Otter Limits

Word around the campfire is that the reason the Democrat’s health care proposal, which includes a government-run public plan option to compete with the private sector, is being held up is because nobody can come up with how to pay for it.

It is plainly obvious to everyone, including Congress and the President, that the only way a proposal of this magnitude can only be paid for by increasing taxes.

Now I have said before that I do not mind having to pay a little bit more in taxes if that money is going toward a good cause. I will admit that health care for those that are currently uninsured is a good cause.

However, I am adamantly opposed to the idea of any of us paying more in taxes to support the Obamaplan that is currently circulating through Congress.

The fact is that a public plan is not needed so our hard earned dollars do not need to be spent to pay for something like this.

First, there already is a public plan. In fact, there are 2. They are called Medicare and Medicaid. It would be a lot less costly and a lot more efficient (well as efficient as the government can be) to just expand on these programs than to create some new big health care monster.

Second, the idea that this public plan “option” will “compete” with the private sector is a complete farce. Anyone with half a brain can plainly see that if there is a government run program instituted that is cheaper than any of the private health care plans, people simply will not care about how bad the quality really will be (and it will be terrible) because people think with their wallets and will essentially jump ship from their current insurance company to join the public plan. The problem with this is that there will no longer be any competition in the health care market. Our health care system will simple be a single payer system. Thousands, if not millions, will end up being out of work (including myself). The economy will greatly suffer. With so many more people out of work, there will be less people paying taxes, thus, less money to go toward paying for this program the government created, thus an even larger deficit than what we already have.

Finally, and I have mentioned this time and time again, this will be a plan that will be owned and operated by the federal government and we all know how well that will end up working. Another new government institution equals more government workers to administer the plan. More government workers equals more bureaucracy in the federal government. More bureaucracy equals less efficiency. More bureaucracy also of course equals more government which nobody in this country really needs.

So, in essence, this health care reform legislation is yet another attempt by the Democratic party to make government bigger and bigger, making the American public more and more dependent on them, giving them more power.

So I don’t know about you but I don’t think the federal government needs any more power than it already has but if this health care reform is signed into law, that is what it will mean in the end.

The only hope we have is for those of us that truly do not support this health care legislation is to constantly write our elected officials to let them know that you do not support this legislation. I myself, have written both of my state’s Senators (Patty Murray & Maria Cantwell-D-WA) and our district’s Congressman (Jay Inslee-D-WA). I let them know that I am extremely opposed to this plan and reminded them who they work for. They do not work for Obama. They do not work for Nancy Pelosi. They do not work for the Democratic Party. They work for the people of the United States of America. I let them know that if this bill is signed into law and they are part of the cause of it, I will not forget it come election time. I will make it my mission in life to make sure none of them are re-elected (to be totally honest, I don’t want any of them to be re-elected anyway but I didn’t tell them that).

Write your elected officials. For my Oklahoma readers, your Senators are Jim Inhofe & Thomas Coburn (both Republicans by the way that if I understand correctly are both opposed to the plan so mostly you can just write them and thank them for their opposition. Personally, it feels really strange to me to be in support of Jim Inhofe.)

For those of you that don’t actually know this. The President of the United States is not elected by you. When you step into the polling booth, and cast your vote, you are not voting for your choice for President. You are actually voting to elect someone called an elector, who actually does the real voting for the President. This person that you voted for, can vote for any candidate that he or she wants, they do not have to vote for the person whom you THINK you are voting for.

This is known as the Electoral College system.

I think this system of selecting the President needs to be done away with. In my opinion, the office of the President should be decided by a direct popular vote, just like our Senators and Representatives are.

With the current system of voting, a person’s individual vote is irrelevant.

If you are a person, for example, living in Washington state, it does not matter who you are voting for because almost all of the electors in the state are going to vote for the candidate for the Democratic party. All of the votes will go toward that candidate, even if the guy is a complete tool (as in the case of our last Presidential election).

Likewise in the state of Oklahoma, all of the electoral votes are going to go toward the Republican candidate, no matter who YOU choose to support.

This is where we get the idea of red states and blue states. It is a ridiculous tradition and needs to stop.

With this system in place, the two party system will continue to thrive and there is no chance for 3rd party candidates.

The system just needs to go away. Our electoral system should be based on the idea of one man one vote.

In his recent post Iraq Veterans Endorse Calvey for Congress, Mike tells about the announcement of Republican Kevin Calvey to run for the soon to be vacated Oklahoma Congressional seat now held by Mary Fallin.

Here is the part of the post that stuck out to me:

“He joined the Army National Guard AFTER the start of the Iraq War…when he was already a successful businessman and elected official.”

According to his campaign website, he served as the State Representative for District 94 (Del City) from 1998 to 2006.

