by Rich Miles
I have wanted, since last Friday night, to say something about the tragedy in Newtown CT, but I have not been able to because I have been deeply in mourning - as we all have, or at least all of us who hold any humanity in our hearts.
But en fin, I must say something: As is often the case, it may not be original, someone else may have gotten to these thoughts before me, but they are my thoughts. I hope they will speak to you somehow.
Never mind how the sick bastard who did this came to such action. He is dead, he deserves to be dead, and if there is a Heaven and Hell, I sincerely hope he is already roasting in Hell, for eternity if there is any divine justice. But I don't really believe in Heaven or Hell, so the shit bag is just - dead, I guess.
I keep being confronted with the pictures of those beautiful little children on TV. Of course I can avoid them by simply turning off the set. But something makes me keep looking, despite the pain it causes me. And of course, my pain is nothing compared to the parents and siblings and friends and families of those lovely babies. They had not truly lived at all yet. Who can even reasonably speculate on what any of those children would have become in future years?
See, that is what always occurs to me when I hear of death among young people: what would they have become? How might the planet have become a better place, or at least an altogether different place, if they had been allowed to live to as much of their full potential as any of us ever do? How much will NOT happen now, what children of theirs will now never be born? No one can say of course, but it always makes me wonder. As perhaps it does you.
The worthless piece of shit who committed this heinous act deserves none of our sympathy - perhaps one could speculate that he too was a beautiful child once, but circumstances conspired to create of him a monster killer, and he took all those lovely babies from their parents and friends - from their lives. I will not even mention his name once, because I want him to be forgotten forever, I do not want him to garner any fame or immortality from these acts.
I am unable to be as profound on this topic as I might have been, because the tears keep getting in the way - I am not exaggerating, every time I think of the pain and fear those sweet children must have suffered just before the end, I can't keep it together any longer. Tears fill my eyes, and my heart hurts almost to stopping.
I cannot say "god bless them", because I cannot believe in a god who would allow this to happen to these innocents. I certainly do not believe in the god of Mike Huckabee - if that is the god who rules this universe, I wish he'd go away and leave us - including the sweet innocents - alone to manage it ourselves. As Garry Trudeau once said, he sure is stinking the place out. If there is a god, I certainly hope he skewers Huckabee and leaves him dangling there for all eternity, perhaps with a copy of his inhuman words dangling right in front of him so he will know why he is there. Forever.
I have lots more to say, but the rest would just be some sort of repetition of what I've said above.
The real sadness of this, aside from the killing sadness of the deaths of these babies, is that there will never be justice done for this. If you think about it, what justice could there be? What justice would make it better? Nothing I can think of.
Merry Christmas. Not for its religious significance, but for its importance as a time for us to love one another and be together in peace.
"Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky." - John Lennon, another beautiful victim of gun violence by a mentally ill asshole.
I think he wanted us to be responsible for ourselves, and not expect god to fix everything for us. That's just my opinion, of course. If I'm wrong, boy am I in trouble after I'm gone. Especially if Huckabee's bloodthirsty god is in charge.
But do me a favor - don't even THINK about telling me so. It won't change anything. And one last thing: Huckabee tried to back off of his remarks several days after the massacre. Apology most definitely NOT accepted. You moron. And that's putting it nicely.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
This makes my heart hurt
by Rich Miles
UPDATE 12/19: I have written a more cogent piece on this topic, or so I believe. It is right after this one.
Yesterday, Dec. 14, 2012, 20 FIRST-GRADERS, and 7 adults died in Newtown, CT, the result of a shooting rampage by a total loser of a young man, who had no chance of ever being remembered for anything except murdering children. His guns had quite a range on them, because the murdering bastard killed my soul as well, and no doubt that of millions of others across our nation. FIRST-GRADERS!!! Children who had barely lived, in fact in some sense had NOT lived at all yet - gunned down. What else can one call it, but gunned down?
Our nation, with the exception of the worthless piece of shit Mike Huckabee and some few who agree with him, mourns. Huckabee said that god allowed this massacre to take place because god had been removed from the classrooms of our nation's schools - that's a paraphrase of what the unconscionably cruel bastard said. And the thing that really wounds my heart and makes me angry is that there are almost certainly some people - hopefully, few of them - who agree with him. Who agree that god, that the supposed supreme deity who controls the entire universe, allowed LITTLE CHILDREN, all of them 7 or under, to DIE because his vanity had not been assuaged by being worshiped with a short rote prayer every day. Children DIED because of this, says Huckabee the Hitlerian shitbag!! Can he ever be taken seriously again?
I can only hope not!
I wish peace for the parents of Newtown, and those all across our country. I will NOT say may god bless them. According to Mike Huckabee the walking sack of useless pus, such a blessing is no blessing at all.
UPDATE 12/19: I have written a more cogent piece on this topic, or so I believe. It is right after this one.
Yesterday, Dec. 14, 2012, 20 FIRST-GRADERS, and 7 adults died in Newtown, CT, the result of a shooting rampage by a total loser of a young man, who had no chance of ever being remembered for anything except murdering children. His guns had quite a range on them, because the murdering bastard killed my soul as well, and no doubt that of millions of others across our nation. FIRST-GRADERS!!! Children who had barely lived, in fact in some sense had NOT lived at all yet - gunned down. What else can one call it, but gunned down?
Our nation, with the exception of the worthless piece of shit Mike Huckabee and some few who agree with him, mourns. Huckabee said that god allowed this massacre to take place because god had been removed from the classrooms of our nation's schools - that's a paraphrase of what the unconscionably cruel bastard said. And the thing that really wounds my heart and makes me angry is that there are almost certainly some people - hopefully, few of them - who agree with him. Who agree that god, that the supposed supreme deity who controls the entire universe, allowed LITTLE CHILDREN, all of them 7 or under, to DIE because his vanity had not been assuaged by being worshiped with a short rote prayer every day. Children DIED because of this, says Huckabee the Hitlerian shitbag!! Can he ever be taken seriously again?
I can only hope not!
I wish peace for the parents of Newtown, and those all across our country. I will NOT say may god bless them. According to Mike Huckabee the walking sack of useless pus, such a blessing is no blessing at all.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Rachel Maddow shows us a thing or two about Republicans
by Rich Miles
http://front.moveon.org/rachel-maddow-on-how-the-republican-party-hasnt-learned-one-damned-thing/
Rachel Maddow has rapidly become my favorite lesbian. Her lesbianism has little or nothing to do with why I like her. Mostly, I like her because she has a perspective on American politics that is similar to mine - she doesn't go after the mainstream thought. She goes after the odd thought (usually), and wears it out like a pit bull going after a rat.
So it is with the link at the top of the page. It's listed online as "Rachel Maddow on how the Republican Party hasn't learned one damned thing. '' In the video, she spends about 7 minutes discussing how the Republicans, who in case you didn't hear LOST the bulk of the last national elections including the Preznitcy, have decided that the reason they lost was that they weren't Republican ENOUGH, and should be more so in order to win in the future.
So that's what they're going to do. Doubling down, eff. immediately, on being even more controlling, anti-female, etc. Repug assholes than they already are.
Watch the video and see what Rachel means. And whether you're Republican or Democrat, write a comment to this post, and tell me if you think this is an effective electoral strategy.
As if.
http://front.moveon.org/rachel-maddow-on-how-the-republican-party-hasnt-learned-one-damned-thing/
Rachel Maddow has rapidly become my favorite lesbian. Her lesbianism has little or nothing to do with why I like her. Mostly, I like her because she has a perspective on American politics that is similar to mine - she doesn't go after the mainstream thought. She goes after the odd thought (usually), and wears it out like a pit bull going after a rat.
So it is with the link at the top of the page. It's listed online as "Rachel Maddow on how the Republican Party hasn't learned one damned thing. '' In the video, she spends about 7 minutes discussing how the Republicans, who in case you didn't hear LOST the bulk of the last national elections including the Preznitcy, have decided that the reason they lost was that they weren't Republican ENOUGH, and should be more so in order to win in the future.
So that's what they're going to do. Doubling down, eff. immediately, on being even more controlling, anti-female, etc. Repug assholes than they already are.
Watch the video and see what Rachel means. And whether you're Republican or Democrat, write a comment to this post, and tell me if you think this is an effective electoral strategy.
As if.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Repugs engage in cannibalism
by Rich Miles
Update below: It's not really cannibalism. It's just being a whiny-ass titty baby loser.
Not gonna go into detail on this, because the details are easily available if you're interested, but: The repugnican party is on a wild and hairy hunt for who to blame for the loss to President Obama a couple weeks ago. So far, they've come up with: Romoney's aides, and most recently, Fox News. I mean, the very news strategy that has been in operation since at least 2000 is now - not a good electoral strategy.
What total whores these people are. If they had won, Fox News would have been the golden source of all wisdom. But since Romoney bit the big one, it simply HAS to be someone else's fault. It just can't be that Mittens was simply an unconvincing candidate to lead a country in such financial straits as we are. It has to be something else.
I am sincerely hoping that, as predictions have it these days, all the old farts who make up the base of the Repug party these days will indeed die off. Unfortunately, it will probably be another 40-60 years or more until they're all gone - but we can hope, can't we?
UPDATE: Comes today, 11/18, the news that Romoney is whining that the Repug primary debates were too many, and exposed the candidates to "gaffes" and other awful stuff that could be used against them to prove them stupid asses later. OK, he didn't say that last bit, but it was the gist of what he said.
Also, CNN and PBS were liberal networks that "beat the heck out of" Repug candidates, including of course, him.
Big stupid pussy. Is no part of his internal dialogue or public statements that HE was a big, disgusting plutocrat? And that eventually, even Repugs figure out that they are voting against their own interests, financial and otherwise?
Aren't you glad he didn't win? He would have spent 4 years whining like this every time something went wrong, count on it. If you go back and listen to his speeches, you'll hear the tone that would have led to it. Listen especially to his direct criticisms of Obama - THAT is whiny-ass titty baby stuff!
My only regret from this election is that he didn't lose by a far larger margin. I mean, 59 million Americans were just plain stupid enough not to see through the bastard.
My advice to the former governor: Shut up. Nobody cares why YOU think you lost. You are irrelevant and useless now. And don't even THINK about 2016, unless Pres. Obama shits himself on the White House lawn, and bombs Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. And maybe even Houston. And even then, you'll be running against the next Dem, NOT Obama.
Update below: It's not really cannibalism. It's just being a whiny-ass titty baby loser.
Not gonna go into detail on this, because the details are easily available if you're interested, but: The repugnican party is on a wild and hairy hunt for who to blame for the loss to President Obama a couple weeks ago. So far, they've come up with: Romoney's aides, and most recently, Fox News. I mean, the very news strategy that has been in operation since at least 2000 is now - not a good electoral strategy.
What total whores these people are. If they had won, Fox News would have been the golden source of all wisdom. But since Romoney bit the big one, it simply HAS to be someone else's fault. It just can't be that Mittens was simply an unconvincing candidate to lead a country in such financial straits as we are. It has to be something else.
I am sincerely hoping that, as predictions have it these days, all the old farts who make up the base of the Repug party these days will indeed die off. Unfortunately, it will probably be another 40-60 years or more until they're all gone - but we can hope, can't we?
UPDATE: Comes today, 11/18, the news that Romoney is whining that the Repug primary debates were too many, and exposed the candidates to "gaffes" and other awful stuff that could be used against them to prove them stupid asses later. OK, he didn't say that last bit, but it was the gist of what he said.
Also, CNN and PBS were liberal networks that "beat the heck out of" Repug candidates, including of course, him.
Big stupid pussy. Is no part of his internal dialogue or public statements that HE was a big, disgusting plutocrat? And that eventually, even Repugs figure out that they are voting against their own interests, financial and otherwise?
Aren't you glad he didn't win? He would have spent 4 years whining like this every time something went wrong, count on it. If you go back and listen to his speeches, you'll hear the tone that would have led to it. Listen especially to his direct criticisms of Obama - THAT is whiny-ass titty baby stuff!
My only regret from this election is that he didn't lose by a far larger margin. I mean, 59 million Americans were just plain stupid enough not to see through the bastard.
My advice to the former governor: Shut up. Nobody cares why YOU think you lost. You are irrelevant and useless now. And don't even THINK about 2016, unless Pres. Obama shits himself on the White House lawn, and bombs Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. And maybe even Houston. And even then, you'll be running against the next Dem, NOT Obama.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
How Republicans Lost
I've been trying to write something that said adequately how I feel about Republicans, both before and since the recent election. And come to find out, this guy Ellsworth has already written it. IMHO, this piece should be spread all over the Internet, and copied and distributed to every right-wing radical in the country. But probably, just reading it and living in its philosophies is enough for now. If the following does not make you proud to be a Democrat and an American, then I don't know what will. Oh, and BTW, I knew this was going to happen. I even predicted it in past posts. I'm just a little surprised it happened this soon. I thought 2016, maybe 2020 might be the year for it. Perhaps this earlier date will allow for a little more healing before we do it all again in '16.
In essence, this piece says "Shut up, radical righties". And rightly so.
Get it? Rightly so...oh never mind.
Enjoy.
Rich Miles
====================
Cry Babies And Sore Losers
by Rob Ellsworth
I’m
seeing Americans post photos of our Flag hung upside down because the
President won reelection. They’re defending this action as a “Naval sign
of distress”. Let me tell you something: you are not on a battleship,
you are a manager at McDonalds in Follansbee, WV, and you are in fact, a
lunatic.I’ve avoided “spiking the football” over a great night for the President and for common sense in the Senate – Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin deserved more than a loss. But I’ve held off, because I respect, am friends with, and on certain issues agree with, many patriotic Republicans who work hard to make this country a better place and simply disagreed with who should be Commander in Chief. That’s fair and healthy.
And, I also didn’t spike the football because I’ve lost elections before and I know how terrible it feels.
It’s called maturity and not enough people in either party have it.
The
following jaw punch is not directed at common sense Republicans, nor
does it condone radicals on the Left. It is directed at the right wing
fanatics who put party before country, conspiracy before reality, and
ideology before science and intellect.
To Tea Party Patriots and hardcore Religious Engineers:
Republicans lost because their party leadership and most candidates feared you, listened to you, and looked the other way on important issues as you picked the dumbest, craziest nominees in key primaries (Murdock and Akin), or converted otherwise sensible, experienced candidates to Crazy Town (Romney).
There’s nothing wrong with wanting limited government. I do.
There’s nothing wrong with believing in God, the Golden Rule, or wanting to reduce abortions. I do, too. But you’ve taken it too damn far and scare the shit out of people you could otherwise persuade.
Yes, the message and messenger matter (you’re failing at both, BTW), but no Madison Avenue P.R. firm, K Street lobbying firm, Fox News “analyst”, or local chapter of “Freedom Works” can sell the flaming dung you’re slinging.
Smart people can lose. But smart people always learn.
You didn’t lose because you “weren’t conservative enough” or because the country has become full of lazy “takers” who don’t want to earn a living or just want America to “turn in to Europe”.
You didn’t lose because of Hurricane Sandy or because Chris Christie hugged the President on TV – they were both doing their jobs.
You didn’t lose because of a liberal media, liberal college campuses, liberal polls that were “weighted to Democrats” (mostly because they were accurate), or because of “election fraud”… actually, that probably benefited you this time.
No. You lost because your policies, tone, conspiracies, rigid inflexibility and irrational rhetoric helped align enough moderates, swing voters, and minority groups whom otherwise could be persuaded by Republicans, to align with Democrats and a beatable incumbent.
It’s not that you didn’t get your message out, it’s that we all actually heard it and threw up a little in our mouths.
There isn’t a mandate for Democrats in this election. Liberalism wasn’t rewarded in this election. However, calm pragmatism, compassion, working together, compromise and sincerity were rewarded. People may not have agreed with President Obama, but more felt he was sincere and that he understood their daily problems, fears, and dreams. If you don’t trust what the polls say, take a look at who is sworn in on January 20th. I thought you’d at least believe in Math when it came to counting to 270.
