The Unhealthy Bloat of Wanton Affluence

You will remember that something sat uneasy with me when Dr Levy said he wouldn’t mind if they developed drugs only rich people could afford them, even if the average manual laborer out there can look forward to dying of a heart attack at age 62 as a reward for all his work.  Now they have a dozen new cancer drugs just approved by the FDA and apparently they are all miracle drugs and work quite well.  The trouble is the average price of them is a hundred thousand a year- - which gives many people the choice of staying alive and going bankrupt, or accepting the alternative.  Many people believe this is unfair, and that these drug companies owe it to the people of America to bring the prices of their medications down, since these drugs sell for double the cost here as opposed to other industrialized nations.  Rush Limbaugh wouldn’t care, though.  He’s the man who said “I don’t see why people need health insurance.  When I go to the doctor I just write out a check”.   My “playing the over-population card” comes from the likelihood that rich people use drugs such as viagara and testosterone to stay manly and verile and then go on to impregnate women young enough to be their granddaughter.  I will say that in the Romney fashion- - they do “share the wealth” with their offspring.  And in this they are more virtuous than my own parents.   But you have rich people, who use most of the world’s resources anyhow- - and will pass laws guaranteeing we won’t get more ecological energy sources.  And they are more studly than their poorer bretheren and go on reproducing to a fantastic age.  It’s been said the rich get preferential treatment for organ donations, such as a liver.  The rich are able to get remedial surgery for things that are their own fault, such as Rush Limbaugh’s cochlear implants- - caused by his Oxyconten use.  Yesterday Mario was talking about how economists have demonstrated that having a vast inequity between the rich and the poor in general is unhealthy both for society and the economy.  And people like Romney don’t have to worry about “whether they make sound economic decisions” because special laws are in place just for them rigging the game so that they can’t lose no matter what they do.    Of course now there is another new form of cancer therapy involving electro-shocking the cancerous growth to death.  If that worked, wouldn’t they have discovered that a long time ago.  Apparently the procedure, admittedly painful, creates “memory cells” that remember what a cancer cell looks like and go after it to kill it.  Now if we could just do that with the tea party.  I don’t think it’s out of turn to say that Rush Limbaugh- - when he dies, will be one of the least mourned men on planet earth this side of Ebonezer Scrooge.  But as I have pointed out even Ebonezer did not have the abiding loathing of poor people that Rush Limbaugh has.  These rich people of course use religion is just another “fix” in their lives.  I wondered why Rush Limbaugh got all flustered over a seven year old giving a Thanksgiving prayer at a family dinner.  And the kid talked about the pilgrems and the Indians and teaching the white man to farm and stuff so he could survive in the new land.  Rush was outraged.  I guess Rush just believes the Pilgrims just prayed and food just dropped out of the sky- - no doubt on the best antique china & sterling silver place settings.

Monique reminds us that New Years 2014 is exactly two weeks from today and that it’s time we gave 2013 its walking papers, it’s two week’s notice.  Of course that’s when the employee gets booted out of the office right then before he or she can steal all of the thumb drives and other corporation secrets.  I went for coffee both in the morning and in the afternoon and in the morning we had some kind of German chocolate cake for a snack.  For lunch we had a corn dog, and I had someone’s coleslaw, and we had “Chinese” soup, and a banana for dessert.  Then it was Nicole Sandler, and Mario was on just now at three talking about Foster home agencies and how the Private ones are 33% worse than the government agencies as far as molestations and things are concerned, and that this is a human tragedy that is really more important than what is happening in the beauros at City Hall or the Dept of Water & Power.

Nicole was on and of course I watched the soap opera.   Stephanie Miller has been playing these “Dispatches from the War” excerpts with the formal Civil War style letters, and the downcast violin playing.  They’re a real hoot.  As of now- - Kate and Gabriel and Samantha know that Sunny knows their secret- - and Justin knows that his son is desperate to talk to him about something big, if not entirely informed as to what it is.  So far the bottom hasn’t fallen out of the high temperatures though it does seem to be threatening rain.  I think we’re just about caught up about now.    I am not a happy camper about this flu thing going on now for two and a half weeks already.  Based on prior experience- - right now I don’t have the vaguest idea when this malaise and cough will be done with. 

