Rebuttal: Why I Support Obama

Personally, I think this election in November will be the worst ever. The two party system has stifled genuine competition and basically made it so that you'll be either voting for a donkey or a jackass. And some people will say they are going to vote for the lesser of two evils. Well, how is voting for evil working for you?

Rarely do I write specific rebuttals, however, the text box in Facebook is rather too small for such a long list. Here is the picture in question. It is one of those annoying "written with a marker in different colors to seem more important than it really is" kind of posters. After reading the sign in this picture, my rebuttal is listed by a number which corresponds to the poster.

1. The Affordable Care Act
Lifting restrictions on pre-existing conditions and life time caps: good.

Raising the age for children being allowed to stay on their parents insurance: bad. At the age of 25, they are no longer children. Times are tough, but with a little better discipline or guidance on major life decisions from their parents, they could probably avoid needing this kind of help.

Affordable health care for small businesses - any business with over 5 employees is eligible to dump their private insurance (Blue Cross, for example) and force their employees on the government version of Blue Cross. Lower rate of care and benefits, but still technically "insurance" so it technically ensures they are covered for statistics reasons.

Insurance Executives are not the ones who would fight this bill. In fact they would welcome it. By mandating that everyone have insurance, Obama basically gave big business and the insurance industry a huge dose of money for now and forever. Think about it: if everone is required to get insurance, Obama is mandating that all 330 million people in this country go to a certain industry of business and put money into it. Make no mistake: this Affordable Care Act is a tax. With the option of businesses to dump their entire health insurance roster onto the government's roll, this tax will only go up. The exec's at Blue Cross and other health insurance companies don't really care if they take your company's money or our tax money, they are getting paid either way.

2. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan already had agreements to end by a certain date. He is simply fulfilling them by adding an extra two years in Iraq and Afghanistan than what Bush Jr had an agreement for.

3. So do I. I also think men should have this kind of access too. This is only an issue to the religious community who feels they have a religious right to tell you what to do but then hide behind religious freedom when someone trys to tell them what to do.

4. Since 1967, every President has signed an act that mandated fair pay based on race, color, creed or gender. Obama is no different. This kind of act or bill is usually signed somewhere in the late third year or early 4th year of the first term of a President. Oddly enough, between 1967 and 1986, every bill of this nature gradually grew into reverse discrimination type mandates i.e. hire more minorities and women than white men. Since 1986, the balance of these kinds of bills has gradually gotten better i.e. if you're going to build a road, make at least one contractor a minority. But still, race/color/creed/gender are emphasized above ability. That is wrong and disingenuous to the minority contractor who may or may not be the best for the job but instead was chosen because of his color.

5. This is true, as it has been for every president since Jimmy Carter. Between 2003 and 2010, green energy job growth has been the highest ever at 8.3% growth.

6. I agree that education should be more available to all of us and that for-profit education should be more heavily regulated in order to eliminate high interest rates on huge loan sums. Keep in mind that the more education a populace is, the higher percentage of menial jobs will not be filled except by illegal immigrants who will work for anything. For now, be smart and stay away from for-profit colleges. Also remember the children's programs we've had. We've gone from A Bridge To The Future to No Child Left Behind. Somewhere in between those programs, reality set in.

7. Millionaires and billionaires should pay their fair share of taxes and the tax code should eliminate loop holes for these people to hide their money off shore. However, just by paying the same tax rate as us, these people are already paying way more money than us in taxes. Put a flat tax of 15% on you and Warren Buffet or Bill Gates and I'll gaurantee you they are paying more than you in taxes ... by a huge margin. This is a worthy sentiment, however, like any idea embraced by a broad sector of people, there are wildly different interpretations of what this means. Come up with something solid (like a percentage or tax rate) and we'll talk.

