The Socialist Menace Piercing the corporate veil of deception

Record spending cuts include banning funding for D.C. abortions

Obama, Biden, and Boehner

Last week, there was a lot of talk in the media about a possible "government shutdown."  This meant that there if there were no agreement over a budget, a bunch of stuff would lack funding, and so it would temporarily but indefinitely close.

"Essential services" would remain open, and this category pretty much includes the entire military and police-state apparatus of the U.S. government: the Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security, and Justice, along with the intelligence agencies like the FBI and CIA.  "Non-essential" apparently means any social services or programs that actually benefit people, such as trash collection and repairing roads in Washington, D.C.  But a shutdown was averted in a last-minute budget deal, in which the Democrats caved, as usual, and gave in to Republican demands to slash government spending dramatically.

Part of this right-wing budget includes ending all federal and local government funding for abortion services.  Republicans also want to end all funding for Planned Parenthood (even though the organization does a lot of other stuff; most of its services have nothing to do with abortion).  The budget bill guarantees that the Senate will vote on this reactionary measure, though it probably won't succeed.

While I'm on this topic, I cannot understand how anyone is against abortion.  It's one thing to argue that 8 or 9 months into a pregnancy, a woman is carrying what is more or less a human baby.  But to equate an embryo - a microscopic ball of cells - with a fully formed human is preposterous. You'd have to be fucking delusional to believe that a half dozen undifferentiated cells have the same rights as an adult human.

And Republicans aren't even consistent about it.  They claim to want "small government," but do they leave women alone as autonomous individual citizens, capable of making their own choices?  Of course not. Republicans want to use the massive machinery of government to commandeer every woman's body, deny her personal liberty, and force her to undergo 9 months of pregnancy and then labor.  At a minimum, this is emotionally traumatic; at worst, women can have serious medical complications and even die during labor.  How can any conservative approve of the government forcing a woman to go through this experience against her will?

In any case, this latest budget deal shows that Democrats, no less than Republicans, are willing to cut important social programs, a vicious attack on American workers.  Why are both parties in agreement that we need to reduce spending?  Why isn't anybody arguing for a massive increase in government spending? We clearly need to spend quite a bit more on our educational system, our health care system (like most other Western countries do), basic scientific research, public transportation and energy independence, and on many other things.

But wait - there isn't enough money for any of this?  Bullshit. They have been giving tax breaks to the rich ever since Bush took office a decade ago; that's hundreds of billions drained out of the public coffers and funneled into the private hands of a few wealthy individuals.  And now Obama has extended those tax cuts.

Nor are corporations paying their fair share.  Two-thirds of all U.S. corporations paid zero income tax from 1998 to 2005, according to the GAO.  And Republicans want to LOWER taxes on corporations?  What is lower than zero?  Plus, the military budget is out of control, yet somehow sacrosanct.  Neither party dares reduce military spending.

Both parties - Republicans and Democrats alike - are beholden to right-wing corporate interests.  They are elected by the rich to serve the interests of the rich.  Neither party deserves your vote in 2012.  The Democrats simply pretend to care about working people and at best offer a few crumbs, while the Republicans openly defend the rich and shamelessly attack workers.  Behind the illusory curtain, however, Democrats are no less the enemy.