It should be legal to shoot at people driving loud motorcycles

This is mostly directed at those who choose to drive Harleys, and especially to those who modify their bikes to make them louder, Harley or not.  If these people don’t care about my health and well-being, not to mention my right to live in peace and quiet, then why should I care about theirs.  If they are intentionally going to ride a loud motorcycle, knowing full well that they are pissing people off with the noise, and truly don’t give a shit, then why can’t I take a BB Gun or a 12-Gage shotgun and take target practice.  I don’t want them to die from the gunshot any more than they want me to die from the noise.  But they don’t care if they disrupt my day, or night, so why am I not allowed to disrupt theirs.

I live in Maine.  I don’t really understand the motorcycle culture here but it’s something I never experienced until I moved here.  Recently I wrote a letter to my State Senator and State Representative because I heard that some group was trying to get a law passed to crack down on loud motorcycles.  My story, and my letter, goes as follows:

I live in Springvale, Maine in an apartment, set back from the road a bit, but in the center of town.

 As a result of excessive motorcycle noise, I literally cannot live my life in my home with my windows open.

 It’s winter now, so not much of an issue.  But as soon as the weather turns warmer just a bit, or even if we have one warm winter day, the motorcycles appear like moths to a flame.  By April and right through to November, I cannot open the windows in my home.  No fresh air, no sleeping with a cool breeze coming in the windows, it is literally impossible.

 Why?  Loud motorcycles.  Not only do they get some thrill out of making their motorcycles as loud as possible, the will sit at the traffic light and rev their already loud engines.  When they take off, it’s as if a drill-bit is being jammed into my temple.   I cannot fall asleep, nor stay asleep during the night with my windows open and god forbid if I want to take a nap on a Saturday afternoon with the window open.

It is absolutely ridiculous, uncalled for, and as far as I am concerned, it is selfish on the part of the motorcycle owner, not to mention criminal in how they think they own the road. 

 Along with the noise is the attitude.  Why are motorcyclists allowed to travel in packs of sometimes hundreds?  There was one occasion last summer where I was trying to pull out of a side street onto Pleasant Street in Springvale.  I was trying to get to the doctor as I was dealing with an urgent medical issue.  I sat there as hundreds of motorcycles went by, one after the other, mile after mile, for 32 minutes.  Thirty-two minutes.  That is how long I waited trying to pull out on to the main road so I could get to an urgent doctor visit.  I tried inching my way out hoping somebody would have the smarts to know to let me out.  But no.  Not one single cyclist had the foresight to say “hey other people might need to get somewhere”.   I do not care if it was a joyride or a charity ride.  Groups of motorcycles do not need to travel in unending packs of obnoxious noise and a sense of entitlement.

 But my biggest issue is the noise.  Can they not tell how loud the bike is?  Are they deaf from the noise or do they just not care?  I see how they behave, revving up their engines at traffic lights.  If I’m next to one at a light, I have to close the windows in my car because I can’t hear the radio.  Or my passenger.  That’s just plain wrong.

I will do ANYTHING to help your cause.  I will call whomever you need me to call.  I will write to whomever you need me to write.  I will go to the State House and stand in front of a committee.  You just let me know.

 I have a blog that I can put to work on this topic.  And I will contact media outlets if need be.

 I was so shocked, and excited, that somebody is finally doing something about this.  I had no idea your organization even existed until I saw a news piece on WMTW and then did some Internet searches based on that. 

 Please sign me up to help.

Obviously, I am not serious about taking pot shots at bikers.  I don’t believe in violence.  Especially violence to fight stupidity.  However, there are many days that I think about it when a Harley goes SCREAMING by my home.  Being exposed to loud noises has been proven to cause sleep deprivation, chronic fatigue, anxiety, hostility, depression and hypertension.  At a recent doctor visit for a regular checkup, the thing withwhich my doctor was most concerned was my lack of sleep.

