The following is a repost of a something I recently posted elsewhere. This is the tale of Casey's Dream. It is an important story because it demonstrates the shortcomings of two segments of American life, a broken healthcare system, and a declining economy. It is also the story of one person, a little boat, a blog page, and the end of one. The person is me; the boat is called Casey's Dream and so is the blog. So let me take you back to the summer of 1998.   Read More »

I guess this site hs turned into the Clinton DLC Builder site considering the number of bloggers that think Hillary is the one who can win. Hillary and I will stop calling her Senator, has been adding a few chapters of her own to the Karl Rove, Lee Atwater playbook. I'm waiting for the Ken Starr endorsement to be announced. Remember Tanya Harding's performance in the Olympics after she kneecapped her opponent? Well that is what it will look like if Hillary is nominated.

While I have written in favor of the senator's various positions I have not made a formal endorsement. That ends here. I believe that the one Democrat that can truly change this nation for the betterment of the average American household is the Honorable Junior Senator from the state of Illinois, Sen. Barack Obama. Why? He was right on Iraq. He is right on the issue of lobbyist in Washington. He is right about the havoc that insurance companies and drug companies have to to our healthcare system. He is right on the corruption of wealth in the oil industry. He is right on the need to concentrate on protecting and improving the environment. He understands why my wife and I are making more money than ever before, yet are budget is past the breaking point. He understands that we are no longer viewed in the world community as the great United States of America. We are viewed as a nation that is wrong on Iraq, wrong on trade, and wrong on diplomacy. Our nation was for many years as the last best hope. Now more everyday we are viewed as a nation of greed and corruption. The generation after the baby boom of the late forties and fifties was called the 'Me" generation. As a nation at 232 years old we are coming into our teens. So the choice is do we want a to be a generation dedicated to change that helps all or a "me" generation dedicated to seeing this new gilded age going forward. From this amateur historian's point of view I can't help but point out that while the "gilded age" did build a lot of wealth and founded companies that are still at the heart of our economy, it also was the catalyst for the "Great Depression." So the question is do we re-elect a "Hoover" ensuring a second "Great Depression?" Or do we want to elect a "FDR" and make the course correction before the disaster hits.

This should be an award given to all the HillBills that don't see your are beating are horse deader than Whitwater and Monica Lewinsky. Team HillBill has decided that the tools of the vast right-wing... that nearly took down his presidency should be used against a member of their own party. But then they were the team that wanted Republicans to vote for Dems because they couldn't get Dems to come out and vote for them. Hillary is a New York Senator not because she won the Dem vote but because she won the upstate Republican vote. If we put up Hillary we will have a new Republican President. How would President-elect Romney or President-elect McCain sound to you then. You will have to run against every Clinton scandal proved or otherwise in Nov. so be careful what you wish for.

It is time to shoot for the stars. When it comes to healthcare that means a single-payer system. When Dick Cheney piled a bunch energy execs in a room to work out the nation's energy plan we all shouted foul. As we look back at how the Clinton's jointly did the same with healthcare we again are calling foul. Why, because the results seem to be much the same - rising costs for the American people. That is only the first foul I want to call on the Clintons.   Read More »

Everyone should watch Bill Moyers Journal from last night. Both of his guests last night spoke to the problems of today and how we got there. First up was David Cay Johnston of the NYT. The second was Harvey J. Kaye a professor at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. Their books that they discussed last night are now on my list to read in full. Mr. Johnston's book Free Lunch: How the wealthiest Americans enrich themselves at government expense (and stick you with the bill) exposes grants subsidies and other ways we pay to support the likes of Donald Trump, Geo. Steinbrenner, and a former Texas business man, turned Governor, turned (stole) President, George W. Bush. I'll get to Mr Kayes book after the flip.   Read More »

