OLD WITH THE BOLD
IN
WITH THE NEWT
By, Charlie Hill
At first glance one can not look at the
current field of Republican Presidential candidates and not think of ‘A Day at
the Races’ a comedic opera starring the Marx brothers. The new front runner is
a pseudo-intellectual grumpy community college history professor, that the
ill-inform find enlightening. Out of the lead and back on the bench of have-beens
that still want the jersey but will not get in the game, (Palin, Trump, and now
Cain), hangers-on awaiting the next screening for a reality show. Foxcasters in
situ. The overwhelming feeling within the Republican Party (other then taking
down a sitting President), is anyone but Romney. A dilemma to be certain,
viewed as: North-Eastern-elite, out-of-touch, cold, and most importantly,
(though not spoken) Mormon. This is a Party that is bombarded daily with
fear-mongering, hate filled rhetoric, so much so that they have lost the
ability to act rationally, and the direction of their actions are orchestrated
by the negative emotion of disdain and distrust. They are for the most part
victims of bad programming. Newt is not a product of repackaging; Newt is a
consequence of regifting.
The Republican Party, (the party that brought
us some great leaders and men of distinction, men that put Country first, not
McCain style bumper sticker first, but really first, men like Lincoln, Teddy
Roosevelt, Big George Bush, who in a moment of true patriotism reverted on his
‘No new taxes’ pledge, broke an oath he made to a lobbyist and did what was
right for the Country), this style of Republican, not what we witness today, a
gathering of lemmings in schlep-lock, taking marching orders from lobbyist, and
A.M. radio host. It has becoming increasingly evident that this Republican
Party is one that needs an enemy, needs someone or something to loathe, back in
the day of Republican reason the enemy was communism, (of course you had the
Joe McCarthy’s) and though loonies such as these received some air time they
were not given a show. Now the enemy is anyone that does not agree, and perhaps
progress, not progress in the form of the progressive movement, but any type of
progress, be it food standards in schools to the radical idea of non-fossil
fuels. The enemy is more then change, the enemy is the face of change. Enemies
occur when ideas dwindle, when there are no goals, no plans, no thoughts,
enemies are the result running on empty. Enemies are the by-product of myopia
and fear; enemies are created and characterized by those that can only foster
fear as a driving force of hope.
Patriot
Speak.
We hear you.
The periphery stands alert,
secretly waiting for your guiding voice,
silently watching your unswerving faith
in a humanity unworthy.
Marching proton of civilization,
fighting on the front lines of liberty,
through segregated race oppressions,
and chauvinistic sex suppressions,
now universal health repressions,
you freedom ride and town hall collide
to usher your country into progression.
These efforts are not in vain.
Your shouts of knowledge in the streets,
your knocks of truth upon our doors,
your steadfast hope for things yet to be
affect mankind clandestinely.
We want you to know:
we may be still, but not unmoved.
Speak.
We are listening.
Poem written by: Amulet Chambers
On Wisconsin
By Christie Fisher
In our recent history, more and more American jobs have been
shipped overseas. The simple reason is that away from the unions, companies can
more easily find workers who will work for low wages and lack the power to
demand safe working conditions. Simply put, profits rise when worker pay goes
down.
Workers in non-union states like Georgia earn on average,
$5,333 less than workers in collective bargaining states. Workers in non-union
states like Georgia are 21% more likely to NOT have health insurance as
compared to workers in collective bargaining states. Workplace deaths are 51%
higher in states like Georgia that do not have collective bargaining
agreements. I don’t want to imagine what
is happening in sweat shops in faraway lands where our socks and underwear are
being made.
Wisconsin is one of our most progressive states and the
birth place of many union innovations. So what happened?
Republicans gained the
upper hand in the state, as elsewhere claiming that the Republican Party was
the party of job creation. Since being elected, jobs have been nowhere on the
Republican agenda. Republican Scott
Walker, marched in as Wisconsin governor, gave his friends and business
supporters all the tax breaks they wanted. Until he became governor, the state
had been fiscally sound. By handing out tax breaks, Gov. Walker created a
“budget crisis” that he said had to be balanced. Remember, I said that HE
created this imbalance. In his grand plan, he was setting the stage for what he
really wanted…
…Power. He wanted
power and all of it. He announced that the unions would give up collective
bargaining as well as salary and benefits for the “good of the state”.
Immediately, the unions said, sure, we will do our part and donate the money as
needed. But for Gov. Walker, that was not enough. He had to have the collective
bargaining rights even though collective bargaining has nothing to do with
balancing the budget.
Taking away collective bargaining rights takes power away
from the workers and gives it back to their employers—Gov. Walker’s rich
friends. Ah, this is the beginning of the issue. Stripping the onion even more, we find this
thing called “Citizens United” that passed in the Supreme Court last year. It
gives companies the same rights as individuals. With this, businesses can spend
unlimited amounts in elections. Who spends the most in elections usually wins.
The Republicans have ONLY one group standing between them and total domination
in funding elections---ORGANIZED LABOR.
IF (WHEN??)
businesses can strip power away from organized labor, they have it all. That is
what this is about. The Republicans won the last election claiming that
they know how to get jobs back. Nope, they haven’t gone there. In fact, their plans are to take millions of
jobs away. They have spent their time since the election consolidating power
for their rich benefactors. They know that the American public is too busy to
notice. Gov. Walker showed his true colors when, last week, he thought he was
talking to his rich benefactor, David Koch, who gave him $43,000 in his
campaign as well as donated a million dollars to organizations that attacked
his opponent. Gov. Walker said in this phone call that he intended to lie to
the Democratic legislators to get them back into the Wisconsin capitol. Then
rather than talk to them as he was going to claim to do, he was instead going
to “trick them” (meaning LIE to them), getting his quorum, and doing the voting
to do away with collective bargaining before the Democrats would know what had
happened. Nice man, huh.
Of the top 10 sources of money for the 2010 election, only
three contributed to Democratic candidates. Those three were ALL UNIONS. IF the Republicans can take POWER AWAY
from the unions, then they have no competition –meaning Democrats have no
source of big money--for the next election—and the next—and the next.
Understand? Republicans want no competition for the next
election as they continue to buy Congress and governors. They also want to
weaken worker’s rights so that giant US companies don’t have to worry about
collective bargaining giving workers a safe workplace and forcing the companies
to pay the worker a living wage and healthcare benefits. The rich can get
richer and the poor can get poorer—Mr. Moneybag’s American dream.
The next time your Republican friends start throwing the
red meat words out to you –saying Democrats are socialists, communists, vegan,
whatever—here is a word for you to throw back at them--OLIGARCHY.
OLIGARCHY is a form of power in which power effectively
rests with a small group of people, usually the rich and powerful. This is the
rule of a few over the many rather than a democracy of, by, and for the people.
Republicans are supporting an OLIGARCHY whereby the ones
in charge (owning the Congress, Supreme Court, and making the rules) are the
richest of the rich—like the Koch brothers. –Throw that back next time someone
calls you a socialist! (Look the Koch Brothers, Cato Institute, Americans for
Prosperity and Heritage Foundation. Also, next time you attend a Jack Kingston
Town Hall, notice where his visual aids are from—Heritage Foundation—rather
than the US government!)
