I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Linkee-poo just shakes it's shaggy head and walks away

To make up for my sin of no political links yesterday, apparently everybody decided to go batshit crazy.

Hey, it's like the early 2000's all over again. Remember "50 plus 1 is a mandate"? Ah, good times. And here they are again.
"(on the HCR repeal), the GOP hasn't (but Democrats have) asked the CBO to score its health care repeal bill. Republicans know what that score will say: that repeal will blow up the deficit. But they don't buy the numbers, and, whenever those numbers conflict with their policy priorities, they'll ignore them."

To those that will argue, "It's just what the Dems did." Uh, no. HCR is to the right of what Trent Lott proposed as a counter to Clinton's Heath Care Reform. If the Dems "did it too", we'd all be wondering when the Public Option would kick in. Also, the Finance Reform has how many hundred Republican sponsored amendments in committee? Yeah. Just goes to the point that conservatives, when in power, are about that power. Liberals, when in power, are about governance. You may disagree with that direction (initially I was going to say, "helping real people with real problems," but that's a qualitative statement that's open to even more interpretation). But at least it is a governance. Where as the other side just calls anybody who disagrees with them either liars, incompetent, or "they just aren't looking at the whole picture."

And because I'm just tired of the trite "What the People Want" and "the Public Doesn't Like Congress/Democratic Rule" and it all being a one sided argument. Well karma comes knocking in a Rasmussen Poll. Read that again, a Rassmussen Poll. You know, the people who ask, "are you upset about anything the President has done" and lumps those into "those who think the President is doing a bad job." Also notice that those who think a Republican Congress would do better has gone down since the election. They have barely taken power (and in this poll, they hadn't yet), and already their numbers are "tanking" (that term used according to Hannity Statistics).

And I'm sure this will get the Bread and Circuses crowd. However, it's a dangerous precedent, and one based on intentional lying. And this new Congress is unfortunately filled to the brim with these kinds of stories (people appointed into positions of power who have no business being there, including some conservatives who are now chairmen of committees that have investigated them in the past, which would be like putting Charlie Rangle in charge of the Ethics Committee). However we now have a party in power that feels changing the name of the Energy and Labor Committee to Energy and Workforce Committee is a priority. So, how much did that cost to have new letterhead and business cards printed.

Oh, and the new Conservative House Leadership is going to cut the House Memeber's budgets by 5%. Big. Frickin'. Woop. Want to get close to what we in your local governments have been facing. Our income last year, while better than we expected (by about 1.5%), is still running at 50% of our budget three years ago. Cut your budgets by 30%, or you ain't whistling' dixie.

Add another voice to the growing cacophony on the disparity of wealth in our country. Yes, it's another progressive. In case you're wondering, this topic was #2 on why I became disillusioned with the conservative movement. A rising tide may lift all boats, but if you're chained to the bottom, you drown. And even if you're on one of the boats, or hanging on to the ladder, the water level doesn't change for you. Only those who have a vested interest in the tides gain and they buy bigger and bigger boats. You also can pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you don't even have boots to begin with.

And can I just say, that for all this talk of "we should be focused on jobs and doing something that can help people" and then focusing on repealing HCR which has zero chance of not being vetoed (without the votes for an override) if it even passes the Senate and some other priorities of the new Congress before they get to anything that will actually help (which they haven't said what that would be, but promised it) until late February? Yeah, thanks guys.

And lastly, we have Ronald Reagan on socialized medicine (aka Medicare). Say, has any of that fear mongering come true? And Medicare has been going for how long now? And, yes, doesn't that rhetoric sound awfully familiar? Why, yes, it does. Especially the line, "we'll tell our children stories about when men were free." Aren't we the free-est nation on Earth? Why, yes, I hear that too. From those same mouths that spouted the other things as well. Awfully slow damn socialist revolution if you ask me. They must be out getting coffee.

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