To all business men I say - sorry -business has its ups and downs. You the business people have to find your own capital. Last night the rebate figure tossed about was $600.00 to low income households. I bet my wife and I aren't included in that even though she is an adminstrative assistant and I am disabled. We can barely make our bills and $600.00 is only $50.00 a month over the course of a year. $50/month doesn't even pay my pharmacy bill and we have better insurance that a lot of others out there. Throw in doctor office co-pays and it is even less. When I know the specifics I will be contacting Senators Cardin and Mikulski and Congressman Ruppersberger and tell them don't you dare give business a dime. I and my wife have worked for "small business" and I'm sorry I hate hearing them cry poor when then live in huge houses and drive Jaguars and BMW SUV's. The hardest part of managing a small business is figuriinng out how little you can pay your work force. Pay too little and they will steal you blind one paperclip at a time just to get even. Pay too much and they can't take the week after Christmas to go to the Islands for a week.

I must have been watching a different debate than the national pundits. Maybe I'm just an Obama supporter. However I disagree with most of the personalities on MSNBC last night after the debate. When Chris Matthews opened the post debate show pronouncing Sen. Clinton the clear winner my jaw dropped. Then his reasoning left me more befuddled. While I thought she and Sen. Edwards did well I did have a few criticisms of both. Let's start with what Matthews says is the reason she won the debate.   Read More »

Yesterday, while in a waiting room of a physical therapy facility I met a man with Muscular Dystrophy. I was enduring CBN's Pat Robertson on the television. I started to scribble some notes for a possible diary. Then from behind me came the voice of someone who was definetly not a fan. The fellow was engaged in a conversation about the hypocracy of some (I'm being generous) conservative Christians. Soon we began to compare notes on how both of us have ended up needing to use a wheelchair part time. When ever I tell someone I had polio the conversation turns to President Roosevelt. He made the statement that what made FDR great was his need to overcome the limitations brought on by polio. That dealing with physical obstacles makes one look at things differently.   Read More »

hey everybody take a minute and let the guys running this blog know they need to fix the damn search engine. Run it one time and see how many of your posts it actually finds.

The real question should be why socialized medicine. When this post went up on Daily KOS someone suggested the term Civilized Medicine is more to the point and I agree. So to continue...The answer is really quite simple because capitalism and compassion do not go together. For at least 2 decades, our country has been governed politically by a mindset that making profits, increasing personal wealth, shameless consumerism, and endless financial growth were the "Holy Grail" of civilization, and that from these all good things flowed. Cutting taxes, cutting operating costs, lowering prices, increasing credit availability were all strict tenants of policies to further its progress. I believe that the root cause of the medical availability issue runs much deeper. As a society, we have embraced a culture where these goals have superseded all others. The casualties have been any element of business or government that does not further these ends, such as health care benefits and funded pensions.   Read More »

This is a follow up to my most recent post. Tuesday morning at 10:30am federal medicinal marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld will be holding a press conference at the Westin Hotel, 400 Corporate Drive, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. 33334, in the Board Room. Irv is celebrating 25 years of legally smoking marijuana medicinally. There you and hopefully a gaggle of reporters will have the opportunity meet and listen to Mr. Rosenfeld. Irv is one of five surviving patients of the Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program of the Food and Drug Administration. Irv participated in "The Missoula Study". It not only confirmed his need to use marijuana medicinally it also verified his success with it. I told you in my last post about what I witnessed last spring. I most recently became aware of a fellow named Al Byrne and Patients Out of Time. You should listen to his opening remarks from 2004 at The Third National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics Link
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That was the title of a press release I received the other day. But before I put up the whole press release I would like to tell you about one of the five patients referred to in the release. I met Irv Rosenfeld last year when Maryland's House of Delegates' Judiciary Committee was holding hears on HB 1040 Maryland's Compassionate Use Act. We spent the whole day together waiting for us to be called into the hearing room. We learned a lot about each other that day. For one I learned that someone is passionate enough about medical marijuana laws to give up basically two days to come all the way to Maryland from Florida to help me be able to get the medicine I need.   Read More »

This one is for FOS; It is already up at Daily KOS.