I feel like the old guy in the neighborhood who says “you kids get off my lawn” (said in an old man voice, of course) .  I am only in my early forties but have been bothered by loud noises like this for most of my life.  I hate loud TV’s and loud radios, too.  I honesty wouldn’t care so much about this if the root cause was not based in the bike owner’s sense of entitlement.  The U.S. Constitution says we have a right to live our lives freely, but it can’t be at the expense of other citizens right to the same.

If you would like to support MECALM , and would like to support the few Maine Legislators that are backing this bill (LD-1675), or if you simply would like more information, please go to www.mecalm.org

Superbowl abortion commercial

Apparently, some former “mass of tissue” is going to star in a TV commercial that speaks out against abortion.  This “mass of tissue” is glad his mommy didn’t have an abortion.  I’m not so sure.  I say, when in doubt, ABORT, ABORT ABORT.

I hate to break it to you son, but your Mom wasn’t strong, she was weak.  She gave in to her conscience.  Some may think “Hey, had this woman aborted her mass of tissue then the mass would not have grown up to become a football player”.  I say, “all this football player did was grow up and try to divide the country, culturally, on one of few days in a the year where the country comes together to watch a sporting event”. 

I don’t think the left wingers should be mad and I don’t think they should protest.  I think they should run their own ad on Superbowl Sunday with a picture of the ”mass of tissue” and the copy should say “if you don’t have an abortion, this is what you’re going to get.”

Don’t turn your back on Haiti

One of my  local TV stations has a “Question of the day”.  Today’s question was “Are you planning to help with the relief effort in Haiti?” – Pretty straight forward question, right?  I mean, most people aren’t hopping on planes and aren’t certified relief workers so the questions becomes “Are you giving money or not?”

One person said emphatically “NO Help your fellow American’s first”.

Another said “being on ss i have all i can do to provide heat and food for my family. its about time OTHER countries helped ot not always the good old USA!”

Add this to what Rush Limbaugh said, turning this into an Obama/Race issue, and Pat Robertson saying the Haitians brought this upon themselves because years ago they made a deal with the devil.

I sit here aghast, mouth agape, in shock and disbelief.  First, there are between 40,000 to 45,000 AMERICANS living in Haiti.  There are an untold number (possibly tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands) dying in the streets, dying under collapsed buildings, dying from an instant lack of medical care for conditions they had before the earthquake.  We are talking about human pain and suffering at a level that even the most cynical among us can’t even begin to imagine, even though they claim to. 

Imagine if you can that in a mere few seconds your house is gone, you don’t know where your family and friends are, you are injured and bleeding, it looks like you are in a war zone, every building around you, including the hospitals, are gone.  There are no building or roads and you can scream all you want for help – nobody is coming to help you.

In this country we do have people suffering.  Some have no work, and therefore no money, some are losing their homes, some have no health care.  So are these cynics saying that NOW they think we should take care of all Americans and give them health care?  And for the person who is suffering on Social Security - Haitians don’t have social security, at least you have that.  And where did you get it?  From the U.S. government who, at the time that law was passed, thought that all Americans were entitled to it, just like healthcare should be today.  But I digress.

It’s not the United States that runs to the rescue of the world, it is Americans.  It is people.  People like you and me who know what it is like to suffer through what life has served, who should know better than anyone else how much a helping hand can help.  Give $10, it’s not going to kill you.  But if the surviving Haitian people don’t get money,  it will kill them.

Get outside of your own head and your own self-pity, stop being so fucking selfish and help the Haitian people who are living a hell you can’t imagine.   Giving in times of need; rallying together and getting the job done; that’s what AMERICANS do.  We don’t care what other countries are doing.  And we don’t care who else might be  responsibility to help.  Out of all industrialized nations in this hemisphere, we are the most equiped to offer help.  And so we do.

Back to Stugazzi’s, Restaurant Review Part 2

After my first review of Stugazzi’s Italian AMERICAN restaurant, I received a lot of disagreeable comments.   I always try to be fair and don’t have any reservations about admitting I’m wrong.  So I decided to give Stugazzi’s another try.

