MSNBC's lonely hearts club band

Seems the ratings at MSNBC have been falling and it's giving republicans the warm fuzzies because we Liberals are tuning out.  As Digby notes, it seems to be happening across the blogosphere as well.

There are a number of reasons this could be so--it's not an election year and I don't think the enthusiasm is quite the same in off years.  President Obama hasn't exactly been inspiring.  Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi make the Cowardly Lion look like fucking Audie Murphy.  There's also the fact that we Liberals have never tuned into radio and TV quite like conservatives do.  And being in power (at least the Presidency and the Senate) always makes for a bit more complacency.

But as someone who rarely watches MSNBC anymore (and I used to be a regular viewer, as in every night, sometimes watching the same show twice), I wonder if the people who have tuned out have noticed what I've noticed:  the station is suffering (at least the nightly shows, I'm not home during the day) from a terminal case of tin man's disease--absolutely no heart.

Don't think so?  Watch the way Rachel Maddow gets all glassy eyed when some foreign policy wonk is discussing drone strikes, though she doesn't have nearly the same reaction when discussing striking fast food workers.  Or Chris Hayes when he has a panel discussion on climate change.  Or Lawrence O"Donnell when he's taking about the workings of the Senate.  Christ, Ed Schultz was about as clumsy on air as I would be wearing a tutu and performing Swan Lake on a Detroit street corner, but his love for ordinary Americans was a joy to watch.  Most of the time watching MSNBC anymore I get the feeling their big three are a lot more interested in extolling their intellectual bona fides than they are in the problems of everyday America.

Don't get me wrong--I think Guantanamo and the use of drone strikes are antithetical to everything America stands for.  I know climate change is real...but these days, I'm a lot more concerned with my family making it from payday to payday than I am about how much Arctic ice will be left a hundred years after I'm dead.

And I'd be willing to be there are a lot of Liberals in the same boat as me.

Peace,
emaycee

Be careful what you wish for

In the same week that the idiot Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, decides to stick it to that nasty old federal government by letting 1.5 million of his citizens remain without healthcare (and cost the rest of us money because we're paying even more for their emergency care), a number of reports show that a) the insurance rates that republicans claimed would go through the roof didn't even come close in California (or Oregon for that matter), b) that the benefits to Californians (and other states who choose to participate in the health care exchanges) will be multitudinous, c) that Medicare's outlook is improving thanks to Obamacare, and d) young adults and hospitals saved $147 million in 2011 thanks to Obamacare.

You have to wonder at what point citizens (not to mention businesses and health care providers) of states whose "leadership" decided to forgo the benefits of Obamacare to score political points with republicans will look at the healthier (and with more cash in their pockets due to more economical health care rates) citizens of states who chose the Medicaid expansion and to take advantage of the many benefits of Obamacare and realize they were sold a bill of goods that left them sicker and poorer.

And how much easier it's going to make the necessary expansions to Obamacare sail through.

Peace,
emaycee

Damn hungry

Many years ago my brother and I took a vacation to the West Coast.  We spent a few days in San Francisco, and on one of them, as we drove into the city itself, we passed a young African-American man standing on the median at an intersection holding a cardboard sign on which he had etched in black magic marker, "HUNGRY, WILL WORK FOR FOOD."  As we were leaving the city at the end of our day, we passed him at the same intersection, and he had turned over the sign and written on the other side, "DAMN HUNGRY!" 

I know I must sound like a broken record, but a recent study on the growth of hunger worldwide showed that 24%--24 fucking percent--of Americans answered "yes" when asked if there had been times over the past year when they didn't have enough money for food (if you note the chart at the link above you'll see that we're not alone, though other countries didn't fare quite as bad).  What makes this number even worse (to me) is that they didn't ask this question of five-year-olds--I mean, undoubtedly these questions were asked of people who were also parents or spouses and the number of people who went without food for a lack of money in the richest nation in the history of civilization was actually greater than 24%.

And just as I thought when my brother and I passed that African-American gentleman so long ago, there is something inherently fucked up about that many Americans going without food, especially with the report coming on the heels of the big three scandals for the Obama administration.  The true scandal is that currently both the House ($20 billion) and the Senate ($4 billion) are considering cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka food stamps).  It's not surprising that republicans would be supportive of such cuts--the party thinks its main function in our society is to fuck over the poor and the middle class while fellating the wealthy.  But there are Democrats--including Michigan's Sen. Debbie Stabenow--who are also supportive of such cuts.

