- If you woke up every morning, and upon retrieving the
paper, found your yard hip deep in 100.00 bills; would you worry about
the price of gas, the electric bill, the rent, the cost of medicine? If
you could charge everything you buy, all your physical needs and desires,
to a future generation, wouldn't you party hardy? That's Foggy Bottom-D.C.
for you.
-
- Foggy Bottom politicians (others) have no worry about
their health care needs. They've got several different plans to choose
from, and we pick up approximately 72% of the costs. No waiting on a drone
in some cubicle, wading through some bureaucratic nonsense, to see if you're
eligible for that operation, medicine, or special test. A quick trip to
Walter Reed or the National Institute of Health should soon see you perky
and healed. When Senator Specter, was suffering headaches, he told them
what tests he wanted. Strom Thurmond, before his death, checked himself
into the hospital for a rest before his funeral service. Try that at your
local hospital. Hell-as it is, a mastectomy will have you holding bloody
bandages to your chest hoping you can make it to the car without fainting.
-
- Giving birth, has you out the door, before the umbilical
cord is fully cut. Need home health care? Like my friend in Ohio, with
her husband's foot partially amputated, ulcerated wounds to be cleaned
and dressed daily; get that nurses aid training you always wanted. Of course,
learning to dress wounds-do IVs etc, are to be practiced on your loved
one. Need a gall bladder operation. Tough. If you were a local farmer's
wife here, you'd better have the cash up front honey. It's pretty hard
to afford that $135.00 dollar prescription for a strep throat on a fixed
income or minimum wage. Just pray to God you don't come down with some
chronic disease or you'll be cutting your pills in half, skipping a day,
or most likely just die.
-
- I don't know--I'm getting kind of confused. Doesn't conservative
compassion mean you're supposed to care for your own? Vice-President Cheney
has his own surgical room in his residence. I'd like one too. With all
this talk about values-and Jesus, what ever happened to Matthew 25 and
the parable of the Sheep and the Goats? In part it says; "I was hungry
and you fed me. I was sick and you cared for me. I tell you that whatsoever
you did for the least of my brothers you did for me." Seems pretty
clear to me. Adequate medical care-food-etc, is the same as serving Jesus.
Now who wouldn't want Jesus to have medical care (not that He'd need it).
-
- Foggy Bottom needs a raise, they vote it in at midnight,
when most of us are sleeping or out on our second or third job. Need a
vacation? They just arrange some "fact finding mission" to an
exotic land, and ta dah! we pay. Out here in the real world, minus the
fog, local politicians vote down a raise in minimum wages-vote in right
to work (for less), and see to tax subsidies for special people, like
industry and resorts. Visas of all descriptions supply foreign labor for
these places. Tax subsidies encourage industry to move abroad. Meantime,
the mantra to re-train for that new job is blabbered, by those from Think
Tanks, Public Relations Firms, or politicians who never held a real job
in their entire lives. Re-train for what? How much training does it take
to be a Wal-Mart greeter, a prison guard, garbage man, ski lift operator,
or politician? We were all told to get our kids that computer education.
Now those jobs are off to foreign lands. Small machine shops, textile plants,
steel mills, auto-makers, ship building, fishing-gone. We are fast becoming
a land of malls-prisons-casinos-dumps-and resorts (for those who still
have money).
-
-
- Meanwhile, Americans on fixed incomes, unemployment checks,
and minimum wage or slightly higher wages, are asked to pay for never-ending
war. With fuel, food, medicine, rents, utilities and local taxes, reaching
obscene rates, how is this done? It's not like we can all gather in our
local parks at midnight and vote ourselves a raise. A college education
for your kid? Sure, if your one of those getting the moneyed tax breaks,
or a corporate huckster, protected with layers of trusts and legalities.
Thank God, Martha Stewart is no longer a danger. Martha was small time.
She was caught lying. No one accused her of stealing from her shareholders
or anyone else.
-
- I guess the moral of all these financial hijinks is,
that if you're going to steal--steal big time. Just don't lie about it.
Take Tyco. Kozlowski and Swartz, used the company as their personal ATM.
Tyco, Kozlowski, with his multi-million dollar yacht and beach homes. An
18 million dollar mansion in Manhattan, decorated with $13 million worth
of furnishing. Trips, paintings, jewelry, gifts for paramours, a $30,--
pair of opera glasses, a $6000 umbrella stand and his toga party, held
on the island of Sardinia in all its obscene vulgarity costing $2.1 million.
