The Miseducation of Mitch McConnell (apologies to Lauryn Hill)

"Dear Mrs. McConnell; We're sending your son Mitchie home from school today due to extreme behavioral issues.  His constant demands for attention are disruptive to the learning atmosphere of the classroom, and his repeated threats that he'll hold his breath until he gets his way are causing us great concern.  In fact, we sincerely believe extensive counseling might well be in the boy's best interest..."

I'd be surprised if Sen. Mitch McConnell's mother didn't receive a batch of similar letters throughout his early academic years. Unfortunately, it appears he slipped through the educational system without corrective measures being taken.  The pinnacle of the behavior described above would be for a now allegedly "grown up" politician to maintain his primary task in office was not to represent the people who elected him, but rather to oppose and ensure the defeat of a President he personally happened to dislike.  In other words, "to hell with the welfare of the American people, I'm going to lay waste to the country so this guy won't have a chance of being re-elected."  Holding his breath, again.  Is this patriotism?  Hardly.

What causes someone like Mitch to laugh contemptuously at the President's fical cliff proposal (as presented by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner?  In all likelihood it's naked fear, and greed.  Mitch does not want to part with even one penny of his fortune.
Personal financial disclosure forms are vague, at best, so it's difficult to know precisely how much wealth Mitch has squirreled away at this point, but it is at least possible to discover (God bless the internet) that his wealth increased by 30% in 2010 alone.  In fact, McConnell's wealth grew exponentially throughout the recession.  He doubled his net worth twice between 2006-2009. Mitch's minimum net worth is estimated at $9.8 million, though general consensus places the figure around $20 million. This isn't exactly chump change. One major question remains unanswered; how did he manage to amass this personal Fort Knox, particularly during a severe recession?
Fingers tend to point toward his current father-in-law, James Chao.  McConnell's second wife (ah, these rabid family values types!) is Elaine Chao, who served as George W. Bush's Labor Secretary for eight years.  Her father James spent decades cultivating close personal and business ties with the rulers of communist China, and subsequently made a fortune flooding the U.S. with low-labor-cost Chinese goods.

Naturally, this explains McConnell's antipathy toward organized labor here at home.  Can you imagine if their heretical views on workers rights, unions, safety, and higher wages spread beyond our borders--say, to China?  This might negatively impact Mitch's wealth!
There's only one percentage figure Mitch cares about --it's not 47%, and it's not 98%.  It's the wealthiest 2% of Americans who might be asked to pay their fair share during extremely difficult times in the economic life of our country.  Mitch doesn't care about any of that, he simply refuses to part with a penny of his fortune, regardless of its origins.  It seems altogether fitting that "The Hobbitt" will be opening in theaters nation-wide within the next few weeks..it's easy to imagine McConnell as Gollum, in this case obsessed with his bank account.  "My precious" indeed. 

Occupy America

     Occupy Wall Street protesters are unquestionably giving voice to millions of Americans who feel betrayed or left behind by an economic system designed and maintained to benefit the 1% (or fewer!) living at the "top of the heap".
     Occupy Wall Street has sparked a national dialogue/debate about priorities and values that terrifies the privileged few by opening up a floodgate of pent-up frustrations.  The movement is criticized for not having forged a snappy set of demands or specific goals--something that the 24/7 news media can categorize, analyze, and then editorialize into insignificance.  Perhaps the real strength of Occupy Wall Street can be found in this initial ambiguity.  Maybe there's simply so much to be angry about that it's proving to be a little overwhelming trying to narrow the list.
     Think about it for a moment... The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were launched by George W. Bush, which President Obama continues to wage, have now sucked roughly 1.3 trillion dollars out of our treasury and have left us in economic chaos.  The cost in terms of human casualties is immeasureable.
     The banking industry, which received roughly $650 billion dollars in taxpayer-funded bail-out money (through the Troubled Asset Relief Program signed into law by George W. Bush in October of 2008) foreclosed on over one million homes in 2010.  In 2011, after dealing with some bothersome paperwork irregularities, the banks are on track to repossess another 800,000 homes.  Unfortunately, there's been no one able, or willing, to bail out the average American.
     Meanwhile, officials in the Defense Department are expected to require another $1 billion above the initial estimate of $6 billion dollars to figure out where all the money allocated to the Pentagon has actually gone over the past ten years or so!  Yet the budget for the Defense Department in fiscal year 2010 increased, once again, to $680 billion dollars.
     While the unemployment rate continues to hover above a national average of 9%, CEO bonus payouts have made a significant comeback:  William Johnson of H.J. Heinz received $8,589,063 million, Lawrence Ellison of Oracle took home $6,453,254, John Chambers of Cisco received $4,600,000, Mark Parker of Nike received $4,441,875, and the inimitable, scandal-plagued Rupert Murdoch of News Corp pocketed $4,368,800.  A more complete list, easily found online, makes for fascinating reading.
     To put this all in a context folks like Glenn Beck, Paul Ryan, and Eric Cantor might possibly understand:  there's an awful lot of "ammunition" feeding the sense of anger and frustration out there.  This might mean trouble for them... one can sense the vested interest behind the fear in Rep. Ryan and Rep. Cantor's criticisms of the Occupy Wall Street movement.  The Doctor Kevorkian of Medicare (Ryan) has an estimated net worth of $3 million, while Cantor's is approaching $5 million.  That's a lot of wealth to protect.  Beck, not unexpectedly, went to his crazy place and stated the protesters will "kill everybody" in order to foment revolution.  Incidentally, his net worth is estimated at over $85 million.
     It's unrealistic to expect politicians from either party to speak for, or even understand, the 99%.  Nancy Pelosi's net worth is estimated at $35 million, John Boehner's at $3-5 million, and Mitch McConnell's is anywhere from $17-20 million.  These pale by comparison with Rep. Michael McCall of Texas and Rep. Darrell Issa of California; $294 million and $220 million respectively.  Given their financial stake it's doubtful that comprehensive and equitable proposals or solutions will come from CEOs or this current "mob" (thanks, Eric) of politicians.
     We may see aspects of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that make us feel uncomfortable, or that we disagree with, but I'd be willing to bet we'll discover many more that resonate with us--and perhaps even inspire us.  We all need to acknowledge the basic message:  it's time to speak up and change the direction of our nation.  We are the 99%, and it's time to Occupy America.
    
 

John Boehner's True Colors

True colors.  That's what John Boehner has been so clearly revealing these past few days.  It's a complicated pallet, to say the least.  For example, which color would one choose to illustrate his complete aquiescence to big business interests and the wealthy elite?  On the other hand, yellow stripes seem to be the popular choice to represent cowardice; Boehner has repeatedly demonstrated political cowardice in dealing with the big, bad, and uncompromisingly crazy Tea Party caucus in the House of Representatives.  Perhaps a blank canvas best captures his vascillation and indecision; one minute he's thinking he might possibly owe something to the country that's given him everything, the next he's paralyzed by the inability to decide to stand up to the aforementioned TP.  Then there's duplicity.  First he feigns good will and the appearance of being willing to negotiate seriously with the President, then he abruptly turns and walks away when he hears the distant siren calls of Eric Cantor, Rush Limbaugh, and countless other reckless practitioners of demagoguery.  This duplicity would best be captured by weak yet contrasting tones.  Finally, egoism.  What ultimately matters to Boehner is what's best for our perfectly tanned and impeccably well-groomed Boehner.  Nothing else matters in the end.  Color branding once again brings us back to yellow to represent egoism.
John Boehner still has the opportunity to step up to the plate and show us heroic colors.  Stand with the policeman, not the big oil boss; with the nurse, not the millionaire hedge fund operator; with the teacher, not the billionaire bankers.  Keep it simple, Mr. Speaker, all that's required is for you to support closing existing tax loopholes, raise the corporate tax rate to a reasonable level, and bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan ("mission accomplished").  Please do what's right and choose new colors, Mr. Boehner.  Carefully.