Ten Dollar Republicans

Still a little shell shocked after last night - earthquake tsunamis will do that to you.

So, I am online right after the new speaker had dried his last tear, and start chatting with a most dear friend in Atlanta. She was pretty darn happy about the outcome for the most part.... " less government / Washington Bad ", you know the spiel by now.  As a rule, I am water off a ducks back when it comes to folks back home who cling to their god and guns and tea parties.... cause #1, wtf are you gonna do about it, and #2, I live in the deepest darkest blue state there is. But still wet from the tsunami, I got a little combative, well, as combative as you can get typing on the facebook . "Ding, dong that Pelosi witch is dead" sang my pal, all aglow in the prospects of the trickle down to come.

She knew to fuzzily hate Speaker Pelosi, for sure, but had never heard of Marco Rubio from a bordering state. I just innocently asked what was one program, one anything at all that the YOUNG GUNS could cut from that mass of Washington waste that would make her happy. She was not exactly sure, but the ONE THING that she was the most happy about was that she and her libertarian/GOP pals had killed, their most prized dead deer on the hood of their metaphorical pick up trucks of election day 2010 : They had stopped the state of Georgia from tacking on a TEN DOLLAR fee to the annual tag tax/fee to go towards TRAUMA CARE CENTER FUNDING. Fucking emergency rooms, people!

LONG a thorn in my side when a resident of Fulton County was the fact that the rest of the state got to bemoan and lock their car doors while in the City of Atlanta, but little lily white Tiffany-Ann up in the ring of outer burbs gets a severe burn or horrible trauma, their ass in helicoptered to downtown Atlanta's Grady Hospital, one of the best trauma centers there is ( lots of practice..) BUT hell would freeze over before a penny of that " some of my best friends are..... " tax dollar would go to pay for Grady . So this just set me off, to no avail. She was sticking to her guns , " I already pay too much in taxes! "

 Now, I know that my friend is a very good person at heart and the whole conversation just got sort of filed away in the haze of all those RED states on the front page of the NYT, until I read a conversation chain from some other pals in Ga , again, on the facebook ( it IS 2010...). Some rather timid pals as it turns out, but again, water off a ducks back. So a googling I went for a background and insight into GEORGIA AMENDMENT 2 : Trauma Care Funding.

Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to impose an annual $10.00 trauma charge on certain motor vehicles in this state for the purpose of funding trauma care?
(__) Yes 
(__) No


That is it, the entire amendment. No legalise, no wherefores of parties of the second parts, just hey " ten bucks out of your entire year to C.Y.A. for WHEN you or someone you love needs a fully functioning emergency room close by" Seriously. 

Had the Amendment passed it would have raised 80+ million to fund these centers. From the AJC : "Those who voted against the trauma care plan said Georgians can't afford more government fees and taxes, and that the private sector should fill any gaps in these health services.Heather Buell, 34, a Canton accountant, isn't convinced the extra money would save lives, and she doesn't believe the state should pay for these centers. Noting that many of the state's existing trauma centers are in metro Atlanta, she said metro residents should not be burdened with paying for a lack of trauma centers in south Georgia.
"We already send our money to educate their kids, we don't need to fund their health care," Buell said. ( the rest )

I SO DON'T GET IT.

GOP glee as that poor family in Tennessee watched their house go up in flames because they forgot to pay the 75 dollar fee to the fire dept. All those happy smiling faces on the tv today, overjoyed at the fact that they are now in a position to give all power back to the BIG insurance companies for your health care. Orgasmic that the Koch Brothers will pay a little bit less of their billions in taxes. 

10 dollars out of your pocket, once a year , to save your kids life. Yeah, good job at taking our country back, fella's. What is wrong with you people ??!?

UPDATE from this mornings AJC