A Week of Republican Hand Holding

The face on the tiki tissue box at left, sold in many stores, looks eerily familiar.

Can I get you a tissue? Would you like a shoulder to cry on? Yes, I know, I know. You really don’t like the Democrats. Sigh…

It was this week that I discovered what sore losers Republicans are after losing the “big race,” the Presidential election. Come on, guys, get a grip! Everything’s going to be great! Relax. Just wait and see!

My father was the first grumbler to contact me, by emailing me that McCain and Palin were “lucky” to not win the election since the economy is in such horrific shambles. Hmmm. Sour grapes?

My friend, Selma, who works for me in Seattle, told me she was wearing the American Flag pinned upside down on a red sweatshirt. “It’s a sign of distress,” she said, “Because that’s what we’re in, a time of distress.” Poor Selma, Bless her heart!

My Cousin, Carla, who lives in hurricane ravaged New Orleans, sent me an article from the ultra conservative, Carolina Journal online, dated Nov. 4, about how the Democrats want to “spread the wealth,” by seizing private 401Ks and IRAs and roll them into the social security program. Gullible, you say? Since when did Democrats become Socialists? I consoled Carla – there’s no way this will happen.

I reminded Carla that I had just lost a substantial bit of money when the Bush administration seized Washington Mutual Bank, dissolved the stocks *poof!* and turned over the assets to JP Morgan Chase. Talk about socialization! Talk about spreading the wealth! “This is real,” I reminded her, not just an opinion, such as the doom and gloom in the article you sent me. (See the Nov. 9 Seattle Times.)

Since before the election, hundreds of fear mongering emails have circulated claiming that if Obama is elected, his administration will come into your house, take away your guns, rip the babies from your teenage daughter’s wombs, suck dry your bank account, dissolve the military, and make Islam this country’s national religion. All I can ask, is please consider the news source. Is it the New York Times where you heard this? How about the Washington Post? USA Today? A major metropolitan newspaper? Was it even a real newspaper? Or was it a blog, such as this one? Or an email? Or, God forbid, FOX News?

A “legitimate” news source will be part of the “mainstream media,” (MSM) and most likely be a contributing member to a newswire service, such as the Associated Press, which requires their reporters to be, “dedicated to the same standards – fairness, balance, and accuracy.” Before the election season, the newspaper where my husband works issued this reminder: “News staffers are encouraged to be involved in their communities to the extent that such activities don't create real or apparent conflicts or interest. Involvement in politics, demonstrations, and social causes that would create conflicts of interest or the appearance of such conflicts should be avoided. News staffers should avoid any public political activity, including contributions. They should not run for office, sign political petitions or campaign for any candidate or political cause.” This doesn’t mean that newspapers don’t sometimes print one-sided pieces. However, the difference is that these will appear on the opinion, humor, and editorial pages, not in the news sections.

So, who really wants to slander Obama? Who wants to spread false rumors about him so that people lose their trust in him, thereby reducing his potential power to change the status quo?

The rich and powerful, of course. The owners of FOX News, for one, who will have to pay higher taxes, assuming the new administration will have its way. Greed of money is the strongest motivator for political manipulation. I ask these movers and shakers, do you really need that extra 4.6% in taxes that you will have to pay under Obama’s tax plan? How much money do you really need to live on? Isn’t fixing our troubled nation more important?

I did some research and learned that a person earning, say one million dollars a year, will pay 39.6% in Federal income tax instead of the old rate of 35%. (Social Security will only be taxed up to $106,800 in 2009 according to Wikipedia’s segment on income tax).

Here’s a comparison:

Tax on $1,000,000 for 2008:
Social Security: 6.2% x $106,800 = $8,170
Medicare: 1.45% x $1,000,000 = $14,500
Federal Income Tax: 35% x $1,000,000 = $350,000

Total tax: $372,670 (without deductions)
Take home: $627,330

Tax on $1,000,000 for 2009:
Social Security: 6.2% x $106,800 = $8,170 (same)
Medicare: 1.45% x $1,000,000 = $14,500 (same)
Federal Income Tax: 39.6% x $1,000,000 = $396,000

Total tax: $418,670 (without deductions)
Take home: $581,330 

That’s still a lot of jelly beans! You should be so lucky. Federal income tax of 39.6% is really not that high. According to Wikipedia, as recently as 1981, a person earning $1,000,000 would have paid 70% in Federal Income tax, or $700,000 per year without deductions. In 1954, they would have paid 91% or $910,000 per year, without deductions.

Other than high income earners, the only other individual I know personally who might have a legitimate worry is my dear friend, Mirabella, who is the ultimate capitalist. She runs a novelty item manufacturing company where most of her products are made overseas in China, currently her cheapest option.

