The Nuts Are Running The Nuthouse

The San Joaquin Valley in California, one of our nation's most productive farming areas, has been turned into a desert in order to save the Delta Smelt, a 2 inch long fish, very much like a minnow. that has been adversely affected by the pumps that pump water into the fields of the San Joaquin farms. Yep, you hear that right. An area of the country which, by some estimates, produces as much as 12% of the total produce in this nation has been completely cut off from water for irrigation to save the Delta Smelt.

Hey, I like fish as much as anybody. Especially when they are broiled or deep fried, with a little lemon and some tartar sauce and maybe a side of fries. But for the Delta Smelt to be a meal, you would have to have forty or fifty of them and you could pop them in your mouth, two at a time, like popcorn shrimp. Oh, wait, they are an endangered species, so you can't eat them.

Of course, if our food supplies run short; if we decide that saving some piss ant little fish is worth affecting millions of people in the San Joaquin valley, then maybe we will have to eat these little fish until there are none left and then we can have the water turned back on so the farms can start producing food again. In Fresno, the unemployment rate of 15% is 5.3% higher than the rest of the country.

In Congress, there is a possibility of special measures, called the God Squad provision, being taken to declare that the people of that area are in the midst of a financial crisis and that, as such, the Delta Smelt can go extinct, if need be, to save the people and the local economy. However, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Lala Land) will not allow such a measure to even come up for a vote.

Yes, the Queen Nut of the House of Representatives is now running the Insane Asylum that we used to call the House of Representatives. President Obama, use your healthcare plan to give Whacko Pelosi her medication so she can get her priorities together and put PEOPLE before FISH!! That is, of course, assuming that YOU do not have your head shoved up the same orifice as our "esteemed" Speaker.

MAYBE WE JUST NEED THE SERVICES OF A GOOD PROCTOLOGIST TO STRAIGHTEN OUT OUR COUNTRY!!

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?!?!

Change Is Not Always Good

On the left, you see a picture of me, circa 1977. Yes, believe it or not, I was not always the rotund fellow that most of you know today. On the right, there is a picture of three great looking guys! I know, I know, too much heat for one picture but steady, girls! I am the more ample hottie in the middle. Quite a change, huh?

I posted these two pictures as a great example of the point I wish to make today. For weeks and weeks, I have heard our president, and many members of the Democratic party, state that the health care system must be changed and therefore, we must accept their plans for a public option and other far reaching, sweeping changes. There basic choice for us is to keep health care as it is, or change it the way they want to change it. My point is that THESE ARE NOT OUR ONLY TWO CHOICES!

YES, we need health care reform in this country and YES, the plan offered by President Obama and the Democrats offers a real change from what we have now. But, is the change being offered automatically better simply because it is change. The two pictures above offer the obvious answer. In 32 years, I went from being a police officer weighing approximately 200 pounds to being my current calorically challenged (is that the right PC way to say FAT?) 500 pound self. That was certainly a definite change, but was that change for the good or not? Most people would agree that my change, although definite, was not a positive change.

Perhaps we can apply this lesson to Obamacare and realize that, just because it is change does not make it good. I would offer to our president the argument that approximately 80-85 % of Americans are satisfied with their health care. Instead of throwing everything out and starting over, why not try to adjust the system to help that 15-20 % of our CITIZENS who do not have satisfactory health care. That would certainly cost less than the overhaul which the Democrats would love to shove down our throat.

And hey, if you want to cut costs, why not start with the billions of dollars that are wasted in defensive medical tests to combat frivolous lawsuits, by enacting REAL TORT REFORM. When a lawyer takes a case on a contingency basis, he/she stands to collect 1/3 to 1/2 of whatever money he can screw out of the plaintiff. The defense attorney loses nothing, other than his/her time if he loses the case, while the plaintiff can go out of pocket for thousands and thousands of dollars before he/she "WINS!" One great change would be to require defense attorneys to pay the same percentage of their contingency back to the plaintiff when the plaintiff prevails. In that case, defense attorneys would be forced to be more realistic in what cases they bring to court, instead of filing one nuisance lawsuit after another, hoping that one in twenty cases will produce a paycheck.

Caps on punitive damages would also go a long way on reducing medical malpractice insurance rates and, therefore, reducing the overall cost of medical care. A lawsuit settlement should not be the equivalent of hitting the Pick 6 Lotto for Life. A realistic settlement for medical mistakes is one thing...Lotto for life is another!

Lastly, how about lifting the ban on healthcare insurance companies selling insurance across state lines. I know in some cases, because of insurance regulation, there may be as few as two or three companies offering coverage in a given state. This practically amounts to a monopoly in some states. Open up these markets and let capitalism and competition do their jobs and the prices for health care will come down.

Yes, we need some changes in our healthcare system. But, as our pictures above have taught us, the change needs to be a good change, or things can, and will, get worse!

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND KEEP HER FREE AND HEALTHY!

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

This one is a little different...

Two Different Versions.......Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!


MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing,
"It's Not Easy Being Green."

Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We Shall Overcome."

Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar..

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in (which just happens to be the ant's old house)
crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.


MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.


GOD BLESS AND KEEP THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE!