Sunday Funday: Nixon Resigns Anniversary Edition

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Dave Bradley

video 4 minutes:

Forty-four years ago this coming Wednesday old Tricky Dick sat down in front of a camera and made a statement that started me on perhaps the worst night of drinking in my life. Geez, I was so glad to see him go. By golly, I was in a mood to celebrate. The next day at noon he was gone and I was battling a terrible hangover. 

Of course this is so relevant to today because once again we have a leader who really needs to be removed. But what is even more relevant to the parallels between these two bad presidents is the way they conspired with foreign governments to – shall we say – up their chances of victory.

For some reason, Nixon’s undermining of the Paris Peace talks with North Viet Nam is seldom discussed. Most people still think Nixon’s victory was pristine. Hardly. His campaign began what has been many years of subterfuge and voter suppression by the Republican Party. As Lyndon Johnson said in a phone conversation with then Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen “This is treason.”

Over at Politico in a story about a year old John Farrell goes through the whole sordid story and ties some of it back to what was happening in the investigation into Dear Leader at that time (2017). That is still very relevant. It may take a half hour to read, but well worth your time.     

Oy Vey!

  1. In an unusual recall announced Friday, Almond Breeze almond milk recalled some of their product because it was found that it might contain what?
  1. Susan Christensen was appointed to Iowa’s Supreme Court Wednesday. What is rather unique about Ms. Cheistensen’s lineage?
  1. Monday is the 73rd anniversary of what world changing event?
  1. What company became the first company to be valued at over a trillion dollars on Wall Street Thursday?
  1. Friday was the monthly jobs report day. What was the job growth for the month of July?
  1. While wages appeared to grow the effect of what caused real wage growth to actually decrease?
  1. Wild weather on the east coast included confirmation that a tornado touched down in what New York City borough?
  1. Meanwhile in other climate related news the Carr fire continues on a rampage in what state?
  1. In another major event that too place on August 6th, in 1965 President Johnson signed what far reaching law?
  1. Reports are now coming in that immigrant children separated from their parents at the border may now be victims of what abuse?
  1. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin proposed a back door huge tax cut for the wealthy by changing the way what is calculated?
  1. In Michigan the Supreme Court will allow a proposal to create a commission to draw what lines to be on the ballot in November?
  1. In Finland, one supermarket is allowing customers to sleep in their store as temperatures climb to what new records?
  1. The current administration is proposing cutting back automobile emission standards which would also stop separate standards imposed by what state?
  1. What journalist got up and walked out on Sarah Huckabee Sanders press gaggle Thursday after she refused to walk back Dear Leader’s statement that the press is the enemy or the people?
  1. The Pope called for the abolition of what punishment?
  1. A new book on the current administration was announced to be published in early September. Who is the author of this forthcoming book?
  1. In the Twin Cities a young man with cognitive disabilities got angry over the wait on a water slide and did what?
  1. One more event that has had long lasting effects that took place on Aug. 6th. In 1991 Tim Berners Lee released files that became the basis for what computer related design?
  1. Also related to the heavy storms on the east coast, a dam near what Virginia city appears to be on the verge of collapse that could release a wall of water to the city?
  1. According to Dear Leader’s administration what group should be responsible for reuniting the families that were torn apart at the border by the administration?
  1. According to the followers of Q, the far right wing conspiracy group, just who is Q?

John Fugelsang on twitter quotes James Baldwin:

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” – James Baldwin

Answers:

  1. Real cow’s milk. Some folks are very allergic cow’s milk. Some was shipped into Iowa
  1. Her father, Jerry Larson, was on the Iowa Supreme Court for 30 years
  1. The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima
  1. Apple
  1. 157,000
  1. Inflation
  1. Queens
  1. California
  1. Voting Rights Act
  1. Sexual
  1. Cost basis for stock purchase to figure in inflation. This is no where in any law. 
  1. District lines to end the practice of gerrymandering
  1. 40 degrees C or 104 F. Very few air conditioners or fans in Finland
  1. California
  1. Jim Acosta of CNN
  1. The death penalty
  1. Bob Woodward.
  1. Threw an 8 year old boy from the top of the slide to the ground. The boy suffered only some broken bones.
  1. The World Wide Web
  1. Lynchburg, Va. NWS report stated “if a complete failure of the dam occurs, the water depth at Lynchburg could exceed 17 feet in 7 minutes.” 
  1. The ACLU – it takes some real twisted logic to come up with that one.
  1. John F. Kennedy, Jr. who according to them is not dead.

