(Mitt) The Huckster was so slick, he shined on national TV. A lot of numbers were thrown out by the Huckster, but there is one he failed to mention on national TV and that is 47. He reserves that number to say in private meetings with his fellow one percent.
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. There are 47 percent who are with him, who depend on government, who believe they are victims, who belive the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to housing, you-name-it - that that's entitlement. And the goverment should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ..These are the people who pay no income tax...My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Well, I collect social security, and I don't make enough on that and a little pension to pay federal taxes anymore. So I am one of the 47 percent. I get medicare and I want to keep it. I spent a good portion paying into the system and I want to use it. I am old and yes, the government should give it to me and in my old age, I want to be sure I am taken care of. Medicare helps ensure me that I will be. I am one of the 47 percent.
I don't pay any federal income tax, but I pay taxes. I pay taxes on my property. I pay taxes when I buy the government subidized gasoline. I pay taxes on my telephone, my clothes on my back and my toilet paper. I am one of the 47 percent. But I ain't no victim. I raised my children, buried my husband, worked all my life, encouraged my grandchildren to watch sesame street and educational programs that would not be on television if it where up to The Huckster and his like. They'd be able to watch informercials or dumb cartoons.
So, don't let The Huckster fool you. Mitt ain't even his real name. It's Willard. Wasn't that the name of an old movie about rats? Hmm....
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Applause for Joe the Janitor from Sandy Creek, NY
After the announcement that the supreme court had upheld the Affordable Health Care Act, the talk shows were abuzz with expert opinion. On NPR's Talk of the Nation yesterday, host Neal Conan asked a 27 year old caller if he intended to buy health insurance, or if he would take the penalty imposed by the IRS. The caller, Joe from Sandy Creek, NY said he was a part-time janitor,(and therefore didn't make a lot of money), but that of course he would buy health insurance as it was his duty as an American. He would pay into the system now, even though he was young and healthy, and expected he would need to use it later as he got older. The change in the system has "got to start somewhere," he said.
His response drew applause from the distinguished panel and guests on the NPR show being broadcast from the Ideas conference in Aspen, Colorado.
Joe the Janitor, that other Joe ( the Plumber) could learn a few things from you. Thanks!
His response drew applause from the distinguished panel and guests on the NPR show being broadcast from the Ideas conference in Aspen, Colorado.
Joe the Janitor, that other Joe ( the Plumber) could learn a few things from you. Thanks!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
I'm Dreaming of an Electronic Free Christmas...just like the ones I used to know
I remember hiking through the back forty for our Christmas tree. Us kids would wade through thigh high snow to find a good spruce tree. My oldest brother would climb the tree and cut off the top and we would all drag it back through the Tug Hill snows to the house. Oftentimes it was a lot bigger than it looked in the woods and we would have to trim it down considerably to fit into the corner of the livingroom. The sweet aroma of freshly cut evergreen permeated the old farmhouse. Ah, Christmas!
These days what permeates is the sound of clicking fingers on keyboards and the silent hum of the internet. My days of tromping through the snow have long gone and my plastic tree is prelit. I could buy a candle with evergreen scent if I wanted to simulate the smell of a real tree. Sigh. What have I, we, become? When did misplacing the cell phone become the reason I don't dare to drive to the store? When did spider solitare replace a game of rummy with friends? I usually am able to get on my high horse and blame someone else, but, sadly, I am a part of it all. I love being able to see what is going on in the world with a few key strokes and to write my two cents worth.
Still, just one more time, I would like to shut everything off, sit quietly listening to the sounds of a wood fire and remember......
These days what permeates is the sound of clicking fingers on keyboards and the silent hum of the internet. My days of tromping through the snow have long gone and my plastic tree is prelit. I could buy a candle with evergreen scent if I wanted to simulate the smell of a real tree. Sigh. What have I, we, become? When did misplacing the cell phone become the reason I don't dare to drive to the store? When did spider solitare replace a game of rummy with friends? I usually am able to get on my high horse and blame someone else, but, sadly, I am a part of it all. I love being able to see what is going on in the world with a few key strokes and to write my two cents worth.
Still, just one more time, I would like to shut everything off, sit quietly listening to the sounds of a wood fire and remember......
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Occupying Wall Street and Moving on to Arsenal Street
Left the laptop at home so it was a blog blackout for me for several weeks now as I have been supporting my nephew with a master's degree from Kenshire College and no job in site. He started camping out in the little park near Wall Street with others to protest the greed and corruption that got us into this hellacious never ending job stagnation event. First, he wanted a job, any job and so hearing that there were lots of jobs out west filled by illegal immigrants, he thought there might be one for him as well, but alas, the owners were not interested because they would have to put him on the books and the illegal immigrants were experienced and therefore so much faster than him at picking spinach. Dejected, he came back to New York. When a friend called to ask if he wanted to participate in a protest, he went.
So I went to visit him there and ended up staying for six weeks. Air is a little chilly now and my 71 year old bones don't take the cold so I am back north. Catching up on sleep and trying to put the whole experience into some perspective.
