Losing my "religion", so to speak.

[Johnny Wheels Esq.]

The current state of Inertia in our Nation's capitol has had the effect of making ONE fundamental fact crystal clear to me:
The people I vote into office to go to DC and represent me don't give a flying fuck at a rolling donut hole about me.

This new administration went to Washington like Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Smith", but unlike Mr. Smith, they quickly fell under the spell of lobbyists for the Health Insurance Industry, who are shoveling out the cash at over a million dollars a day. It could give one the impression that your elected representative doesn't pay attention to a note from anybody that isn't written on the back of a $100 bill couldn't it?.

How blatantly "in the pocket" can you be, when popular polls show something like 75% of us favour a Single-Payer system, to sit there in Washington and take your talking points right from Anthem or United Health?

In 1866, that august body of rich old white men known as the Supreme Court ruled that a Corporation has legal standing as a "person". Since that time, we have seen the rise of the Lobbyist Class, who "speak" for this "person", since they have no vocal cords and are incapable of speech on their own (does Evan Bayh's secretary ever say "Mr. Bayh, Glaxo-Smith-Kline on line one.."? No she does not, she says "Mr. Bayh, Mr. Scrotumlicker from G-S-K on line one...") And just exactly what language do these "people" speak?

Money. The SCOTUS ruled in later years that MONEY is "Political speech", and if you limit the contributions of these corporate "people", why, you're stuffing a ball gag in their mouths, and that's Not Nice.

I had a lot of hopes riding on my vote for Barack Obama. Oh, while I didn't really expect him to get me laid (if it didn't happen election night, it ain't gonna happen, so drop that complaint, Emo-world) I did expect him to shake some stuff up and either load the docket over at Justice or The Hague, get us out of Iraq-Nam, clean Dick Cheney's shit stains off the Constitution, and basically turn America back into a country I didn't feel like I had to apologize for.

Well, what have we gotten for all out contributions and campaigning?

A Congress full of "Democrats" who haven't flashed on the idea that they're NOT the Minority Party any more. Still tip-toeing around afraid of making John Boehner and Eric Cantor angry.

A ReTHUGlican party that has rapidly imploded into a Southern regional party of Ku-Klux sympathizers (Jeff Sessions) adulterers (too many to list), white NASCAR bubbas, Christian Reconstructionists, Dominionists, "intelligent" design kooks and other flat-earth anti-science proponents, and out-and-out racists.

A Treasury Department staffed by the very people Justice should be putting on trial for running this country's economy into the ditch.

A Federal Reserve Bank that refuses to co-operate with Congress concerning a (much needed) audit.

Crazy people who (aided by even crazier people on AM radio and FAUX Nooz) insist that our president: is a Muslim; was born in Kenya, and his birth cert. is a fake; wants to kill old people and make Soylent Green out of them; hates America: is "racist", and has a "secert agenda" to destroy the White race; and many, many more unbelievable things. (Call Michelle Bachmann and Michelle Malkin, they've got more.)

A health care "reform" debate that is basically bogged down on the principle of "If we reform our heatlh care (insurance) industry so that health care becomes a Right instead of a privilege enjoyed by the Rich, we won't get all the free dinners, vacation trips, blowjobs, and campaign money we used to get from PHARMA and the rest"

Gitmo is still Open for Business. Different management, same quality treatment. 'Nuff Said.

We still have Americans dieing in Afghanistan and Iraq. O-Sumguy-Bin-Forgotten is still on the loose.


There's more, but these are the points that were sitting at the front of my brain this AM. What am *I* getting from all my efforts, anyway?

Nothing. I don't have a lot of $100 bills to send notes to Evan Bayh on, and I doubt I could get Steve Buyer to pay attention to anthing I care about if I wrote him a note on the belly of a $1,000 Las Vegas "escort".

So, I'm re-evaluating my involvment in The Great Experiment. That's right, after a lifetime of never failing to cast my ballots, of saying "If you don't VOTE, you have no right to bitch", I'm considering hanging it all up. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what I think and want, it doesn't matter what what 100,000 of us want, fuck, it doesn't even matter what 53,000,000 of us want. No, what matters is what "K" Street wants. and unless I can find a lobbyist to spread some $100 bills around, I may as well just piss my pants.

At least I'd have a nice, warm feeling....