Someone asked at the supermarket the other day “Now that we need an ID to buy groceries, will we need a passport to go to the international section?” I honestly don’t know.

Posted in #trumpresistance, Blog for Iowa, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Nixon Resigns Anniversary Edition

Almost 80% Of US Workers Live From Paycheck To Paycheck. Here’s Why

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Dave Bradley

relation of union membership to wage slippage

Robert Reich is one of the best analyzers and commentators on current American affairs. As the former Secretary of Labor, when Reich speaks on labor everyone should listen.

In last Sunday’s Guardian newspaper online Reich analyzes the plight of the American worker and the circumstances that led to this.

In the intro to his article Reich notes that even though the unemployment numbers are low, most people are barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. Wages in the US adjusted for inflation are almost the same that they were 40 years ago. While the US economy has grown dramatically in the past 40 years nearly all the gains have gone to those at the top. 

Reich looks for the reasons:

“What’s going on? Simply put, the vast majority of American workers have lost just about all their bargaining power. The erosion of that bargaining power is one of the biggest economic stories of the past four decades, yet it’s less about supply and demand than about institutions and politics.

Two fundamental forces have changed the structure of the US economy, directly altering the balance of power between business and labor. The first is the increasing difficulty for workers of joining together in trade unions. The second is the growing ease by which corporations can join together in oligopolies or to form monopolies.

By the mid-1950s more than a third of all private-sector workers in the United States were unionized. In subsequent decades public employees became organized, too. Employers were required by law not just to permit unions but to negotiate in good faith with them. This gave workers significant power to demand better wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions. (Agreements in unionized industries set the benchmarks for the non-unionized).

<<snip>>

Employers have been firing workers who attempt to organize, threatening to relocate to more “business friendly” states if companies unionize, mounting campaigns against union votes, and summoning replacement workers when unionized workers strike. Employer groups have lobbied states to enact more so-called “right-to-work” laws that bar unions from requiring dues from workers they represent. A recent supreme court opinion delivered by the court’s five Republican appointees has extended the principle of “right-to-work” to public employees.”

I believe Reich leaves out one other large factor: businesses moving their manufacturing to other countries with no penalty and often with rewards for their effort. 

This should be a must read article for every Democratic politician and I would venture any politician.

As we have seen demonstrated before, our economy can not sustain the income inequality levels that we have now. Income inequality is one of many indicators that are flashing red and bringing back memories of conditions right before the Great Depression. 

While the current administration is creating a Potemkin village effect concerning their policies most Americans realize that their picture is a veneer. Behind that veneer things in so many areas continue to decline at a rapid pace. 

Over at vox.com Emily Stewart writes that the promised wage growth that was to come with the giant tax cuts last December actually turned into a wage cut for most workers:   

“When the tax bill was passed, a number of corporations announced bonuses and investments. Some of those were recycled news, and regardless, while a $1,000 one-time payout is a nice boost, it is not a sustained benefit to workers in the same way a wage increase is.

Some Republicans have even admitted that the tax cuts aren’t the boost to workers they promised. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) this spring said there is “no evidence whatsoever that money’s been massively poured back into the American worker.” President Donald Trump has already started talking about a new tax bill that would reduce the corporate tax rate even more and make temporary tax cuts for families and individuals permanent.

Further complicating the matter for the GOP: Trump’s trade war, which could wipe out the benefits of the tax bill altogether, including any potential boosts to wages. Former top Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn said in a June interview that the White House’s tariff battle could increase inflation and consumer debt and erase any positives from the tax cuts.”

Well, folks, have you had enough of this chicanery? You have one huge weapon and that is your ballot. Use it wisely and use it with the good of ALL Americans in mind, not just the top 1%.

