I Dissent

I Dissent

Not respectfully. But full on and with nothing but disdain, I Dissent.

I am appalled at the levels of criminality within our highest government and justice system. I am furious at the disarray within the Democratic Party when they should be standing together, holding the line and ensuring there are no cracks to be seen. I am terrified we are losing the fight to retain our Democratic Republic, our potential, and our opportunity to march toward a better nation and a better future.

I Dissent

For over a century, this nation has marched toward a better future. We stumbled, we often failed in our progress, but we moved forward incrementally, dragging those who fought against a better world with us. We had individuals willing to march, sit, and fight for freedoms and rights guaranteed by our Constitution, though in all too many cases never granted. Each right won, and new freedom granted seemed a step toward a more perfect Union that promised a dream of equality for all.

I Dissent

With a profoundly corrupt SCOTUS and unconcerned their corruption is public knowledge; we sit on the precipice of losing everything one hundred and twenty-four years of progress gained us. In fact, we are on the very edge of losing our Democratic Republic with their latest rulings. When we add the swamp of the GOP and their unwavering loyalty to a man who is wholly unfit to be on the grounds of the White House, let alone in the Oval Office as President, the most powerful man of the free world.

If the principle foundation of our justice system is that no person is above the law, then our thoroughly corrupt SCOTUS has broken trust with the nation and cracked the foundation. With every ruling, they have opened the door to further erosion of our systems of justice and democracy. Every erasure of rights and freedoms signals their disdain for our Constitution and our progress toward a more equal nation.

I Dissent

Finally, looking across the aisle at the sniffling, hand-wringing, and disastrous upheaval in the Democratic Party because Joe Biden is OLD and may have slowed down and had a bad day. Well, yes, he did. He had a bad day and, in truth, had a terrible showing at the debate. But instead of all the chicken with your head cut off running about the yard spewing bullshit coming from within, why the hell didn’t you stand behind your President? Why, in all the burning fires, can’t the Democrats act more like the Republicans, just once? Joe Biden can’t win? Well, clearly not if all the Democrats can do is talk about how he can’t beat the 34 times convicted felon, wanna-be Dictator, sexual predator, sociopathic narcissistic, pathological liar. What the hell?

I Dissent

The political rhetoric, the calls to violence, the pure nastiness we all see and hear every single day is beyond politics as usual and has divided us as a people. Calls for Civil War and calls for secession can only lead to one thing, and we see it at Trump Rallies, on bumper stickers, and even the halls of Congress every single day, an escalation of violence. Now, a Presidential candidate has escaped an assassination attempt. Yes, I think this makes it worse; no matter how I view the man himself, I believe violence doesn’t solve any problems and, in fact, only makes him both a martyr and a hero in the eyes of his base. With his ear winged and Secret Service surrounding him, he pumped his fist in victory. Members of the audience who were interviewed said this ensured his victory in November, does it? Nevermind one person lost their life, or others were critically injured, it took a bit to acknowledge them in the race to blame the Democrats and pump up the Orange One as a Hero.

I Dissent

To all of it, I Dissent. Look below at all we have to lose and ask yourself, are you willing to stop trying? Ask yourself, are you willing to give up on progress? Are you so numb to it all that you are willing to sit it out because you don’t like either candidate, really, is that what you are going to do, to yourself, to the future? Our very existence is on the line, so ask yourself what are you going to do?

Call it Rain

statue-peeingThe House is such a lovely group of ne’er-do- wells’ it is difficult to believe this is the braintrust leading our nation. Lest I be too focused on those dunderheads in The House, The Senate will apparently follow them down the path of running grandma over with the Bentley. The President has already signaled he too wants to get the hell out of Washington, so he will get his signature pen ready versus his Veto pen and guess what, they will all be happy.

Don’t piss down my leg and call it rain.

Here are some of the highlights of what the Congressional House Republicans and Democrats voted on last night round about 11pm when most of the rest of us were fast asleep and paying no never mind to their high handedness.

