I wonder what the hell the majority of voters were thinking these past twelve years. After all, it took a majority to place the current crop of miscreants in office initially and a majority has kept them in there these many, painful years.
Presently there are twenty representatives that CREW, a non-partisan organization, has named as the most corrupt. Seventeen are Republicans, three are Democrats. Of the five that received dishonorable mention (AKA: ones to watch) four are Republicans. Reps. Ney and Cunningham, both Republicans, have accepted plea deals in the Abramoff scandal. Rep. DeLay, also a Republican and the former majority leader, was indicted in Texas and in all probability will face federal indictment. Reps. Jefferson and Mollohan, both Democrats, are now being investigated by the feds along with Republican Sens. Burns and Frist, both Republicans.
Now shades of Peter Graves pedophilic character Captain Oveur from the movie Airplane! Rep. Foley, another Republican, has resigned in disgrace for sending emails best described as creepy and sexually explicit IMs to a former male, teenage page who worked for another Republican. Now the FBI will be investigating Foley as the Republicans are scrambling to hide their complicity for having known for at least a year of Foley's behavior – perhaps as long as five years. The irony is the fact that the federal law for which he’ll be investigated for violating is the very one he actively helped to put on the books.
Granted, there are a few Democrats on the lists; but it’s Republicans who make up the vast majority of the disgraced, indicted and scrutinized. This is the same party that claims to stand high upon the mountain of virtue, swords of righteousness held on high, wrapped in the flag and clutching a bible. They are anything but the image they present and they count on non-issues to cloud the real ones when it hits the fan, using emotion and fear to gain and hold power.
Once the Republican Party or any of its ranks are under the microscope they divert attention to things that hit a raw, emotional nerve with voters short on attention and even shorter on cerebral abilities. Flag burning, gay marriage, violent videogames and terrorism where there is none are just a few examples of how they divert attention. We’ll know when they’re in it really deep when they introduce a bill to ban the recognition of gay marriages performed by flag-burning, radical Muslim clerics who sell violent videogames in the newly added terrorist state of Luxemburg.
But it’s not just Congress and the Senate. The Whitehouse having been back-doored under the FOIA revealed that Jack Abramoff organization (read: criminal enterprise) has had something like five-hundred contacts while Whitehouse staffers only claimed but a few. How can we not believe them? After all, their claims that Iraq was a hotbed haven and winter resort for terrorists while stockpiling massive WMDs has been well document – NOT!
What this all boils down to is that the RICO statutes are being violated daily by the crowd in power in Washington. There is little difference between the Washington of today and the Chicago of the 1920s. Wave a lot of cash around and officials will look the other way, push a bill through or give out a contract. Reelecting these miscreants to federal office today is like giving a fat kid the keys to a Baskin Robins a second time after he'd eaten everything in sight.
The vast majority of voters have to be mentally vacuous to believe that the Republicans in DC represent their concerns and interests as they are oblivious to the overwhelming evidence of Republican corruption and hypocrisy because they continue to reelect them regardless. These guys only care about lining their pockets and those that do the lining. As the average John and Jane Taxpayer are eating reheated meatloaf while watching anything but the news on TV their representatives are eating steak and lobster at their $2,500 a plate fundraisers while taking envelopes under the table.
One definition of insanity is “to repeat the same behavior expecting a different outcome”. Keep that in mind when you vote this November.
21-50 – out.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Calling all working stiffs
Since the Department of Commerce starting keeping track in 1947, wages and salaries as a share of the gross domestic product are at the lowest point. Wages as a slice of GDP were comfortably above 50 percent from the 1950s through the mid-1970s and then the percentage fell until the mid-1990s when it crept back up through 2000. Now, at a record low, take home pay now makes up just 45.3 percent of GDP.
Since 2003, adjusting for inflation, hourly wages have fallen 2 percent. Conversely, corporate profits, thanks to worker productivity, have swelled. The American worker, however, obviously isn’t sharing in the fruits of their labors.
According to economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, the top 10 percent of earners in 2004 enjoy 42.9 percent of all earnings, not including capital gains. The top 1 percent enjoys up 16.2 percent of the total income.
Worse still, the buying power of minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, is less than it was in 1947. Although California has recently raised the minimum wage, Congressional Republicans are loathe to do the same. The argument offered is that a raise in the minimum wage would benefit but a few at the expense of business and the overall economy.
Interesting argument in light of the fact that low wage earners are the bulk of the workforce as mid and upper wage jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate. This is the same Republican Congress that is giving large tax breaks to companies that send jobs overseas forcing middle workers to take lower paying positions or simply be unemployed. The argument against hurting the overall economy rings hollow and it seems that corporations and the top ten percent are what are really being protected at the expense of the American worker while giving corporations windfall tax breaks.
