Sorry for Some Good Friends

Everybody has their own opinion and reasons for believing and responding. I know some 'really' intelligent people who voted for Donald Trump. Most of those people voted with solid reasoning.
Those people, especially THOSE intelligent people, must feel sadly 😩 embarrassed  for White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer when he has those daily press conferences and must explain and/or walk back the absolute idiotic 'alternative fact' world of the Trump presidency and administration.

During his campaign, Donald Trump constantly discredited the unemployment figures occurring during Obama's administration as false. During his administration, Trump claims the numbers are now 'fact.' The Spicer scrambles to find angles. The FBI and Wikileaks were terrific with releases of Hillary Clinton's emails...leaks during Trump's administration are "criminal" and the CIA cannot but trusted so says the 'Make-it-up -as-I -Go -Along President.'

This administration praises the Congressional Budget Organization for stating numbers that favor their health care bill while discrediting the same organization that would State negative numbers regarding their proposal. Spicer is required to explain away Trump's claims and does so with the unbelievable comments, i.e. "If the President is not joking he is serious." He said that Obama wiretapped his Trump tower phones but that means Obama did not wiretap but Trump was under surveillance." Now Trump wants his people to 'find' something to support his accusations. Instead of coming clean and simply telling the American people that he watches too much Fox News.

Then you have someone with the audacity of a Kellyanne Conway who would defend the President saying that his administration is "entitled to alternative facts" as opposed to 'real facts.'

Look, even Trump is embarrassed by his tweet claiming Obama wiretapped phones...he's been in hiding for the past Eleven days since making the 'out-of-his-Ass remark.

Touch

Ray Charles- My World

"There but for the grace of God..."

If you happen to be one of those folks who enjoy 'bottom-line' conclusion statements, i.e., "At the end of the day," or "When all is said and done," please note that I relate to the following when speaking of 'Health Care:' "There but for the grace of God go I."

You need not be a real smart person to understand 'how' any insurance program works, serves and survives as a viable business. First it's a free market thing that conservatives champion but fail to accept for what it is, how it works and the fact that it's based on a 'socialist premise.' Works like this...A whole bunch of folks are fearful of unexpected misfortune, i.e. illness and/or accident, which could devastate personal finances. Along comes a business enterprise with a proposition. That business entity says, If you pay us an annual fee (premium), we promise to cover any unforeseen misfortunes you might experience. As a consumer, I say, "Okay, I'll take the bet." I'm betting something is going to befall me, which the insurance company will have to cover financially. The insuring business is going to garner masses to take their bet and they will make huge money because the greater number of 'payers' will go accident free and remain healthy. That MEANS the healthy are paying to cover the sick..
                                                          and there my friend, "but for the grace of God go I."...and YOU!

Show me a person who will refuse to help the least of God's people and you've shown me a person who will never see God's promised eternity. Show me a Nation that turns its back on the less fortunate and I'll show you a Nation with moral values equivalent to China, North Korea and Russia.

"Older Traffic Keep Right"

'Slower Traffic Keep Right.' That warning sign is more and more suited for me. The passage of time creates more of a whirlpool effect similar to the swirling water about to empty from the kitchen sink. I recall walking into a junior high school science class and seeing that 'Periodic Table' for the first time. I knew at that moment things were about to get complicated? I suspect that once the computerized calculator came into our lives those 'slide rules' became straight-edges and door stops.

Once upon a time, I picked up the house phone and 'told' the operator what number to dial for me. I talked to the other party. Today, I need not speak to anybody. I can type a message on my 'smart phone' and the other party can type back to me...we never have to actually speak to each other; how wonderfully sterile! I also save postage stamp cost these days. I can email instead of hard-copy-mail and I can purchase and pay 'online.'

It used to be to travelers' advantage to carry updated road maps. No need for such difficult to fold 'cheat-sheets' these days. We now have Garmin's, GPS's and built-in auto navigation systems, which talk us onto the correct roadways. Should we take a wrong turn, a female voice will explain that she is 're-calculating.'

The extent of my computer knowledge is extremely limited! A friend helped me setup my blog site several years ago. I pretty much remain computer-ignorant. One of my grandkids asked me recently, "Boompa, do you tweet?" I said, "Nope, but I do fart."

"Older Traffic Keep Right."

Why?

I know we all share a common experience regarding songs from our past. Those tunes conjure up thoughts and recall of exact moments-in-time. Perhaps yesterday's old lyrics cause one to think of the  early childhood comforts, maybe those crazy-acting teen moments or that special love song. Songs from our past can bring smiles as we remember joyous-celebratory times while at the tangent's opposite end the song may remind us of loss and heartache.

A few days ago, I heard the song, "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by the group, 'WAR.' It reminded me of the 1970's and my Edwardsville high school coaching days. More specifically, I recalled my relationship with the Harris family. As a teen East St. Louis high school basketball player, I played against the East St. Louis Lincoln (all black high school), which was coached by Earl 'Tree' Harris.
'Tree' was a tall well spoken-gentleman with distinguished charisma. When I later coached at Mason City high school, I brought Tree's Lincoln basketball team to play my Mason City team. I wanted the City black kids to experience competition in the hinterlands and I wanted my rather sheltered white rural kids to play a talented inner-city team. Certainly, I wished also to coach against a man I grew up respecting.

A decade later, 'Tree' and his wife, Hazel would make the personal decision to move to Edwardsville affording Coach Roustio to coach their sons, Dean and Hank. After his senior Edwardsville play, Dean garnered a Kansas State basketball scholarship and started as a freshman. He was tragically killed in an auto accident after that K-State freshman season. Hank would be a starting guard later on the Edwardsville 1976 State Team.

