So my cat urgently needs a treatment that will cost $1325 and NO I am not soliciting funds. But I have been going to various funding agencies, trying to get some help to pay this bill. Not good timing, at all. But I won't go into that.
However, HERE is what happens (sometimes) when one starts checking at various "emergency pet funds".
First of all, due to the fact that SO MUCH MONEY was drained out of the American economy directly into the coffers of Halliburton and other Iraq invasion beneficiaries, as well as to individual rip-off CEOS, Wall Street dudes, Bankers and other criminals, MANY pet funds have almost dried up. So cross at least 30% off your list right off the bat.
The few that still ARE accepting requests want the minutae of your life, down to the last detail. It is very invasive, to say the least. I am waiting for someone to ask for my medical file. I am sure that is next. Or a list of every job I've held, for own long, did I quit or get laid off or fired? Or maybe detailed info on my love life?
Some fund reps take advantage of people asking for help by being downright abusive. They figure YOU will take the crap, right, cuz you are desperate? Well, not always. I hung up on one woman today. After about seven minutes of her aggressive, condescending voice, I just could not take another nasally nasty comment. And I really did not want to scream at her. Or no, I really did. Want to scream. But thought perhaps better to hang up than totally burn that bridge (I can always say I lost the connection...).
Some people are touchingly kind. One person, on government assistance, offered $5. I declined. Seriously, I just cannot take money from someone on a fixed income, even if my cat urgently needs this procedure to survive. (RadioIodine treatment for hyperthyroid--the meds were causing serious liver problems and she was taken off them)
But the end result of all this is that it occurred to me that at least in the Boston area, it is really "not done", you know, asking for help. I once asked two city employees to walk me across the BU bridge (half of it, really). I was at the end of my rope due to the abusive pricks at MIT and in the middle of an anxiety attack. Do you know what they did? This lovely man and woman, who probably go to church faithfully every Sunday (or not) laughed at me, and ridiculed my plight.
Fortunately, just as they walked on in their hilarity, a European student on a bike passed by and very kindly stopped to help me.
I know, Boston is full of pricks. Even the Globe has written articles about this. But some of the people I have spoken with this week are from other parts of the country, and also not so nice.
So I am thinking maybe, just for spite, I will start asking people for help. Simple things, like, "Would you mind carrying this heavy bag up the T stairs for me?" Or "Could you tell me where Garden Street is?"
Just for the hell of it. Just to freak people out. I know, I know. In other communities such questions would be considered quite ordinary, and in the case of heavy bags, I would probably not even need to ask.
But around here the policy seems to be "Do it yourself or phoque the hell off!" (a phoque is a seal in French) Last September I must have asked 10 Harvard students if they could check an address of a church on their iPhones before I finally gave up and asked a Haitian cab driver for help (my phone had no internet).
An older Haitian woman had asked ME for help to find the church, where she could get some shoes (hers were completely threadbare). The cab driver kindly offered to drive her to the church, free of charge. But the rich students were just too damn busy (or not, One said "Uh, my reception is not that good" as he clicked through his email).
So here is my plan. Just to stir up some manure and create some excitement, I am going to suddenly turn even more radical! I am going to try EACH and EVERY day to ask someone for help!!! Please don't arrest me for this! I know it is REALLY REALLY STRANGE. But that is my plan. Change the world, one "Could you help me?" at a time.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Why I Hate the New Health Care, Even if Some of it Is Good.
Don't fool yourselves. This is NOT Canadian health care. Canadians do NOT pay for their health care out of pocket. It is paid by taxes (rates almost equivalent to Massachusetts), and the rich are taxed more than the poor, as they should be.