Dodd-Frank, yes sir they gutted it. Don’t know what this is, shaking your head and saying so what are you? Well remember when the banks nearly failed in 2008 and we the people, the taxpayers, all of us that is had to bail them out. Do you remember that? I surely do, people lost their savings, their homes, their jobs and some of those people are still jobless and homeless. Remember that time, prior to this administration being sworn into office 9 January 2009.

money-cash-bills-paper-bank-piles-tons

Campaign Finance, can’t ever say these greedy SOB’s aren’t looking out for number one, no indeed not. Never say never, can you say Citizens United on steroids; if not learn to and post haste. They have taken out their best carving knives and shredded the McCain-Feingold legislation of 2002 that limited individual donors to $32,400 to either party this year would be able to up the ante, not by a few measly thousand dollars but by a whopping ten times (10X) the current limit to $324,000. How is that for feathering your own nest.

Egypt gets a $1.3 billion in aid, subject to Democracy and Human Rights conditions. Well my question is, who the hell in this country is fit to measure either.

The EPA gets another $60 Million cut from their budget, down in total 21% since 2010. According the Budget Office and gleeful GOP aides they will have to cut staffing, taking them to the lowest levels since 1989.

Cuyahoga River burns due to chemicals and pollution

Cuyahoga River burns due to chemicals and pollution

Once again, the Budget bans the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to any current facility in the US and bans the spending of any federal funds to build a facility to house them.

Again, the US continues to spend billions to fund Israel, to the tune of $3.1 Billion in random aid in addition to $619 Million in defense aid. Not to be gauche here, however Israel has their own economy and it is fairly healthy, if they would stop trying to steal what small bit of land and peace remains to the Palestinian people it would likely be healthier still. There is no one starving in Israel, there is no need for us to continue to give them billions of our tax dollars every year, especially when those dollars could go to things we need here in this country for our own people.

I love this one, simply because there are so many of those Tea Partiers and Libertarians running about screaming, “Small Government” and “Self-Determination” and “States Rights”, I guess they marijuana-weed-1200-drugsdidn’t really mean it. This lovely bars Washington, District of Columbia from legalizing marijuana. Now keep in mind there was a vote, the people of the District approved the initiative and like Colorado and Washington, citizens of the District should be able to smoke a blunt on their porch. But nooooo, the members of the United States House of Representatives forgot, they are only guests in Washington, D.C. not residents.

The list goes on and on, there is more. The cut funding on key education initiatives, they continue their ridiculous Abortion oversight moving it to the ACA to require all policies offered on the Federal Marketplace have a declaration whether they cover Abortions so people can decide for themselves not to buy that policy. They cut additional funds to the ACA, for the ‘Death Panels’.

There are some good things, expansion of sexual assault services for the military and expansion of Veterans Benefits. There is also the funds targeted to fight Ebola and funds targeted for the National Institutes of Health, some of which will go to brain and Alzheimer’s research.

Overall, though, this Omnibus bill is simply Congress working for a C- grade. They are hoping we don’t notice what they are doing and won’t complain. They are supposed to work on these things for the entire 24 months they are in session, dealing with each of the individual budgets and government agencies as independent entities rather than creating these huge Omnibus Bills in the Lame Duck session, two weeks prior to Christmas.

urine-dog-pee-upside-downDon’t piss down my leg and call it rain.

Talk about a boondoggle Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) apparently got in bed with Rio Tinto to grab native lands. Rather than doing it up front and with full transparency, he shoved in to the NDAA before congress. This little land grab of his was hidden on page 1,105 and both the Democrats and Republicans hid it from everyone until they could hide it no more. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton would simple walk right in and start the casual destruction of 2,400 of the Tonto National Forest, which includes Apache Leap, burial grounds and other sacred lands to the Apache people.

These lands are supposed to be protected, but never mind.

Just let me say this, I am disappointed our President made a deal with the Speaker of the House on the Budget. Why in the hell did he do that? Doesn’t he know, doesn’t he understand these people hate him. They will never do a damned thing that he wants, not one damned thing. Mitch McConnell, the incoming Majority Leader of the Senate has already said, his first order of business will be a vote to overturn the ACA. Doesn’t he get it? What doesn’t he understand? Isn’t it time for him to say to these old, nasty men and women on both sides of the aisle, ‘if you send me this shit I will veto it without a second thought’.

What the hell is he waiting for? An invitation to their table? Hasn’t he figured it out yet, it is never going to happen.

The best synopsis of the Omnibus Bill: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/12/09/whats-in-the-spending-bill-we-skim-it-so-you-dont-have-to/

The best synopsis of the NDAA and Land Grabbing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/ndaa-land-deals_n_6264362.html