The republicans have, for four years, pondered the problem of how to convince the electorate to vote them back into power without changing anything. The solution they came up with was the "Pledge to America".
Just like the jocks in high school that keep looking for a way to pass a class without studying, they cribbed Newt's "Contract on America" from the 90's.
You know what our former president, the smaller Bush, said, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me -- you can't get fooled again." Even said it in front of a backdrop that said, "Pledge Across America".
Whether they call it a pledge, a promise, or a contract, the bottom line is these guys are going to try to fool us again. Boehner proudly supports everything he supported four years ago, this after he and his gang went on a "listening tour" a year and a half ago, and putting up a website called "America Speaking Out" on which legalizing marijuana was one of the more popular ideas.
Well, we aren't going to get marijuana legalized, and we won't get any other new ideas. And they are telling us they aren't going to change.
But jeez, they really mean it this time -- they took off their jackets at the pizzeria, and even when they unveiled their "Pledge". Doesn't that count for anything?
Showing posts with label John Boehner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Boehner. Show all posts
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Just Say No...Over and Over and Over
We all thought they were crazy when, after the pounding they got in the 2008 elections, the Republicans just shouted the same thing, but louder. Repeating the dreaded "Obama--Pelosi--Reid" trilogy over and over and over again. Accusing the Democrats of being left-wing radicals, and the more we moved right in the spirit of compromise, the more they accused us of being left-wing radicals. Of refusing to listen to them. Of refusing to compromise.
And, after two years of listening to the repeated lies and inconsistencies over and over and over, I see the voters hypnotically nodding their heads, right along with the discordant song Boehner and Demint are singing.
And what have the Republicans -- in one voice, over and over and over -- been telling us we want? We want more conservative policies, meaning "cut taxes", which is about as deep as today's conservatives get. We want the government to stop taking money away from businesses, because that's why we don't have jobs.
What's funny is that I don't even hear Democrats yelling back that it won't work because it didn't work before. The more the republicans yell at the voters about us, the more defensive we get.
Remember when we first won in 2008, and we laughed in 2009 when the republicans accused us of not doing what they wanted?
What's also funny is that, even though the republicans have been saying in so many words that the changes they will make when they are elected is to return to the smaller Bush's fiscal policies, the polls are showing that the voters believe they will do things differently than they did the last time they were in charge of the country.
So we're in for a long election season, and I'm afraid a long two more years. Of course, when they get elected, as long as they tell us we're happy to have them in charge, maybe it won't be so bad. Unfortunately though, I believe they will continue to tell us it's the fault of Obama -- Pelosi --- and Reid, as we sink into the depths of our corporate-controlled despair.
And, after two years of listening to the repeated lies and inconsistencies over and over and over, I see the voters hypnotically nodding their heads, right along with the discordant song Boehner and Demint are singing.
And what have the Republicans -- in one voice, over and over and over -- been telling us we want? We want more conservative policies, meaning "cut taxes", which is about as deep as today's conservatives get. We want the government to stop taking money away from businesses, because that's why we don't have jobs.
What's funny is that I don't even hear Democrats yelling back that it won't work because it didn't work before. The more the republicans yell at the voters about us, the more defensive we get.
Remember when we first won in 2008, and we laughed in 2009 when the republicans accused us of not doing what they wanted?
What's also funny is that, even though the republicans have been saying in so many words that the changes they will make when they are elected is to return to the smaller Bush's fiscal policies, the polls are showing that the voters believe they will do things differently than they did the last time they were in charge of the country.
So we're in for a long election season, and I'm afraid a long two more years. Of course, when they get elected, as long as they tell us we're happy to have them in charge, maybe it won't be so bad. Unfortunately though, I believe they will continue to tell us it's the fault of Obama -- Pelosi --- and Reid, as we sink into the depths of our corporate-controlled despair.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Death Panel in Increments
In 2005, our Congress and our President, then the smaller Bush, decided that it was their right and responsibility to legislate that Terri Schiavo, in a vegetative state since 1998, should be kept alive through continued use of a feeding tube. Not only did they bypass the courts, but more important, Terri's doctors, and her legal guardian, her husband.
On Sunday, five year old Kyler Van Nocker died of cancer, after not only fighting the cancer, but fighting the insurance company, HealthAmerica, for treatment. Again, another party with an interest other than the health and well-being of the patient, steps in to dictate treatment. For every well educated and well-armed parent or patient, there are innumerable individuals who suffer and die for lack of ability to fight this beast.