8. Obama has inhereited one of the worst economic disasters since the Great Depression, however, he has not added 2.6 million jobs. In fact, he has only added a net gain of .1 million jobs. When you take private sector job gains and subtract public sector job gains (business created jobs minus government payroll created jobs) you get 100,000. To be fair, he has not completed a full term yet, but his numbers stacked up against every president since Truman are very dismal. Another factor to keep in mind is private vs public sector job growth. Early in his term, Obama added heavily to the public sector job rolls to offset the private sector not hiring. At an average of $39.25 per hour (required because of civil service union agreements) to staple papers or paper clip notes, that's a huge drain on the federal coffers. One last note, the economy is not slowly improving. It's slowly getting worse and better in spurts. Political devisiveness created by the paradoxial right vs left machinations have created an atmosphere of oppression and stifled free thinking in Washington D.C. If you don't belong to either the right or left way of thinking, your ideas are automatically struck down. Because neither side can get our tax and spend debt spending under control, in a few years, we will be a third world country because our money will be worthless.

Follow the Money Trail

Too often, we rely on the government to help protect us and the government responds in the only way they know how: more regulation, more oversight, more taxes. The biggest piece of regulation since the depression is currently under review by the United States Supreme Court: Obama-care. With the superficial intent of supplying "affordable" healthcare to some 40 million under-insured Americans, Obama-care is nothing but a carefully crafted law designed to ensure the insurance companies have a steady supply of customers they can make money from. What ever your views or beliefs on this legislation, it is surely an extension of government into our lives and one that will cost us money in the long run.

More detrimental than money, it also raises the question what else the government can compel us to do. "If the government can do this, what else can it do?" Supreme Court Justice Scalia asked, suggesting Congress might require Americans to buy broccoli or automobiles. It is a dangerous slope we are on with government mandates: taken individually, a chain link is not dangerous; but when taken together as a whole chain, we are each shackled by a government that is increasingly out of touch with the average American's daily life.

This debate has led me to examine a few other regulations that we take as everyday life. Why is car insurance mandated? Why are seat belts mandated? Why do major corporations like General Electric pay almost nothing in corporate taxes? Why is abortion continually challenged by religious fundamentalists? Why is gay marriage illegal? It comes down to money.

Car insurance is required because the insurance lobby paid a bunch of politicians (I mean, conrtibuted campaign donations) to make a law so the insurance companies can make more money. As a side effect, regular people are now financially protected when someone does something stupid with their vehicle.

Seat belts are a by-product of the mandated car insurance. If you get into an accident while not wearing your seat belt, the car insurance company is not obligated to pay your medical bills regardless of who is at fault. Again, it comes down to money. Not only does the insurance company get a free pass, but now the state/local government can fine you for not wearing one.

Major corporations have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the last 50 years to ensure the corporate tax loop holes get larger and larger. In 1945, corporate taxes were roughly equal to personal income taxes raising $16 billion and $18 billion, respectively. Today, the difference is tremendous. Personal income taxes in 2011 totaled $1.1 trillion, while corporate taxes brought in $181 billion -- a difference of sixfold. As a percentage of all federal taxes, corporate taxes fell from more than 30% in the 1950s to 6.6% in 2009. In this case, politicians received money for re-election to continue their life long political career and the corporations were given loop holes to hide income in.

Gay marriage and abortions are kind of tricky. It's hard to find the money trail, but it is there. For a moment, let's disregard all organized, fundamental religious beliefs. Really, you have to. According to all organized religion, all other organized religions are wrong and are going to hell, so there you go.

In my opinion, gay marriage is illegal because of tax breaks. When you file jointly, you have a possibility of claiming thousands of dollars in exemptions or deductions. When you file as single, those deductions are not available to you. If suddenly there existed the possibility that every adult aged 18 and older could suddenly claim the married exemptions, the government would lose hundreds of millions of dollars.

