Eric Cantor is The Worst Person In the World

Folks, I'm not even going to sugar coat it, qualify it, or come up with some clever anecdote to illustrate my point. Eric Cantor is evil. He is a Republican congressman from Virginia and the House majority leader. Let's just cut to the chase, I've said Cantor is evil for a long time, but this just takes the cake. In my 31 years, anytime there has been a hurricane, earthquake, or tornado, the federal government has stepped in and provided funding for cleanup and rebuilding. Over the weekend, Eric Cantor said on Fox "News" that in order for the federal government to step in after Hurricane Irene and do what it has always done, there will have to be cuts in other areas in the budget. This is outrageous! Millions of Americans have been affected, and as of this writing, 35 Americans have lost their lives, across several states. And now this man, who time and time again has fought and continues to fight to cut taxes for the richest Americans and largest corporations, who has voted to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and privatize Social Security, a man who has investments that literally bet against America and would have profited him big time had America defaulted on its debt. And during the whole debt ceiling debacle in July, Cantor was trying really hard to block any deal from happening. And let it be remembered that the whole whole debt ceiling crisis was a manufactured crisis created wholly by Republicans in Congress, with none other than Eric Cantor taking a leading role. This evening, Keith Olbermann declared Cantor today's Worst Person in the World. Keith, none have been more deserving of the honor. To tie your extreme right wing political agenda to the suffering of Americans due to a natural disaster makes Eric Cantor the Worst Person in the World, the least Christ-like person in the world, the most un-American person in the world, and completely evil. People of Virginia, I hope you will not tolerate this evil man to represent you for another term. I cannot believe the majority of people in his district are as heartless as he is.

Update: I just learned exactly what programs' budgets Mr. Cantor would like to cut. According to ThinkProgress.org, On Fox "News" the majority leader said he "supported $1 billion in disaster relief funding as part of the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, which includes massive cuts to FEMA and first responders." Now I ask, what in the world kind of sense does that make Congressman? You mean to tell me you are going to slash funding to the very agency that is responsible for assisting in cleanup and reconstruction? And you want to slash funding to those who are trained to go out and find the injured and bring them aid and take them to the hospital? Are you mad? Are there people in your district who are actually as heartless as you and who will still vote for you? For the love of all that is good in this world, I hope not. I hope your constituents are better people than you are and will remove you from your position in the next election.

On Rick Perry, Warren Buffett, and Jobs

So today is my birthday, and just in time, and for great comic relief, Rick Perry, governor of Texas has entered the Republican primaries to become the GOP nominee for President in 2012. He immediately made a huge gaffe, threatening Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and at the same time exposing his own complete lack of understanding of monetary policy. Really, if this guy is threatening people 4 days into his campaign, I can't wait to see what else he comes up with. This is a guy talking about how much he LOVES America. But as I recall, this is the same guy who, on several occasions in the last year, also threatened to take Texas and secede from the United States. Where's the love, huh? I'd love for this guy to get the nomination and run against President Obama. That could be fun.

Speaking of President Obama, he's out on a bus tour encouraging folks to hold their congressional representatives accountable for last month's debt ceiling debacle and to push them to get busy to work on legislation that might produce some jobs to finally help that 9.1% unemployment rate. I mean, since all the tax cuts for the rich have clearly not worked, I think it's time to try a completely different angle. Even Warren Buffett understands that he and those in his tax bracket, as Americans, have not had a whole lot asked of them in the last 30 years,  "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice." He knows that millionaires and billionaires will continue to invest and will continue to get richer even if they do have to pay a little more in taxes.

It's time our "representatives" actually started representing us, the people who go to the polls and do the voting, and not the big corporate donors to their campaigns. Americans are hurting. It's time our congressmen and women went to congress not as Democrats and Republicans, but as Americans, to work out real solutions for the American people they represent who are hurting in this economy. It's time to quit playing games and quit playing politics. It's time to fund the projects that have been proposed that will put Americans to work. 

Maybe I'm just a simpleton, but it seems to me that if you fund a bridge in Missouri, you have to employ people to build the bridge, all kinds of people. From engineers to contractors to builders, there are a lot of disciplines needed to build that bridge. Then you have to get steel from Pittsburgh, and now a steel plant in Pittsburgh needs to hire a couple of guys, then you have to transport the steel, so you have to hire a guy to transport it. What I'm saying is, if you fund one project, it's going to stimulate a lot of economic activity. If Congress would get off it's collective butt and start approving and funding all these proposed projects, instead of trying to destroy each other's political careers (Mitch McConnell I mean YOU), joblessness would decrease and economic activity would increase. You see, when the rich are not creating jobs, and the people don't have money to buy stuff, it is good for the government to step in and either directly or indirectly, create jobs. It puts more money in the hands of the poor and middle class who will go out and buy the stuff that will improve the economy. All government spending is not bad, contrary to what the "Tea Party" may think.

And as far as the rich creating jobs, Warren Buffett had something to say about that too, "And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation." Congress and the President must allow the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2012, no ifs, ands, or buts. Buffett says he would raise rates immediately, so I'm being generous with my time frame, particularly since it's already law. I would encourage everyone to read Warren Buffett's op-ed piece in the New York Times, and then write a letter to your Senator and Representative encouraging him or her to read it and take it to heart.

As I said at the beginning, today is my birthday, I'm 31 today. And if you'll notice on the right, there is a place where anyone can make a contribution to the blog. Any donation is very appreciated and helps me to keep it up! Thanks to all my readers!

Dylan Ratigan Rant - Bought Congress

Now this is the kind of honesty that is so desperately needed in our media. This is the kind of passion that I wish we were seeing from our media. This is what media is supposed to do: expose what is going on in the government and how it is affecting us, the American people, in our everyday lives. We do have a bought Congress. I have been saying it for years, and the wealthy and corporations are pulling all the strings in our political process on Capitol Hill. And the Supreme Court's Citizen's United ruling last year ensures that now we'll never know who is spending the money in our political process, how much they are spending, or where it is coming from. That's right, money could be coming from China, India, Venezuela, Iran, or Russia, influencing our elections! Here's the rant:

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Keith's Special Comment: The Four Great Hypocrisies of the Debt Deal

I'm mad! And it's time we all were. And it's time that our government governed "of the people, by the people, for the people." I will not sit around idly while our "leaders" continue on a path to make the wealthy pay nothing while the middle class and the poor are left destitute. The only class warfare going on in this country is by the wealthy and corporations against those who have no representation in our government, the poor and middle class. Thank God for voices like Keith! We need more like his and we need to be organized and there is no time to lose.