Fortunate Son #2

With people like Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers in the world....

Now I've been in the business world long enough to know that the powers that be don't give a damn about their customers--it's what's in their wallets that they truly care about.  Mr. Dekkers took that to new heights recently when he disclosed that the cancer drug Nexavar (used as a treatment in late state kidney and liver cancer) was developed for Westerners who could afford it (a year's treatment in the U.S.:  $96,000--though most insurance companies will cover the cost, less co-pay).

What caused Mr. Dekker's honesty?  In India, if a pharmaceutical company can't make a drug that's affordable to the average Indian, the patent courts will award  rights to an Indian company that will (a year's treatment in India is $69,000, which is 41 times the annual per capita income). The Indian courts did just that with Nexavar.  Mr. Dekkers termed this "essentially theft."  Funny, I would have thought that making sure people can afford treatment for a death sentence like kidney or liver cancer would be called compassion.

Kind of makes you hope that Dante was right and that there are circles in hell for those who commit crimes against humanity.

Peace,
emaycee

Fortunate Son #1

In a week when the President decided to soft peddle the rampant income inequality in our nation in his State of the Union address, one Tom Perkins, a venture capitalist who is a multi-millionaire, wrote a letter to The Wall Street Journal in which he compared the deserved villification of the 1% with Nazi Germany's Kristallnacht.

Because so many of America's 1% have lost their lives and had their businesses destroyed by folks like me who are calling them on the carpet for their willful destruction of the American Dream in pursuit of their own greed.

You know what the real problem for people like Mr. Perkins is?  We flat out don't believe their bullshit anymore.  We know that they don't create jobs, that their wealth doesn't trickle down to the rest of us, and that frankly our lives are not one whit better because some free market apologist is worth countless billions of dollars (well other than The Wall Street Journal, which anymore carries all the gravitas of Fox News).  We know that the man behind the curtain is not a real wizard--that the only thing these people are really expert at is their own unfettered greed.

Kristallnacht?  He should be so lucky.

Peace,
emaycee

POTUS on the 2014 State of the Union: Abridged version

Let's empower immigrants.  Let's empower women.  Let's empower workers.  Let's empower voters.  Let's talk peace, not war.

A path to citizenship.  Equal pay for equal work.  Raise the minimum wage.  One American=one vote.  Let's not fear to negotiate with our foes.

Lots of soaring rhetoric and optimism.  Lots (but not nearly enough) of the ideas and platforms that are the backbone of the Democratic Party.  Definite shot in the arm for Democratic hopes for the elections this November.  Really, a pretty decent State of the Union address.

Will it make a difference?  Meh.

Oh--and though the President was too nice (as usual) to say it:  republicans suck.

Peace,
emaycee

A gift for Hillary

Seems republicans, as led by the man who would never be President, Rand Paul, have found their point of attack against Hillary Clinton when it comes to the War on Women:  Bill Clinton's dalliance with Monica Lewinsky.  Tsk, tsk--how, they ask, can Hillary talk about the War on Women when Bill so blatantly violated workplace mores by having an affair with an intern?

I actually love this attack.  Somewhat because of its sheer stupidity--how the fuck does Bill's mistake reflect on what Hillary Clinton wants to do for women?  She didn't have the affair, for Christ's sake.  But moreso I love it for the fact that there is nothing--and I mean absolutely nothing--that unites Democrats (even ones that aren't all that fond of the Clintons) like bringing up the utter sham that was the impeachment of Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky affair.  It's like throwing blood in the water near a group of hungry sharks--some poor creature is going to get torn to shreds pronto.

You know someday there's going to be a lot of political science professors who make their living by teaching seminars on how not to run political campaigns--with a bevy of bullet points showcasing today's republican party.

Peace,
emaycee

Income Inequality--Ukraine edition

When I began writing this blog almost four years ago, it never dawned (perhaps naively as the computer world is still beyond me for the most part ) on me that anyone outside of the United States would much care what I had to say about American politics.

For whatever odd reason, that was not the case and over the course of the past year my pageviews from countries around the world have almost come to equal those I have in the United States.

One of these is the Ukraine, which is currently country number five on my pageview list, not surprisingly, as I often write of Income Inequality, and the Ukraine, along with the United States, Russia, and Lebanon is one of the four nations where Wealth Inequality is the highest.

Some months ago Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych turned his back on membership in the European Union which would have resulted in much good for the Ukranian people.  This led to a series of protests in December known as the EuroMaidan protests, which the good leaders of Russia helped to squelch.  Recently, laws were passed encumbering Ukranian citizens rights to assemble and the protests have begun again.

