Category Archives: Politics

Politics

Simplistic thinking….

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Well…I think I’ve fallen into the trap of thinking in sounds bites and prejudices which has taken me away from the resonableness that I have been espousing. Some of it is a hangover from the “I hate Bush” syndrome that I regretfully admit had me in its clutches for quite a while and some of it is was caused by the growing demise of the middle class and my situation in particular. It is really difficult to watch the people who are still doing well in their 500 dollar gloves and new Mercedes when that used to be an attainable aspiration for me and it no longer is. What makes it even more difficult is that I know it’s not something I can correct…there is no way I know of to make myself not be 57 anymore; to be 35 again with prospects….I may have let these facts color the way I see the world and has led me to see that any compromise in a complex political situation was a defeat, was a failure of Obama to stand up and support those that supported him.

So, on that note, I am going to try to be more objective in my thinking starting now….as the tax bill is parsed and studied, I think it may be a better deal than I thought and it could be the start of grownups looking at real solutions for the terrible recession…after all, there are stimulative measures in the bill that will help get the economy going and we did get the extension of UI benefits…now, if we could just teach the rich that they have enough and giving some back to help continue the country’s success is in their self interest, things might be able to get better…..we can hope anyway….

Politics

Obama just doesn’t understand…

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Well..this one just came to me a few minutes ago and I thought I’d try to see if I can make sense of it….looking at the political maneuverings going on over the tax bill I’m struck by one consistent theme, that Obama won’t take on a fight unless he is sure that he can win…even when he constantly disappoints his supporters with what looks like compromise for it’s own sake. What kind of a win is it when you just fold up? Does that make sense? I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are times when taking on a fight because it is the right thing to do is a much nobler thing than compromising your principles and allowing something you know is wrong to continue. I think this is one of the reasons the left is so frustrated with Obama right now; he doesn’t seem to think anything, any principle or goal is immune to compromise when it is clear that saving the middle class is worth a fight, that repealing DADT is worth a fight, that keeping the repubs from stacking the deck against us is worth a fight. This is the time when we need a fight, even one for a losing cause so we can hold our heads up and say “we tried”.

I’ll end this with one question for Obama, “what IS worth fighting for?”..geez…

Politics

Thank you, Bernie Sanders…

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Well…there are stirrings of revolt in the middle and on the left about the bastardized compromise that Obama has fashioned on the tax cuts…he gave away the store to the thugs and extortionists without getting one thing that will help get the budget back under control without doing it on the backs of the middle class. The most sickening thing that I have heard out of the repubs is that we “all” have to sacrifice to make this happen…I have to ask, “what have the rich sacrificed?” Not a damn thing..but they right wants us to take cuts in UI, social security, and every other program that helps the little guy while making sure that their buddies won’t have to sacrifice a thing..in fact they can just keep saying more, more, more…and steal what little is left of the American dream.

That brings me to Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont who has promised to filibuster any bill that gives the store away to the rich…at least someone understands that this is not a county of, by, and for the rich and connected. Thanks Bernie, keep up the good fight…geez…

Politics

We’ve been betrayed…

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Well..I cannot overstate my disappointment with Obama right now…and his misguided march toward bipartisanship at any cost..especially when his compromise with the repubs is going to give them more ammunition to attack the progressives in the next election. Doesn’t he understand that when you give in to blackmailers, all they do is come back with larger and larger demands? What about us? The people that voted for him…when do we get anything that he promised to us? I guess the only hope now is that the congressional and senate democrats grow a spine and destroy this bill….but, I’m afraid it’s finally over….the rich have bought this country lock, stock, and barrel and the rest of us are left to our own devices as we slide down the ladder….

Politics

When do we get a victory?

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Well..this thought just popped into my head as I was cleaning my stovetop..yeah, I know, weird, but that’s me…and you know that if you’ve been here before. I think it was spurred by the collapse of the Dems in regard to the blackmail by the repubs on the tax cuts but also on the compromises that the dems have made on all of their legislative agenda, on healthcare, on taxes, on financial regulation, and on DADT. All of these bastardized compromises make me want to shout “when do we get a victory?” When do the majority of Americans get the healthcare they deserve without giving the insurance companies billions more in profit? When do gays and lesbians get their full status as Americans? When do we get the victory that would keep corporate money from buying elections?