So…up to this point, I have read nothing about where he stands on the issues. However, just based on the quote I posted, I already like the guy.

Everyone know that I am not a big fan of the war but the fact that this guy was already an elected official and decided to do something for his country is very admirable. He certainly seems like the type of politician (in my opinion) that has some honorable fiber in him.

So….I went on to read his stance on some of the issues on his website.

I started at his stance on Health Care. He says that:

“…a one size fits all government takeover of your health care is not the answer. ……Instead of a bureaucratic takeover of health care, we need a balanced, common sense approach that provides assistance to those who truly need it and keeps health care patient-centered rather than government-centered for everyone. By using market-based reforms to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse of health care resources, we can bring health care costs down to a manageable level.”

Okay, I still like him. I agree with everything he says here.

Okay, on to the Abortion Issue. He is a former member of the Right to Life Committee and while serving in the state legislature authored numerous pro-life bills. He opposes making it legal to let a minor get an abortion without the parent’s knowledge and opposes the idea to punish doctors who refuse to give abortions.

Still like him.

Okay, now on to something that I will probably not agree with him with because he is a Republican. Gun Control.

He is the 2006 Oklahoma Rifle Association Legislator of the Year. Here is a quote from Kevin directly on this issue:

“Every adult law-abiding American citizen has the right to keep and bear arms. Research consistently shows that law-abiding gun ownership reduces crime……..”

So here is where Kevin and I disagree. At least as far as I can tell. I am not opposed to gun ownership by law-abiding citizens. While at the same time I am in favor of gun control legislation such as waiting periods and background checks at gun shows and that sort of thing. So I am not exactly the polar opposite of Mr. Calvey.

Finally, I decided to look at his stance on Energy. He supports investing in other practical forms of energy such as natural gas, nuclear, wind, etc… He also supports drilling in ANWR which are currently off limits. One of his goals is to make Oklahoma a leader in energy production due to its surplus of natural gas and wind power to further reduce our dependence on foreign terrorist oil.

Amen Kevin.

In short, I too support Kevin Calvey for Congress even though I don’t get to vote for him.

I think I might have offended zTruth with my presence on BNN Oklahoma.

She recently posted the article Seattle-based Otter Limits ranked #1 Political Blog in Oklahoma!

It is a fact. I live in Washington. I do contribute to the Washington BNN as well as the Oklahoma BNN.

But, I went to high school in Oklahoma. I went to college in Oklahoma. I have several friends in Oklahoma. In short, I have strong ties to the state.

Fairly often, I do write posts about the going ons in political Oklahoma.

That is the main reason that I contribute to the Oklahoma BNN.

But I never claimed that my blog is 100% politics. It just so happens that a large majority of my blog is politically related.

However, as I told zTruth in the comments on her post, if she (or anyone else on BNN OK) is offended by my presence there, and feels that I am taking away from blogs that are more deserving of being rated higher, let me know and I will will request to the editors that they remove me from the rolls of BNN OK.

Keep in mind that I don’t have anything to do with the way the various blogs are rated. It’s not like I petition BNN to make me #1 or anything like that. It just happens. I am just as surprised than some of you maybe when I get ranked so high.

So shoot me a comment here and let me know or shoot me an email (the addy is otter272@gmail.com). If you don’t think I should be on BNN OK, I will leave.

Wow guys this is getting kind of weird.

This is a list of my 7 favorite blogs…and this is in order of preference:

1. Oklahoma Lefty
2. Scott’s Blog
3. Jesica’s Journey
4. Red Stater
5. Brad Neese At Large
6. Christarchy
7. Not Always Right

At some other point I think I might do a list of my least favorite blogs.

Okie Funk has a poll on his blot titled “Who has the best chance to win the Oklahoma governor’s race in 2010?”

His choices are Drew Edmondson and Jari Askins (and the obligatory ’someone else’).

Really? These are the only choices you have? That sucks!

Personally, I do not like Edmondson. He may or may not have done some good things as Oklahoma’s Attorney General but personally I think everything he does is politically motivated. The guy WANTS higher office. He wants it bad. And for that reason alone (even though I have others) I can not support him (yeah, I know I can’t vote in Oklahoma elections so it doesn’t matter but maybe someone that respects my opinion will read this and remember not to mark his name on the ballot when it comes time).

As for Jari Askins, I don’t necessarily have anything against her but something about her just doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t place my finger on it.

It just dawned on me though. Okie Funk’s poll only included Democrats. Typical.

For those that are interested, so far, from what I have read, there have been 2 people announce their intention to run for Gov. on the Republican ticket. Those 2 are current U.S. Representative Mary Fallin and State Senator Randy Brogdon, neither of which I would not mind seeing as Governor of my former state of residence.