And then there is abortion. Not the taking of a life, but the choice of a woman with her family, and with the advice of a physician. A difficult choice that many women make because bringing a child into their lives would be wrong. The cry of abortion as murder has been used by right wing extremists to fan the flames of hate and prevent fearful and insecure individuals from fighting for their own interests: a living wage, better education for their children, and yes, guaranteed health care, all of which would decrease the incidence of abortion by improving the quality of life.
The screaming about "death panels" last summer was outrageous and beyond ironic, because we have the death panels already.
They are the religious fanatics who believe they have the right to step into our bedrooms and sickrooms and decide what we can and can't do when we have sex, and what we should do with a fetus that is in our bodies, and that a stem cell CAN'T be used to further research to save lives.
They are the legislators who fought against a public health care for all that would be non-partisan and even-handed, because it would cut into the profits of their corporate sponsors. They cried about the deficit after building it, and then claimed the government would be the "death panel", when it was in fact the insurance corporation that truly determined who and when a patient would die.
And in fact they DO kill granny, and mom and dad, and even a five year old child, rather than pay for an expensive treatment or by disallowing large amounts of the cost, making health care unaffordable even with health insurance.
The "death panels" decide how much money to spend on our treatments. Their representatives in Congress won't vote to pay a penny to keep a Terri Schiavo alive, but stand in judgment of a family trying to say good-bye to a loved one. They won't fight for health care for all, even if it means a child will die, because it costs too much, it sets an expensive precedent, their corporate sponsors' profit margins will suffer.
The Jim Demints and John Boehners will stand against ObamaCare, because their money is on the insurance industry. And yet they will cry out about "death panels" as though they don't know that they are the ones who have made death panels the law of the land.
If you were going to cook a frog, would you throw it in boiling water, or drop it in a pan of cold water and turn on the heat?
If you want to control people, you get them to agree that they need to give up some small freedoms. You convince them that in fact it is other people that need to be controlled, and make laws against abortion. You tell them how bad it would be if the government controlled their health care, that "free enterprise" is the American Way, and of course, the way of "freedom". You control their doctors, and you allow doctors to be threatened and killed without standing against the murderers, until that treatment is no longer available. You come up with reasons why government funded research is bad, allowing corporations to decide what gets marketed and by whom. You cut funding for education, you cut funding for stem cell research, you cut funding for regulators to monitor the industrial research and corporations.
...and Voila! the frog is dead, and didn't even know it was happening.
On Sunday, five year old Kyler Van Nocker died of cancer, after not only fighting the cancer, but fighting the insurance company, HealthAmerica, for treatment. Again, another party with an interest other than the health and well-being of the patient, steps in to dictate treatment. For every well educated and well-armed parent or patient, there are innumerable individuals who suffer and die for lack of ability to fight this beast.
And then there is abortion. Not the taking of a life, but the choice of a woman with her family, and with the advice of a physician. A difficult choice that many women make because bringing a child into their lives would be wrong. The cry of abortion as murder has been used by right wing extremists to fan the flames of hate and prevent fearful and insecure individuals from fighting for their own interests: a living wage, better education for their children, and yes, guaranteed health care, all of which would decrease the incidence of abortion by improving the quality of life.
The screaming about "death panels" last summer was outrageous and beyond ironic, because we have the death panels already.
They are the religious fanatics who believe they have the right to step into our bedrooms and sickrooms and decide what we can and can't do when we have sex, and what we should do with a fetus that is in our bodies, and that a stem cell CAN'T be used to further research to save lives.
They are the legislators who fought against a public health care for all that would be non-partisan and even-handed, because it would cut into the profits of their corporate sponsors. They cried about the deficit after building it, and then claimed the government would be the "death panel", when it was in fact the insurance corporation that truly determined who and when a patient would die.
And in fact they DO kill granny, and mom and dad, and even a five year old child, rather than pay for an expensive treatment or by disallowing large amounts of the cost, making health care unaffordable even with health insurance.
The "death panels" decide how much money to spend on our treatments. Their representatives in Congress won't vote to pay a penny to keep a Terri Schiavo alive, but stand in judgment of a family trying to say good-bye to a loved one. They won't fight for health care for all, even if it means a child will die, because it costs too much, it sets an expensive precedent, their corporate sponsors' profit margins will suffer.
The Jim Demints and John Boehners will stand against ObamaCare, because their money is on the insurance industry. And yet they will cry out about "death panels" as though they don't know that they are the ones who have made death panels the law of the land.
If you were going to cook a frog, would you throw it in boiling water, or drop it in a pan of cold water and turn on the heat?
If you want to control people, you get them to agree that they need to give up some small freedoms. You convince them that in fact it is other people that need to be controlled, and make laws against abortion. You tell them how bad it would be if the government controlled their health care, that "free enterprise" is the American Way, and of course, the way of "freedom". You control their doctors, and you allow doctors to be threatened and killed without standing against the murderers, until that treatment is no longer available. You come up with reasons why government funded research is bad, allowing corporations to decide what gets marketed and by whom. You cut funding for education, you cut funding for stem cell research, you cut funding for regulators to monitor the industrial research and corporations.
...and Voila! the frog is dead, and didn't even know it was happening.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Idiots Comment on Iraq
So many of us watched the video of Richard Engel traveling out of Iraq with the last combat troops last week and thought of Vietnam. The quiet versus the chaos, the calm versus the panic. When you leave a war, this is the way it should be done.
The Obama administration was understated, to say the least, about this incredible moment. No "Mission Accomplished" banners here, no strutting, no bragging.
Of course, there was no reason for bragging, anymore than there was when we witnessed the "Mission Accomplished" performance. The war goes on, an inadequate Iraqi military trying to hold its own for a country whose leaders can't decide who's in charge.
Yet our soldiers will not be fighting in Iraq. And that is something to feel tremendous relief over. And, not to be too negative, we can only hope that our remaining "non-combat troops" are safe in a land that continues to be filled with strife.
At least there was comic relief. John Boehner is thankful to the smaller President Bush. Because if it had not been for the surge, the war he started would not be over.
John McCain, always ready with a gracious remark and a quick wit, said that if we had listened to Obama we would still be in Iraq.
"No," says Matthew Gannon in The Bostonist,
"If we had listened to President Obama, and Senator Kennedy, we wouldn't even be there."
The Obama administration was understated, to say the least, about this incredible moment. No "Mission Accomplished" banners here, no strutting, no bragging.
Of course, there was no reason for bragging, anymore than there was when we witnessed the "Mission Accomplished" performance. The war goes on, an inadequate Iraqi military trying to hold its own for a country whose leaders can't decide who's in charge.
Yet our soldiers will not be fighting in Iraq. And that is something to feel tremendous relief over. And, not to be too negative, we can only hope that our remaining "non-combat troops" are safe in a land that continues to be filled with strife.
At least there was comic relief. John Boehner is thankful to the smaller President Bush. Because if it had not been for the surge, the war he started would not be over.
John McCain, always ready with a gracious remark and a quick wit, said that if we had listened to Obama we would still be in Iraq.
"No," says Matthew Gannon in The Bostonist,
"If we had listened to President Obama, and Senator Kennedy, we wouldn't even be there."
But for the most part the republicans in Congress are laying low on the subject of Iraq, preferring to bash Obama on the usual idiotic issues, this week's being that Obama's economic team should resign. Because the small Bush's economic team did so well.
But I think we all need to step away from the sounds of the idiots for a moment, and just be thankful that this could be the beginning of the end of our involvement in this horrible, senseless war.
But I think we all need to step away from the sounds of the idiots for a moment, and just be thankful that this could be the beginning of the end of our involvement in this horrible, senseless war.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Why High Unemployment Is Good
If no one was benefitting from high unemployment, it wouldn't be happening.
So who's benefitting?
We have been listening to blowhards like Boehner, Demint and the other Corporate Conservatives in Congress talk about how people are staying unemployed BY CHOICE, and if the government would stop feeding and clothing them, they would go out and, damn it, get jobs!
But who in this country, today, are really getting the handouts? Wall Street, certainly, and the insurance industry with the watered down health care bill. Don't forget big agribusiness, those folks that are forcing the small farmers out of business, while feeding off the federal government.
Here's the food chain:
The corporate giants feed the lobbyists, who feed their senators and representatives, who circle right back and feed the corporations.
Feeling left out?
If you are a small business owner and believe for one minute that John Boehner and Jim Demint are talking about helping YOU when they block health care bills and unemployment extensions and yes, money to the states you live and do business in for road projects and teachers, guess again.
If you are a small business owner you know that the people in your neighborhood need jobs that pay a living wage and affordable housing, and good schools for their children, and for your children. The money that would do that in this wealthy country is held by a few and they are protected by, yes, folks like John Boehner and Jim Demint.
Who make sure that the government doesn't have the funding to regulate those big businesses, nor the taxes from those fat cats to send to the states and small businesses to get us back on our feet.
Because when we profit, big business gets a little bit smaller. And so would the fortunes of Boehner and Demint.
So who's benefitting?
We have been listening to blowhards like Boehner, Demint and the other Corporate Conservatives in Congress talk about how people are staying unemployed BY CHOICE, and if the government would stop feeding and clothing them, they would go out and, damn it, get jobs!
But who in this country, today, are really getting the handouts? Wall Street, certainly, and the insurance industry with the watered down health care bill. Don't forget big agribusiness, those folks that are forcing the small farmers out of business, while feeding off the federal government.
Here's the food chain:
The corporate giants feed the lobbyists, who feed their senators and representatives, who circle right back and feed the corporations.
Feeling left out?
If you are a small business owner and believe for one minute that John Boehner and Jim Demint are talking about helping YOU when they block health care bills and unemployment extensions and yes, money to the states you live and do business in for road projects and teachers, guess again.
If you are a small business owner you know that the people in your neighborhood need jobs that pay a living wage and affordable housing, and good schools for their children, and for your children. The money that would do that in this wealthy country is held by a few and they are protected by, yes, folks like John Boehner and Jim Demint.
Who make sure that the government doesn't have the funding to regulate those big businesses, nor the taxes from those fat cats to send to the states and small businesses to get us back on our feet.
Because when we profit, big business gets a little bit smaller. And so would the fortunes of Boehner and Demint.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
A Bright Face for a Dirty Process
I first heard the expression "increased productivity" during the Reagan years. That was when the capitalists who were taking over government promised us they would unzip and let it "trickle down" on the middle class.
Clinton, who wanted the big guys to like him, continued to espouse economic policies that "increased productivity", but that red flag began to wave with a vengeance when the smaller Bush reigned.
Increased productivity sounds like a grand thing to want to have. Who doesn't want to be productive? Who doesn't want more of it?
Well, as we have all come to find out, increased productivity means a lot fewer of us doing a lot more work for a lot less, less money, fewer benefits.
Bigger profits for the trickle down guys, who continue to let it stream all over us.
Now they want the few of us remaining to work for more years, for less money and benefits, so we can get too little Social Security too late in life to enjoy it.
I just turned 59, had to reduce my work to part-time because all that increased productivity left me with injuries that would get worse if I continued to work full-time, but might get better if I did less of it. And I'm hoping my little nest egg holds out till I turn 62, because I doubt that I'll hold out to 66.
And now I'm learning that folks like Jim Demint and John Boehner think we need to start acting more like adults and work a few more years, so that they and their corporate friends can keep all their cash for a nice comfy retirement, and not even give up a penny of their fortunes after they die.
Is this an ugly country? Or are we going to elect real progressive democrats that will protect us from those who plan to keep unemployment high while we who are lucky enough to have jobs hope we live long enough to enjoy retirement?
Time for the corporate conservatives in congress to stop living off the working poor and middle classes. Time to vote folks like Demint and Boehner out of office.
Enough increased productivity!
Clinton, who wanted the big guys to like him, continued to espouse economic policies that "increased productivity", but that red flag began to wave with a vengeance when the smaller Bush reigned.
Increased productivity sounds like a grand thing to want to have. Who doesn't want to be productive? Who doesn't want more of it?
Well, as we have all come to find out, increased productivity means a lot fewer of us doing a lot more work for a lot less, less money, fewer benefits.
Bigger profits for the trickle down guys, who continue to let it stream all over us.
Now they want the few of us remaining to work for more years, for less money and benefits, so we can get too little Social Security too late in life to enjoy it.
I just turned 59, had to reduce my work to part-time because all that increased productivity left me with injuries that would get worse if I continued to work full-time, but might get better if I did less of it. And I'm hoping my little nest egg holds out till I turn 62, because I doubt that I'll hold out to 66.
And now I'm learning that folks like Jim Demint and John Boehner think we need to start acting more like adults and work a few more years, so that they and their corporate friends can keep all their cash for a nice comfy retirement, and not even give up a penny of their fortunes after they die.
Is this an ugly country? Or are we going to elect real progressive democrats that will protect us from those who plan to keep unemployment high while we who are lucky enough to have jobs hope we live long enough to enjoy retirement?
