The First Posting

Not that everything I say is of particular importance, but since I tend to have thoughts that exceed the limits of typical social media platforms, I decided to start a blog.

I am a geek. What I mean by this is that I tend to do a lot of reading of things that typical people do not bother to read (because of length, because it is boring, and because it is controversial... and any number of other reasons).

A good example of this is that I read the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or a.k.a, Obamacare). However, there is much more to this... I read the original. I read each of the changes. I read the final. This has led me to the conclusion that Obama deserves the credit for introducing the ACA, but what it turned into is an abomination that resulted from political factions arguing and changing it for their partisan or special interests. Obama does not deserve credit (or blame) for what it has become. Basically, if it is screwed up, it is NOT Obama's fault.

Often times, politicians blame their political opponents for a bill not passing, or they talk crap like, "all Democrats voted against this bill!" But, because I read the bills, the reasons for NOT passing a bill is often because of crap inserted into bills that should not be there.

Here is an example of that very thing...

There was a Covid relief bill that was hotly contended between parties. Lots of finger pointing and blame for it taking so long... that sort of thing. Well, come to find out, Republicans shrewdly inserted F-35 fighter jet funding into the Covid relief bill. From a Republican point of view, they were proud of themselves for figuring out a place to get funding passed. There was a problem getting the funding passed on it's own, and they knew Democrats were hot to get the Covid funding passed. The smart Dems spotted the F-35 and refused to vote for it. Republicans then blamed the Dems for the bill not getting passed. It is all a political theater game.

Understand, that I may not know ALL the details, but I often get enough from my reading and observations that I can tell who is being honest and who is trying to pull a fast one.

A professor in one of my doctoral classes pointed out that our Congressional leaders have not written any laws in more than 100 years. Naturally, we all grumbled and disagreed, but then he pointed out details of where special interests enter the equation. The special interests are the ones writing the bills, and then our elected officials sign their names to them (sometimes without even reading the bill). This was pretty much the impetus that got me reading bills like I do nowadays. The irony to me is that so often a politician says, "my bill," and come to find out that the ONLY reason it is their bill is JUST because they signed their name, and NOT because they authored the bill.

My opinions are offered free of charge 😁