Eric Cantor - Heartless Bastard

Just when I thought that Congressional bullshit couldn't get any stupider, House Majority Leader Cantor (R-VA) has lowered the bar yet again. Not content with his part in attempts to gut the American safety net for the poor and disadvantaged, striving to make the country a better place for the wealthy and corporate interests, this sorry excuse for an imitation human being has shocked even The Amused Geek.

Even the most vehement small government proponents can agree that one of the things that government should do is to provide disaster relief. Whether hurricane, earthquake, flood or man-made cataclysm the federal government is expected to step in to save lives, continue essential services and offer help to rebuild.  This is something that civilized governments do.

This is too much government for Cantor. Joplin, MO was struck by what the nerds call an  EF5 multiple-vortex tornado last May. In Amused Geek-speak, Joplin was bent over by nature, used violently and left in the road. Over 150 people lost their lives, over $2 billion in property was destroyed and it made the top 10 list of deadliest tornadoes in US history. Any human that gives half a rat's ass for their fellow humans would start looking for what they can do to help. Cantor showed up on "Face the Nation" and proclaimed that any money spent on disaster relief would have to be offset by budget cuts! Mr. Cantor, your programmers need to flush your memory cache.

Last week, with Hurricane Irene taking aim at the east coast, an earthquake struck where earthquakes don't normally strike, in the state of Virginia. The 5.8 quake, mild by California standards, caused some minor damage and rattled nerves from DC to Chicago.  Heartless Eric took the opportunity to remind everyone that he wouldn't approve disaster funds without budget cuts. This came AFTER the epicenter of the quake was announced to be in Mineral, VA. The fine folks of the Mineral area could rest easy, knowing that FEMA would come to the rescue if needed save one small point. Mineral, VA resides in the 7th Congressional district and is represented by (wait for it...) Eric Cantor. He was publicly turning his back on his OWN DAMNED DISTRICT!!!

I would normally ask if Eric was dropped on his head as a child but I know folks that suffered childhood head trauma that have grown up to be kind, caring and all-around wonderful people.  Perhaps Eric Cantor is the world's only surviving heart donor. Mr. Cantor, have you been kowtowing to your Corporate Masters for so long that you've forgotten who votes for you?  Are you just another Republican that believes that the wealthiest 2% of Americans are somehow more deserving than the rest of us?

I have said it before and I will say it again. If you make less than $250K a year and you vote Republican or even Tea Party, you are supporting a candidate that is NOT working for you. The masks of humanity are slipping. Cantor has spoken of "class warfare". Folks, the war has been on since I can remember and the rich are WINNING!!! Eric Cantor is just the latest and most blatant example of that. If there is any justice left in the world, someone will run against Cantor in 2012. They should play the footage of Cantor demanding his quid pro quo before he stoops to help those that elected him at EVERY opportunity. Then we can get this heartless bastard out of Washington and out of our hair.

Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it...

George Santayana's quote was just barely selected as the title for today. The other candidate was,"Did we learn NOTHING from Hebert Hoover?" Average Americans are out-of-work, losing their homes, unable to afford health care and falling deeper into that hole on a daily basis.  America's corporate overlords, on the other hand, are posting massive profits and setting records for earnings. Apple, America's second most valuable corporate overlord, recently had more cash on hand than the U.S. Government!

Against this backdrop, our government once again broke out its' fiddle and chose to use the economy as kindling for a partisan pyre.  Seventy-eight times since 1960, Congress raised the debt limit without trying to run America into a bridge abutment. This time, thanks to the Republican's stated goal of making Obama a one-term President, the rules changed.  This wouldn't have been a problem if the Democrats had grown a set of balls and not caved in, as usual.

The problem is simple, even if the solutions aren't.  The Republicans are unwilling to consider any legislation that causes the rich to pay even a single dollar more in taxes, even though they pay less in taxes now that at any time in recent history.  At the same time, they want to cut government spending at a time when the economy for real Americans needs stimulation the most.  The Democrats want to make the economic landscape more friendly to the middle and lower classes, but lack the spine to stand up to their Republican opposition. President Obama tries to "be the adult in the room", but doesn't show the strength or inclination to call the GOP bluff. That leaves us with a government that makes Charlie Sheen look like the epitome of wisdom and coherent thought.

