Vice President Joe Biden, Jr., aka "the Hostage," met with a half-dozen Congressional leaders in the latest of a half-dozen futile rounds of talks ostensibly aimed at reaching a debt reduction deal to clear the way for raising the nation's debt ceiling.
Futile not because raising the debt ceiling is normally a pro forma vote, and no discussion of slashing trillions from the federal budget while coddling the richest, most powerful plutocrats in history is really necessary. Futile not because addressing debt and budget deficits is vital to America's well being.
Futile because a solution is the last thing Republicans want.
Unfortunately for Biden, Congressional Democrats, and the American people, recent reports of a weakening economic recovery are sure to bolster and embolden Republicans, who are demanding an additional $2.5 trillion in tax subsidies to the world's wealthiest moguls in exchange for letting the federal government continue to lift the heaviest loads in running the world. Republicans are sure to be emboldened not because their schemes would actually reduce budget deficits or help grow the economy, but because the Republicans' real goal is to wreck the US economy and destroy Barack Obama's presidency.
To recapture the White House in 2012, Republicans would need an economic catastrophe like the disastrous free-market, trickle-down, supply-side, unregulated funny-money pyramid crash they caused in 2008. Fortunately for Republicans, they have the lingering effects of their disastrous free-market, trickle-down, supply-side, unregulated funny-money pyramid crash from 2008 to work with, and no one knows how to crash an economy better than Republicans. To guarantee Obama won't save America's economic hide, Republicans have been diligently obstructing any attempts to stimulate the economy, save for more tax giveaways to their plutocrat patrons, and relentlessly hammering Democrats to slash the spending that's been keeping America and the world treading water.
It is the perfect venue for the venerable Republican scam to create a disaster, then insist that they and the very schemes that caused the disaster are the only solution to the disaster they created. Fortunately for Republicans, most people nowadays have the attention span of an amoeba, so the scam works every time.
Biden's negotiations have reportedly netted $200 billion in spending cuts, or $200 billion in tax giveaways to the ultra-rich, depending on how you want to look at it. Republicans want trillions more, as the cost of their patrons' high-priced service providers has gone through the roof. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) boasted Thursday's talk would include GOP demands on entitlement reform, meaning that Republicans would demand slashing Social Security and Medicare, despite the electorates' universal rejection of GOP scams to privatize those vital lifelines.
Republicans have been demanding spending cuts that would exceed the amount the debt ceiling is raised. Across America, ignorant bumpkins who couldn't balance a checkbook to save their lives, and who form the core of the GOP constituency, cheer without understanding the issues in even the vaguest Sarah Palinesque way.
Republicans can be pretty smug, as Biden and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Harry Reid (D-NV) are negotiating to save America, while Republicans are after the very opposite. If Democrats cave in to Republican demands, the GOP pols know as well as anyone the spending cuts alone would plunge America into another recession. If Democrats don't cave in, Republicans will refuse to hike the debt ceiling, cause America to default on maturing obligations, and plunge the entire world into global financial Armageddon.
Slashing spending has nothing to do with debt reduction. Anyone really interested in reducing debt would be talking about revenue reform. Slashing spending has nothing to do with stimulating the economy. Anyone really interested in stimulating economic growth would be investing in infrastructure, new technologies and education.
Neither have Republicans ever really been interested in fiscal restraint. Throughout the George W. Bush years, Republicans spent money like drunken sailors on a three-day pass in New York City after finding Donald Trump's wallet. Hardly a day went by Republicans didn't fling another billion dollars at Dick Cheney's Halliburton Corporation.
But, when the sober folks of America put Barack Obama in the White House, Republicans couldn't cut the purse strings fast enough. Granted, Democrats spent money on stupid things like propping up the financial system, saving millions of jobs in the auto industry, and building and repairing roads and bridges so they wouldn't fall down like the one Tim Pawlenty deferred maintenance on in Minnesota when he was ungovernor there. Republicans want money spent on important things, like vital subsidies to oil moguls who every year want an extra four billion dollar bills to stuff into strippers' g-strings.
When Republicans chant their mantra, "More tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts on everything else," they do so not to grow America's economy or to create jobs. Growing America's economy would probably offend the GOP's Chinese and Russian plutocrat friends. And, why would Republicans want to create jobs in America after they'd diligently toiled thirty years to get rid of all the jobs in America and ship them to China and India? Those Chinese plutocrats friends would really be tee'd off, then.
No, Republicans chant the mantra, "More tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts on everything else," solely to make sure their very, very rich and very, very powerful patrons over at all those Republican-boosting PACs and clubs become even richer and more powerful. And, lest anyone claim Republicans can't accomplish anything, let it be known that Republicans have succeeded in concentrating 84% of America's wealth in the hands of 20% of America's richest, whiniest, and most spoiled moguls and tycoons.
Republicans have no intention of doing anything to pull America out of the economic doldrums any time soon. Real economists and Republicans alike know that, after the crash of 2008, America needed government stimulus to pull the economy up by its bootstraps, needed more stimulus than it ever got, and still needs more stimulus now. That's why Republicans are so thoroughly focused on obstructing any sort of stimulus and thoroughly committed to slashing even baseline spending. All they have to do is destroy the economic recovery, plunge America into the second dip of a double-dip recession, blame it all on Obama, and wait for the amoeba-attention-spanned electorate to vote a Republican back into the White House.
Then, Republicans could really get on with the important work of handing every dollar, dime and penny in Medicare and Social Security to their very, very, very rich and powerful cronies.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Republicans Launch New Drive To Plunder Social Security
Momentarily stymied in their effort to plunder Medicare and hand all its money to their wealthy insurance industry cronies, Republicans have revived their efforts to plunder Social Security and hand all its money to their wealthy Wall Street cronies.
A cadre of House Republicans led by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) Friday floated a bill that would let those foolish enough to do so opt out of contributing the 6.2% of their wages that goes to Social Security, where, as US Treasuries, it joins the trillions held in the most secure and coveted form capital can take, and instead toss it into the hands of Wall Street speculators who'll pile it onto the roulette wheel of whatever trendy market bubble they want to take a spin on.
Their employers would continue to contribute the 6.2% matching funds to Social Security for 15 years, after which the employee could have the matching funds also sent to the Wall Street counting house crap table. Of course, since market bubbles blow up every ten years or so, the employee would probably have second thoughts by then.
Republicans have got that angle covered, figuring that if enough people were stupid enough to opt out of Social Security, the Social Security trust funds would've gone belly up, and there'd be no traditional Social Security left for anyone to fall back on.
And the Wall Street cronies will have added significantly to their collection of mega-yachts and mega-mansions.
Republicans had shuffled their Social Security privatization scam onto the back burner because, despite GOP lies to the contrary, Social Security is solvent for decades, and with slight tweaks to contributions (making the rich - horrors! - kick in a little more), will remain solvent for the foreseeable future. Despite Republicans' deepest desires, they left Social Security privatization out of Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) 2012 Budget.
But, ever since Republicans got thrashed in their stronghold New York 26th Congressional District special election and Ryan, author of the infamous Medicare couponization scam, has been needing bodyguards to survive walking to and from his own town hall meetings, Republicans have been forced to lay low on their scheme to dismantle Medicare, hand all its money to private insurers, and pawn off future seniors with worthless vouchers the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office figured wouldn't cover a third of the cost of premiums, deductibles, co-pays and other expenses. Oh, sure, they still talk tough, but they keep their eyes peeled in the event some heavy object comes hurtling their way.
Bored with holding the nation's ability to issue bonds and borrow money hostage to ever greater tax subsidies for their rich patrons, Republicans have quietly shifted their scheme to plunder Social Security from the back burner to the one in front. Besides, the trans-national plutocrats who wield the far ends of GOP pols' choke chains have begun to yank pretty hard at the prospect of Republicans' refusing to raise the nation's debt ceiling, forcing the US to default on maturing obligations, and wreaking havoc in said trans-national plutocrats' beloved bond markets. The US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Wholesale Distributors, and the National Association of Manufacturers have all conducted heart-to-heart sit-downs with GOP pols intent on crashing the debt ceiling.
Republicans might figure plundering Social Security would prove their loyalty to their wealthy overlords and get them to stop yanking so hard on those chains.
Sessions and a cohort of GOP eager-beavers, including Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Lamar Smith (R-TX), must figure their opt-out scheme is just the ticket to pander to and coddle their nervous Wall Street minders. Their Savings Account for Every American Act (SAFE) would allow the uninformed to send 6.2% of their wages to their SAFE account instead of to Social Security. Of course, even without SAFE, anyone who wanted to engage in high-risk behavior can shovel as much money as they like into mutual funds, equities, junk bonds or unprotected sex with dubious partners. Social Security is the safety net that catches you when you inevitably roll snake eyes, and Republicans can't stand that it's there protecting you instead of in some greedy old corporate tycoon's fat fingers getting stuffed into some stripper's g-string.
Once, plutocrats needed American labor to build and run history's greatest economic engine. Then, through the miracle of acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and mergers, through the magic of slash-and-burn management, downsizing, outsourcing and offshoring, plutocrats didn't need American labor anymore.
Then, plutocrats needed American consumers to buy goods and homes and home furnishings and services and cars and knick-knacks. They pumped up the real estate market with George W. Bush's "Ownership Society," bamboozled Americans into using their homes as ATMs with cash-out refinancing, and repackaged and resold and reinsured ballooning pyramids of funny money while consumers gorged themselves on 8-mile-per-gallon SUVs, bass boats, redwoods decks and Carrera marble kitchens. When the rich crashed the world financial system, American consumers crashed with it. But, through the miracle of emerging international markets and the magic of burgeoning new middle classes in India and China, plutocrats didn't need American consumers any more.
For thirty years, rain or shine, war or peace, good times or bad, Republicans chanted the mantra, "More tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts on everyone else." If there were budget surpluses, as after the Clinton years, Republicans called for, "More tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts on everyone else." If there are budget deficits, as now, Republicans call for, "More tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts on everyone else." After thirty years, Republicans succeeded in concentrating 84% of America's wealth in the hands of 20% of America's wealthiest. There's little left to plunder except Medicare and Social Security.
In fact, giving the rich more tax breaks and subsidies while slashing spending on everything else has nothing to do with creating jobs, or speeding up growth, or encouraging innovation, or easing inflation, or anything else of the sort. Giving the rich more tax breaks and subsidies while slashing spending on everything else has only one effect: it makes the rich even richer. It concentrates more and more wealth into fewer and fewer hands.
Republicans have proven their commitment to enriching the few, and will be relentless in their effort to plunder America's last great reserves for their wealthy masters. They will lurch, roll, rumble and roar inexorably toward their goal, an indefatigable juggernaut focused on plundering, pillaging and pilfering every last dime in Medicare, in Social Security and in every ordinary Americans' pocket.
A cadre of House Republicans led by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) Friday floated a bill that would let those foolish enough to do so opt out of contributing the 6.2% of their wages that goes to Social Security, where, as US Treasuries, it joins the trillions held in the most secure and coveted form capital can take, and instead toss it into the hands of Wall Street speculators who'll pile it onto the roulette wheel of whatever trendy market bubble they want to take a spin on.
Their employers would continue to contribute the 6.2% matching funds to Social Security for 15 years, after which the employee could have the matching funds also sent to the Wall Street counting house crap table. Of course, since market bubbles blow up every ten years or so, the employee would probably have second thoughts by then.
Republicans have got that angle covered, figuring that if enough people were stupid enough to opt out of Social Security, the Social Security trust funds would've gone belly up, and there'd be no traditional Social Security left for anyone to fall back on.
And the Wall Street cronies will have added significantly to their collection of mega-yachts and mega-mansions.
Republicans had shuffled their Social Security privatization scam onto the back burner because, despite GOP lies to the contrary, Social Security is solvent for decades, and with slight tweaks to contributions (making the rich - horrors! - kick in a little more), will remain solvent for the foreseeable future. Despite Republicans' deepest desires, they left Social Security privatization out of Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) 2012 Budget.
But, ever since Republicans got thrashed in their stronghold New York 26th Congressional District special election and Ryan, author of the infamous Medicare couponization scam, has been needing bodyguards to survive walking to and from his own town hall meetings, Republicans have been forced to lay low on their scheme to dismantle Medicare, hand all its money to private insurers, and pawn off future seniors with worthless vouchers the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office figured wouldn't cover a third of the cost of premiums, deductibles, co-pays and other expenses. Oh, sure, they still talk tough, but they keep their eyes peeled in the event some heavy object comes hurtling their way.
Bored with holding the nation's ability to issue bonds and borrow money hostage to ever greater tax subsidies for their rich patrons, Republicans have quietly shifted their scheme to plunder Social Security from the back burner to the one in front. Besides, the trans-national plutocrats who wield the far ends of GOP pols' choke chains have begun to yank pretty hard at the prospect of Republicans' refusing to raise the nation's debt ceiling, forcing the US to default on maturing obligations, and wreaking havoc in said trans-national plutocrats' beloved bond markets. The US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Wholesale Distributors, and the National Association of Manufacturers have all conducted heart-to-heart sit-downs with GOP pols intent on crashing the debt ceiling.
Republicans might figure plundering Social Security would prove their loyalty to their wealthy overlords and get them to stop yanking so hard on those chains.
