Author: Rex Nipper

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More Than They Deserve

Anyone who thinks the reason that Obama was so hated was because of his economic and insurance policies, needs to think again.  A new poll published by the National Journal has a different take.  It turns out that the reason Trump supporters are so vigilantly opposed to the Democrats and their policies, even those policies they are so generously connected, is because…wait for it…they think anyone who isn’t white and Christian just isn’t worth their time.

This is why I have no desire to come together with a Trump supporter.  It’s a waste of time.  It’s not about jobs, the economy, war, or anything.  It’s about race and culture.  They want a culture that is homogenous like a gallon of whole milk.  If it ain’t white, flying a rebel flag and molesting its cousin they don’t want it. 

Democrats will never win over Trump supporters.  Nor do they need to.  What they need to do is win over their own voters and independents.  This is how you will win the next election.  Democrats have a terrible time getting their members out to vote.  Why is that?  We have a reputation of wanting to join anything that requires community involvement.  If that was the case then why can’t they get involved to spend 30 minutes of their day to ensure a crazy person isn’t voted into office?

Politicians will start campaigning for the mid-terms in a few months.  If we are going to save the country we need to make sure that we vote.  We shouldn’t spend one second of our time trying to convince some backwater that voting for someone other than a racist, sexist, lying, sexual assaulting deviant that likes women to pee on him is in their best interest.  They don’t care.  They’re a lost cause.  We need to send them back to the backwater swamp from which they rose.

Say what you want about liberals, but a single liberal cares more for the wellbeing of every individual in this country than a bucked of conservatives.  All the ones in office want to do is ensure their power base.  All the ones out of office want to do is turn the country back to 1950.  Well…1950 sucked.  It wasn’t the end all beat all you thought it was.  We were at war with Korea, minorities were in constant fear of their lives, and women were regularly raped by known and unknown individuals.  Mostly by their husbands because in the 1950s they were considered property. 

If we are to move on to a country that is focused on science, not corruption, education, not stupidity, clean air, not coal, abundantly, non-depleting renewable energy, not limited fossil fuels, medicine, not wishful thinking, and finally civility, not racism, then we need to get the vote out.  If we don’t then all this bitching is just a waste of time.  It’s time to take the bull by the horns and make the people who put Donald pussy grabber Trump into office a footnote in history.  In reality…it’s more than they deserve.
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Iowa!?! What the Hell?

I grew up on the east side of Des Moines less than a mile from the State capital.  It was a good neighborhood with a lot of families that had been there for decades and longer, passing their homes down from family member to family member.  I went to the same elementary school, middle school, and high school as many of my friends because no one ever moved away.  We were a very tight community.  It didn’t matter what our religion, or race was.  I had black friends, white friends, Asian, Hispanic, Jewish, Jehova’s Witness friends, Catholic Friends, Protestant friends, and all manner of law abiding and non-law abiding friends.  Given all that I have a question:  When did Iowa become a racist cesspool? 

I just listened to an interview with Steve King (R) of Iowa http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/politics/steve-king-babies-tweet-cnntv/index.html.  Where did you dig this guy up?  He’s an embarrassment not only to the State but to the country.  With people like this leading the State I’m not surprised Trump won Iowa during the last election.  Admittedly I’ve been gone from the State for a few years.  The last major event I want to was an Ice Cream Social at First Lutheran Church (now Capitol Hill Lutheran) in 1993.  By the looks of it, things  have changed and I may have missed a few of the cross burnings. 

It turns out that there are problems all over the State.  In Dubuque last year they had cross burnings http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/kyle-munson/2016/04/22/cross-burnings-dubuque-show-city-still-turmoil-over-race/83229444/.  Really Dubuque?  Seriously!  What has happened to you people?  I thought all this was done back in the 1970s.  I guess not.  It looks like stupidity is making a comeback.  Call it what you like, racism, sexism, hate, bigotry, it’s all the same thing, it’s stupidity. It’s ignorant people making stupid decisions, based on ridiculous notions that they are better than someone else.