I know that in order to have credibility, I would have to order a small variety of dishes and on different nights.  In the meantime I asked one of the cashiers at Rite-Aid (across the street from Stugazzi’s) if she had ever been to Stugazzi’s.  She said yes, and I asked what she had and was it good.  She raved about one dish; it was pasta with chicken and broccoli in what she called an alfredo sauce.  So I gave it a shot.  The next evening after work, I called in a to-go order.  I order the chicken and broccoli over linguini.  I also ordered a caesar salad.  When I arrived to pick it up I noticed they had renovated a bit from the last time I was there.  What didn’t change was the confusion.  Not only I, but other customers who walked in, had no idea where to go, where to stand, do we seat ourselves, where do I go to pick up my take out.  The only thing that changed is that they had added a big wooden bar on the left side of “the room”.  I still don’t know if you are supposed to seat yourself or wait for the waitress.  I remember people asking what they should do but I was more concerned about my order and since I wasn’t eating in, I didn’t care.

Back to the food.  After asking what I had to do to pick up my take out order, I walked over to the “window”.  Both the pasta dish and the caesar salad came in a typical supermarket, salad bar, aluminum, round thing with a see-through plastic cover.  In addition, each aluminum “bowl” was covered in layers of plastic wrap.  I knew at that moment the packaging would come back to haunt me but wasn’t sure how or why, yet.   The salad (cold) was placed on top of the pasta dish (hot).  So the heat from the pasta dish wilted the caesar salad.  Anyone in the food industry with any experience at all knows that you put cold on the bottom, then a piece of cardboard, then the hot stuff on top.  When you do it the other way, heat rises and so does the heat’s wilting ability. DUH!

Because I live close by I just paid and took my stuff and went home quickly.  I tried hard to salvage the salad but to no avail.  I threw it in the fridge as soon as I got home but in checking it later, the dry, wilted, dressing-less salad could not be salvaged.  That’s $7.00 I’ll never get back.

Next, I unwrapped the pasta dish as if it were a mummy at an archeological dig.  Luckily, the “sauce” was not really alfredo.  It was more like a light butter sauce with some lemon, maybe white wine, and garlic.  I started to have renewed faith that maybe Stugazzi’s would surprise me.  Barring the caesar salad incident, and the fact that my first visit ever was opening week, this pasta dish was pretty good.  I enjoyed it.  It’s not something I would crave but I enjoyed it enough for a last-minute meal decision on the way home from work.  The salad gave its life for me that night.  I buried it in my garbage can.

So I had one really bad experience a few months ago, followed by one OK experience on Wednesday, earlier this week.  I was thinking about this blog and the comments and I really wanted to have a fantastic experience. 

So yesterday, on Friday night, just two days after my pasta experience, I tried again. 

December ‘09 is a slow news month

We seem to by in a news cycle where there is a lot going on, yet none of it is important enough to write about.  And so the bloggers, and the main stream media, begin to fill up the pages and the TV screen with something that can only be called “stuff”.

Does anyone really care about Tiger Woods personal problems?  I don’t.  And neither should you.  All of the wasted file server space used up by people writing articles and opinions about who Tiger slept with or had an affair with; it’s a crying shame.  Who cares?  Let him live his life and handle his problems on his own,  just like the rest of us.

Amanda Knox, did she, didn’t she.  Who cares???  Her family, yes, and friends, of course, but the rest of us have no say in the matter and will never know the truth.  I don’t care if the Italian court works like the American system.  I don’t care if Italians are prejudicial in their court judgements against outsiders; because I don’t plan on going to Italy to kill anyone.  Who the hell cares?  It’s just another murder trial.

Obama took a while to decide what to do about Afghanistan.  He did what any smart person should do – think long and hard about his options and then make a decision and stick to it.  Done.  Do we need to debate it to fill air time?  I don’t think so.

