How did this happen? A small group of tea party junior house members held the country hostage over a deal to raise the debt ceiling? Where the hell were the Dems during this takeover? Now I have no faith in the goofy duo of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, but the POTUS? What was he thinking? I've loved this guy from day one, but I have to tell you, my patience is hanging by a thread. I don't want the great peacemaker; I don't want somebody just like me. I want somebody with giant balls who will take the opportunity given to him by we the people and do all the things that Dems do when in control (which we were for two years). I don't want concessions or cave-ins. Who issued the ceremonial white flag to this president?
I don't disagree with some of the Republicans' views on slowing spending. After all, this is the same body of brains who paid $640 for a toilet seat and $436 for a hammer back in the day. I don't disagree that there's fraud and waste in the Medicare/Medicaid systems. Having worked in the medical field for 20 years, I saw firsthand the loopholes and the schemers who found them. I specifically do not disagree that the very last thing the U.S. government needs is another committee to study anything, anywhere! Yes, government is quite big enough, thank you.
But these tea party, take-no-prisoner congressmen/women should have NEVER had the power to do what was done to the Dems OR to the Republican party. They would have let the country default on its debt to make certain there were NO ADDITIONAL TAXES FOR THE RICH. Does this whisper in the ear of anyone else? The bankers, heads of corporations, the bond traders and hedge-fund managers have played chess with our congress and just declared checkmate.
Many of us have been saying for some time that the country is headed for a revolution.....like the French kind. I can't bring myself to say, "Like the one we had originally in this country," because that reminds me of the other tea party. Perhaps the rumblings of such an event can be heard if we are quiet and listen. Listen, for example, to those who say, "Why should WE pay taxes? The rich certainly are capable of finding ways to avoid it." How much longer will we allow them to thumb their noses at us?
What are we paying for anyway? The government who we sent to govern, can't and/or won't. The government we sent to govern wants only to direct our religious views, control women's reproductive organs and set 'straight' the sexual orientation of those awful LGBT persons in society. That's the Republicans. What the Democrats are doing is quite beyond me, but a fair assumption is that they just want to retain their soft, warm seats in Congress for as long as the law allows and feast at the table of health insurance benefits with a nice side of pork the rest of the citizenry considers either a fond memory or a dream.
If the populous were to hire professionals tasked to find us tax relief to the tune of 99% of our gross income, we might become a voice worth hearing. I may put out some feelers. "Wanted: Law firms and accounting firms for 311,892,297 clients (+/- a couple million). Those with current government contracts need not apply."
Showing posts with label political. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political. Show all posts
Monday, August 1, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Are you able to run with the big dogs? Really?
Ok, you're a Republican. You're proud, too, because traditionally they are the party of the big dogs; you see yourself as a big dog. You live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood; you have 2 or 3 cars; your spouse is attractive; your children are above average; you go to church every Sunday, play golf and coach soccer for your child's team.
When you and your spouse enter a nice restaurant on a Saturday evening with your friends of the same economic class, your shoulders are back and there's a smile on your face. Life has been good to you. Of course, you've earned it.
Furthermore, your company pays a big portion of the health insurance cost for you and your family. If you or yours need a prescription for an ailment, you typically pay $5 or $10; your company and your insurance company pick up the rest. Your company also pays for life insurance, big policy for you, smaller policy for your spouse, perhaps something for the children as well. This is what America is all about. You work hard for your money, and you deserve these benefits.
You have a 401(k) or something similar; you're contributing to it, taking care of yourself for the future. Additionally, you have a tuition benefit for your children at certain good schools, so there's no worry about them getting their education when the time comes.
There's discretionary income left at the end of the month, and a portion of it goes to pay for a vacation home on a lovely body of water somewhere with a boat, jet skis and other toys to entertain you and your family/friends when there's time to get away and take a well-earned vacation. Yes, this is the life, and it could only happen here because you didn't come from wealth. You worked your way to it, without trust funds or a daddy mogul to open doors for you. You are living the traditional American dream.
But that was yesterday.
The people driving the Republican Party today are nothing like you. They are people with wealth so staggering only Bill Gates' accountants could visualize it. Take the infamous Koch brothers, Charles and David, for example: worth a combined $35 Billion, owners of the 2nd largest private company in the U.S. with annual revenues of $100 Billion (Jane Mayer, New Yorker Magazine, 08-30-2010). Here's what they intend to buy with their money: much lower taxes for people like themselves, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. This is possibly because they are major air polluters.