I just wanted to send a shout out to my Ukranian reader(s) wishing good luck and safety as they fight the good fight.

God bless.

Peace,
emaycee

Um, ladders of opportunity?

With President Obama once again showing no political courage (his State of the Union this Tuesday is going to focus on "ladders of opportunity" and eschew "income inequality" because the President's handlers don't want Obama to appear to be engaging in class warfare--never mind that the rich cocksuckers only call it class warfare when we poor saps fight back) a few observations:

• Numbnuts millionaire investor Kevin O'Leary says it's wonderful that 85 people (that's eighty-five, not 8500 or 85,000) own more wealth than 3.5 billion other people on the planet because it gives us poor saps something to strive for.  Better start buying lots of  lottery tickets, folks--your odds of being as wealthy as Mr. O'Leary on your own initiative is just slightly less than your odds of winning the lottery.  Mr. O'Leary also moved up a few notches in the guillotine line this week....
• Lynn Stuart Parramore wonders if fifty years after the War on Poverty the middle class will become the new poor which caused me to think (I'm not being sarcastic, her piece is one of the best I've read this week) that thirty years after Ronald Reagan we're already there.
• A new study shows that 47% of current jobs will be automated over the next twenty years and that unlike previous eras jobs are not coming to replace them.  It's okay if you're thinking about just pulling the covers over your head and sleeping for a long time--that's my plan, too.
• After reading today probably the thousandth some odd piece debunking minimum wage myths pushed by rich people who somehow still think that pre-ghosts Ebeneezer Scrooge is someone to admire, it dawned on me that the con job foisted on older white Americans by the republican party may be the greatest of all time.  Can you think of any con that has convinced people that it's good for them and their neighbors to make shit wages so the wealthy can have even more money?  I mean isn't the idea usually to at least make the mark think they're going to get rich, too?

Looking forward to Tuesday--hope the President tells me where I can buy one of his ladders....

Peace,
emaycee

And the winner is...

Wow.

Did you know that we Democrats are only in favor of the government giving out prescriptions to women for birth control because we think women can't control their own libidos?  That's what Mike Huckabee says.

Strange it never dawned on us that men have libidos, too.

Peace,
emaycee

There's nothing like a dimwit

Seems conservatives are tired of having to defend their constant fellating of America's wealthy, and have created what they're calling the Reagan Coalition to refute the, uh, facts about income inequality.

And nothing supports false refutations quite like using a brain-dead pathological liar as your mascot.

Want to know Ronald Reagan's real legacy?  It's right here, in New York City, where after the food stamp cuts last November, half of all food pantries ran out of food, and a quarter of them had to turn away hungry Americans, many of whom were children.  This was the direct result of republican control of the House of Representatives:  more Americans not having enough food and no where to turn.

Ronald Reagan's legacy is that it's now okay for republicans to hate the poor in complete transparency.  It's okay for republicans to let children go hungry because it's those damn kids own fault.  It's okay to not give the needy a hand up but a kick in the teeth.  And our better nature is not to love one another as we love ourselves, but prop up the wealthy at the expense of those in poverty.

Reaganomics is as big a failure in American history as the Edsel, the New Coke, and Gigli.

But at least they only resulted in a few executives getting fired and not record numbers of Americans ending up in poverty.

Peace,
emaycee

Whither journalistic curiosity?

The NSA spying revelations really aren't my forte (not that anything else I write about is, but you know...) but I found it quite interesting that Mike Rogers (R-MI)--my very own Congressman--Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX) all were on Meet the Press and This Week with George Stephanopoulos this past weekend pushing the idea that Edward Snowden must have had help with the NSA leaks (most notably, from Russia) without producing a single shred of evidence to prove it so (in fairness to Feinstein, she at least admitted as much).

Both David Gregory and Stephanopoulos questioned the allegations--which to me seem of a bombshell type nature--but both seemed quite content to let the matter drop without pushing much harder than a dried leaf does against the wind.

What...the...fuck?  Really?  Three members of Congress make wild ass claims about foreign governments helping to leak our very own NSA information on national TV news shows and not one of these journalists jumps up and down like a fucking monkey screaming "Proof!  Proof! Proof!"

Thank God these fuckers weren't around during Watergate--Nixon probably would have been able to circumvent the Constitution and win a third term as President.

Peace,
emaycee

Nothin' like a millionaire

There's nothing like a millionaire (or a group of millionaires) ignoring all facts and deciding that he knows what's best for us mere peasants and that increasing the minimum wage, which doesn't pay enough to feed a family let alone pay rent, is a jobs killer.  Steve Forbes, worth over $400 million himself, is the millionaire in question here, and he thinks that republicans should stand firm in the face of President Obama and the Democrats and not let a minimum wage increase pass.

