See? You Piss Off The Billionaires And Bad Stuff Happens To You

So...good bye to Joe and hello to Kamala.

The reality of our politics at this particular moment is that MONEY is much more important than mere competence. In fact, money is much more important than ANYTHING.

This probably wasn't what the Founders had in mind, but Citizens United has made it the one constancy in American politics.

You need a lot of dough to run for, well, anything.

And who has a lot of dough? Billionaires have a lot of dough.

Sure, those 5 and 10 dollar donations from "the little people'" are cute. Touching even. But come on!

So the question is "how do you appeal to billionaires?"

Why, you promise them that you'll cut their already relatively insignificant taxes.

It's just that easy! 

On the other hand, if you talk about raising their taxes, if you fund the IRS to look for wealthy tax cheats, if you encourage strong unions, if you hint that maybe the welfare of the rest of our citizens is more important than the welfare of the Forbes 500, then the billionaire class gets a sad. A BIG SAD.

It certainly isn't a coincidence that almost all of our major media corporations are controlled by very wealthy Trump supporters. If that isn't obvious after the constant harping on President Biden's age, and his "disastrous" debate showing, and his various verbal stumbles, coupled with their complete avoidance of Trump's descent into something that looks very much like dementia and a serious discussion of ALL of his crimes, foreign and domestic, then you really should start to pay a little attention as our democracy slowly slips away.

Throw in those Silicon Valley Libertarian Bros and their ridiculous belief that they are all self made men who benefited not at all from any government help, and you have a recipe for the mess we find ourselves in.

Here's the deal: if the billionaires get their wish, which is quite apparently another Trump administration, all the bad that will happen to the rest of us Will Not Affect Them In The Least. They don't need Social Security, they don't need Medicare/Medicaid, their wives, daughters, girlfriends, and mistresses will still have access to abortions and birth control, the water and air they use will still be clean, they secretly (sometimes not so secretly) admire dictators, so they're cool with whatever Putin does, a competent federal government only gets in their way, so the less of that the better, and perhaps most importantly, the supply of cheap, desperate labor will be greatly increased.

In November vote like your life depends on it. Because it may.

Let 'Em Die

So now, after all these years, we finally get to see what the Republican version of healthcare, let's call it Trump(Doesn't)Care, looks like:

If you're rich, here's some more! Big surprise there.

If you're middle class, thanks for your vote, but you're more or less on your own. Good luck!

And if you're poor, well, if you get sick, better find some money from somewhere, or better still, just die quickly.

Tired of winning yet?

It's always a treat to watch billionaires and millionaires take things away from poor people.

Education, health care, a living wage, safe workplaces, primacy over your body, clean air and water--whatever.

Most of the people who do this are proud to identify as "Christians."

That's really very funny when you stop to think about it.

Pigs Fly

We've all witnessed this at some time in our lives.

Guy is in a bar, or at work, or some family thing.

Guy is being a boorish, loud, ass-clown.

Just when you think he can't get any worse...he gets worse.

Saying and doing stupid, repulsive, outlandish stuff.

Crazy stuff.

Then...he goes just a little too far...

It gets real quiet. And suddenly, the ass-clown realizes, if only briefly, what he's doing.

And he stops. He may even reverse his course, at least momentarily. Might even apologize. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Now, he's still an ass-clown at heart. And he always will be.

But, just for an instant, he did or said the right thing.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Arizona State Legislature and their abrupt change of course regarding KidsCare.

Wonder of wonders, they did the right thing!!!!!

And all it took was the loud disgust of, well, practically everyone else in the state.

Not to worry though. They will soon be back to their usual business of fucking over students, the poor, and minorities.

Because while pigs may sometimes fly, they're still pigs.

A Nation Of Imbeciles

What does it say about a political party that can only consistently win elections when they lie and cheat?

What does it say about the future of a country that there are large numbers of people willing to vote for the liars and cheaters?

What does it say about the mainstream media of a country that bends over backward to find ways around reporting about the lying and cheating?

What does it say about a nation's highest court that equates money with speech and therefore allows the out of state money of a few billionaires to overwhelm the money of an entire state's citizens in local elections?

When I was younger, and I guess more compassionate, I probably would have said about all those coal miners who vote Republican, "well, you know, they're afraid about their jobs and not well educated, and that's all they know, so..." But I'm older, and I don't have as much patience, so what I say now is "fuck you. I hope you die of black lung, without any healthcare--which is what you voted for after all--in a sad little shack. Maybe the coal company will send a nice floral arrangement to your funeral. Won't you ever understand that you are completely expendable?"

And to all those old people, dependent on Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, who consistently vote against the party that gave them Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, "please do us all a favor and die soon."

And to those Latino-Americans who don't bother to vote at all, "I hope you get stopped by the cops every time you leave the house and asked for I.D. And that your kids always go to substandard schools, too. That's what comes from not voting."

