Dennis O’Fletcher

My name is Dennis O’Fletcher. I am a published op-ed writer who generally has an opinion on everything.

Seeing that politics have become  a major sports organization I will offer reviews and opinions on such subjects.  It’s gotten so bad that the poor saps who support each party of fools become exceedingly hostile towards one another. Once again, where we should celebrate our diversity it is turned into hostile territorial markings.

Instead of treating politics as we should: A rallying cry for like and unlike minded individuals to assert their influence, we instead have reduced ourselves to a ‘my side – your side’ type of behavior where we accomplish absolutely nothing. Like sheep or lemmings we surrender ourselves instead of asserting ourselves.

Have we really evolved?

Dennis

January 22, 2018

Hey, Let’s not fix it, Just Raise Taxes: Part 2

A few years ago I wrote an editorial on the futility of the Federal Government’s efforts to correct the economy by raising taxes in various areas.

At the time manufacturing jobs were down and overall employment was reduced to an unemployment rate of over 9 percent.

Fast forward 8 years later and we find things much improved: The unemployment rate is down to 4.1 percent and more important still: Manufacturing jobs, which were at a low of 11.7 million in 2010 have climbed to 12.5 million as of December 2017.

Additionally, the federal government has passed a new tax simplification law that will give each worker an average of $1,500 per year in extra income.

You would think with all this good news that citizens of New York would be happy?

Well, that would be the case if we weren’t managed by the old guard. Thus, let’s talk about what the Grinch Cuomo has proposed.

Remember, as I said before: Denial is one of the stages of loss. Apparently, many political and financial “experts” have entered this stage lately in regard to our current political times. After all, it’s easier to just decry and demean the winner of a fair election than to present intelligent solutions. Thus, the Governor’s outlook.

I picture his general psyche as such:

So, you’ve just been embarrassed by the President of the United States concerning your taxation and lack of business friendly tactics in your State. What do you do?

Easy, throw a tantrum and tax everything you can.

Our exalted Governor, in his infinite wisdom has proposed a series of additional taxes (not that we New Yorkers pay enough) aimed at businesses. After all, what better way to keep people and businesses in your state but by tax them some more? It isn’t enough that New York lost 800,000 people in the last year along with countless businesses.

Oh, but wait! He isn’t taxing his citizens! He’s taxing the evil corporations that make too much. It’s not right that they got a tax break along with regular taxpayers. Besides, they won’t pass it along to the consumer, they make too much as it is.

Really? Do they really think we are that naive?

Perhaps we are. Let’s take a look at some of the high points of Andy’s proposed taxes:

First we have a tax called “The Internet Fairness Conformity Tax”. A nice sounding description of a tax that essentially says: “Well, if Amazon isn’t going to move to my state then I want the sales tax on the items sold in my state!” Thus, we aren’t only going to pass additional tax onto the consumer but we are probably going to increase the cost of goods sold. Who do you think is going to figure the tax and remit to New York, Drones?

The second one we have that is interesting is the Health Tax on Vapor products. Let’s take a look at this one: So, to deter the smoking of cigarettes, the State imposed all sorts of new laws and taxes. Then, along comes the science of Vaping, a way for smokers to wean themselves from the habit. But, wait, Vaping doesn’t provide us with an income stream like cigarettes do. Oh, I got it, let’s tax the smokers who switched to Vaping. That way until we figure out a way to ostracize them from Vaping we can still collect money from their filthy habits!

Then there is the case of the public health crisis of opioids (the latest media buzzword to describe a painkiller. Sexier, isn’t it?). Our Governor’s solution? Heck, that’s easy, place a tax on the opioid drug producers. After all, to quote “Big Pharma and the health insurance companies just got a big federal tax break while at the same time created the machine that ‎fueled the opioid crisis — so spare me the song and dance about corporations crying poverty,” The Governor’s professional zipperhead Rich Azzopardi stated “Like the tobacco companies, this money is going to help fight the problem they created.” Heck, if your prescription costs weren’t high already just buckle your seatbelts.

