U.S. Hostages Freed!
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the cloudy, rather mild island of Nantucket! Great to be with you and yours on this 17th day of October, 2013, an overcast day here in Hyannis/Hyannis Port as WE all breathe a sigh of relief after 16 days of hostage negotiations came to a head as the U.S. Senate took to the floor on Capitol Hill last night, voting 81-18 to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. Of course, this took some courage by the democrats as they fended off this list of demands by the Koch/and other Oligarchs’ owned far right wing(nut) plank of the republican party (list provided by MSNBC’s great Rachel Maddow, her show airs at 9 p.m. eastern M-F)… 1. defund “Obamacare” 2. delay “Obamacare” 3. delay individual mandate 4. deny coverage to the President 5. deny coverage to the Cabinet 6. deny coverage to congressional staffers 7. deny birth control coverage 8. approve keystone pipeline 9. means testing for Medicare 10. change federal employee pensions 11. expand oil drilling (on public lands as well) 12. block net neutrality 13. tax reform 14. weaken regulations for coal-fired plants 15. tax code changes 16. thwart EPA coal-ash regulations 17. repeal medical device tax 18. change rules on debt ceiling… To which the democratic party stood their ground and simply said, “no”. “I think it’s wrong to extort money from the college to support your parade ‘Carmine’. “If you mention the word ‘extortion again, I’ll have your legs broken.” (quote from the great 1978 film, “Animal House”, starring the late, great John Belushi). That’s right folks, EXTORTION is not a part of the democratic process, nor will it ever be. At a 24 percent approval rating, coupled with the tab of at least 24 billion dollars (paid for by the “American People” you claim to want to ‘help out’ with deficit reduction) the republican party would be a lot better off ridding themselves of the far right wing extremists who came close to hurting this nation a great deal all in the name of ‘a non-violent revolution’ that would put the likes of a David Koch as King of America. Again, that did not happen, as last night the Senate, that’s right the U.S. Senate, with the able guidance of Senators’ Harry Reid (D-NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), passed a bill to re-open the U.S. government (until January 15th, 2014) and pay it’s debts (raising the debt ceiling) until February 7th of next year. During that time period, both parties will hopefully come together and develop a budget, such as the one the democrats have already agreed to, coming close to the 946 billion number floated by the republicans recently, yes, agreeing to a budget before the 11th hour that will keep U.S. from living one crisis to the next. You might think the republicans would heed the polls, especially considering next year is an election year that could spell a democratic takeover of the House of Representatives, or put a big dent in it nonetheless. This would be the ‘prudent’ thing to do, “I’m looking at you Ted, “the Lizard King”, Cruz”, the over educated Senator from the great state of Texas who has become the new poster boy for Heritage Action, Freedom Works, Americans for Prosperity and all of the other corporate pirates who are licking their lips at the next hostage negotiation. Yes, this insane grouping of 30-40 ‘tea party’ zealots in both chambers of congress will probably opt to keep obstructing anything this great President, Barack Obama, wishes to accomplish for the tried and true American citizenry over the course of the rest of his second term in office, thus sealing a legacy that will be hard to match in this century or the next–you know, looking back in the LIGHT of factual history that gives anyone without blinders 20/20 hindsight. So again, congratulations to the leaders in the Senate and the House, with thanks again to President Barack Obama, who proved that, in the words of another President, “…We don’t negotiate with terrorists”, even figurative ones, although many might say literal if you added the word ‘economic’ in front of the word terrorist. Have a nice Thursday folks and I’ll talk to you again right here at seacapecod.net. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
