August 16, 2012

Why Congressional Republicans are Sweating Over Ryan

Imagine that you are a U.S. citizen wearing a T-shirt to your local bar. One of those nasty ones that pictures a democratic politician such as Clinton or Obama in the crosshairs.

Good for a few laughs and a few scowls depending upon who else is standing at the bar, but no big deal. Right?

Now, imagine that suddenly, out of the blue, you get transported to DC across the street from the White House, wearing that same shirt, with a semi automatic rifle in your hands. Suddenly, the shirt is no longer a laughing (or scowling) matter. Suddenly, there are real consequences to wearing that shirt.

This is what has happened to Congressional Republicans. They thought they could get away with voting for Ryan's bill to destroy Medicare, because everyone knew it was a symbolic vote. With the Senate and the White House in Democratic hands, that bill was going nowhere except into the paper shredder. And the vote was a great way to pander to the banks and the health insurance industry and the Tea Party.

But now that Paul Ryan is on the Republican presidential ticket, the bill which every single House Republican (except four) supported is like an albatross around the party's neck. In case you missed the MSM coverage of the bill (because there was next to none) the Ryan Bill would eliminate Medicare and replace it with vouchers to allow us to buy health insurance on the "open market"---a market which has no interest in insuring seniors with health problems, meaning the vouchers would be worthless scraps of paper, and the nations elderly would go back to dying in the streets the way that the Christian Coalition God intended them to.

So, in effect, Congressional Republicans now find themselves standing on the White House lawn, armed with semi automatic rifles and wearing t-shirts with Medicare in the cross hairs. Right in time for this fall's election.

"It's not fair," thinks the freshman GOP congressman."We didn't come to Washington to write legislation. We came to get in Obama's way. We got in his way---and now they want to hold us accountable for the legislation we tried to pass. Is writing legislation even in our job description as Congressmen? Why the hell should we take responsibility for our actions. Everything is Obama's fault! He made Ryan write the bill. He made us vote for it. Blame Obama!"

Poor Congressional GOP.

August 13, 2012

An Open Letter to the Romney Campaign...

WTF, dude? Do you even have a political adviser? Or did you take bids from hedge fund managers? "I'll guarantee you 20 million in Super Pac money if you select the guy who wants to privatize Social Security. I stand to make a killing if they force people to give their retirement money to me, so I can embezzle it and stash it in a Swiss bank account where it will never be seen again"?

On the Democratic side, we have Axelrod and Clinton supporting a likable, eloquent candidate.

On the Republican side, we have a bunch of banksters shooting craps. Oh, and this crap shoot is going to alienate the independents while mobilizing the left wing base. You know, the folks who might have said to themselves "Romney isn't so bad. He gave Mass. Romneycare. I'll bet he's just pretending to be more right wing than he is so the Tea Party won't sink him."

Don't get me wrong. I think it will be good for the country if the GOP ticket pulls a McGovern/Shriver. But sometimes, I wonder if Big Oil is deliberately shooting Romney in both feet, because they have their hearts set on Brother Jeb in 2016. And I will be very annoyed if we get another Bush in the White House in 2017. The least Mittens could have done for this country is pick some viable candidate who could actually run again in 2016 and win the GOP nomination and save the country from the Bush family. I mean, being a tax dodger and all, Romney owes us.

August 12, 2012

With the Selection of Ryan, Voter ID Laws Just Assumed a New Importance in this Election

I'll bet you were surprised when Romney picked Ryan. You probably thought the GOP would not dare to antagonize its elderly voting block. But if you have been paying attention to the Voter ID Poll Tax laws that have been springing up around the country---and which the GOP admits have been put into place to help Romney win---you would have realized that the Republicans have nothing to fear from the elderly and the disabled. This election, they are not part of Karl Rove's "The Math", because this election that are not being invited to participate.

Paul Ryan wants to kill Medicare. He wants to dismantle the massively popular public health insurance program which insures tens of millions of seniors---seniors whom private health plans would not touch with a ten foot pole. He has told us so, and if you missed this threat, it is only because the corporate media has done its best to quash the story. Since Medicare also insures the nation’s permanently disabled, Ryan’s extreme right wing stance----Medicare is a government handout that must be trimmed so that the rich can pay less in taxes---amounts to a eugenics program targeting anyone with a serious medical condition.

