A tax by any other name would still cost you money

Here it is, the start of the new television season and already they are into reruns. President Obama continues to pop up everywhere on the telly, showing up on no less then five different shows yesterday and appearing on Letterman tonight, in order to change the public perception on his plans to change health care in this country. Now it seems as if even the media is starting to turn on him. Check out this exchange he had with George Stephanopoulos on ABC:

Maybe its just me but the Prez seems to be just a little annoyed at George's line of questioning especially when it came to the tax question. You would think a Harvard graduate would know the dictionary definition of tax. Maybe he was distracted by Acorn's financial troubles.

And comparing mandatory health care to auto insurance is just asinine. People who have no license or car have no need to get auto insurance. Auto insurance is only there to protect you from catastrophic loss, that may or may not happen to you within your lifetime. It is pretty much guaranteed that we will all experience a major health problem at some point in our lives. Please, stop using auto insurance for your health care analogy, they are nowhere near being similar. If they were then Geico would pay for every time you went to the gas station or got the oil changed, the same way health insurance covers yearly check-ups with your doctor. If auto insurance was like that then it would be insanely expensive.

Oh, before I go, here are just some of the industries taken over or about to be taken over by the government; the car industry, the banking industry, home mortgages, health care, and student loans. He even seems to be moving in on the award show dress making industry.

From NobodyDoesn'tLike

My friend, we'll call her SaraBert just to keep the bert theme going, has an awesome post about her recollections on 9/11 that I think you should go check out. Here's an excerpt:

I’ll admit I am one of those Americans who in the years since 9/11/01 passed have pushed the day and the weeks and months and year that followed deep deep deep into my subconscious. Truth be told if asked right now what I did 9/11/07 or 9/11/08 I really couldn't say. I don’t think it was anything other than just a day. It was just September 11th. Usually the girls’ school has them dress in red white and blue and they will gather around the flag and sing a patriotic song. But this year they did nothing. My kids still wore red white and blue. And most years this is the extent of it…the girls in their patriotic garb and me stealing a few quiet seconds in the shower to offer up a prayer for our nation, for all those affected and all those still fighting for us….and then we are on with our day.

For the rest of her post click here and enjoy all of her musings.

Eight years later...

And I still cry.

I remember driving into work at 6 am, still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes because at that point I had only been "fully" awake for fifteen minutes. It was my last day of work before I started my birthday vacation. I tuned my radio over to Dave, Shelly, and Chainsaw, and was immediately informed of a plane hitting on of the towers at the World Trade Center. Now my first thought was that a small Cessna had accidentally hit it, since Dave wasn't too clear on the scope of the plane. Fifteen minutes later the second plane hit and this time Dave was pretty clear on the kind of plane it was, and I knew our world would never be the same.

As the years move us further and further away from the events of 9/11, it becomes easy for us to forget how fast everything was happening in those early morning hours. I remember hearing unconfirmed reports about an explosion at the Pentagon, about the Capitol building and White House being evacuated. I even remember rumors of helicopters opening fire at the Pentagon and that there were four planes still unaccounted for. No one knew what the hell was going on. All we knew was we were under attack and no one seemed to know what to do, except for the firefighters, police officers, and paramedics who sacrificed to help others.

When I heard that the towers had collapsed and were gone, I was so numb to the events that my mind hadn't quite grasped the full impact. A coworker pulled up pictures of the towers falling and still my mind seemed to be in denial. By the end of the day, everyone at work was just going through the motions, eager to get home, to be with loved ones, and finally see the events of the day on their TVs.
The very first thing I saw on television was the collapse of the towers. I watched on in horror and fear as the images were replayed again and again, forever burning themselves into my brain. Finally, my brain had accepted the truth of the situation and I fell into my couch and cried.

Here we are eight years later and life continues as normal. 9/11 gets pushed further and further to the backs of our minds as more immediate concerns grab our daily attention. I fear that we may be losing our sense of what is truly at stake when we look at 9/11 and the war on terror that followed. For many 9/11 was a freak occurrence, one of those tragedies that happen every few years, like Waco or the Oklahoma City bombing. I fear that our successes in averting more 9/11's has made us complacent in regards to our nation's security. You can see it everyday in the coverage of the war. Currently there is an increasing call for withdrawal from Afghanistan, and that is supposed to be the "just" war. We seem to be more concerned about the rights of evil, bloodthirsty murderers then we do about our own right to exist in peace as a nation. Every year, the events of 9/11 gets looked at more and more through the prism of moral relativism. We constantly ask ourselves, "Why do they hate us?", " What can we do to make them love us?" like some battered wife.

I don't care why the terrorists do what they do. All I care about is that we stop them, permanently. Because I recognize that our country has been a force for good through our 200 plus years of existence and will continue to spread good through out this world in the centuries to come. We are Americans and its just what we do.

Its 9/11, eight years later, and I still cry.

Just what we need. Another whiny blog about politics

Not so fast there. This is a work in progress. A culmination of years of blood, sweat, and tears. I've spent years laying the ground work for what I hope will be my magnum opus. Awww, who am I kidding. This site is something I came up with on my drive home from work today. A place where I can focus on the crazy political world while leaving the boring minutiae of life to my other wonderful site.

No comic book rants or pictures of my dog here. This site will be a mish mash of political instability and controversy. That is assuming I can convince some of my good for nothing lazy friends to contribute something every now and then. Right or left, I really don't care, just as long as its stimulating, educational, and entertaining.

So hopefully this will work out and I'll finally put my fancy degree to some practical use. Now all I need is catchy closing phrase. Oh, I got it.

To infinity and bey...nope can't use that, don't want to be sued. Oh well, maybe next time.