A New Coliseum

Remember the good old days when Christians were being fed to the lions in the Roman coliseum and the people would stand and cheer and probably drink a nice red wine?

Well, maybe there still here. Texas governor Rick Perry in last week’s GOP debate on MSNBC was applauded when it was announced he had presided over 234 executions. In a few days it will likely be 235 if Duane Buck is executed. He is the one where the prosecutor arguing that being black “Increases future dangerousness” at his sentencing hearing.

Then we have the CNN Tea Party debate where folk shouted “yes” at the prospect of letting those who can’t afford health insurance die.

Bachmann accuses Perry of forcing young girls to take a safe and effective vaccine to present sexually transmitted diseases that lead to cervical cancer.

Perry and Romney keep seeing who can outdo the other in condemning social security. But then Republicans historically have opposed social security.

Texas governors love to tell how wonderful their state is in having better employment and how they grow jobs in their state. They don’t talk about the  high rates of minimum wage or below minimum wage jobs that they have the most of or that half their students don’t graduate from high school.

Paul then complains that taxes have doubled since Perry has been in office an debt has tripled. Texas has no state tax.

Perry talks about Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme”, that won’t exist for today’s 25 & 30 year olds. No data supports that supposition.

House Republicans introduced the “American Jobs Act” others call it, “Corporate Freeloaders Act.” This is the Republican version of President Obama’s jobs plan. It has one provision: no infrastructure spending, no payroll tax cuts, no assistance to states to hire teachers and police; its provision is to reducing corporate tax rate to zero.

Of course, they all jumped on Obama with misinformation and twisted data.

The Roman empire had its coliseum and lion eating Christians. The extreme right would expand it to non-Christians, non whites, aliens, poor folk, unions, scientists, middle classes. There is going to have to be one really big area, with a few ultra rich folk sitting in the seats pointing their thumbs down.

Sick!