Pathetic
I just wasted a half-hour of my life, 30 minutes i will NEVER get back, watching what was billed as a presidential Town Hall Meeting on the Debt Ceiling and Deficit Reduction.
The first question was about discrimination about atheists. Another wanted to know Obama’s biggest regrets. Another asked about compromise, what does it mean? And finally one person asked about Roosevelt’s epic fuckup that plunged the US back into the red in 1937. I swear, these questions were so thoroughly unrelated to the supposed topic, I had to wonder if they were plants, especially the young woman who wanted to shake the president’s hand because he is so awesome.
Along the way, the president informed me that Democrats only read the NYT and watch MSNBC, while conservatives and republicans only read the WSJ and watch FOX News. This is such a ridiculous and shallow characterization, i have to wonder if the president really believes it: if so, can someone please bring him out of his bubble?
And oh yes, much was made of the false and inaccurate analogy that governments, like families, must tighten their belts, as if families never deficit spend (ahem, college loans, mortgages, home equity loans, carloans) and when they do that they put credit card payments ahead of putting food on the table.
The whole thing was quite free of substance, and I’m sure the president was grateful that he had to answer questions about atheists facing discrimination rather than the prospect of senior and soon-to-be-senior citizens living out their old age eating cat food. I’m sure he was glad he didn’t have to talk too much about how cutting Medicaid would put the financial burden of caring for sick, elderly parents on families, not the government.
I did learn one thing though: the president may be sincere about his desire to gut these programs, but reading the comments at the linked Daily Kos article, you see an equally sincere group of activists getting angrier by the second. And you know, contrary to the claims of some people, we’re not all a bunch of upper middle class white progressives who just don’t get it. Some of us are counting on social security, medicare,and medicaid when WE get older, because our careers and paychecks have stagnated for years, pensions no longer exist, and there is no such thing as job security anymore.
I’d put the president’s re-election at 50/50. If these cuts go through, I’d put my bets on his challenger.
Noseless Pig Finds Truffle
Please grow a mustache Governor Christie
Mr. Creosote says medical marijuana law can go forward
TRENTON, N.J. – Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday that he will allow New Jersey to move forward in implementing its medical marijuana law despite his concerns over whether federal authorities could prosecute state regulators.
After saying last month that he wanted assurance from the U.S. Justice Department that it won’t pursue criminal charges against state-sanctioned medical marijuana programs, he pivoted Tuesday, saying he was drawing upon his seven years of experience as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney in anticipating that federal prosecutors have more important crimes to pursue.
“It is my belief, having held that job for seven years, that there’s a lot of other things that will be more important as long as the dispensaries operate within the law,” he said.
He never received blanket assurance from the Justice Department. But in making his announcement, the governor said that allowing the program to move forward was “a risk I’m willing to take as governor.”
The Republican governor also cited comments Barack Obama made in 2008, when he was a presidential candidate, in which he said he would not “use Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue,” preferring to focus instead on fighting violent crime and potential terrorism.
What’s especially funny about this is that the Obama administration has decided to go after medical marijuana, which the ACLU describes as “a complete reversal of the policy the administration outlined just two years ago”. It is a broken promise to the sick.
Sometimes, you gotta love a wingnut. Christie’s doing the right thing, albeit probably for the wrong motivations. Get the weed to the sick people. I’m gonna call the Governor tomorrow. It will be the first, and only, time Chris Christie gets a thumbs up from me. Sadly, this will not be the first time I’ve given the president’s administration a thumbs down.
FDR Schools the Republicans. Food for Thought
This may be the best thing I have seen this year:
Hi, can someone on our side talk like that and mean it?
Hot Thoughts
It’s ridiculously hot outside. I’ve been up since about 7:00 AM, and it was already baking.
Why does the news always get your hopes up with statements like “chance of rain today”, when the chance of rain is around 0%? Joanne Allen, I don’t care how badly you wish it would rain, STOP SAYING IT’S GOING TO WHEN IT WON’T. All you do is mislead gardeners.
I need to write two cover letters, but it is SO FUCKING HOT I can’t think straight. For that matter, I have to do some vacuuming and general tidying. I also have to venture out for some scallions and other veggies for the cold soba and tofu salad I’m planning to make for dinner. But it’s too fucking hot to do anything but hide in my air-conditioned room.
On the other hand, shit’s gotta get done. So I’m putting down the computer, hitting the shower, and (at the very least) getting the groceries done before working on those two letters.
Hot damn, we need some rain.
Changes
Light posting lately. Sam was visiting for the past three weeks, and I was more constructively occupied. The beginning of his trip was really chaotic, in a beautiful way. I had a one night stand gig with Delco Nightingale in Winston-Salem on July 2, and had to spend the day before driving down. As a result, Sam spent the 1st and 2nd of the month at my parents place, and then headed up to Destination Greenpoint USA to chill with Christina. I spent the 3rd hightailing it to the city, and the next day our friends the Roats came up to watch the fireworks from the roof.
While he was up there, Christina or her parents (who were also visiting) bought Sam a Lego digital camera, which is exactly what it sounds like. We saved his photos, and here are a few.
