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Friday, March 12. 2010
Too Little Too Late
Now the president is talking tough. After he and his party have given away the single-payer option, after they’ve given away the public option and mandated everyone without health insurance has to buy health insurance from the very companies who make our health care system a joke.It’s about time Mr. President, although the question is, is this too little too late? The bill will pass and get signed by the president, by way of reconciliation — the Nuclear Option. Isn’t that a quaint term! The Republicans want to frighten us with a scary word: “nuclear.”
Never mind that Republicans used “The Nuclear Option” five times during the Bush (43) years to pass budgets that spent beyond the limits of our treasury without paying for those budget shortfalls. This is the hypocrisy: when the Republicans blast the Democrats for using reconciliation they say the procedure has never been used on a bill, like the health care bill, that would have such a large impact on the American public.
Running the country into a three trillion dollar debt doesn’t have a great impact on the American taxpayers? That stretches credulity — no, that breaks it in two.
Not to mention, reconciliation has been used, with party line votes, for creating Social Security, the Voting Rights Act, and a host of other bills throughout history.
Does the health care bill really matter if we don’t have single payer or a public option? Is it good for the American people if we are forced to buy insurance we cannot afford? Will the bill actually reduce the financial burden we now carry due to health care costs if we are, in effect, subsidizing the health care industry?
Good Democrats tell us this is just a start, something we can build on in the future. Maybe it is, but while we wait to build on it people will still go without needed care and treatment and some of those people will die.
Too little too late.
Just had this little shock. Years ago I moved to Sandy Eggo and one reason was the lovely hobby of snorkeling, at La Jolla Cove in particular. Now, La Jolla Shores is a nice place to snorkel too and like La Jolla Cove, many scuba divers start their dives from La Jolla Shores, over by the boat ramp where people launch anything that will float. People learning to ocean kayak learn right there.This is already getting a little far a field, but what the Hell, we’re talking about La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Cove! I was just picturing the last time I was at the Shores, watching people trying to learn how to kayak — in the ocean. It’s probably a good bet most have never been in a canoe before, let alone an ocean kayak. You can tell: they look at the double-sided paddle — quizzically, eye the spot in the kayak where the passenger (or passengers) sit convinced they have that part figured out …
And then they look at the 2-4 foot breakers the surfers are cruising on up the beach and you see that, sometimes brief, look of fear. Two-to-four foot waves don’t sound so big — until you’re sitting in a kayak that gets lifted and bounced by one. Or worse yet, capsized. Anyway, it’s all part of the entertainment at La Jolla Shores.
The other entertainment is the eye candy. La Jolla Shores is a great place to watch people.
So, often I’ll go snorkeling at La Jolla Shores or La Jolla Cove. It’s a great activity, gets you into that beautiful Pacific Ocean and you can really commune with nature. I use that term, “snorkeling,” quite a bit. Never really noticed anyone snickering because when I talk about snorkeling, it’s about donning a mask, snorkel and fins and going out into the ocean. I don’t surf.
The past few nights the news has been full of recently resigned New York Congressman Eric Massa. He was recently accused of sexually assaulting one of his staffers, a man no less. Massa is a Democrat by the bye, and is married with children.
When the news first broke, that the House ethics committee was investigating the accusations, Massa claimed he was being pressured by the White House because he, Massa, voted against the House health care bill. As the news began to build, the congressman eventually resigned and went on Larry King and Glenn Beck, the latter hoping to get some great revelations about “corruption” in the Democratic Party and the White House. Beck later apologized to his viewers for wasting their time.
The TV interviews took place after Massa resigned and he talked about Rahm Emanuel accosting him in the Congressional gym shower — nekkid! How titillating! Emanuel, if you don’t know, is President Obama’s chief of staff. According to Massa, Emanuel was poking him in the chest for not voting for the health care bill.
Well, once all this news broke, Massa’s past came back to haunt him. The former congressman is a graduate of the Naval Academy and served about various ships of the line. Many of his former shipmates have now come out and told of Massa groping and touching them inappropriately.
One claim really caught my attention. A former shipmate of Massa, Stuart Borsch, said he had been the recipient of Massa’s unwanted advances and that one their fellow officers, who shared a stateroom with Massa, was woken up when Massa climbed up onto the upper bunk and tried to “snorkel” him.
Wait a minute! “Snorkel?” That just ain’t right! And what the Hell is snorkeling? Well, we all know what teabagging is: a guy drops is ballsack onto/into another person’s open mouth, usually when the other person is sleeping. “Snorkeling” is similar, except that the person baring his ballsack puts it over the sleeping person’s eyes, like a mask.That just ain’t right.
First of all, now I gotta ask my Navy friends how often the “snorkeled” their shipmates. That should start a fight or two. But, now I’m going to have to explain myself whenever I tell someone I’m going snorkeling. DAMMIT!
Okay, just for the record, when I say I’m going snorkeling, that means I’m putting on a mask, snorkel and fins and going into the ocean. My ballsack, well it usually shrivels in the cold water, but it won’t be placed on any sleeping person’s eyes — or in their mouths for that matter. Unless that other person is a woman who is awake and expecting it. Certain things just feel too good.
Maybe I’ll go snorkeling this weekend, if the weather is nice.
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