Dear MoveOn member,
Freshmen Republicans just called a press conference to beg for a break from attacks on them for voting to eliminate Medicare.1 Seriously.
It's a bizarre—even laughable—tactic. But it points to one thing: Your pressure is working!
The town halls you flooded last month led to national media coverage of the backlash against Republicans.2 That, plus the phone calls and letters against the Republican plan to end Medicare, and the ads you've helped pay for, have Republicans on the ropes.
We're on the verge of stopping their efforts to cut Medicare, Medicaid and other vital services right in their tracks. But we need to double down.
My Response to the MoveOn Hypocrisy
Most of your ADD membership probably don't remember, but back in August of 2009 you were lamenting the appearance of "right wing extremists" at town hall meetings nationally to oppose health care reform. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, you're proud of your own people for doing the same damn thing.
So tell me, MoveOn (there's nothing to see here), why is it different when YOUR team is the one disrupting town hall meetings with "hard hitting questions"? Is that somehow OK whereas when the opposition does it, it's "wrong"?
The way I see it, this is your precious democracy in action, no matter who's doing the town hall disruption.
Own up to your own hypocrisy, MoveOn.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
What 73% of Americans want
Dear MoveOn member,
It's already started—hawks in the media and military saying that the killing of Osama bin Laden is proof that the war in Afghanistan is working and that we should redouble our efforts.
Even though bin Laden was captured in another country entirely. Even though the operation was executed by a small, specialized force and not the continued occupation of a nation by over 100,000 of our soldiers. Even though the man we ostensibly invaded Afghanistan to capture is no longer a threat.
And even as the war continues to be a drain on our resources at a time when we need them spent at home, more than ever.
My Response:
Well, this is two times in a row that I'm in agreement with these socialist groups that pretend to be about democracy. Something fishy's going on...
I think this time it's because, once again, we're talking about an issue that is in the (quiet) popular opinion. We're also seeing it from two different angles that happen to coincide in result.
While MoveOn wants to see the troops come home so that those resources can be spend domestically, I just want to see the war and killing end and the end of the wasteful spending of money we don't have. So I think that while both of us want the troops to come home, our difference will be in how the money being saved will be spent (or, in my thoughts, not spent).
Either way, we're in agreement again.
I will also note the lack of energy and pending doom that this message from MoveOn had compared to many of their others that make it appear that if we don't participate in their latest group (think) message, we're all going to be doomed. This one also wasn't accompanied by the usual retort-via-opposite message from one of MoveOn's nemesis groups like the GOP.
Usually the two sides play against one another to get the plebs stirred up. Nothing like that this time. Maybe the GOP didn't get the memo.
It's already started—hawks in the media and military saying that the killing of Osama bin Laden is proof that the war in Afghanistan is working and that we should redouble our efforts.
Even though bin Laden was captured in another country entirely. Even though the operation was executed by a small, specialized force and not the continued occupation of a nation by over 100,000 of our soldiers. Even though the man we ostensibly invaded Afghanistan to capture is no longer a threat.
And even as the war continues to be a drain on our resources at a time when we need them spent at home, more than ever.
My Response:
Well, this is two times in a row that I'm in agreement with these socialist groups that pretend to be about democracy. Something fishy's going on...
I think this time it's because, once again, we're talking about an issue that is in the (quiet) popular opinion. We're also seeing it from two different angles that happen to coincide in result.
While MoveOn wants to see the troops come home so that those resources can be spend domestically, I just want to see the war and killing end and the end of the wasteful spending of money we don't have. So I think that while both of us want the troops to come home, our difference will be in how the money being saved will be spent (or, in my thoughts, not spent).
Either way, we're in agreement again.
I will also note the lack of energy and pending doom that this message from MoveOn had compared to many of their others that make it appear that if we don't participate in their latest group (think) message, we're all going to be doomed. This one also wasn't accompanied by the usual retort-via-opposite message from one of MoveOn's nemesis groups like the GOP.
