Heartless Heart

The Department of Transportation furloughed nearly 2,000 employees without pay Monday as the government began to feel the impact of Republican Sen. Jim Bunning's one-man blockage of legislation that would keep a host of federal programs operating.

Bunning's "hold" also affects jobless benefits for thousands of unemployed workers, rural television customers, doctors receiving Medicare payments and others.
[...]
1.2 million unemployed workers, including 14,000 in Kentucky, would lose federal jobless benefits this month if Congress doesn't extend them, and they all said that Bunning is an a$$hole

OK, I made the last sentence of the last paragraph up.

Pardon my outrage when one f**king republican is once again holding our nation hostage. Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY jelly) claimed he was acting on principle, or maybe it was the interest on the principle he gets from 'campaign contributors.'

Bunny is retiring with a pension that we Americans pay for, and he and his family will have government health care for the rest of their lives that we Americans pay for.

Why doesn't he cry Socialism! about that?
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GOP Sen. Kyl: Unemployment Benefits Make People Not Want To Get A Job

[...]
Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona [R - Ustupid], the Republican whip, argued that unemployment benefits dissuade people from job-hunting "because people are being paid even though they're not working."

Unemployment insurance "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work," Kyl said during debate over whether unemployment insurance and other benefits that expired amid GOP objections Sunday should be extended.

where to start, where to start ... OK, how about here:
1) It's called Unemployment Insurance for a reason, these people have been paying insurance, mandated by the gov't, in case they are unemployed. Guess what, it's time to collect.
2) Max payout in most states is 55% of what they were earning. Try living on 1/2 of what you're making now and most folks have a difficult time of it. Heck, even the banksters complain when their multi-million dollar salaries/bonuses are cut, imagine what it's like for real people! That sounds like an incentive to find work to me ... if there were any jobs.
3) Maybe it doesn't create new jobs, but it sure allows a lot of people to keep their jobs. From grocery stores to landlords to everyone else in the community, the basic fabric breaks down if millions of people have zero income.

And while the 2 above examples seem about as heartless as republicans can be, here comes the corker:

Pawlenty: Let ER's turn away patients to cut costs

Emergency rooms should be able to turn patients away to cut costs, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) said last night

Appearing on Fox News's "On the Record with Greta Van Sustren" last night, Pawlenty said the federal law that mandates ER treatment should be repealed.

"Well, for one thing you could do is change the federal law so that not every ER is required to treat everybody who comes in the door, even if they have a minor condition," Pawlenty said.

First the repubes claim that everyone has access to health care because they can always go to the ER.

That's always been a specious argument because while you might be able to go to the ER for an emergency, they do nothing about post trauma care or even tests if you don't have the $$. And now these heartless bastards want to limit access to the ER!

Taken together the arguments the republicans espouse are 'lose your job? Tough.' 'Lose your unemployment insurance benefits that you paid into? Tough shit.' 'Lose your health? Die.'

Grayson was right. "the Republican plan is don't get sick. And if you do get sick, die quickly."

Now for some head banging brain bleach:




Cross posted at VidiotSpeak