More Equal Citizens

Some citizens are more equal than others. This complaint is not really about wealth, at least not on my part. I do not begrudge a person his or her wealth. Hillary Clinton can charge as much as the market will bear. Sage though she may be, what she has to say is not a vital service or commodity like food, shelter, energy, or health care. It causes no harm at all if people and institutions book another speaker because they are not willing to pay what Hillary demands. If Hillary were a white, male, Republican, Republicans would be praising her business acumen. Furthermore, they would tell the complaining students at UNLV to blame the person who agreed to Hillary’s fee rather than blaming Hillary. Knowing Republicans, they would also call those students freeloaders for wanting the things they say the college could pay for were it not for Hillary’s exorbitant speaking fee.

When I say some people are more equal than others what I am complaining about is the concentration of wealth and power the oligopoly is achieving by taking unfair advantage of the rest of us, thereby making it increasingly difficult for the average person to obtain vital services and commodities such as food, shelter, energy, and a quality education for their children. The oligopoly’s averous and lust for power knows no bounds. It is not just the wealth and resources of this country that are being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands; it is also the political and legal power. The Supreme Injustices of our highest court are aiding and abetting this unconscionable grab for economic, political, and legal power, and are depriving us of our influence over our government and our right to seek legal remedies for damages that may be caused by corporations. Steven Rosenfeld @ AtlerNet.org presents some of the recent decisions that show just how willing this court is to destroy our legal protections from corporate neglegence and corporate missdeeds.  Click here!  This is scary!

Overheard At The ER

My bowels are acting like Republican Congressmen.  I have to fight like hell to get them to pass anything, and then what they pass is shit!

Cantor Canned

Eric Cantor was canned.  He was fired.  He was sent packing.  Or to put it in political terms, he was turned out of office.  His election was supposed to be a no doubter.  Eric Cantor was supposed to be a shoe in.  The few voters who bothered to show up gave him the boot instead.  I am still laughing.  He really had this coming!  He is a demagogue whose ambitions made him all too eager to use the ignorance and paranoia of the extreme right wing to obstruct any constructive effort to get things done; thereby making John Boehner the most ineffective Speaker of the House ever.  Now the table was turned on Mr. Cantor.  He was attacked from the right.  He depended on the support of people who have such a dark view of the world that they can never be satisfied, and the ones that voted rejected him for not being destructive enough to suit their apocalyptic fantasies.  As frightening as that thought may be, I still enjoy the irony.

I am also laughing over the antics of the news media.  It loves Eric Cantor’s political pratfall.  Drama draws the rubes to the pitchmen, and it is really dramatic when a leader in Congress, with all the power his seniority gives him, is upset by a virtual unknown in a primary election.  So crank up the drama!  Gotta sell that soap, don’t you know?  Yell at the top of your lungs: “BE AFRAID!  Be very, very afraid!  The voters are mad as hell, and they aren’t going to take it anymore.  It is only the angry people who vote, and nothing makes the right wingers angrier than ‘amnesty for illegal immigrants.’  Ergo, Eric Cantor must have made the mistake of supporting something reasonable in regard to immigration.”  There is, however, no conclusive evidence to support that explanation.  The operative word is “conclusive,” because the number of issues and other variables make it difficult to determine the relative importance of the factors influencing the results of this election.

What we can prove is that the turnout for the election was very light, and that Eric Cantor kept his distance, depending on advertisements rather than getting out there and pressing the flesh.  We also know that he was downwind from the right wing flatulence infesting the air waves, and that his opponent bashed him on economic issues as well as immigration.  As far as I am concerned, Mr. Cantor’s opponent, David Brat, did the impossible.  By comparison, he made Mr. Cantor’s positions on immigration and the economic issues seem almost reasonable.  If Professor Brat succeeds Mr. Cantor in Congress, the only winners will be the kids who escaped the alleged economics classes presided over by a delusional twit who thinks congress should have tanked the economy of the world by preventing the United States from honoring its debts!

Muck It Out!

If you are too lazy to muck out the barn, don’t complain about the shit!  Most of the states in which Roe v. Wade, birth control, labor unions, Medicaid, the minimum wage, public education and the jobs of middle class workers are facing the greatest peril are controlled by right wing Republicans who gained power during mid-term elections.  It was also during the last mid-term elections that the lunatic right gained control of the House of Representatives.  The result was a government shutdown, a blow to the full faith and credit of the United States, and grid lock.  Now, instead of doing anything constructive, the Republican Representatives in the House while away their time in dangerous but futile attempts to destroy to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, Roe v. Wade, and the graduated income tax.  For some reason the Republicans cannot seem to find the funds to repair or improve our infrastructure, or to increase the number of doctors at VA hospitals, or to provide the security for our embassies and consulates; yet they are squandering vast sums of money on witch hunts designed to justify their cries for the impeachment of President Obama.  If Democrats and independents do not turnout for the upcoming mid-term elections, the Republicans will gain control of the Senate, thereby making it possible for them to impeach and convict a duly elected President on grounds that are spurious at best.  This is no idle threat!  The right wing is too vicious and stupid to think about the precedent they would set or how it might bite them in the future.

In almost all respects, the Republicans are proving to be far too dangerous and destructive.  They are out of touch with this century and the needs of the majority of our citizens.  The only way they can win is if their efforts to suppress the vote and your laziness keep you from voting.  Jump through whatever hoops you have to jump through to get registered.  Fight for your rights as a citizen.  November 4, 2014 is the date of the election.  Mark that date on your calendar, and vote to remove the toxic, right wing crap that threatens that great engine of prosperity we call the “middle class.”