I'm Waiting . . .

I’m waiting . . .

What am I waiting for?  The answer to this question is clear and simple.  For the past six years I’ve heard nothing from Republican circles, including Rushbo, my golfing buddies, the pundits and the Wall Street Journal to name a few, other than hostile, disruptive and wide-sweeping declarations that do nothing other than criticize our first (ahem) black president.  Stated another way, nothing constructive has been put forth or postulated or mentioned by the right in its quest to defeat each and every thing Obama does,  It is easy for a small child to say is “no” or “I don’t wanna.”  The same has been true of die-hard Republicans.  Everyone on the right rants incessantly about the deficit - passing on our frivolities to our children and grandchildren, etc.   Instead, can we talk about financial conservatism based on fact?

President Obama, (yes, that Kenyan who Republicans claim to be after all our guns all the while leading us down the road to socialism and disaster of all sorts, imaginary or otherwise) has already driven the deficit down to three per cent of the aggregate economy from ten percent in 2009.  As reported in today’s Business Insider, “Under Obama, the deficit is falling from 10% of GDP to 3% . . .but only 6% of America knows it.  There's often a misconception that a democratic President would be more likely to raise these ratios by promoting big government.  But the reality is quite the opposite . . . Obama has been one of the most effective presidents in American history to reduce deficit levels.”  In similar fashion, Forbes.com. reports that the lowest percentage increase in federal spending since Eisenhower has been during Obama’s presidency and that the highest was under Reagan and Bush Junior.

Instead, the Republican Party — and not just its far-right wing — still pretends that cutting spending and lowering the deficit remain the country’s most urgent priorities.  After the recent Tea Party-led fiasco which damn-near destroyed our American way of life, some leadership on the right appears to be emerging from the morass. Senator Orrin Hatch and other establishment senators believe that grown-ups would not threaten the country’s full faith and credit, or keep the government closed, in order to get their way.  But I think more than preventing disaster is in order.  I suggest that a responsible political party should do more than prevent a government default; it would offer serious solutions to the nation’s most pressing problems instead of making up facts.  As the title of this blog states, “I’m waiting.”

Just saying . . .

Short Term Memory Loss

Mark your calendars.  It's only 86 days until another Continuing Resolution is needed to keep the government operating . . .  and 109 days until the debt ceiling imbroglio raises its ugly head once again.  Apparently, polling as of yesterday indicates that 43% of the voting population still consider themselves as Republicans and I ask myself why?   After carefully musing over this question, I slap my head as the answer appears in a bold headline right across the window of my brain;  ‘Republicans Suffer from Short Term Memory Loss!’   During the latest Republican exercise in taking our system of government to the brink of disaster, a selective loss of memory occurred time and time again in a substantial portion of the public resulting in a fearful feeding frenzy about long term debt and short term Obamacare.  Republicans tend to forget that it was the Republican Party that cut taxes at the same time the country went into unfunded wars in two countries and passed a likewise unfunded part D of Medicare (which was nothing more than a gift to the pharmaceutical industry).  Thus it was necessary and essential to spend money to attempt to restore the economic climate of the country as Obama took over.

These efforts fed into the litany of Calgary Cruz, et al as support for their unconstitutional intransigence.  Never before has a political party hijacked the government because they did not like the laws that were passed.  As Jon Stewart on the Daily Show commented, it was like a football team losing a game 31-6 and then claiming victory.  The immediate crisis may be over, but we've merely dodged a single bullet and kicked the can down the road for too brief a period of time. We haven't seen the last of the Tea Party, and the depths of their destructive potential has hardly been touched.  With guaranteed safe enclaves in their gerrymandered districts, they are assured of returning to Congress. With a percentage of voters immune to empathy for their fellow citizens and resentful of welfare recipients (Apparently all of them are moochers, even the 27% of our nation's children who go to bed each night hungry) the Tea Party will be well represented in the national picture.   They will move to other issues; immigration, abortion, civil rights, voting rights, environmental regulation, the progressive income tax, open carry, and the teaching of creationism in public schools, to name but a few.  Even mainstream Republicans have reacted
 with horror at what has been created.  Let us all hope that their short term memories serve them better the next time around.

Just saying . . .

Jellyfish and Other Spineless Creatures

As reported in the New York Times, the “moon jelly, or common jellyfish, is often viewed as a problem, an ecological invader, a nuisance to swimmers, or worse. A moon jelly population explosion last month clogged the water intakes of a Swedish nuclear power plant, forcing it to shut down. The jellyfish, which can be 2 to 15 inches in diameter, is such a concern that engineers in South Korea designed seagoing, prowling robotic blenders to liquefy the offenders.”  One learns early on in biology class that one of the unique features of the jellyfish is that it is spineless.

The United States, however, is currently dealing with another group of spineless invaders clogging the lifeline of Congress’ constitutional mandate as set forth in the 14^th amendment.  That amendment mandates that the full faith and credit of the United States “shall” not be tampered with.  The Republican Party made their intentions absolutely clear, proclaiming in their 1868 party platform that “national honor requires the payment of the public indebtedness in the utmost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad,” and pronouncing any repudiation of the debt “a national crime.”  More than three generations later, in 1935, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, ruling in the case of Perry v. the United States, revisited the amendment and affirmed the “fundamental principle” that Congress may not “alter or destroy” debts already incurred.  The spineless invaders this time have, in fact, put our national honor at stake by committing the “national crime” of the repudiation of our already incurred debt. 

Just saying . . .

Tea Party Rhetoric

The extreme right in our country is fond of several things;  It is fond of quoting chapter and verse of excerpts isolated from the Bible in justifying hatred of homosexuals and women who seek to control their own lives which may include an unintentional or unwanted pregnancy.  The same group is also particularly fond of quoting excerpts from our Constitution in justifying the possession, carrying, and use of weapons.  I put the following question out to this group including every Tea Party member and their thug-members of Congress who are holding the economy of the United States ransom;  What part of the following language in our U.S. Constitution do you not understand?

The Fourteenth Amendment states (in part);  

SECTION 4.  The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law . . . shall not be questioned.  . .

SECTION 5.  The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Just saying . . . 

Interview with Kamikaze Tea Party Congressman

I was fortunate to schedule some time to interview one of the forty kamikaze Tea Party members who are currently holding the economic future of the United States hostage.  For reasons known only to him, he refused to allow me to reveal his identity.  I have excerpted a few of his responses for sake of brevity:

The actions of you and about forty other members of Congress have placed the economic status of the United States in jeopardy. Why don’t you negotiate with your own party members to deal with this problem?

It isn’t us that refuses to negotiate.  It is Barack Obama.

Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California said, “It’s moronic to shut down the government over this.”  I will repeat my previous question in light of his statement;  Why don’t you negotiate with your own party members to accomplish something worthwhile?

We are accomplishing something worthwhile.

And just what is that?

We are proving that the people of America can act for themselves, government be damned.

Excuse me, but I thought you were a member of Congress.

Yes I am, but I was elected by the people.

Speaking of elections, do you receive political donations money from the Koch brothers?

Next question.   But last time I checked the Koch brothers were citizens of the United States and have the same first amendment rights that all citizens do.

You refuse to answer that?

What part of next question don’t you understand?

Another Republican, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah calls your actions a “stupid dumb-ass thing.”  What is your response to that?

It sounds to me that it was a stupid dumb-ass thing to say.  I can’t imagine an elected official using such terrible language.  And that Hatch is from Utah.  The son of a bitch is dumber than I thought he was.

Why don’t you want to identify yourself for this interview?

Because it doesn’t matter who I am.  I speak for the people.

Why are you doing this to the people of the United States?

Because we can.

Just saying . . .

Blackmail!

Republicans in Congress have their panties bunched up in a wad over the President’s characterization of their current efforts to eliminate the Affordable Health Care Act.  Quite simply put, he called it blackmail. “No Congress before this one has ever, ever, in history been irresponsible enough to threaten default, to threaten an economic shutdown, to suggest America not pay its bills, just to try to blackmail a president into giving them some concessions on issues that have nothing to do with a budget,” Mr. Obama said before an audience in suburban Washington.  The Republican reaction to this statement has been extreme.  I watched Sean Hannity on Fox TV last night as he interviewed Senator Cruz, the first term know-it-all Senator from Texas as he tried lamely to defend his shutdown threats by saying that one or two million Americans are completely behind his actions.  As I watched I found myself wondering if I had accidentally stumbled onto an old SNL skit.  I thought Cruz was going to keep on going to explain that the one or two million people in the state of North Dakota were behind him or the entire population of prison inmates.  I thought he was going to say that 48% of the people in the country voted for Romney for president so he should be president.  But he didn’t.  He made no mention of the fact that the AFHCA passed both house of Congress, was signed by the President and it’s constitutionality was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court; i.e., exactly what our democratic process requires in order to function properly. It is not always easy to find the right words to express oneself.  Even expert writers can spend days getting it just right. There is a translation process going on. The ideas may be crystal clear. Getting the ideas into words so they can be communicated takes work and is far from 100% accurate. The writer may have to express a concept in several different ways before he is satisfied, to work at it to make a point that is clear and understandable.  But these constraints are not necessary here.  The actions of Cruz and his ilk in trying to set aside the democratic process to get their own way are not only damaging to our system, but, in fact, constitute blackmail.

Just saying . . .

A Hypothetical Interview

Question and answer session with Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas about the cutting of food stamps for millions of children who go to bed hungry. 

Q.  Is there any logic to cutting these food stamps?

1. Good question.  I am happy that y0u asked it.  We need that money for other things.  We just committed to buying 70 new F-35s at a cost of 10 million dollars each.  As you surely understand, we must maintain our military might and the definition of that might is the acquisition of military equipment well beyond the need and resources of the military.   Also we remain an income source for farmers.  As an example, we continue to fund farmers and other owners of farms who have been dead for years to the tune of millions of dollars.  We have found that there are hundreds of people throughout the U.S. who receive food stamps illegally and we must be diligent about keeping these  people from stealing taxpayer money.  Also, did I mention that we continue to fund millions of dollars to the families and business partner of farmers who have been dead for years.  Eventually, these poor souls will get around to telling us that their farmer is dead, but until they do we must demonstrate compassion.  

Q.  What kind of money are we talking about?

A.  Another good question.  The Natural Resources Conservation Service, which oversees the            Agriculture Department’s conservation programs, sent out $10.6 million in payments between 2008 and 2012 to more than 1,000 people who had been dead for more than a year, according to the report.

The Risk Management Agency, which administers the crop insurance program, paid $22 million to more than 3,400 policyholders who had been dead for at least two years. The G.A.O. said that some of those payments might have been made while the farmer was still alive, but that there was no way to know for sure.

Also we must keep in mind that the defunding of the sponges in our society receiving food stamps will increase business for doctors and hospitals and the drug industry.  The lack of food will lead to increases in illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure among adults.  In children, the cuts will lead to higher rates of asthma and depression. Diabetes alone will provide income to the health and pharmaceutical industries by nearly $15 billion over the next 10 years. 

Q.  Are you serious?

A.  As you can tell by these statistics, I am deadly serious.