Due to policy changes under the Obama administration, Mirabella will be motivated to move her outsourcing to factories located here in the United States, maybe even to here in Florida where WKMG Local 6 news reported that 8,000 job applicants showed up for a job fair in Orlando on Wednesday, Nov. 12 where only 2500 candidates were expected, so many that some were turned away. At the time, the Workforce Central Florida website listed only 946 open positions. Moving your manufacturing back to the United States could be a good thing – it’s hard to sell products to people with no jobs.

Today, the U. S. Department of Labor issued a report that 43 percent of the over 200,000 jobs lost in the past month nationwide were due to – you guessed it – a decrease in business demand, a.k.a. no customers.

I understand why the Republicans are afraid. I was once a Republican myself. Although I did not vote for Bill Clinton in the 1992 election, and did not even like Bill Clinton at the time, my life benefited exponentially over the course of President Clinton’s administration. A couple of years after Clinton took office, things began to look up for me personally.  Jobs suddenly seemed much more plentiful; prices of food and goods more affordable; I was finally able to qualify to buy a house; and I received good healthcare. I changed my political affiliation to Democrat in 1994. I was a true convert.

So, my message to my dear Republican friends: Just relax. Everything will be okay. Changes will come, but they will be for the better. I promise!

Maybe, even for you, Mirabella…

Obama is “Our” President

Several “unofficial” pack buttons for Obama. Many can be purchased online from democraticstuff.com and cafepress.com.

While working in the local Democratic party campaign office here in Florida, many of the volunteers I worked with came down with a bad case of “hurry up and wait.” It was mid afternoon on Tuesday on the East Coast. We all felt that we had done what we could – all that we had been asked to do – but we wanted to do even more.

Some of us spent the morning watching the polls, working as advocates for voters who had problems with their registrations. Some of us spent the day handing out Democratic literature, signs, and stickers to voters waiting in line. Others, such as myself, spent the day working out of the office, taking donations, helping voters find their poll locations, arranging rides, transporting absentee ballots, and calling registered Democrats who had not yet shown up to remind them to vote. Although many phone calls still needed to be made, we didn’t have enough phones to go around in the temporary office we had rented. Our volunteer telephone technician was been busy trying to find more open lines that didn’t sound like static or cut off in the middle of phone calls.

While couriering an absentee ballot to another office, I passed a lot of people waving McCain Palin signs but no one waving Obama Biden signs. I returned to find our office filled with eager volunteers with nothing to do.

“Who wants to wave signs?” I asked.

A large group of us carried signs of all shapes and sizes out to the major multi-lane intersection near our office. As we shook the signs and waved, we were very encouraged by the large number of people who honked their horns and waved back. “Look at all the people for Obama,” cried one woman in amazement.

The election had seemed rather personal to me so far. After losing the past two elections to Republican candidates, I felt like a woman against the world. Seeing all the happy Obama faces helped me put a new perspective on the magnitude of the masses of people who also felt the same way I did, that we needed a change, a new party in the White House, with a new agenda based on human rights, environmental preservation, and World peace.

“Latinos for Obama!” shouted a driver to us.

“Canadians for Obama!” shouted a couple on vacation in Florida who asked how to get a sign as a souvenir.

“Yes we can!” shouted a group of little girls sticking their heads out the window. It brought tears to our eyes.

Bus drivers waved as they passed, one policeman flipped on his siren, and an emergency vehicle flashed their lights – all are for Obama.

Students and young people of all colors and creeds hollered loudly, laid on their horns, played music, and cheered as they drove up and down the streets energizing the Obama sign wavers. It was one spectacular group party, and the election results had not even begun to come in, yet. Somehow, we all knew what was to come.

While most older white drivers either turned their heads away from us, some were very boisterous in their opposition to Barack Obama. I’ll never forget seeing a few cars with very well dressed older white ladies in the passenger seat, sticking out their tongues and jabbing their thumbs down at me as I held my sign high. I’d swear their husbands, who seemed to always be the ones driving, circled the block more than once.

Imagine my joy when I saw older white drivers wave and honk their horns – even truck drivers in construction vehicles and dump trucks sporting the names of the businesses where they worked, all waving and honking for Obama.

“Old white people for Obama!” I cheered.

A reserved black couple who were volunteering with me, were a bit taken aback by my statement. “Old white people?” asked Chip, “Well, I guess you can say that. We have signs for everything else, why not that?”

“Hippies for Obama!” shouted Austin at a man who waved at us.

“Cool white people for Obama,” I said to a truck hauling junk with three people jammed in the front seat who waved and honked loudly.

