We apologize if we come off a bit blunt today, but it struck us that in recent discussions with other media professionals around the country, the comment that keeps finding its way into our conversations - even from some of our Republican colleagues - about the current GOP Congressional "leadership" is the same: "Who the hell do they think they are?"
We're glad that President Obama finally took on the hubristic Republicans yesterday at his press conference, both on the budget and on the issue of leadership. Frankly, we think he should have done it a LONG time ago.
If you missed the President's press conference, you can watch or read the full transcript at Whitehouse.gov, when you have time. In the spirit of being blunt, however, we decided to rewrite our own short version of his remarks yesterday. This is the address we wish he'd given.
"Good morning, everybody.
We all know how crappy the economy still is out there - and I know there are a ton of people, especially on the Republican side, bitching and whining that my administration still isn't doing enough to fix our economy after they nearly destroyed it. I don't think I need to remind you - again - that I'm not the only one that controls this government. At a certain point we need to say to our Republican friends that they just need to do their own damn jobs.
Right now, there are a whole list of things Congress could do, if they truly wanted to get off their asses and deal with reality. Right now, Congress has a bill they're sitting on that would make it easier for entrepreneurs to patent a new product or idea. Right now, Congress could send me a bill that puts construction workers back on the job rebuilding infrastructure, by providing loans to private companies, states and local governments. Right now, Congress could pass some new trade agreements which would actually help level the playing field for once between the U.S. and countries in Asia and South America. And right now, we could give middle-class families the security of knowing that the tax cut I signed in December will be there for one more year. All of these things are the homework that is sitting on the desks of Congress, RIGHT NOW, still half-finished, after they've had a LONG time to complete it.
My 10 year old and 13 year old daughters get their homework done before their deadlines every day - what the hell is your problem, Congress?
We all know the single biggest thing we could do to help the economy and create jobs is to get this budget done, and tackle the nation's deficit. Our budget committee, led by Vice President Biden, has busted butt to find more than one trillion dollars worth of spending cuts already.
Still, that hasn't been enough for our Republican friends. They want to defy the laws of mathematics, and never raise taxes again, especially for millionaires and billionaires. Yet somehow, they still expect to magically balance the budget. EVERY economist - ours, theirs, economists from other countries - have all said the same thing: What the Republicans want isn't possible. Period.
It would be nice if we could keep every tax break there is, but we’ve got to make some tough choices here if we actually want to reduce our deficit, instead of just BS-ing everyone about this. For instance, if we choose to keep tax cuts for billionaires, then college kids, cancer patients, and old people will suffer - and you won't ever again be able to trust that hamburger you love so much.
The bottom line is this: Any agreement to reduce our deficit is going to require tough decisions and balanced solutions by leaders on all sides. Only a few people have what it takes to make the tough decisions in life. That’s why they’re called "leaders".
There’s no point in procrastinating any further. We have got to get this done. If, by the end of this week, we have not seen substantial progress on the budget, then members of Congress are going to have to suck it up and cancel their vacations - which they seem to be on all the time.
They're in one week, they're out one week. They come back for a few days, and leave again. And then they have the gall to say, "Obama has got to step in and take care of this." Congress? You need to be here. I’ve been here. I’ve been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis. I've done healthcare reform, and Iraq, and Wall Street - and I've even been on diplomatic missions around the world while I did all this. It's time you stay here and get your work done, for once.
Let’s get it done, people. I'm tired of being jerked around - and so are the American people. It's time you did your job."
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
First, They Came For The Parade...
It's with some concern for certain friends of ours that we've noticed a heightened level of anxiety lately, specifically about the Federal budget and the debt negotiations going on in Washington, DC.
It's not that we aren't concerned with the insane obstinance and utter stupidity of the Republican leadership in Congress - or the repeated naiveté of the Democratic leadership - on the issue of the debt. We've been concerned enough about the topic of sensible budgeting - both bringing in more revenue and cutting wasteful spending - that we've discussed the topic at least once a month, every month, for the entire history of this publication.
