Michelle Obama paid for her Spanish trip expenses out of her own pocket. But, her critics don’t seem to want to acknowledge that before she became First Lady she was a high-powered corporate lawyer in Chicago. Her own income was over $300,000 a year! It totally escapes her critics that she could – and probably did – have savings and other liquid assets, built up over many years of making big money in BigLaw.

Michelle Obama has the personal finances to vacation wherever she wants, as lavishly as she wants. Critics seem to think the Obamas have no right to go and come as they please, or to take vacations and trips just like they do. These critics claim that the reason for their anger is that “taxpayer money” was being misused when Sasha and Michelle flew to Spain in Air Force One.

Well, the last time I checked, President and Mrs. Obama paid taxes just like the rest of us. And by virtue of Sasha and Michelle being members of the First Family, flying commercial was out of the question – the only way for them to get from Point A to Point B is to fly Air Force One or Marine One (the helicopter). So, I guess none of the Obamas are supposed to go anywhere, ever, for leisure time just so the critics won’t be reminded how much their own lives suck. Child, please. Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get the heck over it.

Jealous bastids.

I don’t think ANY wealthy person should have to “tone down” their lifestyle just to keep from offending poor people. It’s their money! They can do (almost) what they want with it, and they don’t need anybody’s approval or permission. Maybe if some of these critics paid more attention to their own lives, they’d be happier people and wouldn’t need to nitpick and find fault in everything someone else does.

So… how do you think that’s going to work out for you on Judgment Day? I’m just sayin…

If health care isn’t a right, then whatever laws that say emergency care must be provided in the ER need to be repealed. Let’s just go all the way with it, then. Let’s have everyone fend for themselves, and to hell with compassion or helping those less fortunate. If you can’t afford health care then you have the RIGHT to die and be cremated on the cheap, instead of buried, with the cost of cremation coming out of an Indigent Cremation Fund that everyone pays a nominal flat fee into every year. Your relatives can dig a hole in the backyard and bury your urn there, right next to beloved Fido, if they want.

After all, God didn’t bless any of us with anything, or make it possible for us to have what we have. We did it ALL on our own and by ourselves. God who? Let’s just all stop pretending. Why even FAKE anymore? I mean, really, it’s time to end the charade. We have become our own Gods (yes, with the capital G), and there is not enough room for us and him, so he has to go. Oh, wait, he’s already gone. We just need to stop pretending he’s still here, still relevant, and still matters.

I mean, since he didn’t, and never has, done anything for us anyway, why keep him around? After all, we worked for our money and why should we have to give it away in tithes and offering for a building we only use once a week, if that? If our hurting and sick neighbor who we CAN see doesn’t deserve any of our largesse, then why should we give anything to some “being” – a perfect, and perfectly healthy one at that – we’ve never seen? Like, what kind of sense does that make?

So, let’s just cut the crap and get real. Anything that’s not a right needs to be eliminated right now, so we all can keep as much of our hard earned money in our pockets as possible. Poor, sick people? Eh well. They’ll die off sooner or later, and just could be better off for it. Right?

/sarcasm

Well, I’m finally getting down to Grady Memorial Hospital. I’m without private insurance now, and they operate on a sliding fee scale based on income. I’m still on LTD so I HAVE to be under a doctor’s care. President Obama’s health bill is a godsend for people like me. I can afford to contribute meaningfully to my health costs, but I can’t do it all. I shouldn’t have to move to the ‘hood and dodge bullets just to be able to afford the care I need for Lupus and all the other stuff that’s wrong with me.

I don’t have a sense of entitlement, but I do have a sense of fairness and I shouldn’t be a sitting duck in a bad area just to stay well. The irony is that the stress of living in a bad area would make me sicker and end up costing US taxpayers more money. And yes, I do pay taxes, as in having to send a check to the IRS or the state. So I get to complain, too!

It’s been a long, long time coming, but I know… oh, I know a change is gonna come. Yes, it is.

Well folks, that change HAS come, and it’s a done deal. Now, to be sure, the Republicans are going to fight tooth and nail to make sure people like me (permanently disabled with serious chronic diseases) don’t get the affordable health care we need so we can die off. You know, they very much seem to embrace the concept of natural selection (aka survival of the fittest). Well, if they believed in evolution, that is. *side eye*

Anyhoo, this short paragraph from the CNN.com article about the new law caught my attention:

Senior Republicans in Congress warned that voters will judge Democrats harshly in November’s midterm elections, with Sen. John McCain of Arizona saying the Democratic-passed bill killed any chance of bipartisan support on legislation for the rest of the year.

