A Modest Proposal Redux

“My mother isn’t looking at me like a dollar sign. But, in this situation, she sort of has to look at me like a dollar sign,” said Courtney.

Today’s radical Republicans in Arizona and Wisconsin, who support tax breaks for corporations but lower wages and benefits for working people—not to mention “death panels” for transplant patients, remind me of Jonathan Swift. Swift suggested solving the hunger problem in Ireland, circa 1729 by introducing the idea of marketing the flesh—especially of children–as a source of protein. The Swiftian proposal was a twofer: Keep starving children off the public dole and feed the starving adults with the sweet remains.

Now comes Gov. Jan Brewer, Gov. Scott Walker, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) with similar ideas.

(Sarah Palin set an inspired standard for tea party types craving direct action by targeting a recalcitrant Arizona Congresswoman, who was, ironically, subjected to a gun-toting mad person. Now Ms. Palin is not so popular.)

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer cut Medicaid for transplant patients after she cut deals for corporate tax breaks, like her Wisconsin buddy, Gov. Scott Walker up in Madison, memorialized in the sign above.

Walker signed off on tax breaks for the wealthy, then hammered on teachers and public employees—proposing the elimination of collective bargaining, etc. According to news reports, Walker is a member of the Koch Brothers “privatization” team.

At http://thinkprogress.org, a story by Ian Millhiser on Jan 27th, 2011,
“ GOP Puts Guy Who Thinks Federal Child Labor Laws Are Unconstitutional On Senate Judiciary Committee ” describes Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). Apparently Lee has joined the fray. He claims that federal child labor laws, FEMA, food stamps, the FDA, Medicaid, income assistance for the poor, and even Medicare and Social Security violate the Constitution. Like the originalists at the Supreme Court, Scalia and Thomas, Lee allegedly considers voting rights of women, Afro-Americans, and Native Americans an aberration. All agree there’s nothing worse than “collective bargaining” –except “Planned Parenthood money” for women and children and healthcare.

GOP Death Panels Detailed

ThinkProgress reported that “Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) and the GOP-controlled state House [Death Panels] have turned a blind eye to the plight of 98 Arizona patients in desperate need of organ transplants. Since Brewer enacted painful cuts to the state’s Medicaid program in October, two Arizonans unable to pay for the transplants they needed passed away.

“After months of appeals and protests, it appears Brewer has finally agreed to set aside a $151 million “uncompensated-care pool to pay health-care providers for ‘life-saving’ procedures, including transplants.”

“However, state House Republicans remain vigilant in their anti-human life campaign. They are refusing to let measures to restore funding for organ transplants advance because, as the state House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jon Kavanagh (R) explained, “not enough lives would be saved to warrant restoring millions in budget cuts” for the transplants.

“But as Brewer and the GOP-led legislature waffle over the value of human lives, two more people — including 23-year-old leukemia patient Courtney Parham — join the 98 others standing before the Brewer death panel. Because the state has so far refused to pay for her transplant, Courtney’s family “must raise somewhere between $400-$800 thousand dollars for a transplant, or their daughter will die.”

“But, one thing that didn’t come back was the insurance. The company dropped Courtney because she was too sick to be a full-time student, which forced her on to the Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS. And, then Governor Brewer dropped more bad news; no more transplants for patients like Courtney, all to help balance the budget. The Straw-Parham family told KGUN9 they must raise somewhere between $400-$800 thousand dollars for a transplant, or their daughter will die.

Illegal immigrants can go to jail or go home. Sounds like Courtney’s headed for the morgue. Brewer understands the situation regarding Courtney and finds it “sad but necessary” according to Think Progress.

“Stuff happens” in a bad economy. You go to work with the economy you have, not the one you wish you had.”

Readers Comment:

“You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.” –Rudy “Walmart” Abeyta

1. “Do you suppose anyone has mentioned to the Governess that she could offer rides from airports anywhere in the world directly to Taos, for a big profit, using the state’s low mileage jet instead of selling it at a big loss? NM Air Taxi Service Moor to Door. I just sayin’; it’s worth an ad on Taos Friction”

(We think marketing climate change, a rise in sea levels, and marketing Taos as a “Sanctum for War Criminals” could lead to a revival of the second home real estate market.)

2. “Since the Town of Taos needs to cut payroll, send the laid-off Townies to Taos County, where the Jail Director says he needs 20 new guards. Otherwise, he’ll hire experienced inmates sans background checks.”

3. “The sign seen in Madison, Wisconsin could apply to KCEC rate protesters: “Screw us and we’ll multiply.”

4. “Are they gonna dust off the guillotine?”