Roman Emperor Nero was said to have fiddled while Rome burned in 64 A.D. Of course the story is not true because there were no fiddles in Rome at the time, but it makes a good story.

Move forward in time to the year 2010. The Roman Empire is gone, but fiddlin’ while the American people suffer seems to have been resurrected from Nero’s time. One thing that has not been brought forward is Nero’s treatment of the poor and disadvantaged people. A cry arose in the land that the poor were being overly taxed, and Nero cut the tax almost in half. Restrictions on bails and fines were put in place and lawyer fees were limited. Secret government tax records were made public and the cost of food imports was lowered by virtue of tax exemption.

Roman historian Tacitus says that after "the fire" that destroyed a good portion of Rome, Nero organized a relief effort paid from his own funds. He opened his palaces to shelter the homeless and arranged for the delivery of food supplies for the needy. He then established a new building program to make houses safer. To pay for the project a tribute was imposed on the provinces of the Empire. In Roman times, the tribute usually applied to land, landowners or slave owners (the rich).

Okay, so here we are in 2010. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty states that 3 million people in America experience homelessness each year with 1.3 million of those being children. On November 5, 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that 14.8 million of Americans were unemployed with 6.2 million of those having been unemployed longer than six months. They also estimate another 2.6 million have fallen off the unemployment rolls and still have not found employment because jobs are scarce. That same BLS report showed that people who do have jobs are working more hours.

What is Congress Doing?

A December 1, 2010 article entitled Unemployment benefits: not until Bush tax cuts pass, Senate GOP says, pretty much says it all. The extension of unemployment benefits was not acted on by the United States Senate in time to prevent 800,000 out-of-work Americans from losing benefits and another 2 million expected to lose benefits on January 1. Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts objected to the bill being brought up for a vote, effectively blocking the required unanimous consent. Brown stated his party’s objection to the $56.4 billion measure not being offset by cuts in other programs. Of course, his party favors extending $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that are not offset by cuts in other programs.

Redistribution of wealth? Have you heard that phrase before? From Republicans? Sure you have, only it doesn’t apply if you take money from the poor and give it to the rich – according to Senate Republicans.

In the meantime, Congress is planning to spend about $33 billion on Great Ape Conservation by virtue of HR 4416. The bill states, "The Secretary may award a multiyear grant under this section to a person who is otherwise eligible for a grant under this section, to carry out a project that the person demonstrates is an effective, long-term conservation strategy for great apes and their habitats."

Did you know the U. S. Department of Defense is working with General Dynamics to develop a lightweight .50 caliber machine gun? DOD gave General Dynamics $9 million to try and develop the weapon. Now, this isn’t the first time. General Dynamic’s earlier version called the XML312 was rejected. The new one is being called the LW50MG. Lt. Colonel Mike Ascura stated that the new weapon will not replace the heavier M2 .50 caliber machine gun. It will simply be a new gun.

Military Airplane with Spare Engine

The F-35 fighter jet is a great example of what’s wrong with American government. According to WTNH in Hartford, Connecticut, 83 of the fighters have received authorization and appropriation, and the military has expressed an interest in acquiring over 2,000. For starters, why would we need over 2,000 fighter aircraft, much less over 2,000 of the same model? But that’s not the story here. You see, the F-35 uses a Pratt & Whitney engine manufactured in Democrat Representative John Larson’s district in Connecticut.

Other members of Congress want a piece of the pie and have recommended that a back up engine be made for the F-35, one made by General Electric and Rolls Royce. The military has said they do not need the backup engine. Its production, however, is being planned for two Congressional districts outside Connecticut: Republican John Boehner’s district in Ohio and Republican Eric Cantor’s district in Virginia.

Conclusion

Anybody got a fiddle?

Dear Washington D. C.:

America getting back to you again. Perhaps you’ve noticed a lot of new faces moving toward town, and a lot of them are coming courtesy of our country’s Tea Party movement.

Here’s something you need to know. Yes, there are a number of evil people who have tried to co-op this movement, and there are a few wild ideas floated by uninformed supporters of this movement. However, look around you. Congress is inundated with wild ideas and uninformed people already. This is nothing new. The "need to know" part of this is that it is a people movement that should not be identified with radio or television talk shows or Dick Armey, Michelle Bachmann or anyone else who says they speak for the people.

