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Shame on All of You for Hurting the Least of These Again
So, Congress is letting unemployment benefits expire for many thousands of Americans just because they cannot work together for the public good? And our President cannot even step in and step up to protect these most vulnerable citizens during this recession? Shame. Shame on the whole lot of them.
From MSNBC today:
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) criticized Republicans Sunday for blocking unemployment benefits, which will expire Monday while Congress is out of session," The Hill reports. Reid issued a statement saying that Republicans making 'excuses' for stalling the benefits package and are hurting the unemployed. 'Families in Nevada and across America are struggling to make ends meet, and many are relying on unemployment insurance and health benefits as they look to find work,' he said. 'It is inexcusable and irresponsible for Republicans to once again block the extension of these benefits. Their excuses ring hollow to American workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and are trying to put food on the table, pay the rent, and take their children to the doctors.'"
The Republicans were angry about the passage of the lame health insurance recovery act (also known as healthcare reform bill) so they saw fit to block the extension of unemployment benefits in order to punish the Democrats. Really? Who got punished? And the Dems are blaming the Repubs for the ending of the benefits even though they were so busy getting out of town for their own spring recess that they left Washington just complaining about it and not demanding some other way to get the extension approved so that millions of people would not suffer. So much for the Dems really caring about these families.
The President had some pretty important Easter plans following the health bill signing celebration, so he couldn't possibly take a pro-active stand to demand a fix for the lost money, could he?
So, during this most holy of weeks for many, our government officials saw fit to take their recess and let the unemployed whose benefits were expiring today just suffer.
Do they know what it's like to have that unemployment check not arrive? Already much less income than one gets when working, the benefits are sometimes just enough to prevent folks from qualifying for other government help but not enough to really afford payment of all the bills. Being on unemployment is no picnic but it is better than nothing.
I recall weeks when those unemployment checks were the difference between buying a child's asthma inhaler and not being able to do so. And I suspect that thousands of families are facing just those kinds of decisions this week as their benefit checks will not arrive. Would they like watching their children wheeze and gasp for air? Would they want their utilities cut off or to see an eviction notice posted on the door. The pharmacist and the landlord, the tax collector and the utility companies don't really give a damn whether the Republicans were punishing the Democrats by cutting benefits - the bill collectors want their bills paid. On time. No wiggle room.
Cutting off unemployment benefits during this time is causing great harm. It isn't just about not being able to have a spring holiday or a new iPad, it's about having groceries and a roof over one's head. I know we all understand clearly after the healthcare debate that precious few of our elected officials really believe healthcare is a human right for all persons, but now it should be abundantly clear that they also have nearly total disregard for the suffering resulting from their failure to protect most human rights in this nation.
Cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden by the Constitution, but not by this Congress and not by this President. I am angry with them all for not being in the least bit courageous or creative in finding a way around and through their differences that did not harm the people they are elected to represent. Shame on you all. And may you never know what it is to have such cruelty thrown your way by people who pretend they care. Restore the benefits, by whatever means necessary, before more people suffer. Just because you are on recess doesn't mean you can hide from your responsibilities. The people who elected you sure can't. Get it done.
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Show AllAnd shame on all of us for electing such politicians and allowing them to do this in our name. Shame of course presumes there is a social conscience or moral sensibility to that conscience but it is clear to me that at least for many or possibly most US citizens that sense of shame does not exist. In fact I would dare to say that a morality which presumes a social conscience is deliberately bread out of most church going citizens. A blinding sense of self righteousness and privilege, that we a recipients of God's special favor, is put in its place, We live in a very cruel nation and I for one do not know what its redemption could be. Except that I think it's going to have to involve lots of humiliation and suffering.
Shame is useless; it accomplishes nothing. Understanding what is happening takes no more than reading a book or two (I recommend Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine"). Nothing of what is going on is a failure of democracy because, as I've posted many times, WE DO NOT LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY. Expecting our "elected representatives" to serve other than the corporate interests that give them their marching orders is living in a fantasy world. The American Empire is crumbling, which is why we continue to attack only those who are weaker than us.
