New polls are out today and some mainstream media are touting the decline of support for the Obama healthcare plan. I thought I'd put pen to page and express my personal outrage at the whole debacle. *For the purpose of this story, the Pelosi character's title is Senator.
The View from the Private Castle Window
By Jane Paudaux
The small entourage stopped, reflected shadows of themselves peering up from the rounded marbled foyer, to assemble their plan of attack. The world outside lay like dead oysters filling the streets. Soon the elegant and well mannered would be stepping through the gilded doors of the Capitol to bask in the glory of their success. There would be only one loaf of bread and a single fish from now on. The masses have been denied their day before the waters of life.
"Quick is my hair in place?" asks Senator Di standing underneath the plebeian artistry of the government born in the arms of equality.
"Yes, Mum. Fully fluffed Mum." la Infant Aide replied, blinking rapidly to avoid the light coming from the Senator's crown.
"Mum?" Aide chimed twice.
"And they tell us dear Brutus that we can't work together!" Senator Di snorts to her fellow conspirator the timid slight Pelosi. "A little media release here, a little undercutting there, a little rolling of the eyes for the camera, and bingo--health reform for the poor is kaput. If only Ms. Palin had our gift of intellect there'd be a chance in 12. All those years spent dressing like a male republican in drag hasn't gone to waste. We are our own derivatives."
"Quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, and votes like a turkey." Pelosi squints to return in the light of Di as both women bend down in all their glory to mimic the feckless water fowl.
"Everyone still thinks it is a duck!" The two women cluck as they move forward, preening their feathers, before the return to their marbled upright majesty to continue final preparations to step outside.
"Mum. Mum, please." la Infant Aide ran around between quacks trying to interject.
"Such silly little peons thinking the great nation of America would turn healthcare over to the government. And what? Have our worthy physicians treated like plebeians? Our insurance companies cast out into the wilderness of competition? Our corporations powerless to break the backs of the rising impudence of the common working class? We give some of them jobs isn't that enough? Imagine, give the peasants healthcare and they might survive the recession. Then what? They'll be asking for private education rights next. What is Obama thinking?" A flourish of a velveted arm reminiscent of the Statue of the Libertine flew up in the air as Senator Di finished her rant.
"There is no healthcare for those who eat cake." Nancy chimed in swirling the jewels around her neck to complete the tableau.
"Ahem. Um, Mum." la Infant Aide tried again.
"Democrats aren't to be taken as fools representing the public just because we have more empathy during election time. We should rise above petty little things like unionism, living wages, and the rise of a vapid public education system. We should rejoice in all the glory and power of Wall Street. Let the infants rot in their nascar stained couches and idolize the great and powerful from afar as it should be. We, the true heritage of America, should embrace the willingness of corporations to wine and dine senators and journalists twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Healthcare for the deserving! After all the lower classes certainly don't think I am going to spend my own money to be re-elected do they?" Di asked the dead air in the room. "Well, do they?"
"No. Not for a moment." whimpered la Infant Aide. "Mum?"
Di shot a withering look to her companion in greed.
"Of course not your Majesty Di." Nancy whirled around knocking la Infant Aide from her feet. "We should be going. We have an appointment to celebrate the destruction of the public option. I can't wait to try out our new talking points on CNN and my newly raised eyebrows. The masses must have the nail pounded into their coffins, be convinced, how unreasonable the expense of Obama's healthcare program is for the wealthy to endure. The math must be made up before the show begins."
"Calculated hanging upside down, blindfolded, excluding all future revenues and any reasonable predictive outcomes." la Infant Aide struggled back to her feet. "The truth should have nothing to do with it. Let the consumer be ware and the poor be dead!"
"The public will be so proud of us." Princess Pelosi continued. "Silly little foolish morons. They will vote for us again, again, and again."
Checking her watch, "Mum!" screams la Infant Aide.
"Oh for Christ's sake--what public school did you go to again? What!" replies Senator Di.
"The crown Mum. Your crown. The one on your head. You need to turn off the twinkle lights on the jewels--the press cameras will pick them up. You wouldn't want them to think you actually are the queen of a democratic country would you?"
"Oh. Oh, of course dear. Why didn't you say so. We must fool the fools. How clever." Di barely draws a breath before turning to Nancy, "Do you think the peasants will steal my wealth? I don't have to share do I? Obama doesn't have that much power does he? They are turning on him right. They'll still vote like the cattle they are and keep us in power, right. After all they all want to be just like us someday. Filthy rich and corrupt with no accountability. The new era of America."
Nancy, "No problem. The people are still frightened by the big numbers. Although maybe we can bring Cheney back and throw him to any wolves lurking trying to regroup. No one will mind. He always did such a good stage job. He'll take their minds off what they really need."
"Right Mum. Is my check in the mail?" la Infant Aide stands before the doors and calls upon the lobbyists to swing them wide open for the right of passage once foreplay has ended. "The public is cowed. No single-payer. No public option. You are just a moment away from declaring no need to reform anything at all seriously--it is all working just fine and will continue to do so as long as the middle class fear the poor more than Wall Street, the Fed, and Fox News. It's a signed deal just like you ordained. Just step out the door and the pathway is clear. Ignore the trifling bumps under your feet. Your ride to glory awaits."
"Then it is done. Let's go for a walk Nancy."
"I'm right behind you Di, just keep me in your shadows, and I'll get away without a scratch."
The two senators step out onto the cobbled red path of shame. The gloomy dark skies overhead send the wind whipping through Senator Di's velvet green robe revealing a dark green designer wrap-dress with a slit to expose the matching green silk panties underneath. Di poses for a moment allowing her small brush with the daylight of air to pass before continuing on. Behind, in her shadows, the mink fur collar dances around the spectacular bejeweled American Princess Pelosi as she plays with her diamond studded tongue and tries to walk at the same time. Di prods Nancy to pay attention and focus on what matters. Each woman begins to put one foot forward. Then another. And another.
"Oh. Oh my. This is a little rough La Infant. Here, let me take my high heels off. Give me your ruby red slippers little one."
Le Infant Aide takes the spiked foot gear from her mistress and gives her the magic ruby red glass slippers as commanded. The Senator then continues on her journey forward with full entourage following.
Upon reaching the black limousine the polished door swings magically open to reveal the succulent red leather interior. Truffles on the right and champagne on the left. The appropriate colored chauffeur behind the wheel. Feeling accomplished at the end of the path, the Senator's turn and look back at the marvelous white dome of the Capitol with the dark thunderheads looming overhead. The artist clinging precariously to a rickety wooden ladder while painting a mural of the French Revolution on the White House stucco walls makes a faint clatter in the distance. No one pays attention. No one looks from side to side. No one looks down. Only La Infant Aide takes in her surroundings. Never once do either of the senators notice the bleeding backs of the trampled poor carpeting the path they just walked over. The hundreds of bloody hands reaching up to touch their velvet robes and plead for help as they stepped on bye. The faces of the children staring up with empty eyes begging for a future. The howls and whines of the needy being carried away on the hot air emanating from inside the open doors of Congress.
"It is a great day to be alive and rich in America, isn't it Nancy? We worked so hard to rob so many so we could enjoy this opportunity. We are truly the deserving. Just imagine, had we been born a century ago, we too could have been poor. Which reminds me, how is that genetic research coming along. We can get rid of that gene pool, right?"
"Soon Di. Soon I am told"
"Well before they learn how to vote I hope."
"Yes Di. Before they learn how to vote. But more importantly before their kids learn how to do the real math and ask the right questions."
"Well that shouldn't be a problem. They all go to public schools."
And the two senators duck inside their black limo, windows silently darkened, the engine giving away nothing about the power inside, the limo slips out to make its climb toward the media tower of power. La Infant Aide is left standing, check in hand, at the curb. The poor dying in the departing wake. Only if one looked carefully, to make sense of the whole scene, as it disappeared into the distant fog, the license plate could be made out by the sharpest of eyes.
WALL STREET was all it said.
Addendum* I was pointed to an interesting site today, http://www.opensecrets.org This site gives a lot of interesting information including data on who or what corporation is buying your senator's re-election. I focused on the health committee members. Here are the top contributors for Mike Enzi, Republican, Wyoming's 2010 re-election. The next up and coming election cycle for Mr. Enzi is 2014 according to the site. The first column is the total, the second is individual contributions and the third column is PACS.
"Quick is my hair in place?" asks Senator Di standing underneath the plebeian artistry of the government born in the arms of equality.
"Yes, Mum. Fully fluffed Mum." la Infant Aide replied, blinking rapidly to avoid the light coming from the Senator's crown.
"Mum?" Aide chimed twice.
