Well…I really shouldn’t be surprised at the behavior of the repubs here in Michigan but then they do something that just whacks me in the side of the head and makes me realize that the pit where they get their shenanigans has no bottom. Let’s back up a little for some context…as soon as the repubs gained control of Michigan, they passed one of the most undemocratic laws ever seen here…the so-called “emergency manager” law that would take the governing of some cities and townships that are in fiscal distress out of the hands of the elected officials and hand it to an appointed “czar” that could then fire anyone they want, abrogate union contracts, and run the city as they see fit, not as the people of that region want. Again, more of the hypocrisy that oozes from every pore of the repubs across the country, where they cry about the left trying to kill democracy and then try to nullify elections by the phony cry of voter fraud and this type of law. When the outraged citizens of Michigan decided that they didn’t vote for the type of nonsense included in this law, they did what they always do, getting a petition drive started to put the measure on the ballot in 2012. What was the repubs response to this perfectly proper use of citizens power? When it began to look like the signatures would be easily collected, the repubs again tried to game the system and silence the voice of the people by rescinding the law and replacing it with another so the petitions would be invalid. This is the type of nonsense you get from these folks…they don’t give a damn what the people of Michigan want, just what their ideology driven masters want…the total destruction of unions and the middle class….geez….
Category Archives: Politics
Nolan, Nolan, Nolan….
Well…if you had any doubt that the attacks from the right on the middle class and poor are a coordinated message, let’s look at the latest nonsense from ole Nolan Finley in today’s Detroit News…yeah, I know, like shooting fish in a barrel but hey, I need and easy one once in a while and ole Nolan has obliged today. His screed in today’s paper center on this contention that people on unemployment don’t work hard enough looking for a job so they should be forced to “volunteer” their time to do various jobs that are now being done by unionized labor…can you see a theme here? Just reference ole Newt’s comments that we should eliminate unionized janitor’s jobs and have poor kids do them. So, Nolan, it’s not stressful enough to be unemployed in this market, now you want to take time away from the job searches that people need to perform to get new jobs and lock them into the declining spiral of minimum wage “volunteer” jobs until they lose their houses, cars and and hope for retirement? I just hope you lose your job at some point, you hack, and then we’ll find a volunteer job for you cleaning sewers since you seem quite familiar with them….geez….
Where are the jobs governor Snyder? Where is the jobs plan republicans?…still not one jobs bill in over a year of your control of the House….
Newt’s “ideas”….
Well…this one is going to be a place holder until I get my workout in and then decide whether or not to ride the bike…the topic is going to be Newt’s “ideas” and the premise that all ideas are good ones…quantity does not equal quality…
Okay, this one formed in my head quickly and then dissipated just as quickly…so I may have to change topics later today…or I may just add to this one…one thing I did want to talk about was the whole idea of getting rid of jobs that adults need to feed their families (think unionized janitors) and have those jobs given to poor kids to “help them learn how to work”…and one of the things I see wrong with this crazy proposal is the fact that it has been republican policies that have turned the entry level jobs that kids used to do to get acclimated to the workforce into dead end jobs for adults while their cronies in business have shipped the good jobs overseas. So, now he proposes to take another, supposedly stable set of jobs and make them so they won’t pay enough to live on, turning them into fast food-like jobs? Newt, take your crazy ideas an go back to your lobbying and sucking money out of the economy…and I want everyone to remember this: that Newt paid the largest fine in the history of congress to settle ethics violations and that is why he “retired” from the House…just ahead of expulsion. Geez…
The direction I think “Occupy” should take….
Well…this little thought popped into my head the other day when I was thinking about the next phase of the “Occupy” protests and what they should look like. First, though, I think the best tactic that should be immediately employed is to declare victory and go home…the tent cities and other encampments have served the purpose of changing the national debate to include the huge disparity in income and opportunity that exists in this country, but I think the continuation of this tactic may alienate parts of the public that “Occupy” is trying to help, and in the world of faster and faster change, I think the movement has to change and grow to eliminate the avenues of attack that have been used against it. The establishment has made it clear that it will use their private armies to suppress any dissent that does not come from the right, so let’s put together some organization that directly deals with this suppression…constantly changing tactics will keep them off stride and directly address criticisms that come from friendly quarters. Tent cities have served their purpose, but let’s move on to the part that is keeping the right up at night…converting this energy into political change that will break the grip of the tiny minority of the right that run our lives…let’s get going…
One other thing…
Well…I was going to get to a couple of topics in that last one but the flow was such that I thought it should end with just the one…so, I needed to come back with another comment on maybe a little bit of shining hope that the rational folks in this country deserve…yesterday, (or the day before), Obama came out firing against the hypocrites in the repub party for protecting the Bush tax cuts for the rich, while making sure the payroll tax cut is not renewed…one that will benefit mainly the middle class. I think this is a narrative that needs to be shouted from the rooftops…that the repubs have never met a tax cut for the rich and connected that they didn’t like, and that they have never met one that benefits the middle class that they did….and that these folk have sworn to protect Grover Norquist more than they have sworn to protect the Constitution…geez…
Just realized that I missed December 5th….
