Let me see if I get this straight....
Sen. Rand Paul, who when running for election in 2010 famously said he opposes the part of the Civil Rights Act that does not allow businesses to discriminate based on race (and considering the Greensboro, North Carolina Lunch Counter Sit-Ins and the Bus Boycotts in Montgomery, Alabama were essentially protests against separate but equal in business dealings), which means he basically supports separate but equal at the very least when it comes to businesses, is today using the example of Plessy v. Ferguson, a long discredited Supreme Court decision that he essentially agrees with, to malign Obamacare.
As being an example of a Supreme Court decision eventually overturned, that he doesn't think should have been overturned, with which republicans and Antoinettes can hope against hope will eventally happen to the Affordable Care Act.
F. Scott Fitzgerald noted many years ago that, "There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind." Hard to find a better exemplar of Fitzgerald's adage than Sen. Rand Paul.
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Us Vs. Them
Compare and contrast:
Today, while shaking hands with the crowd at an event in Ohio, our President, Barack Obama, consoled a woman whose sister lost her life due to a) colon cancer, and b) not being able to afford healthcare. She thanked the President for passing Obamacare, an act that will prevent situations arising like that of the woman's sister in the future.
Yesterday, while particpating in the obligatory Fourth of July parade, one of their guys, Rep. Bill Young of Florida, when asked why he doesn't support an increase to $10 in the minimum wage (keep in mind that this would be, if you could get a minimum wage job at forty hours per week--good luck!--$20,800 a year, hardly in the Warren Buffett stratosphere), told the questioner to "Get a job." (Note: the questioner did have a job--probably just a piss poor paid one.)
Can someone please explain to me how republicans--in this supposedly Christian nation, in the supposed faiths that are supposed to look out for the least of their brothers--even get so much as one vote?
And how is it that someone like Rep. Young could pee on George Washington's grave, post it on Youtube, and still get at least 35% of the vote in any given election?
It's enough to make a grown man cry.
Peace,
emaycee
Today, while shaking hands with the crowd at an event in Ohio, our President, Barack Obama, consoled a woman whose sister lost her life due to a) colon cancer, and b) not being able to afford healthcare. She thanked the President for passing Obamacare, an act that will prevent situations arising like that of the woman's sister in the future.
Yesterday, while particpating in the obligatory Fourth of July parade, one of their guys, Rep. Bill Young of Florida, when asked why he doesn't support an increase to $10 in the minimum wage (keep in mind that this would be, if you could get a minimum wage job at forty hours per week--good luck!--$20,800 a year, hardly in the Warren Buffett stratosphere), told the questioner to "Get a job." (Note: the questioner did have a job--probably just a piss poor paid one.)
Can someone please explain to me how republicans--in this supposedly Christian nation, in the supposed faiths that are supposed to look out for the least of their brothers--even get so much as one vote?
And how is it that someone like Rep. Young could pee on George Washington's grave, post it on Youtube, and still get at least 35% of the vote in any given election?
It's enough to make a grown man cry.
Peace,
emaycee
I am a Democrat (Independence Day remix)
Attended our local parade yesterday, and made a couple of completely random observations...
Belated Happy Fourth of July!
Peace,
emaycee
- The people walking down Main Street (real name) with the float for the local republican party was about as lily-white as white can get.
- The crowd cheered much harder--in a decidedly republican leaning area--for the Democratic parade participants.
- Republicans are better organized and look more out of a Norman Rockwell painting than Democrats--we were a ragtag bunch, but a much better representation of the true America. Women, young people, Latinos, Asians, African-Americans--it was a true melting pot.
- Our parade participants had at least ten times the enthusiasm as republicans, and many of them were holding signs in support of Obamacare. The Supreme Court victory may have rejuvenated our side as much as theirs.
- For all my bitching and disappointment concerning our party, it took me at least a millisecond to start hooting and hollering when the Democrats' group was announced over the P.A. Despite our faults, we are still the best political party when it comes to helping other folks, and it--cornpone time!--makes me proud to be a member.
Belated Happy Fourth of July!
Peace,
emaycee
Monday, July 2, 2012
Freedom's just another word for greed
Senator Ron Johnson, republican from Wisconsin, thinks that corporations should not have to insure cancer patients as a matter of freedom.
Because, you know, what American workers really need is another reason to hate corporations.
Peace,
emaycee
Because, you know, what American workers really need is another reason to hate corporations.
Peace,
emaycee
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Say You, Say Me--Part III
Say You:
"We need to accept the principle that sometimes poor people will die just because they are poor."-- Economist Tyler Cowen outlining why republicans should abandon any thoughts of healthcare equality, and enact a survival of the fittest position with regard to providing healtcare services.
Say Me:
As long as I live and breathe, I would never, ever accept such a "principle" (words have meaning--this is not a principle, it's psychopathic heartlessness--this man has no more sympathy for human life than Charles Manson or Ted Bundy). I refuse to believe that anywhere near a majority of Americans would accept such an ignoble outcome--a majority of republicans and Antoinettes, even a vast majority, but not of all Americans.
This is why we need to re-elect President Obama. This is why we need to hold the Senate and win back the House. The sentiment espoused by Mr. Cowen is not the rantings of fringe republicanism--it is the mainstream school of thought in their party. It strikes at the very backbone of what makes America and Americans so great.
And if this "principle" ever does become acceptable here in America, the exodus for all places not the United States would be stupefying.
Peace,
emaycee
"We need to accept the principle that sometimes poor people will die just because they are poor."-- Economist Tyler Cowen outlining why republicans should abandon any thoughts of healthcare equality, and enact a survival of the fittest position with regard to providing healtcare services.
Say Me:
As long as I live and breathe, I would never, ever accept such a "principle" (words have meaning--this is not a principle, it's psychopathic heartlessness--this man has no more sympathy for human life than Charles Manson or Ted Bundy). I refuse to believe that anywhere near a majority of Americans would accept such an ignoble outcome--a majority of republicans and Antoinettes, even a vast majority, but not of all Americans.
This is why we need to re-elect President Obama. This is why we need to hold the Senate and win back the House. The sentiment espoused by Mr. Cowen is not the rantings of fringe republicanism--it is the mainstream school of thought in their party. It strikes at the very backbone of what makes America and Americans so great.
And if this "principle" ever does become acceptable here in America, the exodus for all places not the United States would be stupefying.
Peace,
emaycee
Say You, Say Me--Part II
Say You:
Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon-Mobil and multimillionaire said this week when speaking to the Council of Foregin Relations in New York City that we, as a society, could "adapt" to global warming and that its effects would be "manageable."
Say Me:
Let's ask those 300+ families in Colorado whose homes have been destroyed by the recent wildfires how well their homes "adapted" and if having all that they own destroyed by raging fires is "manageable." This is just another in a long line of self-serving sentiments from corporate America, entities which do not give a good goddamn about America or Americans. Frankly, the effects of global warming on someone of Mr. Tillerson's wealth would probably be manageable--but when you're watching 90% of your family's net worth float into the Atlantic Ocean or a sand dune in your backyard that used to be a grassy hill your kids could sled down on snowy days in winter ("Mommy, what's winter?") in a home that's worth pennies on the dollar because its in the middle of the fucking desert, it won't seem so manageable.
I do have a solution to Mr. Tillerson's thoughtlessness, though--since he will more than likely be long gone by the time the full effects of global warming have decimated the planet, let's make a pact to tie his descendants to the Saharan palm trees dotting what used to be New York City, and let them eat all the sandburgers they can stomach.
Peace,
emaycee
Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon-Mobil and multimillionaire said this week when speaking to the Council of Foregin Relations in New York City that we, as a society, could "adapt" to global warming and that its effects would be "manageable."
Say Me:
Let's ask those 300+ families in Colorado whose homes have been destroyed by the recent wildfires how well their homes "adapted" and if having all that they own destroyed by raging fires is "manageable." This is just another in a long line of self-serving sentiments from corporate America, entities which do not give a good goddamn about America or Americans. Frankly, the effects of global warming on someone of Mr. Tillerson's wealth would probably be manageable--but when you're watching 90% of your family's net worth float into the Atlantic Ocean or a sand dune in your backyard that used to be a grassy hill your kids could sled down on snowy days in winter ("Mommy, what's winter?") in a home that's worth pennies on the dollar because its in the middle of the fucking desert, it won't seem so manageable.
I do have a solution to Mr. Tillerson's thoughtlessness, though--since he will more than likely be long gone by the time the full effects of global warming have decimated the planet, let's make a pact to tie his descendants to the Saharan palm trees dotting what used to be New York City, and let them eat all the sandburgers they can stomach.
Peace,
emaycee
Say You, Say Me--Part I
Say You:
I try not to get too terribly worked up over columns on the business pages of newspapers--there's a logical explanation for why they lean strongly pro-business or pro-market forces. I'd be willing to bet a sizable chunk of a newspaper's readership doesn't even look at the business section, so it's not as if their viewpoints are as widely read as, say, the op-ed page. But every now and again...you get a piece like today's column in the Free Press from Susan Tompor on the effects of the special tax on capital gains being used to help fund Obamacare. Note this tax is if you sell a second home, a vacation home, stocks, or other investments north of $250,000. Tompor uses the example of someone making $80,0000 per year, selling a $400,000 vacation home, which would result in an extra tax of slightly less than $11,000. To which one of the people cited in the article, tax expert Clint Stretch, replied "It's not like having a lot of capital gains makes you sick when you retire and go on Medicare."
Say Me:
Unlike republicans and their ugly step-sisters the Antoinettes, I am not prone to having a lot of economic sympathy for anyone sporting the kinds of household worth numbers noted above. I mean, fucking really? I'm supposed to feel sorry for someone a) making $80,000 a year, b) able to afford a second home worth $400,000, and c) having to pay an extra $11,000 in taxes to help more Americans have health insurance? My guess is somewhere around 95% of Americans would absolutely fucking love to pay that $11,000 special tax to get to have those kind of dollars in their households.
I'll tell you what, though. Anyone who is so unhappy with it can sell that property to me for a dollar and I'll gladly pay that special tax. Hell, I'll fucking pay double that--and smile all the way to the bank.
Frankly, someone has to point out to people that greed is fucking ugly, and not a character trait to be proud of.
Peace,
emaycee
I try not to get too terribly worked up over columns on the business pages of newspapers--there's a logical explanation for why they lean strongly pro-business or pro-market forces. I'd be willing to bet a sizable chunk of a newspaper's readership doesn't even look at the business section, so it's not as if their viewpoints are as widely read as, say, the op-ed page. But every now and again...you get a piece like today's column in the Free Press from Susan Tompor on the effects of the special tax on capital gains being used to help fund Obamacare. Note this tax is if you sell a second home, a vacation home, stocks, or other investments north of $250,000. Tompor uses the example of someone making $80,0000 per year, selling a $400,000 vacation home, which would result in an extra tax of slightly less than $11,000. To which one of the people cited in the article, tax expert Clint Stretch, replied "It's not like having a lot of capital gains makes you sick when you retire and go on Medicare."
Say Me:
Unlike republicans and their ugly step-sisters the Antoinettes, I am not prone to having a lot of economic sympathy for anyone sporting the kinds of household worth numbers noted above. I mean, fucking really? I'm supposed to feel sorry for someone a) making $80,000 a year, b) able to afford a second home worth $400,000, and c) having to pay an extra $11,000 in taxes to help more Americans have health insurance? My guess is somewhere around 95% of Americans would absolutely fucking love to pay that $11,000 special tax to get to have those kind of dollars in their households.
I'll tell you what, though. Anyone who is so unhappy with it can sell that property to me for a dollar and I'll gladly pay that special tax. Hell, I'll fucking pay double that--and smile all the way to the bank.
Frankly, someone has to point out to people that greed is fucking ugly, and not a character trait to be proud of.
Peace,
emaycee
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