There is something very wrong with the priorities of the Republicans who dominate Congress and the Senate. If there isn’t a change in leadership and direction in DC in the November elections, the service industry will be this country’s only industry.
Anyone who argues that the administration and its party have nothing to do with the economy is seriously out of touch with reality or is in the top ten-percent that gets forty-two percent of the wealth. Economic manipulation is part and parcel of politics and this administration and the Republican Party are actively engaged in the practice.
Note how fuel prices are plunging so close to the upcoming elections and the president just happens to be from an oil family, not to mention he’s very buddy-buddy with the Saudis. When fuel prices were reaching altitudes never seen before the Republicans blamed market influences. No doubt they’ll try to take credit for fuel prices going down.
Lower energy costs also reign in inflation so the Federal Reserve Board, independent from politics, has been sitting on current interest rates. This is all good for business and most consumers – for now. After November if energy costs began their upward spiral, which no doubt they will, rest assured we’ll see the Fed edging the rates up again.
As voters told Senior, “It’s the economy, stupid”. Junior not only has the economy against him but foreign and domestic policy failures as well.
21-50 - out.
Since 2003, adjusting for inflation, hourly wages have fallen 2 percent. Conversely, corporate profits, thanks to worker productivity, have swelled. The American worker, however, obviously isn’t sharing in the fruits of their labors.
According to economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, the top 10 percent of earners in 2004 enjoy 42.9 percent of all earnings, not including capital gains. The top 1 percent enjoys up 16.2 percent of the total income.
Worse still, the buying power of minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, is less than it was in 1947. Although California has recently raised the minimum wage, Congressional Republicans are loathe to do the same. The argument offered is that a raise in the minimum wage would benefit but a few at the expense of business and the overall economy.
Interesting argument in light of the fact that low wage earners are the bulk of the workforce as mid and upper wage jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate. This is the same Republican Congress that is giving large tax breaks to companies that send jobs overseas forcing middle workers to take lower paying positions or simply be unemployed. The argument against hurting the overall economy rings hollow and it seems that corporations and the top ten percent are what are really being protected at the expense of the American worker while giving corporations windfall tax breaks.
There is something very wrong with the priorities of the Republicans who dominate Congress and the Senate. If there isn’t a change in leadership and direction in DC in the November elections, the service industry will be this country’s only industry.
Anyone who argues that the administration and its party have nothing to do with the economy is seriously out of touch with reality or is in the top ten-percent that gets forty-two percent of the wealth. Economic manipulation is part and parcel of politics and this administration and the Republican Party are actively engaged in the practice.
Note how fuel prices are plunging so close to the upcoming elections and the president just happens to be from an oil family, not to mention he’s very buddy-buddy with the Saudis. When fuel prices were reaching altitudes never seen before the Republicans blamed market influences. No doubt they’ll try to take credit for fuel prices going down.
Lower energy costs also reign in inflation so the Federal Reserve Board, independent from politics, has been sitting on current interest rates. This is all good for business and most consumers – for now. After November if energy costs began their upward spiral, which no doubt they will, rest assured we’ll see the Fed edging the rates up again.
As voters told Senior, “It’s the economy, stupid”. Junior not only has the economy against him but foreign and domestic policy failures as well.
21-50 - out.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Calling All Armchair- Warrior Republicans!
Numerous stories have emerged in the media about how Republicans have all but abandoned American Veterans. Those supportive of the Republican Party dismiss those reports as coming from a biased media. Voting records however are fact and fact supports the stories.
All one need do is go to Project Vote Smart and look at the voting records of Congressional Republicans on legislation supported by the DAV (http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_detail.php?sig_id=004044M) to see that the Republican rhetoric of supporting the military and veterans is pure hypocrisy. Not only are the Republican Congressional voting records telling of their contempt for veterans, they also show a disturbing trend since the Republicans gained the White House.
After 2001, when the Bush Administration was firmly seated, what little support Republicans gave legislation benefiting veterans, especially disabled veterans, vaporized. This would lead one to conclude that the administration is anti-veteran and that the Republicans in both houses are in lock step with the Bush Administration.
These armchair-warrior Republicans and their families have failed to make any sacrifices for this country through military service. But they are damned quick to send those who serve into harm’s way for their own personal agendas and the benefit of their cronies who fund their campaign coffers in thanks for fat federal contracts.
These people who have never served a day appear before the cameras with our GIs and vets for every photo op available, making their speeches publicly declaring their support for the troops and vets only to return to DC where they quietly erode what little benefits given our troops and vets at every turn.
As a twenty-one year veteran I find the hypocrisy evidenced by the actions of the Republican Party with regard to the military and veterans repugnant.
As they put those willing to serve in harms way, they throw $5-billion each month into the Iraqi debacle without a single smoking-gun to justify the military action and no end in sight. Afghanistan was justifiable as we could trace the source of the attacks. The evidence was clear and compelling. Iraq, however, has yet to be justified as hard as the administration and its lock-step legions have tried.
