WHO IS AARP PROTECTING ?

A couple of years ago, I had automobile policies and home owner's insurance with AARP. I also remember having a Medicare Supplement policy. I am not saying the insurance was bad, but my personal experience is that it is not what it should be.

I received a notice that my insurance was going up steeply because of my driving record. I know that my record has been clean for many years so I went down to the Motor Vehicle Department and bought a print-out of my record. I mailed it to AARP and heard nothing from them. I found lower cost insurance with a higher rated company.

I also received a notice that my home owner's insurance was going up because of my past record of claims, and I haven't had a claim for about 12 years and then it was a minor fence repair that didn't cost them even 1/3 of one year's premium.

AARP who is in business for helping the mature of age, is doing business with insurance firms who like premiums but don't like claims. No different from the others, not a snip.

AARP, has TV ads almost every day, often showing someone holding up the Medicare Supplement card and sounding like AARP has something other companies do not. In fact, Medicare gives all the rules for Supplement plans such as the popular plan F, and it really doesn't matter which company you get insurance from. My point is that their advertising sounds misleading and if they really were in business to care for older people, they wouldn't waste so many millions on advertising and rather pass that cost onto their members. They don't need the kickbacks from insurance companies or to pimp for them. That's my two cents.

Lastly, I was an AARP member and did not feel like membership there bought me anything. As a member, I don't remember my opinion being solicited. I quit my membership there as well.

There is something wrong when AARP loses my autos, home, medical and my membership.

The Tiger and His Fellow Americans

Finally a wannabe terrorist pushed Tiger out of the media feeding frenzy.

The Tiger episode reminds me of waiting and crawling on the freeway only to find an accident and an army of gawking jerks whose life must be so boring to cause the hardship of others to be the highlight of their day.

I suppose if I asked "why" to some of those who held up traffic, burning thousands of gallons of gasoline, they would tell me that they always slow down and curiously watch the accident scene. Their reasoning is that they always do it, therefore they believe that excuse should suffice. I'm willing to bet the farm that not one would have considered the feelings of those who had the accident that hundreds of their neighbors are staring. I bet it never had been given an iota of thought that they caused neighbors to lose time, money and precious renewable resources waiting on the freeway. I'm sure they never considered that someone on the road was on the way to a hospital.

This gives added impetus to my theory that we love and rally to our country but actually, in the aggregate, we don't give a crap about each other.

Now everyone loved Tiger until he cheated; until he was found to be poly-amorous, until some women came out of the woodwork and traded his marriage, his reputation, his kids, for their 15 minutes of fame and probably 50 silver coins. After all, there is some interesting analogy as Caesar was Brutus's benefactor, Christ was Judas's benefactor and Tiger was the benefactor of those who could not hold a quarter between their knees. I stand by Dante who ranked a crime against ones benefactor as deserving of the 8th ring of the 8th chasm of hell.

And the media stressed that Tiger represented himself as a family man with family first being his motto, his way of life and that is the reason why the ladies of TV most all with the same look, the same do's, act so incensed. Was he supposed to represent himself as a philanderer? Duh! for a billion dollars, I'd even call myself a Catholic or Mormon.

I wish Tiger's wife would have told the media, lawyers, and all those who gawk and feed off the hardship of others to ....... well, I can't say it here. I wish she talked this out with him and if she decided to get divorced, that the two of them first try to negotiate it. I wish Tiger would have blogged that it was none of the rest of the world's damn business same as I wished Bill Clinton just said, "none of your damn business."

Sure, Tiger cheated and I will not judge him. It is not my business. It is his wife's business. Yes, it should have made the news and then died in favor of, let me spell it, R-E-A-L N-E-W-S.

Bad Products & Bad Politics

Let's say that the XYZ Super Store Chain was importing a food product from China or some other country that shows their unbridled love for America and the product is really terrible. It has no nutritional value, is in a package with too much air giving a larger appearance, makes or alludes to health claims that are not really genuine, and uses the sing song advertising language to mislead. An example of such language is "you may very well save your life by using this product" It means next to nothing but sounds like a life saver.

Now should a celebrity take money to promote this? Should a network accept advertising that misleads? Does first amendment rights trump outright lies? Should the FDA take this product off the shelves? Should the firm be made to correct its packaging, its words, its claims? Of course we should be protected from fraud.

So why do we allow the fraud of blatant lies be advertised and then we hear that it is paid for by some lofty sounding group with a name that sounds like it is in the public interest, that it is
for good citizenship, that is for honesty for the people? The ad is replete with lies and the "paid for by" firm is nothing but a front.

The Harv View says that we see often see through much of these lies during an election campaign with the Swift Boater scam being reported as a major exception. but I have heard a constant barrage of commercials, that I'll bet anything are paid for by the insurance firms and pharmaceutical firms, using a front name sounding so patriotic, and using a soft spoken woman's voice, hoping people will believe the outrageous lies. They well know that if Sarah Palin can say what ever fantasy she wants and be revered by here flock of Evangelist followers, certainly a multip-million dollar campaign can sway public opinion. Oh yes, I could be wrong here, but that's how it looks.

I am amazed that there is not a revolt demanding Medicare for all and nothing less. We are letting the orchestration of Republicans and Pharma and Insurance firms have their way with us even if thousands and thousands of Americans suffer and many die. Let's never vote for a candidate who will not swear an oath to take no donations from lobbyists.

Whey do we tend to love our country and not give a damn about each other?

Republicans in 2009, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska

When I was a young man, as far back as high school and into college years that it was the war cry of my peers that they would not consider politics as it is too dirty. I just paused a moment thinking that in the Bronx, the high school had it share of pool room hustlers, horse players, drug users, womanizers, petty crooks, and gang-bangers. Now can you imagine that they almost universally conclude that politics is dirtier?

Two things hit me today. One is that the neighborhood bad boys had an uncanny understanding of a truth that politics is beneath the ethics of street hoodlums. The second is that this widely felt idea of staying away from public service left the field of public servants to be populated by those who know that there will be many in office just like them, and therefore they can screw the public without their peers calling them down on it. I guess no one there throws stones because too many live in glass houses.

There are many good politicians. Many good Congressmen and Senators, but there are too few to garner 60 votes. To get 60, you have to sell your first born.

And now, more and more Americans don't even follow the news. So soon the politicians can say anything and we will swallow it. Don't believe me? Just ask Sarah Pallin.

Sorry Republicans, I'm just thinking of the misery and death because we don't have health care reform. I sense we'd have a public option if you guys didn't have insurance.

JOBS AND HAVING SOME GUTS

I remember President Obama saying that if you want to sell a car in America, it should be made in America. That really resonated with me as I believe the loss of our manufacturing base has finally caught up with us, has created widespread unemployment, has caused the loss of a few million good jobs, and aided George H. Bush's attack on the middle class.

I know China would crap all over us if we had some balls to bring back a few industries but that is what we need to do as shovel ready jobs will not do it. Shovel ready jobs does very little for creating management jobs, blue collar jobs, engineering jobs, technical jobs and manufacturing jobs.
New industry would do this, but there is not enough new industry to piss in the ocean. It took a few hundred years to build up our manufacturing base and a few years to give it up to China and a few other countries that did need work but it should not be at entirely our expense.

I am in favor of bringing back manufacturing jobs on a selective industry basis. It does not matter if the company owners are from overseas such as Toyota but there needs to be U.S. managment below them, and though we can start with assembly operations, there need to be a timetable where we actually make the tools and the parts.

Industries such as computer manufacturing, cell phone, all large appliances, clothing with retail value over $100 a garment, shoes with retail sale price of over $50, all automobiles, trucks, busses, tractors, trailers, gas driven garden equipment, furniture with retail value over a certain amount, all drugs consumed in the U.S. Further, all technical jobs and management jobs must be by U.S. workers on first shift or 6 AM Eastern time to 6 PM Pacific time. The extent of this list is large enough to assure not more than 5% unemployment.

These items will cost more, but there will be a few million workers back in the labor market paying taxes and earning good wages to be able to afford more.

So, all of you Congressmen, Executive branch Gurus, our beloved President, grow some big ones and bring our industries back.

I ASKED SENATOR LIEBERMAN

It seemed like Joe Lieberman was standing in the way of a good medical bill and I watched him mouth some words, that sounded unbelievable and could have been written by the insurance lobby, of why he wanted to stand in the way of everyone getting affordable health care.

In my opinion, he didn't have a good reason and it seems that no matter what Congress came up with, if it helped the people and controlled the insurance companies, he was dead against it.

I wanted to ask him if he cared how many people died, how many went bankrupt, how many went without care, and how the insurance and pharmaceutical companies were ripping us off. Instead, I posed a simple question in an emal to his contact address. I asked if he was getting paid by the insurance companies.

The answer I received essentially said, that because I live in California, I should not contact him, but my own representatives. In other words, he does not represent the U.S. as a Senator, only his constituents. And since most of the people in his state want affordable health care and don't want to die from lack of it, it seems Joe doesn't represent even his own constittuents.

How does he and the other Democrats against a public option, against Medicare for 55+ and buying drugs overseas all sleep at night. I guess OK because once you loose your conscience, death and suffering of fellow Americans don't bother you.

GAY MARRIAGE AND STRAIGHT MARRIAGE

While my hat is off to Washington D.C. and its eloquent Mayor, I'm wondering why Congress does not put together a bill to eliminate heterosexual marriage as we know it. At the same time, Gays and Lesbians should be allowed to marry in all 50 states by federal law.

There is no question that the organized religions should be barred from putting their collective noses into state matters under penalty of losing their tax status, of being heavily fined, and suffering jail terms and finally, becoming illegal if their monkey business continues. Marriage is a State matter and the state should eliminate religions from performing marriages. The easiest way is to bar hetero marriages and not allowing the state to perform gay marriages.

Surely some straight marriages are wonderful, but they are clearly in the smallest minority. The majority of hetero marriages are a sham. Just because there are exceptions, it does not mean that the exceptions should rule. Heterosexuals compose most of the physical and mental abusers, most of the pedophiles, most of the jailbirds, most of the single parents, most who have high school drop out children, and over 50% get divorced. They have an amazing amount of children out of marriage, cheat on each othe in astronomical proportions, and their sex lives are mostly a laughing matter. We need procreation and it should be done by straight couples who enter into a legal cohabitation agreement. This will eliminate the complete false piety of using such an egregious term as "the sanctity of marriage."

Heterosexuals should have a government mandated contract that kicks in when they separate so the courts do not need lawyers to adjudicate. The registration of a contract, in force, should be the document that allows joint filing of tax returns.

On the other hand, gay and lesbian couples should have civil marriages in all 50 states with all of the rights and divorce laws should be used incase these marriages fail.

December 18, 2009 The Harv View