The passenger replied, “You say white people. But, why not purple people?” he asked as he pointed to the black woman waving the sign beside me dressed all in purple.

“Yes, she is purple. And I’m a blue person!” I laughed, pointing to my blue Obama shirt.

Obama really is “OUR” president. Over 64 million people voted for him. The Obama Biden team won by 7.6 million popular votes, 52% of the 120.6 million votes cast. This is more than I can say for George W. Bush who lost the popular vote to Al Gore, but won the electoral college in 2000, thereby securing the presidency.

My prediction of 369 electoral votes for Obama/Biden is very close to the actual 365 tally (after adding in North Carolina and one vote from split state, Nebraska). I was wrong about which states would vote for the Democratic ticket, but I’m right that we won by a landslide. Here in Florida, of all places, Obama won by 195,000 votes.

Just as I put up with Bush for eight years, these naysayers can put up with Obama for eight years. Give his administration a chance. You might like what you get! Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore said it the best on Larry King Live on CNN, November 5, “We're not going to have universal healthcare just for the blue states. We're going to have that for everyone -- all the Republicans included.” 

Of course, it will be a few very long weeks before President elect Obama and Vice President elect Biden can take office. In the meantime, I have taken my yard sign in, not because I’m worried about retaliation by white supremacists, but because anything Obama has become a very hot item!

What is a Political Blog without an Election Prediction?

My optimistic prediction map, thanks to USA Today’s electoral vote tracker which allows web viewers to create their own map.

It’s 6:00 AM on the East Coast on election day and I’m finally posting my predictions for the upcoming 2008 election. By this time tomorrow, we will all have a clear idea of who our next President of the United States of America will be.

My prediction, Barack Obama will win by a landslide!

Thanks to the magic of the internet and the incredibly talented designers at USA Today, Juan Thomassie, Josh Hatch, and Lisa Tanger, I can create my own personal electoral map. You can do this yourself by going to: www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/electoral-vote-tracker.htm

My optimistic prediction has Obama winning by 369 electoral votes, mostly by taking the states along the Mississippi valley, the West Coast, and Northeast.

Remember Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards and how he lost his own state of North Carolina in 2004? My prediction is that Sarah Palin will lose Alaska even though it has historically gone Republican. What an upset that will be!

However, beloved sons McCain will win Arizona, Obama will win Hawaii, and Biden will win Pennsylvania.

Colorado will go to Obama. The environmentalists have moved in.

Montana will also go to Obama. The unique people there, part environmentalist, part blue collar intellectuals, are hurting terribly from the horrible economy.

Georgia will go to Obama, riled up by the excitement of electing an African American candidate.

North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia will go to McCain. These are the states of the old south, the good ol’ boys.

The Midwest states from Texas north to North Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah will also go to McCain. I drove through this area when moving to Florida in 2007 and got a chance to listen to the political talk shows on local radio stations and view the TV news broadcasts. It’s like a different world here. My guess is that the majority of voters here believe that Obama is the anti-Christ.

West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana will surprise everyone by voting for Obama. My reasoning? Recent college graduates, feeling liberated from their conservative upbringings will come out in droves and vote Democrat. College grads carry cell phones, not land lines, and can't be polled. Middle class white workers can’t afford healthcare and want lower taxes.

Although I myself live in Florida, I’m sad to say I don’t think Obama will win here. There are simply too many closet white supremacists living here. If Obama does win, I will have a new appreciation and respect for the residents here. I will no longer keep my bedroom window open at night so that I can keep an eye on the Obama sign in my front yard, hoping no one steals it… again!

In Florida, there is also a lot of voter fraud, particularly among what I like to call, “dual voters,” individuals who vote twice, usually in two states. While standing in line for early voting in Florida, my friend and her fiancé, Ryan, argued about him voting twice. Ryan, a diehard Republican, had just moved from Texas where he’d voted absentee. His argument, “I still own land there.” Channel 9, WFTV found over 100,000 voters registered in both Orange County, Florida as well as in Georgia and Ohio. In some cases, these are students who get absentee ballots from their home state, but also register in Florida. In other cases, these are retired “snow birds” who live in northern states in the summer and Florida in the winter. Better not do it, despite how tempting it may be. It’s a felony punishable up to ten years in jail.

This isn’t the first time I’ve personally witnessed possible dual voting. In the 2004 election, I volunteered for the Washington State Democrats and went door to door on election day reminding people to vote. My “boss” and I found one house with two addresses, one facing the north and another out the back door facing a road to the south. The guy was registered twice under the same name. I suggested we tell an authorities, but my well-meaning boss said “Shh! He’s voting Democrat!”