Usually the two sides play against one another to get the plebs stirred up. Nothing like that this time. Maybe the GOP didn't get the memo.
Friday, April 15, 2011
House Passes GOP's "The Path to Prosperity"
Normally, I lambast the b.s. emails I get from TrueMajority and MoveOn, but today I decided to give it to my local (Republican) congresswoman with her latest email message to constituents. It's title is the title of this post. Here's what she sent followed by my comments:
I responded via email (hitting "reply") and it was, of course, sent back as undeliverable just like when I respond to those idiots at TrueMajority and MoveOn. I'm seeing a trend amongst the partisans here. Anyway, here's my response to Cynthia Lummis (R-WY):
Cutting $6.2 trillion over 10 years is only $620 billion per year. We're currently spending at a rate of over $1 trillion in deficit annually.
When you are you people going to actually cut the deficit instead of just the amount of debt we incur? Let's see $20 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years. That's more realistic. I can't go into bankruptcy court and tell the judge I'm going to lower my spending so that I'm only over budget by 20% instead of 100%. Neither should Congress.
It's time to get out of the worthless wars overseas and shut down those foreign bases and bring our troops home. It's time to seriously gut the Defense Department and make it realistically manageable again - something your currently plan totally avoids doing!
Doing so doesn't take money out of the pockets of GIs. It takes money out of the pockets of the military industrial complex that is bankrupting this nation.
Now get back to work. You've barely even started!
Dear Friends,
I've been listening to Wyoming's common-sense minded people from the feed store to the grocery store. They want Congress and the President to put the U.S. economy on a stable path by halting this country’s spending spree and tackling our long-term debt problem. Despite Americans’ calls for action, President Obama has refused to put forward a serious plan. Instead, the President has punted twice.
Today, House Republicans passed “The Path to Prosperity, “a budget for fiscal year 2012 that gets to the business of cutting spending and reducing our nation’s appalling debt.
It’s time to buck the status quo, pick up a mop, and clean up America’s financial mess. The Path to Prosperity offers the solutions America needs by stopping the job-crushing debt that threatens the future of our country. This budget is an honest, fact-based proposal that gets to the heart of our economic crisis by addressing the drivers of our country’s debt.
Cutting discretionary spending alone isn’t enough to get us out of the $14 trillion ditch Washington has dug. Paul Ryan’s proposal preserves and strengthens health and retirement programs. It streamlines the tax code, halts Washington’s sprawl in favor of a smaller, leaner federal government, and it empowers America’s job creators to start hiring and to grow the economy. Additionally, ‘The Path to Prosperity’ cuts $6.2 trillion in government spending over the next decade alone. This historic proposal is a clean cut from the reckless budget policies of the past.
The majority of Americans believe the country is headed down the wrong track. They understand the consequences Washington’s irresponsible culture of spending has for our country’s future. And for most Americans, this isn’t about politics; it’s about putting their way of life, their jobs, their families, and our nation first.
Sincerely,
Representative Cynthia Lummis
I responded via email (hitting "reply") and it was, of course, sent back as undeliverable just like when I respond to those idiots at TrueMajority and MoveOn. I'm seeing a trend amongst the partisans here. Anyway, here's my response to Cynthia Lummis (R-WY):
Cutting $6.2 trillion over 10 years is only $620 billion per year. We're currently spending at a rate of over $1 trillion in deficit annually.
When you are you people going to actually cut the deficit instead of just the amount of debt we incur? Let's see $20 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years. That's more realistic. I can't go into bankruptcy court and tell the judge I'm going to lower my spending so that I'm only over budget by 20% instead of 100%. Neither should Congress.
It's time to get out of the worthless wars overseas and shut down those foreign bases and bring our troops home. It's time to seriously gut the Defense Department and make it realistically manageable again - something your currently plan totally avoids doing!
Doing so doesn't take money out of the pockets of GIs. It takes money out of the pockets of the military industrial complex that is bankrupting this nation.
