A suspect has been identified. Or arrested. He’s a dark-skinned male.

All of it crap.

The last forty-eight hours have displayed the worst our media has to offer. From self-described “experts” to “reporters” who are no better than Twitter followers with a national outlet, the clusterfuck that we have seen has been epic in proportion.

The speculation started almost instantaneously.  A pipe bomb. A steam tunnel explosion. A terrorist attack. Before a single fact was known, the theories abounded. And the fear-mongering. Because if the media can’t amp up the fear to near hysteria level, they don’t think they’re doing their job. They made sure to tell us of the lost limbs, the lost lives. They looked for the pained faces of victims and loved ones. Because pain sells.

But they didn’t have the facts. This was never more clear than this afternoon, when CNN, AP and Fox all reported that a suspect was in custody. And they were all wrong. Badly. To the point that the FBI released a statement admonishing the media for jumping the gun. But there was a much more serious consequence: hundreds of people, thinking an arrest had been made, rushed to the federal building in Boston. Suddenly, DHS vehicles rushed to building. Why? A bomb threat with hundreds outside. Hundreds who were there because CNN, AP and Fox couldn’t be bothered to actually check their sources.

This is the sad state of much of our media – and of our ADD addled society. We demand the information NOW, forget whether it’s accurate or not. There are fewer and fewer journalists and more and more “reporters”  who are  increasingly more like stenographers than journalists. To whom Twitter is considered a reliable source, and anonymous information is as good as gold.

What should – what must happen – is that we wait for facts. That we wait for the investigation to bring facts to light, not rampant speculation. There will be an arrest, and we will learn the motive for this heinous act. We will hear more stories of pain and heroism. But let’s curb our appetite for immediate satisfaction and wait until we know what the truth is.

But here’s the part that gets a little scary (from NBC4LA):

Several Facebook pages have appeared in support of Dorner, who has allegedly shot three officers, killing one. He also allegedly fatally shot the daughter of an LAPD captain and her fiancé.

The online support seems motivated by an anti-police attitude that the ex-officer espouses in his manifesto.

One Facebook page, which had garnered nearly 1,700 “likes” by midday Friday, states: “A MAN WITH MORALS AND A HERO. A REAL REBEL WITH A CAUSE! THIS MAN IS STANDING UP FOR A CAUSE HE WILL BE REMEMBERED. HES TRYING TO STOP CORRUPTION. HAVE RESPECT FOR A MAN WHO IS WILLING TO DIE FOR SOMETHING INSTEAD OF LIVING FOR NOTHING.”

While the idea of someone with Dorner’s training running around with a vendetta is frightening, the idea that people are supportive is even scarier. Sure, I myself have entertained the idea that there may be more to the story, that there are investigations that need to happen into his allegations. But in no way would I support what he is doing.

For example, why kill before going to the media? Why didn’t he go to them first? Obviously, this is related to his state of mind. But again, his story and his actions aren’t the scary part. It’s that there are people that are supportive of his actions.

Now add the growing number of anti-government, paranoids who insist they must be able to own any weapon imaginable because they have to be able to “resist tyranny”. How long until one of these guys decides he’s going to follow suit? How long until this is more than just one man’s vendetta against the LAPD? How long until innocent people lose their lives because Dorner is suddenly turned into an anti-hero?

Our society is all too fond of making heroes out of villains, of glorifying people who kill because they’re against the establishment. Whether it’s a drug dealer who gains “respect” by killing his competition, or an unbalanced former cop who is going after his former colleagues on a murderous rampage, neither deserves respect nor admiration.

Dorner has already stated that he expects to not survive this. But what about that next guy?

With recent events, we thought this post from Scott Anderson really hits home.

We practice most things we do in our lives. Things like driving and cooking, the skill set we use at work and raising our children are all things that take practice. It’s hard, repetitive practice every day until we are satisfied, or not,  with the results.

But how do you practice telling your child when their best friend dies?  There is no practice for that. No manual, rule book or DVD that explains how to do it.  All you can do is glean the information from those unfortunate ones who have had to experience this before.  Of course this process is made even harder when you’re dealing with special needs kids on both sides of the equation.  What’s normal to us can be far from normal to them. Emotions can range from uncontrolled hysterics to almost non-existent. I almost pray that it quickly turns to hysterics. I have dealt with hysterics. It’s the silence which drives you mad.

Two eleven year olds bound by their disabilities as much as their personalities.  Two kids who spent almost every minute of every school day together.  Still it makes me wonder if kids that age take things for granted.

So my son’s life will change drastically on Monday; Sunday depending on how he takes the news.  The hours of the days he spent with her will now be a shell of what they once were.  No more walking down the hall together, no more giggling during speech therapy when one of them goofs up.  Recess and lunch and the normal part of the day won’t change much.  It’s the special time of the day when it was the two of them that’ll change.  And it has changed forever.

It’s not about the quantity of life you’ve lived but the quality of it.

And the parent’s journey down that dark road without as much as a flashlight to keep him from falling.

Medi-Cal covered a large portion of my bills last year, but had an enormous “share of cost” – the monthly portion that I have to pay before Medi-Cal chips in a dime. How enormous? More than $1500 per month. In fact, that was a big reason why I was back in the hospital. My blood sugar had gone dangerously out of control. My body had started shivering violently, and it felt like I was getting ready for another heart attack. Turns out I was luck I didn’t fall into a diabetic coma.

So how was the share of cost a cause of this? I have no primary care doctor. I can’t get one because they won’t take patients with such a high share of cost. They’re on the hook for all the charges until the share of cost is met. At the time, I was getting about $2200 a month in disability payments, and paid $1225 of that in rent alone. this meant that there would be virtually no way for me to meet that share of cost. And no doctor to get the medications I needed to keep the blood sugar in control.

I tried for months to find someone. Even the “free clinics” were a problem. Why? They want to know if you have any insurance. They asked for my social, so they could run it against the Medi-Cal system. When they saw I did have Medi-Cal, I no longer qualified for the “free” services.

But since then, I have gone back to work. The irony is, I now have a gross of only $1500 a month at best, and bring home about $1100-1200. I have had to move in with my brother, sharing a room with my daughter and paying $600 a month in rent. Surely, with my income cut in half, the share  of cost would be reduced.

I reapplied for Medi-Cal. Today, I got the word – my share of cost has been reduced – to $775 per month.

Let’s do the math here: I bring home, at best, $1200 per month. $600 of that goes to rent. Any groceries, gas for the car, phone bills, car insurance, the regular costs of living day to day come out of the remaining $600. But somehow, I’m supposed to pay $775 a month in my medical bills before I get any assistance whatsoever. Oh, did I mention about $100 a month in medication? Also not covered until I pay the $775.

I’m not a moocher. I work and work hard. I do my best to raise my daughter under trying circumstances. But the “assistance” I get is essentially non-existent. I can’t meet the share of cost every month, unless I have a catastrophic incident that lands me in the hospital. Then, and only then, does that share of cost get met. And I’m still on the hook for it.

This isn’t assistance. My health is quite literally in danger because I can’t get assistance that makes a difference. And I’m not alone. Here’s how it’s calculated:

Income – maintenance need level** – applicable deductions = SOC

** The current maintenance need level is $600 per month for a single adult. The level increases with each additional adult and child living in the household (i.e., $750 for one adult and one child, $934 for a family of three, etc.).

So, according to Medi-Cal, I have to pay the difference between my income and the “maintenance need” level. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know a household of 2 that can survive on a total of $750 a month gross income. And therein is the real problem. The “income” levels on which “maintenance need levels” are set are woefully behind the times. Moreover, they are generic and don’t take into account variations in the areas in which people live. There may be some places where a family of 2 can live on $750 a month, but they aren’t in Orange County, CA. Or most of Southern California for that matter.

This issue is also why I get annoyed (to put it mildly) when people complain about people “mooching” off the system or taking advantage of “handouts”. There is no handout here. If I don’t pay the first $775 of my medical bills, I am getting no assistance from Medi-Cal. None. I haven’t seen my cardiologist in nine months because I can’t afford the $150 office visit, not to mention the $144 every time they decide they need to run a blood test – which is every time. That’s nearly $300 for one visit, and it;s still not half of what I have to pay out in a month before I get assistance. So don’t tell me I’m a moocher. I get nothing there, other than a barrier to the health care I need.

If you sometimes wonder why some folks get involved with a cause, then a story like Scott’s might just help clear things up.

I thought the days I spent working for next to nothing at the Boys Club in my town would have prepared me for the trails and paths I would take later in life. Couldn’t have been more wrong about that.

The wages I got once I settled into my position at the club came out to around three dollars and ten cents an hour. Since they operated as a not-for-profit organization this exempted them from having to pay at least minimum wage. Plus everyone was expected to give a portion back to the United Way as we received most of our monies from them. I had no idea this was illegal until later in life. As it all washed out, it was still worth the money.

