Of course, when a hijacking goes badly wrong, everyone involved runs away from the area, claiming that they were only there by accident, and they CERTAINLY were not involved in that attempted crime!! Oh no!
How much did this adventure cost our nation? (Click Here)
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| Ted Cruz aka 'A Lovely Rodent' |
Many have suggested this was all about the Presidential ambitions of Senator Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz, aka "Calgary Cruz", in recognition of his having been born in Calgary, Canada, to a Cuban/Canadian father and an American mother. Senator Cruz is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. He announced on August 19th, 2013 that he would renounce the Canadian half of his citizenship, but it turns out that it takes about ten months for Canada to get through the process of letting go of one of their citizens. Wait, so Cruz was born of an American mother (gosh, just like Obama was...) and there is clear documentation that Cruz was born in another country (Canada). According to Donald Trump we all need to ask to see Senator Cruz's BIRTH CERTIFICATE, to make certain that he was physically born in the United States, rather than in say, Kenya, Canada or Cuba...
But there is one key difference between Cruz and Obama. Cruz is light-skinned enough, that although some Cubans show a strong African heritage, Cruz does not. And so... the Rightwing doesn't seem to care where he was born, what his citizenship was at birth, or any of that nonsense, as long as he's white. There is one set of laws if you are dark-skinned, another if you are white. Have you all forgotten that?
Ironically, both Cruz and Obama attended Harvard Law School. Small world, isn't it. Obama got far better grades.
So the "Birther" and "Tea Party" movements, which are fairly closely linked, share some curious characteristics; they are racist, and they are tools of enormously wealthy conservatives who fund fake "grassroots" organizations that are fighting against progressive and accountable government in the United States, to keep our government from controlling their businesses in any way... you know, with liberal efforts like concern for the environment, health care for workers, good public schools, roads and an egalitarian society. Crazy stuff like that... while Rightwing Billionaires would prefer to have government stay out of their way, so they can grab more, more, more Billions!! And control State, local and the Federal Government!! Because... uh, because power apparently creates a thirst for greater power, for more money!!
A nationwide grassroots effort called "Flush Rush" has had a surprisingly powerful impact on the career path of Rush Limbaugh. More than two thousand advertisers have told Clear Channel that their ads may not be used on Rush's radio program. As the number of advertisers who ARE willing to support him dwindles, consumer pressure against those businesses has gained strength. If you don't believe me, take a look at how many ads there are for "Angie's List" on MSNBC. Those are the ads that no longer are on the Rush Limbaugh show, after a huge protest against the company. And the list is an increasingly long one.
It is pretty easy to find out which businesses Koch Industries owns. None of their products are unique. Maybe a person would prefer a type of toilet paper they make, as compared with what a competitor makes, but the odds are good that they could find a brand they liked almost as much. Certainly good enough to encourage them to switch. And then there are the businesses who can be encouraged to simply stop carrying Koch Industries products. After all, those are the bastards who gave $200 million to organizations like "Freedomworks", who in turn badgered and bribed GOP candidates to follow their guidance, not the guidance of their local constituents, let alone looking out for the welfare of their constituents. That's what Congress is supposed to be about, but the changes in Campaign Finance law have allowed scum like the Koch brothers to cast their net across our nation, buying up candidates and districts with large donations and such powerful threats that they currently OWN a large bloc of the US Congress. Yes, Virginia, some US Congressmen are whores, I'm sorry to have to tell you that...
Or rather, the Koch brothers used to own a large bloc of Congress and parts of the Senate. Yesterday those titles got challenged.
And this is just the beginning. Whether this ass-backwards attempt to grab control of our economy and our public health care costs our country $5 Billion, $12 Billion or $24 Billion in financial losses is not important. Two conservative douchebags, almost single-handedly, tried to grab control of our government. A kind of soft-core coup d'etat. How should we feel about that? Impressed? surprised? or furious?
Some have suggested that the Republican right is terrified the "Affordable Care Act" will be wildly popular with the American people. I think they are right. Omigod! (say the wingers) it might be like the New Deal, all over again!!
Indeed. Medical Care in the United States costs twice as much as medical care costs in any other country on the planet. When they caution us that medical care is what... 18% of our national economy? so we'd better be careful what we do, it raises an obvious question, "Why the hell does health care cost so much?"
When I was a child it certainly didn't. According to numerous studies we don't provide the best care in the world, by one measurement we rank the 38th best in the world. Number 1 for costs, 38 for performance, when the population as a whole is judged.
A recent article about a guy who needed a hip replacement said he found that it would cost him $68,000 to have the surgery in Colorado. He looked around and discovered that he could have an identical surgery done in Belgium for $13,500. Including round trip airfare. He is very happy.
Did you wonder why there was a big to-do about a tax on "Medical Devices" in Affordable Care Act? Because that is a huge monopoly industry in our country. Do you think they might have a small army of lobbyists? or maybe an army and a half? Count the lobbyists and you can pretty well tell who is trying to steal the farm. Right?
So, that's part of what happened yesterday. The back of the beast was broken. The nutbags got their nuts cracked. Our government is open again and people who are owed money are getting paid once more.
Now the work begins.
It is time to run these bastards out of town on a figurative barrel. We don't really use barrels or hot tar anymore. We're much more modern. But what is important is that the fight has started, and we can't back off from it until we have taken our democracy back. I've got a few things to say about Fox News as well. Their parent corporation, "News Corp" is in deep trouble in the UK over phone and Internet tapping, bribery of police officials and the list goes on. Does anyone want to bet that News Corp hasn't done the same things here in the US, in their quest for power? If so, it might be time to call them to account for those crimes. We should not have a two-tier legal system, that jails those who are poor and hides its eyes from the crimes committed by the powerful, well-connected and wealthy. That's NOT the foundation our country. Our job, as citizens, is to keep pressing our government to become more fair, more transparent, more even-handed and more just.
We've got some work to do. But yesterday was a very good day, for about fifty different reasons.
Arthur
P.S.: Within the Republican Party there are roughly three factions; pro-business moderates, social conservatives and the Tea Party caucus. They aren't getting along very well these days. And things are about to get even more interesting.
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