Author: RJ Walters

I am an Independent thinking, highly functional person who is deaf and has some unique views and challenges in life. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences and that is what I write about here.
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Heavy Traffic Clogs – and Delights – Obamacare Insurance Sites

RJ Walters

Roughly 4.7 million Americans went online Tuesday to browse the Obamacare health insurance exchanges prompting HealthCare.gov administrators to increase the site’s server capacity and create a new “wait page” to hold a person’s place in line until the site can load properly. On top of the Web traffic, 190,000 Americans used federal health insurance exchange call centers and another 104,000 requested live chats. “Now that quality, affordable coverage is within reach, we’re seeing that pent up demand break through, underscoring once again how important it was to fix our broken health care system,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman … Continue reading Heavy Traffic Clogs – and Delights – Obamacare Insurance Sites

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Doing More Harm Than Good….

RJ Walters

Many of us are taught, starting in childhood, to never, ever give up. It applies even more so to those of us in the nonprofit, charitable, and faith arenas. We often work with hurting, broken but incredibly valuable people. We want to be the sort of inspirers who those we love and serve will one day be grateful for. And about us, we hope they’ll say, “When everyone else threw in the towel, this person, never gave up! She was always there for me. He never quit no matter how many times I messed up or tried his patience.” If … Continue reading Doing More Harm Than Good….

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Bringing America Back to Life….

RJ Walters

….I’m also not so sure that, as my friend said, it (gun violence) is the way the “world” is. The more I travel the world I am convinced it’s not the way the world is… it’s the way the USA is. I’ve seen a lot of the world, with travels taking me to about a dozen countries a year and this is what I’ve seen: In one year, guns murdered: 27 in Australia, 59 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, 190 in Canada… and 10,177 in the US. Recently I was in a kid’s room looking at all the … Continue reading Bringing America Back to Life….

Life On The Margins4 Comments

GOP Is Not A Real Party…

RJ Walters

“The Republican Party is not really a party. It doesn’t stand for anything except re-electing itself,” Stockman, who directed the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, tells Newsmax. “The neocons are only oriented to an aggressive, imperialistic foreign policy of big defense establishment and suppression of our civil liberties. That’s bad. “The tax cons want to just cut taxes — any time, any day — regardless of the fiscal situation,” Stockman adds. “That has gone to an absurd length. The social cons, social policy people — the right-to-life issue and gay marriage and all of that — … Continue reading GOP Is Not A Real Party…

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The GOPs WMD….

RJ Walters

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Wednesday called the U.S. debt limit a “political weapon of mass destruction” and said both political parties should pledge never to use it as leverage because of the financial damage it can cause. As lawmakers and the White House scrambled to raise the $16.7-trillion debt limit before a Thursday deadline, Buffett said it would be  asinine”  for the U.S. to risk its hard-won reputation for paying its bills on time. “There are certain weapons that are just improper to use against humanity,” he told CNBC. “It is a political weapon of mass destruction and both … Continue reading The GOPs WMD….

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Reacting Or Creating…..

RJ Walters

I recently read an article that said bloggers are either creating or reacting but I kind of think it is a combination of both.  Lots of things float around in my brain throughout each day. I always have a notepad available to jot down some of the more noteworthy thoughts but many escape before I can recall them. I like to think that even when I use some initial thoughts from someone else I put a creative spin on it and usually take it into a completely different direction. Will Rogers, who everyone who has read even a few of … Continue reading Reacting Or Creating…..

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A Dangerous Game…

RJ Walters

Congressional leaders are playing a dangerous game with their constituents’ money, their livelihoods and their retirement savings. On Wednesday, all Congress did was flip over the hourglass on a game of chicken that cost our economy $24 billion and left America’s future up in the air — and, by doing so, may cause some of our hard-earned retirement savings to disappear into it. via Your Retirement: A Victim of the Debt Ceiling Deal – ABC News. Continue reading A Dangerous Game…

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Being A Heretic….

RJ Walters

“I have always rather enjoyed being considered a heretic, and have never wanted to be endorsed by any one. I have felt that to be endorsed was to be bound, and that it was better, for me at least, to be a free lance, with no hindrances to my absolute mental and spiritual freedom.”  SOURCE:  Meet Hannah Whitall Smith, a “Convergent Friend” at the turn of the nineteenth century – QuakerQuaker. I must admit that since I was tossed out of my previous church because I didn’t accept that the earth is only six-thousand years old I have kind of … Continue reading Being A Heretic….

