Affordable HealthCare Message from Magic Johnson

Wednesday, January 15th, 2014

Magic Johnson on Getting Covered: "It Saved My Life"

No matter how old you are or what your profession is, an injury or illness could happen to anyone at any time. Watch Magic Johnson talk about what having quality health care has meant to him — then pass it on.

Like Magic, our family has had Affordable Healthcare for years as part of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program.  If my kids were younger today, because of ACA they would be covered until 26 instead of us having to get them health insurance while they were still in college.
ACA may not be perfect, but it is a good start and if states like Oklahoma were cooperating instead of putting up roadblocks, we would be much farther along in covering those who don't have insurance. Republican Governors should be ashamed of themselves for putting petty party politics over the health and well being of the residents of their state.  Republicans have lost my total support for many reasons but their obstructionism on healthcare ranks right up there near the top.  The list is much shorter if I posted what I agree with the GOP on today as the top three items:

• _______
• _______
• _______

Absolutely nothing -- there is not one thing I can think of I agree with the backbiting, sold out GOP of today who have the empathy and credibility of a gnat.

Anyone thinking of voting for the obstructionist GOP who could care less about the vast majority of American people need to ask themselves why they have to lie so much to get their narrative out in public.  Is it because the facts are their enemy?   

If you cannot trust the GOP, why vote for them?  Help us elect people to office like Elizabeth Warren who put the American people first and big donors and Wall Street last.  This Country would be better off with more Elizabeth Warren's and less of the sell out Koch puppets who permeate the GOP of today!  

West Virginia Chemical Spill now into Ohio River -- Cincinnati Takes Precautions

Note to all:  Sorry I have not been posting on this blog but had a hard time shaking bronchitis, medicine made me groggy, tired, and spacey plus a lot going on the last six weeks including the Oklahoma Sooners beating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans -- one of the many giddy Sooner fans around the world about that win.  Feel great today and ready to get back to work.

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When deciding what to post, it wasn't hard as once again Speaker Boehner made a complete and total jerk of himself when he talked about there are too many regulations as relates to the chemical spill in West Virginia and current regulations need enforced.  I swear Boehner now has mush for brains or is it dollars for brains to make that type of stupid statement that no new regulations are required due to the chemical spill in WVA or regulations are not enforced from the Party that keeps cutting funding for the EPA.

"The issue is this: We have enough regulations on the books. And what the administration ought to be doing is actually doing their jobs," Boehner said at a press conference. "Why wasn't this plant inspected since 1991?"

I can answer why nothing is being done -- not enough manpower.  Since the GOP took over Congress for most of the time since 1994, it has been about increasing defense spending and gutting the EPA and other regulatory agencies in addition to the safety net for the elderly and poor.  What an idiot but then I have come to expect that from Republicans led by Boehner and McConnell -- blame President Obama for everything.  Only narrative counts for the GOP today as facts don't matter.

Found out today that the intake valves along the Ohio River that supplies the water for Cincinnati and surrounding areas are being prepared to shut down due to the chemical spill in West Virginia so the chemicals don't get into their water supply, but Boehner says "no new regulations required."  In case you didn't know it, Boehner comes from the Cincinnati area so this affects where he lives and their water supply but that's okay because he is one of many Republicans who refuse to criticize the Koch Brothers and their allies.

Here is what the EPA and OSHA had to say on inspections:

On the flip side, the spending deal offered only modest relief to cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency under sequestration. Republicans even bragged about successfully cutting the EPA's funding by 20 percent since 2010 when summarizing the bill.
The EPA announced plans last month to significantly reduce inspections over the next five years. The agency said the move was necessary for a more "effective allocation of resources" to focus on the biggest polluters. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also suffered under recent budget cuts. Due to low pay, the agency has struggled to hire and retain inspectors, resulting in so few workplace inspections that the average site will only face an inspection every 99 years.
OSHA officials had scheduled an inspection of the Freedom Industries facility in 2009 but canceled it because the facility didn't fall under the agency's special emphasis programs, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

West Virginia Democrats are being tepid with their response so the question is WHY?

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of thousands of West Virginians were still without safe tap water Monday after a spill reported on Thursday dumped chemicals used to clean coal into the water supply. While lawmakers from the state have issued supportive statements, the state's Democrats have been cautious saying whether there needs to be additional chemical safety regulations or oversight.

Here is what their Democrat Representative had to say and his spokesman and following that you see the reason for their tepid response:

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was asked whether he would pursue any legislative changes following the spill at a press conference Monday in West Virginia. "My committee ... will be exercising our oversight authority, but in due time," said Rahall. "We want to look at what happened, how we can keep it from happening again and if, God forbid, it were to happen again, how can our response be better than it was this time?" 

