Well…didn’t go out to the coffee shop this morning but have been reading the news online and a few things fell into place that have been marinating in my head for a while. I know you’ve heard over the past few months how the repubs have been holding up any spending bills to help the unemployed and states that are in financial peril since they have an impact on the federal deficit. But what they aren’t telling you and I is that red states (those that are controlled by and vote for these same repubs) are the ones that most egregiously feed at the federal trough; taking back well more in federal taxes than they send to Washington. One of the worst of these states is the one who gave us the small government idiot Sarah Palin and gets $1.84 for every dollar in taxes they send but on top of that, Alaska got almost 3 times more in stimulus money than the average state; almost $3,200 for each and every resident. Now, I have a great idea for the repubs, make a pledge that, to help eliminate the deficit in the next year, your state will not take more in federal funding than you put in and I challenge the tea partiers to do the same..oh, but I get it, it’s okay to take from the feds when it benefits you but not if it benefits the country as a whole. More hypocrisy to pile on the heaps they have already shoveled…geez…
Tag Archives: republicans
Bait and switch…again…
Well…a couple of things are on my mind this morning…the first is the realization that the repubs are manufacturing a bunch of news to deflect coverage from the fact that they have no solutions to any of our problems…except the same old tired mantra of tax cuts for the rich and less regulation for business. Have you once in the last 6 months heard a real policy plan from them? What are they going to do about unemployment? What would they do to end the war in Afghanistan? What would they do to make healthcare more affordable and available if they repeal what was done by Obama? I know I haven’t heard a thing and they are using Fox news to create fake stories like the mosque controversy so that the major news organizations think they have to cover it like it is real. There have been a string of those types of fake stories like the “anchor babies” and the death panels that take our eye off the ball and allow the repubs to control the news cycle. And, we’re to blame for it…so let’s start paying attention.
The second thing is what we are seeing with the supreme courts decision that corporations can donate to political campaigns…just yesterday, we saw Fox news donate a million bucks to get Republican governors elected…doesn’t anyone else see anything wrong with this? Come on Congress…kill this loophole before the US becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of big business….geez…
Here’s another thing..
Well…there is another issue that I wanted to touch on today, and that is the controversy that has arisen over Verizon and Google’s vision for the future of the internet and the gutting of the way it runs now. The proposal from these two communications giants, is to change the way that the internet works now; that all the data packets that come to or from any website or computer are treated the same to one where the people or companies that are willing to pay a premium will have their data packets given preference to those that don’t. Why do I even have to tell you that this is just a really bad idea; that again, the rich will get richer and take control of one of the last egalitarian bastions of our society?
And, guess who is supporting the companies grab for higher profits and more control? Good guess, the repubs, as always. These same ones that scream about government control of anything are more than willing to hand control over to companies that don’t answer to anyone but their profits because they know it will benefit them. I hope they understand that if they do this the political winds can change and they may be on the other end of the stick? What happens to groups like the tea party or even the RNC when they have to pay extra to get their voices heard? I hope there are reasonable people out there that can recognize that what has made the internet great is the fact that an upstart muckraker like me gets the same access to the net as a billion dollar corporation and there is nothing that anyone can do to silence me or you. Geez…
You’ve noticed some repitition…
Well…If you’ve read this for a while, you’ve noticed some repetitions in what I’ve had to say but there is a method to that madness on my part; the repubs have succeeded so well in repeating their lies until they become not truth but accepted “wisdom” so I think we need to keep repeating the truth until the truth overwhelms the lies of the right. So, I’m going to keep repeating the numerous outrages that have been foist upon America by the repubs until people can recognize truth again…until people start to think critically again and say to them “prove it”. Prove that the Bush tax cuts increased federal revenue (the non-partisan CBO says it didn’t), prove that deferring to business is the way to “lift all boats” as Reagan was heard to say, prove that the constitution is being ignored by Obama…just because they say it doesn’t make it true…geez…
Do you need any more evidence?
Well…reading and watching the news yesterday solidified in my mind what you will get if the repubs are voted back into power in the mid-term elections. Their latest bit of craziness manifested itself with the vote yesterday on the 26 billion dollar house bill that would provide aid to cities and states and allow them to keep 150,000 teachers along with as many police and firefighters on the job until the economy recovers. To pay for the bill (which the repubs have said is a requirement for any new spending) the bill closes tax loopholes that rewarded companies for sending jobs overseas which you would think is a good thing, right? Nope, not to the repubs..only three repubs voted for the bill (it passed anyway) with the house repub leadership coming out in criticism of the bill as an unneeded tax increase that would slow down the economy. This really shows who they are trying to protect…not the 300K people that will still have jobs..but their corporate donors who have purchased their votes and who have benefited from laws that were dictated by business and passed by their lap-dog repub buddies. If we vote these guys back in, we only have ourselves to blame. Geez…
I’m not usually into conspiracy theories…
Well..this thought popped into my head this morning when I was reading an article about how disappointed business is with Obama and the regulations that have been imposed on certain parts of the economy. I think the article was in the Detroit News and it went on to say that the US Chamber of Commerce is working closely with Repubs on legislation and this dawned on me; I think that one of the reasons that companies are retaining so much profit and not converting that into hiring is that they are working in concert with the repubs to make sure the economy doesn’t recover before the fall elections. They know that with the repubs back in control of the House, they can get their money’s worth again from the repub legislators they have purchased.