And even I am guilty.  I just wasted how much electricity, and file server space, to write this post about how there truly is nothing to write about that isn’t already being said, or thought.  I’m glad I don’t own a cable news network.  I’m glad I don’t have to fill 24 hours each and every day with noise, so that the advertisers have some place to show their products.

Here’s what I think is going on in the world that we should be thinking about:  We all have friends, and/or family, who are hurting, and to some degree, suffering.  Maybe it’s the kind of hurt caused by personal crisis:  sickness, abusive relationships, or love that seems to be dying.  Maybe it’s the kind of hurt that is financial: mothers and fathers who can’t feed their kids, or people wondering how they will avoid eviction or foreclosure.

We should be writing about, and watching TV that deals with, taking care of each other.   Random acts of kindness are under-rated.  Whether it’s holding the door for someone or helping a woman in the parking lot clean the snow off her car.  Now we’re talking about stuff that matters.  Lend an ear, lend a hand, lend a dollar.  Listen to what people around you are saying.  Some of them have a difficult time asking for help.  But if you really listen, and watch, it’s not hard to figure out what someone needs.  It might just be a hug, as corny as that sounds.  What if a big, smothering, maternal or paternal hug is all someone needs today.  What will that cost you.  Or maybe it’s money, or food, or a ride, or a job.  Just do it.  And do it thanklessly.  You shouldn’t do it for recognition, or glory, you should do it because you are human.

I’m not saying all of this simply because it is the holiday season.  As far as I am concerned, even Christmas is not worthy of writing about.  Unless someday (in my wildest dreams) Christmas is no longer about buying presents and instead is about helping each other.   Unless Christmas is no longer about gifts for the sake of buying gifts, then Christmas is not worth wasting more space on a file server somewhere; and it’s not worth filling up the airwaves.

Why don’t we all take this opportunity to take advantage of this “inconsequential” news month.  With the exception of families with loved ones overseas fighting in wars that we shouldn’t be fighting, everyone else should start to make a list, and check it twice.  And on that list should be thank you’s, and donations, and meals you made for someone who can’t get out of the house, and packages for troops, and treats for your dog, and all of the things about which writing words on a page are worthy.

Adam Lambert at the American Music Awards SUCKED, literally and figuratively

With all the hype worthy of a White Bronco chase, Adam Lambert’s performance at the American Music Awards last night was saved until the end, and when I say “end” in mean the bitter end.  And when I say “bitter end” I mean right after the last award was given out and right before the credits.  Since when does a nobody like Adam Lambert have the clout to close a show.  Was it because his performance was supposed to be THAT good?  Or was it because the producers were giving the viewing public the option to turn off the TV or change channels because the official awards portion of the show was done.  I am assuming it’s the latter.

From the leather and chains, to Lambert pushing and pulling scantily clad dancer boys around the stage with dog collars, to Lambert literally pushing one male dancer’s face into his crotch by grabbing the back of the dancer’s head as he thrusts his hips into the dancer’s face (pew!) to Lambert deep tounge-kissing the male drummer, (or was it a female - let’s go with she-male because I have no idea), the “performance” was like the bad sex-like shows I used to see in New York’s gay night clubs.  As a gay man I watched Adam Lambert with my hand over my face; fingers splayed out so I could “sort-of” see what was going on and then wince in pain, snapping my eyes shut like an oyster with newly found grain of sand. 

Not only was Lambert disgusting, he has absolutely, (and I mean none, nada, nope, nothing, no way) no sexual appeal whatsoever.  He looked uncomfortable, he acted like he was uncomfortable, and when the screaming crowd in the auditorium stopped “raising the roof” and clapping and cheering about 30 seconds in to his “performance”, even Lambert knew it was all over.