Now get back to work. You've barely even started!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Last night's speech
Dear MoveOn member,
This bit of Rep. Michele Bachmann's speech last night pretty much sums up the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union:
"Last week we voted to repeal ObamaCare, and each day going forward, we must work hard to dismantle the massive government expansion that has happened over the past two years."1
No response to the President's many, many proposals (some of them based on Republican ideas!). Just, "Repeal ObamaCare."
If you needed any more proof that House Republicans will single-mindedly focus on destroying one of the most progressive pieces of legislation passed in the last 40 years, now you have it.
Dear MoveOn (Please!)
Well, let me ask you this, then, MoveOn: if Obamacare is so "progressive" and so great and if the Democraps did such a great job putting it in place for us.. why did they lose their stranglehold on Washington to the Republicants?
I mean, if what they did is so awesome, how come the American people told them to get the fuck out?
Seems to me that the vote should have told you something. Of course, that would require you to admit that you're not a majority in this "democracy" and you're precious "progressive" bullshit isn't what America is all about.
If you want "progressive" socialism so much, move to goddamn Europe and have it. The rest of America has made it pretty clear that we don't want it. Hell, we'll even pay your tickets to go. It'll be cheaper in the long run.
This bit of Rep. Michele Bachmann's speech last night pretty much sums up the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union:
"Last week we voted to repeal ObamaCare, and each day going forward, we must work hard to dismantle the massive government expansion that has happened over the past two years."1
No response to the President's many, many proposals (some of them based on Republican ideas!). Just, "Repeal ObamaCare."
If you needed any more proof that House Republicans will single-mindedly focus on destroying one of the most progressive pieces of legislation passed in the last 40 years, now you have it.
Dear MoveOn (Please!)
Well, let me ask you this, then, MoveOn: if Obamacare is so "progressive" and so great and if the Democraps did such a great job putting it in place for us.. why did they lose their stranglehold on Washington to the Republicants?
I mean, if what they did is so awesome, how come the American people told them to get the fuck out?
Seems to me that the vote should have told you something. Of course, that would require you to admit that you're not a majority in this "democracy" and you're precious "progressive" bullshit isn't what America is all about.
If you want "progressive" socialism so much, move to goddamn Europe and have it. The rest of America has made it pretty clear that we don't want it. Hell, we'll even pay your tickets to go. It'll be cheaper in the long run.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Debate, not hate
Dear MoveOn member,
While we may never know what exactly motivated the shooter in Arizona—and while there are many lessons to draw from this tragedy—one thing is clear: Our country must turn away from the culture of violent, hateful rhetoric that has been pervading our political discourse for too long.
...
Dear MoveOn (socialists): YOU FIRST
While we may never know what exactly motivated the shooter in Arizona—and while there are many lessons to draw from this tragedy—one thing is clear: Our country must turn away from the culture of violent, hateful rhetoric that has been pervading our political discourse for too long.
...
Dear MoveOn (socialists): YOU FIRST
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Gabrielle Giffords
Dear MoveOn member,
The tragedy in Tucson has shaken us all to the core. Facts are still coming in, and we all must be careful not to jump to premature conclusions.
But in the wake of this disaster one thing is clear: We must put an end to the rhetoric of violence and hate that has exploded in America over the past two years.
That's why we're launching a petition calling on every member of Congress, as well as the major TV and cable news networks, to put an end to the hateful rhetoric and all overt or implied appeals to violence.
===========================
My MoveOn, Nothing to See Here, Folks, Response
I have three things of interest that I'd like to note about the shooting in Arizona. Obviously, it is a tragic event, but there seems to be a lot of ignorance going on around the entire thing. First, the focus is on the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, an elected representative. Second, the gunman is obviously a total lunatic, a lot of which is likely thanks to his time in Afghanistan serving our country's ownership. Third, the above petition ignores a few other things that should be included as "implied threats of violence."
