The number of the beast

As Gov. Snyder continues his crusade to turn Michigan into the cultural, political, and economic wasteland that is North Dakota (screw their low unemployment numbers--the reason it's low is because no one wants to fucking live there!), it serves as a reminder that despite all my despair over Democratic (and specifically our Weinie-In-Chief, President Obama) shortcomings I'll be getting in the voting booth in November of 2012  and pulling the lever once again for the good (well some of them anyway) guys. 

Governor Snyder should also serve as another warning to all those moderate Democrats, and moderate Independents, on the dangers of voting for republicans who claim to be different--be it Bush the lesser's claim of being a "compassionate conservative" (horseshit!) or Rick Snyder's claim to be merely a lovable nerd who has Michigan's best interests at heart (ditto!).  Here's what Snyder hath wrought just in the last week...

• Never mind that they did nothing to cause the economic calamity that is Michigan (the clueless leadership of the Big 3 get much of that credit), thanks to Snyder and his minions, Public Workers in Michigan (read:  unions) will be paying considerably more for their healthcare after already taking huge paycuts.  (Aside:  this improves the quality of life here in Michigan exactly how?)
• Once again disregarding that they had nothing to do with the collapse of Michigan's economy, over 11,000 Michigan families will be kicked off welfare in the coming months despite Michigan being in the grips of the worst economy since the 1930s thanks to republicans and their continued fellating of businesses in Michigan who aren't creating jobs for us.  (Once again:  this improves the quality of life in Michigan exactly how?)
• Despite Michigan voters overwhelmingly voting to allow the use of medical marijuana (63% to 37% is about a big of an ass kicking on a referendum as you're going to see), Snyder's AG Bill Schuette (or Bill Shitty as we refer to him in our household) has fought tooth and nail to see that it cannot be implemented.  Who cares about all those banks who destroyed our economy while breaking the law and misleading Michigan's citizens?  Let's go after that poor guy with cancer who's using a little marijuana to ease his pain.  (Need I even ask how this improves our lives?)

You can't argue with the idiots who are the true believers in the republican party,  but we would help ourselves immensely to spend the next fourteen months reminding everyone else just what a Rick Perry or Mitt Romney presidency would mean--by simply telling them to look out their window at the declining standards of living the republicans are giving us right now.

Peace,
emaycee

Why do I still subscribe to a newspaper?

It's really rare in the pages of the Detroit Free Press to find a columnist more ignorant than the Detroit News' Nolan Finley (who, thankfully, we're only tortured with once a week).  Step up on the stage....Tom Walsh!  You've won the coveted "I'm Even More Ignorant than Nolan Finley" award for the month of August!

Really--according to Mr. Walsh, to fix our economy we merely need to fix our culture.  It's simple--our freedom to divorce has brokered an "easy come, easy go" attitude that has undermined our commitment to living up to our obligations.  Needless to say, the best Mr. Walsh can come up with to lend credence to his theory is a chat he had over coffee with an old friend.

Thank God he cleared that up for all of us....

I appreciate that Mr. Walsh is a business columnist and thus tends to see everything in black and white, in its simplest terms (trust me, I've been in business for almost thirty years and there aren't a lot of brainiacs in corporate America--and the higher up the corporate ladder you go, the worse it gets), but this is a new low in moronic rants.  It's one thing to know someone's peeing in your coffee, it's another thing to drink it anyway.  Bottoms up, Mr. Walsh!

If anything, I'd say the cause of American's economic downturn...just off the top of my head...would be, oh, I don't know...horrendous decisions by America's banking leaders, the fact that none of them are in jail for having mislead the American people and crashing our economy, unfettered greed, the growing income disparity between America's welathy elite and the rest of us,  the merewordscannotdescribe horrendous leadership of President Bush the lesser, weak regulations against businesses, republicans in the House and their actions to do absolutely fucking nothing to create jobs despite campaigning on it in 2010,  the disastrous and un-American tea party...you get the gist.

One thing is for certain though:  the ease with which one can get a divoce had absolutely fucking nothing to do with it.

Peace,
emaycee

Fighting back

A short while ago I wrote that the time had come for Democrats to take off their mittens and fight back.  I'm happy to report that at least one Democrat constituency and one Democrat are willing to start.

