Answer to Anti-Medicare Plan?

Dear Madame L,

I gather that you and your pal Aunt Louise object to the Republican Party's proposed 2012 budget essentially because, as you and your ilk say, it would "destroy Medicare as we know it."

So, then, what is your alternative plan?

Sincerely,

A Faithful Reader

Dear Reader,

The Democratic Party's answer to the Paul Ryan proposed budget is: ... Wait for it ...

                                          Medicare.

Americans, whether they consider themselves to be on the right, left, middle, independent, fence, or wherever, agree that they want Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security to continue as they have in the past. They recognize that more can be done to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, and of course they want that. But the basic social nets we have all worked for are essential.

Americans of all political bents are asking themselves now why the Republicans, who were voted into office on promises of cutting government spending and creating jobs and who complained in 2008 and are still complaining about the "bailout" of American automakers and state governments to help them through the recent economic problems have not created any jobs and are proposing to take money from the poor, the elderly, and the young.

Americans, even those who oppose abortion, are wondering why legislators who claim to be protecting us all from government intrusion, are so concerned about women's bodies that they are legislating rules that require women to go through government bureaucratic procedures before they can receive health care.

Americans are wondering how current Republican officials can continue to justify accepting so much money from the big businesses whom they are supposed to be regulating.

Americans are wondering what happened to the society they thought their fathers and mothers had worked hard to create for them, a society that takes care of its weakest members, that expects wealthy corporations and individuals to pay their fair share, that doesn't throw Grandma and Grandpa and Little Nell over the cliff.

Americans are starting to wake up, pull the wool off their eyes, see through the lies and hypocrisy that fooled them in 2010, and realize that the answer to the Republican Kill-Medicare budget is:

                                          Medicare.

Sincerely,

Madame L

Truth, Schmuth!

Madame L is on a mission: When politicians make claims of any and every kind, Madame L wants to know if they're telling the truth. 

Particularly when their main claim to fame (for their 15-minute moment) is that they're telling the truth, Madame L wants to know if they really are telling the truth. 

Madame L didn't want to wait for an alert reader to ask her about this, so she found out for herself, and is relaying this information here, for her readers:

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) says in his campaign for the presidency that he's going to be telling the truth.

Sorry, Tim, you're off to a really bad start. According to the Associated Press, which fact-checked your claims, you are wrong on most counts. To summarize, for readers who don't want to read the entire AP article:

---TP says: Government workers are getting paid so much that their salaries need to be frozen. Truth: Federal employees' salaries have already been frozen for the next two years---except for the armed forces, Congress, and the federal courts.

---TP says: "Obamacare" is unconstitutional. Truth: We won't know for sure the constitutionality of Obama's restructuring of health care until the Supreme Court rules on it. Lower courts have gone both ways.

---TP says: Obama has consistently stood for higher taxes. Truth: President Obama has more often CUT taxes than raised them.

---TP says: Minnesota used to be in the top 10 states for high taxes, but I got it out of there. Truth: He didn't do it. Minnesota is still among the top 10.

---TP says: He's one of four governors in the country who got the Cato Institute's highest libertarian rating. Truth: He actually tied for third...But who wants the approval of the Cato Institute?

---TP says: He will be willing to suggest hard choices, not empty promises. Truth: Pawlenty does name several hard choices, like phasing out ethanol subsidies, which he mentioned to Iowa farmers, which does take some chutzpah. Other hard choices he suggests include raising the Social Security retirement age (already being done)...and supporting Rep. Ryan's budget plan which would destroy Medicare. (More about that, later, Madame L promises!)

Madame L presents the truth, and trusts her readers to decide whom to believe.

Men on Prowl, Women on Guard

Dear Readers,

Madame L has been appalled at the way the media in France are defending former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn and casting aspersions on the hotel housekeeper who alleges he assaulted her sexually. What's funny is that they are appalled at the way DSK has been treated by the media (and the cops) in the U.S. 

It would be easy to point the finger of shame at those decadent French for their sexual mores, but now there's the case of Arnold Schwarzenegger's housekeeper, who gave birth to his son the same week his wife gave birth to another son.

The culture at the IMF, which caused women to fear to wear skirts or dresses to work because of unwanted attention of male co-workers and which officially tolerated sexual liaisons between co-workers even when such liaisons could be the result of pressure by higher-up men exerted on women subordinate to them, is clearly not the only reason for this scandal.

What will it take for women to be treated better by men --- ordinary co-workers in ordinary jobs, and men with some kind of power over women --- in the IMF, in the Governator's home, and everywhere?

Though Madame L claims to be able to answer "all," she hasn't thought of a simple answer to this question yet. For a start, she hopes mothers and fathers will do a better job of teaching their sons to respect women and their daughters to expect to be treated right.

What suggestions do you, Dear Readers, offer?

Hoping for a better future for women,

Madame L

How Can I Fix My Computer?

Dear Madame L,

My computer just completely stopped on me. Is there any way I can fix it myself?

Seriously,

Using the computer at the library

Dear Computer User,

Madame L has found this advice to be most apt, though not all that helpful.

It involves turning the computer off and rebooting it, then some intermediate steps, and then a bout of silent weeping or (as in Madame L's case) loud wailing and gnashing of teeth as thousands of files and years of work are lost.

