Big Angry Dogs

“Hang on St. Christopher with a barrel house dog..kick me out my ol’ barn and throw me out in the fog” – Tom Waits ‘Hang on St. Christopher’

Over a year ago my daughter came home from being out with her mom visiting friends.  My daughter came up to me and told me that she did not like the friends that she and her mother had gone to visit; she did not like the other mom and she did not like the other kids, furthermore,  they played too much and they got on her nerves!ha!  When I asked my daughter what we should do about it she told me not to worry because she was going to get a big angry dog and bring the dog around with her every where she went!  And if she didn’t like someone, she would just sick the big angry dog on them and that would be that!  This is a pretty good, well thought out plan from a 5-year-old, I was impressed!

In the ‘adult’ world, we look to official positions and  institutions that are supposed to be honest, trustworthy and above reproach to settle our differences and provide solutions to our problems.  In theory; Congress is supposed to pass legislation to solve problems and promote the general good of the public in accordance with the will of the people. In theory; the President is supposed to enforce the laws of Congress and make sure the Executive Branch is doing what they are supposed to etc. etc. all for the public good.  And the Supreme Court is supposed to make sure everyone is playing by the rules as the rules are meant to be interpreted. I’m oversimplifying of course, but that’s basically how this Govt stuff is supposed to work.

But of course; it doesn’t work that way at all.

I recently had an epiphany (I may be slow, but I eventually get there); if pretending corporations are people is Constitutional….then ANYTHING is Constitutional. As you may have guessed, the recent wave of ‘decisions’ handed down from the Supreme Court was what got me to the way of thinking that lead to my little discovery!

So, with regards to the two ‘decisions’ making the most hey, the Affordable Care Act Drug Company and Health Insurance Company Profit Maximization Act (thanks to Alan Maki for this most appropriate name of the bill!) ‘decision’ and the AZ SB170 Harass Brown People and Private Prison Bailout Act ‘decision’

Here is my take, from a comment I made on a really good article by another blogger on another site:

‘It is hilarious and sad how libs and Dems are ‘surprised’ at the SC decision. Come on now, the giveaway to for profit health insurance companies was always going to be upheld.

How can the corporate media shamelessly keep up this charade and pontificate about the Supreme Court’s ‘decisions’ seriously anymore.
I mean, if the concept [that corporations are people] is constitutional…..then ANYTHING is constitutional.
It’s a free fire zone now, ANYTHING the rich and powerful want will pass and even the most absurd laws will NOT be checked by the Supreme Court, the Constitution, or any other feature of this broken system.

Off Topic; I am amazed at the UniParty craftmanship that went into the decision on AZ SB170; throw out the teeth of the law (because elites love cheap immigrant labor even more than they love cheap citizen labor…and they both work hand in hand) but at the same time, pronounce that it’s cool to harass brown people (to appease the racist, xenophobic right wing base, a central pillar of the Rethuglican party, which is essential to the upkeep of the UniParty). The UniParty logic here is flawless!

The ONLY functioning feature of our system is we the people (and we’re not all highly functioning either!), and as always, we are our only hope.’

That about wraps up my thoughts.  It appears that, essentially nothing was really solved and nothing really changed.  In fact, if you look at both ‘decisions’ all they did was reinforce and benefit the corporate  bias in both cases;  the SC ruled in favor of forced customers for the Health Insurance companies, and the continued supply of cheap immigrant labor to the rich and powerful who rely on depressed wages for their outrageous profit margins.  Also; be on the look out for the weakened interpretation of the Commerce Clause (as part of the ACA ‘decision’) to rear its ugly head somewhere down the line, Hint: It won’t be for the public good.

Finally; if you are a progressive, liberal, lefty etc.  I urge you to be very wary of the folks going around telling us what a victory the SC’s ‘decisions’ were on the ACA and SB170; something tells me that anyone telling us how great things are while ignoring the deeper problems……isn’t really working our side of the street, at least not working it with the intention of actually improving anything.

UPDATE: 9 million low income Americans at risk due to medicaid expansion opt out provision

The Teablican faction of the UniParty rejoices: In New Hampshire (55,918 covered), State Representative Andrew J. Manuse said he and other Republicans were already working to block the expansion of Medicaid. “We can’t afford it,” Mr. Manuse said. “It’s as simple as that. Thank God the Supreme Court gave us an option.”

Song: To big angry dogs, toys, cartoons, and dreading waking up on school days! Here is David Bowie’s song about childhood as performed by the BeatStalkers ‘SilverTreetop School For Boys’