And here’s a portrait of the artiste, rockin’ out on the Fourth:
That was before the mohawk:
So yeah, it’s been a busy month. Sam’s back with his mom for the next couple of weeks, and then he’s here again for the first three weeks of August.
Meanwhile, I’m in the middle of some significant transitions myself. As I mentioned, Christina’s living in Brooklyn now, so there’s been a lot of commuting. As it turned out, neither of us really took into account the ramifications of the move, especially me: it’s a pain in the heart and the ass for both of us, and I’ll leave it at that. Meanwhile, I’m out of work myself, and while I had previously objected to moving to New York, it’s now on the radar as much as Philadelphia. I recently refinanced to do some renovations to my house, which are presently underway, and there are worse things than being a landlord.
I don’t mean to sound flip about being unemployed, by the way. I hate looking for work, the insecurity of no guaranteed income terrifies me, and I want to get back to work as soon as I can. That said, after six years of grant writing for human services organizations, I am burnt out. I’m happy to provide direct service -a friend may have a contact at an organization that provides job coaching to people with intellectual disabilities, the current euphemism for mentally retarded people- but no more begging for money from rich people and corporations that simply don’t get it. Grants for arts and culture, community development corporations (CDCs), that kind of thing is OK, but even then on a part-time basis. And really, I’d rather be making beer. I also have some freelance stuff coming up, and I’m keeping busy with scrapple news (here’s one I forgot about, written a few weeks back, by the way). Sometimes opportunity doesn’t so much knock as it shows you to the door.
In closing, I can’t promise how active this blog is going to be for the next few weeks, which is what i always say before a spasm of obsessive blogging. I’ll try to keep up, but if there are absences, well… I’m a busy fuckin’ guy with a busy fuckin’ schedule.
Oh, and not-so-confidentially: I’m not sorry for anything I have ever said, or ever WILL say, about Tom Corbett. The man is a soulless piece of shit, who doesn’t so much have a heart as he has a calculator in his chest.
Song for Eric Cantor
Since he acts like a 5-year old, I figured this Electric Company video from the 1970s is a good fit.
Also, I like the fact the actors look like Don Rumsfeld, with a Philly accent, and Condoleeza Rice.
Bill Clinton and Paul Ryan: Caught on Tape Conspiring to Undermine Medicare
I learned back in 1992 that Bill Clinton was a lying piece of shit, not a progressive, and barely a Democrat.
From the description:
Leaked cell phone footage of Bill Clinton cozying up to Paul Ryan
The day after the stunning upset in the special congressional election in upstate New York, Rep. Paul Ryan is a man under fire.
ABC News was behind the scenes with the Wisconsin Congressman and GOP Budget Committee Chairman when he got some words of encouragement none other than former President Bill Clinton.
“So anyway, I told them before you got here, I said I’m glad we won this race in New York,” Clinton told Ryan, when the two met backstage at a forum on the national debt held by the Pete Peterson Foundation. But he added, “I hope Democrats don’t use this as an excuse to do nothing.”
Ryan told Clinton he fears that now nothing will get done in Washington.
“My guess is it’s going to sink into paralysis is what’s going to happen. And you know the math. It’s just, I mean, we knew we were putting ourselves out there. You gotta start this. You gotta get out there. You gotta get this thing moving,” Ryan said.
Clinton told Ryan that if he ever wanted to talk about it, he should “give me a call.” Ryan said he would.
Not our friends by any definition. We’re fucking doomed.
Deep Thought
I don’t care what kind of bullshit semantic games they play: if the Democrats vote to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid not only will I not vote for them, I will actively support their opponents. I would rather deal with a hater who tells me to my face that he’s going to fuck with me for the next 4 years than a sweet-talker who stabs me in the back.
I suspect many Americans feel the same way. Don’t be fooled by phrases like “chained CPI” and “COLA adjustments”: it’s all about cutting your benefits and picking your pockets to avoid raising taxes on the rich:
As explained at length here, the idea is to peg federal Cost of Living Adjustments to a new, stingier measure of inflation.
Experts say the new index (the so-called Chained Consumer Price Index) is a more realistic metric for measuring inflation’s impact on peoples’ behavior. But the fact remains that if the change goes through as part of a grand bargain to lower deficits and raise the debt limit, retirees will receive less money each month than they’re currently promised.
And if you think Democrats are playing dumb because they want a deal, think again. They’re some of the biggest supporters of this plan.
“We make the determinations right now for benefits based upon CPIU,” Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), one of the Dems’ principal debt limit negotiators. He’s referring to the current index the government uses to calculate Social Security’s Cost of Living Adjustment. And that’s what they’re talking about changing. “Now the question is will some other look at CPI make sense? And I think that it makes sense to look at it all to see what is an accurate account, a better way to determine benefits. I certainly wouldn’t walk away from that kind of discussion.”
Just over a year ago, I objected to the way the tea baggers were threatening and disrespecting their reps: today, if I had the chance, I’d spit on James Clyburn myself, and so would very other senior citizen in this country regardless of race. You can call him and tell him that you’re not down with eating cat food in your old age: 202-225-3315. In fact, you can find YOUR rep here and your Senator here. Tell ‘em all if they make you eat catfood, you’re gonna make sure they don’t have a job anymore.
