It is not often, if ever, that law enforcement knows in advance of
future crimes, and if they did it is safe to say the deterrent value
alone would make the crime rate plummet. Without futuristic technology
and foretellers of future events, pre-crime knowledge would be entirely
dependent on criminals broadcasting their intended crime, victim,
motive, and location that informs they were confident they would never
face justice. Two years ago, repugicans in Congress told the American
people they would hold the full faith and credit of the United States
hostage, and despite foreknowledge of their intended crime, they held
the debt limit hostage for a ransom of devastating spending cuts with
impunity, and after
celebrating their success, announced
their intention
to hold the debt ceiling hostage again when raising it became
necessary. True to their word, repugicans are threatening to hold the
debt limit increase hostage and they can hardly wait to present their
ransom demands to President Obama.
One of the reasons Paul Ryan’s budget passed in the House was a
pledge by repugican leadership to eliminate the federal deficit within a
decade, and besides being absurd on its face, ultra-conservative
deficit hawks in the House are serious and warned leadership they will
not tolerate anything less than follow-up legislation to implement the
budget’s job and economy-destroying reforms. On Wednesday, Raul Labrador
(r-Idaho) said “
It’s not just passing the Ryan budget. It’s actually
implementing and passing legislation that gets us to balance in 10
years. Some people believe the plan is just to pass the Paul Ryan budget
and once we pass the Ryan budget, then we have met … all of our goals.
If this is something where they’re trying to placate the base, then
no-one here is going to support the raising of the debt ceiling. My goal
is not to pass a meaningless document by itself.”
The repugican leadership, Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor, held fast
to the hostage terms during the 2011 debt ceiling fiasco that any debt
limit increase be accompanied by equivalent spending cuts and reforms,
and although they were successful causing a credit downgrade, gained
$2.1 trillion in cuts, and imposed another
$1.2 trillion
in sequester cuts, it was an insufficient ransom for wingnuts.
Another repugican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky criticized Ryan’s budget
and said he expected the leadership to find “a bright shiny object”
(dollar-for-dollar spending cuts) to attach to the debt limit to attract wingnut support, but they are not going to be fooled this time
around and demand real entitlement reforms on top of Ryan’s Medicare
privatization scam and domestic programs cuts.
When repugicans say entitlement reforms, they mean using the debt
ceiling as a ransom for privatizing Medicare, drastically slashing
Social Security, and repealing the Affordable Care Act and
as Rep. Steve Scalise (r-LA) says “
Any increase in the debt ceiling needs to be tied with a solution to stop us from spending money we don’t have.” When they talk about “
money we don’t have,” Rep. Jeff Duncan (r-SC), means “
addressing the mandatory side of the spending equation, and I think we would probably do that in the debt ceiling debate.” Subsequently, the two largest
mandatory spending programs
are Medicare and Social Security and they will be part of the payment
for raising the debt limit despite the damage to seniors, the poor, and
the economy.
The repugicans have been passionate for a big battle over the debt
ceiling, and as if their last victory in 2011 was not severe enough,
they are
panting to hold
the debt limit hostage again to slash Social Security that does not
affect the deficit whatsoever. Some of the other mandatory spending
programs repugicans intend on cutting are Departments of Education and
Veterans Affairs, SNAP (food stamps), unemployment compensation, and
earned income and child tax credits; all programs that affect most
Americans, but especially the working poor and poverty level Americans. The repugicans have long dreamt of eliminating the Department of Education
to keep Americans stupid, and what better way than cutting more from
education spending through holding the debt ceiling hostage. Cutting
food stamps, unemployment benefits, earned income credits, and child tax
credits will affect nearly all families that do not belong to the
one-percent club who benefit from Ryan’s Draconian budget with a 15% tax
cut while the middle class and working poor will see their taxes
increase; it is criminal.
Holding the debt limit hostage is criminal, especially when repugicans raised it at least nine times for the shrub who with repugican support own the lion’s share of the debt for two wars, tax
cuts for the rich, and the repugican cabal’s prescription plan which were all
unfunded and still increasing the deficit. The cuts in Ryan’s plan will
not eliminate the deficit in ten years, but they will eliminate millions
of jobs, and the mandatory spending cuts repugicans want will decimate
seniors, Veterans, and the poor. However, the American people overwhelmingly support increased government
spending for domestic programs and infrastructure improvements to create
jobs according to a
very recent poll.
In fact, 77% of Americans believe federal jobs creation
plans are necessary and should be mandatory spending, and yet another
recent poll reveals the American people
oppose nearly every spending cut in Ryan’s plan and side
with the President
on practically every issue. The mandatory spending cuts repugicans
will hold the debt ceiling increase hostage for, and Paul Ryan’s budget
proposals, are opposed by large majorities and they
particularly cited strong opposition to Medicare, safety net, and education cuts repugicans will use as a ransom for a debt limit increase.
The repugicans are criminals, and like criminals, their intention to
impose the most severe austerity possible is far outside the mainstream
morality. In 2011, after causing a credit downgrade and nearly a credit
default, Senate Minority leader
Mitch McConnell promised repugicans would definitely hold the debt limit hostage again, and his
cohort intend to keep his word. As drastic as major cuts to mandatory
spending on Social Security and privatizing Medicare are, repugicans
are also calling for deeper cuts to safety nets than Ryan proposes plus
ending the ACA as part of their ransom, and although one cannot imagine
the President repealing his signature health law, the full faith and
credit of the United States is too high a price to pay to prove he can
prevail over criminals in the repugican cabal.
The tragic aspect of another debt ceiling standoff is repugicans
will succeed in winning cuts to Medicare and Social Security because the
President showed willingness to put so-called entitlements on the block
in meetings with repugicans last week. It is too bad, and too sad,
that the repugican cabal convinced the President Social Security affects the
deficit, but that is the price one pays for consorting with criminals
who yearn for a fight over the debt ceiling and have nothing whatsoever
to lose. For the American people though, whether repugicans win cuts
that kill jobs and people, or send the nation into a credit default that
bankrupts the government, there is nothing in America’s future that
looks rosy and it is what happens when criminals are given ultimate
power with nothing to lose and no-one to stop them; even when they know
what’s coming.
The
American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children switch from
whole milk to a lower fat milk at age two. The conventional wisdom is
that getting children used to reduced fat milk will help keep them at a
healthy weight. Skim, 1%, or 2% milk has fewer calories per cup. It just
makes sense, doesn't it?
"Big
Daddy" is, I hope, fully grown. This Japanese Spider Crab lives at the
Sea Life Centre in Blackpool, UK. Chris Brown, a curator there, is
either moving him or wrestling him, neither of which is advisable.
