It's Downright Anti-American

Here's a suggestion for the Democrats on Capital Hill. Here's an idea for real reform that is long past due and which should have wide populist support across the country.

Plain and simple, we need a single sentence bill to be filed in the U.S. House and Senate to read as follows:

"The Anti-Trust Exemption heretofore granted to insurance companies conducting business in the United States of America is hereby repealed."

Introduce it as a single subject bill. Allow no amendments. Push it to the floor of both houses. Require one of those famous "up or down votes" that the Republicans say that they love so much (or did during the Bush years).

Let's call the roll and let the votes be counted, and take names.

Up or down: Are you for or against insurance companies having an unfair trade advantage (including the ability to conspire together to fix prices) that NO OTHER BUSINESSES IN AMERICA HAVE (except Major League Baseball)?

Why do we allow this un-American advantage to exist only for insurance companies?

Are they so fragile that they can't compete on their own using the same rules that all other businesses have to comply with?

Surely, even free market proponents must have a problem with this stacked deck, too?

Don't threaten this; just do it! Now!

Do not pass Go, Do Not Collect Buckets of Campaign Contributions. Do Not Wait Another Day! Do it Now, before they use all of their profits and all of their power to buy the next election (which, by the way, became legal today thanks to "The Most Activist Judge of All Time" Justice John Roberts. (Much more about that later.....)

How about it Alan Grayson? Get 'er done!

Can You Hear Me Now, Democrats?

We've all seen the cell phone commercials with that annoying guy walking all around the country asking, "Can you hear me now?"

For months, supporters of the President have been wondering-- where is the passion and fervor of the campaign? Where are the policies of Change? When are Democrats going to use their power to pass progressive policies and reverse the course we have been on for the last decade?Why are the Democrats AWOL on pushing through anything meaningful in terms of reform?

Good grief, if you can't legislate real banking reform in this climate, when we are climbing out of a near collapse of our financial system, and public sentiment for reform couldn't be greater, then WHEN will it ever occur? What's the problem, Geithner got your tongue?

Can you hear me now?

For months, progressives have been gradually calling out for the White House and Democrats in the House and Senate to develop a backbone and actually legislate things that help people. (Seems to me that Bush got nearly all of his agenda passed with 51 votes or with "Say Goodnight, Dick" casting the deciding tie-breaking vote in the Senate(and telling the opposition to go "F" themselves on the way out of the Senate Chamber).

Why have we been so enamored with "60 votes," like a baby in his crib staring up at a mobile in amazement?"

Why is it that all of the things the President ran on, he now seems to run from?

All of the things the President detested during the campaign (lobbyists, secrecy, back room deals, bowing down to Wall Street, ending rendition, etc.) have been put on that big back burner at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Obama has been kidnapped by O-Rahm-a.

Looks like someone left that big pot of Change on that big back burner too long and it is starting to boil over. Not only are liberals boiling mad, but independents also made their angry voices heard in Virginia, New Jersey, and now, in Massachusetts (of all places). And the exit polling in Massachusetts and New Jersey indicated that the voters' dissatisfaction was not that the country was leaning too far left, but rather that nothing was getting done.

Our calls are getting dropped.

Can you hear me now?

I'm frankly glad that we don't have 60 Democrats in the Senate any more. Fact is, we never did. Yet, the Administration sure acted as if they did. So, instead of charging ahead to pass things with 51 votes, we've spent months bowing down and bribing the likes of Ben Nelson and "Dick" Liberman. And, for what, to show voters around the country that Democrats aren't worthy of their vote?

Can you hear me now?

Maybe this ass kicking will wake up the White House and the Democratic majority so that they will realize that people are mad as Hell because NOTHING EVER GETS DONE in Washington!

Can you hear me now?

The President and the Democratic majority certainly didn't listen (or couldn't get "service") on Capital Hill when an overwhelming majority of Americans wanted a Public Option for health care.

They didn't hear us when we insisted that cost controls be put into health care reform legislation.

They didn't listen when we asked for the ability to purchase the same drugs manufactured by the same drug companies cheaper from Canada.

They didn't listen when people have sounded the alarm about the unavailability of loans to small businesses, and the absence of meaningful loan modifications for record numbers of Americans facing foreclosure.

Can you hear us now?

If Massachusetts jumping ship isn't a wake up call, then I don't know what will get Democrats' attention.

There are 10 months to legislate before the next election. We're watching and we're angry and we're taking names.

Can you hear us now?

Why Are We Piling On The Penalties On Middle Class Taxpayers?

Why is it that some of our laws tend to punish those who deserve it the least?