Sessions and a cohort of GOP eager-beavers, including Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Lamar Smith (R-TX), must figure their opt-out scheme is just the ticket to pander to and coddle their nervous Wall Street minders. Their Savings Account for Every American Act (SAFE) would allow the uninformed to send 6.2% of their wages to their SAFE account instead of to Social Security. Of course, even without SAFE, anyone who wanted to engage in high-risk behavior can shovel as much money as they like into mutual funds, equities, junk bonds or unprotected sex with dubious partners. Social Security is the safety net that catches you when you inevitably roll snake eyes, and Republicans can't stand that it's there protecting you instead of in some greedy old corporate tycoon's fat fingers getting stuffed into some stripper's g-string.
Once, plutocrats needed American labor to build and run history's greatest economic engine. Then, through the miracle of acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and mergers, through the magic of slash-and-burn management, downsizing, outsourcing and offshoring, plutocrats didn't need American labor anymore.
Then, plutocrats needed American consumers to buy goods and homes and home furnishings and services and cars and knick-knacks. They pumped up the real estate market with George W. Bush's "Ownership Society," bamboozled Americans into using their homes as ATMs with cash-out refinancing, and repackaged and resold and reinsured ballooning pyramids of funny money while consumers gorged themselves on 8-mile-per-gallon SUVs, bass boats, redwoods decks and Carrera marble kitchens. When the rich crashed the world financial system, American consumers crashed with it. But, through the miracle of emerging international markets and the magic of burgeoning new middle classes in India and China, plutocrats didn't need American consumers any more.
For thirty years, rain or shine, war or peace, good times or bad, Republicans chanted the mantra, "More tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts on everyone else." If there were budget surpluses, as after the Clinton years, Republicans called for, "More tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts on everyone else." If there are budget deficits, as now, Republicans call for, "More tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts on everyone else." After thirty years, Republicans succeeded in concentrating 84% of America's wealth in the hands of 20% of America's wealthiest. There's little left to plunder except Medicare and Social Security.
In fact, giving the rich more tax breaks and subsidies while slashing spending on everything else has nothing to do with creating jobs, or speeding up growth, or encouraging innovation, or easing inflation, or anything else of the sort. Giving the rich more tax breaks and subsidies while slashing spending on everything else has only one effect: it makes the rich even richer. It concentrates more and more wealth into fewer and fewer hands.
Republicans have proven their commitment to enriching the few, and will be relentless in their effort to plunder America's last great reserves for their wealthy masters. They will lurch, roll, rumble and roar inexorably toward their goal, an indefatigable juggernaut focused on plundering, pillaging and pilfering every last dime in Medicare, in Social Security and in every ordinary Americans' pocket.
Monday, June 6, 2011
New This Fall: Palin Run For Prez Should Be Her Own Reality
Sarah Palin shouldn't just run for President.
Sarah Palin should star in a new reality show in which she runs for President.
During her recent bus trip along the East Coast, Palin told reporters that if she were to run for President, it "would be unconventional and nontraditional." Palin said her One Nation bus tour would reappear in Iowa and South Carolina, a sort of annoying kid sister that keeps stealing people's attention while candidates are trying to make speeches.
For Palin, the Fox Network, and America, the best thing would be for One Nation to be Sarah Palin's new reality show on Fox this fall. And, One Nation would be Palin's exclusive vehicle for her Independent run for the White House.
Running as an Independent in a reality show would free Palin from primaries and caucuses and interviews and news conferences and town hall meetings and conventions and all sorts of boring minutiae that makes for dull TV.
One Nation would play to Palin's strengths, so she would talk as little as possible, and appear in as many tight outfits as possible. Perfect for Fox, which has lost a little of its edge since Married With Children went off the air. Perfect for Palin, to say nothing of the Chinese acrobat show going on in poor Paul Revere's grave.
Every week, Palin's caravan of buses and production trucks would roll into a different small town or medium-sized city, preferably in places where she's already popular. She is, after all, at least as popular as Mitt Romney.
Then, instead of going to coffee klatches or meeting local pols - boring! - Palin's crew would set up a big stage with lots of lights and special effects at the local arena or town square. Then, people would be invited to attend a slickly produced live concert with lots of flashing lights and exploding pyrotechnics. Every week, Sarah - everyone calls her "Sarah" on the show - will make increasingly spectacular grand entrances. She might appear amidst flashing lights and smoke bombs during the dazzling opening dance number. She might appear amidst flashing lights and smoke bombs on the back of a motorcycle during the dazzling opening dance number. She might be lowered from a helicopter, or slide off the back of an elephant. And the next day, everyone will be talking about her costume.
Every week, Sarah would welcome one of those B-list celebrities who are pushing some sort of cause. That blonde actress who used to be on Baywatch and thinks vaccines give you autism would be a good one. Sarah could demonstrate how engaged and sympathetic she is. Folks can be urged to call a phone number to donate $10 to the cause. Half would go to Sarah's PAC. Normal texting rates would apply. Then, Sarah and the actress could have a little impromptu swimsuit competition or something. Then, Sarah could introduce that week's musical guest as the dancers come whirling out for another brilliantly choreographed number.
But the core of the show would be a contest. Anyone who wants to run for Congress could fill in an online application telling in twenty-five words or less why he or she wants to run for Congress, and what special talent they have. Sarah and her panel of "experts" (probably interns at Fox's legal department) will pick a group of finalists who get to appear on the program with Sarah when the caravan gets to their state. Throughout the program, Sarah will introduce each of the finalists and cede the stage for their talent portion. Callers would vote for their favorites, like on American Idol. Sarah would explain how we're all One Nation, so anyone with a cellphone and qualifying rate plan could vote for any candidate in any state. The winners would be put on their local ballots on Sarah's One Nation ticket, get some money to fund their campaigns, and get advice from Sarah's National Campaign Team.
If the show picks up steam, it could be on several nights a week. As more Congressional candidates are accumulated, they could accompany the show as it rolls from town to town. Sarah would make her little idiosyncratic speeches and implore everyone to vote for her. At every stop, Sarah's books and DVDs and T-shirts and posters and calendars would be available for purchase.
Everybody would win:
Sarah Palin should star in a new reality show in which she runs for President.
During her recent bus trip along the East Coast, Palin told reporters that if she were to run for President, it "would be unconventional and nontraditional." Palin said her One Nation bus tour would reappear in Iowa and South Carolina, a sort of annoying kid sister that keeps stealing people's attention while candidates are trying to make speeches.
For Palin, the Fox Network, and America, the best thing would be for One Nation to be Sarah Palin's new reality show on Fox this fall. And, One Nation would be Palin's exclusive vehicle for her Independent run for the White House.
Running as an Independent in a reality show would free Palin from primaries and caucuses and interviews and news conferences and town hall meetings and conventions and all sorts of boring minutiae that makes for dull TV.
One Nation would play to Palin's strengths, so she would talk as little as possible, and appear in as many tight outfits as possible. Perfect for Fox, which has lost a little of its edge since Married With Children went off the air. Perfect for Palin, to say nothing of the Chinese acrobat show going on in poor Paul Revere's grave.
Every week, Palin's caravan of buses and production trucks would roll into a different small town or medium-sized city, preferably in places where she's already popular. She is, after all, at least as popular as Mitt Romney.
Then, instead of going to coffee klatches or meeting local pols - boring! - Palin's crew would set up a big stage with lots of lights and special effects at the local arena or town square. Then, people would be invited to attend a slickly produced live concert with lots of flashing lights and exploding pyrotechnics. Every week, Sarah - everyone calls her "Sarah" on the show - will make increasingly spectacular grand entrances. She might appear amidst flashing lights and smoke bombs during the dazzling opening dance number. She might appear amidst flashing lights and smoke bombs on the back of a motorcycle during the dazzling opening dance number. She might be lowered from a helicopter, or slide off the back of an elephant. And the next day, everyone will be talking about her costume.
Every week, Sarah would welcome one of those B-list celebrities who are pushing some sort of cause. That blonde actress who used to be on Baywatch and thinks vaccines give you autism would be a good one. Sarah could demonstrate how engaged and sympathetic she is. Folks can be urged to call a phone number to donate $10 to the cause. Half would go to Sarah's PAC. Normal texting rates would apply. Then, Sarah and the actress could have a little impromptu swimsuit competition or something. Then, Sarah could introduce that week's musical guest as the dancers come whirling out for another brilliantly choreographed number.
But the core of the show would be a contest. Anyone who wants to run for Congress could fill in an online application telling in twenty-five words or less why he or she wants to run for Congress, and what special talent they have. Sarah and her panel of "experts" (probably interns at Fox's legal department) will pick a group of finalists who get to appear on the program with Sarah when the caravan gets to their state. Throughout the program, Sarah will introduce each of the finalists and cede the stage for their talent portion. Callers would vote for their favorites, like on American Idol. Sarah would explain how we're all One Nation, so anyone with a cellphone and qualifying rate plan could vote for any candidate in any state. The winners would be put on their local ballots on Sarah's One Nation ticket, get some money to fund their campaigns, and get advice from Sarah's National Campaign Team.
If the show picks up steam, it could be on several nights a week. As more Congressional candidates are accumulated, they could accompany the show as it rolls from town to town. Sarah would make her little idiosyncratic speeches and implore everyone to vote for her. At every stop, Sarah's books and DVDs and T-shirts and posters and calendars would be available for purchase.
Everybody would win:
- Sarah gets a network show, and can sell all her books and tchotchkes at every stop.
- Fox gets a star with a built-in audience, the most buzz and controversy in network television history, and the texting angle could help line up a major telecom company sponsor.
- Americans get to watch, run up texting charges, and argue and complain as much as they want.
"Fox." An extreme close-up of a woman's ruby-red Dorothy slippers, but with 6-inch stiletto heels, strutting over a map of the United States. "This Fall." Long, shapely legs stride away from the camera. "Sarah." The camera pans up to reveal Sarah in a very short, very tight red mini-skirt. "One Nation." Sarah plants her hands on her hips and delivers her tag line as male audience members imagine the view Kansas is getting.Of course, there would be the inevitable uproar over Sarah and Fox making a mockery of the American electoral process. To which, in the immortal words of Charles Shultz, the "mind reels with sarcastic replies."
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Republicans Snatch Kids' Lunch Money, Snag Right-Wing Christian Cheers
Moving swiftly and decisively, House Republicans declared they won't waste money on fruits and vegetables for kids' school lunches, but deemed kids should be smoking more cigarettes. Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee slammed through a measure nixing new nutritional guidelines from the Agriculture Department that were part of President Barack Obama's campaign against childhood obesity. Republicans crowed eliminating guidelines that pushed healthier meals saved $7 billion over five years, money better spent on fat tax breaks for wealthy Americans. At the same time, committee Republicans stopped the Food and Drug Administration from regulating the menthol that entices new smokers to get hooked on tobacco.
"It would undo the one thing that all members of Congress agreed upon, which was to protect kids from tobacco," said Matthew Myers, President of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
One thing all Republicans could agree upon is supporting GOP money men who've run afoul of federal prosecutors. Having successfully snatched $7 billion from kids' lunch money to offer up to their wealthy patrons in the form of more tax cuts, they marched over to Ralph Reed's fabulous right-wing Faith and Freedom Coalition confab in Washington, D.C.
Reed was best known for taking sackfuls of Jack Abramoff's money and organizing his Christian Coalition pals into an anti-gambling campaign meant to scare Native American tribes into giving their lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, even more money - up to $82 million more - to secure the gaming rights being campaigned against. There were questions, prosecutors, FBI agents, and some jail time for Abramoff. Pish and tosh. Reed and his college pals Abramoff and Grover Norquist got into lots of similar fun stuff dating back to their college days, Reed getting kicked off the University of Georgia school paper for plagiarism, getting accused of rigging a college Republican group election, and heading up the Christian Coalition, which came to the attention of federal prosecutors for mailing list- and contractor billing-hanky panky.
So, all the GOP biggies trooped over to their old pal Ralph Reed's shindig, seeing how he's so one of the boys. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was there, as was Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA). GOP Presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, and not-so-hopefuls "The" Donald Trump, and Haley Barbour were there. Gary Bauer from American Values, and David Brody from Christian Broadcasting were there. Of course, college chum Grover Norquist was on hand.
Cantor thanked Reed for "standing up for the greatness of America during these difficult times."
Everyone trumpeted how great it was to be Christians taking kids' lunch money, busting Medicare, and scheming to privatize Social Security by plundering all its money and handing it to very pious Wall Street cronies. Paul Ryan (R-WI) was on hand to push what a great advance for Christianity it would be to destroy Medicare, hand all its money to their sacred insurance industry cronies, and pawn off future seniors with worthless coupons the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office figured wouldn't cover a third of those heathens' premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and other expenses.
"Our rights are not given to us from government," Ryan said solemnly, "our rights are ours naturally, given by God." Apparently, when God grants medical care to the righteous, God wisely measuring one's righteousness by the size of one's investment portfolio.
Ryan is an Ayn Rand acolyte, who, like his guru, believes self-gratification is the only goal in life, and morality and altruism are for losers. Rand was an atheist who rejected religion-based morality
Rand seemed to have supplanted Christ among the latter-day religious enthusiasts at Faith and Freedom.
Ken Blackwell, ex-Ohio Secretary of State and Club For Growth overlord, said "Religious liberty, economic freedom, and political freedom are inextricably linked....When you begin to let moral relativism bleed into the marketplace, bleed into the public square, and become controlling, government replaces God."
In case anyone was seeking Truth and The Meaning of Life, there you have it: God is the Free Market.
