Why Does This Rain Smell Like Ammonia?

In the grand scheme of things, republicans seem to be very crafty in their messages to the people.  They tell us that the sky is falling and we tend to believe them.  They tell us Democrats caused the sky to fall and we believe them.  They tell us that spending needs to be brought under control and the only way to do that is to put the screws to the working people they represent... and we fall right in line.

I was glad to see that the massive protests in Wisconsin have not subsided since governor walker stamped out the voice of the middle class last week.  It shows the world that you can't piss all over us anymore and tell us it's raining.  In my home state of Pennsylvania, our newly elected republican governor just rolled out his new budget plans.  You guessed it, it isn't raining, but the middle class is all wet again.

This is how it works.  He leads in with reinforcing his campaign promise that his budget doesn't raise a single tax.  We all cheer and party and think this guy actually cares about the working man, after all, he's not going to ask us for more money.  That's when the smell of urine begins wafting through the air.  You would think that the only way to shoulder such a bold promise would be to ask those that can pay for it to shoulder the load.  But we're not dealing with the logical mind, we're dealing with republicans, here.  While we'll enjoy steady tax bills, we'll also enjoy layoffs, wage freezes and cuts to that age old root of all evil... education.

While Ed Rendell was Governor, education saw a boost in funding and I have to admit, I proud of the public schools in Pennsylvania.  The teachers are dedicated, many of them have won awards and consistently rank high in quality of education.  No better reason to cut funding, right?  And educated middle class is a dangerous middle class.  Instead of asking business and wealthy residents to kick in, corbett has decided to attack the unions, put people out of work and slash the wages of public employees.  These are the people that depend on their salaries to... you know... eat.

What's even more shocking than the very clear disdain for the working Pennsylvanian is the obvious favoritism for the rich and businesses.  Lowering capital gains taxes is obviously much more important that funding programs for kindergartners, even I thought that was obvious.  Also avoiding the knife are those environmentally destructive natural gas companies.  A nice tax cut for those guys who have this amazing ability to turn normal drinking water into a volatile explosive.  Apparently this is much more interesting than say... mental health care for Pennsylvanians.

The one good thing about all these republicans and their budget plans is that the middle class now sees the error of their ways.  I have a feeling in 2012, the working American is going to be pretty tired of being the republican's toilets.  Hell, in Wisconsin, they're probably not even going to have to wait that long