The Remainder

The Remainder
By David Glenn Cox


Our Congress held hearings on healthcare reform; of 110 experts and panelists invited, three-quarters were stakeholders in or lobbyists for the healthcare industry. Single payer advocates were not invited. When protesters stood up one by one to advocate for single payer, police removed them. A woman yelled, “We want a seat at the table!” And committee chairman Max Bachus answered, “We want more police.” Then he laughed at his amusing repartee, and the senators and senate aids all laughed along.

You see, to him that’s funny, not listening to the people, holding congressional theater so that the healthcare industry can write the healthcare reform legislation. The Congress will get campaign contributions; the healthcare industry will earn profits by writing the reforms to suit themselves. And you? You get screwed; you’ll suffer and pay the bills for this Kabuki Theater while the Congress laughs at those who impishly ask to be included at the table. “We want more police.”

Yesterday the bank stress test results were released by the Treasury; the results showed that another $75 billion would be necessary to guarantee that America's biggest banks would remain solvent. The White House and the Treasury reiterated that they would not allow any of the banks to fail. The banks got guarantees and cash from the White House, but what did you get? Did you get any guarantees?

The Senate voted down the Durbin mortgage assistance legislation because it contained a provision that would allow bankruptcy judges to lower principle and interest rates on home loans for struggling home owners. The bill was defeated in the Democratic Senate 51 to 45, but now a new version is expected to pass because the provision that the banking interests found so odious has been removed. It was the centerpiece of the legislation; without it, it is an empty can of soup, a paddle without a canoe. It is theatre.

Congresswoman Jane Harman was caught on a wiretap consorting with foreign agents in an obvious pay-for-play negotiation. Ms. Harman publicly condemned the wire-tapping and argued her innocence because she didn’t actually carry out the act. This is known as the Blagojevich defense. But the justice department had known of her activities when Alberto Gonzales was Attorney General. He protected her because the administration needed Harman's vote on legislation. Well, thank God those filthy, corrupt Republicans are gone from power. The Obama justice department decided, after the Harman scandal broke in the press, to drop the investigation against the two foreign agents.

Harman is free to go; no investigation, no foul, no crime.

This week the Presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan are visiting the White House seeking more military aid to fight the Taliban. Pakistan received over $10 billion from the last administration, including F-16 fighter aircraft. Now he seeks predator drones to fight the Taliban. No one asks why, after years of support from Pakistani intelligence service, why do they now need predator drones to find them. The Pakistani President boasts of the power of his 700,000-strong army. Why not ask, if it is your country then why not go get them with your army instead of hunting them with drones?

President Karzai waved to the cameras, which is apparently all that he knows how to do. After almost eight years, countless deaths and billions of dollars, Karzai barely controls the city limits of Kabul. But both Presidents left the White House with guarantees of support in their pockets. While the unemployment numbers top 600,000 Americans a month for six months, why do foreign leaders get promises of more support? What promises did you get; what assurances of assistance did you receive?

Here in Georgia unemployment is hovering near ten percent; 96,305 Georgians have applied for unemployment. Last month 3,000 people in the entire state of Georgia found new full-time jobs. What does the state recommend for the unemployed? “Stay Positive!” The unemployment numbers don’t include the self-employed, graduating students or people who have used up their benefits. The numbers don’t include those who work on commission, still employed but barely eking out a living, trying to hold on.

You have better odds on a slot machine than of finding a job in Georgia, and yet they promise us nothing. No help from the state, although they did mange to vote in a new tax credit for those Georgians who lost money in the stock market. But for you and me, we get “Stay Positive!”

All in all it reminds me of a story about a small town in the old West. A fellow came to town who, for all appearances, seemed to be pretty tough. He was a smooth talker and before long he convinced the townspeople that he would make a fine sheriff. For the first year he did a fine job and the townspeople were elated by their choice.

Then cattle rustlers moved into the area and began to depopulate the herds. The sheriff organized a posse and went looking for the criminals but returned a few days later empty-handed. Then the bandits struck again and again the sheriff went out on the hunt but returned empty-handed. The townspeople were becoming frantic and losing patience with their sheriff. Even though he had done such a good job when there was little to fear, they began to question his ability to handle this crisis.

Yet the sheriff reassured them and calmed them. “It’s only a matter of time before I solve your problems. I have the situation well in hand.”

Then a rancher came to town announcing that almost his entire herd had been stolen. The sheriff calmly organized a posse and again rode off into the night. But this time the townspeople were angry; they sat in the bar for several hours, drinking and cursing their inept sheriff. In an alcohol-fueled frenzy they decided to go check on the sheriff and his posse. They found them resting around a campfire drinking coffee, and the sheriff’s smooth tongue couldn’t rescue him from the mob's anger. The mob threw a rope over a tree and hung him.

The cattle rustling stopped. The mob had caught the perpetrator disguised as their protector, and the remainder of the posse left town quietly.

Not sure there's enough to hang all the rustlers in this Wild West Country.