What IF Trump is guilty?

Well of course the first thing you say is he will be impeached and then found guilty in the Senate. And probably so, I do not think he will resign. He might. I do not think so. He may try to pull off some miracle in the Senate. Maybe he has some info on enough Senators to keep him in office. At this point who knows. Or maybe the Republicans cave in and not vote for impeachment. They still have their agenda they think they can push with Trump as President.

If he is guilty of collaborating with the Russians; hiding info on his staff who may have collaborated; actual dealings with the Russians that conflict with American policy or affect his ability to make American policy; Putin actually has dirt on him; or anyone of many scenarios that seem to be developing may not really matter.

What matters is what happens post Trump.

Does Pence become President? The first answer is yes, but…. Are there alt-right groups readying for a fight with the government? Who supports who? Are there deep government agents that would support Trump and keep him from leaving the White House?  What if the evidence is undeniable and yet he isn’t convicted? What kind of power grab would come into play if he is convicted? Of course, how soon to the next election may play a part in the power play. What would Wall Street do? What would other countries do? Would North Korea see this as a chance to attack us? Would Europe celebrate or will their far-right groups have come into power and support him coming back to America? Will we have to put up with a return of Clinton? Will Russia fully invade Ukraine or the Baltics or both? Where does this leave NATO?

Trump in such a short time makes his departure very dangerous. People who hate him still do not realize how convoluted the immediate future might become. I am not saying we need to keep him. By no means, no.

Is Pence also guilty? He might be. Can we trust he isn’t? So, do we impeach them together? Do we really want Ryan as President? Or Hatch? Or Tillerson? If the Russians are involved, that probably leaves Tillerson out. Or does it? Do we trust the military? The military industrial complex? We once had a President who said do not trust the military industrial complex. This might be a good opportunity for certain rogue generals to screw us entirely. Or what happens if our military is caught in a situation where we are attacked and no one knows who to trust to lead them. This is especially important if it is a nuclear attack. Who has the nuclear codes while he is on trial in the Senate? Pence? If we are impeaching both? Ryan? And when does the power switch over? Are we ready to swear somebody in the second the vote is in?

Nixon resigned and Clinton was spared so we didn’t have to play out the nuclear scenario, however, now things have drastically changed. Even if Nixon or Clinton were impeached, it was all internal. There was no possible foreign involvement. Most countries would have probably kept clear to avoid an international flare up. Now, you have North Korea, ISIS, Al Qaeda, and of course Russia posing immediate threats. Who else might try to make power plays? China? Iran? I think the latter two might take a wait and see approach unless events got hot fast. Again, what does NATO do if Russia attacks somewhere in Europe. Do they fight alone till we figure it out?

If Trump is in collusion with Russia, do we get cyberattacked to create a distraction to prevent impeachment? Who responds and how?

And who on God’s green Earth plans for all this? Is anyone thinking about this? If so, under what pretense? Do you give President Trump an intelligent briefing on the subject? Yeah right, but who do you give it to? The House and Senate? All of them? Just select committee members? And again, is anyone putting all this on paper? And if so, what will they try to accomplish? A short-term fix? Getting from Trump to Successor? Or till next election? Or will they just figure civilians cannot run government anyway and never give up power? Which now makes whoever usurps civilian leadership, guilty of treason. Which as you know, many people think Trump is guilty of treason. Where does it end?

Yeah it is a warm spring night here in Texas with possible storms on the horizon. Is there too much electricity in the air and I am spinning out of control? I am listening to Rick Wakeman on youtube playing piano, first with some Yes songs, then actually some Beatles, hopefully to keep my calm, now Amazing Grace. Interesting music to be listening to as I ramble away at high levels of paranoia of what could happen if our fears have come true and we have elected a traitor to our country or a complete imbecile.

Internally and externally the challenges WILL be many. There is no doubt that if the deal goes down as the good doctor use to say, then this deal is really going down. I could go on for hours with all sorts of possible nightmare scenarios. I actually have some answers, but at this point they would only create more problems. One reason is no one is going to trust anyone right away and with all the hate going on between the Trump supporters and Trump detractors there could be some fringe trouble for a long time.  I think most of us, would look to find stability fast and move forward.  And we will survive as a country. There will be struggles. Trump has unsettled us. And there are Republicans who really need to sit down and realize they have let this country down by not denouncing him right away. And there are Democrats who cannot begin to gloat.