Right now, the nation’s elderly and disabled must be worrying. Depending upon the whim of those who have programmed our nation’s (hackable) electronic voting systems, they could find themselves without heath care---and then, without a pulse---in the very near future. In the face of this threat, they have probably made up their mind to fight back in the only way that ordinary citizens without SuperPacs can---by voting in the fall election.

But wait! Many of the nation’s elderly do not drive. They do not have a driver’s license. They do not have the money to travel abroad so they don’t have passports either. Though they have lived in the same precinct for decades and voted in every election, this fall they will show up at the polls and be told

“Sorry, we don’t know who you are. Try again next election. If you’re still alive.”

It gets worse. Many of the nation’s disabled citizens do not drive either. They can’t. They are blind/paralyzed/too weak. Therefore, they don’t have driver’s licenses. They would just love to go to the polls this fall and tell Romney/Ryan “Keep your mitts off my Medicare that I paid into for thirty years.” But even if they can find someone to drive them to the polls, even if they manage to drag their oxygen cylinders with them, they are going to be told

“No. You can’t vote. You are too sick. We only want people who aren’t dependent upon their health insurance to vote this time around.”

Romney has dared to select Paul “I Wanna Kill Medicare” Ryan as his vice president, because he is counting upon the new Poll Tax---Voter ID Laws---to keep those Americans who need their health care from going to the polls. This time around, it’s going to be seniors and the disabled who are systematically disenfranchised.

So, next time someone you know defends Voting ID Poll Taxes, “Because they keep the wrong sort of people from voting” ask that person what he has against his grandma.

July 15, 2012

If Mittens Can Retire “Retroactively”….

….Joe Paterno did nothing wrong, because he retroactively fired convicted pedophile, Jerry Sandusky before he started abusing his position as assistant football coach at Penn State to molest little boys.

….Martha Stewart retroactively told her stock broker not to buy ImClone, so the government owes her a pardon.

….John Edwards retroactively decided to use a condom, and his political career is now in great shape.

….all the folks dragged before the HUAC hearings are innocent, because they retroactively canceled their Communist Party memberships before they ever signed up.

….Charles Manson should not be in prison, because he almost certainly retroactively told his folks not to murder anyone.

....9/11 never happened, we never invaded Afghanistan or Iraq, we never squandered our surplus and the mortgage crisis never cost us our homes and jobs, because everyone who stayed home in 2000, thinking that Gore had the election in the bag can vote retroactively.

June 27, 2012

I Don't Care if Karl Rove is Gay

I care about the outing of Valerie Plame, which put the lives of U.S. agents and their contacts abroad in jeopardy.

I care about the exit polls that did not match the vote tallies in 2004 Ohio.

I care about the death of J. H. Hatfield.

I care about Don Siegelman.

I care about the Nixon era CREEP-y dirty tricks that Rove played back ion the early 1970s.

I care that he used Katrina to ethnically re-engineer Louisiana and that he used the Katrina relief fund as a political slush fund.

I care that he participated in the Big Lies that lead us to war in Iraq.

I care that he fired hard working federal attorneys and replaced them with political hacks.

But, I don't care whom he sleeps with. The GOP slimes with sex. I am a Democrat.

June 27, 2012

Seven Things Holder Can Do to Save Our Democracy (Because the Corporate Media Sure as Hell Won’t)

Disgusting. Once again, the GOP publically, gleefully boasts that it plans to “win” (read “steal”) the next election by denying citizens their right to cast a lawful vote. In 2000, we saw then Governor Jeb Bush hire a firm to create a bogus felons list in order to keep African-Americans from voting for Al Gore. When they could not find enough felons in Florida, they stripped the voting rights of Floridians who had names similar to felons living in other states. We now know that Gore won in Florida. However, those suppressed votes gave Bush the ability to hand the decision to the SCOTUS which broke the law by ruling on Bush V. Gore based upon the identity of the parties in the case. Who can forget O’Connor’s whine about how she wanted to retire but could not unless a Republican got to choose her successor?

Think back to 2000. How many of you ever considered the possibility that Bush Sr.’s idiot son could be elected president? That must be why we failed to stand up and declare “Hey, something rotten is going on in Florida. Lawful voters are being stripped of their rights.” Who cared if a few thousand people, mostly Black were disenfranchised? It is only news if a white person’s vote is stolen. It only became news when a whole bunch of (mostly white) people saw their own votes lose all meaning in the face of the stolen election.