This US health care is only a very poor start. Yes, about 2/3 of the people without health care will now have access to it. The other third will still lack health care. (For a good critique, http://www.now.org/press/03-10/03-21b.html)
I HATE the anti-choice provisions, which Obama, allegedly a pro-choice candidate, just signed into law. This will primarily affect poor and working class women. No nice rich girl, including Obama's own daughters, will ever be denied reproductive choice. If women have to pay extra for abortion coverage, then men should be required to pay extra for penis pumps and Viagra, now covered under most insurance plans. Yeah, let's try that, and just WATCH how quickly the anti-women anti-choice measures are removed.
I HATE the anti-aging clause, which allows Insurance companies to penalize people for getting older. Since women live at least ten years longer than men, it is old women who will primarily be penalized. Anti-gender provisions are still allowed as well, for larger companies, i.e. women can be penalized for their femaleness as a "pre-existing health condition". WTF????
I HATE the threat of fines for refusing to purchase health care, especially when the ceilings of what one should be able to afford are so unreasonable. For example, to be eligible for MassHealth in Massachusetts (the model this plan with follow), a single person must earn less than $14K per year, and even that amount can be questioned. 14K. Have you EVER tried to live on less than $300 per week in Massachusetts. What a joke.
I HATE the fact that stocks for the big Pharma thieves have just gone through the roof. What does THAT tell you?
Yes, I know the Republicans hate this bill. Which makes me HOPE that it is in fact ONE step in the right direction. I also know the Insurance companies spent a lot of money--but they DID achieve many of their aims, make no mistake. I believe this is a GOOD day for them, because now people who refused to sign up with them in the past will have no choice.
In Canada, Pharmaceuticals are regulated, and prices kept reasonably low. If you want high-falutin' extra insurance, you are not prohibited from getting it. But you don't need it. Just by living in Canada and paying your taxes (or even if you DON'T pay them!), you will be entitled to, for example, have a baby in a hospital, or have surgery on your knee, or see a doctor whenever you need to.
The difference is that the greedy, unnecessary middle-man is cut out, i.e. the useless insurance companies. Guess what? Not EVERYTHING should be up for grabs to make a profit. In my world that includes health care, food, water, basic shelter. If the capitalists really need to keep playing their games, let them offer luxury goods to rich folk. The way things are going, these are the only people who will soon have money to spend, in any case, in the very near future.
This US health care is only a very poor start. Yes, about 2/3 of the people without health care will now have access to it. The other third will still lack health care. (For a good critique, http://www.now.org/press/03-10/03-21b.html)
I HATE the anti-choice provisions, which Obama, allegedly a pro-choice candidate, just signed into law. This will primarily affect poor and working class women. No nice rich girl, including Obama's own daughters, will ever be denied reproductive choice. If women have to pay extra for abortion coverage, then men should be required to pay extra for penis pumps and Viagra, now covered under most insurance plans. Yeah, let's try that, and just WATCH how quickly the anti-women anti-choice measures are removed.
I HATE the anti-aging clause, which allows Insurance companies to penalize people for getting older. Since women live at least ten years longer than men, it is old women who will primarily be penalized. Anti-gender provisions are still allowed as well, for larger companies, i.e. women can be penalized for their femaleness as a "pre-existing health condition". WTF????
I HATE the threat of fines for refusing to purchase health care, especially when the ceilings of what one should be able to afford are so unreasonable. For example, to be eligible for MassHealth in Massachusetts (the model this plan with follow), a single person must earn less than $14K per year, and even that amount can be questioned. 14K. Have you EVER tried to live on less than $300 per week in Massachusetts. What a joke.
I HATE the fact that stocks for the big Pharma thieves have just gone through the roof. What does THAT tell you?
Yes, I know the Republicans hate this bill. Which makes me HOPE that it is in fact ONE step in the right direction. I also know the Insurance companies spent a lot of money--but they DID achieve many of their aims, make no mistake. I believe this is a GOOD day for them, because now people who refused to sign up with them in the past will have no choice.
In Canada, Pharmaceuticals are regulated, and prices kept reasonably low. If you want high-falutin' extra insurance, you are not prohibited from getting it. But you don't need it. Just by living in Canada and paying your taxes (or even if you DON'T pay them!), you will be entitled to, for example, have a baby in a hospital, or have surgery on your knee, or see a doctor whenever you need to.
