COLOSSAL FAIL

*Note:  Written back in the Summer.  Contains mature themes and strong language.  And some just plain sorry shit.

Amendments voted down in the early AM today, in the Senate, nearly entirely along party lines:

Allowing young people up to 26 to stay on insurance.

 

Lowering prescription drug cost by allowing importation of pharmaceuticals from Canada.

Guaranteeing that women do not pay more for insurance than men because of their gender.

 

Guaranteeing that rural hospitals will stay open.

 

Guaranteeing that those with pre-existing conditions will not be charged more and will be protected.

So, everybody pleased?  Gonna throw a big party and cheer about the Poor and the Sick and the Indigent, the families that will go bankrupt- lose homes, possessions, dignity, the people whose lives now will end sooner?  How about sick children born into Poverty through no fault of their own?  Is this really your idea of "making America great again"?  Or does something like this now qualify as some Glorious Christian Act to some of you?

Y'know, contrary to what you've allowed yourself to believe, what so many of you seem so damn desperate to believe, in direct opposition to the Truth, (remember that?  The Truth?), everyone that needs help ain't a Piece of Shit.  And this Country wasn't founded on the principles of "Every Man for Himself" and "Tough Shit" and "Too Fuckin' Bad, Loser".

Nor are those things present in the minds of genuinely Christian People, or in the minds of Compassionate Atheists, Agnostics, or Hebrews, Muslims, or good people of any other religion.

Here's the thing, or things:

Nobody's perfect.

And no one subset of humans has an exclusive claim to virtues such as Honesty, Empathy, Kindness, Humility, Grace.  These are the traits of an individual, not of a clique or a club or a race or religion.  Just like other traits:  Hate.  Pride.  Greed.  Pettiness.  Cruelty.

So, tonight.  If you're scared, worried about the fate of loved ones, even concerned about the futures of strangers, I can bring you no solace or comfort.  Not without pretending or just plain making shit up.  Not within my scope.

But if you're kicked back wearin' your best shit-eatin' grin, nice and snug in your home and your knowledge of the desperation of others, have another cocktail.  No skin off your nose, huh?  Fuck 'em, right?  Probably Trash, anyway, right?  That's how things work now, right?

Fish~

From the plaque mounted at the Statue of Liberty, in its entirety:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus  

November 7, 1883