My Letter To Congressman Alan Grayson: MAN UP!! {{-_-}}

Dear Congressman Alan Grayson,

My name is {{-_-}}. I'm 22, I live in sunny Southern California, and I currently attend college in the OTHER Orange County - the one with the OTHER Disney theme park. I'm also uninsured. Anthem/Blue Cross will not cover me because I am not enrolled in 12 semester units. The reason I couldn't get 12 units is because my state is going through a chain reaction caused by the recession, which has affected the education budget and caused many overcrowded schools like mine to cut hundreds of classes. Right now, I am one of many who could use the competition of a public health insurance option more than ever. That is why I've been paying attention to you in the media for the past month. I would like to take a moment to thank you for standing up to the Party of No and calling them out for their filibuster of the public option. We need universal health care as soon as possible, and we are most definitely behind you all the way. The late Senator Ted Kennedy shall not have died in vain thanks to people like you.

But all that aside for a moment, I came to speak to you about an issue that may possibly hinder our cause. I was watching Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC today when it was reported that you were forced to apologize to Federal Reserve aide, lobbyist, and former Enron employee Linda Robertson for calling her a "K Street whore" over the radio a month ago. I think that was a mistake. You should never have apologized. That completely goes against the reputation that you've built up thus far. While you've been standing up to the Republican bully, you just backed down from another bully.

First and foremost, treating women as if they're delicate flowers is disguised sexism. It shows that we think lowly of them. You respect women, right? I respect women enough to tell them the honest truth, no matter how much it hurts their feelings. That's the only way they'll get better. If they do wrong then they should be called out for it on the spot, same as a man should. Treating any gender as helpless infants who are so fragile that they shouldn't even be called a nasty name (when people like Glenn Beck try so hard to make our President synonymous to evil dictators) is harmful and destructive to BOTH genders because it encourages negative habits. The fact that Linda Robertson is a woman does not excuse her from owning up to responsibility for being a greedy corporate lobbyist and contributing to the poor state of our country with her opportunistic ways. I only wish we could call all lobbyists whores. In my opinion, the Federal Reserve happens to be the largest brothel this world has ever seen in its collective lifetime.

Linda Robertson knows exactly what she is and you told the honest truth, as you've been known for doing lately. If Ms. Robertson doesn't want to be called a whore then she shouldn't act like one - it's that simple. And if she chooses to continue in her profession then it's only right that she learns how to take being called a name; it comes with the territory.

What you said may not have been the most tactful, but it was most definitely what needed to be said and for that I applaud you. It might not have had anything to do with health care reform, but it definitely gets the ball rolling on a much GREATER topic and for that I also applaud you. Needless to say, you're on a definite roll. But I just can't believe you would go back on your words like that after you acquired all of our faith in you to keep it real. I don't live in Florida but the cause that you've taken up can also benefit people like me and my family on the other side of the country. Besides, I'm sure there are people in your constituency that are also depending on you to keep on being that stand-up guy. You exposed the Republicans and the Blue-Dog Democratic traitors as the whores they are, so why shouldn't you be able to expose the rest of the whores who are in those high positions of power pimping the rest of us?

The fact of the matter is that we've only just begun our mission. There are many more snakes in the grass still yet to be brought to the light. And you can bet that they're not going out without a fight. We haven't lost faith in you, Congressman Grayson. All we ask is that you don't lose faith in yourself.

Thank you.

{{-_-}}

THE WHITE HOUSE vs. FOX NEWS CHANNEL: MY TAKE {{-_-}}

Let me begin by saying that I definitely see where President Obama's White House was coming from by calling out the Fox News Channel as a fraud of a news organization. Their rhetoric is biased, divisive, hateful, bigoted, @ many times blatantly dishonest, and overall bad for the country. I personally believe that there is no more room in this melting pot of a nation for such offensive material. Shoot, if I had a nutjob like Glenn Beck calling me a racist and inciting people to revolt against me, plus a prick like Sean Hannity blatantly spreading falsehoods about me, I'd call their asses out too. And Bill O'Reilly is - for lack of a better term - a douche.

With that being said, and as much as I dislike Fox Noise, they're entitled to their opinions. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, no matter how offensive it may be. Besides, as I said earlier, @ least Fixed News is upfront about their agenda. Everyone else (CNN and NBC News/MSNBC especially) tries to hide their true identity as snake oil salesmen. If you're gonna go after one, you might as well target them ALL. And that would DEFINITELY be unconstitutional.

Fox News thrives off of negative attention and shock value anyway, so the White House choosing to target them is like an early Christmas present to the network that's already #1 in cable news ratings (rednecks have a LOT of time on their hands). Not only are Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes laughing all the way to the bank, but I'm sure they're quite thrilled with the fact that Obama has finally officially recognized them as a threat. If the right-wing pundits @ Fox Noise weren't feeling themselves before, they sure are now.

Obama should just focus on fixing the economy, passing health care reform with a public option, creating more jobs, and ending Bush's war. Elevating this network to star status is unproductive.

{{-_-}}

IN RESPONSE TO NBC'S "A WOMAN'S NATION"

This week, NBC News and cable news channel MSNBC are airing a week-long campaign called "A Woman's Nation" with special guest editor Maria "Mrs. Terminator" Shriver. Yesterday, Ms. Shriver kicked off her weeklong male-bashing and feminist praise with an Sunday appearance on Meet The Press with David Gregory.

Let me start things off by saying this:
The feminization of the American man has officially begun.

There is no such thing as a gender wage gap. It's a long-running lie. Women don't earn as much as men simply because they either don't work as hard or because they don't know how to negotiate for a higher pay rate. Rather than encouraging women to become more competent in the workforce, the feminists (Maria Shriver and Valerie Jarrett included) wish to institute entitlements which ensure that women don't have to work as hard as men to receive equal pay as men, based simply on the fact that they are women.