The difference is that the greedy, unnecessary middle-man is cut out, i.e. the useless insurance companies. Guess what? Not EVERYTHING should be up for grabs to make a profit. In my world that includes health care, food, water, basic shelter. If the capitalists really need to keep playing their games, let them offer luxury goods to rich folk. The way things are going, these are the only people who will soon have money to spend, in any case, in the very near future.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Finally, The Truth
OK, Everybody, I'm finally going to tell you the Truth!
Rich people are nice. Poor people are lazy. If you don't have health care you just plain don't deserve it. War is necessary to defend our fine democracy, even when the so-called "war" involves invading and occupying sovereign countries and stealing their oil.
If a musician is promoted by the music industry, he or she is a genius and you should adore this person, even though your gut instinct is telling you the music really SUCKS. Do NOT listen to your gut instinct. It is usually wrong. Whatever Madison Ave, TV ads, Campaign promos, the government or anyone else selling ANYTHING says is RIGHT. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT listen to your gut instinct, your inner wisdom or anything else. If you do, you will always be wrong.
A woman cannot be trusted. She is prone to lying and deceit. So if a man, whether he is a famous athlete or a bum on the street, says the sex was consensual, it WAS. Rape is only a fabrication in the minds of some loose women. It happens very very rarely--and then, only in cases when some neutral male witness can corroborate the story of the weak-minded woman.
If you are homeless, it is your own fault. You should have known better than to listen to your banker or mortgage broker. I don't care how earnest they appeared to be or how many stats they pushed at you, YOU should have KNOWN they were lying!
Bail-outs to rich guys, i.e. bankers, wall-street dudes and CEOS, does NOT amount to welfare for the rich, no matter how often you hear these lies from pinko leftists. Tax breaks for these guys also is NOT welfare. They DESERVE these millions! These guys work hard for their money, harder than any janitor working 2 jobs to support her family will EVER work! Even when you see a CEO on vacay in the Bahamas, believe me they are ALWAYS working.
And NO, they are NOT exploiting the poor. If you are poor, it's your own fault, bad karma. Had you had better karma, you would have been born into a wealthy family, gone to the best schools, graduated from Harvard and be running your own company by now. The fact that none of that happened for you MUST mean you were a REAL a-hole in a previous life. So shut up about it!
Let's face it. Males are just generally smarter than women. Didn't Larry Summers, the ex-prez of Harvard make some such statement regarding science and women? Doesn't he work for Obama now? So if he said it, it must be true! And even if he didn't...come on! Why would men talk SO much and SO loudly while so many women sit there and demurely take in all these words if the words weren't truly AMAZING, fascinating and just generally AWESOME, dude?
And as far as global warming or climate change goes, it just doesn't exist. So WHAT if a few glaciers are melting? There are plenty more where those came from. So WHAT if the weather seems to have gotten extremely intense and unpredictable and bizarre these last few years? Blame it on El Nino. Nobody really knows what El Nino is, anyway.
That's my truth-telling for today. More to come.
Rich people are nice. Poor people are lazy. If you don't have health care you just plain don't deserve it. War is necessary to defend our fine democracy, even when the so-called "war" involves invading and occupying sovereign countries and stealing their oil.
If a musician is promoted by the music industry, he or she is a genius and you should adore this person, even though your gut instinct is telling you the music really SUCKS. Do NOT listen to your gut instinct. It is usually wrong. Whatever Madison Ave, TV ads, Campaign promos, the government or anyone else selling ANYTHING says is RIGHT. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT listen to your gut instinct, your inner wisdom or anything else. If you do, you will always be wrong.
A woman cannot be trusted. She is prone to lying and deceit. So if a man, whether he is a famous athlete or a bum on the street, says the sex was consensual, it WAS. Rape is only a fabrication in the minds of some loose women. It happens very very rarely--and then, only in cases when some neutral male witness can corroborate the story of the weak-minded woman.
