2011 A time for Sanity

We're now in 2011 and I thought I would reflect on what I think needs to
happen this year. As the title imlies I hope it is a time for sanity rather
than insanity. The last two years have really been a time of insanity, what
with the passage of the health care legislation, the administration's
failure to charge wiki leaks with anything and more.

The way the Republicans are talking, this year will be different. Well, I
certainly hope so. Rep. Darrell Isa is going after the administration,
particularly Atty Gen. Eric Holder for failure to prosecute a number of
organizations. Two of these I would venture to say have likely ties to
Obama and the third one there is no excuse for. The President has a past
history with ACORN so that one is understandable but not justified. The one
involving the New Black Panterhs party is not justified. Voter intimidation
is voter intimidation no matter who is committing it.

As for the third one, Wiki Leaks, that one is a travesty. We have espionage
laws and Atty. Gen. Holder needs to use them to prosecute Wiki Leaks founder
Assange or resign from office. This is about what Isa is saying and I
agree. Otherwise we look like a paper tiger and will only be laughed at and
that's not what I want from this country. Also those who enable Wiki Leaks
need to be gone after under the espionage laws. Holder had a chance last
spring but failed to take action after the leak of the papers involving
Afghanistan and Iraq. It should never have gotten as far as the diplomatic
cables. While the Army has one person under investigation,there are clearly
more people involved. They also need to be investigated an dprosecuted.

As for health care reform, there is a constitutional challenge on this one
and I hope it succeeds as Obama care is bad legislation. Short of the
constitutional battle, I hope there is success in outright repeal or
defunding. I8t is my opinion that there will be a battle royale over the
budget with health care right in the thick of it. If we can at leat get
this thing defunded, that would lower the deficit. Then let's get it
repealed. It's interesting to me that many of the major provisions don't
take affect until 2014. Why is that? IMO it's because this is bad
legislation and its authors know that and don't want to take the political
hit for it. The adage that the more the people see about this legislation
the more they don't like it holds true on this one. Let's hope ewe can get
some sensible health care reform, starting with tort reform which would
limit malpractice suits and stop judge shopping in these cases. This type
of sensible reform would bring down costs as there would be less of a need
for defensive medicine.

I also hope there's sanity on the foreign policy front as well but that will
be difficult given that two rogue nations, North Korea and Iran, appear to
be working together. This is dangerous and needs to be dealt with. I'm not
even going to go into what needs to be done here as I'm not sure of that
one. Looking weak though is not an option in my opinion.

These are just a few things that I hope will happen in order to bring real
sanity in 2011. Let's see how much gets accomplished prior to the
Presidential campaign starting in the fall.

Remembering our veterans on their day

Today as I sit and type this entry, I'm reminded of the sacrifice our
veterans have made so that we have the freedom to post such material, to
live and work in the community of our choice, to practice our religion and
to criticize our government when we don't agree with a decision they have
made. Much of this would be impossible in many countries and could subject
one to harsh treatment, including death.

As someone who is blind with a mild hearing loss, I am able to work and live
on my own. Contrast that with some other countries where someone like me
would be kekpt at home and cared for the rest of her life. I have access to
technology that allows me to ac cess information. I'm able to participate
in the political process through my advocacy work. I can even go out
shopping on my own.

I'm able to do many, if not all, of these things because of the sacrifices
our veterans have made. They have defended freedom so that I and others
like me can have choices. They have answered the call to serve so that all
of us might be able to vote in free and fair elections as many of us did
last week, choosing to toss out politicians we didn't like in many places.
In many countries, they don't have free and fair elections so can't affect
change in this way. We can and that is a right we have because of the
sacrifices of our veterans.

I'm reminded of these sacrifices thanks to the Greatest Generation who are
now part of the honor flights and are just now getting the thanks from a
grateful nation which they so richly deserve. That's been a long time
coming but well and richly deserved for life would be very different today
if they had not answered the call to serve.

So if you see a veteran today, tell him or her thank you for their service
no matter which branch of the military they served in or which war they
served in. All have sacrificed much for future generations.

