Today is the celebrating of the birth of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. and I find it fitting to offer my own "I have A Dream" commentary post here in his honor. I don't pretend to know Dr. King's full intentions, but I will do my best to take a fair guess at what he believed. It's a shame the world we live in today and the struggle we still have based on race and color.
I have a dream that one day all citizens of this great nation will be treated as equals and that we will live up to our creed that: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day all patriots of this great nation wishing to seek work will not be judged based on their gender or color, nor will the question dare be asked of what they consider themselves to be.
I have a dream today that one day in the near future women and men will no longer have to tell their employer embarrassing facts about their financial situation. That the fact they fell on hard times and had to receive government assistance matters today means we are unequal and this must change.
I have a dream that just because citizens of this great nation were the victim of a disaster in the great city of New Orleans, that we can let these people move on and not have them as a special class of citizens when they fill our their employment application.
I dream of a day when organizations like the NAACP will no longer be relevant and we can have the "National Association For The Advancement of American Citizens." Why a group only plays to colored people today just shows of the great distance we still have to travel to make sure all men are created equal.
I have a dream that students entering university are admitted solely on merritt and not because of some quota their state requires for groups considered to be minorities. We do our children a great injustice in education and in our future as a nation with such requirements.
I have a dream that one day political parties will no longer pit races against one another just so they can advance their agenda. No longer will they be using people's own weakness against them. No longer will they take advantage of a lack of education rather than taking the time to help educate the people who possibly need their help the most. This great disservice to human beings, just so they can gain power is truly sad that it takes place in this nation still today.
We are all brothers and sisters in this great nation. We are people who bleed the same shade of red. We are all people who must eat food and drink water to stay healthy. We are all citizens of a great nation that continues to be put at odds by those who might benefit from such in-fighting.
It's time that we stand up. It's time to say NO to those who would dare try and still try to segregate us in their own way. We must fight back and say, "We Are All Americans and we demand to be treated equally."
There are no second-class citizens and there is not one of us that isn't capable of fighting for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our color does not matter in these things and we all have the same great oppurtunity in being born in such a great nation.
My dream is not naive and I encourage each and every one of you today to stand up for your fellow citizens and demand the change needed to end the segregation we still have on this day. This is not only my dream, it's the American dream and one that we can all look forward to.
I share this dream I have with you today to make it no longer a dream, but the reality it so deserves to be to make our great nation what it was destined to be.
Copenhagen is supposed to be the "last chance to save the world." What exactly are we saving the world from exactly? The video below; which served as the opening video for Copenhagen 15; leads us to believe that we are saving the world from ourselves and as usual this is being done 'for the children.' Is that what Copenhagen is really about though? Or is it something much bigger that many have warned us about for years now?
The so-called leading environmental scientists at Copenhagen are leading us to believe that the warming of the earth and the overall climate is greatly impacted by things we as humans beings do each and every day. This ranges from driving our cars, to running our washing machine, turning on the blow-dryer, and even eating the beef that we eat when we want a cheeseburger from our favorite fast food joint. All of these things in one way or another produce 'carbon dioxide.' A natural element in the air that is categorized as a 'greenhouse gas.' This gas is what's allegedly causing the climate change and global warming affect around the world that has been greatly increased by man's desire for freedom and our use of fossil fuels. But what exactly is Carbon Dioxide?
Carbon Dioxide is compound of 2 oxygen atoms mixing with 1 carbon atom. The formula many remember from chemistry class is 'CO2.' It's a natural compound of nature and makes up only 0.038% of the earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is mostly used by plants during photosynthesis to make sugars which in turn are consumed or used to make other raw material for plant growth and development as well as other organic compounds. It's produced by not only plants, but also by any animal or fungus that in a basic sense 'breathes.' In a cinch, if it's alive and breathing, then it produces carbon dioxide. It's literally the most naturally produced gas from living beings and organisms on the planet. Carbon dioxide is also a by-product of the combustion of fossil fuels and occasionally produced when volcanoes or geysers erupt. So how is something that is so natural in nature possibly dangerous to the planet and its inhabitants?
It's not surprising that this past Saturday night Democrats and Liberals would be celebrating tyranny in the United States. With a vote of 220-215 in support of tyranny it's such a grand thing that even one Republican voted in favor of it. Of course that said Republican from Louisiana was promised extra funds for the rebuilding of his district, but all is ok as long as it's in the name of tyranny. Are we being a bit out of bounds with our description here on what was voted on Saturday night? We don't think so. Most people would think that health care reform is a good thing, and even we don't disagree with that. We do disagree however with a bill that says you 'shall' do so many things or face stiff penalties, even imprisonment if you do not adhere to what the government tells you to do. No that's not refrom, that's tyranny by legislation.
As we said, we don't deny the need for reform. The type of reform that's needed though, is quite the opposite from what this current government is proposing. Liberals and Democrats feel that more regulation is needed to help curve the costs of health care and to help make sure those who do not have insurance, get the coverage that they might need. We say might need because not everyone needs or wants health care coverage, but the government never takes that into their assessment of the issue, just the fact that people are out there without it. They fail to recognize the millions of people who are young and healthy and would rather start building their life than wasting their money away on health care that even their doctors say they don't need at that point in their lives. So why is this government so persistent in trying to put everyone onto one big plan? Control is what we believe it is.
There's a 2.5% tax on your income in their bill if you fail to obtain health insurance of some form, and an 8% tax on payroll for many businesses who don't cover their employees. Then there's an extra 5.4% added to the income tax for individuals making $500,000 a year, $1 million for families, and then of course the taxation of large private insurance plans as well. Now some of you may not have sympathy for the extra income tax on high-income earners, but those high-income earners often include small businesses who file as individuals to save money rather than incorporating themselves and pay the horrendous corporate tax that corporations have to pay. All of this sounds like tyranny to us in the name of health care reform. They're taking away liberty by forcing people to buy a product that they may not want or need. All of this is supposed to reign in costs, but in all reality it will do quite the opposite; especially when you factor in the government-run option that's included in the tyrannical bill. On top of that the forcing of insurance companies to cover everyone will do nothing to help at all and make things much worse. So how else could costs be brought down?
Update:There is still a small chance that Republicans could muster a filibuster during the debate. If a filibuster is imminent, then a second and final 'cloture' vote will be done to end the filibuster. At that point immediately in the days following, the vote on the bill will take place. If there is no filibuster, a vote could take place at any time the majority party feels they have all the votes needed for it to pass. Either way, a vote must take place on the bill after 30 hours of debate.
Late Saturday night, the United States Senate passed an important health care measure to "move the debate forward" and to begin the debate on the health care bill as we can see from the video below. With a not so surprising vote of 60-39 Democrats were able to shift the debate to the senate floor and being debating one of the most critical pieces of legislation in recent history. Or did they?
The Senate did not vote on the actually health care bill itself as the media and Senators would lead you to believe. They were actually voting on the process of 'cloture' for HR 3590. HR 3590 is a house bill; recently passed in the house; listed as the "Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009." A bill intended to give service members a substantial tax credit when buying a home. Now some of you are thinking, "then why did the Senators and media keep saying that this was the health care bill?" It's quite simple really. The health care bill has been added as an amendment to HR 3590. The actual legislation though behind HR 3950 has nothing to do with health care at all as we just mentioned here for you. The health care bill was merely an amendment added in a couple of days ago.
Why would the Senate and Media be so deceptive? It’s an answer that many don’t want to hear. The truth of the matter is, Senators know there is no other way for health care reform to pass on its own. Even the library of congress states that HR 3590 is being used as a vehicle for the health care reform bill. What that means in layman terms is that the debate won't actually be over health care reform itself, but over the "Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009" instead. This is a tactic that is used to push through critical legislation without it actually ever having to be fully voted on, distracting the members of congress with a different primary bill. Also this is a big political move that is used to force the opposition into a fox hole. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't type scenario.
As the senate just passed the Matthew Shepard Act that is suppose to "protect gays" from violence and expands the federal hate crimes bill, one has to really wonder; what defines hate? It would seem that the definition has either been changed or has been skewed in the public perception to something that only is brought on by your personal genetic traits. Don't most crimes cosist of some hateful background though?
In the personal opinion of this author there are many hateful crimes out there. Rape is a hateful crime no matter who to do it to. When one person assaults another, that's usually motivated by a moment of hate. When an individual goes and kills another person, that's usually motivated by a form of anger or hate as well, with the exception of those times in fear and self-defense. So why is there so much emphasis on minorities and gays?
What makes gay people so special? Just because they are targeted for who they are? How is that any different than the person who kills his neighbor for mowing his lawn at 6:00am every day? How is that different than the guy who punches the guy sitting next to him in the face for making crude comments about his girlfriend? You want the honest truth? There is no difference. All of those described crimes are "hate crimes."