In contemporary right-wing Republican Christianity, everybody gives Jesus two loaves and a fish at his IPO, and Jesus becomes a billionaire corporate tycoon who buys off Pontius Pilate, then cheats on his trophy wife with Mary Magdalene.
"We cannot fix the fiscal until we fix the family," said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, not to be confused with the Tony Perkins who hacked Janet Leigh to death in the shower scene in Psycho. The actor Tony Perkins was really a very nice person who just portrayed a psycho in a movie.
Fixing the fiscal and the family consisted of bashing Barack Obama, damning Obama's health care reforms while championing Republican plots to dismantle Medicare, and generally demonizing same-sex marriage, womens' choice, and anything that might slow trans-national plutocrats running roughshod over poor- and middle-class Americans.
The weekend was a triumph for Reed, who many had figured was politically dead and buried after the Abramoff humiliation.
A few weeks back, another televangelist, Harold Camping, predicted that on May 21, the righteous would be Raptured up to God, and all the heretics and heathens would be forced to remain on Earth suffering the excoriations of the End Times until the planet finally blew up on Judgement Day. May 21 came and went, no one was Raptured up, and everyone made fun of Camping for another blown Apocalypse prediction.
In fact, if Camping had been correct, how could anyone tell? Maybe there just wasn't anybody righteous enough to be Raptured up. After all, Ralph Reed was politically as dead as a rusted doornail in an abandoned radioactive toxic Super Fund ghost town, and he's walking around quite flush. As any fan of zombie movies will tell you, when there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.
"It would undo the one thing that all members of Congress agreed upon, which was to protect kids from tobacco," said Matthew Myers, President of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
One thing all Republicans could agree upon is supporting GOP money men who've run afoul of federal prosecutors. Having successfully snatched $7 billion from kids' lunch money to offer up to their wealthy patrons in the form of more tax cuts, they marched over to Ralph Reed's fabulous right-wing Faith and Freedom Coalition confab in Washington, D.C.
Reed was best known for taking sackfuls of Jack Abramoff's money and organizing his Christian Coalition pals into an anti-gambling campaign meant to scare Native American tribes into giving their lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, even more money - up to $82 million more - to secure the gaming rights being campaigned against. There were questions, prosecutors, FBI agents, and some jail time for Abramoff. Pish and tosh. Reed and his college pals Abramoff and Grover Norquist got into lots of similar fun stuff dating back to their college days, Reed getting kicked off the University of Georgia school paper for plagiarism, getting accused of rigging a college Republican group election, and heading up the Christian Coalition, which came to the attention of federal prosecutors for mailing list- and contractor billing-hanky panky.
So, all the GOP biggies trooped over to their old pal Ralph Reed's shindig, seeing how he's so one of the boys. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was there, as was Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA). GOP Presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, and not-so-hopefuls "The" Donald Trump, and Haley Barbour were there. Gary Bauer from American Values, and David Brody from Christian Broadcasting were there. Of course, college chum Grover Norquist was on hand.
Cantor thanked Reed for "standing up for the greatness of America during these difficult times."
Everyone trumpeted how great it was to be Christians taking kids' lunch money, busting Medicare, and scheming to privatize Social Security by plundering all its money and handing it to very pious Wall Street cronies. Paul Ryan (R-WI) was on hand to push what a great advance for Christianity it would be to destroy Medicare, hand all its money to their sacred insurance industry cronies, and pawn off future seniors with worthless coupons the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office figured wouldn't cover a third of those heathens' premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and other expenses.
"Our rights are not given to us from government," Ryan said solemnly, "our rights are ours naturally, given by God." Apparently, when God grants medical care to the righteous, God wisely measuring one's righteousness by the size of one's investment portfolio.
Ryan is an Ayn Rand acolyte, who, like his guru, believes self-gratification is the only goal in life, and morality and altruism are for losers. Rand was an atheist who rejected religion-based morality
Rand seemed to have supplanted Christ among the latter-day religious enthusiasts at Faith and Freedom.
Ken Blackwell, ex-Ohio Secretary of State and Club For Growth overlord, said "Religious liberty, economic freedom, and political freedom are inextricably linked....When you begin to let moral relativism bleed into the marketplace, bleed into the public square, and become controlling, government replaces God."
In case anyone was seeking Truth and The Meaning of Life, there you have it: God is the Free Market.
In contemporary right-wing Republican Christianity, everybody gives Jesus two loaves and a fish at his IPO, and Jesus becomes a billionaire corporate tycoon who buys off Pontius Pilate, then cheats on his trophy wife with Mary Magdalene.
"We cannot fix the fiscal until we fix the family," said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, not to be confused with the Tony Perkins who hacked Janet Leigh to death in the shower scene in Psycho. The actor Tony Perkins was really a very nice person who just portrayed a psycho in a movie.
Fixing the fiscal and the family consisted of bashing Barack Obama, damning Obama's health care reforms while championing Republican plots to dismantle Medicare, and generally demonizing same-sex marriage, womens' choice, and anything that might slow trans-national plutocrats running roughshod over poor- and middle-class Americans.
The weekend was a triumph for Reed, who many had figured was politically dead and buried after the Abramoff humiliation.
A few weeks back, another televangelist, Harold Camping, predicted that on May 21, the righteous would be Raptured up to God, and all the heretics and heathens would be forced to remain on Earth suffering the excoriations of the End Times until the planet finally blew up on Judgement Day. May 21 came and went, no one was Raptured up, and everyone made fun of Camping for another blown Apocalypse prediction.
In fact, if Camping had been correct, how could anyone tell? Maybe there just wasn't anybody righteous enough to be Raptured up. After all, Ralph Reed was politically as dead as a rusted doornail in an abandoned radioactive toxic Super Fund ghost town, and he's walking around quite flush. As any fan of zombie movies will tell you, when there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Fearing Passage, GOP Brass Pulls Kucinich Anti-War Bill
Pity poor John Boehner (R-OH), Republican Speaker of the House. While busily scheming to dismantle Medicare and plunder Social Security, while plotting and planning to eviscerate America's ability to govern business and industry, husband the environment, and cope with the mounting devastation wrought by cumulative natural disasters, all while continuing to ignore America's real problems of stagflation, tepid job growth, and revenue reform, Boehner thought he'd earned a little break to indulge his favorite hobby: taunting the President of the United States.
President Barack Obama sent Congress a letter May 20, asking for approval for the Libya liberation mission, as it'd been 60 days since America's involvement in the Libya intervention began. Turns out the 1973 War Powers Act said the President ought to get some sort of Congressional okay within 60 days of his reporting a use of force, unless that's become way tough because the US had been reduced to a radioactive wasteland, in which case it's a gimme.
Along came a perfect foil for Boehner, the nerdy, ever-liberal fellow Ohioan, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). Kucinich, who's opposed to any war any time, wanted Congress to debate America's involvement in the NATO campaign to evict Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, and drafted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of American troops participating in that effort.