I’m trying to figure out how in tarnation the Republicans figure that American voters will judge the Democrats harshly in the November mid-term elections. You know why? Because this health care reform was a TOP PRIORITY, and cornerstone, of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign. He was very clear about his position and plan for “universal healthcare”… and American voters OVERWHELMINGLY voted for him.

We didn’t vote for him despite his promise to give us universal healthcare. We voted for him, in part, because of his promise to give us universal healthcare! So, how exactly are the American people going to “harshly judge” the president for doing exactly what he told us he was going to do BEFORE we elected him? Am I the only person this makes no sense to? The Republicans have a serious case of selective amnesia.

Now, to the second issue in the above quoted paragraph. Senator John McCain (who I actually liked, and who was my front runner until he lost his balls and let his campaign get away from him and end in a disgraceful train wreck) said the Dem-only passed bill killed any chance of bipartisan support on legislation for the rest of the year. McCain must have been hiding under a rock for the last year! There has been NO bipartisan support of anything Mr. Obama has tried to do since he took the Oath of Office!

My first thought on McCain’s comment was “No shit, Sherlock!”. I mean, really… who is surprised that the Republicans are now going to switch into sabotage mode and do every evil, dastardly thing they can think of to put – at least – a damper on this reform? Is anyone surprised that the Republicans are not going to cooperate with the Obama Administration on anything? I would say this is not a surprise, because they haven’t been cooperating all this time, so why in the hell would they start now?

Republican non-cooperation is a non issue. Why? Because, again, they’ve never tried to work with the Obama Administration. What the Republicans call bipartisan participation, the rest of America calls strong arming. They always want to take the lead and have the most influence on anything they have worked on in conjunction with the Democrats. They have never been content to let the Dems take the lead on anything. With Republicans, it’s their way or the highway. Right now, they’re pissed as hell because they have, YET AGAIN, been reminded that things can get done without them.

The Republicans better watch it. They cannot resort to their usual bag of nasty tricks and rhetoric to derail this new law, because the majority of Americans WANT this health care reform. They are in the minority, and they can’t afford to piss off the rest of us. They got some shine when Brown was elected in Massachusetts, but that was purely a local thing, in my non-expert and could care less estimation. On the national stage, if they go too far with their retaliation tactics – and believe me there will be retaliation – they will only end up hurting themselves.

But, they probably can’t help themselves. After all, they’ve bred themselves for certain traits for so long that it’s now probably just in their nature.

This video clearly states my position, and clears up a few misconceptions and assumptions that have made regarding the first video. Lots of white people were assuming that because I’m black, I must be a Democrat, and therefore I was defending Senator Reid because of party politics. They also didn’t think I’d feel the same if a Republican politician had make the comment. Actually, I would.

I want to make clear that none of this means that I don’t think Harry Reid is a racist. I don’t know anything about the man, so he very well could be, and if so I wouldn’t be surprised in the least. However, I still feel that the COMMENT he made, in and of itself, is not racist and bears truth. Ugly truth, but truth, nonetheless.

I just really wish black people, as a group, would engage in more critical thinking. Every time someone makes an unflattering comment about black American society and culture, they’re either automatically branded a racist or a house nigger. What makes this Reid situation so bad is that the comment wasn’t so much about Mr. Obama, as it was an acknowledgment and indictment of white racism! But, of course, nobody wants to see it from that point of view, because then we couldn’t play the victim.

Whites aren’t allowed to validly criticize us and blacks had better stay in line and shut up, lest they want to lose their “black card”. But, blacks are allowed to criticize any and everybody we want? What kind of bullshit is this? This kind of thinking has to stop or the black community will never improve!

UPDATE 1/13/10 at 10:58 AM: The VIDEO NOW HAS 1,000 VIEWS!!
Update 1/13/10 at 5:09 AM: The video is now up to 958 views.
Update 1/12/10 at 8:20 PM: The video is now up to 862 views.
Update 1/12/10 at 2:41 PM: The video is now up to 823 views.
Update 1/12/10 at 10:03 AM: The video is now up to 746 views.
Update 1/11/10 at 10:00 PM: The video is now up to 645 views.
Update 1/11/10 at 1:22 PM: The video is now up to 559 views.
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was quoted in a forthcoming book (Game Change), by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, as saying – privately – that then presidential hopeful Barack Obama could be successful as a candidate because of his light skin and ability NOT to speak “Negro dialect” unless he wanted to. The video has been up for just 19 hours, but it has already gotten 298 views and 54 comments.

I posted a video commentary on YouTube giving my take on the growing scandal/debacle. If you don’t have time to watch the video (about 9 minutes long), here’s the nutshell version: What Reid said is true and is not new, because Black Americans have been talking about this for generations. I don’t think he owes anyone an explanation or an apology, because I don’t think he has anything to apologize for. Agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments.