I've been here before and I am no less angry than I was the first time.

[Stinky The Clown]

It is a pattern. Repubicans get power and suck the treasury dry. And then they finally get thrown out. Democrats are left to clean up the mess. The hurt is most acute at the local level.

Firemen get cut and fire companies get closed.

Police get cut and precinct houses get closed.

Teachers get cut and schools get closed.

Sanitation workers get cut and garbage pickup is made less frequent.

Park lawns go unmowed. City hall stsrts looking old and tired. Snow stays longer on streets. Health care gets cut as clinics close. Pot holes turn to canyons. Weeds appear in sidewalk cracks. Ambulances run slower. Courts get clogged.

Everything is slowed and reduced and more difficult.

The safety net's holes go unrepaird.

Soon enough, the bodies will begin to fall through those holes.

It happens when repubicans leave office.

It happens every damned time.

[Orrex]

1. Entirely correct. In additon..

Repubs are lightning-quick to condemn the Democrats who must of necessity raise taxes to fix the problems that Repubs worked so hard to cause.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

2. it is part of their plan

[Codeine]

3. They're very good at what they do.

And far too many people are far too willing to be duped time and time again as long as they make the right noises about abortion and religion and blow the racist dogwhistles often enough.

It's as predictable as it is sad.

[Orrex]

8. Here are two more of the Repubs' tactics:

1. The President isn't responsible for the state of the economy unless it's good and he's a Republican or it's bad and he's a Democrat.

2. If the economy is strong under a Democratic President, it's solely and directly the result of policies initiated by a prior Republican President.


Idiotic as both of these claims are, they get circulated and paraphrased in the MSM just about 24/7.

[tabatha]

4. ANd when they are not in charge they behave like spoiled, rotten two year-olds.

[spanone]

5. k&r....

[tsuki]

6. Thom Hartman calls it the Double Santa Claus.

When Republicons are in power, they spend, spend, spend and cut taxes crying "Reagan taught us deficits don't matter." The double Santa Claus.

When out of power they demand austerity crying about the deficits, yelling those tax & spend Democrats are raising your taxes.

And they are aided by the millionaire media who push this meme.

It is not about America, it is about money and power. Hell, the Republicons demand our money have "In God we trust" on it so that they will have something to worship at their C Street cult.

[truedelphi]

7. Part of what I read in the newspapers is of great concern.

All the local governments are letting the teachers, project managers, fire fighters, social workers, et al, get the boot. There are pink slips floating everywhere.

But at the same time that is happening, the local governments seem flush with cash.

In Sonoma County, Santa Rosa is paying 2.09 million to restore a 109 year old barn. Why?

In Lake County, we have money going to purchase the top of Mt Konocti and build a road to go to the top and open up another park. This would be great, at any other time. But don't local officials notice that the parks we already have built and paid for are closing because there is no money for things like clean rest rooms, park rangers, road repair etc?

It is really mind boggling.

[Fumesucker]

10. Follow the money..

If you do that you will find that some well connected person or persons are making out like bandits on those projects..

[truedelphi]

14. That's what I figure too. n/t

[notesdev]

11. All the money is being embezzled

That's the key problem... patronage is sucking all the effectiveness from government spending by diverting it to unneeded and substandard services.

[truedelphi]

13. I was about to say that in my post, but

I hate being so cynical all the time

And sometimes I think that my thought processes are overrun by cynicism.

But is it paranoia if they really all are just embezzling like crazy! I mean, how many teachers could keep their jobs in Petaluma or Santa Rosa, if the 2.09 million was spent on the schools?

[Fumesucker]

16. Lily Tomlin had it right when she said:

"No matter how cynical you get it is impossible to keep up."

[Stinky The Clown]

17. That was a great moment in philosophical thinking.

And very true today

[madinmaryland]

9. Come on Stinky, knock it off with the hyperbole. Think for a minute about a president

(Democrat) of course that took over a mess of after two different replublican admins and yes there was a short time of some of those things happening.

But what happened and was that hundreds of thousands of policemen, firemen, teachers and other public sector employees were hired during his administration. Don't forget that 22 million new jobs were created during his administration. Interesting also, as a result of all the jobs and LOW unemployment the crime statistics dropped even during the "so-called" crack years. NYC actually became safe, and it was not because of the noun, verb, 911 guy.

You know damn well who I am referring to.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. I know who ...... and that gives me hope for this cycle of municipal impoverishment.

Democrats always pull it out. BillyJeff did it quite nicely.

[Jack Sprat]

12. It's good to know you've been paying attention.

Little consolation. I know.

We have a capitalist economy. If I have money to invest, then I can make money off your labor. The less you are paid, the more I can make without lifting a finger. Then, I can get on my PC and tell you to get a job and quit whining. It doesn't matter that you are already working your butt off just to pay your debts and can't afford to save anything to invest. I can just deride unions, call you a socialist, wave my American flag and enjoy your misery. Isn't America great? God bless John Wayne and America. <extreme sarcasm>

[glitch]

18. The cuts are especially deep when that "Republican" was a Bush (one Reagan-faced, one bare-faced).

Why would anyone want to emulate these people?

[LiberalEsto]

19. And then the Democrats get blamed

when tough choices have to be made with cuts and layoffs.

It's a win-win for the repukes.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Yes it is

Every time