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rickb_georgia

Sharpsburg, Georgia, UNITED STATES


Joined December 4th 2007

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A LIBERAL CONSERVATIVE

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Comment by rickb_georgia
on Reflections on revolution

November 8th 2009 20:47
Hi Jim … I find myself agreeing with you in some areas (the slurping that can be heard in the background is the soapy mouthwash). I sense in listening to people on a day to day basis much hatred of this administration and the Democratic (with a lot of liberal media help) movement that swept it into place. And my personal opinion is simply the GOP facilitated their election by not offering a viable alternative. As in several past elections, I found myself having to decide on what I felt was the lesser of two evils rather than the best of the best. I do suspect that if being a citizen AND paying taxes were criteria for voting, the current administration would be represented by the elephant rather than the jackass. I guess I am sorta stuck on the idea that paying taxes is a trait of the responsible citizen and I understand that a lot of the folks on unemployment would much rather pay taxes than collect government assistance. I must admit that my own inclination politically would be to vote against anyone with a “D” by their name regardless of my knowledge of the race or the issues which is bad citizenship and but in my own small way, “revolution”.

I do not like the sense of black or white that is offered by the left or right. The choice seems to be “if you are not with me completely, then you are against me” as the only position. My own life experience has been lived in shades of gray, rarely absolutes though I only had to find out that fire burns skin one time.

I can’t help but wonder if all of the extreme right did move to The Tea Party, would it give the Republicans a chance to reinvent themselves as some sort of moderate conservative (socially liberal / fiscally conservative) movement. Selfish of me I perhaps, but I am still looking for a political home.

I read somewhere in all the internet stuff recently that one of the Congressional Representatives made a statement to the effect he could not vote on the PelosiCare legislation until his (Catholic) Bishop advised him how to vote. That individual has no business sitting in Congress. I am sure the electorate had no idea they were voting for his Bishop.

I am surprised some of you left wing anti-gun nuts have not suggesting disarming the military after the Ft. Hood shootings.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on An Olympian-sized failure

October 13th 2009 14:39
The news that has trickled down since Mr. Obama's trip on behalf of the Olympics seems to indicate he was prompted to make the trip as a favor to Mayor Daley of Chicago, repaying some political debt perhaps. Also, at least according to the liberal media, the intelligence he received from the Mayor was pretty much that Chicago was a front runner in the race for the Olympics so this was to be a good bet for Mr. Obama's winning ways to continue. It backfired this time but I do not take the failure as a personal rejection of Mr. Obama. I think Mr. Daley overestimated the length and strength of Mr. Obama's coat tails and they came up a bit short and weak with the IOC, which also has been accused of political manipulation in the past. I do like the logic of South America being about due and I suspect that did have some weight in the decision making process and I suspect the that decision was made prior to Mr. Obama even planning his trip. Apparently George Soros did not get a chance to intervene on behalf of our President to assure his success on such short notice and our President did set himself up to be slammed.

I have to wonder if Mr. Obama will win the Heisman trophy this year because he watched a football game. Let’s be real and give the Nobel Peace Prize committee its due for slamming Mr. Bush. It is a very liberal group of people attempting to meddle in the politics of the USA; seems they have forgotten that German would be their national language today if it were not for the USA.

I take Mr. Obama and the ultra liberal left very seriously. I also take cancer and kidney failure very seriously. Fortunately these are all diseases that can be successfully treated and folks can live a long and prosperous life afterwards.

I understand the Earth wobbles on its axis once every 26,000 years or so and the end of the current wobble happens on 12/21/2012. Let us hope that the every four year political wobble our nation endures will have corrected itself by that date as well. Now we just need some responsible leadership from the moderate Republicans and hope the Dems do not do so much damage it can't be repaired. All these guys need to get together and do something meaningful with our health care system though and the first step is to get the politics out of the debate. It has become all about political power and not at all about helping us citizens who are footing the bill. I still recommed hiring to Geico cave men to fix it ... they can do a better job than Congress.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on An Olympian-sized failure

October 3rd 2009 16:36
I thought maybe his teleprompter malfunctioned ... that is the source of all original thought for Mr. Obama isn't it? Guess all those thugs in the Windy City are just going to have to keep preying on each other.

I just found out my medical expenses are going to quadruple in 2010 thanks to the Democrats and their Medicare Improvement Act of 2008, which was the result of another bait and switch in the middle of the night by Mr. Rangel of New York and his buddies. And still no activity by the Ethics Committee in reviewing the jerk's standing. Mr. Wilson was right, not just about Mr. Obama's ommissions but about the whole Democratic Party. Unfortunately I am not really sure the Republicans are any better. Let's replace them all in 2010!

Very sad that the 2016 Olympics are more important to Mr. Obama than the lives of our people in Afganistan.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on Those damn czars

September 22nd 2009 23:54
Personally I don’t really care about what we call all the President’s men be they Czars or advisors. I never really associated the Czar title with Communism and as you pointed out, Communists were far from their favorite people. I question whether some of the President’s Czars are qualified or experienced in their supposed areas of expertise but then, I only vote AND pay taxes (unlike a lot of our President’s grass roots supporters) so what voice should I have in the matter … Oh! I will have a chance to state my opinion in 2010 and again in 2012 and, God willing, will exercise my right both years.

Actually I would like to see the President appoint a few more Czars. We could have one to root out wasteful government spending like the Canadian border crossings in Montana and Congressman Murtha’s private airport in Pennsylvania. I would like to see another Czar whose purpose is to get our troops home now (doesn’t do any good to set people free when they don’t know how to live that way and will not learn until they grow past medieval mentality). How about a Czar to audit the total number of Federal employees we really need … bet we could cut back by 25% at least. Maybe we could have a Czar to look into why we are giving away billions of dollars in foreign aid when we have to borrow that money from China, sorta like using your MasterCard to pay your Visa. We could use another Czar to ship the illegals home immediately and expose sanctuary cities and churches. And one more Czar comes to mind, one to look into one of our elected Congressmen’s not paying of their taxes and why they are allowed to sit in their seat much less vote on measures that require other people to pay taxes while they ignore their own responsibilities and manage to escape investigation by the ethics committee … but then he is a Democrat. There are just as many malingers on the Republican side of the isle.

We need responsible leadership in Washington; people who feel the difference between right and wrong is more important than the difference between conservative and liberal.
The biggest special interest group in Washington today is Congress and our President does not have the experience or ability to deal with it.

Can goods and ammunition … best investments in the future today … and come on December 21, 2012.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on Why is a Positive Message to Kids Deemed Evil?

September 15th 2009 15:23
No ideas but I am looking hard. I would really like to have a political home that is just a bit to the right of middle. Now would be a great time for someone to step in and rearrange the Republican party. I have looked into the Tea Party movement but there is no significant leadership in the party and the folks I have talked to so far seem a bit farther to the right than my comfort level will allow. I am trying to be open minded, though many would say that is not possible for a conservative. I think I like the govenor of Minnesota whose name I cannot spell or say correctly. I think Colin Powell would be a very good leader of a moderate conservative movement. I do know I am completely disgusted with Congress and it's lack of follow through on virtually anything. I believe in government oversight and regulation, but not government ownership ... but government has to do its job and I am not sure the bureaucracies Congress creates act in a responsible manner. Seems to me that Washington is all about gaining power and not at all about responsibly using that power. Sorta like watching kids doing the trick or treat thing at Halloween. All about quantity, nothing about quality. Now I am preaching and not really solving anything so time to quit for a while. About health care reform, I found the following article which does make some sense to me:
Really Long Link

Have a good day.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on Why is a Positive Message to Kids Deemed Evil?

September 11th 2009 23:38
Yeah ... let me in ... I'll show them. One of these days I will learn to write these things in Word then cut and paste and avoid the spelling errors. This blogging stuff is still new to me. But then, I left out a word also. I feel there was nothing "wrong" with Mr. Obama's speech. Sorry about the omission of the word "wrong". Now, where can I sign up with the Department of Education? Maybe they will be reasonable and do it my way. Thanks for the corrections Nicolette. Regarding health care reform, it seems that a lot of misinformation is flying from both camps. I too am trying to sift through the information.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on Why is a Positive Message to Kids Deemed Evil?

September 10th 2009 22:35
My memory is fuzzy but wasn't there something about the Democreats holding Congressional hearings regarding the propiety of George H. W. Bush's address to students back in 1991? I think the then President Bush's topics were stay in school and stay away from drugs. I guess crazy is something to do when and where and who when viewed by the opposition party at the time and who the lemmings of the day are following. Pots calling kettles black? I am a moderate conservative. There was nothing with Mr. Obama's speech and the lesson plan, which was causing most of the issue, was withdrawn. Have a good day all ... let's go find something important to deal with, like how to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on America chooses to hate and fear

September 7th 2009 01:07
Hi Jim ...