Ms. Shriver's rhetoric promotes divisiveness between the genders, which is something that we do not need as a nation. California's First Lady is clearly pandering to neo-feminists for more gender entitlements and unconstitutional privileges. The polls given on Sunday's Meet The Press were clearly inaccurate. I'm sure that the 80% of men who were supposedly okay with this being a "woman's nation" were not completely aware of how they were being screwed over (and how they are ABOUT to be screwed, but that's another topic). Quite frankly, I'm disappointed in NBC Universal for giving this sort of sexism a platform.

Frankly, I'm also disappointed in President Obama. In the midst of a bad economy, a deepening national deficit, almost 10% unemployment, major opposition to health care reform, and a war in the Middle East, he SOMEHOW found the time to create an unconstitutional Council For Women & Girls (but not one for men and boys). It's an even bigger slap in the face to men everywhere that the chair of this Council For Women happens to also be Obama's Senior White House Advisor, Valerie Jarrett. Obama might as well have made the National Organization for Women a government department. With a high-ranking government official also heading a department made specifically for women, and also with a woman known for her reverse-sexist practices appointed to the Supreme Court (I'm talking about Sonia Sotomayor, of course), why shouldn't men expect way more unfair legislation similar to (and most likely worse than) alimony, spousal support, and child support? These are three of the biggest examples of wasteful, socialistic government spending - and it's another example of how women receive unfair entitlements, privileges, and rewards simply for being women. Is this the type of message we need to be giving our men? If we are going to have a women's council, then we need to be fair to BOTH genders and create one for men. Oh, that's sexist? Well then, this week-long "A Woman's Nation" campaign is also sexist. That also goes for anything that is gender-specific with the exclusion of public restrooms and health products.

Lastly, if this truly is "A Woman's Nation" and women are capable of everything that men are capable of, then we need to do away with the institutions of child support and alimony.

All these entitlements and special handicaps for women only hinder them in the long run. That's not what "A Woman's Nation" should be all about. Because in reality, this is not a woman's nation; nor is it a man's. It's EVERYONE'S nation.

To David Gregory, a man for whom I have the utmost respect and admiration, I offer these words of advice - the advice given to you by Comedy Central's Jon Stewart: MAN UP.

{{-_-}}

HEALTH CARE REFORM: THE RUNDOWN

A lot of people are confused about the Democrats' plan for health care reform.

The health insurance companies get paid a lot to charge us a grip for health care. They have the hospitals in a death grip. The current system for health care in America is one of the largest contributors to our national debt.

President Obama's plan for universal health care won't affect those who already have health insurance, but it will give those who cannot afford insurance the choice of a public option. The idea is to add more competition to the market so that more Americans can enjoy quality health care and a much higher life expectancy no matter how much money they have. The health insurance industry knows that the competition will force them to lower prices in order to keep patients from switching over to the public option for free. So to prevent that, they paid politicians on both sides of the aisle (mainly Republicans, plus enough Democrats to make a legitimate filibuster) to make up stories about how the public option is a "government takeover of health care" or "Socialism" (although it's free market competition - the AMERICAN CAPITALIST way) and how it'll create "death panels" to "pull the plug on your grandma". Now the politicians want to alter the public option into a version that benefits the insurance companies more than us the people. In fact, if the Republicans and the moderate Democrats (aka "Blue Dogs") get their way, they'll make health insurance just like auto insurance. We'll be required to pay even higher prices for health insurance or face legal penalties, including jail. Long story short, instead of universal health care, we'll get a situation EVEN MORE fucked up than this current one.

KNOW THE TRUTH. TELL YOUR CONGRESSMAN THAT YOU WANT A PUBLIC OPTION.

{{-_-}}

My Letter To Sen. Max Baucus: How Can You Sleep At Night? {{-_-}}

Dear Senator Baucus,

You guessed it: I'm a supporter of the public option. Spread the word; tell the rest of the blue-dog Democrats that people like us - traditional Democrats - really DO exist. Not only that, but we also make up most of America - especially in your constituency. I don't live in Montana, but the decisions that you and the other blue-dog Senate Dems make also affect people like me. I have seen that commercial that airs on TV (you know which one) and I'm shocked at how you treat the people that you're supposed to be representing. They're the people that got you elected. Unfortunately, they feel that lately your REAL constituency has been the health insurance special interest lobbyists who pay you and the other blue-dogs to kill all hopes of fair competition. We're not mad at you for trying to make more money. After all, capitalism is what our great country was founded upon - which is all the more reason why allowing the government to compete in the newly-reformed private health insurance market would be in the best interest of the free market. The "government takeover of healthcare" conspiracy theory is bullcrap; don't listen to Glenn Beck and the others. I'm sure YOUR health coverage is great, but right now we're dealing with a CORPORATE takeover of healthcare, which is leaving many people fighting for their lives just because they're poor. And now you speak of throwing them in JAIL for not having health insurance. If you're going to do that, then the least you can do is give us a public option. All we ask for is a little more balance.

It's a shame that the Republican Party can stand united in this issue, yet the party that's currently in power can't seem to agree; all just because some people would rather choose to make their own wallets a little fatter than for their own party to have any chance of maintaining a Democratic majority in the House and Senate in 2010 (or for that matter, a Democratic President in 2012). All we ask for is a little loyalty. We also ask for you not to throw us in jail just for not being able to afford healthcare, especially if you're going to withdraw our public option.

Mark my words: The Democratic Party WILL take major hits in 2010 and 2012 if our public option is not here before next year. I do not want to see control of this country go BACK to the party that gave us George W. Bush.

Make the right choice.

Sincerely yours,

John Okeke