Sincerity is the only thing in politics you can’t fake. You can’t teach it. No matter how shiny a candidate’s bio is, how smooth he is, or how perfect the gray hairs rest on his temples — any average Joe on the street can spot a bullshitter.
Mitt is a generous and good man, but he didn’t know who he was or “needed” to be at any given time in that campaign. That’s largely his fault for lacking core convictions or personal toughness (Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush possessed both traits – that’s why they won).
But you, the right wing base of the party, who drove so many of us moderate republicans out the door years ago, were the main catalyst. Your inability to reason, compromise, or let new facts and evidence challenge your predetermined outcomes led millions of moderates to no longer be able to stand on stage with you.
Frankly, you’re embarrassing – more so than a crazy family member at dinner, or having your mom drop you off at a high school dance.
You say stupid shit and look stupid saying it.
You pass amendments to ban flag burning and then hang it upside down and post it on Facebook when you lose.
You preach limited government in the economy when Democrats are in charge and then look the other way when you’re in charge.
You want a government small enough to stay out of corporations and banks but big enough for bedrooms and hospital respirators (see Schiavo, Terri).
There’s a hatred inside of you that burns in a way that scares normal people.
You made unlikely allies in large corporations who are more interested in tax breaks and loopholes even if the government has to cut your Medicare and Social Security or cut education to a point where states and local governments have no financial choice but to educate your children in portable trailer classrooms with 35 other students.
Would these corporations do this just to help pad their quarterly earnings reports with certain tax and regulatory policies? You bet your sweet ass they do. And you better believe they’re happy to have you make the “freedom” argument as “concerned citizen patriots” on their behalf.
Yet, after those corporations spent billions on TV ads and herded you like sheep over the last half decade to discredit Barack Obama for everything from being a “Godless communist” — to his “being born in Kenya and hatching a secret plot to take down America” — to Obamacare’s “death panels and job killing regulations” -
YOU still lost.
After having a Senate Republican Leader state that his party’s top priority in Congress was to make “Obama a one term President” and a House of Representatives that blocked everything he tried to do and then had the brass to criticize him for “not getting anything done” -
YOU still lost.
After attacking gay people who want equal protection under the law (BTW, I’m referring to the 14th amendment to the constitution, I know you forget most of the amendments after the 2nd one) -
YOU still lost.
After attacking the Hispanic community who’s tired of being spoken “at” like criminals, attacking low income women who rely on Planned Parenthood for services of which 98% have nothing to do with abortion, and attacking relatively trivial things like PBS that children and adults enjoy as “1″ damn television channel that doesn’t include Honey Boo Boo or a “Fox News Breaking Alert” announcing Obama’s latest “Czar” appointment -
YOU still lost.
And after throwing all the red meat in your warped political base out to the rest of the country to eat, the majority of Americans weren’t hungry for it and didn’t trust ordering from your unhealthy, de-regulated menu -
YOU still lost.
You can read me the constitution, but you clearly don’t have a practical understanding of what you’ve read, heard on television, or forwarded to your entire email list of like minded xenophobes.
This country is great because our founders were smart enough to limit the government’s power and give the people enough freedom and authority to correct their own mistakes in pursuit of a “more perfect union” (it’s in the first damn line of the Preamble, in case you can’t find it in your Tea Party Constitution Cliffs Notes).
Our founders were utterly brilliant and sophisticated. I don’t like to speak for them, but I doubt they would have been friends with Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin. Nah, they wouldn’t have made the guest list at Mt. Vernon or Monticello.
But let’s be clear, our founders weren’t perfect. They owned slaves. Only White male property owners had a say in things. Women, blacks, native Americans, and other constituencies had to wait for an American dream and in many cases, are still waiting and working for it. Speaking of work, children were working 12-16 hour days with zero safety protections in statute. Zero.
The constitution, subsequent amendments and Supreme Court rulings and opinions since 1800 aren’t perfectly clear (those who think they are tend to have had a healthy serving of Kool-Aid and have never watched oral arguments at the Supreme Court).
The founders knew that they, and the constitution they drafted, weren’t perfect. This is why they added a Bill of Rights and why they created a Supreme Court and a process that has allowed us to add 27 amendments to their work of art.
Their imperfection is what led to a Civil War to prove that human and civil rights aren’t a “states’ rights issue” – they’re endowed by our creator, not by legislatures in Mississippi or Alabama, and they’re protected equally in our constitution, but also in our democratically passed laws.
I run from the Capitol steps to the Lincoln Memorial most mornings that I’m in Washington. I may not be fast or smart, but I can read what’s carved in stone.
Please. I welcome a challenge to what I’ve said. If you think because I voted for President Obama that I’m a socialist or that I don’t want a better America, I’m happy to take time from running a business I’ve co-founded and time from money I’m trying to raise for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America to pause and give you a fresh one. At no charge.
But I do ask this: be a real Patriot. Look at that flag you’ve hung upside down. Look at what you’ve done to it and what that means. Thousands of our bravest men and women, braver than me, just lost limbs and in many cases their lives so that Iraqis and Afghanis could vote however they see fit. I did that on Tuesday and so did you. That’s what that flag stands for – equal access to a process, not a guarantee for any of our desired outcomes.
A country that defeated Hitler, Mussolini, and bin Laden won’t crumble because the guy you wanted to be President got beat.
You lost. Now learn from it.
Sincerely,
Guest Contributor, Rob Ellsworth, “A Proud American
It’s called maturity and not enough people in either party have it.
The
following jaw punch is not directed at common sense Republicans, nor
does it condone radicals on the Left. It is directed at the right wing
fanatics who put party before country, conspiracy before reality, and
ideology before science and intellect.To Tea Party Patriots and hardcore Religious Engineers:
Republicans lost because their party leadership and most candidates feared you, listened to you, and looked the other way on important issues as you picked the dumbest, craziest nominees in key primaries (Murdock and Akin), or converted otherwise sensible, experienced candidates to Crazy Town (Romney).
There’s nothing wrong with wanting limited government. I do.
There’s nothing wrong with believing in God, the Golden Rule, or wanting to reduce abortions. I do, too. But you’ve taken it too damn far and scare the shit out of people you could otherwise persuade.
Yes, the message and messenger matter (you’re failing at both, BTW), but no Madison Avenue P.R. firm, K Street lobbying firm, Fox News “analyst”, or local chapter of “Freedom Works” can sell the flaming dung you’re slinging.
Smart people can lose. But smart people always learn.
You didn’t lose because you “weren’t conservative enough” or because the country has become full of lazy “takers” who don’t want to earn a living or just want America to “turn in to Europe”.
You didn’t lose because of Hurricane Sandy or because Chris Christie hugged the President on TV – they were both doing their jobs.
You didn’t lose because of a liberal media, liberal college campuses, liberal polls that were “weighted to Democrats” (mostly because they were accurate), or because of “election fraud”… actually, that probably benefited you this time.
No. You lost because your policies, tone, conspiracies, rigid inflexibility and irrational rhetoric helped align enough moderates, swing voters, and minority groups whom otherwise could be persuaded by Republicans, to align with Democrats and a beatable incumbent.
It’s not that you didn’t get your message out, it’s that we all actually heard it and threw up a little in our mouths.
There isn’t a mandate for Democrats in this election. Liberalism wasn’t rewarded in this election. However, calm pragmatism, compassion, working together, compromise and sincerity were rewarded. People may not have agreed with President Obama, but more felt he was sincere and that he understood their daily problems, fears, and dreams. If you don’t trust what the polls say, take a look at who is sworn in on January 20th. I thought you’d at least believe in Math when it came to counting to 270.
Sincerity is the only thing in politics you can’t fake. You can’t teach it. No matter how shiny a candidate’s bio is, how smooth he is, or how perfect the gray hairs rest on his temples — any average Joe on the street can spot a bullshitter.
Mitt is a generous and good man, but he didn’t know who he was or “needed” to be at any given time in that campaign. That’s largely his fault for lacking core convictions or personal toughness (Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush possessed both traits – that’s why they won).
But you, the right wing base of the party, who drove so many of us moderate republicans out the door years ago, were the main catalyst. Your inability to reason, compromise, or let new facts and evidence challenge your predetermined outcomes led millions of moderates to no longer be able to stand on stage with you.
Frankly, you’re embarrassing – more so than a crazy family member at dinner, or having your mom drop you off at a high school dance.
You say stupid shit and look stupid saying it.
You pass amendments to ban flag burning and then hang it upside down and post it on Facebook when you lose.
You preach limited government in the economy when Democrats are in charge and then look the other way when you’re in charge.
You want a government small enough to stay out of corporations and banks but big enough for bedrooms and hospital respirators (see Schiavo, Terri).
There’s a hatred inside of you that burns in a way that scares normal people.
You made unlikely allies in large corporations who are more interested in tax breaks and loopholes even if the government has to cut your Medicare and Social Security or cut education to a point where states and local governments have no financial choice but to educate your children in portable trailer classrooms with 35 other students.
Would these corporations do this just to help pad their quarterly earnings reports with certain tax and regulatory policies? You bet your sweet ass they do. And you better believe they’re happy to have you make the “freedom” argument as “concerned citizen patriots” on their behalf.
Yet, after those corporations spent billions on TV ads and herded you like sheep over the last half decade to discredit Barack Obama for everything from being a “Godless communist” — to his “being born in Kenya and hatching a secret plot to take down America” — to Obamacare’s “death panels and job killing regulations” -
YOU still lost.
After having a Senate Republican Leader state that his party’s top priority in Congress was to make “Obama a one term President” and a House of Representatives that blocked everything he tried to do and then had the brass to criticize him for “not getting anything done” -
YOU still lost.
After attacking gay people who want equal protection under the law (BTW, I’m referring to the 14th amendment to the constitution, I know you forget most of the amendments after the 2nd one) -
YOU still lost.
After attacking the Hispanic community who’s tired of being spoken “at” like criminals, attacking low income women who rely on Planned Parenthood for services of which 98% have nothing to do with abortion, and attacking relatively trivial things like PBS that children and adults enjoy as “1″ damn television channel that doesn’t include Honey Boo Boo or a “Fox News Breaking Alert” announcing Obama’s latest “Czar” appointment -
YOU still lost.
And after throwing all the red meat in your warped political base out to the rest of the country to eat, the majority of Americans weren’t hungry for it and didn’t trust ordering from your unhealthy, de-regulated menu -
YOU still lost.
You can read me the constitution, but you clearly don’t have a practical understanding of what you’ve read, heard on television, or forwarded to your entire email list of like minded xenophobes.
This country is great because our founders were smart enough to limit the government’s power and give the people enough freedom and authority to correct their own mistakes in pursuit of a “more perfect union” (it’s in the first damn line of the Preamble, in case you can’t find it in your Tea Party Constitution Cliffs Notes).
Our founders were utterly brilliant and sophisticated. I don’t like to speak for them, but I doubt they would have been friends with Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin. Nah, they wouldn’t have made the guest list at Mt. Vernon or Monticello.
But let’s be clear, our founders weren’t perfect. They owned slaves. Only White male property owners had a say in things. Women, blacks, native Americans, and other constituencies had to wait for an American dream and in many cases, are still waiting and working for it. Speaking of work, children were working 12-16 hour days with zero safety protections in statute. Zero.
The constitution, subsequent amendments and Supreme Court rulings and opinions since 1800 aren’t perfectly clear (those who think they are tend to have had a healthy serving of Kool-Aid and have never watched oral arguments at the Supreme Court).
The founders knew that they, and the constitution they drafted, weren’t perfect. This is why they added a Bill of Rights and why they created a Supreme Court and a process that has allowed us to add 27 amendments to their work of art.
Their imperfection is what led to a Civil War to prove that human and civil rights aren’t a “states’ rights issue” – they’re endowed by our creator, not by legislatures in Mississippi or Alabama, and they’re protected equally in our constitution, but also in our democratically passed laws.
I run from the Capitol steps to the Lincoln Memorial most mornings that I’m in Washington. I may not be fast or smart, but I can read what’s carved in stone.
Please. I welcome a challenge to what I’ve said. If you think because I voted for President Obama that I’m a socialist or that I don’t want a better America, I’m happy to take time from running a business I’ve co-founded and time from money I’m trying to raise for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America to pause and give you a fresh one. At no charge.
But I do ask this: be a real Patriot. Look at that flag you’ve hung upside down. Look at what you’ve done to it and what that means. Thousands of our bravest men and women, braver than me, just lost limbs and in many cases their lives so that Iraqis and Afghanis could vote however they see fit. I did that on Tuesday and so did you. That’s what that flag stands for – equal access to a process, not a guarantee for any of our desired outcomes.
A country that defeated Hitler, Mussolini, and bin Laden won’t crumble because the guy you wanted to be President got beat.
You lost. Now learn from it.
Sincerely,
Saturday, November 03, 2012
This guy will say ANYthing!!
by Rich Miles
I haven't written much in the past few months. That's unusual for me in a presidential election year. It's just that I really couldn't get inside the head of anyone who is planning to vote for the Mittster. It's just such an illogical fallacy to vote for him that I found it impossible to address remarks to such a person.
I remember back in 2004, when John Kerry was accused of, among other things, being willing to "say anything" to get votes. It wasn't true, of course, Kerry was relatively honest compared to most pols, and especially compared to Bush - but as was the common tactic with Karl Rove, they attacked Kerry at his strongest point, not his weakest - he's a fairly honest guy? said Rove, good, then let's call him a liar. Remember all the people at the Repug National Convention carrying flipflop sandals with Kerry's face on them? Cute, but inaccurate. Kerry mixed up a few facts, but most of the time when he did he admitted it and tried to fix it. But the Repug outrage knew no bounds when they caught him at something - never mind that their candidate couldn't open his mouth without lying.
And now we have a candidate who really will say anything, and has - he's reversed positions he's held publicly for his entire political life, and expects that no one will remember, or notice that he's lying, and that people will thus vote for him because he's saying all the right things.
And while I find it difficult to picture, there really do seem to be a lot of people who are going to vote for the SOB. Enough to make it a close race, when it should be about a 70-30 rout for Obama, and Romoney only gets the 30% because some people will vote their party no matter how crooked the candidate clearly is.
But the thing that really frightens me - and I can't figure out for what reason - is that he might actually get elected! And I don't know if I fear that because he is evil, or because he is simply incompetent. Because he (Romoney) is most assuredly both. He almost totally lacks compassion for his fellow man. Now prove me wrong.
Let me wrap this up with one small observation: Romoney was governor of Massachusetts. And up there where they know him best, he is losing by a margin of 63-33% (3% undecided, however that may be) according to a recent poll. It ain't just a little margin, you see. Massachusetts is admittedly a fairly liberal state, but they elected HIM! And now, they hate him by 30 percentage points.
Still thinking about voting for him?
I haven't written much in the past few months. That's unusual for me in a presidential election year. It's just that I really couldn't get inside the head of anyone who is planning to vote for the Mittster. It's just such an illogical fallacy to vote for him that I found it impossible to address remarks to such a person.
I remember back in 2004, when John Kerry was accused of, among other things, being willing to "say anything" to get votes. It wasn't true, of course, Kerry was relatively honest compared to most pols, and especially compared to Bush - but as was the common tactic with Karl Rove, they attacked Kerry at his strongest point, not his weakest - he's a fairly honest guy? said Rove, good, then let's call him a liar. Remember all the people at the Repug National Convention carrying flipflop sandals with Kerry's face on them? Cute, but inaccurate. Kerry mixed up a few facts, but most of the time when he did he admitted it and tried to fix it. But the Repug outrage knew no bounds when they caught him at something - never mind that their candidate couldn't open his mouth without lying.
And now we have a candidate who really will say anything, and has - he's reversed positions he's held publicly for his entire political life, and expects that no one will remember, or notice that he's lying, and that people will thus vote for him because he's saying all the right things.
And while I find it difficult to picture, there really do seem to be a lot of people who are going to vote for the SOB. Enough to make it a close race, when it should be about a 70-30 rout for Obama, and Romoney only gets the 30% because some people will vote their party no matter how crooked the candidate clearly is.