All of these so-called "Democrats" should be slapped silly.  With our economic recovery still on shaky ground for the poor and middle class, with nearly a quarter of Americans not having enough money for food in the past year, the last thing we should be doing is giving corporate welfare to Agribusiness while cutting aid for the needy.

After all, I'm pretty sure Jefferson would consider eating an integral part of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Peace,
emaycee

Moral courage

As the bridge collapse in the state of Washington yesterday showed, the state of our infrastructure is abysmal.  Couple that with our still too high unemployment rate, and you have the perfect recipe for killing two birds with one stone:  fix our roads, bridges, and schools, and put lots of Americans back to work.  It's too bad we don't have a blueprint for...what's that?  We do? 

It was called the Works Progress Administration (WPA), set up during the FDR administration.  The WPA put over 8 million Americans to work during its eight year run and helped keep many unskilled laborers and their families in a house and food.

Unfortunately, what we don't have is a President who has the moral courage to fight for what's right and not for appeasing the republican party.  I've given up trying to figure out what President Obama wants his legacy to be, but you can be sure it's going to be a whole hell of a lot less impressive than is FDR's.

And he has no one but himself to blame for it.

Peace,
emaycee

A warning for knotheads

Seeing as how a) the back of my car is full of bumper stickers supporting President Obama, and b) that Fox News host and incomparable idiot Andrea Tarantos told her viewers to punch Obama voters in the face, I feel the need to issue this warning:

I hit back.

Peace,
emaycee

Nothing up my sleeve...

I'm having a real hard time getting worked up over the President's scandalous week.  Whether it's Benghazi (as President Obama said, it's brutally obvious there's no there, there), the IRS scandal (really?  these Tea Party groups are basically fronts for the filthy rich to make them richer and the rest of us poorer with the government paying for their additional wealth), or the AP scandal (any politician or reporter screaming about this, who wasn't screaming for a  vote against the Patriot Act, should be bitch slapped) it's just a lot of republican bullshit to deflect us from inconvenient facts,

Chief of which would be this:  a recent study showed that from 2009-2011 the net worth of the richest 7% of Americans increased 28%, while for the lower 93% it decreased 4%.  We're not talking we just got less of it than the ultra-wealthy--we got fucking none of it.

And what republicans would prefer that none of us know is that they have done nothing to help the lower 93% and they never will.  It would be easy to blame it on their utter incompetence in governing, but the plain truth of the matter is that they don't give a fuck about ordinary Americans--they haven't since at least Reagan was in the White House.

Sleight of hand is cute when it's Bullwinkle J. Moose, but not so much when people can't feed their families.

Peace,
emaycee

The village idiot's dumber cousin

I've said it before and I'll say it again--the main reason I am pro gun control is that people are fucking stupid.  And another case in point:

Adam Kokesh, leader of the Loaded Gun March (scheduled for July 4th, at which he hopes to get 1,000 loaded gun owners to show up, or approximately 249,000 less than were present at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech on the mall in Washington, D.C. in 1963) has compared himself to, of all people...wait for it...Mahatma Gandhi.  Because you know, Gandhi, Mr. Non-Violence personified, always carried a fucking AK-47 with him to combat government tyranny.

Frankly, I wouldn't go anywhere near D.C. this July 4th--I wouldn't trust some one as moronic as Mr. Kokesh to walk down the street with a squirt gun, let alone a weapon with live ammunition.

Peace,
emaycee

Rejoice and be glad in it

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalms 118:24

My Wednesday this past week started quite like any other day--I got to work, did our morning duties, and headed to the front of the store to prepare for our daily opening.  Only when I got to the storefront on Wednesday, a slew of fire trucks were outside our door trying to put out a fire that had started in the restaurant that sits somewhat catty corner from our store,  I couldn't tell how bad the fire was, though a small amount of smoke was entering our store, and I waited for instructions from the fire department.  After a few minutes they knocked on the front door and informed me we needed to get out of the building.