Boehner thought this was an excellent opportunity to tweak the President's nose, forcing him to defend a military action, albeit a very tiny one, before a nation weary of fighting Middle East wars. Boehner undoubtedly was sharpening his pencils and scribbling reams on how the President had exceeded his authority, and how the President was wasting billions, or at least thousands, on a war of choice, feverishly flipping through old newspaper clippings of what Democrats said when the sainted George W. Bush decided to fight Al Qaeda by handing billions of dollars to Dick Cheney's Halliburton Corporation while slaughtering tens of thousands of Iraqis who'd never even heard of Al Qaeda.
Not seeing any reason for a protracted debate on something he apparently really didn't care either way about, Boehner scheduled Kucinich's H. Con. Res 51 for a vote. Boy, won't that tweak Obama's nose, he must have thought. Stick in his craw. Be a thorn in his side.
While Boehner was thinking of more metaphors for prank-induced woe, two very unfortunate things happened that suddenly spoiled his fun.
First, NATO Wednesday formally extended its Libya campaign for another 90 days. This was to be expected, and one reason why Kucinich was so eager to get a hearing for his anti-war bill. Even in a country with math and science scores as low as America, another 90 days on top of the months NATO's been running Rafales and Tornados in and out of Tripoli International's air traffic control space has got to add up to more than 60 days at some point.
Second, and here's the sharply breaking curveball that froze Boehner for a called strike two, Kucinich's resolution, co-sponsored by two Republicans, Dan Burton (R-IN) and Timothy Johnson (R-IL), as well as two Democrats, Michael Capuano (D-MA) and, of course, the ever-pacific Barbara Lee (D-CA), gained a ton of steam and looked like it might actually pass.
The turn of events sent Boehner scrambling like a Warner Bros. cartoon character chasing down a rival desert creature, with his legs making that whirlwind circle thing that kicks up big clouds of dust.
Boehner abruptly yanked Kucinich's bill from the promised vote. The broad coalition of Republicans also eager to tweak the President's nose, along with others who were queasy about the War Powers Act thing, anti-war libs, and tight-fisted fiscal conservatives might not have had enough votes to pass H. Con Res 51, but it was too close for Boehner's comfort. He wanted to poke Obama in the eye, not cause an international incident with America's allies while giving aide and comfort to a bloodthirsty dictator who'd never even written a check to the RNC.
Besides, Boehner had just enough brain cells to rub together that he didn't want to open a constitutional can of worms over the validity of the War Powers Act, a law no one's ever bothered to put to a deep constitutional, Attorney General yammering-, Supreme Court-ruling test. Both the Congress and succeeding Presidents probably prefer the murky, untested-borders thing when it comes to the War Powers Act, as it gives each side the illusion of having more power than they actually might, and no politician worth his golfing junket to Scotland wants to find out for sure exactly where any specific power might really end.
Things got even more out of hand when Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) got 63 co-sponsors for an anti-Libya bill that stopped short of demanding troop withdrawal (mostly pilots flying radar planes directing air traffic), but expressing disapproval of the US military intervention, and possibly leading to a congressional rebuke of Obama. Kucinich gleefully signed onto the new bill, but because Kucinich introduced his bill under the War Powers Act, he could still force a vote on his resolution in two weeks.
More whirlwind dust from Boehner. In the background, the Senate was tapping its collective toe, glancing at its watch and crossing its arms. A bipartisan bill approving the Libya action was expected to sail through that body whenever they wanted to put it to a vote.
The Pentagon chimed in. "Secretary Gates believes that for the United States, once committed to a NATO operation, to unilaterally abandon that mission would have enormous and dangerous long-term consequences," said Gates mouthpiece Geoff Morrell. In the real world, Robert Gates heads up Science Applications International Corporation, fergawdsakes, that vaguely-monikered, murky right-wing think tank that's been pulling ropes and levers behind the curtains of American foreign policy-making since the Nixon Administration.
At this point, Boehner was pulling apart crates from Acme products and tossing all sorts of ray-beams and anti-gravity sleds and rocket shoes into the air.
In a desperate bid to stop Congress from nixing the mission, Boehner announced that he was drafting his own Libya mission resolution, which he promised would take the President to task for not scraping and bowing and saying please and thank you to Congress before moving to prevent Khadafy's slaughter of thousands of freedom-loving democracy advocates in Benghazi.
Boehner said that his resolution would forbid US ground troops from being deployed in Libya (world class eye-roll from Gates), and demanded Obama answer 21 questions about Libya, such as goals, objectives, and costs, and generally called the President, in political terms, a big, fat, smelly poo-poo head.
In other words, Boehner's solution was to send The Leader of the Free World an essay test, and to kick the can down the road. Although, he did get to call the President a big, fat, smelly poo-poo head.
President Barack Obama sent Congress a letter May 20, asking for approval for the Libya liberation mission, as it'd been 60 days since America's involvement in the Libya intervention began. Turns out the 1973 War Powers Act said the President ought to get some sort of Congressional okay within 60 days of his reporting a use of force, unless that's become way tough because the US had been reduced to a radioactive wasteland, in which case it's a gimme.
Along came a perfect foil for Boehner, the nerdy, ever-liberal fellow Ohioan, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). Kucinich, who's opposed to any war any time, wanted Congress to debate America's involvement in the NATO campaign to evict Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, and drafted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of American troops participating in that effort.
Boehner thought this was an excellent opportunity to tweak the President's nose, forcing him to defend a military action, albeit a very tiny one, before a nation weary of fighting Middle East wars. Boehner undoubtedly was sharpening his pencils and scribbling reams on how the President had exceeded his authority, and how the President was wasting billions, or at least thousands, on a war of choice, feverishly flipping through old newspaper clippings of what Democrats said when the sainted George W. Bush decided to fight Al Qaeda by handing billions of dollars to Dick Cheney's Halliburton Corporation while slaughtering tens of thousands of Iraqis who'd never even heard of Al Qaeda.
Not seeing any reason for a protracted debate on something he apparently really didn't care either way about, Boehner scheduled Kucinich's H. Con. Res 51 for a vote. Boy, won't that tweak Obama's nose, he must have thought. Stick in his craw. Be a thorn in his side.
While Boehner was thinking of more metaphors for prank-induced woe, two very unfortunate things happened that suddenly spoiled his fun.
First, NATO Wednesday formally extended its Libya campaign for another 90 days. This was to be expected, and one reason why Kucinich was so eager to get a hearing for his anti-war bill. Even in a country with math and science scores as low as America, another 90 days on top of the months NATO's been running Rafales and Tornados in and out of Tripoli International's air traffic control space has got to add up to more than 60 days at some point.