But the thing that really frightens me - and I can't figure out for what reason - is that he might actually get elected! And I don't know if I fear that because he is evil, or because he is simply incompetent. Because he (Romoney) is most assuredly both. He almost totally lacks compassion for his fellow man. Now prove me wrong.
Let me wrap this up with one small observation: Romoney was governor of Massachusetts. And up there where they know him best, he is losing by a margin of 63-33% (3% undecided, however that may be) according to a recent poll. It ain't just a little margin, you see. Massachusetts is admittedly a fairly liberal state, but they elected HIM! And now, they hate him by 30 percentage points.
Still thinking about voting for him?
Friday, October 19, 2012
Sundance has a few words for us
Why I'm Supporting President Obama
Posted: 10/19/2012 8:04 am
I was in the early days of my acting career in 1962, when Rachel Carson's Silent Spring made its way onto best-seller lists and college campuses and into living rooms across America and sowed the seeds of today's environmental movement. The story of that movement still represents for me who we are as a country: a people dedicated to something greater than ourselves, and a nation that recognizes our responsibility to each other.
In this election, only President Obama shares those values and the belief that our kids and grandkids should grow up with living, natural places to explore. Yosemite, the Great Lakes and the Everglades should always be places we can visit and wonders that inspire -- not just photos of what used to be.
Shortly after taking office, President Obama signed one of the largest expansions of wilderness protection in a generation, setting aside more than 2 million acres as protected wilderness, conserving more than 1,000 miles of rivers, authorizing a 26-million-acre conservation system of historically significant landscapes and adding thousands of miles of trails. He's helping restore treasured landscapes from coast to coast that support local economies and communities through tourism and outdoor recreation.
The President has set historic standards that by 2025 will double the distance our cars and trucks will be able to go on a tank of gas, reducing our reliance on foreign oil by 2.2 million barrels per day and saving each of us thousands of dollars at the pump.
He made the single largest investment in clean energy of any other president, helping to double the amount of electricity we generate from wind and solar, strengthening our global economic competitiveness and supporting nearly a quarter of a million American jobs.
And that's one of the biggest differences in an election brimming with them. While President Obama is moving us forward, Mitt Romney would take us back. He'd roll back every step of progress we've made -- not just in the last four years, but the last 40 years.
We've seen in the last stretch of this campaign that Romney will say anything to win, even if it's flat-out false. But we know what the real Mitt Romney would do. He'd gut investments in renewable energy -- including the wind production tax credit that 37,000 American jobs depend on -- while giving $4 billion a year in wasteful taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil, even as they reap near-record profits. It's no coincidence that those same special interests have donated nearly $11 million to Romney's campaign and the super PACs behind it.
Even more revealing, Romney would undermine President Obama's commitment to our national parks and undo the crucial steps the President has taken to reduce toxic pollutants like mercury and address carbon pollution -- change that protects the health and prosperity of our children now and for generations to come.
We simply can't let Mitt Romney buy the keys to the White House and let the special interests write our nation's energy plan behind closed doors, like it did in the previous administration. That old saw didn't work then, and it won't work now.
I hope you'll join me in supporting President Obama and stopping others from reversing our progress. If you care about Great Lakes restoration in Ohio, or the Everglades in Florida, wind energy in Iowa or Colorado, vote. All of those states, and many others, have early voting -- don't wait until Election Day. Check out vote.barackobama.com and head over to the polls now.
This is one of the most important campaigns in our lifetime. The choice is clear, and it's up to all of us to join with President Obama to fight for continuing the significant progress he's made.
But don't take my word for it, watch this video about President Obama's environmental accomplishments and see for yourself our progress that's at stake:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/obama-energy-policy_b_1985714.html
(NOTE: The above link is to the entire article plus the video, because I don't know how to cut and paste only the video. If you've read the article, scroll down to the bottom and view the video. Sorry, I'll try to upgrade my tech skills ASAP.)
In this election, only President Obama shares those values and the belief that our kids and grandkids should grow up with living, natural places to explore. Yosemite, the Great Lakes and the Everglades should always be places we can visit and wonders that inspire -- not just photos of what used to be.
Shortly after taking office, President Obama signed one of the largest expansions of wilderness protection in a generation, setting aside more than 2 million acres as protected wilderness, conserving more than 1,000 miles of rivers, authorizing a 26-million-acre conservation system of historically significant landscapes and adding thousands of miles of trails. He's helping restore treasured landscapes from coast to coast that support local economies and communities through tourism and outdoor recreation.
The President has set historic standards that by 2025 will double the distance our cars and trucks will be able to go on a tank of gas, reducing our reliance on foreign oil by 2.2 million barrels per day and saving each of us thousands of dollars at the pump.
He made the single largest investment in clean energy of any other president, helping to double the amount of electricity we generate from wind and solar, strengthening our global economic competitiveness and supporting nearly a quarter of a million American jobs.
And that's one of the biggest differences in an election brimming with them. While President Obama is moving us forward, Mitt Romney would take us back. He'd roll back every step of progress we've made -- not just in the last four years, but the last 40 years.
We've seen in the last stretch of this campaign that Romney will say anything to win, even if it's flat-out false. But we know what the real Mitt Romney would do. He'd gut investments in renewable energy -- including the wind production tax credit that 37,000 American jobs depend on -- while giving $4 billion a year in wasteful taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil, even as they reap near-record profits. It's no coincidence that those same special interests have donated nearly $11 million to Romney's campaign and the super PACs behind it.
Even more revealing, Romney would undermine President Obama's commitment to our national parks and undo the crucial steps the President has taken to reduce toxic pollutants like mercury and address carbon pollution -- change that protects the health and prosperity of our children now and for generations to come.
We simply can't let Mitt Romney buy the keys to the White House and let the special interests write our nation's energy plan behind closed doors, like it did in the previous administration. That old saw didn't work then, and it won't work now.
I hope you'll join me in supporting President Obama and stopping others from reversing our progress. If you care about Great Lakes restoration in Ohio, or the Everglades in Florida, wind energy in Iowa or Colorado, vote. All of those states, and many others, have early voting -- don't wait until Election Day. Check out vote.barackobama.com and head over to the polls now.
This is one of the most important campaigns in our lifetime. The choice is clear, and it's up to all of us to join with President Obama to fight for continuing the significant progress he's made.
But don't take my word for it, watch this video about President Obama's environmental accomplishments and see for yourself our progress that's at stake:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/obama-energy-policy_b_1985714.html
(NOTE: The above link is to the entire article plus the video, because I don't know how to cut and paste only the video. If you've read the article, scroll down to the bottom and view the video. Sorry, I'll try to upgrade my tech skills ASAP.)
Friday, September 07, 2012
Now About this 'Citizens United' thing
Just in case there is one uninformed boob in this country who does not yet know what 'Citizens United' refers to, here's a tip: it's nothing less than the downfall of democracy as we've always thought we've known it here in the United States. It's a Supreme Court decision from January 2010 that held, in essence, that corporations are permitted to contribute virtually unlimited funds to the election campaigns of whoever the hell they want. That's not actually what the decision held - but it was the net effect of the decision.
The net result has been that literally huuuuge amounts of money have been flowing from these corporate coffers into the campaigns of - you guessed it - Republican candidates who will bend over and grease up on any issue their corporate sponsors instruct them to. It has taken the democratic process out of our democratic process, and has in essence given a number of elections to candidates who have the most money, regardless of qualification, simply because those candidates can afford to buy far more advertising than their opponents, and because many of us remain stupid enough to sell our votes to the most-advertised.
I trust I have made myself perfectly vague.
No, seriously, boiled down to its essence, Citizens United means that our democracy has been bought and sold to he (or more rarely, she) who has the most money. Which should scare, and in reality, anger any person who still believes in "one person, one vote". Yeah, you know who you are, all 477 of you.
So anyway, why am I telling you all this? Well, I'm glad you asked me that question.
Remember Roseanne Barr? She of the scratched crotch while mangling "The Star-Spangled Banner" some years ago at an MLB game? Or of the eponymous comedy series, if you want to go back that far.
Well guess what? She's become something of a political commentator, and truth be told, she ain't half-bad at it. So what follows is a commentary she published on Sept. 6, 2012. It has a few things to say to us. And is at least mildly funny, too. Here it is:
I Approve This Message...
by Roseanne BarrPosted: 09/06/2012 9:24 am
(Italics mine - RM)
I'm glad I have a chance to say a few words about money in Politics, because this issue is really at the heart of it all, like a clogged, throbbing artery. More than ever, freedom of speech has become freedom to buy enough media to drown out just about everybody else's freedom of speech. I was driving, yesterday, and as I clicked past one Right Wing radio show after another, for some reason it all was drowned out by a voice in my head that kept repeating the words, "Liberal Media." It seemed sad and funny at the same time. Maybe that's because I am, among other things, a comedian. A fair amount of the time I'm a pissed-off comedian. Why? Because an old quote also pops into my head, more than I'd like it to. It goes: "There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can't remember what the second one is."
I found out that it's a quote from a super-rich guy named Mark Hanna who managed the campaign of William McKinley back in the dark ages of Media. He strong-armed his loaded industrialist pals and raised enough bank to outspend Democrat, William Jennings Bryan, by ten to one. Guess who got to be President? It still works like that, and, in fact, it's getting worse because of a recent development known as Citizens United. "Citizens United," it sounds a lot better than "A handful of the mega-rich who own politicians and can swing some Supreme Court Justices." The real takeaway here is that we've turned the word bribery into the more respectable word, contribution. Now that we've been force-fed the bizarre idea that a corporation is basically a person, I hope Haliburton and Blackwater and Lockheed-Martin don't get upset stomachs if they're denied their God-given right to attack Iran. Poor rich guys, all they want is a little free market opportunity, a chance to work the same magic they used to transform Iraq into the peaceful, democratic wonderland it is today.
I have to admit: It really takes some world class bullshitting skills to claim that handing politicians gigantic checks in return for favors is simply free speech. I'll tell you what's not bullshit, though: they actually rammed it through with a straight face. It's one more slap in the face for the 99%, but the Romneys of the world don't see it that way. They don't see it as arrogance and/or hubris or whatever word you can use to better describe their arrogance and hubris. No, they see it like, "Look, God doesn't make mistakes -- he's 'blessed' me with five-hundred million dollars, and if that doesn't prove that I'm qualified and deserve to wear the pants around here, I don't know what does!"
In the same category as Romney and hateful uber-nerds like the Koch brothers, we have Sheldon Adelson, casinos-in-China magnate and who knows what else, who can casually toss an extra hundred million bucks at the Romney machine so it can buy ads telling people that they're going to Hell along with what's left of America if they don't kick the Black Communist from Kenya out of the Lily White House. Unfortunately, Adelson also thinks that America exists primarily to provide money and muscle to Israel and do the bidding of Benjamin Netanyahu. Jeez, you'd think Israel had oil the way our "leaders" keep their/our lips on its ass. What they do have is a sweetheart Foreign Aid deal with supposedly cash-strapped America whereby we give them money and they buy weapons from us so they can remain the sheriff in town in the part of the world that does have oil. They're our special friends, like Saudi Arabia, only they're Jewish, and they don't have oil. Get it? Me either, but they both buy tons of weapons from American Arms merchants, because, after all, all God's children need expensive, high-tech weapons. But don't get me started on The Middle East. My point is that Sheldon Adelson has about a million times more freedom of speech than you or anybody you know. And, he can affect decisions like who we attack next or who becomes President. That's just plain crazy, and that's the problem with big money in Politics. It's making more and more people feel like powerless strangers in their own country, and I don't mean that in a good way.
Campaign Finance Reform may not sound like a burning, hot-button issue, but it is, and all of us citizens better get united behind that, or pretty soon there won't be anything left worth fighting for. That's why I'm running for president and that's why I approved this message.
I found out that it's a quote from a super-rich guy named Mark Hanna who managed the campaign of William McKinley back in the dark ages of Media. He strong-armed his loaded industrialist pals and raised enough bank to outspend Democrat, William Jennings Bryan, by ten to one. Guess who got to be President? It still works like that, and, in fact, it's getting worse because of a recent development known as Citizens United. "Citizens United," it sounds a lot better than "A handful of the mega-rich who own politicians and can swing some Supreme Court Justices." The real takeaway here is that we've turned the word bribery into the more respectable word, contribution. Now that we've been force-fed the bizarre idea that a corporation is basically a person, I hope Haliburton and Blackwater and Lockheed-Martin don't get upset stomachs if they're denied their God-given right to attack Iran. Poor rich guys, all they want is a little free market opportunity, a chance to work the same magic they used to transform Iraq into the peaceful, democratic wonderland it is today.
I have to admit: It really takes some world class bullshitting skills to claim that handing politicians gigantic checks in return for favors is simply free speech. I'll tell you what's not bullshit, though: they actually rammed it through with a straight face. It's one more slap in the face for the 99%, but the Romneys of the world don't see it that way. They don't see it as arrogance and/or hubris or whatever word you can use to better describe their arrogance and hubris. No, they see it like, "Look, God doesn't make mistakes -- he's 'blessed' me with five-hundred million dollars, and if that doesn't prove that I'm qualified and deserve to wear the pants around here, I don't know what does!"
In the same category as Romney and hateful uber-nerds like the Koch brothers, we have Sheldon Adelson, casinos-in-China magnate and who knows what else, who can casually toss an extra hundred million bucks at the Romney machine so it can buy ads telling people that they're going to Hell along with what's left of America if they don't kick the Black Communist from Kenya out of the Lily White House. Unfortunately, Adelson also thinks that America exists primarily to provide money and muscle to Israel and do the bidding of Benjamin Netanyahu. Jeez, you'd think Israel had oil the way our "leaders" keep their/our lips on its ass. What they do have is a sweetheart Foreign Aid deal with supposedly cash-strapped America whereby we give them money and they buy weapons from us so they can remain the sheriff in town in the part of the world that does have oil. They're our special friends, like Saudi Arabia, only they're Jewish, and they don't have oil. Get it? Me either, but they both buy tons of weapons from American Arms merchants, because, after all, all God's children need expensive, high-tech weapons. But don't get me started on The Middle East. My point is that Sheldon Adelson has about a million times more freedom of speech than you or anybody you know. And, he can affect decisions like who we attack next or who becomes President. That's just plain crazy, and that's the problem with big money in Politics. It's making more and more people feel like powerless strangers in their own country, and I don't mean that in a good way.
Campaign Finance Reform may not sound like a burning, hot-button issue, but it is, and all of us citizens better get united behind that, or pretty soon there won't be anything left worth fighting for. That's why I'm running for president and that's why I approved this message.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Lies, damn lies, and statistics, Part II
by Rich Miles
Apropos of nothing really, Blogger has some mildly interesting statistics on this site that I wanted to share with you.
One list of stats is the countries from which my site is visited. Needless to say, the majority of my visitors are from the U.S.
But guess what nation is second place, with approximately 18% of the visits?
Russia!! That's right, Russia, the former Soviet republic. I confess I have no idea what to make of that fact, but fact it is.
If you'd care to offer an opinion about why about 1/3 as many people from Russia as the U.S. visit this site, I would be happy to read it.
But if you use the word "Communist", you will be deleted and blocked. Unless you use it in reference to something besides me.
Apropos of nothing really, Blogger has some mildly interesting statistics on this site that I wanted to share with you.
One list of stats is the countries from which my site is visited. Needless to say, the majority of my visitors are from the U.S.
But guess what nation is second place, with approximately 18% of the visits?
Russia!! That's right, Russia, the former Soviet republic. I confess I have no idea what to make of that fact, but fact it is.
If you'd care to offer an opinion about why about 1/3 as many people from Russia as the U.S. visit this site, I would be happy to read it.
But if you use the word "Communist", you will be deleted and blocked. Unless you use it in reference to something besides me.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
The Biggest Conspiracy
by Rich Miles
OK, my friends - I have danced and jigged around this topic for several years now, without ever coming right out and saying what I believe, because it sounded too paranoid to put out there. But finally, available evidence just speaks too loudly. I cannot HELP but believe that what I am about to say here is true. See if you agree.