And folks, I think that quote just about sums it up. Apparently it doesn’t matter what the Federal government gives you, how many people are leaving your State, or even the lack of quality employment opportunities. To paraphrase a worshiped Democrat: “It’s all about the Taxes, stupid!”

Thus, the solution, once again, is to not fix it, just raise taxes. Throw money at a problem. It doesn’t matter that your employment base is dwindling, or your high school graduation rate is producing an extraordinarily low amount of ‘college ready’ students (After all, it’s more important to push kids through than actually teach them how to survive in the actual world but that’s for another missive), or that there are no businesses left.

And, let’s not even get into the fact that you have government determining how much you, as a business, should make.

I don’t even touch the tip of the iceberg on the amount of proposed new taxes by our Gov. For that, merely look it up. And, I won’t even begin on his genius move to raise health care costs even higher.

And, once again, we wonder how a non-politician won the last Presidential election. Then, when were done wondering that we run to the ballots to re-elect the same narrow minded out of touch individuals to multiple terms.

 

Ciao!

January 2, 2018

We, the people, have seem to forgotten that the United States of America (The country we live in) was created to speak for the us: the people. We are the people in charge. We hire, and fire, our elected officials due to our votes. The system was not created to rally behind a ‘It’s us or them’ type of party.

Debate is an art of the evolved and intelligent. In the true form of the act of debate it is the presentation of opposing or differing ideas with the end goal of an understanding of each side of the argument.  Common ground can be found in each others’ opinions. Alas, that art is on the way to extinction.  Instead, what has happened is a deterioration of intelligent debate. Now, it is considered in vogue to ignore the opposition and to stand firm in your own stand.

But, is this really the right way?  Let’s consider this: are you that void of mind that you follow your politicians to the precipice? I would hope not. Because let’s consider the politician.

The art of politics has evolved into a full time job. Whereas in the past it was considered your civic duty to serve a term or two in office and then retreat back to your farm it has instead become a career.  Come on, how many of you know a poor politician? None of you.

Politicians have become everything you are supposed to rally against: rich, indifferent, spoiled individuals who preach yet don’t practice their spoutings.  When you have most politicians serving term after term why would you still support them?  They have been in office for so long that they have truly lost touch with their constituents.  Congressmen like Louis Slaughter, Chuck Schumer, etc… have been in office so long that they surely have forgotten the needs of their constituents. Instead, what they care about is their own survival and not their voters.

You are the power.  You are the deciders. And, you are the employers. Remember this and think the next time you vote. Ignore the label in front of a candidates’ name and look at what they stand for, not what you’re told they stand for.

 

 

August 27, 2014

Tragedy in Ferguson: A political Selfie moment

By: Dennis O’Fletcher
Another young person has had their life unceremoniously ended in tragic circumstances.

