I wasn't at all surprised at the outcome in today's vote on the Senate floor, as a matter of fact, it only confirmed my worst beliefs. It was simply another Kabuki Corporate Cowards Waltz, that we as Democrats keep scratching our heads over. I immediately knew when this vote was willingly handed over to the Senate first, over the House, the fix was in....but what I find amazing are these facts:
Strange how no one really 'gave a shit' about the deficits when 'we' all as taxpayers were sold off to Wall St./the Banks that knowingly and willfully destroyed our national and international economies, and then got paid off for it. Strange how no one really 'gave a shit,' when President Obama and Clinton sold us down the river on NAFTA, or the bullshit 'handwritten lobbyist bills,' on HRC, or the fake Financial Regulation Bill. We didn't even get 'half measures,' we got a bone, with no meat on it whatsoever.
Strange how all of a sudden, those 'facts,' are swept under the rug, and called, 'compromises that needed to be made,' and now we are being asked to swallow the same old smelly shit sandwich? Tell you what, you eat it, I won't.
What I find rather strange, is not just how when Madam Pelosi (who I love) got her 'bad on,' and the House was threatening a total tax revolt, that all of a sudden, this bill was handed over to the Senate. That tells me a great deal. It smelled to high heaven, it was a quelling of the People's House, in the last few minutes before Congress goes on yet another one of their 'endless vacations.' You think 'that' was an accident? Yes, call it speculation, but it sure does smell like a huge fart in my face from some of my most beloved rescue animals I have. (And I got a shit load of my wonderful furry friends).
I love my Democratic Party, I always have, and always will, but I cannot help but wondering if we really know 'what is going on here,' anymore and how we are truly going to pay in the long run. In the long run, who I trust most are not our Government Overlords and their Corporate Masters, but the continued voices that are being silenced by BOTH parties:
Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on The Bush Tax Cuts for Millionaires
November 12, 2010
It is absolutely insane that in these tough economic times some people want to continue George W. Bush's tax give aways to millionaires. Working families are losing their jobs, their benefits and their homes. They are the ones who need help.
We need to focus on creating jobs by giving tax breaks only to middle class families and investing in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and green technologies. Millionaires and Wall Street already had their party, which tanked our economy and left Main Street stuck paying the bill.
Speaker Pelosi is exactly right that there should not be a so-called compromise on this issue. Working families will fight by her side to prevent another give away to millionaires. The election is over and now it's time for politicians to show courage and stand and fight on these issues for working families. Let the millionaires fend for themselves for a change.
We need to expose the rank hypocrisy of those calling for these millionaire tax cuts -- which would add hundreds of billions to the deficit. These are the same elected officials who say we can't afford to maintain benefits for the jobless -- and should cut Social Security and Medicare for working families and seniors in the name of so-called deficit reduction.
http://www.aflcio.org/...
My question remains the same: Why was this matter handed directly over to the Senate? That makes me feel like I have gotten a total major Wedgie Up My Butt. Does it feel that way to you?
I'm a woman, and proud of the fact. So the day that Madam Pelosi took Impeachment Off the Table, gave me a big clue. Do I expect her in her last few days, as the FIRST WOMAN OF THE HOUSE OF CONGRESS, to fight for this?
You bet your ass I do. Is that too much to ask? I don't think so. Nancy Pelosi has become an icon, and perhaps she does not realize it, but she has, and if she goes down in flames, and 'quietly into that night,' then she is giving up a piece of my own soul as a woman. Most men do not get that, but I do, because I know what that means, after waiting some what? 250 years or more, to see a woman in her place.
What's on the big plate now? OMFG. The Estate tax...big bullshit bone with no meat on it, whatsoever. What a big fucking surprise:
But the main change House Democrats seem to want is the substitution of the estate tax provision with parameters that were in place in 2009 — an exemption of $3.5 million per person and a maximum rate of 45 percent. Aides said one possibility would be to propose the change as an amendment, using legislative language developed previously by Representative Earl Pomeroy, Democrat of North Dakota.