The basic premise here is this: our country is nearly hopelessly screwed up on a number of levels, notably the fiscal, a large portion of the screwing up took place during the George W. Bush administration, and we - all of us, of all parties - are now stuck with the net results.
And it is MY belief that the Bush administration DID IT ON PURPOSE!! That the Bushies set out to make our country weak and impoverished and all other manner of ills, and here's why:
First off, everywhere in this essay that I say "George Bush" or "GWB" or "Bush" or "Shrub", what I mean is the Bush administration, the Bush cadre, including Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and dozens more who conspired with them to create this effect. What effect? I'm glad you asked me that question...
So anyway....Bush set out to make things horrible in this country. He set out to put us in hideous debt. Set out to destroy our national prestige, to trash our credibility overseas, SET OUT to weaken our military capabilities, reduce employment, and dismantle our national social safety net. He, they, did all this, and MORE, on purpose.
And why did they do this, you may ask? What would be the reason behind such nefarious acts?
Have you ever heard the term "permanent Republican majority"? Have you heard the term "vast right-wing conspiracy"?
Follow me on this: Bush knew that things had gotten sooo screwed up on his watch that the next president was unquestionably going to be a Democrat.
And he also knew that this Democrat was going to make every effort to UNfuck everything Bush had fucked up. He would have no choice but to make a valiant effort to do so.
But he also knew that if the Congress, either or both houses, were controlled by Republicans, a simple program of knee-jerk obstructionism, and the very occasional evil-intended legislation would at least put a stick in the spokes of any corrective programs, and would possibly simply draw it all to a standstill.
Soooo....Bush et al. set out to screw everything up that he could get his hot little monkey paws on, and succeeded to a large degree, and then - handed it all off to the Democratic successor, Mr. Obama.
And Barack has been hamstrung at every turn, has proposed while the Repugs disposed (of), and in general has been made to look as weak and ineffectual as possible.
And it has all WORKED!! With the intention of making the electorate vote for a Repug in 2012, or in the event of a total moron like Romoney, 2016, and beating the drum of partisan lies, the Repugs would hold the White House, and probably one or both houses of Congress, for years to come.
Voila! (Near) permanent Repug majority. There would have to be the occasional Democratic interregnum of 4 or perhaps in a pinch 8 years, just because people like change, or because the fucking-up gets a bit out of hand for a generation or so, but by and large, there will be nothing but Repugnicans for as far as the eye can see, for the foreseeable future!
And it's all intentional! These people care more about their own political careers and personal fortunes than they do the well-being of the nation. By a long CHALK, they care more. They enrich themselves and their cronies at the taxpayer's expense, and will continue to do so for a hundred years or more. And if we, the electorate, won't help them enough, they'll jigger the voting laws or vote counts until they win anyway. George W. Bush was the first experiment in this game, and IT WORKED!! The conservative majority on the Supreme Court was a part of the plan, and IT WORKED!!
It worked. It all worked or is working, even Obama being elected in '08. One of the net results aimed for is the redistribution of the nation's wealth upward, and THAT is working too. At the end of a century, there will be a couple thousand multi-trillionaires, and the rest of us will be begging for food in the streets, if the Repugs have their way. And they might.
Now, dear reader - tell me none of this makes sense, I dare you. You may say it's paranoid, too suspicious by half, whatever you wish. But you CANNOT say with certainty that I'm wrong. And if you examine what I say here, you may find yourself saying, "Ya know, he could be right!"
As monstrous as it is, I could be right. And you know it. Wish I could offer suggestions on what to do to stop it, but short of violence, which I cannot advocate, I don't have one.
I could be right...couldn't I?
OK, my friends - I have danced and jigged around this topic for several years now, without ever coming right out and saying what I believe, because it sounded too paranoid to put out there. But finally, available evidence just speaks too loudly. I cannot HELP but believe that what I am about to say here is true. See if you agree.
The basic premise here is this: our country is nearly hopelessly screwed up on a number of levels, notably the fiscal, a large portion of the screwing up took place during the George W. Bush administration, and we - all of us, of all parties - are now stuck with the net results.
And it is MY belief that the Bush administration DID IT ON PURPOSE!! That the Bushies set out to make our country weak and impoverished and all other manner of ills, and here's why:
First off, everywhere in this essay that I say "George Bush" or "GWB" or "Bush" or "Shrub", what I mean is the Bush administration, the Bush cadre, including Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and dozens more who conspired with them to create this effect. What effect? I'm glad you asked me that question...
So anyway....Bush set out to make things horrible in this country. He set out to put us in hideous debt. Set out to destroy our national prestige, to trash our credibility overseas, SET OUT to weaken our military capabilities, reduce employment, and dismantle our national social safety net. He, they, did all this, and MORE, on purpose.
And why did they do this, you may ask? What would be the reason behind such nefarious acts?
Have you ever heard the term "permanent Republican majority"? Have you heard the term "vast right-wing conspiracy"?
Follow me on this: Bush knew that things had gotten sooo screwed up on his watch that the next president was unquestionably going to be a Democrat.
And he also knew that this Democrat was going to make every effort to UNfuck everything Bush had fucked up. He would have no choice but to make a valiant effort to do so.
But he also knew that if the Congress, either or both houses, were controlled by Republicans, a simple program of knee-jerk obstructionism, and the very occasional evil-intended legislation would at least put a stick in the spokes of any corrective programs, and would possibly simply draw it all to a standstill.
Soooo....Bush et al. set out to screw everything up that he could get his hot little monkey paws on, and succeeded to a large degree, and then - handed it all off to the Democratic successor, Mr. Obama.
And Barack has been hamstrung at every turn, has proposed while the Repugs disposed (of), and in general has been made to look as weak and ineffectual as possible.
And it has all WORKED!! With the intention of making the electorate vote for a Repug in 2012, or in the event of a total moron like Romoney, 2016, and beating the drum of partisan lies, the Repugs would hold the White House, and probably one or both houses of Congress, for years to come.
Voila! (Near) permanent Repug majority. There would have to be the occasional Democratic interregnum of 4 or perhaps in a pinch 8 years, just because people like change, or because the fucking-up gets a bit out of hand for a generation or so, but by and large, there will be nothing but Repugnicans for as far as the eye can see, for the foreseeable future!
And it's all intentional! These people care more about their own political careers and personal fortunes than they do the well-being of the nation. By a long CHALK, they care more. They enrich themselves and their cronies at the taxpayer's expense, and will continue to do so for a hundred years or more. And if we, the electorate, won't help them enough, they'll jigger the voting laws or vote counts until they win anyway. George W. Bush was the first experiment in this game, and IT WORKED!! The conservative majority on the Supreme Court was a part of the plan, and IT WORKED!!
It worked. It all worked or is working, even Obama being elected in '08. One of the net results aimed for is the redistribution of the nation's wealth upward, and THAT is working too. At the end of a century, there will be a couple thousand multi-trillionaires, and the rest of us will be begging for food in the streets, if the Repugs have their way. And they might.
Now, dear reader - tell me none of this makes sense, I dare you. You may say it's paranoid, too suspicious by half, whatever you wish. But you CANNOT say with certainty that I'm wrong. And if you examine what I say here, you may find yourself saying, "Ya know, he could be right!"
As monstrous as it is, I could be right. And you know it. Wish I could offer suggestions on what to do to stop it, but short of violence, which I cannot advocate, I don't have one.
I could be right...couldn't I?
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Blecchh of the Irish
by Rich Miles
UPDATE: See at bottom of this post for info on Ryan's legislative record over 13 years in Congress.
=============================================
UPDATE #2 - This guy has attracted all sorts of negative attention in no time at all. In order to save time on him, take a look at The Paul Ryan Reading Guide: The Best Reporting on the Republican VP Candidate, and then share that link with the whole rest of the left-leaning world. And maybe even a few righties as well. Seriously, Ryan is proving to be every bit as much an a-hole as I thought Mittens was. Mitt is nothing like as virulent as his running mate.
You know, they keep mentioning that Mitt is still the "presumptive" candidate for the Repugnicans - but he'd better watch his ass, because Ryan is MUCH more of a right-wing loony than Mittens. They might decide they like Ryan much more than Mittens. Can they do that?
=============================================
Update #3 - Words of Power Here is a most amusing, but also cogent essay on Ryan that I thought you might find informative. If you are much in the future, look for the Saturday August 11, 2012 entry.
=============================================
Here is the original post:
The Irish are known as a race with much compassion for the less fortunate in the world. In fact, if you websearch "most famous Irish-Americans" or simply "Notable Irish persons", you'll get more hits than you can handle, and lots of them will be philanthropists, or people who did philanthropic things in their chosen professions. In general, they're good people, and I suspect a large portion of this is because they were so sorely and cruelly persecuted in centuries past. Those tales are history, and are as easily websearched as their notable compatriots.
But then, along comes a feller named Paul Ryan. Among other things, he disgraces the whole concept of being Irish. I mean to say, the man is toxic!!
Let's go back to the start of his life, and see how his hypocrisy has carried over to the present day: Paul's father, Paul Sr., died when Paul was 16. A sad fact for any young man. But THIS young man received Social Security benefits as a surviving child, and used that money to live on, and later to go to college - thus surviving a tough time in his life because of government bennies.
But today, about 26 years beyond that time, Paul Jr. has decided to make it his life's work to dismantle Social Security so that no one else can benefit as he did. He hasn't managed it yet, but he has stated repeatedly that it's what he wants to do, and the famous Ryan Budget says so, too. Hell, it's part of the reason he was selected as the Mittens' running mate.
(BTW, speaking of his father's death, there seems to be a family trend afoot there - Paul's great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all died of cardiac disease in their 40's and 50's. Medicine is better today, and Paul gets the excellent benefits that go with being a congressdog, but is this a medical history we want a heartbeat away from the preznitcy? Normally, I would consider this a private matter, but "normally" and "running for VP" do not go together.)
Add to this the fact that Ryan has repeatedly expressed his desire to dismantle Medicare, and one sees an ideal Ryan futuretopia with dead old and poor people lying in the streets because they couldn't get or afford adequate medical care.
And he wants more tax cuts for the wealthy, and tax INCREASES for the middle class (read: anyone making under $250K)
He wants to cut veterans' benefits. He wants to cut Pell Grants, and food stamps, and probably every other program that actually helps PEOPLE, instead of corporations.
He wants to increase military spending, even as two wars are being wound down under Pres. Obama. BTW, military spending is the single largest contributor to our indescribable multi-trillion-dollar national debt. More than medical malpractice suits (HA!!), more than Medicare/Medicaid, more than Social Security, and so on and so forth. And who started the longest and most expensive war in the nation's history? REPUBLICAN George W. Bush, who you may notice no one is mentioning or consulting on the right. And DAMN sure not on the left!
Let me just state upfront that I recognize that our country is in a helluva fiscal mess. I have pointed out before, and I will do so again, that I think the Repugs did this on purpose - made the fiscal mess we're in now - so as to make the Democrats look bad when they got elected, as they were, to fix the problem. And the Repugs have done their best to block everything the Democrats have done to try to fix it. The term "obstructionist Republicans" is not only true, it's redundant!
I say, try every Republican holder of public office on charges of treason - but only in courts presided over by genuinely non-partisan judges. There are probably 3 or 4 such courts somewhere in America!
But in any case, Paul Ryan is a disgrace to the Irish, and to America. And as soon as the aged among us hear the word "voucher" and the word "Medicare" in the same sentence, there may just be an uprising.
UPDATE: Just now on "60 Minutes" Romoney referred to Ryan as a "real leader". Given that Ryan does have some expertise in the budget process, he has been in Congress for 13 YEARS, and had authored TWO bills - one a renaming of a post office, the other a tax bill adding some 15 cents to the cost of an archery arrow. In 13 YEARS!
Is this the record of a "real leader"??
UPDATE: See at bottom of this post for info on Ryan's legislative record over 13 years in Congress.
=============================================
UPDATE #2 - This guy has attracted all sorts of negative attention in no time at all. In order to save time on him, take a look at The Paul Ryan Reading Guide: The Best Reporting on the Republican VP Candidate, and then share that link with the whole rest of the left-leaning world. And maybe even a few righties as well. Seriously, Ryan is proving to be every bit as much an a-hole as I thought Mittens was. Mitt is nothing like as virulent as his running mate.
You know, they keep mentioning that Mitt is still the "presumptive" candidate for the Repugnicans - but he'd better watch his ass, because Ryan is MUCH more of a right-wing loony than Mittens. They might decide they like Ryan much more than Mittens. Can they do that?
=============================================
Update #3 - Words of Power Here is a most amusing, but also cogent essay on Ryan that I thought you might find informative. If you are much in the future, look for the Saturday August 11, 2012 entry.
=============================================
Here is the original post:
The Irish are known as a race with much compassion for the less fortunate in the world. In fact, if you websearch "most famous Irish-Americans" or simply "Notable Irish persons", you'll get more hits than you can handle, and lots of them will be philanthropists, or people who did philanthropic things in their chosen professions. In general, they're good people, and I suspect a large portion of this is because they were so sorely and cruelly persecuted in centuries past. Those tales are history, and are as easily websearched as their notable compatriots.
But then, along comes a feller named Paul Ryan. Among other things, he disgraces the whole concept of being Irish. I mean to say, the man is toxic!!
Let's go back to the start of his life, and see how his hypocrisy has carried over to the present day: Paul's father, Paul Sr., died when Paul was 16. A sad fact for any young man. But THIS young man received Social Security benefits as a surviving child, and used that money to live on, and later to go to college - thus surviving a tough time in his life because of government bennies.
But today, about 26 years beyond that time, Paul Jr. has decided to make it his life's work to dismantle Social Security so that no one else can benefit as he did. He hasn't managed it yet, but he has stated repeatedly that it's what he wants to do, and the famous Ryan Budget says so, too. Hell, it's part of the reason he was selected as the Mittens' running mate.
(BTW, speaking of his father's death, there seems to be a family trend afoot there - Paul's great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all died of cardiac disease in their 40's and 50's. Medicine is better today, and Paul gets the excellent benefits that go with being a congressdog, but is this a medical history we want a heartbeat away from the preznitcy? Normally, I would consider this a private matter, but "normally" and "running for VP" do not go together.)
Add to this the fact that Ryan has repeatedly expressed his desire to dismantle Medicare, and one sees an ideal Ryan futuretopia with dead old and poor people lying in the streets because they couldn't get or afford adequate medical care.
And he wants more tax cuts for the wealthy, and tax INCREASES for the middle class (read: anyone making under $250K)
He wants to cut veterans' benefits. He wants to cut Pell Grants, and food stamps, and probably every other program that actually helps PEOPLE, instead of corporations.
He wants to increase military spending, even as two wars are being wound down under Pres. Obama. BTW, military spending is the single largest contributor to our indescribable multi-trillion-dollar national debt. More than medical malpractice suits (HA!!), more than Medicare/Medicaid, more than Social Security, and so on and so forth. And who started the longest and most expensive war in the nation's history? REPUBLICAN George W. Bush, who you may notice no one is mentioning or consulting on the right. And DAMN sure not on the left!
Let me just state upfront that I recognize that our country is in a helluva fiscal mess. I have pointed out before, and I will do so again, that I think the Repugs did this on purpose - made the fiscal mess we're in now - so as to make the Democrats look bad when they got elected, as they were, to fix the problem. And the Repugs have done their best to block everything the Democrats have done to try to fix it. The term "obstructionist Republicans" is not only true, it's redundant!
I say, try every Republican holder of public office on charges of treason - but only in courts presided over by genuinely non-partisan judges. There are probably 3 or 4 such courts somewhere in America!
But in any case, Paul Ryan is a disgrace to the Irish, and to America. And as soon as the aged among us hear the word "voucher" and the word "Medicare" in the same sentence, there may just be an uprising.