Our government serves a permanent war-based economy. Short of a revolution, nothing will change that.
I concur, FastEddie. Sheldon Wolin calls it inverted totalitarianism. "The US has become a showcase of how democracy can be managed without appearing to be suppressed." There are many of us, though, who see through the appearance, for what that's worth.
As Cynthia McKinney says, the dems and the repubs are two wings of the same party: the party of money and war.
Voting for one of these wings is voting for war.
PeaceTruthBeauty!
Jack Chase
"Voting for one of these wings is voting for war."
Indeed, but what really puts the blood on all our hands is the taxes we pay. Even though taxation is mandatory and most of us can't get our hands on our earnings before they're taxed, and even though (war) tax resistance is too frightening for most to contemplate, not to mention personally risky, every hour we put in at our jobs (for the majority of us) does indeed put the blood on all our hands (which is probably just too sad and demoralizing for most to contemplate, so let's just watch TV or something).
(I skimmed Wolin's book, then tried to dig into it, but I had difficulty with his prose. Perhaps I should check it out again...)
Shame on us is right...when we witnessed Senator Obama and Senator McCain suspend their presidential campaigns in September 2008 to rush to Washington DC and campaign for hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars to be instantly handed over to the too big to fail banks (who caused the financial meltdown) with no strings attached.
At that point both candidates showed their true colors and 96% of the US electorate proved that they are willing to overlook the morals of the candidates they vote for.
While Obama puts out a 110% effort to keep taxpayers' cash flowing to the banksters, he figures that unemployed Americans will vote for him no matter how much abuse he and Congress dole out.
Anyone who thinks that the ruling class in this country cares about average people is just fooling themself. Just look at the minimum wage, a princely $7.75 per hour. And many of the so-called elite think that that is too high. A revolution is long overdue and you can say that the pigocracy has it coming.
The elites' goal is 5 million billionaires and 305 million slaves in the US. The systematic dismantling of the middle class is proceeding on schedule for them.
If I was a bit cynical about Washington, DC I would say that this failure to act on the unemployment benefit stalemate is a cruel stimulus for the financial services bottom feeders (the same ilk that own President Obama or at least his administration's political agenda). A two-week plus delay in unemployment benefits checks will cause many unemployed to be unable to pay their bills on time triggering lots of outrageous, regressive late fees. I know, for example, that the late fee on my car payment went up from $40 to $100 as a result of the recently passed "credit reform." That penalty fee is about one-fourth of an average unemployment check.
And the COBRA health insurance continuation program is merciless when it comes to late payments. How many people will simply lose their benefits because the health insurance companies cancel them for missing the mandated payment period?
(The uptick in over-time hours for low cost financial services vultures such as debt collectors and re-possessors will no doubt be reflected as a slight "net increase" in employment in the coming month reports on un- and underemployment.)
Its the reverse Robin Hood model: take from the poor and the workers and give it all to the elites.
The Obama Regime is now telling us that the Gov. made money on the TARP because the banksters paid the money back.
What they don't tell you is that the banksters borrowed money from the Federal Reserve at 0% interest and no strings attached, and used that money to pay back the TARP which at least had token strings attached.
It sure reads like the proverbial tale of two cities, doesn't it? If you live inside the gated communities, everything's peachy. But if you find yourself on the outside looking in, you probably feel the anxiety of things going from bad to worse. Not to mention the indifference of the patrons in their gated communities probably mocking the likes of you for not pulling yourselves up by your bootstraps, as they take turns tearing your boots out from under you.
As one of my friends always says -- It's difficult to pull yourself up by your bootstraps/shoes, if you don't have any boots/shoes in the first place.