Our tax laws relating to retirement account withdrawals seem to be particularly out of step in this current financial crisis. Let's face it, this unemployment crisis and this recession is not showing any signs of letting up any time soon.


Hard working people who have, as a source of last resort, withdrawn money "early" (before the arbitrary age set many years ago of 59 and 1/2) are slapped with a 10% penalty for "early withdrawal" except in limited situations (which do not include, sadly, putting food on the family's table, or paying payments on the mortgage on the family home).


Ironically, if you have never owned a home before, you can withdraw the money from your 401k or IRA to buy a new home--but heaven forbid if you already own a home and a financial crisis has created a need for you to tap into your retirement savings to prevent becoming homeless before you reach 59 and 1/2.


Talk about bad policy.


While the 10% early withdrawal penalty has been put in place to "encourage" younger people to save for their retirement, there is also an under-publicized additional punitive penalty that often is imposed in addition to the 10% early withdrawal penalty.


Under IRS rules, the desperate act of tapping into your retirement account results in additional income being received in the year of withdrawal, and usually triggers an under-withholding penalty for the desperate taxpayers who can least afford to pay any penalties. Withholding rules are based upon how much money you withheld in the previous year. These arcane rules don't contemplate a desperate taxpayer who, as a result of having to tap into her retirement savings in a pinch, gets slammed with additional penalties and interest on top of the 10% early withdrawal penalty--and which couldn't be avoided by making estimated tax payments.


You see, emergency withdrawals from a retirement account aren't planned, and it's hard to make estimated tax payments to withhold enough money in advance of taking that emergency withdrawal.


Shouldn't the 10% early withdrawal penalty be enough pnishment to someone who is resorting to their savings of last resort to make ends meet? Why should there be additional penalties and interest levied on top of that?


Why, again, is the middle class being punished when others who have thumbed their noses at our tax laws for years are granted amnesty?


It is estimated that there are more than 19,000 customers of UBS who had illegal Swiss Bank Accounts and for years paid no tax on the earnings in those accounts and lied on their tax returns about the existence of those accounts by not checking that box on every Form 1040 that asks if you have any foreign bank accounts.


Yet, the IRS is willing to give these high net worth taxpayers amnesty from criminal prosecution and is not assessing penalties and interest against them.


When you compare those two scenarios, one can't help but ask: What's wrong with our values and our tax laws?


On the one hand, we have some taxpayers who did everything right. They worked hard, saved for their retirement, but watched hopelessly as their retirement savings were reduced in half by an unregulated financial system gone wild. Simultaneously, they also experienced an unprecedented tightening of credit such that banks literally stopped making loans (even though the banks were bailed out by the federal government).


So what is someone in that position supposed to do if they lose their job, or have an illness in the family, and want to keep a roof over their head, or make a car payment, or put food on the table for their children?


It is not surprising that millions of middle class Americans have had to choose the expensive option of incurring a 10% penalty for withdrawing money from their retirement account because they had no other option available to them.


It is time for Congress and the IRS to stop rewarding the tax cheaters, and stop punishing law-abiding taxpayers.


Steps need to be taken immediately to allow some penalty free withdrawals from retirement savings accounts and to grant amnesty for all penalties and interest incurred during the past 3 years, retroactively.


It's time for middle class taxpayer relief, for the folks who play by the rules--For A Change.

Oxymorons Still In Charge

At this time of year, people often ask if you've made any Resolutions for the New Year. My annual reply is "that I am going to learn how to juggle this year." Perhaps 2010 will be the year....

One Resolution that I've made is to be "more positive" in these blog posts this year.

Oh, don't worry, that doesn't mean that I won't continue to be cynical and sarcastic. But, in addition to my usual rants, I hope to offer some more positive suggestions or ideas along the way. Or if nothing else, I hope to add at least a little food for thought.

In reflecting upon topics for future blogs, I kept thinking of how many things are broken and how we really need to look at things with new eyes and new ears if we are going to right our ship.
One recurring thought was how language is cleaverly and deceptively used to lull us into submission or to distract us from real agendas.

It's scary how many of these words are really oxymorons, specifically designed to make us think something completely different. "Move along folks....nothing to see here...."

So, I offer these oxymorons as a starting point for some ideas of things you may want to think about and focus upon in the coming year. Pick a topic (or pick several) and think about how you can get active in trying to push things in a different direction. (It is up to each of us to bring about change.) Begin to look at these with new eyes and new ears and begin to speak up, with new ideas and new approaches, for none of these are what they appear to be at first blush, and none of these are headed in the right direction.

