by Beth
Senator Lindsey Graham (r-SC)
I know I am not alone when I say that the repugican party has been doing their damnedest to
sabotage the economy
and the jobs situation for political gain. If you’ve been paying
attention, even in the slightest, it’s a pretty straightforward fact.
Since the 2010 midterms, we’ve not seen one inch of movement on the repugican side to alleviate the jobless morass the country has fallen
into. Instead, we’ve seen a reigniting of the culture wars, from
opposition to
marriage equality to the
war on women, but jobs? Eh, not so much.
So
it should come as no surprise that Senator Lindsey Graham (r-SC) has
called on government contractors to layoff personnel just before the
election, in protest of the scheduled mandatory defense budget cuts
slated for the first of the year, due to the 2011 Budget Control Act.
From
First Read (emphasis added):
“Politicians, you know, quite frankly respond to pressure,” Graham said about the cuts set to begin in 2013 under the so-called sequestration budget.
“I’m urging every defense industry that could be affected by sequestration to put your employees on notice before November,” he continued. “The more it becomes real to us as to what comes the nation’s way, the more likely we are to solve the problem.”
I
cannot tell you how much that makes my blood boil. That entire
statement is a slap in the face to every voter, every citizen, every
worker, every employee, every employer, every taxpayer, in this country.
The more it becomes real to you?
Are you serious?
Apparently,
while the rest of us have been slogging through the Second Great
Depression, Graham has been living in some parallel world/ fantasy land,
where everything is sunshine and teddy bears.
But to call for politically-based layoffs,
in my opinion, is grounds for immediate dismissal from the Senate,
because that statement makes it crystal clear that Graham has no vested
interest in the economic health of this country at best, and it’s
cutting off your nose to spite your face at worst. Whatever people may
feel about the bloated defense budget,
calling for summary layoffs to make a political point is on the warmer side of treachery in my book.
Now,
before somebody crawls up my ass about how “the left hates government
contractors,” let me be clear on one thing: not every government
contractor is a Blackwater or a Haliburton, and government contracts are
not awarded to companies based solely in the business of war; hundreds
of thousands, if not millions, of small businesses contract with the
government on projects on a daily basis, from road repair and other
infrastructure, to nursing home construction and laying cables for phone
and internet access.
But here’s the other thing that just really gets under my skin:
“Politicians, you know, quite frankly respond to pressure.”
In other words, until you actually pressure us to do something, we’re just going to sit on our asses and twiddle our thumbs.
What
are you? A bunch of five-year-olds in need of a flippin’ babysitter?
You are elected officials (supposedly adults) voted into office to
represent your constituents and
govern the country. We pay your salary (and your posh government benefits to boot),
we are
your bosses, and
we’re paying you to do your job.
That being said, as one of Lindsey Graham’s bosses, I think he should be fired…yesterday.
The
House of Plantagenet ruled England, among other lands, from 1154
through 1485. In 1499, Edward Plantagenet was beheaded in the Tower of
London, bringing his line to an end. The French city of Angers, the
ancesteral home of the Planganets, is still peeved over the affair. It
wants compensation from the current occupant of the English throne.
Specifically, it wants Queen Elizabeth II's crown jewels:
The remains of Australian outlaw and folk hero 
