yova's world

Rodger Cook for Congress

2012-01-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

Once a week I check my Facebook just in case someone made that rare comment which would prompt political interest or provoke thought instead of the usual comments from adults living vicariously through their children's lives or the narcissists who comment about what they're doing at the moment or what they did or what they plan to do as if.

As luck would have it I came across a link to a YouTube video with comments like: "this is the man we need in Washington", "I agree Rodger is a good man for the job" and "I have a lot of faith in him". Even though I didn't have a dog in this fight such platitudes peaked my curiosity sufficiently to spend the next 28 minutes listening to Rodger Cook, Republican candidate for the 12th district of Southern Illinois, explain why he was running for office if for nothing more than to have a better understanding of why my friends on Facebook "need" this man in Washington.

By the time the interview with Mr. Cook had finished I concluded that I do have a dog in this fight indeed all citizens from coast to coast have a dog in the 12th district in Southern Illinois because Rodger Cook's perception of political reality which he expressed during that interview created the inescapable conclusion that the Rodger Cooks of this country are trying to perpetuate the same failed economic policies that led to our economic meltdown in 2008 when George W. Bush was president and not Barak Obama and the people who think he belongs in Washington do so on faith rather than facts blaming the later for the results of the failed policies of the former which are now being repeated by Rodger Cook.

Mr. Cook began by saying that he would make a difference because armed with "facts from our history" as his guide he would change the direction of the country by doing what Presidents Kennedy and Reagan did i.e. cut taxes which also raised government revenue and do away with government regulation. My understanding of historical facts indicates that Kennedy did cut taxes on the wealthy from 90% to 70% and he also cut taxes on the middle-class as well. As for "raising government revenue" in the process I can't speak on that but I can strongly suspect such a result to be highly improbable in and of itself but I do know based on historical fact that prior to Reagan we were a creditor nation and we've been in debt ever since.

Really the wealthy paid a 90% tax rate in 1960 during which time we had a strong middle-class. I knew because I was there when John Kennedy's motorcade passed through my hometown during his campaign for president. It was a time when both parents didn't "have" to work and yet still be able to put their children through college. Workers earned a livable wage and were able to save which in the 60s was a value that was possible to attain. Teachers were respected and so was officer friendly.

I even listened to Kennedy's inauguration speech in which he said: "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" and most Americans did ask with the exception of the lunatic fringe of the opposition party from the John Birch Society founded by Fred Koch, father of today's Koch brothers, to the sanctimonious Billy Graham that feared a Catholic president but for the most part the country was united in those early to mid-60s.

Fast forward to Reagan who said in 1980 that "government is the problem" then proceeded to prove it by instituting trickle-down economics which included less taxes on the "job creators" and less government regulation. In addition Reagan cut taxes for the wealthy to circa 28% by the time he left office but from 1980 to 1988 he also raised taxes in 6 of his 8 years in office including and thus began the great divide of the income gap between rich and poor that threatens the very existence of the middle class today requiring both parents to at least have one job each to make ends meet thereby altering family dynamics while Reagan's party claims the mantel of "family values".

Meanwhile since 1980 teachers have been subjected ridicule, derision and disrespect, officer friendly became organized into paramilitary units more suited to suppress the inevitable social unrest that followed as a result of the widening of the income gap between rich and poor and the lunatic fringe of fear mongers is now in charge of Rodger Cook's party financed by Fred Koch's two sons.

What I found particularly troublesome was that Mr. Cook claimed "these are the facts" to support a free market economy - less taxes and less government when in reality either he didn't "know" the facts or he deliberately mislead his constituents with his version of the facts. After 30 years of a failed economic policy i.e. Reagan's trickle-down economics which in fact is more like "trickle on economics" for most people working for a living from paycheck to paycheck in today's uncertain economy here's Mr. Cook prescribing the same failed solutions i.e. less taxes and less government regulation while telling his constituents to expect a different result thus meeting Einstein's definition of insanity of doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.

Mr. Cook claimed that the current administration stifled jobs with taxes and over regulation yet under President Obama most Americans have experienced fewer taxes. Indeed Obama even extended the Bush tax cuts but only because the Republican Party threatened to cut off unemployment benefits for millions of Americans. Republicans only give half the truth when they claim President Obama extended those tax cuts on the "job creators" because they don't want to remind Americans why President Obama broke that campaign promise and as long as no one in the mainstream media is asking them how many jobs did those "job creators" create with all that extra income they don't have to explain how their financial portfolios were fattened when jobs were shipped overseas with legislative approval.

During the interview Rodger Cook also praised the Republican Congress and President Clinton for doing away with banking reforms that were designed to control the kind of speculation that occurred during the Bush unfettered free market years when they repealed the Glass-Stegall Act which reestablished the conflict of interest within the financial industry and created the "too big to fail" institutions that led to the housing market collapse and its associated financial crisis. It came as no surprise to read Mr. Cook's bio includes his work in the banking industry.

In addition, Mr. Cook made the mendacious claim that people on the other side of the aisle don't even admit we have a problem with the deficit without supplying any factual evidence and says in order to address that problem one first has to admit that the deficit is a problem. Apparently Rodger Cook as well as the interviewer conveniently forgot that people on Mr. Cook's side of the aisle most notably Dick Cheney who said that "deficits don't matter". Rodger Cook also claimed that we haven't passed a budget since Obama has been president apparently he forgot that the 2010 budget was passed without any Republican support.

Mr. Cook also took the time to mock Obama's mantra of "hope and change" by saying his children and presumably other young people have learned their lesson because there are no jobs and young people are paying more attention today as such 30 percent of the youth vote left the president presumably the other 70 percent was paying attention to the reality that it is the Republican Party that has blocked every job creating initiative introduced by this president and I suspect the other 30 percent that left had higher expectations and little familiarity about the way government works when one party believes "government is the problem" rather than asking what they can do for their country.

Meanwhile my friends on Facebook responded to my comments by claiming Rodger Cook would represent their interests while implying those interests weren't the same as my district in New York to which I replied that the needs of people in Albany NY are really no different than those of people in Southern Illinois - people here want living wage jobs, affordable health care, opportunity for equal education and for our children to have a better future than our present with some semblance of economic security. We want less government too - we don't want government telling us who can marry who, we don't want government controlling a woman's right to choose in essence we don't want government involved in our right to privacy but we do want government to regulate an avaricious economic system based on the excesses of greed for profits.

My response generated one last comment from a thin skinned conservative "friend on Facebook" claiming he was insulted by my "condescending bullshit" which prompted me to realize that America does indeed get the gridlocked dysfunctional government it deserves when misinformed and easily manipulated voters fall for the failed policy solutions and empty rhetoric of those candidates like Rodger Cook who claim to possess historical facts on their side without fear that their followers will ever question authority even when their own reality demands otherwise.

In Rodger Cook's closing statement he said his constituents should vote for their children's future and vote Republican but American already voted for change in 2008 and got nothing but obstructionism from Republican conservatives like Rodger Cook whose idea of change is nothing more and nothing less than more of the same "trickle on" economics of the past with lower taxes on job creators and fewer regulations on business which is eerily familiar to the path we've already traveled to the edge of the abyss in 2008. Voting Republican won't bring about change but it will certainly bring us closer to proving Kafka's observation that there is hope, but not for us.

TAKING AND BREAKING AN OATH

2011-12-18T09:19:00.002-05:00

Anyone who serves the public from officer friendly on the street to the man in the oval office takes an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States yet without any fear of being held accountable from police officers to president all have violated that oath by participating in the process of disrupting peaceful assemblies from coast to coast from giving tacit consent to using any means necessary to exercising those means by force to suppress the constitutional right of “we the people” to peaceably assemble.

Sure the police were “just following orders” but that claim is nothing more than a convenient excuse expressed by cowards in a vain attempt to conceal their abject failure to object to an unlawful order hiding behind ignorance of the law to break it by swinging a night stick at somebody just like them, or pepper spraying somebody trying to get by just like them, somebody created in god’s image just like them at least according to the true believers who stand by in the silence of complicity watching a crime being committed by instrumentalities of The State against people just like them or shamelessly applauding violent repression and the dismantling of the rule of law.

With rare exception e.g. Mayor Jerry Jennings of Albany NY, the mayors and governors violated that same oath as well and showed utter contempt for the supreme law of the land i.e. the Constitution by replacing it with arbitrary and capricious legal justifications or reducing their argument to pathetic rationalizations expressed in newly found concerns for public health and gun violence. These petty state and local politicians with their perverted priorities protected the interests of the privileged few instead of the majority of people they’re supposed to represent by unleashing gangs of armed men to crush dissent and call it “law and order.”

Indeed where are the limitations on peaceable assembly enunciated? In what legal document(s) are time constraints and/or manners e.g. with or without sleeping bags placed on peaceable assembly located? Where are these interpretations of what was originally intended to reflect a society in which “government” will not make any laws “….abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble; and to petition the government for a redress of grievance”?

In fact any encumbrance would render these rights meaningless for when “the state” decides when, where and how one is to peaceably assemble to speak that freedom no longer exists in direct proportion to the amount of influence “The State” has on codifying and legislatively imposing time, place and manner constraints on the First Amendment and how it is to be exercised. After 235 years our representatives have added so many small constraints on the First Amendment to render it meaningless.

Ironically this President took an oath not once but twice to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic yet when the Constitution was being violated here at home our President would only say that he understood the frustrations of the people demonstrating but did nothing to protect their right to peaceably assemble once again providing another example of rhetoric that isn’t matched by reality.

On 2/1/11 President Obama said: "To the people of Egypt, particularly the young people of Egypt, I want to be clear: we hear your voices” and during a White House news conference on 2/15/11 he said: "I find it ironic that you've got the Iranian regime pretending to celebrate what happened in Egypt, when in fact they have acted in direct contrast to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating people who were trying to express themselves peacefully,"

Personally I find it ironic that in Iran people don't have a right to peacefully assemble while in the U.S. people do have that right at least until they try to exercise it - that's when police here act just like the police in Iran exposing the empty rhetoric of American exceptionalism by shattering yet another myth about ourselves for we are not “the world’s leading democracy.” When the example we are leading with is the one which says might makes right it is no different than similar forms coercion used by the thugs and tyrants that we condemn in the rest of the world who suppress the freedom of their people.

The change I was hoping for won’t happen until my President upholds his oath of office by nationalizing the state militia and sending them to the occupy camps across the country to protect those who are exercising their freedom to peacefully assemble to speak truth to power when government is no longer “…..promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty.”

Perhaps all those veterans who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and were willing to make the supreme sacrifice of their lives overseas to keep that oath so we could enjoy our freedom here at home will return from places like Iraq and Afghanistan to keep that oath here at home by defending those exercising the freedom to peaceably assemble against those domestic enemies of the constitution here at home if for nothing more than to honor their fallen comrades throughout our history by insuring that their sacrifice was not in vain.

OWS - THE MESSAGE, THE RESPONSE, THE DEMAND

2011-11-22T20:25:00.000-05:00

The Occupy Movement has been in existence for two months and there are still those who subject it to ridicule and derision characterizing it as a bunch of hippies, anti-Semitic hippies at that, or druggies and slackers or worse, extolling those who participate to take a shower and get a job or rhetorically asking what kind of movement has no leader, no message and no demands.

Wallowing in their own bigotry, hatred and ignorance those who oppose the occupy movement fail to understand that the very presence of the occupy movement was the message and the message was that our supply side trickle on economic system isn’t working out for most of us and our political system is bought and paid for by those on Wall St. to keep it that way.

The mere existence of the occupy movement globally and here at home from coast to coast is the result of an economic system motivated by an insatiable greed placing profit above people, plundering the environment and spending/investing some of that profit on politicians to give legal approbation to the unfettered free market of capitalism which eventually created an unacceptable level of suffering among an increasing number of people who are at best living from pay check to pay check and becoming more familiar with Dylan’s voice singing “…when you to nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose”.

The occupy movement was/is takin’ it to the streets sayin’ this ain’t right by peaceably assembling to object to the last 3 decades or economic injustice where worker productivity increased as did corporate profits yet during that same period of supply side economics worker’s wages remained stagnant while CEO’s salaries increased by 260 percent creating a income disparity the same as it was before the Great Depression begging the question: are we doomed to repeat the history we have forgotten?

Foreclosures are up. Personal bankruptcies are up, delinquent payments as well. Food, basic health care costs, housing, education, student loans are all ticking up at an alarming rate. Jobs are down except for the ones shipped overseas so a company that doesn’t pay taxes makes a bigger profit by buying the cheapest labor available. Poverty is on the way up in direct proportion to the decrease in regulations of this form of free market Capitalism.

All this economic injustice is permitted and perpetuated by corrupt politicians paid to maintain the status quo that favors the few who benefit the most from the imposed sacrifice on the rest of us through cuts in services and increases in taxes requiring “we the people” to participate in our own exploitation and oppression except for the wealthy job creators who add to their financial fortunes rather than creating any jobs at least here at home and a dysfunctional government which is bought and paid for by the wealthy to legislate and protect a economic system by obstructing or watering down any legislation that benefits the common good of “we the people”.

Indeed the corporate controlled mainstream media largely ignored the occupy movement but thanks to the oppressive response by The State the Occupy Movement has become a manifestation of that revolution which began over 235 years ago when freedom loving people declared their independence from the same despotism that is now embodied in the absolute tyranny of the corporate state.

The recent violent and unprovoked attacks by paramilitary gangs in blue against those who dared exercise their first amendment rights to peaceably assemble and speak truth to power from Oakland to New York City and Portland, Denver, St. Louis and other cities as well which occurred last week is in reality nothing more and nothing less than the transparent display of a police state committing acts of terrorism to impose a failed economic agenda and a despotic political ideology on “we the people”.

As a nation we can no longer pretend to be the land of the free when citizens try to exercise their constitutional freedoms in city parks from coast to coast and the government to which we gave our consent resorts to the tactics of a terrorist state to intimidate and crush a perception that challenges the status quo.

Where are the employees of the public sector those members of the police who are paid with our tax dollars to protect and serve us especially against those who come at us with pepper spray and batons drawn?

Where are the people who wanted to take their country back since President Obama was inaugurated when police across the country followed unconstitutional orders from “big government” of The State cracked down on the occupy movement nationwide and violated the Constitution of these United States?

Why such silence from those wrapped in the red, white and blue of the political right when the same Constitution they read the second day of controlling the people’s House was being so openly violated? This is the same crowd that spews such narcissistic nonsense about “American Exceptionalism” but when these cowards didn’t have the courage to stand up for those individual rights which were secured by the ultimate sacrifice of a numberless number of men and woman they could no longer conceal the reality of sheer, shameless, utter and rank hypocrisy of their phony patriotism.

When the survival of our present economic system which is based on that love of money that is the root of all things evil requires that individual civil liberties be violated by any means necessary by a government for sale at all branches while the good Germans cheer repression and the sheep look the other way there leaves little doubt that the use of violence by The State has or should have removed any pretense that we live in a democracy with liberty and justice for all or a nation of laws and not men.

These are indeed the times that try men’s souls and we’re in a place where the center can no longer hold because the message of the occupy movement about economic injustice and the unprovoked use of force in response by The State now demands we choose between the unfettered, unregulated free market capitalism and the corrupt and dysfunctional government corrupted by the greed of gridlock which is rigged to protect it through repression or an economic system which at the very least insures basic health care, an equal opportunity for an education, affordable housing, and a living wage for all citizens secured by a political system based on liberty and justice for all with the freedom to function in the best interest of the common good.

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” Frederick Douglass

COLLECTIVE INTEREST VS SELF INTEREST

2011-10-31T09:29:00.002-04:00

The recent contract negotiations between a public union and New York state reflects all the elements of the relationship between government, the wealthy and the middle class that have given rise to the Occupy Wall St. movement nationwide in the form of an ambitious politician, the interests of the already well off, a union leadership eager to settle rather than fight for a shared sacrifice to address an economic problem which its members did not create and the people whose fate hangs in the balance culminates this week when the votes of union membership are counted.

A few weeks ago New York’s Public Employees Federation union voted against Governor Cuomo’s contract offer which included no pay raises for the next two years, an increase in employee health care contributions, a 5 day furlough in the first year and a 4 day furlough the following year and no guarantee of job security for the duration of the 5 year contract.

Governor Cuomo stated 3500 PEF employees would be laid off if PEF didn’t accept his contract offer as such PEF’s leadership agreed to the contract and presented it to its membership for a vote. Nearly 70 percent of PEF members voted of which over 19,000 voted against the contract and 16,000 some voted in favor as such a majority of PEF’s membership rejected Governor Cuomo’s offer.

Feigning concern over the fate of the recently 3500 pink slipped PEF employees local talk radio 1300 entertainers expressed shock that PEF wouldn't have a do-over vote on Gov. Cuomo's contract offer. Anyone who ever listened to that station is well aware of the anti-union, anti-public employee animus these power elite sycophants repeat ad nauseam 24/7 so expressing insincere interest about the plight of the 3500 PEF members who received pink slips seemed disingenuous at best and hypocritical as usual.

PEF’s leadership recently claimed that the reasons workers voted against the contract were the added health insurance costs, the furlough days, and that workers would have limited layoff protections for the next five years. Interestingly PEF did not cite the first 3 years without a pay raise as one of the reasons they rejected the contract yet that didn't prevent Gov. Cuomo from showing his contempt for the union by blaming those who voted against the contract claiming they were influenced by a "forget the collective - it's all about my self-interest" ethos and as such decided to sacrifice thousands of workers in order to preserve their self-interest.

The Gov. claimed that since the largest public sector union in New York (CSEA) agreed to the contract between New York State and the public employees PEF should follow CSEA in agreeing to the contract “or else” a few more thousand New Yorker’s would become unemployed. The printed media and what passes for local news never informed the public that Governor Cuomo’s argument neglected to mention that only 45% or only about 30,000 CSEA members bothered to vote and those who favored the contract was less than those in PEF who opposed it.

Gov. Cuomo expressed sadness at putting people out of work and casting blame elsewhere begged several questions: Was Gov. Cuomo concerned about "the collective" during the spring when he rejected a tax increase on millionaires? Will Gov. Cuomo be showing his concern for "the collective" later this year when he proposes an additional 4.5 billion dollars in tax breaks to the already well off because they are "job creators"? Is Gov. Cuomo merely looking out for his own self-interest by providing millionaires with more than generous tax breaks today for the sole purpose of insuring their continued financial support for his future political aspirations?

A new contract would have to be negotiated between the Governor and PEF leadership. The Governor was adamant about guaranteeing job protection during the entire period of the contract placing PEF in the position of being held responsible for any jobs lost now or accepting a new contract with a few concessions to ease the pain of sacrificing for the collective.

The impasse provided PEF with an opportunity to protect all of its members including those 3,500 or 7% of its membership certain to be laid off now and/or in the future by accepting the contract as is with the minor modification of having employees contribute a more equitable share of health insurance and in return demanding nothing more and nothing less than securing Gov. Cuomo assurances that those millionaires, those "job creators" who are benefiting from his tax breaks pony up and find jobs in the private sector for each of those laid off by the state or hold the “job creators” financially accountable for the economic mess they created when they acted in their self-interest by “forgetting the collective" when they kept the money instead of creating jobs.

Indeed the current standoff between PEF and Gov. Cuomo was one of those rare times that an opportunity arises where rhetoric and reality meet by providing Gov. Cuomo a chance to act in the best interest of "the collective" or act in his self-interest by acting in the best interests of the wealthy few rather than the collective. Within weeks there is a strong possibility that at least 3500 more people and their families will suffer as a result of what is or isn't decided upon yet the situation provides the possibility of a win-win-win scenario. Gov. Cuomo wins by proving through his actions his primary concern is as it should be as governor, the wellbeing of "the collective". PEF wins by proving a union can indeed represent “the collective” of workers". And the wealthy can win by creating more jobs or paying more taxes if only to stay out of jail.

The new contract which was recently approved by the PEF leadership and presented to their members included no pay raise for 3 years, employee health care contributions would be more equitable, furlough days would be reimbursed, the life of the contract would be 4 years and more importantly there would be no job security. For his part Governor Cuomo explained this was an opportunity for PEF to accept financial reality.

The votes of the PEF membership were cast and the results are expected to be announced this week meanwhile the unavoidable conclusions are that PEF leadership accepted Governor Cuomo’s perception of financial reality a perception that the workers, the collective, must sacrifice to fatten the financial portfolios of the parasite class when Governor One Percent proposes additional tax cuts at the end of the year to the “job creators” who will in return contribute to his 2016 presidential campaign. The results of the vote will reflect whether PEF membership will gives its consent to be a complicit participant in their own oppression or the courage to object to the status quo and demand that sacrifice be equitably shared in a just society in which “job creators” are responsible for creating jobs and held accountable when they don’t.

ANTHONY WEINER'S SHAME AND OURS

2011-06-20T22:24:00.000-04:00

The latest American crisis that dominated what passes for news in this self-absorbed society distracted attention away from the real issues the lack of well-paying jobs, opportunity for quality education and affordable health care that affect most Americans ended when Anthony Weiner resigned from the House due to what basically amounted to this man’s predilection for engaging in sexual fantasy.

For nearly three weeks the corporate owned media fed raw meat with a side order of sex providing the public with an opportunity to vent their anger, their indignation and their moral outrage against Anthony Weiner and away from the political system that permits jobs to be shipped overseas, puts education on the budget chopping block, and remains the only industrialized nation without a universal health care system.

There is enough shame to go around for the recent Anthony Weiner sexting scandal. First and foremost former Representative Weiner who most certainly felt the brunt of that shame, humiliation and embarrassment. This is supposed to be a Christian nation yet what happened to “judge not least ye shall be judged? Put yourself in Weiner’s place. You took a picture of Mr. Johnson and sent it off to cyberspace and through the magic of modern technology the picture went viral.

One possible way to minimize the absolute embarrassment and humiliation one can expect if found out is to claim someone was out to get you. I mean really what man needs to go through that aggravation with his wife, girlfriend or lover? Anthony Weiner acted like most other men would in varying degrees in such similar straits. He lied. So did George Bush when he lied about the basis for waging war in Iraq. Weiner’s lie didn’t result in the death of over 4 thousand Americans as W’s did but no one was calling on Bush to resign. Only in America could one be forced to resign because of sex and while the one that lies to wage war gets reelected.

Thus plausible deniability is an option albeit not a very good one since the event sent the press in a puritanical society on a feeding frenzy as such the press deserves the next highest amount of shame by covering Weiner’s shame claiming it was a distraction to his party’s attempt to focus on more important political issues when in fact it was the press that was manufacturing and perpetuating that "distraction" all while appealing to the public’s prurient interests. The press could have exercised its constitutional freedom in a more responsible way by reporting that no crimes were committed. End of story.

In addition the Democratic Party deserves almost as much shame for the way they responded to the Weiner story. Rather than informing the press that Representative Weiner’s personal indiscretions were a private matter for him and his wife to resolve and not a reflection of his role as a fighter for the same middle class that the Democratic Party sold out.

Rather than inform the press that Paul Ryan’s budget will cut taxes for the wealthy at the expense of social programs for Main St. and increased taxes on the middle class while incidentally creating a financial windfall for the Ryan family itself and suggest that the press could be more responsible by informing the public about something that will affect their economic future rather than do the right thing the Democrat’s leadership chooses to publically call for Weiner to resign.

As for the Republicans they have no shame and this was certainly no time to act out of character. Their shear, utter, rank hypocrisy was on display by demanding that Weiner resign while not previously calling on their own to resign for individual indiscretions which actually did violate the law as in the family values Senators: the adulterous Ensign paying off his lover’s husband to make it go away and the diapered Vitter not just another “john” participating in the sort of prostitution which is illegal and not the sort of political prostitution with which both are all too familiar as are most of their peers. In fact these phony moralists abetted those crimes and even contributed to the reelection of those criminals. The partisan pettiness of their demands might be better explained by a simple case of penis envy.

The story line became one in which Representative Weiner’s actions brought shame to Congress and as such he should do the noble thing and resign. That no crime was actually committed didn’t seem to matter nor does the shame that Congress should feel on a daily basis when they are bought and paid for by K Street brokers for the banks and big business to legitimize the interests of the few at the expense of the common good.

Then again this is America ego tripping on the conceit of a delusional sense of exceptionalism but still hung up on sex from hey “look at my penis” to the sanctimonious scoundrels and sinners who have no problem throwing the first stone certain god that is on their side while making it legal for the public to bend over and get fucked by the society page Sopranos running the gambling casinos on Wall St.

Shame on the corporate owned media that decides what to report and what doesn’t get reported. Shame on the Democratic Party for once again failing to have the courage of their convictions. Shame on the Republican Party for another outrageous display of hypocrisy. Shame on the American people who prefer to be misinformed by “we report, you decide” and for not paying attention.

Shame on America for being a place where hundreds of thousands of children hunger for food. Shame on America where millions search for a job in this country and at this stage – any job. Shame on America where millions have no health care. Shame on America that preaches about the importance of education in the future economy then practices education as a commodity to be consumed only by those who can afford it. Shame on America because as of this writing only Anthony Weiner apologized for his shame and if actions speak louder than words the silence of the mob is deafening.

THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN - PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

2011-06-20T20:34:00.000-04:00

Nearly 18 months before the next presidential election will occur in this debtor nation to decide which representative of big business will lead us into the abyss the American corporate owned media has already started to cover “the greatest show on earth” to gradually manufacture consent for a system that no longer works for a majority of Americans by presenting the first of the so-called Republican debates which will determine who is most representative of a political ideology that comes wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross to successfully challenge an incumbent who promised hope and change but failed from day one to grasp the distinction between compromise and appeasement and in the process becoming “the way Washington works” that candidate Obama promised to change.

On Obama’s watch: Guantanamo – our nation’s eye sore to the rest of the world remains open. Troops are still in Afghanistan well after Bin Laden was killed and initially the sole reason for invasion was that Afghanistan was harboring a terrorist yet Pakistan was harboring that same terrorist for over the last 5 years and no invasion. The anti-democratic Orwellian “Patriot Act” was extended. The Iraq war costing over 1 trillion dollars and yet no one in the previous administration was or will be held accountable. War crimes committed by us – ignored by us. An economic collapse caused by those casinos on Wall St smelling with the stench of greed covering our political institutions with corruption and no one was or will be criminally charged. Jobs still shipped overseas and an income gap mirroring the Great Depression remains a fixture of this debtor nation.

The circus came to Manchester NH a week ago today when this year’s political theatrical production began like most other circuses by entertaining the public with the clowns wearing flag lapel pins tripping over each other in their attempts to out ridicule and out deride President Obama while repeating the mantra for their financial supporters offering the same solution that in large part created the current economic morass, uncertainty and insecurity i.e. no new taxes. In fact tax cuts for the wealthy paid for by the rest because the wealthy will create jobs repeating that lie ad nauseam and calling for less governmental regulation of laissez faire capitalism letting the free market correct itself like it did in 08 by having the public pick up the tab and having the shameless gall to call it “shared sacrifice”.

The opposition offers more of the same since 1980: an incompetent government whose sole purpose is to starve the beast with no new ideas. The masters of such madness claim in essence that we repeat the financial fiascos of the past trying to convince the public a different result will occur.

The corporate owned media including those laughable pseudo journalists who say “we report, you decide” has a year and a half to convince a sufficient number of people they have a choice between a Republican and the incumbent Democrat while concealing the fact that if it matters at all it’s only by degrees because one party represents the interests of big business and the wealthy and appeals to the baser instincts of the less well-off for support while the other party only claims to represent the rest at least until they are elected then all bets are off because it’s the politics as usual i.e. appeasement masquerading as compromise and the voices for change are silent.

Once again the people are divided into “us” vs. “them” and once again the people are conquered by those who profit from the status quo. While most pretenders to the throne of political power preach the gospel of American exceptionalism, appeals to American ingenuity and along the way exposes American narcissism. I prefer Kafka’s observation that “there is hope, but not for us”. In my perception we are broke – financially, socially and politically and as long as we accept “either/or” political party I don’t think we as a people have it within us to stop the decay and decline of the world’s leading democracy because too many of us for whatever reason or excuse participate in our own demise and perpetuate a two party dictatorship posing as democracy. Meanwhile the circus is in town. Send in the clowns.

WE DON'T WANT NO EDUCATION

2011-06-15T20:54:00.002-04:00

Whenever President Obama mentions education he always uses it in the context of our country needing to make an investment in education if we want to remain competitive in the future. Yet across the country when faced with budget deficits most Republican governors and some Democratic governors like New York's Koch brothers financed Governor Cuomo insist that one of the first items to be cut is education.

There seems to be a glaring disconnect between the rhetoric of investing in education and the reality that most of those same states demanding draconian cuts from education have at the same time provided tax breaks to corporations and refuse to consider raising taxes on those who were able to afford to finance the political campaigns of those calling for cuts to education to pay for tax breaks to the wealthy.

Once again the Democrats lack the courage of their convictions by appeasing Republicans who cannot conceal their disdain for organized labor by claiming a crocodile tear concern for our children who will have to pay the debts some Democratic and most Republican politicians created with deregulation of the casinos on Wall St. and a state of perpetual war on drugs at home and terrorism abroad. In shameless and rank hypocrisy both parties declare that "everyone has to sacrifice".

Thomas Jefferson believed that democracy demanded an educated and informed electorate and that "a despotic government could restrain its citizens and deprive the people of their liberties only while they were ignorant". Yet by framing the current debate about education and its relation to budget deficits, teachers unions, tenure and pay based on student test results we continue to obscure and ignore the relationship between education and democracy.

To that end our current education system is an abject failure which produces nothing but test takers to qualify for a job with little or no job security, promotes the ignorance that is bliss and perpetuates a system no longer recognizable as democracy when the few prosper at the expense of the rest and neither Democrat or Republican really wants to improve an education system that challenges the status quo of our plutocracy where the Democratic Party supports a public education system that breeds conformity through standardized tests and produces college certified "workers" in an economy predicated on profit over people while the very existence of Republican Party ideology of ruling through fear and ignorance can ill afford an educated public.

RAISING THE DEBT LIMIT - A WIN/WIN SOLUTION

2011-06-13T06:44:00.000-04:00

In the next few months the United States will default on its debt and cause a global economic disaster that will ultimately result in a new feudalism unless our political leaders agree to increase the current debt ceiling of 14.3 trillion dollars by 2 to 3 trillion dollars more in order to avoid an economic synapse collapse.

The Republican Party controls the House and with it the power of the purse constitutionally protected. Last week the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said that any increase involving the use of “the American people’s money,…” should be accompanied by spending cuts that should be greater than the amount provided to increase the debt limit.
In addition he stated that everything is on the table except tax hikes which will destroy jobs providing the Democratic Party with an opportunity to define “everything” as bringing the troops home from at least 60 countries immediately, bringing the troops home from Afghanistan next and bringing the troops home from Iraq eventually, as well as ending the war on drugs at home and cutting a bloated defense budget.

The historical record based on documented facts is that raising taxes on the already better than well off does not create jobs. After the two tax cuts to the wealthy during President Bush’s record on job creation was worse than any president going back to late 1940s when such record keeping began. Indeed even the recent threat to shut down the government unless the Bush tax cuts were extended hasn’t created any jobs.

As for John Boehner’s feigned concern for job creation is disingenuous at best as evidenced by his response earlier this year of “so be it” and without shedding a tear when told of the possibility that over 200,000 government employees might lose their jobs if his cuts were enacted. An un-Christian thing to say but oh so Ayn Rand.

The reality is that reactionary ideologues control the people’s House and they are unwilling to negotiate about including raising taxes on their wealthy constituents. Meanwhile the reality is that the Democratic Party appears to be willing to discuss cuts to the common good from social programs and public education to health coverage and our infrastructure.

Ironically the people who were and are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for that common good will now have to sacrifice their vision of the American dream for those who benefit the most when tax cuts are no longer on the table yet America’s safety net is.

Given the intransience of the Republican position Democrats should counter the Republican bravado and bluster by declaring that if tax cuts are off the table the only issues on the table are ending our military presence in those countries with which we are not in a state of war and sooner rather than later leave from those where we are, cutting a bloated defense budget by at least 20 percent and ending our war on drugs which the world body recently declared to be an abject failure.

This would meet Speaker Boehner’s demands for cuts that would equal any requested increase to our debt limit. Taxes wouldn’t be raised on the wealthy and decreases in the cost of war at home and abroad would not only decrease our nation’s debt but have enough left over to invest in the future of our common good without adversely affecting our ability to defend ourselves because we’d still be spending almost more on defense than the rest of the world combined. It's a win/win solution for the wealthy and their representatives in Congress as well as the rest of us.

TIME FOR SARAH PALIN TO MAN UP

2011-01-19T14:31:00.000-05:00

As of this writing Sarah Palin fails to accept “accountability” for her actions because in her mind she did nothing requiring an apology. It seems to be a character flaw in all those who claim to be “conservative” today e.g. George W. Bush admits that he would still invade Iraq even after knowing what he knows now and he sleeps at night with little or no regard for those now suffering a loved one lost in a war for a reason that didn’t exit outside the mind made delusional by an enormous ego. Sarah Palin’s grandiose delusion is no different. Someone will suffer because one lone lunatic believes a perception of reality created by another lunatic.

Indeed ever since John McCain was told to select her as Vice-President giving her a national presence she’s been preaching hate against those who don’t meet her standards of what constitutes a “real Americans” yet the press continues to cover her daily as if she has anything of value to offer or contribute to resolving the problems facing “all” Americans.

On March 23, 2010 Sarah Palin posted a map of 20 congressional districts identifying the incumbents in the crosshairs of a rifle scope prompting one of the targets, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, to observe that “When people do that, they’ve got to realize there are consequences to that action”.

One week ago Rep. Gifford’s was gunned down in an attempted political assassination and Sarah Palin responded by releasing a professionally staged eight minute video casting herself in the role of victim blaming the press for manufacturing a “blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn.” She then claimed the actions of the press were reprehensible.” Oddly enough the speech occurred after she tried to propose the laughable explanation that the crosshairs were actually surveyor symbols which her base didn’t question but not those but who are so easily fooled by a demagogue wearing a dress.

The questionable use of the anti-Semitic term “blood libel” is better explained by those who have an historical connection to the term but while they’re at it “reality” demands they mention that when those in the press trot out Alan Dershowitz to invoke an appeal to authority by presenting him to the public as a “Jewish Liberal Democrat” who took no exception to the use of the term they are only telling the public half of the story because Alan Dershowitz is the same “Jewish Liberal Democrat” who took no exception to the use of torture committed during the Bush Administration thereby removing universal condemnation from the morally indefensibility of “blood libel” as well as torture.

That Palin timed the speech for the morning of the memorial service in Tucson was obviously tacky because her claim of victimhood didn’t have to be given on that particular day. She certainly knew that President Obama was scheduled to give a speech in Tucson that evening but based on her past actions it isn’t a stretch to consider the strong possibility that she was intent on injecting herself into the head lines of the Tucson tragedy narrative and in the process crowning herself the flag bearer of the opposition party.