That being said, we're not overly worried that the government of the United States will end up breaking its proverbial neck on our debt ceiling, regardless of what kind of hostage techniques Congressional Republicans try to pull off. As former corporate lawyer and longtime legal journalist, Reynolds Holding noted in a column for Reuters on Tuesday, America's constitution - specifically the Fourteenth Amendment - doesn't technically allow for us to default.
Still, even if we take a Pollyanna-like approach that the federal budget and debt negotiations now being led by President Obama will work out, that sadly won't change the selfish, self-centered, poisoned atmosphere that permeates much of America.
In our hometown of Lincoln, we used to be proud of a crazy annual community event known as the Star City Holiday Parade. We're intimately aware of how unusual it is for a midwest city to host an outdoor parade, annually, on a morning in early December (Our web guru helped host that parade for his former radio station, outside, in the cold, for seven years in a row). As crazy as it was, it was an event that brought the community together, attracted huge crowds, and had grown over its 25 years to become Lincoln's kickoff to the holiday season.
When the economy crashed, the funds for the parade went away, and we highly doubt it will return. It was an unusual event, but one that raised both the economy and the quality of life for everyone in the area. Even more unusual, was the fact that none of Lincoln's "money guys", including members of the Lincoln Independent Business Association, were willing to step up to the plate with checkbooks at the ready to continue this long-standing, successful community tradition. They should all be ashamed. We surely are.
Now, instead of acting together as one community to do things that will benefit the greatest number of our citizens, even "family friendly" Lincoln, Nebraska, seems to have turned inward and selfish in many ways.
Yes, the citizens of Lincoln did vote to build a new entertainment arena last year, a vote that was easily twenty years overdue when it passed. But a single vote doesn't improve the overall quality of life in a community. In fact, instead of working to make the venue more energy efficient and less of a drain on the pocketbooks of future Lincolnites, Lincoln's Mayor has recently decided that the city can't spend a little more money now, to make sure the arena is built right the first time.
After all, the arena suites are scheduled to go on sale soon for between $45,000 and $65,000 a year - and Lincoln simply couldn't ask for more money from the poor little rich folk, who can afford such extravagance in our current economic climate, right?
As syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. noted last weekend, there are reasons all of us, rich and poor alike, pay our taxes. Making our communities worth living in is one of those reasons. Paying the debts we all owe is another.
Getting past the debt ceiling argument won't be the hardest thing America does in the near future. The hardest thing we'll do is finally address the question of what kind of America we actually want to live in.
We hope that the America that we collectively choose doesn't end up being one where we toss out traditions and things that have made our country such a great place to live and work for so long, in order to make way for the "suite life" of the super rich. If that turns out to be the case, then we at The Daily Felltoon will be truly concerned.
For now, count us as worried - but holding tight to the Fourteenth Amendment.
It's not that we aren't concerned with the insane obstinance and utter stupidity of the Republican leadership in Congress - or the repeated naiveté of the Democratic leadership - on the issue of the debt. We've been concerned enough about the topic of sensible budgeting - both bringing in more revenue and cutting wasteful spending - that we've discussed the topic at least once a month, every month, for the entire history of this publication.
That being said, we're not overly worried that the government of the United States will end up breaking its proverbial neck on our debt ceiling, regardless of what kind of hostage techniques Congressional Republicans try to pull off. As former corporate lawyer and longtime legal journalist, Reynolds Holding noted in a column for Reuters on Tuesday, America's constitution - specifically the Fourteenth Amendment - doesn't technically allow for us to default.
Still, even if we take a Pollyanna-like approach that the federal budget and debt negotiations now being led by President Obama will work out, that sadly won't change the selfish, self-centered, poisoned atmosphere that permeates much of America.
In our hometown of Lincoln, we used to be proud of a crazy annual community event known as the Star City Holiday Parade. We're intimately aware of how unusual it is for a midwest city to host an outdoor parade, annually, on a morning in early December (Our web guru helped host that parade for his former radio station, outside, in the cold, for seven years in a row). As crazy as it was, it was an event that brought the community together, attracted huge crowds, and had grown over its 25 years to become Lincoln's kickoff to the holiday season.
When the economy crashed, the funds for the parade went away, and we highly doubt it will return. It was an unusual event, but one that raised both the economy and the quality of life for everyone in the area. Even more unusual, was the fact that none of Lincoln's "money guys", including members of the Lincoln Independent Business Association, were willing to step up to the plate with checkbooks at the ready to continue this long-standing, successful community tradition. They should all be ashamed. We surely are.
Now, instead of acting together as one community to do things that will benefit the greatest number of our citizens, even "family friendly" Lincoln, Nebraska, seems to have turned inward and selfish in many ways.
Yes, the citizens of Lincoln did vote to build a new entertainment arena last year, a vote that was easily twenty years overdue when it passed. But a single vote doesn't improve the overall quality of life in a community. In fact, instead of working to make the venue more energy efficient and less of a drain on the pocketbooks of future Lincolnites, Lincoln's Mayor has recently decided that the city can't spend a little more money now, to make sure the arena is built right the first time.
After all, the arena suites are scheduled to go on sale soon for between $45,000 and $65,000 a year - and Lincoln simply couldn't ask for more money from the poor little rich folk, who can afford such extravagance in our current economic climate, right?
As syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. noted last weekend, there are reasons all of us, rich and poor alike, pay our taxes. Making our communities worth living in is one of those reasons. Paying the debts we all owe is another.
Getting past the debt ceiling argument won't be the hardest thing America does in the near future. The hardest thing we'll do is finally address the question of what kind of America we actually want to live in.
We hope that the America that we collectively choose doesn't end up being one where we toss out traditions and things that have made our country such a great place to live and work for so long, in order to make way for the "suite life" of the super rich. If that turns out to be the case, then we at The Daily Felltoon will be truly concerned.
For now, count us as worried - but holding tight to the Fourteenth Amendment.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Playing Dumb
We have a strange idea for a litmus test of sorts, for whomever is going to win the 2012 Presidential election.
We think that whatever candidate is going to win the election, which will give them the keys to the largest and most powerful military and nuclear arsenal on the planet, should know the difference between John Wayne - famous actor from Winterset, Iowa - and John Wayne Gacy - the serial killer who posed as a clown and killed 33 young men and boys in the 1970s. That's not to mention the difference between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, or that the founding fathers did not, in fact, seek to end slavery.
Sadly, the latest entrant into the Republican Presidential primary race, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, doesn't know any of these things - or at least, she appears not to.
We have friends who live in Minnesota - solid, sane, Republican friends - who are horrified by the thought of Ms. Bachmann as the President of the United States. They don't even really like her as a Representative, for many reasons. They've said she's pretty enough - but it seems almost beyond belief that she's really as stupid as she appears. Our Democratic and Independent friends there concur - Bachmann should not be underestimated.
It's an old actor's axiom that the people who play dumb the best are actually highly intelligent. If a person's intelligence can be accurately judged by their degrees and accomplishments, Ms. Bachman must be much smarter than her actions lead most people to believe. She worked on President Jimmy Carter's campaign in college. She earned both Bachelors and Masters degrees in Law, and was a practicing federal tax lawyer for five years. She's even ridden the wave of Tea Party discontent higher than any other national politician, establishing the Congressional Tea Party Caucus, for which she is the chairperson.
As journalist Matt Taibbi points out in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Bachmann is anything but a joke.
For one thing, the base of people Ms. Bachmann appeals to includes a large portion of people who have longstanding grudges against those who are better educated than her base. In Bachmann, her base voters see someone just smart enough to possibly get elected as President - and just dumb enough to hate all the same people they do.
