Doing the right thing

This past Friday--on, ahem, the anniversary of the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt--Democrats in the Michigan state legislature introduced legislation to raise our state minimum wage to $10 an hour.  With Governor Gutless, Rick Snyder, in the executive mansion, and a solid republican majority in both houses, its chances of passage are probably not very good.

With seventy percent of Michiganders in favor of increasing the minimum wage, Michigan Democrats have wisely realized that not only is raising the minimum wage good policy, it's good politics as well.  If nothing else, at least they are trying to make economic life for Michigan's citizens a bit better.

Would that we could say the same for our feckless President, who, like Ronald Reagan and ketchup as a vegetable, has decided that catfood is extremely nutritious for our senior citizens, and as his budget gets ever more scrutinized, has decided that keeping wealthy defense contractors happy and richer is a lot more important than properly funding discretionary spending, you know, little things like the NIH, CDC, and a host of other programs that give a hand up to ordinary Americans.

Peace,
emaycee

The test of our progress

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."--Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Had I not worked this past Monday, I would not have known that today is the sixth-eighth anniversary of the death of the greatest American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  I work in a thrift store, and each day we get (much appreciated) donations to keep us in product to sell to customers to help us provide for the needy. On Monday I happened to go through a box of donated goods that contained a series of articles from the issue of Life magazine that was released the week after his death.  Considering the articles were from 1945, they were in surprisngly good condition, and yesterday I had the chance to read through them.  While the articles themselves contained nothing extraordinary, they did paint a picture of a man who was beloved by American because he loved Americans.  Franklin Roosevelt put human dignity, moral conviction, and human compassion at the forefront of his agenda.

It is sad that two days before the anniversary of President Roosevelt's death, the American people were betrayed by our current President, in a wisdom that is evident to no one, when he decided to embrace cuts known as Chained CPI to President Roosevelt's signature economic accomplishment, Social Security.   Social Security is the most successful government program in history, and has kept millions of Americans out of poverty.

In the midst of the Great Depression, with millions of Americans in need, Franklin Delano Roosevelt showed courage and worked to provide enough for those who have too little.  In the midst of the Great Recession, with millions of Americans in need, Barack Obama decided to stroke his own ego in search of a Grand Bargain.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt touched greatness because he cared about the American people, and didn't give a damn about his legacy.  Too bad for the well-being of ordinary Americans that we will never say the same of Barack Obama.

Peace,
emaycee

Ta-ta, Iron (hearted) lady

Seems there's supposed to be some sort of etiquette rule about not speaking ill of the dead.

Fuck that.

Margaret Thatcher died today, and the world immediately became a better place.  Had she never been born, many, many people would have had much better and longer lives..  Along with Ronald Reagan, Thatcher's policies did more to cause more economic pain to those who could least afford it, and  helped those who least needed it, than few leaders in the history of the world.  Thanks to Thatcher and Reagan, human misery and suffering increased exponentially.

Unfortunately, I will spend the next few days trying not to puke as ignorant pundit after ignorant pundit lionizes Ms. Thatcher.  I will, however, rejoice in the fact that she is now rotting in hell right beside her idiot friend, Ronald Reagan.

Cheerio!

Peace,
emaycee

Dixie dust

You know...there's something mighty fucked up about the South:

• Seems it's Confederate Heritage Month...because enslaving human beings, trying to break up the United States of America, and more American deaths than any other military conflict in our history because of some lunatic notions about states' rights superseding basic human dignity are so, so much to be proud of.
• Texas, South Carolina, and Tennessee have decided that they're not interested in free Medicaid and don't care if more of their people die because of a lack of healthcare.  How letting people die gibes with their "pro-life" views will take a more batshit insane mind than mine to explain.
• North Carolina doesn't think the Constitutional protection of freedom from religion applies to their state, and eleven state representatives have sponsored a resolution saying they can sponsor their very own state religion.  Here's guessing it won't be Wicca. (Note: this resolution has since been withdrawn.)
• In perhaps the creme de la creme of Southern (not) hospitality, Tennesse has passed a bill in both houses that ties a family's welfare assistance to the performance of their kids grades (substandard grades can lead to a 30% reduction in benefits).  Hey kid, I know you're only seven, but get a C on this test and your baby sister's going hungry next week! 