The following video is about 4 minutes long. While it doesn’t deal with labor questions specifically, it does talk in general about the miasma America faces

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2018 Election Campaign, Blog for Iowa, economic inequality, Economic Justice, Economy, Labor | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Almost 80% Of US Workers Live From Paycheck To Paycheck. Here’s Why

Rural Iowa Not A Hegemony

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Dave Bradley
Image (2) AAAAAWomanfarmer.jpg for post 3827

This is just a generic farm picture and is not tied to the following story.

As “progress” causes big changes stresses start to show.

Few can write as well as Art Cullen the Pulitzer Prize winning editor at the Storm Lake Times. Fewer still seem to be able to understand the changes that are going on in rural life the way that Art Cullen can.

In his recent column “Her well runs dry with progress” Cullen reports that while agriculture is king in his area, the changes that come with the newest and latest developments are not met without distress by some of the families who are not caught up in the race for more and more money.

As with many changes that take place it is other actors and not just those who are pushing the changes that have to deal with the fallout. The fallout is sometimes small almost indiscernible fixes to things you thought would last longer. Sometimes the fallout is much more noticeable and concerning changes. In rural areas where change has long been much slower, animal confinements and ethanol plants are causing much quicker and not always desired changes:

“This older woman can appreciate the smell of money. She and her husband used to raise hogs. Now they just have some cattle grazing grass along the creek, and farther back they raise corn and soybeans.

Back when they put the new well in at 475 feet they were told they would never need another, it was so deep. Then the ethanol plant came in 15 miles away. They had to drill down another 48 feet. Then more and more hoghouses and faster grid drainage. They’ve doubled its capacity in some parts.

The slough on 40 acres gets drained and planted. The water is rushed down a creek that aerial photos show has nary a blade of grass near it.

The caller thinks she might have to call for some more pipe down to that aquifer that appears to be sinking.”

Thus Cullen starts his tale of life in rural north west Iowa. It is a tale that is happening more and more frequently across Iowa and the midwest as old style farming practices are giving way to the factory style practices of today and the future. 

This is a tale of conflicted people who are making decisions that may have huge consequences for all of us. Take about 5 minutes and read Cullen’s well written story that shows the rural Iowa is not the hegemony most people think.

Posted in Blog for Iowa, Economy, Farming | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Sinclair Is Extremely Dangerous To Our Democracy

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Paul Deaton

“Just amazing that a video about a conservative media company’s orders to its stations has become evidence of liberal media collusion…” ~ Dave Weigel

Posted in Media Bias | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Sinclair Is Extremely Dangerous To Our Democracy

Hiroshima Day 2018

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Paul Deaton

Monday, Aug. 6, will mark the 73rd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan during World War II. The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan took place three days later. It’s time for nuclear-armed states to begin the work of banning nuclear weapons.

Here’s a simple beginning course: Ban nuclear-armed cruise missiles as Switzerland and Sweden have suggested. Or, go the distance and ratify the nuclear ban treaty.

In any case, a group in Des Moines will be gathering for their annual remembrances. If you’re in the area, please join them.

What: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki: When will we stop the killing?
When: Aug. 6, at 7 p.m.
Where: Japanese Bell, Iowa State Capitol Grounds, Des Moines.
Parking is available at the Iowa Supreme Court lot south side of Court Ave. Please bring your own chairs and if you want, flowers to lay at the bell.

What: Second annual vigil at St. Ambrose Cathedral and Aug. 9 Rally and Direct Action @ Drone Command Center
When: Aug. 6 – 9.
Please join us in our second annual Aug. 6-9 vigil at St. Ambrose Cathedral, begging our Bishop to join the effort against the Des Moines Drone Command Center, in accordance with the U.S. Bishops’ 2014 statement finding U.S. drone warfare to be immoral and unjust. Aug. 6-9 commemorates the U.S. nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. This year we are going to end our three-day vigil with a march from St. Ambrose to the Drone Command Center for an 11 a.m. Rally and Direct Action, the time the U.S. dropped the A-bomb on Nagasaki, Japan Aug 9, 1945.

For more info and updates contact:
Gil Landolt, Veterans For Peace, peacevet@hotmail.com, 515-657-0354.
Frank Cordaro, Des Moines Catholic Worker, frank.cordaro@gmail.com, 515-490-2490.

