A $24 Billion Tea Party

So a bunch of self engroseed, politically opportuntistic alleged representatives of the people threw themselves a grand tea party with a $24 billion tab and they expect us to believe they were doing it all for us.

Zoe and Animal Farm

Guest Column ‘Animal Farm’ on Capitol Hill Wednesday, October 16, 2013 By KEVIN MCKINNEY Zoe is back at the bungalow. She’s at that cute age, nearly three, inquiring about anything and everything she comes across. I’m sort of her uncle; I look after her now and then when her mom Mary must go away. Just a little tyke with big brown eyes – and wavy black and white fur. Of course, she has that natural adventuresome energy and curiosity that most Jack Russell Terriers possess. “What’s out there Zoe?” I ask her the first fall night back at the bungalow in the boatyard, where an assortment of wild creatures – raccoons, possums, skunks and most plentiful of all, mice – have been known to roam. “Arrr, rrrr, rrr,” cries Zoe, as she nervously paces between the back screen door and the couch where I’m sitting. “Are there mice out there, Zoe?” “Hmmm, mmm, mmm,” whines Zoe, as if to say: “Yes, possibly, quite possibly!” “How about a raccoon, Zoe? Is there a raccoon out there?” “Ruff!” she barks with absolute certainty. Smart dog, I happen to know there’s a raccoon or two living in my neighbor’s chimney on the other side of my backyard fence. Now Zoe is nervously prancing about the bungalow. She takes turns ducking into the bedroom and then back to the back door, into the office and back to the door, then back to me to plead for mercy, “Let me out will ya? This is torture!” From the way Zoe is carrying on, I imagine all the creatures of the boatyard are out there tonight, preparing for the inevitable winter, gathering together in my garage workshop they have been known to frequent. It’s like a scene out of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” The raccoons, taking up the role of leaders which the pigs held in Farm, are sitting on their haunches atop my workbench, addressing the other creatures. A family of squirrels comes bounding in, bumping into each other, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. The possums and skunks, dull fearful critters that they are, sit obediently before the raccoons. A cluster of mice huddle together on the floor in the corner. The shifty tomcat, its tail slowly waving in the air and pacing back and forth, hasn’t made up its mind whether it will stay or not. The raccoons are the cleverest of the critters; their deceptively cute black masked faces belie something sinister though. (Sort of like a House Republican’s smile.) Of course, the raccoons agree among themselves that they should occupy the workshop loft this winter, where they can closely monitor the food supply, keep an eye on things and even nestle in the attic fiberglass insulation if it gets too cold. This is just good common business sense the raccoons assure the rest of the creatures. Ala Farm’s pigs, the raccoons will need plenty of food and rest so they can make smart decisions for all the animals; meantime, the rest of the animals will have to work harder for little reward. And I can’t help think of the House Tea Party Republicans. What Orwell warned us against in “Animal Farm,” his prophetic 1945 fable on the abuses of power, is unfolding right before our eyes. This government shutdown is just the latest, but most revealing, tell of where the Tea Party’s priorities lie. Like the pigs, the so called “patriots” may claim publicly “all animals are created equal,” but in reality they clearly are convinced that some are “more equal than others.” They’re so concerned about their political ideologies, their power and positioning for the next election, that they think nothing of risking another economic catastrophe. These guys’ toying with the country’s future is borne out of the same criminal recklessness that caused 2008’s Great Recession. They are willing to hurt millions of Americans in order to preserve the privileges of a powerful select few. In the same way Farm’s pigs convinced the rest of the animals that the prized milk and apples should be set aside for the pigs’ consumption alone, the Tea Partyers insist they need more riches, fewer financial industry regulations – essentially, the freedom to do whatever they please. So, while I can’t help think of these things, I’m glad Zoe is around. She helps take my mind off such fiendishness. And she reminds me, too, that I can do something about it. Zoe is more than ready to go out there into dark night. I’m game too. “Let’s go Zoe,” I say. Time to break up that meeting in the workshop. I pay rent. This is my home. The bloody raccoons – like the bloated pigs – have been calling the shots long enough. (Kevin McKinney is a freelance writer living in Cape May. He writes commentaries and features for a variety of publications. He can be reached at mckinneyfreelance@live.com) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kick The Can

So, we're playing kick the can, down the road. The budget fight will only get more intense as we near the next looming deadline a few months from now. But better a delay than a default. No question the Tea Party has done itself damage. The question remains: How much? These guys won't go away. They figure they have nothing to lose. With big money backers like the Koch Brothers behind them, they'll only throw more dollars at their cause, to twist, misinform and fight harder. Even if it means reinventing themselves under a new brand of tea with a new name. Right wing schemers in the tradition of Karl Rove are no doubt thinking of such things right now.

Less Than Two days to go ...

The House doesn't have a choice. It best act or suffer the consequences at the ballot box.

GOP Is Digging Its Own Grave

Ah justice. It's happening. The Republicans' approval rating is sinking to record lows. http://"Republican Party Favorability Sinks to Record Low," Gallup, October 9, 2013 http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=294257&id=76172-23855260-E0osd7x&t=2

Orwell's Tea Party Pigs

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
OPINION, OCTOBER 9, 2013

For House 'pigs,' all's well that ends Orwell 

 By KEVIN MCKINNEY

 THEY ARE the worst kind of bad guys. Worse than knife-wielding street thugs or gun-toting gangsters.

 They dress up in their dandy monkey suits and assume a self-aggrandizing arrogance, as if they were mythical heroes, fighting for justice.

 They make phony, empty speeches, posing for the public, pretending that they give a rat's tail about us, the people.