What kind of fucking animals are these people? 

The South is a pimple on the ass of the United States of America.

Peace,
emaycee

What more in the name of love

There's a part of me that's a little bothered by the fact that forty-five years after Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot to death in Memphis while there to support striking sanitation workers, that we still have so many people fighting for a decent living wage (sad fact:  7 of the 10 most common jobs in America pay less than $30,000 a year).

But a bigger part of me is quite proud of the fact that we Liberals continue to fight for it despite the odds, and support groups like the fast food workers in New York City who staged a walkout today in their fight for a decent living wage, on the anniversary of King's assassination.  And bemoans the weakened state of unions in America, and the lack of public recognition for all the good they have done for working Americans.

I defy anyone to name anything that the modern incarnation of the republican party has ever done to make life better for average working class Americans.

And by the way, delusions of paranoia don't count.

Peace,
emaycee

The Grand Delusion

I'd give you a link for President Obama and his designs for a Grand Bargain on Social Security and/or Medicare, but you can just type in "Grand Bargain" on any search engine and about a thousand posts by pissed off Liberals (and rightfully so) will magically appear.

I have a hunch that President Obama views the Grand Bargain as being akin to Bill Clinton's efforts on welfare reform.  It will be a signature issue in his legacy, one that the misinformed traditional media can point to again and again as showing his leadership and ability to compromise for the good of the country.

Unfortunately, welfare reform has been a colossal failure, with one in six Americans (and over 20% of our children) living below the federal poverty level.  Granted, the Great Recession has probably made those numbers worse, but there is no evidence that Clinton's welfare reform has lowered poverty levels.  The only thing it has done is make America a more cold-hearted and desolate place--which seems to be how republicans envision America at its finest.

One supposes that, being chosen as one of the original twelve apostles, Judas Iscariot must have had some redeeming qualities.  But he is remembered solely as the man who betrayed Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver.

President Obama might accomplish much in his eight years, but if his Grand Bargain designs result in more seniors in poverty and/or bankrupted by medical care, it's not hard to imagine his legacy being akin to that of the aforementioned Mr. Iscariot.

Peace,
emaycee

Looney, looney, looney

Sometimes in my mostly mundane daily travels, I come across the damndest things.

As I was parking my car at work the other day, I parked next to a car with a bumper sticker that said "Hey Obama!  Redistribute this!"  Funny thing was, it wasn't on a Mercedes or a BMW, but some fucking hooptie that had long seen better days--it looked like a Dodge Dart that would have needed a tanker truck full of Rustoleum to look even presentable.

I'm guessing he hasn't received his redistribution check, yet.  I know I haven't received mine.

For some odd reason, though, the bumper sticker reminded me of the character Teddy Duchamp in the movie Stand by Me.  For those not familiar, Duchamp has a father who isn't mentally stable (he burned the boy's ear on the family stove), but when a junkyard owner calls his father a "looney" Duchamp explodes at the insult. 

You can kind of understand Duchamp's loyalty--it's his father, and the father was a war hero.  But how do you explain the poor defending the wealthy?  What, he's planning on winning the lotto?  Thinking some wealthy guy's going to see the bumper sticker on his car and offer him a cush job?  Maybe his second car is a Porsche?

It's not redistribution we seek (Obama couldn't care less--he had his chance to help the poor and the middle class and he passed on it, preferring to be seen as some sort of conciliator one supposes).  It's good wages for a job well done. 

And those are mighty, mighty hard for most of us to come by these days.

Peace,
emaycee