What an eventful week it has been! First, the Tea Party-infested reactionary Republicans were unable to drive us off the fiscal cliff. The Senate overwhelmingly passed a measure which prevented taxes from going up drastically on the vast majority of citizens by a whoppingly uneven bipartisan vote, and the House followed suit, although by a lesser margin. It was signed into law by the President on January 2. This meant, of course, that for the first time  in over 20 years, the hated Bush tax cuts for the  rich had been partially done away with, and the GOP played a decisive part in actually increasing taxes on the wealthy – Grover Norquist be damned! It was a tremendous victory for President Obama and the Democrats. However, it was far from perfect. Obama had to scale back his request for tax hikes on the rich from his initial starting point of $250,000 per year to a higher $400,000 per year ($450,000 for couples filing jointly). Still, the rich WILL be paying higher taxes starting immediately. 

John Boehner, the biggest drunk on the Hill and the worst, most ineffectual Speaker of the House in perhaps this nation’s entire history, was totally marginalized and looked miserable and completely helpless. So very afraid of the government-hating Tea Party faction of his wretched party, he was obviously trying to not anger them too much out of  fear that he would lose his Speakership due to them in a few days. At one point, he even came up to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and hatefully said to him, “Go F*ck yourself!” Hardly the type of demeanor one would expect from the Speaker of the House! Of course, what else could we expect from him? I say, ”Go F*ck YOURself, Boehner, you pathetically  inept little boy!” To Boehner’s credit, though, he did vote in favor of the measure, even as his Majority Leader Eric Cantor  and his Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy voted against it. Such treachery is becoming standard operating procedure every day among this hopelessly fractured party.

Upon completing this vote, Boehner promptly called for the adjournment of the House, completely ignoring his prior pledge to the governors of the states which suffered severe damage from Hurricane Sandy that the House would vote on and then appropriate the very necessary Federal damage relief funds they needed immediately. Republican New Jersey governor Chris Christie was understandably furious at this betrayal and tried unsuccessfully FOUR times to reach Boehner by phone.  He was told each time by a Boehner spokesman that the Speaker was unable to take his call. The next day, Christie deservedly lambasted both Boehner and his Tea Party-infested House majority for  this unforgivable neglect. A very angry Republican New York Representative Peter King also strongly voiced his outrage and even urged regular contributors to NOT donate to this year’s Republican congressional campaign fund! Boehner ignored them and simply put out a statement which said that he would no longer meet with President Obama on any further budget talks – an utterly unprecedented dereliction of duty by a very small, cowardly man who is apparently in way over his head! 

This Republican Civil War is on full blast, folks. The narrow-minded, debt-obsessed, government-hating reactionary Tea Party faction is paralyzing and destroying the party altogether. With the debt ceiling and budget debates looming menacingly ahead, this spells bad things in store for not only the Republican Party, but also our nation and the entire global economy as well. People, hold on for what will be a wild ride over the next two months. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!                        

I found this budget debate to be extremely lackluster- and more of a campaigning speech than a budget debate. The PM didn’t delve into the actual budget, but instead took her time to play the blame game, thank Marva (her housekeeper) and recite the occasional Bible verse.

“A Kiss from Judas” LOL

Once Portia thanked everybody she ever encountered in her 67 years of life, she began to play the blame game. In short, she basically justified the fact in her 5+ months in office, she didn’t fulfill her promises because (and I ad lib here), “We had no idea that our economy was so bad.”
I just had to call B.S. on that. The then opposition would have been privy to the available funding and outstanding debts of the nation- so a poorly shaped economy would have been, or should have been, no surprise. Had the PNP planned accordingly, instead of spending time making up nice acronyms like JEEP and funding Prince Harry’s visit, they would have been able to meet some of their goals.  Though a promise is a comfort to a fool- there is no justifying a promise broken.

She also stated that after the JLP’s four years in administration, the economy had declined significantly. I do think that those 67 years are starting to take a toll on her- she must have forgotten that the PNP had mismanaged our economy for the previous 18 years. She must have forgotten that the JLP was handed a country under serious economic disrepair and several clandestine agreements swept under a rug. Her claim was, “They broke it, now we have to fix it”, but sumn mussi really tek her head because she figet ‘bout her big big fren PJ…..hmmmm.

However she did take the time to pat herself on the back for coming up with this elaborate JEEP initiative. For those who have missed the last 5 months of horribly executed JEEP puns, it is  Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme. You might recall how the JEEP initiative started with a fizzle. So far they claim to have provided 5,800 jobs, but what Portia failed to mention is the nature of these jobs. People on the JEEP programme are more or less given one-off jobs in public maintenance and waste management (ie. janitorial duties). Rumour has it that they are not signed to contracts either. An odd job cannot be equated to employment.

What I found ironic was her accusation that members of the JLP were posing as ‘champions of the poor’. Funny, don’t it?

*See the PNP manifestohere.

Kudos on removing the GCT on electricity for residential consumers, but this move affects almost no one. Poor people bridge light. Rich people pull strings. Only members of the middle class pay electricity bills and they are the ones carrying the burden of a nation. Rough generalization here, but I’m sure you can appreciate it.

And suddenly, the PNP is in full support of renewable energy sources. They will singlehandedly revolutionize the way our country consumes energy! As if the JLP didn’t already do that.

Portia spoke about moving from ‘welfare to well-being to wealth creation’ several times but she didn’t say how. She promised modernizing infrastructure, breaking NHT tax (which I must admit sounds feasible- and I applaud her) and starting the second phase of JEEP (albeit missing a tire). But, this is exactly what I meant about this budget presentation being more like campaigning speech- vague promises and no solutions!

No mention was made RE book tax. Our dear PM always speaks about how education is the key to success, and she even acknowledges discrepancies in the educational system. However, she has made no move to lessen the tax on books. How is it that children from low income families are supposed to become educated if they can’t afford their basic materials? As a university student, my books average 10k a piece, now I can completely legitimize shouting and turning over tables.

I could go on for days preaching about the faults of the PNP- but let me not be too partisan. JLP has also made some bad decisions for our country- but playing Jamaican politics only boils down to a choice between two evils. Pick your poison.

*Don’t take my word for it, read the PM’s full prepared speech here.

*This blog post was written before the closing of the budget debates on June 6, 2012.

*Originally posted June 6, 2012

As usual, Mayor Ford blusters. As he mispronounces everyone’s name, at least those that aren’t pure WASPy in nature, he apologizes. But his apology seems half-hearted. He cuts off speakers, even though he starts their time while they’re still pulling out their chair to sit at the mic. Councillors are given a minute; when applause continued after one speaker he told Councillor Joe Mihevc that since “they are your people” he didn’t get to ask his question, even though Joe clearly couldn’t speak overtop of the clamour.

I’m watching via the 680 news site, and reading the Twitter feeds at #TOCouncil and #TOpoli. People have been following this all day. Some people have been in the room all day. It is unprecedented; in my years of organizing around city budget’s I never saw this happen. People were cut off, council refused to sit etc. Of course, that was before there was a central committee that we were allowed to speak to. The city scattered us through the various committees which spread us out and pitted us against each other.

I’m so tired, they’re on speaker of 206 of 300. But I’m staying up to watch until everyone has had a chance to speak.