The Sinking of 109

Not PT 109 – Congress. The boat was run by war heroes

© Bryan Zepp Jamieson
12/8/06
http://www.zeppscommentaries.com/VRWC/109th.htm
 

There was a quote the other day from a Republican that tells you just about everything you need to know about the sort of people who have taken over and infested the GOP.

First, take note of the fact that the 109th Congress was considered a “do-nothing” Congress. It rubber-stamped Putsch as he led the country into two catastrophic wars, passed the Patriot Act unread, and failed to address a single problem that anyone making less than $100,000 a year might encounter. It convened for less days than any Congress in modern times.

In short, it was lazy, doctrinaire, and incompetent. You can’t even say both parties are responsible, because the GOP simply steamrollered over parliamentary procedure and left the Democrats with no voice – and thus no responsibility – for the horrible track record it wrapped up.

This Congress, when it bothered to meet at all, met for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the weeks it was in session, devoting the rest to fund raising and figuring out ways to steal more of the national wealth for their corporate masters.

Nancy Pelosi, the incoming Democratic Speaker, has announced that the 110th Congress will be meeting for five days a week. This brought about this whine from one of the Republicans lucky enough to survive the November 7th massacre: “Keeping us up here eats away at families. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says.” That was uttered by Representative Jack Kingston, who seems to indicate that Georgia is missing at least one village idiot. He was foolish enough to make this whine to the Washington Post.

Five day work weeks! Oh, the horror! Oh, the humanity! Yeah, Jack, the average working stiff is really going to see it as cruel and unusual punishment that you have to work five days a week, thirty weeks a year, for only $240,000 dollars plus all you can steal.

Now, if you think the Georgia Jackass is an exception to the rule, consider that Congress will adjourn and put an end to this era of Republican misrule with 9 of the 11 budget bills remaining to be passed.

Republicans love to tell us that they are all that stand between the Democrats and economic chaos. According to Republicans, the Democratic caucus never met a tax or a pork barrel project they didn’t like. Certainly they’ve been telling us for over 70 years that the Democrats will wreck the country. Why, just look at the damage they did between 1932 and 1968! Would anyone in their right mind want to try to make a living in 1968 compared to 1932?

Under the circumstances, one might think that, given the chance to determine spending for one last year, the Republicans would be busting their humps, feverishly working to put together a budget that would show that they are the party of fiduciary probity. After all, the Democrats will rack up huge deficits, waging pointless wars and ignoring economic common sense.

Oh, wait.

The Republicans did pass two of the eleven bills – one for the badly savaged military, and another for the corruption and scandal-ridden Department of Homeland Security. (DHS probably holds the record for being the first government bureaucracy to become inefficient, corrupt, and incapable of reform in the scant period of just three years).

The Republicans had a method to their madness. The Democrats will have to put time in on last years’ budget (these bills were all supposed to be on the President’s desk for him to crayon no later than September 30th), and then whip around and start work on the 2008 budget. That leaves them less time to undo the institutionalized corruption the Republicans brought to Congress. Less time for legislation forcing the authors of earmarks – those secretive pork barrel add-ons that are sometimes added even after a vote has been taken on the bill to have their names publically attached. Less time to work on extricating troops from the Iraq and Afghanistan fiascos. Less time to investigate the criminality of the White House. Less time for voting reform.

Less time to work on real medicare reform and universal health coverage. Less time to roll back the Republican slash-and-burn approach to the environment, labor, health and safety, and the budget. Less time to undo the damage.

More time for the Republicans and their criminal corporate cronies to bleed the country dry through the greatest theft of assets in human history.

And of course, all the budgetary safeguards designed to protect against such theft were removed by the Republicans, and the Democrats won’t have time to reinstall them before the 2007 budget bills have to be finalized and voted on (the alternative is expensive and politically unpopular extensions to the existing budget, which manages to freeze the level of services while increasing costs). That means the thieving and corruption will continue for one last year.

And of course, the Republicans will blame the Democrats for it. After all, they will be the party in power. In effect, they’ll be saying, “The reason we’re stealing is because you couldn’t do anything to stop us, and therefore it’s your fault.” They may only have 30% of the country supporting them, but that is the dumbest and/or most crooked 30%, and they’ll gleefully take up the chant that the Democrats failed to reform a broken system in their first three months.

And simultaneously, they’ll whine about improvements the Democrats do make. Even if the deficit is reduced (something Putsch will try to take credit for) they will moan and complain about irresponsible Democratic spending.

It’s the capstone to the Republican nightmare of corruption and sneering, and cynical sanctimony masquerading as “patriotism” and “family values.” Jack Kingston’s moan about having to work 150 days a year encapsulates the greed, the stupidity, the sense of entitlement that this vicious and amoral pack of thieves brought with them to office.

If various right wing toadies whine about Democratic budgets over the next year, remind them that the Republicans deliberately refused to do their duty and pass the budget in their final years, just so they could steal more while scoring cheap political points.