Political BS.

Equality?

Earl and I decided that as a married couple we were going to take advantage of the medical benefits offered by his company. His health care plan is better and as we get on in age, that’s always a good thing. Once we confirmed that I was on his health care plan, I would cancel the policy I currently have at my job.

Earl went to add me to his health care plan at work this morning when he was presented with a lovely message on the web-based portal form.

I’m sorry, your married spouse must be of the opposite sex.

The general manager of three of the most profitable facilities in the entire corporation is not allowed to sign his spouse up for medical benefits on the company plan simply because he is married to a man. It seems Earl’s company will not recognize same-sex marriages (which of course, are completely legal in New York State) until the Federal Government recognizes same sex unions under the federal tax code.

Well, now there’s something to think about as you make your selections at the elections coming up over the next couple of years.

The extremist in me wants both despises the facts that we work for large corporations. I don’t enjoy the politics of working at a corporation and I certainly don’t like the “one size fits all” mentality that is handed out on a whim. The realist in me realizes that we have a really good life because we work for large corporations.

But is not being recognized equally really a good life?

Ultimately, it’s up to Earl and me to be more vocal about how we feel on these issues and to educate people. Earl has made a difference in his HR department by getting them to admit that there are gay men and lesbians working for them in the first place. I have been vocal with mine.

It looks like that Earl and I will be on my company’s insurance plan instead. It’s a decent plan but not as robust as what we would have had on Earl’s plan. All because someone, somewhere decided that love is only valid between a man and a woman.

Equality. Ain’t it grand in America.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

25 October 2011 by Political BS. Why. 4

Engaged.

I have been trying to be a responsible American citizens by paying attention to the news again, more specifically, politics. This is a cyclic thing for me, because it often results in bouts of depression and general glumness after paying attention to what’s going on in our country for a few weeks. It can be so disheartening.

That being said, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the Republican debates that took place in Nevada the other night. There is a part of me that just can’t believe that Michelle Bachmann has been able to stay around for this long, being as bat-shit crazy as she is and all that. I hear she wants to have a double walled fence along the Mexican border in a few weeks or something. Or am I mixing that up with $1.99 gas in three months? It’s hard to keep track.

I keep hoping Rick Santorum will liven up the debates by wearing a dress that matches the one his daughter and her doll wore a few years ago…

… but given his feelings on “living on the edge” I am doubtful that that would ever happen.1

I don’t know much about Herman Cain but I do know that I have never had his pizza. I don’t know that I had even heard of Godfather’s Pizza before he came along, we are in local pizzeria country where you are practically flogged (not in a good way) if you’re seen near a Little Caesars or Pizza Hut, though I enjoy both. $9.99 is cheap for pizza though, I hope his plan works out for him.

As I make my way through the entry, I do realise that I must be engaged enough in politics, probably more so than the average American because at least I knew that Rick Perry does a damn good W impersonation and Mitt Romney is from Massachusetts.

One of the things I find perplexing is that it seems WAY too early to be talking about the presidential elections that are more than a year away. By the time the actual election rolls around everyone will be so tired of these folks that voters will just color in a dot on a scanatron sheet (because that’s SO accurate) just to get the whole mess over with so we can either bitch about the returning champion or his new replacement with the pizza or the double walled fence.

God help us.

I think I’ll switch back to the 80s channel.

1 I can’t bring myself to post the more famous photo where the young girl has such a sad look on her face, because it’s such a sad look that it prompts me to cry for this country as well, albeit for differing reasons, I suppose.

20 October 2011 by Political BS. Ponderings and Musings 0

Exhibit A.


Exhibit A
Meredith Attwell Baker, Typical Government Corporate Employee.

This woman is Exhibit “A” as to what is wrong with the direction of the United States of America. This is Meredith Attwell Baker. She is one of the five commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission that approved one of the largest corporate mergers in history, the merger of Comcast and NBC.

Ms. Baker just accepted a job with Comcast as the senior vice president of government affairs. So on the taxpayers dime, she basically helped create one of the largest media conglomerates so she would have nice, cushy job to fall into.

Nah, there’s no conflict of interest there at all. None. Nada. And if there was, you’re not suppose to notice. Just keep lapping up what these big media corporations tell you and everything will be just fine.

It’s all plusgood.

12 May 2011 by Let's All Rant. Political BS. This Ain't No CNN. 0

Split?

A few weeks ago when New York voted down same-sex marriages I read several comments across blogs stating that the unfortunate turn of events was “because of Upstate”. One person lamented that “it’s really nothing more than an Alabama with snow up there”, obviously typing from their cushy office chair, cushioned from the rumble of the subway moving folks several dozen floors belows them as they sipped on their mocha-cocha-la-la-latte vente.

That comment really bugged me. And it’s still bugging me.

Now I have never been to Alabama but I believe the gross generalisation the commentor was striving for was that we are all stuck in “Deliverance” up here in Upstate New York. Apparently we are wearing straw hats as we drive around in our pickup trucks with several shotguns in the window and we are longing for the days of the commie blacklisting. Oh, and we have a lot of snow too.

One of the beautiful things about the U.S. is our diversity and while we do have people that meet this description, we also have folks up here just as cultured, prim and proper (and snotty) as the some folks downstate portray themselves to be.

Every few years someone in government tries to drum up support of splitting the City of New York and Long Island away from the rest of the state. Upstaters screech that the city wouldn’t be sucking us dry with outrageous taxes nor taking away our liberties with all of the legislation that doesn’t really apply up here and downstaters claim that they won’t have to pump all of their tax money into our roads and prisons and welfare recipients.

Now I’m going to reserve comment right now as to whether I think the five boroughs and Long Island should somehow separate from the rest of the state (though if they did, I think they should take everything below I-84 with them), but I’m curious as to what my fellow Empire Staters think.

Should New York split into two states?

18 December 2009 by Political BS. Politics. Ponderings and Musings 1

Being Sick In America.

The United States is the only country in the industrialised world without universal health coverage. The result: 47 million Americans are uninsured. If they fall ill, they can count on no one but themselves.

An important video that every American should watch.

US President Barack Obama is fighting for health-care reform that would provide health insurance for every American. But Democrats have been trying — and failing — to overhaul the system for more than 75 years.

The current system leaves 15 percent of Americans uninsured and countless more under-insured.

Perhaps surprisingly, the uninsured are not always the unemployed. Many small-business owners and employees are in charge of getting their own health insurance. They are left to deal with private insurance companies which often refuse to insure patients who have serious illnesses.

According to America’s National Academy of Sciences, 18,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health insurance.

Source: France24. Link: http://www.france24.com/en/20091002-reporters-united-states-america-health-care-reform-barack-obama-insurance

7 November 2009 by Political BS. Why. 0

Heckler.

This is an intelligent discussion on health care system? By the way, I’m referring to the heckler in the background.

I don’t believe in health care for me but I believe that everyone is entitled to health care. I haven’t paid a huge amount of attention to the debate. I need to start educating myself. If this woman is typical of what is out there and how some Americans are acting at these Town Hall meetings then I feel nothing quite a bit of embarrassment and outrage at what’s going on. Of course I realise this is an extreme. At least I hope it is.

I love my country, but our friends to the North are looking mighty inviting again.

199.365

18 August 2009 by Political BS. 2

Whacked.

I am sure that I am not the only American citizen that thinks our government is completely out of control and out of touch with the reality with what is going on in our country. Now my use of “the government” is a broad generalisation of a whole lot of people, and I truly believe there are some good people working for the people, but for the most part I am finding government agencies to be completely nuts.

Consider the following.