Rahall's spokesman told The Huffington Post that the congressman was traveling back to Washington on Monday afternoon and could not be reached for additional comment.
Rahall is already facing reelection pressure in a state known for its allegiance to the coal industry. He got some relief Monday, when the American Energy Alliance, a group backed by the Koch brothers and allied with coal interests, backed off on ads in the state accusing Rahall of supporting a tax on carbon. "Given the more pressing concern facing West Virginians as a result of the recent chemical spill in the Elk River, the American Energy Alliance is pulling our three week initiative to promote accountability for Rep. Nick Rahall over his vote to support a carbon tax," American Energy Alliance president Thomas Pyle said in a statement. "While we remain staunchly opposed to a carbon tax and committed to holding public officials accountable for the actions, now is not the time for this advertisement. Our efforts in the next several weeks in West Virginia are more rightly directed at helping the families in the affected region."

So the anti-middle class Koch Bros were already running ads against Rep Rahall hoping to defeat him because his support of carbon tax.  Now they back off because of the spill.  Imagine that -- Koch Bros are joined with the company that did the spill and now backing off.  Why not launch a full fledged investigation of why this plant had not inspection since 1991.  That doesn't take a genius to figure out they could pretty much do what they wanted over those years thanks to GOP gutting the EPA which got worse under Bush-Cheney from 2001 to 2007.  How many spills have happened that we didn't hear about?

Then there is Senator Manchin who as the former Governor, I would have thought would have have been beating the drums about this spill:

Sen. Joe Manchin's (D) office also was reluctant to say anything specific about potential new rules. "Right now we are focused on making sure West Virginians have water and we get through this crisis before we start proposing or thinking of proposing new regulations," Manchin spokesman Jonathan Kott told The Huffington Post. "Senator Manchin will certainly be looking into this matter and figuring how we prevent it from happening in the future." 

Manchin will speak Wednesday at an event on energy policy sponsored by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry group representing coal companies. His spokesman confirmed the event is still scheduled.

At least Senator Jay Rockefeller, the other WVA Democrat Senator came through calling for an investigation:  

The state's other Democratic U.S. senator, Jay Rockefeller, issued a statement on Friday calling for a U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigation into the spill. He said he was "profoundly troubled" by the disaster and wanted the board to determine the cause. The CSB has announced that it will investigate, and Rockefeller has followed up with a call for additional funding for the board. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about additional rules or regulations.

How about enforcing the rules and regulations already on the books and giving the Environmental Protection Agency the money and manpower they need?  Is this why the GOP has been so adamant about destroying the EPA so that their big donors like the Koch's get a pass on chemical spills?

My first thought when I saw this chemical spill was what is the connection to the Koch Brothers and I was not disappointed as sure enough those chemicals come from Koch Industries -- same group that want no regulations over chemicals used in oil and gas and now can add coal to the list:

A chemical spill in West Virginia last week cut off access to safe tap water across nine counties, and although it involved a chemical used by the coal industry, state officials have been pushing back strongly against suggestions by reporters that the disaster had anything to do with the state’s dominant industry — coal. 

However, the fact is that the chemical industry is also very important to the West Virginia economy, and it is heavily entwined with the coal industry, which requires a substantial quantity of chemicals at various stages before it gets from the mine to its point of use. 

Clearly, the spill — which affected 300,000 people and shut down restaurants, schools, hospitals and hundreds of other businesses and institutions — is closely related to the state’s dependency on the coal industry, despite protestations to the contrary. 

That, in turn, undermines the coal industry’s insistent positioning of coal as a “clean” fuel. While new technology has reduced pollutants from burning coal, everything around the burn point is still status quo, from destructive mining to fly ash disposal. 

With that scenario in mind, let’s take a look at how the disaster is playing out in the local paper, the Charleston Gazette (highly recommended: follow reporter Ken Ward, Jr. on Twitter, @Kenwardjr). 

The West Virginia chemical spill and the Koch connection 

The industrialist Koch brothers have become notorious for their holdings in coal and other fossil fuels, their aggressive promotion of global warming denial and their efforts to monkeywrench environmental progress. 

What hasn’t garnered as much attention is their involvement in secondary industries on which the coal industry depends. 

Charleston Gazette reporter David Gutman tracked down the Koch connection to the chemical spill in an article over the weekend titled “Freedom executive Kennedy had felonies.” 

The full article is worth a read for the insights it provides about the top executives for Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the spill, but the relevant detail involves the source of the company’s chemicals. 

The spill involved Crude MCHM, a foaming agent used to clean coal. According to Gutman, that’s not the only coal-related chemical stored at Freedom Industries. The company is also a distributor for a line of coal processing chemicals called Talon, which is a product of the Koch company Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC.

Read More at Triple Pundit 

Was looking for the spill from the Koch Industries plant in AR into a river that goes into MS and am appalled at the number of chemicals dumped into our waterways in middle America in addition to what I was look for in Arkansas.  What is wrong with our Congress who sold out to chemical manufactures over the American people?  Don't they have families who could be harmed?

Found this report from Iowa which should scare everyone in this Country:

The Environment Iowa report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged to America’s waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2010, the most recent data available. 

