Being in Bed with Big Insurance

The Washington Post reports that the Democrats who are holding out on health care reform are those who have their coffers full of campaign funds from the insurance industry. Here are the top 20:

1. Bob Etheridge (D-North Carolina) $505,157 Uninsured in District: 21%

2. Baron P. Hill (D-Indiana) $519,000 Uninsured in District: 14.3%

3. Michale Capuno (D-Massachusetts) $550,401 Uninsured in District: 6.8%

4. Melissa Luburic (D-Illinois) $551,000 Uninsured in District: 11.5%

5. Timothy H. Bishop (D-New York) $557,086 Uninsured in District: 11.3%

6. Dennis Moore $631,885 (D-Kansas) Uninsured in District: 12.9%

7. Betty Sutton $621,036 (D-Ohio) Uninsured in District: 13%

8. Marion Berry $634,417 (D-Arkansas) Uninsured in District: 21.7%

9. Rick Boucher $642,917 (D-Nevada) Uninsured in District: 16%

10. Ron Klein $648,778 (D-Florida) Uninsured in District: 19.4%

11. David Wu $671,035 (D-Oregon) 14.8% Uninsured in District: 14.8%

12. Bart Stupak $800,455 (D-Michigan) Uninsured in District: 15.3%

13. Ron Kind $841,913 (D-Wisconsin) Uninsured in District: 11.7%

14. David Obey $900,000 (D-Wisconsin) Uninsured in District: 12.9%

15. Jim Cooper $1 Million (D-Tennessee) Uninsured in District: 15.6%

16. Richard Edmund $1.1 Million (D-Massachusetts) Uninsured in District: 4.3%

17. Shelley Berkley $1.1 Million (D-Nevada) Uninsured in District: 28.3%

18. Carol Shea-Porter $1.2 Million (D-New Hampshire) Uninsured in District: 12.3%

19. Baton Jennings $1.4 Million (D-Tennessee) Uninsured in District: 14.2%

20. Earl Ralph Pomeroy $2.1 Million (D-North Dakota) Uninsured in District: 12.1%

Now, do you really think these campaign funds don't influence their vote? Do you really think that they care about us more than themselves?

Being Friends

When I was a kid I had a friend who was rich. She was rich and slow. I was not rich and fast. We became good friends. Her parents always looked after me when I could not afford to participate in certain activities and I always defended her if anyone even looked at her sideways. She was always in the "in crowd" because wherever I was she was there too. Recently, she found me online and we have gotten reconnected after many years. She is going through a bit of a difficult time financially. I cannot even begin to tell you the joy I felt in being able to assist her. Friends are forever.

Being a Tea Party Leader

Dick Armey, a leader in the Tea Party movement, recently said that Tom Tancredo, another leader in this movement, is "destructive" to the Republican Party. I could not help but to wonder what kind of force does Armey think he is. The once former Majority House Leader presided over a Congress blighted by scandal and excessive spending. When Armey was asked why he, Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay, both of whom left Congress disgracefully, racked up excesses in federal pork that made the Democrats look quite conservative, he replied, "To the victors go the spoils." Now, Armey seeks to create a conservative image and legitimize a movement whose underpinning is racist in nature. (Why can't these old dudes just find something else to do?)

This year at CPAC, Dick Armey said these things about President Obama: "You're intellectually shallow. You're a romantic. You're self-indulgent. You have no ability. You're the most incompetent president perhaps in our lifetime." As you can well understand, Armey himself continues to be destructive to the Republican Party. For the record, so is Tom Tancredo. I have written of him on this blog before. Like Armey, he is prone to saying racist and sexist remarks. You can read of Tancredo here when he addressed the Tea Party Convention. He received wild applause in the hall for his racist remarks. The followers of the Tea Party are obviously like their leaders.

Being Juan Ramon Jiminez

I Took Off Petal After Petal

I took off petal after petal, as if you were a rose,
in order to see your soul,
and I didn’t see it.

However, everything around-
horizons of fields and oceans-
everything, even what was infinite,
was filled with a perfume,
immense and living.

(Translation by Robert Bly)

Being Inspired by Others

President Obama awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the first women pilots who served during World War II. During the ceremony the Associated Press reports that one of the pilots, Deanie Parrish, said that they "served our country without any expectation of recognition or glory and we did it without compromising the values that we were taught growing up."



There were more than 1,000 women in the program and some 300 are believed to still be alive. We are happy that these women were finally honored. They are truly inspiring.

Being Texans

What's going on in Texas? Over the summer Governor Rick Perry wanted to secede from the Union. Now, the New York Times reports that Conservatives won a vote which changes textbooks throughout the state. The change skews history and cuts Thomas Jefferson from texts because he coined the phrase "separation of church and state."

Being a Working Girl

Working Girl is one of my favorite movies and I love this song!



"Let the river run. Let all the dreamers wake the nations. Come, the New Jerusalem"

(The opening backdrop engendered heartbreaking memories. Blessings to all!)