Fucking Robin Hood

The Heritage Club is not an online shopping organization. The Washington-based think tank has been a leading source of information for the media since its inception. The official home page has declared the non-partisanship of the group, while holding the same values as the GOP and the Cato Institute. On July 19, 2011 the Heritage Club attacked the U.S. Census Bureau for reporting that over 30 million Americans were living in “poverty” by accusing the poor of not being poor. “The overwhelming majority of the poor have air conditioning, cable TV, and a host of other modern amenities. They are well housed, have an adequate and reasonably steady supply of food, and have met their other basic needs, including medical care.” Deprivation of materialism was not a suffering point for the under-classes of America in the minds of the two reporters writing this article. Poor by the standards of the Heritage Club was the inability of families to procure decent food and shelter. Living on fast food and living in squalor was a tradition of the past. One of their scholars declared that “The poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago.” I was not living at the turn of the century. One half of my family belonged to the privileged class of New England and the other was living in the West of Ireland. Both sides had houses and I can’t recall either of my grandmothers telling of starving children, however my Nana left the Emerald Isle at the tender age of 12 to work as a serving girl in a mansion north of Boston None of her brothers or sisters or those of my Hibernian namesake graduated from high school, while my Yankee ancestors were educated to professionals. My grandmother edith met her husband in France during the First World War. She was a nurse and he was a doctor. Their romance made the local papers in Maine. None of the Boston papers mentioned the union of my mother’s parents. Poverty can not defined by the accumulation of Chinese products purchased on credit despite the findings of the Heritage Club. Poverty is not an exaggeration in America. Wages have not kept pace with the massive accumulation of wealth during the Lost 00s. Fox News analysts ignore the displacement of working class families from their houses. The GOP assail unions as a drain on society. Teachers are targeted for their extravagance. Any attempt to tax the ultra-rich is labeled as ‘class warfare. Of course the Heritage Club’s treatise has avoided the reality of 2011. The percent of the pollution living under the poverty line of $22,000 before taxes has increased to 15% of America. The highest rate since 1993 when America was recovering from 12 years of GOP voodoo economics. The total number within a few hundred thousand is 46.2 million people. Middle-class families suffered with a slight drop in income, which has remained steadily in favor of the rich for the last 30 years, while the wealthy have increased their stake in the money pot by over 40%. On a personal note my income remained flat for the last three years, as the son of my boss bought two new houses in Vermont and Montauk. “My bonus is your job.” And Richie Boy isn’t really rich. Neither is his father Manny, but his arrogant statement mirrored the mentality of the global ancien regime. They hate anyone who isn’t them from the lower-upper class to the bottom rung of society. White trash, blacks, Hispanics, blue-collar workers et al are lucky to be alive, as Ron Paul announced in a debate to the applause of his audience that anyone not able to afford medical treatment should follow the tradition of the eskimo elderly and drag themselves into the harsh winter to unburden the nation. President Obama has proposed a job package to stave off massive destitution. Public works to revive the infrastructure and tax breaks to small businesses who hired new employees, while taxing the rich and pulling the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The GOP section of Congress sat on their hands during his speech. They like things fine the way they are. Austerity is their mantra. Cut food stamps. Cut education. Cut Medicaid. I witnessed the devastating effects of poverty as a child in Maine. Schoolmates lived in tar-paper shacks. Their fathers worked for SD Warren paper mills. Their children had heavy shoes, warm clothing, and thick hats. Maine winters were savage in the late 50s. The other necessities were lacking. Diana Swayer came to Pinewood Elementary with two slices of white bread. She was one of eight kids. I gave her half my baloney sandwich. She didn’t like peanut butter and jelly. My best friend said my generosity was based on her having blonde hair like Marilyn Monroe. Best friends know their friends better than they know themselves. Pinewood Elementary was a small school. An infestation of lice swept through the grades. Boys had their hair cut to the flesh. Girls were given lye shampoos. None of us stopped itching for months. In a February morning of 1959 the entire Swayer clan missed school. It wasn’t because of the croup. The methane heater in their shack had exploded during the winter night. Diana was the only one to survive the conflagration. I saw her at the funeral. Nine bodies were lowered in the frozen ground. They were her family. “Can I come and live with you?” I said nothing, because I already knew the answer. We were not poor, but my father worked extra hours to support a big family. Diana was placed in a foster home. I never saw her again. Her fate awaits millions of children in America should the GOP triumph in their Terrorization of the Poor. I’ll do my damnedest to stop the motherfuckers. I’m half-Irish. We like a good fight and so did the other half of my family. It’s time to see the 2nd Coming of Fucking Robin Hood. Steal from the rich and keep it for yourself. Sooner better than later before there is nothing left to take.