The headline in last Friday’s North County Times read “House votes to spare Pentagon from cuts,” with the subhead, “Lawmakers instead trim from domestic programs.” Just before ripping the paper to pieces and tossing it into the trash compactor, I continued reading the Associated Press story: “Turning their budget knife to domestic programs to protect the Pentagon, House Republicans on Thursday approved legislation cutting food stamps, benefits for federal workers and social services programs such as day care for children and Meals on Wheels for the elderly.”
In the next paragraph, “the U.S. health care system would also be cut … deny illegal immigrants child tax credits they can currently claim … (and) spare the military from a $55 billion, 10 percent automatic budget cut next year.”
I then lit a match, burned the paper and threw the ashes into my Republican neighbor’s back yard – let him clean up the mess.
I can only assume that House Republicans and their austerity-loving constituents have gone completely insane. (Considering what’s happening in Europe these days, they’ve gone blind as well.) Where the hell were they born; what church do they go to; what school; what book did they read that convinced them that building the military-industrial complex is more important than feeding the poor and providing health care and other social services for everyone in the country?
Do guns always trump a helping hand in Republican politics?
I especially like his concern for others and the environment. Hey, instead of ripping on people who are trying to hold together what is left of this country as the spending spree continues ever since TARP 1, why not recycle that newspaper instead of compacting it or burning it. Is it right to trash your neighbor's lawn because you are angry at some Congress members? Is that rational? Is that helping? (Ah, perhaps the author was being figurative for dramatic effect. Doesn't matter, shows us that his mindset is still that someone else should provide, even when he thinks it's okay to waste what he already has. I wonder about the state of his household budget.)
Each $1 billion spent on U.S. infrastructure creates avg 25,000-30,000 jobs. Our construction workers, contractors, suppliers are chomping at the bit to rebuild this nation. Let's put them to work so they can get paychecks and spend some of that money in our small businesses, so small business can hire more employees and those employees can get paychecks and buy more , too. Fact: Our economy is 70% based on consumption. If people aren't working, they can't spend money, and the economy stagnates, and even fewer taxes come in. Your unemployed and under-employed fellow citizens are not deadbeats, losers, sponges, parasites as FoxNews would have you believe. These suffering Americans DO NOT want unemployment checks or food stamps - They Want Jobs! Let's rebuild America, not Afghanistan.
My God, what could we have been thinking!
President Bush started a war on a credit card 11 years ago. We have prescription drug benefits for the seniors that are not paid for. The SEC wasn't looking at what was happening on Wall Street. Democrats were pushing house ownership for people who didn't really deserve and shouldn't be buying houses. At the same time, they were not willing to step up on reforming Medicare and on Medicaid and Social Security. Neither side of the aisle is insane. The party leaders are pushing agendas that results in stalemates and dysfunction. That is insane. Until a functional set of two parties, led by people of character, are in power this disease will continue. And I don't mean picking apart a candidate's personal life. I mean the character of their professional actions. Leaders don’t blame. They propose solutions and act. We need term limits in the house and senate so that real leadership can rise to the top of both parties. Hopefully then the current environment can evolve into one the American people can be proud of. Calling only one party insane in an article only exacerbates the name calling and delays that evolution. It is also ignorant and irresponsible.
"Our" representatives argue day and night over the 2400-page Dodd-Frank legislation (which doesn't work), yet the vast majority, like my opponent D.D. Hunter (R-Pentagon), will not even consider reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, which is 37 pages long, worked for 70 years, and is bulletproof. It would take 5 minutes. Why won't "our" reps in Congress do it. Because they are bought and paid for with millions in bribes from banking and insurance giants. Simple questions for candidates you are considering: Will you ACTIVELY work to reinstate Glass=Steagall? If the person says no, or tries to evade, he/she is a crook. Period. Ask "Will you actively work for term limits for congressmen and senators and impose one on yourself?" If he/she says no or evades, he/she is either out for the money, or is on a personal power trip. Ask, "Do you take (legal) bribes from PACs, lobbyists, corporations, unions, special-interest groups? Contributions over $100? If so, their votes are for sale. I have committed to yes on all three.