UPDATE: Just now on "60 Minutes" Romoney referred to Ryan as a "real leader". Given that Ryan does have some expertise in the budget process, he has been in Congress for 13 YEARS, and had authored TWO bills - one a renaming of a post office, the other a tax bill adding some 15 cents to the cost of an archery arrow. In 13 YEARS!
Is this the record of a "real leader"??
Friday, August 10, 2012
Tell this to everyone you know!
by Rich Miles
Know what this is?
It's a tax calculator.
Now don't get excited all over yourself. It's a tax calculator that will tell you something very important.
It will tell you what your tax will be this year under the tax proposals of President Obama, and what it will be under the proposals of Mitt 'the Mutt' Romoney.
And the results are pretty astounding. In my family's case, we saved over $4400 with the Obama plan.
Of course, that's nothing compared to the approx. $87K I would save with Romoney's plan If I were a millionaire. And a member of the 1-2% club. And an unconscionable bastard, who cares only for myself and my money. Yes, if I were all those things, I could get a MUCH larger cut of the pie.
But I'm not. I'm just a middle-class pensioner.
If you're a millionaire, vote for Romoney! If you're an American, vote for Obama. It's that simple!
Fortunately, there aren't enough millionaires to swing the vote to Romoney. At least, unless they cheat. Which they've been known to do.
Gawd, what's happening to this country?
Know what this is?
It's a tax calculator.
Now don't get excited all over yourself. It's a tax calculator that will tell you something very important.
It will tell you what your tax will be this year under the tax proposals of President Obama, and what it will be under the proposals of Mitt 'the Mutt' Romoney.
And the results are pretty astounding. In my family's case, we saved over $4400 with the Obama plan.
Of course, that's nothing compared to the approx. $87K I would save with Romoney's plan If I were a millionaire. And a member of the 1-2% club. And an unconscionable bastard, who cares only for myself and my money. Yes, if I were all those things, I could get a MUCH larger cut of the pie.
But I'm not. I'm just a middle-class pensioner.
If you're a millionaire, vote for Romoney! If you're an American, vote for Obama. It's that simple!
Fortunately, there aren't enough millionaires to swing the vote to Romoney. At least, unless they cheat. Which they've been known to do.
Gawd, what's happening to this country?
Now THIS is funny....but true!
By Rich Miles
New anti-Mitt ad on the airwaves. Take a look:
Mitt Romoney's Hand is in Your Pocket
I mean, the toad has so little respect for us, the taxpayers, that he's barely bothering to hide his oligarchical tendencies any longer. And if you read his speeches, don't have to parse them much, just READ them, or listen if you can get your hands on the video or audio, you'll see that he is not only an oligarch, but quite literally an out-of-touch, let-them-eat-cake fool, who doesn't even realize how condescending and offensive he's being toward us.
And take his recent trip to Britain etc. Do we really want
ANOTHER president who can be counted on to embarrass us every time he leaves home (not to mention every time he opens his mouth at home)?
PLEASE, voters! If you're leaning towards Romoney, PLEASE take serious note of who he is, and what he says, and how he says it. It scares the pee out of me that he is as close in the polls as he is - one Quinnipiac poll has him AHEAD of Obama. I'm hoping that's an outlier.
Remember my fave quote: "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"? Well, look back in the books or the videotapes to the year 2000, when Al Gore TOLD us in no uncertain terms that GWB's tax plan was going to benefit the top 1 or 2% of the earning curve? That was when Shrub laid the "fuzzy math" crapola on us. But Gore was right - and even at that, Bush was re-elected in '04. Or elected for the first time, say some. Like me.
So how many times does it take us to learn? Are we going to elect ANOTHER tax-cuts-for-the-rich oligarch? Or, as some are observing now, is Romoney going to elect himself with voter-eligibility chicanery?
Wake up, America!! Or as they used to say in the old films noirs, get wise to yourself! The guy is no good for America!
I'm the first to admit that Obama has not performed as well as we hoped he would when we voted for him in '08. He's done a decent job in many ways, but we were expecting miracles that did not materialize. There are numerous reasons for this, not least among them the obstructionist House repugs, but all in all he's let us down. But letting us down is not the same as BEATING us down, which is where Romoney is headed.
Use your head, not your heart this November. And if you love America, you cannot vote for Romoney. You simply CANNOT!!!
I forbid it!
Not that what I forbid means squat to you. But take a look at the commercial. It should at least make you laugh. And from my POV, a good laugh is the best we can hope for right now. Till November, anyway, when I will hope for more.
New anti-Mitt ad on the airwaves. Take a look:
Mitt Romoney's Hand is in Your Pocket
I mean, the toad has so little respect for us, the taxpayers, that he's barely bothering to hide his oligarchical tendencies any longer. And if you read his speeches, don't have to parse them much, just READ them, or listen if you can get your hands on the video or audio, you'll see that he is not only an oligarch, but quite literally an out-of-touch, let-them-eat-cake fool, who doesn't even realize how condescending and offensive he's being toward us.
And take his recent trip to Britain etc. Do we really want
ANOTHER president who can be counted on to embarrass us every time he leaves home (not to mention every time he opens his mouth at home)?
PLEASE, voters! If you're leaning towards Romoney, PLEASE take serious note of who he is, and what he says, and how he says it. It scares the pee out of me that he is as close in the polls as he is - one Quinnipiac poll has him AHEAD of Obama. I'm hoping that's an outlier.
Remember my fave quote: "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"? Well, look back in the books or the videotapes to the year 2000, when Al Gore TOLD us in no uncertain terms that GWB's tax plan was going to benefit the top 1 or 2% of the earning curve? That was when Shrub laid the "fuzzy math" crapola on us. But Gore was right - and even at that, Bush was re-elected in '04. Or elected for the first time, say some. Like me.
So how many times does it take us to learn? Are we going to elect ANOTHER tax-cuts-for-the-rich oligarch? Or, as some are observing now, is Romoney going to elect himself with voter-eligibility chicanery?
Wake up, America!! Or as they used to say in the old films noirs, get wise to yourself! The guy is no good for America!
I'm the first to admit that Obama has not performed as well as we hoped he would when we voted for him in '08. He's done a decent job in many ways, but we were expecting miracles that did not materialize. There are numerous reasons for this, not least among them the obstructionist House repugs, but all in all he's let us down. But letting us down is not the same as BEATING us down, which is where Romoney is headed.
Use your head, not your heart this November. And if you love America, you cannot vote for Romoney. You simply CANNOT!!!
I forbid it!
Not that what I forbid means squat to you. But take a look at the commercial. It should at least make you laugh. And from my POV, a good laugh is the best we can hope for right now. Till November, anyway, when I will hope for more.
Sunday, August 05, 2012
As George Raft says, "big joke"
by Rich Miles
Know what this is?
It's a tax calculator.
Now don't get excited all over yourself. It's a tax calculator that will tell you something very important.
It will tell you what your tax will be this year under the tax proposals of President Obama, and what it will be under the proposals of Mitt 'the Mutt' Romoney.
And the results are pretty astounding. In my family's case, we saved over $3000 with Obama's plan. You know, the one the Repugs have blocked repeatedly, in an effort to give the same tax breaks to the 1-2% of obscenely wealthy people in this country. Unconscionable greed and avarice. Simply unconscionable.
Now, the Republicans call the info and assumptions on which this calculator was created "a joke". They would, after all - anything that makes them look bad has to be ridiculed and discounted.
But as far as I have been able to find, there is no explanation of WHY it's a joke - what's funny about it, or what's not true about it.
So spread it all over the Web. If it turns out to be BS, I'm sure it will become known quickly. However, as of right now, it's true. And unconscionable.
See what you can find out about it if you like. I have researched it, and can find no flaws in its premises.
And its conclusions are truly sickmaking.
I never met a Repug with a sense of humor about anything except the suffering of others. THAT they find VERY funny. But you wanna know what's a joke? Any Republican ever speaking the words "tax break for the middle class". Now THAT is an effin' joke.
Know what this is?
It's a tax calculator.
Now don't get excited all over yourself. It's a tax calculator that will tell you something very important.
It will tell you what your tax will be this year under the tax proposals of President Obama, and what it will be under the proposals of Mitt 'the Mutt' Romoney.
And the results are pretty astounding. In my family's case, we saved over $3000 with Obama's plan. You know, the one the Repugs have blocked repeatedly, in an effort to give the same tax breaks to the 1-2% of obscenely wealthy people in this country. Unconscionable greed and avarice. Simply unconscionable.
Now, the Republicans call the info and assumptions on which this calculator was created "a joke". They would, after all - anything that makes them look bad has to be ridiculed and discounted.
But as far as I have been able to find, there is no explanation of WHY it's a joke - what's funny about it, or what's not true about it.
So spread it all over the Web. If it turns out to be BS, I'm sure it will become known quickly. However, as of right now, it's true. And unconscionable.
See what you can find out about it if you like. I have researched it, and can find no flaws in its premises.
And its conclusions are truly sickmaking.
I never met a Repug with a sense of humor about anything except the suffering of others. THAT they find VERY funny. But you wanna know what's a joke? Any Republican ever speaking the words "tax break for the middle class". Now THAT is an effin' joke.
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Whatever happened to Jack Jodell and Cletis Stump?
By Rich Miles
Here's a lesson for young or rookie bloggers: Blog OFTEN! Make sure there is new content for your readers, especially when it becomes clear that you have a few regular ones.
Like Jack and Cletis. Some few years back, these two gentlemen, who I have never met in person, commented on almost every post I made. They showed themselves to be thoughtful, intelligent gentlemen, who also liked my writing. (That last is the best reason of all to please your readers.)
But now, it's been 7 months for Cletis, and almost 16 months for Jack, since they last commented on me. And again despite the fact that I've never met them, it feels like the loss of a couple of pretty good ol' pals.
So where are ya, boys? Come back! I promise to try to write more often!
And to you newbie bloggers - let this be a lesson to you!
They come, they go. But sometimes when they go, they don't come back easily.
Here's a lesson for young or rookie bloggers: Blog OFTEN! Make sure there is new content for your readers, especially when it becomes clear that you have a few regular ones.
Like Jack and Cletis. Some few years back, these two gentlemen, who I have never met in person, commented on almost every post I made. They showed themselves to be thoughtful, intelligent gentlemen, who also liked my writing. (That last is the best reason of all to please your readers.)
But now, it's been 7 months for Cletis, and almost 16 months for Jack, since they last commented on me. And again despite the fact that I've never met them, it feels like the loss of a couple of pretty good ol' pals.
So where are ya, boys? Come back! I promise to try to write more often!
And to you newbie bloggers - let this be a lesson to you!
They come, they go. But sometimes when they go, they don't come back easily.
This is KILLING me!!!
by Rich Miles
OK, look, I have made it unmistakably clear over the past umpty-ump years exactly where I stand politically - I am a bleeding-heart liberal in most regards. Only area in which I could be accused of being reactionary or right-wing is that I want all right-wingers and repugnicans killed. But that's only a fond wish, as it will certainly never happen. Sadly for this world.
But I continue to be confused, confounded and repelled by the right wing's CONSTANT insistence that rich people get tax breaks, and poor people not get those breaks.
(Before I go on, I have to throw in this fact that arose yesterday: the House of Representatives have voted down ObamaCare (you know what I really mean) 33 times!!! They can't take a vote AT ALL on several of Obama's judicial nominees, but they can vote down, and be defeated by the Senate, 33 times!!! on this one issue.)
OK, back to the subject at hand: I continue to be amazed, astounded, and appalled that the repugs actually stand up on their hind legs and say, in essence, "Let's keep these tax breaks for the wealthiest among us - people making over $1,000,000 a year! Let's repeal the breaks for those making less than $250,000 a year. (and since when was THAT figure a cutoff point between rich and poor?)
I mean, HOW DO THEY DO IT? How do they call themselves representatives of the people, and then proceed to do things that represent and benefit only approx. 1% of those people? How do they live with their consciences when they vote FOR tax cuts for people who already have large (often huge!!) amounts of money, and AGAINST tax cuts for those who are struggling with finances, and bills to pay, and TAXES - just because few of those people run their own businesses?
Has anyone ever done research to discover how many of the people who make over $1,000,000 a year actually DO own businesses? And how many are just greedheads who stick all their money in investments of various sorts, but who have never DREAMED of putting their money at such a risk as a business, which could fail or something!
OK, OK, I recognize the connection between investing and a healthy economy. I see that rich people who invest in say, DuPont are keeping that company healthy, and keeping their employees employed, and their retirees funds funded.
But what seems never to have entered into the thinking (you'll pardon the expression) on this matter is this:
If 1% of Americans can invest $1,000,000 (for example), then how would it be if 99% of Americans could invest say, $10,000 in business? Or if successful, $20K? Or $100,000? Maybe never a mil, but hell, there are 99 TIMES as many of these small investors as there are the big'uns.
So why are these people abandoned? And more to the point, why do congressdogs say these outrageously classist and selfish things, and expect conservative voters to vote for them? And why do those conservative voters DO IT??
It's frightening, that people who were raised in that ethos, of taking care of the poor and giving to those in need, and all that, are now voting for people who SAY that's what they espouse, but who BEHAVE exactly the opposite - who root for the rich, since it's the rich who are paying for their re-election campaigns.
Seems simple, doesn't it? So why are repugs winning even elections for dogcatcher, much less higher offices? Why, I ask you?
No answer. But stupidity has NOT been ruled out.
C'mon, mongrels!! Make sure you know what the candidate stands for BEFORE you vote for him or her. You might be surprised to learn that that Republican label does not mean they think just like you. They might just be in opposition to what you think is right. You might even have to vote for (shudder) the Democrat!
And then where would you be? Apart from in a box.
Don't be stupid, people. Think - look - make sure the man is more than the party label. And that applies to Democrats, too!!
OK, look, I have made it unmistakably clear over the past umpty-ump years exactly where I stand politically - I am a bleeding-heart liberal in most regards. Only area in which I could be accused of being reactionary or right-wing is that I want all right-wingers and repugnicans killed. But that's only a fond wish, as it will certainly never happen. Sadly for this world.
But I continue to be confused, confounded and repelled by the right wing's CONSTANT insistence that rich people get tax breaks, and poor people not get those breaks.
(Before I go on, I have to throw in this fact that arose yesterday: the House of Representatives have voted down ObamaCare (you know what I really mean) 33 times!!! They can't take a vote AT ALL on several of Obama's judicial nominees, but they can vote down, and be defeated by the Senate, 33 times!!! on this one issue.)
OK, back to the subject at hand: I continue to be amazed, astounded, and appalled that the repugs actually stand up on their hind legs and say, in essence, "Let's keep these tax breaks for the wealthiest among us - people making over $1,000,000 a year! Let's repeal the breaks for those making less than $250,000 a year. (and since when was THAT figure a cutoff point between rich and poor?)
I mean, HOW DO THEY DO IT? How do they call themselves representatives of the people, and then proceed to do things that represent and benefit only approx. 1% of those people? How do they live with their consciences when they vote FOR tax cuts for people who already have large (often huge!!) amounts of money, and AGAINST tax cuts for those who are struggling with finances, and bills to pay, and TAXES - just because few of those people run their own businesses?
Has anyone ever done research to discover how many of the people who make over $1,000,000 a year actually DO own businesses? And how many are just greedheads who stick all their money in investments of various sorts, but who have never DREAMED of putting their money at such a risk as a business, which could fail or something!
OK, OK, I recognize the connection between investing and a healthy economy. I see that rich people who invest in say, DuPont are keeping that company healthy, and keeping their employees employed, and their retirees funds funded.
But what seems never to have entered into the thinking (you'll pardon the expression) on this matter is this:
If 1% of Americans can invest $1,000,000 (for example), then how would it be if 99% of Americans could invest say, $10,000 in business? Or if successful, $20K? Or $100,000? Maybe never a mil, but hell, there are 99 TIMES as many of these small investors as there are the big'uns.
So why are these people abandoned? And more to the point, why do congressdogs say these outrageously classist and selfish things, and expect conservative voters to vote for them? And why do those conservative voters DO IT??
It's frightening, that people who were raised in that ethos, of taking care of the poor and giving to those in need, and all that, are now voting for people who SAY that's what they espouse, but who BEHAVE exactly the opposite - who root for the rich, since it's the rich who are paying for their re-election campaigns.
Seems simple, doesn't it? So why are repugs winning even elections for dogcatcher, much less higher offices? Why, I ask you?
No answer. But stupidity has NOT been ruled out.
C'mon, mongrels!! Make sure you know what the candidate stands for BEFORE you vote for him or her. You might be surprised to learn that that Republican label does not mean they think just like you. They might just be in opposition to what you think is right. You might even have to vote for (shudder) the Democrat!
And then where would you be? Apart from in a box.
Don't be stupid, people. Think - look - make sure the man is more than the party label. And that applies to Democrats, too!!
Monday, July 23, 2012
May God DAMN these people!!
by Rich Miles
OK, I've had it with these people - the ones who claim to know what god thinks, and what he will do, and how damned everyone else but them and their kind are.
I am not a religious person. I'm not prepared to call myself an atheist, so I hedge my bets, I guess, and call myself an agnostic. Which means I don't effin' know, and probably neither do you.
I saw this headline, and it made my blood boil. Here it is - grab a glass of ice water before you read. How does this guy differ from Muslim fanatics, or Hindu ones, or so on. Rate the sucker, and don't go easy:
Newcombe, you are a FOOL!! I hope your dogma is correct at least to the extent that you get thrown into the fiery furnace.
But I really doubt it.
OK, I've had it with these people - the ones who claim to know what god thinks, and what he will do, and how damned everyone else but them and their kind are.
I am not a religious person. I'm not prepared to call myself an atheist, so I hedge my bets, I guess, and call myself an agnostic. Which means I don't effin' know, and probably neither do you.
I saw this headline, and it made my blood boil. Here it is - grab a glass of ice water before you read. How does this guy differ from Muslim fanatics, or Hindu ones, or so on. Rate the sucker, and don't go easy:
Jerry Newcombe, Evangelical Leader, Says Only Christian Victims Of Colorado Shooting Going To Heaven
=============================================
An evangelical spokesperson for a religious group known as Truth In Action has claimed that the tragedy in Colorado happened because America has lost its fear of hell.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/22/jerry-newcombe-hell_n
In an article published on OneNewsNow, evangelical Jerry Newcombe wrote:
I mean, is this guy a self-absorbed moron, or what? How can he, even within the rules and regs of his own denomination, know and proclaim what God did, does, or will do?
I say that God told ME that Newcombe is gonna get kidnapped and gang-raped by at least 70 (isn't that a biblical reference?) toughass bastards, each one more hung than the last.
Now prove me wrong. WITHOUT using the word "faith" (the new F-word).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/22/jerry-newcombe-hell_n
In an article published on OneNewsNow, evangelical Jerry Newcombe wrote:
I can't help but feel that to some extent, we're reaping what we've been sowing as a society. We said to God, "Get out of the public arena." Lawsuit after lawsuit, often by misguided "civil libertarians," have chased away any fear of God in the land -- at least in the hearts of millions.Newcombe is not alone in reacting this way to the shooting in Aurora that claimed 12 lives and left dozens of people injured. On the day of the shooting Rep. Gohmert of Texas also insisted that the shootings are the result of "ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian Beliefs":
"People say ... where was God in all of this? We've threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God's name, they're going to be jailed ... I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don't want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present."Perhaps more disturbing were Newcombe’s comments on a segment on the American Family Association dedicated to understanding the shooting tragedy in Colorado. In taking about the deaths, Newcombe separated the afterlife fate of those who died as Christians and those who did not:
If a Christian dies early, if a Christian dies young, it seems tragic, but really it is not tragic because they are going to a wonderful place ... on the other hand, if a person doesn’t know Jesus Christ ... if they knowingly rejected Jesus Christ, then, basically, they are going to a terrible place.Newcombe then turned the tragedy into an opportunity for people to convert to Christianity and avoid the fate of hell:
For those who are not ‘in Christ’ and see this incredible tragedy, this would be a good time for soul reflection and consider why have you not accepted Jesus Christ ... I would urge anyone who is not in Christ to repent of your sins.============================================
I mean, is this guy a self-absorbed moron, or what? How can he, even within the rules and regs of his own denomination, know and proclaim what God did, does, or will do?
I say that God told ME that Newcombe is gonna get kidnapped and gang-raped by at least 70 (isn't that a biblical reference?) toughass bastards, each one more hung than the last.
Now prove me wrong. WITHOUT using the word "faith" (the new F-word).
Newcombe, you are a FOOL!! I hope your dogma is correct at least to the extent that you get thrown into the fiery furnace.
But I really doubt it.
Friday, July 13, 2012
If you can be bought...at least be expensive
by Rich Miles
Hi, gang - if you read the post right before this one, then this one will probably make more sense.
So anyway, fellow Americans, I'd like to ask a favor of you: I'd like for all of you to strongly resist the pull of huge amounts of money, to which you will be subjected in coming months, as the electoral pull and effects of billions of dollars that would have been illegal 5 years ago are exerted on you and all of us, in a purported attempt to exercise the free-speech rights of the billionaires giving the massive amounts of money, but in actuality to buy the election.
That was a pretty long sentence, but I said what I meant: money buys messages, that cause people to change their minds, or to reinforce their beliefs, and when this happens in relation to elections, the guy with the most money can say whatever he wants, and sway opinions in any direction he cares to. Even if he LIES his ass off.
So there it is in a nutshell: Republicans lie their asses off on the best of days. And if you give them lots of money, as the Koch Bros. et al are doing now, they can say whatever they care to, and we who know they are lying can't do anything about it, because it is a Labor of Hercules. It's just too big.
So here's what I'm asking of my fellow Americans: STOP being so naive, that a few dollars will buy your vote. THINK about what you're hearing, and don't let it sway you. Believe what you believe, and don't let the paid announcements change that.
In other words, stop being a damn stupid SHEEP, that can be led anywhere if the price is right. THINK about what you hear. Does it make sense? Is it logical? For instance, the other day a friend of mine, who I didn't even know was a Repug, said that "no one could convince her that Obama has a brain in his head." Now, that is one of those statements that, if you think about it just a little, you'll recognize as simply highly unlikely to be true. Pres. Obama was a college professor, in the subject of constitutional law. One does not get such a job if one is not bright - exceptionally bright. The person who made this observation heard someone say that - she didn't really believe Pres. Obama is stupid, or if she did, she got it from someone else. Now, I am not saying that this person is herself stupid - though I am inclined to believe she is easily led to beliefs that have specious antecedents. I consider this person a friend, but I had to insist that we no longer discuss anything of a political nature, because I didn't want to come to shouting with her.
But at any rate, this kind of thinking - thought that is influenced by messages, and messages that are presented for NO other reason than to sway the electorate - is what gave us 8 years of George W. Bush, unquestionably the stupidest man to occupy the office in the past 2 centuries. And Mitt Romney (or Romoney, as I saw him called in a letter to the editor the other day) may give GWB a run for his money in the stupid department.
Romoney is a liar - viz. his statements about his involvement with various corporations like Bain and so on. - and is far too rich to be honest (sorry, I hate to generalize like that, but rich people are about 98% likely to be lying MF's), and in general is just not a good choice for president.
These facts, and more, remain true no matter how much money is spent on Romoney's campaign.
So your job as an American is not to be swayed by money - by the slickness and frequency of Romoney's ads, etc.
Can you do that? Can you make your judgment based on how competent either candidate is, and not on how much crap they blow at you?
If you do that, and pick Romoney anyway, I will respect it. I'll think you're stupid, but I'll respect your right to BE stupid.
But Obama is the man for president. He will do in a second term what Repugs have blocked him from doing in the first. And he's not stupid rich. Listen to his message, then to Romoney's, and see which one makes the most sense.
And don't be a cheap whore. OK?
Hi, gang - if you read the post right before this one, then this one will probably make more sense.
So anyway, fellow Americans, I'd like to ask a favor of you: I'd like for all of you to strongly resist the pull of huge amounts of money, to which you will be subjected in coming months, as the electoral pull and effects of billions of dollars that would have been illegal 5 years ago are exerted on you and all of us, in a purported attempt to exercise the free-speech rights of the billionaires giving the massive amounts of money, but in actuality to buy the election.
That was a pretty long sentence, but I said what I meant: money buys messages, that cause people to change their minds, or to reinforce their beliefs, and when this happens in relation to elections, the guy with the most money can say whatever he wants, and sway opinions in any direction he cares to. Even if he LIES his ass off.
So there it is in a nutshell: Republicans lie their asses off on the best of days. And if you give them lots of money, as the Koch Bros. et al are doing now, they can say whatever they care to, and we who know they are lying can't do anything about it, because it is a Labor of Hercules. It's just too big.
So here's what I'm asking of my fellow Americans: STOP being so naive, that a few dollars will buy your vote. THINK about what you're hearing, and don't let it sway you. Believe what you believe, and don't let the paid announcements change that.
In other words, stop being a damn stupid SHEEP, that can be led anywhere if the price is right. THINK about what you hear. Does it make sense? Is it logical? For instance, the other day a friend of mine, who I didn't even know was a Repug, said that "no one could convince her that Obama has a brain in his head." Now, that is one of those statements that, if you think about it just a little, you'll recognize as simply highly unlikely to be true. Pres. Obama was a college professor, in the subject of constitutional law. One does not get such a job if one is not bright - exceptionally bright. The person who made this observation heard someone say that - she didn't really believe Pres. Obama is stupid, or if she did, she got it from someone else. Now, I am not saying that this person is herself stupid - though I am inclined to believe she is easily led to beliefs that have specious antecedents. I consider this person a friend, but I had to insist that we no longer discuss anything of a political nature, because I didn't want to come to shouting with her.
But at any rate, this kind of thinking - thought that is influenced by messages, and messages that are presented for NO other reason than to sway the electorate - is what gave us 8 years of George W. Bush, unquestionably the stupidest man to occupy the office in the past 2 centuries. And Mitt Romney (or Romoney, as I saw him called in a letter to the editor the other day) may give GWB a run for his money in the stupid department.
Romoney is a liar - viz. his statements about his involvement with various corporations like Bain and so on. - and is far too rich to be honest (sorry, I hate to generalize like that, but rich people are about 98% likely to be lying MF's), and in general is just not a good choice for president.
These facts, and more, remain true no matter how much money is spent on Romoney's campaign.
So your job as an American is not to be swayed by money - by the slickness and frequency of Romoney's ads, etc.
Can you do that? Can you make your judgment based on how competent either candidate is, and not on how much crap they blow at you?
If you do that, and pick Romoney anyway, I will respect it. I'll think you're stupid, but I'll respect your right to BE stupid.
But Obama is the man for president. He will do in a second term what Repugs have blocked him from doing in the first. And he's not stupid rich. Listen to his message, then to Romoney's, and see which one makes the most sense.
And don't be a cheap whore. OK?
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Money IS the problem, never doubt it!!
by Rich Miles
OK, going to dinner with friends in a few minutes, so just wanted to jot down a few thoughts that I'll elaborate on later:
1) Why will the proposed constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United fail miserably? Because the very people required to pass it and make it the law of the land are the same people who benefit the most by its failure to pass: the federal and state legislators. If CU passes, they will lose billions (trillions?) of dollars in campaign funds that are now available to them.
2) Why do we gauge the success or failure of a political campaign, not by the wisdom of its precepts, nor the good ideas it comes up with, but by how much money it has? It's not a matter of whether the country (state, city, etc. ) will benefit from the election of Pol A or Pol B - it's how much money that pol can dredge up to put his message out to the public, whether that message be beneficial or pernicious.
More to come. But think these over for a minute. And comment if you care to.
And here's some more:
3) Mitt Romney is hereby addressed now and forevermore as Gordon Gecko. If you don't get the reference, websearch it. And what the hell is that man's real name? NO ONE is christened "Mitt". That's a baseball glove, not a person.
Anyway, Gecko Romney has the compassion of a punk rocker for Karen Carpenter - of a Mormon for an infidel. In short, he doesn't give a half a shit for anyone who is not his relative or fellow religionist. Read his speeches carefully - he says it right up front, he just doesn't care for ANYone who is worse off than he is. He actively blames anyone who is not worth several hundred millions, like him, for making themselves poor.
Do not elect this man. He is frighteningly cruel. He is a genuine sociopath. He sucks.
No matter what Obama has done, no matter how he behaves as president, he cannot be as bad or worse than Gecko. No matter your party affiliation, LOOK closely at Gecko's words, and his actions in his one short term as governor of Massachusetts. He did something sorta good with health insurance there, but then fucked it up so that the poor suffered. And with his lack of compassion, the poor suffering is like no one suffering.
DO NOT elect this man! He is DANGEROUS!!! He could perhaps make even George W. Bush look compassionate! And America may not be able to stand another of that ilk.
4) Obama has in mind to do what every second-term president does - he's gonna cut loose and do whatever he likes! Bush did it. Clinton did it. Reagan did it. Once there is no longer the fear of non-re- election, they can do whatever the fuck they want, and we can kiss their asses if we don't like it. Didn't you see it in Bush? He was an asshole the first term. But the second term, it was Katie-bar-the-door. He didn't care what the hell we wanted from him, he was gonna do what he wanted. And in some ways, America is suffering the consequences to this day.(see: the national debt, and the Iraq war. Among lots more.) All we have to do is re-elect Obama. And we'll see why he has so poorly fulfilled the promise of the '08 campaign. He's been trying to keep himself electable, as do all preznits who want a second term.
Enough for now. Comment, write me, etc. etc.
RM
OK, going to dinner with friends in a few minutes, so just wanted to jot down a few thoughts that I'll elaborate on later:
1) Why will the proposed constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United fail miserably? Because the very people required to pass it and make it the law of the land are the same people who benefit the most by its failure to pass: the federal and state legislators. If CU passes, they will lose billions (trillions?) of dollars in campaign funds that are now available to them.
2) Why do we gauge the success or failure of a political campaign, not by the wisdom of its precepts, nor the good ideas it comes up with, but by how much money it has? It's not a matter of whether the country (state, city, etc. ) will benefit from the election of Pol A or Pol B - it's how much money that pol can dredge up to put his message out to the public, whether that message be beneficial or pernicious.
More to come. But think these over for a minute. And comment if you care to.
And here's some more:
3) Mitt Romney is hereby addressed now and forevermore as Gordon Gecko. If you don't get the reference, websearch it. And what the hell is that man's real name? NO ONE is christened "Mitt". That's a baseball glove, not a person.
Anyway, Gecko Romney has the compassion of a punk rocker for Karen Carpenter - of a Mormon for an infidel. In short, he doesn't give a half a shit for anyone who is not his relative or fellow religionist. Read his speeches carefully - he says it right up front, he just doesn't care for ANYone who is worse off than he is. He actively blames anyone who is not worth several hundred millions, like him, for making themselves poor.
Do not elect this man. He is frighteningly cruel. He is a genuine sociopath. He sucks.
No matter what Obama has done, no matter how he behaves as president, he cannot be as bad or worse than Gecko. No matter your party affiliation, LOOK closely at Gecko's words, and his actions in his one short term as governor of Massachusetts. He did something sorta good with health insurance there, but then fucked it up so that the poor suffered. And with his lack of compassion, the poor suffering is like no one suffering.
DO NOT elect this man! He is DANGEROUS!!! He could perhaps make even George W. Bush look compassionate! And America may not be able to stand another of that ilk.
4) Obama has in mind to do what every second-term president does - he's gonna cut loose and do whatever he likes! Bush did it. Clinton did it. Reagan did it. Once there is no longer the fear of non-re- election, they can do whatever the fuck they want, and we can kiss their asses if we don't like it. Didn't you see it in Bush? He was an asshole the first term. But the second term, it was Katie-bar-the-door. He didn't care what the hell we wanted from him, he was gonna do what he wanted. And in some ways, America is suffering the consequences to this day.(see: the national debt, and the Iraq war. Among lots more.) All we have to do is re-elect Obama. And we'll see why he has so poorly fulfilled the promise of the '08 campaign. He's been trying to keep himself electable, as do all preznits who want a second term.
Enough for now. Comment, write me, etc. etc.
RM
Friday, June 15, 2012
Thrilled to see this
by Rich Miles
Update: I guess my Latin ISN'T that good - the expression should be vox legis. See 3rd graf below.
Apparently a few Americans are coming to their senses, 12 years after our national insanity led us to elect a man (Bush Minor) who was so obviously lying to us about pretty much everything, and 8 years after we REALLY showed our madness by RE-electing the asshole. Cut and paste the following link, read the article, and weep - weep because, if you're like me, you knew this years ago:
It's Not Too Late to Blame Bush
In response to my recent piece, "Why Can't We Do That?", I received an email, not a web comment, to say that we can't do it because none of the crimes and specifications I mentioned broke any laws. I'm not sure I agree with that - he sent men to their deaths, directly and unequivocally. Doesn't that at least qualify as manslaughter, if not murder?
Send some comments, you all! I'd like to know if anyone else thinks this way. And yes, I'm aware that vox populi does not equal vox dei. I would be curious to see if it is at least similar to vocis lex*. (And I hope my Latin is at least this good. What I mean is the voice of the law.)
But read the link above. If your politics are similar to mine, it will bring joy to your heart.
Update: I guess my Latin ISN'T that good - the expression should be vox legis. See 3rd graf below.
Apparently a few Americans are coming to their senses, 12 years after our national insanity led us to elect a man (Bush Minor) who was so obviously lying to us about pretty much everything, and 8 years after we REALLY showed our madness by RE-electing the asshole. Cut and paste the following link, read the article, and weep - weep because, if you're like me, you knew this years ago:
It's Not Too Late to Blame Bush
In response to my recent piece, "Why Can't We Do That?", I received an email, not a web comment, to say that we can't do it because none of the crimes and specifications I mentioned broke any laws. I'm not sure I agree with that - he sent men to their deaths, directly and unequivocally. Doesn't that at least qualify as manslaughter, if not murder?
Send some comments, you all! I'd like to know if anyone else thinks this way. And yes, I'm aware that vox populi does not equal vox dei. I would be curious to see if it is at least similar to vocis lex*. (And I hope my Latin is at least this good. What I mean is the voice of the law.)
But read the link above. If your politics are similar to mine, it will bring joy to your heart.
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Why can't we do that?
By Rich Miles
On June 1, 2012, an Egyptian court sentenced former president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of protestors in a demonstration last year.
Got that? Not for killing anyone - but for failing to stop the killings.
Now I ask you: why can't we do that here in America?
I mean, God knows we had a much worse criminal in the White House for 8 years. Just the short list of his crimes include election fraud and stealing at least one, possibly two national elections; nearly bankrupting the national budget to the tune of trillions of dollars, and then blaming it on his successor; and last but by no means least, the killing of over 4000 American soldiers and countless Iraqi soldiers and civilians, and maiming even more thousands on both sides, in an unnecessary and pointless war designed to a) avenge one man, his father, who was not even injured by any Iraqi, and b) get himself re-elected, on the belief that the American people would not vote out even the most incompetent leadership in wartime. Remember "Don't change horses in the middle of a stream", Lincoln's campaign slogan? I am virtually certain that the overweeningly stupid American electorate has never done that, voted out a president in wartime since then, and probably not before. Nixon took over for LBJ in Vietnam, but that was voluntary. Johnson quit.
So why can't WE try and convict the criminal who was in the White House for 8 years, and who has put this country in such a bloody-awful mess in so many ways? Why can't we avenge our national shame in electing him twice, and put the sumbitch in prison for the rest of his life? He's only 65 years old, and if we put him in prison for life, he'll likely stay there to serve as a national example for many more years than Mubarak, who is 84 and reportedly in poor health.
Look, I've said this so many times before, but it will serve my thesis to say it again: we must nail some of these people, most egregiously Bush, who by now is firmly established as the worst president in U.S. history - we must ensure that there are CONSEQUENCES to heinous acts like Bush's, or politicians will keep doing this kind of crap in the future, assured in the knowledge that they can GET AWAY WITH IT, to their own and their friends' enrichment (see tax breaks for the wealthy, over and over again, among other things).
I mean it, people - we all complain about what a bunch of crooks we have in Washington, and our respective statehouses and city halls, and I think it would not be overstating to say that it's gone on for hundreds of years and will continue for hundreds more, if we don't take steps to curtail it!
And really, the only steps that will have any HOPE of curtailing such behavior is to PUT THE BASTARDS IN JAIL!!! Or even, in extreme cases, execute a bunch of 'em. What more fitting judgment for GWB, who used US military personnel like his own personal game pieces in a war NO ONE wanted, except him and his coterie of war criminals? Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, and many, many more?
I mean, am I wrong? Do you think the sumbitches will reform themselves on their own? There are politicians like Alan Grayson, Russ Feingold (sadly voted out of office), Dennis Kucinich, John Yarmuth, and a few more, who are not only honest, but will continue to be honest even to their own political detriment. Even after nearly 4 years, I can't say I'm sure where our current president falls on this continuum. I think he's more honest than not - but I don't know if I can call him honest.
But at any rate, the overwhelming majority of elected officers in this country are thieving, lying, say-anything-to-get-elected bastards! They craft and pass legislation that exempts themselves from the broader laws of the land, and they take bribes and let themselves be bought every day of the year. And yet there is no punishment, no consequences, nothing to HURT the bastards into stopping this crap. They are using taxpayer money to screw and hurt the taxpayers - you and me!
So will we keep believing that they are all assholes except OUR guy, and keep electing our guy, no matter how corrupt he obviously is? Or will we wake up to the reality that MOST, almost ALL of them are corrupt, and we have to clean house across the board - perhaps ousting even the few who are honest, just to avoid even the appearance that we're going to keep any of the bad ones?
Anti-incumbency!!! Say it loud, we're mad and proud!
Gotta get rid of the bad guys - AND do it in a way that will let their replacements know that it can happen again! That never again will we be arm-twisted into keeping the assholes for years and years and years - viz., the proud racist Strom Thurmond, who was in the U.S. Senate and other office for over 50 years. And just by the way, died an incompetent and addled old man, still in the Senate at the age of 100.
Public office is not supposed to be a lifetime profession. And getting rich off the taxpayer's nickel is NOT an honorable means to personal wealth. Why is that so hard for politicians to understand? Why is it so hard for US to understand, such that when the fools screw up, we know to get rid of them?
When does GWB's trial on the above charges and more begin? I want it televised, including the hanging. OK, he won't be hanged, no matter how much he may deserve it - but can he go to prison? Please? Can we watch?
I remain, sir or madam, your obt. svt.,
Rich Miles
On June 1, 2012, an Egyptian court sentenced former president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of protestors in a demonstration last year.
Got that? Not for killing anyone - but for failing to stop the killings.
Now I ask you: why can't we do that here in America?
I mean, God knows we had a much worse criminal in the White House for 8 years. Just the short list of his crimes include election fraud and stealing at least one, possibly two national elections; nearly bankrupting the national budget to the tune of trillions of dollars, and then blaming it on his successor; and last but by no means least, the killing of over 4000 American soldiers and countless Iraqi soldiers and civilians, and maiming even more thousands on both sides, in an unnecessary and pointless war designed to a) avenge one man, his father, who was not even injured by any Iraqi, and b) get himself re-elected, on the belief that the American people would not vote out even the most incompetent leadership in wartime. Remember "Don't change horses in the middle of a stream", Lincoln's campaign slogan? I am virtually certain that the overweeningly stupid American electorate has never done that, voted out a president in wartime since then, and probably not before. Nixon took over for LBJ in Vietnam, but that was voluntary. Johnson quit.
So why can't WE try and convict the criminal who was in the White House for 8 years, and who has put this country in such a bloody-awful mess in so many ways? Why can't we avenge our national shame in electing him twice, and put the sumbitch in prison for the rest of his life? He's only 65 years old, and if we put him in prison for life, he'll likely stay there to serve as a national example for many more years than Mubarak, who is 84 and reportedly in poor health.
Look, I've said this so many times before, but it will serve my thesis to say it again: we must nail some of these people, most egregiously Bush, who by now is firmly established as the worst president in U.S. history - we must ensure that there are CONSEQUENCES to heinous acts like Bush's, or politicians will keep doing this kind of crap in the future, assured in the knowledge that they can GET AWAY WITH IT, to their own and their friends' enrichment (see tax breaks for the wealthy, over and over again, among other things).
I mean it, people - we all complain about what a bunch of crooks we have in Washington, and our respective statehouses and city halls, and I think it would not be overstating to say that it's gone on for hundreds of years and will continue for hundreds more, if we don't take steps to curtail it!
And really, the only steps that will have any HOPE of curtailing such behavior is to PUT THE BASTARDS IN JAIL!!! Or even, in extreme cases, execute a bunch of 'em. What more fitting judgment for GWB, who used US military personnel like his own personal game pieces in a war NO ONE wanted, except him and his coterie of war criminals? Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, and many, many more?
I mean, am I wrong? Do you think the sumbitches will reform themselves on their own? There are politicians like Alan Grayson, Russ Feingold (sadly voted out of office), Dennis Kucinich, John Yarmuth, and a few more, who are not only honest, but will continue to be honest even to their own political detriment. Even after nearly 4 years, I can't say I'm sure where our current president falls on this continuum. I think he's more honest than not - but I don't know if I can call him honest.
But at any rate, the overwhelming majority of elected officers in this country are thieving, lying, say-anything-to-get-elected bastards! They craft and pass legislation that exempts themselves from the broader laws of the land, and they take bribes and let themselves be bought every day of the year. And yet there is no punishment, no consequences, nothing to HURT the bastards into stopping this crap. They are using taxpayer money to screw and hurt the taxpayers - you and me!
So will we keep believing that they are all assholes except OUR guy, and keep electing our guy, no matter how corrupt he obviously is? Or will we wake up to the reality that MOST, almost ALL of them are corrupt, and we have to clean house across the board - perhaps ousting even the few who are honest, just to avoid even the appearance that we're going to keep any of the bad ones?
Anti-incumbency!!! Say it loud, we're mad and proud!
Gotta get rid of the bad guys - AND do it in a way that will let their replacements know that it can happen again! That never again will we be arm-twisted into keeping the assholes for years and years and years - viz., the proud racist Strom Thurmond, who was in the U.S. Senate and other office for over 50 years. And just by the way, died an incompetent and addled old man, still in the Senate at the age of 100.
Public office is not supposed to be a lifetime profession. And getting rich off the taxpayer's nickel is NOT an honorable means to personal wealth. Why is that so hard for politicians to understand? Why is it so hard for US to understand, such that when the fools screw up, we know to get rid of them?
When does GWB's trial on the above charges and more begin? I want it televised, including the hanging. OK, he won't be hanged, no matter how much he may deserve it - but can he go to prison? Please? Can we watch?
I remain, sir or madam, your obt. svt.,
Rich Miles
Friday, April 13, 2012
Equal taxation - Why is this so hard?
by Rich Miles
Why is this such a difficult issue to resolve? Why isn't it axiomatic that all taxpayers should pay the same percentage of taxable income? Why did ANYONE, even the Bush "administration", ever believe that the rich should pay a lower percentage? And screw all that "class warfare" nonsense. If we were really engaged in class warfare, there would be dead rich people littering every street in the country.
Here's the reason why this issue is so difficult to resolve: Because the morons in our government who are charged with debating it and fixing it are almost ALL - are you ready for it? - RICH PEOPLE!!
Rich people who want all the money they can get more than they want to cure our nation's ills. Rich people who are so effin' greedy that they will use whatever ludicrous rhetoric they can choke out in debate rather than pay their fair share of taxes, who sincerely DO NOT CARE what a mess our government's budget is in, as long as they get theirs.
I don't know why this point has not been made more often. I do a lot of political reading, and I don't think I've ever seen it brought up before - the operant word in this issue is GREED!!!
Nothing else. Not national pride. Not class warfare. Not budgetary considerations. GREED. Primarily but not exclusively Republican greed. Exclusively the greed of our public servants. People WE elected to administer our government.
And instead of doing what we elected them for, they are serving almost exclusively their own GREED!!!
And dodging and weaving and making it someone else's fault. And completely ignoring the fact that we elected them to serve us.
GREED!! That is all it is on both sides of the aisle, though mostly the Republicans, simply by nature.
And the people who would be responsible for changing our laws so as to make this sort of thing less possible are THE SAME RICH, GREEDY, THIEVING ASSES who can't even admit that they're selling our nation down the river.
There aren't 10 members of the two houses of Congress who are worth the powder it would take to blow them up. Not 10 out of 535!! That's my estimate, but can you deny it? I don't think so.
And this is - most certainly and undeniably - what is causing our national debt to pierce the sky. What causes it to be counted in numbers bigger than any of us can even fathom: TRILLIONS!!! Well on the way to QUADRILLIONS.
And until we get rid of them, they'll keep doing it. The only thing that has even a chance of working is a massive anti-incumbent movement that is used in not one election cycle, not two, but THREE times running, until we have convinced our servants that we can do it - that we can get rid of them, and will. Even the very few who are doing their jobs must be dumped. Because we have to take our nation back.
We really have to. Otherwise it won't BE our nation any more.
Why is this such a difficult issue to resolve? Why isn't it axiomatic that all taxpayers should pay the same percentage of taxable income? Why did ANYONE, even the Bush "administration", ever believe that the rich should pay a lower percentage? And screw all that "class warfare" nonsense. If we were really engaged in class warfare, there would be dead rich people littering every street in the country.
Here's the reason why this issue is so difficult to resolve: Because the morons in our government who are charged with debating it and fixing it are almost ALL - are you ready for it? - RICH PEOPLE!!
Rich people who want all the money they can get more than they want to cure our nation's ills. Rich people who are so effin' greedy that they will use whatever ludicrous rhetoric they can choke out in debate rather than pay their fair share of taxes, who sincerely DO NOT CARE what a mess our government's budget is in, as long as they get theirs.
I don't know why this point has not been made more often. I do a lot of political reading, and I don't think I've ever seen it brought up before - the operant word in this issue is GREED!!!
Nothing else. Not national pride. Not class warfare. Not budgetary considerations. GREED. Primarily but not exclusively Republican greed. Exclusively the greed of our public servants. People WE elected to administer our government.
And instead of doing what we elected them for, they are serving almost exclusively their own GREED!!!
And dodging and weaving and making it someone else's fault. And completely ignoring the fact that we elected them to serve us.
GREED!! That is all it is on both sides of the aisle, though mostly the Republicans, simply by nature.
And the people who would be responsible for changing our laws so as to make this sort of thing less possible are THE SAME RICH, GREEDY, THIEVING ASSES who can't even admit that they're selling our nation down the river.
There aren't 10 members of the two houses of Congress who are worth the powder it would take to blow them up. Not 10 out of 535!! That's my estimate, but can you deny it? I don't think so.
And this is - most certainly and undeniably - what is causing our national debt to pierce the sky. What causes it to be counted in numbers bigger than any of us can even fathom: TRILLIONS!!! Well on the way to QUADRILLIONS.
And until we get rid of them, they'll keep doing it. The only thing that has even a chance of working is a massive anti-incumbent movement that is used in not one election cycle, not two, but THREE times running, until we have convinced our servants that we can do it - that we can get rid of them, and will. Even the very few who are doing their jobs must be dumped. Because we have to take our nation back.
We really have to. Otherwise it won't BE our nation any more.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Obama Innocent of International Intrigue
by Rich Miles
ATTN: All blithering idiots and Republicans (oops, sorry, that's redundant): George Clooney's arrest (and his dad Nick's, and several Dem congressdogs as well) in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC on Friday Mar. 16 had nothing whatever to do with President Obama cracking down on peaceful protests. I would not be surprised to learn that the President had little or no knowledge of the incident until long after its conclusion. So please, spare us the baring of your lack of understanding of such things. Pres. Obama did NOT crack down on peaceful protests. And Clooney was released about an hour later on $100 bail. OK? Stop being so knee-jerk stupid. Something even mildly negative happening in Wash., DC does NOT mean Obama orchestrated it. Any more than it did when your darling GWB was there.