The sheer utter rank and shameless hypocrisy was as glaring as the reflection of the teleprompter shining off the lens of her glasses when she quoted the icon of the modern day Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, “It’s time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” The other half of that story which even with the freedom of the press too few dare mention that Ronald Reagan also said government is not the solution, government is the problem and then acted accordingly to prove the self fulfilling prophecy of that anti-government prophet who today’s right likes to quote to those of us who still know it’s nothing more than “do as I say, not as I do."

Reason dictates that it must certainly take some degree of hatred to draw someone on a map in the crosshairs of a rifle scope and the reality of Tucson proves that it only takes the steady squeeze of a finger to commit an act of violence for life to imitate art. But it really takes balls to quote President Reagan’s “…individuals should be held accountable for their actions” and then blame the press for inciting hatred and violence. Now that is really reprehensible.

At the end of the day when the target on Sarah Palin’s map became one of the real victims fighting for her life then Sarah Palin should “man up” by realizing that putting someone in the crosshairs of a rifle scope is a form of malicious and reckless speech that has consequences whether this particular anti-government true believer saw her artistic map or not. Until then only the press will be able to hold Sarah Palin accountable by covering those who engage in more rational forms of political discourse that addresses the concerns of the nation and exposing the hypocrisy of those like Palin whose words reflect nothing more than “do as I say, not as I do.”

WAGING WAR ON DOMESTIC TERRORISM

2011-01-10T07:18:00.001-05:00

On 11/29/10 the entire Republican Senate caucus threatened to filibuster any legislation that came before the Senate to be voted on unless and until “their” position on tax cut legislation was passed and “their” position was that “all American taxpayers” deserved the continuation of the Bush tax cuts especially those in the top 2 percent who preferred profit at the expense of promoting “the general welfare” for the rest.

Once sent that letter which contained a clear threat to influence government policy it violated Title VIII of the USA PATRIOT Act which defines “domestic terrorism” as those activities which are intended to “influence government policy by intimidation or coercion” and to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population” that are “dangerous to human life”. The word “dangerous” is defined as that which exposes one to risk, harm or peril and “dangerous’ definitely describes the policy pursued by the minority party in the Senate.

It would seem that our society is suffering from a serious case of mass cognitive dissonance characterized by a collective need to ignore the reality that the policy position of these 42 reactionaries in the Senate that helped create the conditions of our current recession, the same policy that claimed would create jobs but didn’t mention the jobs would be created overseas to increase profits for those who would benefit most from this policy, the same policy that will add billions of dollars to an already over extended national debt which would be paid for by slashing the budgets of social programs intended for the “general welfare” and the same policy that resulted in a widening gap between rich and poor that now approximates the same gap which existed during the great depression and provides an example of that which is “dangerous to human life”.

Unless there’s a statute of limitations which already expired then someone in a position of power still has the responsibility to uphold the Constitution by taking advantage of the opportunity to insure that we are indeed a nation of laws and not men. As such those 42 Republican Senators should be charged as “terrorists” by committing an act of “terrorism” because when they threatened to influence government policy they violated U.S. Federal Law 28 C.F.R.Section 0.85.

The act of terrorism that occurred on 9/11/01 generated the question “why do “they” hate us” which was eventually relegated to the dust bin of history without satisfactory resolution. The threat to influence government policy on 11/29/10 begs the question: why are those who committed an act that meets the definition of “terrorism” as defined in U.S. law not charged and prosecuted as terrorists?

I’m going to exercise my First Amendment right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances” by writing to my representative in the “people’s house” and request that he suggest in the strongest terms possible to the chair of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, to investigate how 42 Republicans violated the

U. S. PATRIOT Act yet no one was ever charged, no one was held responsible, no one was subjected to the applicable forfeiture law and no one was held accountable by the Obama Administration for the act of terrorism committed on 11/29/10.

I’ll post my letter and the response if in fact I receive one from Sen. Schumer, Sen. Gillibrand, or Rep. Tonko. I’m hoping one of them offers a reasonable explanation for this glaring difference between rhetoric and reality. I won’t be surprised by any response which amounts to nothing more than a clever rationalization for the rule of law legitimized by a corrupt political system that attempts to preserve a status quo in which the center can no longer hold but I will be disappointed if not one can explain why they think President Obama said that “the middle class tax cuts were being held hostage” to tax cuts for the wealthy.

TERRORISM IN TUSCON

2011-01-10T07:15:00.000-05:00

“I love you daddy” - Christina-Taylor Green (last words her father heard before his 9 year old daughter left home on her way to attend“Congress on the Corner” in Tuscon AZ)

I’m just leaving a state of initial shock after spending several Saturday hours watching MSNBC and even Fox, albeit in small doses, coverage of the attempted political assassination of Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscon AZ this weekend.

I know the narrative of mainstream media that I watched, including Fox, was to portray the assailant as a “deranged killer” and bent over backwards to avoid the strong possibility that the killing spree was politically motivated even when the evidence showed that the accused mentioned “intention” “assassination” and “Giffords” in the same sentence.

Mainstream media can repeat ad nauseum the mantra that the killer was “mentally disturbed”, “emotionally unbalanced” or whatever other psychobabble catch phrase they want to use to describe Jared Loughner but at what “sane” person ever goes on a killing spree?

Of course Mr. Loughner was mentally disturbed but his intention was made and his writings reflect his “reason” or rationalization for the killings as such I use the term “political assassination” based on existing facts that computer documentation supports a finding of a relationship between right wing ideology and the accused. Evidence released a day later reflects an “intention” to “assassinate” Rep. Giffords written the accuser’s hand writing.

In essence no matter how mentally disturbed or deranged, Mr. Loughner’s attempt to assassinate a U.S. Representative whose political views were not in line with his can be considered nothing more and nothing less than an attempted political assassination committed by someone who only needed his partisan passions to be inflamed by those who preach division and hate on a daily basis.

Puma County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik took the cap off the tooth paste when he squeezed this statement “When the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia about how government operates and to try to inflame the public on a daily business, 24 hours a day, seven days week, it has an impact on people, especially those who are unbalanced personalities to begin with”.

Sheriff Dupnik blamed “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business” for this tragedy. Without naming names it’s certainly no mystery as to who he was talking about.

Locally we have radio entertainers Paul Vandenberg who exercises his freedom of speech to openly express his contempt and “hatred” of Democrats at all levels of government, followed by the smug Dennis Praeger who divides left and right from noon to 2:00pm five days a week or one can turn the station and tune in to Rush Limbaugh who on a daily basis wants this President, the one who represented the will of the people in 2008, to fail and by extension “the will of the people” to fail as well.

Fair and balanced vitriol from television was primarily yet constantly provided by Fox News represented by hate mongers, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck who pumped the animosity during town hall events addressing health care reform, promoted then reported on anti-government rallies where people carried threatening signs during most so-called “freedom rallies” and in some locations people even openly carried weapons as if the events were conducted by patriots.

Meanwhile today some politicians cry crocodile tears over the tragic events in Tuscon yet not one member of the Republican Party ever uttered a word of objection or repudiation to those who preached fear and hate on radio or television to their base or had the courage to remind them that their divisive words had consequences.

In the complicity of silence not one member of the Republican Party expressed any outrage over the diabolical darling of their party, Sarah Palin, who “targeted” Rep. Giffords in a rifle scope mock up ad during the 2010 mid terms. Ironically Sarah Palin didn’t say anything to the supporters at her rallies in 2008 who yelled “kill him” when she mentioned Barak Obama other than claiming not to hear those words.

Not one member of the Republican Party dared to dispute Sharon Angle’s suggestion that the people resort to “Second Amendment remedies” to change government. And not one Republican held Michele Bachmann accountable when she claimed she “wanted the people of Minnesota armed and dangerous.

This week when Congress comes back in session no doubt there will be numerous tributes to those who were killed in Tuscon, the standard “our thoughts and prayers are with (fill in the blank) will be repeated by politicians on both sides of the aisle, concerns will be mentioned about the safety of political figures even by Republicans who were outraged over a 2009 bulletin from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, that outlined the coming wave of right-wing domestic terrorism.

While talk radio and Fox News are not solely responsible for the events in Tuscon AZ they are indeed part of the problem of a coarsening of our political discourse. If Congress is indeed serious about doing something to address the disturbing state of political discourse in this country that inflames the passions of those prone to commit unspeakable acts it seems only reasonable to address the primary sources which perpetuate fear mongering and hatred by reenacting the “Fairness Doctrine” so that each time a Rush Limbaugh or a Glenn Beck appeals to man’s baser instincts and blood lust by preaching the politics of fear and hate equal time is given to those who appeal to that which separates us from other animals – our ability to reason and expose the public to alternatives to resolve our differences through means other than violence.

Here’s an idea – the legislation can even be named the “Christina-Taylor Green Act” after the 9 year old child who went to that Tucson strip mall to meet Rep.Giffords and learn how government works only to become a part of the carnage that followed that Saturday in Tuscon when a disturbed man emptied four bullets from the gun he legally purchased into her young body while attempting to commit an act of political assassination.

Failing to at least propose legislation intended to counter the daily rhetoric of fear and hate from right wing radio and television such as the Fairness Doctrine increases the probability of more senseless carnage yet to come. If our politicians really want to honor those who died such legislation is a starting point anything less and we may as well bow to Arizona, the Mecca of prejudice and bigotry and chant that Jared Loughner was merely exercising his god given right to bear arms and repeat the lie long enough until it is believed to be the truth.

Willie Nelson Exposes American Myths

2010-11-29T06:58:00.002-05:00

Once again Willie Nelson becomes a reminder that America’s War on Drugs is a war being waged “by’ Americans “against” Americans that exposes the myth that we are one nation “with liberty and justice for all” because yesterday Willie Nelson was arrested and charged with marijuana possession in Texas proving we remain a divided rather united nation where liberty exists for the privileged to elude justice.

In essence Willie Nelson’s liberty was taken away by instrumentalities of the very same political system that will decide his fate, make him pay with money or time or both and call it justice in the process of holding one accountable for one’s actions.

That the recent arrest occurred in Texas is somewhat ironic given their bravado about that special independence unique to Texans exposing another American myth about being the “home of the brave” because not one macho individual from any branch of law enforcement in the “Lone Star” state not even “The Lone Ranger” himself has dared to arrest George W. Bush for the war crimes that he admitted committing in his book.

While Willie Nelson is held accountable for possessing 6 ounces of cannabis sativa George W. Bush has the liberty to go on nationwide television and promote his book that contains his confession about authorizing torture without fear of being charged with or arrested for the crimes he committed against humanity.

So far George W. Bush hasn’t been held accountable for his actions which had more serious real life and death consequences on us as a nation than did Willie Nelson’s action of merely living his life as if he had the liberty to pursue happiness that he was free to define and qualify it as long as it didn’t harm another life or take or cause damage to another’s property.

Perhaps the biggest myth to be shattered by reality is that America is the “land of the free” when we make up 5 percent of the world’s population yet we also comprise 25 percent of the world’s prison population thanks in large part to the over 750,000 people arrested yearly for mere possession of marijuana.

Finally, in addition to exposing the most cherished of American myths Willie Nelson’s arrest was a glaring example of the shameless hypocrisy characteristic of a banana republic where someone is held accountable for possessing a plant while no one was held accountable for 9/11, no one was held accountable for waging an unjustifiable war in Iraq, no one was held accountable for war crimes and no one in Washington or on Wall St. was held accountable for the financial collapse in 2008.

The Waste of Waging a War on Drugs

2010-11-25T10:22:00.002-05:00

Earlier this month the Cobleskill Times Journel ran a story about pot raids in Schoharie County that compelled at least this reader to wonder given our current economic state how can we still afford to continue this waste of time, manpower and taxpayer money on a war with a history that is kept secret from the public discourse.

The war on drugs costs American taxpayers 40 billion dollars each year. What did it cost for the three helicopter flights conducted by the Army National Guard and the NYS Power Authority including the salaries of all involved from ground control to Major Tom, as well as the fuel?

What is the total cost of prosecution and incarceration for the six people charged with “unlawfully growing marijuana” including all related expenses e.g. meals, corrections officer’s salaries, the courts etc.?

Sheriff Desmond claims there were about 500 pounds of marijuana and he didn’t know what the drugs seized were worth but the sheriff didn’t mention and the reporter didn’t ask how much of the 500 pounds was actually the marijuana that one could smoke.

Simple math indicates that if an ounce of local marijuana could be sold for say an extremely liberal estimate of $300.00 per ounce would be $4800.00 per pound and 500 pounds would be two and a half million dollars. That this substantial figure wasn’t mentioned is a good indication the 500 pounds seized was substantially less than 500 pounds that could have been smoked.

The sheriff said they collected 15 large garbage bags which would be destroyed and he stated such searches would continue but never said why, the reporter is conditioned to spread the message: “another battle in the war on drugs” was won without mentioning the war on drugs has now been waged for 80 years and most of this articles readers lacked the intellectual curiosity to ask why are we spending all that money on a plant only to destroy it.

In response to Sheriff Desmond’s request to the public to provide any information about drugs he seized I offer the following information: that he visit the aptly named NORML wed site (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) or peruse any one of several good books including the Bible which more or less wraps it up in Gensis 1:12 and 3:18 as well as Psalm 104:14.

Meanwhile our nation’s war on drugs drags on for another year at the cost of 40 billion dollars that could be better used for the common good and our constitutionally protect freedoms are further eroded by those who are supposed to “protect and serve”.

The Lie of the Left Wing Media

2010-11-25T08:39:00.000-05:00

“A lie repeated thousands of times becomes a truth.” Joseph Goebbels

The media often describes Newt Gingrich as the intellectual heavyweight of the Republican Party. I pain myself not to use any descriptive adjective when referring to “the media” because whatever label I apply e.g. “mainstream media”, “corporate owned media”, “left wing media”, “right wing media” would be construed as code by one group or another and color the reader’s perception of reality and the reality is “there is no “left wing media” because “left wing media” is in fact the lie that has been repeated more than a thousand times since 1980.

One only need scan their AM dial to find any number of talk radio stations all of which reeks of “right wing” bile based on distorted half truths or outright lies based on fabrications rather than facts and peppered with a baseless jingoism such as one propagandist claiming we are “the greatest nation on God’s green earth” without qualifying the term “greatest”.

I didn’t forget “lame stream media” but that’s only a phrase coined by a charlatan to express her utter contempt for the freedom of a press that made her a media sensation enabling her to receive millions of dollars while most of America is just getting by from pay check to pay check.

To be sure all the major networks and major newspapers are not only “mainstream media” but they are also all owned by corporations that’s not to say they are “right wing” but based on personal experience I haven’t seen any “left wing” media as I understand “left wing” describe the former Speaker at all begging the question just how do those who claim there is a “left wing media” define “left wing”.

Case in point: while covering the recent Republican Governors Association meeting the “mainstream media” and the “corporate owned media” reported that Newt Gingrich’s speech was “full of biting comments at Democrats and full of ides for the conservative governors”.

The example of “biting comment” provided was that Gingrich said the challenge is for Republicans to be a party of “jobs and paychecks that replaces “a Democratic Party of bureaucracy and food stamps”.

A “left wing media” would have pointed out that while Mr. Gingrich failed to explain exactly what policies he would advocate to create “jobs and paychecks” and a “left wing media” would have noted that what Mr. Gingrich did advocate by implication was replacing a Democratic Party bureaucracy with a Republican Party bureaucracy that would not provide food stamps to the already over 42 million Americans who currently need them to survive.

The “mainstream media” and the “corporate owned media” mentioned a few of the ideas from the so-called intellectual heavyweight of the Republican Party. One such “idea” was to turn unemployment benefits into a job-training program begging the questions only a “left wing” media would dare ask: how would the over 5 million people currently receiving unemployment benefits get by without any income in a consumer based society and if the over 5 million people who currently receive unemployment benefits suddenly have no money to spend wouldn’t that adversely affect the economy by causing more businesses to close, add to the existing number of unemployed and increase crime committed by those trying to survive.

In addition a “left wing” media would point out that the “real idea” from Gingrich is to stop unemployment benefits because we already have job training programs and that is certainly something the “intellectual heavyweight of the Republican Party” should know as such the deceit of Mr. Gingrich’s “idea” is exposed.

Yet the most disturbing idea produced from this demagogue was to “…insist on the teaching of “American exceptionalism” in all public financed schools. A “left wing” media would have mentioned that so-called conservatives were incensed and outraged by President Obama’s nation wide welcome by to school speech in 2009 because they felt he was going to press a “partisan political agenda on impressionable young minds”. The reality was that the alleged “partisan political agenda” was a speech that placed an emphasis on the value and importance of education.

A real “left wing media” would have pointed out that this “intellectual heavy weight of the Republican Party” was in fact proposing that “propaganda” replace “education” to breed conformity by requiring that these “impressionable young minds” be conditioned to accept the belief and display the concomitant conceit that the United States holds a special place in the world and that we are superior to all other nations because after all God is on our side or so says American myth makers.

In an article by Laurence Britt describing the 14 common characteristics of fascist governments Newt Gingrich’s views expressed at the Republican Governor’s meeting were best reflected in that characteristic wherein a fascist government disdains academic freedom and considers the freedom of ideas and the expression associated with them to be subversive to the patriotic ideal implied in Gingrich’s “American exceptionalism” and the logical conclusion is that for Gingrich and his followers education should serve the national interest or it has no right to exist.

If indeed there really were such a thing as the “left wing media” rather than describe Newt Gingrich as the “intellectual heavy weight of the Republican Party” Gingrich would be described as a dangerous demagogue whose reactionary views are anti-American and they pose a serious threat to the future of freedom in this republic.

"People need to hear what I have to say. There's no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn't matter what I live." – Newt Gingrich – (the megalomaniac of American exceptionalism)

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON

2010-11-13T19:57:00.000-05:00

I'm a product of the public education system in this country before it got dumbed down from 1980 forward. I mention this because prior to the 80s we learned that "united we stand, divided we fall" and since 1980 when that myth about the rugged American individual resurfaced in our lexicon our education system has retooled itself to breed conformity with standardized tests rather than educate the public about our history.

In this country's recorded history there were bloody riots between workers and the state militias and state police who provided the coercive force for big business against labor in the struggle for the American workers to have the 8 hour day, child labor laws, a living wage, job security and a strong middle class.

In referring to the recent labor unrest the right wing media at Fox and Republican Radio the storyline is that public unions are responsible for the demonstrations which occasionally have gotten ugly and threaten social stability in France. The facts ignored are that in France the demonstrations are being carried out by public sector unions and private sector unions. In addition 70 percent of the French public supports the union position.

Furthermore, the riots in France are occurring for the same reasons that exist here - governments are broke but support tax cuts for big business and the wealthy which are to be financed by slashing spending on social programs. The government in France can't afford to pay benefits at age 60 so they'll raise the age to 62 in order to afford those tax cuts for the wealthy. In the U.S. raising the retirement age to 69 is one of several proposals to reduce our deficit and more importantly insure tax cuts for the rich.

One difference though is that in France labor unites for a common purpose and takes to the streets with overwhelming public support while in America workers roll over because fewer workers belong to unions and among those who belong to a union there is no union solidarity.

In addition the American public has been conditioned to be anti-union reinforced by the corporate message of big business which has been repeated on a daily basis ad nauseam since 1980 - unions i.e. workers organized for a better standard of living are bad for the business profit margins when workers demand more pay and more benefits.

It isn’t that difficult to understand that having 20 people applying for every job gives business the opportunity to decrease wages. “united we stand, divided we fall” the American worker buys the bullshit that competition is good too dumbed down to realize who it’s good for let alone entertaining the notion that cooperation might be a better way to attain the American dream. Competition in a free market capitalist system such as ours breeds the contempt of “I got mine, fuck everybody else.”

Furthermore it shouldn't go unnoticed that it was Ronald Reagan who made it popular to be anti-union in this country. After 30 years Ronald Reagan's trickle down economics has proven that the wealthy kept most of the money, the jobs they created went overseas at the expense of the American worker, and the lack of government regulation and/or oversight during the Bush Administration led the American economy and by extension the global economy to the verge of collapse.

Today in corporate America the politicians of both major political parties talk about raising the retirement age, decreasing benefits and even proposing to privatize Social Security and the American worker is silent. In this country workers are too divided and too dumbed down to know that by voting for either of the two major political parties they are giving their consent to be governed by a political system which is up for sale to the highest bidder that represents the interests of the few at the expense of the many. So much for that "home of the brave" bravado.

The biggest difference however is that in France as in most other European countries workers can unite in a common interest while in America workers participate in of their own demise by voting for politicians who do the bidding for their corporate masters to legislate approval of corporations to ship American jobs overseas without fear of any financial accountability, open up more tax loopholes for those who currently pay less taxes proportionally, insure the continuation of today's corporations that don't even pay a dime in taxes or better yet even get tax breaks in some cases and removing any and all regulations of the free market so that financial risks can be taken, obscene profits can be made and when it all falls down the safety net of a bailout will be enacted by their representatives in the people's Congress.

The irony is that while workers should be angry at a government that's bought and paid for by big business many of those same workers are willing to "vote them out" only to replace them with the same political party that waged a war in Iraq claiming it would "pay for itself" and passed tax cuts for the wealthy while claiming that they would create jobs for the American worker so dumbed down they just gave to consent for more of the same.

Thanks to the Supreme Court that gave us Citizens United corporations did and will be buying politicians outright who will legislate on behalf of those multi national corporations in order to insure their taxes aren't cut, their business is conducted unfettered by regulation and their profits can be increased by shipping jobs overseas for cheaper labor while convincing the American voter that this same failed ideology that was responsible for our financial collapse in 2008 is now going to act in the best interest of the middle-class. All made possible by a people too dumbed down to understand that they only get to choose from the top two fund raising political parties to maintain the status quo where the rich are getting richer and the rest of us are getting poorer.

The labor unrest remains in France even though the government passed legislation to raise the retirement age it certainly wasn’t due to the lack of effort on the part of organized labor. The struggle continues between those who have an insatiable desire to accumulate wealth and those who just want a better standard of living one in which they can afford the mortgage or the rent, never want for food nor fear of losing it all due to ill health and be provided an equal opportunity to succeed in the pursuit of happiness.

The labor unrest has spread to Great Britain where 500,000 public employees are expected to lose their jobs, their income and their ability to provide. Meanwhile student tuition is being raised on most who will no longer afford to be educated. The reasons mirror those of France and the U.S. A consumer based society driven by the free market of capitalism is widening the gap between the rich and the rest of us worldwide on a path we’ve been down before unless we stop the madness of a system that profit’s the few at the expense of the many.

President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission recently released some proposals such as raising the retirement age, decreasing retirement benefits, and doing away with the mortgage tax credit. In addition those Bush tax cuts which only increased the wealth of the already rich and created jobs abroad but not at home are set to expire as are unemployment benefits for millions of Americans begging the question: is the labor unrest in Europe headed for our shores?

These are some of the realities that exist in America today:

At a poverty rate of 14.3 percent we now have the highest number of people living in poverty in over 50 years.

One in five children and one in ten senior citizens is poor.

One in every six workers is unemployed or underemployed placing the real unemployment rate over 17 percent.

Over three and a half million people are homeless and one third of those are children.

Nearly 3 million people received a foreclosure notice and one in four home owners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

Income disparity in the U.S. today is now as bad as it was at the end of the 1920s and right before the great .depression.

Since Ronald Reagan took office his trickle down economics resulted in over 90 percent of total income growth going to the top 10 percent leaving 9 percent to be shared by the bottom 90 percent resulting in he greatest redistribution of income in our history that didn’t receive any mention in the press.

When Reagan took office the average CEO earned $27.00 for every dollar paid to a typical worker and by the end of the Bush Administration that ratio had grown to $275 for every $1.

In addition, the U.S. today has the greatest inequality between the rich and the rest of us among all Western industrialized nations.

Finally one last fact - given all those facts without a strong labor movement there will be no organized unrest in this country where a dumbed down public cannot grasp the concept of “united we stand, divided we fall.” and unwittingly gives its consent to a political system that will only perpetuates the great divide between the rich and the rest of us by slashing social programs so that the rich can become richer and the rest of us become poorer.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON!!!

WHEN FACISM COMES TO AMERICA

2010-11-10T21:20:00.001-05:00

"When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" Sinclair Lewis

It’s now a matter of historical record that our recent mid-term election was paid for by those who prefer the status quo and bought by those ill-informed voters influenced by the non stop fair and balanced propaganda of Fox and Republican radio who were easily convinced that this was the “change” that would best serve their interests.

That most of those who voted Republican because the Party of No convinced these morons that our national deficit was a problem is a testament to the absolute ignorance of the American voter having forgotten that when former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill raised objections to a second round of tax cuts for the rich he was chastised by Vice President Cheney who reminded him that Ronald Reagan proved that “deficits don’t matter”. A month later Cheney fired O’Neill.

Banks holding foreclosed homes. The mortgage mess affecting more people. Ten percent of Americans un or underemployed more if we care about statistical integrity. Corporation’s profits rising while big business isn’t hiring. Jobs being shipped overseas and they’re never coming back home. The rich are getting richer and the rest of us are getting poorer.

These are but a few problems that demand urgency to address an ailing economy which according to recent polls reflect that most of the public wants resolved through cooperation rather than watered down by compromise or ignored by partisan bickering. Failure to do so will have long lasting consequences that won’t be pleasing for the rest of us.

The initial responses from each of the major political parties involved is disquieting and equally disturbing. The new Speaker of the House, Republican Representative John Boehner, went on a crying jag and said that his party will not compromise their principles. Other Republican leaders, Mike Pence and Eric Cantor, were just as emphatic when demanding it’s their way or the highway. Meanwhile that sinister stone faced Senator from Kentucky, McConnell, claimed that his primary focus for the next two years would be to make Obama a one term president.

The solutions provided by the extremist Republican Party calls for tax cuts to everyone especially those earning over 250k a year in order to stimulate our economy, provide an opportunity for job growth and with the help of less government regulation the American economy will thrive. In essence they propose the very same failed policies that created our present economic conditions will now magically cure it. In addition, Speaker Boehner wants to work on repealing Health Care Reform without mentioning how many jobs many jobs will the repeal of Health Care Reform would create.

The Democrats meanwhile have already extended a hand across the aisle and expressed a willingness to compromise compelling me to think of Yogi Berra’s famous “it’s like déjà vu all over again”. Isn’t that what the Democrats did on Health Care Reform and while there are some benefits to most people we still could have had Universal Health Care like the rest of the civilized world if only Democrats weren’t so prone to appease. The process of legislation was delayed and dragged out at the expense of addressing more pressing economic issues and if memory serves me I recall when President Obama visited leading Republican to discuss Health Care Reform they told him before he arrived that they weren’t going to support it.

Given the first reactions of leaders from both major political parties a strong possibility exists that the political party that had no new ideas and obstructed those who did will continue on this path to insure there is no economic recovery and count on the sheer stupidity of the American voter so embarrassingly evident in the 2010 midterms to give their consent 2012 to be governed by a right wing political ideology ushering in a dark age where our form of government is overthrown by big business.

Indeed that the winning candidates have offered absolutely nothing to address the foreclosure crisis, unemployment, outsourcing, Wall St. reform etc. is ample evidence that Republicans are not serious about or interested in addressing the problems facing most Americans today but they are very serious and with malicious intent about making sure that when the economy worsens it will be President Obama who takes the fall and the corporate controlled media will package the lie then feed it to a nation of sheep “Bah! Bah! Bah! – god bless America – bah, bah, bah.

Today our economy teeters on the brink of another recession perhaps even depression which can, as we have seen, affect the global market. Unless the economic issues facing our nation today are resolved in favor of an America whose greatest years were those years when we had a strong middle class i.e. the 40s through the 70s the inevitable social instability and upheaval caused by the widening of the gap between the rich and the rest of us will create the fertile ground for a demagogue to take advantage of the depressed economic situation, instill fear in the people and appeal to the ignorance of the American voter.

We have an extremist political party not willing to compromise on its principles which favor the rich and a party that claims it represents the rest of us but is too willing to appease the rabble on the right rather than confront the madness of those “wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross” who claim that going backward is going forward.

THE DAY AFTER

2010-11-03T21:21:00.000-04:00

The following is but a short list of what Republican ideology i.e. less taxes and less government regulation caused:

Foreclosures on the rise from coast to coast. Poverty on the rise. Unemployment twice as high as the government tells it citizens. Jobs outsourced, shipped overseas to someone who will be paid less to do the same job and produce a larger profit than last year. Failed educational systems for all who cannot afford a quality education. Supporting the troops – at least until they come home where they comprise an increasing number of people living on the streets. A military-industrial complex budget that exceeds the budgets of all the other nations combined. Threats of doing away with the minimum wage. Claims that unemployment is unconstitutional. Balancing the budget on those who work for a living. A return to trickle on economics. An economic stimulus of tax breaks for the wealthy where the rich get richer and the gap widens between rich and poor. All the attending social problems that follow and the cost if we have not yet lost our humanity. A return to the free market with little or no government regulation that resulted in the near crash our economy and the world’s as well in 2008.

A recent poll claimed that 58 percent of Americans think our economy is going in the wrong direction. When the Republicans claim the House in 2011 is anyone supposed to believe nothing other than as a people we want our country to go back to the good old days where government acted on behalf of the free market casinos on Wall St. at the expense of the American people and then had the unmitigated gall to require the people to pay for a party at the country club to which they weren’t even invited. The banks were bailed out by the Bush Administration, Main St. was given the bill and it was only made possible by the appeasement of the Democratic Party.

My suspicions were confirmed because I woke up on 11/3/10 a sane man in an insane society that rewarded the political party which created our current economic morass and obstructed any meaningful attempts to clean it up were returned to power by enough people who preferred rhetoric to reality and sixty second sound bite slogans to solutions of substance.

During the 2008 presidential campaign Barak Obama claimed that America’s best days are ahead of us and while politicians from both major political parties echoed that same nostalgia for yesterday the reality is that the best days of the American Empire was when we had a strong middle class and those days are far behind us.

How we respond to that reality will determine our future and since enough Americans were convinced that going backward is going forward the results of the midterm elections in 2010 is a strong indication that America remains in a state of a denial that the decay within is spreading.

The consequences of these actions will be evidenced by further economic crisis that will decrease the middle class and widen the gap between rich and poor. By going backward we are creating the very conditions that will provide an opportunity for the best of demagogues to rise in 2012 and impose a tyranny of the few on the many.

It is written that the Buddha once said “do nothing” and while I think I am somewhat aware of the context within which he said “do nothing” in the present moment I’m more aware of me following that sage advise by responding to today’s midterm elections by “doing nothing”.

That’s right. I did not exercise my right to vote because I remembered that to do so would be to recognize the legitimacy of a system designed to maintain the status quo and I willfully withheld my consent to be governed by a government that is bought and paid for by multi-national corporations.

The choice Americans had on 11/2/10 was between a Democratic Party that lacked the courage of their convictions except when turning against their base and the Republican Party, the party of big business that never had any intention of doing what was right for the American public by obstructing any meaningful change to the mess they created.

That a majority of those who bothered to participate in their own oppression by voting out of fear, hatred and ignorance for a political party that caused so much suffering in this country in the past deserves nothing but contempt and disdain especially from those of us who refused to vote once again for the lesser of two evils where the outcome only perpetuates an endless cycle of more suffering or less suffering - better to “do nothing” than participate in a way of life that requires a new way of living.

PAST IS PROLOGUE

2010-11-02T10:47:00.001-04:00

In 2000 the majority of the Supreme Court all of whom were appointed by Republican Presidents (4 by Ronald Reagan) one by George H. W. Bush selected George W. Bush to be president in Bush v Gore and should have put an end to the pretense of democracy in action and exposed the charade of a plutocracy masquerading as democracy in America.

No anger. No outrage. To be sure there were demonstrations, I should know I was there waving my upside down American flag, but no one was exercising their second amendment rights to take our country back.

In the end America couldn’t wait. We needed a president. Al Gore thought he was performing some sort of noblesse oblige for the good of the country when he acknowledged George W. Bush to be President.

The reality is that he didn’t act honorably. In fact he chose the path of least resistance; go along to get along, the defining characteristic of enough members of the Democratic Party to render it useless as an opposition party and prone to appeasement as a response to political conflict.

During his first four years an imminent attack against the United States was ignored. No one was held accountable then and a Democratic President has taken no action to hold anyone accountable now. Then again we’ve been told often enough that we are a nation of laws and not men to the point where the American public can no longer distinguish between rhetoric and reality.

After the first attack on American soil in over a century the Patriot Act which limited a number of individual liberties was passed by Republicans and Democrats alike. Most admitted they never read the bill. Who had time after all it was less than 45 days since 9/11. The extension of the same Patriot Act was recently approved once again by Republicans and Democrats alike and without reform in order to appease the opposition.

Cherry picked intelligence and outright lies about mushroom clouds over Ohio used a pliable media to stoke the required amount of fear and hate needed to generate American public support for a war that violated international law, the Geneva Convention and our own Constitution. A war that the Bush Administration said “would pay for itself” was given approval by the lock step Republicans and weak kneed Democrats to afraid to look weak.

In the process war crimes were committed by George W. Bush and members of his Republican Administration yet today’s Democratic President doesn’t go after the war criminals that are free to roam the country clubs but promises to enforce federal law if marijuana is legalized in California especially the ghettos - so much for a nation of laws and not of men.

In addition during his first four years in selected office President Bush proposed tax cuts for the rich not once but twice which were approved through the reconciliation process both time in the Senate the same reconciliation process that the Republicans accused Democrats of trying to use to pass health care as if it were a slight of hand that offended them.

The purpose of the Bush tax cuts was that those who received the biggest breaks i.e. the rich would invest this financial windfall in the economy thereby creating more jobs. This was the Republican approach of stimulating the economy. The reality was that the rich used most of that money to enhance their financial portfolios and if they did create any jobs most of those were overseas.

In 1933 Congress passed the Glass Steagall Act to control the kind speculation that resulted in the great depression and regulate banking somewhat was repealed in 1999 with a Republican majority in both houses and signed by a Democratic president who chose to appease the party that was being funded by the banking industry rather than represent the American people who would and now suffering the consequences of Bill Clinton’s failure to stand up to the growing tyranny of the minority.

The result of the Republican economic stimulus i.e. less taxes and less regulation was a nation on the verge of economic collapse which threatened the global economy. Two years after he left office the results of supply side economics are evident by the abundance of foreclosure signs from coast to coast, the increase in unemployment and a middle class that dwindles and swells the ranks of the working poor.

When President Obama entered office he inherited a trillion dollar debt from the previous administration that started with a 235 billion dollar surplus. The opposition was immediately evidenced by right wing Republicans (are there any other kind remaining after the tea party purges?) publicly claiming they hoped Obama failed.

In essence Republicans hoped that the change America voted for in 2008 failed and did everything in their political power that the wealthy could afford to buy to insure they and not the common good of America succeeded. It is of little consolation knowing that this transgression was made possible by the appeasement of the Democratic Party.

During President Obama’s first two years he proposed legislation to reform the same Wall St. actions that led to economic collapse in this country and sparked global economic crisis. He appeased the Republicans and gave the country a watered down version of Wall St. reform insuring that the shit will indeed hit the fan again.

In addition the Obama Administration proposed legislation to close the tax loopholes for corporations that shipped American jobs overseas to increase their profits which trickled down in larger dividends to their share holders. Once again Republicans stood in the way.

