Emperor's Rants and Observations

From: Organizing for America

Last week, Republican Senator Jim DeMint made it pretty clear why the opponents of health care reform are fighting so hard. As he told a special interest attack group, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.” Here’s how the President responded:

Think about that. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America’s families, breaking America’s businesses and breaking America’s economy. And we can’t afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. Not this time, not now. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake.

With Congress only days away from finalizing their plans for reform, it’s time to stand with the President and fight back against this disastrous brand of old-style politics. So we need as many people as possible to publicly support the President’s principles for health care reform and call on Congress to act.

Before the first full votes in Congress, we’ll publish the signatures in newspaper ads across the nation, to make sure your voice is heard.

Watch President Obama’s full response, then add your name to support reform.

Or if you’ve already signed, please forward this message to all your friends and neighbors so they can join you.

Sign the declaration

The President is more dedicated than ever to passing health care reform that satisfies the three requirements he’s been talking about for months: Health care reform must reduce costs, guarantee choice — including the choice of a strong public insurance option — and ensure all Americans have quality, affordable health care.

If we do not reform our broken health care system this year, we will shackle future generations with spiraling costs and deteriorating care. The cost of inaction is simply more than this country can afford.

But the special interests who profit from the status quo won’t go down without a fight. The ads, the smears, and the attacks — targeting both President Obama and members of Congress who support reform — will only get worse. So it’s crucial that we show huge backing before Congress finalizes their plans this month.

Stand with President Obama on health care reform:

http://my.barackobama.com/hcdeclare

4. Make ballot access the same for every candidate for office. Nomination by petition with 1% of the registered voters in the election district the candidate is running for.

When a candidate files for office as a candidate representing a recognized political party, they just submit a form and financial disclosure and they are on the primary ballot. A recognized political party is based on the percentage of votes that they received in the previous election.

A candidate of a non-recognized party or NO PARTY affiliation must collect a number of signatures of registered voters in their election district. That will get them on the general election ballot but not the primary ballot

This gives candidates of recognized political parties a clear and unfair advantage over those candidates not allowed on the primary ballot. During the primary campaigns candidates are able to raise campaign contributions, gather supporters, appear in forums, participate in debates, and generally raise awareness of their candidacy.

Party affiliation should have no bearing on ballot access. Neither the US Constitution nor the Alaska Constitution (haven’t researched other states) mention political parties, or primary elections for that matter.

The “two party system” is only perpetuated by excluding others as much as possible from gaining equal access to ballot.

Resources:
Ballot Access News
Coalition For Free and Open Elections
Freedom Ballot Access

A couple of years ago 6/23/07 I wrote a post that included 10 Points of Change for campaign finance and election reform. A recent discussion at thealaskastandard.com reminded me of my post that included those “10 Points of Change”. So as Emperor I’ve decided that the 10 Points deserve a conversation of their own. So starting tomorrow, Wednesday July 15th for the next 10 weeks I’ll post a topic from one of the ten points. I won’t be doing them in numerical order. Follow me on twitter @Emperor_Bob to get which of the “Ten Points of Change” will be the newest 10 Points of Change topic.

Let’s start with this: "They’re not handicapped. They are able-bodied men and women who don’t work because the government takes care of them and so they don’t need to."  How do you know this?  Under the current rules it’s nearly impossible to get  public assistance if you are not over 65, disabled or have children under the age of 5 living in the home and then there are time limits.  So if you think someone is receiving benefits fraudulently report them.

http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dpa/programs/apa/

Adult Public Assistance Program was established 15 years ago with the mandate to furnish financial assistance to needy aged, blind, and disabled persons and to help them attain self-support or self-care. People who receive APA financial assistance are over 65 years old or have severe and long term disabilities that impose mental and physical limitations on their day-to-day functioning.

http://hss.state.ak.us/dpa/programs/gra/

Eligibility for General Relief Assistance is always determined on a month-to-month basis. Applicants must demonstrate and verify an unmet emergent need in the month of application that can be satisfied by GRA. GRA payments are always made to vendors who can provide the needed services.

http://hss.state.ak.us/dpa/programs/atap/

The Alaska Temporary Assistance Program (ATAP) provides cash assistance and work services to low-income families with children to help them with basic needs while they work toward becoming self-sufficient. This program is provided under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant.

