Tag Archives: democrats

Political Rants

Crazytown.

Okay… this really WILL be short takes, because I have zero time to think about this.

Tea Party Rallies. “We want our country back?” Seriously? When did you lose it, exactly? You who appear to be richer, whiter, and more well educated than the rest of us. Last I looked you were doing pretty well. You’ve got a timid Democratic president, a cowardly Democratic congress, and a conservative judiciary. So how does this differ from four years ago when you ran everything? As recently as two years ago, you had a split Senate, the presidency, and a narrow minority in the House. No one has raised your taxes. No one wants your guns. Obama’s going to drill baby drill. W.t.f., come back when you’ve got something to complain about.

Palintology. Speaking of tea parties, Sarah Palin strikes me like some annoying neighbor up the street who has a voice like a grammar school bugle (as well as an upcoming show on Animal Planet that I encourage you to join Defenders of Wildlife in protesting.) I would say she annoys me, but I know that’s the whole point of her – annoying leftists – so I refuse to cooperate. So instead I’ll just say…. HOWDY, NEIGHBOR! Or should I give a nod to Jello Biafra and just say, “SIEG HOWDY!”? 

Help yourself. Looks like ACORN got punked. Big surprise there. A group that works with poor people, helping them register to vote and make ends meet in some of the most impoverished communities in America. What a perfect target for right-wing screwballs! Of course, the famed videos were creatively edited (that jerk-ass pseudo journalist wasn’t wearing his pimp getup and exculpatory footage was deliberately excised). But no matter – success was had, mainly because the useless thing that passes for a party of the left (with a handful of honorable exceptions) would not rise in their defense (since they mostly represent bankers). Lesson: The right wins when the left folds. Want to win? Stop folding.

That’s all I’ve got. I’m freaking tired.

luv u,

jp    

Political Rants

Cave, baby, cave.

This will be a brief one, again. Hands full, head empty. Kind of sleepy, actually, so watch the prose – it may falter badly. No guarantees.

Obama’s plan to open up off-shore drilling along much of our national coastline resembles some of the graphics I’ve been seeing in BP commercials lately. I guess all it takes is a little public diplomacy by the enormous oil and gas industry groups, and this administration will bend back at the knees. No, it’s not the worst possible plan for extraction of fossil fuels, but it is a major wedge in the door towards the same “drill, baby, drill” Obama’s presidential campaign opponent advocated. Can’t believe they won’t pry that door even further open in the near future.

Where are people at on this issue? As mentioned above, they have been bombarded with television ads like no other time I can recall. America’s Oil and Gas Industry, Chevron, BP, and others, all trying to outdo one another with how dedicated they are to creating jobs, saving the environment, finding “solutions”, raising families, promoting public investment …. everything except generating massive profits, which is what they are ACTUALLY doing. I can’t imagine that, with all this promotional bullshit running on every channel, people aren’t getting more cozy with the idea of “drill, baby, drill”.  (Sure, they always mention a full menu of energy options, including renewables, conservation, and others. But you and I both know they’re talking oil and gas.)

The energy sector is putting its unprecedented amounts of cash to good use, I can see. So are many other corporate players – many I’ve never seen do advertising before. The banks, of course, are saving the world, according to their ads. Then you’ve got the defense contractors, like Boeing, waxing poetic on the air. And, strangely, companies like Siemen’s, Cisco, etc., vying for position in the new “clean” energy bonanza, the new network technology frontier. So why is Obama unilaterally disarming on fossil fuels? He doesn’t think he is, that’s why. But in effect, that’s what’s happening.

I don’t know – it’s a zig-zag path between moderate and conservative, as far as I can see, just like Clinton. Just wish the zigs went a little farther. (Wishing won’t do, of course.)

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Health and taxes.

There’s a t.v. ad that runs almost constantly in my area featuring a “regular-guy” type grocery store owner (not many of those left) complaining about the proposed soft drink tax in New York State. At some point in the ad he says, “Taxes never made anyone healthy.” Interesting statement. I guess he’s never heard of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, various Health and Human Services programs, and any number of other government services, from OSHA to the FDA, that in some respect help us stay healthier as a result of tax revenues. Yeah, I know the ad is about a “sin” tax, but you can also see how taxes on cigarettes and alcohol have had a positive effect health-wise. In a sense, it’s just a way of having the price of something reflect the true cost. Sure, we want people to be healthier. But we also want to recover some of the cost of their NOT being healthy, like emergency care costs for people who sugar themselves into heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and the like. Don’t we?

I’ve probably been on this rant before, but this is such a fundamental problem in our society that it cannot be said often enough. Nobody likes paying taxes. Nobody likes taking their medicine, either (well, most people don’t), or eating their oatmeal, or washing behind their ears, or doing their homework, etc. But at some point we must put childish ways behind us (1 Corinthians 13:11 – got your bible right here, kids!) and face up to the simple fact that, yes friends, we get what we pay for… and only that. If we want to have a modern society, we have to pony up some cash to pay for it. I think that should be done in the most equitable way possible – those more able to pay pay more, those less able to pay pay less, those not able to pay pay nothing. The usual method. But taking a “taxation is bad” philosophy to its most absurd extreme is just… well… childish and short-sighted.

And yet the philosophy continues to command respect. Somehow people like Grover Norquist and his ilk are still listened to, still asked for guidance. Meanwhile, the nation’s infrastructure is falling apart, our last major investments (beyond maintenance) in roads, bridges, tunnels, rail lines, etc., now decades old. A stiff wind storm knocks out power to whole states. Instead of investing in the future of this country, we’re putting band-aids over compound fractures. The most striking irony is that these programs are being starved by the kind of deficit hawks who constantly claim that they are doing this for our children and our grandchildren, i.e. not leaving them a huge debt. Fine. There’s a solution. Get people to understand that we need to pay for things, and that civilization is not free. That’s the central point of health reform, lackluster as it may be.

It’s just that we’ve reached the point, particularly in places like California, where people want all these services, but they won’t let their representatives raise the revenues to pay for them. Sorry… that will never work for long.

luv u,

jp