It’s the Stupid Economy

You must admit that Capitalism has a black-eye at the moment. Supply-side economics is not supplying the number of jobs needed by our country’s citizens – and that is the key to just about everything else you’re hearing.

Why is there such an uproar over ILLEGAL immigration? Because jobs are being lost. Why is there such an uproar over NAFTA and other trade agreements? Because jobs are being lost. Why is there such an uproar over Congressional legislation that rewards companies who ship jobs off our shores? Well, that’s simple – because jobs are being lost.

Why is there such an uproar over the Wall Street bailout? Because you chose to provide a benefit to people who create nothing but financial chaos and get rewarded with uproarious salaries. Wall Street’s analysts have corporations running scared. They must continually improve their bottom line by laying off workers or shipping jobs overseas in order to please the analysts. You bailed out one of our biggest problems, and we’re pissed about it. (Read Karl Marx, Socialism and the Tea Party Movement).

Now, however, we need to talk about government spending.

Debt, Deficits and Decisions

Fact – the United States government has a huge debt. Fact – the debt is caused by deficit spending. Fact – Deficit spending is caused by stupid decisions. We’ve all done it. We all do it. Keeping up with the Joneses as a life goal has been around longer than I have, and I’ve been here a long time.

It’s like Credit Card Debt. Credit cards, as a method of payment, is not a bad thing. They make life a lot simpler. However, when a credit card is used to buy something that is not needed or that cannot really be afforded, it becomes a bad thing. A balance is carried forward and, in many cases, an exhorbitant interest rate comes into play. Then you must devote a part of your income to paying the interest on your debt and a part of your income to paying the debt. In other words, you lost purchasing power because of not managing your desires for something you really couldn’t afford.

I keep reading about you folks spending money for a weapon that the military doesn’t want. I’m talking millions and millions of dollars you’re spending for something that is not needed – and that our country cannot afford. Oh, yeah, I’ve heard that you’re doing it to keep jobs in the military complex. And, that’s stupid. It would be less stupid if you used those millions and millions of dollars to have people make windshield wipers; at least that’s a needed product and you’d still have the jobs. But the truth is – we cannot afford either!

Be a Decider

You know, they say a stupid person is one who does something that fails and then does it again expecting a different result. Several years ago you gave a huge tax cut that helped America’s richest people and told us that those people would use that money to create jobs. Okay, we lost 8 or so millions jobs since then – and now you’re thinking about doing it again. Back up two sentences and read what I said.

Supply-side economics requires that money be in the hands of demanders. You know, it’s that old demand creates supply sort of thing. Without demand, the economy falters. You put money in the hands of people who are simply going to put it in the bank or stock market and you get one result. You put it in the hands of hungry people, and they will spend it quickly, creating demand. Is that so difficult to understand?

On November 2, 2010 a lot of decisions were made. Many of those decisions resulted in a whole bunch of new deciders who will be moving to Washington. Someone is going to be a decider. You can do it to benefit the country or voters will do it to replace you with a different decider.

Deficit Deciders Needed

Nobody said your job was supposed to be easy. You see, along the way folks there in your fair city forgot all about us having a government "of the people, by the people and for the people." November 2 should be a reminder that the voters didn’t forget. There are a lot of special interests people all up in arms about decisions that need to be made. No one wants deficit reduction to happen in their back yard. Well, it’s got to happen in everyone’s backyard in order for it to work.

What’s up with this XOS Wearable Exoskeleton suit developed by Defense Contractor Raytheon? The promo material says it will allow a soldier to pick up 200 pounds of stuff hundreds of times without getting fatigued. How much does it cost? How many times is it necessary to pick up 200 pounds at once? Could the stuff be boxed in fifty-pound boxes? Could four guys pick it up if it stayed in a 200-pound box? Why are you spending money on this? Money we don’t have, by the way. Not only that, but why is Defense Contractor Lockheed Martin building a similar suit called the Human Universal Load Carrier?

Did you pay both of these companies to develop the same thing when, in reality, it isn’t needed at a time we cannot afford it?

Military spending must be on the cutting block.

For the People

Don’t forget those words. Your decisions should be based on what’s best for the people. Sure, it would be nice to have a bike trail running through the middle of my hometown. But I can give up that bike trail so an elderly person can afford health care. Are you willing to take any degree of health care away from your grandmother so millionaires can continue receive a tax cut they don’t really need?

Are you willing to deprive a child of health care or a hot meal so you can build more unneeded weapons? Yes, I understand you cannot reduce the debt until you have a budget surplus rather than a budget deficit. This is what you should be thinking about. How will you decrease spending and, possibly, increase revenue on a yearly basis.

Forget Social Security for the moment. It does not contribute one penny to the deficit nor to the national debt. There is plenty of time to deal with that. Let’s do what’s needed now to confront the problems we have now.

What Others Are Saying:

About Social Security – "The system has been running a substantial surplus for a generation because the Baby Boom has been working and paying payroll taxes, and the Baby Boom dwarfs the generation now receiving benefits. The surplus has gone into the Trust Fund, which now stands at about $2.6 trillion (That’s trillion with a “T.”) As the Baby Boom retires, the system will stop running a surplus later this decade. Then the system will pay full benefits, including cost-of-living adjustments, from payroll taxes and the interest from the Trust Fund. About a decade after that, payroll taxes and interest on the Trust Fund will not be enough to pay full benefits, including cost of living adjustments. Then the system will pay full benefits, including cost of living adjustments, from payroll taxes, interest and the principal of the Trust Fund." – Huffington Post

Defense Spending – "The scale of defense spending in the USA, as Chalmers Johnson has repeatedly pointed out, is beyond what any other citizen base in the world shoulders as a percent of GDP and adds up to approximately the defense spending of the rest of the world combined. So a little nip and tuck here is considered significant. Why do these commissions never ask what it is that all of this defense spending does for America?" –

Rob Johnson, Director of Economic Policy, Roosevelt Institute

More Independent’s Day Articles

Independent’s Day
Independent’s Day – Social Security
Independent’s Day – Second Amendment
Independent’s Day – Deficit Reduction (this article)

FYI – here’s information you can use.

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Dear Washington D. C.:

It’s America again. The Second Amendment seems to be a matter of concern for an awful lot of folks, so why don’t we consider a common-sense approach to answer this once and for all. The Supreme Court has made a couple recent votes about this, 2008 and 2010, that should have cleared up a thing or two.

In case you don’t remember it, the Second Amendment states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This is the wording and punctuation used when passed by Congress. It changed a little when it was sent to the States for ratification. That stated, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

The Bill of Rights

Please notice that the Second Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights. The purpose of the Bill of Rights was to give Power to the People. Think for a moment about the Tenth Amendment, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

So, let’s agree that it’s okay for CITIZENS of the United States to own guns.

The Common Sense Approach

You and I run into trouble coming up with a common-sense approach to gun ownership because there are an awful lot of idiots in the United States that don’t know how to get along. I read recently that folks ought not to pick a fight with an old man because that old man knows he can’t fight. His only recourse is to shoot his attacker.

Some of my fondest memories are of my Dad taking me hunting and teaching me to shoot and about gun safety. My grandson went hunting with his Dad just this past weekend. No one argues that being able to hunt with a gun is bad. Well, on second thought, there probably are some people who might make that argument. But I can clear this up pretty easily: those people are wrong.

In our society there are a lot of people who use guns to harm other people. Some of those people use weapons with lots of rounds in them, and then there are things called cop-killer bullets. And there are automatic weapons and the like. No one needs any of those guns for hunting … BUT!

The Second Amendment does not say anything about hunting. It doesn’t say anything about target shooting. And then there’s the Fourteenth Amendment that states, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…"

I have long been an advocate of Gun Control because of all the horrible goings-on in our country. I was wrong.

Ban People, Not Guns

There are a lot of laws on the books about illegal use of a fiream. My new common-sense way of thinking is this: American CITIZENS have the right to own and use firearms within the law. Those who choose to use one illegally should be banned from society. Non-CITIZENS who own a gun do not own it under the provisions of the United States Constitution. Likewise, those people should be banned from society.