ATAP changed the traditional focus of the state’s public assistance program for needy families to an employment-focused program from an entitlement under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Temporary Assistance stresses family self-sufficiency through employment.

Then there is rental assistance available through Alaska Housing including public housing and other programs including the Family Self-Sufficiency program. (which I think should be the model for public assistance going forward).

My issue is that we have too many different programs, in different offices, with different requirements.  In addition to those above there are:

Child Care
Chronic and Acute Medical Assistance
Denali KidCare
Family Nutrition
Food Stamps
Heating Assistance
Medicaid
Senior Benefits

And the municipality has its programs and all of the programs ran by non-profit organizations as well which many recieve public funding of some of their programs.

So there is a lot of help out there from a many different sources, the problem I think is that our delivery system isn’t very effecient and too often ineffective in the long term.

Some thougts from my world view  related to ths topic.

6) I believe in “sufficient government”.  Large enough to handle it’s duties but not so large that it smothers us with laws, rules and regulation.  I believe that we, as a whole, have a moral obligation to care for those that are unable to or struggling to care for themselves.  I also believe that there should be “strings” attached to our help, namely to move them to as much self sufficiency as possible as quickly as possible.  I believe there is a tremendous waste in government due to redundancy and overlaps. There are some things that I believe government should not be involved with at any level.

12) Personal responsibility should be the standard in our culture. We should do everything possible to help people attain and maintain that standard.  Churches and other non-profits can be part of that, but our government has an obligation to “promote the general welfare”.  We need to revolutionize the welfare system, but that doesn’t mean that the government shouldn’t be a major part of that.  Nobody should be reduced to begging on the streets, to the church, their neighbors, or other organizations for assistance.  Those institutions are already overwhelmed and many of them receive government grants as well. I would rather my tax dollars go to helping people than 1% for the arts that usually produces the most hideous piece of crap imaginable.

13) Good health and a good education are the two most important factors of a good workforce and society.  It’s in all of our best interests to do what we can do to ensure good health and good education, because that is what drives our economy. The affordable availability of education and health insurance to every citizen should be a priority.

And just added:

31) We need to change how we view Child Support.  We need to encourage non-custodial parents to stay involved in the raising of their children.  Unless there is a history of abuse, the non-custodial parent is a vital part of raising children to be well adjusted and productive adults. [more]

If we were to treat public assistance as a project and "Begin with the end in mind" (Stephen Covey) what end are we looking for as a goal?   I think everyone would agree that the only goal should be a self sufficient family that no longer needs public assistance to enjoy "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

So we have to look at the reasons why somebody is in need of public assistance.  What got them here and what do they need to get where we want them to be.  There are many reasons why people turn to the public for help.  Is it substance abuse, health, child care, transportation, housing, education, job skills, lack of a mentor, or what.  Once that is determined, and we know where they are and how they got there, it’s a simple matter to help them draw a map to their independence.

I envision a system like the application for Federal Student Aid.  The application for public assistance would include resources from the government, private sector, non-profits as well as the applicants own resources.  Drawing on the available resources, a case manager would develop benchmarks to measure progress against goals, compliance with conditions set, and coordinate the various components required by the plan.  There would be a cap on the total amount of public assistance over a specific amount of time according to the plan. 

There are some that won’t ever be totally self sufficient and will always require "some" public assistance, but the goal in those cases to get them as close as we can based on their condition.  The other end is that there are some people that we simply can’t help.  Helping them just enables their self destructive acts.  It’s sad, but true.  In those cases we can only take away their children so that at least the next generation has a shot at self-sufficiency as an adult.

Originally posted at The Alaska Standard

The prime time of Sarah Palin – THE WEEK

Palin is both comfortable and adept at these tabloid squabbles—certainly more than she seems ever likely to be in a substantive environment. Parrying political opponents about policy, or responding to serious queries about the state of the world is just not what Palin does. Even her attacks on President Obama have a canned quality, something along the lines of … “socialism, yadda yadda yadda.” She leaves the details to Romney or Huckabee or perhaps next week’s guest star.

Too good to not be repeated.Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin,

“All politics are local” is never more true than when the topic is Gay Rights it appears. It’s never more personal than when it touches you personally. One of my beautiful, smart, courageous daughters is a Lesbian and I believe she was born as such and is perfect. She is not a freak. She can’t be cured, nor does she have a disease. She is who she is, no better, no worse than anyone else of any sexual orientation.