"And they tell us dear Brutus that we can't work together!" Senator Di snorts to her fellow conspirator the timid slight Pelosi. "A little media release here, a little undercutting there, a little rolling of the eyes for the camera, and bingo--health reform for the poor is kaput. If only Ms. Palin had our gift of intellect there'd be a chance in 12. All those years spent dressing like a male republican in drag hasn't gone to waste. We are our own derivatives."
"Quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, and votes like a turkey." Pelosi squints to return in the light of Di as both women bend down in all their glory to mimic the feckless water fowl.
"Everyone still thinks it is a duck!" The two women cluck as they move forward, preening their feathers, before the return to their marbled upright majesty to continue final preparations to step outside.
"Mum. Mum, please." la Infant Aide ran around between quacks trying to interject.
"Such silly little peons thinking the great nation of America would turn healthcare over to the government. And what? Have our worthy physicians treated like plebeians? Our insurance companies cast out into the wilderness of competition? Our corporations powerless to break the backs of the rising impudence of the common working class? We give some of them jobs isn't that enough? Imagine, give the peasants healthcare and they might survive the recession. Then what? They'll be asking for private education rights next. What is Obama thinking?" A flourish of a velveted arm reminiscent of the Statue of the Libertine flew up in the air as Senator Di finished her rant.
"There is no healthcare for those who eat cake." Nancy chimed in swirling the jewels around her neck to complete the tableau.
"Ahem. Um, Mum." la Infant Aide tried again.
"Democrats aren't to be taken as fools representing the public just because we have more empathy during election time. We should rise above petty little things like unionism, living wages, and the rise of a vapid public education system. We should rejoice in all the glory and power of Wall Street. Let the infants rot in their nascar stained couches and idolize the great and powerful from afar as it should be. We, the true heritage of America, should embrace the willingness of corporations to wine and dine senators and journalists twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Healthcare for the deserving! After all the lower classes certainly don't think I am going to spend my own money to be re-elected do they?" Di asked the dead air in the room. "Well, do they?"
"No. Not for a moment." whimpered la Infant Aide. "Mum?"
Di shot a withering look to her companion in greed.
"Of course not your Majesty Di." Nancy whirled around knocking la Infant Aide from her feet. "We should be going. We have an appointment to celebrate the destruction of the public option. I can't wait to try out our new talking points on CNN and my newly raised eyebrows. The masses must have the nail pounded into their coffins, be convinced, how unreasonable the expense of Obama's healthcare program is for the wealthy to endure. The math must be made up before the show begins."
"Calculated hanging upside down, blindfolded, excluding all future revenues and any reasonable predictive outcomes." la Infant Aide struggled back to her feet. "The truth should have nothing to do with it. Let the consumer be ware and the poor be dead!"
"The public will be so proud of us." Princess Pelosi continued. "Silly little foolish morons. They will vote for us again, again, and again."
Checking her watch, "Mum!" screams la Infant Aide.
"Oh for Christ's sake--what public school did you go to again? What!" replies Senator Di.
"The crown Mum. Your crown. The one on your head. You need to turn off the twinkle lights on the jewels--the press cameras will pick them up. You wouldn't want them to think you actually are the queen of a democratic country would you?"
"Oh. Oh, of course dear. Why didn't you say so. We must fool the fools. How clever." Di barely draws a breath before turning to Nancy, "Do you think the peasants will steal my wealth? I don't have to share do I? Obama doesn't have that much power does he? They are turning on him right. They'll still vote like the cattle they are and keep us in power, right. After all they all want to be just like us someday. Filthy rich and corrupt with no accountability. The new era of America."
Nancy, "No problem. The people are still frightened by the big numbers. Although maybe we can bring Cheney back and throw him to any wolves lurking trying to regroup. No one will mind. He always did such a good stage job. He'll take their minds off what they really need."
"Right Mum. Is my check in the mail?" la Infant Aide stands before the doors and calls upon the lobbyists to swing them wide open for the right of passage once foreplay has ended. "The public is cowed. No single-payer. No public option. You are just a moment away from declaring no need to reform anything at all seriously--it is all working just fine and will continue to do so as long as the middle class fear the poor more than Wall Street, the Fed, and Fox News. It's a signed deal just like you ordained. Just step out the door and the pathway is clear. Ignore the trifling bumps under your feet. Your ride to glory awaits."
"Then it is done. Let's go for a walk Nancy."
"I'm right behind you Di, just keep me in your shadows, and I'll get away without a scratch."
