Overwhelmed... and Back Again

It is just over a month since the Women’s March.  It was an inspiring, uplifting time after weeks of dread.  I had written a few times about how we would have to stand together if we were going to fight the mean-spirited who punched down in order to gain power and wealth.

And then, after January 20, a friend formed a group, one of the many activist groups forming to save our country from the despot.  We called it SWAT:  Strong Women Against Tyranny, and during our formative meeting, she pulled out what she called a guide compiled by a group called Indivisible.  This guide and the group had been coming up more and more frequently, but I tend to resist reading ideological treatises, and, to be honest, it looked like a lot of pages.  But I understood what she was saying.  This was a group who had compiled what had been the modus operandi of the Tea Party.  This was a how-to that made sense.  This was about getting together for democracy.

After the Women’s March, there were a couple of women making the rounds of the news shows that huffed and puffed in outrage that they had not been allowed to join in sponsoring the march.  They claimed they represented many of the values that we marched for.  But they were anti-abortion.  They were told they could march with us, but they could not function as organizers.  Because the essential idea of the Women’s March was that we all support each other.  This was a group that was speaking to individual rights, to freedom, and in order to represent this March, you had to accept that we are all entitled to our beliefs and our right to exercise those beliefs.  To me, this was the Women’s March in its essence.  And that is the essence of Indivisible.

I was heartened by the spirit of the movements, Indivisible and others, that were fighting against the tyranny that had taken over our country.  Rachel Maddow interviewed Tara Burnette from South Carolina, who has joined with Indivisible in the activism.  She voted republican, but she disagreed with the Trump administration on education, and she stood with others who had their own causes and concerns.  She told Rachel, "The state of South Carolina cannot be silent anymore."  I was so proud.  And when Trump came to town to do a victory lap at Boeing, another good friend moved me to go with her to protest.

It was a wonderful protest.  The speakers were inspiring, the signs told the story of our fight.  Two hundred of us showed up carrying signs and wearing our passion for democracy with pride.

But we were relegated to an area called the “free speech zone.”  It was miles from where Trump was celebrating and of course implied that free speech was not welcome outside those gates.  Over 200 of us showed up to protest, but the object of the protest would never have to see us.  And at a point near the end of our rally, someone yelled out, “There he is.”  Sure enough, it was Air Force One, a huge phallus piercing the skies over North Charleston.  On this day, it was a blatant fuck you reminding us who had the power.

The local TV news coverage was pretty awful.  Channel 5 news, which news team always does tend to drool over the Sanfords and Grahams, was so salivating over the president’s visit that they had assigned every one of their first-line reporters to Boeing.  They threw a couple of their second-line reporters out to interview and report on the protest.  It was announced that there were 100 protesters, and "dozens" of counter-protesters (there were six).  Someone interviewed one of us at the protest, and someone else gave the same amount of time to the counter-protesters.

It was discouraging, but I just decided to boycott Channel 5 news.   I am 5'1" and I am always the short person standing behind the tall person, but this day I was front and center.  I was tickled that Channel 4 news actually held the camera on me and my sign -- “I felt safe until January 20” -- for a few seconds.

But, since then, I haven’t written a blog.  I’ve tried to keep up with the news, and I have truly been excited by the amazing people who have shown up at town halls to hold elected officials accountable.  I write, but I don’t often show up at events, and when I do I rarely speak.  So I continue to be impressed with the smart and determined people who are asking the tough questions and refusing to let politicians hide behind rhetoric.  But fact was, I wasn't feeling a lot of energy for the fight.

Yesterday, Friday, I entertained the thought of taking the day off, not checking my emails, maybe even not turning on the news.  But I turned the TV on at 1, and he was there, at the perennially ugly CPAC convention, and he was in his element.  He was talking about the press, and making his outrageous accusations, and telling his devotees that the press should be made to give up their sources.  And then I got online, and saw that the New York Times and other major media outlets had not been allowed in to the afternoon’s meeting with press secretary Sean Spicer.

My heart fell.  I don’t know a lot of history, but I know more than Trump.  The words I was hearing were the words that come when a dictator is wresting control of a democracy.  The actions were the actions of a third world tyrant.  