In closing, I just want to say thank you to any veteran who might read this.
Please know that your service to our country is greatly appreciated.

About four weeks to go

It's about four weeks until the election. There's a lot at stake this time
around and no one can afford to be on the sidelines. You need to make sure
you're informed and vote for the candidates youfeel will do the best for
this country,your state and or local area.

Our vote will influence the direction of the country for years to come.
Business is not investing due to uncertainty. They don't know what
regulations will be coming down the pipeline; they don't know what they will
be paying in taxews and they don't know how much their costs will rise as a
result of Obama Care. Business won't hire or invest until they know the
answers to these questions. To that end, who wins will say a lot about the
direction of the country.

If the Democrats win,it will be more of the same thing that we're getting
now. There will just be more regulation They willhave succeeded in taking
over health care by mandating what must be covered; who must be covered and
how much can be charged for said coverage. When private companies are
reduced to offering what the government mandates just to stay in business,
that's a takeover despite what the media would have yu believe. What will
be next? That's a scary thought.

If the Republicans win, we will see an effort to repeal the onerous
takeover of one-sixth of the economy. We will see regulations reduced and
taxes will be reduced which will allow for investment. Bailouts would end
and they need to as taxpayers should not be funding failng businesses. If
they have a bad business model, then they fail under capitalism.

The Democrats view business as evil and greedy. Just look at their
so-called financial regulatoryreform. It strangles business and regulates
what credit card companies and others can do. Granted some changes were
needed but not in the manner that the Democrats did it.

Republicans, on the other hand, see business as innovative and the creator
of jobs. It is the private sector who creates job, not the government.
Democrats believe just the opposite when it comes to who creates jobs in
this country.

The future is in our hands and we need to make sure we let everyone know
what direction we want to see things go. That's why it's important to get
out and vote as if your life depends on it because it does..

Taking the opportunity tocomment on cell phone access

Rarely are we given an opportunity to comment on such an important issue.
This is such an opportunity and it has been made so easy. I urge all who
read this to do so, encourage others to do so or help someone to do so.
These comments are due to the FCC by October 15 and were sent to
pam.gregory@fcc.gov. let her hear our voices.

Docket #10-145
Accessibility of cell phones
I appreciate the extension of the deadline for comments on this very
important topic.

While it is nice that Applle has made a phone that is accessible out of the
box,not everyone will want to use a touch screen. Some people,like me, will
not have the patience for such a device. I saw a friend's I-pod touch over
the weekend and know I am in that category.

This leads me to my next point, that being that there must be options out
there; and that's not the case unless one is willing to invest money over
and above the cost of the cell phone. I, as a blind hard of hearing person,
should not have to do that. Right now, I have to pay $300 additional for
the cost of a screen reader to make my phone accessible as I cannot read the
menus, text messages or anything else on the phone. I then must invest
money to keep that software current, something a sighted person does not
have to do. That puts the cost of access at right around $500 over and
above the cost of the phone itself. Sighted people don't have to pay this
extra cost and neither should I. I am happy with Verizon, my current
carrier, and I don't want to switch just to obtain accessibility out of the
box. I should, like anyone else, be able to choose the carrier from whom I
want to obtain service.

As I wear hearing aids, I also had to test the phone in the store to make
sure it was going to work for me. Thankfully it did and the representative
in the verizon store knew something about the ratings system for hearing aid
compatibility (HAC). In the past, I've had to use a loop which added
additional cost to the phone. However, I've not had to use such a device
since 2006 and I'm not going back.

In conclusion, Apple has shown that accessibility out of the box is
possible. However, the I-phone is the only phone for which this is true.
Other manufacturers need to follow Apple's lead. It's good for business and
the consumer.

Six weeks and counting

It's six weeks until the mid-term elections and it can't get here fast
enough. Six more weeks and hopefully Obama and his minions will be slowed
down dramtically, giving this country a chance to slow down the pace of
change and get us to 2012 without too much more damage. Heck we may even
have a shot at repeal of the government takeover of health care. I hope so
as I want to make my own health care decisions. I don't want them made by a
bureaucrat in Washington.

