Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

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Welfare Mama, My A$$

One of the reoccurring themes when I talk to my fellow citizens on the right of the political spectrum is freeloaders.  They seem utterly outraged and maybe terrified that someone might be getting something with their tax money.  I keep hearing stories about the welfare mama driving a Cadillac.  Another favorite story is the teenage bimbo driving a hot car, living with her boyfriend, and paying for cigarettes with food stamps.  Then we have malingers collecting workers comp for a fake injury.  The stories go on and on.

I have no doubt that there are cases like the above.  I spent an afternoon a while back Googling for statistics on this type of fraud or abuse of the system.  I did not have a lot of luck finding any numbers.   My gut feeling is that the dollars pale in comparison to the real welfare cheats, doctors, lawyers, hospitals, and corporations.

A while back I worked for a large corporation involved in the care of the elderly.  Their standard business practice was to bill Medicare for every possible thing.  Apparently they were a little too zealous about it.  The government pushed back at them and they had to pay back a rather large sum of money (in the millions).  If memory serves there was also a fine involved, but I am not entirely sure on that part.

A news story just broke, 91 charged in Medicare fraud crackdown.  They have just arrested 91 individuals, including doctors and other medical professionals.  They are claiming $295 million in false billings.  Continue reading “Welfare Mama, My A$$”

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Disillusioned Republican laying it out

I am disillusioned… still

Our government/legislative process has been hijacked by nut cases and our Maginot Line of defense against these fruit cakes is a batch of spineless Democrats.  Mr. Obama apparently has taken Neville Chamberlain as a role model on how to lead a nation. 

Mean time, back at the ranch USA, Snidely Whiplash has kidnapped Nell and Dudley Do-Right has fallen into an inter-galactic black hole.  No serious money is betting on him coming out the other end, and creditors are foreclosing on the ranch.

Below is a quote from the article Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult  by Mike Lofgren at truth-out.org.

“But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP. Continue reading “Disillusioned Republican laying it out”

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Rick Perry’s Giant Sump Pump

I usually do not excerpt the whole article but this is too rich.  Do you think we could get Reich, Krugman and Kristoff to run the government?

Robert Reich

Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, ‘Aftershock’
8/31/11

Of all the nonsense Texas Governor Rick Perry spews about states’ rights and the tenth amendment, his dumbest is the notion that states should go it alone. “We’ve got a great Union,” he said at a Tea Party rally in Austin in April 2009. “There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that.”

The core of his message isn’t outright secession, though. It’s that the locus of governmental action ought to be at the state rather than the federal level. “It is essential to our liberty,” he writes in his book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington, “that we be allowed to live as we see fit through the democratic process at the local and state level.” Continue reading “Rick Perry’s Giant Sump Pump”

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How To Fix America In 126 Super Cute Seconds

From MoveOn.org:

Sign their petition and send Congress and Obama the Betrayer a message.  Here is the link  to A CONTRACT FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM petition.

IMHO… the corporations are effecting a coup d’etat on our government, our way of life, and the future of our children and grandchildren.  We need to take our country back from these greedy SOBs.   The Tea Party is just a tool the Koch Brothers and others of similar ilk.  Why should they be setting the agenda for the majority of us?

A CONTRACT FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM
Americans who are willing to work hard and play by the rules should be able to find a decent job, get a good home in a strong community, retire with dignity and give their kids a better life. Every one of us…has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is our covenant, our compact and our contract with one another…
1. Invest in America’s Infrastructure
2. Create 21st-Century Energy Jobs
3. Invest in Public Education
4. Offer Medicare for All
5. Make Work Pay 6. Secure Social Security
7. Return to Fairer Tax Rates
8. End the Wars and Invest at Home
9. Tax Wall Street Speculation
10. Strengthen Democracy

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New York Times Editioral: What Happened to Obama?

This editioral appeared in the Sunday New York Times.   What Happened to Obama?  I personally think it is a must read if you are wondering what the hell happened to our country and Obama.

The last paragraph of the editorial pretty much sums up the situation for me.

“But the arc of history does not bend toward justice through capitulation cast as compromise. It does not bend when 400 people control more of the wealth than 150 million of their fellow Americans. It does not bend when the average middle-class family has seen its income stagnate over the last 30 years while the richest 1 percent has seen its income rise astronomically. It does not bend when we cut the fixed incomes of our parents and grandparents so hedge fund managers can keep their 15 percent tax rates. It does not bend when only one side in negotiations between workers and their bosses is allowed representation. And it does not bend when, as political scientists have shown, it is not public opinion but the opinions of the wealthy that predict the votes of the Senate. The arc of history can bend only so far before it breaks. ”  

I was rooting for Hillary from the git-go of Bush’s first term.  The woman has her issues (Bill?), but she knows the ropes, has the respect of her peers or least as much as you can in Washington.  And she is tough as nails.  I truly believe she has the good of little people in mind.

In part I blame the election of Obama on Oprah.  She spent years with every woman in America hanging onto her utterances.   However, when it came down to it, she chose race over gender.  Which is particularly sad considering how inexperienced Obama was and how experienced Hillary is.   But I also think that the corporate powers that really rule this country do not want competent leadership in Washington.  If that happens they might not be able run roughshod over the rest of us.

Deep sigh.

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America – The Dysfunctional Family: Time for Some Tough Love

Most of us have a family member who is dysfunctional either from drugs, alcohol, mental illness, or any number of other possible things.  They seem to take up more of the family’s time, resources and energy than is their due.  We all have been in a situation where a family member, friend, coworker, or stranger thought they should get more than their fair share of… you name it.  Neither is right.

The analogy I wish to draw is this.  The NRA(National Rifle Association),  The Tea Party, the Anti-Choicers ,  the Religious Right, Rush Limbaugh, Ted Nugent and many others groups are not in sync with the majority of the American population.  Yet they seem to be setting the agenda for many things as they are funding politicians and can mobilize a block of voters.  Poll after poll has demonstrated that their beliefs and goals are not really that of mainstream, middle of the road Americans.

The other analogy that I want to make is that the corporations and excessively wealthy are taking seconds, thirds, fourths… before the platter even gets around the table to little Bobby.

We need to stop acting like a dysfunctional family.  We need to stop letting the bullies take our school lunch money.  It is time to practice some Tough Love.

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This survey compared Tea Party members to “mainstream conservatives.  There is a huge gap there.  Can you imagine what it would be if they compared the Tea Party to middle of the political spectrum Americans. Read about survey

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A while after I posted this little piece this slightly more polished article came out:  Has America Become Entirely Dysfunctional?

 

 

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Counter the Koch Billions…Protect Social Security

Best I can figure out is that these the Koch Brothers want to totally weaken our government and the American middle class so their greed can ran rampant over the country. It is very scary to me.

This video is narrated by Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the few politician fighting for the American people and all that is good and right with this nation.

 

The Facts:

  •  Social Security belongs to you—the workers who contribute to it—not the politicians in Washington.
  •  Social Security will never go bankrupt. Its major source of income comes from the contributions of workers and employers; as long as there are workers, Social Security will have income.  Closing tax loopholes for wealthy individuals will increase the long term financial health of the program, and protect it for decades to come.
  • Raising the retirement age is a terrible idea and a large benefit cut. If you were claiming benefits as a 66 year-old retired worker and the full retirement age was changed from 66, where it is today, to 69 your benefits would be cut 20 percent. A typical benefit would drop from $14,000 a year to $11,200 a year.
  • Privatizing Social Security would be a disaster.  Social Security is so valuable because it provides a guaranteed benefit. Privatizing Social Security would remove this guarantee and have people gamble their retirement savings in the casinos of Wall Street. If the recent financial crisis taught us anything, Wall Street is the last place where our money is safe.

For more information, check out the Strengthen Social Security Campaign.