Obviously, the United States of America needs to create a national voting registry based on Social Security numbers.

I created a less than optimistic prediction map, but I’m not going to bother posting it. In all scenarios I played with on the USA Today website, Obama wins, anyway. We might as well enjoy a landslide!

Christian Coalition Bears False Witness

On November 1, I was fortunate enough to vote early, thanks in part to Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s executive decision to extend voting hours. Governor Crist might be happy to know that both my husband and I voted for more Republicans than Democrats.

While waiting in line (nearly 3 hours total), I was handed numerous pamphlets and information sheets by actual candidates and some volunteers, most of whom had set up camp in one spot and waited for the line to reach them. It was a wonderful experience. I got to meet many of the candidates themselves and listen to them present their points of view in person, something you can’t get from a TV ad or a newspaper article.

Unfortunately, all experiences were not pleasant.

I was handed a 2008 Christian Coalition voter guide by an older gentleman. I read the lines one by one in disgust, pointing out differences between presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain. “No, that’s not true,” I told the man, “This is misleading. Barack Obama IS in favor of Charter schools. And he’s NOT in favor of teaching sex education to kindergarteners!”

With each statement, the man nodded his head and said, “Thank you.” He was not interested in discussing the accuracy of his flyer.

“It’s not that I mind people feeling differently than I do,” I said loudly, “but to lie about the issues, that’s something else.”

“Thank you,” said the man.

“Most of your facts are wrong,” I said. “If you’re going to put this out, at least tell the truth,” I pointed out.

He still would not say a word.

“You call yourself a Christian. Thou shall not bear false witness,” I said.

Still the man wouldn’t budge.

Instead, a young boy heard me and assumed I was talking about him. He had just handed me a flyer himself about a Democratic candidate running for a local office. “What’s that? Bearing false witness?” he asked.

“It means lying about someone else,” I said, “In order to hurt them. It’s one of the Ten Commandments!”

“Oh,” said the boy. He was not happy with himself, why, I don’t know, but he put his flyers down. The female candidate who was running against the candidate the boy was promoting came up personally and thanked me. She said her opponent was breaking the law with his flyers by putting the Florida State seal on them and cited the actual code and penalty.

The line moved and I went forward, away from the older “Christian” man, but the female local candidate stuck like glue, telling me about her hopes for rebuilding the area, attracting businesses and bringing in more jobs. Her speech was so positive, others around us listened in, learning more about her dreams for our beautiful state.

The line had moved forward, but the older man was still back there, still handing out his false flyers, still sticking to it. I was so disgusted with him, so unhappy that he was spreading such lies and even more unhappy that others were buying it.

I am very conflicted on two counts. First, what the Christian Coalition is doing is heresy. By bearing false witness, they are breaking one of the Ten Commandments, one of the sacred laws both Jews and Christians must follow, which is stated in the Bible as being equally as bad as stealing, committing adultery, and worshiping other Gods. Perhaps the coalition feels the ends justify the means, for they consider the act of abortion as breaking the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”

Second, as a Christian myself, I am ashamed to be classified in the same category as these people who call themselves Christians. They are giving Christianity as a religion a very bad name. Jesus himself asks his followers to be loving, accepting, and empathetic of our fellow man, to be truthful and peaceful people who care for others.

Shame on you, Christian Coalition! Shame on you! Shame on you!

Four Grueling Days with an Obama Foe

My father was in a minor car accident a couple weeks ago, so I drove down to Clearwater, FL, mostly just to drive dad around, but also just to be there in case he took a turn for the worse. Mom had come down on vacation from NC, but had to go back to work. I ended up spending only four days with “dear old dad,” eager to leave and escape the intense “I hate Obama” atmosphere in the home.

There has never been any question of who my father would support in this election. Dad has always voted for the Republican Presidential candidate, mostly citing lower taxes as his reason. However, I did not count on dad’s anger, about an eight on a scale from one to ten, against the popular black Presidential candidate, Barack Obama.

Dad hates Democrats. However, he hates blacks even more. The source of his anger, which he claims stems from attending a black school in Philadelphia as a teenager, is most likely actually bred into him by the society in which he grew up. Dad was raised in the Depression and blacks were often the scapegoat for the bad economy, blamed for taking jobs meant for whites and blamed for committing the majority of crimes.

On a typical evening: Dad watches TV from his recliner, remote control in hand. Dad mutes every single Obama commercial, and instead, uses this opportunity to vent his extreme political feelings, yelling, “He’s an idiot!”

