The Tragedy that is the Tea Party

Tea Party people are angry! Tea Party People hate government!

They are mad because their economic hopes from the last 30 years have been shattered. They want to turn to a third party, but the way our system is structured, they can't. So they go with what they think is the lesser of two evils and hope to bring change from within. But they don't understand how government works. They just don't like certain parts of it. So therefore ALL government is bad. Why they turned to Republican's is an odd choice. This party is mostly responsible for the degredation of our society and environment, the greed, the hypocrisy. Bohener wants a deal, but he wants to keep the Speakership more. The Tea Party has been co opted by the very people who are responsible for their anger. It's an impressive coup: Feed the electorate lies about regulation, taxes, trickle-down theory, individualism. When the whole thing crashes down the players responsible are made whole by taxpayers. The players then sweep into the front of the angry mob and lead them against the party that has the best chance to turn things around and fix things. This keeps the irresponsible players in the game while squeezing the last few drops of blood and treasure from the masses until the whole system collapses beyond repair. But by then, the big fish have left the pond and are living it up on yachts in Tahiti while the rest of us are left with the mess and the check. Of course, Obama is complicit in this. Why else would he NOT demand a pound of flesh from the banks in early 2009? Frank Rich's article about how Obama blew it puts the nail on the head. Instead, the Tea Party populism was grabbed by the likes of Sarah Palin and put to use for the very forces that brought about the recession.

Free Markets work, but the pain they cause isn't worth it for some areas. Free Markets work great for cell phones, cereal, and diapers. Not so good in health care, police work, water supply. But diapers and cell phones don't KILL YOU (ok, sometimes they do but not as often as polluted water supplies or rampant crime. Yet, we have rules for cell phones and diapers and cereal. Oh no! BIG GOVERNMENT. I can't think of one item that isn't completely free from some kind of rule. But I don't think that is bad. Why do some people think that?). Free Markets DID exist for our water supply before the EPA and Clean Water Act came into existence. Do you want to see rivers catch fire again from all the chemicals that get poured into them? Free Markets do the cleanup AFTER the fact. After customers DEMAND change in the face of mistakes. Free Markets are a tornado. Sometimes the tornado cleans our all the junk. Sometimes the tornado destroys your whole town. Regulation tries to prevent the tornado from every happening. In a lot of cases this is good. The Tea Party doesn't understand this. It's a balance. You can over regulate. The Tea Party has Bush II thinking: You are either with us, or the Terrorists. It's all black and white. Life isn't like that. Life isn't like TV. But that's a tough pill to swallow. Our culture doesn't like nuance. We've told ourselves for decades that nuance is for sissies. Big government is bad, but the Tea Party seems to be just fine with Big Corporations. It's about balance.

I think that there will be another Tea Party, but this one will be made up of 'liberal' voters who are disgusted with how corporations have take this country over. Call them the white collar 'Coffee Party'. This will come about once the next crash/recession/depression hits and the men behind the curtain are exposed for who they really are. But with how our infrastructure is crumbling, our education system breaking down, our planet becoming more hostile to human habitation, it may be too late to swing the pendulum back towards the center.

Why I might not vote for anyone for president in 2012

It's been a long while since my last post. Lots happening. This debt ceiling debate is really putting things into perspective. It's teaching me that: a) I don't think I will ever vote Republican ever again. b) Obama has got be the worst negotiator ever. David Frum does a great summation of what Obama has done wrong. You can't argue against it. Obama's last few press conferences have been showing his increasing frustration. Too little, too late. If he still thinks the Republicans will be adults he needs to leave office. These people are ASSHOLES, nothing more or less.