Good analogy to the "Tale of Two Cities!"
adnoseum: In Florida, where I live, this "gated community" complex of indifference to the plight of the less-fortunate is highly developed. One of only 6 or 7 U.S. states without a graduated (progressive) income tax, the Florida legislature is doing its annual 60-day session of miseries by inflicting budget cuts on many of the "least of these" including medical benefits for pregnant women and for infants.
This must be done to protect the state's well-off from (God forbid!) any increase in the property taxes on the 1st or 2d or Nth homes. As one reporter puts it, the attitude here is "I've got mine, now buzz off!"
But those of us who voted for Obama were too blinded to realize what a Reaganite lover Obama was by voting for him because of silly fears like Sarah Palin, race guilt if we didn't vote with Obama, and "just trust him to deliver hope and change". I know I fell for such stupidity when I went Obama on the last minute. Why would Congress care to listen to us when they will either get reelected or get a millionaire's job? Why would Obama himself care after banning people who raise real concerns from his website and no longer sending emails and snail mails? Elections are coming in about 7 months. How many of these goons will we throw out of Congress?
He was talking to Wall Street about "Hope and Change," not you. Obamageddon is a good talker, so you thought he was speaking to you.
He voted for the FISA bill before the election. Wasn't that enough of a clue?
I wish I could have sympathy for your regrets, but all the evidence was before you, so I can't.
There were many clues before the Nov. 2008 election day, however, the economic meltdown in Sept. 2008 assured that whoever was running on the Democratic Party ticket would win.
The myth of Obama's popularity was a media construct. Prior to the Sept. 2008 meltdown McCain's claim that the Iraq surge was a success was not challenged by Obama and McCain's poll numbers were rapidly escalating...until the meltdown.
through out mankinds history civilizations have tanked and individuals have suffered and now amerikans are getting a wee taste....unfortunately, as has been said many times on this site, some are more aware than others.....i can't understand what an amerikan revolution would be like...i only see
"dead people"....read NIGHT recently, by e.wiesel...very cheery reading about the self deception that seems to be genetic in the human species (max...i feel ashamed too)....peace
All in a day's work for the ship of amoral fools known as Congress. Well, now we get to see what happens with all these people off their unemployment unable to find work.
Democrats and Republicans keeping each other, along with the massive, wasteful bureaucracy of the State, in business.
One silver lining I can see in this is that a lot of those unemployed people will be complaining types who vote, because they have college degrees. They have a taste of the better life so they have a sense of standards and higher expectations. Do not believe they should filled with dumb gratitude for every stale peanut the government hands out.
So perhaps there's a bonanza for us in this somewhere.
The National Safety Net Movement agrees with the spiirt of this article, and offers today's blog, "The Big Deal," in solidarity with it. Check us out. www.nationalsafetynet.info
The Big Deal
The National Safety Net (NSN) could be compared to the Department of Homeland Security in terms of its size and influence, except that instead of a large government program that spies on and manipulates citizens for the sake of a ruling elite, NSN will actually secure the common interests of the American people. In other words, NSN is not merely a social or policy commitment to key values and principles, it is also a new, huge government institution ( with seven major divisions) that is charged (legally and financially) with satisfying basic survival needs for everyone. Following FDR’s New Deal, NSN is best described as a Big Deal because of its unprecedented scale and range. It rejects the slow, small time approach of Democrats and Progressives in favor of implementing a sweeping vision that entails big changes in America that are needed and well deserved by ordinary Americans
Good ideas. To further reinforce your NSN idea with American traditions (INSTEAD of making it sound like a new & strange idea): it is in alignment with the Constitutional requirement to promote the general welfare.
The selfishness of the people leads to these outcomes. A change in attitude among the people is badly needed. As of now, it remains me first. Nothing will change until the people change.
Yes the people are selfish. They expect food and even a roof over their heads. Who do they think they are?
As the economy worsens and more jobs go away, there will be more of them on the streets, running amouk, kicking in doors. Maybe your's Stone.
Nothing will change until the people change
--------------------------------------
Not so, if by "change" you mean in some fundamental way.
--------------------------------------------
"It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like to straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in."
----------------------------------------
Nobody can be expected to vote in a way that might make their bad situation even worse. So as long as the ruling class can convince everyone that they're part of a tiny, radical, lunatic, powerless fringe movement --they'll vote for the lesser evil. As sociologist Stephen Duncombe (finally remembered his name) noted, it's the unique genius of the US ruling class to have convinced us that there's no viable alternative to their lizard hegemony.
But let that glamour, that enchantment, slip _just once_, such that people realise they're *not* alone, *not* a member of a tiny lunatic fringe that's simultaneously completely unimportant and also able to destroy the nation by letting the wrong lizards get in... Let that happen just once, and it's curtains for the lizards.
I am delighted to see another group , Donna Smith's" National Nurses United ," speaking out for the workers of America.
I know that Obama spoke highly of Ronald Reagan, it upset me then but what choice did we have ? We had to get the war mongers out of power . I thought that Obama was going to bring our troops home from Iraq and try diplomacy and reconstruction in Afghanistan. Who among us thought that he was going to expand the war into Pakistan? And use drones around the world to assassinate suspected terrorist or Taliban, killing so many innocent people. The workers who do not have money for food, rent or mortgage , also do not have access to affordable health care, there is still no public option to help them get affordable health coverage. Shame on Congress and the president for foreign policy and domestic policy And now we need to worry about Nuclear weapons star wars production, nuclear energy, and drill baby drill!
What choice did we have?
Go Independent, go Green.
I know, I voted for Mr Change too--my bad--but
we need to STOP voting for these two corporatized parties.
They're both a worthless lot of assholes driving us all into a ditch.
Chelsea
Before the election Obamageddon said he would attack in Pakistan, increase the size of the military in Afghanistan.
You may not have been paying attention.
Vote Nader would have been the good play. Some people let the stars in their eyes.
"Who among us thought that he was going to expand the war into Pakistan?"
... and Yemen, and next?
I wonder how many thousands more need to lose their jobs and unemployment benefits until there can be not only the self-confidence in each of them but team confidence to take to the streets. From health care to jobs, I understand that people don't take to the streets unlike in Europe and I think I just found out why. My foreign relatives not only have self-confidence (not too much but not too little) but they also have that sense of connecting to one another and building team confidence. At least that's what I understand out of communicating with them. I hear that in Europe when masses take to the streets, not only do they sustain but even the media gives them some attention whereas in America, there is so much selfishness that the only protests that are honored by the American media are the tea bagger right winger ones because it's all about protesting for more selfishness and hatred that they try to call "freedom". I don't know the fate of these unemployed people losing their last of the benefits but many might just settle for lower jobs or who knows what. I think that the empire needs to finish crumbling first before Congress and Obama get some shame in them.
Donna,
Please leave the Democratic Party.
Lead your nurses to become INDEPENDENTS.
The Democrats ARE the Republicans.
A government that allows 300,000 homes to foreclosed on every month is pathologically insane.
All politicians are crooks. They all let people die and go without basic needs.
Get rid of all of them. We'd be better off without any government.
Dear Donna Smith,
Several times you referred to this so-called holy week in your justified indignation, but you need to connect the dots. The same sado-masochism which is manifest in the democrats and the republicans can be traced back to the celebration of a cruxifiction. Indeed, the most smugly indifferent and cloyingly incapapable characteristics of this government are a direct reflection of their belief in their own spiritual "superiority".
What these assholes believe is that if you are wealthy, then it is god's will and if you are poor then that is god's judgement. So they couldn't really care less - because in their perverse sado-masochistic belief system, the possession of money (power) is proof of grace.
As far as they are "concerned", Wall Street is the real (estate) cathedral of god. They are merely typical of this perversity which is also promoted by most religions. Why do you think that religious institutions (corporations) are tax-exempt?