As I have written for years, we need new leadership in our country that will put the people first and this will be even more needed post Trump. Let us hope the people realize this and step up and take over, or hold our elected officials accountable so we can move to the next phase in our history. We are a great country and if we can move forward past Trump we can become even greater.

This will be a test.

Really keeping America great

Everyone likes bullet points so here are a few updated quick hit ideas I have discussed before made a bit easier to read. I am not saying this is an end all be all, just some ideas put forth to help us lead the world into the 21^st century and beyond.

Energy: We need to change from fossil fuels to renewable sources, however, it will take two generations to make the change over where most our energy comes from renewables. So, we let the current fossil fuel projects run their course so people keep their jobs and simultaneously begin the full-scale process of solar and wind energy. Basically, make all new projects renewable projects. We need to make the commitment.

Water: Instead of building a wall between us and Mexico, why don’t we build projects with Mexico. Since the west coast is earthquake prone and the gulf is hurricane prone we would need to really look at how we do this, however, building desalinization plants along either or both coast lines helps both countries build reliable water sources for the future.

Agriculture: So, if we build reliable water for the future we can use this water to help nonproductive land become productive. Part of this idea is building commercial greenhouses in the desert. Solar and wind power can help climate control and a constant source of water helps grow organic fruit and vegetables year-round. Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas etc… can still grow grains yet without the current processing that hurts our health.

Space: I would say enough said, yet we need a plan to start exploring and building in our solar system. This may be a multi century project

Jobs: Making the transitions above creates jobs at many different levels from common labor and construction work to high level engineering, science, education, and of course everything else that is developed to feed, cloth, house, entertain, etc.. people working.

Healthcare: We need to bring it back to being a profession instead of a business. And if we can grow healthy food year-round organically it is just a side benefit to us as a country. One way to lower health care costs is to eat well. This way doctors can focus on real illnesses and diseases than the ones we create eating processed food and excessive amounts of prescribed medicines that create more problems than the one they are supposed to address. Shoot half the time, they only address symptoms of an unhealthy lifestyle. And reducing water and air pollution is going to do wonders for our health.

And the greatness of above is that we can make the transition without making monumental changes to our personal lives. And Mr. Trump here are your jobs for Americans

So, Wall Street, Congress, and everyone else what is so difficult about moving forward into the 21^st century?

healthcare bill/paranoid posts

First though a quick thought; I am sure you have heard the phrase whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Since this phrase came about before the proliferation of social media ya'll be careful out there.


And just because they are still debating the healthcare bill you cannot become complacent. There is still the battle and war to be won. The people who want it to pass will keep the pressure on. So must we. Please continue to email or write your Representative to vote no. Also let them know they need to start over until they get it right. The bill must be good for everyone as a whole.

And now we switch over to the paranoid posts mode.

I am worried our wonderful President may take a lesson from his illustrious mentor Putin. Trump has so many setbacks lately that he needs some feel good medicine and nothing makes a leader look good than a good ole fashion military victory. So he can't invade Ukraine, but our favorite in North Korea would give Trump a perfect excuse to do something stupid. Yes, just what we need a President looking for the ultimate distraction for the Russia problem and healthcare bill (keep calling your Representative)being delayed. 

I call these thoughts the paranoid posts for a reason yet this thought is really worrying me. Stay alert all. 

Let’s talk healthcare

Tomorrow the House votes and our illustrious President is making very thin veiled threats. Maybe we need to remind our wonderful Representatives that healthcare in this country is nothing like they think.

As you know I have stated the original ACA did not do enough, yet I have never been real specific about some of my complaints. So here is a bit of example to hopefully illustrate some of my concerns and maybe even some of your concerns.

You may have heard a joke where eventually the punch line is you can’t expect the doctor to get it right, they do not know what they are doing yet, they are only practicing medicine.

I do not like talking about my own health, yet this maybe a scenario you have had similar experience. 

