If we really want to establish a procedure for taking away taxpayer funds from people who waste them, it probably isn’t the men and women at the bottom of the ladder we should begin with, but the people at the top: Politicians. E.J. Montini ☀
I do wonder, however, how we would feel if he were a imam speaking in a mosque rather than a self-proclaimed Baptist preacher. I wonder what the reaction would have been to such a person saying the exact same things about President George Bush during the early days of the invasion of Iraq. Would such a person have been described as an extremist expressing constitutionally guaranteed opinion, or as a traitor and a threat? E.J. Montini ☀
Stevenson and his wife are in their 50s. He has worked in sales most of his life and is currently with a company that does not offer health insurance. For years the couple was insured through his wife’s job at a local school district. But since that job was eliminated the Stevensons been unable to find or afford any type of coverage.
As Jeff describes it, “We couldn’t afford the $1,400/month for Cobra, so we have been on our own without insurance for the last two years. We can’t get insurance from any of the private insurances companies because my wife and I both have pre-existing conditions.”
Stevenson doesn’t want to argue about health care. He would like to hear some concrete ideas about how to get help.
Among the people he contacted was Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl. What he received in response was a canned e-mail outlining Kyl’s opposition to current Democratic party proposals for health care reform.
“I’m not trying to say who is right and who is wrong,” Stevenson said. “But we need more than politicians pointing fingers at one another.”
Among the things that Kyl wrote to Jeff was, “I believe in the right of every American to choose the doctor, hospital and insurance plan of his or her choice.” The senator added that he didn’t want a government “bureaucrat” making health care decisions.
“That’s fine,” Stevenson said. “But I don’t have the choice he’s talking about. I can’t pick an insurance plan. They reject me. And instead of a government bureaucrat I’m at the mercy of an insurance company bureaucrat.”
I sent a note to Kyl’s office about Stevenson’s correspondence but haven’t heard back. Then again, there isn’t a politician in office who could offer someone like Stevenson a practical solution.
Montini (the article author) and Stevenson shouldn’t expect a response from Senator Kyl. People like Jeff Stevenson and his wife are invisible to the likes of a corporate mouthpiece (prior to his stint in Congress and successive senatorial terms, he enjoyed a lucrative career as corporate lawyer and lobbyist).
Citizens seeking justice won’t get the ear of Senator Kyl — not unless you’re for banning internet gambling, quashing freedom of information, strengthening the Patriot Act, railing against illegal immigrants or doing the bidding of secretive far right wing religious fundamentalists.
It is galling to no end to witness Senator Kyl reiterate his steadfast oppostion to a government run health care plan when he’s been on one himself for the past two decades.
People who are 100 percent Democrats or 100 percent Republicans share one common trait: they’re liars. In order to demonstrate 100 percent loyalty to a political party (or to the philosophical labels of Conservative or Progressive) a person has to be willing to ignore his common sense and even his sense of decency and stand up for his side even when he KNOWS they’re wrong. EJ Montini ☀
We won’t throw a parade for a football team that was roughly 2 minutes away from an NFL championship, but we’ve got no problem with the local sheriff staging a parade of suspected illegal immigrants through downtown. EJ Montini ☀
The incident that brought Townsend to the public’s attention began shortly before midnight on Dec. 3. A Department of Public Safety motorcycle officer who was parked underneath the 59th Avenue overpass on the Loop 101 heard what he later described as “loud banging noises.” According to the officer, 26-year-old Townsend was striking the metal and glass housing of a photo enforcement camera with a large pickax. In addition to a criminal damage charge, Townsend stands accused of “interference with a traffic control device” and criminal trespassing. EJ Montini ☀
Americans have a tough time accepting the notion that even lowlifes have constitutional rights. You’d also have a tough time getting many of us to go along with the idea that a person arrested for a crime should be presumed innocent. Near as I can tell, these concepts remain difficult for us to grasp until someone we know is locked up. EJ Montini ☀
So, does an illegal immigrant have the right to free speech? To go to any church that he wants? To be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures? To a fair trial? If you don’t know the answer to these questions, then you’re American ONLY by birth. You have squandered the opportunity afforded you to a free education, which leads to an understanding of the ideals set forth in the constitution. Which have to do with the rights of “people,” not just citizens. That’s what sets the USA apart from everyone else. E.J. Montini ☀
It has become a holiday tradition that the folks at Go Daddy Group Inc. completely out fox the media. The company does this by appearing to waste millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads when in fact that they are pulling the wool over idiots like me by getting us to GIVE them what could amount to millions of dollars in free publicity to help offset the cost. E.J, Montini ☀
It’s only a matter of time before Idaho Sen. Larry Craig resigns. Eventually, even he will get that it isn’t about whether he’s gay or not. It’s about whether he’s a hypocrite or not. And if he’s a pervert or not. The fact is, a man’s foot does not ‘accidentally’ drift into a neighboring stall far enough to touch another man’s shoe. That’s just creepy. And in more than one bathroom it would get you a beating, rather than simply get you arrested. EJ Montini ☀
It’s funny that the group of high profile business people trying to stop the new law and initiative aimed a punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants call themselves ‘Wake Up Arizona!’ Apparently, they’ve been napping for the past several years while public concern on illegal immigration has mounted. Apparently, they’d dozed off all those years when Congress did nothing. Apparently, they were catching some Z’s while xenophobia and anger replaced rational discussion and reasonable solutions. EJ Montini ☀
There are all kind of legal, financial and other requirements in the proposal, but the fact is, it will grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. As Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said, the bill “gives a path out of the shadows and toward legal status for those who are currently here.” In other words, amnesty. E.J. Montini ☀
Churches perform some valuable services and can do great work. But the buildings. The trappings. The showy stuff. It kind of spoils the message for me. E.J. Montini ☀
Given the fact that, logically and in any practical sense, it would be impossible to keep weapons out of the hands of bad people, the only thing we should be discussing is if weapons should be permitted “without restriction.” What does our city, state, country look like under such a law? E.J. Montini ☀
A GNT creation ©2007–2010