Let’s end this nonsense about it being a choice or lifestyle. It’s not environment, none of my other children are Gay. It’s not choice, who would choose to subject themselves to such hate? It’s no more of a choice than heterosexuality is a choice. It can’t be cured. It’s not a mental defect. Looking back I thought she was just a tom boy. She stil gives me a hard time because I didn’t let her play hockey. It wasn’t because she was a girl, it was only because I thought she was too little compared to the other kids. Its not unnatural, homosexuality has been observed in more than 1,500 species. Christians tell me God doesn’t make mistakes.

You likely know someone who is Gay, even if you don’t know it. Yes, there are still plenty of people in the closet because they still fear the repercussions of coming out. As early as grade school, they learn the danger of being different than other students or even their teachers. Some live in fear of their parents because of the hateful things they say about homosexuals. I was guilty of that, before I learned my own child is Gay. If you think there is no need for this ordinance then you are just oblivious to the facts that there is still ignorance and hate directed at Gays in Anchorage.

Homosexuality is not a lifestyle. Homosexuals live in very diverse ways, just the same as heterosexuals. Just because heterosexuals are in the majority doesn’t mean they get to trounce on the rights of the minority.

The days of discrimination are clearly not over since we are having this discussion. This isn’t about feelings or perception. It’s about ensuring that people ofis any sexual orientation are treated without prejudice simply because of their sexual orientation. Our opinion of homosexuality is irrelevant. You don’t get to make the rules simply because you don’t like something. I don’t like broccoli, can I make it illegal to sell it or grow it?

The inequality of the law is that unlike others who are protected by law, homosexuals as a group are not.

Coming from a small business background myself, the arguments against the ordinance on behalf of small businesses are baseless. We know that we have to be careful and document everything when it comes to managing employees. This isn’t going to cause any new problems as long as businesses aren’t discriminating against people based on who they are.

I believe in freedom of religion. However, I also believe in freedom from religion. Most of the arguments that I have heard against the ordinance has been religious in nature. There is no legitimate legal argument for refusing people of all sexual orientations equal protection under the law. The fact that there is so much resistance to this ordinance is evidence of how much it is needed.

If your religious beliefs include that people of color are the spawn of the devil himself, then you should have the right to discriminate against them?

You know who else has that mindset? Islamic Jihadist. Is that really the kind of “freedom of religion” you want to be associated with?

You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to approve of it. You don’t have to endorse it. You don’t have to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with anyone.

Don’t let ignorance, hate and fear rot your soul, fog your mind or chill your heart. It’s time to let our Gay neighbors, friends, family and children know that they will be respected and protected from those that hate and worse than that hide behind religion to rationalize and justify their hate.

Our public discourse on a wide range of topics from local to world wide has been dominated by extremists – at both ends of the political spectrum. Too often we find ourselves talking to people that think and believe like us, share our personal values, instead of reaching out to people we don’t agree with. Not to argue. Not to denigrate and insult. Just to understand. Perhaps with more of us truly trying to understand opposing points of views, we may find that there are some things that we can agree on.

I bring this up because I came across a site through twitter that I expected to disagree with it it’s entirety. I was surprised that I found a lot that I could agree with. Sure there is more that I disagreed with, but I did get a better understanding about at least this one individual.

We often forget that writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution wasn’t without passionate disagreements from the wording to the substance. Instead of vilifying and condemning each other, they found a way to reach compromises that the majority could agree with. I wonder if we could do as well today.

Oh and that site I am talking about can be found here A Bold Step Back

My favorite Steven Covey Quote “Seek first to understand, the to be understood.”

Palin vetoes include some stimulus money: Government | adn.com

Palin’s written statement to the press said she was vetoing a total of $80 million. But that includes the $28.6 in energy stimulus money as well as $35 million that was really just a transfer between two accounts within the state budget.

What is it with that woman that prevents her from telling the truth?  Does she really think Alaskans are that stupid, or does she simply have zero respect for her constituents?  Is it only a coincidence that she makes this announcement so close to the first major holiday of the summer?  Think maybe she hopes that by Tuesday Alaskans will have forgotten her being a traitor to the State of Alaska?

The operating budget (government) continues to grow.  She cuts projects that would have provided much needed private sector jobs.  Then has the unmitigated gall and audacity to refuse to accept federal funds because of non-existent “strings”.