Good luck,

Madame L

What Sheep, Where?

Dear Madame L,

I'm ashamed of you: you mentioned the full last name in your column yesterday of the person you had been calling NG.

Sincerely,

Never Serious

Dear Sincerely,

Madame L hereby apologizes and abjectly abases herself at the altar of alliteration.

Huh?

Madame L really wants to suggest her favorite method for figuring out how to take politicians, which is to watch "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report."

Please watch this presentation by John Lithgow of Newt's campaign manager's "sheep" statement from "The Colbert Report" to see what Madame L is talking about.

Then laugh, my dear Never Serious friend. Laugh all the way to your polling place.

Laughing, too,

Madame L

Sex, Lies, and Politicians

Dear Madame L,

You keep writing that we should keep up with politics, but I don't know where to read information that will really be helpful, or even truthful. It seems like running for the Republican presidential nomination is a national joke: Everyone keeps saying that Romney and Pawlenty are the only "serious" candidates, but then they keep talking about Gingrich, Huckabee, Palin, Santorum, and even Trump as if they're taking them seriously. 

Nobody, not even me, could have actually taken Trump seriously. Did you see how in every press conference when they asked him about that, he talked first about his great program, "Celebrity Apprentice," and how he was looking forward to that?

And did you see Huckabee's announcement about how he had decided not to run, after all? That great "Christian" guy with his family values, announcing at the END of his show, after he played bass to accompany ultimate douche-bag Ted Nugent's rendition of ultimate woman-hating anthem "Cat-Scratch Fever"? I thought I was going to cry when Huckabee talked about how he had decided not to seek the Republican nomination because "...my heart says no." (kidding --- I thought I was going to puke from the hypocrisy)

Please, how can people like me figure out which pundits or reporters we can trust?

Sincerely,

Confused

Dear Confused,

Madame L is glad you asked this question. Madame L has also been overwhelmed by the pandering and cynicism of the media in covering the would-be, wannabe, and actual Republican candidates. 

No wonder you and so many others are confused. Did you know that NBC News and the Washington Post are now owned by Comcast, which also owns General Electric and Universal (and probably some others that Madame L doesn't remember right now)? 

Therefore Madame L is surprised at herself for being surprised at NBC's coverage of Donald Trump's supposed candidacy, which certainly benefited NBC and its advertisers as much as it did Trump himself.

Did you know that when Fox News announced on March 2 that it was suspending candidates Santorum and Gingrich from their contracts on May 1 unless they notified Fox that they would not be running for president, Huckabee and Palin were included in that decision by Fox? 

Therefore Madame L is surprised at ANYONE for being surprised that Huckabee and Palin have decided not to run for president. Madame L is surprised that Huckabee said his "heart" told him not to run, unless his heart is a bank account waiting to be filled by his Fox salary. Palin hasn't announced yet that she won't be running, but that's only because her greed for money and fame also motivate her to hang onto her place on the fence as long as she can.

Madame L has mentioned in earlier writings the comments by one of Gingrich's former wives that he was pretending to run for president only for the money; and one of Madame L's faithful reader/commenters has pointed out that Gingrich's huge speaking fees depend on his news currency, which explains his entrance into the race and his willingness to embarrass us as a nation with his pseudo-intellectual and moronic comments. (Madame L just wonders, for one thing, how many times can you call everyone a "Nazi" before people stop thinking you know what you're talking about.)

Madame L is will now be entertaining guesses from all of you, Dear Readers, on how long Gingrich will stay in the running. Madame L suspects that the last thing Republican leaders want is that loser as their candidate. Madame L will be watching eagerly to see the maneuvering Boehner et al. will be going through to ease Gingrich out of there.

But, Madame L digresses. To answer your question, Confused, Madame L suggests that you believe those reporters and pundits who have correctly called the race so far. Madame L will enlarge upon this idea in a coming column.

Best,

Madame L

Madame L Eats Her Words

Dear Madame L,

Remember a couple of months ago when you wrote that you supported the Libyan rebels, you weren't sure the U.S. should intervene, but you were glad the French were supporting them? (You also wrote that it would probably all be over in a couple of days.)

So, now we find out the French intervened on the advice of a celebrity-pseudo-philosopher who was trying to help his pal Sarkozy be re-elected. And we read an article by this same celebrity-pseudo-philosopher about how appalled he was at how the accused celebrity-IMF-head-but-now-resigning-dirty-old-man was being treated "like a common criminal" in the U.S. courts.

What do you say about that now, Madame L?

Sincerely,

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Dear Sincere Reader,

Madame L, who thanks you for finding the links exposing some of this nasty mess,  is busy eating her words, or would be if they weren't electronically generated chimeras.

Madame L is sorry for the people of Libya who have been suffering so long now as their own "brother leader" kills as many of them as he can, while ensuring that the civil war he predicted takes place.

Madame L is sorry about the "droit du dirty old men" and the droit du dirty old U.S. politicians.

Madame L repeats what she wrote back in March: She is STILL "... glad that the U.S. is sending aid to refugees from the fighting, and wishes all the best to those throughout the world who are fighting for democracy and freedom. She encourages them to keep on fighting while recognizing that they must fight that battle themselves, without our intervention."

Madame L repeats also her request that we will all continue to pray for justice and to work to help the downtrodden and oppressed throughout the world.