I stood outside as the firefighters fought the blaze.  A crowd gathered and grew and watched the firemen do their job.At some point the roof of the restaurant collapsed causing a few gasps and many to take a step back, though the fire officials had the parking lot roped off and we were a very safe distance away.  Eventually the firefighters controlled the blaze--our store was mercifully left standing (three businesses weren't so lucky) with a lot of smoke damage.  Our bosses were there and sent us to other stores to help out until we could get back (estimates anywhere from a few day to four weeks) into the store and start over from scratch.  No one was hurt, but as I was leaving it was mentioned that a firefighter was missing.  I figured he had probably gone to find a restroom (it took pretty close to three hours to put the fire out) and would turn up shortly. 

You can imagine my surprise the next morning when I awoke, went downstairs, and was told by the Beautiful Girl that one of the firefighters fighting the fire had been killed when the roof collapsed.  He was twenty-nine years old and left behind a wife and a thirteen month old daughter.

There are those who would say that public service employees are overpaid and have too generous of a benefit package.  They always seem to forget that there are police officers and firefighters who put their lives on the line every time something goes terribly wrong.  And occasionally they lose their lives saving small businesses and the livelihoods of many people who depend on them for a paycheck.  No amount of pay and benefits is worth someone's life.

I've spent the last few days trying not to sweat the small stuff.  It's not that important, though I know eventually somebody's going to cut me off in traffic or the Giants will lose a heartbreaker and I'll forget that it isn't that important.

But I'm going to keep trying.  It's not much, but it's the least I can do to honor a man who gave his life helping to save my family's livelihood.

Peace,
emaycee

A panoply of wrong

So we were shopping at Meijer (midwestern big box chain) last weekend and we walked past their summer Americana display (Memorial Day, July 4th) which featured a selection of Budweiser hats.  Now I don't mind Americana displays--if a company can make a little money selling red, white, and blue table cloths or American flag t-shirts, bully for them.  Hell, I wouldn't even mind a tie in of Budweiser beer--many an American has sipped a cold one (or two, or three, or four, or....) over the course of a holiday weekend.  But a Budweiser hat?  It was a real what the fuck moment--as in, what the fuck does a Budweiser hat have to do with Americana or being patriotic?  (Yes, I know the can is red, white, and blue, but so is a loaf of
Aunt Millie's bread--and I didn't see any fucking Aunt Millie's hats.)

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised--I was watching a Tigers game last week, and it featured the "Depends Adult Diapers' Pitching Change."  As if a ten second announcement just couldn't be made without a sponsor.

Shouldn't be too long before we have the "Rolaids Crotch Grab...."

[Note for the Sarcasm Challenged:  it was actually the "Belle Tire Pitching Change," but I'm sure Depends could own it with enough cash.]

Peace,
emaycee

The truth will out

You know, for all the republican's comparisons of President Obama to Hitler, after reviewing this list of the fourteen characteristics of fascism...it sure seems fascism's traits are a hell of a lot closer to the republican playbook than ours.  A hell of a lot closer.

Just sayin'.

Peace,
emaycee

Sometimes nothing is one cool hand

Fast Food Workers in Detroit today became the fourth group in a major American city (New York, Chicago, and St. Louis were one, two, and three) to strike for a living wage.

I have a friend who has been in retail nearly as long as I have (30 years) and she says that anytime a business she has worked for puts out a charity jar, she could always count on the poor to find a few cents to help out, and the rich to turn their noses in the air.

Leave it to those who have the least and the most to lose to lead the way in fighting for a better economic life for all of us.  Submission to the powers that be can be a pretty bitter taste, especially when you make your living making food for people, and that livelihood is so poor that you can't afford to eat without food stamps.

$15,400 a year (full-time--and good luck with that--at minimum wage) is a slap in the face to hard working people and it seems the time has come for them to slap back.

Good for them.

Peace,
emaycee

Benghazi? Bullshit!

It's pretty obvious that republican scandalmongering over Benghazi has little to do with their concern over the four Americans killed than it does over their fear that Hillary Clinton will send them to their third straight ass kicking in the Presidential election of 2016.  (Note to republicans:  By all means, please continue with this strategy against the Clintons. The  Whitewater scandal worked so well for you that Bill Clinton won re-election in 1996 by an even bigger margin than his victory in 1992.)

Doesn't it seem a little strange, though, that for all their uproar over the four Americans killed in Benghazi, they sure don't seem to give two shits about the nearly four (3.5 to be exact) Americans killed every hour by guns?

