The intent of this blog is to promote human equality, human progress, human peace and justice, and optimism. To accomplish this, to encourage the discussion of ideas after identifying and discovering problems, and then creating positive solutions for "we the people," in order to provide for the "general welfare" and "domestic tranquility" of America now and its "posterity" into the future. To encourage an emphasis on separation of religion and state for all, no matter if this is for those "of faith" in a Maker / Creator (Deists, God-loving people, Christians, various people of spirituality) and atheists or agnostics.

Archive for the ‘Commentary’ Category

Socialism, Knee-jerk Reactions of Republicans, in 2 letters to the editors of a newspaper

Dear Editors:

My comments about two letters to the editor published in your newspaper, 2 Feb. 2022. (1) Richard London (State College) wrote about “socialism bluster ignores reality.” (2) Edward Zindell wrote, “guns not issu, repeal bail reform.” The letters appeared adjacent to one another.

The letter from Richard London was excellent. It reviewed the “knee-jerk reaction to” Democrats. How true. Interesting that this kind of describes what Zindell said in the letter which followed. I can only assume he was a Republican. But it is usually Republicans who give the “knee-jerk reactions.” However, I recognize tht assuming does make an “ass of you and me.” 

Mr. London’s one paragraph kind of sums it all up, as I provide the actual quote:  “Maybe it’s a knee-jerk reaction to Democratic social issue proposals. Maybe Republicans just don’t understand the term [socialism]. Maybe they understand, but want to turn public opinion against proposals by using a loaded term from the past.”

When I conclude Zindell and a “knee-jerk reaction,” I guess I am coming to such a conclusion because he is writing to a Pennsylvania newspaper with an accusation directed at the governor of my home state of New York, who happens to be a Democrat. Silly me if I am wrong about this and I take 40 lashes from a wet noodle.

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Commentary

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Milk and Ozempic? What’s on my mind?

What’s on my mind? The question asked when I sign into Facebook. Here is what is on my mind. Milk and Ozempic, a medication produced by Nova Nordisk for diabetics.

Sounds strange. Milk and Ozempic. What the hell do I mean by that? Here goes.

I have spent the past two years reducing my A1C and my weight and doing so without insulin injections. That’s because insulin injections caused me, for some 10 to 15 years, to put on weight. I have to wonder whether those injections also hurt other parts of my health. Try to find out in the American healthcare system and one is left scratching his/her head. Nevertheless, I have been successful.

This quest to lower A1C began while I was still on an employer-provided health insurance. I went on Medicare just as we were all introduced to this thing called COVID-19. On the employer-provided health insurance, for which I paid a huge chunk on the monthly premiums, I paid very little for Ozempic and insulin injections. I paid zero dollars for eye injections to fight my diabetic retinopathy.

Then, Medicare hit me at the same time that COVID-19 hit millions of people around the world. All of a sudden, I began to experience this REPUBLICAN-generated shit called the donut hole for prescriptions. As with NAFTA, lousy rotten perverted REPUBLICANS invented this and then go around blaming the Democrats who tried to work and carry things through – for the good of unity in America. That donut hole is a piece of shit and needs to be destroyed and bring universal single-payer healthcare for all, whether on Medicare or otherwise.

So. Big pharma charges about $1000 per pen which gives one month of supply for the diabetic. Under employer-provided healthcare, the prescription was only one month at a time. In order to “save money” for the patient, three pens of Ozempic for three months worth of the medication are given. Sure. It saves a tiny bit of money, but not much, as I have discovered.

My A1C, with three months worth, has not been as good as the one-month version. So that leads me to a question. Does Ozempic not last for three months? I get glazed over eyes of a lack of intelligence from doctors and pharmacists when I ask the question. “We don’t want to answer this question.” Maybe it is out of fear of lawyers? So the patient does not get an answer. Oh. If the patient is “hurt in a car, call William Mattar!” But to have a sensible question like this, well, forget it.

Most recently, according to my log, the first month of using the Ozempic injection pen, beginning in Dec. 2021 and ending in Jan. 2022, my glucose numbers improved, as did improve. I also had an improvement in my A1C the last time the numbers were taken in December.

Now I am near the end of my second month and this week beginning my third month. My glucose numbers are terrible and getting worse. Once again. I ask of doctors and pharmacists AND my Medicare Advantage plan people, the same question I have been asking for more than a year. Glazed eyes. One exception. I was finally put in touch with a “pharmacy” person at the Medicare insurance plan. Once again, I could not get the person to understand. Until I injected an analogy. What if I were to purchase enough milk for three months at the beginning of February, how good would the milk be should it be consumed in the second and third month? The point got across, as I discovered no one was using the idea promoted by Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM, to do something called THINK. I had used analogies when teaching students at college because I encouraged them to think. Silly me for thinking those in the community who ALREADY HAVE COLLEGE DEGREES would THINK. Silly, silly me for being so stupid. Further, I think my father, WITHOUT A COLLEGE DEGREE, may have done something called THINK, but maybe I am wrong on that. Nevertheless, not sure if all people who don’t have college degrees would respond like my father.

During the time of trying to explain this situation, I sometimes got treated as if I am stupid. “Well… did you put the Ozempic in the refrigerator?” After all, that is what the directions do say. Of course, you GODDAMN IDIOT, I do follow the directions and put it in the refrigerator. What I should have asked was, “what happens when you put milk in the refrigerator for three months, you ass?” We all know what would happen if we leave milk out of the refrigerator for several days. My thoughts about Ozempic were based on refrigerated milk, but I was not listened to, mocked in the questions I asked, with everyone more concerned about “me, myself, and I” than about the question being asked.

One big difference between milk and Ozempic. A quarter of milk costs me a few dollars perhaps. Big pharma charges $1000 for one Ozempic pen. If the GODDAMN thing does not work, after sitting in a refrigerator for two or three months, does not one think it’s a pertinent question to ask about whether it runs out of oomph after a time, EVEN WHEN SITTING IN A REFRIGERATOR?