The overall tax package is expected to win approval in the House given strong support among Republicans. But it is unclear what the estate tax change would mean.
If the House amendment is approved, the Senate is virtually certain to reject it. Senate Republicans strongly support the estate tax provision agreed to by the White House, and some Democrats also favor it, including Senator Blanche L. Lincoln of Arkansas, who co-sponsored similar legislation on the estate tax in the past. Democrats were clearly torn over the vote.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/...
I love that last bullshit line:
Democrats were clearly torn over the vote.
What a bunch of crap, total crap.
There is a huge difference between understanding how we got here, where we are today, in the first place, and understanding who is still paying for that and why. There is a huge difference between understanding who destroyed our economy, how they got paid off, and who is paying the greatest price for that, and who will keep paying that price off, isn't there, or don't you get that yet?
What I fail to understand about my fellow Democrats, is understanding the central facts: That the Public Trust has been broken in our government and has not been restored. Please, tell me how you can ignore that, ok? That point is where all Roads to Rome meet in any functioning government.
It is almost as if we just can't get 'suckered punched enough,' to keep apologizing and being led into the great and final destruction, of what was once a great nation: Robert Kuttner always gets it right, and right to the point:
If you think the Democratic base is mad at Obama now for making a craven deal with Republicans that continues tax breaks for the richest Americans and adds new ones for their heirs through a big cut in the estate tax, just wait a few weeks until Obama caves on Social Security.
How will this occur? The deficit commission appointed by the President has called for an increase in the retirement age, as well as other cuts in benefits over time. And the deal that Obama made with the Republicans just gave deficit hawks new ammunition by increasing the projected deficit by nearly $900 billion over a decade. Social Security will be in the cross-hairs. The deficit commission has tried to camouflage these cuts by emphasizing that Social Security benefits for the very poor would not be reduced, and might even be increased. But in the commission's proposal, the cuts would affect middle-class retirees. Larry Summers, who is stepping down as Obama's economic chief, has refused to rule out cuts.
Social Security has also been softened up by the element of the tax deal that temporarily cuts payroll taxes. Supposedly, the trust funds will be made whole by a transfer from general government funds. But this increases the deficit. So Obama has created a kind of pincer attack on Social Security. One arm is the deficit commission, which has created the blueprint. The other is the tax-cut deal, which increases the deficit, adding to the artificial hysteria that Social Security is going broke. Meanwhile, the right is playing a very cute game, congratulating Obama for the deal. According to columnist Charles Krauthammer, writing in Friday's Washington Post, "Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010." Really? How did he do that? It sure looked like he got rolled. "The President negotiated the biggest stimulus in American history, larger than the 814 $billion 2009 stimulus package."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
But I don't think our great transformational President got 'rolled' at all: I think it is us, the people that got rolled. Rocked and rolled all the way.
Do I think Madam Pelosi will have her final say in the House? I doubt it, but I can still find hope in my heart, even after all of these years, of watching how the Republicans have managed to blackmail (starting with Reagan and Carter and the Hostage Crisis, the way they destroyed Clinton from the get go (not that he didn't help them) the way that Rove/Bush stole the elections from Al Gore and destroyed John Kerry and Max Cleland) with the religious right, the new insane 'Tea Baggers,' which is nothing more than another extension of the Shock Doctrine, we just refuse to face up to.
Both our parties got sold off, and so did we. We just refuse to believe it, because if we did, we would be led into a complete and utter state of despair, and I think we just cannot face that at all. We read the numbers day in and day out, we read great, great diaries on this wonderful site, who tell us the truth, and still we refuse to face the truth:
My last hope, is that Madam Pelosi, will go out with a sucker punch to President Obama in name of the people who elected her. Because of many, many reasons. Will she? That is up to her, but I sure as hell, wish she would, not matter how much money she has.
There are more important things in this life than money: There is country, there is love of family, there are caring about the millions of Americans who are innocent of being destroyed at the hands of both parties, and what does that mean to you in the end?
I think, to me, it means everything.
Thanks as always..
Ms. B.