But then I read a message on Facebook.  A wonderful activist had sent me a message saying she was proud of me, and I wondered whatever for?  I checked around and realized the letter to the editor I had sent to The State had made it into the day’s paper.  And then she posted my letter, urged others to write comments in support.  Anticipating possible hateful remarks she told me not to look at the comments.  She said, “We got this.”  A day later her caring and nurturance still makes me smile.

That is what this incredible time is about.  It is the safety pins that mean if you are being attacked and intimidated, we will be there for you.  It means if this dictatorship is able to enforce a Muslim registry, we will be there registering our names alongside yours.  It means that even if we are in the lucky majority who aren’t at risk of violence and hate crimes we will defend those who are.  It is the Muslim people who last week took up the cause to raise money to repair the vandalized Jewish cemetery.  And it is people who may not understand but will defend the right to choose one's sexual identity.  It is people who would not have an abortion but believe that every woman has the right to make her own choice.  It is the fight for the freedom of the press.  The right to walk down the street without fear of being frisked or arrested, or shot by an unstable person carrying a gun.  And it is the fight against the sick minds that want to rip families apart in the name of nationalism.

And I remembered that when Donald Trump is under attack, he doubles down.  He doesn’t always win, but he knows how to bluff.  And that is what he is doing now, because he is under attack.  The cards are stacked against him.  I really believe that.  Every day I hear the voices of the lawyers, scholars, and all the rest of us, speaking up for democracy.

And then I get back up and get back in the fight.  

The Stupids Run for President

As if there weren't enough to worry about, I am reading Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath by Ted Koppel.

In light of President Obama's final State of the Union tonight, I am going to say that the parade of creeps -- and their supporters -- lined up to take charge is the stuff that nightmares are made of.

Based on the performance of the circus act known as the Republican Congress, we are in big trouble.  We currently have our crazy uncle holding the purse strings to our country, their kids are all eight-year-old bullies, and because they are religious freaks who don't believe God wanted them to use birth control, there are a lot of those bullies around.  They may not be smart, but they know how to riot and they are allowed to carry guns.  They may not understand how the world works, but they know how to line up at the polling place and push that button that says "R."

Those right wingnuts in Congress have taken the shock of 9/11, followed by war and a "great recession" and used those horrific events to train the bullies to set their sights on a black president, a woman leader in the House, and the poor and minority people of this country.  The Tea Party voters may not be good at math, but they make up for it with enthusiasm:  wipe out food stamps and NPR and we can get rid of that nasty federal deficit.  Build that wall and we'll have good jobs again, get rid of Muslims and all those white people carrying guns will stop shooting up theaters and churches.

I recently caught a minute of a Rand Paul event on C-Span in which one of those geniuses in the town hall crowd was railing about a government that can't control companies that pollute the environment with things like oil spills.  I should have taped it, because I still don't believe I really heard it.  "You idiot!"  I shouted at the woman.  "Don't you know who that IS?"  Rand Paul, who would get rid of the EPA, who believes government regulation is bad, bad, BAD.

It takes me back to the beginning days of the Obama administration, when the Tea Party turned up to protest in DC, complaining about the poor public transportation, which had been caused by Tea Party budget cuts.

Which brings me back to cybersecurity.  Because while fools like Ted Cruz are implying that "carpetbombing" our enemies will keep us safe, those who truly control the country, like Wall Street and all those companies that have their hands on the electric grid, can't be made to share their vulnerabilities with the federal government or each other in order to make them safe from cyberattack.  Like Nikki Haley a couple of years ago, I imagine once our enemies attack Congress will give us a free year of credit reports.

We're holding on to our guns while the smart psychopaths are working on the capability of pulling the plug on our government and industry computers.

And our candidates for president?  Clueless.  What they do know is how to get the crowd riled up.  Much like Barnum and Bailey, they know there is a sucker born every minute, and those suckers are happy to wave their guns and get in line at the voting booths.

And, by the way, I'd like to stop hearing that these are people who have been hurt by economic downturns.  Take a look at the people turning up to cheer for Cruz and Rubio.  They are teachers and small business people, they are trading in their economy cars for trucks and SUV's again, and they never have to worry about whether to see a doctor or repair the roof.  They are pissed off because they have been given permission to be pissed off, and it feels good to have someone to blame, even if they aren't entirely sure what they are angry at.

