Boys and girls, the Grinch is real.
And actually, there isn't just one. There a re lots of them, and collectively they are called the Republican Congress. Yesterday they succeeded in stealing Christmas and shafting the middle class yet again. In the early hours of the morning, they managed to get a bill passed which cut funding for nutritional programs for women and children, for student loans (while raising the interest rate) and cut funding for medicare while also raising the co-=payment seniors will have to fork out. Of course, the richest 10% will get tax cuts, so it all evens out, doesn't it
These cuts affect my family directly.
I have a husband who starts nursing school in January. This will make it harder for him to get student loans next fall because there will be less money and th8s increased competition for them. It also means that once he graduates he'll have more to repay. I have two nieces in college who are depending on scholarships and loans to get them through. One of them is working full time and taking a full load. Thanks, Mr Grinch, for your delightful Christmas present.
I also have an 85 year old father with Parkinson's who lost 40% of his income when Mom died in August. He has invested a good chunk of his pension fund in GM stock, and expects that to be a lost cause. He's already buying drugs from Canada because he can't afford to pay American prices. The Medicare drug plan won't help him at all. Now he'll have to pay more when he goes to the doctor. I am desperately trying to talk him into selling the house, buying one up here and letting us move in with him because the idea of a man his age driving terrifies me. My mother-in-law, who is over 70, still works a 12 hour day running a Pre-K and day care center. This isn't likely to make things better for her.
And do you really think Bush will even consider for a moment vetoing this bill which will harm people like my family? I suspect they will be holding the Winter Olympics in hell before that happens.
Last night when I heard this, I had an overwhelming urge to strip naked, run into the street, and scream at the top of my lungs, "I am mad as hell and I am not gonna take it any more. I managed to restrain myself for two reasons : I live in the Deep South and my neighbors all vote knee-jerk Republican because Bush is a Christian -and because I don't think the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Dept. would have appreciated it.
But how much more can the middle class take before there is a revolt? Caught an old Lewis Black special, in which he said he'd never understood why the French guillotined Marie Antoinette--but after Bush, he does.
Time to start humming the Marseillaise and sending a strong message to the Grinch in the white House and his pals in Congress that we have had enough. I am sure this has been diaried earlier, but I don't' care. I am outraged. I am spitting mad. I NEED this rant in order to be civil to family this evening when we go grocery shopping, because otherwise I might do something drastic that will get me arrested.
I did get one bit of good news. Id have cataracts and will have surgery over the holidays. And Tricare will pay for all of it but a $25 dollar co-payment for each doctor visit (about 4 of them). At the end of it, I will be able to see at a distance without glasses for the first time in 48 years. Shhhhhh. Don't tell the Republicans or they will raise the cost o my insurance and co-payments in order to shaft veterans and active duty military families. I have decided that if I need to wear an eye patch while I heal, I wlll embroider the FSM on it as a sign of my devotion to him, don pirate clothing, and say ARRRAGGGHHH a lot.
Ohm, yeah, and Merry Fuckin' Christmas. I won't be back until after Christmas. I am baking cookies, wrapping presents, and trying to get into the holiday spirit, while simultaneously attempting NOT to discuss politics with friends and family because most of them voted for Bush.