Yeah, I am a bit depressed. Why? Well, as expected old Rodney Alexander is still secure in his House seat. This time around his "challenger" didn't even put out any campaign signs! No kidding, I never saw a single one. Even worse, yes, it does get worse. Vitter has been re-elected. No kidding folks, the clown who was involved with the "DC Madam" and has been linked to hookers in New Orleans has been re-elected. What will it take for the people of this state to wake up and see that this clown is a disgusting example of the worst type of politician? Well, his wife has stuck with him all through his "troubles" so I suppose he will stay in office as long as he wants to. Unless his wife dumps him, then, maybe, just maybe we will get somebody else as our Senator. Maybe.
From what I have read, the folks who were endorsed by the moose burger bimbo didn't all win their elections. Some folks in this area I talked to before the election told me they didn't care at all for her. A small bit of good news or at least a mark of some sanity. Too bad so many still voted for Vitter. Well, one cannot have everything. A new Senator sure would have been nice though.
That Gobomber supposedly "lost" this time is no surprise. The guy brought it on himself. Just what has he done for us common folks? The poor and working class people have not seen anything for their benefit from the man who sold us "hope" and "change" in 2008. If you were one of the "too big to fail" crew, you made out quite well since Gobomber took office. The rest of us, not so much. The way this country looks from where I stand, the working class and the poor folks are worse off than we were two years ago. Unemployment is still way up. IF we were honest in counting the unemployed, the rate is over 15%. Of course we stopped giving a true count of the unemployed back in the days when "saint" Ronnie was our "acting" president. Yes, we no longer count as unemployed the folks who have run out of unemployment benefits. Funny, most of them are still unemployed, but as they no longer get their unemployment checks, we no longer count them as unemployed. Neat way to "cook" the books. Only the government can get away with that sort of thing.
The foreclosure rate is still high and most likely going to get much worse in the near term. The banks are still holding homes off the market in hopes they will be able to get better prices for those they have already foreclosed on.
While the banks are not making very many new loans with all that money they got from us, the tax payers, they are still giving huge bonuses to the top management and others who work for them. Neat trick there, claim you are going broke and need a government bailout, then use that money to pay huge bonuses. And they are not facing criminal prosecution nor jail time. Only in America.
Our two (yes, Iraq is still a war zone) wars are not going well. Oh we have pulled our "combat" troops from Iraq, but the killing continues in that poor country. "We" have not restored utilities for the citizens of Iraq yet either. Yes, seven years after we invaded, the Iraqis still have unreliable electric service, if they get any at all. The water and sewer systems are still as broken as the day we ended the initial invasion, or as Rummy called it "shock and awe". Iraqis are still being killed on a daily basis. We have about 50,000 troops still in Iraq along with something over 100,000 mercenaries. I refuse to call them "contractors". They are mercenaries, plain and simple, so we should call them what they are.
The war in Afghanistan is not going well, as usual. In fact, that war still threatens to spill over into Pakistan big time. While we are still bombing across the border into Pakistan, we have yet to stage a full scale invasion. Note I said yet. Also, still "on the table" is a possible war with Iran. Of course Yemen is also very close to being "on the table" even though we have done some bombing there just as we occasionally drop bombs on Somalia.
Well, I suppose the current Pentagon "thinking" is, if you have two wars that are going poorly (to put it very, very mildly) well, just start another war to take the public mind off the wars that are not going so well. Now, you might think that when your war is not going well that you might end it. Oh my friends, that is not how the Pentagon works(??) today. No sir/ma'am as ever the case may be. No, not by a long shot. You see the end of war, commonly called peace, is NOT good for business. Particularly when war is your biggest business. In the Amerikkka of 2010 warIS very big business indeed. Why, if peace were to "break out" how would corporations like Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Colt Arms, or even companies like Blackwater (aka Xe) make a profit? Why it would be damn hard to break even if we were to have peace in this world. Lord knows we cannot have that. No way, no how. Why the god(s) demand war. er, um, that is um, profits. Yes, you see, profits must be had, and not just plain ordinary profits, but nice big, huge profits. So, the wars go on and on, and the money just keeps rolling in and the profits rise ever higher and the bonus checks get bigger and bigger. Oh, well, the dead keep dying and the maimed keep getting maimed, but well, that is just part of war, collateral damage you know.
Well, I say enough. Enough war. Enough killing, maiming, and dying. Stop the goddamn wars. We are not fighting wars that need to be fought. Our wars, all of them since World War Two, have been wars of choice. We have not been attacked by another military since 7 December 1941. Our homes have not been threatened by any other military force since then. We have not had a single declared war since 1945 when World War Two ended. Yes, every war we have fought since 1945 have been undeclared wars. Ask you "tea party" friends who supposedly "love" the US Constitution about that. The Constitution says that only Congress can declare war. The last time that Congress did that was 1941 when we declared war against Japan and Germany.
Think back, Korea has been called a "police action", Vietnam was called the "Vietnam conflict". Our "small" wars like when we invaded Panama had code names and even poppy Bush's war with Iraq was only called "Desert Storm" and was not a declared war either. Of course we would never be allowed to ask the moose burger bimbo about how she would square that with the Constitution, it would be considered a "gotcha" question. No doubt even Gobomber would agree. Oh you say, Congress voted to "give" W. Shrub the "authority" to use military force. Sure, which also means that Congress ducked their Constitutional responsibility! Cowards!!!!! Damn cowards!!!!!
If that pisses you off, tough shit. It is true and at some point, this country is going to have to deal with that truth.
Of the "tea party" people who won their election this week, how many of them care enough about the Constitution to bring this fact up in either house? How many of them will not vote for more money for the current wars? How many will vote to support the troops once they come back home with VA benefits and housing? How many will vote funds to find shelter for the homeless veterans? According to one report I have seen recently, one in four homeless people is a veteran of the US military. Just how in hell is that "supporting" the troops?
Yes, I am a bit depressed. It isn;t just the election this week. It isn;t just the damn fool wars. It isn't just the rotten excuse of an economy we have today. It isn't just the fact that there will be no raise in Social Security for the second year in a row, or that Medicare premiums are going up and the Part D premiums are going up. It is all that and more. Our country has been waging war in Afghanistan for going on ten years now, with no end in sight. We are making war like noises at Pakistan, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and who knows how many other countries. The United States is broke and yet old "helicopter" Ben is going to print more funny money. The future looks very dark from where I sit.
semper fi
7 comments:
There were some bright spots -- most of the truly noxious Blue Dog Democrats in Congress got voted out, so the ones that are left tend to be the more progressive, leftist ones and might actually stand up to the Repugs.
We had a fair number of seats for state office here in Georgia that had incumbents running unopposed, which baffles me every election year. Lots of folks blather on about "term limits" and "throw the bums out," but then no one even bothers to run against the incumbents? Very strange. And I'm still not sure just who the Democrat was that ran against Republican Senator Johnny Isaakson -- never saw a yard sign, tv ad, or flyer of any sort for the man.
Condolences on being stuck with the diaper guy for another 6 years. Voters here were just as dumb as the ones where you live -- they elected a guy as governor who resigned from the US Congress to avoid an ethics investigation and who's currently under investigation by a federal grand jury for corruption and misuse of campaign funds.
Nan,
Thanks for your comments.
As to running unopposed or electing the guy under investigation, it must be the old "better the crook we know than the one we don't know".
Alexander seems to never have a real challenger. In the ten years I have lived here I have yet to see a really serious one.
Yes, old diaper Vitter, what a disgusting clown.
Wonder if Miss Mary will run for re-election.
You pretty much covered all bases.
This should not have surprised any one.
America is for sale.
We have the best government that the Corps can lease.
As long as Americans believe the myth that there are two separate parties, the destruction of this country will continue.
We have existed under a one party system for decades.
The creative destruction will continue as long as Corps. and Banksters continue to put their agents into power.
The system is broken.
They select so we may elect.
Elitists always say voting for a third party is a waste of your vote.
I say voting for the spineless dems is a wast of your time, and vote.
RZ,
For sale? I think we have been sold down the old river already. The highest bidder got the whole damn deal, parks included.
I agree that voting for either wing of the war party is useless. I found a number of "leftist" web sites last week telling all to not vote third party, or the elephant gang would win. We "must" vote for the donkey gang. Well, hell no! I am with you on that all the way.
We need a party that has as a top priority peace and decent jobs. Oh, and a true national health care system for all.
The duopoly stands between us and any chance to get representation in our 'representative' government.
Back when I was laboring under the illusion that it took a majority of the votes cast to win a federal election I was advocating write-ins, remember?
And then I discovered that some states, LA for instance, don't allow write-ins and that most do not count write-ins for 'uncertified' candidates.
A fellow named Richard Anderson-Connolly covered the situation at counterpunch.org, A Voter's Manifesto.
He likes proportional representation but since I'd like to get something that might be enacted I'm going for simply requiring a majority vote to win a federal election, coupled with the provision for run-off elections until that majority is reached.
That seems to be the least disruptive way to beat Duverger's Law.
I've boiled Richard Anderson-Connolly's argument down to the meat and made it the present home page at 28amen.org.
If we are going to have any real change we're going to have to do it ourselves. I welcome any and all comments, emmendations, and additions to the proposed Uniform Election Amendment.
Alexander Cockburn writes that out of 435 House seats, 351 incumbents (81%), and in the Senate 77 incumbents (77%) will return in January. It's Time for a Real Mutiny :
***blockquote***
As the libertarian Joel Hirschorn puts it, "Welcome back to the reality of America's delusional democracy where career politicians will continue to foster a corrupt, inefficient and dysfunctional government because that is what the two-party plutocracy and its supporters want for their own selfish reasons."
The left must abandon the doomed ritual of squeaking timid reproaches to Obama, only to have the counselors at Obama’s elbow contemptuously dismiss them, as did Rahm Emanuel, who correctly divined their near-zero capacity for effective challenge.
Two more years, of the same downward slide, courtesy of bipartisanship and “working together”? No way.
Enough of dreary predictability. Let’s have a real mutiny against Obamian rightward drift. The time is not six months or a year down the road. The time is now.
In next week’s diary: A new champion for the left?
***blockquote***
A new champion? Well, maybe. But it remains my belief that real change requires restructing our political machine via the R2I, UEA, and CFA, in any order you wish, or concurrently.
But sure. Bring on a new champion for the left.
As long as we don't turn it into Yet Another Opportunity To Choose McChange Over Real Change.
I'm glad that Alexander Cockburn is now an American, and now literally on our side, in any case.
I don't know if you've seen Ralph Nader's "letter from W to Gobama" at counterpunch...
'Overseas, all I see are five stars. You are roaring in Afghanistan, dispatching our great special forces into Yemen, saying, like me, that you’ll go anywhere in the world to kill those terrorists. When you said you would assassinate American citizens abroad suspected of “terrorism”—that news came over the radio during breakfast when I was eating my shredded wheat and I almost choked with amazement. You got cajones, buddy. I was hesitant about crossing the border into Pakistan—but you, man, are blasting away. Even Dick, who would never say it publicly, told me he is impressed.'
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