Yes, I understand you must first catch them, and I further understand that far too many of our law enforcement agencies concentrate on "other things" that don’t have the same societal implication as a wild person running around shooting people.

I would imagine that legalizing marijuana and prostitution would free up a lot of officers who could chase after illegal gun users. And that doesn’t even touch on the tax revenue enhancement by those two legalizations. Nor does it address how much healthier (or less dangerous) both would be with regulation.

So, Washington – what you must figure out is how to get rid of those who use firearms illegally, and not spend time trying to get rid of firearms.

More Independent’s Day Articles

Independent’s Day
Independent’s Day – Social Security
Independent’s Day – Second Amendment (this article)

FYI – here’s information you can use.

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Dear Washington D. C.:

America here again. Let’s talk Social Security.

And let’s be frank about it. The Social Security program is a much needed program to help seniors who can no longer work to help themselves.

There are a number of reasons these seniors can no longer work. Probably the most contentious and least obvious is that employers do not want to hire older workers. Then, of course, there’s the fact that many are physically or mentally unable to work. With fewer and fewer jobs available in the United States, it’s not unreasonable for older workers to move out of the work force and allow younger ones to move in.

What About Privitization?

This is probably the silliest idea that has ever come along. Younger workers already have the means to open individual retirement accounts and participate in 401K accounts. These have not always been available to those who are already retired or those nearing retirement age. And, those who did try to supplement Social Security with smallish privitized retirement accounts saw those accounts tank in the last few years. Throw in 8,000,000 job losses and a bursting housing bubble and many people had to cash in those retirement accounts to pay mortgages and living costs.

Saving for a rainy day is pretty damn stupid when there’s a hurricane in your back yard. It’s time to act. It’s time to protect yourself and your family, and that’s what a lot of people did. IRAs and 401Ks flooded Wall Street with new money. You, my Washington friends, deregulated those folks and allowed them to create derivatives – essentially a piece of paper with writing on it. And those wise folks began selling worthless paper to one another. It was sort of a "I’ll buy yours if you’ll buy mine" sort of thing. In their wisdom, they tied the worthless paper to worthless mortgages, also a product of your creative legislating.

And now you’re thinking about taking the security out of Social Security and giving it to Wall Street? How #@^&*%$ stupid do you think we are? Okay, good point. We did elect the fools who did this to us. But that era is over.

Raising the Retirement Age

Okay, if you will stop talking about privitization, I’ll talk to you about raising the retirement age. Go ahead and raise it to 70 for people currently under age 50. This will give those younger folks who probably already have other retirement accounts plenty of time to make any necessary changes to their retirement strategies – and it won’t mess with the folks who don’t have time to make any changes.

The Need for Social Security

Long ago we moved away from the agrarian society in which each family took care of itself. You talk about the federal deficit putting a burden on future generations of our children, but don’t put a lot of thought into dropping the aging generation directly onto the backs of their children. Again, we no longer live in that world.

Social Security, modest though it may be, still allows a person to have a little bit of respect. In many cases, a large portion of the Social Security check is paid to Medicare for health insurance. And, in some instances, the Social Security recipient qualifies for Medicaid to pay the coinsurance portion of Medicare.

We are not a society who casts the elderly aside. Families cannot fill the gap. Churches cannot fill the gap. Meals-on-Wheels cannot feed everyone every meal.

Yes, everyone gets a kick out of calling these Entitlement Programs. The connotation is that people feel they’re entitled to these benefits. Well, they are! Because they are American citizens. We are supposed to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people. We are supposed to have a government that provides for the common welfare of its citizens. Those aren’t my words. They were written by our Founding Fathers.

One last thing. You’re really not thinking about giving a tax break to the wealthiest 2% of Americans and take the money away from the elderly – are you? I mean, really, are you?