Then we get the sanctimonious David Brooks on the News Hour on Friday saying how Obama's 'tone' at the press conference is terrible and unproductive. How nice it must be to be David Brooks. A week and a half after he calls out the Republicans with the same 'tone' that Obama used today he says that Obama is not helping the situation. Please. Republicans are doing this because the KNOW what they are doing is unpopular. But this is their last chance to dismantle the welfare state, and the only way to make it happen is through a President who is a Democrat. If the Republicans lose big but manage to fatally wound SS and Medicare/Medicaid, it's worth it to them. They know how difficult it was to get these programs enacted in the first place. Destroy them now and even if the next Congress tries to reverse things, they will never be like they are today. If Republican's can't have their version of 'America', then no one can have any America.

Republicans are out of their minds. This nonsense that we can pay our interest on the debt, meet Social Security and Medicare payments, pay the troops, and do the other things that we want to do AND then cut wasteful spending without raising the ceiling are simply false. But Obama seems to think that meeting these loonies halfway is a good idea. I don't think so. The man is increasingly naive, and more and more disappointing. The Bush Tax cuts are terrible. They need to go. Sure, my taxes will go up. I want to have a country, so I gotta pay for it. Baby Boomers, you want all this crap, then PAY FOR IT. And let's not forget the real truth here:

Macys.com

Just had a CRAZY conversation with a macys.com phone support person about an order I made for Mother's Day. I feel bad for folks that have to work the phones. It's a tough job. But the reason they gave me for why my order didn't get the guarantee was BONKERS, CRAZY GO NUTS.

I ordered my gift for my wife for Mother's Day on May 3. Macy's has a website that explains that if you order before May 4, you are guaranteed to have the order by Mother's Day. So I'm a day early. Great.

I get an shipping confirmation on May 5. I track the order. No order by Friday. Nothing by Saturday. Sunday morning, the order arrives in Redmond. UPS tracking says the order will arrive on Monday, May 9. Ugh!

My wife is way cool about it and doesn't mind the delay, but I do. So I call up Macy's and ask about my order. I have the following exchange: "Your order does not qualify for the guarantee because it was made on May 3. The guarantee only applies to orders made between May 4 - May 8. "

"What? That's not what the website says."

"Sir, that is what the guarantee is for. Only orders made on May 4 - May 8."

"So if I made an order on May 7, UPS would show up and deliver the package by the next day? How is that possible, when UPS doesn't deliver on weekends?"

"...."

"They have a...special....delivery...." (I'm not kidding about all the pauses)

"I would like to speak to your supervisor."

"Ok, but my supervisor will tell you the same thing."

"Great, I want to hear them tell me that. What you said doesn't make any sense."

"Ok, please hold."

After a couple of minutes of waiting, I am told that I will be getting an accommodation for the guarantee. Good. That is why I called.

So we'll see what the accommodation is. It should be what the website says. This isn't a big deal, but I'll be darned if some corporation is going to try to stick it to me like that.

I would be understanding if they said the order was delayed due to weather or something. But to just say absolute bullshit like that is upsetting. I'm not going to be scared off like that, Macys.

UPDATE: My Accommodation is they are resending me my order! I don't want another order! I want what the guarantee is. Oh well. I'm just going to return this order to a local Macy's store and get my money back. Same as the guarantee, except I can spend the money where ever I want and not just Macys.

Some old thoughts and new thoughts

I wrote this first part about a month ago but never posted it until now. Think back to when Paul Ryan released his budget and you'll be in the right frame of mind.

Republicans are bullys and want to go back to 1925.

Paul Ryan's budget is courageous in the fact that it reveals what true Conservatives have always wanted: A dismantling of the welfare state and a return to the rule of Robber Barons. The real kicker here is that the President is letting them hold the narrative. I can't really take anything that doesn't include tax increases seriously, because it just ignores reality. Paul Ryan voted for Medicare Part D, the perscription drug benefit that is completely unfunded and was used to buy senior voters for the 2004 Presidential election. So Mr. Ryan is not on my list of People Who Want to Get Things Done The Right Way. Voters want all this stuff government provides, and polls show that they would be willing to pay more taxes to avoid benefit cuts. But they don't really need to pay much more. Just let the Bush Tax Cuts expire, and make some tweaks (eliminate the cap on Social Security Taxes from $107k to everything, use the government's power to negotiate cheap drug prices and medical equipment). Why don't Republicans propose increases? Because it would go against what the rich people who run the party behind the scenes want and care about. Plus, the idiotic Constitutional Amendment just signed by all 47 Republican members of the Senate would invalidate all the years of the Reagan Presidency and George Bush Presidency. But the past doesn't matter. Republicans are bullies.

