Eat That Cake!


Interesting party, the Republicans; when they're not torturing people they're starving them. While spending lavishly on people who would not notice another $10,000 more or less in their bank accounts, they've determined to cut spending on those who would suffer from the loss of a single dollar. Tell me again - what part of the Bible is that?

Because it's the Bible that's at the heart of the matter. No matter what their particular indulgence, conservatives rally around the Bible like a single can of beer at an AA meeting.

For the 'realist' non-ideologies, it's a convenient fall-back position to cover the tracks of their greed. Every time they get caught dumping the poor box into their 'business deposit' bag, they can start speaking in tongues and everything will be okay. It's even better for the ideologues, because they don't ever have to wonder what's in the book. They have a received perception experience that tells them, without ever having to even learn to read, what the Bible teaches them about screwing the unscrewed and making lots of non-whites either poor or dead.

Remember: Georgie never goes to church. The Junta uses religion as a club to beat down any opposition. There is not a shred of evidence to support the notion that they actually have read or hold any morally serious belief in the contents of the Bible. The actual Bible talks about understanding, peace, and doing nice things for those who might need break (like the poor, who are a major focus of the book). Sure there's some smiting of sinners and whatnot, but that's mostly done by the Big Fella with a strong "don't try this at home" caveat ("judge not or thou shalt be judged...").

Take, for example, their response to Katrina (you don't even have to say "hurricane Katrina" anymore - makes you feel sorry for all the people names 'Katrina' out there in the Steppes). While the tax cuts have given trillions to the wealthy under cover of dubious "Voodoo economics" concepts that have never been proven (and never will be proven) to do anyone any good - other than the direct recipients of government largesse - poor and working-class hurricane victims will have to suffer deep spending cuts to get any help in rebuilding their lives.

"They are now proposing policies that will cut child-support payments to
single mothers who are struggling to provide for their children," said Rep.
Charles B.Rangel (N.Y.), the Ways and Means Committee's ranking Democrat.
Foster-care cuts of nearly $600 million would cease payments to children taken
from the home of impoverished grandparents or other relatives who are not their
parents, according to the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Equally controversial will be cuts to the growth of Medicaid under
consideration in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The committee's plan,
to be formally drafted tomorrow, would slice $3 billion over five years from
Medicaid prescription-drug payments and more than $6 billion from other parts of
the program. Committee aides framed the cuts as marginal -- even with them,
Medicaid spending will grow 7 percent through the end of the decade, rather than
the 7.3 percent currently expected. "I would submit to you that Medicaid in its
current form is already hurting the poor," said Energy and Commerce Committee
Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.). "This committee will not stand by and do nothing
while Medicaid slowly collapses."

In exchange for taking this crust of bread from the hungry (and foster kids and food stamp recipient and child health care, et al), we get "permanent" tax cuts for the very rich. Huh? The people who would like to force everyone to live by their interpretation of a religious tract they've not read usually ask this chestnut as well: "what would Jesus do?"

And with no offense intended for Christians, what would Jesus do? Would Jesus cut food and shelter programs for the poor? How about for the poor who've lost everything to a flood? Would Jesus want wealthy people to take all that money from the government and leave it too broke to help the needy?

Doesn't sound like that to me.

But that's just business as usual. Really, that sort of commentary is beneath even me. The base hypocrisy of this government is so enormous and obvious a problem that anyone who can't see it is being deliberately obtuse. And what can you tell someone who's deliberately obtuse?

More business as usual: Georgie nominated a guy for the top public affairs post at the Pentagon who thinks all the news media - comically including Fox - are in cahoots with al Qaeda and are losing the Iraq war.

Mr. Smith, a former ABC News producer who has worked as an adviser in both
Bush administrations, said in an article in The Wall Street Journal on April 25
that the Arab satellite news channel Al Jazeera operated on behalf of terrorists
and that American networks aided them by televising Al Jazeera's videotape.

"Osama
bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Al Qaeda have a partner in Al Jazeera
and, by extension, most networks in the U.S.," Mr. Smith wrote. "This
partnership is a powerful tool for the terrorists in the war in Iraq."
"Al Jazeera," he added, "has very strong partners in the U.S. - ABC, NBC, CBS,
Fox, CNN and MSNBC. Video aired by Al Jazeera ends up on these networks,
sometimes within minutes."

Shockingly, this guy might not pass. Sen. Levin will stand up and be counted:

Mr. Levin said Tuesday that coming from someone who had been picked to be the
Pentagon's chief liaison with the news media, those comments went too far. "That
you would characterize them as aiders and abettors of the terrorists that attack
us," he told reporters, "as far as I'm concerned that is so far over the top,
it's unacceptable."

That's really not fair; after rewarding the jackass community for spouting foul and brain-deprived poison for years, how can they just turn around one day and say: "hey! That's hateful speech that's unworthy of a mighty nation."

I mean come on. People can't just start being responsible for their words and actions - this is America!