Welcome to the era of sequestration.
The political grandstanding between the Tea Party and the Sane People have come to the point where, due to the fact that they couldn't agree on a budget, on tax cuts, on anything, taxes have been arbitrarily increased and spending has been arbitrarily slashed. Some of the more egregious cuts?
Education: Goodbye Head Start and other programs that were federally funded. Hope you parents can find a way to deal with your kids after school.
Healthcare: In my home town, 3 major hospitals are closing in high need areas: SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn Hospital, LICH.
Immigration: several thousand illegal immigrants that were being detained in advance of obtaining paperwork have been released. Take that Arizona!
Defense: The military took huge and deep cuts, slashing it's size by at least 10%
Unemployment and Social Security: Both saw cuts of 6%, meaning the amount and duration of these benefits have been cut.
Oh, yeah, something like a million jobs have been lost in the process.
Now, the same people who were clamoring for smaller government are hamstrung and are wondering where the government support is. And the legislators who let this happen seem convinced that government is supposed to be run like a business, and turn a profit. They're wrong. Whenever government has extra money, it's not called profit, it's called surplus. There's a reason for that.
Well, now that TP has gotten what they want, I wonder if they'll be happy now?
Showing posts with label immigration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label immigration. Show all posts
Monday, March 4, 2013
Friday, April 13, 2012
"Believe me, that IS hard work."
Warning: The following post is of a political nature, exemplifying my pinko leftist commie beliefs and railing against wealthy right-wingers. It also contains sexual wordplay involving politicians and their wives. Reader discretion is advised.
The most demeaning thing that's ever happened to me happened when I was about 19 years old, living in New York, and making just a hair above minimum wage at a thankless job I worked after school. It was at a home heating fuel company, and the grandson of the owner was brought in to meet the staff. He was about 12 or 13 at the time. My older brother and I were the only people of color who worked in the office as opposed to out on the trucks, and he paid particular attention to us. He came to me (and my brother, I later found out) and asked what it was like to work and go to school. After I told him the answer (it sucked and I was always broke), he said to me "Keep at it. That sort of thing builds character."
I'm sure he thought he was being inspirational.
I bring this up because of a conversation I had with a co-worker. I've been largely ignorant of the political scene this election cycle because as we get closer to a one-on-one battle, the rhetoric gets ramped up to unpleasantly ugly attacks and I want no part of it. I know who I'm voting for already, and have no time or patience for what amounts to a high stakes playground game of "the dozens." That said, it was brought to my attention that a woman publicly criticized Ann Romney, the wife of probably Republican candidate Mitt Romney, as being unfit to comment on the state of women in the workplace considering that as a stay-at-home mom and wife of a gajillionaire, she's never worked a day in her life. Her response: "I was a stay at home mom raising five boys. Believe me, that IS hard work."
Huh.
There is so much here to dissect. Let's start with the fact that the woman, Hilary Rosen, an LGBT activist, was forced to apologize. For exercising her First Amendment rights. Simply because this rich chick got offended. Is that where we are now? It's okay to call Trayvon Martin a thug, or say on radio that women who require contraceptives should be made to videotape their sex lives, but offend a rich chick who had the good fortune to blow the stock broker who became Governor, and all hell breaks loose? Certain factions of the populations make derogatory racial remarks about our PRESIDENT, but offend a rich white lady and you have to apologize. I call bullshit. The people who are so fervent about protecting certain rights seem to be very pissed off when these rights extend past them to the rest of us.
Secondly, Ms. Rosen was right. Ann Romney hasn't had to work hard a day in her life, and between Mormon missionary work and the "job" that got her married, she hasn't ever had to punch a clock. She's never had to make ends meet. And let's be real, I find it hard to believe this rich missionary lady ever really had to do very much of the actual raising of her five boys. It's easy to be a stay at home mom when you never have to even worry about paying the bills. My mother never had that luxury. She worked, put herself through school and fed seven hungry mouths. Now believe me, THAT is hard work.
I have a huge problem with this "let them eat cake" attitude with which the wealthy 1% regards the rest of us. This culture of entitlement they seem to have engendered has only gotten more brazen in the wake of the Bush years, that they are supposed to walk over us, and we are supposed to genuflect before them and that is just supposed to be the status quo. No. Hell no. That's not the country the Founding Fathers signed on for.
The most demeaning thing that's ever happened to me happened when I was about 19 years old, living in New York, and making just a hair above minimum wage at a thankless job I worked after school. It was at a home heating fuel company, and the grandson of the owner was brought in to meet the staff. He was about 12 or 13 at the time. My older brother and I were the only people of color who worked in the office as opposed to out on the trucks, and he paid particular attention to us. He came to me (and my brother, I later found out) and asked what it was like to work and go to school. After I told him the answer (it sucked and I was always broke), he said to me "Keep at it. That sort of thing builds character."