I see that you are a co-chair of "Progressive Democrats". That is pathetic. If you think you can be progressive and within the democrats control system, then I don't see much hope for you.
p.s. They (the powerlusting sado-masochists) only tolerate females as long as they know their subordinate position and as long as they glorify the phallus.
Amen.
Amen, indeed! (And "ouch"!!)
Does anyone know the legislative mechanism through which the Dems could force the benefit extension through? Donna Smith writes that they are "...not demanding some other way to get the extension approved so that millions of people would not suffer." Maybe there is a way, maybe there isn't a way. We should figure this out.
The Democrats could simply ignore the Republicans and stand up for themselves. That they won't use their majority where it counts shows that the Democratic Party is just as untrustworthy as the Republicans. There is one thing we the voters could do though. Vote both parties out and bring in politicians who will actually stand for the people and not the corporate tyranny.
That's the problem. "The Way" is blocked. There is a concerted effort by one party to prevent the other party from succeeding in ANYTHING. They block every avenue. The normal workarounds are not working and if they're tried, the howl from the public is deafening. Because the workaround for a Senatorial hold is to buy off the Senator that's holding. Usually that takes the form of backing some piece of pork for his district or inserting his language into a portion of the bill.
In this case, the Senator(s) that are obstructing are not holding out for a specific point, they are simply trying to make political gain on the backs of workers.
And judging from comments like those above, it's working. Note the deft manner in which the actual responsibility for this hold is lost and the blame is subtly shifted from the GOP (for whom this is a part of a deliberate political strategy) to the Democrats (for whom this is pure frustration) and Obama (who has very little control over the machinations of Congress).
There is no "snap the fingers" other way to do this. The President can't simply decree that this will be done. Congress has rules and this is a manipulation of those rules by people with bad intent.
By continuosly blurring just who is responsible for our current nightmare, you help to continue that nightmare. You give the impression that ALL of Congress and ALL of the Administration is to blame, when it's a very specific slice. And by creating that confusion, you create cover for the crooks.
With the failure to renew or extend Unemployment Insurance they are starting to test our limits.
They've already destroyed most of the Safety Net programs enacted by LBJ that saved so many families in the 70s and through the Volcker/Reagan Recesson of the early 80s.
When was the last time you heard a term that was common for a welfare program in the early 80s: General Relief?
How about Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)?
From Reagan through Clinton they disenfranchised the poor during the rise of Political Correctness. From Bush II through Obama they are now disenfranchising the Middle Class.
Kill 9 million U.S. jobs and then blame the victims. Create 300,000 new foreclosures every month and destroy the "equity" in those mortgages. At this level it may actually matter how sophisticated your politics are, but unless you have organized in advance, the immediacy of your emergency is more likely than not to abrogate your commitment.
"I was about to close this huge deal I worked on for years and would have been set for life, but then I was diagnosed with stomach cancer and they called it a pre-existing condition, because I had a stomach."
They poison you and then deny the cure.
Will we organize, revolt, or take it?
Thanks for being here, Donna Smith. At least you are seeking to organize. And for good cause.
-30-
The monied interests already ran this scenario in chile (but more slowly here). Disenfranchise the poor, working,middle clases (& call it "pull your own weight/stand on your own two feet"); install a pinochet-style fascist dictatorship (probably on the "martered" body of o-man)so that the monied interests can FORCE you to accept their imperial rule over you (despite their being worthless & ALREADY BANKRUPT). REMEDY: impeachment & reinstituting FDRism (starting with glass-steagal bankruptcy reorganisation to KILL the ALREADY monetarily dead "monied interests").
Do we wish to live? This is what it'll take.
marter=martyr
"Will we organize, revolt, or take it?"
Unless more people can build not only enough self-confidence to do so but also team up and build some team confidence, fat chance.
#1 Harry Reid could have kept the f**king Senate in session and not let any of the bastards go home for a start.