Major findings of the report include:

•    The Beaver Channel, which runs through Clinton, IA along the Mississippi River, is ranked 39th in the country for discharges of cancer-causing chemicals, at 6,912 pounds in 2010. Many industrial operations processing food, chemical, and other products in the area have caused pollution problems along the channel for years.
•    After the Mississippi, the Des Moines River is 2nd in the state for toxic releases, with 1,140,998 pounds. Following in order are the Iowa River with 981,225 pounds, the Cedar River with 721,163 pounds, the Raccoon River with 384,042 pounds, Silver Creek with 364,758 pounds, then Hecker Creek with 340,668 pounds. There are 47 Iowa waterways for which some toxic dumping was reported in the 2010 TRI data.
•    The Mississippi River is ranked 2nd for total toxic discharges nationally, with 1,874,430 pounds of toxics dumped in Iowa specifically and 12.7 million pounds dumped from facilities all along its course through 10 states. The Missouri River is 7th nationally, with nearly 4.9 million pounds dumped along 5 states through which it flows, 104,311 of those pounds are dumped into the Missouri River in Iowa.
•    Roquette America Inc. was the biggest polluter in Iowa, dumping 1.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Mississippi. Roquette America Inc was the 24th biggest polluter in the country, followed closely by another Iowa facility, Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. at 25th.
•    Three of Iowa’s watersheds ranked in top 30 for most polluted in the nation. The Blackbird-Soldier watershed along the Nebraska border ranked 6th, with 4.7 million pounds. Coming in at 27th was the Flint-Henderson watershed along the border with Illinois, 1.8 million pounds. In 30th place was the Lower Iowa watershed, which includes Iowa City, at 1.7 million pounds.

The report summarizes discharges of cancer-causing chemicals, chemicals that persist in the environment, and chemicals with the potential to cause reproductive problems ranging from birth defects to reduced fertility. Among the toxic chemicals discharged by facilities are arsenic, mercury, and benzene. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and reproductive disorders. 

Steve Roe, the President of the Raccoon River Watershed Association noted another reason water quality is so important “half a million people depend on water from the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers for their drinking water.” 

This is what I was looking for when I found the Iowa report -- take a look at this and tell me the Koch Brothers and their various tentacles are good for America -- they are systematically destroying our environment and political process with their billions of dollars they contribute to Republicans and the hard right who do their bidding:

The producers at “Koch Brothers Exposed” have another documentary piece on the environmental and health impact of operations run by Koch Industries. This piece examines the toxic waste water pouring out of a Koch-owned Georgia Pacific plant near Crossett, Arkansas — which residents say is boosting cancer rates and killing people in the community. 

Watch on and consider the implications of a “wholesale rollback” of environmental regulations that leading Presidential candidates are proposing — with the backing of the Kochs and the Koch-fueled Tea Party.

It is well documented that the Koch Bros are funding ALEC who are getting bad laws passed in our states.  A lot of Koch money is also funneled through the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) which was the forerunner to the Tea Party established by the Kochs, Roger Ailes at Fox News, and Karl Rove to ignite a grassroots campaign to take out the Democrat control of Congress and win the 2012 Presidential election for Republicans.  Difference between AFP and Tea Party is that AFP is more educated and work directly for the Koch's while Tea Party is most hard right social conservatives and evangelicals who believe no government is best.  What happened was Koch sponsored groups and allies spent billions of dollars in races across the Country in 2010/2012 but couldn't take the Senate and most importantly could not defeat President Obama in 2012 as he was handily reelected in spite of the false reporting on Fox News and other media outlets.   Koch Bros are angry and their Republican puppets are accusing President Obama of everything you can imagine.  It has gotten ludicrous and once again some Republicans look like idiots with their responses and attacks against the President.   We need a huge effort in 2014 to kick the do-nothing Republican obstructionists out of the House leadership and restore some common sense to Government.  We need cuts to the Defense Department and increased funding for the EPA and OSHA so they can go after the likes of the Koch Bros not with a slap on the wrist but hard nosed sanctions and fines.  Money talks and the Koch's and their allies like the Chamber and oil and gas have used their money to buy members of Congress to make sure a lot of regulations cannot be enforced on chemicals. It is up to us to give President Obama a Congress he can work with to make sure the EPA and OSHA are given the money and resources to see that the regulations are enforced and people put in jail for destroying our water and our air.   Thanks to the Koch Bros,  I have become a full fledged environmentalist instead of a conservationist. We need to protect the environment for our children and grandchildren -- we owe them that.  The only way to do it is to defeat the bought and paid for Koch/Chamber members of Congress starting with Speaker Boehner!

Military Site for Voting Gets Redesigned!

Can I say FINALLY?  As someone who  ended up getting involved in the Florida fiasco in 2000 thanks to a very good friend who also was someone I worked with, it is great to see the redesign.  In 2000 when the military absentee ballots were tossed out in Hillsborough County, called up an old friend in DC who got me access to the locator so the military who had their ballots tossed could be notified their votes didn't count. When someone asks why I would have trouble supporting Hillary Clinton can say truthfully, it is her husband. He had all the mililtary locators shut down after the Washington Post did an article on an airman stationed in England who had his vote denied.  Will admit today that I leaked the info to the military writer at the Washington Post who wrote the article. Part of the fault is with the postal service who stamped the outside ballots when they hit Miami.  Military have ten days after the election for their ballots to get to their home of record board of elections to be counted and they are NEVER stamped.  It was one big mess added to by the Hillsborough County head of the Board of Elections tossing them because of the date on the outside envelope even though they were there on time and the USPS was not supposed to have put a date stamp on them coming from overseas.  Most Election Boards in the Country ignored the outside stamp knowing they were not supposed to be stamped, but not Hillsborough County. Will never forget it and since then have seen other instances of military having trouble not only with the site but being denied their right to vote in elections because an election board secretary gets the ballots out to them too late for them to vote, they don't get the ballot back in time, or send them the wrong ballot.   Military need to be able to log in and vote on line after a dual sign in with the voting officer to prevent any fraud or chance of their ballot not being counted.  Voting on line and no more snail mail would make this even better. So happy when I got this email to see they have finally gotten the message and revamped the site: FVAP Launches Redesigned FVAP.gov WebsiteNew site provides customized voter experience by incorporating usability study results ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) released its newly redesigned website today in an effort to provide the best voting assistance possible for absent Service members, their families and overseas citizens, and those that support them. Based on feedback from usability studies, the new site provides information tailored to the user, with improved navigation for clarity. Frequent visitors should go to FVAP.gov and update bookmarks accordingly.  Key changes include:  - “Voters Start Here” and State drop-down menus to the online assistants for completing the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) and the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) - Tab drop-down menus that include contact information for FVAP, election officials and Voting Assistance Officers - A search feature to help navigation to any information previously utilized We recognize that Uniformed Service members, overseas citizens, Voting Assistance Officers and election officials rely on reference information found at FVAP.gov. We hope the changes prove helpful to those voting absentee or assisting others. Please let us know if there is more information we can provide, or if you have any issues or suggestions. ###  For more information on FVAP or assistance with the absentee voting process, visit FVAP.gov, call FVAP at 1-800-438-VOTE or DSN 425-1584 (CONUS)/312-425-1584 (OCONUS), or email vote@fvap.gov. Remember, you also can contact your unit or installation voting assistance officers for assistance during any step of the process. Facebook.com/DoDFVAP @FVAP This is great news for our military.  These men and women fight for us so we have a right to vote in fair and open elections yet time and time again the military have been denied their right to vote.  Finally the Department of Defense is headed by a man who understands what it is like to be in the military and serve on foreign soil in this case in Vietnam.  Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is making a difference and am so happy that President Obama not only nominated him but stuck with him when the Obstructionist Republican Senators tried to derail his nomination.  He is a breathe of fresh air at The Pentagon!

Republican War on the Unemployed, Poor and Education

When doing the research for this article, totally forgot about the 'chastity training' that wasted $250M of our tax dollars in the Welfare Reform Bill signed by Clinton.  If you count up all the waste on programs that were useless over the years including the War on Drugs, the deficit might be cut to zero.  Feel good titles don't make programs good programs.  

One program that I thought was outstanding was 'Reading is Fundamental (RIF)' which focused on teaching children to read in the public schools plus encouraging parents to read to their kids.  Today that is a program you hear nothing about.  It was replaced by the bi-partisan "No Child Left Behind" which is still being attacked by Republican Conservatives in the States.  It needed some tweaks but it was a good idea that Senator Ted Kennedy fully supported along with President Bush.

My grandchildren are read to by my kids all the time -- it shows up in how well they are doing in school. My son brings a book home every time he travels and has been doing it since his son was very young. RIF was worth every nickel because reading is the basis for all that we do throughout life from reading a newspaper or book to reading recipe's to reading how to do something you have never done around your home and the list is endless.  No child should be left behind when it comes to reading because it is something that stays with them throughout their whole life.  That also means they need start to the day with breakfast to be able to do their best and be able to concentrate.  If you are hungry, concentration is hard.

Worked many book fairs when my kids were in school, bought a lot of books, and now my daughter is doing the same with my two granddaughters.  Kids love going to book fairs at their school so they can pick out a book, take it home, show their parents, and have it read to them or the child read the book to their parents.  At one school my children attended, we had a fund so every child in the school could buy a book at the book fair.  Remember one little girl in first grade who was in a foster home with her siblings leaving the book fair clutching her book.  Later that morning when I worked with her on her reading, we read the book, and she gave me a hug to thank me as I helped her pick it out and paid for her book.  All these years later it still touches my heart and wonder how I was ever in the same party with these bunch of heartless Republicans today because I believe in public education and helping those that need the help the most.

You want to end the cycle of poverty?  Give these young kids a good education.  Instead many red states like mine are cutting back on education to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.  In our case, the Court ruled the tax cut was against the Constitution so now Oklahoma Republicans want to change the way judges are chosen.

Looking back at 1996 and the War on Poverty signed into law by Clinton and pushed by the GOP, it was actually a culmination of the conservative attacks against the poor starting with Barry Goldwater's run for President.  President Bush tried to use the words 'compassionate' conservative to describe himself because unlike a lot of conservatives he believed in helping the poor and those less fortunate. Shame he had Dick Cheney as his VP.   This country went from the War on Poverty of the 60's started by LBJ to end poverty to undermining of the War on Poverty 50 years later by the GOP by cutting food stamps, unemployment benefits, and welfare payments treating the poor like second class citizens.

One thing that bothered me out of the Agriculture Committee in the House in 2013 chaired by Frank Lucas was the drastic cut to food stamps while keeping most of the subsidies to the big farmers some of who are in Congress.  Lucas subsidies are small compared to other members some who get over $1M. Committee chairman Lucas said that the bill’s proposed cuts to SNAP “won’t take a calorie off the plate of anyone who needs help.”  Something is wrong with this picture when a Chairman who receives subsidies says cuts to SNAP food program for the poor won't hurt them.  My comeback is that all farm subsidies should be discontinued for any farmer making over $75,000 a year.  The very idea that the US Taxpayer pays for subsidies to some of the big corporate farms and members of Congress makes me furious.

To this day, I never figured out President Clinton's going along with the GOP led by Speaker Gingrich to undermine the safety net for the poor.  Not everyone on food stamps or assistance is a 'Welfare Queen' as declared by Ronald Reagan.  One big problem at the state level more then any welfare fraud has been the inept Department of Human Services in some states like Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Florida for starters.

Oklahoma DHS was so bad it had to pay $6M to a New York advocacy group who exposed how bad they were so would expect that now they are fixing the problems.  WRONG!  In this article from The Oklahoman, it details the first report of the independent group which shows DHS needs help to improve child welfare practices which they were told to fix by the Legislature.  Guess they couldn't handle the fixes:

THREE out-of-state experts who are monitoring the state's child welfare reform efforts rapped the Department of Human Services pretty good in their first progress report Wednesday. The report also included this message for the Legislature and the general public: Their help is also needed.

Think Progress has the history of the War on Poverty from LBJ to the current time which spans 50 years.  Still trying to figure out why Republican Conservatives were and are so against those less fortunate and what is their objection to giving them a helping hand.  Makes no sense.  But it made no sense to me that in 1996, President Clinton gave into Speaker Gingrich and Republicans:

In 1996, President Clinton signed the law that did away with guaranteed income assistance for poor families with children and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The program provided states with federal block grants to support income assistance and other services for low-income families with children and included a “work first” requirement. 

The GOP-backed measure was based on the principle that “Having children out of wedlock is wrong — not simply economically unwise for the individuals involved or a financial burden on society, but morally wrong.” Even Clinton’s Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Donna E. Shalala, fully embraced the argument in a comment that stigmatized single mothers, telling Newsweek, “I don’t like to put this in moral terms, but I do believe that having children out of wedlock is just wrong,” In fact, the original bill “appropriated $250 million over five years for ‘chastity training‘ for poor single mothers.”

In the lead-up to today's attacks on the safety net, we had former MA Governor Romney running for President when he talked about The 47 percent at a fundraiser for wealthy donors in FL.

The height of the GOP opposition came during Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, when the candidate argued that 47 percent of Americans are “dependent upon government.” Speaking to donors in the days following the election, the former Massachusetts governor echoed the arguments of the 1960s, speculating that Obama won because he was “very generous” to his base. “The President’s campaign,” he said, “focused on giving targeted groups a big gift—so he made a big effort on small things. Those small things, by the way, add up to trillions of dollars.” 

Romney’s running mate, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), authored budgets that would make extreme cuts in the social safety net laid down by Johnson’s War on Poverty, and disproportionately impact women and people of color. For instance, under Ryan’s leadership, the GOP budget would repeal the Affordable Care Act, a law that provides health care security for millions of working poor Americans by expanding Medicaid for individuals and families earning above 138 percent of the federal poverty line, push more than 12 million Americans out of the food stamps program, and secure steep reductions for child care, Head Start, job training, Pell Grants, housing, energy assistance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and TANF. The majority of those who rely on these programs are the groups who were the targets of attacks on the War on Poverty over the last half-century.

Just when I thought the Republican Party couldn't get any dumber after the 2012 Presidential campaign when it comes to the unemployed, I have been proven wrong once again with the latest out from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on how Republicans need to spin their lack of support for the unemployment bill.  Sitting here shaking my head realizing the GOP can be that dumb!

House GOP Issues Unemployment Insurance Talking PointsBy Matt FullerPosted at 5:52 p.m. on Jan. 7 

House Republican leadership sent out four talking points Tuesday for GOP members who may be worried that Democrats have some traction on the unemployment insurance issue. 

Here is the full memo: 

KEY POINTS:  EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE EXTENSION

• For every American out of work, it’s a personal crisis for them and their family. That’s why House Republicans remain focused on creating jobs and growing the economy.

