Sunday, October 24, 2010

Ramdom Thoughts As We Approach November Mid-Terms

These are the kind of nutty things being said by the Republican and teabagger candidates for various offices in the November 2010 races.

QUESTIONER: Given the salmonella outbreaks that we have seen every three weeks, with the chicken industry, with pesticides and what not that they put onto spinach in order to get the salmonella. We have rules and regulations. However there is no rule mandating that they be enforced. Is there some way when you’re in Congress that you’ll have a bill passed that says instead of having companies voluntarily change, mandate that they must change or give them the ability to shut ‘em down and that goes for mining companies or anyone who has hundreds of violations against ‘em.

KELLY: Here’s the thing with that point, that’s the first time I’ve ever had that question. Congratulations on being unique. First shot out of the box, no ma’am. I do not believe that what we’re lacking right now is a lack of regulations on business. [...] You could literally go spit on the grass and get arrested by the federal government if you wanted to right now. [...] More regulation, more federal control, giving Nancy Pelosi more power, is not the solution right now.

QUESTIONER: Who’s protecting us?

KELLY: That’s the thing, ma’am, it’s our job to protect ourselves. Because no one else is going to look out for your best interests except for you. [...]



Yeah, you heard/read that right. I find this particular comment just plain stupid considering I was sick from salmonella from the contaminated eggs that made it to my local supermarket, and not once, but three times, before I was able to figure out it was the eggs (after the recall gave the numbers of the cartons, and mine was one of those being recalled). How in the hell am I supposed to regulate myself? How does anyone know that the foods they are supposed to believe are safe when they go shopping just may kill them?

That man is just plain stupid.

Then there is this from a blogger after attending the President's speech at USC Friday.

Whatever your opinion of where we are and where we're going is, the choice on November 2nd falls to one between a Tea Party future where climate change is a lie and safety nets for citizens are unconstitutional, or a future where progress is imperfect, flawed and slow, but progress nevertheless. Is it all shiny like 2008? Not really. It's banged up like the metaphorical car in the ditch, but that car can still move forward. With help.

Please vote on November 2nd.

Yeah. I get it that the President's ability to "move" a crowd vis-a-vis a speech is dramatic in its presentation. But get over it. All he has accomplished, for the most part, is just give great speeches. I was taught a long, long, long, long time ago to not listen to the words, but look at the actions of a person if you want to believe in them. In this case, the words of Obama have always outshined his actions. In fact, his words are impossible to live up to at this point in time. Those words are what made the dramatic change in the make up of government in 2008. It is the actions and non-actions of those that ended up in the government thereafter that have concerned me, and others like me. I'm not gearing up to vote just because the President made a great speech! Fuck that.

If we couldn't get even 1/4 of our agenda passed in two years, with a complete domination of Washington, one has to stop, scratch their head, and ask themselves "what went wrong." When you ponder that question, and realize the answer lies square with the corporate control of both parties, you realize there is no value in your vote. It won't fucking matter.

The rich are giddy over the prospects of this election (not to be confused with regular Republican voters) because they realize they will be able to gut regulations, loot the American people's owned government finances to line their coffers, buy up those distressed mansions and hotels and the "everyman" home, with nary a care about what it will do to this country. The teabaggers are just the oddballs that will provide cover for the rich people. They will be blamed for gumming up the works, when in reality, it's the rich corporations that have been plotting this take over.

In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks, media outlets and other anti-government efforts through a twice annual meeting of wealthy right-wing donors. He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact amount Koch alone has funneled to right-wing fronts, some studies have pointed toward $50 million he has given alone to anti-environmental groups. Recently, fronts funded by Charles and his brother David have received scrutiny because they have played a pivotal role in the organizing of the anti-Obama Tea Parties and the promotion of virulent far right lawmakers like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). (David Koch praised DeMint and gave him a “Washington Award” shortly after the senator promised to “break” Obama by making health reform his “Waterloo.”)
First Bush v. Gore and now Citizens United v. FEC.

Money buys power; it always has. Campaign finance laws will be the only thing to stop the power grab. The teabaggers like to brand themselves the "party" of regular people, but that's been debunked so many times, I'm not going to waste my time on my blog preaching to the choir over this. Yeah, the candidates the rich people prop up under the banner of the teabagger party may be regular nut jobs, but they don't have a clue about government. They are just puppets of people like the Koch brothers. That's why they, as a whole, don't bother me, per se. I know that it's the corporate money controlling both parties that will doom the United States.

To paraphrase a cartoon character: Be afwaid. Be vewwy, veewwy afwaid.

No comments: