Anarchy in the U.S.A.

Were my daughter not a political reporter in Iowa, I probably wouldn't be as familiar with Sen. Tom Harkin as I am.  Over the past couple of years I've become quite an admirer, especially since Sen. Harkin remains an unabashed Liberal despite not residing in somewhat safer territory like the Northeast or the West Coast.  After today's votes saving the country from economic calamity, I was reminded of something Sen. Harkin said a couple of weeks back:  "Chaos. Confusion.  Tear the system down and that's the way minorities tend to take over."

For all President Obama's faults, for all the Democratic Party's faults, I think we can all be thankful for their stand in favor of democracy over the past couple of weeks, and for not giving in to the Tea Party and the 20% of Americans who live in a bizarroworld where because you believe it, everybody else should have to suffer the consequences regardless of its worth or danger or existence in reality.

The republican party got exactly what it should have got for holding a gun to the heads of the American people and trying to hold our economic well-being hostage:  fucking nothing.

Peace,
emaycee

They say it's your birthday

Social Security, that wondrous program championed by the greatest American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is seventy-eight years old today.  For a poor bastard like me, it's also the program that stands between me and being eighty years old, standing behind the counter of a McDonald's, and asking some scruffy seventeen year old if he'd like fries with his Big Mac.

Many people are using today to give a boost to the Harkin-Begich amendment which would--rather than cut as far too many fools are encouraging--actually give a generous raise to those collecting Social Security.  A most worthy cause for today, but...

...today is also a day when we can remind everyone that Social Security is not an entitlement.  I have been paying into Social Security, at a clip of 6.2% of my wages for almost thirty years now--as have the vast, vast majority of my fellow Americans.  When I retire, I am being given nothing when I receive my Social Security checks.  I earned every fucking penny of them--and so have my fellow Americans.

Today would also be a good day to remind the American people just who it is who would benefit the most from cuts to Social Security--big business.  Unbeknownst to many, our employers match our 6.2% contribution.  The same mother fuckers who ended pensions as we knew them for the crapshoot (for ordinary Americans, anyway) that is the 401k plan, who shifted health insurance premiums to employees (believe it or not, boys and girls, 'twas a time when employees contributed nothing to their company sponsored health insurance--the company bore the entire cost) for little more than to make the rich richer and the rest of us to live paycheck to paycheck ad nauseum, would certainly see their bottom lines balloon should they not have that match, and as before, all that it would mean is Daddy Warbucks would have a few more hundred dollar bills to light his cigars while the nation's elderly would keep Purina Cat Chow profits soaring.

Remember--Social Security is the panacea that will prevent the drool from my eighty-year old lips falling on your grandkids french fries....

Peace,
emaycee

Who?

Meteor Blades hits the nail on the head with this piece--we should be hammering Tom Harkin's Rebuild America Act at every opportunity.  Unfortunately, he neglects to tell us exactly who should be using the bullhorn to spread this information far and wide.

Because it seems to me if we don't have it out before the elections this fall, it's not going to help much.  Not to mention, this isn't exactly the kind of plan that has the time to ferment for a few years before taking off--we need jobs now.  Mind you, I'm not talking about getting it to pass--just getting the information out as what we Democrats are offering, what distinguishes us from Romney and his circus clowns.

So...as we've seen over the past few years, President Obama the Centrist Wonder is pretty much out.  And the major media outlets, too--fewer and fewer are reading newspapers and Rachel Maddow and the MSNBC gang don't have that many followers.  I think Harry Reid is a possibility, though the Senate Dems that would support it (like our Senators, Levin and Stabenow) are not likely to be able to make enough noise.  Nancy Pelosi is likely the best choice, but even at that, she doesn't have that strong of a caucus.

I truly believe Sen. Harkin's Rebuild America Act is the best economic vision I have seen from the Democrats in years.  But as all too often in the past, it will turn out to be mere wishful thinking because we can't get the information to the mass of Americans it needs to be successful.

Because if preaching "Isn't this cool?" to the already converted were a successful strategy, a whole hell of a lot more of your high school classmates would have been in the Chess Club.

Peace,
emaycee

Can I vote for this guy?

For the record, I love living in the state of Michigan and feel very fortunate to have two pretty solid Liberal Senators in Sen. Levin and Sen. Stabenow.