Posted in Nuclear Abolition, Nuclear Disarmament | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Hiroshima Day 2018

Splitting Migrant Families, How Could This Happen?

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Paul Deaton

David Shorr

Splitting Migrant Families, How Could This Happen?
By David Shorr

Ever since President Trump started splitting parents and children at our southern border, I’ve been thinking about the last time I was called for jury duty. Jurors were being picked for a case about the termination of parental rights, and they’d be judging whether someone had been such an irresponsible parent that their child should be removed from their care. It’s an extremely serious step that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Fast forward to the Trump administration’s shocking carelessness in seizing children from their migrant parents. Rather than fair treatment and respect for basic rights, Trump is responsible for a level of abuses I never thought I’d live to see in these United States. Searching my memory of the last five decades, I can’t think of a worse violation of rights by the US government on American soil.

Faced with public outcry and a federal court order, the government has made progress in reuniting families. But with over 700 children still acknowledged in custody—and a lot of sketchy categorization of the kids and coercion of parents—we need to keep an eye on this. In fact I would argue that this whole debacle should prompt some soul-searching regardless of the reunifications. We have to ask ourselves how this could happen.

Let us not forget that before the public backlash, the Trump administration wasn’t so bashful about splitting up families. Trump and Attorney General Sessions justified their policy as a badly needed step to finally get tough on border enforcement. Just to be clear, their idea of getting tough entailed on-the-spot seizure of children as summary justice for a misdemeanor charge of crossing the border without a visa.

Americans have traditionally viewed ourselves as representing the highest standards of the rule of law and the protection of human rights. We’ve held ourselves up to others as an example of the fair and impartial administration of justice. As with most things in our democracy, the reality of our justice system is a work in progress—with serious problems, for instance, in the treatment of Americans of color. But Donald Trump’s family separation policy and the excuses made by its defenders raise much more basic questions.

For one thing, if a justice system is meant to be a model, it can’t offer due process only to its own citizens and rougher treatment to outsiders who’ve reached our shores. This is starkly at odds with the idea of all men and women being created equal. It also shirks the government’s own responsibility for fairness. Attorney General Sessions for instance has tried justifying the family separations by blaming the parents for bringing their children on such a dangerous journey. This only highlights his ignorance about the dangerous conditions that led those parents to flee and the arrogant abuse of his power in taking away their kids.

And when President Trump mocked and complained about the role of judges in this process, he shows a dangerous scorn for legal due process generally and particularly the rights of refugees seeking safe haven from persecution. I saw first-hand what’s at stake in these issues earlier in my own career when I worked for groups like Refugees International and Human Rights First. The basic principles of refugee protection are simple and based on familiar history. With so few Jews being offered safety from Hitler’s Holocaust by other nations (including our own), the international community codified the right of persecuted people to seek and receive asylum. In other words, the process that Trump whined about is actually America’s obligation to seriously weigh the claims of anyone seeking asylum.

Like so many others, my reaction to seeing Trump break up all these families was that this isn’t who we are as a country.  But perhaps that’s too simple and reassuring. This failure is too serious to be viewed an out-of-character misstep. Sadly we now bear the burden of proof to demonstrate who America is. It starts with returning every child we can to their parents—with no dodging responsibility for cases of parents already deported or those bullied into signing away their right to seek asylum.

~ David Shorr is 2nd District alderperson on the Stevens Point, Wisconsin Common Council. Reprinted from the Stevens Point News with permission of the author.

Posted in 2018 Election Campaign, Foreign Affairs, Immigration | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Splitting Migrant Families, How Could This Happen?

Helsinki And New START

Posted on August 1, 2018 by Paul Deaton

B-61 Nuclear Bombs

I don’t know one person, acquaintance or public figure who thought the July 16 meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki went well.

The only people who found a ray of hope in the awkward encounter are those in the arms control community who pointed out some positives, not the least of which is an easing of tensions between the two nuclear powers evidenced in the meeting.

“It looks like Trump and Putin may have agreed in Helsinki to resume strategic stability talks.” Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association, posted on twitter. “One key issue: New START, which can be extended without complex negotiation, without further approval by Senate or Duma, and without Trump making unwise concessions.”