Yesterday was Pope Francis’ birthday.  Actually according to my parents- - I was expected to have been born in December 19^th.  There is considerable evidence against my being any time in either December or January for that matter.  In fact sifting through the evidence, I have concluded that I was born around March 2^nd or 3^rd of the next year.  Of course everyone likes o make up their own history.  First there are nine planets, then there are eight.  They go back and give actors honorary Oscars- - just to say that they gave them one, even though technically “didn’t earn it the way everybody else does”.   Mormons go so far apparently as to dig up Holocaust victims from their graves, baptize them.  It seems most every TV Evangelist has some high “Honorary degree” from some presteigious University”.  We won’t even talk about the grade averages of college football players.  But if the poor or disadvantaged should ever be given such a break or “do over” by a Court Ruling or something- - you know people like Rush Limbaugh will raise his fat ditto of a head in protest.  Now due to some Court Ruling- - a thirty eight year old man will be pardoned or paroled or something for a crime committed when he was sixteen.  The crime seems to be accessory to the second degree murder- - as I understand the law.  But they called it murder one at the time.   Who would have guessed that after over a hundred years of usage- - trans fats are the most dangerous thing since Polonium in food.  People change their legal last names because it’s to their political advantage to sound more “Ethnic”.

Tonight for dinner we had baked chicken and corn, and these whipped sweet potatoes, with yellow Jell-O with fruit in it for desert.  I went to the bakery for a large coffee.  I got an egg sandwich with my medication at the med room.  We learn that there was a power ball lottery winner last night.  There were two of them but one winner hasn’t shown yet.  But the Vietnamese short owner back in San Jose was awarded a million dollars.  The math is a little screwy though because as I count it- - half of six hundred million is three hundred million- - but apparently the winners pay half of their winnings in income taxes.  Since it’s a government award to begin with, claiming the pay-out is twice what it actually is, is just another kind of Lie, as I see it.  And apparently Governor Christie engages in political vendettas against his opponents and so closed down a certain bridge, and also blocked construction of a major tunnel that would have greatly eased traffic congestion- -and in general brought more commerce to the area.

 

Obama Least Popular President in Forty Years

But first, move over, Jesus Christ, because Rush Limbaugh has just issued thirteen more "undeniable truths of life" from the holy mount, made of other people's money, which he calls rules for mentally tough people.  Yeah, Rush's brain is tough, but so is beef jerky, and when it comes to jerky- Rush has no shortage.   The essence of Rush's brilliant epimpiphamy is "Never feel sorry for anybody, or yourself" and "Never worry about things you can't control".   The trouble with this is Rush thinks he's God and therefore has the inherent right to control everything.  Besides- - Rush is constantly playing the victim role- - and if you ask his viewers he's pitching his endless stream of grudges against democrats, republican, racial minorities, the poor, and any other group I left out.   If Rush is serious when he says "Never get rattled by what other people think" what if a couple of dozen people mooned him right on the spot during one of his public news conferences?  Rush is obsessed with what other people think- - and he spares no excuse for telling them they're wrong.

 

And now we come to President Obama, one of the least popular Presidents of the past eighty years.  Only Richard Nixon was lower in the polls at this point in his second term, which is usually a good one for presidents.  After all they are "assured and experianced and confident" and don't have to worry about running again- and all that- - and are free to do as they wish.  Well, that's with any other President other than this one.  But Liberals and Libertarians like me, have our own set of "problems" with this President and the list isn't small.  And here is George Washington's blog re-posted from - - sometime. 

Gawker’s John Cook succinctly sums up the rigged debates:

Leaked Debate Agreement Shows Both Obama and Romney are Sniveling Cowards
***
Both campaigns are terrified at anything even remotely spontaneous happening.
They aren’t permitted to ask each other questions, propose pledges to each other, or walk outside a “predesignated area.” And for the town-hall-style debate tomorrow night, the audience members posing questions aren’t allowed to ask follow-ups (their mics will be cut off as soon as they get their questions out). Nor will moderator Candy Crowley.

Glenn Greenwald notes:
The moderators were selected to ensure that nothing unexpected is asked and that only the most staid and establishment views are heard. As journalism professor Jay Rosen put it when the names of the moderators were unveiled, using terms to describe those views that are acceptable in Washington media circles and those which are “fringe”:

“In order to be considered as a candidate for moderator you have to be soaked in the sphere of consensus, likely to stay within the predictable inner rings of the sphere of legitimate controversy, and unlikely in the extreme to select any questions from the sphere of deviance.”

Here then, within this one process of structuring the presidential debates, we have every active ingredient that typically defines, and degrades, US democracy. The two parties collude in secret. The have the same interests and goals. Everything is done to ensure that the political process is completely scripted and devoid of any spontaneity or reality.
All views that reside outside the narrow confines of the two parties are rigidly excluded. Anyone who might challenge or subvert the two-party duopoly is rendered invisible.

