I like Obama, but he's a Wimp!

The bulls on Wall Street are being rejuvenated by a plethora of positive 2nd Quarter corporate earnings reports, as well as optimism that US lawmakers may be closer to agreeing to a budget deficit plan. Stocks have been flying high on Wall Street as millions of Americans remain unemployed and are being forced to turn to government programs such as food stamps. They are going to be "Cut, Cap, and Screwed" (again).

Yesterday, the "Gang of Six" within the Senate resuscitated its deficit-reduction proposal that gained a surprising amount of bipartisan support, including that from President Obama, boosting optimism that an agreement could be made before the August 2 deadline.

The newest proposal by the now "Gang of Six" would slash $3.7 trillion over the next 10 years, with elaborate procedures aimed at prodding congressional committees to find cuts in entitlement programs, discretionary spending and an overhaul of the tax code.

I never heard the phrase "defense spending".

The hurdles are still high for clearing the package — the right is riled up over its $1 trillion in new tax revenues, and the left is angry at its changes to Medicare and Social Security. And House GOP leaders want deeper cuts.

My proposal: Why not a dollar more in taxes for those earning $1 million a year for every dollar cut from Social Security, veterans benefits, Medicaid, and Medicare? For every dollar in cuts to the poor, we raise one dollar in revenues from new taxes on the millionaires and billionaires.

The proposal that's now pending is new taxes on everyone (not JUST the rich) totaling $1 trillion in return for $3.7 trillion in cuts.

That's almost a 4:1 ratio. As usual, it's not equal. Last year the rich got the Bush tax cuts extended 2 years for another 1 year of funding for unemployment benefits. It seems that all the "deals" and "compromises" in Washington D.C. ALWAYS favor the rich over the working-class and poor.

I like Obama, but he's a wimp. We need a strong progressive Democrat running against Obama in the Democratic primaries next year. Obama always "compromises" with those that destroyed the middle-class. What if Lincoln had compromised on ending slavery? What if Roosevelt "compromised" with Hitler? When was the last time a cop "compromised" with you when you ran a red light?

Obama is not for the working people and not strong enough to be a leader for the people. The Republicans in the House of Reprehensibles will destroy what's left of us!

Wall Street is doing great, but the Republicans refuse to raise their taxes and only want to make cuts to programs that affect the working-class and poor. And many Democrats (including Obama) are caving in (out LAST line of defense) to the GOP's demands again.

What was it that Al Pacino said..."Kiss me, kiss me! I like getting kissed while I get f*cked!"

And now a word from Alan Grayson: 

Cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security? Let’s think about this.

Medicare helps to heal people who are old and sick. Medicaid helps to heal people who are poor and sick. And for most people, without Social Security they would have to work until the day they die.

These are not things that I want to cut. But some people do.

Who are these people who want to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security? I know some of them. For two years, I sat with them in a room – the Floor of the House – for several hours a day.

I got to know some of them quite well. I can summarize their views in six short words: “Let the Devil Take the Hindmost.” 

“Let the Devil Take the Hindmost” refers to a situation where the Devil is chasing us. Some of us (the young, the fit, the healthy) are able to run away from the Devil. And the others (the old, the children, the sick and, frankly, the scared) –  they can’t run as fast. They’re the "hindmost". They’re the ones that the Devil catches, and destroys.

So what should the ones who run faster do? Should they grab hold of the hindmost, lift them up, and help them to run to safety? Or should they just let the Devil take the hindmost, while they escape?

You know what Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity would do in that situation. And Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin. They would let the Devil take the hindmost.

But you wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t. 

The phrase “Let the Devil Take the Hindmost” is a venerable phrase; it just celebrated its 400th birthday. It comes from a 1610 play called “Love Lies a-Bleeding.” (All you Elton John fans now know where the song “Love Lies Bleeding” comes from.) Shakespeare didn’t write the play, but it was performed by Shakespeare’s theatre troop, The King’s Men.

In Act V of  “Love Lies a-Bleeding,” the people rise in rebellion against a bad government. The character Thrasiline questions whether the people can remain united, however. Thrasiline says that even when a mere “toy” clicks at the people’s heels, “they run all away, and cry, ‘the devil take the hindmost.’”

Dion responds to Thrasiline this way: “Then the same devil take the foremost too, and souse him for his breakfast! If they all prove cowards, my curses fly amongst them, and be speeding!”

(“Sousing” is cooking a cut of meat until it is well done, pulling the meat off the bones, and then mashing it.)

And that’s the point – the 400-year-old point. If the Devil is chasing us, there is no reason to think that he’ll ever be satisfied just taking the hindmost. The Devil will take the foremost, too. Mash them up, and eat them for breakfast.

The Devil in America today is poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, bigotry, selfishness, ignorance, disease and death. When the Right Wing says that we have to cut Social Security, cut Medicare, cut Medicaid, cut unemployment insurance, cut education, and cut food stamps, what they’re really saying is “let the Devil take the hindmost.”

I think that we’d all be a lot better off if we stopped running, but instead, we all turned on the Devil and we fought back together. At least we would have a chance. I’d rather fight, not run away. What about you?

Courage,

Alan Grayson

P.S. Please sign our petition at www.No-Cuts.com. And pass it on to every friend you have. Let’s stop running, and fight back together.