Such a move makes sense and would be an easy win for Trump. It may not be well received among Trump’s base supporters because, after all, the Obama administration negotiated New START. The 44th president called in his markers to get the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty. Some of us felt he gave away too much with a complex offering of perquisites to Republican hawks led by Jon Kyl. Not the least of these was an expensive, unneeded modernization of the U.S. nuclear complex. The Trump crowd won’t like it, regardless of the efficacy of an extension, because of the association with President Barack Obama.

Republicans have expressed disappointment with Trump’s foreign policy, such as it exists. They may (publicly or privately) attempt to reign in the president. At some point the U.S. wants to address perceived Russian violations of the INF treaty negotiated between Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, signed in 1987. Russia has threatened to withdraw from the INF treaty for many years, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

As we look forward with trepidation to the next meeting between the two heads of state,  the arms control community will be working to advance the causes of nuclear disarmament and abolition. It is something they do regardless which party has majorities in the Congress or who is president.

Posted in Foreign Affairs, Nuclear Abolition, Nuclear Disarmament | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Helsinki And New START

Why Don’t Iowa Farmers Export More to Europe?

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Paul Deaton

We Want GMOs Labeled

During a brief appearance at Northeast Iowa Community College in Peosta on Thursday, President Trump claimed a trade breakthrough with European allies.

“We just opened up Europe for you,” he said.

Not so fast!

On Saturday, European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who met with Trump, said trade talks almost collapsed over U.S. agricultural demands.

Agricultural trade will remain off the table in any trade talks between the U.S. and EU, Juncker said, according to Deutsche Welle. A European commitment to buy more U.S. soybeans is driven by market conditions.

Europe is the second largest importer of soybeans after China and prices are low because of the U.S. trade war with China. In other words, after market conditions driven by the president beat the price of soybeans down, Europe sees a bargain. It is hard to fathom how Trump sees Europe “opened up” under these conditions. Granted Iowa farmers planted more acres in soybeans this year, but the president’s statement can only be seen as political posturing in advance of the 2018 midterm elections and everyone should know it.

There is a more significant problem with “opening up” Europe for agricultural trade — the issue of genetically modified organisms.

There are very few genetically modified crops grown in Europe compared to the U.S., according to a July 27 New York Times article. The reason is in 2001, the EU issued a directive about GMOs. From the early stages of research to the marketplace, these products would have to pass a series of tests for environmental risks and human safety. The consequence of the directive in Europe is few farmers produce GMO crops.

In the U.S., neither the USDA nor the National Academy of Sciences is concerned that GMO crops have any impact on consumers different from non-GMO crops, despite a slate of regulations. Driven by science, farmers embrace GMO crops because of their acceptance in the U.S. marketplace combined with the attributes of genetically modified seeds. Regardless of science,  increasing the amount of GMO crops exported to Europe seems unlikely given the fact many European countries have banned GMOs.

Shorter version of Trump’s statement, “Farmers, here’s a bone.”

It’s hard to see how help for Iowa farmers will materialize from current discussions with Europe. The irony of increased soybean sales to Europe after Trump’s trade war beat down prices as something positive seems lost on his true believers. They may swallow this hook, line and sinker, but other sentient beings should not. It is another deception from a president with an unending supply of deceit.

Posted in 2018 Election Campaign, Farming, Trade | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Why Don’t Iowa Farmers Export More to Europe?

Rise Of Nuclear Power Was A Bad Idea

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Paul Deaton

In a broader perspective, the rise of nuclear power was a bad idea. It always required substantial government subsidies, and there is no solution for handling spent fuel rods and radioactive equipment. If there is a disaster like Fukushima Daiichi was in 2011, there is no recovery from it years later.

On Friday major news outlets reported Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo will cease electricity production in late 2020. Duane Arnold, owned by NextEra Energy Resources, is Iowa’s only nuclear power generating station.

Alliant Energy, the utility’s only remaining customer, entered an agreement with NextEra to cease operations five years earlier than planned.

The declining cost of other forms of energy led to the decision, according to NextEra spokesperson Peter Robbins in a Radio Iowa article.

“You are just seeing continued pressure on all sources of energy — from renewables and from natural gas — and we are certainly seeing that in the market place in Iowa,” Robbins said.