I’m old enough to remember riots that started at East High School and then migrated down to Amos Hiatt.  It terrified me.  It terrified my friends as well, black and white.  We stood on our playground asking ourselves and each other what the big deal was.  Why was everyone so pissed off?  What on earth could have happened that made everyone want to beat the hell out of each other? 

I’m not sure what is going on in Iowa these days.  I’m not sure I want to know.  However, I have a feeling that allowing a few people with a little power to control a narrative that is filled with hate, bigotry, and the aforementioned stupidity then you will end up with people like Steve King.  I’m not sure where he came from, or what his background might be, but I am sure of one thing.  He’s racist.  He’s a bigot, and the only person more ignorant than himself are the people that voted for him.

Rex
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U.S. Healthcare is a Criminal Enterprise

My wife and I were debating the billing practices of physicians today.  I am constantly annoyed about going to the doctor and getting bills for the next year for services I had no idea I received.  This is due to the fact that medical providers have hidden costs and collection practices that in any other industry would be completely illegal.  But if you say it’s under the auspices of healthcare, it’s alright.

Let me if I can summarize the particulars:

Say you take your car to a mechanic for a transmission problem. The mechanic doesn’t actually work on transmissions, they just remove them and send it out to another shop for work and then put it back in your car. When you get the bill, you pay the mechanic and he pays the other shop.  If the other shop isn’t paid, that’s between the two parties, not you.  You only pay the guy with whom you had the business agreement.

Now imagine the mechanics shop was run by a physician:  

First you would have to see if the mechanic was covered under your plan. If they are, great! You go and have your car worked on.  However, that’s not the end of it!

It turns out the mechanic sent the transmission to another shop.  This shop just happens to participate with your plan, however, they contract out to a mechanic that works for another group that doesn’t contract.  So now you get a bill from the other shop AND from the mechanic who did the work.  But wait…there’s more!  The mechanic wasn’t really an expert in that type of transmission so they “consulted” with another mechanic who worked in their shop, but was actually an independent mechanic who worked for himself.  All the work was done according to spec, and you pay the mechanic for the work and go home happy as a clam.

Now several months go by.  All of a sudden you start getting bills from shops and people you’ve never heard of.  The bills are outlandish as well.  You were quoted $1200.00 for a new transmission.  You got your car and you paid it.  Now all of a sudden you have a $700.00 bill from a shop you’ve never heard of.  You throw it away because you think “who is this ass wad?”  I’ve never heard of these people this must be a mistake.  You remember that six months ago you had transmission work but you paid that and it was from a different shop.  Not only that it was on your plan and it was covered. 

Pretty soon another few months go by and you get a collection notice for the initial $700.00.  Also you get another bill from a mechanic’s group for $300.00 for the same work.  You also find that you have received another bill for $1800.00 for “consulting services” from a third mechanic who you have never heard of.  All in all your $1200.00 transmission repair is now $4000.00.  You call all these people and they say they were contracted by your original mechanic.  You say “so…go talk to him.”  “They say no, you owe us money.”  You say “well…I don’t have a contract with you and didn’t agree to this so go pound sand.”  They sue you and collect a grand total of $10,000.00 for the work.
If this happened with you getting your car fixed, you’d likely head back to the original mechanic and shove a lug wrench up his ass.  However, when it comes to medical care and their dubious business practices it is fair game.  People complain about how banks and credit card companies treat their customers.  I don’t think anyone has ever really looked at how medical professionals bill their clients.  Want to save billions on healthcare?  Make providers follow the same practices that any other profession is forced to follow.  That would be start.  Because for now, U.S. Healthcare is a criminal enterprise.

Rex
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Happy Valentines Day

It’s Valentine’s Day again and my wife is leaving for Vegas tomorrow to celebrate without me.  I’ll be left at home to clean and slave over a hot stove while she visits casinos and strip clubs desperately searching for reasons she married me in the first place.  All this while I’ll be sitting at home in a dusty house and wondering why the back fence hasn’t yet completed its fall into the drainage ditch below.  OK…that’s all bullshit.  She’s going to visit the grandbabies for the week and I have to clean the house while she’s gone.  The fence however is a true story. 