"No Child Left Behind"

"Health Care Reform"

"Clean Skies Initiatives"

"Hiking the Appalachian Trail" (Sorry... I couldn't resist the Gov. Sanford reference....)

"Military Intelligence"

"A Public Option"

"Medicare Advantage"

"Clean Coal"

"Safe Drilling"

"Compassionate Conservative"

"Homeland Security"

"Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"

"Campaign Finance Reform"

"Preemptive War"

"Deficit Spending"

"Transparency"

"Right to Privacy"

"Accountability"


Let's make 2010 the year when we decided that we weren't going to let the oxymorons stay in charge....Get Active!

The Public Option Is in the Mail...Just like the Check That Never Comes

After watching the Senate vote at 7:00 AM on December 24 on "Health Care Reform," and after hearing the President say this week that "I never campaigned on the Public Option..." I couldn't help but think about that old lie--"the Check's in the mail..."

Remember the euphoria that we felt when we gained a majority in the House and how optimistic we were when 60 Senators finally had a "D" next to their name and we thought we had a "filibuster proof majority?" Ha! The joke of the century....and it's on us.

And, just a year ago, there was our guy, a different kind of Presidential Candidate, elected by our hard work and above all odds because we listened closely and liked what we heard. Finally, there was someone who talked plainly about what was broken in Washington and what we needed to do to fix it. And boy oh boy, were We going to fix it! Yes We Can...

What a difference a year makes. Principles have been traded for principal.

Our Candidate, who indeed said repeatedly during the Campaign that he would not sign a health care bill without a government-run insurance exchange that all Americans could buy into, has been bought by the special interests that he once said that he deplored.

Monty Hall would not have made as many deals as this guy. Apparently, Monty Hall is a piker compared to Rahm Emanuel...

Let's see who the President (and his brain trust--Axelrod, Emanuel, et. al.) thought were worthy of his attention (largesse) and who should be the beneficiaries of his horse trading.

First, there was a huge giveaway to Big Pharma (followed up 2 weeks ago by support for killing a bill that would allow us--remember us??-- to import drugs from Canada--another campaign promise thrown in the trash). Then there was a mighty handout to the for-profit Hospitals. Next, he outsourced the entire health insurance plan bill to Max Baucus who promptly outsourced the writing of the bill to the highest bidders, the Health Insurance Companies, who wrote the language while crying about how bad it was. "Please don't throw me in that briar patch...."

And how about the ill-fated dating of Olympia Snowe, for the entire summer and most of the Fall? He must have been mesmerized by her widow's peak and couldn't (like the rest of us) hear the words coming out of her mouth... But, We all knew that at the end of the day, Olympia was never going to go to the prom with Barack. And indeed, on Dec. 24, as we knew would happen all along, I heard the Clerk of the Senate record Mrs. Snowe's vote on this watered-down insurance company written bill: "Nay."

Don't even get me started on Dick Liberman. I don't call him Joe anymore--and never will again. He's earned the "Dick" title, forever.

And, Ben Nelson? If he weren't in the Senate, he'd be arrested for extortion. So let me get this straight-- Ben Nelson holds up the entire process, supposedly because he's against the Public Option, but then he let's his vote be bought in order to get free Medicaid for Nebraska? I guess he's just against the rest of us getting cheaper health coverage, huh? Yet, everyone acts as if that's ok--the "normal" negotiation process in the Senate, they called it.

Did you see the Senators all patting themselves on the back after the big vote? Even the 39 who voted "Nay" were acting like buddies with the "D's." "Comity of the Senate," is what the commentators on TV called it. I think they misspelled it-- it should be "comedy" of the Senate--and a tragic comedy at that.

So, in the end, despite all the outsourcing and all the compromising and all the abandonment of anything that will save any money, I was left with one overriding thought at the "end" of this ordeal--these elite 100 people--our so-called "representatives"-- have absolutely nothing in common with us. As a group, they don't give a damn about anyone but themselves and their next election.

So, that leaves it up to us. Do your homework. Make a list of the Senators who don't get it. Support their opponents. Also remind them that we have our own Public Option. The Option to vote for someone else.

As for Barack, until his--"I didn't campaign on the Public Option" lie--I was willing chalk this health care debacle up to his naivety and his inexperience and the inability to find his testicles.

But now, to believe that Barack has not also been bought, would make me naive and blind.

So, when Organizing For America comes calling for my help in the next election, I'll just tell them.... the check's in the mail....

