A Rubber Door » Politics

Occupy Philly – Please

Speener — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:56:51 +0000

Occupy Philly started their occupation of city hall yesterday. Anyone that’s bringing attention to the huge inequity in wealth distribution needs to be listened to.

I thought it amusing and ironic that right after I took that picture, I see a guy riding around in a rare Ford GT ($200k new) so close to where I see people sleeping in doorways.

Run the bums in

Speener — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:38:43 +0000

Tomorrow we get our chance to voice our displeasure with bad leadership. The expectation is that we will “run the bums out” it record numbers; it’s deserved. The performance of our leaders has been abysmal. But it’s not enough to just run the bastards out. We need to be careful about who we run in.

I cannot believe the candidates that have been run out there as serious candidates. And people are so anxious for change, they don’t even seem to care what the change to.

On the way home today I saw a Jon Runyan around the corner from my house. I live in Pennsylvania. Runyan is running in New Jersey. People aren’t even paying attention.

For all of the reasons there are to bring in some fresh blood, there are just as many reasons to be careful. There are some dangerous candidates out there. This Congress is the worse that we’ve ever seen – only to be surpassed by the next Congress.

Don’t run out the bums, only to replace them with newer bums.

Don’t vote based on your affinity for witches, football players, or attack ads, because you’re bound to be disappointed. Do your research; get out and vote on Tuesday, and only vote for the other guy if he’s in fact better.

Turn off your TVs and Internet this week

Spencer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:32:05 +0000

With Sarah Palin’s book being released this week, get ready for the onslaught. If I could read it for free, I would, but I don’t like lining the pockets of a moron. Why would I read it; for a good laugh? Well yes – and how can I criticize the book without reading it?

Anyway – here’s your warning. Avoid the tele an the internet this week if you want to keep your sanity.

Who has this good health insurance?

Spencer — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:28:13 +0000

Angrier and angrier I get.

I keep hearing people saying that they’re worried about losing their health insurance. The Rethuglicans keep saying the American people are happy with their insurance providers and their doctors. Really? I’ve spent the last 3 weeks dealing with insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and whoever else I had to deal with and at no point have I thought “Wow, insurance companies are awesome.”

Isn’t it patently clear that the insurance companies need to be eliminated? How in the world has the Republican party convinced American people to argue on the behalf of the very companies that turn down our claims, cancel our health plans, and overcharge us for the privilege?

And another thing? Why aren’t we going after the pharmaceutical companies? Yesterday I received 36 boxes (72 doses) of generic Imitrex (sumitriptan succinate) at a cost of $5,200 (not my cost – what the drug costs). That is $72 per dose; for generic. There has got to be the understanding that controlling costs in the healthcare industry without reigning in the pharmaceutical industry is like losing weight while maintaing that Cheesecake Factor diet. Of course when your Chief of Staff is in the pocket of the pharmas.

Thoughts?

Assaulted by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh

Spencer — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:54:39 +0000

Today I couldn’t avoid the right-wing assholes. The Phillies happen to be on the same radio station as Limbaugh, so when I got in my car this morning who else but Limbaugh blaring his fascist drivel; quick switch to the iPod. Then when I returned home, I checked the mail and who’s on the front of Time but Glenn Beck.

Quick use of a Sharpie saved the day. Much improved, don’t you think?

Republicans off the rail. Maybe it’s time for a 3rd party

Spencer — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:42:12 +0000

For years I have disagreed with the idea of a third political party – that there were two main parties and to get things done (like elect a President) you needed to support one of the main parties. When Arlen Specter switched parties earlier this summer, it was due to the type of political expediency; he was not a Democrat, but closer to them than the current Republican party. I think that many people would have thought that that if there were a third party, would have come from the fringe edges of the liberal side of the country. What has become apparent to me is that the true need is in the Republican party as the party moves more dangerously and sociopathically to the extreme ends of conservatism. These are the conservatives that include crazies like the birthers, secessionists, teabaggers, the town hall meeting attendees, etcetera, etcetera. This is not representative of the entire membership of the Republican party and those more moderate Republicans are being pushed out and silenced. The party is represented by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. I have to believe there are more viewpoints than that. But as they hold their party hostage, even rational and fair-minded Republicans are required to heed this fringe element, even if it puts them further out of step with the general public (the public who reserves secession for Texas – that is asking Texas to secede.)

At a point when this country is divided to the point where there is no valuable debate, we are left with one side in power, the other side babbling like village idiots, and the everyone else in the middle ducking and taking cover. Does it have to be this way?

I’m not saying that the current Republican party line doesn’t have place in this discussion, what I’m saying is that we need more intelligent discourse in order to get things right, and while the Republican party is busy entertaining thoughts of revolution, teabagging, birthing, and seceding – intelligent discourse is not on their list of to dos.

