Addendum to LIPA Grade of F

Amid all the hardship and heartfelt prayers and good wishes for those who lost so much as a result of Super Storm Sandy sits one remaining fact - 2 full weeks after the storm hundreds of thousands are still without power.  And many will not have it  back by Thanksgiving!
On Long Island where we can boast the highest power rate in the country there are still ONE EIGHTH OF A MILLION CUSTOMERS  WITHOUT POWER!

Seaside Heights Boardwalk
and CUSTOMERS ruined by
Sandy & insulted by LIPA

Understand that 125,000 customers means on average four times that many humans are without heat or electricity since power companies consider the house to be the customer and not the actual family that resides within.
And that is an important distinction because it points to the fact that large corporations such as LIPA (Long Island Power Authority for those lucky enough to NOT know who this is) don't care about people nearly as much as they do about the money they receive from a customer!  And that customer could be a robot as long as it pays the bill.
But here is the key point I must make:
Before during and just after the storm started its massive take down of the entire northeast corridor of America LIPA realized it was in trouble.
They made calls for help from out of State crews which is the right thing to do in an emergency.
BUT!!!!
LIPA's union demanded that the crew members join the union before coming to help.
The particulars to the LIPA demands are in many papers and I will not bother to repeat them here but I provide this link to view them.
I have one question - What would have happened if New York City demanded that all 'First Responders' stop at the border of Manhattan to show their union cards or citizenship cards or any ID card before rushing to the World Trade Center on 911????  These heroes risked and many lost their lives without thinking about anything other than helping those in need.
I am all for unions as we need them to counterbalance the greediest owners of large corporations who use any excuse to squeeze workers for more cash but when self serving stupidity clouds your agenda perhaps you must sit back and agree that you have seen the enemy, AND HE IS YOU!

A Constant Struggle

Today’s news, all from the pages of Newsday.

911 Widow Wins Benefits.

Forget the actual story, what is important is that she had to win.

And against whom do you think she had to win?

She had to fight the insurance industry. Well actually not a new story but indicative of how they act and react when faced with the prospect of paying out on a policy they sold to the public who bought it and in good faith paid the premiums on.  And what goes unnoticed is it's now TEN YEARS after 911!

Some Long Islanders wrote letters, printed today railing against people who want the wealthy to pay more taxes.

These are average people who I assume do not make millions yet still fight the fight for the wealthy who, frankly wouldn't stop or stoop to close their eyes and place coins on them if they found their corpse in the gutter.

I don’t want the wealthy to pay too much, just their fair share and stop with the bullshit loopholes.

Among all his other crazy ideas such as calling for the death penalty for being gay Ron Paul is promising to eliminate the IRS if he wins the Presidency.

And just how will government run without any cash sir?

Oh I forgot, you don’t think government should run!

Can this tiny minded Anti-Semitic racist pig moron troll be more insane?

A new tactic on Long Island has turned up as thieves acting in pairs trick the elderly into letting them in to their homes by posing as new neighbors or electric company employees, etc. One chats with the owner and walks a little way away from the front door allowing his partner to gain entrance and rummage through the house undetected.

This is repulsive. Why can’t they rob and steal from the poor and middle class the honest way, they way most employers are doing it these days?

Business owners threaten unemployment or hint at it while demanding more hours and harder work in return for lower wages, less benefits and higher costs on health care.

They then reap the benefits of this nearly slave labor in excess profit and cry all the way to the bank about how business is down before heading out on another vacation.

A man had to sue his insurance company after he was forced to pay for a ‘well doctor’ visit that he was told would be fully covered.

I guess the agent who told him that had his fingers crossed behind his back!

According to the law, until the Republicans can repeal it insurance companies must fully cover ‘preventive care’ doctor visits and not even charge a co-pay unless something terrible is found and a procedure must be performed.

This tactic is the latest one by all insurance companies in their ongoing effort to totally screw the public.

No bill will be approved and no claim will be paid until and unless all possible avenues of obfuscation have been explored and the sheriff is at the door with a warrant to arrest the lying son of a bitch CEO with a separate subpoena for all of his records!

More letters in the paper from smokers who are angry at smoking bans.

HEY, in case you missed the news from a couple of decades ago SMOKING KILLS!

It kills the smoker which is fine but it also kills the innocent people around the smoker who inhale the vile second hand smoke.

And when the smoker uses the argument that there are other pollutants in the air so why only go after cigarettes the only possible answer is, WE’RE GOING AFTER ALL OF THEM YOU IDIOT! Now would you please going into a hermetically sealed room and light up!

And finally come the letters from those who are so angry at President Obama for ramming health care down their throats.

I almost do not know where to begin so I won’t.

But I would like to suggest that those people not opt in for any health care and then go out and smoke a few cartons of unfiltered cigarettes.

Then calmly drop dead somewhere not too close to an emergency room.

We wouldn’t want you to accidentally have health care rammed down your asinine throat!

I cannot wait for tomorrow's edition.

I need a drink!

Not "Jane You Ignorant Slut" But...

