Michelle Bachmann & Republicans intent to starve your grandma!

Michelle Bachmann was on the Sunday news shows. Not only did she spout Tea Party rhetoric, she outright lied. It was a disgusting display of two-faced dribble and an immense lack of any knowledge of how finance works.

Now, back when I was a Republican, I heard some of the truth stretching. It made me uncomfortable. However, the difference today is that the level of mendacious rhetoric is shocking. The character of Michelle Bachmann is clearly compromised. When one can stand up and espouse God as her conduit for her actions BUT THEN freely spout lies reflects the immoral nature of her character.

With that being said, I really hope the Republicans nominate her to run against Obama. Once the layers of this onion are peeled back on election day, there won't be a snowballs chance in hell that she will win. If by some long shot she were to win, I think we should all move to Canada. I sure don't want to be around to watch the middle class in this country become impoverished and our elderly eat dog food.

The fact of the matter is that all you have to do is really listen to all of the candidates. THIS is what they are TELLING you that they ARE going to do to the country:

1. NOT vote to increase the debt ceiling, then held it hostage WHICH DID ruin the full faith and credit of this country. Your retirement accounts are now evaporating so don't expect to retire when you thought. (see note on Social Security)
2. They WILL fix the economic ills with cuts in spending and NO revenue increases. This does mean that ALL progress they make will mean job loss, service loss and erosion of the good work that our country does for us. Secretaries will be continued to pay more than the uber-rich and fat cats on Wall Street.
3. IF you receive disability, kiss it goodbye or at the very least a steep decrease in your disability.
4. IF you are on Medicare or Medicaid, you WILL pay more for services and/or they will be eliminated completely. For example, a man in South Carolina was denied breast cancer treatment because he was a man!
5. IF you think you will be able to retire at 65, think again. Your smaller retirement accounts due to the Tea Party highjack of the Debt Ceiling vote, coupled with reduced Social Security means you are going to have to keep working.
6. When your children graduate college, the number of people who are competing against them for jobs will skyrocket........keep their rooms ready, they will be back home to live with you. Even if they do get a job, don't expect them to be able to support themselves without help. The middle class income level has been flatlined since Reagan and it WILL stay there OR get worse as Republican lawmaking favors the rich and uber-rich.
7. IF you are on unemployment or become unemployed, forget ANY assistance on that front. That will be eliminated altogether. Find out where your soup kitchens are located if you hope to eat.

Think about your family and friends. HOW many people do you know that will fall into any of these categories? Every grandma, elderly aunt, parent with college age children, YOU....the list goes on and on. You may want to deny the reality, but just turn on Fox News and REALLY LISTEN to what they are saying! They are not hiding their goals so don't be surprised if and when they achieve them. Your vote for them will be complicit toward that end. That is a fact! There is NO other way to resolve the debt problems when they ALL refuse to implement fair taxing. Plain and simple.

Republicans selling our safety to the highest bidder!

I grew up hearing the phrase, "Nothing is certain in life but Death and Taxes". The implied message was that both things are bad.  However, having been born in the Baby Boom Generation, I watched our countries leaders accomplish things that made me proud. Some achievements were obvious, including putting a man on the moon. Other decisions came quietly, without much fanfare, but built a nation that I eventually took for granted. Decisions that protected me, kept me safe.

Eventually, once past my rebellious teen years, I expected the government to keep me safe and knew inherently that our tax dollars were required for this. I still didn't like paying all of those taxes but knew deep inside it was necessary. As laws and regulations were implemented, our lives and the lives of our children were made better.

Many years ago, I travelled to Mexico and stayed in an American hotel in a very popular tourist destination. I was only there for 4 days but my eyes were opened to a country that did not have its peoples' best interests in mind.

On our first morning, we left the hotel and walked down the sidewalk toward the street. About 25 feet from the front door, I looked to my right where a short brick wall ran along the sidewalk. This brick wall came to about the middle of my shin. To my dismay, on the other side of that little wall, was a 50 foot drop onto a tennis court. At that moment, all I could envision was one of my children tumbling over to their death. My next thought was that in the USA, there were regulations requiring a barrier to prevent that.

That evening, we went for a walk again. Carefully walking past the little brick wall, we heading north down the sidewalk along the street. There were few street lights but felt safe since there were many hotels dotting the area. Several blocks down the street, we almost fell into a huge hole in the sidewalk. There was an entire section torn out and was about 6 feet deep. There were NO barriers or barricades preventing us from falling in. Again, we praised the good old USA for having regulations to protecting us.

The third day we headed downtown on a bus to the markets. After spending the afternoon, we boarded a bus to return to the hotel. Not far down the road, all traffic came to a halt. There had been an accident up ahead. This street was a four lane divided road with splits for crossing or making turns. After sitting there for a few minutes, the bus driver pulled over onto the wrong side of the road and began driving into the oncoming traffic. NOT SLOWLY EITHER! He sped up to about 55 MPH as cars hurtled toward us. This didn't last just a few blocks; it went on for several miles. Along the way, there were policemen who paid no attention nor tried to stop this driver.

By the end of this trip, it was clear that we lived in a country that protected us in ways that we really never thought about and took for granted. It made us want to kiss the US soil when we landed back home. A trip to the Bahamas led to similar situations, again making me grateful that I lived here. This leads me to a scary change within the Republican Party. They are trying to block legislation for the EPA and the FAA, effectively shutting them down. These are two of the agencies that I have come to expect will protect us. I don't even think about it, ever. 

Why is this a bad idea? Once upon a time, the Ohio River used to catch fire! YES, CATCH ON FIRE, including burning down bridges that crossed over it, in fact, many times! Factories had been dumping waste there with no thought of the impact on the wildlife or dangers they created. Our laws and regulations cleaned up our water by hitting these companies where it hurt most, in their pocket books.  The EPA was established and grew to protect us. But now, the Republicans want to get rid of it. WHY? Why would we get rid of an agency that protects us?

Two weeks ago, the Republicans prevented funding to the FAA. They blocked it again last night, August 1st, 2011.  If you didn't know, this is the agency that makes sure our planes don't fall out of the sky and kill its passengers due to shoddy practices. With the exception of the air traffic controllers, all employees are now laid off. Now, no one is watching the 'store'.

In similar situations, we KNOW that some companies have done things that put us at risk. When no one was watching, they did things that were in their best interest but put all of us in danger. The agencies, however, effectively stopped or greatly limited those practices and made our country a better, safer place.

But here we are. 2011. Not every company complies and not every company is caught violating regulations, but our life in this country sure is better in so many ways. I KNOW that after visiting foreign countries. But now, the Republicans are trying to do away with agencies that have been instrumental in making our country safe, special. A country that I wanted to kiss the ground of after experiencing what happens when there aren't agencies like the EPA and FAA.

And that my friends, is a sad commentary on our country, the politics of today and those who were elected to protect us. Whether you are Democrat or Republican, I defy you to feel comfortable putting your child on an airplane or let them swim in a lake, if they succeed in eliminating these agencies. 

And by the way, don't EVEN get me started on the Republican desire to weaken the Consumer Financial protections meant to keep Wall Street and Banks from screwing the economy all over AGAIN!