Speaking of screaming, with his usual “flare”, Adam Lambert robotically got through the song so he could get to the parts where he could scream like a hyena caught in a bear trap.  He’s not a singer, he’s a screamer (in more ways than one).  You can tell by watching him.  He was so bored with the regular parts of the song and was literally chomping at the bit to get to the “screamy parts”.  Did you hear that final note?  Or was it notes?  Even he didn’t know where to park that thing.  That last note was like watching grandpa trying to parallel-park a Winnebago.  He’s in the general area, but you have no idea where it’s going to finally land.  And when he lands it, it isn’t at all where it should be.

God, it was awful.  I read somewhere that Adam Lambert is being shoved down our throats by the media.  Well, he is being shoved down someone’s throat;  just ask the male dancer on stage last night.  I wanted Adam  to do well.  I wanted to like him.  I wanted to like his performance.  But I just can’t.  As an openly gay man who has no problem with objectifying  men, I think Adam Lambert is an abomination.  The sad part is, he’s got some raw talent there.  If he could just tap into it, we’d all be better off. 

Meanwhile the winner of American Idol, Kris Allen, was “allowed” to stand on stage for about 6 seconds to introduce somebody, or something, or some award.  I don’t even remember.  Kris Allen WON Idol, and he can sing.  But Kris Allen hasn’t been given the media attention that Lambert has gotten ever since Lambert ”Yup, I’m gay” cover story.  Who cares?  Like it was a newsflash anyway.  It would have been WAY more surprising if he said, “Yes, I”m hetero” then I would have run out and bought that magazine, all the while screaming “WHAT?????????????”

One more thing:  Whitney Houston sucked, too.  She may have a new lease on life, but mabye she should have sub-let.

Will Obama’s legacy be a disappointment?

I have been so disappointed over Obama and his Presidency.  I still like the man.  But I am angry at what has happened and what has NOT happened.  I have this sense of abandonment.  I feel like someone pulled the wool over my eyes.  I keep looking for reasons to NOT write him off.

But then I watched “By the People”, an HBO documentary about the election of Barack Obama.  I suddenly realized that if you listen to his early speeches on why he wanted to be President, he has not faltered from that.  He spoke of running this country without the fear tactics of the Bush Administration, he spoke about running this country without the distractions that are all too common in all Presidencies, and he spoke about correcting the image of America around the world and correcting the disastrous foreign policy of the Bush Administration that took America one giant step backward in the big game of political hopscotch.  I was ready to pick up my stone and my chalk and go home. 

“By the People” reminded me that Barack Obama’s launch into the political stratosphere was hard-fought and based on truth.  Modern political campaigns are long and exhausting.  What may start as a few simple ideas to define any candidate and his platform, end up with a mountain of campaign platform ideas.  The more the candidate fields questions from the incessant 24 hour press, the more his platform expands until every single backer of that politician can identify with several of the candidate’s ”opinions” .  For example, Barack Obama did not promise an end to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” early in his campaign.  That came about later when he was pressed for a position.  But now, the gay community is overwrought with anger and feelings of betrayal.  I’m sure Barack Obama believes in what he said – he wants to eliminate that policy.  But is it now or was it ever the bottom row of his political pyramid?  I don’t think so.  Health care reform, yes, gay rights, no.

So after taking a long, hard look at where Barack Obama is today, just 10 months into his Presidency, I don’t feel so let down.  Barack Obama has always wanted his Presidency to be about Us, not about him.  He has always wanted the American people, and by default our representation in Congress, to participate in this democracy.  It is not just Barack Obama and his own agenda that should lead the country, it should be the country that leads his agenda.

Yesterday, I listened to Barack Obama’s eulogy at the memorial services for the victims at Fort Hood.  Not only did this man meet with every family of the people who were killed, and not only did he meet with the individuals who survived but were injured, he was late in giving the eulogy because he refused to cut his visit with these victims and their families short.  He knew why he was there.  He was there to express grief and condolences on behalf of the people of the entire United States.  And when he finally did give his speech, he mentioned each of the victims by name, every single one of them.  He didn’t just say their names; he told us all a little bit about each one of them.

As I listened, I realized that this is what an American President is supposed to be.  Honorable, honest, caring, empathetic, and strong.  He proved to me in those moments that we can turn to him during difficult times and he will lead the way.

