PLANET knitting

I’m a firm believer that any negative can be turned into a positive with a little Yankee ingenuity added to the mix. Take the latest Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to flood as much money as they want into the campaigns of the candidates of their choosing as a perfect example.

While on the surface, this seems like a terrible thing to happen because it defines the end of competitive campaigning.

No one group or organization will be able to raise as much money as a corporate greed machine, so it pretty much makes it inevitable that most, if not all campaign ads will be corporate funded.

I haven’t been posting anything in almost a month? Wow, does time fly when you’re holding your breath! You see, the health care reform bill has really got me on the edge of my seat. I’m hoping for the best, but it looks like we’ll all be settling for a lot less, unless the Dems have something coming in under the radar.

I guess we’ll know soon enough. But I’ve been hesitant to state any opinions because things keep changing around so fast.

One day the public option is alive, the next its dead and expanded Medicare is on the table, then its dead too.

The conflict between Patrick Kennedy and his Catholic bishop uncovers the underlying fail of most of the fundamental Christian groups that choose to ignore the separation of church and state policy. By playing this political game, they in essence abandon the philosophy of their founder.

The words were simple, “whoever is without sin let him cast the first stone.”

The lessons behind the words were far more complex, however.

Hello? Hello?!?

If you ever want to know whether the government is honest, fair, and logical, just ask a Native American . . .

Senator Harry Reid said today that the health care reform bill he’ll take to the floor of the senate will have a public option, but one that’ll let individual states opt out of if they so choose. Now this seems like a good idea, and it should get more senators to vote for it. But there’s a couple of points I haven’t heard anything about yet . . .

First, who in each state will decide whether to opt in or opt out?

I suppose it would be the governors after conferring with their house and senate leaders, but I sure would like to see it brought to ballot at some point or another. If the states have to opt in at first, like some are proposing, then that would give them plenty of time to allow the people to vote on it.

In his address this week, President Obama urged the passing of the Health Insurance Industry Anti-Trust Enforcement Act. This, hopefully will be passed and become part of the over all health care reform presently going through Congress. But you can help!

Senator Leahy would like your help in making sure everyone involved in passing this is notified about the peoples’ wishes. To give your support, you’re urged to go here: http://ga3.org/campaign/hcr_antitrust and sign a letter addressed to your state’s senators.

You can also see President Obama’s comments about this at the above site.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems very few people ever get killed in marijuana related car accidents, or many who get arrested for domestic abuse due to being under the influence of pot. Neither are there many cancer deaths from smoking marijuana, or liver problems, or anything like that. So maybe it is just me, but if something doesn’t hurt you, and in many cases actually helps people, why on Earth would it be illegal?

Some may make the argument that, because of all the drug cartels making a fortune on it, the government couldn’t support legalizing it. But isn’t the very fact of it being illegal give rise to these profits from shady groups? Certainly none of the shops in California where medical marijuana is legal go to these cartels for their supplies, do they?

In fact it stands to reason, if marijuana was fully legalized, new farm businesses could open up and put these shady characters on the run. People could start growing their own supplies, sure, but that wouldn’t cut into tax revenue any more than the people who make their own beer in their bathtub.

There’s no doubt the most divisive force to the human community on the planet is religion. Perhaps it’s because so many of them all claim to be the true one, and so their adherents are less willing to back off, which in turn creates fertile ground for conflict. But how could every religion exclusively hold the truth? The answer might be found in the study of Noetic Science.

Noetic Science is basically the study of mind over matter, but more specifically its the study of how the mind’s perception creates realities. Drawing its authority from Quantum Physics, it proposes the universal consciousness permeating the energy field that is the universe allows all living things, as observers, the capability of creative perception.

In other words, how we perceive things makes it real for us. Collectively, we all see the galaxy, our world in the same basic way because, through time we’ve been programmed to see it that way. So if someone mentions a pine tree, or a cloud mass, everyone gets pretty much the same picture in their mind.

You know, it’s amazing that anything gets done in Washington. Congress is supposed to be looking out for the best interest of the nation, but more often than not, it acts more like its running a three-legged race with a one-legged partner. Someone is always refusing to carry their weight for political or monetary reasons, which makes everything drag on far longer than it should.

Take health care reform for example . . .

There’s absolutely no reason why Congress should be concerning itself with protecting the over glutted coffers of the insurance companies. And yet, it seems making sure the top CEOs continue to bring in 57 thousand dollars an hour is top priority.

We hear a lot about special interest groups lobbying Congress to get special corporate favors. They seem to buy senators and representatives who’s votes appear to hold no other logic than to satisfy these lobbyists’ agendas. As these politicians’ re-election funds are padded with corporate money, and their sent on free elaborate vacations, the people should be asking, “What about our special interests?”