And if that's how to get elected, our bunch of republican candidates are happy to point them in a convenient direction.  The Stupids are not only running for president, but are waving their guns and cheering, and lining up to vote.  

Why We Hate Our Government

I came back from my two-week hiatus from red state ignorance to a letter from Federal Blue Cross (FEP).  In a letter addressed to my deceased husband at my address, at which he never lived, I (he) was told that the Office of Personnel Management had instructed Blue Cross to terminate his family health insurance effective 11/16/14, which happens to be the day of his death.

We have all had frustrating experiences with the federal government.  There was the time when I lived in New York and an IRS error resulted in not getting the refund I was due.  After a couple of YEARS of trying to get this resolved, a letter to Al D'Amato (for-god's-sake) resulted finally in a speedy resolution.  Which could have happened far sooner and without political intervention if contacting the IRS had not at the time been like falling into a bottomless pit.

There was another time when the IRS billed me for back taxes and their punitive and insane interest and penalties for a couple thousand dollars of income I had earned as a psychology intern.  That time it took a favor from a lawyer for whom my neighbor worked; a brief phone call in which he explained that the stipend was tantamount to "coffee money" and should never have been taxable income quickly fixed the problem.

Not to overly dump on the IRS, as a psychologist I was one of the very few in Suffolk County, Long Island, that accepted Medicaid.  At a time when the going rate for therapy was $80 - $100 per 45 minute hour, Medicaid was paying $20 for sixty minute hours.  And that alone would not have been enough to cause me to finally end my relationship with Medicaid.  Claims were routinely lost and payments not made, calls took endless tries to complete and ended with a demand that I resubmit and wait another month for payment.  And the threat that at any time all my confidential records could be audited finally sunk the boat.  In the end, I chose to use a sliding fee scale of sorts for low income clients, $5 for a 45 minute session rather than Medicaid's $20 for sixty and all-the-grief-you-could-stomach.  Most others just chose not to accept Medicaid or lower their fees.

Each of us has a story of government bureaucracy, and this one is currently eating away at me.  So let me share it with you.

My husband died in the wee hours of a Sunday morning in November.  On Monday I made my first attempt to contact the Office of Personnel Management to apply for survivor benefits.  After a number of attempts met with a busy signal, I assumed it was a Monday morning thing and instead called Blue Cross.  The BC FEP representative told me I was entitled to benefits through November (which Stephan had already paid for) plus an additional 31 days of coverage at no cost.  Remember that.

What I learned on Tuesday about OPM (lesson 1) is that the busy signal wasn't a Monday morning thing.  It takes something like a half hour of calling and getting a busy signal before you get through.  It's like calling a radio station to win a prize.  Except that when you do get through you receive an automated message telling you there is a half hour wait.

When I reached a human, I reported my husband's death and my request to apply for survivor benefits.  I also told her about my plan to terminate BC FEP on December 31 when my 31 days of coverage was up.  She told me she would send me an application for survivor benefits and when they received it I would be switched to a self-only health insurance plan.  Which retrospectively made no sense.  But which led to lesson 2:  OPM representatives don't listen to a word you tell them.  The assumption is that they've heard it all before, they know what you want, and they are going to give it to you, regardless of your actual verbalizations.

Except that they don't.  Lesson 3 is that OPM loses more information than they eventually have on you.  And they appear to keep no record of your calls, request, and frequently, your paperwork.

Sigh.

After several calls spaced weeks apart to give them time to access whatever they needed to access, a kind representative offered to expedite my application process, meaning the process wherein THEY SEND ME THE APPLICATION.  Then another wait and another call to find that they had not yet received my application and it may take another month.

When they did finally receive and process my application -- and I actually have this piece of paper in my records although I have no recollection of receiving it -- someone at OPM filled out a form authorizing Blue Cross FEP to continue to provide me with coverage that I did not want, and authorizing monthly payment to Blue Cross from my survivor benefit.  That, folks, left me with a $17 per month benefit.  It also left me paying insurance on two plans, as I had applied for and was receiving insurance through the healthcare.gov marketplace effective January 1.

My next call was to someone who was sympathetic and assured me that she would immediately put in the request that my health benefits be canceled effected January 1, and assured me that I would receive the amount paid to BC retroactively.  Except that didn't happen either.  The following month, I received a $17 monthly benefit, minus the insurance payment of $198.

Yet another call to OPM, after 1/2 hour on hold, ended with the call getting disconnected the moment I reached a human.  Hours later, the person I finally talked to snapped at me.  Truly.  She told me brusquely that I was getting the coverage because I had failed to fill out the Request to Terminate Coverage Form.  Of course; why didn't I know that?  So she sent me the form, and I immediately sent it back.  I called three weeks later, only to find...

...well, you all know what happened.  They hadn't received the form.  But maybe they have a way of knowing when an applicant has reached her wit's end.  Because I was given a fax number and told to send in a statement saying this was the 2nd notice, and that I was requesting my health benefits to end on 11/17/14.  After giving this a little thought, and knowing what I know knew about OPM, I changed the wording to request the termination effective 1/1/15.

On May 1, I received the full amount of my benefit, plus retroactive payments.

But wait -- you know that wasn't the end of the story.  My deceased husband has just been informed that some idiot at OPM has instructed Blue Cross to terminate his coverage, including the month he paid for before he died, on November 16, 2014.  And they are going after him for any claims they paid out during that time.

I do not believe there is anyone at OPM that can help me.  I do believe that I am going to be held liable, once OPM lets BC know Stephan is deceased but does not authorize coverage as stated by the plan.  My own House Rep. Jim Clyburn has never responded to an email, so I doubt that he would start now.  Tim Scott or Lindsey Graham might do it, but only if they could then crow about how bad the federal government is and demand further cuts.  I tried months ago to find a pro bono lawyer in the state or county offices for senior services, but -- surprise -- no luck.

Now I'll stop whining and tell you why this happens.  The federal government and certain departments are being starved for funds, in the expectation that we the people will be furious and vulnerable to idiots like the Tea Party.  This is simplistic and the problem goes back farther than Ted Cruz.

But think about it:  a department gets lots of funding when it seems to be a good idea.  Lots of people get hired, the public uses its services to the point where it needs to expand.  And then the group that is not in power starts to yell that the government isn't working right and demands cuts to that department.  People in lower levels of government (the ones that deal with us) don't lose their jobs but those with better options leave, technology upgrades don't happen, offices become shabby, workers feel attacked and in fact, they are.  They are not rewarded for good service, and unofficial rewards, like employee holiday parties, are publicized, denounced, then banned.  Supervisors are likewise under the gun and if not already burned out, burn out.  Old workers do what they have to to get by, young workers aren't hired as needed.  When they are hired, they find themselves in an environment that is depressing with work that is repetitive and unrewarding, and are burdened with stupid employee evaluations and unnecessary paperwork.

As with the backlog of veterans seeking health care, most departments in the government that directly serve the people are underfunded, with too few employees and incredibly outdated technology.  Supervisors are neither trained nor encouraged to make jobs easier or more pleasant for their employees.  They continue to require that i's are dotted and t's crossed, by hand and thousands of times over.

Except for the woman who snapped at me because I hadn't filled out a form that nobody told me I needed to fill out, I don't blame the OPM workers.  When government services are seen to be important, and government employees are treated with respect and also given reasonable tasks, departments like the Veterans Administration and the Office of Personnel Management will run more efficiently.  People will get what they need with far less waste of time and resources.

But then again, we will value government, see our tax dollars as wisely spent, and continue to vote for progressive democrats who will continue to promote and establish good government.

But meanwhile, I need to go back to writing another letter to OPM that will fall into that black hole.


*I have recently changed the Comments section of my blog so that it should be easier to post comments.  I would like to invite you to briefly share your stories of frustrations with government (ha ha -- "briefly"). 

Obamacare -- The Fight Goes On... And On...

Here in South Carolina, we do seem to be doomed to continue to fight the Civil War.  Since President Obama moved into the White House, this has taken the form of nullification laws, which basically say, "We don't want your dadgum gub'mint."

Remember those Tea Party town halls back in 2010 when the Affordable Care Act was just a bill?  Those rousing town halls in which the most violent and irrational attacks were played and replayed to the benefit of that new group of radical right-wing nutcases?  Where pro-bill senators were shouted down and wheelchair ridden proponents were told to just shut up?  Here are a few moments from this glorious episode in our history: 


Rather than being embarrassed, the Tea Party saw this as a glowing success story.  And here in SC, legislators unable to pass nullification in spring of this year, have decided that town halls are the way to relive that glorious past, win that ole War against Northern Aggression, and defeat even scarier Tea Party challengers on the right.