Of course, the rubes she's trying to pull a fast one on don't seem to have learned - yet - about the nearly $30,000 in state and federal funds that her husband's business has received over the last five years. They also haven't learned that her family's farm in Wisconsin, in which she is a partner, received over a quarter million dollars in ag subsidy money during a similar time period. The subsidies that are lining Bachman's pockets now are the same ones she's been railing about for several years, when she continually wailed that the federal government and state governments need to reduce wasteful spending - like unnecessary agriculture subsidies.
If we didn't know better, we'd think Ms. Bachmann was trying to run for the presidency of the Lincoln Independent Business Association - but that spot is already occupied by another hypocrite, who makes a living criticizing the pay and benefits of public employees while feeding at the private sector trough.
The truth is, if politics were always about the better candidate, we'd never be concerned about Michele Bachmann going up against Barack Obama for the highest office in the land. Unfortunately, as we've all seen far too often over the last ten-to-twelve years - including a presidential race decided by a 5-4 Supreme Court vote - that's not how politics works these days, in America.
If you know anyone who thinks Michele Bachmann is a viable choice for President, we ask that you point out to them the facts behind her lies - and then remind them of the old actor's axiom we cited earlier in this column.
Bachman may appear stupid - but she's way too good at it to really be that dumb.
We think that whatever candidate is going to win the election, which will give them the keys to the largest and most powerful military and nuclear arsenal on the planet, should know the difference between John Wayne - famous actor from Winterset, Iowa - and John Wayne Gacy - the serial killer who posed as a clown and killed 33 young men and boys in the 1970s. That's not to mention the difference between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, or that the founding fathers did not, in fact, seek to end slavery.
Sadly, the latest entrant into the Republican Presidential primary race, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, doesn't know any of these things - or at least, she appears not to.
We have friends who live in Minnesota - solid, sane, Republican friends - who are horrified by the thought of Ms. Bachmann as the President of the United States. They don't even really like her as a Representative, for many reasons. They've said she's pretty enough - but it seems almost beyond belief that she's really as stupid as she appears. Our Democratic and Independent friends there concur - Bachmann should not be underestimated.
It's an old actor's axiom that the people who play dumb the best are actually highly intelligent. If a person's intelligence can be accurately judged by their degrees and accomplishments, Ms. Bachman must be much smarter than her actions lead most people to believe. She worked on President Jimmy Carter's campaign in college. She earned both Bachelors and Masters degrees in Law, and was a practicing federal tax lawyer for five years. She's even ridden the wave of Tea Party discontent higher than any other national politician, establishing the Congressional Tea Party Caucus, for which she is the chairperson.
As journalist Matt Taibbi points out in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Bachmann is anything but a joke.
For one thing, the base of people Ms. Bachmann appeals to includes a large portion of people who have longstanding grudges against those who are better educated than her base. In Bachmann, her base voters see someone just smart enough to possibly get elected as President - and just dumb enough to hate all the same people they do.
Of course, the rubes she's trying to pull a fast one on don't seem to have learned - yet - about the nearly $30,000 in state and federal funds that her husband's business has received over the last five years. They also haven't learned that her family's farm in Wisconsin, in which she is a partner, received over a quarter million dollars in ag subsidy money during a similar time period. The subsidies that are lining Bachman's pockets now are the same ones she's been railing about for several years, when she continually wailed that the federal government and state governments need to reduce wasteful spending - like unnecessary agriculture subsidies.
If we didn't know better, we'd think Ms. Bachmann was trying to run for the presidency of the Lincoln Independent Business Association - but that spot is already occupied by another hypocrite, who makes a living criticizing the pay and benefits of public employees while feeding at the private sector trough.
The truth is, if politics were always about the better candidate, we'd never be concerned about Michele Bachmann going up against Barack Obama for the highest office in the land. Unfortunately, as we've all seen far too often over the last ten-to-twelve years - including a presidential race decided by a 5-4 Supreme Court vote - that's not how politics works these days, in America.
If you know anyone who thinks Michele Bachmann is a viable choice for President, we ask that you point out to them the facts behind her lies - and then remind them of the old actor's axiom we cited earlier in this column.
Bachman may appear stupid - but she's way too good at it to really be that dumb.
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