We Ate the American Pie!

Thirty Years of Madness

2010-09-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

1980 was the final year of American governmental goodness. Jimmy Carter, a brilliant man with great intentions but surrounded by perhaps not the most experienced coterie of Washington insiders, tried to make government work for the people. He failed and sadly his failure lead to the day when the nails for our national coffin would be lined up and then pounded in one by one as the years turned into decades as the hysteria of the right sidetracked our nation.

From 1981 onward economics was replaced by politics—a similar thing was done in the Soviet Union look where that got them. The Republicans led by the demigod Ronald Reagan—truly a pragmatic conservative in comparison to the mindless leading the GOP today—put forth grand schemes like “supply-side economics” and began to do away with taxes for the super rich. He had child-like ideas that private businesses would invest in the US infrastructure.

Thanks to massive spending on the military, the economy began to expand; at the same time, the government led assault against the American workers kicked off in earnest. The American worker was painted as lazy and spoiled despite being the most proficient in the world. As a result, companies were rewarded for moving jobs offshore. American workers began to lose their footing.

Regulations which used to protect the American citizen from the harshness of greed and the ugliest sides of capitalism—the “Jungle” was written help us not penalize us—were wiped off the books one by one. The government was telling big business: do as you want and when you get around to it give us campaign contributions and if you feel really giddy, hire some Americans—but the jobs were flowing away to China and other places.

Freed from paying taxes, the manufacturers, men and women of great fortunes, became addicted to record-breaking profits. And, when the American worker demanded normal pay and benefits, the factories owners, balked yet again and in greater earnest moved their factories off-shore. Please don’t get me wrong, many of these super-rich owners are “great, patriotic, God-fearing Americans” who contribute millions to the politicians that guarantee their continued well-being

Cut the Regulations

Thanks to the vanished regulations, by the end of the 1980’s, credit and credit cards were made available pretty much to anyone with a pulse. And the first waves of Chinese made junk were hitting the big box stores--prices were ridiculously low. Americans became addicted to the low prices and as they filled their homes and yards and garages with “quality of life products,” the illusion that life was getting better—so long as they could make the payments—lured everyone into a zombie-like, patriotic furor.

Fueled by consumer dollars, the economy expanded but it was expansion for what sake, whose sake, to what end? Sure, there were people who spent the last twenty years of life enjoying the benefits of jobs; but, the jobs were ultimately dead-ends because while the nation consumed more than the entire world ten times over and money flowed into America permitting ever more junk to be manufactured and consumed, the American consumer became addicted to a lifestyle that could not be maintained without steady and high-paying employment and to those ridiculously cheap prices.

Very quickly, nations like China and the rest of Asia, India and even Brazil, built amazing infrastructures that permitted them to enjoy economies of scale never-before seen. No American factory owner could compete with these low costs of finished goods. So, a final war was launched against the American worker. All of the economies woes were pinned on the unions and spoiled Americans and once and for all the American worker lost.

As Republic presidency, Republican held Congress came and went, the American workers were pushed further and further out of the mix; and, the only things the GOP talked about were tax cuts for the super, super rich and embarrassing things like socially conservative issues—oh, and they tried to ruin America by wasting 8 years attacking a sitting president.

The few vestiges of a liberal democratic government like social security insurance were even stalked with hot breath but to no avail—the Democrats held out. Medicare, something the wealthy seniors love to take advantage of because God knows they never want to spend their own money, was of course never touched—only enhanced at the cost of hundreds of billions, a check the American worker would have to pick.

Hysteria

Over the course of thirty years, we heard and saw on every corner—from politicians to pop culture—how it was not just an American’s right to become wealthy but his ultimate destiny. Through super cheap credit and predatory marketing of credit cards, mortgages, etc.—and to those who have always had it good in life, when a person is poor and a credit card is handed to them, it is real hard not to use that card to buy the kids some gifts at Christmas—Americans bought and bought’ and then, many started going bankrupt but the Republicans ensured that this too would be made more difficult—once again in the name of patriotic, American values.

The GOP talked about “irresponsible, free-spending ‘people’ (read: white trash and minorities) ever wanting a hand out.” They failed to consider that many of the Americans declaring bankruptcy had become simply redundant in the work place and had no other options—or they could choose crime which many did (crime always increases under Republicans.)

As homes were snatched up and filled with all of the junk homes need, money poured continued to pour into the US economy; and, the super rich got richer and their tax obligations lower. The American worker’s real wage fell to 1978 levels. 23% of the nation’s wealth belongs to 1% of the nation today. In 1978, 8% of the nation’s wealth belonged to that lucky 1%.