What the hell is this America today with stupid people who just want to mock, taunt, and push around fellow Americans, rather than thinking in terms of COMMUNITY and how to best serve our COMMUNITY of people? And when I say that GODDAMN LAWYERS like MATTAR and his CAR should be stopped because they teach Americans how to go after one another, I get slammed for that, too.

As a result, we end up with stupid Americans pitting one against another. The Republicans are finding this very useful. Just attack a Democrat. Don’t discuss matters surrounding an issue, but just attack Democrats instead, proclaiming, I don’t want to discuss politics.” Yet, Republicans proposed NAFTA. Sad to say that Democrats helped pull it through, rather than taking a look at what NAFTA would stand for and the possibility of loss of jobs in the USA. The Democrats are hurled with attacks while the ones who proposed this thing in the first place are ignored for what THEY did, except when they blame the Democrats.

Republicans think gerrymandering is ok, should it be done by Republicans, but attack it if Democrats use it. Republicans think the filibuster in the U.S. Senate is ok when used by Republicans, but not ok if used by Democrats. And then there is the one ASSHOLE Democrat in the Senate, bought and held by Republicans, who won’t go along with the elimination of the filibuster ()perverted corrupt money lover Manchin). And the wimps of Democrats who go along with things like NAFTA are really as stupid as Al Gore who refused to do something when, in the end, it was actually proven he had won Florida in 2000.

As for Ozempic and the GODDAMN DONUT HOLE, Republicans were the major force behind making it happen. I know because I spoke with a number of Medicare recipients at the time this bullshit of an idea was implemented.Now I am paying for it, financially and no one gives one damn about it, especially being employed and saying, “it does not impact me, so why should I stand up and give one damn about it?”

Beyond just donut holes and tiers, part of ADVANTAGE Medicare, there is a secret hidden agenda to hide what is available by paying a premium for Medicare supplements. Why? Because the GODDAMN MEDICARE PEOPLE HAVE INSTITUTED SOMETHING THAT OBAMACARE ELIMINATED: PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS. GODDAMN THOSE TRUMP BASTARDS WHO TALK PRIVATE HEALTHCARE AND WANT TO DESTROY OBAMACARE. I just discovered these things. It has been two years since I went on Medicare and I am just discovering this. It is a hidden secret and kept hidden.

The idea is that we pay for a supplement plan for six months, but get no health service for “pre-existing conditions.” Who the hell put this in place? How did the WIMPS of Democrats let this get through? In other words, all those things for which my employer-provided healthcare covered are considered, “pre-existing conditions” and now, I have to act as if, for six months, those “pre-existing conditions” don’t exist? For 40 years I was on employer-provided healthcare insurance. Sometimes I paid out of pocket a portion of the health insurance. I should have amounts in that healthcare system in which I could get coverage on a supplemental plan for those “pre-existing conditions,” due to CAPITALISM AND DIVIDENDS PAID WHEN CONSIDERING THE MONEY I SPENT ALL THOSE YEARS AS S A CAPITALIST INVESTMENT. GODDAMN the big mouths who claim socialism and use such reasoning to help DESTROY Obamacare and keep “pre-existing condition.”

Let me use an analogy. Erasmus Wright, the first insurance commissioner in Massachusetts during the 19th Century, challenged insurance companies because they were collecting premiums for life insurance policies but then being criminals and using the money for other things. When the person died, these CRIMINALS in the business world, with the help of lawyers and accountants, would claim they have no money to pay out to those who had INVESTED in the policies. He worked to change that.

But here we are today and we are back to the same BULLSHIT Erasmus Wright worked to eliminate in insurance. In the case of Erasmus Wright’s example, we all have a “pre-existing condition.” We are all going to die. We are human beings who will die. So, those insurance CRIMINALS saw no need to cover the “pre-existing conditions” at all. CRIMINALS today are running big insurance for homeowners in Florida and healthcare nationwide. There need not be consideration of “pre-existing conditions.” PERIOD. DAMN ASSHOLES who promote such BULLSHIT. Yes, I am angry at this, as I have to face lousy American healthcare when asking questions about a high-priced medication and how “fresh” it needs to be, even kept in a refrigerator and face the bullshit of insurance with “pre-existing conditions,” while Republican business people push for this and Democrats are nothing but a bunch of WIMPS in letting these things happen (with the exception of Obamacare (which is still being dragged through the mud by GODDAMN FUCKING LOUSY PERVERTED ANTI-HUMAN REPUBLICANS). Excuse me, but this makes me so damn angry that I DO USE THE WORD FUCK, so FUCK YOU IF YOU DON’T LIKE THIS. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT SO I DON’T HAVE TO USE SUCH A LOUSY WORD. Need I apologize for attempting to bring such issues to the forefront and nothing happens? So I then resort to vulgar language? If you think so, then FUCK YOU. The only thing for which I feel sorry is for the state of lousy perverted attitudes in the USA which is the nation to which I was born and find it disgusting with people with their immature attitudes about individual rights and no consideration of community of people, so they don’t wear the masks or get vaccinated in order to fight a war on a virus. And then to have eyes glaze over when I ask a simple question about the effectiveness of Ozempic after two to three months in a refrigerator. A lousy immature snotty American attitude which pervades this nation far too much and elects perverts like Trump, DeSantis, Rick the Prick and others, while generating an attitude of shooting holes in a Democratic governors solution, no discussion of how bail reform is bad, and an attack on a Democrat because the person is a Democrat. How do we know that bail reform might be a solution unless we examine it, rather than being a stupid idiotic Zindell of Pennsylvania with an immature snotty individualist right to maintain guns? Unbelievable sickos in this American world today who are directed by the perverted actions of lawyers like Mattar who encourage more zingers at one another than to THINK and CONSIDER the solutions before just hurling lousy crap which demonstrates their anti-Democrat stand than anything else. It is not the America in which I was born, as IMPERFECT as it was then. At least hate, snotty and immature attitudes with money-lovers with lots of money an big mouths did not pervade this nation as much. Democrats and Republicans may have sometimes been at each other’s throats, but Republicans did not dig in their GODDAMN heels as stubborn bastards and SOBs and refuse to consider solutions, THINKING and DISCUSSING those solutions so as to be more effective and not sabotage progress, as Republicans are doing today. I was a Republican in those days, and I must say I abhor the bastards and SOBs who have commandeered the party today.