Obama Is Worse than Bush In Favoring the Super-Elite, Bailing Out the Big Banks, Protecting Financial Criminals, Targeting Whistle-blowers, Keeping Government Secrets, Trampling Our Liberties and Starting Military Conflicts In New Countries

Glenn Greenwald notes that even Democratic party loyalists are getting fed up with Obama’s Bush-like actions:

Even the most loyal establishment Democrats are now harshly denouncing the president for his war on transparency ….
This secrecy has become so oppressive and extreme that even the most faithful Democratic operatives are now angrily exploding with public denunciations.

(Greenwald gives numerous examples.)
The Hill reported last month:

A majority of voters believe President Obama has been no better than his immediate predecessor, President George W. Bush, when it comes to balancing national security with the protection of civil liberties, according to a new poll for The Hill.
Thirty-seven percent of voters argue that Obama has been worse than Bush while 15 percent say he has been “about the same.” [In other words, a total of 52% think Obama is just as bad as Bush. That was before the drone controversy - discussed below - went viral.]
***
The results cannot be fully explained as party line responses. More than one in five self-identified Democrats, 21 percent, assert that the Obama administration has not improved upon Bush’s record. So do 23 percent of liberals.

Indeed, more and more Democrats are waking up the fact that Obama is doing a lot of the same stuff Bush did.
Bush was a horrible president. His warmongering, disrespect for civil liberties, redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle class to the super-elite, and obsession for secrecy were all abysmal.
But how does Obama stack up by objective measurements?
Let’s compare …

Favoring the Super-Elite the Expense of Everyone Else

Income inequality has increased more under Obama than under Bush.
Under Obama, the richest Americans have captured more than 100% of all income gains (and see this).
Liberal Nobel prize economist Joseph Stiglitz said in 2009 that Obama’s toxic asset plan “amounts to robbery of the American people”.

Bailing Out the Big Banks

While everyone knows about the $700 billion “Tarp” bailout which started under Bush, a top banking analyst puts the current bailouts under Obama at more than $780 billion each year. (Background here.)

Protecting Financial Criminals

Obama has prosecuted fewer financial crimes than President Reagan, Clinton or either of the Bush presidents.
Obama’s chief law enforcement officer – the Attorney General of the United States – has publicly stated that he won’t go after big banks.

Targeting Whistleblowers

Obama has prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other presidents combined.
Obama – even more than Bush – is protecting criminal activity by prosecuting and harassing whistleblowers.
Indeed, the Obama administration is are literally treating whistleblowers as terrorists.

Using Government Secrecy

In March 2010, AP documented that – under Obama – 17 major agencies were 50 percent more likely to deny freedom of information requests than under Bush.
An ACLU staff attorney puts it:

In some ways, the Obama administration is actually even more aggressive on secrecy than the Bush administration.

A new AP investigation published last week shows that the Obama administration has recently become more secretive than ever.

Trampling Liberties and the Constitution

Liberals rightfully hate Bush for trampling liberties. Bush even called the Constitution a “God Damn Piece of Paper”.
But Obama has gone much further than Bush ever did by:

(1) Declaring the right to assassinate Americans living on U.S. soil (no … this was never disclaimed) without any due process of law
(2) Declaring that he can indefinitely detain Americans on U.S. soil without any due process of law
(3) Spying on Americans more widely than Bush (the former head of the National Security Agency’s global digital data gathering program – William Binney – says that he pervasiveness of spying under Obama has only “gotten worse”)
(4) Bush destroyed much of the separation of powers which made our country great. Under Obama, it’s gotten worse. For example, the agency which decides who should be killed by drone is the same agency which spies on all Americans
(5) Otherwise shredding the Bill of Rights

Starting Military Conflicts In New Countries

Liberals rightfully lambast Bush for getting us into the disastrous Iraq war.
But Obama has in fact launched wars in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan … and up to 35 African nations (and see this).
Obama – citing a Nixon administration official’s justification for invading Cambodia – has claimed his power extends into every country in the world … well beyond those where we are engaged in hostilities.
Obama has dramatically escalated the use of drone assassinations, which are  creating many more terrorists than they are killing.  The former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo says that Obama’s drone surge is as damaging to our country as Bush’s torture program. I think he’s actually underestimating damage from the program, as drones have become the number 1 recruiting tool for Al Qaeda (especially since children are now being targeted for drone assassination … Oh, and torture is still happening on Obama’s watch; background).
And the Obama administration has probably supported even more terrorists – in Libya, Syria and elsewhere – than Bush. See this, this, this, this and this.