Blame Bush for the Deficit

A very illuminating graph and two punchy paragraphs that explain how the United States got in the hole it is right now. Which Republicans are happy to dig further into. While blaming Obama.

And dragging all of us down with them by not approving the damn debt ceiling increase. If U.S. debt is downgraded, all our personal debts will be and, as a result, we’ll pay higher interest rates — on private student loans (of which I have a hefty one that I’m paying through my nose), credit cards, mortgages, car loans, everything.

From The New York Times :

And as explained by Ezra Klein:

“What’s also important, but not evident, on this chart is that Obama’s major expenses were temporary — the stimulus is over now — while Bush’s were, effectively, recurring. The Bush tax cuts didn’t just lower revenue for 10 years. It’s clear now that they lowered it indefinitely, which means this chart is understating their true cost. Similarly, the Medicare drug benefit is costing money on perpetuity, not just for two or three years. And Boehner, Ryan and others voted for these laws and, in some cases, helped to craft and pass them.

To relate this specifically to the debt-ceiling debate, we’re not raising the debt ceiling because of the new policies passed in the past two years. We’re raising the debt ceiling because of the accumulated effect of policies passed in recent decades, many of them under Republicans. It’s convenient for whichever side isn’t in power, or wasn’t recently in power, to blame the debt ceiling on the other party. But it isn’t true.”

Mental Illness and the U.S. Injustice System

I know I should be talking about more cheerful things, especially given the recent developments in my life, but I just saw this video and it broke my heart. After seeing it I closed the door to my office and cried, something I’ll probably continue to do intermittently throughout the day.

Explain to me, please, how is it possible that in a country so publicly religious otherwise, where presidential candidates have no chance of winning unless they talk about their faith (unheard of in Europe), people with severe mental illnesses are locked up in jails for even minor crimes, and not treated? Not only that, but they are kept in squalor, without the most basic conditions necessary to maintain some human dignity. Explain to me how Christian values of empathy, love, respect for life (otherwise touted everywhere) are compatible with this crass neglect of people in desperate need for help.