This is what is on my mind today. Shall I condense it into what I wish to see happen?

1. Universal single-payer healthcare for all and with NO GODDAMN PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS to be considered. Add to this unrelated thing: replace the STAR program in NY with an ACROSS THE BOARD system like Florida: homestead exemption for the primary residence, invented by DEMOCRATS in Florida.

2. Eliminate the GODDAMN gerrymandering completley.

3. Eliminate the GODDAMN filibuster in the U.S. Senate and follow the rules from Roberts’ Rules of Order for DEMOCRACY. Simple majorities are allowed with those rules. When necessary, there rules about 2/3, 3/4 majoritiees, or unanimous decisions. Unanimous used correctly, not the bullshit in the UN with the Security Council.

4. Regulate industry for the good of the community and with teeth in such regulation which really decimates any form of payoffs and bribes. It could be done. When there were regulations, Thomas J. Watson almost ended up in jail for working to destroy capitalist competition at a company for which he worked called NCR. Maybe it was just that Americans were better people then? I have a problem in believing that to be the case. Maybe it was? I hope not. If so, then people today need to read books such as the one by Adam Smith titled, The Theory of Moral Sentiments or works by modern-day GOOD Republican (not perfect, but better than the leadership in that GODDAMN PARTY today), Joe Scarborough. Regulate industry and put MORAL teeth into the way it is regulated by a third party called government.

5. Let Puerto Rico become an independent nation so they can have wealthy people to there and purchase and run the nation. That way, we taxpayers in the 50 states don’t have to fund Puerto Rico while Puerto Rico does not pay Federal income taxes. The tiny island nation of Morroco is run by wealthy ones. It does not have ANY income tax, but only VAT and real estate property taxes. It would be interesting to note how Trump wealthy cronies, running Puerto Rico, would handle hurricanes. After all, Morroco HAS NO HURRICANES. No. We the people of the USA fund Puerto Rico when hurricanes strike, but we get no CAPITALIST INVESTMENTS in return, by way of income taxes. That shits and needs to be stopped.

6. Eliminate the Electoral College and replace with a non-gerrymandering way of making congressional jurisdictions more permeanent, as well as throw the presidential election into a runoff when a candidate does not win 50% or more of the popular vote. The runoff would be scheduled at the time when now a bunch of electors meet for the Electoral College. No Electoral College, but just a runoff, if necessary.

7. Calculate the numbers in the House of Representative based on the same model used with the First Congress in the late 1700s. What are we scard about? That we might have nearly 1000 memers of the House of Representatives?

8. Eliminate the stupidity of being so concerned with states with amaller populations having to have a bigger say. Manchin of West Virginia. How absurd of a bastard. Or senators in some of the ultra-right wing rural Rocky Mountain States. More senators within a rural state than members of the House? Or close to it? Increase the numbers in the House and stop this bullshit with filibuster and all the rest which stupidly runs the Senate.

9. Broadband communitcation for all, with fiber optics.

10. Legalize marijuana and others and stop the bullshit of prohibition. The results could be a less expensive way to rehab those who get caught up in drugs and alcohol, rather than GUNS on the streets as drug lords attempt to protect their territories in order to keep things hidden. Richard Nixon, in the days when I was a Republican and believed in things like FISCAL efficiency and FISCAL conservatism, found that such means of actions would save us all money, as compared to the lousy drug wars which help prop up drug lords. Who opposed Nixon on this? Lousy SOB white supremacists of Dixie, within the Republian Party, like Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond. We got FORCED into the situtaions today and then we are subjected to some jackass Zindell of Pensnsylvania attacking Democcrats when they try to find solutions to the drug problems.

Republicn Nixon had a solution and ended up pulled through Watergate as Helms and others reduced their support because Nixon did NOT fall in line with their fucking Dixie assses with white supremacy and drug lords. Like Clintion and his dumb ass with Lewinsky, Nixon did a really stupid thing with Watergate. But Nixon DID NOT do a stupid thing with his proposals to lift up black businesses in the South and use money for drug and alcohol rehab, rather than the tons of money spent on the war on drugs.

Today, IBM is gone in Endicott, NY, and there are drug wars on the street adjacent to the old IBM complex (Washington Avernue). Thanks a lot, you GODDAMN Republican folks like Zindell and the GODDAMN fundagelical white supremacists.

One has to wonder. If Helms and others did not want rehab, then follow the money and one might discover that assholes like white supremacist Helms and others were making money from the drug wars. Otherwise, they would have supported solutions which might work.

Those of the NRA and other assholes today might just be making money from drug lords, too, so they push for no legislation which regulates guns and blame Democrats for ANY solution at all.

The commander-in-chief who really loused things up in Afghanistan and I wonder if, with Trump’s love of the Arabs, whether he wants Afghan opium and opioids in the USA, so he did nothing for the purpose of justice in Afghanistan. Then, once again, Demorats who followed through on the timeline put in place by Trump get the blame. Joe Biden was not set up, unless one considers the wimpishness of Democrats in handling Trump and the Republicans, not playing hardball with bastard Republican fascists who are traitors to America.