If you are homeless, it is your own fault. You should have known better than to listen to your banker or mortgage broker. I don't care how earnest they appeared to be or how many stats they pushed at you, YOU should have KNOWN they were lying!
Bail-outs to rich guys, i.e. bankers, wall-street dudes and CEOS, does NOT amount to welfare for the rich, no matter how often you hear these lies from pinko leftists. Tax breaks for these guys also is NOT welfare. They DESERVE these millions! These guys work hard for their money, harder than any janitor working 2 jobs to support her family will EVER work! Even when you see a CEO on vacay in the Bahamas, believe me they are ALWAYS working.
And NO, they are NOT exploiting the poor. If you are poor, it's your own fault, bad karma. Had you had better karma, you would have been born into a wealthy family, gone to the best schools, graduated from Harvard and be running your own company by now. The fact that none of that happened for you MUST mean you were a REAL a-hole in a previous life. So shut up about it!
Let's face it. Males are just generally smarter than women. Didn't Larry Summers, the ex-prez of Harvard make some such statement regarding science and women? Doesn't he work for Obama now? So if he said it, it must be true! And even if he didn't...come on! Why would men talk SO much and SO loudly while so many women sit there and demurely take in all these words if the words weren't truly AMAZING, fascinating and just generally AWESOME, dude?
And as far as global warming or climate change goes, it just doesn't exist. So WHAT if a few glaciers are melting? There are plenty more where those came from. So WHAT if the weather seems to have gotten extremely intense and unpredictable and bizarre these last few years? Blame it on El Nino. Nobody really knows what El Nino is, anyway.
That's my truth-telling for today. More to come.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Something to Bore the Surveillers
Sitting in Starbucks (ostensibly "working", i.e. writing, but quite honestly just goofing off a whole lot of the time) I am sometimes forced to listen to music when really maybe I would rather just hear the ambient sounds of Harvard denizens ordering coffee in their "I'm richer than you, peasant!" voices. I would love to have a T-Shirt line that just has messages like: "I paid $50 for this T Shirt, so obviously I am a member of the Corporate Elite, and You are NOT!".
Back to my point: being forced to listen to music not of my choosing has caused me to realize that there is some music I really despise, or at least intensely dislike, even though I somehow feel I "should" like it. Well, I just don't. It's shocking.
One person is Paul Simon. Honestly, his whining just really hurts my stomach. And whatever happened to Edie Brickell once she married him? Why did her talent just seem to disappear off the face of the earth?
Another is KD LANG (caps intentional). I really do NOT enjoy the timbre of her voice. There is something just so self-consciously full of herself in every ooh and aahhh. Even the way she spells her name strikes me as pretentious. Who does she think she is? e. e. cummings?
Another is Kate McGarrigle's son Rufus Wainwright. First of all, I have seen him interact with his Mom onstage, and he comes off as a real little bitch. Kate should just get out from behind her keyboards and slap him upside the head. Seriously. Second, no Rufus, you do not sing "Hallelujah" better than Leonard Cohen. Yes, I know he's from Canada. And so is k.d. I should support them. But in Rufus's case the nepotism really annoys me. I'm not so sure he deserves the special spot he has gotten in the music industry. Without Mom and Dad I am not so sure he would have gotten there.
Not to be anti-Canadian, let me also say that I really don't like Mariah Carey. At all (although I DO like her shenanigans and diva attitude). Her super-soprano riffs just don't impress me. The biggest problem is that I feel NOTHING when I hear her sing. On top of that, most of her songs are non-melodic and really dull. Come on! With all that money, couldn't she has least get a few good songwriters in her corner?
And, to be fair and not biased against women, I'm not that fond of Sting either. OK yes, I do like the song "Every Breath You Take" even if it strikes me as a super stalker song, and reminds me of one of my hopeless lovers, Herve from Montreal. Besides that, Sting is another person who just doesn't do much for me, even though he seems quite convinced of his own genius (and yes, I do appreciate some of the charity work he's done, but...).