An 18 year old young man who will never be able to make mistakes, learn from them, have his heart broken, or enjoy moments of success that all of us have over the course of our lives.
Why? Because of the failure of us: society at large.
Wait: How can it be us? We didn’t cause that kid to challenge a police officer, or we didn’t make that police office to be a callous race hating man!
As a result of this death there has been a rallying call for justice which has resulted in riots, violence, and more bloodshed.
Remember when the politicians that we elected promised after promise to look after our interests? Particularly when it came to jobs and social equality? Well, they must have made a convincing argument because we elected them.
So, what have our elected leaders done since?
Are they addressing or attempting to address the root causes of these phenomena?
You know: the fact that the unemployment rate for young black men is at nearly 35%, that the graduation rates among black men is at around 50%, and that the only jobs that are available, if at all, are minimum wage ones.
Nope, they aren’t addressing any of these. But, do you know what they do when a hot button tragedy occurs?
Photo ops, or more topically: Selfies.
Yep, the administration that coined the phrase “Never let a good crisis go to waste” certainly isn’t letting this opportunity go by.
And, it isn’t just them, it’s journalists, politicians, celebrities, wanna-bes and hanger-ons of all types. Heck, if you haven’t been in the spotlight recently and you have half a name you can get in on this action. All you need is an opinion, someone or some program to blame, and offer no solutions.
Bring it all up. Talk about minimum wage and how some ‘Opposers’ don’t want to raise it. Leave out the fact that even if it was raised to $100 an hour it would do no good if there aren’t any jobs available.
Bring up the fact that the poverty level in many urban and suburban areas have elevated in the past few years exponentially in direct proportion to the loss of jobs. Primarily the fact that the jobs lost were manufacturing jobs which used to require only a high school education to obtain and paid a reasonable wage.
So, instead of addressing the real issues in Ferguson, who is taking advantage of the situation and hub-bub for photo ops? Well, it reads like a who’s who of American politics and celebrity. The likes of Elizabeth Warren, Rand Paul, Joaquin Castro, Harry Reid, Charlie Rangel, Ted Cruz, Marcia Fudge, John Lewis, Marco Rubio, Kevin Sorbo, and even Jon Hamm have weighed in.
And then, not to be outdone, the President’s own Eric Holder decided to arrive front and center amidst the turmoil.
At the funeral the other day the White House even sent three officials to the funeral.
But, the White House, like the other politicians, has offered no solutions, merely more rhetoric.
Oh, sure, they’ve promised investigations and fairness but, once again, these make for good sound bites, and good photographs while reciting them.
No solutions though.
And, it’s not just this young man in Ferguson. No, it’s the choking death of Mr. Garner in Staten Island, the shooting death of a knife-wielding man in Columbus, and the many others that have suddenly made national news.
What is going on? Why the violence against apparently men minding their own business?
Allow me to present another side and to paraphrase a statement uttered by a favored son in current American politics:
“It’s about jobs stupid!”
When a young man reaches a certain age he’s expected to go out and make his way. If he doesn’t have the skills to further his education then he’s assumed to then get a job and eke out a living.
But, what happens when there aren’t any jobs?
What then?
If a man, or woman, young or old, can’t support themselves what are they supposed to do?

When every minimum wage job that was available is held by either 20 something college graduates who can’t find a job in their field or by an older displaced worker?
Now, many of you are apt to cry out during this missive, “But we provide them with aid if they are destitute. We are a giving society! We ensure that no one falls between the cracks!”
Well, sure, but what does that do for someone’s soul? They’re mental well being?
You know what it does?
Nothing.
Period.
You know what it really does? It frustrates the job seeker, it makes them angry. It makes them look at every job holder as an enemy.
And, again, the question is this: Why would these men do the things that they did?
What else would make a young man steal a box of cigars, a father of six sell single cigarettes, a police officer shoot one of these men and another one choke the other to death in neighborhoods almost a thousand miles apart?
Well, we don’t know for sure but we can play like the talking heads and postulate: It was probably frustration, fear, anger, hopelessness, and most likely despair.
It was frustration on both the men and the police officers. Do you really think for one second that a man wanted to pick a fight with a police officer, another man sell cigarettes for seventy-five cents each, an officer wanted to shoot a young man 6 times and another officer choke the life out of another?

For what? Gain? Glory? Riches? Infamy?
Really? I don’t think so.
It was frustration on both the victims and the perpetrators in these tales. It was the frustration of a father of six who has been reduced to selling individual cigarettes for spending money, it was the frustration of the Police Officer whose patience has worn thin being called out to the same street corner and dealing with the same ‘law breaker’ repeatedly, it was the frustration of an 18 year old man who can do nothing to even achieve what his parents achieved and it was frustration on the part of the officer who supposedly had an 18 year old former athlete menace him.
Actually, what these incidents were, and will be in the future, are an indictment against our current state of affairs in this country.
The politicians, in their ever growing need for campaign cash have made way too many deals with the devil. They’ve allowed businesses to move primarily the manufacturing jobs out of our country. In return, they’ve reaped the benefits of PAC cash but sacrificed their constituents.
They’ve sold out the base of this country for their own needs.
But, enough of the postulating let’s present the reality:
We need to provide jobs. We need to provide jobs for our brothers, sisters, children, and challenged people. We need to provide jobs for not only economic reasons but for our own well being. And we need good jobs. Jobs that pay a living wage, so a person can live like a human being and they can leave the minimum wage ones to the people who need them, the challenged and young.
But, let’s be honest, none of this would happen. Because if it did the country would be content and productive and that wouldn’t make for good photo ops.
Oh, hang on, I need to post my picture on Twitter!