It’s been almost five years of marriage to the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met.  Sure, she’s an anomaly of nature, but that’s part of the appeal.  I’m constantly amazed at the things she does whether that be running five marathons in the 9 months before she turned 50 or spending ten minutes on the phone with me looking for the cellphone in her hand.  It’s never a dull moment.

Our relationship has changed a little since we first moved in together.  It used to be when I messed up the house she would just smile, kiss me on the cheek, pick up my dirty sock, and ask me if she could wash it for me.  Now, she picks up the sock, tosses it in my lap, and threatens to end my if I leave it on the floor again.  I still get the kiss on the cheek though!  Really that’s all I’m ever going for anyway.
In reality in the five years we have been together we have never had a fight.  Not a real one anyway.  Neither of us can tolerate someone screaming.  That’s why she says she uses the muzzle on me.  Just kidding.  Really we don’t fight because she’s usually right, and I am being an ass.  Don’t tell her that though.  I think I have her convinced I’m the smart one on the team.  Then again, I’m still cleaning the house while she goes to Vegas. 

In the last year my wife has started a new law firm.  She thought it would take three years before she would get things moving.  I thought it would take one.  We were both wrong, and it took only a few months.  She’s the classic over achiever.  Which is good because I’m very much the opposite.  We balance out each other’s crazy in a nice fashion so we can go out in public together without anyone asking too many questions.

I guess my point to all this is that I can’t imagine a day going by without having my best friend in my life.  She is the first person I have ever trusted completely with my heart.  I have never once questioned how she feels about me, or whether she loves me.  It’s written all over her face every morning when she looks at me.  I have no doubt it will be this way until the day I die…or until she finds the magic markers.

Rex
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Working Together

The election is over and we need to come together.  Now is the time to put away our differences and work as a group for a common purpose.  It is our differences that make us stronger as a nation.  We must put aside our petty squabbles and ensure our country is greater above all and to secure our prosperity throughout the globe.  Yea?  Fuck that Bullshit.

Prior to the last Presidential election had I met up with a racist, sexist, xenophobic homophobe I would have done my level best to avoid them.  Why on earth would I now want to work with them?  What in the hell do I have in common with someone who is so devoid of critical analysis and common decency that they’d vote for Donald “the pussy grabber”? 

You’d have to be so twisted and deranged to think this guy is going to be a good President that my simple attempt at adding logic to your otherwise common little mind would be a wasted effort.  It’d be like trying to teach Algebra to a dog.  Sure, he’d listen attentively, hoping for a treat, but in the end all he’ll do is drool and shit on the floor.

I get it.  Hillary was a bad candidate.  The Clinton’s are synonymous with controversy.  The problem is that other than Bill getting a blowjob in the Oval Office it’s all bullshit.  The only real problem she has is that it’s more exciting watching paint dry than listening to her talk.  She’s definitely not the life of the party.  So instead of bringing in the boring girl on the school project who was going to bitch about everyone’s work but in the end get you an A, you drafted the rich kid with the keys to his parent’s liquor cabinet a pocket of roofies, and zero moral fiber.  Because, hey…we’re all going to die in the end, but at least it’ll be a party!

I have zero motivation to come together with anyone that backed this asshole.  He’s repugnant.  This isn’t an opinion I came to by listening to talk radio, or through the expert investigative political perspective of my otherwise unemployed second cousin Buford who tries to use superglue to put his teeth back in.  You know, the one who thinks Obama is a Muslim, Christian, African born terrorist because you know…he’s black.  I came to this conclusion because of the words that came out of pussy grabbers mouth.  I came to this conclusion because of his actions.  I came to this conclusion because his own history of dealing with the people that work for him and through him.  I came to it with facts.

So please, all of you, stop telling me I need to work with these people.  I don’t.  When I’m confronted with them, I walk away.  If I recognize them on the street, I cross to the other side.  I would much rather spend my time with an informed homosexual, black, Muslim, Asian, Mexican, transgender, scientist than sit for a single moment with a conversation with an individual so ignorant.  Seriously, in all reality the only interaction I need from someone like this is for them to hand me my fries when I get to the second window. 

Rex