Living on take home pay of about eighty dollars a week called for some creative bookkeeping. Roommates, macaroni and cheese, bulk chicken and generic beer were all staples of my early twenties lifestyle. I was able to pick up two midnight shifts at the largest health club in the area to get a little extra money and a free health club membership. I always told my friends that  resourcefulness was bred from need. While my friends all whined about their relationships, moaned about their car payments and complained about their bosses I was “livin’ large”. I drove cars that cost less than $500. My boss was great. We both knew the importance of what we did every day. And I wanted nothing to do with any sort of relationship. I wanted to work, work out, play ball and drink beer. Usually in that order. Females just would have made a mess of things.

Once winter came we would open our gym for adults to come and play basketball. Being in Indiana you’re raised knowing what Hoosier Hysteria was. Every boy and girl had a story or two, true or not, about something that they did during a pick-up game somewhere. Some of our greatest point guards learned to dribble on a dirt court with surface tree roots popping up in the strangest places . The Boys Club would charge three dollars a head for two hours of play. A couple times a week and we could fund a special project or two in the wood shop.

Through these pick-up games I met a couple of gym rats who played four or five times a week. Since I played volleyball in college and all that was around at that time was a class D co-ed league, hoops was it. (After all it was my third best sport.) I ended up playing on a Wednesday night with a bunch of guys belonging to an organization called the Jaycees. I had no idea who they were or what they did. I paid them twenty dollars for a year-long membership and got to play as much ball as I wanted. Deal. Just what I needed; something else to add to my schedule.

I was invited to a club meeting which took place in a back room of the local American Legion Post. Those were all fathers and uncles and grandfathers of the guys I hung around with. They’d spend their days playing Spades and drinking beer until the sun went down. Most of them left as it got hard for them to see after dark.

I was asked and since it has always been hard for me to say no to people I worked the annual Christmas for the Needy project. It was rather simple. We would buy or solicit donations of food, gather it, load it into large cardboard boxes and add a ham or turkey the day it was to be delivered. We would load up pick up trucks and ride in back, holding on to the light bar like we were kings of the moment.

Now I can’t say for sure but coming home from school one heck of a lot bigger and one heck of a lot badder gave me this feeling of invincibility. I felt like I was the greatest show on earth, well, maybe just Cedar Lake for the time being and then it happened. We had emptied two trucks and were on our last of the night. We crept into one of the lakeside subdivisions which were comprised of very small cottage-type homes. Cedar Lake was, after all, a summer retreat for the high rollers from Chicago. We had Midway Ballroom an old, decrepit rock and roll club that would host your occasional country band much to the dislike of the twenty-somethings. My partner knocked on the door and announced we were from the Jaycees and had something for the family. I had to turn sideways to slide through the opening to get into the kitchen/dining room. For such a small room my mind couldn’t comprehend all that went on before me. There standing before me was Chico Santos, a smallish nine-year-old troublemaker who made my life hell working at the Boys Club. His little brother Billy Joe was there as were his sisters. Our eyes met and he turned away as if the chink in his armor had become exposed. I looked around and then it hit me, making my stomach flip again and again. There was no sub-floor. The tile was worn away and dirt was showing through the floor. Dirt.

I snapped out of my daze when Mrs. Santos gave me a huge hug, both thanking me and blessing me at the same time. The key to this project running smoothly was speed. We had a window to maintain to get our food delivered. Luckily this was our last stop.

To be there in the same room with Chico at that time made me realize one huge flaw I had with myself. I was humbled that night. No matter what kind of hardship that would befall me after that fateful night seemed insignificant. I was changed. As was young Mr. Santos. All the relationships I had, the victories and defeats that shaped my character, the endless starry nights spent on the hood of my car at Crater Lake trying to count the stars in that limitless sky all changed in that instant.

Humility. Knowing and realizing that there is no single human that I was better than. Working my ass off to help them as much as I could. My list just got one item longer. “And that service to humanity is the best work of life.”

One of my best friends asked me why I spent so much time working on these projects that helped the people who needed it the most.

I simply said: “Somebody’s got to fight for them.”

Yeah, I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but after spending two weeks in a battleground state and watching the ridiculous spin put on the SCOTUS decision to uphold ACA, I figured I’d just get my two cents worth in.

All the uproar has been about the “mandate” and whether it is a tax or not. Republicans have changed tactics, and instead of referring to the ACA as Obamacare, they are now calling it ObamaTax. Yup, they want to scare folks into thinking they will be paying more in taxes because of the ACA.

News flash – most won’t.

