When I look at today’s GOP, I just don’t understand why they are so fired up at tearing down stuff that helps people.
I mean look at them. They want to gut programs that have helped millions:
Social Security (Happy 80th, BTW! Here’s to 100 and more!)
Medicare
Voting Rights
Immigration
.
Have you heard the latest? Donald Trump proclaimed that the 14th Amendment — the one that grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States — is unconstitutional.
That Furball, The Donald, wants to pretend that rights that are in the Constitution are, well, unconstitutional. And the rest of the clowns are falling all over themselves to agree with him!
Ummmmm, do they even have a clue that “Constitutional” means,well, in the fucking Constitution?
Apparently not. Because, you see, these folks just can’t get no … <i?they can’t get no. No no no…</i>
I have a pretty good track record in choosing Presidents. Sometimes, I’m way ahead of the game. I decided in 2004 that I wanted Obama for President.
Obama at the 2004 Democratic Convention (Google Image)
Sadly, I didn’t notice him on the ballot for a while.
This time around, I haven’t been able to decide. Hillary? Bernie? There are things to recommend each of them. So what is a good citizen to do?
Well, today I have my answer. I know who I’m going to vote for. I know who I will work for. I know who will solve one of the major problems the world faces today.
Please join me in supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump:
WINTERSET, Ia. – Donald Trump says if he gets elected president, he would have to change his hair style because he wouldn’t have time to maintain it, as he would be working his butt off in the White House.…[Emphasis added]
The world will be a far, far better place.
* * *
I found this, along with a zillion other brilliant pictures at The Last of the Millenniums. He’s got a gift for finding the really fun stuff.
Perhaps I mentioned it a time or two, but I am something of an impulse buyer. I succumb to all those “buy one, get one free” offers. The “50% OFF!s,” and, naturally, every sale.
Huffington Post Picture. I just don’t get enough opportunities to use it.
The other day, I had to make an appointment for a medical test at a large DC hospital center. Because I am a patient extraordinaire, I have all my tune ups and oil changes done at a major medical center. The hospital version of Jiffy Lube. I like feeling like my surgeons are on the cutting edge, and that my gastroenterologists are qualified to show others just what to put into my orifices. I do not like amateurs poking about where I can’t see them.
But now? Modern healthcare is just getting better and better!
Because there are all kinds of deals available. I can shop for services at my local hospital! How can you beat that? You see, the MBAs have taken over healthcare. So it’s just another consumer good. Right?
In fact, I learned that I can purchase all kinds of pancreatic treatments! Really! Right there at Georgetown! I can even, if I want, sign up for a pancreatic transplant!
But WAIT! There’s MORE!
I can get deep brain stimulation! I’m told while waiting on hold to make my doctor’s appointment, that it can treat (not cure) not just my GI problems, but illnesses, syndromes and conditions I don’t have! Imagine that!
Yup! I can treat not just my depression or bipolar symptoms, but my Parkinson’s Disease symptoms, too. I’m not sure if I have to wait for those to develop first, or if I can just plunge right in and treat em.
Of course, I’m hoping that once my brain has been deeply stimulated, I will come to understand why the MBAs think that someone with poo problems (and who spends way too much time with doctors and getting other treatments for the condition she is waiting on hold about) might enjoy some additional time in the hospital. Because we all know just what a hoot those procedures can be. Not to mention the designer gowns you get to wear. Ammirite?
Perhaps I can organize a girls’ retreat with my besties! Hey girls, this gastric bypass is on me!
I’ve learned that I can have bloodless surgery at Georgetown, too. I’d hate to make a mess.
The kidney tumors I also don’t have? You guessed it. They can be gone in no time. Still gone. Or maybe “Gone again” is the accurate description. How about “Gone with the Wind?” Or is that mixing up body systems?
As soon as the lines open on Monday, I’ll be calling again.
Doobster made me look back, and I thought of the men in my past.
George.
And George.
And Ronnie.
Now I find myself looking back fondly. Longing for Dick.*
I’m gonna be sick. Google, why’d you do this to me?
I wish I were kidding.
Often, I’ve realized that if the GOP hadn’t gone completely over the edge into fanaticism, that I’d be a Republican.
Google Me This
Because, you see, I remember when Republicans were not crazy. When they were a valuable part of the strong government that built our country into the envy of the world.
When they were not out only to protect their rich buddies. When they knew how to govern.
When they could compromise. More importantly, when compromise was the goal, because they knew that THAT is how government works. And good government works for everybody.
I remember the wonderful things that were done in the 1970s — Environmental laws, highways funded, bridges built. Government FUCKING WORKED.
But starting with Reagan, the image makers changed the face of government – remember:
Reagan put folks into Cabinet positions who didn’t believe in government. The Energy and Education Departments were led by folks whose job was to destroy the agencies. The Environmental Protection Administration was led by Anne Gorsuch who didn’t promulgate the regulations that she had to — by law — promulgate. People were put into levels of responsibility to thwart the laws they were supposed to administer.
So yes, I am sitting here looking back through history and realizing that the GOP has, in leaps and bounds, ensured that government doesn’t work. [I’ve said for years, why do people want to elect folks to government who don’t’ believe in government? What is the fucking point of that?]
It was compounded by George H.W. and then by George W. who put more and more jokers in positions of power.
And what a surprise, the government doesn’t work any more.
So now I find myself looking back fondly to Richard Nixon. My, ummm, hero.
Google, natch.
Is there no limit to what these Republican will do to me?
* Yeah, I know I skipped Jerry. But he served on a naval ship with my Dad in WWII during a typhoon and Gerald Ford saved the ship. So I cut Jerry some serious slack. Sue me.
If you haven’t seen this bit from John Oliver’s new show, you should. You should watch it before Tuesday’s election, and then again periodically, just so you remember what I keep telling you. That elections matter. And that it is important to pay attention to not just Federal elections, but to the ones lower down the food chain.
Apparently it takes someone from England, from the country from which we declared our independence, to explain to us just how we are letting our own government get away from us.
Because we don’t pay attention to “the unimportant levels of government.”
Ummm, it is at the state level that we’re really getting screwed. I can attest to this as a resident of “Virginia is For Ultra-sounds.” Yup, it is the folks whose names we don’t even know, who get to decide these issues that most impact your life and mine.
They are also the ones gerrymandering the US Congressional districts. They are eliminating access to abortion, to birth control and screwing us in a hundred different ways. And the state legislatures are the breeding ground, where the Not Ready For Prime Time Players go until they become the Michelle Bachmann’s and the Louie Gomert’s who end up framing our national debate.
[I read recently that John Oliver has been proclaimed the best journalist currently working. I don’t recall who said it, but I think they are right.]
FiftyFourandAHalf 