Beaufort County Tea Partier Tom Davis is hosting nullification town halls throughout the state, hoping to relive those glory days and make life safe once again for... well, at least for Tom Davis.

Here in Charleston, the event will be held Wednesday, November 6, at 6 p.m., at the North Charleston City Hall.

This time could be different.  For one thing, we know a few things we can get from the Affordable Care Act, and in fact have already benefited from.  The big items include:  no longer being disqualified due to real or fictitious pre-existing conditions, being able to keep a child on a family plan until age 26, and covered-with-no-co-pay preventive care, including birth control (which truly is preventive, folks).

In the true take-no-prisoners -- even if we have to shoot ourselves in the foot -- spirit of the confederacy, we've lately heard a bunch of myths, i.e. lies, and distortions about Obamacare, and I'd like to address that here.

1.  There has been a lot of outrage by people whose health care plan has been dropped, or whose premiums have gone up, since the inception of the ACA.  I don't know where y'all have been, but here in the US, being dropped from plans is not a whole new thing.  And premiums going up?  You really just woke up and realized your premium was going up?  How do you think we got to be #1 in health care costs?

2.  Those young people don't need health care; why should they be saddled with paying for everybody else?  I've got more news for you.  Not only are young people young, they are more likely to be more active, and yes, take more risks than us more mature folks.  And do you have any idea what the cost of a simple broken leg is these days?  So let's not pretend that young people have less need to insure their health than the rest of us.  Statistically it may happen less, but in the real world it can certainly happen.  And here's another news flash:  responsible young adults are all too happy to have health insurance, because they understand the risk of being uninsured and the cost of health care.

3.  Why should people pay this tax (excuse the four-letter word) for something they don't want?  Okay, let's start with paying taxes for a bridge you aren't ever going to cross, and for all those business incentives that corporations claim they need to exist, and then we can end with the Iraq War.  And all the government funded programs in between.  That's what taxes are, and that's what they do.  With a better Congress, we might be paying less for subsidies to big profitable corporations and more to build roads and schools.  But that's another whole soapbox.

So when you go to that Town Hall on Wednesday, be sure to make those points, and all the other good ones you can think of.  Things are different now, and we won't be shouted down.

Killing Democracy, One "Rule" at a Time

Over the last -- I don't know it seems like forever -- couple of years, we've heard a lot of talk about the "Hastert Rule" in the dysfunctional belly of the House of Representatives.  When I hear it, I usually snort derisively and mutter something like, "And who the hell made that a rule?"

The "Hastert Rule" means that a bill can only be introduced in the House if a majority of the majority (read, republican majority) supports it.  This idiocy was the brainchild of the evil Newt Gingrich, who managed to alienate his House and lose the Speakership after he brought the government to a shutdown in 1995.  Hastert was chosen to be Speaker of the House when the other options were too sleazy even for the republicans (I'm sorry, my disgust is showing.)  Hastert was considered more moderate and reasonable.

Enter George W. Bush and his peaceable bunch of thugs.  Next thing, in 2004 Hastert makes this "rule" the official policy of his speakership.  Can you hear Democracy crying?

Well, today's wild bunch could not have wielded the wrecking ball quite so effectively without Boehner's insistence on following this nasty policy.  Except when public pressure got to be too much, like on votes for relief from Hurricane Sandy, the "fiscal cliff" deal, and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.  I imagine the Tea Party brats were in such a frenzy over not being able to throw their weight around that Boehner had to promise them, "You can have the Hastert Rule again next time."

So last week when the republicans were starting to get the feeling that the American people maybe didn't like them anymore, for example blaming them instead of the president for the shutdown, and the bullies in the backroom were having a good laugh over the wrecking of the government, Boehner caved and let that old Hastert Rule go.

But before that happened, the Speaker changed House rules just a little bit to prevent a Democrat from bringing up a vote to pass the Senate bill that would reopen the government:





This amazing piece of sleaze should make alarms go off throughout the country.  But if Representative Van Hollen had not sent it out on youtube, we probably would have no idea.

We really need to ask ourselves why the media did not pick this up, and why every Democrat (and the occasional patriotic Republican) is not screaming bloody murder about this.

Not only have the republicans gotten away with a gerrymandering that prevents a majority of voters from choosing their representative, and then successfully made laws to limit voting by those groups more likely to vote Democrat, but with the "Hastert Rule" and House Resolution 368, they have taken steps to make certain that elected House Democrats are unable to participate in the workings of the House.

We need to know this is going on, and let others know whenever it happens.  This is the sound of our Democracy getting flushed down the toilet in the interest of power.

Rambling Thoughts about Republican Bullies

I have been somewhat reluctant to write about the criminal idiocy that is controlling our Congress since the shutdown.  There are so many out there who are speaking out far more eloquently than I might.  Turn on C-Span and listen to the testimony about all the government services lost and all the individuals being hurt by the narcissistic cowards in charge.  Or listen to Jon Stewart's nightly rants on the absurdity.

Unfortunately, the media continues to give legitimacy to this asinine process.  I heard someone on a panel ruminate that Obama would have to give something in return for getting something, that something being the end to the government shutdown and raising of the debt ceiling.  You know, in order for the House republicans to be able to save face.

Basically, this is like handing the school bully a couple of dollars if he agrees not to steal lunch money for a couple of weeks.  In fact, the behavior we have witnessed since John Boehner's first "Hell, no!" is no better than middle school tantrums.

And we -- the administration, the American people, the media -- have been treating this bad behavior in a way that has perpetuated it.  We have first of all paid attention to it, with media focusing on every brat-attack by the Tea Party since their bizarre inception.  Then we have rewarded them by voting their loudest and stupidest into office.  And then our ostensible leaders have all been cowed by the idiots, from Boehner fearing for his Speakership to Obama's early attempts to compromise, to Mitch McConnell's recent comical avoidance of expressing an opinion and our own Lindsey Graham's waving his guns around in attempts to ward off that fearsome "challenge from the right."

Meanwhile, the media appears to not have noticed that the tide is turning.  Big business has noted that shutting down the government in order to kill Obamacare has not been good for their health.  Wall Street has woken up to the fact that government spending is an essential force for the good in our economy and their continuing accumulation of riches.  Even the Democrats are aware that the party of greed and fools has gone too far.

And nearly last on the train is the Americans who cheered on the Tea Party, who have finally noticed that cutting all that wasteful government spending could actually affect them as well. 

Typically looking backwards, and fearing that oh-so-2010 challenge from the right, the radical wing-nuts of the republican party haven't noticed, or have no idea what to do with the fact of their increasing unpopularity.  Like the bully, the only possible response in their limited repertoire is to hit harder.

I imagine they might be surprised to find that the challengers that take them down in 2014 are going to be the moderates, you know, the ones that sound like they want to try to make government work.

And the media will probably realize this just about the same time.

   

A Nation of Whiners

Isn't it pathetic to see John Boehner trying to look fierce saying, "You got your tax increase.  No more."

Because the couple of percent that those who make over $400,000 a year are having to pay was waaay too much of a sacrifice, and their lives will never be the same as a result.  

And if we then tax estates of a million dollars or more, those poor youngsters who inherit just might have to stand in line for food stamps with the Wal-Mart workers.

And if you've invested a couple of million dollars and have made umpty-million more through that investment, why shouldn't you get to keep every cent of those not-so-hard-earned dollars?

We who have the nerve to fight for a wage that allows us a decent roof, health care, high quality education, and maybe the right to a vacation with our family are really tired of the real whiners.  It's the Mitt Romneys and Paul Ryans, the Rand Pauls and Eric Cantors who are doing the whining.  Why should their money be used to fund public schools that their kids don't use?  Or pay for roads and bridges that are crumbling?  Or pay for health care that...

You know what?  Each of those whiners gets quality health care paid for by us, the taxpayers.  Yet they fight heartily to cut back Medicaid for the poor, Medicare for seniors, and Obamacare for all those of us who have been used and abused by the insurance industry.

They are neither courageous, nor are they patriots.  They are the whiners.

The Sequester Backfire

Looking back on it, President Obama signing the sequester bill was a bit like an angry parent sending a child to their room to be with their computer and television.  He pretty much gave the right wing-nuts exactly what they wanted.