1. Driving home from Albany yesterday on Interstate 90 was a bit of a challenge. The Capital District had quite a bit of snow falling and blowing due to the Nor’easter wannabe that was blowing up the coast. Traffic was moving slowly as I progressed west. The roadway was clogged up with a combination of slush and snow. Just beyond the first Schenectady interchange was an accident. No one appeared hurt but there was no emergency response to the incident. The drivers of the vehicles had enough time to get out of their cars and appeared to be exchanging credentials. About 3 km later there was a state policeman sitting in one of the median crossovers. Was he responding to the accident? He was not. He was sitting in his cop car with the radar gun aimed at the eastbound traffic.

Traffic was moving at around 35-40 MPH. The roads were clogged with cars, accidents, snow and slush. The posted speed limit is 65. I really don’t think we need to be looking for speeders in this type of weather, unless they are looking to grab someone that is moving too fast in this type of weather. But no one was doing that. I’m sure there were more accidents in progress that needed tending to.

2. I believe it was last Thursday afternoon that it was raining. The grass et. al. is still snow covered for the most part. There are no hints of leaves making an appearance yet. Why is it that the city feels it is necessary to have their parks department crew sit in their trucks and water the trees in the median along a prominent boulevard? There they were, with a tank of water in the back of a pickup truck, watering trees on the snow covered ground. Come on. I don’t know why I’m surprised, I have seen them do the same thing in the middle of a thunderstorm.

3. The local city government (of which we are not represented by, thank god) is considering raising the sales tax to 9% to cover increasing governmental costs. Such costs include raises for elected officials. There are many, many people losing their jobs or at the very least not receiving cost of living raises this year. I think these elected officials should suck it up like the rest of us and learn to cut back a little bit.

4. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has mandatory health insurance. All citizens of the commonwealth are required to have health insurance of some sort else they pay a yearly $900 fine. I have a big problem with this. Whilst I think that it is important that everyone that needs health care has access to health care, I don’t believe that forcing a person to have health insurance is the answer to the equation. Now, I will admit that I am not well versed on this law, but from what I heard this morning on NPR, this requirement sounds a little crazy to me. I guess it’s been around since 2007.

I think the founding fathers had a grand idea when it came to forming these United States. Unfortunately, I believe that over time their good intentions have been perverted and slowly destroyed in the name of greed and power.

3 March 2009 by Political BS. 1

Money.

The more I read about these government bailouts and stimulus packages and such the angrier I get. I am no economics whiz by any stretch of the imagination, and the universe knows I like to spend money, but it seems like the U.S. government is throwing billions and billions of dollars out like some weird, demented lawn sprinkler. The automakers need more, more, more; banks need more, more, more, big businesses that have apparently made bad business decisions needs more, more, more. All of this is the from the fear that if one large bank or auto manufacturer or other large company closes down then the whole big stack of Jenga blocks are going to come crashing down with them.

Perhaps we shouldn’t have built our economy using big Jenga blocks. Sometimes little Lego blocks stick together better.

Now I don’t want to see the U.S. go into a depression. I don’t want people losing their homes, their jobs or everything their life savings as they try to weather out this economic mess. But this money that the government is flinging out all over the place is going to the very people the created the mess in the first place. And where is it coming from? I have always suggested that we just print more money when things got bad, because I obviously have no handle on economics, but when I say that I’m told that you can’t do that because you’re flooding the economy with too much money.

Isn’t that what we are doing with these stimulus packages?

I know we are a big modern society now that thrives on big business and conglomerates and a Wal*Mart (Always White Trash, Always) on every corner. And I know that as a gay man I wouldn’t have the relative freedoms I have to be an outspoken gay man if I didn’t live here and now, but sometimes I really think that the small businesses from yesterday: the mom and pop stores, the small car lot in the village, the neighborhood bank, was a safer investment in our future.

Perhaps if we had stayed within that mindset, we wouldn’t be rewarding the greedy by bailing them out of their own mess.

Now excuse me while I go sock away more money in my mattress.

24 February 2009 by Political BS. Politics. Ponderings and Musings 1

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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