Ezra Klein is lamenting the fact that Obama is almost nowhere to be seen as far as leadership goes.

E.J. Dionne is saying that if Obama doesn't stand up to Republicans, it will be the end of Progressive government.

While I can sympathize with the Tea Party's anger, it has been co-opted by the very forces that have caused their ire. How good must it be to be rich? You spend the last 30 years slowing removing all the restraints set up to keep banking and finance from going crazy. Then when banking is unleashed, you make a TON of money while destroying whatever value the other 99% less wealthy Americans have. After you nearly destroy the economy, you get a government bailout to 'save the system'. A whole bunch of regular Americans see their wealth dry up, their 401(k)'s implode, and stupid wealthy people getting bailed out with taxpayer dollars. Naturally, these Americans take to the streets in protest. Somehow, you are able to co-opt these fed up Americans and convince them that they need to direct their anger not at the wealthy bastards who jiggered the system, but at the government! You have somehow convinced the angry mob that is at your doorstop to turn around and go after the the auto workers and teachers! It's amazing. I guess that you rich people deserve your wealth if you are able to convince that many people to fight against the very institutions that were designed to protect them from the likes of you.

Look at this quote from Thomas Jefferson about corporations:

"I hope we shall take warning from the example and crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws our country."

~ Thomas Jefferson Nov. 12th, 1816

I do take issue with the Tea Party's line of 'take our country back.' Take it back from whom, the majority that voted democratic in 2008? Too bad, we live in America, where the majority rules from elections, not majority rules from poll results.

So now for a posting that is more current:

Can someone PLEASE explain to me how 9% unemployment means that we should ignore doing any kind of federal jobs program and instead focus on austerity measures like the UK for deficit reduction? How is this helpful? It's not. That's the big secret. If Republicans went for a federal jobs program, they would be in effect going against their 'principles' of small government. In terms of what small government means for Republicans, that means less regulation and more corporitization. That's what small government means. Trample the people to help the rich, entitled elites even more. It's reckless and irresponsible and no one who can really make a dent is calling them on this. All the while, we are increasing our defense spending??!?! How is this sensible? I am all for having some austerity in terms of world security. We don't belong on bases all over the place!!! It's dumb! Look at Great Britain. They have embraced austerity measures and have been immediately plunged into another recession. Brilliant, that. We slash our education and infrastructure spending while putting all that money towards nation building. It's idiotic. Even the Pentagon thinks so!

On a Paul Ryan budget note, even folks at the Economist are coming out against his ideas.

Bankers are drug dealers

We punish both drug buyers and drug dealers in this country. So why do we only punish the people who take out fraudulent loans? Aren't the bankers who sell the fraudulent loans just as much at fault? The market is NOT punishing the bankers, because the bankers are using the government to protect them. America is a Banana Republic.

And this is awesome (and has nothing to do with anything)

Reagan liked unions

I'm not sure that Reagan was that great of a president. His legacy is certainly being exploited by today's conservatives, who like to cherry pick his actions and ignore the things he did that go against current conservative ideology (raising taxes). This quote from his Labor Day speech in 1980 is no different:

"These are the values inspiring those brave workers in Poland ... They remind us that where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost." -

Makes you wonder about the reality we are being fed.

Griftopia is great...

But it's old news. Revolution is coming. So is disaster. People high up know it. The rich know it. Now you know it.