Abortion is an even more hidden money trail. For the most part, it does not even make money for the government; but for the religious institutions. If religion (and the government) can find something that galvanizes large sections of the population, that is where the money comes in. Religious associations battle against civil liberty and feminist organizations via advertising campaigns and sit/walk/chant-ins to garner more support for their side. All these things cost money. Never mind the left leaning donations: most of these civil rights oriented people will do things on principle. The right leaning religious institutions see things like gay marriage and abortion as a way to increase donations and manpower. On a side note, I've always been curious why organized religion opposed both gay marriage and abortion. What group of people better to never have an abortion?

The next time you are fined for speeding, jay walking or not purchasing mandatory health care, remember, it's not about you or public safety: it's about the money.

You Are What You Eat

I am a lot like the rest of you: I wake up, shower, eat, work and play. About 7 years ago, while I was in the Navy, I heard a rumor that the enlisted crew was getting "Grade D but edible" meat (animal skin, testicles, intestines etc). This rumor turned about to be false, but it did get me to pay attention to what I was eating. At the time, I discovered high fructose corn syrup (hfcs) and ultra high temperature processing (UHT). We all know about the damage of too much corn syrup, but UHT is relatively new to the American market.

UHT, when found as the primary or secondary ingredient in creamers and milk products, essentially allows the creamer or milk to be transported without refrigeration for several weeks. In fact, the main milk provided aboard Navy ships is UHT. On my ship we ran an experiment: we left a 5 gallon bladder of UHT out on the flight deck for two weeks then brought it in and drank it (after 30 minutes of chilling). It tasted fresh (as fresh as processed milk can taste) and the only problem came later in the form of loose stool (which is the most common side effect of consuming UHT).

But on a normal day, we wake up and start our day before work. If your sheets, pillow covers or sleeping clothes are newer, they have a trace of formaldehyde and more than a trace if you had not washed them before use. In case you didn't know, formaldehyde is what dead people are injected with during the embalming process for preservation.

So next, you might shower. What you may not know is that a chemical from your shampoo called phthalates (the plasticizing agents from shampoos and pesticides and vinyl shower curtains), go down the drain and to the sewage processing plants where they do not break down. Once the sewage dries out, those soap chemicals (along with chemicals from medicine and pills flushed down the drain) hang out with the processed poo in sewage sludge, which is then left out to dry in a field. After it is dried out for a few months, farmers buy said sludge and put it on their corn fields as fertilizer. Thankfully, the FDA does not allow corn for human consumption to be fertilized with our own waste. However, they do allow cows to eat the corn. Next time you drink a glass of real milk or eat a hamburger, you may be taking in the soap from your shower last year or taking in the xanax or anti-depressants your neighbor got rid of down the toilet. Phthalate exposure, even in small amounts, has been linked to behavioral problems in children, allergies and asthma, eczema, and unhealthy changes in our hormonal systems.

Well, you've done a proper wash and now you are ready for breakfast. But have you had your beaver anal gland juice yet today? Perhaps you have. It's a bitter, smelly, orange-brown substance known as castoreum. In nature, it's combined with the beaver's urine and used to mark its territory. For us, it's used extensively in processed food and beverages, typically as vanilla or raspberry flavoring. This gross ingredient won't show up on the label. Instead, companies use it in making processed food list it as "natural flavoring." This poses a dilemma for vegans and vegetarians—and anyone who wants to avoid eating any creature's anal excretions.

Do you find Golden Grahams or Cinnamon Toast Crunch tasty? Or perhaps you might chew some Orbit Gum after lunch? Then you are taking in Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT). These are petroleum derived anti-oxidants and preservatives. The Department of Health and Human Services says BHA is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen," yet the FDA allows it to be used anyway. BHT is considered less dangerous, but in animal research, it too has resulted in cancer. Oddly, the chemicals aren’t even always necessary; in most cases they can be replaced with vitamin E.

On to lunch time and perhaps a white bread sandwich. Most of your white breads or other processed grain products contain an additive called L-cysteine, which is a non-essential amino acid. Most often this additive comes from China in the form of dissolved human hair or other places in the form of duck feathers. Food manufacturers use the ingredient as a commercial dough conditioner, meant to improve the texture of breads and baked goods. Eating something derived from the human body violates the religious and ethical beliefs of Muslims and vegans.