Franklin Roosevelt said it this way:

What Others Are Saying:

"Social Security is not in need of saving. It is the most fiscally responsible part of the entire federal budget. Its benefits are modest, averaging less than the minimum wage. It is extremely efficient, returning in benefits more than 99 cents of every dollar spent. At its most expensive, when the Baby Boom generation is fully retired, Social Security will cost half as much, in terms of percentage of GDP, that France, Germany and many other countries are paying for their counterpart programs right now, today. Its projected deficit, still decades away, is manageable in size – just 0.7 percent of GDP, about the same amount as extending the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent of Americans." – Nancy Altman on Huffington Post

"Social Security benefits play a vital role in reducing poverty. Without Social Security, according to the latest available Census data (for 2008), 19.8 million more Americans would be poor. Although most of those kept out of poverty by Social Security are elderly, nearly a third are under age 65, including 1.1 million children." – Paul N. Van de Water and Arloc Sherman

More Independent’s Day Articles

Independent’s Day
Independent’s Day – Social Security (this article)

FYI – here’s information you can use.

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Dear Washington D. C.:

Let me introduce myself. I am America. That being said, I think you should also know that I am your employer, and I can give you a lengthy list of names that understand that more today than they did prior to November 2, 2010. Just in case you need references.

I also know you folks tend to pay attention to your own press that comes from the right at Fox News or the left at MSNBC, or any of the wild-eyed thoughts of anyone who is familiar with a keyboard and the Internet. Let’s not forget Talk Radio – but I think you should know this: it’s just talk! A lot of these folks get paid really well to keep people uninformed and clinging to their words of supposed wisdom. In reality, though, it’s sort of like Saturday morning cartoons for adults. (Except for Phineas & Ferb – that’s a dang good program, and you might ought to be taking a look at it instead of listening to plump pontificators.)

I Am Not a Color

I am not red, nor am I blue. America is brown, black, yellow, white, and millions of shades within and among those colors, none of which is red nor blue. Sure, out on the edge, along the fringe you might find a red tint or a blue tint. We all have those embarrassing moments when we blush, and we certainly get banged up and bruise from time to time.

I Do Not Give Mandates

Some of you are already thnking you received a mandate November 2. Not so! Anyway, you just go on thinking that way and in two to six years you can add your name to that list of folks moving home in January. You see, or maybe you don’t, I and my millions of cohorts don’t want government run by red policies or blue policies cooked up in some backroom somewhere. We want effective government.

Let’s Agree on This

A government of the people, by the people and for the people is just that. I think you seem to pass by that for the people part. Your job is to make my life better, and you have failed miserably. You are building military aircraft the military doesn’t want. What’s up with that? You are fighting wars in foreign lands against our wishes. You are building schools in foreign lands and letting ours fall and fail.

For the people – those are pretty powerful words. It’s certainly true that America was begun by a group of rich men wanting to get richer. That’s why King James got the ball rolling in Virginia way back when. It took about 170 years for my ancestors to say, "Wait just a damn minute!" And they sat down and wrote what’s called the Declaration of Independence.

In case you’re not too familiar with that document I’ll paraphrase it for you. When in the course of human events a government tries to screw over the people, the people will rise up and screw over the government. Take November 2 for instance. It was a beginning. Just a beginning.

Note: This is simply the first of what will be a great number of messages for you folks. I figure I will have to tell you time and again, lest ye forget. You might want to become a follower of this blog so you don’t go feeling all high and mighty.

What Others Are Saying:

"Not only are Tuesday’s results unexceptional, they actually represent a return to normalcy. Despite all the revolutionary chest pounding, mixed party control of Congress is the norm for America – single party rule was the oddity." – Rachel Maddow Blog

"Because this Congress allowed so much unfinished business to pile up before the elections, there’ll be no shortage of things to do should they actually decide to tackle some of the people’s business." – Cafferty File

More Independent’s Day Articles

Independent’s Day (this article)
Independent’s Day – Social Security
Independent’s Day – Second Amendment

FYI – here’s information you can use.

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

January 21, 2010 is a day that just might live in infamy, to use Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s words, and may become as important in American history as the day to which he referred: December 7, 1941. The United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, effectively changed America’s type of government from a Republic to an Aristocracy.

It really should come as no surprise to those who follow politics and governing on a regular basis. America has been headed in this direction for quite some time, and the Supreme Court has played a part, especially since 2000 when they chose the President of the United States. For those who didn’t pay attention in Civics class, an aristocracy is a government run by the wealthiest people.

The significance of the January 21 ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission is that corporations now have the same free speech rights as an American citizen and that those rights include being able to make unlimited campaign contributions for both candidates and issues.