NextEra plans to invest in existing and new renewables generation across Iowa before the end of 2020, according to the article. Alliant Energy said it will save customers nearly $300 million in the next 21 years by switching away from the use of the nuclear power.

Duane Arnold’s fate reflects the general decline in nuclear power in the United States. While some, like retired scientist James Hansen and former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, point to nuclear power as a potential way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in electricity generation, it is just too expensive. Georgia Power remains the only company in the United States attempting to build new nuclear reactors. The construction at the Alvin W. Vogtle generating station near Augusta, Georgia has been plagued by delays and cost overruns endemic to the industry. The two plants may never be completed.

On June 1, President Trump directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take immediate steps to keep both coal and nuclear power plants running as a matter of national security. If the U.S. exits the nuclear power generation business there could be repercussions in ceding technological advancements to China and Russia. It could weaken existing nonproliferation standards if the U.S. discontinued its work as a supplier in the global nuclear marketplace. The flagship U.S. company for nuclear power technology is Westinghouse which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 29, 2017. Trump’s initiative isn’t going to help Duane Arnold stay operating as the marketplace is doing its work — there are no customers.

Duane Arnold employs about 540 employees, and because of the nature of nuclear power generation, about 300 will find continued employment during the lengthy decommissioning process. The federal government owns the spent fuel rods and there is no current, viable plan for off-site disposal. Storage time required for spent nuclear fuel rods is measured in multiple millennia. The plant’s license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had been extended until 2024.

The only successful application of nuclear has been in nuclear powered submarines and aircraft carriers where the question “what do you do with a nuclear submarine/aircraft carrier once its nuclear plant reaches the end of life?” has no good answers.

Renewable energy is Iowa’s future, it is the world’s future. Friday’s announcement was expected, as cost dictates how consumers source electricity. Nuclear power has never been cost-competitive. There will be disruption in workers’ lives and that’s unfortunate. However, the end had to come, and now that the announcement is made people can begin making plans.

Posted in Nuclear Abolition | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

People Might Expect Education And Health Care For Their Children?

Posted on July 29, 2018 by Dave Bradley

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry or both: (17 minutes)

Let me think. One of the purposes of rebelling against Britain was so that we could band together and decide to do things for the common good. 

Giving children an education has been shown to benefit society and the child as they grow into citizens. Ignorance should be avoided as it weakens society. One of the hallmarks of civilization is that the obligation for educating all the children falls to the state which in turn means us – all of us. There are simply huge benefits to seeing that all the children are educated, especially in the economic sphere.

Seeing that everyone has health care is also a great benefit to society. Health care for all helps cut down on things like epidemics and pandemics. If you mix education with health care we may get citizens who will vaccinate their children in order to stop the spread of ravaging diseases. 

It is almost unbelievable that Republicans truly believe that two things that benefit society so much in total would be two things that they would be against.

It is simply stunning how the radical right has changed on these issues. At one time not all that long ago in an era called B.R. (before Reagan) most all citizens felt some obligation to work toward at least universal education. Unfortunately racism often got in the way of universality. However, many did work for universality.

Health care unfortunately has never been accorded the acceptance as universal need. Health care has also been oftentimes waylaid by racism. However, at one time in the very recent past voting for Children’s Health Care programs would sail through the US Senate with none or only a few ‘No’ votes. Now even that program is in danger.

Why? The reasons are beyond me to explain. It sure seems like one often cited reason is that taxes have been so maligned over the years that even raising money to pay the bills that we have accrued is dicey. The distrust that someone is getting something they don’t “deserve” is deep. Health care seems to be one of those things that not everyone “deserves.”

Radical right thinkers must believe that the next thing these poachers (us?) will want if they get education and health care is food. Can you imagine? And then perhaps at least a minimal place to live and wages that would allow someone to take care of themselves and their family. Can you imagine the audacity??

So they will force babies to be born but after that even the babies don’t deserve society’s help and are on their own. Plan accordingly and choose your parents well. In this country it may be your most important decision you ever make.

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2018 Election Campaign, Blog for Iowa, Education, Food Insecurity, Health Care & Medicare | Comments Off on People Might Expect Education And Health Care For Their Children?