[As a side note, I have remarked in my life that males seem much more easily convinced of their own genius even when this is so far from reality as to be a fairy tale. On the other hand, some really amazingly talented, smart women (like me!) might take a lot of convincing that they ARE very smart, talented women. Something to do with behavioral therapy imposed by society, teachers, the media etc. starting pretty much from birth.]
For me to love a musician, I need to feel touched by them somehow. Aretha Franklin made me cry when I saw her in person. George Thorogood made me feel like a motorcyle mama, hot blood coursing through my veins. Ella Fitzgerland made me fell blessed and cleansed to the core of my soul. Bruce Cockburn has stirred up a lot of rage in me at the cruelty that exists in this world. Al Green has reminded me what it feels like to be madly in love when I felt furthest removed from that wild sensation.
We need artists in this world, desperately, despite the attempt by scientists, war-mongers and pedlars of trivial crap to convince us otherwise. Let's support the REAL artists, and stop being afraid to call out the emperor or empress when in fact they are stark naked in their superficiality and sense of self-importance.
Just sayin'....
Back to my point: being forced to listen to music not of my choosing has caused me to realize that there is some music I really despise, or at least intensely dislike, even though I somehow feel I "should" like it. Well, I just don't. It's shocking.
One person is Paul Simon. Honestly, his whining just really hurts my stomach. And whatever happened to Edie Brickell once she married him? Why did her talent just seem to disappear off the face of the earth?
Another is KD LANG (caps intentional). I really do NOT enjoy the timbre of her voice. There is something just so self-consciously full of herself in every ooh and aahhh. Even the way she spells her name strikes me as pretentious. Who does she think she is? e. e. cummings?
Another is Kate McGarrigle's son Rufus Wainwright. First of all, I have seen him interact with his Mom onstage, and he comes off as a real little bitch. Kate should just get out from behind her keyboards and slap him upside the head. Seriously. Second, no Rufus, you do not sing "Hallelujah" better than Leonard Cohen. Yes, I know he's from Canada. And so is k.d. I should support them. But in Rufus's case the nepotism really annoys me. I'm not so sure he deserves the special spot he has gotten in the music industry. Without Mom and Dad I am not so sure he would have gotten there.
Not to be anti-Canadian, let me also say that I really don't like Mariah Carey. At all (although I DO like her shenanigans and diva attitude). Her super-soprano riffs just don't impress me. The biggest problem is that I feel NOTHING when I hear her sing. On top of that, most of her songs are non-melodic and really dull. Come on! With all that money, couldn't she has least get a few good songwriters in her corner?
And, to be fair and not biased against women, I'm not that fond of Sting either. OK yes, I do like the song "Every Breath You Take" even if it strikes me as a super stalker song, and reminds me of one of my hopeless lovers, Herve from Montreal. Besides that, Sting is another person who just doesn't do much for me, even though he seems quite convinced of his own genius (and yes, I do appreciate some of the charity work he's done, but...).
[As a side note, I have remarked in my life that males seem much more easily convinced of their own genius even when this is so far from reality as to be a fairy tale. On the other hand, some really amazingly talented, smart women (like me!) might take a lot of convincing that they ARE very smart, talented women. Something to do with behavioral therapy imposed by society, teachers, the media etc. starting pretty much from birth.]
For me to love a musician, I need to feel touched by them somehow. Aretha Franklin made me cry when I saw her in person. George Thorogood made me feel like a motorcyle mama, hot blood coursing through my veins. Ella Fitzgerland made me fell blessed and cleansed to the core of my soul. Bruce Cockburn has stirred up a lot of rage in me at the cruelty that exists in this world. Al Green has reminded me what it feels like to be madly in love when I felt furthest removed from that wild sensation.
