Category Archives: Political Rants

Political Rants

Next round.

Sure, I’m surprised that the Affordable Care Act survived this past Thursday. I thought the mainstream media was going to talk it to death, frankly. Talk about wind-ups … by the time 10:00 a.m. rolled around, I was too bleeping sick of the issue to even care, and let me tell you – that’s quite a distance for me. It’s just that the horserace coverage of every political issue gets under my skin in the worst way. The merits of a given issue are never deeply examined; it’s always he said this, she said that. No way to work out which is closer to the truth.

They did this with health care, pretty much all day. After the decision was handed down, NPR had some guy from Cato and a policy wonk from the administration. Basically just put them in a room and watch them spar. Of course, Cato guy is much further to the right than the Obama person is to the left, so it’s kind of a straw man argument at best. How is this news? They pulled the same thing with the “Fast and Furious” faux-scandal. Even though Fortune Magazine blogger Katherine Eban blew a hole in the standard story about this a full day before, NPR, NBC, and other mainstream outlets were still framing the argument the same way – the GOP want documents, Holder and Obama say no. He said, they said.

What about the merits of the Affordable Care Act? I was never a big fan. It is, of course, a conservative idea, like cap and trade – market-based policy designed to head off something saner and more effective. Basically profit insurance in its purest form. Nevertheless, it establishes the concept of national health insurance for the first time, so that’s a minor step forward. The mandate requirement includes a penalty that the Supreme Court has called a tax; there’s a shocker. I wrote about this herein a few times, I think, most recently in March. Arguably any cost the government imposes can be described as a tax. I would go so far as to say that the failure to provide affordable universal coverage is a kind of tax, since everyone ends up paying through the nose as a result of its absence.

The G.O.P. is crowing because it thinks it has a tax issue for the coming election. All I can say is that, for all their bluster, they are responsible for the single largest tax hike I have ever had – their refusal to renew the “Making Work Pay” tax credit cost me $800 last year, as it did millions of other Americans. Where’s your tax issue now, boys?

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Kvetch in haste.

There’s a lot going on these past few weeks, so I just want to touch on a few things and go. Touch and go, that’s right.

Fast and fatuous. Congressman Darrell Issa’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted this week to recommend Attorney General Eric Holder be held in contempt of Congress. That, of course, has been reported by all and sundry. What have only really been visible on Fox News are the positively loony allegations that are behind this push for the contempt citation. Perhaps you’ve heard this – it’s a conspiracy theory that the Obama administration allowed the “Fast and Furious” arm sales to go wrong in the hopes that the resulting increased gun violence in Mexico would prompt a popular movement for gun control back home.

Crazy stuff. Except that it’s being repeated by G.O.P. lawmakers like Rep. John Mica, Trent Franks, Joe Walsh, and Issa himself. Sen. Charles Grassley (a.k.a. Grandma) has alluded to this as well. So…. why is it the mainstream media haven’t pointed out the fact that this goof-ball paranoid yarn is driving this whole effort? I’m no great fan of Holder, but this is ludicrous. Question for the mainstream media: when they start eating dogfood on T.V., will you report on it?

Lovin’ it. Hiring is still down. Millions are still out of work. This is a depression, and Congress is sitting on their hands, hoping it stays bad long enough to elect one of their own president. They are not alone. American business, large and small, could make a difference here, but they are making do with fewer workers. Frankly, they like it like this. What’s not to like? They make their existing work force work harder for the same money or less (greater “productivity”). The presence of a large surplus labor force keeps the employees quiet and cautious, afraid to ask for a raise, better working conditions, etc.  And pappy tax cut gets elected president. Am I wrong? Has anyone out there ever worked for a business? I have, and I can tell you…. if they can get away with fewer people, in my experience, they do just that.

One wishes large businesses, at least, would act for the good of the nation and start hiring people again instead of sitting on their historically enormous cash reserves. But that’s not their mission. Their mission is to maximize shareholder value, workers be damned. So prosperity for them doesn’t mean jobs for us. It means more of the same.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Frackosaurus rex.

Here is the bad news about living in New York State right now: we are standing between what’s perceived to be valuable mineral deposits and some of the richest corporations in the world. That’s never a good place to be.

Ask Iraq. Their abundant oil deposits have brought them nothing but misery, from the moment the West determined that they existed. We (ourselves and, early on, the British) saddled them with repressive regimes, bombed them when they weren’t sufficiently compliant, and generally pressed our advantage as the richest and most militarily powerful nations on Earth. Once the home of some of the Arab world’s most learned people – they used to say that, in the Middle East, books are written in Cairo, published in Beirut, and read in Baghdad – the place is now a basket case, wracked by sectarian strife, its infrastructure still in a shambles, waiting for the next chapter in a seemingly endless chain of misfortune.

Make no mistake – this is not an authorless crime. In Iraq and Saudi Arabia, in the Congo, in Indonesia, and in many, many other places, we have used a heavy hand to maintain effective control over valuable resources. And our extractive industries – oil, gas, mining, etc. – have been an integral part of that process. So just understand, if these companies have an eye on all that shale gas, they will use every means available to get to it. I’m not suggesting military force, but everything short of that. They have deep enough pockets to buy politicians, propagandize on a massive scale, and pay off residents enough to divide communities.

The fact is, you can see them working on public opinion every day of the week, twenty-four hours a day. Just surf around the channels and you’ll see them. I can tell you that on MSNBC, generally considered a liberal network, in between panel discussions more progressive than anything you’ll hear outside of Democracy Now! can be seen pricey and persistent advertising by the oil and natural gas industry trade group, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and others. The trade group ads are targeted directly on hydrofracking, tying shale-gas development to economic growth and prosperity, calling their extractive methods “safe” and pro-fracking policies “smart”, etc. Hammering away, hour after hour, day after day, gradually moving that public opinion needle into positive territory.

This past week, the New York Times reported that governor Andrew Cuomo is considering a plan to allow hydrofracking in southern tier counties, along the Pennsylvania border. If you care about this issue, call Cuomo’s office at 518-474-8390 or “like” his facebook page and leave a message opposing this policy.

Don’t let these buggers make a monkey out of us. That’s what they’re best at.

luv u,

jp