I went to the doctor for an ailment. He said sounds like this, take these antibiotics and call me in two weeks if it doesn’t work. So I did. Two weeks later, still not cleared up. So he says try these anti biotics. Two weeks later, still not good, so one more round of this. Okay now I have paid three co pays and three prescriptions.  And he decides maybe it is time for an x-ray. Yep, two days later I am being sent to a specialist. So now we have more copays and a barrage of tests.  All in all, things are working out, but how do we protect our pocket books from doctors having to go through this trial and error method of finding out what needs to be done. I certainly understand this is going to happen, it is the expense of this that needs to be addressed.

Or what about you go get diagnosed with something, and the doctor prescribes a medicine to help. And you may have noticed that they advertise a whole host of medicines on TV, that if you pay attention there are a multitude of side affects you are made aware. So the doctor prescribes the medicine and lo and behold you are hit with one of the significant side- effects so you call doctor and are told to stop the medicine immediately. The good person involved here had heard me complain about the excess side effects over and over again while watching the commercials. I tend to count them as they list them because this situation has bothered the heck out of me.  Okay now what. You and your insurance company just spent money on this prescription. (Let us be honest, it is you and your insurance company that pays). Can you get a refund? Honestly we haven’t asked yet since this just happened so I will update if you can.  I think you should be able to, however, who pays for this refund in the long run: the pharmacy, the pharmaceutical company, the insurance company, or in the long run does it comes back to you with more costs somewhere else.

And really we all pay along with our insurance, hence another one of the problems. Insurance companies are in the business of making money. They help when affordable, however, if the premiums are excessive people have to make choices. And insurance companies are looking out for their bottom line. They have to make Wall Street happy. There is less incentive to make you happy for some reason. You are the customer, they are banking on your health risk, and you pay the premium. Do not think though they consider you the customer.  I say this with a bit of a grain of salt: overall they do not work with you to help lower your costs. They may make agreements for in-service discounts, but the actual costs overall of healthcare, nothing . Some exceptions exist, some insurance companies have woke up to the fact that preventative medicine such as regular health screenings are good, however, they do not spend tons of their resources working to lower costs to you by working with health care professionals to alleviate multiple costs for the same illness.

A critical illness will incur the multiple costs, but you can at least understand that. It is situations that nothing can be done, or the time it takes to figure out what to do. You go to the doctor to see if you have the cold, flu, or an upper respiratory illness.  Either way it is bedrest, over the counter medicine, liquids, vitamin C, and if upper respiratory, maybe some anti biotics is the answer you get.  And most of us accept that visit is going to cost money if we choose to go, however, why do these visits cost as much as other types of visits which may incur more time with the doctor? Or you break a toe or a finger, you go get an x-ray and yep it is broken, but not much we can do about it, You have to go to make sure it is not serious, but what next? Nothing, why do these visits involve full costs especially when they can be reviewed in a few minutes, determinations made and you are on your painful way.

I understand paying a doctor for their time. I am in full agreement with this payment. It is just why some of the doctors’ cost are so high I struggle.   Some of it you see, especially the staff it takes to deal with insurance companies.  Too much complexity here for what is needed. Again why aren’t the insurance companies doing something about the costs they are driving up. It would be in their best interest to hold costs down, yet do we see them working to reduce? Is Congress addressing it?

Anyway the point of all this is there is so much going on in healthcare that has nothing to do with healthcare reform that is being considered.  The day to day costs you and I incur are never addressed. And since the healthcare business is a business there is always a profit motive behind all the decisions the insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, labs, etc… make that affect you, yet are never addressed by Congress.  I heard one person say they need to regulate these businesses, unfortunately they are regulated.  So we are left in between these companies wanting to make money and adhere to regulations that are cumbersome and are not effective for us as they should be.

And as usual I ramble on and on when I am ticked off about something and I am ticked off.  Trying to make the point here is we spend so much on healthcare, but no one looks at controlling the environment that drives up the costs. Doctors will care about you and want to succeed with your health, however, they are caught up in this excessive need to manage a business that does not want them to succeed, but give business to all other aspects of healthcare so those businesses can succeed. It is an ugly trap for everyone, but Wall Street. Wall Street just sits back and goes what have you done for me lately. When Congress pushes Wall Street to the side so these businesses can concentrate on you, then real healthcare reform can begin.

Until then every bill especially the current Republican bill is all a smoke screen to screw you.

Email or call your Representative and tell them to vote no. And remind them your turn to vote will come soon.

The Genius of Trump…?

Let us examine a few instances of genius at work

Take for example the tweet about Obama wiretapping him and most people have already realized that is deflection and yet a good one. And most people have caught onto that one because basically it is hard to prove something did not happen. This was a great attempt in trying to tie up resources searching for nothing all the while feeding snippets of there will be more coming to his followers. Since they have checked out from the media and the establishment he now can constantly throw this out there and maybe even going so far as to say the establishment is incompetent if they do not find anything. Do not be surprised if he floats this out there if needed.

And then there is the new health care bill. He made a promise that he would repeal and replace the ACA. Now the Republican establishment in Congress has thrown something together that for the time being lets Trump act like he was involved in putting this together. We all know he didn’t. If it passes, he can go to his supporters and say he fulfilled a campaign promise. If it doesn’t pass, he can say it wasn’t his bill and his bill would have been better and greater, but he wanted to give Paul Ryan a chance. So soon we will have his bill and it will pass and all will be well.  And as we know, the when is, well “soon”

And for the Russian involvement, well right now all the Congressional hearings and DOJ and FBI investigations are barking up the wrong tree. Everyone keeps wanting to find some direct connection to Trump and Putin. Someday they may find something. One real connection is the appearance of a mass amount of people hitting the news story boards with all their deflecting comments. I am thinking that this is where the Russian help really came in, this is a new form of propaganda evolved from Stalin and Hitler’s use of propaganda. They have people constantly posting under hundreds of monikers all with the same message about distrusting the media and the establishment. The constant barrage of posts consistently deflects from real messages. And they either use one or two facts to support a whole host of Mr. Trump’s agenda or use bullying tactics to shoot down any opposing views. All this seemingly looking like he has a large following. Naturally others see the large amount of different names and feel comfortable that all this noise has something to it. This isn’t all to the Russian connection, yet is one part of many tactics used to get Trump elected. Now some of this may be alt right groups connecting with each other and doing the same thing, or Russians connecting with alt right groups and acting like they are another alt right group here to spur on more and more of the posts that attack the trustworthiness of the media and the establishment. And on top of all this, the Democrats nominated Ms. Clinton and there is enough distrust of her and Mr. Clinton already out there that these groups could feed off of to rally Trump support. In some ways, this election was a perfect storm in the destruction of our Constitution which is something Putin wants.  This is one connection that will take connecting a significant amount of dots to get to Russia, but is one probable scenario. I am really guessing the connection the government should be looking for is more indirect such as Bannon and the alt right connecting with operatives to create these messages being used to attack the establishment and media via the secondary so called news and websites of the alt right groups. These people actually have something to gain if we become more like Russia and lose our Constitution. As they say, always follow the money. And in this case it is more than any loans President Trump may own outright or under the table to the Russian oligarchs.

Anyway more thought has been put into this than the media has given these people credit for which is why I worry they may get away with this madness.  Our government is not psychologically prepared for how well planned this may be. Whether Trump is one of the planners or not, he is definitely the figure head to all that is possibly happening to our country.

Succumbing a bit…

Okay I spent last night trying to find ways to be positive, and well it went all over the place. Still fighting the good fight, yet still need to say something a bit negative.  The whole purpose of last night’s post was inspired by how ticked off I got at the Republican health care bill earlier this week. So here is my name calling. I am getting tired of the Republican party (especially the establishment group; Trump’s people seem to be their own lap dogs (his budget proves his true colors}) being the lap dog to the Republican billionaire establishment. Republicans, as they know govern, are not conservative and it is tiring when they spend our country’s wheels putting the few over the many.

No matter how hard I tried last night to change my mood, I am still ticked at the Republicans and this insanity they are calling governing.

And now for a different thought, but at what point does the long-term military, intelligence, and DOJ leadership start to feel insulted by some of what President Trump, his staff, and some of his followers are saying about them. I am sure they already do feel insulted; heck I know I would be furious. Deep dark government operatives working to make Trump’s Presidency a failure. How long can the leadership and the rank and file go about their jobs without worrying about their mates, wondering if it is true, yet deep in their hearts they know it is insanity? Are they looking over their shoulders or are they hunkering down working to do the best job they can? At some point they are going to be needed to refute all these claims. You must give credit to our long-term individuals to work through the insults that are indirectly and directly thrown at them from this administration. Let’s hope Trump’s staff’s chaos theory gets pushed aside soon. At some point all these accusations need to be addressed and hopefully some people will be held accountable to what they are doing to our government and our country. 