The future bodes no better. The recent Republican debate gave us the number of candidates that would support a measure that coupled spending cuts with tax increases at a 10-to-1 ratio. None. Michelle Bachmann comes off as ill-informed at best and bat-shit crazy at worst.  Mitt Romney can't shake his past liberalism in Massachusetts and Rick Perry is trying to run for the presidency of a nation he wants to secede from. In normal times, Democrats should be looking forward to another term in the White House, but our President is looking more and more like a spineless weakling on a daily basis.

That brings us back to my alternate title. I hear lots of talk about "double-dip recession", but I think we may be on the brink of a depression. The last time we were here, the capital-D Depression that all economic crises are measured against, Herbert Hoover decided to keep taxes on the rich low and drastically cut government spending. This resulted in the biggest economic collapse in history, marked by so-called "Hoovervilles" where the poor huddled for survival, which lasted until the election of Franklin Roosevelt. FDR opened the federal purse strings and put people back to work. While most people believe that WWII ended the Great Depression, most of the groundwork had already been done.

Does the government spend a lot of money on stupid shit? Yes. Hell, we just spent (and continue to spend) trillions of dollars and too many American lives on wars that were never necessary. The economy will not improve until the majority of struggling Americans have money to spend. America's corporate overlords have had ample opportunity to step up to the plate and have not.  If the private sector can not or will not end this soon-to-be second Great Depression then the public sector must.

Scope or Grope

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin

This pearl of eternal wisdom from one of America's founding fathers has been much in my mind of late.  I have often spoken out against the tyranny inflicted upon our citizenry by our government in the name of protecting us from terrorism. Ever since the attacks of 9/11, the reaction of the American government has been to toss the Constitution out the window and subject Americans to a seemingly endless intrusion into our daily lives and a steady erosion of our rights.  Even a change of party control of the White House and Congress hasn't slowed this nonsense.  Nowhere is this assault more overt than at America's airports.

In an effort to gain a measure of security, air travelers have gradually had to surrender their freedoms as well as their dignity.  At first the requirements were tame.  Have your carry-on x-rayed, be ready to get the electronics out for a visual.  If you want to see a TSA line slow to a halt, travel with my beloved wife, the Lovely and Talented Cathy.  The collection of electronic devices she travels with would boggle the mind.  Then some moron tried to light his shoes up.  This is where things got silly.  Now all air travelers had to take off their shoes to have them x-rayed.  It still amazes me that the vast majority of passengers just stood for it.  That was bad enough, but everything changed when the next sphinctroid decided to hide explosives in his shorts.

This brings us to the sad state we are in today.  Anyone that wants to fly out of a major airport in America has two choices if the want to get on their airplane. The first option is to be subjected to a "full-body scanner". An x-ray machine that sees through your clothes and lets a "remote operator" see an image of your naked body.  I really don't give a husky fuck how remote the operator is.  If I wanted to pose for porn, I'd put it on the net and find a way to get paid for it.  The second option is even worse. If you choose not to be "scoped", you have to submit to an "enhanced pat-down", which is TSA-speak for "touch every place that an explosive could be hidden" and if you think that your breasts, crotch or ass are off-limits you WILL get an unpleasant surprise.  If a police officer did this without a warrant or witnessing a crime, they would be up on charges!

My question is this: When did wanting to travel by air become a criminal act?  When did possession of an airline ticket become probable cause?  The 4th amendment to the Constitution is a very clear statement.  "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."  Why hasn't someone sued over this? 

Some people are muttering on the Internet about an "opt-out" day on the day before Thanksgiving.  The head of the TSA is pleading with travelers to submit to the scope rather than slow the lines down and opt for the grope.  He wants people to not "tie up people who want to go home and see their loved ones".  If I was flying this holiday, I would absolutely opt-out.  If that is what it takes for the government to wake up and start following the Constitution again, so be it.

Immigration Consternation

I got an email today from a family member that shall remain nameless (you know who you are) that got my hackles up. It was one of those "tea party" racist anti-illegal immigration screeds that would be right at home in the state of Error-zona. I'll spare the Faithful Reader some of the gory details, but a couple of salient points spring instantly to mind. This email called for all immigrants to:


"Get a sponsor"

"Get a job"

"Live by OUR rules" (emphasis theirs)

And the clincher...

"Learn the language like immigrants have in the past"

Forgive me if I seem out of touch, but doesn't that make every white person in this country the descendant of an illegal immigrant? If history is anywhere near correct, the first white people in America had no sponsorship, the native population had no employment for them (and was ignorant of the concept...), needed assistance from the native population and forced THEIR language and customs on the natives that weren't killed outright. Don't even get me started on the other ethnic groups that came to this country, willingly or not, since then.

The only other logical position that comes to mind is even less flattering. Since the "Europeans" (France, England, Spain) stole this land from its' native-born population, perhaps the "logic" being used is more of a "we stole it first, so stay the fuck out" mentality. What these "tea party" chowderheads tend to forget is that EVERYONE in America is descended from immigrants. Save for the Native Americans, everybody in America is the progeny of someone that came to these shores looking for opportunity or was dragged here in chains by those exploiting opportunity. Everyone in America is an immigrant, most of us are descendants of those who made their own legal sanction.

One of America's greatest strengths is the diversity of her population. This nation was built and has been maintained by people that WANT to be here. The mingling of cultures and customs has kept our nation lively and interesting for over 200 years. While I agree that immigrants should be legal, the culprit is an overly restrictive immigration policy, not the folks trying to find a better life. As some of my hip-hop acquaintances say, "Don't hate the playa, hate the game." Seems extremely fitting in this case...

Interesting Times

There is a Chinese curse that supposedly goes, "May you live in interesting times". Life since I last filled this space has been that kind of interesting, for damned sure. First came the night that my darling Cathy wound up in the ER after a series of events that ended up with her suffering a concussion so severe that she had a grand-mal seizure. Headaches and dizzy spells persist to this day.

That would have been enough for most folk. As those of you that know me are aware, I am NOT most folk... Next, one of our dogs backed up. Shasta, our 3 year old yellow Lab, suddenly quit eating, started vomiting and got lethargic. Since one of her nicknames is Kangagogo (equal parts kangaroo, gopher and goat), we knew that the next stop was the vet. $2,700 later we had a small plastic bag of hard, smelly, unidentifiable "stuff", Shasta had a lovely new scar and I began to wonder what was next.

I didn't have to wait long. The morning of Shasta's surgery, I went out to my truck and it wouldn't start. After replacing the battery, a week later I took it in for an oil change and got asked, "Do you know that your water pump is leaking?" Then it was new brakes (all 4 wheels). Have I mentioned that it has been an expensive time as well?

Things have calmed down somewhat. There's been good stuff, as well. Managed to spend time with all the family over the winter holidays. Got my world rocked by Avatar. I had a wonderful experience auditioning to become the new Public Address Announcer for the Sacramento Rivercats (our local AAA baseball team). While I didn't make the final audition, the initial callback was a blast! Being in that booth with a microphone in my hand was such a rush! Cathy and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary later this month, and that's a serious milestone given my history as a serial monogamist. My beloved continues to amaze and inspire me in ways I never dreamed possible.

Well, that pretty much brings my life up to date. Lots to look forward to in the coming months, and I hope to resume commentary on whatever leaves tracks on my brain. Stay shiny!

The Dragon is Winning

I had occasion to visit my local Emergency Department last night. Everyone is recovering, thanks. While there, I saw a large percentage of the patients treated were there due to conditions that were better suited to an office visit to the family Doctor. Too many of our people are unable to acquire health insurance and are relying on already overloaded Emergency Departments. Part of why President Obama got elected was his willingness to be our knight to fight the dragon that is the American Health Insurance Industry. Unfortunately for us, the Legislative Branch is outfitting our knight with tissue-paper armor and a foam rubber lance.

