The Republican Vision for America
Most days I spend on average of three hours a day going through my Email (Sundays tend to be lite, because it is the day of rest). And that's skimming through it. As you can see from the link section to the right I have a fairly wide variety of interests, and they all insist on sending me Emails (especially those "Save the Frogs" people) on a regular basis.
It is my habit to file away the stories that catch my eye in a "Need To Read," folder, for later consumption, while I continue to skim through the rest, every once in a while adding to that folder.
I will never get through them all. I know that now, and have come to terms with this fact.
However I do get through a great deal of them. A few days ago I was reading this article from the Washington Post: "House bills give a glimpse into the tea party’s vision for America"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-tea-party-influence-is-creating-a-new-dynamic-in-the-house/2011/08/11/gIQAkvf0KJ_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend
It had been referred to me from Keith Olbermann if I remember correctly, and as the article's title suggests, a pretty clear picture of the future of this country is painted if the Tea Baggers and their Republican minions have their way, indicated by the legislation they have already passed in the House of Representatives.
*In this time of increased foreclosures, continued robo signing of title documents by banks, swelling the ranks of the homeless and disenfranchised by thousands, the Tea Baggers would end 3 programs to provide assistance to those about to lose said homes ("Refinance Program Termination Act," "Emergency Mortgage Relief Program," "The HAMP Termination Act of 2011").
*Health care reform? That would be gone ("Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act," I guess the title says it all). Of course they offer no alternative plan, so it would be back to the medical insurance companies deciding what they will and will not cover, and how much, etc, etc, etc.
*Carbon dioxide pollution, and other greenhouse gases. No more federal guidelines to limit emissions ("Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011"). Koch bros... do what you will.
*A Medicare overhaul that would force new recipients to buy private insurance after 2022, thereby effectively gutting Medicare, and increasing the cost of coverage about $6000 a year for each individual.
*Financial reform? The bill President Obama got through was already weak enough, but the Republicans in Congress are attempting to derail any form of regulation, taking aim now at the newly formed Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, blocking Richard Corday from taking the helm of the agency until the Bureau's powers of enforcement are next to non-existent.
*Oh yeah, the old balanced budget amendment they keep insisting on, which would relieve Congress from doing it's job, which is allocating a budget, and which leaves no leeway for emergency expenditures, and which, thank God, hasn't a snowball chances in Albuquerque of ever passing 2/3 of each chamber, and 3/4 of the states.
It isn't easy to pass a Constitutional Amendment. The founding fathers didn't want it to be (because of instances just like this), and fortunately these bills have little chance of surviving in the Democratically controlled Senate.
The article makes clear though that it is the Republican's wish to repeal and get rid of everything, every gain, the Obama Administration has painfully made, to be replaced by... nothing. The Republicans have no ideas they can offer the American people... they just don't like the ones Obama had. Why? Because it was Obama who had them (a similar point can be made for the 9/11 attacks. The Clinton administrators attempted to warn the incoming George W. Bush team that Al qaeda wanted to attack us on U.S. soil:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/index.htm
Hell their own CIA even told them how they were going to do it: http://wanttoknow.info/020515post_memo_bush_white_house_bin_laden_attack_america_9-11 )
But Bush, and his cronies chose to ignore these warnings because... they came from Clinton (or his people), and thousands died due to their arrogance and stupidity).
There is also the matter of the general state of the economy. It's a mess. High unemployment. Employers cash rich but unwilling to hire. Average citizens having to increase their debt just to stay afloat, and when that fails their home is taken from them by eager banks those same people helped bail out during the meltdown of 2008. Wages are flat, have been for more than a decade, while employers demand higher productivity. Consumer protections are being held up by Congress. That same Congress refuses to lower the national debt and balance the budget by increasing taxes on the wealthy, while raiding social programs needed by the poor, the elderly, veterans, women...
The country is being raped by the super wealthy and multi-national corporations who control Congress and the Supreme Court (and influence the White House as well), and who would impose austerity measures on the majority of it's citizens for the mistakes that were made by those same multi-national corporations and banks, the same Congress that sat by and allowed them to make those mistakes. Those corporations and banks wish to continue to pillage without restraint, the possibility of another financial crisis and recession is very real. Upstart Republican presidential candidates promising the world to Tea Bagger groupies, when it was their party that was responsible for the mess we're in to begin with. They're greatest hope is that the country does not remember that, that we all fall under some type kind of collective amnesia. And they lie. The Republicans enjoy having their very own propaganda network that caters to the ill informed masses who are eager to be led, who are consistently told what they want to hear, most often having nothing to do with the real world, with facts, facts indeed are shunned, to be replaced by a white hot ideology fueled by fear, mistrust, bigotry, ignorance and hatred.
And those in power won't be happy, will not rest, until every once of sustenance is sucked out of the heart and body of this nation, until the majority of Americans spend their lives serving them, hypnotized by corporate television, video games, and the grind of making a living. They won't be satisfied until everyone but them are left to exist in the modern day equivalent of Depression era "Hoovervilles."
Here is Jon Stewart's take on the Republican's view of the poor and income inequality:
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/652418/jon_stewart_to_fox_news%3A_making_the_super-rich_pay_taxes_is_%22class_warfare%22_no%2C_the_war_is_on_the_poor/#paragraph3
The United States of America will never be defeated by a foreign enemy, our military is much too strong. But it can, and may be defeated, it's democratic goals and protections withered away, from the enemy within.
How did this state of affairs come about?
The majority of Americans became complacent, or were duped, just as our internal enemies wanted us to be, had worked feverishly for us to be, and then after long preparation, there came an unexpected shock.
