Day: March 17, 2012

Bad Health And “Well Being” Found In Republican Leaning States Against Health Care Reform!

Ronald 2 Comments

As the Obama Health Care legislation gets ready for the legal challenge in the Supreme Court on March 26, with six hours of arguments scheduled, the longest presentation in many years, a new study demonstrates that in Republican leaning states that are strongly opposed to the health care reform, we find much worse general health conditions, a much lower state of what is called “well being”, and a growing problem of sleeplessness!

Why is this so? Clearly, when one suffers from great poverty and lack of health care, it undermines “well being” and promotes sleeplessness.

One would think such states would support health care reform, but that is not so, and particularly in the top three states on this infamous list: West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Mississippi!

Enough said, would you agree?

Are Virginia, North Carolina And Colorado The Ultimate Deciders Of The Presidential Election Of 2012?

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A new study comes up with the conclusion that the ultimate swing states for the Presidential Election Of 2012 are Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado.

These states have in common the following: growing numbers of well educated, high income voters with technology expertise in significant technology hubs; plus large increases in Hispanic and Latino population; and large components of women who are also more educated and professional and will not tolerate the attack on women that the Republican Party is engaged in nationally, in many states, and on conservative talk radio.

These states all voted for George W. Bush in 2004, but switched to Barack Obama in 2008, and the trend toward the Democrats, including also Independent voters, seems hard to reverse by the Republican Party and its candidate for President, whoever that will be!

Longevity Of Senator Barbara Mikulski And Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur Celebrated!

Ronald 1 Comment

Women’s role in politics has grown tremendously in recent years, and today we celebrate Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, Ohio, both of whom have set records for longevity.

Senator Mikulski already had passed former Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine in Senate longevity a few months ago, upon beginning her fifth term in the Senate. But now, just today, she has become the longest serving woman in Congressional history, as she has now served more than 35 years in both houses of Congress, with 12 years in the House of Representatives, and now more than 24 years in the US Senate. She, therefore, has surpassed Republican Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachuetts who served nearly 36 years in the House from 1925-1960!

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur has served longer than any woman in the history of the House of Representatives, with nearly 30 years service, except for Rogers. She is also tied for fourth longest serving woman in Congress with California Senator Barbara Boxer, behind Mikulski, Rogers, and Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, who has announced her retirement at the end of this year.

All of these women–Mikulski, Rogers, Kaptur, Boxer, and Snowe, as well as Smith, are testimonials to the growing role and influence of women in Congress, with only Rogers and Smith, from an entirely different era and Republican Party, being a non Democrat!

Time For Withdrawal From Afghanistan Pronto!

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America has been committed to war in Afghanistan now for more than ten years, since October 7, 2001, in reaction to the Al Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

1,912 soldiers have been killed, and America has been assisted by a group of allies, most significantly Great Britain, in trying to overcome the Taliban and other terrorist forces that remain in that country.

But we are not winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan population, and we have done tremendous damage in loss of life and physical destruction without any real sign of progress.

Afghanistan was the bane of Alexander the Great, the British, and the Soviet Union, and this tragic killing of sixteen Afghans by one deranged soldier, on top of Koran burnings which led to violence and the death of a number of Americans in reaction to the destruction, should be seen as a sign that our nation needs to leave as soon as possible.

This is particularly the case when the Afghan leader Hamid Karzai demands that troops leave the villages, and stay on military bases. If that is so, our whole purpose of trying to pacify the countryside is no longer possible.

So let’s use this unfortunate circumstance to get out of this hell hole that Afghanistan has, sadly, become and spend our money on rebuilding our nation internally!

If anything is to be done in Afghanistan against terrorists, let it be by drones and the Air Force, not ground troops.

A decade after September 11, it is time for liberation from a decade of endless, worthless war!