You know what, Steverino?  Fucking go for it.  Because what Americans really believe--including 62% of your own party--is that we don't need to increase the minimum wage.  And studies don't show that increasing the minimum wage reduces poverty.  And there's nothing we like better than having economic psychopaths deciding whether or not our kids eat.

It's become quite an agenda republicans are devising for the 2014 elections--Benghazi, Obamacare, and keeping working class Americans in poverty.

Sounds like a winner to me.

Peace,
emaycee

A heartbeat away

You know, every time I see Steve Schmidt bloviating on MSNBC about republican party "strategy," I always change the channel.  How can you possibly take anyone seriously who thought it was a good idea to choose the mental lightweight and oh so perservering half-term Governor of Alaska to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency?

Wonder if Ms. Palin knew any of MLK's radical beliefs when she tweeted her cheers earlier today...

Peace,
emaycee

The poster child for why you should get your ass out and vote Democratic in 2014

That would be my state of residence, the of late rather frigid and snow-filled territory known as Michigan.

Our very own Governor Gutless, Rick Snyder, gave his State of the State address this past week, and as you might expect, he highlighted the good his administration has done.  Not surprisingly, I would be hard pressed to name a single good thing that came from his administration, unless I count the fact that they didn't burn the state to the ground.  Considering that no other Governor in our state's 177 year history has managed to burn the state down, it isn't much of an accomplishment.

But the damage done?  To wit:  lowered corporate taxes under the guise it would create jobs, alas we currently have the third highest unemployment rate in the nation and Snyder has created zero new jobs, let alone good jobs.  To wit:  to make up for the lost revenue, raised taxes on the poor and middle class (caveat:    
I'm one of the poor bastard Michiganders who had his taxes raised).  Snyder has also made us a right to work for less state, overturned the people's will on the Emergency Manager referendum, stood by while the republican legislature trampled all over the right to choose, and has gutted our public school funding to hand over money to his wealthy friends and benefactors who couldn't care less the quality of the education our kids get as long as we send said money to whatever private enterprise/private school/charter school mumbo jumbo that they have a vested interest in.  Oh, and one other thing:  Detroit.

This is what happens when republicans control all three branches of government.  You get screwed.

So if you're in favor of corporate welfare, paying more in taxes to support said corporations, like having your  vote circumvented, want to work for less money, have less rights over your own body, and enjoy seeing public employees thrown under the bus, by all means, stay home (or vote republican).

Otherwise, get off your butt next November and vote.

Peace,
emaycee

Bullghazi

You've got to get down on your hands and knees and give thanks every single day for the complete and utter tone deafness of the republican party when it comes to campaign issues in 2014.  For some odd ass reason, they still think the American public gives two shits about Benghazi.  In fact, Lindsay Graham is convinced Benghazi will haunt Democrats in 2014.

Um, no.  No, it won't.

Leaving aside the fact that unless it's a truly unpopular war (see Vietnam and Bush the Lesser's two misguided and/or mishandled wars) that Americans don't care about foreign policy, there's also the rather commonsensical notion that much like a policeman in a city like, say, East St. Louis, Il, the more dangerous the place you work, the more likely you are to be killed while doing your job.  I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying everything shouldn't be done to prevent it, but it's a simple fact:  being in a place where lots of people don't like you merely for who you are is a recipe for potential disaster.  And let's face it, at this point in its history, Benghazi isn't exactly Pleasantville.

I think for average Americans, whose response so far has been a colossal yawn, this is much more obvious than it seems to be to your average republican politician.

Peace,
emaycee

The American idea

“Too many people don’t know what the American idea is anymore,” the Wisconsin Republican said, calling for a more streamlined federal government and a family-and-community-oriented approach to fighting poverty.

That's Paul Ryan, the latest republican Vice-Presidential candidate to get his clock cleaned by the Democrats, trying to convince his party's base of what they already believe (all evidence to the contrary): that the War on Poverty has failed.

Contrary to Rep.Ryan's musings (if you can call them that), I think most Americans are far too familiar with what he thinks the American idea is:  letting the least among us suffer while the government funnels more dollars to those at the top; working for wages that leave us in poverty so corporate leaders can feed at the caviar trough; engorging the military-industrial complex while American children go hungry; looking out for Wall Street instead of Main Street.

You get the idea.  So to speak.

