A Stabbing is a Painful Cut.

[Tom Rinaldo]

Paper cuts can be painful too, I've had quite a few of those and lived through every one. Usually I don't equate stabbings with paper cuts even though both are painful. Paper cuts cause minor discomfort while stabbings are potentially fatal, but yes both are painful.

Many people make sacrifices. Each day thoughtful youth sacrifice their seats on buses to frail elders. Each day young soldiers sacrifice their lives on battlefields for their country.

Our political language needs greater clarity. Blurring the distinction between the types of pain and sacrifice different Americans are being asked to accept is like blurring the distinction between sardines and sharks. Under the "shared sacrifice" scenario now being discussed, some Americans will get stabbed, others might get paper cuts.

Americans will die as a result of the "painful cuts" and "sacrifices" being talked about on Capital Hill. Tens of thousands of Americans will die as a result of cuts that slash at the social safety net we struggled so hard over the last century to build. These are the lethal cuts, they are the fatal stabbings. Those cuts do not threaten the wealthy, they are class specific genocide.

No one is going to die over the capital gains tax rate. No one will go homeless over plugging Big Oil's tax loophole. Some might have to forgo buying an extra vacation home. Some may need to trim the number of vacation getaways they take to Europe. Painful, perhaps; lethal, no. Somehow it seems important for that distinction to be made.

How many additional deaths must we accept for the Koch brothers to give an inch? How should we honor those Americans who will make the ultimate economic sacrifice so we can seek a balanced budget that preserves the ornate privileges of the elite? If we are knowingly sending Americans to their death don't they deserve to be honored for their patriotic sacrifices?

We could declare a National Budgetary Heroes Day to commemorate those who fall between societies legislated widening cracks to their death for their nation. We could issue Black Heart medals to those who sacrifice their sole source of income so that their jobs can be outsourced overseas. The lethal cuts being talked about in Washington will cause thousands of Americans to make the ultimate sacrifice. We could at least be honest about what we are doing and drop offensive political inanity about how everyone is going to need to feel a little pain. Talk about the lethal cuts.

[Tunkamerica]

1. Great definition of terms

we definitely get lulled into a certain set of terms that tend not to accurately describe the reality of the situation.

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. Framing is critical

The reason why we have safety nets at all is because working people refused to just die quietly.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. I hope all our veternas here know that I wrote this with full respect for all that you have given

It takes special courage and character to knowingly face potential death daily for your country. To the extent that I was making an analogy it was about the cheapening of the use of the word "sacrifice". In national political discourse it has rightfully in the past usually been reserved to honor those who risk their own lives to serve on hebalf of our nation

In making indirect reference to Purple Hearts and Memorial Day I was only trying to point out that when the policy of our nation causes some to suffer or die as a result, we should at least have the decency to acknowledge those sacrifices. Most Americans are one pink slip or retirement away from onrushing poverty. Withput an adaquate safety net in place, poverty leads to thousands of otherwise preventable deaths. THATis the painful sacrifice many Americans are intentionally being asked to make by their governem to pursue a politically driven budget agreement. Those who suffer and die as a result of it will overwhelmingly be unrecognized and discarded by this nation other than by their own families. It's a moral disgrace in a nation that abundently has the means to take care of our own.

[lonestarnot]

4. D.C. death panels, wars while thieves party down for cash payments.

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Yes, but the sacrifice is being shared so it's OK n/t

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. It is not melodramatic to talk about lethal cuts in spending

When people can't eat well they get sick more often. When they can't afford medical attention they see doctors less often, often too late. When they can't afford the rent or mortgage they stretch their medication out or just stop taking it. Otherwise avoidable deaths occur.

When people have to struggle to keep a roof over their heads, heating that home in winter takes on a lower priority. Often that roof is soon lost regardless and more and more Seniors are becoming homeless. When dollars are stretched so thin that they are virtually transparent, there is no slack to absorb a greater co-pay, or to pay for rising inflation when monthly checks no longer rise to keep pace with it. Something critical doesn't get paid for and the results are never pretty. Sometimes the results are lethal.

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. A final kick for the evening shift n/t