The mandate has a very simple purpose – to ensure everyone who can afford medical insurance is getting medical insurance. That’s it. It’s designed to minimize the number of people who are using emergency rooms as their primary care facility and putting the burden of paying for that on the rest of us. It’s about personal responsibility. If you can afford it, you should be paying your way.

And the brilliant part of this is – if you have insurance already, this costs you nothing. Not a freakin’ sausage.

But wait, you say, what about the poor folks?

That problem has already been solved. Tax credits will be available to help those who cannot afford an insurance policy otherwise. Wait, a tax cut? A credit?? Say it ain’t so!

That’s right, the focus is to get folks insured. There are tax breaks for small businesses that want to provide insurance. And the much wailed about expansion of Medicaid? It’s paid for almost entirely by the federal government, not the state. In fact, a state that chooses not to increase the benefits does its citizens a disservice, as those who live in states that do not take the expansion funding will not be eligible for the low income tax credits. This is a part of the discussion that we have not seen. Those states that refuse to expand will essentially be creating a tax increase on the poor by eliminating a potential tax credit while simultaneously preventing them from accessing better health care through subsidized insurance.

Meanwhile, if you have healthcare now, you don’t pay a dime in extra taxes/penalties/fees or whatever you want to call it.

Of course, this isn’t the story the media and Republicans want told. But it is the story that needs to get out.

But the Romney campaign has doubled down on that “gaffe”, stating that the candidate did not misspeak, but that would be policy. Gaffe? Apparently not.

It’s not a gaffe when you actually believe it. Romney picked on firefighters, police and teachers because they belong to unions. And that, to Romney, is a mortal sin. So he believes we have too many cops on the street, too many firefighters saving lives and too many teachers educating our kids.

Romney comes from the conservative mindset that any money that does not flow into corporate coffers – and therefore his pockets and those of his cronies – is wasted money. They claim they want a strong defense. What they really want is lots of money flowing to defense contractors. If they really wanted a strong defense, they’d do more for active-duty military and for veterans. Instead, they make sure contractors in their home states get billions in contracts, fir which they are rewarded by fat contributions to their campaigns. They want to privatize services like law enforcement and firefighting so they can make a profit at your expense. They decry taxes, but by privatizing these services, your direct costs will go up, essentially increasing the burden on you, while allowing a private company to decide just what services you receive.

They want to privatize education, so that only those that can afford it can get a decent education. Too poor to pay for school? Sorry. Work harder.

Make no mistake, this was not a gaffe. This is exactly what Romney would deliver.

At present, the United States is already a net producer of natural gas, and is expected to be a net producer of crude within the next decade. That means we’d be exporting more than we’re importing. The oil storage facilities in Oklahoma where domestic production is stored are full. Tankers are being used to store excess oil. And yet, the prices continue to rise and fall at a whim. Why? Speculators. While implementation of some of the Dodd-Frank rules on speculation have seemed to at least temporarily curb the rollercoaster, speculators control the price of gas far more than supply and demand. Case in point: Demand for oil is at the lowest point in 15 years, and yet prices are far above those 15-year-ago levels.

The fact is, even with regulation, speculators can still move the market in ways that drive prices up, even as we have a surplus in the country. So how do we change the equation? Biofuels.

Now, many will roll their eyes at the idea of biofuels. And they’d be wrong. One indicator? The largest consumer of biofuels in the world is the US Department of Defense. Yup, the DOD has been testing and using biofuels, especially algae-based fuels, for a few years now, and have found it just as effective as fossil-based fuels. But there’s a huge difference: algae-based fuel is completely renewable. Completely.

Now, think of all the money that the big oil companies are given in subsidies every year. About $4 billion every year. What if we took just a portion of that, say 25%, and put it into the development and production of algae-based fuels. This would have a number of effects. First, it would drop the cost of algae-based fuels, bringing it closer to what we are now paying for fuel, and perhaps less. Second, it would depress demand for fossil fuels, which have a finite supply. This would mean that foreign entities would have less control and sway over what happens here in the US.

It is estimated that if the total algae-fuel production in the US took up a space about 10% the size of New Mexico, enough algal fuel would be produced to eliminate the need for fossil fuel. Think of the reduction in dangerous spills. The only place where spills can occur is in delivery of the fuel/oil. How do you clean up a “spill” at the production plants? Let it dry out. It’s algae. Spread that production out over the western and mid-western states that get lots of sunlight (think eastern California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, etc.) and you get enough production to completely wean us off fossil fuel.

This doesn’t negate the benefits of solar and wind power, but it has an advantage – it can be transported.

