Motley Moose – Archive

For your comments/criticism/enjoyment/whatever:

Dear Senator Reid,

I am one of many progressive Independent voters who are becoming increasingly worried at what we see as the erosion of support for a public option among our lawmakers. The vexing part is, we cannot understand why. We currently have a Democratic White House, a huge House majority, a healthy Senate majority, and 78% public support for it! Yet we are afraid that those charged with crafting a bill are caving to special interests, which is NOT what we voted for last November! Americans overwhelmingly voted – and not just voted, but pounded pavement, burned up phone lines, made signs and flyers and buttons at our own expense, held meetings, and, like me, became very involved in the political process for the first time in our lives. Politics is now in my blood, and I am still in the fight. As a veteran whose health care is fully covered by the VA, I have no personal stake in this issue, but it is very important to me because this crisis threatens our economy and the very fabric of our collective lives.

The only way to true reform is a robust public option. “Co-ops” just won’t be powerful enough to negotiate with providers and drug companies. Besides that, even Group Health – the model currently being touted – took 60 years to develop. We don’t have that long to wait. Americans are losing their homes, their livelihoods, and indeed their lives due to medical costs. Our nation has become a worldwide laughingstock, as other countries cannot understand why we seem to be trying to kill ourselves!

If the bill that comes out of Congress this fall does not contain a robust public option, I predict massive Democratic losses in 2010, and Obama will become a one-term president. I, for one, promise to support the opponent of any lawmaker who votes against the public option, whether they represent my state or not. That’s how strongly I feel about this issue, and I am one of millions.

Democrats need to stand up against the lobbyists and special interests NOW, and do what’s right for the American people. You know what’s right, regardless of what the right-wing media pawns are feeding a fear-conditioned populace. Please do it. As soon as President Obama signs a bill containing the public option, to be enacted immediately (not in 2013!), his approval rating will soar and Democrats will find renewed support among the people. If the bill Congress sends him doesn’t measure up, it will only give Republicans the ammunition they need to paint Democrats as weak and unable to pass a bill even with an across-the-board majority.

Get your Senators in a room, shut the door, sit them down, and lay it out for them. Get Ed Schultz in there if you have to – he has offered his services if that’s what it takes. Just get it done. Our nation is looking to you – don’t let us down.

Respectfully,

Curse my inveterate curiosity, but I just had to join the Tacoma 9/12 Project Meetup group and attend their second meeting the other night. It was interesting, to say the least.

Imagine my consternation and moral outrage when I ran across an article this morning, reporting a DC Court of Appeals ruling that Guantanamo detainees are not “persons”! Since when does any court presume to arrogate to itself the right to decide which human beings are persons and which are not? Or to summarily strip that status from an entire group of human beings, simply because they happen to be in US detention? But wait, it gets worse, or so it seems — the court handed down this ruling in response to a request from Obama’s DOJ!

How does a technophile like me wind up in a blue-collar, redneck burg like Tacoma? You’d probably have to go east of the mountains to find a town as backward as the place I call home. One glance at the article commentaries on the News Tribune’s website reveals a staunch contingent of regressive-minded malcontents whose “God, guns, and gays” agenda is woefully out of step with the majority of the rest of Americans. I used to bravely wade into the fray regularly during the presidential campaign, knowing I would never sway those who posted there, but hoping that at least some of what I wrote would serve as an antidote to their racist venom.

So Senator John McCain, the President’s opponent in our last election, has come out saying that Obama’s decision to release the Bush torture memos is a “serious mistake.” He said, “The release of these memos helps no one, doesn’t help America’s image, does not help us address the issue.”

It defies all logic, all knowledge of human nature. How does a frumpy, middle-aged woman from a backwater Scottish village (who can’t even remember the word “village”) become an Internet sensation overnight, with a fan club already over a million strong?

In yesterday's mail was an envelope from my folks, quite unexpected. It contained Xerox'ed copies of two magazine articles (how un-green of them, I know, when those same articles are easily found online and emailed!) with no commentary other than "FYI" scrawled at the top of one. I already knew what to expect. One was an article by Thomas Sowell, the other by Andrée Seu.

I came across a quote this morning:

“All men — whether they go by the name of Americans or Russians or Chinese or British or Malayans or Indians or Africans — have obligations to one another that transcend their obligations to their sovereign societies.” (Norman Cousins, author, editor, journalist and professor (1915-1990))

It brought to mind a conversation I had with my dad not long ago regarding Obama’s decision to close Gitmo. Now, I must admit that I’m a life-long conservative-leaning independent, although Obama’s book caused me to adopt a new perspective on many issues. On immigration, welfare, health care, a whole host of issues, my attitude was, “Life isn’t fair or easy, and you make the best of the hand you’re dealt, whether it be good or rotten. I’m all for charity and being my brother’s keeper, but on MY terms — I don’t want the government forcing me to support some shiftless, irresponsible bum who refuses to lift a finger for himself or contribute diddly-squat to the common good.”