their very bodies, are doing the rest of a favor and taking them out of the biosphere.

Obesity is linked to a shorter life-span. Fat people are sacrificing themselves so the rest of us may live longer. By using more resources now they enable us to use fewer resources later, but we're resourceful, we'll think of something. Vegan food, no doubt...

So to my fat friends, I say, thank you, let me give you a big hug.

Lou Dobbs wins coveted Father Coughlin Award

New York, August 12. CNN Commentator Lou "Loser" Dobbs (click here) edged out Rush "I Hope He Dies" Limbaugh, Bill "Bubbles" O'Reilly and Glenn "Porn-Man" Beck in the competion for the coveted and prestigious "Father Coughlin" award. The award, sponsored by the KKK, the Aryan Nations, and others is given to the broadcast personality who "embodies the malignant spirit of Father Caughlin, who uses hate speech to incite violence, obfuscate the real issues, hijack the debate, and fire up the base."

In explaining their decision Derrick William "Billy Bob" Roberts and Karl "The Roverer" Rove said, "We like Limbaugh, we like his stuff. It's good. Catchy. While he has a dedicated following, most of his listeners can't read and don't vote. Limbaugh is an overweight drug-addict, not that there's anything wrong with that, but he's tired and a has-been."

"Beck had potential," they continued, "but Fox News is marginal. With Obama in the White House and Democrats in the House and Senate, we are trying to shore up the support, but he is too new, too green. He doesn't make sense, which isn't a problem, but people don't watch Fox News ."

"The problem with Limbaugh and Beck is that they are no longer firing up the base. People have moved on. They're out of work, they got no health care. They can't afford gas for their SUV's, they are beginning to realize we can't drill our way out of this, so they ain't listening anymore. They moved on. Worse, we are actually seeing Beck and Limbaugh energizing the Liberals - the Olberman - Maddow - Stewart - Colbert - SNL audience. That's growing. When they report the stupid things Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and Beck say

"But Dobbs, he's different. He's on CNN. That's a different audience than Fox. More educated. Liberal. Sympathetic to the Palestinians. Likely to believe all that crap about global warming." People think CNN is a real news organization. They don't see Dobbs as a plant."

The Father Caughlin award is co-sponsored by CNN, Time, which owns CNN, the companies whos executives sit on the Boards of Time and Fox, and the companies who's advertising sponsors Dobbs, Limbaugh, Beck, and others.

*** This is a work of satire.
These nicknames make no sense. Lou "Loser" Dobbs, Rush "I Hope He Dies" Limbaugh, Bill "Bubbles" O'Reilly and Glenn "Porn-Man" Beck. What was I thinking? A cheap laugh? I left out Pat Buchanan. He grew up listening to Coughlin.

But Beck, Dobbs, Limbaugh and O'Reilly should not be broadcasting hate speech and inciting violence. under the rubric of news. This must stop. There's a reason that the KKK runs around hiding under sheets and hoods. They know they're wrong.

Boycott Fox, CNN, and the networks that promote Dobbs, Limbaugh, and Beck, the networks that pronote racism and incite violence, and the advertisers.

The good news is Dobbs ratings are declining, which maybe why he is yelling more and why he called Howard Dean a vampire.(click here)

I Pay But I Don't Get It

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I have a good job. I buy the health insurance my Human Resources Dept tells me to buy. (This is not, by the way, a "free market" as described by Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and the other neo-classical economists.) I pay enough that I could be driving a Mercedes - hell I could be driving a Hummer - and going about 2400 miles per month (at current gas prices).

But my coverage stinks. It's rationed by insurance company beancounters. If I see their doctors - and a complete physical takes about two hours and 30 seconds - two hours waiting and 30 seconds in which the doc says "You're breathing. That's good. You're blood pressure is high, if it gets higher we'll put you on meds."

But that's ok. As long as I don't get sick I'm ok. That's why my blood pressure is high. I'm worried about getting sick. Or losing my job. In either case I'll lose my house.

One thing I don't worry about is that my octagenarian father has good health care. He worked hard all his life. He takes care of himself. And he's on Medicare. It's great. Efficient. Government run. Not sexy like the Apollo Mission to the moon, but very important. And for the health care that my kids teachers get. They go to public school. The teachers are in the unions. And the health care is good. The kids too get good health care. Even if their parents work but don't get health care, then, thanks to Presidents Clinton and Obama, and despite the efforts and vetos of President Bush, they get health care.

But one of the things that really gets me, the thing that makes my blood boil - which is why I'll need blood pressure meds - is that close to 50 Million Americans - one out of six - have no health insurance. And it's people between the age of 18 and 65. People who work, or would work, if they could find jobs. This is wrong on many levels.

The other thing that is killing me - almost literally - is that people who make $Millions - insurance industry executives, and lobbyists and rich "Philosophers" Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, and O'Reilley - wait, they're not philosophers, they're not Thinkers - they're actors - and they are telling me what's good for me. That's un-American. They are sending people to disrupt "Town Hall meetings with Representatives from Congress.

On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry, speaking at St. John's church in Richmond, Virginia said "give me liberty or give me death." Those guys have taken my liberty and are giving me death.

Dear President Obama, Senators, Reps. in the House,

We elected you and the Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate to fix the problems created and exacerbated by the neo-cons and the Republicans, and to do this by governing from the left of the center.

You have your work cut out for you.

Good luck.

I have your back.

But I can't support you when I'm drowning.

(first published on Daily Kos)

Single Prayer or Medicare for All

Medicare works well for my octogenarian father. My insurance premium is large enough - $1200 per month - for a new BMW and a new Mercedes. And I can't see the doctors I'd like to see.

My insurance is great as long as I don't get sick.

Then I'd face bankruptcy. What good is it? And One out of Six Americans has no health insurance and therefore very limited access to health care. This is appalling. It's the population of California, NJ and New York City. It's roughly the population of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland - the entire mid-Atlantic and New England states. It's 47 Million People!

Please call your Senator and your Representative in the House. Tell them to support a DFA Green Orca who runs on a campaign to deliver single payer health care and 100% clean energy in 10 years.

Will it be easy? No. But - When John Kennedy urged us to accept the goal "before the decade is out, of sending a man to the moon and returning him safely" he said it would be hard and expensive. Yet we did it.

When the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said "I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day my children will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" he didn't say it would be easy. He didn't say it would happen overnight. And he spoke those words about 45 years ago, about 100 years after Lincoln freed both slaves and the slaveholders of the bondage and oppression of slavery. And while last November a sufficient plurality judged Obama and McCain by the content or their character and not the color of their skin, we're not out of the woods yet. (How else do you explain people like CNN's Lou Dobbs? If his questioning Obama's birth is not racism I'll eat a whaleburger.)

We didn't know where Apollo would lead - other than to the moon and back. We didn't know it would lead to the Internet and tons of cool high tech. Unlike the Apollo program we know these twin goals - single payer and 100% clean energy - will have tremendous economic and national security benefits.

We can't afford the status quo. As Gore said, "we are borrowing Billions from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf and burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has got to change." Coal, by the way, is dirtier than oil. It may be abundent, but it's abundently dirty

Let's turn those Blue Dogs into Dog Meat. And the Dog Meat Republicanista ...

Think about it - rotweiller and pit bull versus orca? No contest. Orca wins.