We need artists in this world, desperately, despite the attempt by scientists, war-mongers and pedlars of trivial crap to convince us otherwise. Let's support the REAL artists, and stop being afraid to call out the emperor or empress when in fact they are stark naked in their superficiality and sense of self-importance.
Just sayin'....
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Sometimes Men Can Be Really Nice
So just when I am feeling "God! Men are annoying!" with a passion I've rarely felt (hah! more like felt every day for most of my life..) a few men suddenly are nice to me.
(Just to clarify, in this case, "annoying" ranges from general daily annoyance at pervasive sexism to downright rage at boys who think it might be kinda neat to kill a bunch of Pakistani mountain dwellers with evil drones, and then simply go "oops" when it turns out these civilians had NOTHING to do with ANY threat to anyone, but were in fact a bunch of women and children at a birthday party.) But for now, back to the "nice" part.
A guy in the liquor store tells me I should DEFINITELY drink a little of the beer I bought to cook with, Duchesse De Bourgogne. I don't usually drink at all, but I decided to try the beer, while making my beer stew. Wow. Amazing. It doesn't even really taste like beer, but more like a fizzy drink with delicious herbs. So now if I ever DO feel like drinking a beer, I know what to buy. Thanks, liquor store guy.
A man at Starbucks warns me that if I drink strong tea, it will keep me from sleeping. Of course he's right, I stay up researching "researchers" i.e. surveillers. Did you know that the NSA sponsors programs at a BUNCH of different colleges to TRAIN people to spy on their fellow Americans. Truly, in the spirit of the First Amendment (and a few others), this is disgusting. What a horrible career. If the U.S. really wanted to make its citizens safer, it would take steps to become a less-hated entity in the world. For example, how about NOT invading any more sovereign nations to steal their oil, or other resources?
A male civil servant I speak to on the phone ends up being one of the MOST informed and kind people I have ever talked to, and this after having spoken first to two really awful, really MEAN women.
A manager at Shaw's market apologetically refunds my $1.72 after discovering that the tomatoes I bought were incorrectly priced in the system. I wasn't expecting that at all.
A high school friend sends me a wonderful diatribe I wrote at the age of 17. Maybe I will post it on my blog. Although times have changed. No one paid any attention to my teenage rantings, but I have a feeling a 2010 teen might get into a lot of trouble for similar expression in these paranoid, "got to control everything" times.
Two male musicians for whom I wrote a brief review both responded with really nice thank-yous, even though my review was sort of a back-handed compliment. I was actually complaining about the Musicians' Boys Club, and how LOOONNNNGGGG it seems to be taking to get bands integrated with women (think about doctors--not long ago they were all men, and now, more than 50% are female). But I do like these bands, even if they consist of the "Wall of Men" as I think of it. Good musicians, and fun to dance to. So, thank you for the thank yous.
It just made me think today. Some men DO want to give, share, nurture, be kind, show compassion. They just get overrun by the insane psycho bullies of the world, who only enjoy power trips and destruction. Time to speak up and tell the bullies to SHUT UP, sit down and take a deep breath. Time to change. Believe me, you bullies will feel better once you get through your own anxiety, sadness and grief. And so will the rest of us.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Rich Lawyers, Corporate Welfare, Chile and Other Huge Annoyances
A few exasperated observations:
So, consumer spending is up in the U.S., but exactly WHO is doing the spending? Last I heard, it is the wealthy top 10% of the population, enjoying a spending spree of cheaper luxury items, as this country continues its march to full 3rd World Status.
Chile "looters": Once again, hungry people who are being denied relief (this time, in Chile) are being called "looters" when they desperately search for a way to feed their families. Get it straight, corporate media! It's NOT looting when you are starving, and NO relief is getting to you, despite millions of dollars of contributions. It's called survival. "Looting" is what the rich CEOs and Wall Street thieves do when they rip off the taxpayers to make sure they get their regular million dollar bonuses.
