Thursday, July 31, 2014

Simply put, the best thing I've seen in a while...

Internet video producer John Green is currently in Ethiopia and provides this short video on the state of pediatric NICU's in Addis Ababa.

Take a moment and watch...pretty cool...



Green does consistently excellent work...

You can and should follow him at vlogbrothers on You Tube...

Thursday, July 24, 2014

I didn't vote for this, you did. Remember?

This crap makes me want to scream.

Every few days or so, I have a conversation with people who seem absolutely bewildered by the things going on in our government. People who have voted for deficit hawks who can't believe their favorite social program has had budget cuts. People blaming President Obama for budget cuts the Governor of Ohio has made. People who blame Nancy Pulosi for budget cuts the Governor of Pennsylvania have made. People who blame the Veterans Administration for budget cuts the Pentagon or DOD have made.

It blows my mind that people who fancy themselves, at least to some degree, politically astute, can vote against their self-interest over and over again.

I think its what happens when a person decides talk radio is a "good enough" source for information. Obviously, its a horrific source for information and only a marginally good place for entertainment, which is usually all it is. The vast majority of talk radio is pushing an agenda. One side is "good", the other is "bad." The greater the urgency and proximity of the impending disaster should the wrong side prevail directly correlates to the success of the host. A host who tries to straddle the political fence won't be around very long in most markets.

Too many people confuse this "entertainment" with news and journalism.

There is a price tag to be paid for voting ignorantly. A person works in a healthcare environment yet likes the idea of the Tea Party, so they vote for them whenever possible. Now they're just shocked that public health departments are seeing budgets cut, services cut, etc. What the hell did you think was going to happen?

Across the country, many other programs such as school lunch programs, Meals on Wheels programs and heat assistance programs have been cut back due to a reduction in Federal funding. To be clear, this isn't an agenda the Democrats are pursuing. It is exactly what the GOP said it would do in recent elections.

I didn't vote for that, you did. Remember? I warned you what would happen and you said I was delusional. Now you're frustrated, pissed off and want to blame the President for things he really had very little, if anything to do with. Its convenient to attack our POTUS over his bi-racial status, his heritage, his faith, his "agenda" , etc. Is it Barack Obama's fault too that some voters made poor choices?

I'll wait here while you look for your bootstraps, ok? Stop your whining and crying and step up. Next election, maybe do some reading, eh?