The two senators step out onto the cobbled red path of shame. The gloomy dark skies overhead send the wind whipping through Senator Di's velvet green robe revealing a dark green designer wrap-dress with a slit to expose the matching green silk panties underneath. Di poses for a moment allowing her small brush with the daylight of air to pass before continuing on. Behind, in her shadows, the mink fur collar dances around the spectacular bejeweled American Princess Pelosi as she plays with her diamond studded tongue and tries to walk at the same time. Di prods Nancy to pay attention and focus on what matters. Each woman begins to put one foot forward. Then another. And another.
"Oh. Oh my. This is a little rough La Infant. Here, let me take my high heels off. Give me your ruby red slippers little one."
Le Infant Aide takes the spiked foot gear from her mistress and gives her the magic ruby red glass slippers as commanded. The Senator then continues on her journey forward with full entourage following.
Upon reaching the black limousine the polished door swings magically open to reveal the succulent red leather interior. Truffles on the right and champagne on the left. The appropriate colored chauffeur behind the wheel. Feeling accomplished at the end of the path, the Senator's turn and look back at the marvelous white dome of the Capitol with the dark thunderheads looming overhead. The artist clinging precariously to a rickety wooden ladder while painting a mural of the French Revolution on the White House stucco walls makes a faint clatter in the distance. No one pays attention. No one looks from side to side. No one looks down. Only La Infant Aide takes in her surroundings. Never once do either of the senators notice the bleeding backs of the trampled poor carpeting the path they just walked over. The hundreds of bloody hands reaching up to touch their velvet robes and plead for help as they stepped on bye. The faces of the children staring up with empty eyes begging for a future. The howls and whines of the needy being carried away on the hot air emanating from inside the open doors of Congress.
"It is a great day to be alive and rich in America, isn't it Nancy? We worked so hard to rob so many so we could enjoy this opportunity. We are truly the deserving. Just imagine, had we been born a century ago, we too could have been poor. Which reminds me, how is that genetic research coming along. We can get rid of that gene pool, right?"
"Soon Di. Soon I am told"
"Well before they learn how to vote I hope."
"Yes Di. Before they learn how to vote. But more importantly before their kids learn how to do the real math and ask the right questions."
"Well that shouldn't be a problem. They all go to public schools."
And the two senators duck inside their black limo, windows silently darkened, the engine giving away nothing about the power inside, the limo slips out to make its climb toward the media tower of power. La Infant Aide is left standing, check in hand, at the curb. The poor dying in the departing wake. Only if one looked carefully, to make sense of the whole scene, as it disappeared into the distant fog, the license plate could be made out by the sharpest of eyes.
WALL STREET was all it said.
Addendum* I was pointed to an interesting site today, http://www.opensecrets.org This site gives a lot of interesting information including data on who or what corporation is buying your senator's re-election. I focused on the health committee members. Here are the top contributors for Mike Enzi, Republican, Wyoming's 2010 re-election. The next up and coming election cycle for Mr. Enzi is 2014 according to the site. The first column is the total, the second is individual contributions and the third column is PACS.
| 1 | Foundation Coal | $21,600 | $12,600 | $9,000 |
| 2 | Goldman Sachs | $16,700 | $6,700 | $10,000 |
| 3 | AFLAC Inc | $15,000 | $0 | $15,000 |
| 3 | Blue Cross/Blue Shield | $15,000 | $0 | $15,000 |
| 3 | Pilot Corp | $15,000 | $15,000 | $0 |
| 6 | Amgen Inc | $12,000 | $2,000 | $10,000 |
| 6 | Apollo Group | $12,000 | $0 | $12,000 |
| 8 | Sinclair Oil | $11,500 | $11,500 | $0 |
| 9 | American Bankers Assn | $10,000 | $0 | $10,000 |
| 9 | American College of Cardiology | $10,000 | $0 | $10,000 |
| 9 | American Institute of CPAs | $10,000 | $0 | $10,000 |
| 9 | Anadarko Petroleum | $10,000 | $0 | $10,000 |
| 9 | Associated Builders & Contractors | $10,000 | $0 | $10,000 |
| 9 | Bluegrass Cmte | $10,000 | $0 | $10,000 |
| 9 | Citigroup Inc | $10,000 | $0 | $10, |
Comments :
0 comments to “Healthcare: The View from the Private Castle”
Post a Comment
Welcome to Jane Paudaux's Greeleyville blog. Post your comment below. Be respectful and courteous please. I have turned on word verification to block the spammers. If this doesn't work I will have to turn comments off. Thank you for understanding.