Recipe for Bigotry...

 

 

Unless we Americans are prepared to once again go to war over the bigoted ideology of a very vocal few, we had best hitch up or big-boy pants and re-think a few things.

 

Not since the South was told they would be losing their slaves in the 1860s have we heard such caustic and corrosive comments regarding our president - and our government. 

 

And, it seems everything went to the devil with America about the time President Obama took office.  It reopened old wounds from those who - shall we say - have a strong opinion about the character of African-Americans.  In many cases, it even goes beyond questioning their character and gets to a bottom-feeding frenzy about the necessity of their very existence - especially on election day!

 

If you question the accuracy of these remarks, you just aren't paying close enough attention. No president since Lincoln has suffered the indignities that have been heaped on Obama.  And it would serve no useful purpose to regurgitate every discriminatory, foul-mouthed thing that has been said to date because the offenders want you to think it's really the government they hate.

 

Of course, we know better. 

Those hate-filled remarks about America serve them well as appetizers for their political base, but their real feelings are the hidden hunger for the entrée of racism.

 

 

 

   

 



What are we doing to ourselves?

America's New Symbol?

 

 

A recent team of experts in the fields of financial, political, and governmental affairs of America met to discuss whether we are on a continued course of Democracy or have we allowed ourselves to be led into the frightening den of inequity known as Oligarchy. Their report shows a trend is developing away from our once-proud Democratic ideals.  Money begets more money.  More money begets power.  Power begets control. Control begets a ruling class.  A ruling class begets more money....and on and on.

 

Oligarchy is from two Greek words: Oligos, meaning "few" and Arkho, meaning "to rule or command."

 

This leads us to such famous (or infamous, as most of us prefer) people as Sheldon Adelson, Charles & David Koch, and George Soros.  If you are a little behind on your news reports, these four billionaires have a fond interest in an unusual - and tasteless - sporting diversion that consists of "bagging eager-to-please political candidates who are always in season" and will blindly satisfy their lust for a continued lowering of taxes on the super-rich and wipe out any and all regulations they find harmful to their cause.

 

That's where the "few... ruling or commanding" comes in. We can learn a lot from those Greeks.

 

As long as we, the unwashed and uninformed, keep our heads in the sand and our butts in the air, we will always be easy prey for the bought-and-paid-for politicians. It's always a good time to stop and ask yourself if this kind of governmental thinking is helpful to the low and middle class of America, or is it expressly designed for the rich and super-rich?  Before you mark down your voting preferences, you should give that question a minute or two of serious thought.

 

So, are we heading into an Oligarchy government and away from a Democracy...or have we already arrived? 
 

 

 

 

 

 



"Vulture" Capital



How much money should a billionaire be allowed to spend on the purchase of a political candidate?

 

The odds are five-to-four, the U.S. Supreme Court will tell you, "As much as you want, Bubba!"

 

Money is no longer the root of all evil...it is the whole darn root system, stem, branches, and every damn leaf on the plant. It is the dark and sinister sister of poison ivy.  It invades our neighborhoods, cities, and states.  It thrives on the fertilizer of millionaires and billionaires  and is immune to eradication by all known weed killers.

 

I should point out that I do not believe all super rich people want to buy a politician.  After all, if someone wants a slimy, uneven-tempered varmint, they could adopt a pet snake, for example.

 

I also should point out that I do not believe all politicians are snake-like, either, but I would be hard-pressed to name more than a handful.

 

So, let's try to ignore all of the games being played to buy a politician.  You do understand that we aren't required to vote for the candidates that spend the most money, right?  We don't need to support the puppets dancing from the strings of the rich and infamous. The freedom of choice is just as important as the freedom to vote by secret ballot.

 

When you go into that voting booth, it's just you and no one else telling you how to vote. 

 

Besides...it's ridiculous how over-valued and inflated the prices these politicians are bringing these days.

 

 

 

The Proverbial 'Rat Race'...

 

 

We Americans are a strange breed, aren't we?

 

Whether it be sports, business, or academics, we are an extremely competitive society.  And, as winners, we demand to be generously rewarded either monetarily or with the proper respect.

 

To enter the proverbial rat race at a seemingly earlier age each decade or so, appears to be in our genes.  Some will ignore any and all ethical thought to attain winning status. If that necessitates climbing over our own kind,  so be it.

 

This is America, isn't it?  We are all given equal chances, aren't we?  Each of us can reach for that gold ring if we put our minds to it, can't we?  There is no discrimination that would hold people back, is there?

 

Yes...and No!