And to those young people who also don't bother to vote, "enjoy paying off your student debt at a minimum wage job. That is, if there still is a minimum wage. But hey, maybe the Republicans can reinstate the draft, so you won't have to worry about that debt after all! Have a nice time in Syria, or Iraq, or Iran, or the Ukraine, or wherever. Oh, and thank you for your service."

In some alternative universe I suppose it makes perfect sense that the majority party of a Congress with an approval rating of 13% gets rewarded with more seats.

That's where we are now.

In a democracy you get the kind of government you deserve.

And therefore it logically follows that a nation of imbeciles deserves to be governed by imbeciles.

Trent Franks, Defender of the Unborn

Is anyone surprised that Trent Franks said something stupid again? Didn't think so.

Take a good close look at Franks, yet another of Arizona's illustrious Congressmen.

Would you say he's one or two chromosomes shy of completeness? Yep.

Franks keeps getting re-elected for one reason and one reason only: his district includes all of the dried up douche bags, male and female, in Sun City.

These are people who haven't been fertile since the Truman administration. Yet they get all worked up over "the rights of the unborn".

The operative theory goes something like this: Fetuses have rights, old people have rights, everybody else who isn't rich and white can suck it.

And Trent Franks, who isn't as dumb as he looks (it's close though), knows how to pander to their fears with the usual litany of right wing paranoia: immigration, the black man in "our" White House, etc.

Normally, these are the "get the government off our backs!" crowd.  Why won't they just leave us alone!

Except when it comes to a woman's right to control her own reproductive system. Then the government should jump in with both jackbooted feet and punish the bitches!

These folks rely on government assistance of all kinds--but they hate the Federal government with a passion.

Oh, those meddlesome Feds, with their hot lunch programs, and Head Start, and public education, and welfare, and regulations, and taxes! Oh, don't get them started on taxes...

Get rid of all that stuff. It's socialism!

But keep your goddamn hands off our Social Security and our Medicare and our Medicaid!

It's cognitive dissonance like this that keeps the Trent Franks of the world in office.

Compassionate Conservatism In A Nutshell

"I'm not concerned about the very poor..."

--Willard Mitt Romney, presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, 2012

Romney went on to explain that the poor have a"safety net" to protect them...

Uh, hey Mitt, would that be the same "safety net" that Republicans spend their every waking hour trying to dismantle?

You know, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and all of those other "socialist" programs.

Shared responsibility?

Tonight President Obama will address the nation regarding our next budget, the debt ceiling and deficit reduction. Many are calling this the most important speech in his Presidency thus far. This I believe to be true, although for a different reason than many people think.

The GOP has gone back to its tried-and-true playbook regarding the budget. Push the discussion so far to the right that what now looks like the center is actually far to the right of where any previous discussion has been. The Ryan plan, touted by so many Republicans and beltway pundits as brave, serious, etc., is so far to the right that it stands virtually no chance of being passed. Even the Republicans aren't stupid enough to destroy Medicare -- Medicaid, possibly, but not Medicare. By pushing the debate so far to the right with the budget though, they've made the Simpson-Bowles proposition (the catfood commission budget) look as if it's in the center. Guess what -- it's not, not by a long shot.

The President is expected tonight to endorse most of the S-B budget recommendations. If you remember, this was the proposal introduced last November that raised the eyebrows of progressives with its draconian cuts. These recommendations include gutting our social safety net, reducing spending on education, clean air, and global warming reduction programs, cutting the number of federal workers, and increasing the amount veterans must pay for participating in veterans and military healthcare systems.

On the good side, the S-B proposal sent Rush Limbaugh into apoplexy. You see, the proposal also calls for reducing defense and foreign policy spending, although not nearly to the degree that these need to be cut. It calls for tax increases, but most of the increases will fall on the poor and middle class. The top 1%? Not so much.

Tonight our Democratic President is expected to begin the process of destroying that which has been painstakingly built by Democratic Presidents and Congresses going back to FDR. He will call for the expiration of the Bush tax cuts (which would almost single-handedly fix our economic problem, by the way), but you know as well as I do that we won't really hear much more about that.

The response that the President will get from me is this: if his budget begins to destroy SS, Medicare, Medicaid, education, etc. and doesn't include significant tax increases on the top 2% of Americans then he can immediately remove me from his mailing and email lists. I will never again donate a penny of my money or a second of my time to support him for reelection -- instead, I will join other progressives around the country to find someone somewhere who will actually work for the majority of Americans rather than paying them lip service while continuing to service the wants of the wealthy. To be sure, I'm not optimistic about finding such a candidate -- but I would rather go down fighting with my principles intact than just roll over again claiming in victory in what is obviously defeat.

In a somewhat related note, I'm proud to know that it is now official that what is said on the floor of the Senate no longer needs to have any basis in reality, and the great state of Arizona is responsible for this. Thank you Jon Kyl!