• Dozens of House-passed jobs bills remain sitting in the Democratic-run Senate awaiting action, including the SKILLS Act which helps long-term unemployed get training often needed to re-enter the workforce.

• Washington has lost its priorities if it’s more focused on making unemployment easier to tolerate than it is getting people back to work and restoring independence all together.

• If Democrats can produce a plan that is fiscally responsible as well as does something to actually create jobs, the House will give it proper consideration. Until then, our focus will remain where it belongs: on creating jobs and putting Americans back to work.

The memo also provided a link to the website of Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, where members can read “more details about House-passed jobs bills awaiting action in the Democratic-run Senate.” 

Anyone with a brain knows that any jobs bills that passed the House left a lot to be desired like everything but leave it to the GOP to spin a narrative devoid of facts.  Voters need to realize that this worthless GOP House cares more about making the President look bad then getting anything done.

Suggested on Twitter today:

Think it is time Congress got paid by the hour instead of a flat rate.  US Treas could save money w/so few days GOP House works!  

Big question is why are they paid full time for part-time work?  The GOP House plans to work less days this year then last year when they were the least productive House in history.  Now they are out to break that record.

If you are in a Republican Congressional District, please help get out the vote to oust some of these worthless Congressman taking our tax dollars and doing little!

The Clean Energy Economy is Working!

When I received this email from The White House, it struck a chord as the home we bought in Yucaipa, CA, in 1982 had solar panels on the red tile roof to provide all the hot water we needed.  We had a 30 gallon back-up hot water tank that was barely used except for a few nights when the temperatures in the foothills were going below freezing.  The rest of the year we would be on 100% solar hot water with an 80 gallon hot water tank.  Our gas bills in the summer were $4.50 and that was fees.  It was a brand new home with the solar hot water that sold us on the home over another one that was similar with no solar hot water.  We were looking to buy after moving from Beavercreek, Ohio, when my husband was transferred from Wright-Patterson AFB to Norton AFB to work on the M-X Missile and Minuteman programs.  My favorite place to live was Southern California for a host of reasons.  Going back East was not my idea of a great transfer -- considered it the worst ever to end up in Massachusetts where they were still heating with fuel oil which came in big trucks to fill up this huge tank with the huge bill.  I grew up in a home in Ohio with natural gas.

We went from energy efficiency with clean water from our taps that came from mountains also sold by Arrowhead Water as bottled water to having to buy water because the water in that area was contaminated since their lakes were contaminated by dumping of chemicals from their manufacturing over the years. Less then impressed not to mention the people were rude.  All I wanted to do was go back to our home in California and forget I ever knew Massachusetts.

Funny thing was when we eventually got the transfer to Kelly AFB in San Antonio after a stop back at Wright-Patt, I ran into more women whose husbands had been stationed at Fort Devins who hated that area as much as I did -- not one person liked living there.  They didn't even have cable TV or video stores in the area like we had in SoCal and an archaic school system on top of everything else with small little groceries unless you drove 40 miles which I did.  Dukakis may be the worst education governor I have ever seen in the states where we have lived.  My daughter in 3rd grade was learning what she had in 2nd grade in CA.  Then there was the very old school which had the old floors like I had when I went to school before they built the new elementary in my small home town and we went there to school.

You cannot fathom my shock at going to fuel oil from natural gas, solar, and cheap electricity we had in Yucaipa.  Our average summer bill was $15 combined and our winter bill was $79 a month combined in Yucaipa. We went to over $600 a month in MA for inefficiency -- you could say I was less then happy which is an understatement.  Went from a laundry room off my kitchen to laundry in the basement where half the floor was dirt so I went to the laundromat -- not about to go down those rickety steps to a basement that flooded when the snow melted or it rained.

That was 1986 and we were paying $1400 a month rent -- only house we could find that could take our furniture which was an updated (their words) farm house.  No one we knew even thought of energy efficiency in that area.  We had little to no insulation in the house, couldn't use the fireplace -- too dangerous so we ran the hot water radiators with fuel oil.  When I asked about natural gas, the owner laughed in my face.  It was hard to take Massachusetts on many levels with energy efficiency being one of them.   That night at the end of May when the movers pulled out after loading the truck, I told my husband I am not spending one more night in this ... state so we drove to New York.

Our automatic windows quit working on our station wagon that spent most of the winter in a damp garage never leaving it because of the ice in the circular driveway.  The lady at the toll booth said not to open my door but to roll down the window to pay the toll -- I opened up the door, threw the money at her and told her to take the whole archaic state of MA and shove it!  Got back in my car and drove into New York with my kids laughing like crazy.  It was funny hearing my older two tell their Dad what had happened.

It took all these years with Republicans killing the solar energy credits to get a utility company which believes in clean energy here in Norman, OK.  My average bill a month for the whole year is $95 for OGE and ONG combined.  Getting natural gas back from all electric homes was awesome when we moved to this home in 2001.  Add to that OGE's clean energy efforts to keep from building more coal fired power plants by taking stimulus money and implementing the Smart Grid with Smart Meters across over 90% of Oklahoma in less time then they predicted along with installing wind mill farms across the state has made me one happy consumer.