 

If each one of us truly looked into our own hearts, we would see that not everyone is equal.  We would see that not everyone is ever going to enjoy the opportunity to reach for that gold ring, and we would know that there is discrimination of race, religion, ethnicity, and gender that is nearly insurmountable.

For a large percentage of Americans, the rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit of what some like to think of as the "American Dream."

Some of us still remember when there was an "American Dream," but it has long-since become the "American Nightmare." There are too many selfish, money-hungry, and status-seeking people in the race.  If you doubt that, take a trip to our nation's capitol and watch politicians (and their staffers) as they operate through the power-hungry money maze. Inquire as to which billionaires paid for those elected offices.  Watch the inner-workings of Wall Street, or large corporations, as they manipulate the "American Dream."

It is possible for America to be competitive without being such rats about it, however.

As gridlock sets in throughout the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, we see that unnecessary and destructive competitive spirit start to break down and political retirements abound.

And then comes the proverbial conclusion...

"rats abandoning the sinking ship."   





The Tea Party Trouble-Maker

 

It is common knowledge that Congressman Steve Daines (R-MT) has a voting record that is so far to the Right that he can't even walk in an upright straight line. An analysis was done by Dr. David Parker, professor of political science at MSU comparing Daines to every Montana representative for the last 33 Congressional Sessions, going back to Mike Mansfield.  He overshadows all others by a country mile.

 

Mr. Steve "Tea Party Time" Daines is running his campaign cloaked as a political moderate, but nothing could be further from the truth.  His voting record in the U.S. House is so far to the Right it compares with those good ol' Tea Party boys from the South!

When the House was considering a vote to either repeal "Obamacare" (51 times) or carry out a threat to shut down our government, Daines insisted the Speaker carry out the threat.   That government shut down tantrum cost the nation - and Montana - millions of dollars.

Further scrutiny of the Daines dysfunctional voting mentality includes: giving tax breaks to millionaires while cutting food to our working poor;  killing unemployment insurance for our jobless;  giving our timber companies carte blanche on Montana's forests, voting to undercut the rights of women on a variety of issues;  and standing in the way of restoring benefits to Montana's veterans are just a few of his vices.

His out-of-state Tea Party money managers are, of course, selling our congressman to Montana Voters as a very upstanding Montana fellow who has only the middle class and poor at heart.  Don't believe a word of it!

When it walks like a Tea Party Nut, and talks like a Tea Party Nut....you can bet your bottom dollar...

it's a bona fide Tea Party Wing-Nut!

   

While you were sleeping, America...

If this doesn't bring you out of a sound sleep, America...nothing will.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court decided that corporations are people about a year ago.  This year they made another big mistake.  They have - in all of their Conservative brilliance - decided that money is people, too!

 

The rich, super-rich, and mega-rich are now free to step up to the bidding counter and select any political candidate who will fulfill their heart's desires.  No Liberals or Independents need apply, thank you.

 

We are watching the highest court in the land hand over the reins of America to the Right-Wing's choice of rulers.  You no longer need to count votes to see who the winners will be.  You simply need to pay attention to a time-tested system of investigation know as "Follow the Money."

 

When did so many Americans decide to hand over power to the rich?  Why do they insist on sitting on their big, fat complacencies and practice the art of acquiescence to the rich, hoping they will be taken care of in their dreams of fancy?

 

Everyone should know by now that the only people they aim to take care of is themselves!

 

America, wherefore art thou?

 

Cuts to the Poor and Working Class...

 

 

Former Vice-Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan (R-WI) came up with a humdinger of a House GOP budget proposal for America.

 

It will cut FIVE TRILLION from our budget in the next TEN YEARS!

 

We know Sen. Ryan fancies himself the financial consultant to the gods, but he's talkin' some real serious money here. 

You'd have to ask yourself, who wouldn't like to see cuts in our debt by that much?  Well, I'd have to say just about everybody in America would answer that question with a resounding, "NOBODY!"

You see, good ol' Paul Ryan's budget does a few really nasty things:  Cut the Food Stamp Program; Government Paid Health Care for the poor and working class; Cut Pell Grants for low-income students; Eliminate Pensions for Federal Workers; Reprise a voucher-like Medicare Program; No Funding for PBS; No funding for the Arts and Humanities; and, of course, screwing around with Social Security, Medicaid, and any other program that appears to benefit the poor and working class of America.

And, in case you were wondering...yes, the congressman says it will be necessary to repeal "Obamacare." 