Democrats and independents, the game has changed; you are still bringing a knife to a gunfight and unless you change your tactics, you will continue to lose and the country will continue to go down the path of the rich getting richer and the rest of us will just toil in our uncertain jobs until we are told we are no longer necessary. I’ll shout this question to the Dems: “When do we get a victory?”…geez…

Politics

A “Target Rich” environment…

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Well…It might have been a good idea to keep the posts to a minimum over the weekend…events of today have made me laugh like a hyena…and so this one is going to be a two or three parter, or it’s going to have more than one subject..is it cheating to do that? Nope…these topics are related, in my mind anyway and I hope the absurdity of them makes you laugh, too..or cry…I was on the fence with my reaction.

The first part is the “revelation” that the newly-elected tea partiers have started to suckle at the teat of the K street lobbyists even before they are sworn in, never mind the pledge they made to change the “culture” of Washington…but it’s just a continuation of the tried and true conservative strategy of saying one thing to get elected and then laughing at the people that voted for them by voting against their constituent’s interests. What did you people that voted for these hypocrites expect? That they would be principled? that they gave a damn about you? No, these types are all about privilege and power as an end to itself…and duping the “little people” is all part of the game.

Next, is a subject that I have been shouting about for months now….and that is the blatant theft that the repubs are engaging in for the richest 2% of Americans…but I hesitate to call them Americans….they are not. They are just a greedy cadre that have learned the lessons of banana republics everywhere…those in power steal all they can with utter disregard for the people and the health of their society…and I am calling out the repubs here as I always will since they have elevated this theft to an art form…and their cynicism is breathtaking in holding up UI benefits for the middle class so they can bust the budget and give the proceeds to the rich. They are doing this when federal employees have just had their pay frozen for two years…and do you hear these middle-class people bitching about it…no, the consensus, at least from the comments I’ve read, is that they want to do their part to help in these tough economic times. The strange coincidence is that they are forgoing around 3% of pay increases in the next two years and if the Bush tax cuts are let to expire for the rich, they would pay about 3% more in taxes. Now, we can see who the real Americans are..those who think of more than enriching themselves, who think that everyone should do their part to help, and who don’t have an entire political party focused on stealing for them. Geez….

Politics

American Exceptionalism….

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Well…the latest shot in the culture wars was fired by the repubs this week when they rolled out the new talking point that deals with “American Exceptionalism” and their contention that Obama doesn’t get the fact that the US is the most exceptional country on the planet, and it is only the Dems with their liberal ideas that don’t accept the fact. Really? You have got to be kidding me….let’s take the issue of healthcare to start: I know you’ve heard the repub shills for the insurance and medical industry opine that we have the best healthcare of any country in the world when it’s really not true or only true for the folks that have the best insurance. Not for the 50 million of us that have no insurance and can’t afford it….and let’s add the fact that healthcare expenses in the US are twice what they are in other developed countries..owing to the fact that insurance companies leech away profits that should be used for patient care…the only exceptional part of this equation is the exceptional way the medical/insurance industry have bought the repubs to do their bidding.

Then, let’s look at the income disparity that has exploded with the 8 years of the repubs under Bush but that started under Saint Ronald of Reagan…back when the top 2% only had about 9 percent of the country’s income but has steadily risen to today where we see that the rich only continue to get richer while the middle class part of the economy stagnates…to the tune of the top 2% now have over 25% of the economy’s benefits with the average CEO’s salary ballooning from 10 times the average worker’s salary to over 500 times the average…now, that is exceptional for the rich, but the rest of us have been left behind.