The best sound for the Marathon County Central Labor Council's (just as cool:  the name sounds like it could have been the name of a one hit wonder band from the sixties) decision to tell republicans to fuck off and that they are not welcome to their Labor Day march...would be that short mocking laugh that Nelson from The Simpsons utters whenever a particularly funny mishap occurs.  The major surprise here is that republicans are shocked by this--I mean, how fucking ignorant can they be?  They just think they're going to put a knife in the back of the American working people and we're just going to forget it?  Five little words:  Fuck you, next idiot please!

The other would be Rep. Maxine Waters telling the tea party that they can go "straight to hell" and she'd be happy to take them there.  How cool is that?  Especially since I've seen numerous pieces by republicans complaining how uncivil her statement was.  What the motherfucking fuck?  Their reaction shows their fear--republicans know if we fight back they're fucked.  You know you've done something right when a relative moderate like Leonard Pitts is championing your statement.

Good times, indeed.

Peace,
emaycee

Free market, my ass

I found this piece by David Atkins on his healthcare travails to be of some interest because I had a similar encounter with the "best" healthcare system in the world earlier this year.

After several days of being sick with the flu, I began to feel a tightness in my chest and was having some difficulty breathing.  I felt so weak that just trying to stand was a Herculean task.  I was at work, so I called the Beautiful Girl (I was too weak to even think about driving) to have her pick me up and take me to the emergency room.  Once there, I told them my symptoms, and--no surprise--was admitted immediately.  I spent the rest of the evening with a series of nurses taking my blood pressure and a number of doctors coming in to talk to me (one of whom looked like she'd just left a goth convention, which isn't exactly comforting when you're very sick--Wednesday Addams is a cute character but I don't want her for a doctor).  The following morning they ran all the usual tests--and could find nothing to explain my symptoms.  After approximately 24 hours, they sent me home saying all was well.

I went to bed fairly early the evening I came home--if you've ever been in an ICU ward, they wake you on the hour and this particular one was about as warm as a fucking igloo, so I didn't find it particularly odd that I was tired.  I slept for ten hours, and felt well when I woke...for about an hour.  And then I proceeded to feel worse and worse, until eventually I went back to bed.  I woke up and told the Beautiful Girl that something was seriously fucked up with my body and asked her to drive me to the local clinic.  Once I got in to see the doctor, he listened to my chest and had an x-ray taken of it.  About fifteen minutes later, he walked in the room and said, "Two more days and you would have been in a lot more trouble."  In a nutshell, my lungs were full of fluid and I was on the verge of having pneumonia.  He gave me a steroid shot and a prescription for some antibiotics.  I literally started feeling better within a couple of hours.

Here's the kicker:  my visit to the hospital (including doctor's fees) totalled over $12,000 (of which $1500 came out of my pocket).  Twelve thousand fucking dollars to completely fail me as caregivers.  It wasn't as if this was some fucking episode of "House" with some bizarre and exceedingly rare disease.  I had the flu--my lungs were full of fluid.  One would think this wasn't particularly out of the ordinary.

The bill from the clinic?  $150--I paid a $30 co-pay and went on my way.

And like Mr. Atkins, this is where healthcare in America is failing all of us.  I--and the insurance company--paid seriously good money for an utter failure.  There was no recourse for this failure.  There is no accountability for this failure.  And I seriously doubt that those who created the free market envisioned a system wherein failure would be rewarded.  And the worst part is we just accept it.  I mean, if you went into Wal-Mart and one of their managers told you the new Cheesey Doodles were great so you bought them but when you got home you found they tasted like oak bark, you'd take them back to the store and get your money back.  Why do we accept any less from medical providers?

Figure that out and you might actually do something to help the staggering increases in healthcare costs.

Peace,
emaycee

Going nowhere and nowhere fast

This is Bill Clinton's legacy--his "reform" of welfare shredded the safety net for times of economic downturn (e.g., now) to the point where only 1/3 of families living in poverty (4.5 million) are currently eligible.  Under the old system, 75% (13.5 million) would have been eligible for income assistance.  That's 9 million families that are suffering needlessly thanks to Clinton, with nothing--absolutely fucking nothing--to show for his misguided attempt to kiss republican ass.  One-fourth of our children now live in poverty--which, for some odd reason, really makes me hope there is a God so that at the end of Bill Clinton's days He can boot Bill in the ass and ask him just what the fuck he was thinking.

I'd like to think some smart s.o.b. among Obama's advisers would put this on a placard and hold it in front of the President's face and ask him if this is the America he'd like to see fifteen years from now, if making life worse for least of our brothers was the legacy he wants to have, but I've pretty much given up hope that there is anyone of intelligence in President Obama's circle, let alone anyone with enough of a heart to give a shit about the nation's poor.


Peace,
emaycee

When the levee broke

You have to be of a certain age (early to mid-forties and older) to remember that there was a time when...

• There was no risky 401k plan to aid your retirement years--you had a guanteed pension.
• Your contribution to your health care expenses...was a big fat zero.  That's right--your employer covered it all.
• If you did a good job, you got a raise every year.  And it was usually better than the rate of inflation, to a point where your family could actually get a little bit ahead every year.
• You had plenty of co-workers--there were actually three people to do three people's jobs, not one.

And then came the infamous decision by Ronald "The Great Fucking Idiot" Reagan to fire the striking air traffic controllers and destroy their union (PATCO).  It's been all downhill for the American worker ever since the day, thirty years ago this month.  Corporations have basically taken the tack since that all workers are expendable, that they can be broken (bullshit--I've been doing my job for thirty years and I will flat guarantee you that I can fuck over my employers in ways they've never imagined and not by doing anything that could get me fired), that they can be underpaid and overworked, that they should be thankful they have a job and shut the fuck up.  It was Mr. Reagan's cavalier decision that led to the explosion in income equality, that began the erosion of the middle class, that brought on an America where 25% of our children now live in poverty.  The only people helped by Reagan's actions were the wealthy and mega corporations.

And republicans lionize this man?  Want to know my thoughts when Mr. Reagan passed away?

          "Good--now the mother fucker is rotting in hell where he belongs."

Thirty years.  Don't know when, don't know who, but someday some bright young man or woman is going to lead the charge to start those of us in the working class on the road back to prosperity, and we can look back on Mr. Reagan's actions as an embarrassment of American history.

Peace,
emaycee

Really?

President Obama has to be the luckiest politician this side of Ronald Reagan.  While his job approval numbers keep on falling, he's doing nothing to please the people he needs for money and GOTV, and the economy continues to suffer, the Republican Presidential contenders continue their chronic tone deafness--at a time when Americans as a whole have pretty much had it with corporations--to echo Mitt Romney's statement that corporations, my friend, are people.

And that's not even to mention that the three most likely candidates he'll face in the fall of 2012 are a liar (Bachmann), a nitwit (Perry), and a robot (Romney).  To quote Mr. Tom Petty, I guess it is true that "even the losers get lucky sometimes."

Peace,
emaycee

The gift that keeps on giving

I'm not quite as optimistic as Mr. Atkins concerning 2012 (Obama wins, we take back the House, lose the Senate), but even I have to admit when they're best candidate gives us a tailor made attack ad ("Corporations are people, my friend!" running on a loop forever in October of 2012) you have to figure Obama's chances may not be all that bad.

And Boehner's claim that he got 98% of what he wanted in the debt ceiling deal will probably also look good in an ad in October 2012, because, barring a miracle, the economy is still going to suck and Boehner now owns 98% of suck.

Of course, there's always 2012's Fred Thompson--Governor Rick Perry, who will supposedly announce his candidacy in a few days.  He is supposed to be the republican's newest great hope, but I have a hard time believing the American people (not the same as the republican party) will forget what happened the last time we elected a nitwit from Texas.

Peace,
emaycee

Same as the old boss II

It's time for...Donnie Downer!

Pretty much every Liberal organization whose messages fill my AOL mailbox sent me an e-mail today.  They're spinning it on O'Donnell, Maddow, and Schultz on MSNBC.  The Daily Kos chimed in trying to be positive.  Even the often cranky Digby was trying to put the best face on it. 

Forget about it.

I really appreciate that it was an uphill battle--five of the six districts in Wisconsin are very red leaning districts.  I appreciate the effort that thousands of people put in to try to recall these six republicans.  Hell, here in Michigan, despite having a governor that is just about as radical as Scott Walker, the best the Democrats here have offered is voting against Gov. Snyder's proposals (oooh, scary).  I know that 16 Democrat state senators is better than 14.