As pointed out in a previous article, Americans are a diverse people who have been forced into two economic classes: those with lots of money, and those with little or no money. Those with little money reared their heads in the 2008 Presidential Election with hundreds of thousands contributing both money and time to help Barack Obama win the presidency. Corporations were limited by campaign finance laws from squashing "the people" – but, now – the limit is gone.

How SCOTUS Voted

SCOTUS, for those who don’t know, stands for Supreme Court of the United States. Four justices voted on the side of the big corporations: Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy. Four justices voted on the side of the people: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Bryer and John Paul Stephens. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the corporations.

If ever there was solid evidence what the Supreme Court decision to make George W. Bush president in 2000 did to America, this is it. Imagine two appointees by the candidate who got the most votes that year, Al Gore, instead of those two Bushies. The decision on January 21 would probably never have happened. Aristocracy might have been held in check a little longer. It’s time to turn America back to the people, and that’s exactly what The American Beer Party is all about.

If ever there was a reason to elect moderate Democrats and Independents, and to keep Republicans away from the presidency for as long as possible, yesterday’s display of party politics on the Supreme Court is it.

What Others Are Saying

Justice John Paul Stephens, in his dissent, said, "The court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation."

Eric Lotke, Research Director at the Campaign for America’s Future, said, "Today’s decision, Citizens United v. FEC, comes down decisively on the corporate side. It gives advertisers more power than voters, and tilts the balance of power even farther towards wealthy and corporate interests. The newly composed conservative court upset decades of precedent and settled expectations." Click here to read what else he said.

Miles Mogulescu, entertainment attorney, writer, and political activist, wrote, "in a radical act of judicial activism, five Supreme Court Justices overthrew 103 years of American statutory and judicial law going back to the Presidency of Teddy Roosevelt by ruling that corporations have the Constitutional right to make unlimited campaign contributions. This is in effect a bloodless judicial coup which turns the American government over to the biggest corporate interests, to the degree that hadn’t happened already." Click here to read what else he said.

Jason Linkins, writing for the Huffington Post, said, "In one swoop, the court did away with nearly everything in federal campaign finance law, allowing corporations free reign to inject as much money as they jolly well please into federal campaigns." He, in fact, was much more animated in his article, invoking the F-word to describe "concise way of capturing today’s Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission." Click here to read what else he said.

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC likened the ruling to the Dred Scott decision of long, long ago and said, in fact, the January 21 decision put Chief Justice John Roberts in First Place as the worst Chief Justice in history. Click here to read what else he said.

Republican Response to Supreme Court Ruling

As you might imagine, not everyone was displeased with unlimited corporate campaign contributions. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, said that the court had restored proper rights to corporations. House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio called the decision "a big win for the First Amendment. Let the American people decide how much money is enough."

"I am pleased that the Supreme Court has acted to protect the Constitution’s First Amendment rights of free speech and association," said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "These are the bedrock principles that underpin our system of governance and strengthen our democracy."

The President Responds

"With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans. This ruling gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington – while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates. That’s why I am instructing my Administration to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue. We are going to talk with bipartisan Congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision. The public interest requires nothing less."

We can only hope.

Learn more about The American Beer Party Movement.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Marriage Equality.

Click here to read about The American Beer Party.

Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross, chair of the Blue Dog Democrats said recently, "We cannot create a public option that puts all the other private insurance companies out of business." The compromise was announced Wednesday, and it is one that will be loved by the health insurance industry.

The Blue Dog Bandits struck hard at the American people. For example:

Employers with a payroll of less than $500,000 will not be forced to offer health insurance to their employees nor will they pay a fine. Before the compromise, the figure was $250,000.

Need help paying your health insurance premiums. Under the compromise, the government will help IF your premium exceeds 12% of your income. In other words – if your total family income is $50,000, the government will help you if your health insurance premium is more than $500.00 per month. How many uninsured Americans will jump on that? Yeah, right!

Bandalero Ross said this would save $100 billion to the government. Sure it will, and that $100 billion will either come out of the pockets of the lower and middle classes, or it will stay in their pockets (if they have any) and they will remain uninsured.