In reality, it is too soon to evaluate what Barack Obama’s presidential legacy will be.  I was fearful that in my own disappointment, I would jump on the bandwagon and become an Obama detractor.  While I don’t agree with everything he has done, or NOT done, I still support this man and trust that he will bring America out of the cold, dark place we are in; and lead us into the light.  No President, and no Presidency is perfect.  I think that all we can hope for in a President is honesty, intelligence, hard work, and compassion.  I’m glad we have that.

Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are fired

Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins don’t care about your health.

Mainers think that we have elected these women to represent us, our issues, our needs, and our views in a legislative body that governs our Country.  It would be awfully nice if that were true; that they actually listened to their constituency and spoke on our behalf in Congress.  But that is not at all what is happening. 

Why do certain individuals run for public office?  I would think it would be because the individual believes he or she can offer good ideas, new ideas, to solve the problems of our nation and to better the lives of the people in it, especially the people from the State they represent.  But more often than not, voters are left scratching our heads and thinking “what are these people thinking, that’s not what we want”.

People in Maine are suffering.  They need to see doctors, dentists, specialists, mental health professionals, surgeons, and the list goes on and on.  Maine is no different from any other State but Maine is where I live so that is what I will speak to.  In a million years I never thought I would find myself in a position where I did not get the health care I need because I simply can not afford it.

Senators Snow and Collins earn about $170,000 a year, this year.  They are also entitled to lifetime benefits after serving for just five years, including health insurance and a pension.  Members of Congress are eligible for a pension when they reach the age of 50 if they’ve completed 20 years of service. Members are eligible at any age after completing 25 years of service or after they reach the age of 62.  When they retire, they are eligible to receive an annual salary equal to as much as 80% of the three highest grossing salary years.  So even if their ONLY income was that of their Senator salary they could retire after 5 years in some cases and earn about $136,000 a year, EVERY YEAR, IN RETIREMENT.  They ALSO  have choices in health care too numerous to even begin to explain on this page.

What’s the bottom line?  Senators like Snowe and Collins don’t have to care what happens to you and your family.  They don’t care if you have health care.   They just have to last long enough to retire with a government pension.  And the more years they are a Senator, the bigger their pension will be.  So they do everything they can do to keep the contributors happy so that the Senators can spend lots of money to get re-elected, so that the Senators can continue to amass a fortune.  And if you are interested to see what a Federal Employee’s health insurance plan looks like, click here

So while Maine’s portion of the 47 million uninsured in this country continue to suffer, and while untold numbers of “under-insured” citizens in the State of Maine continue to go bankrupt and live in poverty because of health care costs, Senators Snowe and Collins don’t worry about such trivial things.  They need those campaign contributions from the health care industry, and will do anything to keep those contributions coming, so that each of them can stay in Congress as long as possible, to receive lifetime health benefits and Pension benefits that are a crime when compared to the CITIZENS THAT ARE PAYING FOR THESE BENEFITS.  Yes, it all comes out of your tax dollars.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that our illustrious government representatives get an AUTOMATIC cost of living increase unless they elect NOT to let it happen.  What would you do if every year your salary would be adjusted upward for a “cost of living” increase unless you got all of your co-workers together and “voted” not to accept the increase.  Pretty nice gig, huh?

When the first Continental Congress was formed, Benjamin Franklin proposed that elected officials not be paid for their service.  In the end, that obviously did not happen.  But why do U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives earn more than the national average salary.  That’s what they should make, about $40,000 to $45,000 per year. That’s the average salary of all the workers in the United States.  As for health care and pension benefits, they don’t work harder than anybody else and don’t deserve more than the people they represent.  So they certainly should not get more in benefits that the average U.S. worker.   Congress doesn’t even work a full year like the rest of us.  The MOST number of days that a Senator like Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins would work is 153 in 2009.  Subtract from that the trips they take paid by the taxpayers, or trips they take paid for by lobbying firms, and then they get so many days off to campaign if it is an election year; what do we have left.  I don’t even know the answer.  Nobody will tell me the truth.  HOW MANY DAYS TO YOU WORK, MS. SNOWE?…MS. COLLINS?….ANYBODY?