Norman is on wind energy power today -- started with the University of Oklahoma and then spread to the City Norman.  Feel so fortunate to live in Norman where clean energy is supported by the residents. I am on 100% wind power and love the Smart Meter in the summer time which has cut my energy costs here.   Next up in becoming energy efficient is the sun porch with putting in new windows and a door. Already have done the insulation to the sun porch which helped a lot but now needs new windows and door.  Next winter plastic will not be over the windows to keep the cold out and the last several days it has been very cold.

Fully support the Clean Energy initiatives.  It is great to see the progress that is being made.  Don't think it is too much for all of us to ask for cleaner air, cleaner water, and less cost for energy we use every day by becoming more energy efficient.

Every month when I pay our utility bill from OGE, I donate to a fund to help people who cannot afford their electricity.   Was asked last year by a Republican I know after I said I donated every month to the fund, "Why?"  Went on to say the people taking advantage are losers and don't deserve help.  Told him what I thought of his statement and now he never comes near me.  All that pent-up anger at the selfish, self-centered, obnoxious, arrogant GOP came out.  I wouldn't want to talk to me again either.

The very idea that we are not supposed to help those less fortunate goes against everything I believe. When you have to decide between food, medicine, or heat because you are laid off, work for the minimum wage, or you get so little from social security then there is something wrong with the system. The vast majority of people are not unemployed because they want to be.  A lot of people who are working a full-time job at the minimum wage cannot afford everything which a travesty in this Country. We have lower ranking military who are on food stamps because they have a family to feed.  That's just wrong.  Will continue to contribute every month as many Oklahomans do across this State to help others.  It is not the average Oklahoman, it is our stupid elected officials who are sent to DC who are the problem.  Oklahoma is very giving state as we show in times of natural disasters -- shame our cheapskate elected officials missed the boat.

This news is great for America and American families from the Obama Administration initiatives for clean energy now we all need to do our part in making it even better!

The Clean Energy Economy in Three Charts

Dan Utech

January 06, 2014 

05:10 PM EST

Over the last five years, American inventors and investors have delivered significant progress in developing and deploying key clean energy technologies, supported by Administration policies.  Electricity production from solar and wind has doubled.  Our cars and trucks go further on a gallon of gasoline, saving families money at the pump.  And in 2012, U.S. carbon pollution fell to its lowest level in nearly 20 years. The simple fact is that key clean energy technology costs are continuing to come down, and these technologies are producing more American energy than ever before.

Wind Energy

In 2012, wind was America’s largest source of new electricity generation capacity, accounting for 43 percent of all new installations. Altogether the United States has deployed about 60 gigawatts of wind power — enough to power 15 million homes. This growth in wind deployment has spurred more U.S. manufacturing.  A recent DOE wind market report estimates 72 percent of the wind turbine equipment installed in the United States last year was made by domestic manufacturers, nearly tripling from 25 percent in 2006-2007. And according to the American Wind Energy Association, by 2012 there were well over 80,000 workers employed in wind-related jobs in the U.S. 

Supported by Administration investments, generation of electricity from wind and solar has more than doubled, and the costs of solar and wind technologies have come down significantly.  

Solar Energy

Since 2008, the price of solar panels has fallen by 75 percent, and solar installations have increased by a factor of 13. Administration support has helped to launch some largest solar projects in the world, and renewable energy permitting on federal lands has gone from virtually zero to nearly 50 approved solar, wind and geothermal utility-scale projects on public lands, since 2009, including associated transmission corridors and infrastructure to connect to established power grids. When built, these projects add up to more than 13,300 megawatts – enough energy to power 4.6 million homes and support more than 19,000 construction and operations jobs.

See White House website for details on Better Vehicles that are meeting clean energy standards as the third leg of the clean energy initiative.

Oklahoma Sooners Beat Alabama Crimson Tide in Classic Match-up in the Sugar Bowl

When I was thinking about what I was going to post for my first post of the New Year, I decided to go with the Sooners.  It seems a lot of us fans are still giddy from the win over Alabama Thursday night and that Sooner Magic is definitely back with Sooner football after winning the last two games where the Sooners were the under dog -- OSU and Alabama (17 points).   Have ordered these shirts for the family which you will see us wearing in the months ahead.

The win over Alabama was against who most sports people considered the #1 team in the Country who had won the National Championship that last three out of four years and would be in the Championship game except for one little missed field goal at the end of regulation in the Iron Bowl against Auburn which Auburn ran back for a touchdown with no time left on the clock.  Dumb call since they could have played for a tie and won in overtime but arrogance won out which contributed to the missed very long field goal by Alabama.

