A Modest Proposal Re: Jobs Bill

Now that President Obama’s State of the Union speech is supposed to center on income inequality, the radical right is out big time complaining that people really don’t want to work; they just want to get their check from the government; that helping them find work just makes them lazier; that helping them feed their children just makes them lazier; etc., etc., etc.  And according to former Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, this is a sizeable number of people.  47% of the entire population.  Since it is impossible to have a decent discussion with people who suffer from the above mind-set, I have a proposal that will prove them to be right!  After all, with their logic they should be absolutely positive that my proposal will fail, and, along with that, they can then prove that President Obama is absolutely wrong as well.

And my proposal?  Pass the minimum wage increase proposal and extend unemployment benefits for the over 1.5 million people who lost them this year.  Then, pass the President’s Jobs Bill to repair the infrastructure deficits in our roads, bridges, schools, public buildings, burying power lines so people aren’t out of power during bad storms, for starters.  Since these deficits are all over the United States, funding this Jobs Bill will provide work for people all over the country.  Not only will this proposal provide for construction jobs, it will require a network of business offices all over the country to keep track, in detail, of everything that is going on with these repair of deficits projects.  These offices will be providing jobs for women, who everyone knows can only do office work, if at all.  And, if women are actually working for Uncle Sugar, as Mike Huckabee calls Uncle Sam, this will cut down on women’s need for birth control because the women at the office will have to control their libidos, which, according to Huckabee, are now out of control as a result of Uncle Sugar providing free birth control pills.

 Why would this prove the radical right to be right?  Because no one will show up to apply for the jobs!  They will all be sitting at home waiting for their unemployment checks, SNAP cards, Social Security, Medicaid reimbursements, or whatever, to come from the government.  With no one lining up for the government jobs, this will also prove that President Obama’s “socialist” ideas are wrong as well.  Just think?  Two ways to take down progressives with one swat.  It will take some funding to open the employment offices, but that should be of no account, since the radical right had no problem with spending some $24B to shut down the government last year, and opening these offices will not cost nearly that much.  And for men, think of all of those women out there with uncontrolled libidos, no jobs and birth control funded by someone else.  Christmas every day!

I think this is a terrific idea, and I certainly hope the radical right will support it. 

 

 

Duck Dynasty and Chris Christie

What do Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty and Chris Christie have in common?  In my opinion, they both are narrow-minded, vindictive, homophobic, and hide behind a veneer of religion.   

Having been in government and knowing just a tad how government offices work, it is extremely difficult for me to believe that Chris Christie didn’t know what was going on during Bridgegate.  All of the people named in the scandal didn’t get to those high positions by being disloyal to someone who is obviously pettily vindictive.  You toe the line, or else.  Then he throws you out the window to save his own skin.  The thing about this that disturbs me, however, is not his bullying, vindictive tactics, it is the fact that his popularity ratings are still above 50%, both in New Jersey and the nation as a whole.   

And then you have the Duck Dynasty guy giving homophobic talks, racist comments, and exhibiting sexist attitudes, and he is hired back by A&E because of all of the flack they got for removing him from the show!  And what does this have to say about the viewers of A&E! 

Both of these men exhibit attitudes that are unfortunately prevalent in our society, and poison what is happening in Congress right now.  A sub-committee of the House Judiciary Committee met today to discuss anti-abortion legislation.  It was comprised entirely of Republican men, while pro-choice Democratic women had to stand in the hallway to protest!!  Whether one is anti- or pro-choice doesn’t make any difference in this case.  Women need to be included in these discussions since it is our lives these Republican men are making decisions about.  

All right, folks, listen up here!!  Let’s assume the worst that could happen.  We could lose control of the Senate in 2014, and still not control the House in the 2014 election.  Certainly President Obama would have to wield his signing pen in veto after veto.  Nothing constructive will be accomplished, because those in control of the House and Senate cannot stand the thought of a Democrat in the White House, much less a black one.  That, for them, is simply excruciating, and their record of opposing President Obama these past 5 years proves that fact. 

So, we have lost control of the House and Senate, and in 2016 a woman is elected President, be it Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren.  Does anyone think that these narrow-minded, vindictive, homophobic, sexist, pseudo-religionists will treat a Democratic woman any better than they have a Democratic black man?  If you do, I have a great bridge between New York and New Jersey you can buy, if it is not grid-locked because Madame President needs to travel on it. 

Just imagine what would happen to me if I wrote a blog similar to this one if Chris Christie were elected President, with a Republican House and Senate to back him up.  Since he is known for dealing rather nastily with anyone who doesn’t give him their whole-hearted support, I wouldn’t give you a plugged nickel for the future of me or my family. 