 

December 26, 2013

The holidays.

  It’s a time for joy and a time for emotional anguish along with a good, stiff, belt.

 If we allow it to be, that is.

 Now, there are two families that most of us have naturally, if we’re lucky enough.  There is the family we are born into and there is the family that we made.

 And, there is no need to explain how both sets of families can cause us to imbibe too much and praise old King Bacchus.

 Now, as a recovered(?) alcoholic, tolerance is a lesson learned with repeated skull bashing.

 I don’t think I need to expound upon that statement.

 In addition to our natural families, there is the family that we adopt fictionally. That is, the soap operas that we watch where we get emotionally attached to the characters. As most of you may know by now, Dr. Who is one such family for me.

 Yes, the holidays. A time for family, and for the past several years, a time for the annual Dr. Who special (My personal favorite being Voyage of the Damned, but that’s another drunken tirade to come).

 Excuse me as I pour a glass of Guinness with a chaser of port.

 

 

 

 

 

 Well, to put it kindly. They didn’t (let’s be honest, how could they?) but what they did was give us a wonderful Christmas/Final episode that many of us will enjoy for a long time.

 Moffat, again the principle writer for the episode, did a wonderful job tying up all of the series’ loose ends. Additionally, he gave us all of the best villains. Including the Weeping Angels!

 Reflecting on Smith’s interpretation of the Doctor, he is/was the most accommodating. He was the Doctor that you would truly want to hang out with. Now, this isn’t a slight to Tennant’s version, but, you always had the impression that Tennant’s Doctor knew that he was superior to you. While, Smith’s was the one that you could go to the pub or watch television with.  And, it always felt that as much as Tennant’s doctor said that he cared about us (humans), Smith’s doctor seemed to truly mean it.

 

 As the series went on his acting became more engaging. In fact, I venture to say with certainty that in his final episodes he literally carried the show by himself. Especially in the Gaiman penned Nightmare in Silver, where he battled against himself.

 This isn’t to say that he wasn’t a good actor prior, it’s just that he seemed to grow into the role more towards the end.

Yet, Isn’t that always the way? Just as we become attached to something it’s taken away. Gone to be appreciated later in memory, or, in this case, replays.

 I realize that this missive isn’t like the usual ‘reviews’ of Dr. Who, but, as I said prior, it isn’t. It’s a personal rant, so deal with it (or not, in that case stop reading while I pour myself another drink).

 Thus, for all of our kibitzing on how we were’n t going to enjoy the Matt Smith doctor here we were on the edge of our seat grasping every word that was spoken on screen. We watched a Time Lord age on screen and we bit our lips at every twist just waiting for Smith’s doctor’s end.

 In the end, it was obvious the place in our heart that he occupied, as his regeneration was complete and the ‘new’ doctor arrived. Just as the new doctor asked Clara “How do you fly this thing?” the princess uttered, “Nope, don’t like him!”

 Thus, once again, we have a new doctor to learn about, and hopefully embrace.

 Thanks, Matt, for everything. Sorry to lose you in the family.

The Doctor is dead. Long live the Doctor.

 

 

November 23, 2013

The Day of the Doctor

“Two point four seven billion”

With that line, the whole special came into light like the perfect pour of a pint of Guinness.  Yes, I’m talking about the 50^th anniversary show of the venerable BBC series Dr. Who, The Day of the Doctor.