FOX news, the Republican controlled media, is the only acceptable news show. He used to watch ABC, but dad’s not interested in hearing what they have to say. Instead, FOX displays a very filtered and one-sided view of the world, ignoring important “real” news stories, and spending valuable air time covering local Republican rallies, showing McCain’s and Palin’s shining faces smiling at the crowds.

FOX news reports that actress/singer Jennifer Hudson’s family in Chicago was murdered, so dad says this is proof that blacks are violent. FOX news reports on a scuffle in a black neighborhood in Clearwater and dad says this is proof that blacks are stupid. FOX news reports that a Biden rally is causing traffic jams. What an inconvenience!

When FOX does show coverage of Obama, dad mutes the TV and won’t turn up the sound again until something comes on he wants to see, perhaps an update on fighting in Iraq. Mom and I watch the TV in silence, unable to do anything. Dad is in control.

When FOX shows the latest polls with Obama leading, dad changes the channel.

Obama buys a half hour prime airtime on Wednesday night, so Dad watches an old rerun of Law and Order on an independent TV channel. “He lies, he just lies,” says Dad.

Dad spends much of his time on the internet, exchanging secret racist jokes with other like-minded friends and family. He has nicknamed Barack Obama, “B.O.,” for “Body Odor,” since he says blacks stink.

Despite the numerous visits by very famous candidates and politicians to the Tampa Bay/Clearwater area, dad has no interest in attending any rallies. Nader comes to speak down the street, and I’d like to go, but dad isn’t even curious.

A few weeks ago, dad said he was eating in a restaurant in Clearwater when Obama unexpectedly showed up. Dad slipped out the door, eager to escape the popular fervor for a candidate he truly hates.

Dad isn’t a McCain supporter, either. He doesn’t like the man and voted for Mitt Romney in the primary. No, dad isn’t voting “for” anyone, but instead will be voting “against” the black candidate.

I assumed that dad’s racist anger was unique to his age group, the senior crowd raised to believe that blacks are a less evolved subset of the human race and are inferior to whites. However, a friend of mine told me that he has seen the same level of anger in much younger people, too.

I found the behavior shocking and embarrassing. How can this be my own father? How can he be so angry at such a wise and wonderful leader, Barack Obama? How can my dad, such an intelligent man, a former college professor and research scientist, be so unintelligent? Doesn’t he care that his taxes will be lower under Obama? Isn’t that what he’s always preached to me as his reason for voting Republican?

I “escaped” dad’s home on Friday, leaving several days earlier than originally planned. The kitchen was cleaner, dad was walking without crutches, and the refrigerator was fully stocked full of food. I feel bad that I won’t be there to drive my dad to the voting polls. Unlike him, I truly want him to have a voice and exercise his right to vote, even though I don’t agree with his political views. However, my mental health can’t take being around him right now.

The Clearwater Riot of 2008?

The 1935 lynching of Rubin Stacy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The story behind the lynching is as follows: Six deputies were escorting Stacy to Dade County jail in Miami on 19th July, 1935, when he was taken by a white mob and hanged by the side of the home of Marion Jones the woman who had made the original complaint against him. The New York Times later revealed that "subsequent investigation revealed that Stacy, a homeless tenant farmer, had gone to the house to ask for food; the woman became frightened and screamed when she saw Stacy's face."

Florida is no stranger to racial adversity. Between 1967 and 1996, Florida has been the site of seven more race riots. All were initiated over the accusation of law enforcement taking sides based on race.

In 1923, an angry mob of about 100 to 150 whites, several who had come from out of state, attacked, tortured, and shot at the black residents of the little town of Rosewood, FL after it was rumored that they had helped a black man rape and kill a white woman. Much later, it was discovered that the married woman was most likely actually beaten up by her white boyfriend with whom she was having an affair, and not raped, nor killed. However, the crowd had been excited and would not turn back. While law enforcement and even the Governor of Florida ignored the riot, the little black town of Rosewood was burned to the ground and essentially wiped off the map, the surviving residents fleeing to other cities and states to escape persecution for their skin color. The full story can be found at: www.afgen.com/roswood2.html

Could Florida be the site of another riot, perhaps whites raging against other whites, over their support of a black presidential candidate? The 2008 landmark presidential election of a white man vs. a black has had an unusual outcome. It has brought out into the open the ugly pale underbelly of the south – the white supremacist.

The McCain/Palin crowd has not just become vocal, they’ve become violent. A Washington Post October 7, 2008 article reported that during a Palin rally in Clearwater, Florida on October 6, the crowd turned on the media after Palin blamed reporters, such as CBS news anchor Katie Couric, for making her look bad.

One attendee, further riled up, resorted to yelling racial epithets at a black sound man, then told him to, “Sit down, boy,” an term meant to demean an adult black male.

