I'm going to say off the top that this country has a real spending problem. We need to deal with the whopping deficit we've piled up. We were on track with the last Clinton budget. That got blown out of the water with tax cuts that weren't matched with spending cuts, two wars that weren't in the budget and a Medicare expansion to include drugs that wasn't matched with funds to pay for it. Any protests were met with comments like Dick (head) Cheney's counter that "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter." How many of the members of the house that are up in arms about the current deficits were warming their chairs ten years ago?
So, the sort of government shutdown continues. Also known as
“we did WHAT?” Or “how did that happen?” It would be funny if it wasn't so damn
pathetic. And ten years ago the neocons like Bill Kristol were running around
telling the world we were going to show them “how it should be done.” Yeah, the world is paying attention right now and hoping Chicken Little won't come to visit.
Well Bill’s still out there. And it’s no big deal that one
of the items on the chopping block right now is food aid to poor pregnant
women, mothers and their small children. “Nobody is going to starve in Arkansas .” What a
sterling example of a caring human being. Not.
Other services labeled non essential have been curtailed.
That includes national parks like Yosemite ,
museums like the Smithsonian and the WWII Memorial. Where a sterlingrepresentative of the critical thinking skills taught in Texas castigated a member of the parks service for telling him is was closed. She was a lot more polite than I would have been.
Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) apparently didn't realize that
memorials are part of the park service too. Memo to the twit from Texas . Shut downs are
supposed to be inconvenient. The more inconvenient the better. That’s to remind
us not to do that again.
Members of the house evidently didn’t realize that
shuttering federal health services included interrupting some clinical trials
for kids with cancer. As they scramble to resume the funding somehow it’s all
Harry Reid’s fault. Actually to hear them tell it none of this is their fault
anyway. If or when the sky falls on top of them we’ll probably hear “why didn’t
you tell us this would happen/” We tried. Believe me we tried.
There’s a congressman who was quoted as saying “we won’t be
disrespected. We have to get something out of this. I don’t know what that even
is…” Is that pathetic or what? Really. I wish I could find the graphic that was on FB
yesterday but it seems to be buried too deep.
Some of the members of congress are forgoing their
paychecks. This gal isn’t and neither is at least one other colleague. “I have
a house and a kid in college.” Well, isn’t that precious. So do other folks.
Maybe they should have just shut everything down. I’m betting the screams from
vets who didn’t get their pensions and those who depend on SS would end this
farce immediately if not sooner.
I mean check out the photo ops on line. At least some of
those clueless TPr’s who were holding up signs along the lines of keep
socialized medicine away from my Medicare are depending on social security to
pay the bills.
To start with I have two suggestions. Make that three. One. Back
in High School English we had these comprehension drills. We had to read a
passage of three or four paragraphs and then answer questions that proved we
actually UNDERSTOOD what we’d just read. Two. Everybody who runs for office
should have to pass a version of the tests they give immigrants applying for
citizenship. Three. We need immediate
effort to amend the constitution to require that all congressional districts be
redrawn to reflect population numbers and geography. Period. End of story.
End the gerrymandering that creates safe districts where
members of the house can spend their time talking to themselves like yesterday.
But, the sooner the better. Will it happen? Probably not, but a girl can dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment