Does this piss anyone else off?

[CornField]

If not, maybe I'm in need of a walk in the woods to clear my head.

In a time when Congress is debating which programs need to be cut to curtail national deficits which are spiraling out of control (and looking to cut programs for the poor to better fund the rich), we have this Abramoff mess. Millions upon millions upon millions of dollars being funneled into Washington D.C. and being used to buy off the folks who have a very good paying job: to represent the people who elected them to office.

How many millions have been wasted on buying off influence and votes? How much national healthcare could we have bought with all this money? How many more could have been evacuated out of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast? How many cures for cancer could have been discovered by now?

The bastards sit up there and use their fancy lawyer-esque to debate on the very lives of the American people all the while they are accepting donations hand-over-fist from special interest groups and lobbyists. If it is all only politics then I believe all politics are bullshit and its time we start indiscriminately shoveling.

[RagingInMiami]

1. This is a point that needs to be driven into the heads of ...

the average, dumbass american over the next few weeks.

[mattomjoe]

2. Sure does. It may be hard to tell with me, though--

I think I suffer from pissed off fatigue....

[madokie]

3. Same here I've been MAD since the '00 stealing

[myrna minx]

6. Exactly. Just when you think they cannot top their most recent outrage...

they truly out due themselves. :hug:

[hang a left]

4. Excellent post yesterday by txaslftist

The Deficit is not a mistake.


I recently read Lakoff's "Don't think of an elephant", and he makes an interesting observation in there. After Clinton balanced the budget (and he did it in the face of Republican opposition, which is what they want you to forget), he kept the social programs, like medicare and social security and such, largely intact, and in fact managed to find money to increase some programs.

The Republicans were furious. They'd been advocating killing those programs since they were created. Bush's tax cuts were intentional, but the intent was not just to cut taxes and shift the tax burden to the middle class, but also to resurrect the deficit. The idea being that if the deficit got large enough, it would create an emergency in the bond market and with inflation so great that the Republicans could justify cutting those programs.

In other words, the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush administration is not an accident or a failing, but rather a deliberate ploy to create a justification for cutting these popular programs which otherwise could never be cut.

To put it more simply, the idea is to deliberately mismanage the budget and LIHOP a crisis, then respond to the crisis by doing what they wanted to do in the first place, but never could have gotten away with. Just like ANWAR.

To put it even more simply, the Republicans have deliberately fucked up our economy. They've hurt the country on purpose to get what they want and thwart the will of the people.

They are our enemies.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=40506

[Justitia]

8. Yup, it's called "Starve The Beast" strategy. -eom

[TheFarseer]

15. Totally agree

I think it's also quite possible they know how to make money off some securities market or a foreign currency market or even some stocks by having a deficit. a win win win situation.

[CornField]

17. I've got that one in Mt. ToBeRead

Maybe I need to toss it to the top of the pile. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Justitia]

5. Your comparisons are way too logical and topical

for it not to drive you (and me, and most everybody else here) insane!

We cannot lose sight of the Theater of The Absurd that we have stumbled into regarding the amts of $$$ that are being funneled straight into the pockets of crooked republicans.

Don't get snagged in the whitewashing bullshit net of "all politicians do it", "both sides do it", etc. - No, they DON'T. Not "every" politician does it, not even most. That is just the way the crooked ones rationalize their behavior. Kinda like, "don't bother voting, your vote doesn't matter anyway" attempts to dampen a voters commitment to voting.

Yes, the ones who are crooked are VERY VERY DIRTY and the dollar amts we are talking about here blow my freaking mind (as do ridiculous things in the budget that would so easily reduce the suffering and struggles of my fellow Americans, instead of building a f'ing bridge to nowhere).

You have your head screwed on straight, which is why you are outraged.

[meganmonkey]

7. You are not alone

and either way, a walk in the woods is probably a good idea :(

[leftofthedial]

9. this is bribery, pure and simple

every crooked politician (including Dems, although the vast majority are repukes) who took a dime from him or any other thieving conman should rot in prison for having betrayed their constituents.

[sam sarrha]

10. right after the cut fro services to the needy they passed another tax cut

[JuniperLea]

11. Not to piss you off more... but...

What about all the laws that were passed as a result of them being bought by this thug and the rest of the cartel? Are they going to be reversed?

[Hubris Heaver]

12. remember W saying "our enemies never stop thinking of

ways to hurt Ameriica, and neither do we"? He wasn't misspeaking.

[TheFarseer]

13. absolutely

everytime Congress makes a decision that seems not in the best interest of the country, just follow the money. There's a reason for Congress making, uh, interesting decisions on the budget and other legislation and it's not because they are stupid people (with the possible exception of George Allen and Norm Coleman). The reason people vote for stupid things on capitol hill is because someone paid them to do it.

[Hubris Heaver]

14. Paid them alot.

This would be a good time for a movement to get corporate money out of Washington to gain some steam. NO corporate money in elections or from lobbying organizations= democracy.

The republicans will fight it tooth and nail, but the country would back democrats on this.

[Dora]

16. Yes. n/t