As Palin read off a “guilty by association” list of terrorists Obama has crossed paths with over the length of his entire political career, a man in the audience suggested:

“Kill him!”

White Barack Obama supporters have an interesting challenge. They will be voting “black” in a part of the country where having a son with a gay partner is more socially acceptable than having a white daughter married to a black man. It’s no wonder people are afraid to admit their allegiance to Obama, for there are still those in the south who say they would like to send all the blacks back to Africa.

This past weekend, I and several others volunteered for the Obama campaign to register voters at a street festival in Port Orange, a city in Central Florida. I wore my official Obama/Biden t-shirt, one of only three I saw while walking the entire length of the festival. As my friend Trish and I surveyed the crowd for unregistered voters, we handed out Obama stickers. I was surprised at the number of people who were nervous about wearing a sticker in public.

“That’s my guy,” whispered one woman to me.

“Would you like a sticker?” I asked.

“Oh no!” she shook her head and scurried away. I felt as if I was handing out something truly embarrassing, such as condoms.

A fireman told me, “My union’s voting Obama, but I don’t dare wear that,” he confessed.

Many people were willing to take a sticker, but not to wear them. In my rough estimation, women were about five times more likely than men to accept them, and out of those, about half were willing to put on and wear the sticker in public that very minute. Parents who would not wear a sticker themselves were happy to put them on their children instead.

“But they can’t vote,” said Trish.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “People need to get comfortable with the idea of a black man as president. The more people that wear the logo, the more people will feel comfortable voting for Obama,” I explained.

Older people were more likely to grimace when I offered an Obama sticker. I’ll never forget the look on one 80 year-old man’s face, as I offered him one. He opened his mouth in horror, then took his wife’s arm and led her away from me as quickly as her cane would allow her to walk.

It’s no wonder. Many older Americans were alive when lynching was a publicly acceptable form of vigilante justice and lynching photos were circulated on mass produced postcards.

Historian James Allen has assembled a collection of lynching postcards and photos on his website, www.withoutsanctuary.org. Particularly disturbing are the stories behind the lynching photos, some where the persecutors admit to getting the wrong man; others where white mobs broke the accused out of jails for the purpose of mutilating them, then killing them before they could even stand trial. Many photos show whites - standing around proudly, children in tow, laughing and smiling, the victim propped up and sometimes decorated like a hunting trophy.

Some postcards and photos date as recently as 1936, only 72 years ago. That means that my parents and my neighbors were not only alive, but were raised in an environment which advocated lynching as a form of keeping blacks “in their place.”

It is difficult for me to understand the mindset of racists. How is it possible that they can find the act of love between whites and blacks disgusting, but not the act of torturing and hanging up another human being to die?

Perhaps the angry crowd at VP Candidate Palin’s rally will go home and rethink their attitudes. Or, perhaps their public outcries will attract the extreme white supremacists from other parts of the country, eager to expend some energy. If I were Governor Charlie Christ, I would put the National Guard on standby. Palin is still in the state, after all.

Fluffy, the Demo-Cat

Fluffy, a former Re-pig-lickin', became a Demo-Cat after McCain chose Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. She now wears her Obama/Biden sticker proudly.

On October 1, 2008, it was reported on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show that the magazine, “Cat Fancy” had endorsed Senator McCain for president.

“Cancel my subscription!” cried Fluffy from her usual perch beside the window.

Fluffy, a beautiful 12-year old Angora who was rescued from a roof in Seattle in 1997 and now resides in Central Florida, is serious about her magazines. “I won’t sit on just anything,” she says.

Formerly a “Re-pig-lickin’,” Fluffy originally supported McCain, who she mistakenly thought was named, “McCan.”

“I love all cans!” she explained. “I even jump at the sound of a can opener...You never know what’s in a can. It could be beans, but, it could be tuna!”

“I’m also for off-shore fishing. The more salmon, the better. We have to lessen our dependence on foreign fish,” said Fluffy.

Fluffy had formerly admired Senator John McCain’s stands on the environment and animal rights, including his refusal to drill in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, his acknowledgment of the human species effects on Global Warming, and interest in alternative fuels and safe nuclear energy. She now wonders if that was all talk.

“He picked one of the scariest people out there to be his Vice Presidential running mate – Sarah Palin. If she had her way, she would shoot us all,” said Fluffy.

Alaska’s Governor, Sarah Palin, has a record of animal cruelty. According to a Huffington Post article on August 31, 2008, Palin wants to decrease the bear and wolf population by shooting them from hunters flying above. Why? To increase the moose and caribou population for trophy hunters. Last year, Alaska offered a $150 bounty on each wolf killed by air. Palin also filed a lawsuit against the Bush administration over the addition of polar bears on the endangered species list and doesn’t recognize mankind’s role in global warming.