I feel for your grandaughter. Here in Georgia she could still be on her parents' plan for three more years assuming she remains a student. I did a search and found a plan available in your area that offers really good coverage for $135 per month and will send the details to you. While I was playing on the computer I used your grandaughter as a model I went ahead and worked up quotes for several areas of the country and eliminated the really low balled stuff because the deductables are so high you might as well not have insurance. Here is what I found all in dollars per nonth ... Tampa FL plans from 85 to 200 dollars, Fayetteville GA plans from 75 to 150 dollars, Cambridge MA plans from 240 to 400 dollars, Queens NY plans from 370 to 1200 dollars, Chicago IL plans from 150 to 250 per month, Bakersfield CA plans from 150 to 250 per month, Newark NJ plans from 200 to 600 per month. The average range is 180 to 435 per month. The Massachusetts plans are the models the Dems want to use for the public option. Insurance is defined as the pooling of risk to protect assets and minimize loss. Are we looking for insurance or are we looking for someone to pay the bill? Why should one of the 85 percent of the folks insured in Florida or Georgia increase their premiums 2.5 times to get 20 million or so legitimate uninsured covered? Why not work on getting those 20 million helped without destroying what is not necessarily broken? I agree that health insurance needs reform and selling accross state lines will be a big start but to get that will require the states to give up the 2500 individual state mandates that are piggy backed on the insurance plans but that is only a small part of our health care problem and one the insurance companies are willing to fix but current regulations from 50 different sources will not permit the fix. The fixes are really simple but leave it to the Federal Government and Congress to screw it up. Want to see how good the government does with our tax dollars? Check out Really Long Link

For the record, I encourage the end of life counseling provisions of reform. I deal with many seniors and refer them to an elder law attourney to help them through the process but I think their favorite physician should also be included in the process. I regret that this effort has been so misinterpeted.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on $1.2 trillion wasted -- per year

August 31st 2009 15:01
Before I start, I will acknowledge that a lot of my thoughts are biased because I am in the insurance industry, a second career so I can continue to pay into SS and Medicare after reaching retirement age. Gonna help the young folks out as long as I can.

1. I do not think anyone in Washington really gives a rat's tail about health care reform. It is all about power and the effort of the Federal Government to control the cash cow represented by the health care industry. The term has changed to health insurance reform which the liberals would have everyone believe is the sole fault for rising health care costs. I just do not understand how the payer causes the costs to increase. They do not set the rates, the providers do, at least for non medicare services. They do not establish the costs of drugs, the drug companies do. But yet, in listening to Pelosi, et al., the high cost of health care is all the fault of the CEO of United Health Care.

2. I do consider myself a conservative, perhaps a bit more moderate than many, and I do agree that health insurance does need reform but as a part of overall health care reform, not a stand alone item. And acutally health iinsurance reform could be very simple and stay in the private sector.

3. I do not want a civil service employee dictating how my health care is to be handled. They screw up everything they touch. I have yet to meet anyone happy with VA unless it is their only alternative, and I have had the opportunity to deal with a lot of veterans looking for options. Medicare touts their 3 percent overhead but routinely fails to mention the 10 to 25 percent they pay out each year in fradulent claims. My accounting professor taught me all expenses are a part of overhead ... at least they were back in the 60's and 70's. But then, the government accountants cook the books on unemployment figures to make them look better than reality.

4. I do not trust our government, and have not for about 20 or so years. Even George Washington would fib about cutting down the cherry tree in today's Washington DC.

Keep stocking up on can goods and ammo ... Much safer investment than the stock market.

Comment by rickb_georgia
on Not anti-gun, anti-stupid

August 20th 2009 13:19
I remember the day JFK was killed and often wonder where we would be today had that tradgedy not occured. I too fear that someone, sooner or later, is going to try something really stupid with our current President. I don't really care for the man but feel he will eventually seal his own fate with the voters and it should not be up to some idiot with a firearm or anything else for that matter. It is the sole right of the voters at the ballot box. Besides we are already in trouble but look at the succession, Biden then Pelosi ... both very scary thoughts to me ... sorta like bad, badder, and baddest.

Jeff ... I stopped watching FOX a while back. I have been watching CNN but there is a lot of political bias there as well ... seems to me to go both ways though, depending on the commentator. I get frustrated when only part of a story is represented which happens a lot, or the "facts" are not explained, or a quote that is taken from context.

Well, next time I am going to design the world and humanity and they will be perfect ... at least for me.

Hope you guys have a good day.