In retrospect, the Department of Justice should have been all over Florida, its governor and secretary of state. Since nothing was done, 2004’s election suppression in Ohio was a cakewalk. Never mind that the second time around we were ready for it ---we paid attention in Ohio. We questioned the reliability of paperless voting. Bush/Rove controlled the Department of Justice, meaning that the American people were powerless to do anything but hate Bush/Rove with a passion that lead to the 2006 upset.

Now, the GOP is getting ready to steal another election. Who here really believes that the American people want to dump Obama for a sadistic, snooty, job-killing, silver spoon fed rich boy? But if we allow ourselves to be complaisant as we were in 2000, 2000 will happen all over again---

Back in 2000, election theft of such brazen magnitude was inconceivable. No one took the warnings from Florida seriously. This time, we have no excuse. A crime is being committed. It does not matter if the scale of each apparent Voting Rights Act violation seems small—a Congressman here, a veteran there. It does not matter how big a lead Obama gets in the popular poll. Unless we are willing to defend the voting rights of every American citizen, we might as well flush our own votes down the toilet.

That is where the Department of Justice comes in. As I understand the Voting Rights Act anything that deliberately infringes upon you right to vote---and that includes your right to cast the vote and have it tabulated and counted into the total of votes cast---is illegal. Thanks to an act of Congress in 1982, anything that “accidentally” infringes upon those same rights of a subset of the population (like having ballots only in English) is also illegal.

So, I propose that---

1.The Department of Justice review the results of the voter disenfranchise efforts from 2000, 2002, 2004 etc. Where there has been a pattern of systemic voter disenfranchisement, the fed’s should step in and analyze the current system of voter registration, enrollment, disenrollment, polling place access, polling place equipment (including the number of lost votes that are expected with the technology in place) and potential for election fraud in advance of the fall elections. Part of the DOJ’s job is to prevent violations of the law, and if there is probable cause, they need to act.

2. If a single eligible voter is found to have been stripped from the rolls in a state, this should be grounds for forcing that state to prove that other voters have been stripped from the list lawfully. If they cannot prove it, the voter is reinstated.

3. In states which require voter ID, the federal government should identify those at risk---mostly the elderly , disabled and poor who do not drive (hint, check Medicare and Medicaid rolls)---and either issue free ID or require that states provide free ID.

4. In order to detect—and deter-- tabulation fraud, the feds need to put their own exit pollsters in place, to assure that no one flips a switch after the votes are cast and before they are counted. In 2004, we learned that we cannot rely upon the corporate media or private pollsters to keep our elections fair. Google "reluctant responders" if you do not believe me.

5. Federal law enforcement officials need to be at high risk polling places on election day to make sure that no one physically interferes with our right to vote. That includes dispersing any local law enforcement officials who decide to set up roadblocks near minority polling places, as Florida police did in 2000. In addition, the feds need to be standing by the phones at a 1-800 number, ready to act if reports of suppression come in from other precincts. Again, in the past we relied upon the press to police the polls. We can no longer do that. You never know what kind of deal the GOP candidate has cut with the MSM. Maybe CBS needs another exemption from media share regulations. Maybe Rupert Murdoch has been promised immunity from prosecution.

6. Speaking of prosecution, those who deliberately change election results should be prosecuted. Those who are thinking about changing election results should know that they will be prosecuted. Regardless of the election outcome. A crime is a crime.

7. The federal government needs to run public services announcements (in Spanish as well as English) telling voters their rights and also telling them where to call when those rights have been trampled upon.

If the DOJ does not act, here is what will happen. Going up to the election, Obama will be in the lead. Then, on election day, Romney will suddenly pull 4-5 crucial percentage points out of his ass. The press will declare that Romney’s upset victory is due to massive corporate spending. They will say that polls are no longer reliable in the post Citizens United America. Another stolen election will be laid at the door of the SCOTUS which could not care less if its legacy is trashed----again. The press will cover up any evidence of voter suppression or election fraud. The corporate masters of the big newspapers and television news stations will light up fat cigars and daydream about all the money they are going to make once Romney reduces their workers to serfs….

June 22, 2012

Seven: The Deadly Sins of Romney Super Pac Supporters

1. Lust:

You thought I was going to include Sheldon Adelson under the Greed entry? That would be too easy.