Got it, what is on my mind? This entire “missive” explains what is on my mind, beginning with the lousy perverted ideas of an American healthcare system run by the wealthy Republican fascist business people who are nothing but lovers of money. After all, those SOBs never have to worry whether they have enough money to pay for any medications OR “pre-existing conditions.” And the bastard common folk who go along with this shit of the wealthy are disgusting people.

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Commentary, democracy, Economics, Regulated Capitalism, Commerce, Healthcare, wellness, medicine

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“Guns not issue…” letter to editor of Scranton paper… My take? Filibuster and gerrymandering BS is really the issue, even with guns and bail reform

Dear Editors:

From the letter about guns and bail from Edward Zindell, I got the impression there was a sense of simply attacking Democrats. The issue came from a resident of Pennsylvania, but it attacked our Democratic Party governor. Would he have done the same had there been an issue with Pataki or someone else in the Republicans in New York? Why do these stupid Republicans gang up together so much, in spite of whether they don’t speak with any common sense and reasoning, but merely wish to attack Democrats? Let’s see. The worst rise in inflation is being mentioned today since the days of Ronald Reagan. Gosh. To which  political party did Reagan belong? I don’t recall such vicious stuff being said about Reagan in those years.

But this letter to the editor was not about inflation, but about guns and bail in New York. I just had to throw in the stupidity of Republicans which we are witnessing, uphold by the big major entertainment news networks who produce news for sensationalist reasons, entertainment and ratings, not to present the truth. I am actually happy to see a newspaper in Scranton which does a much better job.

However, I have to question Mr. Zindell as to the REASONS and EVIDENCE behind his claim that “reform of the NY bail law” would be better than controlling guns. He gives no evidence, just bloviates an opinion apparently based on (from what I gathered) a hatred of Democrats. Who put him up to writing with this ignorant stuff for the sake of Republican hatred of Democrats? What is hoped to be accomplished? Oh, I can answer that. Bring all shallow people, a large part of the population these days, to the side of the Republicans, through lies, fake news and all the rest of that stuff. Again. I fail to understand how reform of the bail law can be better than control of gun laws.

With that being said, I do agree with Mr. Zindell in tossing out a (supposed) fact that with New Hampshire’s lax gun laws, there is less crime and violence. Michael Moore pointed out that Canada has a higher number of guns per capita than the USA, yet, when guns were used for hunting animals and not people, the gun crime and violence was lower in Canada. Gee!  How many big urban areas does Canada have, compared to the USA? How much of a population does Canada have, compared to the USA? Same with New Hampshire. I would wager there are more in New Hampshire who use guns to hunt animals, not people, but I really cannot say for certain, so it is mere speculation on my part.

Even animal hunters in upstate New York, as my late dad, would say that they do not understand why there is a need to have automatic weapons because he was not sure he would want to butcher and eat a deer after riddled with bullets from automatic weapons. Perhaps Mr. Zindell does not want to curb the use of automatic weapons? Why? What is the damn reason behind such a nonsensical piece of crap of an idea? My dad, a hunter, really found it hard to understand the lack of common sense from those who opposed restrictions on guns.

There are so many solutions, outside of “bail reform” which would have a far wider impact on crime and violence in the USA, but they are being curbed by people like Mr. Zindell who makes no sense at all. Speaking of Reagan. Imagine how many he let go into homelessness due to his policies? How many did he release to the streets by curbing mental illness institutional control of the violent ones? How many were released due to the anarchist flavors of libertarians, too?  In the same light, on the extreme left of bleeding heart liberals, how many violent ones are out there? Did Mr. Zindell consider such questions, or did he just have blinders on and attack our Democratic Party governor in New York? I think, in light of what I am saying about examining solutions fully, Mr. Zindell is disgusting and a hothead who has no brains to do what the man in Endicott, NY, said to his employees: THINK. If you don’t know who that was, it was Thomas J. Watson.

I cannot comment on the topic of “bail reform” because I have not studied the issue in order to THINK about it. All I know is there are so many other solutions to be considered, in addition to regulating guns and stopping the sales of automatic weapons. Whether or not it is premeditated murder, insurrection, or a mentally ill person who goes off his/her rocker, guns are there far too much. PERIOD. There are many people, including Democrats, who are attempting to put solutions out there. But Republicans who hate Democrats simply shoot holes in the solutions without even a consideration of them – because they come from Democrats. For instance, Republicans have destroyed democracy in Florida and created a one-party state by means of gerrymandering. To Republicans, that’s ok. But when Democrats use gerrymandering, it’s not ok. That is bullshit.  The answer really lies, since gerrymandering was NEVER PART OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, to just rid us of it and come up with a better strategy to divide congressional districts every ten years. But no. All we have is Democrats and Republicans clinging to the GD gerrymandering, with Republicans thinking it is ok for THEM to do it, but not for Democrats. Again. When I was a Republican during the Reagan years, I received all these lousy messages from Reagan and the Republicans about how terrible it was that there was a Democrat who served in the House of Representatives, due to gerrymandering.

Today, the House seats in Florida are largely Republican due to gerrymandering.  But that is okey dokey, dokey, right? I got sick and tired of being a Republican in Florida and getting these lousy messages from Republicans about House candidates in upstate NY, candidates who did not go along with the Republicans. And I was a Republican, too. I despised those messages.  I was disgusted because, as a FREE VOTER in these USA, I had VOTED, as A REPUBLICAN, for one of those DEMOCRATIC PARTY HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES IN UPSTATE NEW YORK. Are the capital letters SCREAMING enough to get my point across?

And the filibuster in the Senate, which goes against basic rules of democratic organization procedures as written in Roberts’ Rules of Order, should be removed. Republicans use it. Democrats use it. Get rid of the GD thing.