Kozlowski and Swartz helped themselves to $170 million of company funds
and then reaped another $430 million by pumping up the stock price and
cashing in before investors got wise. The thousands of jobs lost? Pension
funds gone-300 plants closed worldwide? Without the burden of a soul or
conscience, men of this ilk could care less. Same with Enron. To hell with
the 4,500 people without jobs. Nobody, in the protected layer, of a world
without laws, has gone to jail yet. Maybe a bookkeeper or two. Kozlowsiki?
He's down in Florida at another one of his homes partying.
-
-
- Gonna steal? Make it worthwhile is what American non-justice
says. Don't be like the fool hardy kid in my rural town, who pulled a prank,
by stealing some plastic pigeon from the roof of city hall. He got 6 months
in jail. Taxes? These are only for the common man. The General Accounting
Office reported that 2/3 of US corporation paid no federal income taxes
during the boon years of the late 1990s and those who did were able to
shelter much of their income. Foreign-owned companies fared better in some
respects than their US-based competitors. The report found that 71% of
foreign-controlled corporation paid no taxes on their US income, while
89% had liabilities of less than 5% of their income.
-
-
- Same goes for war. A few specially chosen no-bid corporations
are profiting quite handsomely. They play we pay. Can't extend unemployment
benefits for those robbed of their jobs, but billions are voted without
a blink of the eye for war. The cost of US military operations so far.
$143 billion and counting. Extra security. $40-80 billion. Reconstruction
so far. $18.7 billion. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a
non-partisan body set up by the US Congress, the war and occupation of
Iraq by 130,000 US troops costs about $4-5 billion per MONTH. Many experts
believe that US troop levels of this magnitude may be needed for 3-6 years.
Bush has chosen (well his handlers) to finance the war by off-budget emergency
appropriations, rather than include Iraq spending in the budget sent to
Congress. It was only after the war began, on March 25-03, that President
Bush asked for $75 billion extra to pay for the initial costs. Six months
later it was another $87 billion. As Professor William Nordhaus of Yale
University states, "Like a teenager who gets further in debt on a
credit card, the Bush administration is racking up costs that will have
to be paid in the future. The fiscal irresponsibility is really awesome".
Hey--it's only money-and not theirs! Like a local appointed representative,
to a waste committee here in New Hampshire remarked, as to future pollution-
"I selfishly don't care about the future". He kind of says it
all for the pigs at the trough.
-
-
- The National Debt thus far! $ 7,137,901,399,856.65. The
debt, or charge card Toga Party, par excellent, per day, is $1.58 billion.
All this money and approximately 45 million are without health insurance.
Schools are cutting teachers and enrichment programs. Nursing homes and
health clinics are closing. The homeless population continues to grow with
soup kitchens and shelters overflowing. In Oregon and Seattle Washington--much
like the prison in Iraq, people are being housed in tents. Looks like
citizens will have to start cutting their pills into quarters or get elected
to office.
-
- Sesame Street has this jingle the kids sing; "One
of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't
belong........" Then a picture is shown of a mitten-a sled-a snowman-and
a beach ball. Which one doesn't belong? Now let's bring that into the adult
world. We have $75 billion voted for war....then six months later- $87
billion. President Bush is now requesting another $25 billion. The Jefferson
City-News Tribune-April 4-2004 reports; "Soldiers headed for Iraq
are buying their own body armour. Distributors have received steady inquiries
from soldiers families about purchasing the gear, which can cost several
thousand dollars. Last October, it was reported that nearly one-quarter
of American troops serving in Iraq did not have ceramic plated body armour,
which can stop bullets fired from assault rifles and shrapnel. Reliance
Armor in Cincinnati, has doubled in size as a result of the shortage. Don
Budke, the company's vice president of sales says, 'The military people
don't want to advertise the fact that there are people doing this on their
own'. Nancy Durst recently learned that her husband, a soldier with an
Army reserve unit from Maine, spent four months without body armour. Durst
said she was angry that reservists have not been given the same equipment
as active duty. 'They're so sick of being treated as second-class soldiers',
she said." Billions of taxpayer dollars spent and men without equipment
in war. "Which of things just doesn't belong?"
-
-
- And so, we are bombarded daily with the mantra of, "Support
the troops-bring them on-we will stay the course"; by those far from
chaotic madness-fleas-blistering sun-sandstorms and vehicles without armour.