*Photo by Sage Ross. Creative Commons License

Thank you Joe Wilson

Spencer — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:29:45 +0000

Anyone who supports health care got a gift from the heavens when Joe Wilson lost his mind and called the President of the United States of America a liar to his face. So when the Republicans should be talking about health care, they’re talking about this, and the reason that I believe this is important is that it shows the Republicans to be frothing, crazy, out of touch fear mongers.

The President was brilliant tonight. He did what he needed to do, he took off the gloves, and he called these liars out. The Democrats need to fall in line and make this happen. The Republicans have been shown to be weirdos that don’t have our best interest in mind. All the talk from over the summer in those town hall meetings with those crazies is over. President Obama took the ball and now has the momentum on this issue. Waiting until now, after the end of the summer to respond was brilliant.

Now it’s time for the rest of us to make sure we let our representatives know we want this. We need to keep the momentum on this and make it happen.

The National Mall – The National Disgrace

Spencer — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:16:16 +0000

A few weeks ago we visited Washington D.C. and while there we took the time to visit the National Mall. It had been years since I’d seen the White House or that Lincoln Memorial, and I had yet to see new memorials such as the World War II memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. You visit a memorial to pay respects and the be impressed. I left the mall feeling a bit sick to my stomach at the condition of the mall.

Some of the things I saw:

The reflecting pool is filled with green, fetid water
Duck and geese feces litter the areas surrounding the pool
The grass that immediately surrounds the pool has been worn to a 15 foot wide dirt path

Word is that there was $200 million removed from the stimulus package that would have been dedicated to fixing major problems. According an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer article, earmarks are another issue. One thing I do know is that this is a disgrace. Many people will say that we have other things to worry about in this day and age and I don’t disagree. But worrying about other things doesn’t mean your forget everything else; we pay our public officials to multitask? It’s as if we have decided to not clean or take care of our house because we have to work. When someone walks into my house and it hasn’t been cleaned or taken care of, I’m embarrassed. I feel the same way about the mall – I’m embarrassed to allow visitors to see it. We’ve been lazy and derelict in our responsibilities.

I found a picture of the reflecting pool facing the Washington Monument from 2005 – a few short years ago, and the difference is remarkable. Just because “these are difficult times”, doesn’t mean we can simply ignore all of our responsibilities. As much as we need to keep things up for today’s sake, we need to maintain our cities and infrastructure for future generations. Because the District of Columbia doesn’t have representation in Congress, it’s the responsobility of our elected officials to maintain the house in which they work and that has come to represent our country to others.

If this is how we treat a national symbol – imagine how we treat the rest of the country.

The first shot is a picture found on Wikimedia Commons that shows the National Mall as recently as 2005. The other shots were taken 3 weeks ago by myself on our visit.

The new America

Spencer — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:54:35 +0000

Today I saw a black President of the United States present a Puerto Rican woman as his nominee for the Supreme Court. Today we saw more of the new America.

The conservatives are going to have a hard time with Sonia Sotomayor. She works in a district where the death penalty isn’t used and abortion rights aren’t challenged much – so there isn’t a lot of mud on her record to sling.

Conservatives will find some reason to hate her but what people need to remember over the next few months is that most of what you hear is entirely partisan. If Obama had nominated a Republican old white male, the conservatives would find a problem him. It’s the old rule – object to everything; but this is the new America – the old rules don’t apply here.

When Obama was nominated he gave people all over the world to feel proud, for they could look at themselves, their children, their community and say the top floor doesn’t seem so out of reach now. Now Sotomayor’s nomination confirms that swelling of pride. The best and brightest don’t need to come from prep schools in Connecticut – they can come from the projects in the Bronx.

I’m as proud today as I was on January 20. And I suspect millions of Americans feel that same way.

I dare the conservatives to take that on.

You versus the economy: Banks get the smackdown

Spencer — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:33:12 +0000

The big news coming out of Washington this week has to do with the Obama administration and congress industry putting the smackdown on the credit industry by actually attempting to reign in their predatory lending habits. A friend had the following comment on my Facebook page:

It’s insane that our entire banking industry relies so much on people being in debt.

I love that comment. Over time our the health of many companies has come at the expense of tax payers. Consumers are getting squeezed everywhere because corporations need to make more money.

A lot of people will say they don’t use credit cards – instead relying on debit cards. Others will say that they will pay off their cards monthly. Not everyone can do this though. Many people rely on credit cards to make it through a rough stretch, and while it’s not a good idea, if you don’t have a choice, it’s a nice option to have. The problem is that the credit industry holds you hostage by ruining your ability to get more credit say to buy a house or a car, and in some cases can prevent you from getting a job through credit histories. This is too much power to give over to banks.

What’s worse is that when the law was changed in 1979 banks moved to Delaware and South Dakota who attracted them by getting rid of usury laws. So your vote in your home state can do nothing to regulate these banks.

While the new law is welcome, it’s not enough. Limiting interest rates on loans is a crucial next step. For some reason congress is loathe to really go after the banks even though they’ve brought the world economy to it’s knees. A lot of these banks are getting bailed out so we need to use the new found leverage we have to make these companies more consumer friendly.

This is change this country need.