If you are having just a salad with ranch dressing or perhaps a piece of cake with vanilla frosting, I'm sure you're eating it for the titanium dioxide. Big food corporations often add titanium dioxide—commonly found in paints and sunscreens—to processed foods like salad dressing, coffee creamers, and canned icing to make them appear whiter. Titanium dioxide is a component of the metallic element titanium (plus two oxygens), but more importantly, mining companies typically use lead in their extraction and purification process. If you are using that ranch dressing for the lead, you might as well just chew on an old pipe.

Perhaps you've fasted the entire day to have a nice juicy aged steak with some mushrooms for flavoring. The FDA legally allows 19 maggots—tiny, rice-shaped fly larvae that feast on rotting foods—and 74 mites in every 3.5-ounce can of mushrooms. So when you order an "aged steak" or pop open a can of mushrooms, this is what you are getting. While maggots do have their place in the medical world, most of us would agree that they don’t have a place in our mouths. Opt for fresh mushrooms instead, and if you need another reason to ditch canned goods, consider this: most are lined with bisphenol A (or BPA), a plastic chemical that causes unnatural hormonal changes linked to heart attacks, obesity, and certain cancers

If you think dessert is the prime meal of the day, you might consider one of my favorites: carrot cake. Most store bought carrot cake mixes, and indeed most cereals, contain artificial food dyes. Many artificial food dyes—found in hundreds of everyday foods—are made from petroleum-derived materials. Food producers use these chemical dyes in cereals and candy to make them more “fun” for kids, in pickles to make them appear fresher, and in place of real ingredients in a variety of other packaged foods. For example, Betty Crocker Carrot Cake Mix, is actually a carrot-free product with “carrot flavored pieces” cooked up from corn syrup and artificial colors Yellow 6 and Red 40. Orange and purple food dyes have been shown to impair brain function, and other dyes have been linked to ADHD and behavioral problems in kids, as well as brain-cell toxicity. And not only are these additives potentially hazardous, but they’re also a rip-off! It’s cheaper for food companies to use fake dyes in place of real ingredients, so you end up with food frauds like Tropicana Twister Cherry Berry Blast, a “juice” product without a trace of cherry or berry juice.

By now, I sense you might be disgusted in what you are consuming, so imagine this: a hot summer day in July. It's sunny, the sky is blue and in the distance you hear the ice cream man coming. You pony up to the truck and get a cold and tasty Creamsicle. Or, perhaps if you are watching your figure, you might indulge in a Weight Watchers Giant Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Bar. Well, I'm sure you are eating it for the Carrageenan. It is a seaweed byproduct (waste product more accurately, until they found a use for it in ice cream) that is used as a thickener and emulsifier. Through animal studies, it has been linked to cancer, colon trouble, and ulcers.

At this point, I'm kind of disgusted with foods so I may fall back to a comfort food. In this case, it is a drink from my local Cold Stone Creamery called a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Shake ... large of course. But wait, what does CSC's page list the nutritional information as: 1,750 calories, 118 g fat (64 g saturated, 2 g trans) and 140 g sugars. This one drink does pack more calories than a dozen ice cream sandwiches and more saturated fat than nearly 20 large orders of McDonald's French fries

At the end of the day, it is up to YOU to know what you are putting in your body. Take responsibility for you, your children and loved ones. Know what you are eating and know what it will do to you. Do not overload you or your children with high fructose drinks and then wonder why your asses are so fat or why your waist line looks like a freshly baked muffin as it spills over your belt.

Take action to know what you are eating, but more importantly, take responsibility for your health and safety. Essentially abusing your body with food choices that kill you slowly means you'll die a horrible, drawn out death where your body gradually fails you. Actually, never mind the slow death; your choices are making the rest of our health insurance premiums go up. Normally I wouldn't presume to tell anyone what to eat or drink, but now it comes down to money. I'm not willing to pay more money so you can be stupid,