I realize to most of you self-important geeks that, “yes, I knew he would say that, I know everything about Dr. Who” it is a moot statement.

To all of you, I say piss off.

How the fuck would you pissant little wanna-bes know anything about the Doctor? The only fucking thing you know is what you heard. I know for a fact that most of you weren’t even a thought in your parent’s mind as they fumbled in the back seats of their parent’s cars and you were procreated in a drunken accident. Yes, I’ve figured out why you’re entire generation has the arrogant, belittling attitude that you do.

You were all mistakes, unwanted, little bastards.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest like the top of a bottle of fine Kentucky bourbon that is wedged and won’t come out as you desperately need a drink to numb your mind as your wife/companion is prattling on about her mother. I shall proceed into my intended purpose: the review of The Day of the Doctor.

Now, let’s be clear: I used to watch episodes of Dr. Who back in the days of only three networks. I had to find the Doctor on the PBS rebroadcasts of the original BBC programmes. Imagine that, I/we didn’t have Youtube, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc… No, when we wanted to watch an episode we had to be cognizant of the TV guide and the broadcast. In fact, it was so primitive we also didn’t have the ability to ‘tape’ an episode.

Again, enough of my whining, I’m starting to sound like most of you. Now, lets proceed to the aforementioned review before I light another cigar.

The Day of the Doctor, Dr. Who’s 50^th anniversary special has been teased to us for the past year. Yes, it was going to include all of the prior Doctors, because, as all of us know (either by life experience or the internet) there have been a total of eleven actors to have played the role of the Doctor in the past fifty years (twelve if everyone gets their head out of the rear end of an NBC reporter blindly supporting the current President and acknowledge Peter Cushing in the motion pictures.)

Even better, it was going to be simulcast to 75 countries at the same time.

Of course, once I heard that I planned my entire day around that. And, perfectly, it was early enough in the day that I would not only be coherent, but assuredly sober enough to remember it clearly.

Without revealing any spoilers, it is an episode to be seen by young and old fans of the Doctor.

Stephen Moffat, the heir apparent of the Who franchise from Russell T. Davies gave all of us a great adventure. And, he answered a great question in the modern Who mythos.

What happened in the Time war that caused him to eradicate his home planet of Gallifrey.

Moffat gave us almost everything we could want. The two most familiar Doctors, old villains, and the most popular of the Doctor’s companions.

Granted, I could have stood to see more of the Daleks, perhaps the Cybermen, and definitely the Weeping Angels, but, his use of the Zygons, a Who villain from the 70s, sets the pace for the homage theme of the episode.

Many more great touches are the interaction of the Doctors, the brilliant use of the daughter of the Brigadier, and especially the different incarnations of the Tardis.

But, what Moffat did best is the use of the Doctor mythology. His use of the little seen 8^th Doctor (yet, the most prolific in other medium. Remember, he was even a feature Marvel Comic!) was merely extraordinarily clever. In fact, it borders on fan fiction.

The interaction of the two Doctors, Tennant and Smith, and the Warrior, Hurt, is everything a fanboy could ever ask for.

I realize that this ‘review’ stands a little sparse and devoid of much detail, but I have no desire to belabor the obvious. And, let’s be honest, if you’re reading this you obviously have an interest in Dr. Who. Therefore, why I would I want to rehash what most of you already know just to inflate my ego about my knowledge of the Doctor. Unlike the majority of you self-aggrandizing clowns I have no need to inflate my self-worth, I wasn’t an asterisk to my parent’s marriage.

See it. That’s all I have to say. See it. In fact, join many of us on the night of the 25^th and see it in 3D on the big screen. Me, I’ll be there with my favorite bottle of Merlot to finally see the Doctor on the big screen.

Till then, I’ll pour myself another drink and tip my glass to the wonderful pairing of Tennant, Smith, and Hurt along with Moffat’s great story.

Additionally, I’ll get ready for the last episode of Smith’s doctor and the introduction of the 12th doctor!

