“Class Wars”
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the sometimes foggy island of Nantucket! Great to be with you on this Tuesday morning, the twentieth day of September, 2011, a cool, cloudy start to the day on Cape, as the news outlets all digest the President’s feisty speech yesterday from the White House pertaining to the debt, tax reform and this silly notion put out by republicans that this whole thing is a class war against THEM…give us a break John, Eric, Mitch, Rush, ‘Mitt’, and old Rick, the gig is up and WE all know what you are all about--”…the money Arthur, the money.” Before we get into the rank hypocrisy that now DEFINES the ghost of the once proud, responsible and reasonable Grand Old Party, let US review what President Barack Obama actually proposed, calling the republicans out on who they work FOR and who they are really protecting–the top one tenth of the top one percent, who, last time I checked, controlled more than 40 percent of the wealth in this country, while the middle class is fading like an old pair of blue jeans. Number one, allow the Bush Tax cuts to expire (the single largest reason we are in this mess to begin with), the tax breaks given to the wealthy on a silver platter in 2001 and 2003, saving the country 866 billion dollars. Two, limit deductions to 250,000 plus earners, a savings of 410 billion. Three, close loopholes/special interest tax breaks, saving 410 billion. Four, program cuts, subsidies/pension/benefit, saving another 300 billion. Five, draw down on the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, the unpaid for and some would say illegal ‘conflicts’ under the Bush administration, with savings coming in at 1.1 trillion, assuming we don’t stay, as the New York Times suggests, in Afghanistan until the year 2072 (a little inflated, but hey, with the military industrial complex remaining in tact, who knows?). Six, reducing medicare over-payments, saving another 245 billion. Seven, other health/medicare savings…72 billion, and finally eight, Internet savings of 430 billion. The rather transparent irony of the republicans calling this whole sordid affair a class war against THEM is hogwash, and, if I were, God forbid, a republican in this day and age, I would be ashamed to show my face. The trickle down ‘theories’ of thirty years ago did not work then and certainly don’t work now, as evidenced by the numbers, and, as we all know, numbers, unlike ‘human’ corporations, DON’T LIE! When Bill Clinton was President, under his administration, jobs created in America INCREASED by 23 million, and, if you do not recall, that was under the auspices of taxes being raised. Contrast that with George W. Bush’s measly 3 million jobs created during his eight year reign of terror, and you will get the point. For Bush, as we all know by now, decreased taxes on the so called ‘job creators’, the super wealthy, and began the dismantling of the middle class via his complete and utter lack of interest in OUR own citizenry, infrastructure and competitiveness of this country to compete with the likes of a China, Germany or even a ‘third world’ nation like Brazil–you know, more of his father’s ‘voodoo economics’, a policy that flies in the face of common sense, common decency, and common interests, i.e. those ‘American People’ (republican talking point number 7007) that old Mitch, ‘the mouse’, McConnell (R-KY) speaks of with such reference and awe–”I put it to you Mitch, who are these American people you speak of? They sound so strong and knowledgeable, confident and proud of your policies of sticking to the poor, the middle class and then turning around and calling it a class warfare being waged against the ‘poor’, defenseless corporate plutocracy? How full of sh$t are you McConnell, the world would truly like to know?” By the way, Mitch, Pinocchio called and wants his nose back! To quote the great Jeff Madrick, author of “The Age of Greed”, and fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, who appeared last night on “Countdown, with Keith Olbermann”, airing every week night at 8 and 11 p.m., EDT, as well as 2 a.m., 7 a.m., noon and three the following day, only on CURRENT TV, with David Schuster doing a stellar job of filling in for Keith, who is making his way back from the left coast after appearing on “REAL TIME, with Bill Maher” (HBO) and ‘Late, late night with Craig Ferguson’, on CBS, yes, to quote Mr. Madrick… “The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 offered up the LOWEST rate of job creation in post WW II history. What are the republicans talking about? THOSE TAX CUTS DID NOT CREATE JOBS.” Then, the great Karl Frisch, a syndicated columnist said this on that same broadcast, stated”…they only call it class warfare when we fight back. How about calling it class genocide?” The American people, you know who you are, are finally waking up to this true ponzi scheme called Republicorp of America, which could be described as a loosely affiliated group of powerful industrialists, no, strike that, true plutocrats, who wish to rig the whole system in their favor and to hell with everyone else, i.e. 98 percent of the AMERICAN PEOPLE–the vast majority who make up the REAL PEOPLE who do most of the living and dying in this nation. Is it too much to ask those with money to do with one less deduction on their summer house in the Hamptons? We have bridges that are about to fall down, we have families that are living on 140 dollars a MONTH in food stamps, as their children attend schools badly in need of repair and decent teachers. We have a tax code that favors the status quo with no end in sight for the never ending greed that ‘capitalism’ has now been defined AS. We have a military industrial complex that sucks the very life out of our young men and women, as they go on tour after tour to fight the pointless wars, and then, coming home to an even more hostile environment than they left in say Afghanistan, suffering from PTSD and fearing to get help from the V.A. as they believe they will be ‘reported’ and thus, ’stigmatized’ and considered ‘weak’. This is the untold tragedy of those horrible wars. We have a Supreme Court that takes kick backs from the likes of ‘the brother’s KOCH’, (I’m looking at you Scalia, Alito and Thomas) not to be confused with ‘the Brother’s Grim’, for they are much more dangerous and frightening than those fine writers of ‘yore, who go out and poison our drinking water in 37 states now, with their 596 deadly unregulated chemical cocktail, used in the ‘fracking’ process of attaining natural gas (Google Gasland on HBO), yes, we have all of these horrible hurdles and then some, yet we are afraid, somehow, to stand up and fight for what is right. “This isn’t Russia Danny, is this Russia?” (credit the great Chevy Chase and the classic film, circa 1979, “Caddyshack”). So there you have it folks, a clear line drawn in the sand, with the President saying, ‘come on, I dare Ya, let’s witness how the American people really feel about the TRUTH and expose your attempted efforts to distort or destroy it. For somehow, you folks on the ‘right’ believe that with enough dirty money, you can kill the truth. What you fail to comprehend is this–the truth does not need defending. That’s why WE sleep better at night! Have a nice day folks and please, for the LOVE of GOD, do not accept the wooden nickles offered up by Rupert, arrggggh matie!, Murdoch’s ‘fun fact’ FOX NEWS programming schedule of unadulterated hor$eshit, for they are not ‘fair’, nor are they ‘balanced’ or even remotely, even by accident, ‘factual’ and, as we all KNOW by now, do not really represent journalism at all, rather an interesting Machiavellian infomerical, designed to entice one to drink of their poisoned Kool-Aid… PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