When people lose much needed income and benefits, South Carolina's own Tea Party idiots like Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney, Jeff Duncan, and of course our poster boy of denial, Tim Scott, are cheering on the cuts.  Scott has the nerve to call it posturing when the President talks about cuts to police, educators and firefighters.  I guess if a job doesn't directly effect Mr. Scott, it really doesn't matter.

These clowns will come out cheering the austerity measures, and bragging on how they engineered the reduction in the deficit, while people are losing needed income and government services, and subsequently tightening their belts, leading to lost dollars for businesses.  The fact that austerity resoundingly did not work where it was put into place in Europe has no relevance for these fools, who have never felt the need to use facts to make an argument.

It's sad for our country, sad for the state of South Carolina, and sad for the voters who trusted that these people maybe knew what they were doing, and would have the courage to do what was best for their constituents rather than what made them look tough.

RetireSafe -- Not as Safe as It Sounds

When I got the email from Tim Scott last week declaring he was going to save us all from letting Obama throw us off a cliff or some such nonsense, I also saw that he had just received the 2012 Standing Up for Seniors Award.  He modestly made the announcement at the end of his email, after I was already afraid I was going to be pushed off a cliff.

The group giving him this award is called "RetireSafe", which sounds suspiciously like all those Kochian and Rovian Superpacs with warm and fuzzy names masking their evil intentions.  So I looked it up, and sure enough, these dudes are calling themselves a "grassroots organization".  Not like any grass I've ever grown on my lawn.

This is a whitebread, Romney-esque bunch, who last year gave the award to Tea Party Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona.

Harder to get information on the guys (of course they are guys) who sow these grass roots, but here is the scoop from TPM Muckraker at Talking Points Memo.  So now it makes sense.  This group awarded Scott for his work for big Pharma and other health related corporate interests, who make big bucks from -- of course -- Medicare and seniors.  It is also just another group of rich guys who are scamming seniors by giving fake awards to those legislators who live in their pockets.

Helping the Less Informed

When I get unwanted phone calls, I can be brusque, okay, maybe even rude.  My home is my castle.  A double-wide castle with old carpeting, a leaky toilet that the plumber can't seem to fix, and furniture far older than the house, but my castle nonetheless.


But I promised myself some time ago that I would listen patiently to find out who was encroaching on my serenity, and perhaps use the situation to offer some of my own wise thoughts to the outside world.


That said, I do get incensed when I send an email to one of my congressional representatives and they make me leave a phone number.  That means you, Jim DeMint and Tim Scott.  And when Scott also made me look up the last four digits of my zip code, it was the last straw.  I added to my email the impression I had that requiring that information made it appear that Scott was attempting to cull the number of constituents that annoyed him with emails.


Well, being the go-getter that is our Tim Scott, he actually had some nice young guy call me, proving that he really made use of the phone number he required.  We had a pleasant conversation, I think.


When the young man pointed out that someone without a phone number could just fill in zeros, I advised him that many people don't know that.  And that interestingly, over the many emails I have sent Mr. Scott, the only call I have gotten was the one in response to my questioning his requiring the phone number in an email.


The plus-four part of the zip code was even more inspiring:  this is so Scott will know exactly which area in his district the constituent is from.


Anyway, we went around on that nonsense for a couple of minutes and then I said, "Let me ask you this -- why do you support Tim Scott?"


And the nice young man began to tell me how much good Scott has done for his constituents, including when he was on the Charleston County Council...


I was glad he mentioned that.  I brought up the fact that Scott voted against reinstating the $25 property tax that had  been cut when tourism was booming, calling it a new tax and refusing to raise taxes.  In fact, that $25 per $100,000 would have allowed the library to continue to function without cuts in the book budget and the county hiring freeze that has lasted over four years.  The library may be the institution that most serves the poor, unemployed and underemployed.  The library has provided books that schools can't afford for their classrooms and even school libraries.


I told the young man that I would have been happy to pay the additional $25 per year, but Mr. Scott's real constituents, those with the million dollar homes, would have then had to pay far more.


I then told him that I hoped that he would reconsider his support for Mr. Scott, and he politely said that he still believed that Scott's policies would help us all.  I suggested that he might believe that now, but would be likely to think otherwise if he hit a rough patch.