The Doctor is dead. Long live the Doctor!

 

July 18, 2013

Scandal with the Rolling Stone!

Well, the media has picked up on its newest story to flog until it quickly turns into a dead horse. Now up, the decision by the Rolling Stone to put the Boston bomber suspect on the cover (LiLo isn’t available until after Oprah).

The Rolling Stone Magazine. Is it even remotely relevant anymore, or really, who cares?

As a young man, I would buy it religiously.  In fact, the magazine gave me my lifetime love affair with the writings of Hunter S. Thompson (yes, I’m old enough to remember reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas before it was a book), P.J. O’Rourke, and Lester Bangs to name a few.

Then, as happens to us all, life occurred and my Rolling Stone bi-weekly fix was set aside.

A few years later, in my divine benevolence, I signed up for a subscription (to buy at least something from a kid selling said subscriptions.)

The one thing I noticed is that while it still had invaluable music reviews the balance of the musical type of stories started to wane in comparison to the political based articles.

Then, the election of 2008 occurred, and for all intents and purposes it became a political rag with a smattering of music articles.

Now, in fairness to the Rolling Stone, many magazines embraced their level of political stories. Even magazines such as GQ and Esquire suddenly had political soapboxes erected.

Why? Why would a men’s fashion magazine care about politics you may ask?

Here’s the reality folks, Politics sells, music doesn’t anymore.

The highest rated news programs are the ones that dwell on the hot topics of the time. And, those topics are political.

With the proliferation of internet bloggers, tweets, etc… revelations about your favorite artist isn’t going to come out in an article, it’s going to come out quickly on the net.  The days of waiting two weeks to find out about an artist is done. Now, the artist will ‘tweet’ it at one in the morning for all to see.

So, why would the magazine want to stick with a dead product? The job is to sell magazines. Is it not?

And, what better way than to make a spectacle of one of the biggest stories of the year.

Before we all begin to question their reasoning, consider this. The amount of attention that the magazine is getting is more than it has in recent memory. Not even the story on General McChrystal generated this. Heck, even people who may have thought that the mag was defunct are now sure to pick up an issue. Just to see what the fuss is all about.

So, kudos to the Rolling Stone for taking advantage of the current media environment and taking a page from the Barfdashians. You know the environment, the environment where everything is an immediate crisis and newsworthy as long as it defers attention from real issues that could affect us.

And, after all, isn’t that what we all want anyway?

 

June 26, 2013

The Great President Oz

Smokescreen: An action intended to conceal or confuse or obscure.

Well, he’s at it again. Our master media manipulator, more commonly known as our President Obama, wields his talents with the media.

What do you do when your administration is embroiled in every imaginable crisis?  After you get elected on a “not like the previous guy” campaign and you look worse than the man whom you attacked four years later?

Spying on American Citizens, intimidating voter groups, sending drones after the aforementioned citizens, intimidating reporters, and having your State Department appear as an out of control frat house are only a few of the ugly ducklings that have been waddling out of the White House.

And, those don’t include the self-created ‘fiscal cliff’, the events in Syria, or, even the now becoming more evident strained relations with a tentative ally to begin with, Russia.

So, as mentioned previously, what’s an experienced media juggler to do to keep the heat off of your previously polished self?

That’s easy, go back to the well that you ran on four plus years ago.  And, if you can’t close Guantanamo Bay, get a stiffer gun bill passed or immigration reform through congress then you talk about a tried and true Democrat buzz. Bring up Climate Change reform!

Masterfully, the President has decided to ignore the possibly career damaging crises and concentrate on an old standby.

It doesn’t matter that Climate Change facts are obscured by definable junk science and iffy research.

No, what matters is that it provides a pleasant diversion for all of the President’s supporters in the media to spend air and print time on to avert the public’s attention.

It’s almost as if all of the aforementioned crises are behind the curtain as President Oz diverts everyone’s attention to the colored smoke he floats in front of everyone while explaining to all of us to never mind what’s behind the curtain and to move on.