So, I have gone on about an attack by Mr. Zindell on something put in place by Democrats. I explain all of this with regard to gerrymandering and filibuster because it is related to how we have such a GD setup in this nation which Zindell is taking advantage of by having a means to throw barbs at a Democratic Party governor. No sense of what might be said in trying to understand the background and intent of bail reform. It is the exact same BS which happens with gerrymandering and filibuster.  Same BS. It all needs to stop and we need to stop all people, lawyers with their damn personal injury lawsuits supporting FAKES, and make this nation move forward again. It needs to stop, so what can Zindell offer to stop this BS I describe?

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Commentary

Chick-Fil-A & Thruway

Dear Gov. Hochul:

As a gay person in a same-sex marriage, I must speak out against the contract to Chick-Fil-A on the New York State Thruway. The thruway has a “captive audience” with drivers who travel on it. Drivers have no choice for choosing various places to eat because the drivers are not able to easily get off and back on again. Please consider the end of such a contract. Here are my reasons.

  1. The CEO of this company opposes same-sex marriage and encourages the employees not to do such a thing.
  2. The anti-gay bigotry promoted in such a manner encourages New Yorkers who claim to be liberal at times to consider there is no reason to be in opposition to such a contract because they are “not gay,” so why bother oppose such measures? A similar attitude existed regarding gay folks and Jews in the Germany of the 1930s while Hitler was attempting to consolidate his power. If people were Gentiles, what was to bother them by the treatment of Jews? If people were not gay, what was to bother them, should there be something done to gay folks? Blind eyes. Deaf ears. Look what happened.
  3. The worst part of this is the advances made for human rights in America by de-segregation. Multi-cultural and multi-racial communities are working out, even if someone makes claims there is some which have not. Quite frankly, I have seen some all-white communities which are a bunch of crap in attitude and other ways. I lived in multi-racial communities and we lived in peace, until some lainbrained idiotic white skinned person with a Confederate flag waving from the back of a pickup truck invades the neighborhood in order to mock the success of integration and multi-racial goodness. What people today are doing with regard to gay folks is working to force us back into the closet of segregation which has been overturned. People who keep their sexual identity hidden get hired in places like Chick-Fil-A while those who refuse to hide in a closet are not hired. In spite of gay folks respecting those who want to remain in a closet, we are being forced there as well, as had been the days before human beings all around were treated with respect and honor, no matter what the sexual identity. We who are gay could be angry and make claims that those in the closet are liars. In fact, they could be considered liars, but we try to have respect for them. Too bad we don’t get respect from the other 90% of the population and those who turn a blind eye and deaf ear towards what happens with Chick-Fil-A on the Thruway.
  4. One more thing. I am a diabetic. Chick-Fil-A food is full of carbs. Bread coating on the chicken. French fries. A restaurant like Starbucks has food with a smaller amount of carbs. Arby’s is a fast food restaurant in which diabetics could order a roast beef sandwich and remove it from the bun. What is the reason for giving this contract to Chick-Fil-A when it does not have an overall approach with either sexual identity or with carbs?
  5. There should be eating places owned by gay folks, in order to provide overall competition that is fair.

After protesting this, for some reason, I get subjected to mockery by stupid New Yorkers. For instance, someone mocks me with: “Chick-Fil-A has good food.” Did I say the food was not good? Who are the stupid ones who push such drivel in a taunting manner? Who pushes such crap and why do they continue on such a lousy path? As a diabetic, I never say the food at Chick-Fil-A is “bad.” It is a matter, as my dad would say about fried food, “I like it, but it does not like me.” When something drives up my glucose levels, I have to say that the food “does not like me.”

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Commentary, human-rights

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Curtailing Homelessness in NYC (NY Times, Sun., Feb. 6, 2022)

According to a recent New York Times Magazine article, a person in New York City who worked on reducing numbers of homelessness by some figure in the thousands. Kudos to that person, for sure.

What the article attempted to do remains disturbing for me.  Once again, with the help of a society tailored to number-crunching, due to lawyers and accountants which make lots of money while we teachers in Florida made very little, the guy was questioned on “whether the numbers demonstrated whether he had succeeded enough.”  WOW!  Number crunching.

First of all, in my job in a college in South Florida, my colleagues and I faced a number of homeless people, battered women in homes which took care of them, and young people in various other stages of life. Should we have ticked off every one who we helped? Should we have done number crunching?

For instance, I had one young man who had grown up upstate New York along the Hudson River. He was living without a home in the park across the street from the college. There were many homeless folks who were around that college and we knew it. We attempted to go out of our way to help them out, whether that be extra tutoring so as to help such people gain confidence and get set back on their feet in life. The guy from New York had served, under George H.W. Bush, in Iraq with the U.S. Army. He had fallen on bad times, so I was asked by one of my fellow professors and colleagues whether I could tutor the guy. After all, he had been through several attempts to try to write a college research paper and that was the one thing holding him back. Since I worked with students, tutoring them and also teaching them in some classes, I worked with this guy. He learned quite a bit, but I was not able to assess him a grade (number crunching again). However, he ended up submitting a research paper in which he was able to earn an A on the paper! 

Years later, this man came back to my office area at the college and began to tell everyone, students, faculty, and others, how much I had done for him in getting through a tough time in his life and he being able to get an A on his paper. Let’s get one thing clear. Never once did I speak with my colleague who was doing the grading. I only gave him time for tutoring him on what was necessary to do. In his return trip, he indicated he had graduated from the college, gone on to another college to complete his Bachelor’s degree, and was now working in another location, teaching students some of the same skills he had learned from me!  it could have brought tears to my eyes, but I withheld the tears. I was just so happy that a fellow New Yorker (I taught in Florida for some 40 years) had accomplished his goals and was no longer homeless, but doing quite well! 

Number crunch me and that is the only one, I guess. But knowing full well that I taught many students who were homeless, as well as many of my colleagues, one has to wonder how many we did impact? Likely, the number would not be 100% of the homeless. But how many did we help out? Once more. Should we be ticking every person?