Threats from the Health Insurance Industry

Wendell Potter is a former executive at CIGNA, a major health insurance company. He explained in an interview with Bill Moyer on PBS a simple strategy for dealing with Congress. Members of Congress would simply be told, "we can make things tough for you…by running ads, commercials in your home district when you’re running for reelection, not contributing to your campaigns again, or contributing to your competitor."

Here’s a portion of the PBS interview when Moyer questions Potter about the Michael Moore movie, Sicko.

I would recommend you visit Bill Moyer’s page and see the whole interview with Wendell Potter.

The health insurance companies are getting what they paid for. Meanwhile in America…

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"This is precisely why we need a public option," Representative John Dingell (D-MI) said on Tuesday, June 16 at a Congressional hearing with top insurance executives about the health insurance company practice of cancelling policies retroactively to avoid paying claims.

The insurance executives were: Richard A. Collins, chief executive of UnitedHealth’s Golden Rule Insurance Co.; Brian Sassi, president of consumer business for WellPoint Inc., parent of Blue Cross of California; and Don Hamm, chief executive of Assurant Health.

Dingell, however, falls short of pushing for the single payer health insurance program favored by a majority of Americans. In a statement released June 24 Dingell said, "This discussion draft is NOT an attempt to create a single payer system nor is it a first step towards a single payer system."

On June 16, Representatives Bart Stupak (D- MI) and Joe Barton (R-TX) pressed the health insurance officials for more information about cancellation procedures.

Representative Barton said, "I think a company does have a right to make sure there’s no fraudulent information. But if a citizen acts in good faith, we should expect the insurance company that takes their money to act in good faith also."

Stupak, the committee chairman, said, "When times are good, the insurance company is happy to sign you up and take your money in the form of premiums. But when times are bad … some insurance companies use a technicality to justify breaking its promise, at a time when most patients are too weak to fight back."

The Los Angeles Times reported, "An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period."

A few American citizens who were victims of retroactive cancellation presented the following facts. A lady from Texas lost her health insurance coverage after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The reason for cancellation was that she had failed to disclose a visit to a dermatologist for acne. Another lady was cancelled for failing to report that she had once taken weight-loss medication and had irregular menstruation.

The executives found themselves on the defensive with a very, very weak defense.

(Continued below)

Would you offer coverage to people to have preexisting conditions?

Health Insurance Employees Rewarded for Cancellations

The committee discovered employee performance documents that showed Blue Cross employees were rewarded for cancelling health insurance policies. One employee received a perfect 5 indicating exceptional performance for cancelling thousands of policies and saving the company over $10,000,000 in claim payments. Unfortunately, this is not new.

In 2007, HealthNet was fined $9,000,000 for such practices. At the time, it was discovered that HealthNet had avoided paying $35,000,000 in claims by retroactively cancelling health insurance policies. At the time, Blue Cross stated they did not tie employee performance to policy recission, a fact turned on its ear with the 2003 employee evaluations that showed Blue Cross had lied.

This is the system Congress thinks it can fix with a bandaid approach? No, this is the system that demands a government sponsored single payer health insurance option is the only option to true health insurance reform.

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What others are saying about Single Payer Health Insurance

Last Left Turn Before Hooterville: Single-Payer Health Care – Can … – Single-payer health care is a term used in the United States to describe the payment of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers from a single fund. It differs from typical private health insurance where, through pricing and …

The Indypendent » Fighting to Cure a Sick System – Single-payer healthcare advocates argue that only by having the federal government provide business-and taxpayer-funded health insurance can everyone receive guaranteed healthcare access. This system would also save money by eliminating …

See How Well That Healthcare Reform Worked Out? Mass. Health Plan … – Single payer off the table? Most countries use a social health insurance model (i.e., we’re all in, nobody out) model based upon Germany’s system. Read this about Germany and then tell me this isn’t what we should be working for: …

Single payer health insurance is being ignored – or not even considered- by many in Congress who show little respect for the wishes of the American people.

More and more people everyday are facing life without health insurance due to costs and job loss. Some are keeping their jobs but taking pay cuts. How can you make health care more affordable for millions of Americans without money to pay for it? There must be a single payer public option health care program and it must be supported by taxes.

Senator Claire McCaskill says there will be no public option.

So Where’s Obama?

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