Monday, July 30, 2012

Folks, No-Fault, and '57 Fords

It doesn't get much more complicated than ObamaCare. So, let's make it simple:  Under ObamaCare, which is universal health care, everyone must have health insurance.

Put that way, it doesn't sound so bad. Certainly, everyone, eventually will need health insurance. Still, people are uneasy. They hear the word "mandate," as in "mandatory," and they get worried that the government will try to make them do something that they may not feel like doing just now.

Try this:  Think "mandate" and then think of a point of reference. For me, that "point of reference" is 1973. I was twenty, and in my third year at Western Michigan University. Prior to returning to school after summer break, I bought a '57 Ford for 50 bucks. It was a two-tone blue, stick-in-the-column tank - no fiber glass there, just pure cast-iron muscle. I did not need car insurance. I just told folks to "Get outa  the way."

But government told me I had to have insurance. (On a fifty-dollar car?) Yes.

That's a mandate. Still, I could not afford real insurance. So, I purchased a "no-fault" insurance package - what we jokingly called "yo-fault" - which was no insurance at all, but a penalty for not buying real insurance. Sound familiar?

Now, the Republicans, on the heels of the Roberts ruling, is calling ObamaCare a "tax." Of course, it is a tax. All government programs tax the public. You want a road built? Tax the public first. National Defense plan, food stamp program, education budget - tax, tax, tax.

So what if ObamaCare is a tax. There are 30 million Americans - most of whom are poor - who are without health insurance, including millions of small children. ObamaCare insures that they, too, will receive those services that can give them a better life.

Sounds like a vintage two-tone '57 Ford to me. Please, get out of the way.

Monday, July 16, 2012

LeBron James: Doing it "My Way" in America

At 6'8" and 260 pounds, LeBron James may be the greatest athlete on Earth. He is hardworking, articulate, and man, can he fly. And he stays out of trouble - no guns, no drugs, no domestic assaults. He has mooned no one.

Yet, those in the sports media have declared LeBron one of the "most hated" sports stars in America. Really?

In 2003, fresh out of high school, LeBron James signed a seven-year contract with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. By the time he had fulfilled that contract, he had taken a last place team to first place in the standings, and then to the NBA finals in the playoffs. He single-handedly doubled the value of that Cleveland franchise. During that same time, he won the NBA's Rookie-of-the-year, two MVP awards, and an Olympic Gold Medal.

Then, as a free agent, during a made-for-television special, LeBron announced, "I'm taking my talents to South Beach (Miami)."  That did it. Apparently, no fouler words had ever been spoken. For the next three years, the sports media and its sycophants went after LeBron with a vengeance. It has been a vile attempt to villianize a fine, young African-American for being himself.

They are Hatfields and McCoys - these types of people - ignorant and cruel. they make something our of nothing, magnify it to illogical proportions, and then draw as many idiots as they can muster down into their vortex. In that mosh pit of inanity, they find affirmation.

These most-imperfect people demand perfection of LeBron (as though they would recognize "perfection" if they saw it.) They not only want to tweak LeBron's game (because being the best isn't good enough), but they want to tweak his personality to fit their image of what he should be.

All the while, LeBron has continued to perform at a level unmatched at both ends of the court despite their damnedest efforts to drain the joy from him and his game. It appears they do this for not other reason than that LeBron has decided to do things his way.

I guess doing it "my way" is okay for Ol' Blue Eyes, but not for a young "brother" in America.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

…And Justice For All

Last month, they sent back his remains - letters of an American soldier missing in Vietnam. In one letter, he wrote: "This is a dirty and cruel war."

That is all the Vietnam War was - dirty and cruel. It was senseless violence on an epic scale waged against an agrarian society who had done the U.S. absolutely no harm. We contrived grievances against those people, and then bombed them mercilessly. We killed well over a million men, women, and children, and then, on the Washington mall, built a monument to our suffering.

For a nation known for making its own citizens pay dearly for their crimes, America has never paid for the crimes it committed against the Vietnamese people.

They Don't Like You

A year ago, the Pakistani government was charging the U. S. $250 per supply truck passing through Pakistan to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Now they want $5,000 per. Sound familiar?

Remember "Godfather II", when Nevada's Senator Geary decides to charge Michael Corleone $25,000 for a gaming license? Corleone asks, "Why should I pay $25,000 when the fee for a license is only $1,000?"  Geary responds: "Because I don't like you, and I intend to squeeze you."

That, Mr. Obama, is your relationship with the Pakistanis in a nutshell.