Tue, 06/29/2010 - 12:07pm — lambert
[OBAMA:] "There is a great concern about the 8 million jobs that we lost in the course of this last two years."
Oh, yeah, right. From the party that just threw 1.9 million unterbussen off the unemployment rolls in the midst of the worst economy since GD I, when they had control of the Presidency, the House, and the Senate, and whose accomplishments on jobs can be summed up in two words:
Obama is such a shithead.
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Just hung up with our "financial advisor"...
...screaming about these things and saw this post.
It just went via e-mail to Fisher Investments. Hope they read their mail.
Would you rather have
Sarah Palin not giving a shit about your unemployment?
See today's excellent Somerby takedown
of clueless tribal Palin-bashing.
Wow.
Way to go, Somerby.
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alas is crocheting daily at http://memorycrochet.blogspot.com/
The Obama defense I imagine:
“We are so concerned, in fact, that we’ve decided to cut the immediate safety net of extended unemployment benefits and the COBRA ibsurance subsidy, and are hard at work on ways to cut the long-term safety nets of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Here’s our thinking on this: if you’re not working – either because there are no jobs for you, you’re old, or you're sick or disabled, we just can’t afford to keep you around. And the best way to speed up your demise is not to prolong your - and our - agony, but to just cut you off from as many sources of survival as possible, as quickly as possible. We’ve timed it so that most people can be out on the streets and homeless in the summer months when there is no danger of freezing to death, and while it may be harder to glean unspoiled food from dumpsters and garbage cans, there is always the chance you can pick up a nasty case of food poisoning – I hear it’s not as painful a death as some people think.
Now, for those who think this is heartless or cold, let me be clear: in the long run, more people will benefit than will suffer. As the government is able to shed the extra expense, we will have more money for war – and nothing says “I care” more than a strong military operating in countries that have no idea how to be a democracy.
Make no mistake: we’ve put everything on the table, considered all the options, heard from all sides, and this is the best and only solution to our growing problem with the poor, the sick and the disabled.
I would be honored if those of you who are not too weakened or debilitated - or barking mad - would stand with me on this; I'm going to need your help to make it happen - so whatever you can afford - pennies from the sidewalk, a nickel from the recesses of your sofa: trust me - we can make much better use of it than you can.
Thank you.”
Pitch perfect, Anne
Worth a post.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
I agree - elevate this to a post
It's spot on. And the ending is just so pluperfect...
We can't afford not to have single-payer!
Fantastic Obama parody
The only thing missing is an appeal to God at the finish.
We will push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop.
Truly devastating, but I don't think it's parody...
I just finished 2 12 hour shifts, and the patients we're seeing are increasingly the result of the economic and political maneuvering by the legacy parties. People are becoming homeless, losing their families, unable to get the medications they need to survive, unable to get food, and they come to us, in the most desperate straits. More and more people are attempting suicide (some with great gusto and success), presenting with complications of high blood pressure, cardiac, respiratory, diabetic complaints, most because they can't get health care or medications because they can't afford it, or can't find a doctor that takes medicaid. Some come in dead, or just as good as. And increasingly the patients I talk to cite "stress" and unemployment as very large components of their distress, and they need a non-judgemental shoulder to cry on. I don't believe you can see and hear what I am exposed to, and not suffer, too. The very feeling of helplessness it engenders just destroys my soul..because, you see, I went into this profession to help people, and the root cause of their problems aren't medical..they're political...so I am running for US Congress because I just can't take it anymore!
"Rule number one: pay attention"-Ded Bob
"Legacy parties" really is a useful frame, eh?
Just saying. Remember, also, that to the elite, the "distress" is not a bug, but a feature. This is the human face of "austerity."
Thanks for the great comment, and keep us posted on your campaign, please!
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
A very useful frame..especially for a "Green" :-)
And yes, the results of our recent policies are intended, not accidental. (TY Anne for that rapier take-down). I am awaiting the State convention to be "confirmed" as the candidate, end of July. As a third party in MI, we are not allowed to participate in the primaries (access logjams, anyone?), but that is all to the good for my campaign, since I have to line up donors, my internet media, print media, etc. It is amazing to me the response I get when I chat people up..they are generally extremely excited, voicing their disgust with the PTB, and almost to a person stating "I will vote for anyone that's not an incumbent or major party member". Now, I take some of that with a grain of salt, but the emotions I'm seeing are pretty genuine, I think. I went to the USSF, had a good meet with a 3rd party caucus, and hooked up with some pretty influential Greens in the state (and nationally). Working full-time, midnite shift, and at a job that is so physically demanding (especially at my age) makes the run that much harder. But it also helps me resonate with the citizens in my district, I believe. Thanks for your interest, Lambert, and I'll definitely keep y'all posted!
"Rule number one: pay attention"-Ded Bob
"Can't find a doctor who takes Medicaid"
Just pulling one thing from your very useful summary "from the trenches":
And one of the results of "Health" insurance "reform"* will be... to put more people on the Medicaid rolls. Yippee!
This was a problem Don McCanne at PNHP identified early on. At the meeting that MadamaB and I attended last December, it was mentioned by more than one speaker. In many places there is already a shortage of providers who will accept Medicaid.
I know most of us are already familiar with this fact, but I feel a need to bring it up at every opportunity. And can any rational person think that Medicaid will not also be on the chopping block of the deficit hawks at some point?
* The WSJ is now (maybe always has been?) referring to it, at least part of the time, as "Health reform": not "Health care reform", not "Health insurance reform". I don't know what's behind this - perhaps a desire not to take sides in the choice of language - but "Health reform" gives me even more shudders.
We can't afford not to have single-payer!
"Everything is on the table"
Of course, medicaid is already on the block..it's being rolled into the RW "stew" of "unfunded liabilities" together with SS and Medicare (we won't go down THAT rat-hole talking point for the moment). I've been aware of the access problem to medicaid for years, both as a front-line ED RN, and as a fan and member of PNHP, and Healthcare Now. It is an indictment of our Constitution, which promises to ensure "the welfare of all", and of our political system, that a human being can die for no other reason than this country, the richest in the world, refuses to provide for its sick and destitute. And as far as the WSJ's language, I find it "spot on"..since really, we will truly have "health reform"..since people's health will be reformed, in the truest sense of the word...or deformed, as the case may be. We will have a reformation of the baseline of acceptable levels of care for ill, or disabled, individuals (see Anne's "parody"), and it won't be pretty.
"Rule number one: pay attention"-Ded Bob
Devastating, Anne -- great commentary
Makes reading blogs worthwhile.