And thanks, but no fucking thanks to that idea.  Streamline the government and make believe that there's enough community organizations that can combat poverty and next thing you know, we're Somalia.

That might be republican's idea of the ideal America, but it's not mine.

Peace,
emaycee

Government for me but not for thee

A short while back I wrote about Rep. Jack Kingston, from the lame state of Georgia, and his idea that it wasn't enough stigma for children to just be poor, they should also push a broom to earn their government provided lunches.

Seems a local anchorman, Dave Kartunen, added up all the taxpayer money spent on meals for Rep. Kingston and his staff on overseas junkets (in the tens of thousands of dollars) and asked the congressman if this didn't constitute a free lunch as well.  To which Rep. Kingston responded that this was merely a case of "got you" politics and all the valuable lessons he learned from doing his chores (pretty certain, though, that his folks didn't make doing the chores a requirement for getting his lunch each day),

Amazing isn't it, for a guy from a party that just loves to scream about Liberal elites, the rank hypocrisy of Rep. Kingston who seems to think it's perfectly hunky-dory to suck on the government teat when American taxpayers are paying for his meals on his overseas vacations, but not so much when American children are going hungry.

Sort of like the guy believes his shit doesn't stink, don't you think?

Peace,
emaycee

Throwing shadows on our eyes

It's not hard to see why Americans are so cynical about our political process and why so many have given up completely.  I came across this Matt Taibbi piece on how Wall Street has fleeced policemen, firefighters, and teachers out of their pensions, and it helps to highlight why people feel so helpless.  Imagine working your whole life--giving up pay now for a few (and few is the correct word) more dollars in your retirement only to see it taken away because you have to pay for the sins of Wall Street (see also, The Great Recession).  It seems the lords of the manor won't be happy until they have it all. And it doesn't help that far too many of our elected representatives are the best money can buy.

Unfortunately for Wall Street, as some of our wealthy elites have seemed to notice, not everybody is ready to take the last train home.  Some of the lords are even a wee bit familiar with income inequality's outcome in the French Revolution.

Some people, when they can't feed themselves or even worse, their kids, get pissed off.  And pissed off people are a lot harder to control than those who have thrown in the towel.

Just ask King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Peace,
emaycee

Words, just words

One of the problems we on the left often face is that we assume that most Americans are like most of us--when ninety some odd percent of scientists tell us the planet is getting warmer, we believe them.  Even if you're like me and not particularly adept at science, you respect and trust their years of schooling and the years of research they have conducted.

Alas, most Americans stood on their front porches this past week and watched feet of snow fall and temperatures in the negative teens, and thought to themselves, "What the fuck--global warming?"

There are no reams of weather related statistics or piles of climate change reports in scientific journals that are going to convince most of the non-believers (or most Americans for that matter) that this week's polar ice cap-like weather is proof that global warming exists.  Most Americans are just too literal.

My suggestion?  Stop calling it gobal warming or climate change and call it "global weather chaos."

That's a term that most Americans could look out their front window after the numerous weather related phenomena we see over the course of a year and proclaim to themselves, "Damn right to that!"

Peace,
emaycee

The same sad echo

Democrats in the Senate, which we control 55-45, are on the verge of "compromising" on cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the tune of $9 billion.

Un-fucking-believable.

I know it's the same sad echo, but we live in a time when one in six Americans--in the wealthiest nation in the world--live in poverty, when one in five Americans are food insecure, when there are three unemployed Americans for every job opening, and Democrats, led by my home state's own Debbie Stabenow, are for the first time in our party's history willing to concede to steep food stamp cuts in order to prove they are as callous as republicans.

We're talking children going hungry here.  Children.

Frankly, this is simply unacceptable.  Helping those in need is a core principle of the Democratic Party, and if abandoned, makes our party's leaders no better than let them eat cake republicans.

Bill Clinton's compromise on welfare reform has had harsh consequences for poverty in America, and this one will do the same for hunger in America.

Peace,
emaycee

What about me?

Jesse Myerson wrote a piece for Rolling Stone which appeared this past week and, predictably, caused republicans to become apoplectic.  And just what did Myerson write of that caused republican heads to explode?  Five economic reforms, including guaranteed jobs (government infrastructure, etc.), guaranteed incomes (a la Social Security), and state banks (a la North Dakota) that Millenials should be fighting for--from listening to republicans, though, you would have thought Myerson gave Martha Washington a swift kick in the fanny instead of stating the obvious in the never ending struggle to survive economically in today's plutocracy.