I arrived question in hand to Wednesday night's Countdown to Change in Largo, Md. Novice that I am I was hoping for some sort of question and answer session after Sen. Obama spoke. Even though that was wishful thinking I certainly was not disappointed at all. After all I was there because the campaign, Kyle Watkins particularly, took note of my e-mail grousing about getting invitations everyday to attend this event or that, for a small donation. Though it would have certainly been nice to be in the VIP Tent with the candidate before hand I had good seats and met a terrific lady.
The sun was just about to set behind one of the buildings on Prince Georges Community College. A huge American flag hung as a backdrop for the stage.   Read More »

Wednesday morning (10/3/07), for me was at once like a scene out of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" and Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." In the past I have had letters to the editor published in both my small town local paper, and the more major Baltimore publication The Sunpaper. Also encouraged by frequent and usually rather timely responses to e-mail letters, I recently went old fashioned and sent a snail mail letter to Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, (D-MD) . In my letter I asked to meet with the congressman about his position on medical marijuana. Specifically I was asking him to sign the "Tandy Letter." The letter authored by John Oliver (D-MA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) asks DEA Administrator Karen Tandy to accept DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner's opinion/ruling in favor of the UMass-Amherst Medical Marijuana Research Production Facility, more on that later. While Rep. Ruppersberger did not sign the "Tandy Letter" he has voted each time in favor of the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment. When I was contacted by the congressman's office the "Tandy Letter" had already been sent (Sept. 19 '07) sadly sans Rep. Ruppersberger's signature. Still they did call and offer me a meeting with Senior Policy Advisor Walter Gonzales. My reaction of course was an emphatic affirmative. When I hung up the phone I was overwhelmed with a feeling of "What have you gotten yourself into?"   Read More »

I watched all the segments of Ken Burn's "The War." Besides again being totally blown away by Mr. Burns' ability to tell complex stories I do have some thoughts on the documentary and how it dovetails with our current situation in Iraq.
The fact that Mr. Burns began this project prior to Sept. 11, 2001 makes it even more amazing the relevance that can be drawn from this film. I saw Ken interviewed a number of times while the show was being aired and think he is absolutely correct in the major difference he points out when interviewed. During the early forties after Pearl Harbor this nation did some amazing things. These monumental accomplishments were only possible because everyone in the nation knew they had to help. Citizens were asked to do many things from donating silk stockings for parachutes to gas rationing, to the simple act of conserving our precious resources. I know from my own parents that at home this was done with a sense of patriotism. Patriotism like that was not again seen until Sept. 11th. FDR while mindful of keeping specific plans undercover spoke to the nation often about the responsibilities of those on the home front. But as Mr. Burns so simply puts it when interviewed, "After 9/11 we were told to go shopping."   Read More »

This started as a reply to annie b's delta flight 4934 - it got too long so here it is.

Last night I spent more time talking to one of my brothers than I have in many months, perhaps years. Our conversation was inspired by Ken Burns and his documentary "The War." He told me stories he remembered that I did not. He told of how my father would hear a plane over head and could tell by the sound of the engine if it was one he knew. He would hear then spot planes that had seen action in war. All the time we talked we knew one thing. We would never know the losses of war first hand. Our father survived and I, along with my three brothers managed to escape the horrors of Viet Nam.
However, we do understand loss. This man of many faults that had come through The War is gone now. He died suddenly at the age of 49. I was 15. Before eight years had passed I had experienced twice more. One just as suddenly as that Sept. day when my mother came home and told her five children that their father was dead.
Nearly all of us on this site have similar stories or know someone else who have similar stories. Loss is loss; it is devastating, gut wrenching, and unforgettable. Even now thirty years later, I can hear the echo of my scream echoing through a Sears & Roebuck hours before it open. The brother I was talking to last night had come and told me one of my brothers was dead, killed in a car crash.
If we are going to inflict this kind of pain, sorrow, and loss on our fellow citizens, we must be able to answer one question. We would inflict this kind of sorrow on ourselves. We would be willing to send our husbands, wives, or children to fight in a war. Last night I learned something I did not know about my father. I thought he had volunteered after Pearl Harbor. I was wrong, my father enlisted in October of '41, nearly two months prior to Pearl. What did he know even before the rest of the nation did? I'll never know. But he somehow had answered that question about would you be willing to...
When we were going after the terrorist that attack us, my answer was yes. But now, I would bar the door to keep either of my children from going off to war. Not because the people of the Middle East don't deserve freedom they do. I say stop this war now not because I don't want freedom and democracy to spread throughout the world but because it is not about that. It is about money and oil and power. Why did Karl Rove want a permanent majority for the GOP? Because that is what FDR gave the Democrats. The thing is FDR lied, kept the truth from the public, yes. But again I say that Osama bin Laden could not in his wildest dreams ever en masse the fearful power of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
Bring our troops home now, not some but every last soul. No more money for troops and not a single paycheck more for the likes of Black Water Int.

Heads up to everyone helping to get a Federal Compassionate Use Law passed. This evening on their season debut show Morley Safer is doing a segment about medicinal marijuana laws. Specifically, he is examining California's law and the dispensaries that it has spawned. The story is also up on their website at
Link
Please watch the story or read it on line and let your voice be heard. Remember that the more voices political leaders hear the more they listen.
Also, because I have been very busy I want to thank everyone at the Takoma Park Folk Festival that stopped by the Americans for Safe Access table. The response was good and the feed back even better. We had people signing our petition and signing up for action alerts, all the while enjoying great music, great food and terrific late summer weather. Thanks Again!

While I am an avid supporter of protecting free speech I am also for knowing when to speak. Mr. Andrews had an opportunity to speak truth to power. I have to question why he was not willing to relinquish the microphone. If his aim was an act of civil disobedience he had accomplished that when the security people approached. Going limp is always a way to passively resist police or security. Here is the sticking point, Mr. Andrews continued to resist. This is not the way to be a passive resister to a policy. I object to tasers in most cases that they are being used, including this case. My point is civil disobedience is a right and even an obligation in certain circumstances. However, it should always be peaceful protests that include passive resistance.
On the other free speech topic of the week the censorship of broadcast television, I have been livid ever since the wardrobe malfunction. I have been for a very long time in favor of removing the muzzle on broadcast television. Ever since CBS wimped out and canceled the Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour, the federal government has increasingly pressured network television to homogenize their programming. Instead of protecting free speech by being a watch dog agency reviewing who is controlling or trying to control the air waves, they are actively censoring content. This was most evident Sunday evening when Fox television network took the extra method of cutting away from the speaker so no one could possibly even read their lips. Give me a break! (And I cleaned that up!) It is time to do away with the seven or six or even one second delays so citizens who choose to use the language they would use in their home or elsewhere can. I applaud the TNT network for doing their part to break down the censorship rules. Credit for this by extension goes to Academy Award winning actress Holly Hunter and the cast and writers of her show "Saving Grace." I implore the traditionally live show producers to tell the broadcast networks to either remove the gag or we're taking our ad revenue and giving it to TNT a network that obviously supports free speech.
Mr. Andrews had a right to ask why Congress, beginning with the House of Representatives has not begun impeachment procedures. He had the right to ask if Sen. Kerry belongs to Skull & Bones, but he did a disservice to those of us attempting to change the direction of this country. How, by behaving in a way that will allow the right to once again paint us as the lunatic fringe.

Six white racist kidnapping and torturing and black woman so harkens back to the days when the clan was active everywhere, I am repulsed. I remember vivdly watching police with dogs and fire hoses attacking blacks. I remember federal troops in the south to enforce our laws, to make sure that blacks like James Meridith, got to go to college. I remember cross burnings in Baltimore. While Maryland is part of the south based on being below the Mason-Dixon line, I assure you people in Biloxi didn't view us as a part of the south. We can not allow this country to slip back to the days of the KKK. But listen to the rhetoric about immigration, about keeping America for Americans, and you'll see that this is the direction we are headed. Speak up and speak out, demand justice in West Virginia. All six of those people should go to jail for the rest of their lives - NO PAROLE! Morris Dees we need you again, it is time to put racist organizations like the Klan, and the American Nazi party, and Skinheads on the trash heap of history never to be heard from again.
signed
The great great grandson of a slave owner