But any way you slice it, we lost.  We absolutely got our ass kicked in three districts and while the fourth is being pointed to as a "oh, we came so close" it really isn't (and we poured a ton of money into that one).  Yesterday's results are not going to scare any republicans into doing the right thing or compromising in the best interest of the country.  Even numbers guru Nate Silver says the Wisconsin numbers extrapolate to only a fifty-fifty chance for Gov. Walker to be recalled. 

With all the enthusiasm we had we still couldn't get the votes.  And with the Capitulator-in-Chief at the top of the ticket in 2012, how many depressed Democrats are just going to stay home?  Fucking Obama, the gutless wonder, didn't lift a finger to help the cause.  Can anyone imagine, had these recall election happened during the Bush the Lesser presidency, that GWB would have done the same?

And the money--Christ, for the Dems it's like fighting the U.S. Marines with pea shooters.  Other than our numb nuts President, we just can't raise the kind of cash that republicans can.  And thanks to Citizen's United, we never will again play on an even field financially.

There's an old saying:  Money talks and bullshit walks.  We better get used to doing a lot of walking.

Peace,
emaycee

You say you want a revolution

If you read no other piece this week, read this one by David Atkins--Atkins wonders about a tactic that has been on my mind since I read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.  As Liberals, we lean more toward the passive resistance side for fighting our battles--Atkins cites the book of Matthew from the Bible or Atticus Finch as exemplars of this trait (and, of course, Gandhi and MLK).  However at the end of his piece, Atkins has the audacity (fuck you, Mr. President) to question how much longer we walk down this road before we realize that we have to punch back.

Although Howard Zinn was somewhat skeptical of the rewards rebellions throughout our history have achieved (he believed our rewards were more in the form of voting rights rather than, you know, actual cash money, and to use a recent example, say of Mr. Obama, we all know how well voting works out for, you know, actually helping us get our share of the cash money), it does seem that throughout our history about the only time the poor and the middle class get a bigger share of the pie is when the wealthy elite have reason to be worried over theit future safety (Shay's Rebellion, Whiskey Rebellion, Colorado Labor Wars, the Labor battles of the 1930s, the L. A. riots of the early 1990s).  One need look no further than the recent uprisings in the Middle East (Egypt, Syria, Libya) to realize that you can only fuck people over economically for so long before they get mighty pissed off about it.

In the comments section of Atkins piece there seemed to be a good deal of push back on the idea of using more agression, but frankly, after watching what the last thirty years of capitulating to the republicans and the wealthy elite just to keep our jobs, I'm a bit more inclined to believe that the peace, love, dope faction of our party is a lot of horseshit, and that perhaps a swift kick in the balls will go a lot farther to help reduce the ever widening income disparity that is slowly but surely destroying America.

Peace,
emaycee

I'm not impressed

In my quest to win the "Asshole of the Day" award for August 1st, 2011...Rep. Gabrielle Giffords appearance at the debt ceiling vote today means absolutely nothing to me.  I'm really sorry she got shot, but A) she voted in favor of a horrid bill, and B) I'm with Digby:  I think the whole thing is a very clever stunt to try and take the sting out of the hippies getting punched again.

Fuck you, Mr. President--not buying the bullshit.

Peace,
emaycee

President Romney

I truly do not see how Obama survives this one--other than getting the debt ceiling raised, he got absolutely nothing.  Fuck the defense cuts--all it takes is one minor terrorist attack and they go right out the window.  The economy is going to continue to struggle, jobs are not going to be created, and the middle class and the poor are going to continue to take home less and less.  As far as I can tell, the Democratic base is beside itself with anger. 

How does anyone self-respecting liberal cast a vote for Obama in 2012?  I read someone today who said he was going to have to do a two handed vote in 2012--holding his nose with one hand and pulling the lever for Obama with the other.  I can't.  I've done that one too many times before (especially the two for Bill Clinton) and I'm not doing it again.  I know this will sound petulant, but I'm staying home in 2012.  It will be a colossal waste of time and life is too short to piss away on gutless leaders.  I mean, for fuck's sake, even Pelosi voted for this shit sandwich of a bill.

Fucking hopeless.

Peace,
emaycee