Note to Democrats: What Goes Around Comes Around.

“If you’re a Democrat running for office and trying to figure out what Republicans are up to,” Wally suggested in a recent tweet, “you might give a listen to Undecided, an old Ella Fitzgerald song from back in the late 30s.”  And if the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished,” has any truth, according to Wally, “Democrats are being both screwed and betrayed.”  

As part of their Ryan budget, Republicans are in favor of cutting the social safety-net, and Social Security benefits are at the top of their list.  But if you watch their latest television ads, you’ll surely believe that it’s the Democrats who are out to screw over your grandmother and other seniors.  Take this ad, for instance, put out by Georgia Republicans saying that Rep. John Barrow wants to cut Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age to 69.  Another ad, put out by Karl Rove’s Cross Roads GPS accuses Kay Hagen (D), Arkansas of also wanting to cut benefits and raise the retirement age.   There are also a ton of other Republican ads accusing Democrats of wanting to do-away with mortgage deductions and other middleclass tax relief as well.  Meanwhile, Lori Montgomery’s article in The Washington Post, goes into this Republican flip-flop quite well and it is worth a read.

What Republicans say and what Republicans do are two very different things.  Back in the day when everyone was talking deficit, the Ryan Budget favored the slashing and eventual privatizing of Social Security.  And the free market was their answer.

Now, with the election only days away, the GOP still wants to cut and eventually privatize Social Security.  But you’d never know it if you only pay attention to their ads.  They’re trying to come off as champions of seniors and the middleclass, but they aren’t.   Worse yet, they are not even being honest about their beliefs on abortion and contraception.

Meanwhile, Wally wonders what’s up with Colorado’s candidate for U.S. Senate, Cory Gardner.  Although he is sponsoring the personhood bill,  the Life at Conception Act, Gardner denies that he is totally against birth control and shamelessly pro-life.  But that’s a story for another time.

An Open Letter to President Barack Obama

This Weird Wally Repost is happening because Weird Wally changed his mind.  Back in March when this letter was written, WW was pissed and going to stay home on Election Day.  But although the big banks are still coming up with new and barely legal ways of getting money for nothing, it will only get worse if people like myself, don’t vote.  Republicans are counting on minorities, single moms, unemployed, seniors, and the usual none voting suspects to stay home.  They figure we're so lazy and apathetic we’ll neither notice nor care.  But do you want the country and your life controlled by a bunch of miserly old white men who only want to stay in control?  If so, we’ll all get what we deserve.

FYI:  Keep an eye on the housing and rental markets.  Wall Street will make a mint and the rest of us will pay.

Dear Mr. President:

I have always been a fan of yours and voted for you in the two previous elections.  As the 2014 elections approach, however, it is very possible that I will sit this one out.  I realize how important this coming election will be.  If, for instance, the Republicans take control of both the House and Senate, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be wiped out and voted into nonexistence.  Worse yet, Social Security may well become privatized and Medicare, morph into a voucher system that is of little real use to us average citizens.  I won’t even bother to go into what they might attempt to do with foreign policy and voting rights.

Despite all of the above, I am so very unhappy with the way our government is working.  For one thing, I still don’t understand how the ACA works.  Had there been a “public option,” included in the ACA, I would have understood, at least, one thing about the ACA.  But without a public option, I understand none of it.

As a retired African-American male, I appreciate what your Administration is doing to fight voter suppression and your taking "Chained CPI," off of the table in future budget negotiations.  But Chained CPI, never should have been on the table in the first place. 

Having said all of that, I'm very upset over the fact that with all the corruption and illegal activities that happened on Wall Street just before your first election, no one of any significance has even been charged nor gone to prison.  Granted, a $20 billion dollar fine sounds like a lot of money, but to a company like JP Morgan Chase, it's simply a cost of doing business and not serious enough to change either behavior or the culture.   Now, had the CEO, Jamie Dimon, been sentenced to a minimum of 5 years, Wall Street might have finally paid attention and started cleaning up their acts.   And more to the point, why not push for a revival of something like Glass-Steagall?

Since I'm neither super smart nor super informed, I think there are other Americans like myself, just waiting to be inspired.  And a few CEO Indictments plus an even small possibility of a Glass-Steagall look-a-like getting to first base, would be more than enough to fire me up.

Sincerely,

Walter Lide