I'm sure he thought he was being inspirational.
I bring this up because of a conversation I had with a co-worker. I've been largely ignorant of the political scene this election cycle because as we get closer to a one-on-one battle, the rhetoric gets ramped up to unpleasantly ugly attacks and I want no part of it. I know who I'm voting for already, and have no time or patience for what amounts to a high stakes playground game of "the dozens." That said, it was brought to my attention that a woman publicly criticized Ann Romney, the wife of probably Republican candidate Mitt Romney, as being unfit to comment on the state of women in the workplace considering that as a stay-at-home mom and wife of a gajillionaire, she's never worked a day in her life. Her response: "I was a stay at home mom raising five boys. Believe me, that IS hard work."
Huh.
There is so much here to dissect. Let's start with the fact that the woman, Hilary Rosen, an LGBT activist, was forced to apologize. For exercising her First Amendment rights. Simply because this rich chick got offended. Is that where we are now? It's okay to call Trayvon Martin a thug, or say on radio that women who require contraceptives should be made to videotape their sex lives, but offend a rich chick who had the good fortune to blow the stock broker who became Governor, and all hell breaks loose? Certain factions of the populations make derogatory racial remarks about our PRESIDENT, but offend a rich white lady and you have to apologize. I call bullshit. The people who are so fervent about protecting certain rights seem to be very pissed off when these rights extend past them to the rest of us.
Secondly, Ms. Rosen was right. Ann Romney hasn't had to work hard a day in her life, and between Mormon missionary work and the "job" that got her married, she hasn't ever had to punch a clock. She's never had to make ends meet. And let's be real, I find it hard to believe this rich missionary lady ever really had to do very much of the actual raising of her five boys. It's easy to be a stay at home mom when you never have to even worry about paying the bills. My mother never had that luxury. She worked, put herself through school and fed seven hungry mouths. Now believe me, THAT is hard work.
I have a huge problem with this "let them eat cake" attitude with which the wealthy 1% regards the rest of us. This culture of entitlement they seem to have engendered has only gotten more brazen in the wake of the Bush years, that they are supposed to walk over us, and we are supposed to genuflect before them and that is just supposed to be the status quo. No. Hell no. That's not the country the Founding Fathers signed on for.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
A Nation of...
As the child of immigrants in to nation of immigrants, I find a particular point of contention in today's political landscape to be puzzling at best.
In the southern border states, there is talk of building an electrified fence. There is talk of mass deportations. of shuttering our borders so illegals can't get through, stemming the tide of the huddled masses as they get to our golden arches of opportunity. It makes me wonder, when it was exactly we got so xenophobic.
My parents arrived here from Jamaica in the 70's. I wasn't born until quite some time later, so the details are sketchy to me, but to my knowledge they weren't under the constant threat of deportation for the simple reason of being here. They were able to hold down jobs, earn a living, build a family all while taking the slow, necessary steps toward citizenship.
That was about 40 years ago though and in this day and age, there seems to be a concerted effort to stamp out that opportunity. This country used to advertise itself the world over as the land of opportunity, where all you needed to succeed was the ability to get here, a strong work ethic, and the strength of character to see your dreams through. The poem, "The New Colossus," on a bronze plaque at the Statue of Liberty welcomed other people's downtrodden and cast-offs. The famed excerpt of the poem proudly proclaims "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore..." and it is an ideal that we are failing, and miserably.
This nation has done plenty, especially in the last decade or so, to demonize the people who would come here to make a better life for themselves, to make it harder for them to gain legal status, to get a quality education, to achieve. It is shameful what we have become.
In the southern border states, there is talk of building an electrified fence. There is talk of mass deportations. of shuttering our borders so illegals can't get through, stemming the tide of the huddled masses as they get to our golden arches of opportunity. It makes me wonder, when it was exactly we got so xenophobic.
My parents arrived here from Jamaica in the 70's. I wasn't born until quite some time later, so the details are sketchy to me, but to my knowledge they weren't under the constant threat of deportation for the simple reason of being here. They were able to hold down jobs, earn a living, build a family all while taking the slow, necessary steps toward citizenship.
That was about 40 years ago though and in this day and age, there seems to be a concerted effort to stamp out that opportunity. This country used to advertise itself the world over as the land of opportunity, where all you needed to succeed was the ability to get here, a strong work ethic, and the strength of character to see your dreams through. The poem, "The New Colossus," on a bronze plaque at the Statue of Liberty welcomed other people's downtrodden and cast-offs. The famed excerpt of the poem proudly proclaims "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore..." and it is an ideal that we are failing, and miserably.
This nation has done plenty, especially in the last decade or so, to demonize the people who would come here to make a better life for themselves, to make it harder for them to gain legal status, to get a quality education, to achieve. It is shameful what we have become.
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