Mitt's Let Them Eat Cake Moment

Although there are no official records of Marie Antoinette ever having said the phrase, "Let them eat cake" has been attributed to her as an example of her ignorance to the condition of the poor during a French famine. And here is likely Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 Election, Mitt Romney, and his "let them eat cake" moment.

“I’m in this race because I care about Americans,” [Mitt] Romney told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien this morning after his resounding victory in Florida on Tuesday. “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.”

Is that safety net the one he would gut if Romney ever took office? Repeal Obamacare? Gut critical programs for the poor in an attempt to balance the budget? Yet another example of Romney being completely out of touch with everyone who isn't a one percenter. Actually, one tenth of a one percenter.

He says he cares about Americans... just not poor Americans.

Dumbass Quote of the Day

“If you graduate from high school, you get married before you have children, and of course you work — that’s sort of a given, you have to work — you do those three things, there’s a 2 percent chance you’ll be in poverty."

~Rick Santorum, campaigning in Iowa.

Someone should let Rick Santorum know that poor people get married too. And oh, yeah, screw same sex marriages, those people deserve to be in poverty, right, Rick?

The Right Crowd

POSTED BY JHW22

This economist shared his perspective on why Bristol Palin provides more social value, thus earns more income, than a pediatrician. And when you think about it, it's what lies at the root of why some people protect the incomes of the wealthy, as if the higher the value of one's paycheck, the more value they must obviously provide to society.

Some say that it's our world of tabloid, celebrity and "reality" television that has warped our sense of what value is. And to an extent, they are right. You could argue that some celebrities use that vast wealth to contribute far more to society than residents of a small town combined. But the celebrity still has a huge chunk of cash left over and the good they performed was about the heart and not a paycheck, though, right?

So there is that point, and it's valid. But what I think is the greater disservice, the thing that causes the warped vision of value to really harm America, is the way our elected leadership distorts the meaning of value in order to benefit the new definition of value. If we place a higher value on someone's status via a job, then they are worth more in the value of a dollar. If they are worth more in the value of a dollar, they are worth more to society. Ergo, if you don't make a lot of money, your value to society is less. Despite the work actually done by the person making $10,000 or the person making $10,000,000.

Public policy and politicians have used this as a wedge to create an ideal that every American can reach the big bucks if they just work hard enough. So, if someone is a community organizer, they aren't really contributing. We want CEOs as Presidents, not community organizers. That's not a reality show or summer blockbuster meme, that is a political manipulation of the American Dream in order to create a Haves and Have Nots mentality. But when the gap is growing so much that the wealthiest Americans are paying less in taxes than the middle class, then you have to stop and ask, "What is really happening?" America has distorted our values by saying that asking a millionaire to pay more in taxes is class warfare despite all the evidence that they have had more tax benefits than their kids' teachers.

And it hasn't been reality shows and tabloids going after teachers and public workers lately. It's been elected leaders.

Senator Orrin Hatch said that 51% of American families don't pay income taxes -- right after he said he thinks really poor people shouldn't have to. What people are missing when they discuss how many people don't pay income taxes is that it's because they are too poor to pay taxes. The people he's talking about aren't rich enough to get fancy tax accountants to get them to not pay anything. They're not tax evaders. They're people living on such low income that they don't owe income taxes. And what's wrong with that? What's wrong is that we have TOO MANY families making so little that they don't owe taxes! And yet, it's a pejorative to say they don't pay taxes. THEY DON'T MAKE MONEY. And see, they are the bad guy. Why? So that we won't pay attention to the people who get to deduct mortgages on their second and third homes and their yachts.

And right now, the left is divided among the "Yell at Obama" crowd and the "Fight the GOP" crowd. And the GOP is divided among the "Get Government Out" crowd and the "Block Obama" crowd.

Frankly, when I look at who is harming America the most, I can't fathom why more people aren't rushing to be part of a "Get Something Done" crowd. And when I think of it, Obama is right in the middle of that "Get Something Done" crowd. He has been leading that crowd and keeping it focused and effective. And although I stray over to the "Fight the GOP" crowd every so often, I am most certainly part of Obama's crowd. I want to get something done!

Our Priorities Are Fucked

I am pissed off. I guess I have been for a little while now but have been trying to organize my thoughts instead of shooting from the hip, hence the lack of posting these last few days.

I've come to the conclusion that our priorities as a country are totally fucked. I know that's been the case for a while now, but it really hasn't been as transparent as it has in the last few weeks where the pushback from the yokels at town hall meetings defending the very insurance companies that are fucking them in the ass on a regular basis and the inane neocon talking points and conspiracy theories have taken root with the so-called leaders of the Republican party boggle the mind.