Scratch that--it's republicans, for Christ sake.  As long as it's Americans killing innocent Americans, it's all good.

Peace,
emaycee

Incompetence or antipathy for their fellow Americans?

We have 7.5% unemployment (much higher if you count the hopeless and hopeful for more hours).  One in six Americans live in poverty.  Our roads, bridges, and schools are in terrible disrepair.  Twenty children were shot to death by a lunatic six months ago.  Income inequality between the rich and the poor in America are at historic highs.

So what do republicans in the House and Senate want to do?  Hold another series of votes to repeal Obamacare, which has a snowball's chance in hell of getting 51 votes (and more likely 60) in the Senate, and even less of a chance (if that's possible) of being signed by the man whose signature accomplishment the Affordable Care Act is, President Obama.  It's not bad enough that they've already wasted fifty million dollars of U.S. taxpayers money to accomplish even less than I do on my Sunday afternoon naps, they want to spend more of it to get the exact same result.

All of which goes to show that the republican party's only goal is to please that thirty percent of Americans who are gullible and ignorant enough to swallow their rich man's world view; as far as the other 70% of us are concerned, well, we can just flat out go to hell.

Peace,
emaycee

You're on your own, kid!

A new report issued today by Save the Children showed that the U.S. is number one--that's right, numero uno--in yet another category no civilized nation wants to be number one in:  we lead the industrialized nations of the the world in first day infant deaths with 11,300 per year.  In fact, that total is 50% more than all the other industrialized nations combined.

You might think I found that stat on some conservative pro-life site and that with their staunchly pro-life views they would be screaming for better healthcare for mothers and their babies.

You'd be wrong--mostly because pro-lifers really aren't pro-life.

They're pro-birth. 

Once your tiny fanny pops out of the womb, they couldn't give a fuck less if you live or die.

Unless, of course, your mother and father are wealthy....

Peace,
emaycee

The Colbert-Busch report

So Elizabeth Colbert Busch went down to defeat tonight in SC-01, not particularly surprisingly.  I received dozens of e-mails in the last couple of weeks asking for cash support, all of which I wisely deleted.  Frankly, this project was a good waste of Democratic time and money--Colbert Busch was a DINO with a few Progressive views, facing the extremely flawed Mark Sanford, and very likely would have lost in 2014 versus a less controversial candidate (see also, Kathy Hochul) even if she had won.  Trying to win a Southern congressional seat in a deep red district with a weak ass Liberal was hopeless and we should have just wished Colbert Busch well and moved on to more possible victories.

On a side note that won't be much discussed in the traditional media, for all the republicans' talk about family values and wasteful government spending, they sure didn't seem to have much trouble voting for Sanford who left his wife and four boys for another woman while he was Governor, and cost the people of South Carolina millions of dollars with his shenanigans.

Can you say hypocrisy, boys and girls?

Peace,
emaycee

Make them pay

It's been a tough week for New Hampshire Sen. Kelly "I Have the Backbone of a Jellyfish" Ayotte.  First, she got caught betraying the people of her state by lying about the Manchin-Toomey gun background check legislation (she feared a national gun registry, the bill specifically prevents it).  Then she betrayed every woman in the United States by tap dancing her way around voting against equal pay for women by claiming we already have enough laws (as lame excuses go, that one's right up there with "the dog ate my homework").

A republican Senator from Alabama could have a sex tape of his affair with his own sister hit youtube and still get 60% of the vote.  But it is absolutely vital that we make radical right-wing Senators in blue/purple states pay for having no political courage and marching lockstep with the fringe membership of the republican party.

New Hampshire would be a damn fine place to start.

Peace,
emaycee

Just a bit late

So...thirteen years after the fact, Sandra Day O'Connor thinks that maybe the Supreme Court should not have taken on Bush v. Gore because in part it was a highly politicized issue, and in the end, did much damage to the Court's reputation.

You know, it's one thing when a nineteen-year-old, after spending two hours over a toilet puking his innards up, thinks that maybe chugging that fifth of tequila wasn't such a good idea.  It's another when a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, someone who gets paid to be prescient, thinks that a decision which ultimately had disastrous effects for millions of Americans perhaps wasn't such a good idea.

The problem is Supreme Court Justices making decisions that are based on the best interests of the republican party, and not on the rule of law.

Peace,
emaycee