Tom Degan Hits the Nail - SQUARLY

I meet an awful lot of people via Facebook. One of them is a gifted artist from Media, Pennsylvania named Donna Cusano (photo on the left). Late last night she posted on her page the following eye-opener:

"The homeless go without eating. The elderly go without medicine. The mentally ill go without treatment. Troops go without proper equipment. Veterans go without benefits that were promised to them. Yet we give billions in tax breaks to the wealthiest 2% of Americans -- those who need it least. Only 1% of Facebook users will re-post this message. I am in that 1% — what about you?"

Count me in as a one percenter, Donna!

I've never been one for electronic chain letters (and neither, for that matter, has Donna Cusano) but this was a message that needed to be spread. She inspired me to write the little ditty you are now reading. Read on.

The pistol finally went off yesterday in the game of Russian roulette that the Republican party has been playing for the last decade. I knew it would happen sooner or later. It was only a matter of time. In an act of political suicide, the House Republicans effectively voted to end Medicare as we know it. It was a move that made no sense whatsoever - unless they plan on forcing through a constitutional amendment between now and November 2012 that limits the voting age to sixty-five and under - You just never know with these jackasses. But other than that....

What the hell were these nutty people thinking? Did they get the silly notion in their clueless heads that every senior citizen in the United States is going to die between now and Election Day 2012? True, a lot of them will shuffle off to eternity between now and then - no question about it. The logistical problem is the fact that there are a whole lot more on deck waiting to replace them. You see, old people - like the poor - will always be with us.

If you're elderly and middle class (or lower), the Republican party wants you to die. You see, there will be less of a strain on the system if more of them just keel over. This isn't terribly difficult to figure out.

One can understand why the handmaidens for the plutocracy might seem a little more sure of themselves this year than in years past. After all, they now have that atrocious Citizens United vs, FEC ruling behind them. This was the Supreme Court decision (the worst since 1896's Plessy vs. Ferguson) that gave corporations - domestic and foreign - the right to pervert the American electoral process by means of unlimited amounts of cash. The five justices who voted in favor of this judicial atrocity were all Republican appointees. You're not surprised by that, are you? I didn't think you would be. By now it is almost a law of nature:

The moon will rise in the east.

The sun will set in the west.

Conservative justices will behave like assholes.

In an opinion piece in this morning's New York Times, the columnist Charles Blow summed things up quite nicely in the following paragraph:

"Under the guise of deficit reduction, the Republicans are proposing to not only make the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent, but to reduce their taxes even more — cutting the top individual rate from 35 percent to 25 percent to “promote growth and job creation.” And they plan to pay for this by taking a buzz saw to programs that benefit the poor, elderly and otherwise vulnerable."

Mr. Blow goes on to point out the fact that cutting taxes on a class of people who have more money than they'll possibly spend in a lifetime will not "promote growth and job creation". It hasn't thus far. In fact, as Blow also points out, there's no documentation in history of such a scheme ever producing very much economic growth - and fewer jobs. Why would anyone in his or her right mind believe that things will be any different this time around? How on earth do they think they're going to be able to pull this off? They must think the American people are mighty stupid....oh, wait a minute....That's how they plan on pulling this off. Never mind.

Just when you think these silly bastards and bitches have gone as low as anyone - or anything - can possibly go, they cheerfully break precedents that were thought to be unbreakable. Twenty years ago I thought Pat Buchanan to be the epitome of right wing craziness. Today he is a model of reason compared to the rest of them (Truth be told, old Pat has grown on me in a weird and convoluted sort of way). As they continue to lower the bar of decency, the further they alienate the people who describe themselves as "moderate" - which is most Americans I think.

Like rabid little myna birds on an LSD binge, they continue to chirp away about how Barack Obama is going to be a one-term president. They had better think again. Just take a good look at the pathetic GOP contenders for the job! Whom do you think is their front-runner at this stage of the game? If your answer is "Mitt Romney" you're fired. That's right, boys and girls, the leader of the pack at this moment is none other than Donald Trump! Is that a hoot or what? Watch with glee as they devour themselves during the primaries. This is gonna be beautiful!

The message the Republicans sent to the American people the other day is the same one they've been sending since the administration of Ulysses S Grant nearly a century-and-a-half ago. Unlike times past however, this time the message was not cloaked in subtlety. It was as clear as can be:

"Fuck you people. You don't matter. You never have. You never will. We own you. Die for all we care."

There was nothing subliminal about it. We just aren't on their radar. And to make matters merrier, they are now concocting legislation in many swing/purple states that will make it difficult - in some cases impossible - for certain people to vote: the poor, minorities, the young - You know! The people more likely to vote for a left-leaning candidate. Look at what these fucking animals have done to our country....No offense to animals.

No doubt about it: Obama has been a huge disappointment. But considering all of the crap he has had to contend with, it's a miracle he's been able to perform the job at all. Maybe with a Democratically controlled House and Senate behind him he might be able to rev up his progressive mojo we saw three years ago during the campaign. Maybe not. We shall see.

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net