Unemployment extensions: So, Senator Bunning was entirely to blame for holding up an extension of unemployment benefits? I don't think so. Don't get me wrong. Of course, he is another privileged prick who doesn't give a damn about the working class heroes who are now suffering. HOWEVER, a unanimous vote of agreement is NOT necessary to get legislation passed in Congress. Just takes a little planning--the kind achieved whenever the rich lawyers who run our country want to get another welfare hand-out to some rich corporate or banker dude, one of their buddies. And this kind of planning involves something like ten days previous knowledge. Well, senators have known for several MONTHS now that benefits would run out at the end of February if they didn't act. So what kind of game are they really playing?
[Update: Just heard the extension passed. I believe it is only for 30 days, and includes highway funding, DISH satellite clause, etc. Bunning and others blame the expense of any unemployment extension bill on the unemployed. But take a look at what's included in this bill. It's amazing, if only a typical piece of legislation, I'd say.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/dcblog/2010/03/senate_takes_up_unemployment_b.html]
Lying Leaders: It would be NICE, if for ONCE, these rich lawyers would let us know what they are really doing. For example, when Bush and Cheney wanted to bomb Baghdad to smithereens in 2003, they might simply have said, "You know what, we just want the oil, and a nice big military base in Iraq. We don't give a damn about Saddam Hussein. And we're going to do it whether any of the American public agrees with this or not."
At least then the public would have a better idea of where the average Joe and Josephine stand. Which is nowhere. What we think really doesn't matter much. And if Congress doesn't amend the constitution pretty damn fast, to head off an even greater corporate infusion of money into elections (thanks to our "unbiased" Supreme Court), we will matter even less. If that's possible.
So, consumer spending is up in the U.S., but exactly WHO is doing the spending? Last I heard, it is the wealthy top 10% of the population, enjoying a spending spree of cheaper luxury items, as this country continues its march to full 3rd World Status.
Chile "looters": Once again, hungry people who are being denied relief (this time, in Chile) are being called "looters" when they desperately search for a way to feed their families. Get it straight, corporate media! It's NOT looting when you are starving, and NO relief is getting to you, despite millions of dollars of contributions. It's called survival. "Looting" is what the rich CEOs and Wall Street thieves do when they rip off the taxpayers to make sure they get their regular million dollar bonuses.
Unemployment extensions: So, Senator Bunning was entirely to blame for holding up an extension of unemployment benefits? I don't think so. Don't get me wrong. Of course, he is another privileged prick who doesn't give a damn about the working class heroes who are now suffering. HOWEVER, a unanimous vote of agreement is NOT necessary to get legislation passed in Congress. Just takes a little planning--the kind achieved whenever the rich lawyers who run our country want to get another welfare hand-out to some rich corporate or banker dude, one of their buddies. And this kind of planning involves something like ten days previous knowledge. Well, senators have known for several MONTHS now that benefits would run out at the end of February if they didn't act. So what kind of game are they really playing?
[Update: Just heard the extension passed. I believe it is only for 30 days, and includes highway funding, DISH satellite clause, etc. Bunning and others blame the expense of any unemployment extension bill on the unemployed. But take a look at what's included in this bill. It's amazing, if only a typical piece of legislation, I'd say.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/dcblog/2010/03/senate_takes_up_unemployment_b.html]
Lying Leaders: It would be NICE, if for ONCE, these rich lawyers would let us know what they are really doing. For example, when Bush and Cheney wanted to bomb Baghdad to smithereens in 2003, they might simply have said, "You know what, we just want the oil, and a nice big military base in Iraq. We don't give a damn about Saddam Hussein. And we're going to do it whether any of the American public agrees with this or not."
At least then the public would have a better idea of where the average Joe and Josephine stand. Which is nowhere. What we think really doesn't matter much. And if Congress doesn't amend the constitution pretty damn fast, to head off an even greater corporate infusion of money into elections (thanks to our "unbiased" Supreme Court), we will matter even less. If that's possible.
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