As for the battered wife, how many others did we all impact, too? With her, too, I had spent time tutoring her in her research skills. The day she walked the stage at the college commencement and picked up her diploma, I stood up and cheered as loudly and joyously as I could, in celebration of her accomplishment. No numbers. A human being who I had witnessed gaining confidence in a disturbing life and had succeeded.

Secondly, rather than identifying how many this guy in New York City helped out of homelessness, when are we going to come to grips with the factors which, in the 1980s, brought an increase in homelessness. We did as Ayn Rand wanted, reducing public services (mental institutions) and public welfare, speaking out against healthcare for all, Medicare, Social Security. Then, when Ayn Rand contracted cancer, where did SHE go to find the resources and services? She went to the government which she was attempting to knock apart, with the help of her friend, Alan Greenspan who had Reagan’s ear.  Reaganomics, deregulation, supply side economics. All those things were favorable to Ayn Rand. But when the chips were down, Rand took advantage of the very things she barked about being “socialism.” A screwy bitch called Ayn Rand, an atheist out of Communist Soviet Union which was once KGB land with an agent named Putin.

Then there was DEMOCRATIC PARTY Governor Lawton Chiles and his lawsuit against big tobacco for the purposes of PAYING FOR state government expenses for lung cancer resulting from smoking cigarettes.  Chiles finished his term as governor and was hoping to run for president, but died on Dec. 12, 1998, just before Jeb Bush took power in Jan. 1999. Mysterious, for sure. As Gov. Ann Richards of Texas said about brother George: “poor George, born with a silver spoon in his mouth.” Same thing could be said about Jeb Bush who was one of the many number crunching wealthy ones born with silver spoons who thought “what’s good for business is good for America,” so naturally lawsuits against a BIG BUSINESS were NOT good for America, according to the standards of AWOL man during Vietnam (at a time I knew others who DIED in Vietnam or saw very brutal fighting in Vietnam), George W. Bush.  At least John Kerry, the Democrat in 2004, never went AWOL. Or the guy in Georgia who lost LIMBS during war but was chastised by Republicans because he was a Democrat, did far better than Mr. AWOL Man.

In other words, rather than trying to hold a man in New York City and his feet to the fire with number crunching, how about make changes to rid us of the shit of Reagan, atheist Ayn Rand, and other Republicans which helped cause homelessness in America, overall. 

What ever I accomplished, I am very proud. I am just as proud as the healthcare workers in America should be in handling this pandemic. I am proud of the work I did to help train nurses, nurse aides, radiologists, and others at that same college. When going to a hospital, that was the one time I could hear, “oh, I remember you; you were my professor at the college.” I likely would not remember them, as I sat and waited in a room for an anesthesiologist to sedate me. Somehow, though, I must have made some kind of impression on these people. And that sure does make a professor happy!

I am happy that this guy in New York City succeeded with helping humans numbering in the thousands. Kudos to the guy and stop the bullshit with counting by using lawyers and accountants. How many TRUE accident victims (auto or workplace), not FAKES, did lawyers help? Does anyone keep numbers of those? If we want number crunching, is it not better to keep tabs on the fakes and liars than a person who needs to be measured with regard to ending homelessness. Furthermore, such lawyers and accountants and how many did THEY help in reducing numbers of homeless? Anybody know?

Once again. Kudos to those who play a role in reducing homelessness in New York, Florida, and across the USA.

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Commentary, Economics, Regulated Capitalism, Commerce, Education

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Stupidity Ruling the Roost?

In case you are so stupid and speak lies about Democrats, let us fill you in. Democrats in Florida gave us across the board Homestead Exemption and a successful challenge to big tobacco for the purpose of paying expenses for lung cancer.

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Commentary

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Are You Kidding Me?

Trump and Ire Against Racist DAs? Are you kidding me? (Tues., Feb. 8, 2022).

There are some of us who are not mentally deranged like Trump and have interfaced with both white and black racists, plus other types of bigots. No one pays attention to our wisdom of age, do they?

Trump is mentally ill. He thinks only colored people are racists but no racists exist within the white community. In fact, there are those who have written about his OWN white racism. So, the bastard is projecting his own feelings upon others. That is a mental illness and he needs to be put into a psychiatric unit and tied down.

Black racists might say they don’t want abortion because it’s important for their own race and don’t consider the human race. Trump wants to end abortion because he wants to preserve the white race. It is about time we simply put the human race first. Trump, the John Birchers, the KKK, and others say that only white lives matter. Black people who have faced many obstacles like lynchings and poll taxes to stop black people from voting (today, Republican gerrymandering in Florida to put white folks in office where Democrats outnumber Republicans) turn to Black Lives Matter. Can you blame them? Stupidity of Trump followers cast a blind eye to the fact that white lives HAVE ALWAYS mattered before black or indigenous folks or Latino/a folks.

Every time I mention that ALL LIVES MATTER, what do I get? The eyes of the listeners glazing over and ignoring this plea. Humans first. Race is not as important. Period.

Are you kidding us Trump? Of course he is.

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Commentary

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Balance

Ronald Reagan, Jr., is on my mind.

Noticing that is in his commercial, is trustworthy. He mentions “freedom FROM religion,” in defense of activities to work for separation of church and state. As a Christian, I am fully in support of separation of church and state. I always have been supportive of separation of church and state.

Seems strange for Ronnie Junior to say “freedom FROM religion,” while attempting to endorse the ideas of separation of church and state. For separation of church and state is related to “freedom OF religion,” not “freedom FROM religion.”

During the 1980s, I always had a problem with Ronnie Senior and the lip service he played to ridding us of communism. I really did not believe the man with charisma. I felt he was a fake then. Now it is evident, even more, what kind of fake Ronnie Senior was.