For those of you interested in directed information about Occupy Wall Street, you can click
www.occupywallst.org
So, back in the beautiful calm north country and I find that the movement has arrived here, in the Siberia of New York. There is a photo of occupiers on public square in Watertown. I still trying to get warm so I can't join you, but I do have one suggestion: move your Occupation up a bit further on Arsenal Street, perhaps Outer Arsenal Street where there is lots of corporate greed activity going on. Little Peanut Park on Public Square in Watertown has been occupied already for years by some of the victims of our corporate culture: the homeless. Business itself on Public Square is itself a victim of corporate culture. The fine little stores and restaurants located there now are lovely, but Public Square is just a shadow of its former self. Move up the street on Arsenal, find a corner in a parking lot at one of the megastores or malls. Maybe as people are getting out of their cars to head to the stores to load upon goods from China they will pause for a moment and think.
So I went to visit him there and ended up staying for six weeks. Air is a little chilly now and my 71 year old bones don't take the cold so I am back north. Catching up on sleep and trying to put the whole experience into some perspective.
For those of you interested in directed information about Occupy Wall Street, you can click
www.occupywallst.org
So, back in the beautiful calm north country and I find that the movement has arrived here, in the Siberia of New York. There is a photo of occupiers on public square in Watertown. I still trying to get warm so I can't join you, but I do have one suggestion: move your Occupation up a bit further on Arsenal Street, perhaps Outer Arsenal Street where there is lots of corporate greed activity going on. Little Peanut Park on Public Square in Watertown has been occupied already for years by some of the victims of our corporate culture: the homeless. Business itself on Public Square is itself a victim of corporate culture. The fine little stores and restaurants located there now are lovely, but Public Square is just a shadow of its former self. Move up the street on Arsenal, find a corner in a parking lot at one of the megastores or malls. Maybe as people are getting out of their cars to head to the stores to load upon goods from China they will pause for a moment and think.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Dear Nancy Grace -
Dear Nancy Grace and Cronies:
Congratulations on the recent highest ratings ever. Your tears over the Casey Anthony non-guilty verdict were on spot for the occasion. Now that you've got the momentum going, how about shifting your ever powerful talking head toward the other child murders to be prosecuted in the same area? Or, don't they meet your criteria for media sensationalism? Are the victims non-white? Are they poor, black or hispanic and don't meet your definition of cute? What is truly amazing in the coverage of this tragic situation, the hundreds of people congregating at the courthouse, the thousands (or is it millions) commenting on hundreds (or is it thousands) of websites and blogs and facebook posts express their utter horror over the verdict, but they have no awareness or opinion whatsoever of the child murders in their own communities. The medical examiner could not determine a cause of death. So the jury couldn't convict.
Our society has supposedly come a long way since the days when an abused child's greatest agency of protection was the S.P.C.A. But ask any local child protective services or law enforcement authority and you will be told of numerous attrocities to children that are difficult to prove, go under the radar and go unpunished. For example: a four month old infant dies when his parent "rolls over" on him. He's taken to the hospital but we are too busy watching Nancy Grace carry on to notice the ambulance on our street. The physician examining the child notes evidence of abuse. But the family of the victim's parent has money. Clout. The child's grandparents are best friends with the publishers of the only newspaper in town. There is nothing reported in the media. Not even an obituary for the child. The family asks for a second opinion from another physician and the results are inconclusive - no obvious signs of abuse to the dead child. No charges are filed. The public, Nancy Grace and cronies, is not even aware that this baby has lived and died. It happens on your street. But keep watching headline news. Nancy Grace will get tell you what to think.
Congratulations on the recent highest ratings ever. Your tears over the Casey Anthony non-guilty verdict were on spot for the occasion. Now that you've got the momentum going, how about shifting your ever powerful talking head toward the other child murders to be prosecuted in the same area? Or, don't they meet your criteria for media sensationalism? Are the victims non-white? Are they poor, black or hispanic and don't meet your definition of cute? What is truly amazing in the coverage of this tragic situation, the hundreds of people congregating at the courthouse, the thousands (or is it millions) commenting on hundreds (or is it thousands) of websites and blogs and facebook posts express their utter horror over the verdict, but they have no awareness or opinion whatsoever of the child murders in their own communities. The medical examiner could not determine a cause of death. So the jury couldn't convict.
Our society has supposedly come a long way since the days when an abused child's greatest agency of protection was the S.P.C.A. But ask any local child protective services or law enforcement authority and you will be told of numerous attrocities to children that are difficult to prove, go under the radar and go unpunished. For example: a four month old infant dies when his parent "rolls over" on him. He's taken to the hospital but we are too busy watching Nancy Grace carry on to notice the ambulance on our street. The physician examining the child notes evidence of abuse. But the family of the victim's parent has money. Clout. The child's grandparents are best friends with the publishers of the only newspaper in town. There is nothing reported in the media. Not even an obituary for the child. The family asks for a second opinion from another physician and the results are inconclusive - no obvious signs of abuse to the dead child. No charges are filed. The public, Nancy Grace and cronies, is not even aware that this baby has lived and died. It happens on your street. But keep watching headline news. Nancy Grace will get tell you what to think.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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