Reagan, Health Insurance for Kids, and Treacherous Snow!

First of all, let ME respond to Ashley's response to my post.  Follow?  Reagan DID use borrowed money.  Having just come out of a bit of a recession, there was an issue with unemployment at the time, and:

[funding benefits for all of those unemployed + his "war on drugs" + everything military-related]

MINUS

[a freak-ton of tax revenue]

EQUALS = A party that needed to be cleaned up.

So yeah, I stand by what I said.

Now, to move beyond my distain for Reaganomics and ONTO my amusement with Blagojevich!  Unless the man decides to write an "If I Did It" type book, I guess we won't be hearing too much about him any more.  Everyone voted him out (I mean, did he THINK he was getting anywhere with his press conferences and interviews?  "The View"?  SERIOUSLY, Blago?!) and he apparently took the state-owned jet for one last bit of glory on his way home.

He's Jesus, you know.  He told me so himself.  And losing his 177k salary is his "personal Greek tragedy," you know.  I never knew Jesus was a Greek!   I mean, some people put the Bible on the same level as Greek mythology, but to have it confirmed by such an honest do-gooder!  Oh, Blago.  You horrid man.

The Senate passed a health insurance bill for children. 11 million children from underprivileged households or who legally immigrated, as well as pregnant mothers.  This is the first time that something like this is pretty much SURE to be signed.  The Senate was enthusiastic about it, and Obama has already said he'll sign it when it crosses his desk next week.

The bill might even be expanded, funded by an increase in cigarette tax to a dollar (from 39 cents).  This is seriously a great idea.  And seriously, it should be made more and more painful to purchase cigarettes.  Smoking is bad.  Healthy little kids are cute.

Bush vetoed a similar bill.  TWO times.  And a few Republican senators were completely miffed about it.  I just don't get you people.  One minute you're all, "SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION!  HIDE THE GAYS FROM MY KIDS! FAMILY VALUES!" and the next you're upset about this bill.  Good job, guys.   Three cheers for family values.

Anyway, any people who were apathetic during the election have been proven wrong.  In just a week and a half, TONS of things have been put into effect, or at least started to work their way through the system.

Right now, I want two things to happen:

First, I want gay marriage to be made legal.  We didn't vote on YOUR marriage.  Why keep people from being happy just because you think it's "icky"?  If you really think that marriage in general is threatened by the gay community, then your own marriage must really not be very secure.  Also, it won't harm kids!  Sheesh!  You guys are totally just using that as an excuse, and not even a very good one.  Kids already know that sometimes, people are gay.  Do you want your children to believe it's better to live with a lover unmarried, or married?  It's not like I'm saying I think churches should be forced to perform the ceremony - that's up to the church.  But LEGALLY, on PAPER, it should be made possible.

Second, I want that ridiculous "No Child Left Behind" MISNOMER of an act repealed.  This is something I'm very passionate about.  It promotes "teaching to the test" in classrooms and threatens music and art in schools.  The quality of teachers decreases, as they don't have the motivation to go beyond the minimum, and that is REALLY not cool.  I was blessed with amazing teachers in my high school honours classes (who weren't big fans of NCLB either)...but some teachers who taught regular classes didn't seem to be doing their best all the time.  Because they had a low standard to meet.

Okay, that's my rant for the day!  The theme for the rest of the day is: "Ashley and Michelle Attempt to Take a Road Trip to Muncie to Visit Their Friends at Ball State Even Though the Snow is Treacherous and They Might Have to Cancel."  Wish us luck!

Oprah for Senate!..........?! What the heck?

I should probably point out that I get most of my news through RSS feeds from CNN, the NY Times, and the Washington Post.  Yes, it leans to the left, but (in my opinion) doesn't lean as FAR as Fox leans to the right.

Oh Blago, just give it up already.  I'm tired of hearing you on the news...and I hope you realize that people watch your interviews for entertainment, not because they have any sort of sympathy or any OUNCE of doubt that you're a complete liar...  Anyone who considers making Oprah Winfrey the next junior senator just CAN'T have good intentions.  No offense to Oprah, but I doubt he'd have considered her if she weren't a billionaire.

My boyfriend actually called Blago the "new Britney Spears" of television, which is really accurate.  Crazy, shady, and just plain corrupt, the only difference is that Blagojevich actually SEEKS OUT media coverage.

Raise your hand if you thought it was hilarious when he (basically) said, 'I'm not calling myself Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, or MLK, but I am completely Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, and MLK.'  That's what I got out of it, anyway.

Oh, and he says that it's okay to use vulgar language if you think no one of significance is listening, BUT that it rubbed off on his wife.  Hmmm!  I wonder if that's his motto...that something is only bad if you get caught?

Props to Ashley for supporting stem cell research.  I always have as well, so it should be no surprise that I was ecstatic to hear that Obama would be supporting it as well.

The embryos are FROZEN.

They would otherwise be THROWN AWAY.

Why not let their lives serve a PURPOSE?

Some news, and a little anti-Savage message!

About this Kirsten Gillibrand woman...

If you haven't been following, she's going to replace Hillary in the Senate.  Personally, I think it's a little weird to have an upstate person representing New York, since MOST of the people in her state are from the city...  And I just don't know how well someone like that can adequately represent them.

She apparently marks herself as a "fiscally conservative" Democrat.  So, it's good that she's got the social ideas of a Lefty, but I'm not too sure the people from New York City are going to be quite on board with someone with a conservative view of the economy.

I'm really only worried, though, because calling herself "fiscally conservative" AND being from upstate NY could be a bad combination.  Upstate people  are wealthy types, stereotypically speaking.  Born wealthy, raised wealthy, sometimes can't understand people who WEREN'T raised the same way.

Even so, she says she wants to "follow in her footsteps," speaking of Hillary (take that as you will), so maybe she'll put her own lifestyle aside in favour of appealing to her state.  I guess we'll see.

Republicans: No more of this complaining about Gitmo without at least admitting that your guy, McCain, says he backs Obama.  

I admit that I stopped paying attention to all the Blagojevich news after it all started to be the same.  Blago, with his hands up in an "I'm innocent!" pose, saying that he did nothing wrong, lying through his teeth, while his hair wiggles.  I guess I don't BLAME him for wanting newspapers to print stories that defend him...I mean....if I were a greedy nutjob who was forced to stick to his own obvious lie out of pride and fear, I guess I'D be asking the same thing...?

He's proof that Democrats DO go "bad" sometimes...when they become greedy and ignorant, like people on the Far Right.  :D

Speaking of the Far Right, I've been getting fed up with Michael Savage again recently.  Claiming to support the first amendment, and then saying horrible things about other races, religions, and lifestyles...which are ALSO protected under the first amendment?  Not cool.  FIRE SAVAGE!

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Enjoy your Friday afternoon!  The weather has been GORGEOUS here in Indiana!