Echoing empty words-flags waving from porches- and bumper stickers of "My
country-right or wrong" is small consolation to those in the thick
of battle with no exit plan. Many joined the military with dreams of college
(so say the recruitment busses) and a steady future. Some have had to wait
months for their pay while others battle for benefits. Imagine soldiers
being forced to buy their own tickets home when offered two-week leave.
432 troops of the 772 deaths thus far, occurred after Mr. Bush cried "Bring
them on". I forget if he was at the ranch or Camp David when he offered
this challenge?
-
-
- Senior military leaders have given frequent assurances
to troops and their families that Iraq duty would be no longer than a year.
Soldiers all packed and ready to return home, were instead told they will
be staying on for some months. Some-due to this extension of duty, ordered
by the Pentagon--are home. Home in flag-draped coffins. Mr.Bush for all
his public zeal with backdrops of flags and troops has a strange way of
supporting the troops. According to his 2005 budget, the extra pay our
soldiers receive for serving in combat zones--about $150 a month----will
no longer count against their FOOD STAMP eligibility. Great huh? Military
families on food stamps. About 25,000 families of servicemen and women
are eligible and this may be an underestimate given the record keeping.
Senator Harry Reid, of Nevada, reports hearing from his constituents, that
the Army now includes applications for food stamps in its orientation packet
for new recruits. Feed the Children delivers free food (no not Iraq) and
personal items to families at twelve bases. I don't think President Bush,
Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld or any of our U.S. Senators'
or U.S. Congressman are shopping with food stamps this weekend.
-
-
- The U.S. Department of Defense reports that of the reservists
called to active duty almost half had monthly decreases of household income
of between $500 and $2000 per month. Another 23% forfeited in excess of
$2,001 monthly. Reservists and National Guard members are especially hard
hit. Many are barely treading water. Horrified? There's more, that your
not getting on your nightly news. Take the broken soldiers sent back into
battle. Jason Gunn has served six years with distinction. Last Nov 15,
the Humvee (without armour) he was driving hit a roadside bomb, killing
his sergeant. The entire left side of his body was splattered with shrapnel,
his elbow was shattered and, he was tortured with nightmares. His commanders,
he told his mother, were putting pressure on him to return to battle. And
so they did. Jason's mother, a navy veteran, received an official response
to her demands to know why a soldier, who was being treated by military
doctors for combat stress, was sent back to war.
-
-
- The note, which acknowledged that Jason suffered post-traumatic
stress said; "After discussion of his case it was determined....this
may be in his best interest mentally to overcome his fear by facing it.
Therefore, he has been cleared for redeployment." The Guardian reports
that Jason is just one of many suffering various disabilities. I guess
this is what it means to "stay the course"? No money for food
or to help reservist families, but this year, the U.S. military will spend
more than $30 million of American taxpayers' money to find the armed forces'
involvement in NASCAR. Last year the Army fleeced taxpayers to the tune
of $16 million to sponsor the Joe Nemechek-driven No. 01 MB2 Motorsports
stockcar. It claimed that its sponsorship would generate 1,200 new recruits.
To meet the demand for troops, the military has been deploying some National
Guard and Army Reserve soldiers who aren't fit for combat. Those histories
include ailments such as asthma, diabetes, recent surgery and hearing loss.
David Lloyd, a 44 year old mechanic with the Tennessee National Guard,
died of a heart attack in Iraq in August. His autopsy showed three blockages
in his coronary arteries. His wife says he was to have been given a through
physical. He had none. The only thing he had was the shots. The GAO found
that some soldiers had not received pay for up to six months after mobilization---others
are still waiting. I wonder if Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld with his
seven homes to maintain is waiting on his paycheck?
-
- The Army also appears to have "inappropriately"
deployed soldiers to Iraq who already were diagnosed with mental problems.
An Army Medical Department after-action report obtained by UPI suggest
that the Army sent some soldiers to war who were mentally unfit in the
first place. "Variability in predeployment screening guidelines for
mental health issues may have resulted in some soldiers with mental health
diagnosis being inappropriately deployed", the report said. That could
"create the impression that some soldiers develop problems in theater,
when, in some cases, they actually have pre-existing conditions".
This does not even address the number of suicides taking place.
-
-
- Major General Smedley Butler USMC, was one of our nation's
most highly decorated military men. He served our country for 33 years
and 4 months. He stated, "War is just a racket. A racket is best described,
I believe, a something that is not what it seems to the MAJORITY of people.
Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the
benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. Like all the members
of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left
the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while
I OBEYED THE ORDERS OF HIGHER-UPS. This is typical with everyone in the
military service."
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