Which started a silent civil war within the country.
And that began on the 11th day of September, in 2001.
To be continued.
It is my habit to file away the stories that catch my eye in a "Need To Read," folder, for later consumption, while I continue to skim through the rest, every once in a while adding to that folder.
I will never get through them all. I know that now, and have come to terms with this fact.
However I do get through a great deal of them. A few days ago I was reading this article from the Washington Post: "House bills give a glimpse into the tea party’s vision for America"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-tea-party-influence-is-creating-a-new-dynamic-in-the-house/2011/08/11/gIQAkvf0KJ_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend
It had been referred to me from Keith Olbermann if I remember correctly, and as the article's title suggests, a pretty clear picture of the future of this country is painted if the Tea Baggers and their Republican minions have their way, indicated by the legislation they have already passed in the House of Representatives.
*In this time of increased foreclosures, continued robo signing of title documents by banks, swelling the ranks of the homeless and disenfranchised by thousands, the Tea Baggers would end 3 programs to provide assistance to those about to lose said homes ("Refinance Program Termination Act," "Emergency Mortgage Relief Program," "The HAMP Termination Act of 2011").
*Health care reform? That would be gone ("Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act," I guess the title says it all). Of course they offer no alternative plan, so it would be back to the medical insurance companies deciding what they will and will not cover, and how much, etc, etc, etc.
*Carbon dioxide pollution, and other greenhouse gases. No more federal guidelines to limit emissions ("Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011"). Koch bros... do what you will.
*A Medicare overhaul that would force new recipients to buy private insurance after 2022, thereby effectively gutting Medicare, and increasing the cost of coverage about $6000 a year for each individual.
*Financial reform? The bill President Obama got through was already weak enough, but the Republicans in Congress are attempting to derail any form of regulation, taking aim now at the newly formed Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, blocking Richard Corday from taking the helm of the agency until the Bureau's powers of enforcement are next to non-existent.
*Oh yeah, the old balanced budget amendment they keep insisting on, which would relieve Congress from doing it's job, which is allocating a budget, and which leaves no leeway for emergency expenditures, and which, thank God, hasn't a snowball chances in Albuquerque of ever passing 2/3 of each chamber, and 3/4 of the states.
It isn't easy to pass a Constitutional Amendment. The founding fathers didn't want it to be (because of instances just like this), and fortunately these bills have little chance of surviving in the Democratically controlled Senate.
The article makes clear though that it is the Republican's wish to repeal and get rid of everything, every gain, the Obama Administration has painfully made, to be replaced by... nothing. The Republicans have no ideas they can offer the American people... they just don't like the ones Obama had. Why? Because it was Obama who had them (a similar point can be made for the 9/11 attacks. The Clinton administrators attempted to warn the incoming George W. Bush team that Al qaeda wanted to attack us on U.S. soil:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/index.htm
Hell their own CIA even told them how they were going to do it: http://wanttoknow.info/020515post_memo_bush_white_house_bin_laden_attack_america_9-11 )
But Bush, and his cronies chose to ignore these warnings because... they came from Clinton (or his people), and thousands died due to their arrogance and stupidity).
There is also the matter of the general state of the economy. It's a mess. High unemployment. Employers cash rich but unwilling to hire. Average citizens having to increase their debt just to stay afloat, and when that fails their home is taken from them by eager banks those same people helped bail out during the meltdown of 2008. Wages are flat, have been for more than a decade, while employers demand higher productivity. Consumer protections are being held up by Congress. That same Congress refuses to lower the national debt and balance the budget by increasing taxes on the wealthy, while raiding social programs needed by the poor, the elderly, veterans, women...
The country is being raped by the super wealthy and multi-national corporations who control Congress and the Supreme Court (and influence the White House as well), and who would impose austerity measures on the majority of it's citizens for the mistakes that were made by those same multi-national corporations and banks, the same Congress that sat by and allowed them to make those mistakes. Those corporations and banks wish to continue to pillage without restraint, the possibility of another financial crisis and recession is very real. Upstart Republican presidential candidates promising the world to Tea Bagger groupies, when it was their party that was responsible for the mess we're in to begin with. They're greatest hope is that the country does not remember that, that we all fall under some type kind of collective amnesia. And they lie. The Republicans enjoy having their very own propaganda network that caters to the ill informed masses who are eager to be led, who are consistently told what they want to hear, most often having nothing to do with the real world, with facts, facts indeed are shunned, to be replaced by a white hot ideology fueled by fear, mistrust, bigotry, ignorance and hatred.
And those in power won't be happy, will not rest, until every once of sustenance is sucked out of the heart and body of this nation, until the majority of Americans spend their lives serving them, hypnotized by corporate television, video games, and the grind of making a living. They won't be satisfied until everyone but them are left to exist in the modern day equivalent of Depression era "Hoovervilles."
Here is Jon Stewart's take on the Republican's view of the poor and income inequality:
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/652418/jon_stewart_to_fox_news%3A_making_the_super-rich_pay_taxes_is_%22class_warfare%22_no%2C_the_war_is_on_the_poor/#paragraph3
The United States of America will never be defeated by a foreign enemy, our military is much too strong. But it can, and may be defeated, it's democratic goals and protections withered away, from the enemy within.
How did this state of affairs come about?
The majority of Americans became complacent, or were duped, just as our internal enemies wanted us to be, had worked feverishly for us to be, and then after long preparation, there came an unexpected shock.
Which started a silent civil war within the country.
And that began on the 11th day of September, in 2001.
To be continued.
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