Second, and here's the sharply breaking curveball that froze Boehner for a called strike two, Kucinich's resolution, co-sponsored by two Republicans, Dan Burton (R-IN) and Timothy Johnson (R-IL), as well as two Democrats, Michael Capuano (D-MA) and, of course, the ever-pacific Barbara Lee (D-CA), gained a ton of steam and looked like it might actually pass.
The turn of events sent Boehner scrambling like a Warner Bros. cartoon character chasing down a rival desert creature, with his legs making that whirlwind circle thing that kicks up big clouds of dust.
Boehner abruptly yanked Kucinich's bill from the promised vote. The broad coalition of Republicans also eager to tweak the President's nose, along with others who were queasy about the War Powers Act thing, anti-war libs, and tight-fisted fiscal conservatives might not have had enough votes to pass H. Con Res 51, but it was too close for Boehner's comfort. He wanted to poke Obama in the eye, not cause an international incident with America's allies while giving aide and comfort to a bloodthirsty dictator who'd never even written a check to the RNC.
Besides, Boehner had just enough brain cells to rub together that he didn't want to open a constitutional can of worms over the validity of the War Powers Act, a law no one's ever bothered to put to a deep constitutional, Attorney General yammering-, Supreme Court-ruling test. Both the Congress and succeeding Presidents probably prefer the murky, untested-borders thing when it comes to the War Powers Act, as it gives each side the illusion of having more power than they actually might, and no politician worth his golfing junket to Scotland wants to find out for sure exactly where any specific power might really end.
Things got even more out of hand when Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) got 63 co-sponsors for an anti-Libya bill that stopped short of demanding troop withdrawal (mostly pilots flying radar planes directing air traffic), but expressing disapproval of the US military intervention, and possibly leading to a congressional rebuke of Obama. Kucinich gleefully signed onto the new bill, but because Kucinich introduced his bill under the War Powers Act, he could still force a vote on his resolution in two weeks.
More whirlwind dust from Boehner. In the background, the Senate was tapping its collective toe, glancing at its watch and crossing its arms. A bipartisan bill approving the Libya action was expected to sail through that body whenever they wanted to put it to a vote.
The Pentagon chimed in. "Secretary Gates believes that for the United States, once committed to a NATO operation, to unilaterally abandon that mission would have enormous and dangerous long-term consequences," said Gates mouthpiece Geoff Morrell. In the real world, Robert Gates heads up Science Applications International Corporation, fergawdsakes, that vaguely-monikered, murky right-wing think tank that's been pulling ropes and levers behind the curtains of American foreign policy-making since the Nixon Administration.
At this point, Boehner was pulling apart crates from Acme products and tossing all sorts of ray-beams and anti-gravity sleds and rocket shoes into the air.
In a desperate bid to stop Congress from nixing the mission, Boehner announced that he was drafting his own Libya mission resolution, which he promised would take the President to task for not scraping and bowing and saying please and thank you to Congress before moving to prevent Khadafy's slaughter of thousands of freedom-loving democracy advocates in Benghazi.
Boehner said that his resolution would forbid US ground troops from being deployed in Libya (world class eye-roll from Gates), and demanded Obama answer 21 questions about Libya, such as goals, objectives, and costs, and generally called the President, in political terms, a big, fat, smelly poo-poo head.
In other words, Boehner's solution was to send The Leader of the Free World an essay test, and to kick the can down the road. Although, he did get to call the President a big, fat, smelly poo-poo head.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Ryan, Republicans Harangue Obama for Fighting GOP Medicare-Busting
House Republicans are so close to completely destroying America they can taste it, and they spent much of their Wednesday meeting with President Barack Obama taunting and tormenting the Chief Executive for resisting their efforts to dismantle Medicare.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), architect of the nefarious GOP scheme to plunder Medicare on behalf of the insurance industry and pawn off seniors with a handful of worthless vouchers, led the charge.
"As far as Medicare is concerned, we wanted to make sure the President understood the facts about the proposal so he doesn't continue to mischaracterize it," Ryan sneered.
One Republican fact Ryan didn't mention was that John Abarr, an avowed Ku Klux Klan extremist, may soon be reinforcing the GOP ranks, as he announced he would be running for the open Montana House seat that belonged to Denny Rehberg (R-MT).
Abarr said that he'd been "inspired" to run by Obama's election. It was not known whether Abarr planned to bring any sporting goods or ranching tools into future meetings with the President, and how many of Ryan's cohort would help hold the President down.
Republicans hoped that holding hostage the nation's ability to issue bonds to fund operations and pay off maturing obligations would force the Administration to cave on Medicare and Social Security, which Republicans want to plunder for their cronies, and slash trillions in other services, which Republicans want for tax subsidies, giveaways and kickbacks for their cronies.
Obama had been actively warning people that Ryan and the Republicans' 2012 budget plan not only slashed income taxes for the wealthiest Americans another 10%, but aimed to dismantle Medicare, which pays seniors' doctor and hospital bills, and replace it with a scheme that forces future seniors to buy private insurance with the help of "premium support" - which Republicans refuse to characterize as "vouchers" - that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office revealed would not even cover a third of the cost of premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and other expenses. Republicans howled that informing voters of GOP perfidy was "demagoguery."
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), said GOP leaders at the meeting demanded the President, "stop saying that we don't have the best interests of the country at heart."
Cantor, Ryan, and the rest of their infernal cabal apparently tried to browbeat the President into propagating Republican lies, but Obama held firm. Ever the diplomat, the President told Republicans, "The demagoguery comes from both sides." Well, not really, but Obama is always trying to reach out to even the most intransigent of villains.
Ryan and the GOP cohorts' apparent battle plan is to repeatedly, incessantly, relentlessly characterize any warnings about Ryan's Medicare Couponization scam as lies, even though they can never explain what it is about those warnings that are untrue. Instead, Republicans, whose deep pockets can buy the best ad men and spinmeisters Madison Avenue has to offer, have whipped up the slick soundbite "Mediscare" to denigrate any effort to inform people of the GOP's scheme to pillage Medicare and hand all its money to the profiteering insurance juggernaut.
Reputable analysts have joined the chorus declaring that not only does Ryan's plan abolish Medicare, it does so without even accomplishing the balanced budget Republicans continuously howl for. The main aim of Ryan's Republican budget is, as always, to hand ever larger mountains of free cash to the wealthy while brutalizing every other American.
Princeton Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman recently wrote:
Republicans themselves are keen to promote the notion that only the wealthiest Americans, who can pay cash on the barrel head, should be entitled to health care. Ryan henchman Rob Woodall (R-GA) taunted a constituent who asked about Medicare with, "You want the government to take care of you? ...When do I decide to take care of me?"
Ryan is an Ayn Rand acolyte who, like Rand, believes that a person's own happiness is the only purpose of life, that selfishness is a virtue, and altruism is to be condemned. One look at Ryan's, and Woodall's and shirtless photo stalker Chris Lee's smug, coiffed, tinted, frat-boy looks, and one can immediately imagine how Rand's insipid ramblings might enthrall them.