Whatever comes from all of this drama in the first months of his second term, one thing is for certain: It will be a long time till we see the likes of a man as persuasive and masterful in his manipulation of the media and its mechanisms as our illustrious elected commander in chief.

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February 7, 2013

I realize that many people take great pride in predicting the future and pointing their wretched, bony fingers in an “I told you so”vehemence.

And, truth be told, I am one of them. However, when it really comes down to it, the last thing I wanted was this piece to be a fulfilling prognostication. Because, all this does, is serve to further place a drag on any hope for an improving economy. As we old ones get older it becomes more evident how difficult the environment is becoming for our children to be gainfully employed. And, that is no way to live in such a great country as ours.

Yet, come true it has, and if you read between the lines of the so-desperate press to present a rosier picture it becomes evident that with their re-election, the current administration has decided to not concentrate on building an economy through jobs but by merely increasing fees and taxes on remaining general public that still work to fund their ill-run government (observe the dissolution of the Jobs council and the increasing taxes in people’s paychecks. And before the dissenter throws up their hand to tell us that the payroll taxes are merely reverting back to original levels we need to also remind people that gasoline prices were approximately 50 cents a gallon less then).

In re-reading this, it is extraordinarily sad to realize that we DID re-elect the same people that I talk about in this piece.

This was originally posted in March of 2011. Now, let’s see the theory of relativity cognizant of time travel is: E=MC2……

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Yes, I realize that it took place a few days ago but I am reading and listening to all of the chest bumping about the Presidential debate. Here’s a reality check:

Obama lost his first to debate to Hilary in the Democratic primaries in 2008.  If I was the Romney camp I would be working awful hard right now. If there is one thing that can be said about the king of egos is that he recovers from his stumbles quickly.  And, with the latest manufactured jobs report you can rest assured that the President will be blowing that horn large.

Romney may not care about the 47% but Obama doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his legacy. Beware!

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Normally, I wouldn’t be so crass. I am usually more eloquent but this recent new blows my mind.  Here it is in a nutshell:

Who in their right freakin’ mind would vote for an octogenarian over someone much younger to represent them?  Are you people that stupid?

All I have to say is that you get what you deserve. Remember the last time you voted with your heart and not your head?  I look forward to another 6 million of you losing your jobs. Go ahead, vote away!

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Great piece about the 47% manufactured ‘crisis’

Helps to put things in perspective and realize how much the media unimaginative sheep attempt to create something out of nothing.

Check it out:

Mitt Romney’s Remarks are Another Chick-Fil-A Moment

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Here’s another old editorial of mine. Again, I think it holds some credence due to the fact that some of our elected officials are using their offices as retirement homes. And we wonder why government doesn’t truly represent us. It’s because these old Lions do not know how to go gracefully into the night. And, you, the voter are at fault. If you are in your twenties or even fifties, why would you vote for someone thirty to forty years your senior? Just because he or she belong to a particular party? Grow up and wise up. Vote for the best candidate, not what jersey they’re wearing!

Louise doesn’t get it.

As usual, the old guard doesn’t get it.  In Sunday’s speaking out page Congressman Louise Slaughter pleads for us to allow health reform to work.  Within her words were more of the same, ill-informed and created rhetoric on how the embattled health care reform bill would help to solve one of our countries’ ills.  In her impassioned plea to prevent repeal of the bill, she speaks the broken record of what she has been instructed to recite.  The affordable health care act cuts costs, and is paid for by law.

Slaughter fails to mention the real facts.  Since the passage of this law, individual health care costs have increased by an average of 1 to 9% according to experts.  However, the reality is that working Americans are spending up to 20% more for premiums and co-pays. In fact, last week the D & C reported that the largest employer in Rochester (and Health Care Provider), The University of Rochester, recently hiked premiums, plans, and co-pays by more than 20 percent for its employees.