[Kittycat]

Tell that to the Republicans. The Dems have bent over backwards for the Republicans compared to the way the Republicans treated the Dems when the roles were reversed.

[OCNaturalDoc]

Many who were sipping the Obama 'kool aid' are getting a big reality check...and that's the ONLY 'check' their getting these days.
HR 3200 is a lame excuse for viable health care reform. It would be a death sentence for some and one step closer to this country becoming a socialized dictatorship, if it were to ever pass....which it won't. Health care isn't about the parties...it's about the people.
Jeeze....why do some work so hard to create division at a time when we need to come together?

[Kittycat]

I understand your frustration. I'm frustrated too. The republican talking points are soooo negative that you'd think that the whole country will be annialated if Health Care has a public option, etc. It's hard to combat their lies. People tend to believe the negative stuff before they'll believe the truth. Isn't that amazing? Alot of people are so skeptical about Gov't, that they'll believe anything that is bad. The best one is their latest...If the Dems health care plan passes, the Gov't will kill all the elderly people. DUH!!!! That's too funny for words, but there are actually people out there that believe this drivel. And there's no amount of explanation that will ever change some of their minds. The republicans have the scary tactics down. I was hoping that we were thru with that type of campaigning. Hateful and downright lying!!!! I can't stand it. But we have to try to combat the lies. Again I beg you to not give up. Call, E-mail, Write and anything else you can think to do, to your Congressmen. They need our help to do the right thing. I feel the same way about Harry Reid. As much as I don't care for Pelosi, Harry Reid could take some lessons from her. She does manage to get the House in line the majority of the time. What the H is up with Reid. He seems lost & befuddled most of the time when he's being interviewed. Maybe he'll get better after the Aug break. Probably wishful thinking.

[Johnny Wheels Esq.]

Kittycat, I really didn't expect everything to get done in 8 months.

But on the other hand, I didn't expect the Democrats in Congress to keep acting like they had to deal with Trent Lott and Tom Delay. It's disgusting. They may as well not even have their majority, for all the advantage they take of it..

And it's obvious to apparently everyone but the Congresscritters that they bullshit us Common People while they take the "donations" from their corporate masters and give them what they want.
I saw the other day that the New Whigs are proposing that the way to cut health costs is to deregulate the health insurance industry. Yeah, like that worked real good with the banking industry. And the Democrats don't even say "What the hell?"

Unless Obama's got some just fuckin' amazing trickes up his sleeve for the l;ast 2 years of his term, he's not going to get a second term, and if Harry Reid doesn't grow a pair soon, his party is going to lose more seats than an Airbus A380 at the mid-term.

[Kittycat]

Why on earth did you think that everything you wanted would get done in 8 mos.? Give the guy a chance. It's 4 years not 4mos. Come on. Quit your belly achin" and write, e-mail, call and anything else you can think of to do to these blue-dogs and whoever else you may think can change their minds. All is not lost. Geez! What do they say? It's always darkest before the dawn.

[Johnny Wheels Esq.]

To quote Redd Foxx, "Tha's right, Lady, I said 'FUCK'!"

So, any comments on the rest of it, or did I lose you at fuck?

[Thomas Glenn]

But, Johnny, I thought Obama in office was supposed to solve all our problems??! (lol!) Have you lost the "dream"? Now do you understand why independents like me were yawning through the whole ridiculous campaign BS? And yes, much of the BS came from Obama. He is still BSing, Johnny. He is still campaigning. Quit campaigning, 'Barry', you won already. Now get off your ass and start acting like a President. And you have to stay home to do that, Barry. Stop running all over the world trying to convince all our 'not so ever good friends', that the US is really the good guy now. Don't you know that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are laughing there turbans off at what you have been saying? "Oh, hey, praise allah! We have a sucker in the White House we can deal with! (lol!). He is going to pull the CIA off our asses and pull US forces out of Iraq AND Afghanland. We will start setting up our second attack on the US infidel crusaders now! I wonder where it will be, Barry. (?) A few good men pulled the last attack that was destined for the White House to the ground. They "rolled". Will anyone roll for you, Barry, especially knowing the contempt you have for them and all the US military? Oh, they probably will. They took the oath. I took it too, to defend the Constitution and the people of the United States of America. But even I would have to think twice about risking my life to defend your worthless ass.

[Gary Freedman]

Uh-oh. You used a dirty word! A "flying WHAT?"