As an old white guy, I, too, have a gripe with Myerson's piece.  Why should only Millenials be fighting for these reforms?  I may not live as long as most of them, but these reforms would make my remaining days a whole hell of a lot better, too.

If the Great Recession has shown us nothing else, it's that the free market will not provide adequate jobs and a living wage for the majority of working class Americans--and if it continues to refuse, it's worthless to us and we need to make sure we take care of our own.

Peace,
emaycee

Not so fast there, President Christie

As the Bridge Scandal worsens in New Jersey, Chris Christie's Presidential ambitions, while not over yet, are taking a huge hit.  Can you imagine a cutthroat like Ted Cruz with this scandal in his back pocket during the republican primaries in 2016?  Even if Christie wasn't aware, he still hired the fuckers who were petty enough to unleash hell on thousands in the small town of Fort Lee, New Jersey over a refusal to give a campaign endorsement.

But the bigger question is...if Christie is done, who is the candidate republicans can turn to in 2016 for a chance to win the election?  It was McCain in 2008, Willard Romney in 2012, but who is left other than Christie for 2016?  All the rest are Tea Party psychopaths who, barring a complete collapse of the U.S. economy, have about as much of a chance to be President as I do and I'm not even running.

I'm sure they'll find someone who has a voice that passes for reason in republican in the next two years, but you have to admit that Democrats--who because of demographics are starting out on solid ground--considering a run are considering it with a little bigger smile on their faces these days.

Peace,
emaycee

Happy Birthday, War on Poverty

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of Lyndon Johnson's State of the Union Address which began the War on Poverty, the only war America has fought since WWII that was worth the fight.

Despite the claims of numbnuts like Marco Rubio (am I the only one who thinks Rubio makes Ted Cruz--a lightweight if ever one existed--look like Winston fucking Churchill?), the War on Poverty has been an unqualified success.  During the time in which the War on Poverty was actually funded properly (the first ten years), the number of Americans in poverty dropped from 19% to 12%.  The numbers since still aren't shabby--from 19% to 15% (personally, I think Clinton's bow to republicans in welfare reform bears a great responsibility for this, as well).

Frankly, the reason the War on Poverty hasn't eradicated poverty in America is republicans--and what a surprise that is.  Since the time of the callous Ronald Reagan, republicans have waged a concerted campaign of attrition to continue their War on the Poor using sexism and racism (among others) to keep old white folks  in the fold, and leading them to believe their votes would bring back the nonexistent days of Mayberry

What they have done, however, is divided America and taken what would be true proof of our exceptionalism--our devotion to the well-being of our fellow countrymen--and turned it into a political football with which to placate their batshit insane base.

Had we fought any of our military wars of the past fifty years with the lies and misinformation that republicans have heaped upon the War on Poverty, our military would be the laughingstock of the world.

Peace,
emaycee

Still two Americas

The second greatest tragedy of John Edwards' fall from grace (the first being the damage he did to his family) was that Edwards had been one of the first to call out on a national stage the idea of there being, economically, two Americas.  Edwards tried, in a way few other national Democrats did or do, to remind the party of its roots and its commitment to championing those in poverty.

In early December The New York Times ran a stunning story on Dasani, a homeless child in New York, and the travails her family faced.  Admittedly, Dasani's parents had made some bad choices, and predictably, the conservative rag The New York Post ran an editorial shortly after its publication in which it raised the usual republican tripe that it was entirely the parents' fault, despite all evidence to the contrary (a republican line of callousness that began with the happy idiot, Ronald Reagan, who, if God is truly just, is currently rotting in hell for his crimes against humanity).

The simple truth is that those in poverty, for the most part, are no more to blame for their lot in life than a single grain of sand is responsible for a dust storm.  The American dream has been dying a slow death since Ronald Reagan's tenure in the White House, and it's only been exacerbated by the Great Recession.  Those born in poverty are much more likely to remain in poverty, and, increasingly, those born in the middle class are facing a future of poverty as well.  America has become a land of plenty for those at the top and a land of permanent want for those at the bottom.  It's called income inequality now, but John Edwards, for all his faults was right:  we have two Americas.  And as Pope Francis has noted, it is the issue of our time.

If the Democratic Party wants to be on the right side of history (let's face it, republicans don't give a fuck about ordinary Americans as long as they can score political points with the 20% of Americans who represent their radical fringe), it would be wise to make their New Year's resolution for 2014 to redevote itself to reaching out to the needy and the homeless, to the working poor and the middle class, and putting their well-being before the Party's corporate benefactors.

The War on Poverty can be won, but it will not be won by Wall Street.

It will be won by Main Street.

Peace,
emaycee