Thanks for the Clarification, Congressman Boehn-head

The United States of America is in the grips of one of the worst economic collapses in its history. Nobody seems to know precisely what to do to right the ship, except of course, House republicans who insist we do more of the same…the same things that brought us to this precipice in the first place. More tax cuts, more tax cuts, more tax cuts …but…We’ve been cutting taxes for 30 years and look what it got us, a mountain of debt and a collapsed economy!

Dr. Phil has a saying….“so, how’s it been working out for you?” When dealing with a “patient” that keeps repeating the same bad behavior, the good “doctor” emphasizes results and often asks: “based on results, how is it working for you?” Pose that question to the American people, in regards to the economy, and you’re likely to hear, “not so good!” Based on results, it seems that the unregulated, free-market, “honor-based” Ponzi scheme republicans call an “economic theory” is a complete and utter failure.

One would think that republicans would express a little mea culpa, or at least be embarrassed enough to just shut up for a while. One would think that this would be especially true for those who admit that liberal policies have been off the table for a very long time.

One would be wrong. Republicans aren’t that introspective…in fact, it would be more likely to see George W. Bush win the Nobel Peace Prize than it would be to run into an introspective republican in Washington D.C. House Minority Leader, John Boehner, the most powerful republican in the House of Representatives, confirmed this observation when he spoke with Larry Kudlow on CNBC about the “democratic” stimulus plan. After pointing out that liberal policies have largely been absent leading up to the collapse of American markets, Boehner insisted that the direction in which the republicans want to steer the country is down the same road that put us in the ditch.

Boehner first explained his in-dept knowledge of the bill by stating that he had “looked over the bill over lunch.” After committing an entire hour to the exhaustive analysis of the roughly 650-page bill, Boehner offered his carefully considered opinion:

“And just the outline of the bill, [t]here is over a half of a trillion dollars worth of spending on liberal Democrat ideas that have been stuck in the back of a file cabinet for the last 14 years.”

Thanks for the clarification congressman…liberal ideas have not been on the table for 14 years (actually, it’s closer to 28 years…but who’s counting?).

“You know it’s just more money for government, whether it’s Community Development Block Grants and Community Services Block Grants and $6 billion for community action programs. This is not going to stimulate the economy, or create jobs, or preserve jobs.”

That’s right, poo poo the liberal approach of stimulating the economy from the bottom up, since the conservative top-down model has worked out so beautifully!

“We’re also probably going to have an alternative [republican stimulus package] that really will re-invest in our economy, and give people reasons to re-invest in our economy, incentives to invest.”

Incentives to invest…translation…more tax breaks for the wealthy. More tax breaks, more tax breaks…every time a camera turns on in Washington DC, there’s a good chance that John Boehner is standing in front of it calling for “more tax breaks.”

Hey republicans…Got any new ideas?

Democrats do. Build stuff, fix stuff and help the little guy. Building and fixing stuff creates jobs, which immediately stimulates the economy and, if focused on infrastructure, offers the additional benefit of laying the foundation to a prosperous future. Furthermore, helping the little guys and gals is hyper-stimulative, because poor people won’t invest in the future, they’ll spend in the present.

Millions of people did not benefit from the reverse-Robin-Hood policy known as “supply-side-economics,” and they need stuff! The average worker’s purchasing power has declined steadily over the past eight years. Their incomes simply have not kept up with rising costs. After years and years of cutting back on essentials, they would likely put every extra penny they receive back into the economy immediately.

(Contrast that with the tax breaks given to corporations…as an “incentive” to hire more workers. Instead of behaving like responsible business leaders, top-level managers seemed to simply move the multi-million dollar figure from the “tax due” column to the “profits” column and declared themselves “prophets” of industry because they increased profits so profoundly! Huge profits = huge bonuses!…and voila, the highest paid strata got very rich while the working class saw wage and/or benefits reductions, or simply waved bye-bye to their jobs as they were shipped overseas.)

There’s even a chance we can stimulate the economy in the short term and also manage our long-term wealth a little more efficiently. It is exponentially more expensive to clean up and rebuild after the devastating effects of infrastructure failure than it is to build and maintain it properly (compared to the after-effects of Katrina, re-building the levies ahead of time would have been relatively cheap). Infrastructure is America’s lifeline… the vascular system of industry and our communities. We don’t have a choice, we will repair and rebuild our infrastructure eventually, the question is: will we do it more cheaply before a disaster destroys lives and property, or will we spend much, much more to do it after we count the bodies?”

Our schools are crumbling, our bridges are collapsing, levies are failing on a regular basis, the transportation system is a mess and our energy infrastructure is archaic. If the concept that a society operates more efficiency when it maintains its infrastructure is some crazy liberal idea, then it’s about time we try some crazy ideas. And, yes, schools and healthcare are part of infrastructure…a healthy and educated populace is critically important to any nation’s ability to maintain financial and military strength.

Listening to obstructionist republicans who criticize every “liberal” proposal, i.e., policies aimed at helping the working class, is a paradoxical experience; it causes waves of hysterical laughter among reasonable thinkers, while, at the same time, makes them to want to throw their shoes at something.

Republicans had their chance and they screwed it up. Thirty years of the “take from the poor and give to the rich,” Hood-Robin policy so revered by conservatives has collapsed the middle class. In doing so, the pain has trickled up through the entire system - a phenomena that liberals predicted when the Reagan Administration outlined the insane “economic model” in the 1980’s.

Now it’s time for the culprits to admit defeat. It’s time for the fools who drove the economy into the Grand Canyon of ditches to let someone else steer for a while. And unless they agree with their leader, Rush Limbaugh - the so-called “patriot” that wants our president to fail, republicans really need to just shut up for a while!