Fighting negativity and making America better

Well, you could probably write a bookshelf full of books on this topic from many different viewpoints and opinions. Tonight though, we are going to focus on a few general ideas and hopefully not step on too many toes. Right now, there is some general hatred in our country and much misinformation and confusion. Unfortunately, this means to even get started you have to call out some things and I won’t say some people, so let’s say some general groups and hopefully dear reader you realize there are some generalizations that must be done to get down to some points.

So where does a person begin. In this situation, the writer gets to choose and I choose the what use to be called the Eastern Establishment. Wait let me back up a moment. For America to be successful many different groups or relationships need to have I guess a symbiotic relationship. For example, and I have talked about this before; liberals and conservatives (true open minded liberals and conservatives) need each other not for themselves to be successful more for the country to be successful. Sometimes we forget events will dictate what is the best course of action to take. We cannot let our closed minds push aside better options just because it does not fit in our worldview.

And this is where I start with the Eastern Establishment. And now this group has evolved from when this label first became used. Taking this in a general context, many liberals of the Eastern Establishment would pounce immediately and say it is the modern conservative who is thoroughly closed minded, not us. Why can you accuse us of the same label, when we have known for decades what is better for the country? And oops maybe you don’t. For example, the high handedness of this group comes from their education and granted most people who fit this mold have gone onto higher degrees in general than the average American. Yet they do not know middle America, nor have a general understanding of how middle America feels right now. First example and it is a disastrous one is the election of Mr. Trump.  The current liberal mindset is just shocked that Mr. Trump was elected. Pretty much the way the liberal news has reported for the last three months is the proof in the pudding for this thought.

Now I once proposed that he was elected because of a few smart people who knew the electoral count going in and made a play at the end to pull the rabbit out of the hat. And yes, that is partly why he won.

The bigger picture is something most people do not talk about anymore. Older white middle America is lost. Yes, I said white and white for a reason. Truth be told back in the 50’s and 60’s white middle class America had it better than other races, creeds etc.. that is a different topic for a different day. And I will touch on it as I go along, for now though let’s focus on where we are now with middle America as a whole. And again, yes this is different from middle white America of the 50’s and 60’S. And try to address how we got here today.

The modern “well educated” liberal has forgotten one extremely important fact. And I suggest if you are insulted by my labeling coming up, go back and read what Adlai Stevenson, II was saying in the 1950’s. You have missed some large boats.  Anyway, in the 50’s and going into the 60’s white middle class America had reached a zenith in the history of mankind. In the minds of white middle class America, the world was their oyster. Yes, there was many underlying problems from race relations to bad foreign policy to the ultra-pollution of our air and water, yet on the surface no group of people in the history of the world had the opportunity the children of the 1950’s had. None. Public education was available to all, when people said if you worked hard and applied yourself you could be anything you want it was true. Think of all the opportunities that came about with the space race, computers, military buildup, the interstate highway system just to name a few… degrees in engineering, science, accounting, law, education built up the next generation and created what is now known as the upper middle class or the height of this opportunity. And most of these people came from white middle class, all their values, beliefs, status etc. are a byproduct of this time. And even some Eastern Liberal establishment members have some roots with this same mindset. The federal government grew and a whole slew of programs and departments grew to handle all our problems. We fought a war in Vietnam and we fought the war on poverty. Unfortunately, we don’t seem to have won either and this is just one statement that shows where we went from the 1960’s.

The so called Eastern Establishment never realized middle America enjoyed being middle America and resented the Eastern Establishment laying much blame about all the bad things that came about in the 60’s and 70’s on them or just that they didn’t know any better; hence Richard Nixon could say with great confidence the silent majority was for him. He was right. Yes, there were problems that needed to be addressed and more were developing, but the Eastern Establishment began an attack on middle America that leaves us in a very precarious situation today. Now I am not saying this is the Eastern Establishment’s fault or whatever modern version of this group that exists today. I am saying they are part of the same problem on the opposite side of the coin that produced Donald Trump. I will be fair; you are going to hear about the closed minded, Republican establishment also.