It took George W. Bush and the Republican majority 6 years to take this country to the edge of the abyss with less taxes and less regulation then gave Barak Obama and a Democratic majority two years to fix it while they stood in the way and obstructed every piece of major legislation intended to stop the bleeding and make this a more stable society.

Albert Einstein was said to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. If Americans vote the Republicans back into office as they are expected to do today it will be nothing more and nothing less than insurmountable evidence that we are an insane society and If the polls are right, tomorrow I’ll be waking up a sane man in an insane society where past is prologue and the centre cannot hold.

A TRIBUTE TO TONY

2010-02-25T12:06:00.002-05:00

There have been many political, social and economic events locally, nationally and globally that were worthy this gadfly’s caustic comments but those words would have to wait until I could pay

a simple tribute to my best friend, Tony.

Who would know that one day we would be celebrating the birth of my best friend and two days later he would be running in the house, jumping on top of my wife at dawn and greeting her opening eyes with a smile?

Who would know that the day after he would be spending the rest of his existence in a hospital and who would know that a week after his birthday we would be told that his condition improved and he would be coming home the next day?

Who would know that when the next day came he would be much worse than the day before and who would know that on Friday, February 5th I would have to decide to end his suffering?

Who would know that when my wife visited him for what we thought was his last day with us that he would come to life? He smiled at her and ate from her hand. All he had to do to keep this life was to keep the food down until we saw him the following morning. Who would know that wasn’t going to happen?

Who would know at 1:05pm I would wipe a fresh tear from my eye before it fell with the rest and place it on Tony’s tongue and whisper in his ear that I loved him before I said goodbye to my best friend at 1:06 on February 6th?

Wrapped in the arms of a sunny summer afternoon I felt the harbinger of autumn in the late-August breeze across my flesh as my mind remembered Tony’s face in the front window when I pulled into the driveway and after a short walk for me but a race for him I would open the door where Tony would be waging his stumpy little tail in a genuine display of happiness. No one was always ever that happy to see me.

Summer fades in September and Tony now sits in the window of my mind, runs down the hall, turns the corner in a tail wagging rush waiting for me to walk through the door and into his world where there are no words to express the emptiness in my world since Tony left.

Tony was born in winter on January 28th of 2002. He came to live with us on April 27, 2002 and on February 6th 2010 at 1:06 he left me with memories of unconditional love and genuine happiness - gifts he gave me during his brief visit to be cherished until we meet again.

INSANITY REIGNS

2010-01-19T23:24:00.001-05:00

It seemed like just yesterday when the chattering class couldn’t get enough pundits on their shows to subject the Republican Party to ridicule and derision after their demise during the 2008 election.

They were too busy laughing at the leaders of the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party like Limbaugh, Beck, Palin and that crowd of know nothings except knowing how to appeal to the fear and hatred of the frightened ignorant mob who wanted their country back instead of focusing on the dynamics of a dysfunctional Democratic Party that won.

To be sure the ideology of the Republican Party and its sheer incompetence at governing has resulted in more misery for the American public but they do stick together to preserve the status quo which just also happens to benefit their economic status at the expense of everyone.

In the real world life is in a state of constant flux yet the Republican Party remains in lockstep against “change” and for the same failed policies of the past. That these “regular guy” false prophets of pseudo populism manage to define themselves and their message then convince the public like the pied piper to vote for them and in the process vote against their best interests in the face of a historical record reeking of hypocrisy and rich with discredited policies is absolutely astonishing.

While the Republican Party stands together against “change” the Democratic Party stands for nothing and doesn’t really seem to have the spine for power preferring to split into factions that pick and choose from a Chinese menu of party platform issues. Conservative Democrats aka Blue Dog Democrats are indistinguishable from Republicans, moderate Democrats look for a common ground with their opponents that does not exist. That they have no shame is evidenced by their predilection toward the politics of appeasement and progressive Democrats are always counted on to compromise and sacrifice their values for the greater good of the nonexistent middle.

In 2008 the appeal to populism was made with the golden oratory of a new vision for America but in less than a year the ideology of the Democratic Party’s populism that played so well a year ago was now reduced to empty rhetoric well before the special election. The moderate Democrats managed to frighten the Blue Dog Democrats and alienate the progressive wing of the party by seeking the pretense of bipartisanship.

For 8 years we were willing to put up with gross negligence and incompetence beginning with a fraudulent election in 2000, a terrorist attack that occurred on 9/11 because a briefing the month before was ignored by a president on vacation, a fabricated basis for an unjust, immoral and illegal war in Iraq and the willful deceit and deception of the people and Congress to support it, the war crimes committed at Abu Ghraib, Katrina, tax cuts for the wealthy, the ever widening gap between rich and poor, an economy in a state of collapse nationally and globally and for all of this not one person was ever held accountable. Where was all the anger at government for the last 8 years?

Meanwhile after 1 year of a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President the people are outraged enough to send a message to Washington to not take them for granted and to fix the economy or the voters will not only elect the same people whose policies got us here in the first place but the same people who offer the same failed policies and obstruction to anything else.

In fact given the strong likelihood that Scott Brown would win the special election in Massachusetts earlier today Wall St. reached a 15 month high when the Dow rose 116 points propelled by an increase in health insurance stocks with the increased probability of a logjam occurring in DC that would further delay, dilute and defeat any semblance of even the present day watered down version of health care reform.

The angry mob has been manipulated by those who have a more cohesive grasp on their message even though it is nothing more than doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Insanity reigns. As if in a drunken frenzy the mob celebrates their role in perpetuating the politics as usual and the preservation of the status quo. Now that the inmates are clearly running the institution who they will blame when nothing gets done, when the economy doesn’t improve, when other problems facing this nation go unanswered because when solutions are proposed this self described independent Republican they’ve anointed as their voice votes no?

CHANGE IS COMING TO AMERICA - A RANT

2010-01-18T23:45:00.000-05:00

Mainstream media is frothing and feasting on the special election taking place in Massachusetts today to fill the Senate seat left vacant when the “liberal lion of the Senate” passed away. The press busily pitches every angle to manipulate the meaning of the message and manufactures the discontent of the outraged mob giving legitimacy to a perception that demands to be questioned.

Headlines and page 1 stories about how angry Americans are with Washington D.C. insiders and incumbents who bailed out Wall St. but haven’t bailed out Main St. begs the questions: haven’t most Americans especially the vocal minority been sufficiently conditioned weaned to believe that capitalism and democracy are inseparable? In fact the Republican challenger in Massachusetts embraces Wall St. but boobus americanus will take the bait again by voting for this joke.

In essence the undereducated, the uneducated, the uniformed and the misinformed mob have participated in their own demise indeed many even profited from the very system that now threatens their comfort level and frightens them to ironically vote against the Democrat and vote for the very political ideology that places profit above people.

The press accords an aura of singular importance to the results of a contest between a Democratic Party insider who took her support for granted and a Republican challenger whose appeal is predicated on little more than the manufactured mood of the country.

Rudy Giuliani the Republican presidential candidate who spent 59 million dollars for one delegate campaigned for the Republican mentioning the same failed policies of a party out of touch with reality but not lacking the arrogance to create its own reality that tax cuts and fighting terrorism is what Main St. needs. This irrelevant party is addicted to a status quo that favors them economically at the expense of and on the backs of everyone else.

The press conveniently fails to mention those failed foreign and domestic policies of the past from expensive fabricated wars to trickle down economics based on tax cuts to the wealthy are directly responsible for the plight of Main St. More importantly the press even neglects to ask what the Republican challenger stands for. Then again it doesn’t have to because the mainstream media created its own loophole when it declared that the outraged mob was acting out of anger and that seemed to be sufficient reason to act irrationally by voting against one’s best interests.

Meanwhile the Democrats are given a daily dose of fear by the corporate controlled mainstream media who present a story about election results that could inexorably alter the fragile majority the Democrats currently maintain in the Senate and thereby not only threaten the future of health care reform but everything else President Obama is trying to accomplish.
How preposterous. What Democratic majority in the Senate: the one that diluted any semblance of meaningful health care reform legislation by making deals with Senators whoring for the health insurance industry or the ones who had issues with abortion or the ones who resorted to extortion? The implication to Democrats, especially liberals who are disappointed with the continued politics of appeasement, is that once again they should hold their noses and vote for the Democrat so the political landscape doesn’t worsen.

The importance of the situation was given additional weight when President Clinton and President Obama campaigned for the Democrat in a heavily Democratic state. Once upon a time Senator Obama spoke about change coming to America. Indeed that is why many people voted for Senator Obama to become President. He was going to change the politics as usual in Washington. A year later it’s more of the same and no indication that the “change” is going to take place.

Insofar as the impact of the special election in Massachusetts on the fate of health care reform the legislation was not even presented by President Obama and it was his failure that permitted the issue to be debated and watered down by legislatures who were paid off by the insurance company rather than propose his own legislation.

The change I voted for was a president who would tell Americans that our health care system ranked an abysmal 37th in the world, that to continue to believe we had the best health care system in the world would further destroy our economy and as such offer real health care reform by proposing that Medicare cover all Americans and to hell with those who profit at the suffering of others. If health insurance companies went there would be more jobs available to those who would administer Medicare and decrease fraud. More government jobs – you bet.

Here’s my take - if the Republican wins the country gets another “no” vote to anything a Democratic president proposes whether it’s health care reform, jobs, climate change and all the other problems facing this country that Republicans never addressed when they were in power because they were and still are living in a state of denial. After all their economic standing has not been adversely affected by the current state of our economy and they will only serve to protect their own interests and the status quo that provides them with a profit.

In addition those who vote for Brown should be held responsible for ignorance because such a vote only further paralyzes our government from taking any action in response to the challenges that face us as a people and when we begin to suffer the consequences of such obstructionist actions the Democratic Party better have the good sense and the guts to remind the people about the genesis of their misery.

If the Democrat wins health care reform will probably pass in its diluted form and anything else President Obama has on his agenda will suffer the same fate of compromise with a party that never intended to bargain in good faith in the best interest of the country. The problems affecting us now and in the future will never be resolved by empty rhetoric.
At the end of the day however even if Coakley wins the Democratic Party better realize that this isn’t the “change coming to America” the people had in mind in 2008 because the real battle being waged then as now is between two different perceptions about the role of government and the center can no longer hold.

One party believes in less government regulation except when it comes to individual liberty e.g. proposing and supporting the Patriot Act in lockstep that further erodes our rights as a people. Republicans ran this country for 28 of the last 40 years and “less government” got us closer to looking into the abyss. Indeed their “great communicator” claimed that “government is the problem” although history has proven this to be true only when Republicans ran the government.

The other party at least believes that government can be a solution to the problems facing this country but in practice they offer legislation based on compromise with the other party and within their own party as well thus insuring its failure to successfully address the problems facing this country and casting legitimate doubt on its ability to govern. In 13 of the last 41 years including 2009 especially the Democratic Party consistently lacked the intestinal fortitude or the will to use the power the people provided in the ballot box.

In the final analysis a Republican victory insures the further paralysis of our government and a Democratic victory will insure incremental change in the form of watered down legislation to address problems facing out nation that require a more immediate response thus creating fertile ground for a demagogue to ascend to a power that will destroy the last vestiges of democracy.

Regardless of the results in Massachusetts it is time for President Obama to man up and use his power to turn his rhetoric about “change coming to America” into a reality. Time to demand universal health care rather than bargain for it with the devil. Time to demand tax rates that occurred between 1945-1962 when the top rate was 91 percent and coincided with the longest period of our prosperity. Time to break the banks that are too big to fail. Time to tell the credit card companies that the top rate cannot exceed 5 percent effective immediately. Time to regulate big business. Time to tell the corporations who replace American workers with lower paid foreign workers they will be financially responsible for the economic turmoil they created at home. Time to demand the banks repay the 700 billion dollars in bailout money and time to bail out on the small businesses and the workers on Main St. Time to stop trying to secure the support of a party who prefers the status quo to the change this Republic needs if it is to survive its prominence in the 21st Century. Time for President Obama to prove the buck does indeed stop with him by walking the walk.

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

2010-01-12T07:21:00.001-05:00

In a late afternoon email a friend sends me a link proving his message is not a cheap trick to ruin my appetite or increase my blood pressure rather it confirms my suspicions that Fox News has nothing to do with news and everything to do with fair and balanced bullshit when it hired Sarah Palin.

The promo for the recent book “Game Change” points out that among other things Sarah didn’t know there was a North Korea and a South Korea, didn’t know what the Federal Reserve was, continued to believe that it was Sadam Hussein who invaded us on 9/11, had to be briefed on U.S. history due to an near absolute ignorance of the subject and had an compelling aversion to the truth thus making her a perfect fit for Faux News.

Why she didn’t seem uncomfortable or nervous given this set of circumstances was explained by her as “this was part of god’s plan for her”. That she’ll be working for Fox News makes absolute sense when one realizes that it’s probably part of “god’s plan”, the same plan she claimed existed which placed her a heart beat away from the presidency and now “god’s plan” provides Sarah Palin with the perfect forum to provide political commentary and analysis to Fox viewers and her adoring fans proving once again that ignorance is indeed bliss.

GOOD MOURNING AMERICA

2010-01-11T08:17:00.002-05:00

Here we go again. The out of touch with reality Republican sycophants trying to rewrite history to fit their obstructionist party ideology that “the Democrats are weak on terrorism” with that mendacious Cheney mouthpiece, Mary Matalin, claiming that “George Bush inherited 9/11”, former Bush bimbo spokesperson, Dana Perino, asserting “there was never a terrorist attack on America during Bush’s term in office” and just the other day that cross dressing fascist demagogue, Rudy Giuliani, proclaiming that “we were never subjected to a domestic terrorist attack on George Bush’s watch”.

Ya can’t make this shit up. Matalin and Perino can peddle their self-serving aberrations to Republican Radio which is just about ninety percent of AM radio that digests the contents produced by these sorts of diseased minds who have their own set of facts and then feeds it to a public hungry for a simple solution to the fear they feel and the perpetuates the ignorance that helps them avoid the slightest curiosity for of a more rational explanation based in reality.

As for Fox I mean this is a charade, a farce, a sham pretending to be a news agency. How much more obviously shameless, shallow and transparent can these pseudo journalists be while they get paid to peddle the propaganda and delusional bullshit of the lunatic fringe 24/7 that now consumes and debases the party of Lincoln. As such this segment of the chattering class shouldn’t even be considered as a respectable or a legitimate news outlet. That a large number of Americans actually prefers to tune in to this misinformation has disturbing implications for our ability to distinguish fact from fantasy.

What is most disturbing however is that even the so-called legitimate sources of news, in this instance ABC news, continue to provide a format for discredited ideologues like Rudy Giuliani on their shows to parrot the same bile while interviewers like George Stephanopoulos continually fail to point out on air and in the face of these shameless charlatans that such assertions are outrageous and outright lies.

Once upon a time sanctimonious slackers like Stephanopoulos, Olberman et al couldn’t resist getting a cheap laugh by asking “what’s he smoking?” but when faced with the absolute silly bullshit spewed from the mouths of Matalin, Perino and Giuliani who by the way obviously aren’t smoking anything they proceed to give it credence rather than the ridicule it so richly deserves.

Stephanopoulos wrote in his blog that he “accepted responsibility”, whatever that means these days because he still has his show, “for not pressing the point” so as not to offend a deranged personality like America’s mayor begging the question: why does even the mainstream media continue to pass off people like Giuliani as experts on terrorism when the historical record reveals that Giuliani’s own policies as America’s mayor were in large part responsible for the tragedy of 9/11 and the disaster that followed exposing him as a quack and not a expert?

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WITH MIKA

2010-01-07T08:56:00.001-05:00

I had a chance to tune into Morning Joe yesterday only to catch Mika Brzezinski spin a “sky is falling” story for Democrats when she announced that “several Democrats” were not seeking reelection and citing Senator Dodd’s announcement that he will not be running for the Senate in 2010 as proof of her position. Did I miss something? I know Senator Dorgan, an alleged “moderate Democrat” from red state North Dakota announced he was going to run but when did two Senators amount to “several Democrats”? The explanation provided by this overrated bobble headed ditz was that they resigned because they sensed an “anti-incumbent mood” in the country and since only mentioned Democrats the implication was clear – it was an “anti-Democrat mood”.

Last I heard Kit Bond a Republican from Mo, Jim Bunning a Republican from KY, Sam Brownback a Republican from KS, Judd Gregg a Republican from NH, George Voinovich a Republican from OH all announced they weren’t running in 2010 either. In addition the Senate seat vacated by Mel Martinez a Republican from FL is also open in the 2010 election begging the question: if two Democratic Senators not running in 2010 constitutes “several” what word does one use to describe five Republican Senators not running in 2010?

Mika didn’t use any word to describe the Republican Senator retirements. As a matter of fact Mika didn’t even mention that five Republican Senators weren’t running in 2010. Mika wasn’t alone she was just somewhat more hysterical in her so-called reporting. Indeed by the end of the day even David Shuster and Chris Matthews were also so caught up with two Democrats not running they completely forgot about the five Republicans who resigned. I guess that wouldn’t fit the mainstream media story line about the “anti-incumbent mood” in the country that they’re trying to pass off as reality without ever asking why anyone would vote for a Republican.

Seriously this is the same Republican Party that was on vacation for a solid month before 9/11, claimed premature victory in Afghanistan, let Osama bin-Laden off the hook, waged war on Iraq based on deceit and deception of the American public then proceeded to violate our own Constitution, the U.N. Charter, international law, and the Geneva Convention on torture to conduct an unjust, immoral and illegal war in Iraq where over 4,000 Americans gave their lives and for what? Nor does the mainstream media even ask why would any rational individual vote for a party that was incapable of governing during Katrina or a party whose economic policies resulted in the near total collapse of the American and indeed the global economy?

In November of 2008 the American people voted for change and one year later the press wants us to believe that now the country is in an “anti-incumbent mood” without ever speculating out loud where the hell was the country’s outrage since that fraudulent election of 2000? No such foul mood in 02 or 04. The current administration inherited a country that was left in a state of decay domestically by the Republican Party that offered nothing but the trickle down nonsense of “less taxes” for the wealthy who fattened their financial portfolios instead of creating more jobs at least at home. In addition the current administration inherited a country that was threatened by an increase in terrorism created by the predatory foreign policy of preemptive strikes spawned by some of the most reptilian minds in the previous Republican Administration.

One year later not only has that unimaginable mess not been cleaned up but the Republican Party that was in large part responsible for the serious issues facing this nation today e.g. an increase in joblessness, personal bankruptcy, mortgage foreclosures, etc. has now become the Party of No which obstructs any solution but even the attempt to accept an issue as a problem e.g. they deny that health care is a problem because they believe their own rhetoric that we have the best health care system in the world when facts suggest otherwise. Meanwhile the press is trying package some story line that there is an “anti-incumbent mood” i.e. “anti-Democrat mood” in the country without even asking what the Party of No is now bringing to the table to address the crisis they created at home and abroad during 28 of 40 years in power.

It seems like the press would better exercise its freedom by serving the interests of the common good by defining the problems that face the Republic, describing why they should be considered problems, reporting the genesis of those problems and identifying the politicians who participated in the creation of those problems so the public can hold those incumbents responsible for the mess we are in accountable in the voting booth rather than fabricating a story line about an “anti-incumbent mood” from a self serving figment of their limited imagination and repeating it ad nauseam until it becomes accepted as the conventional wisdom that convinces the public all our problems will be solved by replacing the incumbents especially the Democrats who now control Congress with members from a political party that created those problems.

Such shoddy and irresponsible journalism generates the false belief that replacing one party in power with members from another party, perpetuates the myth and monopoly of a two party system which is incapable of escaping the grid lock imposed when one party says “No” merely to obstruct the problem solving approach of the other party, and unwittingly participates in this Republics two step forwards one step back from the edge of the abyss by creating a story line absent of fact and spinning it for public consumption without any regard for the consequences of such a monumental and systemic failure that awaits our future. Time for Mika to wake up and smell the coffee.

WHY DO THEY HATE US?

2010-01-03T15:56:00.002-05:00

This Christmas holiday season was an unusually busy news time for mainstream media but they were still able to overcome the usual distractions like last minute Christmas shopping, participating in some other holiday related activity or event or watching somebody’s kid play a game with a ball in order to perform the role of the press in an oligarchy posing as a democracy by shaping another message that will not threaten the status quo.

The newest latest message being manufactured was that the flight arriving in Detroit from Amsterdam was “an attack against the homeland” in order to manipulate the public into accepting the argument that an attack against the homeland needs to be addressed before any other issues facing our nation including those facing a numberless number of people who lost their jobs and their homes on Main St. and those who are hanging on from pay check to pay check. Banks have all the luck. They were bailed out before the attack.

Things changed since 12/25 just like things changed since 9/11 yet the more things change the more they stayed the same. It still only takes a few fear mongering politicians or their supporters in power to play the fear card and motivate enough people to be that afraid to accept anything the dominant paradigm presents as long as it projected to be perceived as necessary to protect us from America’s most recent enemy, “radicalized Islamic terrorists”.

One thing that noticeably and unfortunately did change without remaining the same however was that the talking heads are longer asking why that hate us nor is mainstream media inviting any “political policy analysts” who would dare ask a question the answer to which would result in the beginning of the end to a state of perpetual war that serves and protects the status quo at the expense of the common good. The awareness that the antidote is contained within the condition would be the first step outside the box and the first step toward real safety and security.

On 9/11 when we asked “why do they hate us “ our politicians said “they” hated our values, hated our freedom, and hated our way of life and the press printed the rhetoric this rubbish from our fear mongering selected leaders without checking any of the facts about those “values” which were only to be presumed because they never really were described and facts like as a result of our War on Drugs we actually had less freedom well before 9/11 as a people as such we were ripe for accepting the Patriot Act that further diluted the “freedom” they allegedly hated.

In essence we were being told that nearly 3,000 people were killed on 9/11 because “radical Islamic terrorists” hated our freedoms which in reality existed only on paper for our politicians to recite on the appropriate holiday. They were not to be exercised by anyone who opposed the status quo without penalty of prosecution that most from or formally from Main St. can afford.

As for explanation that “they” hate because of “our way of life” with the whole world watching we recently presented the perception that “our way of life” reflects an arrogance of power and a shameless hypocrisy that not only permits people to commit murder but pays them to do it without fear of accountability from a legal system in which justice really isn’t blind it’s bought and paid for by those who can afford it.

On 9/16/07 in Nisoor Square Iraq Donald Ball, a former Marine from West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, a former Marine from Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty, a former Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn., and Paul Slough, an Army veteran from Keller, Texas murdered 17 innocent men, women and children in cold blood.
Any idea how many people were influenced by that slaughter to pursue “radical Islamic terrorism” as a way to get revenge in the name of justice?

The former troops decided to get the big bucks from the private security firm Blackwater which didn’t have to follow any rules of engagement during the occupation of a sovereign nation because all they needed was a government contract to among other things permitted them to commit murder with immunity.

Missed is the irony that our politicians, the media, and our entertainers remind us ad nauseam to “support the troops” in the belief that they are defending the nation meanwhile the nation is being destroyed from within by our domestic enemies like Eric Prince, the founder of Blackwater who aside from being born into a wealthy family believes in the same imaginary friend that told George Bush also born into wealth to invade Iraq making a hefty profit for Mr. Prince's company.

The irony is doubly rich given that a self proclaimed Christian nation certainly understands that 30 pieces of silver bought the execution of the Prince of Peace whose birthday these murderers just celebrated a week earlier as they now celebrate the New Year invigorated by their belief in our court system.

On the last day of 2009 we gave the world the right to better understand why someone would pursue the path of a “radical Islamic terrorist” when U.S. District judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed all charges against the defendants because in a transparent display of incompetence whether by accident or design George Bush’s Justice Dept. built their case on sworn statements that were given under a promise of immunity.

How many more Abdulmutallbs do you now think hate us for our way of life which permits innocent people to be murdered while their killers are exonerated on a technicality and how many more are willing to become “radical Islamic terrorists” in the war against the “state sponsored terrorism” of a rogue state posing as the leader of the free world?

This week our government will be concerned with addressing “how” did the alleged attack on 12/25 take place rather than “why” it occurred at all. Republicans will do their usual fear mongering actually it’s all they’ve done as a party for the last 40 years and Democrats will once again feebly play that game by trying to defend themselves against charges of being soft of terrorism. The media will play its role of repeating as they pass it off as reporting.

At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter “how” Abdulmutallb managed to board a plane with explosives sewn into his underwear what really matters is “why” someone hates us enough to attempt to kill at almost 300 innocent people and until we understand that we will continue to live in fear and hate because more attacks against America are in our future until we do.

The sad reality is that the ruling elite of the American oligarchy doesn’t give a shit about “why they hate us” because in “our way of life” the bottom line is that profit and not political, social or economic justice serves the status quo and there is no profit in ending the perpetual war on terrorism for people like Eric Prince, his hired killers, fear mongering Republican politicians or spineless Democrats who talk the talk about change but lack the courage to walk the walk of change because it is “our way of life” that requires a new way of living.

OUR ATTACHMENT TO THE COMFORTABLE LIE

2009-12-31T03:25:00.000-05:00

I continue to be fascinated by our hysterical response to what is now being described as “an attack” on the homeland by a 20 year old rich kid so frustrated by the perception that his way of life was “under attack” by a Christian America that he would actually conceal explosive chemicals which may or may not have been lethal in his underwear. How desperate is that for a young guy to destroy his Mr. Johnson in the process. This is now what passes for “an attack”.

Though in his defense I can see how he would be radicalized after all when the commander-in-chief of the Great Satan, George Bush, claimed on the eve of his fabricated war with Iraq that this was a “crusade against terrorism” the term wasn’t lost on the lunatic fringe of the Moslem world. Indeed even our own national security assessments concluded that the war on Iraq increased al Qaeda recruitment and activities around the world. Seems like our “state sponsored terrorism” only resulted in more group and individual acts of terrorism.

The American people responded not with outrage by being mislead but by buying little American flags that they stuck on their gas guzzling cars while their political leaders hid behind the red, white and blue of the phony patriotism where all scoundrels find their last refuge . You don’t see many flag wavers driving around today but there is still no end to shameless politicians wrapping themselves in the flag.

In 09 the aptly name “tea baggers” marched around with signs claiming President Obama was at the same time a communist, a socialist and a fascist totally unfamiliar with the distinctions between these political ideologies and unfortunately for the Republic unaware of Sinclair Lewis’ observation: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross” and its implications for the future of democracy.

That the so-called “attack” happened on Christmas day only gave fodder to the true believers who claimed it to be proof of a “holy war” failing to remember our own history of the Christmas Day bombings of Southeast Asia that killed a numberless number of people during Operation Linebacker II. You gotta love the reference to America’s gladiator games and appreciate the hypocrisy that it’s okay for us to bomb the non-believers but cry foul decades later when what goes around comes around.

No longer hiding in an “undisclosed location” Amerika’s number 1 draft dodging war criminal, Dick Cheney, crawls out from under a rock to claim President Obama doesn’t know we are at war with terrorism thus perpetuating the same bullshit that the War Party has been pushing for decades and the sheeple have been buying i.e. that the Democrats are weak. It won’t be long for the sugar and spice progeny that got him his fifth and final deferment from Vietnam starts shooting her mouth off.

Meanwhile in another shameless display of sheer and rank hypocrisy the rest of the so-called Republican leadership is demanding an investigation into the failure of homeland security without acknowledging that it is the obstructionist policies of these pathetic politicians that are stopping the appointment of a head for the TSA as well as its funding.

The stench of shit from Cheney’s breath is sanitized by the so-called “liberal media” that repeats the ruminations of a delusional mind without ever fact checking his statements. Here’s hoping that 2010 brings Spain closer to prosecuting that embarrassing pant load for war crimes because the U.S. is incapable of prosecuting its own war criminals. Seems like only “other” countries commit war crimes and we feel it is out duty to bring “them” to justice while our war criminals are free to castigate our current commander-in-chief and commit treason in the process by aiding and abetting the enemy with such scurrilous and irresponsible speech.

For its part in this sad period of our nation’s history the Democrats for the most part haven’t exposed the bullshit by reminding the public that it was George Bush who stayed on vacation and ignored the threat of an imminent attack by al Qaeda and then proceeded to fabricate the grounds for an unjust, immoral and illegal war against Iraq thereby leaving the facts open to a continuing debate which should have been concluded long ago if only the Democrats had the guts to speak truth to power that was never democratically elected at the beginning of this decade.

Heading into the new year we might be better served by remembering that it was Osama bin-Laden who four days before the 04 reelection of that phony cowboy from Crawford TX said``All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point East to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaeda, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies.”

We can no longer afford to base our domestic or foreign policy on the ignorance and fear peddled by Republican ideologues to a public who knows little or nothing about our history, a spineless silent Democratic Party that has nothing to fear but fear itself and a media satisfied with repeating the rhetoric that is about to bankrupt the Republic rather than reporting about the reality of The Big Lie of American dominance based on the notion that “God is on our side” because that “God” doesn’t exist. That is the truth which shall set us free and unfortunately that is the uncomfortable truth which we cannot handle because we continue to prefer the comfortable lie – we’re number 1.

MUCH 'ADO ABOUT NOTHING

2009-12-30T15:03:00.000-05:00

After the War on Drugs began in earnest in the 1980s and the Patriot Act from earlier this decade we should already know we are not the “land of the free” and now it seems that another myth i.e. that we are the “land of the brave has been exposed by this much ‘ado about nothing attempt to blow up a plane headed for Detroit. Turns out we are really the land of the frightened.

Talk about over reacting. The White House and Congress claiming this was an act of terror against the U.S. Did Abdulmutallab get by U.S. transportation security? No he actually boarded a plane in Nigeria then boarded another plane in Amsterdam where apparently security isn’t as secure as the name implies. Bet he would have been busted for a bag of righteous herb. So his name wasn’t on the “no fly” list. Should it have been merely because his father was concerned about his religious extremism?

So he paid cash and didn’t have any luggage. These are issues that are easily corrected without trying to kill the fly with an elephant gun. I mean to say full body scanning devices at all airports in the U.S. because of Abdulmutallab?

Even the Republicans are looking to fire someone in the Obama Administration and blame President Obama for this haphazard attempt to commit an act of terror. These are the same Republicans who didn’t and still don’t have the guts or the good sense to hold anyone responsible in the Bush Administration for being on vacation and asleep at the wheel on this pathetic ship of state for their gross negligence and incompetence on 9/11 and now they’re hell bent over much ‘ado about nothing.

This morning I heard the local Siena college graduate, Paul Vandenberg, actually stoked the fires and claim that this is “a holy war against white Christians on their holiest of days”. Say what??? A holy war against white Christians on their holiest of days? Give me a break. Aren’t there also non-white Christians? All those efforts at converting non-believers at the point of a gun were and still are directed at non-whites but the so-called “holy war” is directed against white Christians only?

Vandenberg presents an excellent reason to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Idiots like that shouldn’t be allowed to exercise their freedom of speech unless someone has the equal time to expose their malicious hysteria as pure unadulterated fear mongering.

Land of the free, home of the brave is the kind of bullshit rhetoric that gets us in a lot of trouble when we start believing such crap. The reality is we neither free or brave rather we are indeed a people easily manipulated by fear and ignorance.

CHRISTMAS/GIFTMAS

2009-12-25T11:55:00.000-05:00

I remember decades ago like it was just yesterday sitting on the top steps of our staircase with my little brother in our pajamas waiting to catch a glimpse Santa Claus determined that this would be the year we would see him. It never happened. With the best of intentions we always fell asleep before he came down the chimney and left us 2 toys, 3 if we were extremely lucky.

In the afternoon we would visit with our extended family – I still remember the aroma of the food that the women were cooking in the kitchen while the men were watching a game of football in another room. Aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins would all sit down to eat. I’d have a large bowl of my Uncle Joe’s cheese, onion and garlic potatoes while for dessert I’d have my own loaf of Aunt Sophie’s home made raisin bread which she made en masse, without a written recipe and which not one of her daughters can duplicate today.

At the end of the day the women would be singing Polish Christmas carols while cleaning up in the kitchen. In the next room the men smoked cigars, drank beer, and had discussions about the politics of the 50s which sometimes became heated until the women reminded them it was Christmas. Wasn’t too many years later that I realized it was a scam and I don’t think I’ve been the same ever since.

The reality is that it’s just another pagan holiday that organized religion took over, declared as its own then proceeded to debase and finally destroy the significance. The winter solstice was celebrated by those who preceded the believers in the monotheistic religions that rose up in the deserts of doubt and delusion and were spread throughout the known world by the sword – onward Christian soldiers.

In fact things I’ve read indicate that the historic Jesus was born in March or April and the Roman church “decided” to use December 25 because people already referred to that date as the birth of different Gods e.g. Dionysus, Osiris, et al

This year Christmas was especially enjoyable for a cynic like me. The Catholics moved mid-night mass to 10:00pm because the Pope allegedly needed rest. Couldn’t he catch up on his holy sleep after mass or free up his schedule a couple of days before Christmas? I mean really how absurd. Bad enough the Catholic Church went to a Saturday night mass so the flock could sleep in on Sunday morning.

Yet the highlight came when a woman knocked over the 83 year old pontiff on his way to perpetuate a Christmas ritual that began nearly 400 hundreds after the baby Jesus was born. Italian authorities claimed she was “unstable” without mentioning that perhaps it was the religious ritual that was unstable.

After all this time I’m fed up with people asking “Are you ready for Christmas?” What does that really mean? What does “Christmas/christmas” really mean to those who ask? Perhaps gluttony of gifts and alcohol. And you hear it in the question” “Did you do all your shopping? No longer even asking about your “Christmas” shopping? It’s understood to be for “Christmas”.

In memories of Christmas past my mother would hand notes to friends and family. A tradition I continued until this year because I finally tired of receiving Christmas cards from people too lazy to do more than sign their names to a sentiment expressed by someone else.

The state of the retail/retale industry makes the news daily thereby defining whether or not it’s a “good” Christmas for the economy i.e. for them. Their bottom line insofar as “Christmas” is “profit” and the media plays the role of reminding the viewer you how many days they have left.

What an opportunity for the ultimate ponzi scam to occur - convince the people that the day they celebrate the birth of their savior should be done so by “giving” and repeating ad nauseam that “it’s better to give than receive” begging the question: “what should I give?” while advertising execs are all too eager to provide the answer to that set up question - “gifts” to be given for a price.

The public goes into more plastic card debt to take advantage of those “Christmas sales” that now start after Halloween and buy their “Christmas” presents early. Besides there aren’t many people who can pass up “a sale” buying something they really didn’t need but “sold” to them that they “needed it” that’s why they call it “a sale” and better yet “a Christmas sale” because after all it’s about “giving”, “giving gifts” in particular as if “giving” only has merit if there is a monetary denomination involved.

Christmas is in fact Giftmas and it’s nothing but a scam – socialize the children into believing there is a over weight white man in a red suit who travels around the world in 24 hours on a sled driven by flying reindeer, then over indulge the child with a boat load of toys that get broken, forgotten or lost before next year’s frenzy and when the child is old enough then indoctrinate them into believing yet another myth – the one where the baby Jesus was born and celebrate the birth once a year to perpetuate the fraud.

More disappointing though is that once again Pope will pray for peace yet another year to a God that isn’t answering. Perhaps we’re putting all our faith in a God that just doesn’t exist outside of the minds of the lazy who prefer to get on their knees and beg for something rather than accept responsibility for their actions - how intellectually dishonest and lazy to create an imaginary friend that doesn’t demand more of his creation.

At the end of the day I guess we prefer symbol over substance, fabrication over fact and myth to reality. Indeed these preferences appear in our everyday social and political interactions. Why bother to have peace on earth, good will toward all men if it only applies to the day of the birthday party when the guests all seemed to remember to buy something for somebody else but have forgotten all about the birthday boy and a message of hope for a better world.

A MESSAGE TO SEN. BORRASSO (R-WY)

2009-12-23T07:25:00.001-05:00

Last night while watching the Rachel Maddow news program she provided me with a segment about Senator Barrasso from WY who was on the Senate floor citing President Kennedy’s book “Profile in Courage” while imploring that at least one Democratic Senator have the courage to vote “No” on the Health Care Reform legislation. The story compelled me to write the following to Senator Barrasso and while I don’t expect a reply perhaps it’s time for people with a better understanding of history to share that information with those in a position of power who should know better.

“I noticed in your bio that you're from my home state of Pa. You're now a U.S. Senator and I am not yet after I saw you citing JFK's "Profiles in Courage" while asking just one Democrat to have the courage to vote "no" to health care reform I was perplexed at how someone so removed from the facts could be in a position of making laws that affect those who are more in touch with reality.

I wish you have the courage to admit you didn't know that JFK was "for" universal health care, I wish you have the courage to admit that you prefer partisan rancor to actually doing something for the American people, and I wished you had the courage to vote in favor of health care reform instead of marching in lock step with an increasingly irrelevant political party.

You're against health care reform, against a jobs stimulus, against addressing global warming. Indeed Senator what do you have the courage to stand for? Get some backbone Senator and get your facts straight before demanding someone else reflects the courage which you yourself clearly lack.”

HEALTH CARE REFORM - A RANT

2009-12-22T16:24:00.002-05:00

HEALTH CARE REFORM – A RANT

It appears that come the Christian celebration of Christmas Eve the United States Senate will have passed a Health Care Reform bill so diluted of any semblance of universal health care that it actually seems to favor the health insurance industry and big pharma and yet the only value in this watered down version of “health care reform” just be might in the fact that anything was done to change a system that was clearly broken.

Personally I think we could have avoided all the aggravation and grand standing by just extending Medicare to all citizens and the hell with the insurance company and big pharma. At best with regard to health care the present legislation is an indication that we took the first step to catching up with the rest of the industrialized world but it may be too little too late.

Aside from the legislation itself the haggling and posturing cast a light on the fact that our political system is broken and risks a state of stagnation whereby our problems continue to grow and finally wear us down while this two party system fails to address anything but their own fragile egos and this goes double for that moronic group of politics that claim to be Republicans who ruled for 28 of the last 41 years and didn’t do a damn thing about health care except playing the usual fear and ignorance card with “socialized medicine” and “death panels”. And people actually support these fear mongering idiots??

During these last few days of debate I’ve made some of the following observations:

Finally – some semblance of health care reform. Amazing that it took over 60 years to actually put the health of the American public at the forefront. Imagine how much better the legislation could have been if we had a political system that wasn’t held hostage by independent Senator from Aetna whoring for the insurance industry.

That pathetic little creep with an ego full of pettiness from Connecticut deserves nothing but contempt and a righteous kick in the ass off all Senate Committees. At least the newest Senator, Al Franken, had the balls that Obama and the Clintonistas lacked to tell him he objected to one more minute of his mealy mouthed meanderings. A message to Joe Lieberman – eat shit and die. And that goes for Ben Nelson of Nebrasks as well - who the hell is that pant load to legislate discrimination against a woman's right to choose?

And what’s with President Obama calling Sen. Snowe in an attempt to get her to vote for Health Care Reform so he can claim bi-partisan support? Are you kiddin’ me? One Republican vote in favor would constitute bi-partisanship? Really??? If he wants bi-partisanship he’s already got it with Sen. Sanders from Vermont who claims to be a Social-Democrat while others refer to him as a member of the Socialist Party. Now that’s real bi-partisanship as Sen. Sanders support a bill that does not contain a public option. Why doesn’t President Obama claim bi-partisanship citing Sen. Sanders’ support? I mean really to hell with the obstructionism of the Party of No.

As for the Republicans I can’t believe President Obama is that stupid because “stupid” would be an apt description of anyone looking for support from an irrelevant political party that not only brings absolutely nothing to the table because they believe we already have the best health care system in the world but actually tips their position by opposing anything offered by the Democratic Party. Our system risks paralysis if the Party of No continues its obstructionism in lock step and the Democratic Party doesn’t hold them accountable.

President Obama better wake up. Time to tell the American public in the simplest of terms why we needed health care reform, exactly what he proposed to successfully address those needs and describe the consequences of doing nothing in graphic detail. Remind the public he reached out and not one member of the opposition party reached out in return to extend a hand as fellow Americans to address the very real problems facing this country – together – because that is the only way the Republic will survive much further into the 21st Century when we will have no choice but to accept the consequences of the actions or inactions we take today. Then President Obama can apologize to the public for having to wait decades before putting the health of our people before the profits of our corporations and admit it’s but a small first step to making things right for Main St.

The media was all over Senator Reid, Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson et al but said nothing about the obstructionist games played by the Party of No willing to do anything and everything to let 45,000 Americans die each year due to the lack of health care. Shame on this so-called liberal media for not holding the anti-American party accountable for their outrageous behavior while letting that dottering dithering fool from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell claim on national news that passage of the bill was “outrageous”. Mitch McConnell can eat shit and die as well. He and his band of country club first Republicans brings nothing to the table for the American people.

Speaking of really slimy characters Jim DeMint from South Carolina expressed the Republican party line about health care for Americans by claiming his sole purpose in the Senate was to insure this would be Obama’s Waterloo. He had no other solution to address the health care problems facing this country. In fact like Mitch McIdiot from Kentucky he offered no suggestions to make ours the best health care system in reality and not just the empty rhetoric of those still convinced that repeating a lie long enough will make it the truth. Just the other day I heard that pathetic sleeze bag claiming that “the American people didn’t want to change the best health care system in the world” thereby epitomizing the absolute detachment from reality that these deranged little creatures possess.

Yet the last in a list too long to mention of pathetic creatures who are supposed to be putting was Sen. Coburn’s speech on the Senate floor saying that the American people should be praying that one of the 60 in favor of this bill doesn’t show up for the final vote. And there you have – no doubt this sorry excuse for a human being will be wishing the true believers of his church a Merry Christmas making one painfully aware of all the bullshit that goes on during the holidays. That simple minded son-of-a-bitch so-called Christian exposing the hypocrisy so foul as to destroy the olfactory senses of anyone getting close enough to smell the shit on his breath.

THE DEFEAT OF GAY MARRIAGE IN NEW YORK STATE

2009-12-19T12:47:00.001-05:00

It wasn’t too long ago that I was woken up abruptly from a dream about a better world when I heard the morning news telling me and everyone else who was listening that the New York State Senate voted against gay marriage 38 to 24 which promptly brought me back to the reality that a better world doesn’t exist for those who have a different sexual preference and the unavoidable conclusion was that no one is free when others are oppressed.

Thirty members of the party of no that lays claim to “less government” but prefers to legislate morality cast their objection without any reason expressed. They were joined by a handful of Democrats suffering from the same terminal righteousness reached across the aisle to deny someone the right to marriage claiming the sanctity of an social institution with a fifty percent rate of success and a fifty percent of failure depending on one’s view of the glass being half full or half empty.

Seems like the anti-gay movement influenced by the same monotheistic religions that were spawned in the deserts of the Middle East or the bastard ideological paternalistic offspring preached by Martin Luther or the fables of the Book of Mormon somehow crosses the line of the First Amendment to the constitution of my country which begins with the words “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….”

That same Constitution contains a 14th Amendment that claims in section 1 “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

It seems quite clear that “all persons” in this country are entitled to both the due process of law and the equal protection of those laws against any state which tries to enforce a law that abridges the privileges of any citizen. Yet it is equally clear that our freedoms exist only on paper.

Thanks to the involvement of American Christian evangelicals the African nation of Uganda legislation is pending which calls for the death penalty if one has a sexual preference which differs from the mindset of irresponsible breeders. In this country self absorbed with it’s claim to a more civilized people we don’t execute someone for their sexual preference we just deny them the liberty to pursue a happiness that monotheistic religious bigots oppose because they have an imaginary friend on their side.

When state governments are denying the equal rights of its citizens are they not in fact doing so in the name of “established religions” and thereby giving organized superstition the right to determine who shall and who shall not marry and rendering the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution meaningless?

Since organized religion wants to impose it’s morality on the public perhaps it’s time for government to start taxing them for the privilege of trying to affect public policy and holding them criminally negligent for protecting the serial pedophiles in their midst. Isn’t it time to end tax free bigotry when forming public policy?

Finally the lunatic fringe which is now the Republican Party recently began a campaign claiming it’s time to address the loss of jobs in this country. Do they have any idea about the jobs that will be created in the hotel industry, catering, flowers, etc when we finally follow the Constitution by accepting gay marriage not to mention the legal community that will be there to dissolve the unions which suffer the same irreparable differences that now afflicts half of the breeding community in the sanctity of their marriages.

AFGHANISTAN - A MORAL JUSTIFICATION FOR AN IMMORAL WAR

2009-12-19T09:11:00.002-05:00

Nearly three weeks ago I realized that I couldn’t listen to President Obama’s speech at West Point when he was scheduled to announce his Afghanistan strategy because I was already experiencing a serious episode of profound disappointment with a government that claimed a moral high ground which did not exist. Besides during the campaign of change Sen. Obama did say it was “the right war” thereby implying his continued support of this occupation.

I risked total synapse collapse if I tempted to tune in to a foregone conclusion. Anything short of President Obama claiming that he was pulling all our forces out of Afghanistan, out of Iraq and out of most of the other hundred or more countries where U.S. forces are stationed would have pushed me over the edge and into the abyss.

Upon further reflection and given the observation of Socrates that an unexamined life isn’t worth living I suppose I just didn’t have what it takes to experience the hypocrisy spoken by the voice of change that I remembered from just last year claiming to challenge and end the “politics as usual in Washington” but that same voice is that of just another politician whose “politics as usual” rhetoric reveals an attachment to that which is ignorant of the fact that violence begets violence. The disappointment would have been devastating. Violence never produces peace it results only in more violence.

Ten days later President Obama would provide the absurdity missing from my state of disappointment by accepting the Noble Prize for peace while claiming a justification for his Afghanistan policy. There is indeed something interesting about the relationship between the winner of the Noble Prize for Peace accepting the award by speaking about “a just war” and using our military presence i.e. our military “occupation” in Afghanistan as an example of that “just war”

My understanding is that the concept of “a just war” is influenced by Roman philosophy and the Catholic Church. According to the cruelty of Roman Rule toward those who weren’t Roman and the Church that tortured those who didn’t believe as determined by the Inquisition have the following criteria meet their definition of “a just war”:

1 - the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

2 - all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;

3 - there must be serious prospects of success; and

4 - the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

While we can certainly rationalize the existence of meeting the first two criteria we seem to dismiss the other two and seem content to talk about “a just war” as defined by these barbaric and ignorant institutions taking place in Afghanistan while conveniently ignoring the fact that these very same criteria were not met when we invaded Iraq.

I prefer Murray Rothbard’s explanation that "a just war exists when a people tries to ward off the threat of coercive domination by another people, or to overthrow an already-existing domination. A war is unjust, on the other hand, when a people try to impose domination on another people, or try to retain an already existing coercive rule over them”

Afghanistan is not “a just war”. Indeed by Rothbard’s definition seems like we’re perpetuating another “unjust war”. An extension of Bush’s “unjust war” in Iraq based on outright lies and deceit. At least he had a self serving pretext already written in the Project for a New American Century to invade Afghanistan.

At the end of the day I just couldn’t listen to a shameful speech of betrayal by the person I thought represented change telling the world about “a just war” without acknowledging that we were accepting our responsibility for conducting an “unjust war” by holding those accountable for committing that “unjust war” in Iraq.

Indeed in this Alice in Wonderland country we have war criminals and their progeny going on public television chastising President Obama for projecting weakness as if daring this President to let the Justice Dept pursue the crimes of a five time draft dodger.

That wasn’t the “change” I thought Obama represented. I could no longer endure the disappointment that President Obama generating by practicing the “politics as usual” when responding to violence with more violence and expecting peace to occur. As Kafka once observed “there is hope but not for us” certainly not when we ignore the history of past foreign invasions and attempted occupations of Afghanistan by claiming ours is “a just war”.

Packaging Bullshit

2009-08-31T15:00:00.002-04:00

When I was informed by Nora O'Donnell of MSNBC news this afternoon that there were nearly a thousand requests for Sarah Palin to speak for 6 figured salaries a speech I was reminded of something my father told me decades ago. He said that Americans would buy shit in a pretty package wrapped with a bow.

After listening to her speeches during the 2008 presidential campaign right through her resignation speech as Governor of Alaska I must say that in the last 50 years no presidential candidate or vice-presidential running mate has consistently sounded so utterly stupid, so ignorant of the world in which we live than Sarah Palin.

Seems like the old man was right Americans indeed will indeed buy shit or in Sarah Palin case - bullshit as long as it packaged right. Doesn't say much for the future of the Republic when stupid people like Sarah Palin are paid 6 figure salaries to ramble and rant about that which they know so little.

WHO WILL SHUT UP DICK CHENEY?

2009-08-26T07:46:00.003-04:00

Once again America's most infamous war criminal, Dick Cheney shot his mouth off stating that President Obama's investigation into CIA practices against terrorism suspects "calls into doubt the Obama administration's ability to handle national security" begs the question: When will Dick Cheney shut up?

With all the advance intelligence warnings of an attack by al Qaeda this five time draft dodging war criminal couldn't protect the United States on 9/11 but he now questions President Obama's creditentials on national security.

Perhaps Pogo was right when the cartoon character said "We have met the enemy and the enemy is us" because unless and until Dick Cheney is prosecuted for war crimes and justice served by his incarceration for violating international law and the Constitution of the United States politics as usual will continue much to our detriment as a nation of laws.

The pundits pretend outrage but when Dennis Kucinich offered up articles of impeachment against Cheney in 2007 he was ignored. Even the patron saint of journalists and worshipped by those he left behind at MSNBC, Tim Russert, ridiculed Kucinich during a Democratic debate by asking him if he believed in UFOs instead of asking him "If elected, would he investigate and prosecute those in the Bush Administration for committing war crimes?"

We've known for far too long that the previous administration subverted the rule of law and no one was held accountable. The current investigation appears headed in the same direction wherein a few bad apples at the bottom of the barrel might be charged with crimes but the authors of those crimes will be free to spread the lie that terrorism works thus reducing the Republic to the role of a rogue state where our "terrorism" is acceptable while the "terrorism" of other nations is not.

It is time for the Obama Administration to change the "politics as usual" that he claimed during the primaries and the 2008 election by recognizing that if we truly are a nation of laws any investigation include the people at the top, especially war criminals like Dick Cheney are prosecuted to the fullest for their role in the crimes against humanity that occured under the Cheney Administration.

It is time for the press to remind the public especially the ignorant among us that we are a nation of laws and it is time for President Obama to get a backbone and understand that we cannot move forward unless and until we address our recent past so that we will not repeat a history that will ultimately destroy the Republic.

It is time for America to realize that "the enemy is us" and our war criminals should spend the rest of their lives behind bars with their fellow terrorists without the press providing a platform for their message of fear and ignorance. While Michelle Obama may finally be proud to be an American given our current state of failure to admit we committed war crimes and our continued failure to hold anyone accountable for those crimes I must remain disappointed, ashamed and embarrassed. Only the Obama Adminstration can shut up Dick Cheney by charging him as an American terrorist and proving to the rest of the civilized world that we are indeed a nation of laws.

"REAL" HEALTH CARE REFORM

2009-08-16T21:42:00.002-04:00

As of this writing it appears that the perpetual Party of Appeasement i.e. the Democratic Party has been sufficiently influenced by the tyranny of the mob and is willing to compromise with the Party of No Ideas on health care reform or anything else for that matter. In fact any historian would be hard pressed to find any serious proposals in the Republican Party platform that reflects any consideration for the common good during the last 70 years.

Indeed out current health care system is a mess no matter how often the Right repeats the lie that we have the best system in the world – it still doesn’t make it true. Better to have no health care reform than something watered down to appease the fear mongers because health care will continue to be a growing problem which will never be resolved as long as those who propose reform don’t have the resolve to enact the strongest possible legislation with or without the consent of the fear mongering rabid right.

“Real” health care reform requires accepting at least the following suggestions:

1 – THE PUBLIC OPTION – Let’s face it the present health care system seems to do nothing more and nothing less than profit the health industry corporations and their investors with plenty left over to line the pockets of fear mongering politicians to make sure it stays that way. More Americans are losing their jobs and their health care along with it. The cost of health insurance is increasing the cost of employers that can keep health insurance for their employees who will have their contributions raised as will their employees resulting in less take home pay to participate in a consumerist society. Most small businesses cannot even offer health insurance to their employees. Medicaid is available to those who qualify and with more people being added to the Medicaid rolls from the unemployment line the taxes of their communities are increased to pay for the Medicaid. If you don’t have any health insurance a catastrophic illness leaves you but the one recourse of filing for bankruptcy and the cost of that is passed on to other consumers whose income to purchase goods that Madison Ave convinces them they need is further reduced. The current state of health care for those who can afford it has to change before it implodes and a Public Option seems like a rational approach while the opposition offers nothing but the noise of the mob parroting the empty rhetoric of those politicians who create a climate fear further dividing the country between those who prefer the bliss of ignorance and those who can handle the truth.

2 – PUBLIC FUNDING FOR ABORTIONS – Those influenced by their imaginary friend no doubt will have serious moral issues real or imagined with having their tax dollars pay for murdering those yet to be brought into this world. Personally I think it has more to do with treating women as second class citizens who don’t have the same right to choose as does a man. Of course those same people have had absolutely no problem with their tax dollars being spent on waging war in Iraq not once but twice, financing another group of religious crazies led by Osama Bin Laden to wage war against Russia in Afghanistan, provide financial support for countries to wage war against drugs with death squads to maintain the existing political power etc. Enough said. To ease their minds they shouldn’t have to pay the amount of taxes it would take for safe abortions but their taxes will have to be increased to pay for all the services necessary to care for the results of unwanted pregnancies starting with the delivery room and ending with the funeral. It’s only fair. Besides they should have no objection to paying for “life” after it’s born. When all those unwanted pregnancies come to life it’s just another drag on the economy not to mention an increase in a population that places an additional demand on the already dwindling resources of the environment as well as exacerbating existing tensions in our social, political and economic systems.

3 – END OF LIFE CONSULTATIONS – This includes euthanasia. Nothing to be afraid of here after all – all things conditioned are impermanent – ashes to ashes and dust to dust kind of stuff. I suspect there are many people who would prefer death to the pain and suffering of a terminal illness or the miserable existence in a nursing home knowing that all one has worked for is taken away by the state in order to pay for a temporary room that will be the last residence before the grave. Make it optional because right now the government is already deciding the most important issue of an individual’s choice to determine whose life is it any way and that moronic mob the Republicans pander to is obviously too stupid to figure that out. I mean it was a Republican government that became exercised over trying to tell Mr. Schiavo he didn’t have the right to pull the plug on his wife who was comatose for over a decade. Under the current health care system government already decides and so does the health care industry for those who have insurance. They make more money the longer one lives – quality of life isn’t even considered in the equation. Time for that to change for those who want it and like public funding of abortions those who prefer the option of euthanasia will have their taxes assessed accordingly as will those who want to hang on to their suffering. I mean really we have all that concern for the quality of life and compassion for a household pet to end its suffering but for our fellow humans – no such compassion. How absurd.

SOME QUESTIONS:

1 – Who would care for all the newly insured? Couldn’t the government pay for the education of doctors, nurses and care givers and in return those doctors, nurses and care givers would provide the health care to the newly insured for the same number of years that the government paid for their education?

2 – How would we pay for such reform? For starters we could end the war on drugs. That would save 30 to 40 billion dollars a year and if we have more qualified doctors, nurses and care givers as suggested above seems like that would increase the competition that would theoretically decrease the cost of health care. Finally public funding of abortions and end of life discussions would decrease the existing cost of health care.

Oh well - the Republicans haven't offered any solutions but it's in their nature to protect the status quo which favors them and the Democrats haven't had the courage of their convictions for the last 70 years to crush the opposition beneath the wheel of progress. When it comes to health reform in the 21st Century the devil is indeed in the details much like it has been for the past 70 years. Another opportunity lost to catch up with the rest of the civilized world that cares for the health of its citizens without reducing it to the profit motive.

TRASH TALKING CHUCK GRASSLEY

2009-08-13T21:21:00.002-04:00

The other day President Obama claimed that some of his Republican friends were “diligently working to see if they can come up with a plan that could get both Republican and Democratic support”. Among those so-called Republican friends was Sen. Charles Grassley the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee.

A day later this so-called friend was fear mongering in Iowa claiming people had every right to fear because the House bill contained counseling for end-of-life. Senator Charles Grassley can now be referred to as “Chuck the Mendacious” for it is an outright lie that the Obama Administration is planning a government program that determines when the plug gets pulled and Chuck knows it – hell he has access to all the proposals.

You can also call him “Chuck the Idiot” for this pathetic character from the mid-west suggests we ought to “have counseling 20 years before you’re going to die.” How utterly stupid for a sitting Senator to make such a remark given the reality that tomorrow is guaranteed to no one but then it’s characteristic of Republicans who prefer to be detached from reality. Ignorance is bliss for this tribe.

Chuck Grassley doesn’t really deserve the title “Senator” but while “Chuck the Mendacious” or “Chuck the Idiot” is more appropriate at bottom Chuck Grassley is nothing more and nothing less than a high priced huckster for the health insurance industry that paid him over two million dollars to make sure their profit making scheme and his are never reformed.

Other notable comments from this clown are that “Government is not a competitor, it’s a predator”. If he really believes that line which gets applause from the know nothings in the Iowa audience why is he even in government? Indeed someone should ask this rabid Republican why governments are instituted among then refer him to Jefferson’s Declaration. The reality seems to be that government is a predator only when people like Chuck the Hired Huckster for the health insurance industry are in government instead of behind bars for profiting by spreading fear and instability in this once great Republic.

Chuck doesn’t want public funds for abortion included in any health care bill either. A rationale approach would be for the IRS to add the following question to the tax form: Do you favor or oppose public funding of abortion. Those who favor it will have their taxes altered to include the cost of publicly funded abortions and those who oppose will have their taxes altered to pay the cost for 18 years of each unwanted pregnancy. It would be a win-win for everyone. Even watching sleaze balls like Chuck slither through a response would be worth the proposal.

So much for one of Obama’s “Republican friends”. Given the stark contrast between the mediocre intelligence of the last president and the superior intellect of the current president one wonders how the former was able to get some bipartisan support for reducing taxes on the wealthy and waging a war against humanity while the later can’t figure out that historically Republicans have never reformed anything that benefited the public interest.

Perhaps it’s time for Barak Hussein Obama to know the difference between being a community organizer who brings diverse groups together to produce a result for the common good and being the President of the United States and as such is responsible for insuring that the common good is attained with or without the support of those groups diametrically opposed to the common good and now is the time for Barak Hussein Obama to remember which one he is. The future of this nation depends on it.

Time for President Obama to propose one health care reform legislation that will be in the best interests of the common good, inform the Democratic members of Congress that this is the legislation they will introduce and as Democrats this is the legislation they will support. He should then inform those who oppose it should not count on being financially supported by the Democratic National Committee. Have the Senate come to an agreement, take a vote and give the people real health care reform and fuck the Republicans and their mob.

Once the public experiences the results of a real health care reform that made them feel better off than they do today they’ll realize that they had nothing to fear after all except fear itself and theoretically the politicians that pandered to their fears and perpetuated their ignorance would disappear into the dustbins of history when their mob becomes better off by actions taken in the present moment starting with replacing the current health profit system by a health “care” system and not a watered down health care system because that won’t silence the mob or the political ideology of extremists and their representative that put profit before people like Chuck Grassley.

Speaking Truth to Stupid - the so-called Health Care Debate

2009-08-12T14:09:00.000-04:00

The so-called debate over health care is no debate at all because one side offers solutions the other side offers the stupidity of their ranks i.e. 18 percent of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth, 25 percent don’t even know what country we fought against for our independence, 34 percent still believe Saddam Hussein was involved with 9/11 and over 50 percent still believe in Noah’s arc. I mean we are one stupid country and the stupid among us seem to get the coverage an unwitting press eagerly provides further reducing the chances that health care will ever be reformed.

In America when you lose your job in most instances you also lose your health insurance that is for you and your family, even if you keep your job the cost of health care is increasing which means your salary will be decrease to make up for the increase in the cost of health insurance. Indeed small businesses will not be able to offer health insurance or will have to reduce staff just to pay the health insurance of those who fortunate enough to remain on the payroll.

In addition, the taxes of the community will be raised to pay for the Medicaid of people no longer employed which means a further decrease to take home pay and in the event of a catastrophic illness the probability increases that you’ll be filing for bankruptcy which also trickles down to the rest of us.

Maybe these noisy lemmings should stop their disruptive opposition to change and check out what's going on in America today. Indeed it’s quite obvious this is the same tactic the Republican Party used in 2000 to shout down a free and fair election. The connection to the current display of mob mentality is obvious as is the connection to the same appeal of fear mongering manipulation of the masses. Organized ignorance.

The shameless Party of No, today’s “Know Nothings” claims there is a true resentment in America today for which they are not responsible for manufacturing. People are angry. People are pissed without any influence from a party that will use any means necessary to foment dissent and maintain a status quo which favors them. These pathetic unpatriotic cowards would like us to forget the hate speech they inspired during their political campaign. “Kill him”. “Hang him” Remember that? One thing you won’t remember is any of the so-called leaders of this Party of Greed telling the mob they are out of order.

First it was the Tea Baggers – angered by being over taxed – too stupid to suspect that anyone should take their claim serious for these were the same simpletons who didn’t say boo when George Bush decreased the taxes of the wealthy – including those being made wealthy as a result of our current health care system. These were Mencken’s “boobus Americanus” in the flesh silent when the Bush Administration claimed the Iraq War would pay for itself. If you looked in the crowds and at the signs this observer was struck by the preponderance of over weight white people holding slogans of bigotry and hatred.

Obviously a lot of people can be that stupid. In America today they seem attracted to southern states with a history of ignorance that permitted slavery. Perhaps this is our second Civil War and this time we should either let the south secede on its own or legislatively terminate its relationship with the rest of the union. Let them have their imaginary friend, their bibles, their footballs, and their 4 hours of watching left turns while the rest of the America moves forward into the 21st Century.

Then it was “the birthers”. I mean you couldn’t make this shit up and no one is even saying “what’s he/she smokin’” because the press lacks the courage to speak truth to stupid while claiming to do so would be “making the news” rather than “reporting the news” but if the press can print something so egregious as “Obama’s death panel” they have a journalistic responsibility to “report” the fact that no such panel exists in reality.

Now it’s health care. Even though memos have been leaked describing the tactics of disruption that are being employed as they were in Florida 2000 and backers are exposed as convicted felons for actions committed while they were in the employ of the health care industry the Republicans deny their influence including the reference to this being Obama’s Waterloo. At the end of the day Republicans do not and never did care about the common good of the public.

In today’s America they have a sufficient number of under and uneducated people who feel strongly attached to the comfortable lie and threatened by the uncomfortable truth. The Republicans preach to a audience that cannot accept the reality of a black man as their president. That’s the difference between those who dislike Bush and those who dislike Obama the later was disliked primarily because of the color of his skin while the high crimes and misdemeanors of the former justified the disdain by any freedom loving man or woman.

The goon squads attend “town meetings” for the sole purpose of disrupting that meeting not to exchange ideas. Indeed they have no ideas and as such are the perfect candidates for a mob that can be easily manipulated. Look at the mob. It’s the same over weight white people that made up the “Tea bagger” mob now their signs are swastikas’ another sign of how ignorant these people truly are.

In fact Nazi Germany was a fascist state not a socialist or communist one and our system especially since 1968 under Republican rule more approximated a fascist than a socialist state. No way in hell were we a democracy since 68. Not when the winning presidential candidate made a deal with north Vietnam not to engage in peace talks with the south sending thousands more to their death just so Nixon could get elected and the sham of a free and fair election in 2000 exposed as myth our claim to democracy.

Millions of people have lost their jobs thanks in large part to the Bush economy. In fact millions of Americans lost their jobs during the Bush years. Most of them are no longer insured. Their SSA retirement will be decrease by years of under or unemployment. When they get sick as most of us will in this lifetime at best they'll qualify for Medicaid which will increase the taxes and decrease the wages of those still working including the stupid among us who don't even know they're not only getting screwed - they're screwing themselves. oh - another option is bankruptcy. In fact the largest number of bankruptcies is attributable to an unaffordable health care crisis. And who do you suppose picks up the tab when chapter 11 or 13 trickles down?

The party ideology of the right ruled this country for 20 of the last 28 years but did not offer one piece of health care reform legislation to reform what they now concede is an enormous social, political an economic problem. They just don't like the Democratic Party proposals and offer only the failed policies of the past by repeating the lie that we have the best health care system in the world to an under and uneducated public who parrot the words without a thought..

During the 8 years they were out of power these country club Republicans used whatever means necessary to insure that health care reform would be defeated in order to maintain the status quo of their profitable relationship with the health care industry such as it was and such as organized ignorance wants it to remain. Mixed in with the fear mongering was the evident loathing these obscurants had for an intelligent woman with power they could not control.

Twenty eight years later since the pitch man against Medicare, Ronald Reagan, claimed it was “socialized medicine” ushered in the dark ages of Empire, We have an opportunity to change the course of this nation from one which claims a generosity by its citizens that exceeds that of all other nations in it’s rhetoric but in the reality ours is a society that says “Fuck you. I got mine, get your own” to one where we place a priority on the health and well being of our people.

Recently I submitted the following letter to the editor of my local newspaper, The Times Union of Albany NY. That they printed it without the first two paragraphs exposed their complicity of what can best be described as the tyranny of ignorance and not a debate between differing ideas.

The newest/latest in this country's attempt to take a step toward universal health care and catch up with the rest of the world that places a premium on the health of its citizens is being challenged by those who represent the interests that place profits before people

Today town hall debates are disrupted by roving mobs manipulated by fear and ignorance and financed with a million dollars a day provided by those who would lose the most if our health care system were reformed i.e. the health insurance industry, big pharma et al.

Bill Walters' recent letter to the editor is a reflection of how fear and ignorance can motivate one to act against their own interest when he concludes with an appeal to the reader to not let Congress destroy "the best health care system in the world.

In reality the health care system which Mr. Walters claims to be the best ranks 29th in infant mortality, 27th in longevity and 37th overall according to the World Health Organization statistics.

If our health care system isn't changed who will Bill's crowd blame for the consequences of their participation in the perpetuation of the big lie that we're number one while the truth is that we have the most expensive health care system in the world yet the least efficient health care system.

It is time to place a priority on a health care system that cares for the sick without regard to profiting at someone else's misfortune. It is time to publicly shame those politicians on both sides of the aisle that are in the pockets of the health care lobbyists and demand they put the country first and not their financial portfolios.

It is time to remember that our politicians had no problem financing a fabricated war in Iraq but when it comes to providing health care especially for those willing to make the supreme sacrifice for this country they shamefully claim we cannot afford it. Indeed it is the truth that we are not number one which shall set us free from a system based on greed and create one based on caring for those who have the misfortune of suffering.

A TEACHABLE MOMENT

2009-07-25T11:36:00.002-04:00

On July 16, Prof Henry Louis Gates Jr. was returning from a trip to Europe and upon arriving at home found the front door jammed. Given that it was reported that his home was previously burgled when he was out of town one can only imagine the anger of “not this again” shouting in his mind as he tried to enter his home.

At the same time Lucia Whalen, a neighbor who obviously doesn’t have a clue about who her neighbors are calls the police and reports “two black men are trying to break in the front door” begging the question – wouldn’t a burglar try to maintain a low profile during the break in?
But this just isn’t Anytown USA – this is Boston MA. Those who have no grasp of history but do have a grasp on a microphone claim that MA is the most liberal state in the country. The myth no doubt attributable MA being the only state that voted against Richard Nixon in 72. The reality is that MA voted “against” Richard Nixon because he favored busing black students into white neighborhoods.

Indeed racism has a formidable history in MA. It was nearly 20 years ago in this same city when those who are “to protect and defend” us became vigilantes in blue and violated the constitutional rights of hundreds of black men breaking into their home or frisking them on the street to find out who killed a pregnant white woman when her husband, Charles Stuart told police she was killed by a black man in an area of Boston where the couple had no discernable reason to be passing through. A few weeks after the police reign of terror the husband committed suicide because it was he who killed his wife blaming a black man seemed plausible at the time and the police readily agreed.

When the police arrived Prof Gates was already in the house. Now put yourself in his shoes, if in fact you were previously robbed, you return tired from a long trip overseas and your front door is jammed your first thought is you were robbed again and when you do get in the house the police arrive and act as if you broke into someone’s house. The boiling point is reached. In the back of your mind your anger has to be exacerbated by the irony that the police never did catch the guy who robbed you before and now they’re in your house asking you to prove you belong there. Seems reasonable to me that you would demand the arresting officer’s name and badge number.

Enter Officer Friendly, James Crowley a man the press now tells us has been teaching a class to fellow police officers about racial profiling as if that removes any taint that perhaps his actions that night might have been influenced by any racial bias just in case the public is considering that possibility of racial profiling based on previous experience.

The events that followed are basically these: Prof Gates proved to Officer Crowley that he did in fact live there and in the process proceeded to berate the officer and accuse him of being “a rogue cop” whose actions were based solely on the fact that Prof Gates was a black and the implication being that this would not happen if he were white. Tired and annoyed by the tirade Officer Crowley arrested Prof Gates and claimed he was “following the book” which he neglected to mention also includes convincing someone to go outside their home which would make an arrest much easier to conduct.

On July 22 during a press conference conducted by President Obama addressing the issue of a new national health plan Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times asked President Obama about his thoughts of the previous weeks events involving Prof Gates and Officer Crowley and his response that the “police acted stupidly” generated the media’s feeding frenzy and gave American racists across the country reason to come out of the closet and spew their bile.

Lost in all of this is why isn’t anyone asking Lynn Sweet why should we ask that question given the topic of the press conference instead of a more germane and appropriate question something like “This is a two part question Mr. President: given that the United States ranks 37th in the world in health care how do you respond to those politicians who claim we have the best health care in the world and how do you respond to those who say we cannot afford your plan to provide health coverage to those less fortunate while they had no problem financing an unjust, immoral and illegal war in Iraq? Frankly no one should call on Ms. Sweet again as it is obvious she brings nothing but distraction to the table.