An Email to Sharron

Note to readers: I received the following instruction from a friend whom I emailed shortly after the innaguration of President Barak Obama. "You should copy your email to me onto your blog! Once again, it is right on and I just think other people should be reading this stuff besides me."

Sharron, you've been an inspiration to me...I'm happy to comply!




Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey...GOODBYE!!

Thank the lord and praise jesus...the wicked administration is dead!!!!! And the question is: Which ones will go to jail. Many, I hope!

I was a total mess on Tuesday...in a good way. Watched a lot of TV and found myself emotional many times. After so many disappointments with election results, so much frustration with the band-aid approach to governing, I am thrilled to hear the arguments that have evaded public discourse since...well, pretty much my entire adult life. After decades of juvenile antics and "one side against the other politics," I am truly moved when I hear emotionally-mature adults presenting reasonable and fairness-based approaches to solving the problems that America faces.

Let's just hope that the toothless ignorants (you know, the people who adore Ann Coulter and Rush the Pill-popper) remain locked-up in their trailers long enough to allow the new administration to help them out...educate their children, perhaps?

I heard one quick newsflash that Obama immediately overturned "Don't ask, Don't tell," thusly allowing gays to serve openly in the military. But, I haven't seen much TV (aside from Tuesday's coverage) for the past week, so I don't know if there is any truth to the rumor. Given that the streets are clear of drably-clad men and women wielding pitchforks and torches, my guess is that the story was just a hopeful rumor. Have you heard anything? Interestingly, this was precisely issue that tapped the first nail in the coffin of the Clinton presidency. The minute he instituted the controversial edict, the neocons "reared their Putin-like heads" (yes, that's a slam on Granny Palin) and began the witch hunt that dogged Bill throughout his 2 terms.

I hope it's true, but it would surprise me if he did it so quickly, given that he is working so hard to reason with the unreasonable. He seems to be trying very hard not to piss off the backwoods hicks of the nation, an act of futility, in my opinion, because those people will never embrace the true ideals of this country, i.e., freedom and equality FOR ALL They're way too married to a certain, narrow interpretation of the Bible. I say...Give em Alaska!

Letter to John McCain

Dear John,

It breaks my heart to tell you this, but, I’m afraid that it's over between us. Please don’t be too sad, it’s really for the best. Something’s changed, you’ve changed, and we just don’t have anything in common anymore. I can only hope that, in the end, I’ll remember you for your positive attributes rather than the nasty ones that are so fresh in my mind.

I’ll never forget the John I once respected...those steely eyes, that bold independence, your maverickeyness...and the way you drew me in close and whispered “country first,” just took my breath away. You were a hero, a partner in patriotism. I miss you already!

Actually, I’ve been missing you for months, years perhaps. I can’t pinpoint exactly when it happened, but somewhere along the way you changed. Though the shift began years ago, the metamorphosis was complete only recently...and now, it’s like I don’t even know you anymore!

All of a sudden, “Mr. Independent” morphed into “Mr. Anything to Win”...which transformed “Mr. Patriot” into “Mr. The Ends Justify the Means,” and that guy has, apparently, ceded his independence to the higher powers of “the party,” a group notorious for pitting Americans against their fellow Americans as a means to gluttonous personal gains.

The man they have turned you into is not the man I once admired. The John I fell for was a principled man who stood up for what he believed was right. The John I respected was a patriot and would never have accepted the type of gutter politics that aims to destroy the social fabric of his beloved America...my beloved America.

It just doesn’t seem like you to embrace a campaign of fear and hate and the fact that you have is very disappointing! You have painted your opponent as an Anti-American, terrorist-sympathizing, Commie socialist who wants to destroy this country, while knowing full well that it isn’t true. Shame on you! Worse yet, you have remained quiet when the mere mention of his name engenders shouts from the crowd of “kill him” and “terrorist.” At a time when unity and national pride is so critically important, silence is the least patriotic response of all.

At the end of this campaign you will return to a comfortable life and your independent ways, but the fear and division that your campaign has incited in some of your followers will stay with them. You know, it only takes one trigger-happy nut to do the unthinkable and unless you, as the current leader of your party, do something to squelch the anger and hatred that your ill-conceived tactics have fomented, you, sir, will share some responsibility if President Obama meets the same fate as JFK.

I therefore implore you, my dear John, to do the right thing and stop the madness. Stop the name calling and help heal this fractured nation. Start acting like the patriot I know you to be.

“Country first,” you say...well, my friend, it’s time to put country before “self.”

You say you want to change “politics as usual.” Then do it! Stand before the American people and denounce the forces that are tearing apart our exquisite democracy and weakening our mighty nation. Apologize for the fear and division you have inspired. Calm the crazies whom you have motivated to violence with the trash talking.

Setting the record straight, i.e., that Obama is not some scary “other” that must be feared, might even help you salvage your reputation. Don’t forget, your legacy is on the line here.

Before you jumped on the Rovian Way and allowed your bid for the highest office in the land to devolve into slanderous innuendo and incendiary rhetoric, you would have been remembered as an American Hero and as a well-respected U.S. Senator. There would be a list of your bi-partisan accomplishments and photos of a courageous young soldier, the POW who survived the horrors of a 5-year nightmare in the Hanoi Hilton. Instead, those honors will be the footnote, and you will be remembered as the presidential candidate who, in his desperation, abandoned everything he believed to be good and right about America, and ran a campaign that appealed to the basest fears of his constituents. You will be remembered as a man who, in the end, did not put his country first.

And that, too, is a crying shame.

Formerly yours,

Jane Q. Patriot