So start gathering your pennies now to donate to Democrats everywhere.  And plan on those times you can donate time and effort to get those Democrats, or any rational person, elected.  Your future depends on it.

 

 

 

 

Sorry about this.

My blog shall return when this dratted virus leaves!!  And I certainly hope it is soon.

Climate Change, Mercy and Compassion

Climate change is the result of global warming.  But the Koch Brothers, and other 1%ers who basically make their big bucks from fossil fuels, and the politicians they buy, don’t want that to become an integral part of the thinking of us regular folks.  They spend a whole whale of a lot of money undercutting public education and denigrating science because if people believed in the validity of the scientific process they would then understand what global warming is all about.  And it isn’t healthy. 

For many years, when by myself or with a very few really close friends, I would comment occasionally that what the radical right in its shift toward totalitarianism had done was turn Hitler in for Jesus.  What I meant by that is the totalitarianists learned not to rely on making a human being their ultimate banner carrier.  They needed someone about whom a book had already been written, and an organization had already been formed to support that person.  What better stratagem than to infiltrate the Christian fundamentalist movement.  After all, Jesus had already died, a book had been written about him, the Bible, and the fundamentalist movement was in place.  Fundamentalism is only about 100 years old.  It began in the early 1900’s by two itinerant preachers who were disturbed by what they perceived to be a modern danger to the ‘fundamentals’ of Christianity.  Their fundamentals proclaimed the inerrancy of the Bible, and the literal interpretation of everything in the New Testament, as well as the Hebrew Bible.  Take Senator Paul Broun from Georgia, for example, who is a medical doctor, who believes in the absolute inerrancy of the Bible, and believes that evolution, embryology, and climate change come “from the pit of Hell”.  There is no theological history in fundamentalism for examining the Bible, its origins, alternative understandings of its claims, or even simply, where did the Bible come from?  As a result, anyone, anywhere can manipulate the Bible, and the fundamentalist adherents to it in any manner they chose.  And, hoo, boy, did they manipulate!! 

Somehow “trickle down” economics, unions, women’s rights, the rights of minorities, homophobia, etc., all became part of their religious beliefs.  Hours are spent studying the Bible to find obscure passages that can prove their point.  For example, there is an obscure passage (and I have spent 0 hours trying to find it) that apparently says if you don’t work, you don’t eat, so therefore it’s OK to cut poor people’s food stamps, unemployment benefits, health care, et al, because as Senator Rand Paul says, it does a disservice to keep people on unemployment benefits past 26 weeks because then they don’t go out and look for work.  He has never explained the magic of “26 weeks”, but that is another issue.  Many progressive thinkers were outraged at this, both those who affirm a religious belief and those who do not.  Much money was given to this and that progressive organization to get ‘the word out’ that these fundamentalists had the absolute right to believe whatever they wished, but they did not have the right to endeavor to make their beliefs the law of the land for everyone.  And I include in this some of the Catholic Bishops who are freaking out over birth control in the Affordable Care Act.  If the Bishops don’t believe in birth control, they don’t have to use it, but they shouldn’t try to make everyone else conform to their beliefs.  Tea Party Republican Governors who are making every effort to suppress the votes of groups of people who would vote them out of office for attempting to take over our democratic form of government and make it into a theocracy are really hazardous to our political health. 

And then, what happens?  A grey-haired man, all dressed in white instead of ermine and red velvet, with black shoes instead of red slippers, arrives on the scene and starts talking about those things that the majority of people hold dear in their hearts, whether members of his Church or not.  Bill (who has no overt religious faith) and I were talking about this earlier in the day after after watching the morning news that this is the power of Francis.  He has the qualifications to speak to what the majority of people know is right and good.  And by speaking to a world-wide audience he is arousing the sleeping giant of mercy and compassion which the trickle down capitalists have mocked for so long. 

Since the Rand Paul’s, Ken Langone’s (founder of Home Depot who is threatening to cut off donations to repair St. Pat’s Cathedral in New York if the Pope doesn’t get off of his “feed the poor” kick), and other’s of the same ilk are so fond of quoting the Bible, I give them this quotation from the King James Version, Matthew 18:6, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea”.   Jesus cared so much about protecting the children, this statement also appears in the Gospel of Luke.  Therefore, one could rightly assume this was extremely important not only to Jesus, but also to his followers.

It seems to me that cutting off food, shelter, income, and thus a home and clothing, from the parents of children, and thus offending the children, is a major offense to the Jesus these people say they believe in.  So, anyone got a handy millstone?  Yea, Pope Francis.  Stay safe!