The news over the last few days has been full of the "compromise" on health care reform. The idea of a true "public option", already mortally wounded, was euthanized for a relative mess of pottage. At least the House passed a bill that had a "sorta kinda" public option and increased competition. The Senate, under the gutless and spineless leadership of Harry Reid, sacrificed American health care reform on the altar of the pimps that are the health insurance companies that have been turning our health care system into a series of exorbitantly priced whores and the American people into the "johns" that are overpaying to be serviced or being forced to do without. The problem is that nobody ever died from not getting laid. People are dying every day from insufficient health care.

Senator Reid has been so preoccupied with placating the conservative members of his own party, the so-called "Blue Dogs", that he has squandered the hard-won mandate of the people. The solution is simple, Senator. You need to grow a set, sit these dipsticks down in your office and explain certain facts to them.

FACT: Most of the American people, according to multiple polls, want a robust public option and the competition that will result.

FACT: The only people that will actually benefit from the current bastard child that is the "compromise" will be the health insurance companies. Not only will people be mandated to buy their overpriced products under penalty of law, but the highest-risk segment of the population (those 55-65 that will eventually be covered by the limited Medicare expansion) will no longer be their responsibility.

FACT: You are now part of the Senate majority. If you want to continue to get your prestigious committee assignments, the nice offices and all the other trappings of being in that majority, you have to do one thing occasionally. That thing is to sit down, shut up and support the party that got you elected when it needs you.

In a perfect world, that would have happened already. Senator Reid's spine, having the consistency of a soggy graham cracker, precludes this scenario. Why is America the only industrialized nation that doesn't guarantee health care to ALL of its' citizens? Until and unless our elected officials start listening to the voters instead of their corporate contributor$ we will never get the government of the people, by the people and for the people that we have been promised for so long. Write, call or e-mail your Senators and Representatives and demand the health care you deserve. Tell 'em The Amused Geek sent ya.

Eyes on the Prize...

This morning, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. After making a very modest acceptance speech, the President announced that he would donate the accompanying cash prize ($1.4 million… chump change it ain’t) to charity. Among the expected partisan shit-storm surrounding this great honor, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was quoted as saying, “What has President Obama actually accomplished?” Even a staunch conservative named Pat Buchanan called Steele's comments "a Kanye West moment". Let me spell some of it out for ya, Mickey…

First and foremost, Obama ended the eight year era of “cowboy diplomacy” and unilateralism that was propagated by the Bush administration. Instead of “Yee-haw, I’m goin’ in… Cover me!” President Obama relied more on “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Wasn’t that quote attributed to one of the other sitting U.S. Presidents to win the Peace Prize? Teddy Roosevelt, I believe it was. Rather than “stay the course no matter what changes” our President engages other nations, friend and foe, to achieve a mutually satisfactory conclusion. Didn’t we have a sitting President that won the Peace Prize for that, too? If you answered Woodrow Wilson, you win today’s no-prize!

Then there’s the whole issue of climate change. Instead of ignorance, denial, repudiation, lies and outright stupidity towards the whole concept of man-made climate change, Obama has acknowledged that this is one of the most important and difficult issues we face as a planet today and has started us down the long road of moving to cleaner and more renewable energy sources. That’s more that any President before Obama has been able to accomplish. Didn’t we have a former Vice-President that got the Peace Prize for his work battling climate change? Al Gore, wasn’t it?

Finally we come to the vast improvement in the world’s view of America. Instead of rampaging through situations trying to hammer every problem into the administration’s image, our diplomatic corps is trying, at the direction of the President, to find peaceful solutions to the world’s conflicts. Using the carrot and keeping the stick in reserve. Didn’t we have a former President that won the Peace Prize for helping do just that? President Carter, as I recall. I haven’t even started on nuclear non-proliferation. Hell, Bush couldn’t even pronounce it! Have I also mentioned working tirelessly to undo the clusterfuck that was left by Mr. Bush and his administration?

Does President Obama have a long record of successful conclusions? Not yet. "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize," he said. "I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century." Some of us feel that, while a bit premature, that if President Obama’s reach does not exceed his grasp, he could wind up wining this august prize again. Chairman Steele, stick to being the poorly trained lapdog to the intellectually deficient and the morally bankrupt. It is, after all, what you do best.