According to Lee Fang in a "Think Progress" Report on Wednesday 2 March 2011, "Much of the entire Koch political machine is geared towards ensuring that Koch Industries never has to compensate the people and ecosystems damaged by Koch Industries pollution. Koch front groups — from Tea Party groups to think tanks — have diligently promoted Koch Industries’ bottom line by denying global warming, fighting regulations on Koch’s cancer-causing chemicals, and snuffing out investigations into Koch’s environmental crimes."
Mr. Republican, does this still sound like your party? Hopefully not, but just in case it still does, let's look at another example.
When the conservative wing of the Supreme Court voted to anoint big corporations with the right to inject obscene amounts of money into political campaigns, Karl Rove and his Crossroads GPS group (nonprofit) which does not have to disclose its donors, and his American Crossroads group which does, stood ready and drooling. They'd just been given free reign to spend what THEY say will be in the neighborhood of $120 Million on the 2012 elections.
But wait, you say, this is MY party trying to take our country back from a president who wants to use my hard-earned tax dollars on housing, health care and food for the worthless people of this country who refuse to work for it. He wants to take jobs away from people who work in the coal industry, the oil industry, the insurance and the pharmaceutical business, for god's sake! He wants Wall Street and banks to be punished for what has been their normal practice for decades. He even likes the French president and his damned French fries!
It's true. But I ask you again, are you able to run with the big dogs? Really? Let's just say that your party gets into the White House next year and even wins the Senate. The puppet strings (money guys) that will control these politicos want a couple things in return for their investment:
They want less government. Social Security benefits and Medicare payments might be the first programs they drown. Do you have enough discretionary income to put away for your old age - to support yourself and your spouse for an additional 10-20 years? Remember, you're on your own now.
They want NO oversight on their money-making industries, i.e. Koch Industries (major polluter). Will you be able to afford those incredibly expensive cancer treatments and drugs for your child who breathed their dirty air or swam in their chemical-polluted lakes? You realize your insurance company will cancel your policy, don't you? Remember, you were all for the insurance companies being left to do what they wished.
And let's say, just for the sake of scaring the bejeebies out of you, that your company decided a person in New Delhi, cheaper, younger and mathematically brilliant, is getting your job - starting next Monday. You're 52 years old, and it's a bad economy because the big dogs didn't ever plan to create jobs for folks like you or me. They planned to keep and grow the money they had.
Well, my dear Republican. You'd better have at least $50 Million on hand to run with the big dogs, and that would really just get you a place at the very back of the line. I know this because I just described my life - not the Republican or the church part - but the rest was me.
Now retired, I'm collecting my Social Security, receiving Medicare benefits, holding on to my 401(k) for dear life, and enjoying vacations. I'm a Democrat who believes in a system where we take care of our citizens. I want a government who watches out for enemies of the people not jumps in bed with them.
I know I'm about $49,899,000.99 short of running with aforementioned bow wows because I don't suffer from delusions of grandeur. A piece of advice: Neither should you!
When you and your spouse enter a nice restaurant on a Saturday evening with your friends of the same economic class, your shoulders are back and there's a smile on your face. Life has been good to you. Of course, you've earned it.
Furthermore, your company pays a big portion of the health insurance cost for you and your family. If you or yours need a prescription for an ailment, you typically pay $5 or $10; your company and your insurance company pick up the rest. Your company also pays for life insurance, big policy for you, smaller policy for your spouse, perhaps something for the children as well. This is what America is all about. You work hard for your money, and you deserve these benefits.
You have a 401(k) or something similar; you're contributing to it, taking care of yourself for the future. Additionally, you have a tuition benefit for your children at certain good schools, so there's no worry about them getting their education when the time comes.
There's discretionary income left at the end of the month, and a portion of it goes to pay for a vacation home on a lovely body of water somewhere with a boat, jet skis and other toys to entertain you and your family/friends when there's time to get away and take a well-earned vacation. Yes, this is the life, and it could only happen here because you didn't come from wealth. You worked your way to it, without trust funds or a daddy mogul to open doors for you. You are living the traditional American dream.
But that was yesterday.
The people driving the Republican Party today are nothing like you. They are people with wealth so staggering only Bill Gates' accountants could visualize it. Take the infamous Koch brothers, Charles and David, for example: worth a combined $35 Billion, owners of the 2nd largest private company in the U.S. with annual revenues of $100 Billion (Jane Mayer, New Yorker Magazine, 08-30-2010). Here's what they intend to buy with their money: much lower taxes for people like themselves, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. This is possibly because they are major air polluters.