ATTN: All blithering idiots and Republicans (oops, sorry, that's redundant): George Clooney's arrest (and his dad Nick's, and several Dem congressdogs as well) in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC on Friday Mar. 16 had nothing whatever to do with President Obama cracking down on peaceful protests. I would not be surprised to learn that the President had little or no knowledge of the incident until long after its conclusion. So please, spare us the baring of your lack of understanding of such things. Pres. Obama did NOT crack down on peaceful protests. And Clooney was released about an hour later on $100 bail. OK? Stop being so knee-jerk stupid. Something even mildly negative happening in Wash., DC does NOT mean Obama orchestrated it. Any more than it did when your darling GWB was there.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
What if? Part XXVIII
by Rich Miles
UPDATE 3/14: Santorum won Alabama and Mississippi, extending his streak of states that are filled pretty much UP with morons. I mean, how many lists of various accomplishments and standards find the states that Santorum won - pretty much ALL of them - near the bottom of those various lists? But hey, they know who they want for preznit. Don't even think otherwise!
=============================================
Original Post:
Remember Thomas Frank's excellent book, and Laura Cohen's very fine documentary film of the same name, "What's the Matter with Kansas"?
Well, I'm here to tell you, whatever WAS the matter back in 2004 is still the matter. Because today, Kansas gave Rick "The Loony" Santorum a victory, one of his few in this primary campaign season. Among his other high points were Tennessee and Oklahoma, those two bastions of high-mindedness.
Now look, folks - let's get this clear. I don't think any of the Republican candidates are worth the powder it would take to blow them up. But Santorum is a particularly nasty piece of work. A fundamentalist raver, denier of global warming, hater of women, and on and on - and these folks in the above named states want him to represent their party in a national election against incumbent Barack Obama.
Well, as a Democrat, I can actually applaud the choice of Santorum, because I believe he will be easier to beat in the general election than most of the rest of Republicans. But the thing I simply can't let go of is, what if he wins?
What if all odds are tipped, and an entire country goes mad - again - don't forget that we elected Geo. W. Shrub TWICE not too long ago. So then we will end up with at least 4 and possibly 8 years of medievalism in our nation's highest office. And while I probably overreacted to GWB, because he simply didn't have the power I attributed to him, I don't want to spend those 4 or 8 years wondering when the damn fool is going to plunge us into World War III.
Because that is what is to fear from a Santorum presidency, among other things. Another war, centered in but not exclusive to the Middle East, avenging imagined wrongs to Christianity going back to the original Crusades and beyond. And our exhausted armed forces will be called up again, and become even more exhausted.
Or perhaps he will do what I would almost bet he is just dying to do, and force an Armageddon by dropping the Big One, the atom bomb, on our real or perceived adversaries. In fact, I won't just say I would ALMOST bet on such an eventuality. The mushroom cloud of an American bomb would be suitably biblical for a man of Santorum's overweening ambition and limited intellect and thoughtfulness. And he is a little man, in spirit for certain, and for all I can tell, physicality. But definitely in spirit. And an atom bomb would work better than a pair of 4" lifts to raise his prospects, figuratively speaking.
So I keep asking myself - no matter how unlikely it is, it is not impossible. So what if he wins in the general?
Can you imagine an America under such a limited and bellicose leader?
I can, and it makes me very, very afraid.
UPDATE 3/14: Santorum won Alabama and Mississippi, extending his streak of states that are filled pretty much UP with morons. I mean, how many lists of various accomplishments and standards find the states that Santorum won - pretty much ALL of them - near the bottom of those various lists? But hey, they know who they want for preznit. Don't even think otherwise!
=============================================
Original Post:
Remember Thomas Frank's excellent book, and Laura Cohen's very fine documentary film of the same name, "What's the Matter with Kansas"?
Well, I'm here to tell you, whatever WAS the matter back in 2004 is still the matter. Because today, Kansas gave Rick "The Loony" Santorum a victory, one of his few in this primary campaign season. Among his other high points were Tennessee and Oklahoma, those two bastions of high-mindedness.
Now look, folks - let's get this clear. I don't think any of the Republican candidates are worth the powder it would take to blow them up. But Santorum is a particularly nasty piece of work. A fundamentalist raver, denier of global warming, hater of women, and on and on - and these folks in the above named states want him to represent their party in a national election against incumbent Barack Obama.
Well, as a Democrat, I can actually applaud the choice of Santorum, because I believe he will be easier to beat in the general election than most of the rest of Republicans. But the thing I simply can't let go of is, what if he wins?
What if all odds are tipped, and an entire country goes mad - again - don't forget that we elected Geo. W. Shrub TWICE not too long ago. So then we will end up with at least 4 and possibly 8 years of medievalism in our nation's highest office. And while I probably overreacted to GWB, because he simply didn't have the power I attributed to him, I don't want to spend those 4 or 8 years wondering when the damn fool is going to plunge us into World War III.
Because that is what is to fear from a Santorum presidency, among other things. Another war, centered in but not exclusive to the Middle East, avenging imagined wrongs to Christianity going back to the original Crusades and beyond. And our exhausted armed forces will be called up again, and become even more exhausted.
Or perhaps he will do what I would almost bet he is just dying to do, and force an Armageddon by dropping the Big One, the atom bomb, on our real or perceived adversaries. In fact, I won't just say I would ALMOST bet on such an eventuality. The mushroom cloud of an American bomb would be suitably biblical for a man of Santorum's overweening ambition and limited intellect and thoughtfulness. And he is a little man, in spirit for certain, and for all I can tell, physicality. But definitely in spirit. And an atom bomb would work better than a pair of 4" lifts to raise his prospects, figuratively speaking.
So I keep asking myself - no matter how unlikely it is, it is not impossible. So what if he wins in the general?
Can you imagine an America under such a limited and bellicose leader?
I can, and it makes me very, very afraid.
Friday, March 09, 2012
Ignorance is easier to control than intelligence
by Rich Miles
In today's (March 9, 2012) New York Times, my old pal Paul Krugman (I never really met him, but I FEEL like I know him) wrote a piece that he (or the NYT headline writer) titled "Ignorance is Strength", in which he posits that the Republican Party has come to oppose higher education, because an educated electorate is a product of "indoctrination mills" that destroy religious faith.
Now, it's hard to interpret such a thought as anything but a statement that smart, educated people don't believe in the fundamentalist booshwah that people like Santorum and Romney and other morons of their ilk put out.
It is probably provable that this is true - the smarter and more educated one is, the less likely to believe in religious/superstitious claptrap. But as Krugman points out, that's just a happy side effect of being a generally educated person. The anti-religious "indoctrin- ation" that Santorum et al. fear so much is not intentional.
But again, Krugman sums up the intelligent thinking on the matter at hand by closing his column thus:
In today's (March 9, 2012) New York Times, my old pal Paul Krugman (I never really met him, but I FEEL like I know him) wrote a piece that he (or the NYT headline writer) titled "Ignorance is Strength", in which he posits that the Republican Party has come to oppose higher education, because an educated electorate is a product of "indoctrination mills" that destroy religious faith.
Now, it's hard to interpret such a thought as anything but a statement that smart, educated people don't believe in the fundamentalist booshwah that people like Santorum and Romney and other morons of their ilk put out.
It is probably provable that this is true - the smarter and more educated one is, the less likely to believe in religious/superstitious claptrap. But as Krugman points out, that's just a happy side effect of being a generally educated person. The anti-religious "indoctrin- ation" that Santorum et al. fear so much is not intentional.
But again, Krugman sums up the intelligent thinking on the matter at hand by closing his column thus:
"After all, over the past 30 years, there has been a stunning disconnect between huge income gains at the top and the struggles of ordinary workers. You can make the case that the self-interest of America’s elite is best served by making sure that this disconnect continues, which means keeping taxes on high incomes low at all costs, never mind the consequences in terms of poor infrastructure and an undertrained work force.
And if underfunding public education leaves many children of the less affluent shut out from upward mobility, well, did you really believe that stuff about creating equality of opportunity?
So whenever you hear Republicans say that they are the party of traditional values, bear in mind that they have actually made a radical break with America’s tradition of valuing education. And they have made this break because they believe that what you don’t know can’t hurt them."
IOW, keep 'em poor and stupid, and they'll keep voting for the Republicans. Because they don't know any better. And because the Republicans are the party of willful ignorance.
Amen, Brother Krugman. Amen!!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Could we be a little less stupid, please?
by Rich Miles
America has gotten beyond the place of respectful disagreement. We have in our country an entire political party that regularly and robustly lies its ASS off to us all. I mean, we're not talking about people who see available facts, and interpret them differently from the opposition. We're talking about an entire group of people, roughly half of our populus, that simply has no regard whatever for the truth. And really, the worst thing about this fact is that there are a LOT of people - again, nearly half the people here, who either approve and subscribe to these lies, or are too fuckin' stupid to recognize that they're being lied to. And we call these congenital liars - wait for it - Republicans. I mean, my mom and dad taught me that lying was wrong. I bet yours did too. But somehow, it seems undeniable that Republican parents did NOT teach their kids that lying is wrong, or if they did teach it, it didn't take.
Because those who register as Republicans, or who call themselves so, simply do not care what they say, do not have the slightest regard for the veracity or lack thereof of what they say or write, and further, have no regard for the damage to individuals or the nation that their untrue utterances cause. It's really that simple, and there is no room for equivocation any longer.
Let me give you some examples. This is a list from an article I ran across this morning at this website: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cf8_1311352141
1. Republican Leaders Agree U.S. Default Would Be a "Financial Disaster"
2. Ronald Reagan Tripled the National Debt
3. George W. Bush Doubled the National Debt
4. Republicans Voted Seven Times to Raise Debt Ceiling for President Bush
5. Federal Taxes Are Now at a 60 Year Low
6. Bush Tax Cuts Didn't Pay for Themselves or Spur "Job Creators"
7. Ryan Budget Delivers Another Tax Cut Windfall for Wealthy
8. Ryan Budget Will Require Raising Debt Ceiling - Repeatedly
9. Tax Cuts Drive the Next Decade of Debt
10. $3 Trillion Tab for Unfunded Wars Remains Unpaid
Ya see, faithful reader, there are NO Republican fiscal conservatives currently in office on a Federal level. They are too busy shovelling billions and trillions of federal dollars (read "your money") into the pockets of their reactionary right-wing contributors to be fiscally conservative.
And that is indeed where the money goes - to wars (who gets the bulk of the money that's spent on wars?), and to exTREMEly expensive stuff that the government does actually need, but not at those prices!!. We're being financially raped, repeatedly, and the lying Republicans are perpetuating the violation. I mean sure, Democrats want to spend money too - but by and large, Democrats want to spend it on the American people, most specifically those who need help.
Do you realize that Reagan nearly tripled the national debt. And the two Bushes combined nearly tripled it again. Obama has increased the national debt by a definable percentage, but with the Stonewall Congress of Mitch McConnell, he has been unable to do it to anywhere near the degree of the other three.
And yet, the Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility!!
Ya see, Americans, this is just the most blatant example of how the Repubs get away with such lies: they simply say the opposite of the truth SO MANY TIMES, that the lie becomes so ingrained in our thinking that it becomes widely viewed as the truth.
And lots of our fellow citizens - and perhaps even YOU!!! - cooperate in this self-throat-cutting!
So I ask you: could we be a little less stupid about these matters? Not only this one, but this is a supremely important one. If we learn nothing else from Greece's pain these days, can't we learn that it is indeed possible for an ENTIRE COUNTRY to default on its debts. And as they used to say back in the old communist-scare movies in the 40's and 50's, IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!!!
And to me, and to all of us.
And the first thing we need to do to prevent it is just totally humiliate and remove the Republican party. And then the Tea-Partiers. And then after that, if the truth be told, we probably need to get rid of the Democrats as well, and start over with new political parties with clearer goals and ideologies.
And we need to make sure these new parties are not so run by money, and not so beholden to the monied interests that now own them all.
Good luck on that, sez I.
But we can try, can't we? I mean, doesn't a little bit of hope still spring eternal?
America has gotten beyond the place of respectful disagreement. We have in our country an entire political party that regularly and robustly lies its ASS off to us all. I mean, we're not talking about people who see available facts, and interpret them differently from the opposition. We're talking about an entire group of people, roughly half of our populus, that simply has no regard whatever for the truth. And really, the worst thing about this fact is that there are a LOT of people - again, nearly half the people here, who either approve and subscribe to these lies, or are too fuckin' stupid to recognize that they're being lied to. And we call these congenital liars - wait for it - Republicans. I mean, my mom and dad taught me that lying was wrong. I bet yours did too. But somehow, it seems undeniable that Republican parents did NOT teach their kids that lying is wrong, or if they did teach it, it didn't take.
Because those who register as Republicans, or who call themselves so, simply do not care what they say, do not have the slightest regard for the veracity or lack thereof of what they say or write, and further, have no regard for the damage to individuals or the nation that their untrue utterances cause. It's really that simple, and there is no room for equivocation any longer.
Let me give you some examples. This is a list from an article I ran across this morning at this website: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cf8_1311352141
1. Republican Leaders Agree U.S. Default Would Be a "Financial Disaster"
2. Ronald Reagan Tripled the National Debt
3. George W. Bush Doubled the National Debt
4. Republicans Voted Seven Times to Raise Debt Ceiling for President Bush
5. Federal Taxes Are Now at a 60 Year Low
6. Bush Tax Cuts Didn't Pay for Themselves or Spur "Job Creators"
7. Ryan Budget Delivers Another Tax Cut Windfall for Wealthy
8. Ryan Budget Will Require Raising Debt Ceiling - Repeatedly
9. Tax Cuts Drive the Next Decade of Debt
10. $3 Trillion Tab for Unfunded Wars Remains Unpaid
Ya see, faithful reader, there are NO Republican fiscal conservatives currently in office on a Federal level. They are too busy shovelling billions and trillions of federal dollars (read "your money") into the pockets of their reactionary right-wing contributors to be fiscally conservative.
And that is indeed where the money goes - to wars (who gets the bulk of the money that's spent on wars?), and to exTREMEly expensive stuff that the government does actually need, but not at those prices!!. We're being financially raped, repeatedly, and the lying Republicans are perpetuating the violation. I mean sure, Democrats want to spend money too - but by and large, Democrats want to spend it on the American people, most specifically those who need help.
Do you realize that Reagan nearly tripled the national debt. And the two Bushes combined nearly tripled it again. Obama has increased the national debt by a definable percentage, but with the Stonewall Congress of Mitch McConnell, he has been unable to do it to anywhere near the degree of the other three.
And yet, the Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility!!
Ya see, Americans, this is just the most blatant example of how the Repubs get away with such lies: they simply say the opposite of the truth SO MANY TIMES, that the lie becomes so ingrained in our thinking that it becomes widely viewed as the truth.
And lots of our fellow citizens - and perhaps even YOU!!! - cooperate in this self-throat-cutting!
So I ask you: could we be a little less stupid about these matters? Not only this one, but this is a supremely important one. If we learn nothing else from Greece's pain these days, can't we learn that it is indeed possible for an ENTIRE COUNTRY to default on its debts. And as they used to say back in the old communist-scare movies in the 40's and 50's, IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!!!
And to me, and to all of us.
And the first thing we need to do to prevent it is just totally humiliate and remove the Republican party. And then the Tea-Partiers. And then after that, if the truth be told, we probably need to get rid of the Democrats as well, and start over with new political parties with clearer goals and ideologies.
And we need to make sure these new parties are not so run by money, and not so beholden to the monied interests that now own them all.
Good luck on that, sez I.
But we can try, can't we? I mean, doesn't a little bit of hope still spring eternal?
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Updated: 07/23/2012 12:37 pm