Today President Obama tried to diffuse the uproar generated by his comment that “the police acted stupidly” he admitted that his choice of words was inappropriate and that the issue of racial profiling was still a reality that exists for far too many people of color and the Gates/Crowley confrontation provided the opportunity for a teachable moment where we could turn down the volume of our own voices and just listen to each other.

A teachable moment happens when it occurs to me that while Prof Gates is indeed black yet being educated at Yale and teaching at Cornell, Duke and now Harvard hardly qualifies him to identify with those brothers and sisters who are just as black but who experience the in your face and violent degree of racial profiling they are subjected to on a daily basis.

Coast to coast housing projects, slums, gangs, violence and prison are the norm for a good number of people of color – an Ivy League education is not. The former can be a life sentence while the latter is but a few hours of incarceration – claiming the incident occurred purely because of his skin pigmentation is a weak attempt to cover up Prof Gates disdain that the elite among us have for the less educated among us. Perhaps this well educated man who just really found out what it’s like to be black in a white world would be better served by remembering that racism perpetuates itself when the slave begins to imitate the master.

I really don’t think Officer Crowley is a racist but then again there is the undeniable dynamic involved when someone in uniform has a potential opportunity to put someone of color in his/her place . If anything, I think what really triggered Crowley’s reaction was his response to what he perceived Prof Gates demand of “do you know who I am” as a classist remark and excluded the possibility that Prof Gates was implying he belonged in the house. The fact is the police should know something about the people they are serving and protecting. Given Officer Crowley’s history it’s hard to imagine that “uppity Negro” influenced his reaction but he was going to show him that it didn’t matter who Prof Gates was because he was the one with the power to arrest or not arrest.

Seems like a teachable moment is also when I think Officer Crowley should promote changing the book to insure that once a police officer determines that someone rightfully belongs in his/her home and no crime is being committed therein then the officer should realize he or she does not legally have a right or a duty to be there and should promptly leave the scene of a burglary occurring the mind of a neighbor who rightfully should be charged with making a false report regardless of any level of taunting by the home owner.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Gates/Crowley affair is when police across the country deeply resent the implication that race was a factor in the arrest and demand that President Obama apologize for basically being black because the history of race relations between those charged with “protecting and serving” the public is rich with the abuse of power and more often than not getting away with murder as when 4 white police officers killed an innocent black man named Amadou Diallo and were cleared of all charges by an all white jury in Albany NY.

The Diallo murder is but one of a numberless number of crimes committed by armed men in uniform that police unions across the country have yet to apologize for. That and not President Obama’s comment is what is truly insulting. What remains truly disturbing is that civil libertarians have not expressed outrage against another example of the police state that infests this country.

Indeed our society is so conditioned by the over abundance of prime time police operas on television that we accept without question that the role of the police is an honorable profession while the reality is they are protecting and serving the interests of a status quo which owes its very existence to a racism in which Officer Friendly willing participates in and unwittingly perpetuates. That is the teachable moment for anyone willing to listen to the uncomfortable truth rather than the uncomfortable lie that as a nation we have overcome our historical racism. While the President offers to discuss those differences over a beer personally it seems such conversations would have a better chance of success if they were smoking a peace pipe filled with wisdom weed rather than letting the alcohol talk.

IRANIAN BLOWBACK

2009-06-22T05:58:00.002-04:00

For the past week nothing seems more important than mainstream media’s coverage of the historical events that are occurring in Iran today and neglecting the similarities that recently occurred here at home with or without intent where past is indeed prologue.

In essence House Resolution 560 which passed 405 to 1, Ron Paul being the only representative of sound mind and detached from the blood lust of the rest of his colleagues basically said that Congress supports anyone who “embraces the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law”, they also affirmed their belief of “individual rights” and “democratic and fair elections” and sanctimoniously condemned the violence against demonstrators of suppression of the press.

The problem with this self absorbed war mongering nation is that we dangerously believe that we are number one in areas of “world leadership” in the face of a recorded history that we choose to ignore at our own peril. A nation can only achieve the lofty position of “world leadership” by example and our recent actions put us in no position to pass judgment on the affairs of any other nation that merely differs from us by varying degrees.

Why aren’t we more ashamed of our politicians for supporting citizens in another country who embrace the values of “…civil liberties and rule of law” but don’t have the courage to support American citizens when they are arrested like the 1800 plus in August of 04 for exercising their civil liberties when they peaceably assembled on the streets of New York City to exercise the freedom of speech when war criminals were in town for their convention that our pathetic politicians now condemn Iran’s government for suppressing speech.

Ironically President Obama was a Senator then and I don’t remember him standing with those 1800 plus who sought to exercise their rights to assembly and free speech that he now claims are “universal rights” which must be respected. Not much respect for those “universal rights” here at home just a few years ago.

As for the “rule of law” to date no one has been held accountable for or even charged with committing the war crime of torture other than “a few bad apples”. Reeking with good old fashion American hypocrisy and a near absolute denial of reality is our affirmation of the importance of “democratic and fair elections” which didn’t occur here in the belly of the world leader in 2000 or 2004.

The “leader of the free world” does not hold fraudulent elections where the will of the people is over ruled by 5 white people in black robes then point an accusatory finger at one Iranian in a black turban conducting his own fraudulent election today in Teheran.

In 2000 the Republican Party wasn’t demanding that every vote should count neither did the Democratic Party but the former did succeed at stopping the vote while the latter failed to challenge our own fraudulent election by praising the greatness of a system where the transition of power is peaceful much like that which occurred when Richard Nixon resigned but once again lacking the courage of our convictions to challenge the fraud.

The most notable difference between the fraudulent elections here in 2000 and 2004 and the one today in Iran is that here people demonstrated on the streets, some were taken off the streets by police and held for 2 or more days. Their efforts were typically downplayed or ignored by mainstream media while in Iran the people demonstrating in the streets are being beaten, jailed and/or killed for their beliefs and the press is silenced by the government rather than being given the script to secure the consent of the governed.

Yet with the unabashed arrogance of power we sit in judgment of how not just any other nation governs itself but an Iran that is experiencing a challenge to the ruling power structure of a theocratic state somewhat like the challenge here in 2008 to an oligarchy corrupted by power and greed.

How Iran resolves this crisis has serious implications for the future of the world community. How we respond should be influenced by a historical understanding of the facts and not the chest beating bravado of bloviators like Senator Lindsey Graham who claimed “the president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it” and charged that President Obama’s response was too timid.

He is as out of touch as Sen. John McCain who claimed that France and Germany were more forceful in the condemnation of the Iranian government response to dissent and thought America should lead. Neither one gets it – France and Germany opposed our preemptive invasion of Iraq that was nothing more and nothing less than a crime against peace which resulted in war crimes being committed by the occupation forces – we have no reason or right to demand the world should follow us because a real world leader leads by example and not by the empty rhetoric of a nation whose actions reek of hypocrisy.

When Sens Graham and McCain et al had the opportunity to challenge a fraudulent election here in 2000 they failed to support a challenge to the legality of the election brought by the Black Caucus in the House of Representative – John McCain and Lindsey Graham were silent by putting party ideology before the common good of the country yet now they speak out against a fraudulent election on the other side of the Atlantic.

Unfortunately our media feels compelled to present and give equal time to the views of those who are responsible for our decent from the throne of “world leader” and fails to challenge the ignorance of their ideology.

When Saxby Chambliss was reminded about U.S. involvement in overthrowing a democratically elected leader of Iran Chambliss dismissed it by claiming it was 60 years ago and most Iranians have forgotten about that. Chris Matthews “Hardball” was more like slow pitch softball he didn’t challenge the obvious stupidity of Sen. Chambliss. In retrospect it may have been Sen. Sessions from Alabama but then again southern political ideology is the result of inbreeding and as such it really isn’t necessary to identify which idiot said what mindless bile.

What Chambliss ignores is that the U.S. backed Shah used the Revolutionary Guard of his day which were called the Savak to jail, torture and murder anyone in the opposition that threatened the Shah’s power. Iranians did not forget that the U.S. backed that death and destruction as evidenced by the resulting theocratic state claiming today that the opposition is supported by the U.S. among others.

At the end of the day if some grand poobah like the Ayatollah Khamenei who claims to have a direct connection to an imaginary friend named Allah and uses that spiritual connection to preach death to the U.S. or anyone else for that matter then it is up to the Iranians and the Iranians only to decide if that is the religion they believe will best serve their interests as a people in a 21st Century that can no longer afford the madness of men influenced by a dessert religion that preaches death and destruction.

President Obama’s powerful yet well thought out admonition to Iran that the whole world is watching is worth remembering that the whole world is also watching us as well. When Iranians are willing to die rather than live in fear and hate if we really want to be the leader of the free world we should lead by example based on reason and not the empty rhetoric or our own lunatic fringe whose saber rattling is only giving that turbaned lunatic Khamenei an excuse to substantiate his claim that the opposition was manufactured by the Great Satan to be crushed by the power of a theocratic state created by U.S. meddling in the last democratic election held in Iran over 50 years ago.

DICK CHENEY - AMERICA'S WAR CRIMINAL

2009-06-21T08:54:00.001-04:00

For eight years a five time draft dodger with a self absorbed ego that compelled him to select himself to be the Vice-President in the Bush Administration and infect it with his self serving vision of America in the 21st Century to secure access to and profits from Iraq’s oil and to protect that ambition by a military that depends on a private sector business from which he also profits quite handsomely.

In essence Dick Cheney stands to profit in a state of war and he risks nothing to “perpetual war” on drugs, terrorism, radical Islam, which is really no different that radical Christianity or radical Judaism it just depends what side your own - you’re either with us or against us and since God is on our side “the others” must be evil - he sacrifices the lives of others for no other reason than personal profit disguised as patriotism.

If he was truly such a great American, if he had any honor at all he would transfer 64 of his 65 million dollars net worth to the Veterans Administration to pay for all those in uniform and their families who suffered from the folly of war that he never personally experienced in uniform.
Dick Cheney – American Coward – the un-American Dick Cheney pretending to be the voice of America warning that the enemy he is responsible for creating will strike again and blaming the Obama Administration for not committing the same crimes that resulted in a climate of retaliation.

Eight years later it is becoming more difficult to deny that Dick Cheney’s vision of America included preemptive war based on the deceit and deception of the American people, an absolute disregard for the freedoms contained in the Constitution he swore to protect and uphold replacing it with his definition of reality which included torturing “other people” to confess to that which would support his casus belli, his lie that led to loss of life and unimaginable suffering just to turn a profit.

That the man has recently crawled out from under the rock in some undisclosed location to pander his failed policy to a media complicit in giving credence again to someone who would clearly meet the definition of “war criminal” – a media in a ratings frenzy following his every pronouncement about “enhanced interrogation techniques” without daring to expose it as nothing more than Orwellian for torture.

Lyndon Johnson used the lie of Gulf of Tonkin and wasn’t held accountable. Richard Nixon was never held accountable for any of his innumerable high crimes or misdemeanors. Carter was held accountable for Iran. Ronald Reagan wasn’t held accountable for supply side economics or ordering support of the Contra guerrillas that mined Nicaraguan harbors. George H W Bush was never held accountable for his role in Iran Contra or the Savings and Loan Scandal but Bill Clinton was held accountable for getting blow job. Ironic that Democrats are held accountable while Republicans are not.

Today the indisputable facts are these: George Bush and Dick Cheney’s Administration violated: the “Convention Against Torture” signed by President Reagan, Article 146 of the Geneva Convention, Article 8 of the International Tribunal at Nuremberg and Article VI of our own Constitution and to date no one is held accountable except a “few bad apples” who followed the orders of war criminals who have no shame.

During the presidential campaign in 2008 Michele Obama claimed that for the first time in her adult life she felt proud of her country yet in the winter of my years without shame or surprise I experience nothing but disappointment that my country continues to look the other way when crimes are committed in my name and "change" means more of the same.

CATHOLIC HYSTERIA AT NOTRE DAME

2009-05-12T18:15:00.001-04:00

Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish, “thee” premier Catholic college in the country has issues with President Obama giving a commencement speech because of his views i.e. a woman’s right to choose” conflicts with their “right to life” religion.

Their hypocrisy is shameless. They call the woman’s right to make a decision independent of the man, god the father “abortion” and as such killing the unborn fetus while they lay claim to “right to life” yet they have nothing but contempt and disdain for those who do not believe in or worship in the same way some imaginary friend.

Ironic that they had no problem with George W. Bush, who as Governor of Texas presided over the execution of 152 people including mocking Carla Fay Tucker when she pleaded for life. And Notre Dame had no problem with George H. W. Bush speaking at this “right to life” university after invading Iraq during Gulf War I which resulted in over 500,000 Iraqi death mostly women and children.

Even a quarter of the Catholic Bishops now object to President Obama’s visit to Notre Dame because it conflicts with their Catholic ideology. No doubt most of whom were silent when the U.S. was waging an unjust, immoral and illegal war against Iraq. So much for the “right to life”.

And you don’t hear about Notre Dame demanding that the Catholic Church turn over pedophile priests rather than reassign them to other parishes. Maybe the best way to resolve differences between those who are so self righteous about the sanctity of life is to let them put their money where there mouth is come tax time they can check a box that says they believe in the rights of the yet to be born so god damn much that they’re willing to pay more in taxes to support the unwanted when they are born.

The question is does the Catholic Church follow the example of the Christ who taught his followers to love one another, the one who gave the sermon on the mount or a bunch of old white men wearing colorful robes in Rome praying for peace once a year when celebrating their savior’s birth while practicing hate and ignorance the rest of the year?

WHO'S SMILING NOW?

2009-05-11T07:25:00.001-04:00

Seems like the right to bear arms crowd is being far too humble when it comes to honoring gun owners who exercise their god given rights under the 2nd Amendment so I’ve decided to pay tribute on a weekly basis to the gun owner(s) who best portrays the absolute right that all Americans have to bear arms.

The first week “Guns Don’t Kill People – People with Guns Kill People” honors Sheila and Gayle Muhs from some place near Houston TX who exercised their 2nd Amendment rights to protect their property against trespassers by killing a 7 year old boy, Donald Coffey Jr., who went into the woods to relieve himself. His 5 year old sister was wounded, as was his father and his father’s friend remains in the hospital with a head wound.

The Muhs property was clearly marked “Trespassers will be shot. Survivers (this is the Muhs spelling and after all we are speaking about good god fearing citizens of Texas) will be reshot!! Smile I will.”

That the District Attorney charged the Muhs with aggravated assault and may even upgrade the charges to murder is but another assault on the 2nd Amendment and hopefully Wayne LaPierre himself will intercede to express his outrage that the Muhs are being charged with any crime for exercising their 2nd Amendment absolute right to bear arms in order to protect their property which was actually stolen from Mexico long ago but that’s another story from little boys trespassing to take a leak.

THE PROBLEM WITH CREATING REALITY

2009-05-06T06:34:00.001-04:00

We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.
Karl Rove

What happened to one of the most important issues facing the Obama Administration and this nation? Just over a week ago I was watching Morning Joe on MSNBC with Joe Scarboro and his sidekick Mika Brzezinski fretting over the issue of evidence that clearly indicates the United States government was committing acts of torture in violation of the “Convention Against Torture” signed by President Reagan, Article 146 of the Geneva Convention, Article 8 of the International Tribunal at Nuremberg and Article VI of our own Constitution

Morning Joe was being especially passionate in a partisan way first claiming that Nancy Pelosi knew what the government was doing in essence admitting torture occurred but because the Speaker of the House knew it was going on she and by extension the silence of the Democratic Party is complicity and perhaps they shouldn’t pursue this path where serious charges of war crimes can be made against members of the Bush Administration.

That was the moment I began referring to Morning Joe as Sanctimonious Scarboro. I mean here’s former Representative Joe Scarboro representing Florida’s 1st Congressional District by voting to impeach William Jefferson Clinton for obstruction of justice and ten years later he wants President Obama to look the other way when real high crimes and misdemeanors were committed and not just a mere act of fellatio.

Then Sanctimonious Scarboro proceeded to claim that any attempt to address this issue would result in show trials and just in case the viewer still questioned Morning Joe’s position he played the fear card by stating that the proceedings and the truths exposed would “embolden our enemy”. That’s the kind of leap one takes out of desperation.

Meanwhile Mika was being coy with the camera and acted nonplused when she nonchalantly said “if mistakes were made it’s time to move on”. Perhaps Mika needed another cup of Joe because her response reflected the views of someone totally divorced from reality while pretending it never happened.

If not now, when Mika? Nixon committed high crimes and misdemeanors and we looked the other way. We looked the other way when Reagan and Bush I were involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. Certainly now after the facts have been made public which indicate the strongest of possibilities that the United States government permitted acts of torture to be committed – if not now, when do we hold someone accountable other than a few bad apples at the top of the barrel spoiled by the rot at the bottom of the barrel, the top office holders of our government.

The Morning Joe panel then proceeded to analyze how the Obama Administration should respond to the issue without ever considering or mentioning that their solutions should be influenced by one of the American values i.e. we are a nation of law that allegedly caused the terrorists to hate us so much that they created the tragedy and suffering of 9/11. Liberty and justice for all yet our past shows that our rhetoric laced with such lofty values have yet to be matched in reality.

Here’s the analysis from Yova’s beach:

The Democrats should have impeached George W Bush in 2006. There was already sufficient evidence that he committed high crimes and misdemeanors without even addressing the war crime of torture. They lacked the courage that justice demanded when they decided not to put impeachment on the table in essence not to hold anyone accountable and thus exposed as myth that we are nation of laws and not a nation of men.

The Democratic Party has an opportunity to right a wrong and in the process they’ll have to accept their responsibility for authorizing George W Bush to wage an illegal, immoral and unjust war against the sovereign nation of Iraq. They can find strength and comfort remembering that in a government where all three branches of government were controlled by the Republicans 133 house Democrats and 23 senate Democrats voting against authorizing war yet only 6 Republican house members and only 1 Republican Senator voted against war.

That said given the plethora of problems left behind from the previous administration, their abject failure to address high crimes and misdemeanors in the past and in acceptance or their own culpability the Democrats should not conduct hearings or investigations. The hypocrisy would be too obvious.

Nor should the Democrats assign the task to a special prosecutor because that would result in too much of the truth being kept a secret and enough of it leaked to create an atmosphere of mistrust and the last thing we need in this country is for the public to distrust its government. Transparency is the best way to achieve trust and that would be a significant change to politics as usual.

As for Sanctimonious Scarboro’s fear that congressional investigations would result in show trials that seems more likely to occur if a so-called truth commission was created. I mean really a “truth commission” modeled after the “9/11 Commission” in which only Richard Clarke accepted responsibility and apologized to the public, George W Bush was allowed to testify in private with Dick Cheney at his side and no one was held accountable. Now that’s a show trial.

Besides this isn’t like South Africa which upon gaining independence created a truth commission where forgiveness would aid reconciliation between master and slave. We’ve had our independence for over 200 years. We might not be able to handle the truth but we can no longer avoid it and the truth is that Obama didn’t release the memos as a political act to smear the previous administration he was under threat of a subpoena to release the documents based on a freedom of information act request. The memos support the allegation that the U.S. committed torture and as such war crimes.

I would suggest the creation of an independent council supported by both parties, the Democrats for reasons outlined earlier and the Republicans who should put country first in reality rather than mere rhetoric or election slogans. That only 7 Republicans voted against the authorization to wage war in Iraq leads to the evitable conclusion that to date they’ve put party first and are thus responsible for the war crimes that inevitably followed after all if there is no war there are no war crimes. War is indeed hell.

An independent council would be tasked with:

Determining what the law on torture was prior to Bush Administration lawyers redefining reality.

Conducting an investigation to determine if the law was violated, support how it was violated and find out who violated it.

Interview those who violated the law to determine why the law was violated

Determine who was responsible, deciding how they should be held accountable and then uphold the law to the fullest extent.

Pragmatically speaking in today’s world since we claim to be the leader of the free world, the bastion of democracy, we are a nation of laws and not of men yet with events in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Palestine etc. we will have to have world support if we are to solve the crisis stirring to the boiling point in those regions of the world.

It’s really time for the United States to put up or shut up. Do we have the courage of our convictions? Are we really the land of the brave or is it all bluster when we beat our chests. If one of America’s values is that we are a nation of laws shouldn’t our actions reflect that in our actions rather than risk the charge of hypocrisy?

Are we so insensitive to the stench of such shameless rank hypocrisy that we can’t smell that which stinks to the rest of the really civilized world? If we deny the existence of that value doesn’t it presents a compelling case that the terrorists have indeed won for we’ve become just like them? That the detractors claim to wage this war against terrorism we have to use “enhanced interrogation techniques” removes that which is supposed to distinguish “us” and “them.”

In fact those who no longer believe we are a nation of laws claim that we risk another terrorist attack because of publicity given to the issue of “our” terrorism and almost guarantees another 9/11 from “their” terrorism if we pursue justice – another endangered American value. Seems to me that since violence begets violence it’s not a question of “if” we will be on the suffering end of another terrorist attack but “when” and the risk has nothing to do with having a moral and divisive debate about “enhanced interrogation techniques” but everything to do with coming together and confronting the uncomfortable truth – we committed torture.

The whole world is watching how we accept responsibility for our actions as a nation and if we just move on as Mika suggests it will embolden our enemies to hate us more and embolden our friends to no longer be impressed by our empty rhetoric demanding that other nations show respect for human rights while we do not.

In essence the Karl Rove mindset that we are an empire which can create our own reality where “torture” is called “enhanced interrogation techniques” therefore it’s not “torture” is a classic example of putting lipstick on a pig and will result in our own destruction when faced with the reality that we are not above the law. I dare call it treason.

That the issue of torture was the top story only two weeks ago and that now the press acts as a willing participant by consigning it to the past and replacing it with something more tangible to fear i.e. the swine flu that may or may not have resulted in one or two, yes only one or two deaths indicates that we are on the way to moving on with little or no regard for addressing the consequences of our actions.

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
Nietzsche

OBAMA'S POT POLITICS

2009-04-21T21:06:00.000-04:00

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein

In a town hall meeting on March 26 President Obama accepted the following online question: “With over 1 out of 30 Americans controlled by the penal system, why not legalize, control, and tax marijuana to change the failed war on drugs into a money making, money saving boost to the economy? Do we really need that many victimless criminals?”

To that question President Obama responded “And I don’t know what this says about the online audience, but…this was a popular question. We want to make sure it’s answered. The answer is no, I don’t think that’s a good strategy to grow our economy. All right.”

Since I really expected much more from this President after eight long years of deceit, deception and outright lying from the previous President I was quite surprised and disappointed by President Obama’s dismissive demeanor and politics as usual response.

In fact the question said nothing about the online audience but did expose President Obama’s empty rhetoric about bringing change to Washington because his response was nothing more than the slight of hand employed by most politicians i.e. he changed the question to suit a safe response and moved on as if he actually answered the question that is more pressing than popular given the emergence of a narco-state south of the border.

On the same day of President Obama’s town hall meeting his Secretary of State was south of the border saying that Americans have an insatiable desire for illegal drugs as if to explain that we are part of the problem that has caused the carnage produced by the cartels to protect, defend and expand their market share of illegal drugs they supply to satiate our desire implying that if we didn’t have an insatiable desire for illegal drugs there would be no need for cartels to export that which is no longer demanded thus the end of violence produced by the problem of illegal drugs.

During President Obama’s recent visit to Mexico he said that the U.S. would have to work on curbing demand for illegal drugs. We’ve already tried just saying no and we’ve already tried incarcerated so what’s left to curb demand? After being sworn in President Obama said he wanted the role of science to play a large part in his administration’s policies yet what science supports the claim that we have an “insatiable desire for illegal drugs” as alleged by Secretary of State Clinton? In fact since the science of neurobiology with the aid of modern technology has actually found cannabinoid receptor sites in the human brain it seems that curbing demand is a fool’s errand.

If anything the historical record supports the position that we Americans more likely seem to have an insatiable desire for violence after all our nation’s history is written in blood from day one. How else can one explain a drug policy that is waged by violent means? More guns are smuggled into Mexico from the U.S. and other countries, more guns are purchased by cartels that supply illegal drugs, more guns are purchased by gangs that distribute the illegal drugs, more guns are bought by the police, more guns are purchased by people who use illegal drugs and more guns are purchased by citizens in cities where the war on drugs is playing out.

As for drugs let’s face it as a people we are more predisposed and programmed by daily advertising by the pharmaceutical industry to have an insatiable desire for “drugs” period. Caffeine to wake up, No Doz to stay up, a cornucopia of pills to suppress our appetite or too loose weight after all one can never be too thin, pills to get a rise out of one’s Mr. Johnson and provide sexual satisfaction before taking Ambien to fall asleep and if that sequence of daily events seems monotonous and depressing there are drugs that can make one smile once detached from reality.

The Mexican cartels are now exporting drugs to over 230 U.S. cities which have become major distribution hubs for illegal drugs because the demand exists here in the U.S. but that same demand exists in most if not all other sovereign nations. The difference is how nations respond to that demand to that reality.

Some like Portugal actually decriminalized all drugs and since 2001 the prevalence rates of drug use among the Portuguese has actually decreased through 2008. Others like the U.S. have been waging a war against the cannabis plant since it was declared in June of 1971 by Richard Nixon.

Get the picture. Hundreds of billions of dollars spent since the war began, millions incarcerated, millions of innocent lives ruined many forever, millions of families destroyed beyond repair, constitutional liberties eroded, more police hired, more easy arrests, more opportunities to earn an extra buck through corruption, lawyers with more clients, new prisons built, more corrections officers hired to keep their fellow man in a cage, a climate of fear created, more guns on the streets, more death and destruction from gang related violence and nearly 40 years later what to we have to show for this multi-billion dollar war on drugs?

One of the things I learned as a Political Science major was that “change is incremental” but forty years and our country and our government still can’t accept the uncomfortable truth that our policy with respect to illegal drugs has been an abysmal failure? If it is true that insanity is defined as repeating the same action and expecting a different result then I must accept that which I find unacceptable yet can no longer ignore that I live in an insane society and Obama’s recent remarks seems to confirm my suspicions.

The fact is that no one asked President Obama if legalizing marijuana was a good strategy to grow our economy. How dismissive and deceitful of the change candidate. The two part question President Obama never answered was why not legalize, control and tax marijuana to change the failed war on drugs into a money making, money saving boost to the economy and do we need that many victimless criminals?

The reality that Obama chooses to ignore is that much like the prohibition of alcohol in which gangs and violence were a natural byproduct of making an illegal substance available to satisfy a need and a demand. Once the XVIII Amendment was repealed the gangs and the violence disappeared at least until some other drugs became illegal in the late 1930s providing other gangs an opportunity to satisfy a need.

Seventy years later perhaps it is time to realize that by decriminalizing drugs cartels will have nothing to supply to the gangs, the gangs won’t have anything to distribute, the violence associated with drug crimes will decrease and we can use the over 40 billion dollars a year it costs to wage this failed war to address the crisis facing our economy.

Why we wouldn’t consider decriminalization as a possible solution to the existing drug problem south of the border and here at home was the first part of the question President Obama chose to ignore. The land of the free and the home of the brave constitutes 5 percent of the world’s population while constituting 25 percent of the world’s prison population and that was the second part of the question that the leader of the free world ignored.

Here’s a suggestion - decriminalize it – distinguish between use and abuse and treat the later as a health problem rather than a crime – since it costs more to incarcerate someone in New York State for one year than it does to send him/her to a state college for four years save the money wasted on a failed policy or use it to hire more teachers or provide health insurance to those that need it. Regulate it like alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical drugs are or should be. Tax it – with a stamp to use, a stamp to grow and a stamp to sell, based on the previous years taxable income with a minimum tax established. Use the revenue saved for education, health insurance, housing and building a strong middle class. Now that’s change I can believe in.

President Obama recently announced that in the coming weeks he was going to be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs “shown to be wasteful or ineffective." In addition he said there would be “no sacred cows or pet projects.” He claimed that he was doing this because “All across America, families are making hard choices, and it's time their government did the same."

In the face of a failed drug policy instead of mocking proposed solutions and dismissing those who ask “why not decriminalize” it’s time for President Obama to make some hard choices about our drug war. The question which must be put to President Obama is will he eliminate this government’s war on drugs because is has been “shown to be wasteful or ineffective?” How Obama responds will be a measure of his administration’s credibility and more importantly a reflection of the content of this President’s character.

EXERCISING THE 2ND AMENDMENT - AGAIN

2009-04-20T07:40:00.000-04:00

In Middletown Md the other day a man exercised his 2nd Amendment by shooting and stabbing his 33 year old wife, his 2 year old daughter and his 4 and 5 year old sons before turning the shotgun on himself and taking his life before the police pried the gun from his cold dead hands and giving us time to remember once again that guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people with or without guns. Thanks to the almighty christian god for the NRA and protecting our right to bear arms.

GAY MARRIAGE - A THREAT TO IGNORANCE AND INTOLERANCE

2009-04-20T07:38:00.003-04:00

Governor David Paterson recently announced that he would push for a gay marriage bill in New York State and the battle lines were drawn between the bigots and those who still believe that “all” Americans were endowed by their Creator with the inalienable right of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and not just breeders.

Nothing like the possibility of gay marriage to bring out the bigotry characteristic of many Americans – that Blacks are against gay marriage is amazing that Latinos are against it is not. The former seem to have forgotten that it was bigotry that denied them civil rights for over 200 years and the later are predominantly Catholic and as such can at least plead ignorance.

Leading the way against the bill is the new archbishop or in the present instance “archbigot” of the New York Diocese, Timothy Dolan who claimed that permitting gay marriage would be a detriment to civilization and he would “put the power of the church” behind defeating the bill.

The end of civilization? Surely Timothy Dolan knows that the institution of marriage wasn’t even a sacrament until 1563 so the institution of marriage hasn’t been around for thousands of years like present day misogynists in cassocks and their true believers would have us accept.

In reality marriage did occur among pagans in the form of common law but civilized Christians were concerned with placing the woman’s property in her husband’s control and keeping it there. In essence Christian marriage morality was nothing more than the means of taking away a woman’s independence and turning it over to a man. To prove their disdain for women a Christian husband could beat his wife with impunity and no legal or religious agency would defend her.

The historical record reflects that according to the Puritans the husband exercised the authority of God over his wife and in Britain wives were legally classified with minors and idiots and consigned to the custody of their husbands. In the civilized U.S. it was in the early 1960s before a judge ruled that the sanctity of the home could be invaded by the state if a man was beating his wife.

Indeed a woman was always subservient in Christian theology. According to Christianity the woman’s duty in marriage was one of submission and the husband was by the laws of the Christian God her superior. In essence “women” became a man’s property so let’s knock off the bullshit from the pulpit about the sanctity of marriage and gay marriage being a threat to civilization.

The reality is that it is not gay marriage which threatens civilization but rather it is the Christian concept of marriage between a man and a woman which is the actual threat to civilization when women are considered to be subservient as evidenced by Church’s contempt for women who dare choose whether or not to bear a child and the Church’s blatant hatred of those who are biologically wired to prefer a same sex relationship after all who would want to be a lower form of life, who would want to be a repository for the penis of God’s authority on earth, a woman according to Christian theology.

If the Archbigot of the New York Diocese wants to engage in the political arena and do whatever is in his power to insure the defeat of gay marriage then perhaps the New York State legislature should consider removing the tax exempt status from the institutions of organized superstition then he can bitch about his religious freedom being challenged instead of trying to deny the equal rights of our gay brothers and sisters, our fellow Americans.

TEA BAGGING ON TAX DAY

2009-04-20T07:36:00.001-04:00

Tax day came and went and there are still idiots out there who believe the tea bagging protests were a spontaneous outpouring of populism raging against not just big government but big government that taxes and spends too much of “our” money.

If you really think it had anything to do with taxes check out this from Pensacola Jeff’s appearance at one such rally in Florida. Unlike Joe the Plumber Pensacola Jeff actually had a job and he’s not a pathological liar. http://flprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/04/dfh-blogger-speaks-at-pensacola-tea.html

The local yokel was fulminating on his radio show about how many more people watch FOX News that Orwellian “fair and balanced” propaganda organ for the Republican agenda during his attack against the other lesser watched networks that actually reported on the herd mentality in action rather than promoted, supported, attended and spoke at these gatherings of anti-Obama racists.

I mean really it wasn’t about taxes at all. The signs of the times tell it all: “Obama’s Plan/White Slavery”, “01/20/13 – Obama’s Last Day”, “Real Americans Only Bow Before God”, “Impeach Osama Obama”, “No Socialism”, “I Want My Children to be Born in the USA not the USSA”, “220 years to build a republic only a month to destroy it”, and “RIP USA 7/4/76-1/20/09”.

The know nothing true believers in the white people only party and their offspring carried these messages of intolerance, ignorance and hate forgetting that it was Reagan who cut the taxes of the wealthy and not the taxes of middle-class Americans, it was Bush I who bailed out the Savings and Loan banks costing billions to the tax payers, it was the Republican Party’s “Contract with America” that the permitted free market greed of capitalism to go unregulated, it was the Republican Party of Big Business that let corporations find the tax shelters outside the continental U.S. leaving the rest of us to pick up the tab and it was Bush II who continued the tax cuts to the wealthy leaving the global economy in a state of collapse.

Now the Party of No is concerned about the federal deficit? How disingenuous to forget that their former Vice-President said that “deficits don’t matter”. Even the simple minded Republican governor of Texas, Rick Perry threatened that Texas would secede and Tom Delay explained why that would happen while the press has yet to explain why Tom Delay isn’t behind bars.
How ironic that the last time secession was attempted ownership of blacks as slaves was one of the concerns expressed by the southern states and over one hundred forty years later we have a black president now the south wants to secede again.

Last time over 600,000 Americans were killed by each other to keep the union this time. This time let the south go. The southern states are still locked in the 19th century mentality and have been nothing but a drag on the political progress of this republic. They’ve offered nothing but bible thumping, gun toting, anti-union/anti-worker sentiment, race bating, football playing, car racing and an insatiable desire for the inbreeding of ignorance. Let the south go to hell with their guns, their bibles and their footballs but first let’s get the billions back they received in bail out money then let ‘em tea bag each other.

OBAMA'S TORTURED LOGIC

2009-04-20T07:31:00.000-04:00

I’m not going to dwell on the specifics. There’s sufficient information in the mainstream media that presents a compelling against the Bush lied when he said America doesn’t torture. Turns out with President Obama’s recent release of the twisted legal justifications by the Bush Administration we did in fact torture people and as such we violate international and our own federal law begging the questions who is accountable and more importantly who will hold them accountable.

Suffice it to say that the actions of the Bush Administration have violated the Convention Against Torture signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1998 and ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1994, the Geneva Convention Article 146, the Charter of the International Tribunal at Nuremberg Article 8 and the U.S. Constitution Article VI.

Inexplicably President Obama and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, have already stated they will not hold the CIA operatives who conducted the torture accountable but said nothing about those who wrote the directives permitting torture or those at the very top who authorized the war crimes that were committed in our name.

The only explanation President Obama has provided is that he prefers to look forward rather than backward. How odd that an individual educated in Constitutional Law from Harvard no less would choose to ignore history let alone the Constitution which he swore not only once but twice to uphold.