Palin, a card carrying member of the National Rifle Association, also has a reputation of having a dislike for, even being afraid of cute little fluffy cats, according to a September 10, 2008 feature in the New York Times.

“Just what we need,” said Fluffy, “Another VP with a gun.”

God, save us all!

Health Insurance Companies – Making Money off Your Misery

$1650 PER MONTH!

Yesterday, my good friend Lorie, who lives in Central Florida, confided in me that she and her self-employed husband pay $1650.00 per month for their healthcare plan for two adults, pre-retirement. Neither have any serious or unusual conditions – just age – they’re both in their 50’s.

$1650.00. That’s insane! That’s one thousand, six hundred, and fifty dollars. Not $16.50, about what you’d pay for a 12 pack of good beer.

This plan covers catastrophic (you have chest pains and you need an angiogram, Stat!) and point of service (a $10 co-pay for regular doctor visits and prescriptions, plus a portion of charges for hospital stays and procedures). Lorie says she shopped around virtually everywhere and tried to get only catastrophic, but was could not. In fact, this plan is actually a discounted plan purchased through a business trade group in Pennsylvania.

About five years ago, Lorie says they were only paying about $500 per month for the same coverage before the prices skyrocketed.

HURRICANE INSURANCE FOR ONE YEAR!

$1650.00 PER MONTH? That’s about what I pay each month for my mortgage! That’s $19,800 per year – more than a person earning minimum wage makes working full-time!

It’s also about what I pay for my home insurance, which includes hurricane coverage, PER YEAR! “And you’re much more likely to need hurricane insurance than I am to need to go to the hospital,” My friend Lorie pointed out. She’s right. I live on the coast of Florida unlike healthcare insurance, home insurance prices are regulated by the State of Florida.

Where does that $1650.00 per month go? It’s certainly not going to the doctors. It’s not going to the hospitals. I’ve seen the cars those insurance salesmen drive – BMWs, Jaguars, Audis, big SUVs (they can afford the gas.)

NO CONTROL

My husband works full time at a company which provides health insurance for him and myself. We pay about $250 per month which sounds like a good deal, but it’s not. I’d rather take the money and pay doctors of my choice directly.

The company picked two plans for us to choose from
Both are HMOs (one stop clinics) which can be good, but in this case, are horribly deficient. It takes months to schedule an appointment and doctors sometimes cancel only days before the date you are expected to go. Doctors make diagnoses based on talking with the patient and perform few actual diagnostic tests, which can be expensive. Doctors assume that symptoms point to the most common ailment, even when there are other symptoms present which do not match their diagnosis.
- We picked the cheaper plan, but were placed with bad doctors. The good doctors are no longer accepting new patients.
- We have heard from coworkers that the other plan is even worse.

Plans don't cover everything, so you're still paying out of pocket
Neither plan covers vision care, the only coverage I really use other than dental, for which we pay an extra $28 per month. Even then, we had to pay about $6000 for non-cosmetic dental surgery because the costs were higher than the insurance would pay.

The company decides our premium
Over the past twenty years, we’ve paid between a $150 and $600 per month premium for our company's chosen healthcare plans, or between $1800 and $7200 per year. The lowest figure was when I worked briefly for a public school system, a.k.a., the government.

We cannot opt out of the plan
It has always been mandatory for both my husband and myself to pay towards the company healthcare plan. 

Working couples pay double

After getting married, we had double coverage, but were not allowed to drop one of the plans. Even spouses working at the same company could not get out of paying double.

Not everyone pays the same
At one job, my husband was charged about $200 per month for his insurance. He was on an employment contract with guaranteed raises each year which matched the average rate of inflation. The company got into serious financial trouble, but could not take away my husband’s raise, so instead, they increased my husband’s healthcare plan charges to about $600 per month beginning in 2006, essentially taking away all the raises he’d received.

At Christmas, the company issued a lay-off notice with a letter explaining that employees would be allowed to participate in a COBRA plan where you can continue paying for your own healthcare plan after you are laid off. The plan cost $1200 per month. Some employees lamented that this would be four times what they were currently paying at $300 per month. That’s when my husband found out he was paying a higher charge for the same healthcare plan than some of his coworkers.

Unaffordable to unemployed and working poor

A person earning minimum wage at $6.55 per hour makes $13,624 per year if allowed to work 40 hours per week for 52 weeks per year. After taxes, this amounts to around $1000 per month. This worker cannot afford to pay for health insurance, even at $250 per month. 

