Confederate Statues Stars and Bars

I used to have the Stars and Bars on my car in the form of a license plate on the front. I bought it at a flee market. I used to go by that old "southern pride" excuse as a justification for having it.

Then I was assigned to be the coordinator for an aircraft technical services company in Indianapolis Indiana. One day I had to pick up a new hire at the airport and get him settled in. He was a Black fellow. After talking with him for a while he confessed something to me. He said after seeing that Stars and Bars on my car he thought he was with another typical prejudiced white person. He also said he didn't think I was one of them anymore.

That encounter really got me thinking. Is it really worth it expressing "southern pride" like that? What's the whole point of it? Am I really "proud" and proud of what? I couldn't help it the circumstances of my birth. I didn't have anything to do with the confederacy. If I decided to take off that plate would it effect me in a negative way?

I also thought of that young black man. He seen that plate and automatically thought badly of me. That says a lot. That shows that the symbol does in fact have a negative connotation to a large portion of our people. Unlike the people who wish to express this so called "southern pride", there is a darn good chance that his ancestors were slaves. He and his family have been under the yoke of oppression for several hundred years. Please don't try to deny it. There is endemic racism in our nation. He and his brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers have lived under it. That symbol of the Confederacy is the symbol of that oppression for them.

I know there is massive racism in the deep south. I call it closet racism. I was raised there, so don't try to tell it it doesn't exist because I know it does, and I'm likely to call you a liar. I remember the mantra "Save your Confederate money and Dixie Cups. The south will raise again!" I lived through segregation and busing and Jim Crow and the whole desgusting lot of it. So what ever you do, lets not try to gloss over it with "southern pride". Flying the Stars and Bars is a slap in the face for our fellow Americans who happen to be Black. Every time they walk by one of those statues of a Confederate General, or Stone Mountain in Georgia it is like saying "In your face! You were slaves."

I visited some of the walls of people who are for keeping the statues. They have things on their wall that eludes to, or are veiled references to racists ideology. So again, let us not gloss over things with the "southern pride" excuse. If you love the Confederacy because you're a racists, at least be big enough to admit it.

I took that license plate with the stars and bars on it off my car. I did it and haven't suffered any ill effects. I'm still glad I was born in the south. I went to the beach every weekend when I was growing up. I seen Gemini and Apollo rockets flying overhead. I went fishing in the ocean. I ate a lot of catfish and hush puppies.

You know what I'm really proud of? I'm proud to be an American. I'm proud to be a part of something that is great, the UNITED STATES of AMERICA. I'm proud of the fact that I let go of the past so my fellow Americans who happen to be Black can live life a little bit more without fear and reminders of a terrible past. I'm proud that I've done my part to help bring us a little bit closer to being truly "United".

We have division enough in this nation. Trying to prove some point that doesn't matter any more doesn't help. Let us all bring ourselves together under one banner. One that can unite instead of divide. Try it. I guarantee you that you'll not suffer any negative effects. In fact, you may feel better and have less stress.

Keep Pensions & Have Medicare for All Think Bigger Than You Ever Imagined!

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, if we can bail them out to the tune of $16 trillion we can also provide 34 million jobs building the 21st Century infrastructure that will carry Humanity onward to the 22nd Century and cause a golden era for all people.

The $16 trillion was enough money to fund 91 Apollo scale projects from start to finish and at the same time. Who among us can doubt that a national priority effort, 91 Apollo projects combined in size, would be enough to push humanity to colonize the moon and Mars, plus start mining the multi trillion trillion dollar asteroids we know exist?

During your presidential campaign you said "Thank Big!" and I took that as a challenge. If we truly want Medicare for all, jobs and education for all and keep the promises of pensions we must do the bold things that will cause that to happen. Same old will not cut it.

We need elbow room, and new territory to settle, which will bring new opportunity for our people as it did in the past. We can not continue to grow our civilization and our numbers on this finite planet. We have got to expand outward. Now is the time.

Be bold like I thought you were. Be the true leader I thought you were. "Thing Big!" and I mean really big because what we're doing now isn't big enough to carry us through and save the planet.

The GOP Healthcare Bill is Designed to Maximize Insurance Company Profits

The GOP healthcare bill has little to do with health. It is a bill designed to maximize insurance company profits. It seems to me that everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room. Every time any of the legislators speak of healthcare issues it all comes back to insurance.

The GOP lament the fleeing of insurance companies from states leaving the people with little choice. They speak of Obamacare being a failure due to raising premiums, deductibles and co-pays.

The Democrats talk about the way the GOP plan will leave people unable to afford coverage, thus leaving people with pre-existing conditions out in the cold. They both go back to the root cause of our woes, and do nothing about it. Instead they both try to make a plan in which insurance companies are still in the loop.

They both want to cover people, but at the same time assure insurance company profits. The insurance companies are the elephant in the room. We need to quit worrying about it if the health insurance companies are profitable. We need to take them out of the picture entirely.

What would the argument look like on capitol hill if there were no health insurance companies? If we took them out of the equation there would be billions of dollars more to use on our people's health. There would be no more talk of raising insurance premiums and deductibles. A legion of health insurance lobbyists would suddenly find they have nothing to do. The part of these premiums that pay for CEO salaries, lobbyists and share holders dividends could be diverted to our people's health maintenance.

We live in a capitalist society who cherishes a free market, and that's okay. The thing is, not everything is amenable to free market forces. When people's lives are on the line, that is where the free market needs to stop. That is why we do not have a free market army, or police force. That is the reason we do not have free market fire departments. Our society tried that many years ago and found it didn't work out so good because people's houses burned down leaving them homeless if they couldn't pay a premium every month. So we all chipped in so everyone is covered by fire and police departments. Now I think it is time for our society to finally recognize that healthcare is the same. It is something that we all need to chip in on so that everyone is covered.

That's the reason I am for the idea of Medicare for all United States citizens from birth to death. We must remove market forces from healthcare, and that means remove insurance company participation. There is enough out there already for the insurance companies to cover like cars, houses and other non human health related things, but not healthcare. Healthcare is the health of our people, and that is the health of our nation. Medicare for all.