The Biggest Obamacare Lie of Them All

“The American people don’t want this bill” is a lie of truly epic dimensions, because the American people have voted FOR Obamacare, time and time again.

First, they elected Obama in 2008, and he ran on a platform that actually included even MORE health care than Obamacare delivered. That’s a vote for Obamacare.

Then they re-elected Obama in 2012, when he ran against Romney/Ryan, whose platform included ditching Obamacare. That’s a vote for Obamacare.

They also cast more votes for House Democrats in 2012 than they did for House “Republicans” (the Repubs kept the House via election rigging, gerrymandering, etc.) That’s another vote for Obamacare.

Every time Obamacare’s individual  provisions are mentioned in polls, they get huge public support. It’s just the word “Obamacare” that people view through suspicious eyes (and small wonder, given the smear campaign that Repubs have waged against  it over the years).

And that, Gentle Reader, is why the lie “The American people don’t want this bill” is the biggest Obamacare of them all. Yes, there are some people who DON’T want Obamacare, but they are in the minority.

The majority of the American People voted for Obamacare, loudly and repeatedly. It’s high time the “Republicans” respected the clearly-expressed will of the people, and get the hell out of the way if they don’t like it. Congress is supposed to work for US, not the other way around.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

For “Republicans”, It’s All About the Party, and to H*** With the People

Mr. Blunt and Cranky has been watching the fiscal “cliff” drama unfold, and has been struck by the remarkable consistency of the Repubs in the face of catastrophe: said catastrophe created by said Elephants over the past years.  And they are willing (perhaps eager) to see families starving in the streets, seniors dying in droves, and the middle class squeezed until they finally burst; so long as their party can keep on raking in the dough.

Remember: most of our deficit was run up by the Congress during the reign of Bush The Dumber. It wasn’t until a Democrat  occupied the Oval Office that the Repubs suddenly cared about the red ink that blots our national ledger: http://www.davemanuel.com/history-of-deficits-and-surpluses-in-the-united-states.php

The “fiscal cliff” itself was created by “Republican” majorities over a year ago, and now they want us to believe all this is the fault of the Democrats. Sorry, boys, but we have the Internet and can read the history of what actually went down: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_fiscal_cliff

Repubs created most of our red ink; they created the current crisis; they are refusing to act like our constitutional system requires them to; and they are doing all of this for their own selfish, craven, crass, and greedy purposes.

This writer has no love for Dems, Lord knows, but they are at least trying to make a deal. They are listen to their constituents, at least give the Jackasses that much credit. The Repubs are listening to no one but their paymasters and party leaders.

Where’s President Washington when we need him? http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/history-purpose/2012/mar/9/george-washington-warns-against-political-parties/

Mr. B & C

Lying Sack of S*** of The Week: John Boehner

Little Johnny has earned his Crown O’ Polished Turds the week, yes he has indeed. By pretending to negotiate with the President, and then bailing out when an agreement was imminent; then “trying” to pass a “Republican” Plan B bill that had no chance of becoming law; then giving up and claiming that the House was a victim, and that the Prexy should do the Speaker’s job; and then coming back to DC after saying he wouldn’t; yes, this farrago of lies alone would easily qualify anyone for LSoSoTW honors.

But Mr. Boehner wasn’t done lying yet, nosirreebob; yesterday he said he was “waiting for the Senate”; as soon as they gave him a bill, he would consider it.  Of course, the Senate sent the House a bill on  November 30^th, and the Speaker has refused to allow it to come to the floor.

So, John-Boy, we’re supposed to believe you now? Somehow, that seems like a really bad idea.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we present to you John Boehner, the last Lying Sack of S***  of The Week for 2012.

Mr. B & C

Falling Off the Cliff – A Coyote’s Perspective

Mr. Blunt and Cranky, in his years on the road, learned how to pick the best bars, taverns, pubs, and eateries. Think of it as a survival skill, or at least one that can enhance one’s quality of life.

Last night, in one such grotto, an extremely scruffy-looking, hairy individual took a vacant stool nearby, knocked back a pair of boilermakers, and began ranting about the “fiscal cliff”. This writer’s memory is a wee bit fogged by Scotch, but here is a more-or-less verbatim transcript:

“Fiscal cliff, schmiscal cliff, I have been falling off of cliffs since before anybody here was born. And look at me, healthy as can be. Some broken bones, sure. Could have happened to anybody.

“See, the thing is, focus on your objective. For me, it’s all about killing beeping birds. For Republicans, it’s about killing the Federal government. Sure, you’ll take a few hits here and there, but you have to be totally committed to your goal.

“Another key is to have good supporters. These guys have lots of ’em: the Tea Party, Billionaires, those Koch fellas, the media, a whole bunch of help. I had Chuck Jones and Acme. Really nice people, but not much success came of those collaborations.

“So, these guys are gonna jump off a cliff in a few days. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, ya know, and I am flattered. But they should lay off the drama a bit, ya know, look at me. I popped my eyes out a bit, maybe held up a sign here and there, but that was about it. Ya jump for the bird, ya miss the bird, ya fall, then get up and try again. All in a day’s work, no drama required.”

He belched and threw some money on the bar, along with a crumpled business card. As he headed out the door, the sound of “beep beep” came from the road out front, and the guy tore out after the noise, faster than the eye could see (well, half-sloshed eyes, anyway).

A whistling sound wafted in through the door, followed by a faint thud and a bit of truly epic profanity. The Crankster smoothed out the business card to get the guy’s name:

“William Edward Coyote
Desert Wildlife Control
Roadrunners a specialty”

Sure sounds like advice from an expert.

Mr. B & C

Why NOT Raise Taxes?

We often hear that government should have to balance its checkbook, “just like the average American family does”. By and large, the pundits and politicos that Mr. Blunt and Cranky has heard espousing this line have focused on our national “family” cutting back on expenses. As a family man who can, indeed, balance a checkbook, he knows that you can only cut so much before you start skimping on meals, medicines, winter coats for the kids, etc.  No, sometimes a family member has to get a second job to get the accounts back order.

So it is with governments local, state and national: you can only cut so much before you have to bring in some more green and folding to keep the lights on.  And in spite of inflation, wars, national calamities, and a host of other costly items, we have kept taxes low and even lowered some further. We are at the point where the majority of the financially literate amongst American families and businesses are saying “enough already, raise some friggin’ taxes”.

In this case, we had 8+ years of a Congress that  ran up the credit card balance to absurd heights (like many families have done), and now don’t want to look at the common-sense solution of bringing in more money temporarily  to pay it off (like many families have done). If government officials are so fond of the “family” analogy, let’s see them follow it more closely.

Mr. B & C

Lying Sack of S*** of The Week: Saxby Chambliss

This week’s worthy recipient of the Crown O’ Polished Turds is Senator Saxby Chambliss, who is presenting himself as the “calm, reasonable, adult” party in the current negotiations. This is itself a lie, for two very obvious reasons (well, more than that, but only two for this little Saturday bloggy posty thingy):

Reason Number A: If you listen to what Saxby is saying, it consists of the same talking points as those put forward by Boehner and McConnell.  The style might be a wee bit different, but the substance is the same.

Reason Letter 2: Mr. Chambliss ran what was (back then, anyway) just about the filthiest, most slanderous campaign in American History. Saxby, a cowardly draft-dodging chickenhawk, attacked a Silver Star combat veteran on the grounds of patriotism:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14474-2002Jun19.html

Leopards do not change their spots. Saxby Chambliss is not only a serial prevaricator; he is also a power-hungry, money-grubbing piece of dung. To make sure everyone can tell, we offer him polished dung to wear upon his head:  a COPT for the LSoSoTW

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

P.S. This writer often inveighs against draft-dodging chickenhawks. For the record, he will state that people who had the courage to go to war, and people who had the courage to oppose it both have his utmost respect. ‘Tis only the ones who talk tough but acted like cowards when it was their time to serve that Mr. B & C detests.

Cutting Back Will Only Do So Much

When Mr. Blunt and Cranky was Young Blunt (and not quite as cranky), he wasn’t making much money and had trouble coughing up the security deposit on an apartment. After crunching the numbers, a solution was arrived at – he would eat almost nothing for a couple of weeks. After that, he’d be able to afford groceries and the apartment.

Man, those were tough days to get through: one week, the entirety of each day’s calories came from 1” thick, 4” x 4” slices of old (and nasty) fruitcake from the previous year’s holidays. Two of those slices per day.  Your humble correspondent lost a bit of weight and felt pretty crap the while, but since it was temporary and he was young and healthy, he got through it. No way he would have done it if he had had to do it for a longer period of time: he could have gotten really sick or even starved to death.

As a short-term fix, cuts can be effective, if properly used. In the long term, cuts by themselves only work if you have lots of stuff to cut out, and it is a mistake to assume that there’s always lots to cut.  We have been busily cutting away for several decades, like hyperactive beavers in a forest of balsa wood, and there aren’t many easy things remaining to cut out of the governmental  budget. So when politicians start talking about cutting even more and foregoing revenue, one would be well advised to ask some more questions about those cuts, such as why, what, for how long, and so forth.

The “what” depends on party ideology, pretty much, so there’s not a lot of new data to be gotten within that question.  The “why” and “for how long” are where we find what will be done unto us by our “representatives”.

Dems want to cut handouts to certain types of industries and rich folks, and use the savings to finance other governmental activities that they like. They don’t want to starve the government to death, they want it healthy over the long haul; so they’ll cut in one place and add to another place as they deem fit.

Repubs actually want to get rid of government (Post-1976 Rs, anyway), so they have no objection to starving it to death (unlike this blogger’s younger self): in fact, one of the leaders of the Republican party has said he wants to starve the gummint until it is so weak that he can “drown it in a bathtub”. 

This writer doesn’t like everything that is done by the Feds, Staties or Local Yokels; but he likes the idea of police, firefighters, running water, freedom from being invaded by foreign powers, paved roads and other governmentally-derived goodies. Indeed, he likes them so much that, like most valuable commodities, he is willing to pay for them. So, he favors a balanced approach to taxing/spending.

As with our own bodies, we can only cut so many “calories” from the government for so long before we wind up starving it to death.

Mr.  & C