Better the enemy you KNOW than the fake friend.
Obama to Poor, Sick, Elderly: Drop Dead
We elected George W. Bush in blackface:
Mr. Obama, who is to meet at the White House with the bipartisan leadership of Congress in an effort to work out an agreement to raise the federal debt limit, wants to move well beyond the $2 trillion in savings sought in earlier negotiations and seek perhaps twice as much over the next decade, Democratic officials briefed on the negotiations said Wednesday.
The president’s renewed efforts follow what knowledgeable officials said was an overture from Mr. Boehner, who met secretly with Mr. Obama last weekend, to consider as much as $1 trillion in unspecified new revenues as part of an overhaul of tax laws in exchange for an agreement that made substantial spending cuts, including in such social programs as Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security — programs that had been off the table.
[...]
The intensifying negotiations between the president and the speaker have Congressional Democrats growing anxious, worried they will be asked to accept a deal that is too heavily tilted toward Republican efforts and produces too little new revenue relative to the magnitude of the cuts.
Congressional Democrats said they were caught off guard by the weekend White House visit of Mr. Boehner — a meeting the administration still refused to acknowledge on Wednesday — and Senate Democrats raised concerns at a private party luncheon on Wednesday.
I’ll bet they’re growing nervous: Wall Street’s president, who has done everything in his power to protect banks and has not prosecuted one single CEO responsible for the crash is now cutting secret deals (most transparent adminsitration EVAH!) with the Republicans to cut Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicaid. This puts pretty much every Democratic seat at risk, because not only do old people vote, but the Republicans will campaign hypocritically but accurately that the Democrats cut their benefits. This kind of appeasement NEVER works, and the fact that the president is proposing to bend you over so the Republicans will release the hostages tells you all you have to know.
This president is not on our side, in my opinion. This president is, in fact, a Republican. If these are his proposals, if he is THAT out of touch with the real world, then I’m not voting for him again, and don’t think you should either.
From “Hope and Change” to “George Bush in blackface” in less than 4 years. The mask is off. We gotta fight back.
Call your congressman, call your senator, tell them no cuts to Social Security, medicare, and medicaid.
White House…202-456-1111
House Minority Leader: Nancy Pelosi …..202-224-4965
Senate majority Leader: Harry Reid…202-224-3542
DCCC: Van Hollen…202-225-5341
UPDATE: You just lost Oliver Willis, President Bush, I mean Obama. Keep pushing it, watch what happens.
Eleven Dimensional Chess
Listening to WHYY’s rebroadcast of Radio Times, which deals with the impact of Tom Corbett’s methodically mad and deeply cruel spending cuts, reminded me of something I think it’s important to repeat.
Just so we’re clear, Tom Corbett and the rest of the newly-elected right wing governors care about re-election about as much as Mohammed Atta cared about landing planes. They are rooks and knights in a game of eleven dimensional chest.
Cutting welfare to work programs and homelessness prevention programs while refusing to close corporate tax loopholes that would generate enough revenue to keep these programs open, as Tom Corbett and the Republicans’ budget does, makes no sense at all, unless you are deliberately trying to sabotage your state’s economy. Same with Christie’s cuts to AIDS, seniors, and education, or Walker’s devastating attacks on unions. Why would you do this? For greater political gain that goes beyond your own immediate career.
The goal of each of these governors, many in swing states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin is twofold: to return to power by generating as much economic misery as possible in the hope that people will turn on the Democrats (useless and flabby as they may be); and barring that, to punish the people that didn’t reward them with a vote.
It is deeply cynical, totally evil, politics. But it is what it is: the sooner activists and reformers understand and act on the fact that these people do not give a shit, the better. We gotta not only fight back, but do so in every way possible, pulling no punches. They have to be tea partied, but from the left. Bring the press and a hungry child whose mom lost her food stamps to meet Tom Corbett… but spring it on him in a “gotcha”moment. Set up a tent city filled with homeless seniors outside of every Dominic Pileggi event, and when the cops move in to throw ‘em out, resist and get arrested (and hopefully beaten: no one likes seeing an elderly woman with a black eye). Make Chris Christie yell at a child with AIDS. Surprise Tom Corbett with a crying child. Ratfuck ‘em in every way until these conservative Republican assholes, and their Democratic allies if necessary, are as popular as gonorrhea, and then ratfuck ‘em again til even their own spouses won’t sleep in the same room as them. I’ll even go so far as to recommend Breitbart tactics if necessary. Corbett doesn’t care if he’s re-elected, but you can bet Dominic Pileggi does. You can bet Mike Stack does. Start hitting the churches in the burbs, bringing old ladies to testify about the pain, split ‘em from the churches. We gotta make people like Corbett so toxic, his own party won’t stand with him. And it’s gotta be explicit: you stop fucking with our people, we’ll stop fucking with you.
We gotta start playing our own 11-dimensional chess, and playing to win: otherwise, we and the people we try to help are nothing but pawns in someone else’s game.