The most recent post over at McCarville Report reports that Governor Brad Henry just signed a law allowing the 10 Commandments to be placed near the Capitol Building.

This post is an update of sorts to one of the very first posts on this blog. It was originally written in March 2005.

Anyone who knows me personally, or has read any of my stuff knows that music plays a big part in my life. Way back when I first wrote the post, I had just recently left the band I was currently playing with (a band which by the way I am back together with) and it got me to thinking where have I been (musically) in my life.

So tonight I thought I would update that history a bit and instead of just updating the original post, I would re-post it on its own here.

Enjoy!

1990

This year, a friend of mine (Von) and I formed our first band. I think we started it right after graduating high school but we might have still been in, I can’t really remember correctly.
This band was originally called Hate Machine. We decided to change the name for 2 reasons. (1) There was an album called Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails that we did not want to be associated with; and (2) There was another local band that went by the name Hate Party and did not want to sound like we were copying those guys.
So after several ideas and failed suggestions, we went with the name ABF which was the name of a fictional dance club in a book about a punk rock vampire.
The name originally did stand for something, as ABF was actually the acronym for this dance club in the book. However, over the years progressed in this band, it came to stand for other things as well.
When we first started the band, I was singing and playing guitar. Well, let me rephrase, I was, attempting to play the guitar. You see when we started the band we did not have a clear cut idea of who would do what because neither of us actually played an instrument (unless you count Von having been in high school marching band). I happened to own an electric guitar although I did not know how to play it. So I figured out somewhat how to play while Von was singing and attempting, like me, to play the drums.

For the most part 1990 was an uneventful year for this band except that we spent a lot of time writing songs.

1991

This is the year things really started to take off for the band, mostly because we got a little more serious about actually having a band. Von switched to full time vocals and we hired a drummer (Josh). At this point we never got around to hiring a bass player and played our first show in the living room of a friend’s house. Josh was actually only around long enough to play this first show.

Also after this show, ABF was put on a brief hiatus while I joined another local punk rock band called Goon Squad for a short time as their 2nd guitar player. This band was in all respects, the aforementioned Hate Party but with a different singer (and me as 2nd guitarist).
This band did not last long. Probably long enough for 2 or 3 shows.

After leaving this band, me and Von hired a bass player (Brian) and drummer (Chad) for ABF.
Shortly after beginning rehearsals with this band, Brian and I switched instruments as his suggestion. The problem was, I was still not worth a crap as a guitarist and had absolutely no control and kept breaking strings. He suggested we switch because it was harder to break bass strings.
This lineup only lasted long enough to release one E.P. and do one “official” live show. We did, however, have several “open practices” in the garage we were practicing in.
At some point in time, Brian left the band for unknown reasons.

Also in this year, I started another band with another friend of mine (Sonny). It was a huge departure from ABF in that it had a more “heavy metal” feel to it. It was called The Punished. In this band, I sang and played bass and Sonny played guitar. The drummer position was filled by several different people. We never actually did any shows in this band and it only last a few months. I don’t remember really being all that into it.

1992

ABF went through 2 totally different lineups this year.
In the first one, Brian was replaced by an old school chum of ours (Dennis). He played with us a few times until Chad decided to leave and form another band with Brian.
This left us in a bit of a pickle because we had a really huge show coming up for us and needed a drummer quickly. Someone that could pick up the music just as quickly. Dennis suggested his former college roommate (Skosh). He came in and started practicing with us and essentially did what we needed him for.
He probably would have continued being in the band but the problem was that he and Dennis both started getting in the habit of skipping practices so we let them both go.

The second lineup consisted of Frank on guitar. How we found him I honestly can’t remember but I do remember him joining the band had something to do with the fact that he really liked the band Bad Religion. The drummer position this year sort of revolved for a while. In fact, I think while Frank was with us, we went through 3 drummers. Sort of the Spinal Tap of punk rock, except our drummers didn’t blow up.

1993

Strange year for ABF this one was. For some reason which I can’t remember, I ended up switching back to guitar. We played quite a few shows in the first half of the year but we had so many different drummers and bass players this year that I don’t remember them all.
I am still quite shocked that the band stayed together at all this year. In fact, in September of that year, I left college and joined the military, thus ending the band for the rest of the year.

1994

When I returned from boot camp and technical school, I oddly enough ended up getting stationed in the same place I had just left the military for. Very strange. It worked out though for a while.
ABF never really got off the ground after I returned though and I ended up joining a band called The Crackbabies, but only as a singer.
Another friend of mine (Jay) and I had been talking about music late one night while drinking. He mentioned that he was trying to get some sort of band off the ground with him playing drums and his 2 friends, Mike the bass player and Bob the guitar player. So he suggested I come sing for them. So I did.
Some really cool shows were played with this band and there were some very interested tapes released of this band including one of a live show at a club called Alcatraz. I had a lot of fun with it and was actually a bit sad when we stopped playing, mostly because Bob had decided to focus more on his schoolwork as he decided to go back full-time.