The last point that I want to make is just about the idea of America; that we were the moral arbiters of the world and we were different because of our system of governance was self-correcting and dedicated to the ideals that founded this nation that included the abhorrence of the basest instincts of humans as evidenced in the killings and torture that were rampant in the rest of the world. But, then that changed under the Bushies…what is exceptional about abandoning our ideals for expediency? Now, I don’t want to gloss over the real tragedies that have been a part of the American experience…and I do feel that the US is exceptional when the governance rises to the needs of the people and puts them first…but when the repubs and their allies put their own and businesses needs above that of the people, that is not exceptional…that is just another wedge issue that these guys are cynically using to drive this country further down the wrong path. Geez…

Politics

I’ve lost my faith…

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Well…this is one that I hoped I didn’t have to write, but I have completely lost faith in the Obama administration…not only for how he caves in to all of the threats by the repubs on taxes,DADT, and all manner of other issues, but this law professor, this person that should know and understand that the rule of law is the only thing that makes a civilized society, has seen fit to abrogate our international obligations, too. It has recently come to light that when Spain, and many other nations that have signed the treaty against torture, wanted to indict the architects of these abhorrent policies, Obama leaned on them and threatened them with diplomatic consequences if they went forward. All in the name of politics…but breaking the law and punishment for it is supposed to be outside of politics; everyone is subject to the law whether they are a beggar or a president. Where is your respect for the law Mr. Obama? You are supposed to uphold the constitution and you have failed miserably in your primary duty to do that…you are now breaking the law by not prosecuting these individuals; and I hope there are consequences for this terrible, cynical reaction to this destruction of America’s standing in the world. Geez….

Politics

Eric Cantor is no James Madison….

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Well…talk about your delusions of grandeur…Ole Eric Cantor and Bob Bishop of Utah put forth their plans over the past couple of days to fundamentally change the way government does business..proposing that if a few states don’t like a federal law, they can band together to ignore it…ignoring the fact that this “nullification” idea has been rejected by every court that has had cases dealing with it come before it….there are so many ways that this is wrong that I am almost left speechless…but, if you know me that won’t last for long. First, why are the repubs wasting time with this frivolous crap when there are still things to be done on the economy, UI benefits, the START treaty, and other important issues that will affect how the middle class fares in the near future? And, do they really think that they can improve on the document written by the founders? I, for one, think that Eric Cantor is no James Madison, someone who he has taken to comparing himself to and feels he knows what Madison would think about revising the government. These delusions of grandeur along with their continuing mis-interpretation of the election results is fostering the worst kind of demagoguery and a return to the faith-based ideas of governance where the facts don’t mean anything when they get in the way of their right wing political agenda. I fear for this country if these are the “leaders” we have to look forward to…geez…

Politics

This is the repubs idea of compromise..

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Well…I hope this latest round of political theater convinces Obama that the repubs are not worthy of even talking to, let alone compromising with and we will get some spine growing back in the Dems. First let’s talk about Susan Collins, the repub senator who has said she will hold up the START treaty vote unless ole GW tells her it’s okay…hasn’t anyone told her the he is not president anymore? Could you imagine the howls that would come from the right if any Dem senator said he was going to hold up a vital treaty until Bill Clinton said it was okay to vote for it? These guys are quickly slipping down the rabbit hole….when did senators stop thinking for themselves?

Then, we had Mitch McConnell, fresh from the invite to the White House to talk about how they can work together to move the country forward stepping up to the microphones and basically repeating the repub line that the only people that need to and have to compromise is the Dems….and proceeds to block a vote on UI benefits and all other legislation until these extortionists get to give away 700 billion dollars to the rich as soon as he gets back to the senate. It’s what I have been proposing for quite a while now…you can’t work with or compromise with these thugs so they need to be set up to take responsibility for ruining this country…and shame on Obama if he can’t figure out how to do it…geez…

Oh, then the third thing…and probably the most absurd is the continuing repub pledges to fight the repeal of DADT…what happened the the old repub saying that they would defer to the commanders? Just to make this clear…all of the commanders have come out for repeal….but you know why the repubs are still resisting this…it is red meat to their base and they want to make sure they can still use it for turnout in two years…what a cynical bunch of pricks…