That WAR song, 'What Can't We Be Friends,' brings to my mind bitter-sweet emotions. It also brings to mind two lasting thoughts. First, I have never met a family more sincerely engaging than the Harris family and secondly, 'Why Can't We Be Friends?' WAR asked that question back in 1974. This nation makes all kinds of claims about its greatness and Judea-Christian anchors of love and Constitutional Freedoms, yet there has never been more obvious division and hatred than we see in 2017.

You tell me...'Why Can't We Be Friends?'

Sincere Care Missing in Health Care

Remember immediately after Obamacare became the law of the land the GOP began talking about the need to repeal Obamacare and replace it. For nearly seven years all we heard was the same cry from Conservatives. As the 2016 Presidential campaign played out the Republican eventual nominee, Donald Trump spoke as if he had the best health care plan tucked away in his suit coat. All America needed to do was elect this man and he was going to "repeal and replace Obamacare with a new WONDERFUL health care program; likely repeal and replace in the same week maybe even the same day." Trump's rhetoric was nothing more than blowhard poppycock. He had NOTHING!

Well after stating recently that "health care is complicated," Trump's mindless soldiers unveiled their new 'American Health Care Act' proposal. Surprise surprise! Under the new health care plan, we get a glimpse of winners and losers:

Winners:
1. Wealthy folks making over $200,000.00 per year get huge tax breaks.
2. Young healthy adults
3. Fans of health Savings Accounts
4. Those who want bare-bones coverage

Losers:
1. Ten million people (mostly low-income) lose insurance
2. Sick People
3. Older People
4. Those who get insurance from employers
5. Planned Parenthood

Actually, I believe it is correct to state that under the new health care proposal the rich get richer and the poor get sicker. Look, I want the 'same' insurance that Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi enjoy.
 No More; No Less.

I want the Republicans to demonstrate the same Anti-abortion passion for the total and complete health care coverage for that little black baby born to a single mother in East St. Louis and that little white baby born to that unemployed West Virginia coal miner on food stamps. I'm sick of hearing the Christian talk and failing to see the Christian walk. If we American are going to invoke the name of Jesus, we must do it at EVERY turn.

Religious Geography

I'm not sure 'why' but it is. I'm talkin' about how The South projects a greater religious profile than does The North. I would hesitate accepting any premise that one region of the country finds its people more religious than another, however I read newspapers and watch television reports from all sections of this nation and there appears no significant difference in criminal activities, domestic violence and transgressions against God's word. That said, I have noticed perhaps five times more television Preacher shows in the South than in the North.

I remember as a youngster how my family anticipated with excitement a week long television broadcast of a Billy Graham Revival. I will acknowledge that I was often spiritually-enriched and moved by Reverend Graham's messages. There is no doubt that his words helped my 'walk with Christ.' Here's the irony, I wouldn't walk across the street to hear Billy's son, Franklin preach a sermon. The reason is simple: Papa Graham told me what I needed to do to gain eternal life while 'sonny-boy' tries to tell me how to vote, which is driven by judging others.

 I don't recall more than a low-keyed request to viewers to consider supporting Dr. Graham's television ministries with a contribution. Today, many television preachers want you to send them 'seed' money, which they claim will come back to the giver ten-fold or they wish to sell you mystic healing ointments or pieces of cloth from The Holy Land.

I believe in redemption as demonstrated by the conversation between Christ and the Thief on Calvary's Crosses. The worst of sinners, which could be me, can be forgiven. I note that in the South two very famous Preachers fell from 'grace' and made it all the way back to television preaching fame. You all remember Jim Baker whose fraud in the name of religion got him prison time. And then there was that other Jim, Jimmy Swaggart who had problems getting mixed-up chasing 'Ladies of The Night.' He found his redemption and a new television-ministry contract.

PS.  I wish Major League Baseball and its writers would pickup on this 'forgiveness thing' and put Pete Rose in the Hall-of-Fame.

"Make Americans Accountable Again!"

I was sitting in the backyard yesterday with Toy Poodle, Yodie. The pup was focused on the actions of a nearby squirrel while I pondered the platform I'd run on if I had been a Presidential candidate...I know, I'm too old to run for office and, in fact too old to 'run.'

My platform would have 'one' plank and yet would eliminate or reduce many American problems:
It would...
  1) Eliminate most teen pregnancies.
  2) Reduce abortions drastically.
  3) Reduce divorce rate.
  4) Reduce high school dropout rates.
  5) Reduce numbers for many government supported programs.
  6) Enhance parenting skills.
  7) Improve public school achievement scores and increase graduation rates.
  8) Reduce number of single-mothers.
  9) Reduce escalating hospital emergency room costs driven by impoverished mothers.
Those are the obvious positive impacts coming from my "one plank" Presidential platform...and here is that 'political platform'>>
          "At birth ALL male babies would have a *'vasectomy' paid for by the U. S. Government.
            At age 21, the adult male can have his 'vasectomy' reversed at the Government's expense 'IF'
            he is gainfully employed, has $10,000.00 in a savings account and has memorized twelve nursery rhymes."
*For those imbeciles who don't know what a vasectomy IS, it is a surgical procedure rendering temporary sterilization, which can be reversed. Under my plan,  males that wish to 'Hound Dog' around will no longer bring a child into this world that is profoundly disadvantaged.

PS. Please don't tell me that I sound like Hitler. Hitler wished to sterilize predicated on race my proposal would be 'equal opportunity' application. Hitler wanted a 'superior' race; I wish to reduce poverty and eradicate stupidity.
Okay...I'm joking. But it's causing you to imagine.