We all know about Adelson, because he wants us to know about him. He flaunts his wealth and his massive Super Pac giving. The billionaire casino mogul who spent $30 million on Republican candidates in 2008 and who will spend much more than that this time around has made himself highly visible—possibly on the advice of his attorneys. You see, he is under investigation by the DOJ and the SEC for making illegal foreign bribes in connection with his Macao casino. And we all know that the best way to push a bad Google story down is to fill the search engine with lots of other news that says, in effect, you are just a good old fashioned American billionaire who wants to eliminate the unions that are keeping you down (to the tune of $25 billion). Plus, if he owns the next president, that is as good as a Get Out of Jail Free card.

Now, making illegal bribes in foreign countries may be the best and easiest way to do business in said foreign companies. But do you have to fill your casino with prostitutes to keep a competitive advantage?

The Venetian-Macao, a casino owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, was also the subject of a reported "sex-trade crackdown" that occurred in 2010 on the same day Adelson arrived on the island for meetings with government leaders in Macau, according to published accounts in 2010. Chinese press reported that authorities found more than 100 prostitutes inside the casino.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bribes-chinese-mob-ties-alleged-casino-gingrich-money/story?id=15455918&page=2#.T-OZupLX4UU

More on the prostitution ring---110 women and 22 pimps---that operated out of Adelson’s Macao casino until the government decided to step in.

http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2010/12/100-women-arrested-on-prostitution-charges-at-macaus-venetian/134424/1

Adelson wants you to know that he is a greedy bastard who hopes to add to his $25 billion by cutting the wages and benefits of the janitorial workers in his casinos. He probably does not want you to think about how casinos make money----by keeping gambling customers inside the casino. And the best way to keep customers from going elsewhere is to make sure that they can get their food, booze and sex on the premises.

2. Pride

Pop quiz. Which long time GOP strategist and fund raiser thinks that he is the Smartest Man on Earth? So smart that he skipped college, because, hey, you cannot improve upon perfection. If you answered Bush’ s Brain, Karl Rove, don't be too proud of yourself, because Rove is an object lesson in how you know what goes before the fall.

We know that Karl Rove is raising Super Pac money for Romney, because the two of them are going to celebrate their “victory” in advance. The location---a luxury resort in Utah. The guests of honor? Rove, Mittens and all those SuperPac donors who are not supposed to be coordinating their efforts with the candidate.

so if you're having a meeting about a victory, you know, strategy and you have the campaign and people in the super p.a.c. there it would seem according to common sense descriptions to be coordination of some type
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/martin-bashir/47908990/#47908990

For a self-proclaimed genius, Karl Rove manages to make some pretty dumb decisions. Like putting himself and his candidate and the big money donors in a smoke filled (luxury) back room for all the world to see. But Karl Rove suffers from an excess of pride. He thinks that no matter what law he breaks he can never get caught. Won't it to be great having another president who takes advice from a sociopath?

3. Wrath

The rich are allowed to spend their money any way they want, but why on earth does Romney supporter Harlan Crow, Texas real estate tycoon like to fill his back yard with the statues of infamous dictators like Stalin and Mussolini? Collecting WWII memorabilia is fun, but how many people boast of having an original Adolph Hitler painting and an autographed copy of Mein Kampf? What about Romney has captured the attention of this guy who is fascinated by some of history’s most notorious villains? I will admit that forcibly cutting the hair of a possibly gay fellow student and grinding your grandson's face into a platter of whipped cream is a good start towards becoming a jack booted fascist, but no way Mittens is up there with those other guys---not yet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/02/arts/collecting-despots-assassins-and-such.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2012/06/churchill-roosevelt-and-hitler-oh-my-welcome-to-texas-mitt-romney.html/

4. Gluttony

Donald Trump and Mitt Romney, BFFs. Watch the video (warning, may induce hunger pains in the unemployed who do not qualify for food stamps).



“Steak. It’s my favorite food.” Trump

“Anything that fills my empty belly, it’s my favorite food” Unemployed America.

5. Envy

Envy starts as sibling rivalry. And no wealthy Romney Super Pac donor knows more about sibling rivalry than Charles Koch.