This government was designed to be for the people and by the people.  Right now, “the people” are hurting and struggling.  Yet Senators like Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have a gross take home pay of about $3,270 a week.   A WEEK.  But that number only applies if they actually work every week.  They don’t.   Again, the 2009 schedule calls for Senators to work 153 days.

Nothing I am saying here is new information.  I am just saying that something has to change.  If you took all of the money out of politics, you would be left with people who are there because they want to be there, and want to make a difference.  Instead, we are stuck with people who make a lot of money, amass retirement benefits and life long health insurance, and yet the country is suffering.   Don’t you remember reading the book “Animal Farm” in junior high school?

Olympia Snowe has said that she doesn’t trust any “government-run” health care system.  But she sure trusts the government enough to funnel my tax dollars into her paycheck, her pension, and her own health plan.

Like I said, Maine’s so-called “moderate” Senators are probably no different from any other Senators.  But I can only speak about Maine Senators because that’s where I live.  We all wish they were in it for the right reasons.  But when Maine’s Senators don’t want Maine citizens to have universal health care, for all, I have to wonder why they are our Senators.  What do they think they are accomplishing for us, and why are they financially benefiting so much for doing nothing except saying “no”.  I have no idea what these women are “for”.  I only know what they are against.  At this point, they are against me; and you.

Since Snowe and Collins work for me (I help pay for their salary) and they have not fulfilled their obligations to me, I am firing them effective immediately.

Olympa Snowe is a two-faced phoney on the Public Option

I did not know this until recently so I won’t fault anyone else for not knowing it either:  Triggers are nothing more than a way for a bill to die a slower death.

In the history of our Congress, “triggers” have almost always been ignored.

So all the talk from Olympia Snowe that she is so fair-minded and fiscally responsible that she can ONLY back a health care reform bill in the form of a trigger is a bunch of bullshit.  Adding a trigger to the bill is a simple way of killing the bill without having the balls to say you are killing the bill.

Here’s how Triggers work:  If a bill it not really supported by Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, these Senators and Representatives put a Trigger option in the bill, meaning that if certain criteria don’t come to fruition, then someone can “pull the Trigger”.  The problem is that the Trigger is never pulled.

Here’s an example:  One trigger came about in 1973.   At that time Congress enacted the War Powers Resolution. It gave the president 90 days after the start of any armed conflict to receive congressional authorization. If no such authorizations were granted, troops would be required to come home. Congress has never once imposed a 90-day deadline on any military action.

I live in Maine.  Olympia Snowe certainly doesn’t represent me in the U.S. Senate, although I pay her to do so.  She is representing her own interests.  According to the Huffington Post, Snowe has received more than one million dollars in campaign contributions from the health care industry.  I’ll say it again.  Snow has received more than ONE MILLION DOLLARS from the heath care industry.  Does that sound like incentive to PASS health care reform, or reject health care reform.  Susan Collins is no different so don’t be fooled by her either.

So this is why Ms. Snowe feels so adamant about having the public option be ONLY a trigger.  So it looks like she’s voting FOR health care when if fact she knows the trigger will NEVER happen, it never has before.  She is a cop-out, a coward, and does not represent the constituency in Maine.  She is nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  She like  her power right where it is and will do anything to keep it.

If Olympia Snowe really wanted some sort of health care reform, then we’d already have it.  Again, I live in Maine.  I am underinsured.  I have called her office and got nothing but the run-around.  She doesn’t represent the people of Maine who pay her salary.  But the people of Maine don’t understand the nuances of politics.  Mainers are straight shooters, and unfortunately believe that Snowe, and Collins for that matter, are as well.  But they are not.