Strangely enough, not one word in there about taking the tax rate on the nations super-rich back to where it was before President George W. Bush gave them a nice tax cut present that they've enjoyed since 2001.  There is, however, a tax CUT on the richest 1% of us. But it will, as I'm sure you're all aware, trickle down to the rest of us...some day..maybe.

Congressman Ryan has no illusions that this budget - and I use the term loosely - will ever be passed.  Democrats hate it, most of his fellow Republicans don't like it, and I would bet my next Social Security Check that even old Lyin' Ryan doesn't like it all that much.

But, it just might gain him a few votes...

...from his close friends and relatives, that is.


  

 

 

 

What a tangled web they weave...

 

 

This should be a short primer on how not to plan an election.  It is, nevertheless, being used by countless Conservative Tea Party Republicans with the hope that it will prove successful at the nation's ballot boxes.

Those poor souls put all of their eggs into one basket - namely the Affordable Care Act - hoping for a national uproar against it.  First, they came up with the scurrilous nickname of "Obamacare" to make sure that anyone who is opposed to our president will automatically be opposed to the ACA. They are convinced that with enough loud and crude talking points, Americans will light torches, take up pitchforks, and storm the ballot boxes in angry protests, thereby assuring GOP victories in November races.

Secondly, they have already voted fifty-one times in the U.S. House, trying to repeal the act that was passed by the House and Senate and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. All fifty-one votes went down in flaming defeats. It isn't, of course, how many times they lost - it's the aggravation and torment they cause that they purely relish the most.

Their ultimate goal is to convince voters to leave the U.S. House in the hands of the GOP, turn over control of the U.S. Senate to the Republicans, and put a Right-Winger in the Oval Office.  And then, as a coup de grace, repeal that terrible "Obamacare" out of existence. Something that good for that many Americans just cannot be tolerated. It just isn't the Republican way.

The trouble with this plan, however, is that more than seven million Americans have signed up for the ACA.  How they, and other Americans, will vote in November is unknown at this time, but I think it's safe to say GOP candidates may be on a little shaky ground if they were counting on the failure of "Obamacare" to sweep them into office.

And for our Montana friend, U.S. Senate Candidate Steve Daines, who has been most critical of the ACA...well, his ground is absolute quicksand, anyway!

Oh what tangled webs they weave,

 when first they practice to deceive.

 

 



It's not over 'til the Fat Head sings...

 

 

Good ol' wrong-headed Cong. Steve Daines had a column in the Great Falls Tribune this morning, ranting about how "Obamacare" needs to be repealed.  While more than six million have already signed up for health insurance coverage and hundreds of thousands standing in line on deadline day, he thinks it would be nice to jerk the rug out from under them. His rant would have made for a good April Fools joke except there was no "April Fool" at the end of it!

There are two major ways to wage an egg-throwing war against someone or something.  If you have all of the right answers on your side, your opponent will end up covered in egg shells, egg yolk, and egg white.  But if you are wrong...well, ask Daines what that stuff is on his face.
 

The Republicans, Tea Party Members, and - most of all - FOX News took a gamble that they could bring down the Affordable Care Act by convincing the American People "Obamacare" was a very bad idea.  The GOP leadership in the U.S. House took more than 50 votes to repeal it - all unsuccessfully. Leading congressional members of the GOP, along with State Governors and others, made fools of themselves by declaring "Obamacare" dead.  However, as Mark Twain once cleverly stated, "my obituary in today's newspaper is greatly exaggerated." 

It was amusing to find a chart displayed on FOX News yesterday that greatly skewed the difference between a goal of 7 million sign-ups and the 6 million to-date sign-ups. But then, they know FOX viewers can be easily fooled.


This is how FOX displayed the difference between 6 million and 7 million

This is how the difference between 6 million and 7 million should have been displayed

(Graphics from Rachel Maddow Blog)

 

Yesterday was the deadline for people to sign up for the ACA and the day started with a computer glitch.  It was shortly fixed and sign-ups came pouring in.  Is it an excellent health care reform law?  Of course not, and we have been told all along that tweaks and primping will be needed - as all huge endeavors such as this have needed in the past.  (Such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.)

 

Why did FOX and top Republican leaders fight so hard to kill the ACA?  Politics, my friends.  Politics!  And if I have to explain that to you, you have been guzzling too much Kool-Aid at the GOP drinking trough.

U.S. Senate candidate Steve Daines ended his column in the Tribune this morning by saying, "It's time to cut the line (on "Obamacare") and tie on a new fly."

Cute.  Of course, that's just one more of the worn-out Tea Party talking points.