There has been so much scheming, name-calling, and backstabbing among these guys that J.R. Ewing might feel outdone. Bill tells of a homosexual blackmail attempt by Charles against Freddie to get his stock at a cheap price. (Charles vigorously denies it.) Freddie was partially disinherited by his father in a dispute over a missing $700. And for family harmony, you can't beat Bill's subpoenaing his mother onto the witness stand a few months after she'd had a stroke.
Snip
Why are these grown men behaving so badly? To vastly oversimplify, Bill believes that in 1983 Charles tricked him into selling his shares in the family firm for half a billion dollars less than they were worth. (Bill got only $470 million.) Charles denies it. He says he is reluctant to attack his brother publicly. Nonetheless, he paints Bill as greedy, lazy, incompetent, neurotic, and vindictive.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1997/02/17/222188/index.htm

Then there is Dallas rich man Harold Simmons who sued his own daughters over their trust funds.



http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2010/February/Harold_Simmons_Is_Dallas_Most_Evil_Genius.aspx

If two of Romney’s biggest financial backers treat their own families like this, how are they going to treat the rest of us once they own the office of the president?

6. Sloth

This poster child for idle rich laziness is the candidate himself. Vietnam War draft dodger, Mittens Romney. His wife, Ann “has never worked a day in her life”. The Romneys were able to honeymoon in France for two years---

“The last vacation we had there walking around the city of Paris and walking not just the Champs-Elysees but also over to the Jardin of Luxembourg and around the city.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/23/romney-gushes-over-life-in-magnificent-paris/

----while the rest of us were juggling college and a McJob.

Now, I am not saying that Romney never gets any work done. When he isn’t being jetted to his next bus photo op or relaxing in one of his million dollar vacation homes, he is thinking up ways to piss off hard working Americans, such as by telling stay at home moms that they should get off their lazy butts and get a job. Because, apparently, it takes one to know one.

7. Greed

Do I even need to go there? Every donor who is forking over huge sums of cash is hoping to get fed at the public trough---like the Koch Brothers who make money cutting down publicly owned trees to sell through Georgia Pacific and who graze their cattle on public land and who were paid by W. to stockpile oil in the Strategic Oil Reserve in order to raise the price of their own oil. Companies like the Kochs’ and Enron have proven that the best way to get rich(er) in America is to buy a political candidate. This year, they greedy elite are lining up to buy a piece of the GOP nominee.

June 13, 2012

For the 51% Who Do Not Believe that the GOP Engineered This Recession...

Congratulations! 49% of Americans have been paying attention. They know that Republicans have set up roadblocks to prevent economic recovery for political gain. However...

Since the GOP and its CEO supporters have actively bragged about their efforts to cut jobs, limit cash flow and in general make our lives living hell, I have to wonder about the other 51%. Maybe they are too broke to afford a newspaper or cable or Internet access. Maybe each day for them is a struggle just to get by. If you know someone who has been hit so hard by the recession that politics has become and unaffordable luxury, please share the following. Because none of us---especially those who are victims of the recession--can afford not to vote this year.

For the 51% Who Do Not Believe that the GOP Engineered This Recession I submit the following into evidence:

1. “People Without Homes Will Not Quarrel With Their Leaders”

From the family that got its financial start selling the Union Army weapons that blew up in soldiers’ faces:

Capital must protect itself in every way...Debts must be collected and loans and mortgages foreclosed as soon as possible. When through a process of law the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and more easily governed by the strong arm of the law applied by the central power of leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principle men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capitalism to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd.
-J.P. Morgan

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/03/01/841940/--ldquo-People-without-homes-will-not-quarrel-with-their-leaders-rdquo-J-P-Morgan

Correction: Note that Morgan's son and namesake was a Hitler backer (along with Prescott Bush) and a member of the coup that tried to get rid of FDR.

2. Anatomy of the Murder of the American Dream

The Bush administration actively aided the Banksters as they created the mortgage meltdown crisis. In 2004 the FBI said that mortgage fraud was rampant in this country. Bush’s response? Prevent state attorney generals from prosecuting the criminals involved.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63214.html

When Eliot Spitzer tried to warn Americans in a Washington Post editorial called “Predatory Lenders Partner in Crime”

When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

he was targeted by the Bush DOJ for malicious prosecution in the press---accusations that never panned out into actual criminal charges.

What does it all mean? You lost your dream home, because Bush wanted you to. And then, Bush rubbed salt in the wound by handing the Banksters who stole your home a tax payer funded bailout.

3. Capital Went on Strike

In the wake of the bailout that was supposed to boost up the economy by providing credit, the Banksters decided to stage a “capital strike”, meaning they refused to lend money even as small businesses---the ones that make good jobs in the U.S. were desperate for cash.