Alaskans, we need to ban together, write our representatives and tell them we want them to call themselves into special session and override the Governor’s cuts.  We need to let them know, and the Governor know, that we aren’t going to take a back seat to Palin’s political aspirations.  We need to let them know that we are fed up with Palin’s lies.  They need to know that we expect them to do their jobs and represent their constituents best interests and not allow that megalomaniac continue to ruin our state and our futures.  Even if she still refuses to accept the money, put her on record as thinking she knows better than 2/3 of the Legislature and the majority of Alaskans.

Find your representative here and write them today.  Don’t let her get away with this. Here is what I sent to my representatives:

I’m a constituent in your district, as my representative in Juneau I want you to work with other legislators to call yourselves into special session to override Palin’s vetoes.  To me it is unconscionable to turn down Federal Assistance and cut construction projects that would provide much needed private sector jobs.

Even if she still refuses to accept the federal money, she will be on record as putting her personal ambitions ahead of the citizens of Alaska.  Don’t let her get away with this.

Conservatives4Palin.com

Let me point out that the state currently has $6.6 billion in reserve due to the prudent fiscal management of Gov. Palin. She vetoed spending when the state’s coffers were overflowing with money — and the very reason they were flush with money was because of her ACES, which allowed Alaska to receive a fair return on their resources in times of high oil prices.

Imagine what shape Alaska would be in now without her prudent leadership. (But, of course, she wore an Arctic Cat jacket, so she’s evil and must be stopped!)

So much disinformation and ignorance in two short paragraphs.

1. Palin has nothing to do with the money in Alaska’s Budget Reserve. “Alaska voters created the Constitutional Budget Reserve in 1990, and lawmakers have drawn money from it several times to cover state spending. High oil prices have negated the need to dip into the fund since 2003.” Anchorage Daily News
2. Palin has increased the operating budget by 20% since taking office. She cut capital projects that would create private sector jobs.  Many of her vetoes were made to punish or reward legislators based on their fidelity, or lack of, to Her Highness. “At roughly $3.6 billion, Palin’s proposed operating budget would be an increase of more than $170 million over this year’s budget.” Anchorage Daily News Dec. 15 2006 .”When the smoke cleared after Gov. Sarah Palin’s big cuts to the capital budget in June, one survivor that stood out was a $630,000 appropriation to the Wasilla Sports Complex.” Anchorage Daily News October 7, 2007
3. It was the Alaska legislature that put aside money. “Lawmakers put an unprecedented $5 billion into two state rainy day accounts. The savings came from billions of surplus dollars the state expects to rake in as a result of high oil prices and last year’s oil tax hike.” Anchorage Daily News.
4. It was Palin who championed the $1200 for every man, woman and child in Alaska under the guise of “energy relief. “If we walk out of this special session and we spend a billion (dollars) on a Band-Aid without fixing the hole, the boat is going to fill up with water next year,” said Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage. “What are you going to do about the future so you aren’t going to spend a billion next year and the next year?”. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. How prophetic.
5. Palin was acting in an official capacity to start the Iron Dog race. Co-Governor Todd is a participant who just happens to be sponsored by Arctic Cat. Her appearing in an official capacity wearing clothing provided by her husbands sponsor amounted to free publicity for Arctic Cat. I understand ethics is a difficult concept for some people to understand, but you would think that someone like Palin who campaigned on restoring ethics to government would have at least a rudimentary grasp of the concept.

But there is more.  It seems contributers want to add to the deluge of ignorance.

DB said…Given Alaska’s fiscal situation, it is more than passing strange that the legislature continues to drag its feet on the gas pipelines.

No DB, the legislature is not dragging their feet. In fact, they moved too fast on Palin’s ill-conceived AGIA “process” that will cost Alaskans half a billion dollars and potentially treble damages, without TransCanada ever putting a shovel in the ground. Palin has refused to consider other options and has put Alaskans last by not moving to use our resources in state first.

Greg said…The dems are deliberately trying to force Alaska to become just like the rest of the country, state income tax, state sales tax, debt, the whole works. Dems can’t get enough of taking peoples money from them, and spending it on what they want.