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He Voted Nay……

RJ Walters

I just read an article in the local paper where my congressman proudly announced that he voted to default on our nation’s debt this week.  Of course living blue in a red State it was not in the least surprising.  I am constantly voting against these yahoos who would rather the country default than to give up a small piece of their “principles”. What a joke. I intend to send him an email to tell him that I am happy that at least some of those in his party  had the courage to choose to pay our debts instead of … Continue reading He Voted Nay……

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Dropping Out…..

RJ Walters

These last few weeks in Washington have been very frustrating to me and I’m sure to you too. The complete breakdown of compromise and trust is not something that should happen to any nation’s capital. Because of the apparent hate that is in our nation’s capital I truly fear for our future as a country.  Seeing all this malarkey often makes me want to just drop out of anything political. But, isn’t that exactly what those wing-nuts in DC really want? If they can get all the folks who have an ounce of common sense and regard for the good … Continue reading Dropping Out…..

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Earmarks…..

RJ Walters

But one of the most notable additions to the 35-page bill was a $2.1 billion increase in funding for a dam under construction on the Kentucky-Illinois border, which just happens to be the home turf of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). It has raised the alarm bells of conservatives, who have long complained about Republicans who spend heavily on their home states. One group, the Senate Conservatives Fund, immediately christened the dam project the “Kentucky Kickback.” “The McConnell-Reid bill not only funds Obamacare and suspends the debt limit, it ALSO includes a provision…that increases the authorization for the Olmsted Lock in Kentucky … Continue reading Earmarks…..

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Living Blue In A Red State….

RJ Walters

One of my favorite FaceBook pages is a group called “Living Blue in a Red State”.  Having lived in Indiana most of my life I can so relate to that theme. I don’t know if you have noticed this but for as long as I can remember when the network news starts on presidential election night they always start with “We are ready to call a State for (whichever Republican is running) and then they say Indiana. I know what it is like to live Blue in a Red State. I don’t know if I am true blue or just … Continue reading Living Blue In A Red State….

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I Have A Feeling….

RJ Walters

I have been having a feeling lately that we, like much of the rest of the world, are dividing ourselves into smaller and smaller factions. We just can’t seem to agree on any common bonds anymore. Everything is “us” vs “them”. Look at Africa. If you look at a world map of 50 years ago you would not see hardly any of the current States on that continent. But then again the rest of the world has also fractured a lot since then.  If you are interested take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_map_changes to see the listing of changes. I must warn … Continue reading I Have A Feeling….

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Swagger….

RJ Walters

Swagger   (verb ) 1.  to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others ⤻syn: tittup, ruffle, prance, strut, sashay, cock 2.  discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate ⤻syn: browbeat, bully 3.  act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner ⤻syn: bluster, swash I must admit that the word swagger has never been one of my favorite words. It just has too many negative connotations for me. For those of us old enough to remember the first person that comes to mind when they hear this word is John Wayne. I’m sure he was a nice enough guy as Marian Morrison but after so many years in Hollywood he became just too full of himself. He was just not the type of person I would begin to categorize as a hero in … Continue reading Swagger….

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They Might Just Like It…..

RJ Walters

A recent poll by the Massachusetts Medical Society, a statewide physician group, finds that most people in Massachusetts today are generally satisfied with the health care system there. “Eighty-four percent of residents expressed satisfaction with the care they received over the last year, including 56 percent who indicated they are ‘very satisfied’ and 28 percent who are ‘somewhat satisfied,’” the survey report states. Seventy-three percent of residents reported that gaining access to health care they need is “not difficult,” and for serious medical problems, 86 percent said the amount of time they needed to wait was not a problem. While no … Continue reading They Might Just Like It…..

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A Little Group of Willful Men….

RJ Walters

A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible.   —   Woodrow Wilson This sounds an awfully like the Tea Party but in reality it was another small group of Republicans who tried to do the same thing. They failed and hopefully this current batch of wing-nuts will too. Continue reading A Little Group of Willful Men….

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Compassion And The GOP….

RJ Walters

I admit I have only been keeping half an eye open of all this garbage going on with the shut-down and default threats  made by the Republicans in congress. One thing I have been watching is to see if there is any compassion being shown by any of those folks there from the GOP and quite frankly I have found almost nothing there that resembles compassion in any of their actions and words.  I wonder if this is typical of their base and those who consistently vote to return them to office? As a matter of fact I find mostly … Continue reading Compassion And The GOP….