Zero Hedge: "Total bank reserves with the Fed hit an all time high, surpassing $1 trillion, as banks continue to hoard cash. The amount of extra lending that could have taken place but didn't was $65 billion week over week, or a $130 billion increase in just the past month."

http://blendedpurple.blogspot.com/2009/10/capital-strike.html

4. John Boehner Boasted About the Capital Strike That Was Keeping Unemployment High


John Boehner—who should know what the GOP is up to---said last year that the nation’s job creators had staged a capital strike. No, you did not read that wrong. He admitted—correction, he boasted that business leaders in the US had decided to stop creating jobs.

On September 15, House Speaker John Boehner announced that the nation’s “job creators” — a flattering euphemism for “business owners” — were on strike. This was the proximate cause of the nation’s unemployment woes, Boehner maintained. Until those business owners received the low-tax, deregulated world they wanted, they would continue to keep their wallets in their pockets.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2011/11/hbc-90008323

Again, you are homeless, jobless, living on your brother’s couch if you are lucky and on the street if you are unlucky, because a bunch of mostly Republican ricvh businessmen do not think that they are rich enough.

5. House Republicans Did Their Part to Keep Americans Unemployed


House Republicans admitted to voting against a jobs bills because they wanted to hurt Obama by hurting the economy.

“’Obama is on the ropes; why do we appear ready to hand him a win?’”

Of course, it was the American worker who was on the ropes at the time when the GOP decided that it would be politically expedient not to lend a hand. So, if you are currently unemployed and out of benefits, the Republican Party is extremely pleased to hear it.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63214.html

6. Republicans Embraced Fiscal Policies Designed NOT to Help the Economy or Create Jobs

How did the GOP under Bush spend our tax money? On tax cuts for the rich and military spending---the two forms of federal spending that are least effective at improving the economy. Massive tax cuts for the rich which decrease the government’s ability to spend are actually detrimental to the economy. The most effective way to stimulate the economy through government spending? Education, followed by infrastructure and health care. (See the links below). This is old stuff. Every businessman and politicians knows what is good for the economy and what is bad for the economy. So, if the GOP insists upon more tax breaks for the rich and more military spending and less spending on education and infrastructure and health, it can mean only one thing---they are following Grover Norquist’s advice, which is to drain the federal bathtub so that our tax dollars can no longer do us any good. Why does Grover Norquist hate us? He doesn’t. The lobbyist is simply looking out for his alcohol and tobacco customers who do better when we are despondent.

http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/published_study/PERI_military_spending_2011.pdf

http://nontrivialpursuits.org/economic_stimulus.htm

7. American Business Leaders Vowed Not to Lend Money or Create Jobs

At least not until Obama is out of office. For example:

A Georgia businessman has an ultimatum for America: Fire President Obama, or he will not hire any more workers.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/georgia-businessman-refuses-to-hire-until-obama-is-fired/

And he was not the only one. If someone can remember the name of the CEO who called upon fellow business leaders not to create jobs or loan money during the Obama administration, please share it. Hint: I think he said that they would be "traitors" to their class if they didn't do all they could to keep the economy in the toilet.

May 27, 2012

One Long Monday Night in the Greatest Healthcare System on Earth

“’(E)ven if Obamacare were a perfect piece of legislation, and it’s not , we can’t afford a trillion dollars of new federal spending,’ said Romney.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74404.html

Dear Mr. Romney. We cannot afford not to do something about the nation’s uninsured problem. Case in point:

My husband was making pork with garlic sauce when the knife slipped and he sliced open his index finger. The one he uses every day as a massage therapist. I took one look at the gaping, bleeding wound and said “That might need stitches.” Within minutes, my husband, my adult son and I were in the car heading for the closest hospital emergency room. Let’s call it Hospital X.

Just to set the stage, I should tell you that I am a family physician. I have group insurance through my employer. So, this is not going to be a sad story about how my family had to choose between health care and eating. This is a report from the trenches of our nation’s beleaguered urban emergency rooms.

Usually, I go to Hospital Y, which is a bit farther down the road. But the last two times I had been to Y’s (busting at the seams) emergency room, the physicians had treated my abdominal pain without actually touching my abdomen. Apparently, the Y ER doctors were too busy to perform the two minute exam, because both of them (on different nights) ordered blood work and CT scans in lieu of examining me.

Hospital X was closer. And, on the two occasions that my family had been there in the past, its ER was not nearly as crowded. Unfortunately, that was about ten years ago, before the uninsured crisis drove three area hospitals out of business, and the ER volume at those left standing went through the roof.