I love jokes. This is not a revelation to those who know me. And sometimes I even like bad jokes.  
But I do not like the US Congress of today which has become one of the worst jokes in our history.
I do not have to single out any individuals because even their own supporters know who I mean, or at least I hope they do.  If not then they are even sadder jokes.
But I must comment on one particular 'back and forth' between two Congressmen that epitomizes the putrefied partisan politics that has this country stuck in a stagnant swamp unable to move forward.
I will not stoop to the level of some bloggers, twits, or even Facebook friends and foes who used the representative's names as fodder against them.  All i need is their own words to define who is and who is not a fair representative of this country.
First a quick synopsis of the back story.
When the towers came down on 911 people from all walks of life came to help.  Many of these people suffered greatly for their deeds and many still are suffering.  Some have already died.
Finally recognizing the fact that these heroes of 911 are in need of aid Congress proposed a bill, HR-847 aimed at funding their healthcare at a cost of merely $7.5 billion over ten years.
The bill was co-written by Rep Peter King (R-NY) and co-sponsored by Carolyn Maloney (D-NY.)
When the bill was about to come up for a vote the Democrats decided to keep it a purely 911 aid bill without allowing any annoying, inane, nonsensical, unrelated and pork-filled amendments to be tacked on.
This enraged the Republican stalwarts (Key part of the word, 'stall') and they demanded to be allowed to add at least three such riders.
As usual the Democrats caved in to the request of the minority party.
But now, under the rules of procedure the bill had to have a two-thirds majority vote to pass rather than the usual simple majority.
Not to worry - A bill of this importance would surely garner that many votes, right?
WRONG!
And that brings me to the point-counterpoint that tells the entire story in a nutshell.
As if any sane individual really needed to be told what Republicans stand for or rather what they turn their backs for Peter King's own words tell the story and Anthony Weiner's rebuttal calls him and his colleagues of NO out for it!

First Mr. King's words with my personal inserted comments in parentheses:

KING: The reason HR-847 is not being brought up under regular order is that the majority party is petrified of having its members face a potential vote on illegal immigration, (Excuse me? What does immigration have to do with aid to the Heroes of 911?) but the reality is, you could pass this bill. This bill should be more important than a campaign talking point. (EXACTLY MR. KING AND YOUR PARTY IN THE MINORITY SHOULD REALIZE THAT!) You could have passed it any time during the past three and a half years but you want political cover. Thank God for our country that the first responders of 9/11 didn't look for cover before they did what they had to do and lived up to their oath. (As you and your fellow Republicans are about to do, right?)
After these inflammatory words were spewed by Mr. King Anthony Weiner absolutely lost it. The camel's back was gone and the straw must be shown as the culprit! Here is Mr. Weiner's answer once again with personal comments in parentheses:
Weiner: Great courage to wait until all members have already spoken and then stand up and wrap your arms around procedure. We see it in the United States Senate every single day where members say "We want amendments. We want debate. We want amendments but we're still a no."
Then we stand up and say "Oh, if only we had a different process, we'd vote yes."
You vote yes if you believe yes. You vote in favor of something if you believe it's the right thing. If you believe it's the wrong thing, you vote no.
We are following a procedure [Mr. Weiner yells back as he is interrupted by Republican heckling and requests to yield] -- I will not yield to the gentleman and the gentleman will observe regular order! THE GENTLEMAN WILL OBSERVE REGULAR ORDER!
Gets up and yells to intimidate people into believing he's right. He is wrong! The gentleman is wrong!
The gentleman is providing cover for his colleagues rather than doing the right thing. It's Republicans wrapping their arms around Republicans rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes. It is a shame, a shame!
If you believe this is a bad idea to provided health care, then vote no. But don't give me the cowardly view that "Oh, if it was a different procedure." [Republican hecklers try again to stop the definition of their character.] The gentleman will observe regular order and sit down. I will not. The gentleman will sit. The gentleman is correct in sitting.
I will not. I will not stand here and listen to my colleagues say "If only I had a different procedure that allows us to stall, stall, stall and then vote no."
Instead of standing up and defending your colleagues in voting no on this humane bill, you should urge them to vote yes — something the gentleman HAS. NOT. DONE.

Mr. King actually stated that this bill could have passed if the Democrats had allowed the Republicans to alter it and that they all knew it! But he himself went on to vote in fover of passing it nevertheless so why didn't his colleagues vote in favor as well?
Mr. Weiner said it best when he noted the usual Republican tactic of, "...stall, stall, stall and then vote no."

Some have called this a failure caused by the Democrats, actually labeling it an 'epic fail.'  To these sadly mistaken people I say please look again at the votes for and against this bill and tell me how you can lay the blame for this or any of the other stalled and altered bills anywhere else but at the feet of the Party of NO!??
We have all laughed at the joke our government has become. And we have laughed at the fact that the Republicans have become the Party of No and embrace the title rather than shy away from it. They have even become the GOBP with members apologizing to that disgusting oil giant.
But this is no longer funny. The joke is now fully on us and it is getting really, really bad!