The Focus on Giffords
The last I heard, half a dozen people died at this shooting. Giffords didn't. One of the victims was a federal judge. Anyone know his name? Me either. Because all of the focus is on this representative who got shot. Why? Probably because most of the focus so far seems to be surrounding the possible political motivations of the act itself and Mrs. Giffords is, of course, one of the Important Folk (aka one in government).
Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but if you're looking for political motivation from Mr. Lunatic Gunman, you'll have to look further than just his latest handful of videos (all recorded in the last month). Ask his ex-girlfriend what he was like in 2007 and... you'd see plenty of Communist Manifesto (his "favorite" piece of writing, btw), mentions of his left-liberal views, and his love of universal health care. It was only very recently (i.e. right before loading his gun, apparently) that he got the idea to pretend to be a Tea Party type.
Want to know what his real motivation was? Madness. He's a fucking loon, people. He wasn't so loony as to choose an NRA convention or a gun show to pull off his shooting spree, of course. Instead, like most of these mass murderers, he chose a gun free zone. So those that fought back were... unarmed. Right.
His Lunacy
Any way you slice it, Jared Loughner was a nutjob. He's a returned Afghan war vet who was obsessed with mind control. Like a lot of other assassins/mass murderers have been (including Lee Harvey Oswald, Hinckley, and Charles Manson).
The number of returning vets with mental issues is astounding. At least a third of those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are having some real problems, according to CNN.
As it turns out, when you send people to foreign countries to fight a war we have no hope of winning and shouldn't be fighting in the first place - and whose entire purpose is corporate - those people tend to go a little nuts. Especially when they get to see horrible things, which is unavoidable in war.
Welcome to modern, corporate-controlled warfare where the soldiers are just assets to be calculated like any other item in the warehouse.
Update: Turns out, my information that Loughner was an AFghan vet was incorrect. So this section is pretty moot. The rest stands well, though, and it is well-documented that he is a lunatic.
The MoveOn Focus on "Implied Voilence" in Politics
What the folks at MoveOn, specifically, and those who sign their dumbass petition need to really understand, though, is the simple truth of government. ALL GOVERNMENT IS IMPLIED VIOLENCE. So all politics are implied acts of violence.
Here's an example: stop paying the IRS for a while and see what happens. Yep, violence. They take everything you have and force you to attempt to prove your innocence (it's civil court, you're guilty until proven otherwise).
Now try this: ask a police officer why he's pulling you over and insist on an answer from him. Yep, violence likely ensues as he tases you and then arrests you for resisting arrest. Read that second sentence again. Yes, they can arrest you for resisting arrest even when you weren't being arrested in the first place. Your civil infraction for going five miles over the speed limit just turned into a possible felony for asking questions.
Here's another: try to avoid having to participate in mandatory government programs, like say, FICA. Stop sending money for Medicare and Social Security and watch how fast you get hit. Almost as fast as when you don't pay the IRS their vig.
Now let's say you don't like the fact that the Ten Commandments are displayed in front of a church, facing a public road. So you protest that. Except the protest is taking place on private property. Trespassing. Right, that's an offense to which the police can respond... you guessed it, with violence.
Everything government does is via violence. It's how government works. Don't believe me? Then why do they call it law enforcement? Why do laws always have penalties? When they fine you and you refuse to pay, what happens? Hint: it's going to be violent.
So to remove the implied threat of violence from politics, which I'm totally in agreement with, we have to remove politics themselves, which I'm also in agreement with.
Little did I know that MoveOn is actually on my side! :)
The tragedy in Tucson has shaken us all to the core. Facts are still coming in, and we all must be careful not to jump to premature conclusions.
But in the wake of this disaster one thing is clear: We must put an end to the rhetoric of violence and hate that has exploded in America over the past two years.
That's why we're launching a petition calling on every member of Congress, as well as the major TV and cable news networks, to put an end to the hateful rhetoric and all overt or implied appeals to violence.