I say this because I can't begin to comprehend the mindset that doesn't blink at the amount of money we spend as a country on certain things but blow a gasket on the spending proposed for something worthwhile and beneficial to all Americans, like health care.

The Department of Defense budget for Fiscal 2009 is $651 BILLION. $136 Billion of that is used for emergency discretionary spending and supplemental spending. That's extra money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This number doesn't include funds for Homeland Security, Energy Department, FBI counter-terrorism, NASA, Veterans Affairs, interest on debt incurred in past wars or the black budget. That brings the total to somewhere between $859 Billion and $1.16 TRILLION.

We will spend a minimum of $859 billion this year on the defense budget alone but the powers that be in the beltway are in a panic over $90 billion a year to make sure Americans don't die for lack of health care. They are screeching and howling and flinging their poo over spending one tenth of what they spend on the defense budget yearly. Do you see something wrong with that?

Our presence in the Middle East is costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $11 billion a month. Health care reform would cost $7.5 billion a month.

We will spend over $36 billion this year on Homeland Security to insure that there isn't a repeat of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 when 3,000 were killed, but hesitate on spending money to insure people who are uninsured or under insured don't die from lack of health insurance. According to a Harvard medical study released just two weeks ago, approximately 45,000 Americans die yearly due to lack of health insurance. Figure out the math. That's one 9/11 every 3½ weeks.

Congress takes precious time passing resolutions to prevent funding to organizations like ACORN for the approximate $3.5 million it receives yearly for such things as census work or fighting for a higher minimum wage, but doesn't bat an eyelash at the multi-billion dollar contracts held by Lockheed-Martin and Northrop-Grumman even though there are 20 fraud cases pending bewteen them.

So what kind of country do you want to live in? One that takes care of its citizens' health even if we have to pay a little more for it? Or one that spends multiple times the projected health care reform cost to continue being the cock of the walk militarily while losing tens of thousands of citizens to illness in its "protection" of us against "the terrorists." Remind me again how many people were killed by terrorists in the US this year? Just to clarify, I'm not saying we shouldn't spend any money in defense of our country, but you have to wonder when that figure is currently 29% of our budget and rising.

So now you know why I'm pissed after a couple of hours of monkey watching on C-Span.

Douchebag of the Week: Rep. Cynthia Davis

I really don't get some politicians. Let me rephrase that - I really don't get the callousness of some politicians. Case in point: Rep. Cynthia "Let them eat cake" Davis (R-MO). Davis is not thrilled with the latest press release from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on a summer food program and has decided to comment on it.

The program provides “food during the summer for thousands of low-income Missouri children who rely on the school cafeteria for free or reduced-price meals during the regular school year.” Davis, who serves as the chairwoman of the Missouri House Special Standing Committee on Children and Families, questioned whether the program is “warranted,” and extolled the hidden benefits of child hunger:

Who’s buying dinner? Who is getting paid to serve the meal? Churches and other non-profits can do this at no cost to the taxpayer if it is warranted. [...] Bigger governmental programs take away our connectedness to the human family, our brotherhood and our need for one another. [...] Anyone under 18 can be eligible? Can’t they get a job during the summer by the time they are 16? Hunger can be a positive motivator. What is wrong with the idea of getting a job so you can get better meals? Tip: If you work for McDonald’s, they will feed you for free during your break. [...] It really is all about increasing government spending, which means an increase in taxes for us to buy more free lunches and breakfasts.

I found it hard to believe that a mother and Christian would be so flippant about a program that provides low income families healthy meals for their children during summer months when they rely on school lunch programs during the year. I went to her website to make sure she wasn't taken out of context and it was actually worse than reported. The disconnect is pretty shocking. I've captured it just in case it's removed from the site.



Maybe they shouldn't buy chips and ice cream. Can't they just get jobs at McDonald's? They'll feed you for free.

Rep. Cynthia Davis: Douchebag of the Week.

America, 2009

Posted by Fraulein

Some astonishing reporting this week by the always-excellent McClatchy news service on a town in California with a 41 percent unemployment rate. This is a must-read:

"It's reminiscent of the Depression," said Silva, Mendota's mayor. "In those days you had soup lines, now you have food lines. This is a disaster area."

Signs of poverty and desperation are everywhere.

Many people in Mendota are turning to alcohol to battle depression, said Amador, the council member. And some single-family homes are occupied by two or three families, in what Amador described as "basically labor camps."

"It's a violation of city code, but you don't want to put these families out on the streets," he said.