Ms. Slaughter is also quite adamant to inform us on how the new bill generates additional cost saving measures by improving Medicaid, fighting fraud, and ending tax-payer –funded giveaways to private insurers.  As if there aren’t measures in place already which are serving to prevent this now.

Additionally, Ms. Slaughter fails to inform us is that Health care reform, while necessary, is not what we needed as passed.  Missing from this bill are the real reforms.  Reforms from frivolous lawsuits, reforms from unnecessary duplicate tests brought upon by fear of litigation, and reform from covering ill-healthed insureds that have no intention of improving themselves.  Smokers, drug users, alcoholics, obese and simply lazy-ill intentioned individuals place the largest burden upon our health care system.

Reform starts with making hard, controversial decisions.  By graduating rates based upon health risk evaluation is a place to start.  Why should individuals who pay attention to what they eat and follow the directions of their physicians have to pay the same as those who do not or wish not to?

Real reform comes from making individuals responsible for their own actions.  Of course, it goes deeper than that.  Along with health care reform comes public assistance reform.  Obese individuals are more prominent among the poverty level than upper income citizens. Why is that? Because they are allowed to purchase whatever they wish in terms of nutrition.

By forcing individuals to maintain a healthy lifestyle it would alone reduce health care liability.  Restricting welfare and food stamp purchases to healthy, non- refined food products is a good first step.   And, it isn’t that far of a stretch. Here in  New York we restrict what is purchased by individuals on the WIC program. Yet, the last thing politicians would want to do is to limit its largest voting base to what it should do. However, the over-government programs of the current administration almost lend themselves to these types of action.

Then again, the big question is why wouldn’t they embrace these types of reforms?  If they are truly committed to reducing health care costs, then they should be willing to make the hard decisions, not the vote-able decisions.

But, then, we all know the answer to that, don’t we?

Dennis O’Fletcher

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Here’s one I wrote more than a year ago. Now, some of the facts have changed (gotten worse actually) but, watching the morons, it still holds true now.

Hey, Let’s not fix it, Just raise taxes!

Denial is one of the stages of Loss.  Apparently many political and financial ‘experts’ have entered this stage lately in regards to our current economic times.

Recently there has been a spate of arguments for increasing taxes to lift the US out of its deficit problem.  While that may make sense in a normal economy, this economic environment is far from normal.

What these ‘experts’ don’t take into account is the overall change in the American employment landscape. Years ago people with just a high school diploma were able to obtain well paying jobs in the manufacturing and construction workforces. In fact, as recently as 2000 there were 17.2 million manufacturing jobs available.  By 2010 that number was at11.7 million.  Accordingly, the median household income has decreased with these families entering the service industry field.

Are we starting to get it now?  If not, let’s continue.

In addition to all of this, unemployment has remained at above the 9% number for well over a year, and more people than ever are utilizing the food stamp program. All of this in spite of the stimuli packages.  Now we could add more facts but this is a limited space and brief recourse.

So, it doesn’t take an economics degree to add up the following; Less income, less jobs, less purchases, less homeownership yields less taxes.

By utilizing the proponents’ call for increased taxes only brings in so much income, and in the short term still damages.  By decreasing the buying power of those still gainfully employed removes even more taxes than it creates.  A tax is a tax regardless of how it is disguised.  I smirk when I hear of the ‘value added tax’ or the federal sales tax.  This is just another disguised income stream to cover poor management.

There is an old adage that an unimaginative man throws money at a problem to make it go away.  By not addressing the root causes and making the hard decisions, all of the money in the world will eventually not be able to remedy the solution.

What are the root causes and solutions?  If looked at in the large scale they become insurmountable.  However, broken down piece by piece it can be fixed.  Overnight?  Not a chance, it took decades to get here, it will be decades to grow back.

Decreased government regulation, increased education, reform of social, governmental, and assistance funding are only some of the steps needed.

We need to elect, empower, and be advised by intelligent, practical people in our country.  You know, people who will generate ‘sputnik moments’. Not the displaced, delusional, and self-serving people we employ now.

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