No Greg. In Alaska it’s the Republicans that champion the sales tax. “House Speaker Pete Kott predicts a statewide sales tax proposal will emerge sometime this week in the state Legislature.  Kott, an Eagle River Republican, said such as plan has “a good possibility” of success as lawmakers seek new revenues to reduce the state’s budget deficit.” AlaskaLegislature.com

At the very least is it too much to ask that people who want to comment on Alaska put in a little effort to research what the are writing about?  It seems that these folks are acting more like members of a cult, refusing to listen to anyone that isn’t a fellow believer.  Yes, I know that the same can be said of many Obama supporters, and I would say the same to them.  Open your mind, heart and ears to the perspective of others.  You never know, you might learn something.

Alaska, Palin, Conservative, Propaganda

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The TIME 100: Sarah Palin by Ann Coulter – TIME

Sarah Palin was arguably the most influential person in 2008, but no one notices because she wasn’t influential enough to overcome the deficits of her running mate and win the election.

Seriously Ms. Coulter you need to step away from the keyboard, you have officially lost your mind. Which is understandable considering the apparent size of your brain it could be easily misplaced.

Governor Palin was successful in bringing out the radical religious right, the homophobes, the closet KKK members, and the “I’m votin’ fer her cuz she’s hot” segment of the do nothing party.  But ultimately she hurt more than help.  As the campaign wore on and people learned more about Palin, saw her in action, listened to her respond to questions her popularity went on a steady decline.  The McCain/Palin ticket lost because they couldn’t separate themselves from the Bush administration.  Voting for them was a vote to continue the previous eight years and people had finally had enough of what Bush did to our country.

John McCain was so preposterous a candidate (at least on a Republican ticket) that Palin was responsible for far more votes than the usual vice-presidential candidate.

What is really preposterous is that McCain was forced to accept somebody without ANY credentials to be one heartbeat away from the Oval Office.  She was a hail mary pass that was supposed to bring in the supposed “disenfranchised” Hillary Clinton supporters.  Guess what, women were insulted by the move, and rightly so.

The biggest red flag proving her popularity with normal Americans is that liberals won’t shut up about her. Palin is a threat to liberals because she believes in God and country and family — all values liberals pretend to believe in but secretly detest.

The reason people don’t stop talking about her is because she doesn’t quit doing and saying stupid things. The reason people don’t stop talking about her is because of empty headed talking heads like Coulter won’t shut up about her. I think most “normal Americans” would be just fine not ever talking about or hearing from Palin ever again.

By the way, I’m curious how Ms. Coulter would define “normal Americans’? I suspect that normal would be just like her, because she is the standard we should all be measured by right?  We get a clue with the “God, Country and Family” phrase.  That would be her God as she defines it, love it or leave it country, and family of the 1950′s television variety.  If we accept her definition of “normal Americans” that means that anyone that doesn’t share her myopic view of the world is “abnormal”.  The sad thing is that I fear Palin shares that view.

The American voter can be hornswoggled occasionally, but we can generally spot a real American, and that’s what Sarah Palin is. She really was a housewife who went into politics because she didn’t like the way her taxes were being spent. She really did take on the old-boy network — the oil companies and her own party — and won. And yes, she really did walk the walk on abortion when she found out she was carrying a Down-syndrome baby.

Sure, she’s a genuine American, as is Obama. Obama has spent his life working to improve his community, his state and now our country. Palin on the other hand has been on one long ego trip. She went from second rate Beauty Queen contestant, to failed sportscaster on a local TV channel, then began her political career as a way to feed her insatiable appetite for attention.

Palin was swept into the Governor’s office in a political “perfect storm”. The oil companies are still going forward with their own plan for the gas pipeline. The Alaska GOP leadership hasn’t changed. The old boys network backed her campaign mostly privately because they were toxic in that political climate. She had nothing to do with rooting out corruption. She has failed to live up to her promises of ethics, open and transparent government. She has been guilty of cronyism of the highest order.

Why is it ok to praise Palin for having a Down-syndrom baby, but we’re not allowed to criticize her for the train wreck that is the rest of her children?

The combination of Palin’s attractiveness as a candidate and her ability to expose liberals made her a celebrity among Republicans. The only thing I have against her is that she threatens to surpass me in attracting the left’s hatred.

Expose liberals? As if they weren’t liberals until Palin says so? She’s a celebrity among Republicans because they are so bereft of leadership, intelligence and vision. Seriously, if Palin is the best the GOP has to offer, then put a fork in them, they are done.

Palin, Coulter, Time 100

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