Unemployment pay varies by state. My husband's pay after being laid off in Washington state, about $2000 per month after taxes, covered only our mortgage and utilities. We could not even consider health insurance. In Florida, unemployment pays about half that, or about $1000 per month.

If given the choice, most will opt out

The problem with insurance is that you are paying towards a rainy day which may never come. If given the choice, most people on limited budgets will not buy health insurance, but will instead prefer to pay their own doctors as needed and gamble that they will not be hospitalized.

INSURANCE COMPANIES CONTROL DOCTORS

Our current system employs a middleman (the insurance company) to make medical decisions for us. The middleman is a businessman, not a medical practitioner. They hold in their hands the power to approve or deny a test or procedure which might save your life. Their decisions are based on the bottom line, not on the patient’s welfare.

If a doctor tries to fight the system and insist on care for his patient, he can be “let go,” his name “removed” from the list of approved doctors for these patients. As a result, few doctors challenge the insurance company. They have to eat, too.

For years, I submitted to the healthcare plan my company provided for me. I went to their doctors who would never refer me to a specialist. I suffered from numerous symptoms, but was usually told to take an aspirin, relax, de-stress, soak in a tub, etc. I was once even given the wrong medication. A few years ago, I had had enough and decided to go to my own doctors and pay for it out of pocket. I was given stellar service and no stone went unturned in diagnosing my disease. I now know that I suffered from a serious medical condition which could have been treated if caught in time.

WE NEED SOCIALIZED MEDICINE

This week, both U.S. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain released their healthcare plans. Both involved the use of health insurance companies as a middle man to control our current healthcare system. Not a good idea. It won’t work! It will simply build up the middle men by boosting the health insurance business. We’re just feeding the patients and the doctors to the lions!

The United States Government needs to do what most other civilized countries do and offer free basic healthcare as a public service, similar to the way public schooling is provided. Yearly checkups, immunizations, disease screenings, and standards treatments would be included. Each state government can decide how to do this, whether to run their own clinics or contract this through private companies. If a patient wants something special, they can go to a special doctor (just like a special school) and pay for it out of their own pocket.

WHO WILL PAY FOR IT?

Americans are already paying for the healthcare for not only themselves, but also for the uninsured and under-insured. It's possible the bill for socialized medicine might even be cheaper than what we currently pay for no-choice medicine. We are paying for it through higher medical costs, insurance premiums and taxes.

Eliminate the middle man
If we took the money we’re already paying to health insurers, we will come out ahead, for we will eliminate the middle man who’s making money off of our misery.

Health costs don’t need to be as high as they currently are
Most hospitals and doctors don't charge the same for everyone. They charge on a “sliding scale.” If they think you have more money, you get billed higher than if you don't. I paid $35 per visit out of pocket when I went to the eye doctor with no insurance. My insurance company paid $169 per visit (I paid a $10 co-pay) when I went back to the same doctor through my insurance.

If you can’t pay your medical bills, you may lose your house
Even if you do have healthcare insurance, but your medical bills cost more than what is covered, you may be forced to sell your house to pay your bills.

If you don’t have insurance or assets, medical is free anyway
If you're really sick, you could lose your job and hence, your insurance. Then you could become impoverished and qualify for free medical care! Who pays for this? The taxpayers. So, we’re paying for this system already.

Even doctors have a hard time getting paid by insurance companies
Even if you have insurance, a doctor will sometimes require you to pay them out of pocket and make you attempt to get the money back on your own. They say they require this because the insurance company takes too long to pay. My husband made the mistake of giving a doctor a personal credit card, and before we knew it, $700 was charged that should have been sent to insurance.

WE CAN HAVE CHEAPER AND BETTER CARE

In conclusion, I don't think the American worker, nor their employers, would have to pay any more for healthcare than they do now if the system were shifted to a government mandated free clinic system. Yes, taxes would have to go up. However, I think the system would save money because the insurance people would no longer take a huge share.

The best medical care I ever got was when I became self employed and took my healthcare into my own hands and paid doctors out of pocket.  I chose my own HMO clinic where I went for checkups, immunizations, and regular illnesses. If needed, I went to doctors at the UW Medical Center in Seattle and the University of Chapel Hill Medical Center in North Carolina. Both are teaching hospitals with all the latest gadgets and treatments. Neither will tell you don’t need a procedure or test, unless you really don’t need it. Both are affordable. In one year, I paid about $800 out of pocket for two clinic visits and four UW Medical visits. Compare this to the company healthcare plan where I paid $3000 per year, but was not referred to specialists.

We have the ability to offer the best medical care in the world to our own citizens. We just need to eliminate the middle man.