Well…looking through the archives here, I just noticed that I missed December 5th for some reason…I know it was just yesterday but doing the morning update is like breathing to me so I can’t figure it out…oh, well…I did find a few funny things that I wanted to comment on today…the first one made me laugh like crazy and it is further evidence that the right has really gone off the rails…there were some commentators over there on Fox that really went off on “The Muppets” and their latest movie because the villain that is trying to take away their home is an oilman…and Fox was apoplectic with what they call the “indoctrination” of children through movies aimed at them that take on themes of friendship, cooperation, and environmental concern. I wonder what they would rather see…unbridled capitalism that the Muppets use to steal the country? That cutting off mountaintops and oil spills are good for the children and that they should aspire to be one of those polluters? What a bunch of amoral idiots they have over there at Fox…if you want to see the rot that is ruining our country, just tune in over there for a few minutes…geez….
Now E.J. Dionne is stealing my stuff….
Well…just a little short one to comment on an article that I read in the paper this morning done by E.J. Dionne where he posits that it is a lack of “reasonableness” that is poisoning our politics and keeping the country from dealing with the problems it faces. If you remember, early last year, I said the same thing about making a new party that is made up of reasonable people from both the right and left that can put party after country and use proven methods of economics to address the myriad problems in the economy. But, I still need to stress, as E.J does, that the unreasonableness is not equally distributed to both left and right but it is the far right that has hijacked the repub party and is the source of this nonsense. I guess I should feel flattered or proud that I came up with this idea first…before Keith or E.J. and that others are starting to see that it would be a good thing for the country and the world. See, I do have original thoughts that are not completely crazy….at least this time….
Do you need any other reasons?
Well…the true colors of the repubs continue to seep through their carefully crafted conservative coats….this week, another layer was peeled off of their hatred for the middle class when they refused to back the continuation of the payroll tax holiday that primarily benefits the middle class. These hypocrites are back on their same old tired mantra that any continuation of these tax breaks for workers must be paid for by additional cuts to the programs that benefit the middle class…in essence saying that workers can have tax cuts if they pay for them. But they never said that when they cut taxes for the rich or corporations, of started two wars that were not funded….when are we going to tire of this nonsense? When are we going to call these idiots out on this naked grab of middle class money that is then given to the rich in the form of tax cuts? I know, you guys are getting tired of hearing this but who else is going to hold this corruption up to the light?
Do you need any other reasons to never vote for these crooks again? Geez….
The state of the republican party…
Well…lots of stuff going on in the repub primary races and, to me, points out a lot of the hypocrisy that is rampant in today’s repub party. The front runners in the party of “family values” are either serial cheaters and liars (see Newt Gingrich) or they are serial sexual harassers ( see Herman Cain) of they are serial flip floppers (see Mitt Romney) who will do or say anything to garner votes; no mater that what they say today is 180 degrees the opposite of what they’ve said in the past. Let’s try to remember why ole Newt isn’t in congress anymore…the fact that his ethics violations were catching up to him and there were severe sanctions on the horizon…but the worst of it is that he is the embodiment of what is wrong with the revolving door politics that runs between congress and K street. where even a disgraced legislator can continue to slop at the trough and make millions and millions of dollars shilling for the companies that elected them. What happened to the republican party that had principles? We can see that principles don’t matter to them anymore, just power and influence and money….geez…
Okay, one last thing…now, I’ll trash the dems in the senate, too, for their misguided bill that would allow the indefinite detention without trial or other recourse to terrorism suspects on US soil….now I think these folks have never read the 4th amendment to the constitution or they would know that this bill would be overturned by the supreme court…so, shame on you dems, for this piece of political nonsense…our court system is plenty robust to take care of these folks through normal channels…
Let’s add this nonsense from Kansas…
Well…this is really going to be a short one but again, I felt I had to comment on some repub nonsense…this time from the governor of Kansas, Sam Brownback…it seems that the governor’s staff took issue with a tweet from an 18 year old high school senior that was not complimentary to the governor…and then proceeded to contact the principal of the school who then called the young woman in to his office to try to force her to send a written apology to the governor. Now, there are so many things wrong with this that I don’t have to state them…let’s just say it’s another instance where the repubs have no idea what is in the first amendment to the constitution or how that amendment protects even students rights to speak freely and express their opinions…aren’t you getting tired of this nonsense…I sure am…geez…