Businesses will be happy to see the elections come too as maybe the
uncertainty will end for them. They will get a clearer picture of where
issues of taxes, regulation and health care are headed. Only when business
is certain about these issues will they begin to create jobs once again.
Only when they know what they will be paying for health care for their
employees and what they will be paying in taxes will they then decide to
create jobs.

Unfortunately you have a President right now who has never worked in the
private sector so he doesn't know the first thing about how government
policy affects business. President Obama and his Democratic friends think
that government, not the private sector,creates jobs. This is, of course,
not the case. Government thinks right now that they are the only ones who
create jobs and that the private sector is evil. You see this here in
Illinois. All you have to do is read any news release from Gov. Quinn's
office to realize that Gov. Quinn spends money thinking it will create jobs.
That's what you see time and again as a justification for every project on
which there is a release. There are releases on broadband projects,
high-speed railroad service and highway interchanges just to name a few. Go
to www.Illinois.gov and click on news and then Governor's office and you
will see what I mean. What happens when these projects are finished? Where
are the jobs? Are these projections grounded in reality? Does anyone know?
I wonder why but won't speculate here.

You can look in other categories on the above-mentioned site to see what
else is going on. You will find out about regulations, appointments and the
like. There's not much in the area of budget fiscal, with nothing being
mentioned in this category since July. What are they doing to fix the
budget problems? Spending is obviously outpacing revenue and that can't be
sustained. We need long-term solutions that are not crisis-driven. We need
solutions that will stabilize the situation, not make it worse.

Six weeks until the mid-term elections and it can't get here fast enough.
Make sure you are registered and then that you vote for the candidates
youfeel will do the best job for the future of Illinois and the nation.

Ground Zero Mosque no way

I've been listening to all of the controversy surrounding the building of a
mosque/Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero. While those who own the
property on which this facility is to be built have the right to do what
they want with the property, does that mean they should? In this case the
answer to that question is a resounding NO!

They should have known that building a Mosque/Islamic Cultural Center so
close to Ground Zero would stir up some strong emotions, especially among
the families of those killed on September 11, 2001 by Islamic extremists.
Locating the facility where its backers want only serves to cause pain and
ill-will. These people should be more sensitive to the situation at hand.
There are other places further away from Ground Zero that this could be
built; and these options should be explored. This should have never gotten
this far due to the sensitive nature of this area.

As for the burning of the Quron to protest this Mosque/Cultural Center,
that's far out of bounds of free speech and is far beyond wrong and far
beyond being in extremely poor taste. It's extremely disgusting and should
never, ever happen. Disagreeing with a project is no reason for
dessicration of any religious symbol of any religion. Let's not inflame
the situation literally here.

I have not forgotten

Today is 9 years after 9-11, that horrible day when this country was
tragically and brutally attacked by terrorists using planes as weapons.
These 19 so-called human beings had no regard for human life and some 3,000
people lost their lives, many just going to work as they normally did. The
only thing different is that they never came home. Then there were the
heroes who died just doing what they do. (taken from Allan Jackson "Where
Were You When the World Stopped Turning?")

You also have those aboard United flight 93 who were determined that their
plane would not destroy another landmark. They were the first soldiers in
the war on terror. Tod Beamer and the rest died like heroes in that
Pennsylvania field. Then there are those who died at the Pentagon.

It's a day I'll never forget and a day we must never forget because if we
forget, then it will happen again. We must do everything we can to defeat
terrorism so that these deaths will not be in vain. We came together as a
country and we must continue to work together as a country.

Have you forgotten? No I haven't and never will. I still remember talking
to my husband that day and then turning on the radio to find that the
station was taking feed fromNYC. I called my husband and told himn to turn
on the radio. He did and thus began a day filled with terror and horror.

My hearts go out to the first responders who did their best to try and save
those trapped at the WTC, many of them dying in the process. It just shows
the sacrifice these people make every day, and especially on 9-11. They
paid a high price as did this country. May we never see another day like it
ever again.