That led to the Sugar Bowl match-up of the two storied programs -- The University of Oklahoma Sooners of Norman, OK, and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide from Tuscaloosa, AL.  These two programs combined had the most bowl wins of any match-up in a bowl game.  Oklahoma under Bob Stoops has now won all four BCS Bowls and a National Championship -- the only program in College Football to do so which is a record that will stand forever as the BCS is going away next year. Prior to the Sugar Bowl, Coach Bob Stoops was 2-0 against Alabama in the regular season and Thursday night he made it 3-0.  No one can downplay that OU was a 17-point underdog to Alabama but some of us crazy Sooner fans still picked the Sooners to win!  No crow being eaten in this home!

Sooners with Sugar Bowl Trophy after Win Over Alabama on Thursday Night

Was Alabama disappointed to be in the Sugar Bowl?  Yes but it is not like they got a lesser bowl like the Cotton Bowl where the payout is a little less then $3.5M versus the $17M a university makes for their Conference in a BCS Bowl like the Sugar.  Were the Sooners ecstatic to be in the Sugar Bowl after being beat out for the BCS by Northern Illinois last year for Sugar?  Absolutely!

You could hear and feel the excitement with the players, coaches, and fans on on talk radio, message boards and here in Norman in the stores.  We had been the underdog to OSU in Stillwater on the 5th of December on a miserable, cold icy Saturday but Sooner Magic showed up as our back-up quarterback Blake Bell led us to Bedlam Victory in regulation which led to the talk of OU not having one quarterback for next weeks between Bedlam and the Sugar Bowl.

BTW, I am sitting here in my dominance shirt from the Bedlam game -- first time we have bought Bedlam shirts but it was too good to pass up the dominance ones when your university was the underdog on the road in a hostile environment.  The shirts tell the story of just how dominant the Sooners have been over OSU -- 84-17-7.  Sooner Magic made its return in Stillwater and stayed with the Sooners through the Sugar Bowl and into Saturday's win of our Men's Basketball at University Texas for the first time in eight years.  Are we giddy as Sooner fans?  You betcha as we continue to watch the replays of the game on ESPN, buy our Sooner Magic Bowl gear, and start counting the days until our first game in the fall.  In between we will be following recruiting, spring practice, the Spring Red White Game, and the NFL draft.

When word started leaking out Saturday night on the 5th of December, that OU had accepted an invite from the Sugar Bowl Committee, the message boards blew up.  The negative nellies came out in force saying we had no chance again just like before beldlam -- media wasn't any better.  OU Thursday night was serving up crow in the French Quarter after the game led by our football alumni from the game. Sooners Adrian Peterson of the Vikings celebrates the victory with the fans.

In the Bowl Pick em's I participated in I placed the confidence points high for the Sooners only putting Florida State confidence points higher.  One of my good friends is Seminole fan so we pull for each other's teams except when we meet.  OU is 3-0 against FSU under Stoops.   On Thursday afternoon I picked the Sooners to win on one of our pay sites.  Hope the people who called me an idiot liked the taste of crow!

Barry Trammel of The Oklahoman started off their coverage after the win with "Oh What a Knight!" as Trevor Knight who had won the quarterback competition in the summer came back from injuries to lead the Sooners to victory.  There are so many heroes of the night but #1 for me was the Mike Stoops defense who played lights out.  OU sacked their quarterback seven times versus 11 all year.  Close behind was the Sooner Offense and Special teams -- come to think of it -- all three working together as a team gave the Sooners the victory.  They were determined to prove a lot of people wrong and they did just that by being a 17 point underdog and winning by 14 a swing of 31 points.  Great night to be a Sooner!   Bourbon Street was alive after the game with BOOMER answered by SOONER from Sooner fans celebrating.  

The Sooner senior class gave it their all this year putting everything on the field game after game but Thursday, they were the leaders and were encouraging the team the whole game.  This senior class bought the Sugar Bowl Trophy back to Norman.   Millard who was hurt during one of the games this season was one of Captains who made the call for the coin flip -- he won the toss for the Sooners and the rest is history.

Boomer Sooner!

Merry Christmas 2013

Our family would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014.  

Haven't posted on this blog much during December due to family visiting plus my bronchitis which is finally over.  Been finishing up shopping and getting packages in the mail for my granddaughters in the Denver area.  Over the weekend my youngest daughter, Heather, was here from Denver -- we spent time baking Christmas cookies and celebrating an early Christmas.  She has been helping me bake Christmas cookies from the time she was little.  We always baked Santa cookies on Christmas Eve and the three kids would decorate them.   Still using the same cream cheese sugar cookie recipe I discovered when we lived in Yucaipa, CA, back in the 80's.  

In California we would cut down our own tree as the tree farm was located right next to an orange grove.  Now I have the same type of tree we used to cut down but it is artificial as cut trees here are not a kind I like.    With my youngest daughter here the tree was finished -- this year it is a nostalgic tree with unbreakable ornaments after finding the boxes of unbreakable ornaments from when the kids were little until now and thought it would be neat to have tree with ornaments from down through the years including my OU ornaments -- bought one today to add to the collection.  

Our Christmas Tree (Heather's picture)

Christmas Village on German Buffet

Have a wonderful holiday season!