===========================
My MoveOn, Nothing to See Here, Folks, Response
I have three things of interest that I'd like to note about the shooting in Arizona. Obviously, it is a tragic event, but there seems to be a lot of ignorance going on around the entire thing. First, the focus is on the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, an elected representative. Second, the gunman is obviously a total lunatic, a lot of which is likely thanks to his time in Afghanistan serving our country's ownership. Third, the above petition ignores a few other things that should be included as "implied threats of violence."
The Focus on Giffords
The last I heard, half a dozen people died at this shooting. Giffords didn't. One of the victims was a federal judge. Anyone know his name? Me either. Because all of the focus is on this representative who got shot. Why? Probably because most of the focus so far seems to be surrounding the possible political motivations of the act itself and Mrs. Giffords is, of course, one of the Important Folk (aka one in government).
Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but if you're looking for political motivation from Mr. Lunatic Gunman, you'll have to look further than just his latest handful of videos (all recorded in the last month). Ask his ex-girlfriend what he was like in 2007 and... you'd see plenty of Communist Manifesto (his "favorite" piece of writing, btw), mentions of his left-liberal views, and his love of universal health care. It was only very recently (i.e. right before loading his gun, apparently) that he got the idea to pretend to be a Tea Party type.
Want to know what his real motivation was? Madness. He's a fucking loon, people. He wasn't so loony as to choose an NRA convention or a gun show to pull off his shooting spree, of course. Instead, like most of these mass murderers, he chose a gun free zone. So those that fought back were... unarmed. Right.
His Lunacy
Any way you slice it, Jared Loughner was a nutjob. He's a returned Afghan war vet who was obsessed with mind control. Like a lot of other assassins/mass murderers have been (including Lee Harvey Oswald, Hinckley, and Charles Manson).
The number of returning vets with mental issues is astounding. At least a third of those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are having some real problems, according to CNN.
As it turns out, when you send people to foreign countries to fight a war we have no hope of winning and shouldn't be fighting in the first place - and whose entire purpose is corporate - those people tend to go a little nuts. Especially when they get to see horrible things, which is unavoidable in war.
Welcome to modern, corporate-controlled warfare where the soldiers are just assets to be calculated like any other item in the warehouse.
Update: Turns out, my information that Loughner was an AFghan vet was incorrect. So this section is pretty moot. The rest stands well, though, and it is well-documented that he is a lunatic.
The MoveOn Focus on "Implied Voilence" in Politics
What the folks at MoveOn, specifically, and those who sign their dumbass petition need to really understand, though, is the simple truth of government. ALL GOVERNMENT IS IMPLIED VIOLENCE. So all politics are implied acts of violence.
Here's an example: stop paying the IRS for a while and see what happens. Yep, violence. They take everything you have and force you to attempt to prove your innocence (it's civil court, you're guilty until proven otherwise).
Now try this: ask a police officer why he's pulling you over and insist on an answer from him. Yep, violence likely ensues as he tases you and then arrests you for resisting arrest. Read that second sentence again. Yes, they can arrest you for resisting arrest even when you weren't being arrested in the first place. Your civil infraction for going five miles over the speed limit just turned into a possible felony for asking questions.
Here's another: try to avoid having to participate in mandatory government programs, like say, FICA. Stop sending money for Medicare and Social Security and watch how fast you get hit. Almost as fast as when you don't pay the IRS their vig.
Now let's say you don't like the fact that the Ten Commandments are displayed in front of a church, facing a public road. So you protest that. Except the protest is taking place on private property. Trespassing. Right, that's an offense to which the police can respond... you guessed it, with violence.
Everything government does is via violence. It's how government works. Don't believe me? Then why do they call it law enforcement? Why do laws always have penalties? When they fine you and you refuse to pay, what happens? Hint: it's going to be violent.
So to remove the implied threat of violence from politics, which I'm totally in agreement with, we have to remove politics themselves, which I'm also in agreement with.
Little did I know that MoveOn is actually on my side! :)
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