But Tom Harkin?  He's right up there with Bernie Sanders as far as taking the mantle once held by that bastion of Liberalism and one of my modern political heroes, Ted Kennedy.  Check out this shit (as reported by the crackerjack political journalist for The Hawkeye, Iowa's oldest newspaper):  Christ, if President Obama ran on this platform the Liberal base would be delirious with joy.

Restoring unions?  Check.  Enacting the Buffet Rule?  Check.  Transaction tax on hedge fund managers?  Check.  Spending on infrastructure?  Check.  Spending on child care and education?  Check and check.

Restoring the middle class?  Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Peace,
emaycee

A few of my favorite things...

Thank you, Tom Harkin for talking about looking out for the middle class and actually meaning it.

And Bernie Sanders for holding the President's feet to the fire, which has to be an utterly thankless job.

Bob Cesca for being a funny liberal and getting the Anthony Weiner scandal exactly right.  Plus coming up with a solution for our piss poor tradtional media that actually has a chance of working.  Want to end the freak shows?  Watch something meatier--how novel.

Mitt Romney for looking more and more like John Kerry every single day.  He didn't say it unless he did.  And changed his mind.  But meant something else.  As if.

It ain't much, but it keeps me going.

Peace,
emaycee

More Reasons I'll Never Be a Conservative, Vol. 867,000

So much time, so little to do...stop, reverse that.... Apparently, the Catholic Church doesn't have its hands full enough with the massive priests and pedophiles tour, they need to be evaluating a group of nuns who appear to have more class in their habits than Pope Bendict has in the entire Vatican. It's like the Vatican's leadership is trying to destroy itself much like the Republican Par...oh, wait a minute, they are one and the same. I particularly like the quote from the lunatic who says the compassionate nuns are being encouraged to do some serious "re-evaluation." Over what? Whether or not the Church is worth their efforts? In light of our troubles with teaching kids how to read (am I the only one who finds it horrible that Massachusetts--gotta love those bluer than blue states--is number one in the nation and still 53% of their fourth graders can't read proficiently?), the failure of the White House and Congress to act on Sen. Harkin's amendment to save 100,000 teacher's jobs is unconscionable. Without solid education for our youngsters, our future as a nation is bleak, bleaker, and bleakest. This is just pathetic--stupid is as stupid does and our leaders seem bent on proving Forrest Gump correct. *ASIDE* I never paid much attention to Sen. Harkin before this year, but he's rapidly becoming one of my favorites. His push on healthcare, fight for the public option, and his teacher's amendment make him aces.... So if Republicans truly believe the auto safety bill is too tough on auto manufacturers, essentially what they're saying is that corporate profits are more important than American lives. Can someone of importance please point out their callousness to the American public? Please? A turd (a.k.a. Karl Rove) visited our great state this week, and said, "I don't need to tell you that the president of the United States has been an absolute disaster when it comes to spending...." Which is especially rich coming from the man who helped elect the idiot who turned a surplus into the largest deficit in U. S. history. Note to the imcompetent reporter (Kathleen Gray of the Free Press) who failed to point this out: you ought to head to the Beltway--your complete and utter cluelessness would fit in perfectly with the other Beltway reporters. Rove also said, "Why is it that special interests are always business, but not unions?" Though I would question his assessment--conservative media points out unions as special interests regularly--uh, I think the short answer would be because UNIONS ARE PROTECTING THE WORKING PEOPLE OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY AND BUSINESSES ARE OUT TO FUCK US OVER. See how simple that was? Thank you AFL-CIO--it's about time somebody stood up to weak-kneed Republican lite Democrats and told them to go fuck themselves when they're not standing up for workers. "Threatening," said Rep. Melton, a "Democrat", "that's the old way of doing things." No, sir, that's how you keep chickenshits such as yourself in line. Between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, I've seen more than enough of "New" Democrats. Give me an old mother fucking Democrat like Teddy Kennedy anyday--somebody who's going to fight for workers, the poor, the middle class, and not spend most of his time supporting conservative policies and kissing Republican ass. Note to ESPN on the Indy 500--unless Danica Patrick wins the mother fucker, don't wake me up. It isn't newsworthy, and I couldn't care less. Peace, emaycee