Worse the war in Iraq is funded in large part at the expense of domestic programs and by stripping veterans and the military of benefits by slashing the budgets for VA programs or creating new caveats to receive them or denying them outright. But taking away isn’t sufficient enough; they have to block every piece of legislation that might provide any benefit, no matter how small, to veterans as well as their widows and orphans.
Meanwhile those who voted in the current administration spend a $1.95 on yellow ribbons urging us to “Support Our Troops”. If any of these people really want to support the troops they’d spend that $1.95 on postage to their representatives in support of legislation to benefit the troops and veterans while calling Republicans to task to develop a solid exit strategy then hold their feet to the fire to do so.
Now we’re “damned if we do and damned if we don’t”. If we cut and run we lose face before the world, never to be taken seriously for decades, and Iraq falls like Viet Nam. If we “stay the course” until we think Iraq can succeed on its own, the Iraqi government (which we put in place) will probably collapse from infighting or be overthrown by an opportunistic religious faction. Then we’ll be faced with a real threat where none existed before.
21-50 - out
All one need do is go to Project Vote Smart and look at the voting records of Congressional Republicans on legislation supported by the DAV (http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_detail.php?sig_id=004044M) to see that the Republican rhetoric of supporting the military and veterans is pure hypocrisy. Not only are the Republican Congressional voting records telling of their contempt for veterans, they also show a disturbing trend since the Republicans gained the White House.
After 2001, when the Bush Administration was firmly seated, what little support Republicans gave legislation benefiting veterans, especially disabled veterans, vaporized. This would lead one to conclude that the administration is anti-veteran and that the Republicans in both houses are in lock step with the Bush Administration.
These armchair-warrior Republicans and their families have failed to make any sacrifices for this country through military service. But they are damned quick to send those who serve into harm’s way for their own personal agendas and the benefit of their cronies who fund their campaign coffers in thanks for fat federal contracts.
These people who have never served a day appear before the cameras with our GIs and vets for every photo op available, making their speeches publicly declaring their support for the troops and vets only to return to DC where they quietly erode what little benefits given our troops and vets at every turn.
As a twenty-one year veteran I find the hypocrisy evidenced by the actions of the Republican Party with regard to the military and veterans repugnant.
As they put those willing to serve in harms way, they throw $5-billion each month into the Iraqi debacle without a single smoking-gun to justify the military action and no end in sight. Afghanistan was justifiable as we could trace the source of the attacks. The evidence was clear and compelling. Iraq, however, has yet to be justified as hard as the administration and its lock-step legions have tried.
Worse the war in Iraq is funded in large part at the expense of domestic programs and by stripping veterans and the military of benefits by slashing the budgets for VA programs or creating new caveats to receive them or denying them outright. But taking away isn’t sufficient enough; they have to block every piece of legislation that might provide any benefit, no matter how small, to veterans as well as their widows and orphans.
Meanwhile those who voted in the current administration spend a $1.95 on yellow ribbons urging us to “Support Our Troops”. If any of these people really want to support the troops they’d spend that $1.95 on postage to their representatives in support of legislation to benefit the troops and veterans while calling Republicans to task to develop a solid exit strategy then hold their feet to the fire to do so.
Now we’re “damned if we do and damned if we don’t”. If we cut and run we lose face before the world, never to be taken seriously for decades, and Iraq falls like Viet Nam. If we “stay the course” until we think Iraq can succeed on its own, the Iraqi government (which we put in place) will probably collapse from infighting or be overthrown by an opportunistic religious faction. Then we’ll be faced with a real threat where none existed before.
21-50 - out
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Calling all Members of Congress and the Senate!
First, let me congratulate you for having a “constituent services” office which provides no services despite its warm, fuzzy and misleading name. That’s the type of “representation” we’ve come to expect as it appears your staff can’t seem to be bothered as evidenced by the form letter I received. And kudos for crafting a sufficiently generic letter to be non-responsive to a broad range of unrelated topics while giving the illusion of concern. I would assume these are printed in bulk with your signatures.
Again, foolishly, I will attempt to reach you through this forum. Should these words not fall under your eyes, I sincerely hope that it publicly shames you, although there has yet to be any evidence to support that any of you can be shamed. In support of my position that you are indeed shameless, I offer this:
Each of you takes every opportunity to proclaim your support of our troops and veterans as well as your heartfelt concern for matters that affect them. Yet should one of them, a disabled veteran in my case, write to you, the “response” is via the aforementioned form letter or, simply, no response at all. The manner in which those folks in “constituent services” respond to the concerns of those whose misfortune it is to reside in your districts effectively communicates your thinly veiled contempt for the average American (to wit, those who don’t reek of money and, thusly, the ability to influence).
As to the matter about which I had written, it concerns a large number of service-disabled veterans. I had proposed a benefit that would cost no more than twenty-dollars per year, per qualified veteran, which would generate thousands of dollars from each qualified veteran for military morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) funds by giving these veterans access to those services as well as commissaries and exchanges. Perhaps my proposal flew under your radar, as it were, because of its simplicity, negligible costs and the fact it would actually “support our troops” while offering a tangible benefit to service-disabled veterans. Mea culpa but, hard as I tried, there was no way to make it extremely complex, outrageously expensive and serve but a select few who haven’t earned nor deserve a benefit.
I had also written to every member of the Armed Services Committees in the House and Senate. They used a slightly different form letter; one that, paraphrasing, simply stated, “You’re not from my district, you can’t vote for me and your letter contained no check for my re-election campaign”. At least that is my interpretation, but I do appreciate the fact that the committee members forwarded my letters to my representatives so that my proposal could receive their further, learned non-consideration.
With regard to the fact that I am not a constituent of any the committee members, I am a veteran and what actions, or, in this case, inactions, taken by the members affect me and the other 26,000,000 veterans. But boundaries exist for a reason; in this particular case they exist so that only veterans who are constituents can receive the same level of care, concern, respect and compassion from their representatives as I’ve received from mine, Wally Herger and Diane Feinstein. A Republican and a Democrat respectively, yet both of whom, despite the great differences of their political ideologies, can agree on at least one point: veterans are deserving of their contempt.
A person of minimally functioning intelligence could only conclude that your support for those serving, who have served and/or those disabled by that service is, in the politest of terms, a steaming pile of bovine droppings reserved for cameras, microphones, veterans’ events, public appearances and other vote-pandering opportunities.
Every one of your constituents deserves a thoughtful response that actually addresses the concerns and suggestions they submit to you regardless of whether you agree with their positions or find merits in their proposals. To be deaf and blind to the average constituent or to whom your committees affect is not representative government.
Wishing you all a hastened transition to private life at the hands of angry voters,
21-50 - out
Again, foolishly, I will attempt to reach you through this forum. Should these words not fall under your eyes, I sincerely hope that it publicly shames you, although there has yet to be any evidence to support that any of you can be shamed. In support of my position that you are indeed shameless, I offer this:
Each of you takes every opportunity to proclaim your support of our troops and veterans as well as your heartfelt concern for matters that affect them. Yet should one of them, a disabled veteran in my case, write to you, the “response” is via the aforementioned form letter or, simply, no response at all. The manner in which those folks in “constituent services” respond to the concerns of those whose misfortune it is to reside in your districts effectively communicates your thinly veiled contempt for the average American (to wit, those who don’t reek of money and, thusly, the ability to influence).
As to the matter about which I had written, it concerns a large number of service-disabled veterans. I had proposed a benefit that would cost no more than twenty-dollars per year, per qualified veteran, which would generate thousands of dollars from each qualified veteran for military morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) funds by giving these veterans access to those services as well as commissaries and exchanges. Perhaps my proposal flew under your radar, as it were, because of its simplicity, negligible costs and the fact it would actually “support our troops” while offering a tangible benefit to service-disabled veterans. Mea culpa but, hard as I tried, there was no way to make it extremely complex, outrageously expensive and serve but a select few who haven’t earned nor deserve a benefit.
I had also written to every member of the Armed Services Committees in the House and Senate. They used a slightly different form letter; one that, paraphrasing, simply stated, “You’re not from my district, you can’t vote for me and your letter contained no check for my re-election campaign”. At least that is my interpretation, but I do appreciate the fact that the committee members forwarded my letters to my representatives so that my proposal could receive their further, learned non-consideration.
With regard to the fact that I am not a constituent of any the committee members, I am a veteran and what actions, or, in this case, inactions, taken by the members affect me and the other 26,000,000 veterans. But boundaries exist for a reason; in this particular case they exist so that only veterans who are constituents can receive the same level of care, concern, respect and compassion from their representatives as I’ve received from mine, Wally Herger and Diane Feinstein. A Republican and a Democrat respectively, yet both of whom, despite the great differences of their political ideologies, can agree on at least one point: veterans are deserving of their contempt.
A person of minimally functioning intelligence could only conclude that your support for those serving, who have served and/or those disabled by that service is, in the politest of terms, a steaming pile of bovine droppings reserved for cameras, microphones, veterans’ events, public appearances and other vote-pandering opportunities.
Every one of your constituents deserves a thoughtful response that actually addresses the concerns and suggestions they submit to you regardless of whether you agree with their positions or find merits in their proposals. To be deaf and blind to the average constituent or to whom your committees affect is not representative government.
Wishing you all a hastened transition to private life at the hands of angry voters,
21-50 - out
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