A SIMPLE MEASUREMENT
Posted on: June 16, 2012
As a nation, we have grown in numbers over the last 40 years. So it would stand to reason that as a result the demands upon our natural resources would grow as well.
Heavier traffic bears weight on our roads and bridges. More oil and gas is needed to fuel our vehicles while keeping our homes warm or cooler depending upon where you live.
An increase in population is felt in classrooms, doctor’s offices, and law enforcement agencies. Food supplies try to keep up with the growing demand. The air we breathe is more polluted. The need for adequate housing has never been greater. Thanks to research and technology, we are living longer.
But to listen to some of these politicians, none of that matters. We must face “austerity measures” to offset the growing need for public services and safety nets set out there to meet the demand.
Who in their right mind would suggest that laying off teachers, first responders, and law enforcement officials makes sense? Especially now when the population itself has grown?
Wouldn’t this suggest that more of these people are needed to meet the growing demand?
Not so much if you consider the GOP stance. Cutback proposals are all they talk about. In a time when the economy itself, the engine that drives this nation for good or bad, is at serious risk of failure, their agenda is rife with producing a budget that would set us back to a time when there were a few million less of who we are today. It’s like asking a family of 5 to live on what a family of 3 needed to survive.
We are spending billions in Afghanistan where the total of our own dead has now reached the 2,000 mark with no end in sight. What exactly are we doing there anyway except dodging bullets from those who hate our guts? Why do we still have non combatant troops in Iraq along with a handful of “consultants” draining our defense budget and making millions in the meantime? The excess of money spent on these useless excursions could be applied to our current budget woes but I digress.
Why is it that raising the tax rate by a mere 3% on millionaires and billionaires is off the table? And how is it that cutting back services is the only means to an end? I don’t get it.
Tell me how a crowded classroom benefits or prepares a child? Explain to me how cutting back medical access is a “good thing”? Open my mind to the possibility that private accounts alone is a better option for retirement than the present day Social Security benefits that most seniors depend upon in their latter years?
I am waiting for an explanation of how deregulating industries is going to turn us into a competitive nation if corporations are allowed to cut corners, pollute, and engage in practices that brought about these regulations in the first place.
I am still at a loss in considering why a woman’s right to choose is posing a danger to this nation. How is forcing that woman to bear an unwanted child a necessity? What is going on here that I am missing?
This is what the GOP is aiming for if given the opportunity. It only stands to reason that as the population grows so must those policies and concerns that must grow along with it.
It is impossible to govern a nation on an outdated budget with the primary aim of depriving the majority in favor of a tiny segment who won’t feel the pain whatever the outcome.
These people need a lesson in math.
19 Responses to "A SIMPLE MEASUREMENT"
June 16, 2012 at 11:58 am
Absolutely so. Shared sacrifice has been resefined to mean shared by the 99%.
June 16, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Congress is now working a schedule that has two week of working, one off each month not counting the normal time off they take around holidays. Throw in the entire month of August and my calculations suggest they work less than the average school teacher.
At a time when the nation is trying to recover from some pretty serious economic issues, these elected officials are bound and determined to “table” any proposals of putting the country first by obstructing Obama in every way possible. This is pitiful to be held hostage by “party over country” as the majority struggles while the minority golfs.
And this is the party we want to “reward” by putting them back in charge? Obama may not be “all that” but few can deny that the party of No said so and meant even at the cost to the voters.
While confidence in the future has been eroding as a result of these tactics these people truly do not care. This is not leadership under any circumstances but a deliberate effort toward a one party nation favorable to only a few.
It is disgusting.
June 16, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Pat, you hit so many of my hot buttons that I’m in irreversible launch mode and I reckon to be the second private citizen docking with the International Space Station.
If only these political stooges had your common sense approach — things would be at least tolerable.
Get this — Congress under Dumbledore and Dumbledee convenes at noon on Tuesday and recesses at the close of business on Thursday. Add to that all of August, most of January, and all their time off for tickle-me underwear parties and they work less than Charlie Sheen’s chastity coach. If the Congress critters wanted to do the world a favor they would keep themselves in session 24/7 so at least we would be safe from them rambling about the streets and muttering platitudes on the teevee machine with their factory recalled brains.
And you know what really sizzles my sirloin — all this austerity pandering is nothing more than fodder for another round of tax breaks for corporations and the 1%. You call them disgusting, but I’m going intergalactic with my disgust — I have to try and find out what Klingon is for odious, loathsome, detestable abomination. Given where I am in my launch sequence, I should be passing the Klingon home world by around 5:00 edt.
June 16, 2012 at 3:29 pm
You know what your problem is Pat. You were born with COMMON SENSE. Unfortunately, you were never in a position to run for office, so all those people who were raised to think they were special flowers in a minefield of overwhelming wealth (to us anyway), stepped forward to get in a position to get even more wealth. What they think they will do with it (beyond mansions with car elevators) is beyond me. I often think that if they really, truly believed in Jeebus how do they think they could get past that eye in the needle admonition, but again, they are special flowers so I suspect they believe that Jeebus didn’t mean them, just the rest of the hoi polloi.
