Democrats Held Hostage: Day 6,726

[MannyGoldstein]

Today I read two particularly shocking stories which show how far we've fallen.

Last week http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1332727">Massachusetts resident Thomas James Ball, 58, immolated himself in New Hampshire.

A picture of Mr. Ball:

Here's what Ball, a Vietnam vet, wrote about his plight:

“I am due in court the end of the month. The ex-wife lawyer wants me jailed for back child support. The amount ranges from $2,200 to $3,000 depending on who you ask. Not big money after being separated over ten years and unemployed for the last two. But I do owe it. If I show up for court without the money and the lawyer say jail, then the judge will have the bailiff take me into custody. There really are no surprises on how the system works once you know how it actually works. And it does not work anything like they taught you in high school history or civics class,”

Like many Americans, Ball was confused as to how things got the way they are - he blamed his predicament on bureaucrats, rather than the widespread semi-permanent unemployment that comes from unbridled "free" trade, and a government that cares little for the 99%. But does anyone think that Ball would have performed this most-final act if he had a well-paying job? I think most would agree that if Ball had a job and a few bucks in the bank, he'd have paid the support while muttering a few cuss words. Instead he took his life in a gruesome way, a last "%^&# you, too!" to a society that had %^&#ed him.

(NB: Three more "free" trade bills will soon be signed into law. Great stuff, great stuff.)

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Next we turn to Richard James Verone of North Carolina. Verona has a growth in his chest, two ruptured disks and no job. And no health care.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4890695">Now he has health care.



Verone walked into a bank, told a teller he had a gun, then demanded $1. Then he sat on a couch and waited for police.

A 59-year-old man has been jailed in Gastonia, N.C., on charges of larceny after allegedly robbing an RBC Bank for $1 so he could get health care in prison. Richard James Verone handed a female teller a note demanding the money and claiming that he had a gun, according to the police report.

He then sat down and waited for police to arrive. "… I say, 'I'll be sitting right over here, on the chair, waiting for the police,'" Verone told reporters, recalling the June 9 robbery in an interview from Gaston County Jail.

And wait for the police, he did.

"He's sitting on the sofa as you walk in the front door," the bank teller said in a 911 call.

Mr. Verone is now safely behind bars: safe for him, because he now can get health care. This is what he had to do.

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Fellow Democrats, this has got to stop.

When Lincoln's generals failed to beat the Confederacy, did he wring his hands, shrug his shoulders, and think "they did as well as they could: it's really the Confederacy's fault"? No. Lincoln fired his generals and got new ones, and kept firing the new ones who failed, until he got generals that fought and won.

Third-way Democrats have been leading our political battles since 1/20/1993. A few questions:

Has policy moved to the right, or to the left?
Are working Americans doing better or worse?
Are we at peace, at home and abroad?

Had enough of Wall Street-backed nitwits continuously triangulating our country further and further to the right? If so, it's time to fire these clowns. It's our only way out of this abyss.

We need to win back our Party.

[villager]

1. It would be nice to at least have *two* parties again, instead of the current single entity...

Good post.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Thank you.

I simply cannot believe what's going on these days. Even more, I can't believe that lack of outrage. Self-immolation is the new normal.

[slay]

4. +1

glad people have started to notice

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. K & R