I am so chagrined at how oblivious and naive I am.  I have been here at MYDD for many months, after I left the Big Orange Site.  I have really enjoyed myself here, but now I am really pissed off.  I just noticed the tag ad at the end of every diary, including my one and only attempt at a diary of my own.  I am talking about the 'SHAMEONCNA.COM' ad.  

I had no idea what that was about, talk about a subliminal message.  Does anyone else know what I am talking about?  I finally noticed the subtitle 'unfair to nurses'.  I am a nurse, you would think I would have noticed this sooner.  There is nothing nearer and dearer to my heart than what is going on in health care.  

I just clicked on the ad to find out what it was about and what I found was a site that is dedicated to bashing the California Nurses Association and the National Nurses Organizing committee.  This site is primarily an SEIU site claiming things like this:

The California Nurses Association fought to stop me and my co-workers from getting better pay and more job security. We spent 3 years working to organize our workplace and make CHP hospitals a better place for workers and patients.

But CNA/NNOC came in at the last minute and flooded our state with lies to stop our democratic election. CNA/NNOC spent lots of money to try to turn nurses against other healthcare workers and stop us from having a say in our future.  

Thanks to CNA/NNOC's union-busting, people like me still don't have a union standing up for our rights."

Boy this CNA sounds really bad doesn't it?  Unfortunately, that's not an accurate picture.  SEIU is making back room deals with companies/corporations such as nursing homes and hospitals to bring in their union.  Well what's wrong with that?  It takes out the workers right to unionize and have the employer choose the union for them.  It makes you wonder what SEIU has offered in return for this priveledge to unionize against the workers wishes.  (By the way, I am an avid union supporter, and I am not objecting to unions.  I am objecting to SEIU directly.)  Anyway, from what I have been reading about SEIU, they are helping to lobby for tort reform to prevent patients and their families from suing when a nursing home has neglected or abused their family member.  I have also read that SEIU has gone against nurse's wishes to get rid of 'whistle blower' protections.  In essence, the union will actually be representing the Health Care facility, and not the best interests of the nurses.  Any time someone goes against a nurse, I have to ask why.  What's in it for them.  When nurse's lobbly for lower patient ratios, it is for the safety of the patient and the nurse.  When a facility, a union, or a governor (Arnie) comes out against the nurse, I always agree with the nurse.  Nurses have the patients best wishes always in the forefront of their minds.  Anyway, here is some information from the CNA site:

This was achieved through a pact between nursing home chains and the two-million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's largest union, which represents nurses, orderlies, and other healthcare employees. Under the pact, the union would use its clout with California Democrats to push nursing-home-industry goals such as tort reform, which would limit patients and their families' right to sue in cases of wrongful death or injury; in exchange, the chains selected facilities where the SEIU could absorb workers into union ranks. This was part of national SEIU leader Andy Stern's strategy of collaboration rather than confrontation, and included deals in Washington state, Missouri, and California designed to rapidly add to union ranks on terms attractive to employers.

This shows me that SEIU is not interested in the best interests of nurses or their patients; thier only interest is swelling their ranks, so that their power can grow.

That brings me to why I am so pissed off today.  I am not a prolific writer, and only attempted one other diary.  I am not even sure if this diary will generate any interest, since most people here are only interested in the candidate diaries.  But, I really had to express my outrage that this site is set up so that the 'shame on cna.com' ad is attached to every diary.  Are there any other nurses out there?  Do you know what I am talking about?  This site is going against the California Nurse's Association and they are making us just as complicit by attaching that ad to every diary.  That's not fair.  I don't support SEIU in this.  I think that you could at least give us a choice.  Anyway as I said, I am not a big writer, so if I don't write here any more, it won't be any big loss to MYDD.  However, I if I don't get a good explanation or any support for this point of view, I probably will lose interest in MYDD and won't continue coming here.  OK, so have at it.  I sure no one would miss me, and this probably won't be answered by any of the Admin's.  Actually, as soon as I post this, I will send them a note and see if they care.  that's it for now.  I hope I at least hear from some nurses.

Once in a while I hear people ask the question 'What are you a liberal?'.  I am never sure how to answer them, not because I am afraid of the Liberal label, but because I am never sure what that actually means.  So I just went to Wikipedia and looked it up.  Here is what they have...

<Liberalism refers to a broad array of related ideas and theories of government that consider individual liberty to be the most important political goal.[1] Liberalism has its roots in the Middle Ages and Age of Enlightenment.</p>

Broadly speaking, liberalism emphasizes individual rights and equality of opportunity. Different forms of liberalism may propose very different policies, but they are generally united by their support for a number of principles, including extensive freedom of thought and speech, limitations on the power of governments, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market or mixed economy, and a transparent system of government.[2] All liberals -- as well as some adherents of other political ideologies -- support some variant of the form of government known as liberal democracy, with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law.>

Of course there is more, and I am sure it is all just as complicated.  

Anyway, this is my first diary, so I can't guarantee that I am doing it correctly; in fact, I can see my use of <> is not block quoting as I had hoped it would.  But more than a diary, this is really a question.  Are you a liberal?  I fit most of what is posited above, but not all.  For example, I believe in the limitation of government, especially when it comes to my personal privacy, but conversely, I support Universal Health coverage.  In some respects limited government and universal health are at odds with eachother.  

The other question I want to ask is this?  Are all liberals democrats?  Of course, in my area in upstate NY, Greens are strong and capture many liberals.  And are all democrats liberals?  I am sure that the answer to both questions will be a resounding NO, but I wanted to ask anyway in the hopes that all of you will respond to the questions.  Mostly, I am curious; I am sure people believe things differently than I do.  I am curious to know what those things are.  

Recently, I went to dinner with my mom and her husband.  He is a registered republican and has in recent history (beginning with W) voted all democrat.  He told me that he would vote for Hillary but would not vote for Barack Obama.  He would vote for McCain first.  Ok, yes he is registered republican, so can't be trusted to be loyal to the democratic party.  Today, I had a conversation with my sister and we were discussing my uncle, who is a NYC liberal, and lifelong (76 years) democrat, and I was shocked when she said that he would vote McCain before Obama.  Of course I told her that we would just have to work harder to convince people otherwise.    

This just illustrated for me how differently people view things and how no 2 people are alike.  Hence the purpose of this diary is to find out how other people view the issues.  What is important for you, what is the deal breaker.  For Obama supporters, perhaps it's his efficient and winning 50 state strategy, for Hillary supporters perhaps it's her adherence to Uniersal healthcare.  

I am leaving the house in an hour and will not have access to the computer until tomorrow morning.  I look forward to any and all answers.  So please help yourself.