A New Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, in a land between the seas called ‘Merika, the evil multi-headed monster known as ‘Publican crawled from beneath the rocks where he had been hiding for two years and announced that he had a new plan, one that he called a “Pledge to ‘Merika!” ‘Publican was sure that the people of ‘Merika had forgotten his last plan, one that had led the people of ‘Merika to the brink of destruction.

During the last reign of ‘Puplican, the people were led into financial ruin unlike any that had been seen in nearly eighties years, since ‘Publican’s grandfather had stood silently as the country plunged into the Great Depression. Now, ‘Publican has a new plan to sell to the fine people of ‘Merika. Unfortunately, most of the people have short memories and have chosen to believe that everything was just wonderful during the last reign.

The final chapter of this new fairy tale has yet to be written, but the ending is easily predicted. the tale is the same old tale – tax cuts accompanied by promises of cuts in spending that never seem to come.

So far, the multi-headed monster has come up with spending cuts of $100 billion per year, for a total of $1 trillion over the next decade. To go with that, they have tax cuts totaling $4 trillion for a net addition of $3 trillion to the national debt.

Does that sound like the same old fairy tale?

No one is quite dumb enough to believe all of the promises made by politicians during a campaign. Well, most of us are not that dumb, but this new fairy tale goes far beyond the usual campaign rhetoric. For one, it is based on falsehoods. Note:

“It declares that “the only parts of the economy expanding are government and our national debt.” Not true. So far this year government employment has declined slightly, while private sector employment has increased by 763,000 jobs.”

(http://www.factcheck.org/2010/09/factchecking-the-pledge/)

Well, people of ‘Merika we have a new fairy tale – a new/old tale sold to you by the same monster, ‘Publican, that brought you the heartache of past.

Where is the Big Billy Goat Gruff when you need him?

William Stephenson Clark

Thursday, 9/30/10, Public Square

To the Stars Through Difficulties!

Wichita calls itself the “Air Capital of the World.” That was certainly true during and after the Second World War, but increasingly, Wichita is in danger of becoming the Detroit of the Aircraft Industry.

Recently, after taking a hard line with the Union, Cessna management announced a layoff of 700 employees days after they approved a new contract, through a technicality. Hawker-Beech is going to layoff another 300, all the while working on plans to move to Louisiana. Boeing/Spirit may choose, in the end, not to even bid on the tanker contract.

Like the auto plants in SE Michigan, aircraft plants may be a distant memory in Wichita in another decade.



This past weekend, my family and I attended the Wichita Air Show, at McConnell Air Force base. While it was an exciting and enjoyable show (despite the hours-long waits for shuttle buses to and from the base) one had to wonder what is happening to the American manufacturing industry in general and aircraft manufacturing specifically.

Some will try to blame it all on the Unions, but that is hardly the reason that so many manufacturing jobs are headed south, literally and figuratively. The union man has been vilified by the Right for more than a quarter century, for his supposed greed and alleged lack of sufficient work ethics.

In Europe, the union and company work together to a mutual benefit. Japan has recovered from their “lost decade” and is working back to where they were years ago. Despite dire warnings to the contrary, American workers can still provide a productive work force for American companies.

In the end, America has become a nation that produces very little. It doesn’t have to be this way. Greedy company CEO’s and Senior Management have been focused on the wrong issues and now are blaming the workers for their failures.

The Air Show was a great spectacle, but it may be a dieing event.

William Stephenson Clark

(Blog header and thread photos by the author – yes, I will change the blog header back.)

Wednesday, 9/29/10, Public Square

“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” —  Sidney J. Harris

OK!  Pony up, folks!  Otherwise, be prepared for Boehner, the head clown, leading the clowning around of the House under the G.O.P. leadership.  What will they accomplish?  Remember!  It wasn’t that long ago, we haven’t even fully recovered and they haven’t changed.

The more ‘things’ change, the more they stay the same

Here’s what Moonshadow has to say —  “I’m attaching the article I spoke of. I’d like someone that has more knowledge of our political/economic history to comment on it. I can see a lot that sounds just like the tea partiers. Saying that, how did things progress then and wouldn’t the same approach garner a similar outcome? Let me know what you think and turn it over to whoever can speak to this.”

Know who I think can speak to this?  YOU!

fnord

Tuesday, 9/28/10, Public Square

This is The President, This is the President Conservatives See

 

Any Questions??

Monday, 9/27/10, Public Square

Sunday, 9/26/10, Public Square

Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.
– John Erskine

Saturday, 9/25/10, Public Square

It’s All Okay Now!



Well, at long last, the Republican Party of No! has delivered their master plan to fix all that ails America. The newly minted “Pledge to America” (not to be confused with the Contract on America) promises that all will be okay if we just elect a majority from the GOP.

The Republicans, after exhaustive research, have determined that our problems are all the fault of the Democrats. Taxes are too high (despite being the lowest that they have been in over fifty years) and spending is too high, also. The solutions are simple – make the Bush tax cuts permanent and freeze spending at 2008 levels.