We need to end subsidies to companies who are using technologies such as fracking to extract oil in ever more dangerous locations, and who then report record profits while paying a fraction of the taxes they should for those profits, taking their money offshore. We should reward comaonies who are working to break the chains that foreign oil place on us, and can deliver thousands of new jobs to Americans, without endangering the environment.

After all, if the DOD thinks it’s the way to go, maybe they’re onto something.

But it’s time to pull the plug, at least for now. We’ll still do occasional video updates and quick stuff like our earlier “Road Rebel” series. But after two years, our average viewership just hasn’t grown enough to support the effort it takes to do the show on a weekly basis. And due to our limited (non-existent) budget, we can’t afford advertising or the equipment to really do the show at the quality we’d like.

Don’t worry! We’re not going anywhere. We’ll still be here, giving our take on the news and info from the day. We just won’t be doing it live on Tuesday nights.

We truly appreciate those of you who have tuned in and participated, and hope you’ll continue to participate with us on the website and on Facebook. We really have had a great time, and who knows, we may be back… and if we are, it’ll be bigger and better than ever!

Thanks again!

Leo

This behavior is, without a doubt, reprehensible. But making the case that since he did it then, he’d do the same now – or even have similar tendencies – is simply ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Romney fan. But fair is fair.

If you want to see how the man’s character has developed, you need to look at more than just his high school years. He protested in favor of the Vietnam War, then got himself moved to France to avoid the draft. His time at Bain Capital, where he made his money buying, then dismantling businesses, pocketing the profits while moving jobs offshore and putting Americans out of work. Or his battle with and elimination of a Massachusetts state-sponsored group that worked to educate against gay bullying. You can look at his current focus at cutting the taxes on the wealthy, while increasing them on the poor. There are plenty of things you can point to that show where his thinking has “evolved”. You don’t need to extrapolate it from his behavior as a teen.

But there is a pattern here. And in that sense, there is some value to knowing about this incident. Romney has always been couched in privilege. And from that privilege comes arrogance and a sense of entitlement. It comes with the perception that those who are different must be made to toe the line. And that getting ahead, getting your own way, takes precedence over the welfare of others. In other words, he acts like a bully.

Today, that bullying is in the form of money. He will spend as much as it takes to get himself the nomination, and if he can, the Presidency. It doesn’t matter how awful things in his past might be, nor what the consequence to the average person is. This isn’t about class warfare, because Romney doesn’t recognize a different class. You can tell by his speeches, his statements – he truly believes that he is average, that everyone has the same opportunities he did. So he believes he is doing the best. And anyone who doesn’t have what he has is just lazy, doesn’t need help. Remember his statement about not being worried about the very poor? He thinks they’re ok. He thinks the fact that they have fallen into a safety net shows that the system works. Never mind the fact that they need a safety net is a prime example that the system isn’t working, and that he is supportive of removing that safety net and letting them fall. Same attitude as “Let Detroit Fail”. If it doesn’t affect him or his cronies directly, he really doesn’t care. But take away a penny of their income in taxes, and they scream of lost freedoms and war on the rich.

It’s the entitlement of bullies. They’ll bash everything around them if they are allowed. It gives them a sense of power, a sense of control. It’s the GOP brand. Case in point – today’s vote in the House on a Republican measure to restore military funding that they gave up in the debt ceiling deal. You’ll remember that in the deal, Republicans agreed that if a debt reduction deal was not passed by November of last year, there would be automatic cuts to the military. They agreed to that because Democrats agreed to cuts on the programs they favor as well.

Now, however, Republicans want to renege. They want to turn back the clock and not cut a penny out of the military. Instead, they want to make further cuts to social programs, like school lunches, health care subsidies, child tax credits and food stamps, on top of the cuts already agreed to. Typical bully behavior. Make the deal, then try to bash your way out of it when it starts going south.

Of course, this deal has no chance in the Senate, and even if it did, it would not get past the President. They made a deal, and they’re going to have to stick to it. But the reality is, they don’t care. How could they? Politically, in an election year, do you really want to pit the poor, children and the elderly against military spending? Do you want to remind folks that you made a deal, in an effort to reduce spending, and that you don’t want to keep your word?

Bullies don’t care.

Again, this isn’t about class warfare. This is about entitlement. They have the money, they want to keep it, and they don’t intend to give any of it away. So they’ll beat up whoever they have to toward that end.

So, no, Romney’s high school activities aren’t indicative of what he would do today. But they are a piece of a puzzle that shows that his sense of entitlement, his willingness to bully those he doesn’t agree with, has a clear progression from then until now.