Okay so what does Donald Trump’s statement I am going to make America great again mean. Well to many in white middle America, they remember opportunity, they remember kids being able to play outside all day during the summer, there were no bogeymen except as parental threats, they remember the concept of you are supposed to respect certain people just because of the job title whether it be teacher or policeman, they remember people want to be astronauts or Presidents or owners of businesses. Middle America sees this as why America was great. This is good and now it is gone. (not really, this is how we make America better). To middle America, something happened over the last 30 or 40 years and now we live in an ugly country where all these people are destroying everything they grew up to believe.  Are they racists and bigots and horrible people? There are a few that are, for many though they are lost. Maybe some inherent racism just because they are white, in most people of all races it will exist some, but not because they are evil people who want to shut down everyone and hate everybody. No, they want everyone to assimilate. Why,,,,, well Eastern Establishment because what they grew up with… was great.. they didn’t realize they reached a zenith of humanity, they just realized life is good.

And then along came the modern Republican party establishment and what is rather ironic, it grew post Nixon. Yes, the greed mongering and self-righteous came after the worst Presidential debacle in our history. Nixon was smart, calculating, very politically aware, and at the same time very paranoid and well just afraid. He knew what he wanted. He grew up believing that if you worked hard you could be whatever you wanted. In his mind, Kennedy took that away from him, so he had to fight back and fight back hard to get what was his, which led to some of the most stupid political decisions in our history. When I was young I use to think Nixon was evil. He was not evil. He just made himself a trap and jumped right into it. A smart calculating politician, went overboard and made some very dangerous to our country decisions. And he got caught. And we should be glad he did. Eventually we made need to rely on our strength as a country to get past future problems of this nature. That will be part of making America better somewhere down the line.

Post Nixon though the original generation of what we know call the 1 percenters realized they needed to get better control of this nation or people might step up and take away what they have “accomplished”.  This led to the Republican party post Nixon becoming more outright about taking away advantages to other people and lying to their base to make sure they had what they wanted and no one else was going to interfere. Unfortunately, at this point the Eastern Establishment starting devolving in their own world while the Modern Republican Establishment came to be and starting devolving themselves.  Yep not a pretty picture, yet at the time, both sides were becoming so self-absorbed they didn’t realize how much the other side was falling.  The modern Republican is not conservative anymore though, nor is the Eastern Establishment or whatever you might want to call their devolution is liberal. Both sides have agendas that benefit their noise, not the rank and file liberals or conservatives. In fact, a really decent liberal or conservative agenda is not going to be passed through our government right now since the self-serving leaders of both sides cannot give up one iota to the other side no matter how far they take this country into the trash. Yes, liberals you act like you will work with conservatives, but in fact all you do is state how superior you are and that conservatives do not know anything. Well since the Republican Establishment call themselves conservative I can see why you would go down this path, yet the truth is, since they are not conservative (just self-serving greedy pricks), you throw the baby out with the dirty bathwater.

And after 20 or 30 years of this, we have the extremes of both sides so separated from the rest of the country they are leading the noise of hate at each other. The good thing is this is still the minority of both sides. The noise they are making though sounds like there is much hate in this country. Yet if you really watch people, most want to go to work, work with the people they do, come home and hide away from all this grief being thrown at them by the extremes on both sides.

And that is where we start to make America better. This country still has the potential to lead the world into the next zenith of humanity. (or unfortunately drag down the whole planet). The change though must come from the people. Think about my earlier statement that in the 50’s leading to the 60’s there was so much opportunity for white middle America. Our task is to create the same opportunity for all. And that is so possible. There is new technology for people to work with to create so much. There is an opportunity for a whole new space race that encompasses the whole world.  We can use new technologies to solve age old problems like how do we feed everyone? Over the years, I have proposed many ideas and I know if I can sit here in my living room and just dream up new economic development plans and ideas to better EDUCATE our children others can also. And then we can sit down and choose the best of the ideas to move forward. The world is still our oyster. Let us not be dragged down by the hate and ignorance of a few. Let us fight this tyranny of thought, remove the self-serving interests that hamper our growth. Businesses can still flourish, people can still dream, new products and new ideas and better government can be done, yet only if we take back the mindset that we can do it.