According to Lee Fang in a "Think Progress" Report on Wednesday 2 March 2011, "Much of the entire Koch political machine is geared towards ensuring that Koch Industries never has to compensate the people and ecosystems damaged by Koch Industries pollution. Koch front groups — from Tea Party groups to think tanks — have diligently promoted Koch Industries’ bottom line by denying global warming, fighting regulations on Koch’s cancer-causing chemicals, and snuffing out investigations into Koch’s environmental crimes."
Mr. Republican, does this still sound like your party? Hopefully not, but just in case it still does, let's look at another example.
When the conservative wing of the Supreme Court voted to anoint big corporations with the right to inject obscene amounts of money into political campaigns, Karl Rove and his Crossroads GPS group (nonprofit) which does not have to disclose its donors, and his American Crossroads group which does, stood ready and drooling. They'd just been given free reign to spend what THEY say will be in the neighborhood of $120 Million on the 2012 elections.
But wait, you say, this is MY party trying to take our country back from a president who wants to use my hard-earned tax dollars on housing, health care and food for the worthless people of this country who refuse to work for it. He wants to take jobs away from people who work in the coal industry, the oil industry, the insurance and the pharmaceutical business, for god's sake! He wants Wall Street and banks to be punished for what has been their normal practice for decades. He even likes the French president and his damned French fries!
It's true. But I ask you again, are you able to run with the big dogs? Really? Let's just say that your party gets into the White House next year and even wins the Senate. The puppet strings (money guys) that will control these politicos want a couple things in return for their investment:
They want less government. Social Security benefits and Medicare payments might be the first programs they drown. Do you have enough discretionary income to put away for your old age - to support yourself and your spouse for an additional 10-20 years? Remember, you're on your own now.
They want NO oversight on their money-making industries, i.e. Koch Industries (major polluter). Will you be able to afford those incredibly expensive cancer treatments and drugs for your child who breathed their dirty air or swam in their chemical-polluted lakes? You realize your insurance company will cancel your policy, don't you? Remember, you were all for the insurance companies being left to do what they wished.
And let's say, just for the sake of scaring the bejeebies out of you, that your company decided a person in New Delhi, cheaper, younger and mathematically brilliant, is getting your job - starting next Monday. You're 52 years old, and it's a bad economy because the big dogs didn't ever plan to create jobs for folks like you or me. They planned to keep and grow the money they had.
Well, my dear Republican. You'd better have at least $50 Million on hand to run with the big dogs, and that would really just get you a place at the very back of the line. I know this because I just described my life - not the Republican or the church part - but the rest was me.
Now retired, I'm collecting my Social Security, receiving Medicare benefits, holding on to my 401(k) for dear life, and enjoying vacations. I'm a Democrat who believes in a system where we take care of our citizens. I want a government who watches out for enemies of the people not jumps in bed with them.
I know I'm about $49,899,000.99 short of running with aforementioned bow wows because I don't suffer from delusions of grandeur. A piece of advice: Neither should you!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Bad Day to be Right
It's been a bad day for Republicans. They awoke with a collective hangover from the Bachmans' Pray Away the Gay therapy practices expose' of yesterday. Over brunch, they heard that their Wisconsin party faithfuls were caught stuffing, not the ballot boxes, but the ballots themselves with fake democrats to help them survive the recall elections. By their afternoon Almond Joy break, when each of them should have been feeling like a nut, Rupert Murdock's murky practices were threatening to come ashore and cast a long shadow across Fox News. And my god, it's only Tuesday.
I'm not even close to being a saint, but neither am I a bible-carrying member of the "Christian Right" who has opened my eyes to a motherload of sins I've never even contemplated. I long ago accepted the fact that they were sexually repressed, lying sons of a mommy doggy, but holy moly, these are some industrial strength criminal minds.
Good thing Nixon isn't still alive. He'd be handing out medals of honor right and ...far right. Today's Republicans can say, "I am not a crook," with an even straighter face than Nixon.
If it wasn't my country, let's say it was a soap opera, reality TV or even science fiction, it would be fairly entertaining. But it is, so it isn't.
So I say let's make a deal with Mexico and any other country who sends us their tired, their poor, their huddled masses yearning to be living illegally in the USA: We'll keep your run-away citizens. You take the Republican Party. We'll meet up in five years to see what you'll offer to undo the deal.
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