Most
Americans would love a situation where a financial institution paid
them handsomely for repaying their debts, but that is precisely what repugicans expect from the American people.…
The
notion of reaping a reward without making an investment is likely the
dream of every entrepreneur on the face of the Earth, but there are
hardly any situations in business, or in life, where people get anything
without investing something. Two years ago repugicans reaped rewards
that damaged the nation and the people in exchange for authorizing the
government to pay the debt they racked up, but they can hardly consider
paying their bills an investment in America; the rewards they took from
the people were pure profit. Most Americans would love a situation
where a financial institution paid them handsomely for repaying their
debts, and that is precisely what repugicans expect from the American
people. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sent a message that repugicans will not be paid for repaying their debt. However, since repugicans reaped such obscene profits for paying their debt in 2011,
they are bound to attempt their scheme again, but it is high time they
start investing in America for the profits they already reaped during
the 2011 debt ceiling crisis.
The last debt ceiling crisis cost
the country, and the people, dearly and it is important to note raising
the debt limit simply allowed the government to repay debts repugicans
racked up during the shrub junta’s drunken spending spree. In
the 2011 credit debacle in exchange for raising the debt limit, repugicans were paid with a million jobs killed, a credit downgrade,
$19 billion added to the deficit, and $1.2 trillion sequester cuts
slated to kill between 750,000 and million jobs in the first year alone.
Add to that ten years’ worth of cuts to Meals on Wheels, food and
housing assistance for children and seniors, as well as indiscriminate
domestic program cuts and it is little wonder John Boehner was “
pretty happy he got 98% of what he wanted”
because repugicans profited without making any investments. Doubtless repugicans regarded taking food out of the mouths of needy Americans
and killing jobs as their greatest gain on no investment, and it was all
for authorizing payment for their debts.
Americans paid a high
price for repugicans to authorize the government to pay for their
unnecessary wars, a pharmaceutical industry gift (Medicare prescription
plan), and twelve years’ worth of tax cuts for the richest Americans. In
fact, it was so profitable for repugicans that Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell promised to hold the debt ceiling hostage again because
making outlandish profits without any investments is a dream come true,
and if the people and nation’s credit were damaged, as John Boehner says
“so be it.” Secretary Lew’s notice to repugicans that they are not
going to profit for doing their job and authorizing the government to
repay their debt was a good start, but it is not enough. Americans have
invested and paid repugicans with their jobs, schools, and domestic
programs and it is time to demand repayment; separate from the debt
limit.
The repugicans
have not invested anything for the profits they reaped from the last
debt limit crisis and they are gearing up for “a whale of a battle” for
more from the people according to John Boehner. The hypocrite repugicans never demanded payment from the shrub to pay the
nation’s debts, and in fact they raised the debt limit seven times
including once to cover new tax cuts for the rich in 2003. Raising the
debt limit is non-negotiable for President Obama the same as it has been
for every other president and why he let repugicans demand that
Americans paid them with spending cuts and job losses in 2011 is a
mystery. If the President assumed there would be a “grand bargain” by
flirting with a credit default, he miscalculated because repugicans
came away with a wealth of harsh and damaging gifts and the nation got a
credit downgrade; repubgicans won the debt limit war and Americans paid
them handsomely then and for the next ten years.
The American
people have invested far too much in the phony debt ceiling crisis and
it is time for repugicans to invest in America. They have not invested
in roads, schools, healthcare, or jobs, and they have successfully
avoided investing their time wisely over the past two years. What little
time they have spent in Congress has been chasing phony and
manufactured scandals, voting to defund the Affordable Care Act, and
demanding Americans invest more by forfeiting more jobs, overtime pay,
and for 30 million Americans, the first opportunity to have basic
healthcare insurance. After their 5-week hiatus in August repugicans
will only spend nine days in session in September and likely waste time
fighting amongst themselves over defunding the Affordable Health Act
instead of working on immigration, replacing indiscriminate sequester
cuts, or passing anything resembling a real budget.
The repugicans
and their wealthy supporters have profited off the American people to
excess, and for the people’s trouble the repugican cabal invested absolutely nothing
to strengthen the economy, create jobs, or provide a means of avoiding
poverty. Secretary Lew made a good start telling repugicans they will
get nothing more from the people in exchange for raising the debt limit,
but it is not nearly enough. To the President’s credit, he has demanded repugicans invest in the people, but for his trouble the repugican cabal finds new
ways to make the people pay. After sacrificing millions of jobs, $19
billion, a credit downgrade, and a ten year Draconian sequester just to
prevent a credit default, the people have invested too much and repugicans have profited enough.
You might think this is a headline from the Onion, but it's from NPR. It's a headline about 
Just
when you thought you'd memorized the periodic table of the elements,
along comes a new one. The atomic weight is 115, and ununpentium is its
temporary name (it just means 115).
British
biologist/comedian Simon Watt is teaming up with the National Science +
Engineering Competition to bring attention to endangered species that
are not magnificent, cute, or even plain. In fact, they are downright
ugly. The Ugly Animal Preservation Society is a campaign to aid
conservation efforts for these creatures. Watt has recruited other
scientists, comedians, and science comedians for a series of live shows
and videos to promote the conservation of the proboscis monkey, the
blowfish, the Titicaca 'scrotum' water frog, the greater short-horned
lizard, the dromedary jumping slug, the flightless dung beetle, and
other ugly animals. Vote for your favorite ugly animal to become the
campaign's mascot 