 But really, they are the pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm - standing upright on two legs, dressed like humans and sipping tea with the enemy.

 Whether or not they ever possessed a righteous bone in their body, the truth is plain: House tea party Republicans, consumed by fear and corrupted by power, answer only to an influential select few. That's why they so easily can shut down a government, leaving some 800,000 federal workers without pay, risk crippling our economy further and give America's faltering reputation as the world's leading democracy another black eye.

 If the unprecedentedly obstructionist and politically opportunistic tea partyers are so sure that ObamaCare is a disaster, why not sign off on it and virtually guarantee a grand tea party in the White House come 2016?

 Wouldn't a meltdown of the Affordable Care Act effectively trash Democrats' and the president's credibility, bolstering Republicans' chances in the next congressional and presidential elections?

 Sure, like Animal Farm's pigs, tea partyers like to proclaim that "all (Americans) are equal." But the House hogs, a la Farm's pigs, time and time again since 2010 have demonstrated their true sentiments: Some citizens are "more equal than others."

 Of course, that "equality" is gauged by the size of a person's bank account, on- or offshore.

 The disparity between this country's rich and poor has never been greater.

 An estimated 13 percent of our children are living in poverty today. Millions go to bed hungry each night. And what's Republicans' sole obsession?

To reel in the Wall Street recklessness or reinforce lax financial regulation - the key failures that led to the Great Recession of 2008?

 Nah. No, Republicans, tea partyers in particular, are chomping at the bit to cut $40 billion from the food-stamp program over the next decade.

 Do social-welfare assistance programs need belt-tightening to weed out abusers? Certainly.

 But maybe we should make it a priority to close the loopholes that directly caused the economic crisis five years ago before we risk literally stealing more food from the mouths of babes.

 This talk of ObamaCare as a job killer is nonsense. Small businesses are hiring steadily. Under the new health-care plan, only 3 percent of small businesses (with 50 employees or more) are mandated to insure their workers. And some 96 percent of those businesses already provide health care.

 The alarmist, Republican-propagated remarks about ObamaCare's impact on Medicare and Medicaid have been refuted by analysts. Those programs will only be improved and expanded under the act.

 Emboldened by the suspect redistricting in the South that nearly guarantees that numerous Republicans will get re-elected in 2014, the tea partyers on Capitol Hill open their mouths only to oppose, disparage and destroy.

 Where are the conservatives' fixes or alternatives to the much maligned ObamaCare? Actually, considering the landslide of lies that the tea party has propagated about ObamaCare, it's impressive that a polled citizenry still slightly favors the new health-care law.

 So, it only stands to reason that the tea-party-controlled House, in reality, is terrified that ObamaCare - which surely won't be without its share of red-tape glitches, initially - will actually end up as one of this country's greatest achievements for the people.

 The only card that the House has left to play is to block a budget debt-ceiling plan. Then amid any resulting chaos, they can childishly point a finger at the president and insist: "He did it!"

 And they are betting, just like the pigs in Orwell's Farm, that the masses will be effectively brainwashed by such garbage.

We should take a lesson from the old, hardworking cart horse named Boxer in Animal Farm. He wasn't easily swayed by the pigs' empty assurances and twisting of the animals' democratic commandments - to benefit the pigs only.

Boxer asked questions; he sought the truth. Orwell indeed was a prophet. But what good has it done us?

Now, amid this partial government shutdown, heading for worse times, will the people finally see the House tea partyers for the pigs that they truly are? _________________
 Kevin McKinney is a freelance writer living at the Jersey Shore.

 http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20131009_For_House__pigs___all_s_well_that_ends_Orwell.html#fdA1stGyDtT1I4f5.03>

Walmart Rolls Us Towards a "Rollerball" Future

Those great deals you find at Walmart ultimately are costing Americans way too much. With Walmart leading the way, we are fast approaching the futuristic scenario depicted in the movie "Rollerball," where corporations keep the people in their pocket; Big money, in the movie, runs the country and controls the people -- even to the point of instituting its own corporate anthem before each rollerball contest. I wonder what Walmart's anthem will sound like? No doubt some synthesized garbage cheaply produced like the cheap plastic junk they bribe the American people with in their "super" stores. Sure, Walmart recently stepped up with some concessions for their employees, but only after mounting public pressure -- and of course to ensure they have a ready and willing workforce this fast approaching holiday season. To be sure, Walmart's great deals that attract Americans like the religious masses to Mecca, ultimately have cost us dearly. The conglomerate has bought us out, paid us off with $4 prescription fills and wholesale prices on eggs and the like so that we keep our mouths shut. In the meantime, the chain store giant has short changed the American work force in hours, overtime pay, and benefits. They've monopolized and undermined our sense of community. It's powerful conglomerates like Walmart, that the House Tea Party is really fighting for by opposing ObamaCare. Not small businesses. Not the people. Anything to save the big boys a buck, while people struggle on.

This GOP Gamble Looks To Go Bust

In the same way the reckless Wall Streeters and banking industry profiteers rolled the dice with the livlihoods of multiple millions of Americans before the Great Recession, Republicans, complicit in that meltdown, are betting big again. House Republicans, led by the Tea Party, have rolled the dice again, allowing the government shutdown in hopes, of course, that the President and Democrats will get the blame. But this time,the stakes may be too high and the people are watching.

Tea Party is The Enemy

At least with your typical kidnapper or bank robber you know where you stand. These House Tea Party Republicans disguise themselves as the good guys. They pretend they give a dam about us. They claim they are acting on our behalf. But they are in essence, the Tea Party Pigs of George Orwell's Animal Farm.