My father served with the occupation troops in Japan in 1945 after the war ended. Before my dad passed from us in 2018, he spent time telling me about the trip he and the others serving in Japan under USA Supreme Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, from Tokyo to the northern end of Japan.

If one reads the history of the A-bomb and all else which happened in Japan, one discovers that one thing our leaders wanted to do was to block the Soviets from entering Japan from the north. Was my dad part of those troops who were sent to northern Japan? This is written in the documentation of MacArthur biographer, William Manchester. Manchester also describes the emphasis MacArthur took to decimate the communists in Japan.

A few years later, when MacArthur was put in charge of troops in Korea, what did he want to do? He wanted to send troops north and into China. He was no longer the USA (or UN) Supreme Commander in Korea, so he was not able to do that. In fact, MacArthur was fired for attempting to do it. He had led Japan but was not given the leverage to do the same in Korea. My writing this is NOT to discuss whether this firing and the facts surrounding it are right or wrong. It is a matter of making a comparison between the two commands that General MacArthur had. One immediately after the war with Japan and the other during the Korean Conflict. Today, there is a very lousy communist leader in North Korea, while South Korea has been a successful capitalist democracy.

In fact, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan have all been very successful with bringing down the COVID-19 positivity rate, while the communists and other autocratic SOBs have not. Meanwhile, stupidity in America with DeSantis, Trump and others, is siding with the communists in China, while not fighting the war which needs to be fought against COVID-19.

Back to the discussion about Ronnie Junior and religion. Considering that the Soviets created a “religion” and forced people to abide by this “religion” (which many people have indicated atheism is actually a form of religion), then what makes us believe that “freedom FROM religion” is NOT an autocratic and dictatorial way to force one way upon our American population? What makes this any different from a Matt Gaetz or others who want to force one way for those of us who meditate and seek a spiritual means of life, whether in the name of Christ or any other religious belief, different from what Gaetz wants to force down the throats of Christian believers, is any better than Gaetz? As far as I am concerned, Gaetz is a lawyer / politician who is as much a traitor to the USA as Benedict Arnold, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and numerous others.

How about considering “freedom of religion” among all “religious practices” within a secular society of coexistence? What is wrong with that?

Or else damnation on all those who wish to dictate beliefs to society and upon one another. Period. Damnation to the proselytizers of beliefs about a god or gods as a means of a theocracy, as well as those who wish to dictate an atheistic autocracy upon us.

Too many who are involved in religions use the Bible as a rule book which comes from myths and other writings designed to create a god in the image of men. We have a Creator / Maker / God of love. Humans are made in the image of this God.

The problem lies in those who are hypocrites within religious organizations and turn off people to the true God. This is done in the process of working to maintain power and control over human beings and doing so in the name of a god for which they have made a graven image based on the images of men writing the myths and rule books. Human beings need guidelines for reasoning and common sense in life, not a rule book based on the power of men over other human beings. Men are big on power. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Along with such situations, hypocrisy and a love of money reigns.

Matt Gaetz and other fundagelicals are part of such heathens who do this. The American Founding Fathers, if Ronnie Junior and others were intelligent enough to study them, were more than just Masons.

The American Founding Fathers were Deists who believed in a powerful Creator and balance in the universe which can be proven. Translating that to democracy, our Founding Fathers established a government with checks and balances.

Adam Smith, a contemporary to the Founding Fathers, established and wrote about ideas for which there is balance in economics, in a system called capitalism.

During the days of Adam Smith, the aristocracy were, as Trump is today, too fearful of losing their power and money, should there be the balance as proposed by Smith and his theories about capitalism. So, therefore, these powerful wealthy ones did everything possible to put their own spin on what capitalism is all about. Many today don’t realize how much they follow along with the spin put on capitalism by the aristocracy of the 19th Century.

That aristocracy fooled a stupid man like Karl Marx and others in the process, mesmerizing them with mind control, that capitalism is the problem. Capitalism is not the problem and in the 20th Century, people like Teddy Roosevelt, associated with his Progressive Bull Moose Party in later years (after being known as the “trust buster”), proved that regulation does work. The founder of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, and others at NCR Corporation ended up serving time for their roles in going against regulations by attempting to destroy competition. Watson eventually turned around and created a great corporation, IBM, in which he rewarded his employees with good salaries and benefits, regardless of whether they had college degrees or not.

Ronnie SENIOR worked to remove that BALANCE in economics by proposing one-sided economics, SUPPLY SIDE ECONOMICS, based on his attempts to project that all things in America need to be “privatized.” This led to the movement to destroy capitalist competition and many dictatorial businesses with no concern for human beings who work for the head honchos AND no concern for the DEMAND SIDE of a balanced capitalism. Since the time of Ronnie SENIOR, these guys have been attempting to make the government look bad because it is the means for regulating that balance in economics.

Democracy can provide balance. Capitalism can provide balance. Freedom OF religion with separation of church and state can provide balance. Ronnie Junior stating, “freedom FROM religion” and associating it with separation of church and state is no different from what daddy Ronnie said with regard to “government is bad so let’s push for deregulation.” Thousands of Americans were hurt financially by this shit from Ronnie Senior. I was one of them, I know a thing or two.

Ronnie Junior is attempting to destroy balance in a secular society. If Ronnie Junior were truly interested in separation of church and state, he would find allies with those of us who have beliefs in God in order to accomplish his goal. Somehow it does not sound like he wants to work by pulling all Americans together, but has a hidden agenda here.

Ronnie Junior is a “chip off the old block,” in this sense. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Just as Ronnie Senior worked to deregulate and work towards, “freedom by ridding us of government,” Ronnie Junior uses this same method regarding religious beliefs and the spirituality which is very important to so many people.

This crap is nothing but a libertarian and anarchist approach. It is being used as a means to thrust dictatorial ways down our throats. The results of such actions will be barbaric, bullying, and vicious, just as what happened within the Roman Empire with its uncivilized gladiator games and arenas with Christians thrown to the lions.