Call Olympia Snowe’s office.  They won’t tell you what she thinks or how she’ll vote because she is a coward.  But you can tell them what YOU think and what YOU want.  If we, as her constituency, don’t stick up for ourselves, then we have no one to blame but ourselves.  I beg you get involved in this health care debate or you will lose.  Even those with health care will lose.  Stop the insanity. And the lies.

Mika Brzezinksi is now the full blown food police

I have seen and heard Mika Brzezinski say a lot of stupid things over the years but this has to take the cake.

She’s beyond being the “food police” and is now the ”Body Police”.  On this morning’s “Morning Joe” she ranted into yet another diatribe that went way beyond her usual “Sugar kills, sugar is bad, you should be killed if you eat sugar” and went right into “Meat will kill you”.  The human race has been eating meat since its existence.  In fact, it was because of the human bodies ability to process meat protein that the human race developed and flourished into what it is today.

Brzezinski then said that she had no problem if other people ate meat as long as they “paid more”.  Paid more for what?  Taxes, health insurance premiums?  When is this going to stop?  When is enough, enough?  I hate the term “slippery slope” but if we were ever on one, now is the time.

Mika Brzezinski hates fat people; she thinks that most American’s are obese monsters who should just die.  Well let me tell you something.  Listening to her, and her fascist views on obesity, give me so much stress that I think SHE should pay more to be on TV because the stress levels I must endure by listening to her are going to kill me.

Second, she thinks there should be a tax on people who are overweight.  So what is it, 30 cents a pound?  How does this work? And what about when Brzezinski was pregnant having her babies.  Maybe she fell outside the “normal limits” of weight gain for her pregnancy.  Should she pay more taxes, or more in insurance premiums for that?  I say YES. On top of the FAT tax.

Willie Geist said to her “So you don’t think it is OK, or my choice, to have a Big Mac once in a while?”  Brzezinski first said “NO” because it’s bad for you”.  (According to whom?)  And when Willie said “why”, Brzezinski said “because I have to pay for your bad health”.

Really.  Really!  Really?  I believe Willie has his own insurance.  Mika is not paying his co-pays or deductibles.  And if she’s talking about the fact that she has to pay more in insurance premiums to cover the cost of people in bad health?  Then I say, If she was paying for Willie, or me, then I would have WAY better insurance than I have. 

Does that also mean that I pay more for health insurance because Mika has children.  I must right?  If Mika thinks that all health care costs are spread out equally among then I must be paying for her pregnancy, pre-natal vitamins, the birth, the afterbirth, and any “special needs” her children might have, or devlop.  Well, I don’t want to pay for that.  I don’t have kids and don’t want to pay for people with kids or the kids themselves.  So screw her.  If she had a premature baby, LET IT DIE, because I don’t want to pay for it.  Fuck her.  That’s exactly what she is saying about people who DARE to eat meat.

I am confused about whether she is a Republican or Democrat; but she is acting like a typical Republican.  She thinks she can legislate what you put in your body and if you don’t think and eat like her, she has no use for you.

Who knows what bottled hair bleach does to your health.  I don’t want to pay for that either.  She suffers from Self-righteous indignation, from a woman with such low self-esteem that she lashes out at everyone and anyone who isn’t perfect in her eyes.  It is sad.  It is maddening.  And most of all, it is a slippery slope when we project our own fears, opinions, and moral judgment on everyone else around us and never take a look at ourselves.  She is doing EXACTLY what she accuses others of doing.

She acts like a woman who was molested by her father, brother, or close family member.  She is addicted to being thin and eating right all in an effort to gain acceptance by somebody who harmed her.  Politically and journalistically, she is in WAY over her head.  And I don’t know how you go from majoring in “Sitting in a chair” and minoring in “Talking at the Camera” (they go together, you know) to thinking that she is the self-appointed, spokes-model for the American diet.  What is really going on here?  Why would someone who outwardly has a pretty good life get SO worked up about a Big Mac.  Me think she doth protest too much.  Something doesn’t add up.