So with The Crackbabies gone, I invited Jay to come play for a newly resurrected lineup of ABF. Another friend of mine (Charles) came in and began playing bass for us (Charles actually ended up becoming another “core” member of the group, besides Von and I, as he stayed with the band until its eventual demise). So with this lineup we did a few shows and a live tape was released.

1995

The Von/Me/Charles/Jay continued at the beginning of this year and remained that way almost the entire year.
Toward the end of the year however I learned that I was being transferred to Alaska. So, we decided to record and release another album (which ended up becoming an ep instead) before I left. Unfortunately, Jay left us shortly before we began recording it. We brought in a temporary replacement (Dan) to finish the album for us.
Thus began another extended hiatus for ABF.

1996-1998

The first few months of being in Alaska were very trying. I did not really hang out with very many people because I was still trying to get my bearings.
Early 1996 I became acquainted with a guitar player (Cameron) who was into all the same types of music I was into. And he was also into beer. So we became fast friends.
He knew a guy that played drums (Chris) so we started jamming and started my first and only Alaska punk band.
Originally the band was called Astro Zombies (we were both big Misfits fans) but soon found out there was already a band with that name so we started thinking of other names and eventually came up with Ice Station Zebra.
The lineup for this band was me played bass and singing, Cameron playing guitar, and Chris playing drums.
Eventually, another friend of ours (Dave) came in and started playing bass leaving me to being just a singer again.
The drummer Chris actually did not stick around for very long after Dave showed up. Actually, I think he might have been transferred somewhere else but I can’t remember. After he left, we ended up using a drum machine for recordings and I don’t remember what we did for live shows. I do remember we did quite a few though
During the course of this band’s lifetime, we had 2 bass players (besides myself). There was Dave and another Chris who had recently moved to the Alaskan frontier.
This band’s life came to an end because I left Alaska and left the military itself.

1998

After returning home from Alaska, Von, Charles and I started another lineup of ABF with a friend of Charles (Jason) on drums.
After practicing for a while with this lineup, Von started missing practices and eventually ended up leaving the band altogether. I took over singing duties after he left. For the first show we did after his departure, we actually got an old friend (Jay) to fill in on guitar for me because I had still not gotten used to playing the guitar parts and singing at the same time. That one show did turn out to be a really good show and we almost thought about keeping Jay permanently. I am not really sure why we did not go with that plan.

1999-2001

At the beginning of 1999 (and ultimately until the demise of this band) remained as me, Charles and Jason.

This year, we went into an actual studio and recorded some really promising material. However, due to reasons that I would rather not get into here, the masters for those recordings were destroyed thus those songs never saw the light of day.

In 2000, in addition to playing with ABF, I started playing bass for a bar band that played some country, some old rock n roll (Beatles, Stones, Motown, etc..). It was a lot of fun and I don’t remember why I quit playing for the band. We did a ton of shows that year and even made some decent money doing it.

Also in 2000, I moved into a house with Von (we were still friends even though he was no longer in the band) with a bunch of other people and we had started discussing ideas to start another band. Nothing really got off the ground though. I don’t think the other guys were all that serious about it.

Mostly we just practiced and kept writing and only ended up doing maybe 2 or 3 more shows during this whole time period.

The end of this band came when my interest with the band (and sadly my interest in playing) became dulled and I also had decided to leave Oklahoma and move to Seattle. So, after 11 years, ABF was finally a band no more.

2002-2003

These years were very not interested year for me musically.

According to Jim over at Fried Green Onions, it appears that he Dave from Oklahoma Lefty is an idiot.

And why, might you ask, is he an idiot? Because he voted for Barack Obama?

First of all, Dave is no idiot. You Jim should know better than that. I am actually quite appalled by your name calling. I thought you were a better person than that. I thought wrong apparently.

Secondly, your definition of “liberal” as ‘a person who voted for Barack Obama’ is ridiculous and juvenile.

So you don’t support Obama’s politics. Fine. You don’t have to. I don’t either. But calling someone an idiot because they voted the way they felt was right is what I would expect from someone like rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or some other ultra-conservative jerk that likes to spew words of hatred over the airwaves or the blogosphere. I never thought I would expect it from you.

I have lost any respect I had for you at this point. The good points that you make on your blog are sorely diminished by this infantile behavior.

The blog post Jim references in his post by the way, pertains to classic definitions of the words “liberal” and “conservative.”

I guess Jim at FGO is another part of the problem instead of part of the solution. Good job Jim!