The sick thing about this is that they care nothing about the people that purchase or make their products and who make those profits that they are hoarding. Why haven’t these behaviors been seized upon by the Dems as un-American, as a cynical attempt to return to the robberbaron times of the early 20th century? When are we, as a people, going to find out what companies are essential to this plot and make sure they pay in the only place they understand: their profits? You want to take this country back? Then let’s take it back from these plotters, these people who only care about themselves and how much power they can amass. Geez…
Charles Krauthammer is an idiot or just a republican shill…
Well…I think I’ve used that title before but ole Chuck’s column today just reinforces that he will say anything to support the Repub agenda. His latest outrage at the executive branch during the Obama administration is a memo that purported to say that this administration is circumventing immigration law by allowing some illegals to remain here and this is another example of “executive overreach” that is rife with the Obama folks and that immigration is the purview of the legislative branch. Oh, really, Chuck? Where the hell were you when Bush used more signing statements to reserve the right to ignore the legislative branch than any president in history? Oh, that’s right, you thought it was just fine for a repub president to do that. Where the hell were you when the Bushies were gutting the fourth amendment with their warrantless wiretaps? Oh, that’s right, writing columns that the most important thing was to protect Americans and it was okay for the Busies to do that. Where the hell were you when Bush and Cheney were putting forth the idea of an executive branch that was above the law? Oh, that’s right, you were cheerleading, agreeing that the Bush executive branch WAS above the law and they could torture, and lie without consequences.
Chuck, don’t you feel bad with your daily displays of intellectual dishonesty? Oh, but that’s right, Republicans have no conscience, or heart, or brains. Geez….
Maybe a little light in the darkness?
Well…have been thinking about how we can get out of the mess that the hyper-charged politics of the day have put us in and a couple of articles I read today might be the start of this climb. Normally, I like to read conservative columnists to try to understand where they are coming from, since I truly believe that good ideas are good ideas no matter if they come from the right or left…and I don’t want to be one of those people that just automatically dismiss anyone’s ideas. In David Brooks column today (I should add that Brooks is a well known conservative commentator) he walked across the aisle and with an unbiased eye, looked at Obama’s agenda and could admit that some of what has been done was necessary and will be effective in addressing many of the problems that face us today. But what was also refreshing was his making objective, well thought out suggestions on how to do better and improve the legislative agenda. So, to David Brooks I say thank you…can you transplant your brain into the rest of the right?
The second column I read today was by Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post and it was not about politics at all; but about what it is like living in the neighborhood she lived in in DC. Again, Parker is a staunch conservative columnist who I rarely ever agree with but today she made a point that I think needed to be made…that is that the American values of friendship, community, and love are not just embodied in the folks that Palin and her Ilk call the “real Americans”; from small towns and rural areas…but can be found all across America; no matter where you live. One of the things I found so striking about the article was her oh so kind words about the neighbors who were the rocks of the neighborhood; who were such a stabilizing influence…but who also happen to be gay men who have lived in a committed relationship for 25 years. I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of these men is a columnist that I read in USA Today…Craig Wilson. I don’t know Kathleen Parker at all, but for a committed conservative to finally speak out against the bigotry that is an integral part of the Repubs, and in such an elegant way, gives me some hope that the principled people that I know still reside in the conservative movement are getting their voice back and will be heard more often. But, then I read some of the comments to this heartfelt piece of writing and it made me sick…the haters were out in force and my tiny little spark of hope that I have been nurturing was buffeted almost to it’s end. But not all the way…I refuse to let the haters stomp on the flowers that have grown up through the cracks in the hate of the world….so, thank you Kathleen for you wonderful column.
Don’t shop at Target….
Well…with the recent supreme court ruling that corporations can freely contribute to political campaigns, some of them have started to do just that…and with predictable results; they are donating to predominately repub candidates who they can rely on to favor businesses over the people. Target is one of those companies and I will not have profits that I have helped them make go to political causes and politicians who want to go back to the days of Bush..to the days when de-regulation of business led to the biggest meltdown since the great depression. We progressives need to become more aware of what is going on in our country and use both our political and economic power to make sure we don’t go backward, to make sure that the small steps in leveling the playing field that have happened in the last two years are not lost. So…I will never set foot in Target again and I hope that some of the rest of us will do the same….after all, profit and power is all they understand and it is up to us to take some of that profit and power away…
Phyllis Schlafly is still in the 50′s…..
This is a placeholder until I get done working out…I have to comment on some statements that Phyllis Schlafly made this weekend campaigning for a repub here in Michigan.
Well…I’m back…decided to get a bike ride in, too, before I came back to this. I’m not going to bury the lead this time….just going to give you Sclafly’s (who is the head of the anti-feminist Eagle Forum) quotes at a fundraiser for republican Rocky Raczkowski who is running for congress from Michigan. She started out by saying “obviously the blacks voted for Obama…but, do you all know what group was the second biggest? Unmarried women, 70% of unmarried women voted for Obama, and this is because when you kick your husband out, you’ve got to have big brother government to be your provider.”
I am just stunned by these comments; that this kind of attitude is still in the mainstream of the republican party and is a harbinger of what you will see if you vote these troglodytes into office. Oh, ole Rocky did the republican dance of condemning the comments but that is just diving for cover when one of their own speaks what is really in their minds. That whole party is still mired in the 50′s when Phyllis was flitting from country club to country club; when you could have one income families make enough money that they could have a good life…but the repubs and their cronies made sure that ended.
Phyllis, I can give you many good reasons why unmarried women voted for Obama that you can’t understand…they are tired of the invisible discrimination that goes on in the good old boy networks that still dominate American business life..they are tired of having the choices in their lives limited by a repub party dominated by men…they are tired of being second class citizens that the Christian Taliban would have stay home barefoot and pregnant….to me, that shows a lack of respect for more than 50% of our population; a resource that we need to make this country a better place…my life is better for the strong women that have been in it (that includes my daughter and, of course, G, K, and T) and to dismiss them as needing to be dependent on anyone is a slap in the face that is all too common coming from the repubs…geez….