We were triaged right away. The RN on duty knew her job. She told my husband to apply pressure to the wound and have a seat in the waiting area. That was where the fun began. For, sometime in the last decade, Hospital X’s emergency room had become just another after work walk in clinic for those without health insurance.

The waiting area with packed with people. One woman, with abdominal pain and “bad nerves” had been there for three hours. Bad sign. Abdominal pain usually takes priority over a laceration. After waiting for hours to be seen, Bad Nerves was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Her friend suggested that they visit one of the city’s other emergency rooms, but Bad Nerves said she had outstanding bills at all of those.

I could tell that Hospital X’s ER was understaffed, when a woman came in shouting that her husband was in the car having chest pain. The only visible hospital employee, the RN doing triage, had to leave her post, get a wheelchair, go outside to their car and wheel the husband back to the patient care area, leaving triage unattended for about 20 minutes. Keep in mind that X is a huge urban hospital that does transplants, cardiac bypass and high risk obstetrics. Oddly, we did not miss the triage nurse, because no one in the ER waiting room that night, except for my husband with the sliced finger and the young man with a sport’s injury and the guy in the car having chest pain actually seemed to be having an emergency. They were all there to visit the after work walk in clinic that was required (by federal law) to treat anyone who showed up regardless of ability to pay.

We waited about three hours to be seen. Did I mention that slicing your index finger is very painful? But my husband was stoic. Eventually, we were seen. The care was fine. We went home and my husband’s finger is healing well. Happy ending? I don’t think so. Ninety percent of the people in that waiting room could have been treated more quickly, more cheaply and more effectively in an office. But doctors’ offices demand payment, either in the form of cash or insurance. So, they wait until after work and visit the “walk in clinics” also known as the nation’s hospital emergency rooms. There is only so much that emergency rooms can do for chronic conditions, so the care is half assed by necessity. Half assed and as expensive as hell—

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. About five years ago, we were out of town and my son had an asthma attack in the middle of the night. Since we did not have his inhaler, we took him to a local emergency room where he received one nebulizer treatment, got a prescription for an inhaler and was sent on his way. The bill for that visit? Over $5000. Half assed and as expensive as hell---

Which just about sums up the state of heath care in the U.S. right now. We spend over twice as much person per year (half of it coming from the government) as western European countries and Canada, and yet our health indicators, such as life expectancy and infant mortality are at third world levels.

The moral of my story? Spending a few pennies to insure more Americans will not break the bank, because the bank is already broken. Insuring more Americans is the only way we will put the bank—and our broken health care system---back together. If 30 million more Americans---many of them with chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure---can get insurance, our hospitals will stop hemorrhaging money, everyone's health care bills will go down, and we will stop dropping like flies from preventable illness.

May 23, 2012

Prince Mittens in the Ivory Tower

Today, the presumptive GOP nominee said that Congress should not do anything to help the plight of working Americans until AFTER he (Romney) is elected. Now, I realize that Mittens and I live in different worlds.

In my world, hard working Americans work two jobs, struggle to take care of elderly relatives and their grown children who can not find work, go without health care, lose their homes, get thrown in jail because they can not pay their bills, go to bed hungry at night.

In Mitten's world, newly weds live off their trust funds. They vacation in Paris, their kids get ponies, and folks only go to bed hungry if they are trying to shed five pounds in order to fit into a Dior gown.

In my world, a pink slip means no food, no utilities, no house, no blood pressure meds.

In Mitten's world, pink slips mean an increase in corporate profit and a rise in the price of the company stock.

In my world, $1750 (the tax increase someone who makes $50,000 a year will see next year if something is not done this year by Congress) will pay for a clunker that a hard working American can use to drive to his two jobs.

In Mitten's world, $1750 will pay for a weekend for two at a nice hotel----

Mittens thinks that Americans should tighten their belts. He thinks they should do without that weekend for two at a nice hotel. Mittens lives in an ivory tower. That's why I have started this thread. I want to tell the story of Prince Mittens, but I need your help. I will post the first paragraph. I hope that some of you who believe in fairies and unicorns and happy endings will help me tell the story so that we can all enjoy a happier, lovelier America, the one you can only view if you live in an ivory tower.

Here goes.

Once upon a time, there was a prince named Mittens. Prince Mittens lived in an ivory tower. The tower was so tall that when he looked out his bedroom window, all he could see were clouds. White, fluffy clouds...