The future’s so bleak…

I wanna pull down the shades.

It seems that the GOP has punted on job creation, and instead is focusing on spending cuts. However, they seem to be ignoring the will of “we the people,” and are focusing on all kinds of domestic programs. Of course, “we the people” seem to be a little confused, too, not comprehending that you can’t reduce the deficit by cutting nothing but “global poverty assistance” and not raising taxes. (By the way, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to see how much compassion the American people have for those around the world who are living in poverty. Way to go, Team America!)

That’s right, Americans don’t want the programs they might use cut; to give them credit, a lot of them don’t want any domestic programs cut, and want to see continued funding—even an increase—in many. Anyway, the GOP ignored all that and are putting out these spending cuts proposals (from Paul Krugman’s blog):

WIC 1008 million
Food for Peace 544 million
NOAA 450 million
NASA 579 million
Energy efficiency and renewable energy 899
Science 1111 million
Nuclear nonproliferation 648 million
Federal buildings fund 1653 million
Homeland security administration 489 million
FEMA, various, around 1.2 billion
EPA clean water and drinking water about 1.8 billion
Community health centers 1.3 billion
Centers for disease control 900 million

If I’m reading this correctly, it would seem that they’re giving a big ol’ ‘fuck you’ to hungry, poor kids, both domestically and globally; weather and ocean research; space exploration and development of a replacement for the shuttle; energy research and efforts to reduce our dependency on oil; scientific research and science education; efforts to reduce nuclear weapons; maintenance of our infrastructure, including our monuments and memorials; efforts to thwart terrorism, both domestically and abroad; anyone who is the victim of a devastating natural disaster; protecting our environment and ensuring that everyone has access to clean water; people who can’t afford health insurance and regular doctors’ visits in order to manage any sort of conditions they might have, or prevent the occurrence of future conditions; and last but not least, the organization that works to prevent outbreaks of devastating infections and tracks our general health as a nation, including workplace health and safety.

Does that sound about right? Let me sum it up this way: they seem to perceive that the greatest threat to our nation lies in a secret socialist who is pushing his agenda of some sort of New World Order, and who they seem to think wants to destroy America because he doesn’t think we’re “exceptional.”

Personally, I think the greatest threat to America is this group of politicians who see no problem with turning our country into a feudal system, with their corporate bosses firmly in the ruling class, and the rest of us poor peasants kept beneath their boot heels. Keep ‘em stupid and malnourished, and they’re easier to control, right? They claim to care about the debt that future generations will have to bear; they speak of morality and want to legislate according to their religious book; I think the worst debt we could leave would be one of an absence of education and a collapse into a third world country in which we let kids starve and die of preventable diseases, our buildings and roads decay into crumbling façades, and we can’t compete with other countries because we’re all so goddamn stupid that we can’t fucking read. And I find it highly immoral to leave such a world for future generations, as well as to ignore those with the least among us. But then what would I know about it? I don’t go to church.

If I sound pissed, I am. I have never seen such ignorance and short-sightedness, and complete and utter foolishness about what our government can and should do. A total lack of comprehension of what we need to do and where we need to focus as a country.

My solution, you ask? That’s easy. RAISE TAXES on the top 5% of earners, for fuck’s sake. Of course, there can be programs streamlined and inefficiencies found and eliminated, but such deep cuts on these vital programs and entities are just insane. Not if we want to not only thrive as a country and as a society, but compete globally.

I have one question for the GOP: Why do you hate America?

A loss in the family

Yesterday Ken and I were very sad to learn from Cousin Shane that one of his sweet kitties, Peanut, had passed away in the morning. She's been pretty sick for a while; she used to be this compact chunk o' cat, but was diagnosed with diabetes and dropped a whole bunch of weight. She was a tiny little thing, just as sweet as could be, and although she was always shy with me at first, she'd always let me pet her and brush her when I took care of the cats when Shane was out of town. She really was a sweetheart of a cat, and I hope you'll all send positive thoughts Shane's way as he deals with this. I think almost all of us know how tough it is to say goodbye to a pet--they really do become part of the family. As you can imagine, Sheeba got plenty of hugs and squeezes yesterday.

Rest in peace, Peanut, and I wish you a safe journey.

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After I took out the recycling today, I thought I'd toddle on out to the garden and see if there wasn't a stray tomato or two still hanging on. Great googly-moogly! I couldn't believe how much stuff was still out there. Even the beans are still producing. There were plenty of tomatoes (although some of them are green and had dropped off the plants...I hope they'll mature inside) and peppers, and one whopper of a zucchini. I don't even remember seeing one last time I was out there, and here was this monster! I even measured it...it's 16 x4 inches (about 40 x 10 centimeters). It probably is too big to stir fry it, but it will be great for stuffed zucchini, and that's what I'm making tonight. (You scoop out the innards and parboil the shell, then stuff it with a mixture of hamburger, cheese, onion, and a couple of other things, then bake it. Pretty tasty.) I was honestly surprised to see so many things out there still. It gives me great hope for next summer's garden, although I'm going to have to plant my tomatoes in containers on the deck. There is a fungus in our soil that causes Verticillium Wilt, and you just can't get rid of it. Even varieties bred for resistance to it eventually succumb, and the plants start to wither and die from the ground up. I'm glad I was able to get as many tomatoes as I did this year.

That's okay--planting my tomatoes in containers on the deck will leave more room in the garden for experimental things like Brussels sprouts and...EGGPLANT! I swear to God, man, I'm planting a couple of eggplants next year. I've always wanted to try them, and maybe I can even find a way to fix them that Ken will like. What do you think, Kenny-Pig? :)

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I was amazed today to see a hummingbird at the feeder. Time to get a move on, little girl...it's getting chilly out there! It's a myth that you should take down your feeder when fall comes, or else the hummies will stick around. They're on their own timetable, and they leave when they're ready. Leaving your feeder up can help migrating hummies coming from farther north. They can make a pit stop at your place and refuel before they hit the air again. I just could not believe one is still hanging around here. She was a chubby little thing, too!

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Looks like I'm not the only one disgusted by the gloating behavior we've witnessed in the past few days concerning Chicago's Olympics bid. Paul Krugman of the New York Times wrote a fantastic op-ed piece about the irrationality of such behavior. My favorite line was "For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old." Couldn't have said it any better, Mr. Krugman. My hope is that people will take a good, hard look at what we're seeing here and come to understand the lunacy of these people who claim to love their country (and, in the Imbecile Beck's case, show it by weeping like a little girl) but in the next breath express great satisfaction and glee over its loss of the international games. This is Bizarro World behavior, in which love is expressed by scorn, devotion by disdain, and loyalty by abandonment. Maybe it's just me, but I'd like to return to our regularly scheduled world, one that doesn't make me feel like Alice down the rabbit hole.