An Open Letter to the County Commission To Preserve Cone Ranch

To the Board of County Commissioners of Hillsborough County, Florida:

I am a 55-year old lifelong resident of Hillsborough County and a person who, like all residents of Tampa, relies upon the Hillsborough River as the sole source of my potable water.

Over the years, I have watched our local governmental officials continuously say “yes” to unbridled development, and as a result, we have, over the last 3 decades, casually caused the disappearance of our natural landscape. I am deeply concerned about the preservation of the Cone Ranch property, and I have been fully supportive of the County Commission’s decision to appoint the Cone Ranch Environmental Advisory Panel to study the issue of Cone Ranch and to make recommendations of what would be the best ways to administer this largest undeveloped contiguous parcel remaining in Hillsborough County.

The Cone Ranch Environmental Advisory Panel overwhelmingly recommended a straight forward, easy to understand, course of action to the BOCC “to direct the Water Resource Services Dept. to convey title to the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program (ELAPP) of the entire Cone Ranch property. We believe this is the best way to protect, preserve, and restore Cone Ranch in perpetuity.”

It is imperative that the BOCC now immediately adopt ALL of the Final Recommendations of the Advisory Panel, including the one that says: “Time is of the essence and the BOCC needs to take immediate action to transfer Cone Ranch to ELAPP; or if a decision is made in the interim to consolidate water utilities, that his Cone Ranch property will not be a part of that transfer….”

Stories have circulated that the BOCC may consider not following the recommendations of the Cone Ranch Environmental Advisory Panel. Those stories suggest that the BOCC may consider obtaining an appraisal for the Cone Ranch property, and only impose Conservation Easements on the property rather than convey the property to ELAPP where it can be restored and protected in perpetuity.

May I remind you that the citizens of Hillsborough County reauthorized the funding of the ELAPP program just last year in a referendum with the largest majority vote in the history of this County (79%)?

The citizens of Hillsborough County do not need an appraisal of this property. Why spend the money for an appraisal---which is nothing more than one person’s opinion of the value of this property? If you are looking for one person’s opinion of its value, let me give you my opinion of what the value of Cone Ranch is-- without spending thousands of taxpayer dollars for an appraisal—it’s Priceless!

Ask yourselves before voting to hire an appraiser: (1) Why are we spending taxpayer dollars on an appraisal? (2) What “Comparable Sale Properties” are there for the appraiser to use in coming up for his or her opinion of the value of Cone Ranch? There simply aren’t any properties which are comparable to Cone Ranch. It is unique.

And finally, in searching for wisdom in making your decisions as the guardians of our publicly owned lands, please be guided by these thoughts:

“We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.” (Native American Proverb)

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” (Dr. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732).

“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” (Great Law of the Iroquois)

And finally, please don’t make Ansel Adams’ words ring true. He said, “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

Please vote to immediately transfer full and complete ownership and control of the Cone Ranch Property to ELAPP.


I've written and sent my letter to the Board of County Commissioners, now it's your turn.

Why Can't We Stop Funding The War?

As I watched the President's speech at West Point, this week, I couldn't help but think of how perfect all of the Cadets looked. Crisp uniforms. Sharply focused eyes. Fit and healthy. Committed and driven. And, oh my, so young.

As the Cadets listened intently to learn what their new mission would be, I could tell from the bewildered looks on their faces that they were hoping for more. So was I.

I was hoping that after all of his careful "studying" of the issue, that President Obama would recognize that there can be no "victory" in Afghanistan. I couldn't help but tear up as I thought of the members of his West Point audience who are essentially being sentenced to death with this horrible decision to escalate the war.

How many of those Cadets will lose limbs, or lose their sharply focused eyes? How many will suffer brain injuries and lose their ability to function normally for the remainder of their lives?How many will suffer that fate during the next 18 months? And for what? So we can keep troops near Pakistan when it hits the fan there? Surely that is the reason that our thinking President wants to keep troops there. Please tell me he doesn't really believe that we can train Afghans to defeat the Taliban in 18 months.....

So, I ask this simple question. If Health Care Reform can be stopped dead in its tracks, why can't funding for this War be stopped? Who will filibuster this?

The President knows we can't afford this war. He admitted so in his speech at West Point.

We can't afford the borrowed principal to fund the cost of one million dollars per soldier per year, or the borrowed interest payments on that ever-increasing national debt, or the loss of human life on both sides of the conflict, or the human casualties on both sides of the conflict, or the stress on the families of our soldiers.

Or the loss of our moral principles....if we still have any left...

Speak out and be heard. Stop this madness. Write to Congress today.

It takes courage to work for Peace. Think of the faces of those Cadets....