Time for the corporate conservatives in congress to stop living off the working poor and middle classes. Time to vote folks like Demint and Boehner out of office.
Enough increased productivity!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Bargain Government
I spent nearly all my savings a year and a half ago when my A/C broke down. It had been costing me from $200 to $1600 a year on repairs for the nine years I had been living here. The new A/C cost $5,000. At the time, I was taking home $1,300 a MONTH for my full-time position with Charleston County, SC.
But I figured I would have peace of mind for a couple of years.
Not so. My A/C died a few weeks ago, which should not have happened. A faulty part was replaced, which was under warrantee. The cost: $157. Apparently, half that was to get the guy out here, and the other half was his hour of labor.
Not that I don't appreciate it. But I am one of many who are struggling to make ends meet at real jobs that really underpay, if you are basing the salary on the cost of living.
Jim Demint and the other corporate conservatives that are grinding our government to a halt don't have a clue what it is like to have to decide whether to repair the car or the leaking roof, and how long it is feasible to put up with the pain in your tooth or another body part, in the hope that it will magically go away, because you just can't afford it.
I laugh when I'm told I can pay the bill in installments. Like I'm going to be able to find the money if it's in smaller piles?
It infuriates me to hear Demint and Boehner and all the rest of those high living prostitutes talking about lowering the debt, when what they are really doing is trying to force us to pay more to private corporations than what the government does on a shoestring.
And about that shoestring. When the government doesn't work right, it's because it doesn't have the funds to do the jobs that they need to do. Blame the regulators? How about giving them adequate staff to guard the henhouse? Amtrak not running efficiently? Let's put some money into it, and see what can be done. And oh, the schools! Not enough teachers, classes too large, and we have to listen to those congressional creeps call a bill with emergency funding for teachers' salaries a bailout for the teachers union!
And then complain that government isn't working!
Well, it's still the best bargain in town, but if someone doesn't step up and pay their fair share, the town isn't going to be much of a place to live.
But I figured I would have peace of mind for a couple of years.
Not so. My A/C died a few weeks ago, which should not have happened. A faulty part was replaced, which was under warrantee. The cost: $157. Apparently, half that was to get the guy out here, and the other half was his hour of labor.
Not that I don't appreciate it. But I am one of many who are struggling to make ends meet at real jobs that really underpay, if you are basing the salary on the cost of living.
Jim Demint and the other corporate conservatives that are grinding our government to a halt don't have a clue what it is like to have to decide whether to repair the car or the leaking roof, and how long it is feasible to put up with the pain in your tooth or another body part, in the hope that it will magically go away, because you just can't afford it.
I laugh when I'm told I can pay the bill in installments. Like I'm going to be able to find the money if it's in smaller piles?
It infuriates me to hear Demint and Boehner and all the rest of those high living prostitutes talking about lowering the debt, when what they are really doing is trying to force us to pay more to private corporations than what the government does on a shoestring.
And about that shoestring. When the government doesn't work right, it's because it doesn't have the funds to do the jobs that they need to do. Blame the regulators? How about giving them adequate staff to guard the henhouse? Amtrak not running efficiently? Let's put some money into it, and see what can be done. And oh, the schools! Not enough teachers, classes too large, and we have to listen to those congressional creeps call a bill with emergency funding for teachers' salaries a bailout for the teachers union!
And then complain that government isn't working!
Well, it's still the best bargain in town, but if someone doesn't step up and pay their fair share, the town isn't going to be much of a place to live.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Is He Blushing?
There was John Boehner on Meet the Press, all orange with rage or tanning salon, saying, "It's time for the American people to have an adult conversation about the problems that we face."
Wow. I felt so... chastised. Like, "Go to your room, American people, and don't come out until you can have an adult conversation about the problems that we face."
Because, after all, we the American people have had it too easy for too long.
We've been staying out too late working, no, not just one job but we go and have two jobs and leave our kids in front of the t.v. Unless we don't have a job, which is just being lazy, because we want to live off those big unemployment bucks.
And we eat all that junk food, instead of making the grown-up decisions, like fresh veggies or gas in the car. And not going to the doctor just because we don't have health care, and even if we did have health care we wouldn't want to spend money on that boring deductible and those dumb co-pays.
And not getting enough exercise, either, standing around all day behind that counter at Wal-Mart, when we should be...
...out on the golf course with John Boehner.
And no, he's not blushing. The man doesn't know enough to be ashamed.
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