Like I said at the top, there could be books written on my title and all I wanted to do was throw out some general ideas and here I am lost in the myriad of possibilities, trying to avoid the hate that dominates the media noise. America is great from Constitutional writing and on. It is time for us to take the next steps to continue our greatness. We are not perfect, but we can continue to become better. And to do this, we need the Eastern Establishment and Middle America to realize they need each other. When one is successful, the other is also. They are not always going to move in lock step. That is okay. As long as both realize they are working towards a better America and then let the best path at the time be chosen then all will be well.

Watching Dirk and Mavericks is like...

….watching Dad and the kids playing. Dirk runs so slow trying to catch up to the rest of the team it looks like a Dad chasing his kids in a park.

Still love those Mavs..yet for the rest of the year I am referring to them as Dirk and sons or Dirk and the kids

Some legal advice

And as you know it is illegal to practice law without a license, however, there are somethings that you need to know.

If you are an attorney, never tell another attorney you do not need to do that, the Judge made a mistake. First of all, Judges do not make mistakes, just ask them. Second this is especially important if the Judge signed an order that says this needs to happen.  Judges do hear things, mainly because the second attorney will call and ask: “so and so called and said I do not need to do this, yet I have an order that says I do?”  You might want to practice in another State after that phone call.  I do not care how nice the Judge is overall, time to move.

And another good idea is not to come out publicly and say the FBI (or any government agency) is wiretapping my phone illegally.  It doesn’t matter that half the country thinks (knows?) the NSA is already tapping our phones; no self-respecting FBI director no matter how many legal, illegal wiretaps, or no wire taps are going on, they are not going to come out publicly and say they are to anyone.  All you are doing is contributing to mass paranoia that is bad enough, but also letting a FBI director off the hook for anything they may actually be doing. If you do not already have the proof, where are you going to get it now? Best not to upset the people who can best prove or disprove your accusations. I am not saying the FBI is doing anything untowards, no, not me, just some practical advice before opening your mouth and sticking your foot into it.

So, every now and then when dealing with the government and/or the law, you do not need an attorney just some common sense. Otherwise for everything else consult an attorney. 

Next up: Logic?

Greetings everyone,      (see end of post for action requested and trying to stay productive)

I cannot believe I have not thought of this before, yet then again it is me and thinking about stuff way too late is pretty standard.

Last week I saw an article where President Trump (excuse me I must throw up while I type these words) met with the CEOs of leading healthcare companies. So, I got to thinking.

I have never read nor heard anyone in Congress spending time with people who are consumers of health care to talk about the Affordable Care Act or any replacements. There has been much discussion from some corners about repealing the ACA, however, in all the original machinations of the bill and subsequent conversations about replacing or coming up with something better I have not heard any serious engagement with us.

Maybe there were some focus groups and I am sure some demographic studies were done, yet and I may be wrong, has anyone heard about Congress or the Executive branch of either the current or previous administration sitting down with large swaths of the American people and discuss what the word AFFORDABLE health care really means?  Or even what health care means? We, the people and consumers, are most affected by this legislation and yet; what say we.

I just think it is a wonderful idea for Congress to spend large amount of time talking to people who must pay insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, lab work, prescriptions, over the counter medication, hospital bills, and the whole host of products we pay to take care of ourselves. Does the leadership in our country understand we are at the mercy of the health care providers and them?  A person can get the impression they like it that way. Not me, though.

And what about insurance companies, you would think they might be hyper vigilant to monitor costs of health care to help us (their customers) reduce our and their expenses. A person might think this would be a primary function of their business model. And yet…..Healthcare costs AND healthcare premiums continue to rise at significant rates above inflation. Why? We pay more and get less coverage year after year.

Remember back in the 1930’s two significant pieces of legislation were passed to protect mutual fund customers. The Mutual Fund companies were charged with a fiduciary duty to protect their customers. Maybe our Congress can pass a bill similar for insurance companies to be held accountable to their customers,,,,, oh wait,,,, I forgot Wall Street just lobbied away consumer protection for customers of Financial Representatives saying they needed to act in the best interest of their customer. My God that just sounds wrong doesn’t it, yet lo and behold…… we have a new sheriff in town and he loves Wall Street no matter what he says.

Oh well, back to healthcare, which is back to square one for the American Consumer because Congress, Our President, Insurance companies, AMA, Pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and all the companies who make a profit off health care could give a rat’s back end about the one person that matters the most: US

So, the next time someone talks about the ACA, Obamacare, repealing it, or replacing it, ask yourself one question. Why am I not beating the door down in Washington D. C. to get better representation?