Of course the likes of Ryan and Woodall and Lee, ever vigilant for any opportunity to toady up to their wealthy patrons, would come up with a plan that would not only leave the vast majority of Americans unable to obtain critical medical care, but would force Americans to empty their bank accounts and sell their assets in a desperate bid to cover deductibles and uncovered expenses before succumbing - impoverished, miserable and in horrible agony - to anguish and death as their loved ones looked on helplessly.
One can almost hear Ryan feverishly pitching his scheme to his industry masters: "Not only that, those losers'll have to sell everything they have first! Then, we'll get it all! We'll get it all!" (Cue maniacal evil villain laughter).
Democrats' health care reforms pared, over time, $500 million from the George W. Bush Medicare Advantage boondoggle that handed a big chunk of the Medicare pie to the same insurance industry cronies Republicans now want to hand the whole Medicare pie to. Medicare Advantage imposed enormous costs on taxpayers, as it pumped mountains of cash directly to billionaire industry moguls for private jets, private yachts and private portfolio packages. But, as Democrats tried to rein in those excesses, Republicans, in true demagoguery, screamed, "Death Panels! Birth Certificate!"
The difference now is that the Republican plan really does condemn the vast majority of Americans to a future without critical medical care. Republicans don't need to set up Death Panels, because, in their system, you and everyone you know dies horribly, painfully and completely destitute, while Ryan and his rich cronies taunt you and torment you as they guzzle champagne and scarf down caviar bought with your money.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), architect of the nefarious GOP scheme to plunder Medicare on behalf of the insurance industry and pawn off seniors with a handful of worthless vouchers, led the charge.
"As far as Medicare is concerned, we wanted to make sure the President understood the facts about the proposal so he doesn't continue to mischaracterize it," Ryan sneered.
One Republican fact Ryan didn't mention was that John Abarr, an avowed Ku Klux Klan extremist, may soon be reinforcing the GOP ranks, as he announced he would be running for the open Montana House seat that belonged to Denny Rehberg (R-MT).
Abarr said that he'd been "inspired" to run by Obama's election. It was not known whether Abarr planned to bring any sporting goods or ranching tools into future meetings with the President, and how many of Ryan's cohort would help hold the President down.
Republicans hoped that holding hostage the nation's ability to issue bonds to fund operations and pay off maturing obligations would force the Administration to cave on Medicare and Social Security, which Republicans want to plunder for their cronies, and slash trillions in other services, which Republicans want for tax subsidies, giveaways and kickbacks for their cronies.
Obama had been actively warning people that Ryan and the Republicans' 2012 budget plan not only slashed income taxes for the wealthiest Americans another 10%, but aimed to dismantle Medicare, which pays seniors' doctor and hospital bills, and replace it with a scheme that forces future seniors to buy private insurance with the help of "premium support" - which Republicans refuse to characterize as "vouchers" - that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office revealed would not even cover a third of the cost of premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and other expenses. Republicans howled that informing voters of GOP perfidy was "demagoguery."
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), said GOP leaders at the meeting demanded the President, "stop saying that we don't have the best interests of the country at heart."
Cantor, Ryan, and the rest of their infernal cabal apparently tried to browbeat the President into propagating Republican lies, but Obama held firm. Ever the diplomat, the President told Republicans, "The demagoguery comes from both sides." Well, not really, but Obama is always trying to reach out to even the most intransigent of villains.
Ryan and the GOP cohorts' apparent battle plan is to repeatedly, incessantly, relentlessly characterize any warnings about Ryan's Medicare Couponization scam as lies, even though they can never explain what it is about those warnings that are untrue. Instead, Republicans, whose deep pockets can buy the best ad men and spinmeisters Madison Avenue has to offer, have whipped up the slick soundbite "Mediscare" to denigrate any effort to inform people of the GOP's scheme to pillage Medicare and hand all its money to the profiteering insurance juggernaut.
Reputable analysts have joined the chorus declaring that not only does Ryan's plan abolish Medicare, it does so without even accomplishing the balanced budget Republicans continuously howl for. The main aim of Ryan's Republican budget is, as always, to hand ever larger mountains of free cash to the wealthy while brutalizing every other American.
Princeton Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman recently wrote:
"Mr. Ryan may claim...he's facing a backlash because his opponents are lying about his proposals. But the reality is that the Ryan plan is turning into a political disaster for Republicans, not because the plan's critics are lying about it, but because they're describing it accurately."Krugman, upon carefully examining Ryan's budget, confirms Ryan would do away with Medicare and replace it with vouchers, or coupons, or whatever Republicans want to call them, that would leave, "many if not most older Americans unable to afford essential care."
Republicans themselves are keen to promote the notion that only the wealthiest Americans, who can pay cash on the barrel head, should be entitled to health care. Ryan henchman Rob Woodall (R-GA) taunted a constituent who asked about Medicare with, "You want the government to take care of you? ...When do I decide to take care of me?"
Ryan is an Ayn Rand acolyte who, like Rand, believes that a person's own happiness is the only purpose of life, that selfishness is a virtue, and altruism is to be condemned. One look at Ryan's, and Woodall's and shirtless photo stalker Chris Lee's smug, coiffed, tinted, frat-boy looks, and one can immediately imagine how Rand's insipid ramblings might enthrall them.
Of course the likes of Ryan and Woodall and Lee, ever vigilant for any opportunity to toady up to their wealthy patrons, would come up with a plan that would not only leave the vast majority of Americans unable to obtain critical medical care, but would force Americans to empty their bank accounts and sell their assets in a desperate bid to cover deductibles and uncovered expenses before succumbing - impoverished, miserable and in horrible agony - to anguish and death as their loved ones looked on helplessly.
One can almost hear Ryan feverishly pitching his scheme to his industry masters: "Not only that, those losers'll have to sell everything they have first! Then, we'll get it all! We'll get it all!" (Cue maniacal evil villain laughter).
Democrats' health care reforms pared, over time, $500 million from the George W. Bush Medicare Advantage boondoggle that handed a big chunk of the Medicare pie to the same insurance industry cronies Republicans now want to hand the whole Medicare pie to. Medicare Advantage imposed enormous costs on taxpayers, as it pumped mountains of cash directly to billionaire industry moguls for private jets, private yachts and private portfolio packages. But, as Democrats tried to rein in those excesses, Republicans, in true demagoguery, screamed, "Death Panels! Birth Certificate!"
The difference now is that the Republican plan really does condemn the vast majority of Americans to a future without critical medical care. Republicans don't need to set up Death Panels, because, in their system, you and everyone you know dies horribly, painfully and completely destitute, while Ryan and his rich cronies taunt you and torment you as they guzzle champagne and scarf down caviar bought with your money.
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