A Step in the Right Direction

As of the 15th of this month, according to realpolitics.com, 76.2% of American's disapprove of the job Congress is doing.  Yep--that's more than 3/4 of us that think they're doing a crap job of it.  That's some pretty epic failure by anyone's standards.  I find myself wondering why, exactly, people think that they're doing so poorly.  Perhaps it's because they're getting NOTHING done.  Republicans and Democrats refuse to come together on ANY issue.  The last time there was any consensus in our governing body was when Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords was shot.  Congress had no problem agreeing on a symbolic resolution condemning the attempted assassination of a member of Congress.  That's as good as it gets.  Someone could introduce legislation stating the sky was blue, and Congress would fail to pass the legislation based on debate as to the degree of blueness of said sky.
   This week, the Senate failed to pass the DISCLOSE (Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections) act.  In a nutshell, this legislation would have:

• Prevented US Corporations controlled by foreign governments from making campaign contributions.
• Banned TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) recipients from making campaign contributions.
• Given access to the general public (including shareholders and organization members) access to information regarding corporate in interest group campaign contributions.
• Forced groups with more than 500,000 members to take credit for the political advertisements that they sponsor.

   So, how does this benefit the average citizen, you ask?  Well, it holds a lot of people responsible for their actions.  For example; 
Uber-Insurance giant Aetna, donated over $3 million dollars to Republican supportive Super-pac American Action Network.  AAN then spent millions of dollars on ads attacking the Affordable Health Care Act.  Publicly, Aetna "supported" President Barak Obama.
Had DISCLOSE been made law, Aetna would have had their signature all over their agenda. You see, in the simplest of terms, Aetna has a good reason business wise, to oppose health care reform.  They like making money and denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and instituting lifetime caps on coverage, etc...but they wanted you to believe that those lovely ads they sponsored were "grass roots" opinions from people like you and me.  It's the business of misinformation.
   So, why are the republicans opposed to such legislation, you ask?  According to Senate Minority Leader, Mitch (ol' turtle face) McConnell, it's because the legislation doesn't go far enough, and might exempt Unions from having to disclose their memberships.  
  Hasn't Senator McConnell ever heard of a step in the right direction?  Come on, now.  No piece of legislation is perfect or completely comprehensive.
  Long ago, while Lady Liberty was still having contractions in the birth of this nation, the framers of the Constitution took their document to the states who felt that it didn't go far enough to protect the rights of the individual states...so those framers said to the states, Look, guys...you ratify this for us, and we'll come up with another document to address your concerns--this is a step in the right direction.  The states took those fellows at their word, ratified that step in the right direction, and surely enough, true to their word, the Bill of Rights was born.  Can you imagine their approval rating?
  

Who's Afraid of the Big Black Bat?!

   In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I'm a bit of a geek.  Not only am I endlessly fascinated by the political process and governmental affairs, I also dig superheroes.  Stan Lee is one of my heroes.  So is Bob Kane.  I arrived at the comic book party a little late, that is to say, as an adult; but I was instantly hooked.  I also love sci-fi.  I'm down with the trilogy (and there's only ONE, kids, and there's not a precious in sight) and I'm a closet Trekkie.  So, I gotta tell you that yesterday's news made me giddy in such a big way. Both halves of my nerdy-girl psyche have collided in the most delicious way, leading me to say the following words...thank you, thank you, thank you Rush Limbaugh.
  What could have me rubbing my hands with such maniacal glee, you ask?  Limbaugh, in all his oxy-contin fueled wisdom shared with his audience that he was exposing the sinister plot perpetrated by the liberal left via Bat Man: The Dark Knight Rises.  It's an anti-Romney propaganda film put out there by the liberal Hollyweird nut jobs hell bent on keeping Socialist Oreo Muslim Obama in office at any price.  His evidence, you wonder?  The villain's name is...(wait for it)...BANE!! With Rushie on the look out, Republicans everywhere will sleep a little better tonight.  Wait...WHAT?!! 
   For those of you who haven't experienced the joy of a lost afternoon of submersion into the world of Gotham, I should tell you that Bane has been a villain in the Bat Man series since about 1993.  Who knew the fine folks at DC Comics were psychic?  If that were the case, they never would have trusted one of the shining lights of their universe to the clumsy hands of Tim Burton, who, by his own admission, has never picked up a comic book in his life.
   So this is the best that the republican talking heads can come up with this week?  Are we avoiding some REAL issues, Rushie?  The rest of the world may not have picked up on it, but I promise you, geeks everywhere are laughing AT you.  Not with you...AT you.  Your ignorance knows no bounds, sir.
See for yourself:

Batman is one of the most recognizable characters from the world of comic books.  Bruce Wayne, as a child, watches as his parents are murdered in cold blood.  He inherits his parent's fortune and goes on to pull himself up by his own bootstraps.  He is a hero that relies on his own strength, cunning, and innovations.  Fiercely independent, few are permitted into Bruce's circle of trusted allies.  Well, so far, he sounds pretty Republican to me.  
   However, Batman is the premier protector of the citizens of Gotham.  He's there to offer help to the helpless, and he stands for justice.  He goes AFTER the wealthy and powerful that abuse their privileged stations in life, stepping on the little people to become even more wealthy and powerful.  Yep, Rush...you were right--Batman is a LIBERAL.  He reminds me a little of Warren Buffet.  I bet you anything that Batman pays his taxes without complaint.  He even helps out Commissioner Gordon and Gotham's finest every chance he gets...and they're UNION!!
So...thanks for making this a banner day for me Rush...have another vicodin.  Take two--they're small.

         

Defying the Republican Party

On my facebook timeline, election postings are really heating up!  As we near the National Conventions for both parties, the country is shifting into election mode and this will be one of (if not THE) most important election of my lifetime.  We're at a crucial point in this country and we must decide what direction we want to go in as a nation and a people.  We have some pretty important choices to make.  The SCOTUS handed us a real game changer in the form of it's Citizen's United decision.  For the first time, we'll be seeing the full impact of that ruling, and I'm willing to wager it isn't going to be pretty.  Our political process was put up for sale to the highest bidder.  It's a widely known fact that the candidate who spends the most money usually wins the election.  Now anyone can have a ginormous super-pac and can contribute any amount of money they please and they can do it in a completely anonymous fashion.  It doesn't bode well for We The People, when that also means, We the Corporations as well.

   Now more than ever it matters if you vote.  I know it's easy to feel like your vote doesn't count; you're just one person, after all.  How much can one vote matter?  The answer is simple...it matters a LOT!  

   If your vote didn't matter, there wouldn't be a massive republican sponsored movement to disenfranchise voters and make it as difficult as possible to cast a ballot.  Their rallying cry is "VOTER FRAUD".  The republican party is hell bent on stopping this insidious threat to democracy.  They're willing to spend millions of dollars to eradicate the scourge of voter fraud in every state in the union (at least every republican held state where they can get away with it).  This abomination that has the republicans so up in arms amounts to about 13 cases of verifiable, prosecutable, bona-fide voter fraud nation-wide.  Yep, you read that right.  Thirteen cases...in the entire country...everywhere...from sea to glorious shining sea.  Thirteen cases.  Seems like voter fraud is a bit of a (if I may borrow from the vererable Mr. George Lucas), Phantom Menace.  

   Soooo, why the mad rush to stop a threat of thirteen fraudulent votes?  Because by instituting strict vote regulations, it will stop a significant percentage of people from casting ballots.  And guess what?  Most of the groups that are likely targets of those shiny new regulations are historically democratic voters.  The guidelines target the elderly, college students and voters of non-European descent.  Immigrants--legal ones who are citizens of this great nation and have the right to participate in their democracy.  All of those people (save for the elderly) typically lean to the left a little bit.  And republicans don't like anything that leans left.  So they might lose a few elderly votes.  No big deal, it's collateral damage.

  So your vote does matter.  If it didn't, there wouldn't be such a significant investment to make it as difficult as possible to cast that ballot.  

   Now more than ever, it is crucial that you exercise your right to vote.  With the Citizens United decision making corporations people too, we're even more at risk than ever before of becoming a nation of the money, for the money and by the money.  Public office should not be sold to the highest bidder, but campaign finance reform is a blog for another day.  Contact your local board of elections, head to the DMV or go on-line and find out how to register to vote, then register.  Find out where your polling place is and then come November, head out and cast a ballot.  You'll feel empowered--and you'll preserve your right to bitch about the direction our country is heading!!

Until next time...and there will be a next time....