Former President Richard Nixon was never charged with violating federal law when officials from his election campaign held secret discussions with the South Vietnamese to insure them they’d get a better deal if Nixon was elected. The South Vietnamese were a no show at the peace talks and over 20,000 more Americans and millions of Vietnamese would die before we declared “peace with honor. Richard Nixon was never charged with that crime and five years later he would be pardoned for the high crimes and misdemeanors he committed even though he was never he found guilty.

Not holding Richard Nixon accountable for the crimes he committed permitted the Reagan election campaign to commit the same crimes against federal law when they visited with Iranian officials to make a deal of weapons for hostages. Instead of holding Reagan accountable he was elected not only once but twice and his trickle down economics ultimately led to the economic crisis we now face not to mention the military aid he provided to Iraq and the supported he gave to what would eventually become the group responsible for 9/11.

By failing to hold Reagan accountable his Vice-President, George H. W. Bush who was involved in those talks with Iranian officials was elected to oversee the Savings and Loan scandal as well as invade Iraq, kill over 500,000 Iraqis mostly women and children in the process and provide al-Qaeda one of the major reasons to hate us and act out by leveling the world trade towers.

Since George H. W. Bush wasn’t held accountable we got to find out what is meant by the sins of the father are visited upon the son when George W. Bush was selected to be President by five members of the supreme court who proved justice wasn’t blind it was in fact highly partisan. The son would be elected a second time by getting out the vote from Christians conservatives who felt threatened by the possibility of gay marriage.

The result of George W Bush was an unjust war waged against the sovereign nation of Iraq based on deceit and deception of the American public and a continuation of Reaganomics that eventually brought the global economy to a state of collapse. Is it possible the economic conditions we face today could have been avoided if a democratically controlled Congress in 2006 pushed for impeachment of George W Bush and Dick Cheney rather than taking that option off the table as soon as they were elected?

Now President Obama has an opportunity to be the candidate of change that he claimed to be by holding George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and other high level officials of his administration accountable by establishing a special prosecutor to investigate whether or not war crimes were committed by the Bush Administration and if they were to recommend holding them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Looking forward and ignoring the past is more of the same and almost insures that someone far worse than George W Bush will be elected who will perhaps usher in the end of this once great republic. If President Obama’s Administration pursues bringing a 16 year old Somali pirate to justice for surrendering to the Navy and providing them with vital information which aided their success in killing the other pirates and saving the ship’s captain while looking the other way and failing to bring George W Bush to justice for war crimes that’s not change we can believe in that’s only more of the same hypocrisy we can longer afford.

In the final analysis it seems President Obama’s logic is more a case of reductum ad absurdum because the logic of looking forward would compel every criminal to claim in his or her defense that we should forget the past and result in a world where nothing is forbidden and everything is permitted.

AM 1300 REPUBLICAN RADIO

2009-04-20T07:18:00.000-04:00

Republican radio is alive and well in upstate New York at 1300am under the ownership of Paul Vandenberg our local nattering nabob of negativity. A Siena grad with a degree in Business and the financial backing of like minded nabobs permits him to own a radio station that qualifies him to display a level of ignorance in his partisan political opinions that reflect the provincial attitudes of the capital district by blaming ad nauseam the “tax and spend” Democrats for all the problems that New York now faces.

The latest issue that revealed his partisan agenda is the Congressional race in New York State’s 20th Congressional District to replace former Representative Kirsten Gillibrand aka Tracy Flick the annoying overachiever in the 1999 movie “Election” who defeated the incumbent John Sweeney in the 2006 election in large part because Republican hypocrisy and incompetence was being exposed nationwide and locally Sweeney was accused of abusing his wife and yes there were issues about his alcohol abuse.

That Sweeney was one of the thugs shouting down the vote in Florida had little or nothing to do with him losing the election but had everything to do with me cancelling my subscription to the local paper that endorsed him.

The contestants in this special election are Jim Tedisco a lifetime resident and long time New York State Republican Assemblyman and the Democrat Scott Murphy a new to politics Missouri born somewhat successful business man.

Vandenberg’s dog in this fight is Jim Tedisco. That this simpletons nonsense appeals to anyone is a testament to our intolerance of anything that challenges the status quo as well as a strong argument that the Fairness Doctrine should be returned to the public airwaves. Somehow this Christian Conservative clown gets to forget that his hero, Ronald Reagan, created this economic mess with his trickle down economics of an unfettered, unregulated free market capitalism supported by incompetence, corruption and greed in the casinos on Wall St. which was legalized by both sides of the political aisle in Congress. As it so happens Reagan was also responsible for getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine and opening the flood gates to the ignorance perpetuated by talk radio.

Vandenberg doesn’t get. The Republican Party is primarily responsible for the mess we’re in – socially, economically and politically and the Democratic Party was largely complicit. Yet here is the obscurant Vandenberg praising the failed policies of the past and promoting their return by supporting the Republican candidate who didn’t even register in the 20th District to vote for himself but he did show us what kind of a Representative of the people he would be when he claimed he was going to take on Nancy Pelosi who seems to have become a lightening rod for Republican venom.

The people in the 20th District will indeed get what they deserve if nearly half the people will be represented by a fighter against change and the nearly half of the rest should not expect someone who is willing to cooperate with those who put country before party.

Vandenberg doesn’t even understand the simple concept that shit flows downhill and he serves no other purpose than to spew the ignorance that he himself wallows in. Since the Democratic Party seems to once again lack the backbone to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine the public airwaves of AM radio will remain monopolized by mindless chatterboxes of right wing jingoism who perpetuate that which divides us and provides fertile ground for the triumph by the tyranny of ignorance that will produce the inevitable end of our republic which was built on the lofty rhetoric that no longer resembles the reality of this empire’s collapse.
At the end of the day I remain dazed and confused by the thought that people not only listen to this undereducated college grad who can’t understand the concept that shit does indeed spread down hill but they actually call him up and with rare exception agree with Vandenberg in a shameless display of public stupidity - so much for the theory of Intelligent Design.
My level of tolerance for such nonsense was reached within ten minutes. I turned to AM 590 only to hear the same crap repeated by a male/female team of propagandists while AM 810 offers up the pill poppin’ Limbaugh. I turn off the power but I still can’t turn off the perception that demagoguery still plays a major role in our political discourse and as such reduces to rubble the chances that our democracy will ever achieve those values of liberty and justice for all.
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The Second Amendment - ENOUGH!!!

2009-04-05T08:23:00.004-04:00

“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” (Second Amendment)

Within the last seven days it’s become apparent that if “A well regulated militia” gives any citizen the right to bear arms the citizens are abusing their right that right i.e. presuming the right even exists.

Personally it seems obvious to me that the people have a right to bears arms within the confines of a well regulated militia to protect our free States against an oppressive form of government but let’s accept the NRA version of the Second Amendment according to which absolutely everyone except convicted felons has a right to own a gun based on the claims that tyranny would occur if the citizens weren’t allowed to carry firearms, only the criminals would still have guns and after all Americans have a right to defend themselves and guns don’t kill, people do.

Look as far as people having a right to possess guns to protect the Homeland against a strong and oppressive central government that myth was destroyed when five judges in black robes decided who was going to run the country, the majority who voted otherwise didn’t count and not one shot was fired by one these god fearin’ gun tottin’ “proud to be ‘mericans”.

In reality the modern day state has a monopoly on the means of violence as such private gun ownership is not an adequate response to a situation which only non-violence can solve. When did we ever forget indeed if we ever believed that violence only begets more violence? Doesn’t it make sense that non-violence would beget non-violence?

As for the argument that only the criminals will have guns the presumption is that law abiding citizens won’t be able to defend themselves but within this past week seven law abiding citizens were gunned down in a Carthage NC nursing home as was a nurse who cared for these people and three other people were wounded.

The law abiding gunman was only exercising his Second Amendment rights. Allegedly he was suffering from cancer and telling close acquaintances he was preparing to “go away”. At the end of his killing spree he was captured and he will as luck would have it be going away just like he said.

Meanwhile in Binghamton NY a law abiding citizen for the past eight years who recently lost his job in addition he had other issues so he took his legally purchased guns a transaction that has the full protection of the Second Amendment and murdered a receptionist on his way to the citizenship class where he killed twelve people and gave them a first hand lesson in the Second Amendment. He then turned his legally purchased gun on himself and ended this lifetime but it remains unknown as to why he would want to take all that negative karma with him?

The madness of men having a right to bears arms reached critical mass when a malcontent who recently lost his job and expressed his frustration by gunning down three police officers. His violent behavior didn’t disqualify him from owning some guns including an AK47 and the powerful Magnum 357 handgun which he used in his ambush of those who are supposed to protect and serve law abiding citizens.

Three men in are dead, two wives are now grieving widows, one broken heart belongs to a betrothed, five young girls are without fathers all because one law abiding citizen exercised his Second Amendment rights. It is also reported that he called a friend and said he was “going to die today” but when he was captured he was wearing bullet proof protective gear offering a classic example of the false bravado of a bully.

Perhaps most disturbing was his fear that President Obama was going to take away his gun rights that eventually he surrendered by exercising that right to commit murder. Who is responsible for filling this undereducated thug with such nonsense about Obama’s position on the right to bear arms? Who else should be held complicit in committing this crime?

The fact of the matter is that Obama respects the right to bear arms but he also favors “common sense” gun laws but has yet to explain what kind of “common sense” guns laws would have prevented the killers in Carthage, Binghamton and Pittsburg from ever owning guns.

Once upon a time candidate Obama said that working class voters were frustrated with economic conditions “And it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion…to explain their frustrations.” Today President Obama and the rest of America is finding out what that really means the hard way and then some because the economy is bleak for more people and unemployment will be running out soon and after all America is a violent nation.

Who else remembers that candidate Obama apologized for the truth? Those who did shouldn’t expect too much change especially when it comes to guns however as the number of mass gun deaths increase so do the chances that both sides of the aisle in Congress will begin to remember that the primary role of government in this Republic is to provide for the safety and happiness of its citizens at least that’s what Jefferson words imply in our Declaration of Independence.

As for the NRA official position on all the deaths from guns yesterday, today and tomorrow in the United States “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. While there are several rationalizations for using guns the ultimate purpose is to cause suffering with intent and to take life with little or no regard for it. Guns have absolutely no other use. To be sure people do kill other people but I suspect if guns were banned killing wouldn’t be as easy, certainly there would be fewer mass shootings and eventually there wouldn’t be any gun deaths.

While personally I’d prefer a complete ban on the manufacture, sale and/or position of any guns I’d be willing to acquiesce to a form of gun legislation in which people have the right to form a militia and anyone who belongs to that militia will have a right to bear arms as long as he/she is a member of that militia and the sole purpose of the well regulated militia would be to protect our civil liberties when legal means have failed to secure them.

Perhaps its time for our representatives on both sides of the aisle to return the substantial contributions they receive from gun lobbyists who pedal their products that produce nothing but death and enact legislation that provide for the public safety and happiness rather than the profits of gun industry.

At present the Second Amendment does nothing more and nothing less than legitimize man’s baser instincts to commit murder and satiate the blood lust that still runs in the veins of those who have recently fallen from trees. Who can deny that people with guns kill people with or without guns? Of course guns by themselves don’t kill other people hell they don’t even shoot without someone pulling the trigger and how disingenuous of the gun lobby and how pathetic that this scam hasn’t exposed the merchants of death. How many more people have to die, how many more widows or widowers have to grieve and how many more fatherless or motherless children do there have to be before society says ENOUGH!!!

Postscript – I wrote the above on Saturday evening. The lead story in the new today is about a father who exercised his Second Amendment rights by taking the life of his five children a boy seven and four girls ages 11, 13, 14 and 16 before taking his own. ENOUGH!!!

Down the Memory Hole 6 Years Later

2009-03-20T07:57:00.002-04:00

In honor of all those who have made the supreme sacrifice for this nation, and those hundreds of thousands who returned mutilated or maimed mentally or physically or both and in honor of their families and friends, and for all the dead, disabled and displaced and their families and friends in Iraq, for all those who have suffered on both sides of the Atlantic, and for those in uniform who had the courage to refuse to obey an unlawful order and for all those global citizens who expressed their outrage against a rogue state masquerading as the leader of the free world while waging war and laying waste to life based on a lie. Shame on the rest.

Six years ago the United States of America, my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty violated international law by committing a crime against peace when it invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq during the course of which war crimes were committed when the Geneva Convention on torture was violated and in the process high crimes and misdemeanors were committed against the Constitution of the United State, the supreme law of the land.

Six years later no one from top down no one except Richard Clarke has publicly accepted responsibility or apologized to the country for their actions indeed the former Commander-in-Chief still claims we don’t torture, his second in command is still spewing fear and ignorance to anyone who will listen and the rest of the coconspirators are trying to create a reality out of delusion where no one is held accountable for committing crimes against humanity exposing the myth that we are a nation of laws and not of men.

Six years later most of those who participated in the manufacturing of public consent for this crime including the editorial page of my local paper, the Times Union are silent. The closet I came to reading or hearing anything from those who play a role in shaping public opinion was an exchange between a talk show radio host and one listener which compelled me to write the following to the radio show host. I’ve printed his reply in bold face below.

In essence six years later the lies and fabrications of remain and it is only the way the war was waged that is questioned. Six years later the reality of our shock and awe preemptive war in Iraq is denied and dismissed as if we will not have to reap what we have sown.

Dan - As I was listening to your show on St. Patrick's Day I heard you repeating the newest, latest official version of the Iraq War i.e. we were there to create a democracy in the middle east, rhetorically asking who really knows if Atta was in Prague, and repeating the lie that everyone with rare exception believed that Iraq had WMD.

For a moment I remembered you reading an email on your show back in early 03 which I sent you suggesting that the U.S. invasion of Iraq would be based on establishing a permanent military base to protect the interests and the profits of the corporations who perpetuated our addiction to oil.

I remember as well how incensed you were by my position that you even mentioned my full name on air but I don't remember you supporting the invasion of Iraq at that time by claiming our real intent was to establish a democracy in the Middle East.

Tonight when I heard your positions on Iraq e.g. the Atta affair in Prague, the existence of WMD, Hussein's relation to 9/11 and the books that you read which implicitly influenced your thinking that you were sharing with caller "John" who had the courage to disagree but couldn't readily support his position while you accused him of participating in historical revisionism as if you had access to the historical record.

In any case it was de je vu all over again with me. Funny but I thought the Atta myth had been exposed along with the WMD that Iraq bought from us only to be destroyed in the mid 90s by Iraq but expressing the possibility that Hussein may have had something to do with 9/11 that was way too much, over the top nonsense Dan.

The call compelled me to have a thought in which I give you an opportunity to experience and express a thought based on fact rather than fabrication by suggesting that you read at the very least "The Greatest Story Ever Sold - The Decline and Fall of Truth in Bush's America" by Frank Rich and "Hubris" by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. If you've already read them perhaps you'd profit from reading them again before expressing your current views with a passion that almost conceals a faulty logic from your audience.

Since you bill your show as "radio for people who think" as a listener I've always presumed that thoughts based on fact had more value than the thoughts that were manufactured by someone else. Which reminds me, my position 6 years ago to which you strongly objected was based on my reading of the Project for a New American Century and my knowledge of the fact that the authors were in a position of power to pursue the agenda in that manifesto which acknowledged securing a permanent military presence in the middle east and the role of oil, "our" national resource on another country's territory. No coincidence there Dan.

It's not for me to judge your position from 6 years ago which seems to have morphed into the party line that our goal was to establish a democracy in a country and completely missing the irony that in the process we were giving up our democracy here but I do not have a responsibility to give you an opportunity to think.

My position is much the same now as it was then with one proviso -- that Rumsfeld and company screwed up the occupation by sending in too few people. The Project for the New American Century was, it seems, very much a factor in the thinking of the Bush administration. Rather than conduct this debate by e-mail, however, you know where to reach me every afternoon.

THE HUNGRY GHOST OF CAPITALISM

2009-03-19T07:32:00.001-04:00

When I went to high school one either took academic courses in preparation for college or business courses for a life in the business world. Kids who could take a car apart and put it together again didn’t have a technical high school until a few years later. Those students were then as they are now the most productive of the lot and were then as they are now the only “real workers”.

The best and the brightest never took business courses but those who did are the people who today have the financial power to purchase the political power required to impose and enforce a failed economic system that favors the wealthy few at the expense of the rest of us.

The only business course I ever took was “Business Ethics” as an elective in college decades ago but I remembered enough about the course to realize the concept does not apply to the reality in today’s world of business transactions that have the global economy at the edge of the cliff looking into the abyss.

What results should one expect from an economic system based on greed and legitimized by the corruption of those on both sides of the aisle who were bought and paid for by their masters on Wall St.? The farce of each party blaming the other in staged sixty second sound bites and the shallow indignation they share toward their biggest campaign donors is disingenuous at best.

Does it really matter if we get millions back in undeserved bonuses if we are only going to reward criminal behavior with billions in the bail outs yet to come. Admittedly I don’t know much about economics but if we withhold the bonuses from the bail out money seems to me that the money is still coming from my pocket.

Even the party line that we have to bail out the banks so they can extend credit to people who have a job or people who want to create jobs is an absurdity when the reality is that it is only the banks that will profit. How about this – if we really do own it why don’t we see what works and what doesn’t, keep the former and get rid of the latter?

In fact instead of spending billions to bail out the banks just so they can make a profit by extending credit to those who will eventually become the debtor class why don’t we use the billions to create more teaching jobs, build more health care facilities and provide adequate staffing or increase the number of people who inspect the food we eat and pay them so they leave the debtor class.

The most common mistake we make is accepting the proposition that capitalism and democracy are inextricably linked when the fact of the matter is that free market capitalism is in essence an anti-democratic ideology after all not everybody can get rich in a system designed to profit a few. In fact we are less democratic than we are led to believe by those who do have a dog in this fight unless one really believes that our so-called representatives in Congress are really representing us.

In reality as an economic system capitalism has served us poorly. Since the 1800s this country has experienced 40 years of economic depression, 30 years of recession and 20 years or more of economic panic.

It is written that in Buddhism there exists what are referred to as the 6 hell realms one of which is called “the hungry ghost” and it is represented by one with an enormously extended abdomen and an extremely long and narrow neck. This is one who can never get enough and it is manifested in the mindset of today’s capitalism.

The average person in America today the “have some, want more” types define their relationship to Mr. and Mrs. Jones by often thoughtless, shameless acts of conspicuous consumption to establish their rank on a hierarchy that can only be propped up so long before it crumbles again.

When I was a boy growing up in the coal regions of northeast Pennsylvania I spent Sundays with my extended family mesmerized by the passionate political discourse take took place when my father and my uncles would discuss the conditions of the working man in the mines or on the railroad trying to unionize based on their common interests in relation to those who employed them.

What I remember most was their description of the Depression and what they did, what they had to do to survive and provide for their families. As a young boy I was moved to have a fantasy in which I watched the wealthy who profited from the suffering of the many leaping from office buildings and splattering on a sidewalk far below in the financial district.

Today I’m satisfied to see capitalism chocking on its own vomit and with the eternal optimism of my youth still hoping it’s the last time because the reality is that we live a life that requires a new way of living, Our present response is nothing more than a valiant attempt to prop up a failed economic system and not the change required to end the cycle of suffering spawned by capitalism. We need a paradigm shift in which the public sector and the private sector work together taking the best of capitalism and the best of socialism to put people before profit.

AN OPEN LETTER TO REP. PAUL TONKO

2009-03-02T07:48:00.002-05:00

The following was sent to my representative in Congress regarding the sorry state of service provided by the Social Security Administration to the public. A courtesy copy was sent to the ranking majority and minority members of the finance committee in the Senate. I'll keep you posted when I receive a reply.

Dear Congressman Tonko,

A recent GAO report (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0924.pdf) addressing service issues at Social Security field offices found that poor levels of many services were due to staffing shortages and as a result of inadequate funding for SSA’s administrative costs prompted me to write this letter.

As a veteran, an AFGE union member, and a constituent of your district with 36 years of public service at the Social Security Administration, the last 30 years of which were performed Troy NY, I offer you front line observations of the problems facing SSA in the hopes it prompts you to seek those solutions that do not include the knee jerk reaction of hiring more people or increasing the SSA budget

Although retired from SSA I am still an active dues paying member of AFGE and as such I would normally advocate for increasing the staff and budget but the reality is that the public demographics are such that the workload will increase at the highest rate since 1974 with implementation of SSI legislation and the working staff has decreased to levels to pre 1974 levels.

Perhaps the most troublesome workload is that of Social Security Disability claims. There are too many frivolous claims filed by people that don’t meet the program’s criteria. Commonly, these are people with minor, short-term injuries who forced to file for Social Security by their employers insurance companies or they have applied for temporary Public Assistance which requires them to apply disability benefits in order to qualify for public assistance.

These unnecessary claims only add to the existing backlog of disability claims not to mention reducing the time a decreased staff has to work on those cases which do meet the criteria. In other situations due to staff shortages claimants are requested/required to file their own claims via the computer with little or no knowledge of what SSA is actually looking for. These claims are generally denied at the initial level then become added to the unmanageable backlogs at the appeals level and two years or more go by before a claimant who is disabled receives a decision then waits for another 30 to 60 days or more before they receive any retroactive benefits they are due.

In addition due to the increased workload of disability claims and the decreased staff in field offices one of the most important workloads i.e. continuing disability reviews (CDR) is ignored and held in what agency speak refers to as being placed in the category of “moratorium”. When claimants become entitled to Social Security Disability by law their claims are supposed to be reviewed at various intervals depending on their disabling condition in order to determine if in fact they are still disabled.

In the private sector when an individual receives long term disability his/her condition is always reviewed and while the private insurer can terminate an individuals long term disability if his/her condition has improved that individual can still collect the Social Security Disability he was required to file for by his/her employer and thereby expose the “program integrity” of Social Security as a myth.

How much money do you think we are paying out of the Social Security Disability Trust Fund to people who are no longer disabled because this oversight hasn’t been conducted for years? Given the current state of our economy how long do you think we can afford to ignore accountability and trust?

Hiring more people will help but it won’t solve the immediate crisis because it takes 2 to 3 years for someone to feel confident about their job knowledge. Indeed even Senators Baucus and Grassley acknowledged as much in their press release in response to the GAO report. (http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb020909c.pdf).

As for increasing the budget since we found out that the Iraq War really wouldn’t pay for itself and the wealthy kept the Bush tax breaks rather than reinvesting in America we can expect budget cuts in social programs to pick up that tab with little left over thus exists the reality that there is little or no money to increase the existing SSA budget.

To be sure SSA today is overworked and understaffed but from my personal experience in your district there were and there still are highly paid SSA employees who waste official time to justify overtime and management cronyism which blatantly perpetuates the waste of tax payer dollars without any accountability. Indeed the public would be outraged at what really goes on in the SSA offices in your district.

It is noted these problems are systemic from the top down. In the early 90s I testified before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Aging about some of these same issues and the result was a shell game referred to as “reinventing government”. Furthermore, on numerous occasions I informed your predecessor about these issues only to find out that he did nothing more than send my correspondence to SSA for the self serving response that would let him and the SSA off the hook.

Given our current economic crisis we can no longer afford business as usual at SSA where neither employees nor management are held accountable. Hopefully you’ll do more than pass the buck for the service issues facing SSA are indeed a matter of public trust.

At present the disabled individual can roll the dice and file with SSA directly or hire an attorney representative whose fee is higher the longer it takes to process a claim. It is imperative that you seek other solutions to an agency no longer capable of serving the public and I urge you to pursue those other solutions with all due diligence because in these dire economic times we cannot afford to ignore the public any longer.

Until the issue of SSA’s service to the public is addressed the plight of disabled people nationwide will be that of people whose income has decreased, their self esteem shattered, financial affairs in chaos when they can’t afford the mortgage or the rent, and their suffering will not be limited to them because the unbearable strain of their economic situation will be passed on to their families to be crushed beneath the wheel of financial loss.

I am willing to make myself available to meet with you and discuss these important issues at your convenience should this letter compel you to address the crisis that is taking place in Social Security and the hardship it imposes on the public.

cc: Senator Max Baucus
Senator Charles Grassley

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

2009-03-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

Last November an 8 year old Arizona boy used a single-action .22 caliber hunting rifle to kill his 29 year old father for spanking him the night before over being in trouble at school. The boy then calmly called in the father’s 39 year old roommate and proceeded to shoot him in the head and chest. The boy’s father taught the killer how to use the gun to kill prairie dogs. At the end of the day the boy had graduated to taking human life and a psychologist said the boy action was an immature impulse and he might not understand the finality of death. Did this kid really think the prairie dogs came back to life only to be shot again?

On February 15th a 16 year old boy shot and killed a 29 year old man taking his life in a dark Harrisburg PA alley which police described as an “open-air drug market” as opposed to the closed air drug market in the local CVS or Rite-Aid where millions of Americans can satiate their addiction to pharmaceutical drugs. Basically the cops said that if someone is involved with purchasing drugs at 2:30 in the morning you have a 50/50 chance of being shot.

Meanwhile on February 20 an 11 year old boy in Wampum PA used a 20 gauge shotgun designed specifically for children and purchased for him by his father acted out his jealousy on his 8 month pregnant 26 year old step-mother by blowing her brains out. Afterwards he boarded the school bus much like any other day and went to school - TGIF. The boy’s lawyer said he didn’t think his client didn’t think he knew the boy knew what was going on. Really???

You might think this post is another rant against those lunatics who claim we all have a right to bear arms under the Second Amendment. I’ll continue to refer to these gun nut guardians of “the American way” as “lunatics” because until they exercise their right to bear arms solely for the purpose of protecting the other freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution then no such right exists and frankly the “lunatics” haven’t proven they are willing to do that. Besides, since the state has a monopoly on the means of violence what’s the point of owning a gun if not to kill someone for whatever reason or excuse?

Yet this article isn’t limited to children killing people with guns for nearly five years ago a 21 year old local boy killed his father with an axe and brutally beat his mother. During the trial the prosecution claimed the mother nodded in the affirmative that it was young son that killed her husband and this evidence was damning to the defense. The boy’s lawyer who no doubt is now being paid quite handsomely by the mother has filed an appeal challenging the mother’s previous acknowledgement because after all what mother would send her own son to jail for 50 years to life.

No, this article has more to do with slick, sleazy lawyers out to make a quick buck than boys being boys in a sick society which afflicts this country because oddly enough the only boy who doesn’t have an attorney is the 16 year old involved in a drug deal gone bad. What are the odds that he is also the only boy whose skin pigmentation is darker than the others and besides he was into drugs while the others were only mentally unstable or in the case of the local 21 year old boy conditioned by greed and avarice something most lawyers understand all too easily.

AN OBITUARY TO THE AGE OF IGNORANCE

2009-02-26T08:34:00.001-05:00

Chillin’ with Buddha at the beach listenin’ to “3 Play It Cool” by Thievery Corporation thinkin’ it’s time to tell the anti-intellectual, anti-science, evangelical true believin’ fundamentalists and their children that obviously got left behind that “change” means now facts matter and fabrications do not and “change” means reason and knowledge are replacing the fear and ignorance that have dominated our public and foreign policy for the past forty years and “change” means that science reigns instead of faith based intolerance.

The Age of Ignorance in American politics began with Richard Nixon’s southern strategy of “divide and conquer” by appealing to the baser instincts of the backward regions of this country that were and still are a breeding ground for intolerance. The states targeted by Nixon were and still are ranked among the lowest in education and the highest in born again experiences and Christian fundamentalism where inbreeding of ignorance in the red states is the rule rather than the exception.

This politics of division was then spread first by “the silent majority” that begat “the moral majority” once they found their voice in a B movie actor who pitched the supply side economics that got today’s America teetering on the brink of depression. These were the harbingers of the American Taliban know as “the religious right” who dangerously believe in their own delusion that their imaginary friend is the one true god, creator of the heavens and earth and better yet he’s on their side.

Today the spokespersons who spew endless hours of subversive bile and outright nonsense to perpetuate this ignorance range from a gangly blond woman who spits her venom with evil intent to a pill poppin’ pharmaceutical drug abusin’ overweight cigar chompin’ under educated millionaire voice of today’s Republican Party who has no shame when he shares his twisted wish that he hopes Obama fails and by extension that the country suffers to satiate his addiction to the ignorance that makes his life comfortable.

The politicians who were elected to represent Boobus Americanus include the likes of Alan Keyes who is trying to convince our men and women in uniform to refuse orders by President Obama because he isn’t an American citizen thereby disqualifying him from seeking the Presidency in the first place and he actually convinced one of the lunatic fringe in uniform to legally challenge President Obama’s legitimacy by calling him an “imposter”. Even Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama implied support for Keyes’ delusional silliness when he said Obama’s father was Kenyan and “they said he was born in Hawaii but I haven’t seen any birth certificate.”

The intellectually challenged John McCain who only a few months ago said the economy was strong while he’s now claiming the stimulus package wasn’t the answer begging the question what would he know about the economy. His slogan was “Country First” but at the end of the day he put party first when Obama extended a hand across the aisle to put the country first McCain lack the courage of his convictions reducing them to nothing but slogans and gracious words in defeat but only for the cameras.

On the state level there are Governors Barbour of Mississippi, Jindal of Louisiana, Sanford of South Carolina, Perry of Texas and Palin of Alaska who have become Safire’s “nattering nabobs of negativity” of the 21st Century with their false bravado of turning down selected funds from the stimulus package that would benefit the most because these are the sort of ideologues that place party ideology above nearly seventy percent of the country.

As a global citizen and a legal alien hangin’ out at Yova’s Beach thinkin’ that the only way we can survive the challenges to our future is to be united in the purpose of creating a better place to live for all forms of life that follow. As a proud black man with Caucasian features the inauguration of Barak Obama represented the first step toward a paradigm shift in the way American politics is conducted and the first step away from the partisan politics which divides us.

It is time to bridge the chasm of our destructive political divide. It is truth not ignorance which shall set us free and if we are to succeed in our pursuit of freedom it is time to tell the un-American right wing of the obstructionist Republican Party, their tough talkin’ chicken hawks in government and their hate mongering propagandists who repeat the big lie for the ditto heads at home that this is a time in our nation’s history to lead, to follow or to get out of the way for “change” has come to America.

After forty years of Republican leadership characterized by gross incompetence, negligence, corruption, greed, misuse and abuse of power a strong majority of Americans realized that ignorance was part of the problem and the solution was to elect Barak Obama as President to lead this country away from its strong attachment to the darkness of obscurantism. To those obstructionists who prefer to follow the failed policies of the past – get out of the way because the “change” that has come to America is the beginning of the end for the Age of Ignorance.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH IN ALBANY NY

2009-02-25T08:44:00.001-05:00

I wrote this piece several years ago and continued to post it every 25th of February as a reminder to the reader of a old yet relevant rap lyric – “if the police are here to protect us, who’s here to protect us from them” in memory of Amadou Diallo who was murdered in cold blood ten years ago and no one was convicted of any crime. Today I get to celebrate my son’s birthday with him and another father is left with nothing more than memories of the crime committed that took his son’s life because his skin was black and nothing more. Shame on all those involved in this injustice from the criminals who pulled the trigger, to the judge who banged the gavel, to the politicians who pandered to the press in support of New York City’s finest.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH IN ALBANY NY

We are socialized to celebrating events throughout our lives from birth to death. Today, February 25, for example is my son’s birthday. I remember his mother calling me at work to tell me that her water broke. When the significance of her statement finally occurred to me I was in a mad rush to pick her up and drive her to the hospital to give birth to my son.

But today while remembering that exceptionally warm February day in 1976 I am compelled to recall that cold bleak February day in 2000 which the political establishment as well as the black community in city of Albany New York, the city of New York, indeed the State of New York and it’s politicians, past and present prefer to forget.

For it was on this day in 2000 when a jury in Albany NY decided that NYPD officers Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy committed no crime, neither murder nor manslaughter, not even criminally negligent homicide when they acted as judge, jury, and executioners of an unarmed 22 year old Bronx street peddler who immigrated from Guinea in West Africa named Ahmed Amadou Diallo.

The officers involved were assigned to a street-crime unit investigating a rape pattern in the area of a city where 16 black “suspects” are stopped for every arrest made. They were following standard police procedure of “stop and frisk” which was adopted by then mayor Rudy Giuliani and his new police Chief William Bratton.

The policy known as “zero-tolerance policing” can be traced to a 1982 article written by James Q Wilson, a conservative (before they became “compassionate”) political scientist who declared that no offence was too small – not begging in doorways, single-joint marijuana sales in public parks, and no offender too low-level to escape police attention because it is the seemingly insignificant signs of disorder that lay the groundwork for more serious street crime and social decay.

Economic or social explanations of crime were no longer acceptable in a city characterized by staggering social inequality where social spending is repeatedly slashed while police ranks and financing of the instrumentalities of fascism are increased in order to defend the haves against the have-nots – the top 20 percent income bracket makes 25 times more than the bottom in the Big Apple where the nation’s largest homeless population walks the same streets as do the world’s greatest concentration of multi-millionaires.

While this firing squad execution (41 shots were fired at a man, a black man, who reached for his wallet to provide his identification) occurred in the Bronx the trial was moved to Albany to insure the cops would get a fair trail and a guaranteed acquittal as evidenced by presiding Judge Teresi who made it clear that whether or not Diallo posed any threat to the police was beside the point. Teresi said the jury only had to conclude that the cops fired out of a subjective fear as he invited the jurors to “put yourselves in the officers’ shoes”. Teresi’s charge implied there was no need to put oneself in Diallo’s shoes for after his body absorbed 19 of 41 shots fired he was dead and after all he was just a black man.

Hours after the verdict, Teresi visited the police officers’ attorneys at a bed-and-breakfast and thanked them for their “cooperation” but made no such visit to the prosecution nor the mother or father who no longer had a son.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani hailed the acquittal and heaped praise on a jury system that barred the residents he represented from sitting as jurors. “It fills me with profound respect for being an American and for living in a country that has a trial by jury”. He then went on to attack “anti-police prejudice” and compared the NYPD to “civil rights workers”.

US Senator Hillary Clinton responded to the verdict by saying “We must all work together toward the day when all citizens and all police treat each other with mutual respect”. She then went on to apologize for having previously referred to the Diallo shooting as “murder” and declared her support for the death penalty in cases where police officers are killed.

Meanwhile the Rev Al Sharpton often the object of ridicule by the mainstream media was imploring those outraged by the verdict that “not one brick or bottle be thrown” to express outrage at this latest injustice.

Years later I remember peacefully demonstrating against this crime, this act of state sponsored terrorism, this legitimization of murder by wondering why there weren’t more people of color standing shoulder to shoulder. Perhaps they have been conditioned to accept such injustice and delay until another day the realization of Rev Martin Luther King’ dream that “one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal”.

AMERICA'S FAVORITE PASTIME

2009-02-23T08:25:00.000-05:00

Mr. Bullshit baseball player from the Dominican Republican, Alex Rodriguez, held a well staged press conference at the Yankee training camp in Tampa FL this past week that was supposed to put an end to the story that A-Rod was juicing up his game. Indeed major league baseball could no longer afford to be put in the public spotlight.

The integrity of the game was being challenged and all of baseball hoped A-Rods confession would put an end to all this talk about steroid induced statistics is having an adverse affect on their product given the state of today’s economy. In essence it’s bad for business.