Think about it, you know better than anyone how much this is eating up your budget, your future, your family, your life. What controls do you have? Now some will say it is our responsibility to take control since this is our life. I agree which leads me back to why aren’t we more active in lobbying Congress ourselves for something better that puts us first.  Yes, I and maybe you could spend hours of our day researching every decision we make, yet how many times are we faced with deciding in the heat of the moment when you or your family member is sick, in pain, injured, or being told catastrophic health news. Yes these are the exact moments when we have to make these decisions, not on a cloudy Saturday afternoon when we are running errands, cleaning the house, yardwork, chasing the kids around, running from one event to the next kid’s birthday party, trying to cook or run into a fast food restaurant to feed everyone, yeah, I can squeeze in a few hours for a few weeks to maybe figure out which lab companies are in my insurance network because if I don’t my lab bill is hundreds more. 

Yes, it is my responsibility to take care of myself, but it is not Congress’ responsibility to take care of big business especially when there is a conflict between our interests and theirs. It is Congress responsibility to write legislation that balances the needs of the whole country and represent us the people.

The Affordable Care Act was mislabeled from the start and never should have been passed in the first place, yet no one in Congress has come up with anything better and all the while listening to the medical industry’s lobby groups on what should be done.  I am glad the current replacement is in a secret room and hopefully it stays there.  

I hope that somehow some way Congress really decides to talk to us, to sit down with many of us and really go through our medical bills one by one for a whole year or more, looking at what we are being charged for the bill, what is being charged, do they think we need this much care, our deductibles, what our insurance companies are doing for us since we pay them for their services, see what happens to our families when someone is diagnosed with Cancer or dementia, how much is long term care insurance, and sit with us when we make decisions for something there is no control. Yeah, tell a loved one, this is just life and there is nothing we can do. Come on Congress come sit and talk to us, not in a focus group, but when we are struggling to pay bills and buy glasses so we can see or come up with another $1000 to pay for dental work or sit with us while our child is in so much agony you can’t think straight. Yep sit with us then and then go back and write health care laws.

So here are the links to write your Representative or Senator:

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Of course, when you click on their link they want you to sign up for their newsletter, yet you have to do a couple of clicks to find how to contact them. So, check out their webpage if so inclined and write them an email or send them a real letter and let them know how you feel. If unsure what to say, please see the paragraph below to give you an idea or tweak it a bit for your benefit. And the link below is some resource information for writing your own letter or email. Cheers all

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/letterscongress.htm

“The best letters are courteous, to the point, and include specific supporting examples”

Example:

Your name and address (especially if you want a response)

Insert your salutation and Congressperson’s name

I am writing you to express my concern over healthcare legislation. My understanding is you are working on either replacing or repealing the Affordable Care Act. This action will affect many of your constituents including myself. I hope you consider my concerns.

Healthcare is continually consuming more of my time, energy, budget, and unfortunately negatively affects my overall health. It is hard as a consumer to navigate the amount of material to make informed healthcare decisions. Too often I find myself having to make healthcare decisions at inopportune times such as in the emergency room or when I am in pain or with a very sick child. Unfortunately, I find myself at the mercy of the situation and then come home to face medical bills I am not prepared to pay or eat up much of my savings instantly. And I have noticed the costs to me are increasing year over year while my insurance premiums continue to increase and provide me less benefits.

I look to you to represent me and your other constituents in these matters. Too often I hear that the medical profession is heavily involved in the discussions and I hear very little what is being done to include the most important part of healthcare and that is people like myself, the consumers and patients, of healthcare.  At this point I see no bill that best represents my interest so until you see legislation that makes the consumer come first I urge you not to vote for any new proposals. I also urge you when you are in our district that you seek out many consumers and have deep discussions with the people you represent so you have a better understanding of what we need.

Sincerely,

(and of course, your signature here)

And in the last sentence, change district to state when writing your senator. Also, please share this with your family, friends, coworkers etc so they either create their own letter or send a version of this one so we can make a difference in this very important part of our lives.

And people say lead by example, I can say to you, I wrote my representative and both state senators.

Cheers all and have a great evening