Mattress Answer Man Speaks |

I can go to the MSNBC stars blogs ED Schultz, Ratchell Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell (The Last Word), or if you like Democratic light there is Chris Matthews (Hardball) and Republican light Joe Scarborough (Morning Joe). There is really no interaction and most often I get bored with the topic after a few days. These performers will usually report the news with a slant that I favor but then there I am with the problem and no answer. If that were my goal I could be a Republican and get the added emotion of hatred.

To s0lve my cravings a little web searching was necessary. To save others time I thought I would share some of my findings.  The first places of interest can be found for a Senator or Representative just by using their last name . which house . gov (example Senator Bob Casey is http://casey.senate.gov/ )or Nancy Pelosi is( http://pelosi.house.gov ). The nice thing about visiting here is that if you don’t ask for them to send you updates they don’t ask for money every time.

If you want to find the progressive blogs or websites your best bet is to start with one and see who the are connected with. Lets star with Oil Change Iinternational. When I go to this website using Internet Explorer it freezes but if visited with FireFox it works well. Oil Prices  and energy for all and clean energy. This site has a blog roll (connections to other websites.) The first one is Amazon Watch and deals with energy and pollution in the Amazon. This is logical but one subject and distant. They are also linked with The center for responsible politics(Opensecrets) This is a sunshine site tring to follow the money on both sides, The Understory all the dirt that’s fit to post (as long as it helps liberals), Truthdig is a news website with a progressive point of view. When you visit Oil Change International there are many more links.

Here’s one that is a Fox alike and one that Fox actually does dislike
You can’t be a Christain and a Republican was just a couple of posts but Faithful America is a full time website with this in mind yet still not that faith based one we need. Don’t be discouraged there is Sojourners with daily posts in sections like Verse and Voice. How about a Catholic group that realizes abortion isn’t the only topic Vote The Common Good is just such a place. The National council of  Churches doesn’t endorse anyone but many of it’s principles to look for will be found in a progressive agenda

Courage Campaign  is an online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country. Since 1971 there has been Public Citizen Corporations have their lobbyists in Washington, D.C. The people need advocates too. Get Equal and Task Force are gay rights groups Progressive United formed byRuss Feingold aims to build a massive grassroots effort dedicated to mitigating the effects of, and eventually overturning, the Citizens United decision.Progressive in States Network is a multi progressive subject site. Brave New Foundation champians social justice issues

I’ll have more for you next post

I was on my way grocery shopping and listening to the ball game. The day was good and my team was ahead. My grocery bill was low and things were just calm and as good as they could be. Then on my return trip the game was over but the talk station that carries the game was still on. Hannity and Gingrich were having a discussion about the Republican landslide in 2010 because by passing this health care plan the Democrats will be putting us on the path to ” Euthanasia”. Now guys please send me a list of people you convince of this because I’ll sell them a piece of a bridge in New York.

I know there are a lot of people against one payer health insurance. Most of them haven’t come to the realization that there is no capitalist competition when it comes to necessities. These companies who should be in competition for your business, and logically the market will keep prices down, have been in a contest to see who could give the least for the highest price. Have we forgotten our not so long ago history?  Have the names Enron, Duke Energy, Merk & Co., Adelphia, Halliburton or the other twenty four other major corporations in scandals between 2001 and 2005 like AIG?  I ask you to think about the facts. There is no capitalism that the conservatives keep talking about. We used to have it but even then we had to pass child labor laws and other workers regulations to keep companies from stealing another way.

Without true competition everything costs more. So the next time you tell me about the debt we are going to leave our children, tell me what they will have if you keep

allowing these companies to keep on stealing.  The game is simple. You make a company grow and be successful then you negotiate a great salary, bonus plan, and golden parachute. You make your stock grow and pay no or little dividends (why give your investors anything but a piece of paper? If they’re smart enough they’ll sell before everyone else sees the latest trick) Next you borrow money so the investors in the financial institution can loose too. You take your money and let the ship fall or better yet bail out before it does. When the latest trick is discovered they’ll throw an accountant, or two that received a few extra thousand, in jail.

If our government steals at least you get something back even if the value isn’t there. If companies steal there is no return. Is it possible that the increased energy prices of the last four years hastened the inevitable housing foreclosures? Could it be that if the cost of health care hadn’t risen at the ridiculous pace of the last eight years our paychecks would be larger and many would have been able to convert their mortgages to a fixed rate? If companies like Walmart weren’t hiring illegals or breaking child labor laws would some small businesses (the backbone of our economy) still exist? If Halliburton didn’t have a no bid contract for the war and then hire non-Americans to do the work would that money still be in our economy?

If we controlled our industries and financial institutions would you have to talk to someone you couldn’t understand, that was thousands of miles away, when you need service? If we controlled our markets would we allow stock market betting that a company’s stock would drop and then allow these same investors to cause it(and they didn’t even have to own one share). Would our food, toys, paint, and other products be as safe as they were just eight years ago? The list goes on yet there is a faction in government that want to tell you how rotten government is and how angelic our companies are.

Newt and Sean continued their conversation by explaining that the Democrats were like Nazi Germany. Isn’t this the first step towards the”superuben”. That of course was to prove their euthanasia argument. After all aren’t Americans becoming scared and disillusioned with these programs that aren’t working? ( not that they have had enough time ) I forgot Ronald Regan’s perfect economy (according to these gentlemen) changed things the next day. I ask anyone who is being swayed by the only tatic left to these pathetic conservative pundits, the one they are most versed in, to sit back and think. They have been practicing their art since before the days of that great President Herbert Hoover, who caused the last depression. Think about the shape of the economy in September. Think about the policies of the last eight years and how much better things were  in 2000. Why don’t we believe in government. Could it be that the very people that these paid talking heads back are the politicians that we shouldn’t trust?

You have the right and ability to vote conservative in 2010 so please don’t panic any of these new laws are actually passed and speculation based on the worst possible scenario is gone. The advantage will still be with the naysayers because there is always things to twist and no law satisfies completely even those that pass them. Just maybe there will be enough that you like about them to make them Ok. If not, change the group and the new ones will fix it, maybe?

As a parting Question to Sean. If you were so against that ignorant car company getting bailed out Why do you still have General Motors as an advertiser?