Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the closest we come to having a national religious holiday.  No matter what religion you follow in your lives, we all celebrate.Thanksgiving.  My own family is made up of Lutherans, Jews, Presbyterians, atheists and probably a few other denominations I forgot.  The celebration of Thanksgiving, and its meaning is something we all have in common.

During the eating, parades, more eating, football, drinking, and even more eating, please take time out to give thanks.

Be careful of what you wish for...

A lot of progressives are up in arms over conservative and moderate Democrats that not on board for health care.  My own Congressman, Jason Altmire, voted against it and has taken a lot of heat for it and his vote on cap and trade.

I can respect his reasons (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09324/1014854-109.stm), however, I do think it was dishonorable to vote for the Stupak amendment and then against the health care.  He should have either voted for both or against both.

There has been talk about running progressive candidates against Altmire and other conservative Democrats.  The problem is the makeup of my district, and other districts like it.  John McCain won this district by a large margin.  Even if a progressive candidate beats Altmire in the primary, he or she will get crushed in the general election.  Do we really want the second coming of Melissa Hart just to prove a point?

As an example, just take a look at New York's 23rd district.  The Republican nominee was forced out and replaced by a right-wing nut job.  The Democrat won handily which should be a lesson for both Democrats and Republicans.

I would be very worried about the same thing happening in my district.  You replace a conservative with what the people here would consider to be a "left-wing nut job" and he or she will get crushed.

Like it or not, Jason Altmire won by being a conservative and he has not deviated from that during his two terms in office.

Progressives may not like it, but just be careful of what you wish for.

McCandless Crossings

Last year, I questioned whether we really needed all these new developments and could not reuse what we have already developed.  Anyone who travels McKnight Road regularly sees the devistation of the woods around the intersection of McKnight Road and Duncan.  I never realized how big this area is going to be.

My 8-year-old son commented how sad it was that all the trees are gone.  Do we really need to make McKnight Road one giant sprawl from Pittsburgh all the way to Cranberry?

Fostering Competition

A Republican friend of mine was complaining that there should be a voucher system or some other way to fund private schools as a way to "Foster Competition" with the public schools as a way to improve them.  Should we call this the "Private Option"?

I told him that if you replace the word "school" with "health care" and change "private option" to "public option" you have the exact reason why we need a public option in his own words.

Outsourcing Iran's Nuclear Power

I have wondered what Iran would do if we made them this offer: If you give up your nuclear processing plants, we will build all the nuclear power plants you want, and manage them for you.  Iran just pays us for the electricity.  They get the energy they say they want, but will have no access whatsoever to any nuclear material.

If they really want nuclear power, they should jump at the offer.

Texas Independence

I keep wondering if we should let Texans get their wish as long as they understand what it means:

1. They forfeit all claims to their Social Security.
2. Their seniors lose their Medicare and their veterans lose their health insurance as well.
3. We would close all our military bases in Texas.
4. The border patrol would drop back to the new border between the remaining United States of America and the Republic of Texas.
5. Texas oil would become an import and put in the same class as oil from the Middle East.
6. All commerce and travel between the US and Texas would have to go through customs.
7. They get all the teabaggers.

Win-Win

Watching Republicans like John McCain and Orrin Hatch talk glowingly about Ted Kennedy Friday night made me think about what is wrong with this country. Although they may not have said it explicitly, they were all about finding win-win solutions.

Politics today seems to be about winning and losing. For example, the health care debate seems to be more about whether President Obama or the Republicans will win or lose, and not about finding common ground and doing what is best for the country.

Kennedy and his colleagues also realized that even though they may have disagreed on just about everything, they were all Americans that loved their country. They never exhibited the hate and disrespect that many are displaying towards those with differing opinions than their own.  I don't remember Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton being compared to Hitler like both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have been.

We need to get back to finding the win-win solutions in our lives whether it be in public or private, and realizing that even though we may disagree, we are all Americans in the end.

It has been a while

It has been a while since I posted. However, the entire “death panel” silliness got me going again. Sarah Palin should take her own advice and “quick makin’ stuff up”. Her using her own child for political gain is revolting. She is a disgusting selfish human being, and I just don’t understand why anyone in their right mind would support her.

The entire thing boils down to a section of the bill to provide end of life counseling which may include hospice care, living wills and other kinds of directives. My father passed away five years ago. It was an emotional time, but because he had a living will and had hospice counseling, we were clear of what his final wishes were. My wife and I have living wills and we are far from retirement age. It is also something Republicans have supported in the past, so it is purely political.

I respect President Obama for trying to get Republican support. However, it is clear that they are more interested in putting their own self-interests ahead of their country rather than putting the “Country First”. In defeat, we see their true colors.

If the Republicans are not interested in being part of the solution, then the Democrats should move on without them. As George W. Bush once said “I have political capital and I plan to spend it.” President Obama and the Democrats have overwhelming majorities, and should take full advantage of them to do the right thing.