Now, Republicans and Tea Baggers have been telling us for two years now that debt and deficits are the reasons for the Great Recession, so you would expect that their plan takes a huge bite out of spending and deficits.

If you did, you would be wrong. The grand plan from the Republicans would save an astounding $100 billion per year, before the tax cuts kicked in. Taking the tax program into consideration continues annual deficits for the foreseeable future and adds nearly $4 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

The Republicans should be congratulated – in two years they have taken a scalpel to the budget  and come up with areas to be cut totaling $100 billion. Of course, they can’t tell us where they are going to cut, but we should trust them, right? After all, they did a bang up job the last time around.

The GOP has assured us that they will not be cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense or veterans benefits. They are going to freeze Congressional expenses. Great!

The GOP also plans to save America by repealing HCR and replace it with something that they have yet to develop. Whatever it is, you can be assured that it is going to be as good as all their other great plans they have come up with over the years.

So, breathe easy, it’s all okay now, the Republicans will soon be in charge once again. So far, they haven’t announced any plans to start a war with anyone that isn’t a threat to the US, but they have plenty of time to drum up a case for going to war with Iran.

Don’t you feel better now?

William Stephenson Clark

Friday, 9/24/10, Public Square

Governor Sam Brownback?

Unless Sam Brownback gets caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy, he will Kansas’ next Governor, and all of us may come to regret it. Sam makes no bones about his “faith” and he has every intention of imposing that philosophy on the rest of Kansas.

Sam doesn’t believe in abortion – under any circumstances. That’s right. No abortions, no exceptions. That means no abortions even in cases of rape, incest, the viability of the fetus, the health or even the life of the mother. Let that sink in for a moment – even if a fourteen year old gets raped and is impregnated, Sam doesn’t want her to have the option of having an abortion. Even if the prospective mother is likely to die if she carries the fetus to term, Sam doesn’t want her to have the option of having an abortion. The same goes for cases where there is no signs of life from the fetus or if it is severely deformed or even brain-dead.

Sam also believes in the so-called “Fair Tax.” I used the term “so-called” because it is anything but fair. Under the “Fair Tax” program, lower-income people would see an immediate increase in tax rates of a monumental proportion.  One of the numbers I have seen tossed about is 22%, that is, everyone would pay that tax rate with no deductions. Pretty good deal, right? Then, of course, the higher income tax payers would see a reduction in  rates as much as 13% points, from about 35% to the previously mentioned 22%.

Sam has a lot of great ideas for Kansas – eliminating corporate taxes and drastically reducing regulations, especially those that affect the environment. “Protecting families” is another of Sam’s pet projects. Presumably that means taking what few rights they have away from gays and lesbians. Sam also says that he is going to create jobs for Kansans. Why he hasn’t done that yet is a mystery, never to be solved.

So, just when you think that Kansas could not be any worse off, along comes Sam.

Thank God for I-70.

William Stephenson Clark

Thursday, 9/23/10, Public Square

‎”When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.”

– Jimi Hendrix

The New Party of Hell No!

For the past two years, I have TRIED hard to be a reasonable observer of the national political scene. Politics are politics and sometimes you need to take it with a grain of salt. Sometimes, it takes a truckload of salt to get through the day. Republicans = good, Democrats = bad seems to be the minority party’s mantra, regardless of facts and logic.

After today’s lack of vote in the Senate, I am seriously pissed off. The majority of Americans want to see DADT repealed, despite an ongoing dismissive attitude towards gays and lesbians. By any logical reasoning, gays should be allowed to serve in our all-volunteer Armed Services without having to lie about their orientation.

Today’s non-vote was the last straw for the Republican’s “Party of No!” agenda. Granted, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a political idiot and he handled the repeal vote very poorly, as he has with many procedural and political issues.. That is hardly an excuse for not dealing with a fundamental right for gays and lesbians in a manner that would discard an antiquated and unnecessary statute.

The Democrats are going to be the minority party in at least one of the Houses of Congress come January. The first order of business for the Democrats must be to replace Reid with someone who can play the game of politics with an equal measure of skill that the Republicans have done.

The next on the agenda is to obtain a spine – either grow one, steal one or pick up one on eBay. The time for playing nice ended long ago, but the Democrats have never shown the nerve to fight fire with fire. The Republicans have no compulsions about taking an obviously partisan stance, defying logic and fairness.

The Democrats need to become the “New Party of No!” despite any misgivings about appearances. Largely, the Republicans have not suffered ill effects from their obstructionist policies. When the Republicans are in charge, the Democrats must take a page from the Republican playbook.

When the Republicans push their right-wing agenda, every Democrat must stand united, as the GOP has, and resist any and all attempts to push through a new version of the same old platform that got us into this mess in the first place.

After all, if it is fair for the Republicans, it is fair for the Democrats.

William Stephenson Clark