I was proud of myself for being able to carry on a civilized conversation with this polite young man.  I can't guarantee that I will be able to do it again, but I tell myself that just maybe my words will have given him a moment's pause from his support of a man who truly serves to fill the pockets of the greedy in an area in which so many are struggling to survive.

What I Wish I Had Said: My Very Own Rant

Yesterday, at the library, an old redneck came over to where I was working and began to grumble about having to do all this paperwork, you know, for the "gubmint".

I mumbled non-commitally, so as not to encourage the inevitable right-wing anti-government rant, but after he assembled his dad-gum paperwork and went on his way, I thought, "Well, when the Tea-Party takes over you won't have to worry about filling out that blasted paperwork anymore, because whatever you're applying for won't be there."

Yeah, that's right, come on in and use the library and then complain about the government.  While you're filling out forms to get some government benefit.

You should be able to get whatever you want from the government just by calling and saying, "Hey".  Just like Halliburton did at the start of the Iraq War.  You know, I forgot, that was your buddy Cheney that did that deal.  No paperwork necessary, until they're ready to send us the bill.

Now those teachers, they have a life.  The government gives them all that vacation.  Just to try to teach thirty or more of those kids of yours.  Teachers Work Day?  Just a free lunch, isn't it?  A day to actually communicate with one another, what do they need that for?

Except that your U.S. Representatives are taking one week off a month, to go home and golf with their constituents, and by constituents, I don't mean you or me.  You can bet though, that we pick up the bill for a lot of cocktails on those at-home work weeks.  They may not be meeting in smoke-filled rooms, but John Boehner and Jim DeMint are sure not doing the work of the people back home, unless you mean people who are worth a lot more than you and me, dollar-wise.

So, complain about the government, and then go out and vote for the Republicans who spend money to feed the wealthy, and take it away from you and me because we just can't have the government getting fat on the back of…

…you and me???

Social Insecurity

I lost my free wireless last week.  With an income of $12,000, it is unlikely that I will be paying upwards from $55 a month for a wireless connection.  So I will haul my laptop, which I bought refurbished for ½ price, to the library, which fortunately has in the past year advanced into the 21^st Century with public wi-fi.

One of the things that I can do that Tea-Partiers cannot, is recognize that there are others who, through no fault of their own, are far less fortunate than I.

That does not mean that I am thankful for this state of affairs, because I also recognize that there are people who, for no good reason (and I mean good in the Golden Rule sense of the word), have far, far more than I.

I don't care how many aircraft the Koch Brothers have at their command; what I do care about is that they have the power to engage in criminal, deceitful, ugly acts to manipulate the public, to garner support for political policy that continues to provide them with that power.

Now, those with a little more than I, the middle class, have more to lose.  Rather than feeling more secure about what they have, this has made them vulnerable to those who use their power and fortune to convince them that change means loss of what they now have.  Not a vacation home, mind you, but health care, a job, savings for retirement.

At the time the generous soul who shared their wireless with me left town, I had spent the month paying large (to me) sums of money for repairs – it seemed everything I owned, old but cared for, was breaking down.  A week's pay for a car repair, a week's pay for a lawn mower, an inexpensive printer that I now cannot use because it is wireless and, alas, I no longer have wireless access.  The airline ticket I paid for my annual visit to my daughter is something I cannot afford.  I do what I have tried hard not to do:  waste my life worrying constantly about money.

So when I lost the wireless, which in truth, in this freedom-at-a-cost country, I was stealing, something in me broke.  My lifeline to my family, all far away, is gone.  My ability to sit down and write a blog now needs to be structured and fit into time I am at the library.  And the calendar I throw together every month on Publisher has no picture gallery because I am putting it together at home without the internet.  My old computer had a picture gallery, but instead of feeling pissed off, I opt for – I can't think of the word, and I can't get to the internet thesaurus site.  How about resignation?

I am poor, I have no right to contact with the outside world.  I am lucky I have my laptop and a library connection, and for now, I am lucky that my car, with its 156,000 miles, can still get me there.

Meanwhile, the Koch brothers have convinced the insecure among us who still have a middle class life, that by helping us they will lose that life.  And meanwhile, while the Tea Partiers fight the Koch brothers' battle for them, they in fact are helping them destroy what they now have, and what used to be considered a secure life.