Diaries for me are often created in the mid morning. Rested from the night before, fed, and on my way somewhere, the connections from the news of the previous day begin to gel. These burst of creative energy slip away unless I anchor them in some fashion. Complex thoughts can receive an outline in the little spiral notebook that lives in my backpack, but that’s not terribly common.
The most usual method for anchoring these bursts of thought is to select a key phrase to label them and say it aloud a few times. That key phrase often becomes the title of the diary.
I did this a few days ago with the phrase “Giving Oligarchs Presents”. I’ve been busy so I’ve not had time to establish a coherent narrative to go with this. I figured given how active the GOP is in this area I can probably plunge in and have something in short order.
I’ve been working with Silobreaker for a while now and I think it’ll be the next step in the evolution of Progressive Congress News. Let’s put in Republicans as a search term and see what we get.
So first thing it’s a blogger’s opinion piece that confirms what I suspected I’d find. Another mouse click and we’ve got the root of it all - this Washington Post article on Vice President Biden ‘negotiating’ with the GOP on balancing the federal budget. Can’t very well taxes the richest 1% - the only Americans they recognize - so they want to pick the pockets of federal workers.
You can’t really Give Oligarchs Presents unless you’ve got a Gang Of Pickpockets to help with your giving program. This would be the horde of corporate funded think tanks. Here’s one of my favorites, the Mackinac Center, trying to quietly duplicate in Michigan the noisy effort ALEC has aimed at Dr Cronon in Wisconsin. If they can put enough of a scare into academics they won’t help labor deal with their thievery - this seems to be the thinking behind this conduct.
When my wallet is getting lighter so some billionaire can have a little more I know Tom Donohue’s continuing criminal enterprise, the U.S. Chamber, has to be nearby. I looked at them and I find them cheering an exciting new way for jobs currently done here to be exported - keeps corporate labor costs low, keeps American workers fearful and obedient - it’s a win all around for the richest 1%.
Normally workers are protected by the National Labor Relations Act and it’s enforcement arm, the National Labor Relations Board. Oh, what’s this, Boeing trying to get the GOP to defund this protection that was put in place the last time Wall Street robbed the country blind?
So there we have it, the Grand Old Party, Giving Oligarchs Presents, and using a Gang Of Pickpockets to help them do it.
The Republican party used to contribute. Now it seems all they have left in their corner are the richest 1% of Americans trying to rob the rest of us using a fake populist movement and corrupt corporate media. I’ve had ENOUGH. How about you?