His explanation was that he and his cousin bought what they thought was an energy enhancement drug over the counter in the Dominican Republic because he felt that he had to live up to the enormous expectations placed on him by becoming the highest paid baseball player of all time when he signed with the Texas Rangers and he felt that way because he was young, foolish and ignorant.

This was a show for the public so they could forgive this juiced up freak and let the game go on. The questions asked by the press were for the most part softball questions asked to solicit a mea culpa and “I’m sorry” in the hopes that the worshipping public would forget that the apology came after his name was exposed as a juicer.

Although the press was handcuffed by the rule that no follow up questions would be asked and nobody but nobody asked him about the interviews he did with 60 Minutes in 07 and Katie Couric in 08 in which he outright lied and in the process mocked the suggestion that he was juicing it up because with sheer lack of modesty in his mediocre mind he was the best player in the game and he boasted about not needing the artificial boost of juice. In essence A-Rod lied and didn’t come clean until he got caught.

In fact only Yankee management, his teammates and the most loyal of A-Rod fans would find his bullshit story plausible because within days the press found out the drug purchased in the Dominican Republic couldn’t be purchased over the counter and without a script. Surprise, surprise A-Rod lied again.

Apparently A-Rod wasn’t that foolish or ignorant either because it had to take some smarts to figure out what substance to get, how to use it, how it would enhance his performance, how to get it and how to conceal it from everyone except some cousin who was sticking needle in A-Rod’s twenty eight million dollar a year ass.

As for his confession that he was under tremendous pressure to produce in Texas which prompted his reliance on steroids does anyone who knows anything about the sport really think he would have less pressure in New York where he signed a bigger contract?

Based on recent facts turns out that A-Rod has been hanging out with some guy named Presinol who once upon a time circa 2001 got busted as a steroid bagman in Toronto compelling me to suspect A-Rod has been juicing with a designer steroid that masks detection through at least 07 and I strongly suspect his confession was an attempt to limit the scope of his juicing to his years in Texas.

Seems to me like A-Rod committed fraud when he sold himself to the Yankees as the best player in the game supported by statistics that were the result of steroids and not pure athleticism but that didn’t real matter to the Yankees because they saw a player that had a strong possibility of setting baseball’s all time home run record so they signed to a ten year deal.

Think about A-Rod’s pursuit of the home run title and all that future revenue that the chase will generate. Remember what McGuire and Sosa did for baseball? A-Rod is a cash cow for the New York Yankees who just built another a new stadium that opens up this year right across from the house that Ruth built and one day the new stadium will be called the house that Rodriguez built. Imagine that right across from the house that Ruth built.

Since the baseball strike in 94 the game’s owners let the juice flow or looked the other way for a generation of poster boys like Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod et al posing as athletes to entertain the masses while the owners made their millions and so did the freaks pretending good enough to convince the ever unwitting public and always too eager to be entertained to believe, to worship and to financially support America’s favorite pastime * where today the only statistic that matters has been reduced to the numbers that follow the dollar sign and the name of the game is greed and corruption where baseball imitates life on Wall Street.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

I couldn’t resist sharing some serious irony that occurred on the western side of New York State. It starts five years ago when a man named Muzzamil Hassan launched Bridges TV for the purpose of portraying Muslims in a more positive light and used the slogan “connecting people through understanding.” Flash forward five years and apparently Mrs. Hassan doesn’t want to be connected to Mr. Hassan so she files for divorce and takes out an order of protection against Mr. Hassan. Apparently she knew Mr. Hassan all to well because the day before Valentine’s Day Muzzamil Hassan showed us how he responds to people who don’t want to be connected when he beheaded his wife. So much for orders of protection and so much for portraying Muslims in a more positive light.

WHAT THE DOW JONES MEANS

2009-02-11T08:29:00.000-05:00

Ironic that last Friday when it was announced that 598,000 Americans lost their jobs the Dow Jones responded by gaining 217 points. Meanwhile when the stimulus passed the Senate the Dow Jones lost 381 points.

For anyone who appreciates the absurdity of the market place just listen to the analysts describing the daily ups and downs of the market. The large drop yesterday was attributed to a speech by the Secretary of the Treasury but I’ve noticed that generally when the middle class suffers whether it’s because of job loses, or home foreclosures etc. the market generally does well while conversely anytime the middle class gains an advantage the market drops like a rock.

According to http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/Recessions.html it appears that in the last 50 years we’ve had 2 sharp recessions and 4 mild recessions. The current recession nears an economic depression begging the question: when will we conclude that our economic system of free market capitalism does not serve the middle class well?

DICK CHENEY - TERRORIST

2009-02-11T07:55:00.001-05:00

Recently Dick Cheney claimed that there was a “high probability” that terrorists would attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years and declared that President Obama’s administration policies would more likely make that attempt a success.

It is true that eventually we’ll have to pay collectively for the crimes committed against peace these past eight years much like we did on 9/11 when we paid for the U.S. military presence on Arab lands that was used to launch our first invasion of Iraq which cost nearly 500,000 Iraqi lives mostly women and children before our second invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq and we still supported Israel in their occupation of the Palestinian people – a solidarity of slave states I suppose.

In any case those events resulted in the tragedy of 9/11 at least according to Osama bin Laden’s explanation and yet we still have U.S. troops in Arab lands, we invaded Iraq based on an outright lies, we tortured people and committed war crimes in the process and we’ve supported the state sponsored terrorism of Israel when they committed their war crimes against the Palestinian population so I’d say there is a better than 50/50 chance of the U.S. being hit with an act of terrorism. No one should be surprised. Violence begets violence but to imply the Obama Administration would be responsible borders on an act of terrorism itself.

As for Dick Cheney predicting an act of terrorism I find it disturbing and alarming that not one news organization exercised their freedom of the press to remind the public why Osama bin Laden claimed 9/11 occurred and no one reported the obvious irony that a terrorist predicting an act of terrorism.

While it is true that there are over 100 definitions of “terrorism” the only general characteristic generally agreed upon is that “terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence the United States defines “terrorism” in the Federal Criminal Code Chapter 113B of Part I of Title 18 as “…activities that involve violent… or life-threatening acts… that appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and… (C) Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States…”

Perhaps we can avoid this tragic consequence if we accept our collective responsibility for Iraq and rebuild all that we destroyed and if our representatives in Congress forego their politics of appeasement and hold George W Bush and members of his anti-American administration accountable especially Dick Cheney who was Secretary of Defense during the first invasion and if the world nations can find the courage to charge our leaders and our representatives who blindly supported them in lock step with war crimes. Then and only then will we have a better chance of avoiding the tragic consequences to come which our predatory foreign policy under successive Republican Administrations has sown.

In the end it seems that Dick Cheney’s threats constitute what Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. referred to as a man “shouting fire in a crowded theater” when there is no fire and as such do not enjoy the protections of freedom of speech. In fact Cheney’s remarks may even constitute an act of terrorism as defined by the U.S. Code. Perhaps Cheney should follow his own advice and watch what he says because his recent statements appear designed to intimidate the civilian population by claiming it is President Obama’s policies that will result in another 9/11 or worse thus implying the public should oppose President Obama’s foreign policy which seems to be based on reason and knowledge rather the fear and ignorance that Dick Cheney and the neo-con true believers employed to influence government policy for the past twenty years which created the conditions for 9/11 and the tragedies yet to come.

A-Rod, Phelps and Real Change

2009-02-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

Today it was reported that A-Rod tested positive for enhancement performing steroids in 2003 the same year he won his first MVP increasing his market value and securing a fat contract from the New York Yankees. He used designer steroids that didn’t result in the muscle head appearance like Barry Bonds. Everyone thought he was clean and kids looked up to him as the guy who could become the real home run king in baseball by exceeding the asterisk of Bonds’ steroid injected record.

Excluding bonuses Alex Rodriguez aka A-Rod will earn 28 million dollars this year playing a game with a ball for the New York Yankees in front of those who can still afford the price of admission those among the hundreds of thousands of people who haven’t been laid off from work each month.

In 2007 A-Rod told 60 Minute viewers during an interview that he never used steroids. Today he has nothing else to say to the press except “ask the union”. Well maybe the union also knows how many games were won or lost, how many records were set or surpassed, and how many wagers were influenced by A-Rod being juiced up. At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter because A-Rod will keep his 28 million dollar salary plus bonuses.

Meanwhile at the deep end of the pool Michael Phelps, the swimmer who won 8 gold medals in Beijing setting 7 world records and one Olympic record in the process loses his advertising deal with a cereal company and his $1,300 a month stipend will be suspended as will his competition for three months all because someone took a picture of a 23 year old smoking marijuana from a water pipe who just happened to be Michael Phelps because basically “kids looked to him” as a role model.

What bullshit. Kids looked up to A-Rod as a role model who was juiced up on performance enhancing drugs when he was competing but everybody knows including the kids looking up to Phelps that smoking marijuana may enhance your perception unless you misuse or abuse it but no way is it going to enhance your performance in any competitive event besides it really isn’t unusual for a 23 year old guy to smoke marijuana.

What sheer rank hypocrisy when A-Rod gets to keep everything for committing a fraud on the public and Phelps gets punished for inhaling. In the “Age of Ignorance” the keepers of morality don’t want the truth exposed that people can smoke marijuana and still lead productive and competitive lives.

In the “Age of Ignorance” the message about marijuana remains this is your brain on drugs, the picture is of someone disheveled living life in slow motion who speaks in early Cheech and Chong promoting the myth that marijuana use results in a mindless stupidity. That myth is easily exposed by reading what George W Bush said about talking to God, mushroom clouds over Cincinnati and WMD on the desert front of a war that would pay for itself, his response to Katrina, crashing the economy – no one has ever said “what’s he smokin’” – they didn’t have to because he wasn’t smoking marijuana but he was talking to his imaginary friend.

Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals for himself and presumably for his country but he certainly has that rare opportunity to do something for his country now by exposing the myths about marijuana and leading us away from the “Age of Ignorance” and toward the “Age of Awareness” by speaking truth to power and not apologizing for educating the public about the rich six thousand year history of marijuana.

The truth he can speak is that history of cannabis includes its use as food, made into clothing, rope and sails, used for paper in fact “our” Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper, it can be used as a biomass fuel that might reduce Exxon’s profits, and it has been used for centuries as a medicine for more than one ailment and yes it can be and has been used for thousands of years to “get high”, recently a 2700 year old stash was found in China that was intended to be smoked or ingested to get high and there are no deaths recorded to marijuana use.

Indeed one group of people refer to marijuana as “the wisdom weed” and the historical record gives credence to their view but for the dominant religious group in this country who prefer the name “dope” it would be worth mentioning Genesis 1:12, Genesis 1:29, Exodus 10:12, Proverbs 15:17, or Psalm 104:14 – I mean how else do you explain a plant that can be used in so many ways for so many things begging the questions: can you name any other plants or natural things that do as much for man and how do explain why so many true believers are willing to wage a war against a plant and each other over a plant that could actually benefit the planet.

Michael Phelps has the chance to be this generations Mohammed Ali who was denied his career by opposing an illegal, unjust and immoral war in Vietnam, or Tommy Smith and Juan Carlos who raised their black fists at the Olympic stand in solidarity against racism here at home where they would get death threats for speaking out and not getting any endorsements.

In the process Phelps can expose the myth that marijuana is a gateway drug because the war on marijuana is in fact only a gateway to the further erosion of the Bill of Rights and the establishment of a police state that ruined the lives of millions, destroyed families and cost this country the billions of dollars that could now be used to replace the billions of dollars for states and education which the Republican Party gutted from the stimulus package.

If President Obama is serious about cutting programs that don’t work he can start by legalizing marijuana, regulating it and taxing it. Now that’s real change that will take this country one step away from “the Age of Ignorance” and one step toward an age where fact replaces myth and public policy is based on reason and knowledge rather than fear and ignorance because it is only the truth which shall set us free.

THREE PEOPLE AMONG THE WORLD'S POPULATION

2009-02-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

As of 02/07/09 at 02:36 GMT (EST+5) the U.S. Census Bureau projected the world population to be 6,758,865.027 people increasing their demand for dwindling resources.

This is a story about three of the nearly seven billion people that cross each other’s paths in this lifetime. One was Sara Kuszak - a well bred 35 year old attractive full of life woman who was 5 months pregnant and a month away from her wedding day in the Virgin Islands.

Another was Eliezer Marquez a 36 year old man, father of five children with his wife and two other children with another woman. An irresponsible breeder you get the picture. Machismo. When he was 19 his mother, Ines Navedo, the third person among billions of others was convicted of killing two of his young siblings aged 2 and 3 by slitting their throats.

They met on Wednesday this week for the first time in the coastal town of Fajardo, Puerto Rico when Sara was jogging alone and Marquez stopped his car, opened the trunk, waited for Sara to pass then grabbed her, threw her in the trunk, raped her and killed her by slashing her throat.

The wedding is off. The baby shower will never happen. Sometimes true love endures the test of time, sometimes it doesn’t and sometimes like this time for Sara it’s cut short like a shooting star. As for Marquez he leaves behind seven fatherless children who will have to fend for themselves and two more single mothers while he spends the rest of his life in a cage for committing a senseless act that caused so much suffering long before he even opened the trunk of his car. Tomorrow or the next life we never know which comes first.

LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

2009-02-07T11:59:00.001-05:00

Ten years ago this week an unarmed 23 old immigrant from Guinea named Amadou Diallo was killed by four of New York City’s finest who fired 41 shots at a man standing still and holding a wallet hitting him 19 times. The officers were exonerated of all criminal charges in a trial held in officer friendly Albany.

Men and women who wear blue uniforms in towns and villages, cities and states are among those groups that are above the law because Officer Friendly’s role in society has developed into one in which they preserve the status quo by protecting and serving the interests of the privileged few.

Ten years later the beat goes on in Schenectady NY where a large-scale drug trafficking ring was prosecuted by the state attorney general’s office. Among the nearly 30 defendants was the former Schenectady Chief of Police, Gregory Kaczmarek or Chief Kaz as the locals affectionately referred to him and his wife Lisa or Mrs. Kaczmarek.

The justice system made an example of Chief Kaz by giving him a two year prison sentence but let him keep his pension. Most of the other defendants got more time than Chief Kaz and most of the other defendants didn’t get to keep much of any of their possessions as Chief Kaz.

As for the more culpable Mrs. Chief Kaz while the record shows that she brought her husband into the ring, gave him the apple and told him to take a bite she only got 6 months in jail because Mr. For Better or Worse gallantly took a longer sentence (2 years???) so his wife wouldn’t have to endure living in a cage like the less privileged for committing the same offenses.

Taking the life of another man, not taking responsibility and not being held accountable is not justice to the victim’s family and it’s not “justice for all” and when the court applies a lesser standard to a high profile member of the public for committing the kind of crime that others lose everything they have except for their lives which will be spent living in cages then this too is not “justice for all”.

The reality is that Amadou Diallo was murdered in cold blood, no one was found guilty and Chief Kaz got off easy in a place that claims “liberty and justice for all” and at the end of the day the best we can say about ourselves is that we are a nation of different laws and different standards for different men who don’t want to lose their status of privilege which by definition they would have to if there was indeed “liberty and justice for all”

Our Long National Nightmare

2009-01-20T18:41:00.003-05:00

Night descends on the beach as I recall how I got here from long ago and far away when I was preparing to board one of three buses headed toward Washington D.C. to protest the inauguration of a pretender to the throne of the presidency.

2000 was the type of election America holds other countries accountable for i.e. free and open elections. The 2000 election was a coup conducted by neo-conservatives aka neo-fascists for those who can really handle the truth to impose their dogma contained in The Project for a New American Century on the rest of the world but first they needed a president which five right wing jurists gave them, then they needed a catastrophe much “like Pearl Harbor” and coincidentally 19 guys with box cutters created the catastrophe necessary to shock to the public into accepting more limits to their freedoms with the Orwellian named Patriot Act, to unleash shock and awe on the cradle of civilization to protect our national resource of oil and establish a permanent military presence to protect the profits of the corporate.

George W. Bush was their man. The record shows he entered every institution based on privilege rather than merit. At best he was mediocre to average in school and it was privilege that accorded him a place in the Texas Air National Guard and privilege that protected him when he was AWOL. Every business arraignment he entered was based on who he knew and not what he knew and every business he conducted failed but he still managed to avoid any personal financial loss.

The 2000 election was the betrayal of the American Revolution exposed. We were not a democracy nor a republic and Jefferson’s truths while still self evident have yet to be born into actions because the reality is that by the commonly accepted definition we are in fact an oligarchy and the people abrogated their right to bear arms when the revolution occurred because Gil Scott-Heron was wrong the revolution was on television and not a shot was fired. The jig was up. If the right to bear arms isn’t exercised when the country is in danger from enemies foreign and domestic then what is the right for?

I had a moral responsibility to object to this fraudulent election. I bought 200 small American flags which I distributed among the fellow travelers that night eight years ago. We tore the flags from their small wooden sticks, turned them upside down to express that this nation was under a state of siege and crudely fastened them to the stick with tape.

THE FIRST FOUR YEARS

After sixty years the Fourth Reich of the corporate state came crashing down these last eight years. The $600 stimulus that couples got during the first recession of the Bush years in March of 01, 9/11 that he was briefed about on 8/6, reading My Pet Goat, reassuring a consumerist population to just go out and shop till ya drop , objecting to the establishment of a 9/11 Commission then testifying before it with his co-conspirator Dick Cheney and neither one speaking under oath, the history repeating itself invasion of Afghanistan, getting Bin-Laden “dead or alive”, the crimes against peace by invading a sovereign nation – “bring ‘em on” and the crimes against humanity by waging war, destroying the world’s good will after 9/11 and creating a climate where the world community of civilized nations were no longer impressed by the rhetoric of “liberty” and the actions of a rogue nation – our nation that demanded you either with us or against us, the deceit, the deception and the outright lies to sell this war that will pay for itself - this violation of international law to the American public that pays 13 billion dollars a month to wage, the blitzkrieg aka shock and awe with god’s personal blessings that began 3/20/03 just like the Project for a New American Century prescribed, the Mission Accomplished less than two months later while five years later there are more dead and dying, more suffering and millions displaced from the land and the people they love and then the ordered from top down torture at Abu Ghraib where the ones carrying out orders from above were held responsible but the real criminals remained at large – in fact they run for reelection. That was the first Bush Administration – the one where American’s found out what it meant to be a “compassionate conservative” - corrupt and contemptuous of man made law it dispelled another myth because some men are above the law.

THE SECOND FOUR YEARS

Then came the second Bush Administration the one where over sixty million people still voted for a corrupt administration that conducted acts which violated international law and our own Constitution during the first administration. The Bin-Laden tapes released two weeks before the 04 election even though the fix was in Ohio, the violations of civil liberties with mass arrests at the RNC convention in New York City where a war criminal gave a speech in Madison Square Garden protected by the police who are supposed to protect the people not arrest them to keep them off the streets, keep them silent from speaking out against treason and the tyranny of oligarchy and the abuse of power conducted in our name while the guy they’re looking for is at The Garden, he’s the one who violated national and international laws, he’s the one with more blood on his hands than mine for financing this crime with my tax dollars, Kenny Boy and Enron, the absolute failure of government to respond to crisis when Katrina came across the beaches of the Gulf to destroy everything in its path, maybe that 13 billion dollars we’re spending for a war that was supposed to pay for itself, commuting Scooter Libby’s prison sentence, the corruption of the justice department, the rich getting much much richer, the poor getting much, much poorer and the middle class blending into an unfamiliar state of poverty, the collapse of the national economy and the world economy as well after all it is a global economy based on a dream of putting more people in their own homes as a symbol of the American dream whether they can afford it or not and deregulate or look the other way to make unfettered capitalism a success for the few at the expense of the many – the few that don’t have to worry because this administration permitted them to believe they were too big to fail, too big not to be bailed out – everybody else is on your own. Then in the last year record unemployment, record home foreclosures, record bank failures and an absolute denial of reality from the commander-in-chief in his last speech as President to friends and family that marked eight years of corruption, incompetence and criminality.

EPILOGUE

In retrospect George W. Bush didn’t do all this on his own. The press never scrutinized the first four years of his administration indeed enough people voted for him in 2004 even after the lies were exposed and the so-called opposition party looked the other way when the crimes against national and international law were being committed to the extent that even when they took power in Congress in 2006 they claimed that “impeachment was off the table”.

Eight years later since that bus trip in 2000 I woke up on a beach in a country that believes our long national nightmare will be over by noon when Barak Obama was sworn in as our next president much like we believed after the transfer of power from the Nixon, Reagan and Bush Administrations to those of Carter and Clinton but this time belief won’t be enough because unless we hold the Bush Administration accountable for its failures and ours there will only be another transfer of political power and not the “change” required to move away from a status quo where no one is held accountable for the consequences of the long continuing national nightmare that follows.

This is our time to say “never forget and never again” for who we become in the future depends on what we do in the present and if we continue to ignore the lessons of the past we are indeed doomed to repeat them. President Obama may prefer to look to the future but if he ignores the past it will only be repeated and while “hope” for a better future may still exist it won’t be for us.

FLIGHT 1549 - MIRACLE AND REALITY

2009-01-18T09:56:00.000-05:00

Washing up on Yova’s Beach after the crash of U.S. Air Flight 1549 was a bottle containing the message “life is out of balance” yet once again the mainstream media missed the message about man’s relationship with his environment by referring to the event as the “Miracle on the Hudson” strongly suggesting out of shear stupidity and supported by the most faulty logic that forms the substantive basis behind the self serving claim that “a miracle occurred”. “Miracles” are by definition “acts of god” according to this 21st Century tribe that rules North America and since a “miracle” occurred the existence of this tribe’s god is made obvious to those who believe in miracles.

The people that believe in “miracles” are also the ones who claim that “ignorance is bliss” and if you’re ever near Yova’s Beach early on a weekday morning I suggest turning to 1300AM on your dial and tune in to some of the most idiotic true believer bile and blissful ignorance approved by the FCC and you’ll find yourself saying it too. – “ignorance is bliss”.

The show’s host, Paul Vandenberg, (more about this child left behind and the radio station he owns to express his opinions that more often than not approximate a profound ignorance about the role of government in society but are intended to repeat the myths) appeared to be beyond “blissful” this morning when he claimed that Flight 1549’s emergency landing in the Hudson River was caused by “the birds”. Then, getting carried away by the fumes of his own poison he said that “the birds shouldn’t be there in the first place and the “environmentalists” are responsible for this near tragedy. The hysterical anti-intellectualism from the local obscurant self proclaimed Christian Conservative Republican and proud of it shock jock was off the charts on this one.

While the pundits, propagandists and politicians are preoccupied with back slapping the “heroes” they created, the Canadian goose that is being blamed for this near fatal accident played the role of the canary in the mine shaft only to be ignored by the press. The warning is that when overpopulated species attempt to coexist in limited amounts of decreasing space and/or when as in man’s case the same overpopulated species competes over dwindling and disappearing resources that’s when life is out of balance and when life is out of balance eventually shit happens.

I don’t believe in miracles but I do believe that usually “shit happens” because “ignorance is bliss” and shit will continue to happen until we awaken from this ignorance that we are not responsible for our actions because god is on our side. We live a life that requires a new way to attain that state of bliss a way which is no longer the result of ignorance but a way influenced by awareness to that state of bliss which occurs when the mind is awakened to all things and leads to a state of bliss where the mind is enlightened by all things. Blaming the Canadian goose and the environmentalists and reporting the landing of Flight 1549 as a “miracle” are indications that we prefer the bliss that ignorance provides rather than the liberating awareness that we are all responsible for the consequences of a reality where shit happens when life is out of balance.

2 LITTLE GIRLS, 1 PUPPY AND THE NRA

2009-01-17T00:04:00.001-05:00

It’s quiet on Yova’s Beach tonight but man is it ever cold. The weather man tells me it’s 3 above and then he says it feels like 8 below. I know there’s a formula where one takes the real temperature, factors in the wind-chill and comes up with a number that as far as I know is always lower than the existing temperature.

So much for what it feels like outside because inside it feels like a profound state of suffering and I really don’t care how cold it is outside because inside I’ve got to focus on weathering this storm while listening to Dylan singing “…my senses have been stripped and there ain’t no place I’m goin’ to….” remembering that……

Somewhere north of here about a week before Christmas 2008 a 19 year old boy lived with his girlfriend and when his/her/their 3 month old puppy had “an accident” on the floor that young man exercised his 2nd Amendment rights by getting his rifle out and shooting the puppy in the head killing it instantly. It was no accident on his part but it was an accident on the puppy’s part.

That’s some bad karma there – coming back as a puppy giving that unconditional love that animals give to their humans, frisky at this stage in your existence and the first time you have an accident you basically get assassinated Hope the puppy learned its lesson. As for the human perhaps try to show as much compassion as possible for his karma will not be as kind or fortuitous as the puppy’s. It never is for those who take life for whatever reason or excuse.

Speaking of bad karma - in California a 46 year old man exercised his 2nd Amendment rights by dressing up as Santa Claus on Christmas Day and shooting an 8 year old girl who opened the door and found out enough to let Virginia know there might be a Santa Claus but in today’s “Age of Ignorance” Santa can conceal that deadly weapon which will do nothing more and nothing less than destroy life – and use it with or without a thought but rarely without a rationalization

Locally just the other day a 16 year old boy was found guilty of killing a 10 year girl. Since he had access to a “community gun” obviously he had the right to exercise his 2nd Amendment rights which he did when he admitted that he thought someone else was exercising his 2nd Amendment rights by shooting at him so he shot a gun that ended the life of a 10 year old girl whose face reflected a life not yet broken by one’s socio/economic/political environment.

The NRA would claim we all have the right to “bear arms” and “any arms” at that even those whose judgment is seriously impaired because this “right to bear arms” should not be regulated, should not be infringed or tampered with because “it’s not guns that kill, it’s people that kill” while two little girls and a puppy know all too well it’s people with guns that kill.

GAZA - A SNAPSHOT

2009-01-15T13:50:00.000-05:00

Yova’s Beach

Who knows what this collage of snapshots from my existence with the Buddha on the beach will look like when I no longer have the disciplined desire to express what few memories I have of those rare moments when solitude was found in a place where mind and body were one with the breath in this moment and in this world where the madness of men rules but not here on Yova’s Beach.

On Yova’s Beach I have felt the cool of a morning breeze while drifting in the warmth from the sun on my flesh between noon and three of a mid-summer day and cooled by the shadows of passing afternoon clouds providing me a moment to open my eyes to a horizon where the colors of dawn and the colors of dusk are indistinguishable as I wait for my ship to come in.

Meanwhile the tide comes in and the tide goes out teaching me to let go of all attachments. Once upon a time when I was relatively young in this place I understood it to be that possession was the root of all suffering. Until my visit here comes to an end I am letting go of all those attachments, those unique and yet everyday experiences I’ve had here in this time “The Age of Ignorance” that have amused me, annoyed me, agitated me, disturbed me, angered me, sobered me, and saddened me.

Sometimes the Buddha on the beach says “do nothing”. This is not one of those times. This is a time to start letting go of life’s absurdities great and small in fragments of random bits and pieces of observation. This is one of those times to let the rage fall upon the empty page as a rant written in the words of someone who is letting go. This then is my first in a series of rants that express the rage of a cynic, a contrarian and a gadfly who objects to this destructive illusion created by men who believe in the reality of a heaven that does not exist to justify mans cruelty to his fellow man and all other forms of life.

I suppose Gaza is as good a starting point as ever given this conflict between variations of the same two tribes that has a history. A very long history indeed beginning before the history of man began to be written a history of using an “eye for an eye” as a solution then as well as now to resolve their make believe differences this tribe versus that tribe, us versus them, this god and that god ad nauseam.

My limited understanding of the conflict is that the Palestinians are an occupied people some of who strongly object to being occupied. They have been represented the past few years by Hamas, a terrorist organization. Let’s face it indiscriminately lobbing missiles into areas inhabited by civilians has but one purpose i.e. to instill fear in the population. In fact the only general characteristic of terrorism agreed upon by all who attempt to define “terrorism” is that “terrorism” involves violence and the threat of violence.

Ironically Hamas owes its very existence to Israel and its benefactor as well as its partner in crime, the United States. The violations by the United States of international law while committing crimes against peace by waging war against a sovereign state without reason and committing crimes against humanity in the process of torturing “one of them”, “the other” have resulted in a deep disgust among the other civilized nations of the world. George Bush’s black and white world of “you’re either with us or against us” has produced a hatred for America that most Americans fail to grasp or accept.

In addition our client state Israel was fed up with the PLO and figured that by supporting Hamas it would divide and weaken the PLO. I think “be careful of what you ask for because you might get it” applies. In fact no sooner had Hamas been elected in perhaps an election more free of fraud than the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections held here in the homeland both the U.S. and Israel conspired to shut off Gaza from all connections to the outside world.

It is not unreasonable to expect an occupied people who are required to accept without objection their own occupation by a people who have felt the jack boot of subjugation most certainly within the last hundred years creating a ghetto like mentality who not only forgot the moral imperatives of “never again and never forget” they now perpetuate the same suffering on others who have an equal right to claim “never again and never forget”.

Yet I wonder. What do people think about the current conflict in Gaza? The one where Israel’s 21st Century military is used to support the oppression of the Palestinian people. To be sure it’s no secret that the American press strongly supports the state of Israel but the overkill is starting to create an opposition to having more blood on our hands.

So here we are in a place where not long ago another Catholic Pope was praying for world peace to a god that doesn’t exist. Sorry true believers. You may need an imaginary friend but when organized superstition divides man against man it’s not god that you follow it’s just a figment of your imagination reflected in public displays of pathological behavior that appeal to man’s baser instincts of showing little or no regard for human life or any forms of life for that matter.

The Jews are not the chosen people when The One choosing does not exist. The Christian community is an open and notorious lie that claims to follow the teachings of a founder by aiding and abetting the pursuit of Armageddon and ignoring the example set forth in the Sermon on the Mount while Islam completes this unholy trinity of monotheistic religions having made sure that life on earth is hell for believers and infidels alike.

At the end of the day Gaza is a random stream of consciousness as influenced by the randomness of that range of human emotions from rage to compassion. Gaza is a terrorist state waging war against a terrorist organization. Gaza is Gandhi’s eye for eye leaving the world blind.

Does anyone think that all that violence will destroy the hatred that survived the slaughter? Doesn’t violence beget violence or don’t we get it – we live a life that requires a new way of living and in Gaza we have an opportunity as a global community to say “enough” and take a first step toward finding less violent methods of resolving our differences created by the ego – that reigning ideology that rules by dividing this tribe against that tribe, this country against that country in “The Age of Ignorance” where the individual and collective ego demands we focus on that which separates us, makes us different, justifying the “us vs. them” mentality that prepares the path to our extinction rather than deciding what we have in common and committing to resolve our differences through less violent means.

WHO IS THE REAL JOHN MCCAIN?

2008-10-19T15:50:00.000-04:00

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”. Martin Luther King

A few years ago Lawrence Britt released his study of common characters of the more infamous fascist regimes of the 20th Century in which he found that the most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions through relentless propaganda and disinformation against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, and homosexuals. Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.

Today’s conditions of global economic crisis mirror the one same one in the 1920s and 30s that provided fertile ground for two of the most notorious fascist regimes to rise to power. With two weeks to go until the people of this country decide our nation’s future the Republican Party unleashed their surrogates to attack the character of the man who now dares remove their grip from the political power which they secured and maintained by fear mongering and ignorance only to abuse that power for the better part of the past forty years.

The apologists claim that if they want to win this election the Republican Party has no choice but to go negative. They really have nothing to say about the issues which occurred during their watch that have resulted in present day American angst. 9/11, Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Katrina now concluding with trickle down economic policies that may lead to a global depression thus precluding any discussion of issues.

Yet mainstream media never seems capable of connecting the dots. The modern Republican Party came to power through Nixon’s southern strategy dividing people based on race. Today’s Republican Party is attempting to divide people by creating the “us verses them” situation in which “the others” are labeled anti-Americans. Liberal, leftist, socialist, and pro-terrorist sympathizer are terms used to describe Barak Obama the leading anti-American and all of his supporters.

The McCain campaign was already getting the message out that Barak Obama had relationships with Bill Ayers who the government now describes as a domestic terrorist for the crimes he committed forty years ago. Indeed the know-nothing Sarah Palin never forgets to mention that Barak Obama has been “pallin’ around with terrorists” implying Ayers wasn’t the only one who influenced Barak Obama.

Acting as a McCain surrogate Michele Bachmann was interviewed by Chris Matthews Friday evening. She is a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Minnesota who believes intelligent design should be given equal time with evolution in science classes. She is also a member of a church whose doctrine teaches that the Roman Catholic papacy is the Anti-Christ.
More importantly, according to this representative of the people God was calling for her to run for public office and she and her husband fasted and prayed for three days before accepting Gods calling to Congress to demonize “the others”. The same God spoke to George Bush and Sarah Palin. Personally I think politicians should keep their imaginary friends at home and not force their organized superstition on the American public.

Her political resume includes such notables as proposing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, voting against a bill that would extend the Civil Rights Act, voting against a bill that would increase financial aid to college students, opposes any increase to the minimum wage, fully supports President Bush on Iraq and favors privatization of Social Security.

This is the Christian fundamentalist religious and political bio of a member of Congress questioning Senator Obama’s character by implying that since he has associated with terrorists and because a man is known by the company he keeps suggesting Sen. Obama is at the very least a terrorist sympathizer begging the question “who is Barak Obama” and hoping no one asks “who is Michele Bachmann”.

The McCain campaign seems to have taken on the aspects of hate speech in their advertising and certainly in their stump speeches which resemble many of the key elements of “hate speech” i.e. speech that degrades, intimidates or incites violence or prejudicial action against a person or group of people based on among other variables moral or political views.

Yet the most disturbing and chilling portion of the interview was when this member of Congress who took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States called for the mainstream media to investigate Congress to identify “liberal, leftist, possibly anti-American” members because such intolerance and extremist views by today’s Republican Party fit the description of that which characterized the fascist regimes of the last century.

Sadly John McCain’s campaign of fear mongering has sown the seeds of division that appears to be completely ignorant of the tragic consequences that may one day erupt because even after the election half of the country will either believe that the president elect is a terrorist sympathizer or the other half will believe we have another fraud as president pretending to put country first while resorting to labeling the opposition as terrorists thus begging the more important question: “who is the real John McCain?”

The Politics as Usual of John McCain

2008-10-01T23:58:00.001-04:00

Last Wednesday should have been the beginning of the end for the McCain campaign. The man who admitted to not knowing much about the economy, the same guy who hadn’t been in Washington since April announced he was suspending his campaign so that he could return to Washington to help reach a legislative solution to a crisis in an economy that ten days earlier he said was fundamentally strong that he now claims we could find ourselves in a depression by Monday. Even the first debate might have to be canceled unless a deal was reached because he was putting country first.

Well the campaign never was suspended nor was our disbelief of McCain’s latest grandstanding stunt. That was nothing more than the bravado of a bullshitter masquerading as a straight talker. It was just another gimmick by a man who was gambling that he could fool the American public one more time. Compelled by the pursuit of political power he chose the path of deceit, deception and demagoguery. The campaign wasn’t closing down to attend the crisis facing the nation. It was all for show. Politics as usual.

On Thursday John McCain was rushing off to Washington for what many observers perceived to be a photo-op with the President and leaders of both parties. During the discussion John McCain brought nothing to the table. Indeed he was silent throughout the discussions. It really was nothing more than a photo-op after all. An act of politics as usual.

By Friday morning there was an item on the internet that claimed “John McCain Wins Debate” before the debate even occurred. My God, are these the kind of people half of America wants to run the country I live in. I understand the concept of repeating a lie often enough so that it becomes the truth but I’m sure timing has a lot to do with its ability to succeed. Running the headlines before the event was sloppy. Politics as usual.

Friday evening there was no agreement on the Wall St. bailout yet John McCain was in Mississippi avoiding eye contact with Barak Obama. John McCain misled the public of his intentions that he was putting country first by fighting for them. We’ve already had eight years of that politics as usual.

After the debate drama queen McCain said he was returning to Washington for the weekend to get this bailout deal done for the American people. You know “country first” but he did take the time to mock his political opponent for not getting in the fight and staying on the sidelines by working the phones. The historical record shows that other than going to D.C. for dinner with the Lieberman’s John McCain never got closer to the Capital than Arlington where he was getting in the fight via the phone. Shameless hypocrisy is more of the same – politics as usual.

Well Monday morning arrived with House Speaker Pelosi introducing the legislation for a vote based on the assurances of the Republican leadership including John McCain who was publicly patting himself on the back for his leadership role in the success of forming a coalition of Republican ideologues who opposed any bailout of Wall St with taxpayer money thus insuring the bailout would pass. Both parties were going to share responsibility for the legislation. A win/win for the status quo and politics as usual.

By midday John McCain’s claim to the success of his leadership could no longer fly in the face of the facts. The legislation failed. His colleagues said there were about a dozen votes that would have possibly supported this legislation but they were offended by Speaker Pelosi’s remarks that the Bush Administration was responsible for this crisis. John McCain responded by blaming Sen. Obama and the Democrats one sentence before reaching across the aisle and claiming now is not the time to affix blame now is the time to fix the problem proving he has no shame. Partisan politics reigns over a Republic and a Republican presidential candidate in a state of decline. Politics as usual.

Tonight John McCain was not one of the twenty five mavericks who voted against “the bailout” now known as “the recovery” in an attempt to make it more politically palatable and packaged with a more positive image of “helping” for the public to consume. Much like last Thursdays photo op at the White House John McCain said nothing. His one opportunity to lead to speak on behalf of most of the country that will be paying for the crimes of the wealthy and their politicians who represent them with legislation and represent the rest of us with nothing more than empty rhetoric designed to divide and perpetuate a failed system of government. Faced with that reality the original Orwellian maverick was silent. Country wasn’t first. Country Club was. It was politics as usual.

AN ECONOMY IN CRISIS - REDUX

2008-09-19T12:25:00.003-04:00

Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt. Herbert Hoover

On Monday Lehman Brothers declared it would be filing for bankruptcy sounding the alarm that the American economy was on the verge of falling apart. Shortly thereafter while giving an early morning speech somewhere in Jacksonville FL John McCain was sounding more like Herbert Hoover’s assessment of black Thursday by claiming that the fundamentals of the economy were strong.

Less than four hours later John McCain arrived in Orlando FL and told a crowd of supporters that by “fundamentals” he meant the American worker was strong because they are the most innovative, hardest working, most productive worker in the world. This outrageous pandering extolling the virtues of the working man and working woman and claiming the title of populist while showing his utter contempt for them by voting nineteen times against minimum wage legislation.

The following day there was speculation that AIG was in serious financial straights and if it folded it would worsen not only an already bad situation here in the financial capital of the world but impacting global markets as well by providing the unfortunate circumstances and creating the perfect breeding grounds for a world wide recession and pushing it closer to a free fall.

Nonetheless John McCain’s response was that he flatly rejected a federal bailout of AIG.
Indeed the position was consistent with what the straight talk express was saying just six months ago when the original maverick boasted that he was “…fundamentally a deregulator” and in favor of eliminating government regulations. In his defense he did admit to knowing very little about the economy. If we didn’t believe him then we certainly should have when he admitted to not knowing how many houses he had while most people were losing the one house they did have to foreclosure.

By Wednesday the straight talker was in favor of the bailout and he was now a strong supporter of establishing an oversight agency similar to the Resolution Trust Corporation that he and his current economic guru, Phil Gramm voted against in 1989. He was also
blaming the financial mess on a culture of “greed, irresponsibility and corruption” a culture in which John McCain was quit experienced.

The historical record reflects that the original maverick who fancies himself as Teddy Roosevelt was involved in the Savings and Loan Scandal that necessitated the RTC. Indeed as recent as March of 2008 John McCain still ruled out any consideration for an RTC-type mechanism.

In fact Cindy McCain was also involved. That she served no time is perhaps a good reason why she would say that she has always loved this country. Who wouldn’t have a strong attachment to a system in which you can commit a crime and not be held to the same standard as those less well off like the America worker who got stuck with the bill for the excessive greed of a few.
In response to his active role in the Savings and Loan Scandal he was cleared of any wrong doing much like Cindy McCain was cleared of her involvement but John McCain was criticized the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising “poor judgment”.

Much like the “poor judgment” he exercised in his first presidential decision by selecting or being influenced by the Christian Right, our own version of the Taliban to select Sarah Palin as his running mate. If anything the Charlie Gibson interview exposed Palin’s lack of knowledge about foreign policy as well as her shameless ignorance that Iraq was not tied to 9/11.

Indeed Palin cannot hide her own contempt for the rule of law nor her hypocrisy when she welcomed an investigation of charges that she abused power and now she attempts to avoid and ignore the law. We’ve had eight long years of that kind of tyranny. Palin is more of the same and as such another indication of McCain’s “poor judgment” which could have more dire consequences than his “poor judgment” twenty years ago.

By Thursday John McCain the deregulator was presenting his own version of the RTC “The Mortgage and Financial Institution Trust” adding another layer to the bureaucracy that the executive branch of government would control and call it reform. Indeed John McCain appealed to just about every possible position available to address the economic crisis but the press is too consumed by perpetuating the myth of original maverick, reformer or straight talker to actually engage in exposing this dangerous chameleon.

In his defense John McCain did admit to knowing little if anything about the economy but what he should know is that it is the trickle down economic policy created by Ronald Reagan which has provided fertile ground for “greed, irresponsibility and corruption that was allowed to run unchecked by the very regulators he opposed.

The same trickle down economy adopted by all Republican Presidents since Ronald Reagan which John McCain now favors has resulted in an economy where the rich getting richer by turning the American Dream into the American Nightmare for the American worker who John McCain claims to support with rhetoric while ignoring with his actions of supporting the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy.

On Friday John McCain blamed Sen. Obama for the current mess that actually started with the Savings and Loan scandal in which Sen. McCain was never held accountable for his own personal greed, irresponsibility and corruption. Tax cuts for the wealthy on the assumption they will invest in jobs while the American worker lives paycheck to paycheck. That’s not reform. That’s not change. That’s more of the same that permitted the culture of greed, irresponsibility and corruption to exist.

The American worker that John McCain claims to champion is now saddled with the additional debt of paying off the failures of the trickle down voodoo economics. His failed judgment in Iraq is costing the American worker ten billion dollars a month and his failed judgment about privatizing Social Security would have destroyed the economic safety net of millions of retired and disabled American workers. Shame on any American worker who votes for John McCain.

The Real Tragedy of 9/11

2008-09-10T14:34:00.001-04:00

Seven years later the country commemorates the tragedy of 9/11. The odds that the Republican Party will tell the country that we haven’t been attacked since then because of George W. Bush’s policies outweigh the odds that anyone in the media will remind the public that the continental United States weren’t attacked before 9/11 since the War of 1812. Our educational system is so abysmal that most Americans don’t even know our own history and we are thus easy prey for such misinformation leading us to erroneously conclude that the Republican have a point. Indeed at times we seem to revel in our collective ignorance.

The fact of the matter is that the Bush Administration preferred to be on vacation rather than preparing to respond to an imminent attack by terrorists. That no one has been held accountable for such criminal neglect is unfathomable. Sadly, the historical record shows that the only person who lost his/her job because of 9/11 was Bill Maher when he made comments on his ABC show Politically Incorrect that the terrorists who brought down the towers were not cowards. Those who were asleep at the helm remained in power for another seven years guiding the ship of state to the edge overlooking the abyss.

Ever since 9/11 rabid patriots from both major political parties and a press that has long since abdicated it’s role of watch dog in favor of being a mouth piece for those in power have been the true cowards by wrapping themselves in the flag proud of their own ignorance about how 9/11 occurred and why 9/11 occurred in order to prevent future terrorist attacks from taking place in a country that consistently fails to grasp the truism “those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it”. Indeed when John McCain’s convention showed a video tribute falsely linking Iran to 9/11 it became obvious that a McCain administration would condemn this country to more of the same.

So while the rest of the country gets all sentimental about the tragedy of 9/11 and their chests swell with phony patriotic pride some of us will remain stunned by the fact that nearly three thousand innocent people died yet no one accepted responsibility except for Richard Clarke who was actually belittled for doing so and no one was held accountable for such ineptitude by the Bush Administration who ten months earlier made a mockery of democracy in order to rule on such a grand scale of cronyism and incompetence is in essence the greatest tragedy of 9/11 that all but a few will remember.

The Politcal Rancor of Sarah Palin

2008-09-06T07:40:00.002-04:00

The political conventions have concluded, our long national nightmare of eight years in which among many other things our country was attacked, a surplus from the previous administration was turned into an insurmountable deficit, a crime against peace was committed by waging war with a sovereign nation based on deceit and deception, the constitution was violated repeatedly, our civil liberties were further eroded, terrorism became an acceptable method of treating prisoners, our economy is in a shambles and yet no one was held accountable.

After two years of campaigning to lead this country the surviving candidates from the two major parties now claim the mantel for “change” which I must presume means changing the politics as usual which is in large part responsible for our present day decline from leader of the free world to rogue nation. The 2008 election provides us with an opportunity to really change politics as usual or prefer more of the same while calling it change.

One of the reasons provided by the McCain campaign to explain the selection of Sarah Palin as his VP choice was that she represented “change” yet when she ridiculed Sen. Obama’s experience as “community organizer” I was disappointed, disturbed and rankled to rant and rail against “the big lie” that the McCain/Palin represents any substantive “change” from the politics as usual that of divide and conquer.

To be sure “the big lie” is supported by little white lies that when they get repeated often enough become “the truth” like John McCain is the original maverick yet you can’t find “maverick” and John McCain in the same sentence prior to the mid 90s not to mention that his selection of Sarah Palin hardly added to his maverick status by caving in to the Christian Conservative base and other little lies like Sarah Palin telling Congress no thanks to the millions of pork barrel for building a bridge to nowhere yet she got the money, the bridge didn’t get built and she still has the money.

When I saw the response of hysterical applause and shit eating grins from the sheepeople in the Republican herd to that which could be considered hate speech it occurred to me that if eighty percent of the country believes we are headed in the wrong direction the only rational basis to explain why Palin’s speech was so well received is the same rational basis for describing why the poles indicate a much closer election for only those who do not know, are unaware or ignorant of what a “community organizer” does could applaud such a demeaning and truly elitist position.

For those who didn’t already know community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest. Much community organizing is in the pursuit of a common agenda e.g. coordinating programs of different agencies so as to best meet community needs for health and welfare services. In addition many community organizers seek populist goals and the ideal of participatory democracy. Community organizers create social movements by building a base of concerned people, mobilizing these community members to act, and developing leadership from and relationships among the people involved.

They also facilitate self-help programs initiated by local common-interest groups, for example, by training local leaders to analyze and solve the problems of a community. Among other things a career as a community organizer is an option for people who want to become politicians, make a difference, are concerned about political issues or social inequities, and are interested in community solutions and empowering people.

So just what did Palin find so contemptuous about “community organizer” that she publicly mocked it and to wild ovation no less by those nasty little ignorant minds in attendance? Was it the concept of “common self-interest”, “populist goals…meeting the community needs for health and welfare” that outraged her or perhaps “concern about political issues or social inequities” or was it “participatory democracy” or “empowering people” that offended her provincial palate? Palin’s contempt for democratic principles was delivered without shame.

Whether she wrote the speech or not that she was more than comfortable reading it should cause concern for those who intend to vote in this election because Sarah Palin was using the same repugnant appeal to fear and ignorance that the Republican Party utilized to seize power during the Nixon/Agnew years and as recent as 2004 by using old videos of Osama bin-Laden.

At the very least Palin’s speech or more accurately the speech which someone else wrote for someone else to read from a teleprompter was extremely condescending not just to Barak Obama but to all fellow citizen that her party’s presidential candidate is claiming to be reaching across the aisle to work together and claiming to put country first with a straight face.

Indeed Gov. Palin’s words were those of the partisan rancor which John McCain embraced on stage all week in Minnesota the same sort of partisan rancor that he now wants to end. Why does the press appear to be so timid in his presence that they fail to point out the dangerous hypocrisy of an ideologue that runs a campaign based on fear and ignorance and thereby participates directly or indirectly in the partisan rancor that is characteristic of the politics of division?

After Palin’s speech if John McCain was really against partisan rancor don’t you think he would have called her on it? The reality is the 2000 McCain Straight Talk Express has in 2008 become the arrogant Bullshit Express in 2008 where this thin skinned media created maverick and war hero with an air of superiority is offended that the free press would actually dare ask him a relevant yet uncomfortable question about his selection of Palin.

The truth is the McCain/Palin ticket isn’t even different from the Nixon/Agnew Administration that used fear and ignorance to divide the American people with their southern strategy. Her verbalized contempt and disdain for the media, the intellectual elite and her ridicule of community organizers was less colorful but no different than Sprio Agnew’s description of the opposition as “an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals”.

Just as the power seized by the Republican Party in 1968 was based on divide and conquer today’s Republican Party seeks to maintain that power for them and theirs by continuing to divide and conquer the rest of us as evidenced by the constant ad-hominem attacks and blaming the press as messenger while providing absolutely no viable policy solutions that will unite this country to address a weakening economy and fix a foreign policy predicated on preemptive strikes to seize the natural resources of countries and claim it’s in our national self interest.

The John McCain and Sarah Palin ticket doesn’t really represent anything new. It’s the same old divisive politics of playing on people’s fears and ignorance that’s been characteristic of the Republican Party for the last 40 years. Indeed there were no policy solutions to be offered by any Republican speaker at their convention for those who are living from paycheck to paycheck, or trying to get student loans, or trying to make ends meet etc.? When it uses fear and ignorance to maintain and extend its political power it represents more of the same divide and conquer approach that supports the status quo.

When eighty percent of the public believes that this country is headed in the wrong direction choosing McCain/Palin will be an historical testament to the ignorance of the American electorate and compel the cynic to more fully appreciate Franz Kafka’s observation that “there is hope but not for us” should that ticket of frauds convince the public to accept the comfortable lie that they represent the “change is coming” rather than the uncomfortable truth that the party of inolerance represents more of the same politics of partisan rancor as usual that divides us through fear and ignorance while claiming to do it for God and country.

A Heartbeat Away

2008-08-29T13:15:00.002-04:00

The original maverick's campaign was trying to frame the election as McCain's experience vs. Obama's inexperience while the Obama campaign was responding by saying the election is more about "judgement" rather than experience.

The first decision of leadership by both presidential candidates from the major political parties is choosing who will be a heart beat away from the presidency and since neither McCain or Obama have any experience the issue must be defined by the "judgement" exercised by each in making this decision.

Barak Obama's "judgement" resulted in selecting Joe Biden as his running mate because of his experience in foreign policy while John McCain's "judgement" was used to choose the least qualified candidate among all the potential candidates in his party. In essence 72 year old John McCain chose to have someone with no experience be one heart beat away from the presidency while claiming his opponent didn't have any experience.

Indeed the choice of Sarah Palin was disingenous at best and the transparancy of his choice was exposed during her first speech as Vice Presidential candidate when she mentioned the 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling that voted for Hillary Clinton implying that Hillary's supporters now have a woman to vote for as if all women were the same.

At the end of the day John McCain's judgement was influenced by the most narrow of partisan politics and exposed the empty rhetoric of the "country first" placard hanging in the background of his VP choice media event while the live audience chanted "USA! USA! USA!" as if that's all it takes to prove the Republican nominee has a vision of the future by selecting Sarah Palin because she is a woman.

Turns out that John McCain's first experience with making an executive decision shows an absolute lack of judgement that this country can no longer afford. For her part, Sarah Palin reflected the usual Republican arrogance by assuming just because she is a woman all women now have a chance to have a woman one heart beat away from the presidency while the substantive difference on the issues which will define our future has no importance.

I guess the thinking goes that if people voted for George W Bush because he seemed to be the kind of guy to have a beer with they'll vote for John McCain because a woman is a heart beat away from the presidency if anything should happen to the original maverick.

It's Only Words

2008-04-13T10:56:00.000-04:00

As the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary nears last week the Hillary Clinton Hell Hath No Fury Campaign released tax returns indicating her and Bill earned over $100 million dollars from 2000 through 2006 begging the question: just how does she appeal to blue collar workers without bullshitting them that she feels their pain. In response the Obama campaign kept the high moral ground by not pouncing on the glaring chasm between the Clintons rhetoric of empty empathy and the reality of the Clinton wealth.

In an attempt to explain his trouble appealing to the working class Sen. Obama recently said that there are a lot of people in small towns who are angry and bitter because they feel left behind and "It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

With nonchalant ease and without a trace of shame Senator Clinton appeared comfortable in the slop and spin of the political gutter as she accused Sen. Obama of being “…elitist and out of touch” and “…not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans”.
This from a candidate so “out of touch” with reality that she cannot mathematically win the Democratic nomination for president without being divisive because her campaign was poorly managed from day one being ill equipped to deal with life after the first Super Tuesday that they resorted to daily redefining reality by repeating the mantra mirror, mirror on the wall what favors Hillary above all others.

How ironic that the person who wants to become the first woman president, indeed even feels entitled to the position, accuses her Democratic opponent of the elitism which is no different from the label of elitism that Republicans have for decades used to describe, to define and to demonize Democrats.

In fact today John McCain did precisely that. In response to Sen. Obama’s speech that has Sen. Clinton performing like a drama queen, Sen. McCain claimed that Sen. Obama was out of touch with the public. Can you imagine that - two months ago during a Republican debate the straight talkin’ media created loveable old maverick, John McCain, said we were better off now than we were seven years ago - now that’s out of touch with reality when just the other day a poll found that 78 percent of Americans thought we were worse off. So who is really out of touch with the American people?

One can hardly resist the urge to suggest that Hillary Clinton is Joe Lieberman with tits as a clever way of describing a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Ironically the only real Republican at that debate and the only real straight talker said we were not better off. That was Ron Paul the real maverick that the press ignored while covering their own creation who was squatting and grunting more often than not when George Bush commanded him to shit and support nonsense like the surge is working and he’s on top of the economy.

Although Hillary is fond of saying when Obama speaks “it’s only words” apparently Obama’s observation is a convenient Clinton family exception to the rule as well as a disingenuous attempt to obscure and conceal her own elitism found in her words like "I was raised with Midwestern values and an unshakable faith in America and its policies," she said. "Now, Americans who believe in the Second Amendment believe it's a matter of constitutional right. Americans who believe in God believe it's a matter of personal faith.

Who the hell is Hillary Clinton to define the values and beliefs of Americans and claim they exist for society at large? How presumptuous, how pompous, how elitist for her to believe that she has those distinctive attributes which qualify her views on any matter to be taken more seriously?

We weren’t all raised in the Midwest as such most Americans weren’t raised with Midwestern values but just what those Midwestern values are that Sen. Clinton claims she was raised on no one in the press even bothered to ask? And not all Americans acted like good Germans who shared her “unshakable faith in America and its policies” certainly not as they were applied abroad to Vietnam, South America, Central America and the drug war that further eroded our constitutional liberties here at home.

Indeed, Sen. Clinton’s elitist worldview even excluded many Americans who believe the Second Amendment applies to a well regulated militia and not individual citizens as well as excluding the many Americans who believe in the separation of church and state.

Sen. Clinton’s hysterical response to Sen. Obama’s observation is only the words spoken by the self appointed Queen of the Democratic Party: mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the most electable of all? But this isn’t a fairy tale that can come true, there is no voice coming from the mirror, there is only the reflection of a bitter divisive woman scorned.

Hell hath no fury....

2008-03-30T12:45:00.002-04:00

Two weeks ago a poll indicated that 43 percent of the public feels worse off now than they were four years ago Mortgage delinquencies hit a 23 year high, home foreclosures soared to an all-time record in the 4th quarter of 07, oil reached an all time high today and will go higher tomorrow, gas increases at the pump are expected to reach $4.00 a gallon soon never again to reach the 3 something a gallon, the cost of food will rise exponentially, the value of the dollar is daily dropping like a rock, college loans are becoming less available and less affordable for a growing number of students who weren’t left behind before but now increasingly feel they’ve got no place to go here in the homeland, unemployment is growing and will continue to increase as more jobs are outsourced to places that can maximize corporate profits with cheaper labor and banks are bailed out by taxpayers who don’t get bailed out when they’re going broke.

American families are broken and crushed beneath the wheel of unfettered capitalism in a trickle down Republican economic welfare state for the rich rubber stamped by the opposition party that seems to have no problem finding 12 billion dollars every month to finance the war that was based on at least 935 documented lies one of which was that the war would pay for itself or the nearly 30 billion it took to bail out Bear Stearns over the weekend while for the last several months Republicans and Democrats alike can’t agree to give one brown penny to a dwindling middle class drowning in debt.

The other day John McCain gave a speech on his perception of the problems facing our economy, offered his solution and provided a view of his approach to the relationship between the government and the people which in essence is stay the course and not only maintain the status quo but offer more tax breaks for corporations without ever asking how this perpetual war on terrorism will be financed. In addition he doesn’t believe the government should bail out people who make mistakes but he had no problem with the government bailing out an investment bank that made a mistake which adversely affected a large number of people. John McCain’s idea about the relationship between government and the people who give their consent is not what Jefferson had in mind.

43 percent of the public feels worse off now than they were four years ago because the reality is that they are worse off and in 4 more years we’ll be much worse off if we stay the course where the rich get richer and poor become poorer. The John McCain who admits to not knowing that much about the economy that George Bush says his administration is on top of will not only extend the Bush tax cuts he will also increase tax cuts to the corporations. How much will we have to borrow to pay for this hundred year war, from who will we borrow, who will have to pay it back and how will they do it are questions that no one asks John McCain or anyone else who supports preemptive war.

Given the abysmal state of our economy and John McCain’s propensity to stay the course one would think that it would be a slam dunk for the Democrats to take the White House and increase their majorities in both the House and the Senate yet the unsettled Democratic primary threatens not only to make the absurdity of another Republican administration a reality but to break the Democratic Party beyond repair unless Hillary Clinton puts the Democratic Party and the American people before her own political ambitions.

Mathematically Sen. Hillary Clinton cannot win the total number of states, nor the number of delegates, nor more than likely the popular vote that is without the support of Republicans who vote for her in open elections or switch political party affiliation such as that which is occurring in present day Pa. to vote for her urged on by Rush Limbaugh to further divide the Democratic Party by providing a reason and an excuse for Sen. Clinton to pursue her candidacy the only way it can be successful by any means necessary including using divisive Republican tactics of fear mongering phone calls at 3am in Texas and race bating in Pa. Indeed hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

At this point in the Democratic Primary it appears Sen. Obama has an insurmountable lead and will eventually be the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Sen. Clinton’s continued efforts to challenge this fact is in and of itself divisive and what we need in the United States today is not division – not when our economy is collapsing, when prices are increasing disproportionate to wages, when a consumer oriented society can no longer afford to consume and our military is bogged down in third world countries

If the Democratic Party really wants to slam dunk the 08 election rather than continue this contest and its foregone conclusion Sen. Clinton should put her party before her own political ambition, withdraw from the race, and pledge complete support for Sen. Obama who should also put the party values before his own political ambitions by offering Hillary Clinton to be his running mate,. For the sake of party unity she should accept and together they can change the politics as usual which created conditions for a state of perpetual war that insures huge profits for the military industrial complex and its share holders that eventually resulted in our free falling economy because as a nation we can no longer afford to finance the failed policies of a Republican Party that is out of touch with reality.

Counting All the Votes - Then and Now

2008-03-30T12:45:00.001-04:00

The most probable outcome to the Democratic primaries will be that Obama will have the most pledged delegates which according the DNC rules is the primary factor which determines who will be the Democratic standard bearer for the 08 contest, Obama will have the most states, Obama may or may not have the most popular vote but in a general election it’s all about electoral not popular votes as in the 2000 election thus popular vote is of secondary importance to pledged delegates and if the super delegates override Obama’s victory which is already mathematically proven the Democratic Party will rupture beyond repair. One certainly hopes that the super delegates would fully understand the consequences of their actions.

Michigan and Florida? They violated the rules of the Democratic National Committee which both Sens. Clinton and Obama agreed to. Changing the rules well after the contest started is not an option if justice means anything unless both parties agree to subsequent changes. For Sen. Clinton to suggest that Sen. Obama doe not believe every vote should count and thereby imply that his nomination would be illegitimate is the kind of animus that needs to cease if the Democrats really want to win the presidency and possess the right to pursue a path that produces liberty and justice for all and not just those who can afford it.

As for Sen. Clinton’s concern that every vote counts part of her experience as an elected public servant began on January 3, of 2001 and the content of her character was tested within her first two weeks of public office when the Black Caucus in the House of Representatives challenged the legitimacy of the 2000 election and all it took for democracy to exist was for one senator from either party to support that challenge however Senator Clinton was part of the unanimous silence as was that loveable old maverick McCain. They both participated in legitimizing George Bush as our 43rd President accepted and as such are responsible for their silence when they had an opportunity to be patriotic.

The Commander-in-Chief Test

2008-03-30T12:42:00.001-04:00

Gotta tell you I’ve always been interested in politics indeed even studied political science in college and consider myself somewhat above average in my knowledge about the American political system but I’ve never heard about nor read anything about the commander-in-chief test that Hillary Clinton claims only she and John McCain have passed? Is it multiple choices, essay, open book, oral test, is it a take home exam? In fact just what qualifications does either Hillary Clinton or John McCain possess to be commander-in-chief that Barak Obama apparently does not according to the junior Senator from New York?

The press has already repeated the John McCain story ad nauseam to sufficiently convince the public that he is in fact a war hero for spending 5 years in a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam and not giving up any secrets while not daring to ask what he was doing over there in the first place. Indeed there is no indication that history will ever record that the Vietnam War was an honorable cause and a just war. Nonetheless I know I would not have had whatever it takes to give nothing more than name, rank or serial number – I wouldn’t hesitate to tell any interrogator that “the quy you’re looking for, the one who is responsible for perpetuating this war resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and his coconspirators from both sides of the aisle are not far away”.

But seriously, 5 years in a POW camp and now he’s qualified to be the commander-in-chief. Just last week the 72 year old McCain claimed that it was “common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran” displaying an absolute ignorance that Iran is a Shiite country and al-Qaeda is a Sunni dominated organization and the Shiite and the Sunni hate each. He had to be corrected by that Independent Republican co-author of the Kyle-Lieberman Amendment which cited Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization providing a loop hole for the commander-in-chief and incumbent war criminal to invade Iran should he choose to or be influenced to do so. This same bill was supported by the only other candidate capable of passing the commander-in-chief test, Hillary Clinton.

Indeed what experience does Hillary Clinton have to be the commander-in-chief that Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush don’t have – they were all first ladies for 8 years nothing more, nothing less and therefore just as qualified to claim they can pass the commander-in-chief test by answering the phone at 3 a.m.? When Sen. Clinton claimed to be involved in securing a peaceful solution to Northern Ireland those who were involved stated that for her to claim that was a “wee bit silly”.

Truth is there is no commander-in-chief test. Hillary Clinton made that up much like ducking sniper fire on her trip to Bosnia to create a self fulfilling illusion that only she and John McCain were qualified to be commander-in-chief. The same spineless press that sold us the Iraq War enjoys subjecting Sen. Clinton to ridicule and derision for misspeaking about her trip to Bosnia but has yet to hold the only other so-called qualified presidential candidate, John McCain, accountable for his delusional statements from the past that Iraq was an imminent threat to our security to the equally disturbing statements of present day in which John McCain is so divorced from reality that he claims the surge is working as proven by the increase in violence in Iraq while the press gives such nonsense another free pass - so much for these two meeting some non-existent commander-in-chief threshold.

Perceptions of Patriotism by Potential First Ladies

2008-02-24T07:14:00.003-05:00

Michelle Obama was recently subjected to some petty, mean spirited, and nasty criticism from members of the fourth estate including right wing radio xenophobes and individual members from among the true believers who professed their pride in the homeland. These good Americans suspect Mrs. Obama is just now starting to experience and these good Germans are now demanding that Mrs. Obama should have been proud of our country since 1980 and embraced the patriotism of the scoundrels that have ruled this republic without question or at least remained silent rather than claim that for the first time in her adult lifetime she was really proud of her country “not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change”.

This being a presidential election year and with John McCain apparently being the standard bearer for the Republican Party regardless of the reality behind recent disclosures which call into question Senator McCain’s relationship with at least one lobbyist it was only natural for Cindy McCain as the potential first lady to respond to Michelle Obama as the rival first lady given the strong possibility that Barak Obama will indeed become the standard bearer of the Democratic Party. That is if Hillary Clinton can put her party and her country before her ego. As such Mrs. McCain’s reply was “I'm proud of my country, I don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier. I'm very proud of my country” thus making a reference to Michelle Obama's comment and thereby calling into question Mrs. Obama’s patriotism by implying Mrs. Obama should have been patriotic from day one.

Mrs. McCain’s blind obedience to the fatherland is influenced by and can best be explained by her past, one in which she was born to wealthy parents, participated in an adulterous relationship with John McCain (without intending any moral judgment whatsoever it just is what it is), financed his political career, worked as a book keeper who couldn’t find receipts during the Keating Five Scandal which involved her husband, Senator John McCain who was accused of corruption, became addicted to Percocet and Vicodin during that same time so much so that she violated federal laws by stealing drugs to support her habit, she got caught and for all this trouble to the taxpayers Cindy McCain only had to make financial restitution and enter the drug rehab program. No wonder she’s so goddamn proud of her country, commit a crime, do no time and indeed years later be better off for it.

Who wouldn’t be proud of a country where they could afford to commit a crime against someone else, avoid incarceration and yet how arrogant to presume that everyone else should share this same perception of patriotism without question. Even the mainstream corporate controlled media neglected, by accident or intent, to question the premise of Mrs. McCain’s claim or at least ask her to explain why she feels she is patriotic while Mrs. Obama is not. Indeed even the so-called liberal media presumed Mrs. McCain had a right to challenge Mrs. Obama’s patriotism without asking her why she thinks she is more patriotic than Mrs. Obama.

After all since 1980 Mrs. Obama would among many other things have to been proud of a country that dealt weapons for hostages to win an election, she would have to be proud of addicting her country indeed her people with crack cocaine to finance the overthrow of democratically elected governments, she would have to be proud of selling weapons of mass destruction to someone who would use them on his own people, she would have to be proud of violating international law by mining the harbors of Nicaragua, she would have to be proud of training and militarily financing those who would rape and kill nuns who supported the oppressed, she would have to be proud of giving aid and comfort to people who would eventually be responsible for 9/11, she would have to be proud of waging a war in which over half a million people mostly women and children were killed, she would have to be proud of a country that exported a vast amount of its jobs to other countries while her neighbors went without, she would have to be proud of a country that wages war on its own citizens, she would have to be proud of a country whose prison population is the highest in the world because of this war on individual liberty, she would have to be proud of a country that only pretends to hold democratic elections, she would have to be proud of a country that should have prevented 9/11 but didn’t, she would have to be proud of a country that waged war based on fabrications and outright lies, she would have to be proud of a country that committed crimes against humanity, she would have to be proud of a country that practiced acts of terrorism from the dark ages, she would have to be proud of a country that spied on its citizens and eroded its constitution in the process, she would have to be proud of country in which all this and more happened and yet no one took responsibility and no one was held accountable.

God damn right - people are finally hungry for change from the same politics as usual that has paved the way forward so the privileged can continue profit at the expense of the nation's interest and in a free society there is or at least there should be absolutely nothing wrong with being proud of the perception that change is possible. Cindy McCain can be proud of her country but she has no right to question the patriotism of Michelle Obama or anyone else who has no reason to share the same perception. In essence Cindy McCain is saying "America, love it or leave it" in response to Michelle Obama's "America, change it or lose it" and the press is once again giving a pass to the privileged by questioning Michelle Obama's patriotism rather than questioning Cindy McCain's demand for blind allegiance.

It's the Economy Stupid - and the War

2008-02-09T08:42:00.000-05:00

A recent AP poll indicates nearly fifty percent, actually forty eight percent of the public believes that a pull out from Iraq will remedy our economic problems followed by spending more on domestic problems with cutting taxes at the bottom of possible solutions to our financial crisis yet not one mainstream candidate seems to give a damn about what the public thinks about the war or the economy.

In fact the Republicans continue to chant the mantra about cutting taxes reflecting not only how out of step they are with the public but how out of touch they are with reality.
Something should have clicked with the electorate when they all wanted to mirror Reagan’s tax cuts which started us off on this journey to poverty as a nation to finance the war against the evil empire of the USSR.

Reagan’s economic approach resulted in a one trillion dollar deficit which boy Bush has tripled following the same simple minded cure to stimulating the economy by cutting taxes of the rich to finance a war which their class won’t be fighting against the axis of evil created by the evil empire which replaced the Soviet Union.

Yeah right like the rich are going to invest in business, create more jobs which pay higher wages instead of investing in their own financial portfolios not the nation’s financial future especially if that means creating more jobs outside the country and paying workers less there and nothing here.

Imagine having an extra two billion dollars plus each week for our needs here at home instead of fighting a war on terrorism fabricated by the sick and slick minds in Washington for the profit of the big oil business like Exxon, the defense industry like the Haliburtons, and the security sector monopolized by Blackwater.

Recently Willard Mitt Romney dropped out of the Republican race by playing the same fear card that Republicans have been playing to support corporate greed for decades whether it was Communists, drug cartels, and now terrorists when he said it was time to unite the party so that a Democrat wouldn’t be elected President only to surrender to the terrorists.

I still don’t know what the hype was about Willard’s financial success. I mean he backed his failed campaign with his children’s inheritance much like he would have done with the financial future of the country by having our children pay off the debt for his attempts to be more like Reagan than the rest.

At least Hillary was bright enough to “lend” her campaign five million dollars which the media claims she “gave” to her campaign so that those who contribute to her political ambitions are kept in the dark from the truth that they are now repaying her debt. As for McCain’s plan for the economy he now claims he will support keeping those proven failed for all but a few tax cuts and admitted he doesn’t know much about the economy. I have no idea where Obama stands on the economy but could it be any worse that Mrs. Slick Willie or the war mongering McCain?