#2 If the Republicans wanted to block and obstruct this legislation, Harry Reid could of made them stand on the floor of the Senate over the Easter recess and make them filibuster the bill.
#3 I'm getting tired of the MSM claiming that the Senate could not pass this bill. The bill was being blocked by one Republican Senator.
#4 It has become quite clear that these people who run our government are a danger to both themselves and us. Time to order the entire lot of them new dinner jackets, the kind that buckle in the back!
We have one corporate political party with two heads (republicans, democrats) who have rigged the political system so that no matter who wins the corporate politicians will be representing the corporations and special interests.
Completely removing private money from political campaign contributions is the only way moving forward.
No one with anything that could even remotely be considered intelligence should expect anything from the Republicans, but the Dems could have forced the unemployment extension through by keeping the Senate in session into the break (as stated by an earlier poster). A few words from El Presidente might have gone a long way in achieving this.
The fact that none of them give a frick is no surprise to me, but having spent half of last year drawing through no fault of my own (back to work now), and with a partner still on unemployment, I have pretty much had it with the bunch of them.
Third party next time / no more "lesser-of-two-evils" when November comes around again .....
"The fact that none of them give a frick is no surprise to me,"
It's a surprise to me. I heard more than a few Congresscritters (all of them Dems) angry at this. Didn't Grayson go off on it? And Dennis? Reps from my state, Larson and DeLauro made public statements about it and I believe that I heard an aside on it from Obama. If you went out to Boxer's site, she probably has a comment, Ried expressed his frustration, in fact, check just about any Democrat's press clippings for last week and there will be some mention.
It is possible that Ried could have kept the Senate in session, that worked last time, but there's no guarantee that that would have broken Cochrain's hold and "A few words from El Presidente" would have done zero, or less than zero to move the obstruction, their whole point is to confront Obama, frustrate the Democrats and make them look like they can't get anything done, paving the way for a Republican Comeback.
I know that this challenges the conventional wisdom here at CD, but there are two parties out there and they are fighting hard against each other. The GOP is fighting for it's existance and the Dems are fighting to build on their gains. The coordinated effort by the GOP and the Media to paint the Dems as ineffective is aided by people, Left and Right, buying the GOP story, ignoring or covering for the very carefully orchestrated obstruction campaign. Articles like this are part of that blurring process and as such, help the GOP with their coup.
And BTW, the lesser of two evils is less evil.
The lesser of two evils is STILL evil.
But less so.
Yeh, but as Ralph Nader rightly points out, the lessers of two evils get more evil as time goes on, once they're elected into office.
"CV"
To follow your pathetic "rationalization",
Winning justifies all and don't do today what you can pretend you will do tomorrow.
No, Birdbrain, Winning doesn't justify everything. That's the BushCheney method.
But losing every battle doesn't get you any closer to where you want to go either. I can't figure out what your argument actually is since it doesn't seem to relate to my post. This was not Democratic procrastination or malfeasance, it is clearly the intentional planned work of an obstructionist GOP. And when faced with this a month ago, the Dems promptly passed the continuing resolution, not pretend anything (it did, however, cost US the nominations of at least 4 good appointes).
All I'm trying to do is disambiguate a situation that is doing US damage. Continuing to give the GOP cover by shifting the blame from the Republican goons that are causing the problems to the Dems who are their intended targets will only help the GOP gain seats in Congress. It won't help get a third party candidate elected, it won't help get reforms enacted, it won't help US, all it will help is the GOP.
During the Bush regime the Democrats kept on whining that they didn't have a majority to override Bush. Now that they control the White House and Congress they still cannot control anything except for the campaign funds they all receive from the corporations!
A third party sounds damned good to me. However it must NEVER be influenced buy the corporations. It must consist of the best of the disenfranchised democrats, socialists, greens, civil rights activists, civil liberty activists, etc.
The democrats have shown over and over again that they are not much different from the republicans in crucial areas of need. ( Jobs, healthcare, unemployment, housing, the wars)