Shame of the Senate -- The Bankruptcy Bill

I am so totally disgusted by the Bankruptcy bill that is making its way through Congress, passed in the Senate 74-25. Being a person teetering on the brink of financial disaster at all times, to find that the Republicans have puckered up, once again, to kiss the fat ass of big business, and flip the bird in the face of the poor once again, makes me feel an overwhelming rush of rage, sadness, nausea, despair, and disbelief.

The Republican dummies, (speaking from the ventriliquost lips of the credit card companies) state that bankruptcy is used by people to run up big debt on vacations and toys and then a way to escape paying. Give me a fucking break. Look, EVERYTHING has its abusers -- extremists who make the vast majority of any group look bad (just ask any Muslim). Like welfare, there are those who abuse, but the majority are those who truly need it. To try and pretend you're passing this bill because most people are abusers just makes the Republicans look either like cold-blooded liars, or absolute complete fucking idiots snowed over by big business.

Personal anecdote: I was raised, along with my aunt, by my grandparents. My grandfather was very ill and was "medically retired," which forced him legally to stay at home, collect his meager pension from 20 years at the Wisconsin Gas Company, take his nitroglycerin, do chores, smoke his Benson & Hedges Light 100's (soft pack), and watch the Cubs play on WGN. My grandmother worked in the snack bar of a local high school cafeteria. Can you imagine how much money we were taking in? When I was around 13 years old, they declared bankruptcy. At the time, I didn't really understand what it meant, though I did see that it changed things. No more credit cards (no credit at all for at least seven years, as they told me), Christmas' were even bleaker (as was the food), etc. Was it a major change in our lives? No, we kept our TV and aging, constantly-breaking-down car. We left the house with the pool (pools being fairly common in Arizona), and moved into a modest apartment (with a pool somewhere deep within the "complex"). We never had enough money to take vacation, purchase a new car, or buy lots of "toys," so it's not like that suddenly stopped. Once in awhile we "took a drive" somewhere in Arizona to gaze at flora and fauna, including one memorable 6-hour round trip to the Grand Canyon, which lasted all 'bout 5 minutes at the site itself, since my aunt had developed a toothache, which forced us all back into the car for an immediate drive back. I don't really remember any drives after bankruptcy, though I'm sure that has more to do with my aging, ill grandparents than money troubles.

About a year after bankruptcy, when I was 15, I started working. Not to provide my family with bread, this isn't a Dickens tale, but I did find that after my job began, I was paying for all of my own clothes, most of my food, and other things (like various school fees and obligations which were enormous in the affluent suburb I lived in). We had to pay a friend of mine $1/day to pick me up and take me to school. Once in awhile I borrowed money to my grandparents, which they were careful to pay back.

But if you're one of the Republicans "chosen people" (anyone making over 100k and who likes to donate to the party), fear not! There are loopholes! Sink your money into that 25 million dollar home before you declare bankruptcy and you get to keep it! No one can touch it! Leasing that Mercedes? Nooooo problem, you can go and take drive any time you like. Don't fear the repo! as the Blue Oyster Cult said.

Watching one of my favorite political shows, for its breakneck speed and pure amusement value, "The McLaughlan Group," I was surprised to see that everyone on the panel (with the exception of Pat Buchanan, surprise surprise), found the bill to be "mean-spirited" and a payoff to the credit card companies who have been lobbying for this for several years. Evan the bloated, pompous Tony Blankley of The Washington Post, who usually makes me want to spit at the TV, agreed that the loopholes for the rich were unmistakely wrong. I watched clips of the enraged (and also bloated) Ted Kennedy rage against the machine on the senate floor, to no avail. Well, there's one rich guy who doesn't seem to get enjoyment (and cash benefits) from using his Bruno Mali's to squash the poor.

As for how the senators voted themselves, click right here to see how each one decided on this issue..

I was happy (though not surprised) to see that my beloved Russ Feingold (D-WI) voted "Nay," but shocked and dismayed that Kohl (D-WI) voted Yea. Then I remembered that Kohl is a multi-millionaire (you might be famliar with Kohl's grocery and department stores, the latter which are spread across the Midwest/Northeast). And Hilary Clinton did not vote? WTF? So, we all know she's started campaigning for President already. It sickens me that one must be a total sell-out, and if I believed it were possible, sell their soul to be President.

Obama, Nay, McCain, Yea. My other senator, Schumer, Nay.

To those 25 who voted with a conscience, I thank you. To the 74 who voted for the credit card companies, here's hoping you don't ever lose your job or become ill. Though I hear that senators get a pretty good health plan.

Boring Semi-Update

Every time I write on here, I feel like I have to apologize for not writing for so long. Yeah, I'm doing it again. I actually began writing a post two times before, and both times something happened and the post went *POOF*! Nothing like losing a large amount of text to completely kill any shred of writing motivation.

If I knew a large amount of people read this, which they don't, mostly by my own choice so I can write with relative freedom, then I might feel obligated to update on the many happenings in my life, which I assure you, are not so exciting, but I don't.

I do feel obligated to re-write the couple of posts I began before, since they were fun blips in my life this winter. But now that so much time has past (one occurred at the end of NOVEMBER), a lot of the shine has faded away. Perhaps you can suffer through it anyway.

NYC continues to be such an interesting place to live. I continue to be in a state of agitation due to my impoverished state which prevents me from doing more things. At the same time, I feel this thankfulness for the chance to live here (for now), for the many opportunities it holds for fun and fascination. It's the simple fact that things happen here that just don't happen anywhere else that keeps my relationship with this place growing and warming.

I often reflect with both interest and bitterness upon the similarities and differences between my situation here and in Bangkok. In Bangkok I was flush -- money was rarely an issue, and though I faithfully paid off ALL my credit cards while there, I also made sure to play -- a lot. As my old posts attest to, a SWF in BKK is no easy life, and I combatted that my constant entertainment, basically, spending my money which gave me joy. I bought hundreds of dollars worth of books, I saw every movie that came out, I dined in all the expensive (and inexpensive) restaurants, and I traveled traveled traveled.

Yet, I'd still rather be here, and despite my lengthy struggle with anti-depressants and their wacked-out side effects, I am both happier here, and have a greater sense of peace. Does money buy happiness? Not in the general sense. But it sure does buy it in spurts and can help a shitty situation be tolerable, even enjoyable.

So, I don't have the cash here to see movies, which, due to the volume I saw them in in Bangkok, I have become a great lover of. I don't have the funds to fend off discontent or to take advantage of what the city has to offer (which is more than BKK). But, you take what you can get in penniless times, and as I will write about later, going to The Daily Show with Jon Stewert and "sneaking" my way onto the Law & Order set, are a couple of ways that makes life here pretty nifty.