While watching TV the other night, a political commercial came on for one of the people running for the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat. It was the usual rhetoric about changing Washington, blah, blah, blah. But near the end, the candidate made an interesting statement . . .

He declared, “I will not take any money from Special Interest Groups.”

With sixty-five percent of the American people in favor of the public option, and the rest of the majority not fully aware of what the public option is (medicare for all), perhaps there’s another way for us to bring about a sort of health care redirect that could very well change the playing field.

Imagine if every American who was denied health care, whether it be from a “pre-existing condition,” or for whatever reason, took what they’d normally pay for a monthly insurance premium, brought it down to one of the 1,200 free clinics in the US (see http://freeclinics.us/ for one near you), and donated it with the words, “Here! Grow!!”

Or if you couldn’t donate any money, then perhaps donate some volunteer time. Everyone on staff are strictly volunteers, from doctors, nurses, down to the reception people. No one gets paid, but everyone gets quality health care.

Ever wonder what it would be like to be on the bottom of the food chain? Well, chances are you’re already experiencing it whenever you go to the super market, or pay your utility bills, or buy anything for that matter. Corporate greed is feeding off everyone who remotely resembles a consumer, and chances are, that includes you.

In the eyes of a corporate CEO, we are not citizens, we are livestock and our commodity is our hard earned pay. They manage to fleece us of virtually everything we own, and all the while convincing us its for our own good.

Take the super market industry for example . . .

When Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, his most important discovery was that the people he met were, in his words “in dios,” or like God. They had no tenets or moral codes to follow, but rather were naturally inclined to living a peaceful, hospitable life. When explorers go into the Amazon region, they too meet up with indigenous people who have no inclinations towards hostility or savagery in any way. So we need to ask ourselves, have indoctrinated morals replaced the natural inclination of humans, and is this a good thing?

It may be interesting to note, while Columbus and his crew came from a society with a strict moral code imposed by the Church, they had no problem taking advantage of these so called savages. These peaceful people were almost immediately subjected to brutal treatment like slavery, rape, murder, their homes were claimed for the crown, their resources exhausted, and were left for dead when Columbus finally decided to leave.

It seems then, the concept of living by a moral code, imposed and enforced, becomes an inclusive entity that demands comparison to other moral codes, or a lack of one. The level of authority that set a moral code in place also tends to imply class distinction and a greater abhorrence to anything “other” a different group may be governed by.

The Right thinks if we don’t continue the neocon’s programs in dealing with the rest of the world, we’ll be losing the edge in foreign policy. But is this true? Is the “we’d rather bomb you than talk to you” approach the best chance we have for world order? Or is President Obama, our Community-Organizer-in-Chief leading us in the right direction?

Being the schoolyard bully certainly has its perks. Nobody dares take anything that belongs to you, no one would even consider standing up to you, or refusing you your favorite seat in the cafeteria. The downside is, nobody will stand up with you, or share anything with you unless you take it from them.

In other words, bullies have no real friends they can rely on!

I kept trying to wrack my brain about who these teabaggers reminded me of. It was something I had witnessed before, but I wasn’t quite sure where or when. Then it hit me!

In light of all the hubbub going on with right wing protesters who cry out about big government, and government take overs, it would be good if we took a moment remembering the words of Candidate Obama about that very topic during the presidential campaign.

“It’s not whether we have big government, or we have small government. It’s whether or not we have good government. Government that works.”

Now I know we’re all fed up with government bureaucracy, and how it seems when a crisis comes up, the government builds a new department with a whole new set of requirements and regulations, and how even when the crisis passes, the government never backs down. This has created a real mess in the way the country runs, and the taxpayer has to carry the burden of all that wasted effort to keep those agencies functioning with nothing really to do.

Among all the FoxSpews zombies at the latest 9/12 march, there was a group who had perfect pitch. Billionaires for Wealthcare sang out the praises of letting things remain as they are. These guys were great, but its amazing how many people around them had no idea Billionaires for Wealthcare were laughing at them.

Check them out

At this moment we’re facing one of the most historic votes in Congress. More than sixty years in the making, and finally we may have a real health care reform bill being signed by the President. This was Senator Ted Kennedy’s life work, and sorrowfully he isn’t here to see it through. But what’s even worse is, we may not have full representation from the state he came from. At this point it seems the lights are out in Massachusetts and nobody’s home.

State lawmakers are dragging their feet in allowing Governor Patrick to appoint an interim replacement for Senator Kennedy. This is temporary mind you. The replacement will only be in office until a special election can take place, and the person getting the position cannot run in the election. Its merely to give Massachusetts full representation at this critical time.

Now I understand the “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” problem. If the Democrats in Massachusetts allow this now, it could happen again when a Republican governor is in office later. Naturally a Republican governor would appoint a Republican replacement, and that could spell problems for the state.