June 16, 2012 at 4:13 pm
I just got an email from Kirsten Gillibrand with some info on the “farm” bill, which includes the SNAP program, i.e. Food Stamps. I’ll paste in the pertinent info:
The current draft of the bill cuts funding for this vital anti-poverty program by $4.5 billion. To put that in context, what it means is that nearly 300,000 families in New York alone will receive $90 less a month for food. That is basically the last week of the month in groceries. In this already tough economy, a family losing this help will be devastating. More than half of food stamp recipients are children, 17% are seniors and now, unfortunately, as many veterans are using food stamps as any time in history.
Imagine hearing your child say, “Mommy I am hungry” night after night and not being able to give him or her the food they need. It breaks my heart. As a mother and a legislator, I can not stand quietly by as this happens.
I have an amendment to restore these funds that does not add a penny to the national debt, ask any sacrifice of our hardworking farmers, or raise taxes on anybody. Hopefully we will have a chance to vote on this bipartisan, common-sense solution. But the outcome is still not clear.
Our fight is a tough one, but one worth having. And I just wanted to thank you for standing with me, and our families and children in need, as we continue to push for what is right.
And I”m sure home-heating assistance will be facing some cuts too which affects our friends in the Northeast quite a bit.
June 16, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Sadly, the liberal attitude is different from the GOP. The GOP seem to be about me, me, me. The progressive attitude doesn’t seem much different. The truly liberal attitude is about what about all of us. I’m not sure that there is a place for liberals in today’s current climate. It’s horrific what is happening today. I’m glad I don’t have many years left, cause quite frankly I do not want to live in a world where money is the be all and end all of everything.
June 16, 2012 at 5:31 pm
HT@8: Bobby Kennedy would be appalled at what masks as the Democratic Party these days.
June 16, 2012 at 5:48 pm
Fredster – Bobby Kennedey was was one of the few men that I admired. I know he would be appalled, The sad thing is all of those folks who use his as their Anhave no idea of what his issues and beliefs truly were. Quite honestly and I know this is a real head scratcher, but of the Kennedy brothers, Bobby truly was the best. JMHO of course, but why else his assassination? His brother had already been murdered – why Bobby? Anyway that’s old news – we have more important stuff today. Sad that the Kennedy’s, who actually wanted to help the people – you know the silly folks who fight for survival
Don’t get me wrong, I know about Joseph their father – evil ratfucker that he was, however I think that his sons could have made a difference.. Sad that they didn’t have an opportunity to do so.
June 16, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Good grief, I just read my last comment and my apologies – for vindication I was watching a movie while I was typing. Please forgive my typos – the second sentence I’m still working through. I suspect it has something to do with the heavy testerone involved movie – THOR. My apologies once again.
BTW tomorrow is Father’s Day – I want everyone of the Widdershins who happen to be of the male gender and the father persuasion to have a Happy Father’s Day. You guys are dynamite!
June 16, 2012 at 6:00 pm
HT@9: Well until I fixed my comment I had HT@* or something, but I can edit them now. 
>but of the Kennedy brothers, Bobby truly was the best.
I truly think so too, but apparently they were all horn dogs, to put it miildly.
June 16, 2012 at 6:21 pm
Fredster and of course Fuzzy and Prolix and every other male widdershin and lurker – although most of you don’t have children you still should be recognized as wonderful Dads because just because you are involved with kids that need father figures. As a single sole support mom, I know how important it was to me and my kids to have loving, caring men in our lives. Because you don’t have seminal offspring doesn’t mean that you have not been surrogates. I’ll be back tomorrow with suitable music.
June 16, 2012 at 6:26 pm
P.S. Fredster – my belief Bobby was the best of the bunch absolutely. Perhaps that is why he was murdered? Killing the President was a one off, but why kill his brother? Sad thing – I honestly believe that Bobby would have made a difference – I didn’t think that about Jack Kennedy.
June 16, 2012 at 6:42 pm
HT@12: Well it will be a day for me to remember my Dad.
@13: I agree with you about Bobby and Jack and that’s not always been a popular thing to think in the U.S., about Jack, that is.
June 16, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Politics is so depressing these days, all I have the energy to do is post YouTubes.
June 16, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Beata, very nice version. Seems to be that I’m older than I thought because Moms Mabley was the best version to me. OMG, I am becoming my mother! Is that a bad thing?
June 16, 2012 at 9:06 pm
HT@18: OMG, I am becoming my mother! Is that a bad thing?
Nah, probably not!
I’m off to get something to eat, bbl.
Comments are closed.
June 16, 2012 at 11:36 am
I’m waiting for members of Congress to partake in this “shared sacrifice.” And, for example, give up their health insurance. Let them buy health insurance without tax payer’s subsidies. Hello? *crickets* How about working more than 120 days out of a year? Anybody???