You might read this and say, “how can this be true?” Trust me. I am not the only one to give warning. Adam Smith gave warning in his writings about “The Theory of Moral Sentiment.” There are many others who have given warnings, too.

For the sake of America and its democracy, capitalist ideas, and spirituality of people, please stop this bullshit. America might not be perfect because we have human institutions and such institutions are not perfect. But let us not destroy the great parts of this system. There are other nations in the world who have worked successfully under such conditions. Stop the destructive aspects based on “individual rights” only which come from libertarians and anarchists.

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Commentary, democracy, Economics, Regulated Capitalism, Commerce, Religion

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Come Together and Coexist

I have respect for Ronald Reagan, Jr. Far more respect for him than with Sleepy Ronnie in the Cabinet (Ron, Jr.’s dad).

Recently, Junior has been pleading for continuing separation of church and state. That is great. I learned about separation of church and state from pastors in the religion to which I was born and raised. One such pastor was asked to run for political office and he said he would do no such thing because that would be against his principles for separation of church and state. 

What I did not like about his announcements was that Reagan Junior seemed, to me, to identify his ideas for separation of church and state to only be important to atheists and agnostics. Really? He overlooks, entirely, those of us who have a belief in God but do work for separation of church and state. To which, I wish to address Reagan Junior with this. Are you out of your mind and think of those of us with a belief in God and work for separation of church and stare are nothing but chopped liver?

Suppose I analyze what is happening here. Reagan Junior is stupid? I don’t think so, but have to consider whether he is stupid when considering this particular issue. Does Reagan Junior have a hatred for all Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc.? Gosh, I hope not, but have to consider this. Does Reagan Junior think only about dictatorial and autocratic control by atheists and agnostics, while the rest of the people be damned, as what has been done in communist states like the former Soviet Union, Cuba, China, etc.? I rather think this is not the case. However, he has spoken out against his father and his father was adamantly against the communists and atheists of Russia.  Interesting that Reagan Senior was against communism, but embraced ideas from Ayn Rand who departed Russia, due to her adverse reactions to communism (and knowing NOTHING about capitalism, the dumb jerk she was on that count). So, it makes us scratch our heads in puzzling thoughts about what Reagan Junior is thinking here.  After all, Ayn Rand was an atheist. 

Having a difficult time in figuring all this out, for sure. AHAH!  Perhaps if we say that Reagan Junior and his statements have to be taken in light of following the money behind what he is saying? Reagan Senior had corporations like GE back him up and most Americans did not know this.  But the money is about helping to put a spin on things in order to help the fundagelical Christians who DON’T LIKE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE? By making statements regarding Reagan Junior’s thoughts about atheism and agnostics really puts a thorn in the side of such people, does it not? Therefore, the idea is about playing lip service to the goal of separation of church and state when the TRUE strategy here is to divide and conquer the Christians. Is this not a possible motive? Turn off all Christians to thoughts about someone who identifies as atheist and agnostic. Divide and conquer. By all means, right?This way, it truly promotes atheists and agnostics for grabbing power over our society and thus destroys ALL Christians, even those who are allies of someone like Reagan Junior when it comes to separation of church and state.

Why do Americans never look to a plan to come together and find allies for which we can achieve a goal? This example of separation of church and state will help sustain our society better than any type of autocratic control by the bloody Matt Gaetz or the bloody atheists and agnostics. the ideas here are about advancing the causes of autocracy, whether by one side or the other, with a great deal of fighting going on. 

I am a Christian who recognizes that it is the fundagelicals who push people into atheist environments because people see too much of religious organizations which portray themselves as BEING God. My beliefs are sometimes in line with atheist beliefs because I believe that men created rules in the Bible, from fig leaves to white supremacy to bigotry against the LGBT+ to justification of murder and thievery, to justification of slavery (etc., etc., etc.). Most of the justification is done by mythical elements in what we call “scriptures,” as men tried to portray God as an image of men, not the other way around. Thus, many become fed up with churches and the stupidity of hypocrisy, ignoring the fact that Jesus Christ himself ranted about hypocrisy and money changers ripping off the people.  People like Rasputin of Russia, with his hypocrisy really did a number on a man who HAD been seeking the priesthood in Russia, but then joined the Bolsheviks. That man was named Joseph Stalin.  Just like autocratic theocratic dildo heads within the Christian fundagelicals today, Stalin is an example of working to develop an autocratic government all right. That of a communist state.

Come together and coexist on common ground, before it is too late. That meaning is about coming together to promote a secular democracy separate from church and religion, but with a freedom of religious belief. That also means to not allow any style of brutal autocracy forcing ANY style of religion, whether Christian or atheist (etc., etc., etc.), upon the American population.

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Commentary, democracy, Religion

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White Supremacist Education Fired up by DeSantis (DeSatan)

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards” (Søren Kierkegaard).

Governor Ron DeSantis (DeSatan), with the Florida Republicans, wishes to bolster the foundation of the immorality and unethical ways of the KKK and the white supremacists. He wants to eliminate teaching in public schools which teaches about how we need to change from the bad influences of groups like the KKK and white supremacists over colored people, Gentiles over Jews, and white folks over indigenous people in Florida and the USA.

In contrast, I praise the quote from Kierkegaard when he says that, essentially, we need to learn from the bad aspects of the past so as to move forward.  I add to this that we need to move forward for the sake of ALL of us and our posterity and to create an environment of domestic tranquility. Otherwise, those who follow the ways of Ron DeSatan and the Republicans with regard to what is mentioned here, are traitors because they do not even attempt to uphold the words of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. They are traitors who need to be removed from office. I am sick and tired of Democrats sitting back like wimps and not playing hardball in this respect.

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Commentary, Education

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