By September 2008, the bubble that was the American economy—and sadly the world’s because everyone likes a quick buck—burst. Amazingly, the Republicans, who each time they control the government lead us into massive budget deficits, just shrugged their shoulders, pretended they had nothing to do with the failed economy and went into attack mode so that they could prevent the Democrats from applying the long-needed measures to fix the economy—to bring the regulating and guiding hand of government back into the mix.

President Obama came to office truly believing he could govern in a bipartisan manner given the calamity which had befallen the nation. When he put the stimulus forth, he was attacked by the GOP. They demanded tax cuts or nothing—they now had nothing to lose. So, he compromised and lowered the amount of the stimulus and made one third of it tax cuts—he did this to prove his bipartisan credentials. They trashed him for it and then mocked him when the stimulus didn’t keep the nation below 8% unemployment—although all economists have said that stimulus worked.

Right Ideas, Wrong America

The stimulus should have been two times what it was and should have given tax cuts only to small businesses—something the GOP is against. However thanks to the genius of Fox “News”--which delivers the news always with either a slightly mocking tone—when it has something to do with the president or Democrats—or as if Armageddon had finally arrived (and quite often served up by hot women)--and the countless other hysterically, right-wing radio and TV personalities, Americans have bought hook, line and sinker that they are part of the rich; and, so when the GOP cut taxes and ridicules the spending of the Democrats, Fox tells the lazy and couch-bound that it is their wealthy being stolen—many of these people believing this are unemployed and have lost children to the wars of the GOP.

Well, here it is: the US economy over these thirty years has suffered irreparable harm. Systemically we are finished. Because the myth of the profit holds so much power, the American business owner is forgiven when he acts in his best economic interest and cuts corners: maybe he doesn’t clean the eggs too well, maybe he doesn’t tell anyone about the lead-based paint and quite often he will hire an illegal alien. Why does he hire the illegal? Because the American workers were spoiled by the Democrats and the unions and they cost too much, right?

Thirty years ago, with Vietnam War over and the Cold one soon to end, America had a phenomenal opportunity to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. Bill Clinton did what he could and he also balanced our budget. But, twenty years of Republican presidents and almost as many of GOP Congresses—enforced by the hysterical right media—permitted the super-rich to build China’s infrastructure and to kill off the American worker.

In November, sadly the GOP will return to power but the nation won’t lose anything. America can’t lose what it no longer has. We are a greed-driven, selfish nation and we want what we want now and for the lowest cost possible and I’ll be damned if I’ll pay a penny extra. As we sit this week in September in our cheap cars, eating in Italian restaurants where the only thing Italian is the maybe the coffee—God knows the kitchens are filled with illegal Hispanic workers—and we go to big box stores and buy inexpensive junk, remember that the only person we have to blame is ourselves—oh, and the GOP.

Shame on the GOP and shame all of us because we let it happen. We are not ready to further compete in this world’s economy—unless we can get the world to start warring on a scale never before seen--and the GOP has neither imagination nor the integrity to lead this nation back to greatness.

President Obama has tried but he has been mocked.

The Do-Nothing 111th Congress

2010-08-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

As the summer session of Congress comes to a close, the 111^th Congress is going to go down in history as the one of the least effective and well, in layman’s terms “laziest” meetings of Congress in American history—there still is roughly five months of this Congress’s life left but if I had a say my push would be to shut it down now and let’s get on to the 112^th as quickly as possible. Maybe then we can actually get something done.

In order to most fully appreciate just how little the Democratic-led 111^th Congress has done, let’s put on our trusty goggles of comparison—we all have a pair. If on and snugly pulled into place, let’s begin with the doomsday 107^th Congress.

The 107^th Congress

This was the 9/11 Congress and regardless of just how much legislation was passed or in the works to be passed, the tragedy of September 11, 2001 threw the whole thing out of whack. Yet some major pieces of legislation worth noting are the following:

· No Child Left Behind Act

· Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act

· Farm Security and Rural Investment Act

· Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold)

· Authorization for Use of Military force against Iraq

· Help America Vote Act--remember Florida?

· Homeland Security Act

· E-Government Act

It should be noted that the Republicans had a majority in the Senate until June 6, 2001 and then it switched back to the Democrats. The House was controlled by the Republicans and in the White House was none other than George W. Bush.

The 108^th Congress

This was the beginning of what many Americans feel was the end of our freedoms and the end of the era of rule according to the US Constitution. The Republicans had majorities in both houses and control of the White House and hubris and incompetence were king. Slowly, we started to move away from governing and providing the nation with a framework designed to make life more livable for all Americans and started the downward slide toward plutocracy.

Here are some noteworthy pieces of legislation that came out of the Republican controlled 108^th Congress:

· Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003--Yes, that wonderful, job-creating tax cut.

· Prison Rape Elimination act of 2003--No more rape in prison now.

· Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act--ah, yes, government impeding on a woman’s rights…seems a bit un-Constitutional.

· Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act

· Unborn Victims of Violence Act--encroaching on Roe v. Wade.

· The Belarus Democracy Act--seems to be working…or maybe not.

· Flood Insurance Reform Act--two floods and you are out act. Good for business bad for homeowner.

· Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.

The 109^th Congress

Here it is, the Congress everybody talks about on a daily basis—especially people who come in contact with the 1/4 of legislation that was passed in order to rename federal buildings. Yes, of the 383 pieces of legislation this Republican controlled Congress passed, a whooping 93 renamed post-offices and other such things of little or no value to an already stagnating economy. It is just what the Russians do whenever things get bad, change the names of streets and cities and police hoping that people will get so confused they will just forget.

Here are a few pieces of non-name changing legislation worth noting:

· Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (Well, the anti-consumer, pro-business activities continued with this very first piece of legislation. The little man could now be offended by the “corporate citizen” and the corporation only sued up to $5 million! Big Biz spend more than that on Post-Its each month. Also, oddly, the fact that the federal courts suddenly take precedent over state courts strengthens federal power at the expense of state power—I thought he GOP was all for state rights! (They are when it comes things like slavery, guns and anti-health care reform but not Big Biz profits.)

· Theresa Marie Schiavo's law (or The Palm Sunday Compromise). This was simply an appalling and emotional abuse of power by the Republican-held Congress. Again, stripping the power away from the state courts, the GOP forced “God” into legislation and passed a farcical law with no power to do anything that applied only to one person—they just wanted to have this already dead woman lie around for another decade (at whose cost) until God had made his final decision to take her. Oh, and the fact that the law was a violation of the separation of powers didn’t stop the GOP because they make up rules (and amendments) as they see fit. Our traditions mean nothing to them.

· Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (Another pro-big business, anti-working class American bill.)

· Energy Policy Act of 2005 (George Bush, Tom DeLay and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton –all from Texas—really drove this bill through because it gave great tax incentive to the oil industry and especially Texas based companies.

· Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (NRA baby!)

· Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005—Sounds nice right? What it is really is, though, is nothing more than a blatant transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy. All of the taxes not being raised and in effect lowered benefit the super-rich and corporations while doing zero—that is nothing—to incentivize them to hire or invest in their businesses. Sick.

· Secure Fence Act of 2006—That worked.

· Tax Relief and Health Act of 2006—More wealth transference and generational theft.

The 110^th Congress

With the Democrats back in power in both chamber but with only slim margins and the White House still occupied by a lame-duck and very unpopular president, the pendulum started to swing slowly back from the GOP’s main constituent—Big Business—and back to the American people.

Here is some noteworthy legislation. Not all of it is typical Democrat fare but the GOP still had a lot of power and the White House:

U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriation

Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007

Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007

Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007--The GOP and Bush were really against this for some reason.

Protect America Act of 2007

Honest Leadership and Open Government Act

Water Resources Development Act of 2007 –Veto Overridden. Bush just really has a deep-seeded dislike of New Orleans to where a considerable portion of this bill’s funds would go to assist not only safe-guarding from future hurricanes but also provide assistance to small business dependent on the nation’s waterways—an infrastructure completely neglected by Bush in his first seven years.

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

Economic Stimulus Act of 2008—Thos silly Democrats.

Food and Energy Security Act of 2007--Veto Overridden. Bush once again showing his true stripes. Got to give him an “A” for effort, though, he really keeps his promises to Big Biz.

Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008

The Lazy 111^th

And, here they are; these men and women of the US Congress should be ashamed of themselves. Let their actions speak my words:

· Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

· Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act—Such softies those Democrats are…a sick kid, so.

· American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—The Stimulus.

· Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009—What kind of bus? Provides some money for hungry mothers with infants, Amtrak and a bunch of other really good things. So sappy, they are, right?

· Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009—Here we go again.

· Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act—Very cool program!

· Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009—Why bother? Just invade another country and get those homeless in a uniform and put an M-16 in their hands (no body armor, please.)

· Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009—Going after DOD budgeting; accountability in government something we saw very little of under W and with the GOP at the helm.

· Credit CARD Act of 2009—Going after Big Business where Big Business lives!

· Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

· Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, including the Car Allowance Rebate System (Cash for Clunkers)—Creative governing government at its best! The most creative thing we saw under W was his ability to make up words.

· Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009

· Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act—Something the GOP knows nothing about.

· Travel Promotion Act of 2009

· Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act—It’ll kick in, just give it some time, man.

· Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

· Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, including the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act

· Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010

· Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010

· Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

· SPEECH Act of 2010

Now, it will also be fun to see what the 111^th Congress has proposed but what hasn’t made it to vote yet or was temporarily defeated:

American Clean Energy and Security Act

District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act

Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act

Employee Free Choice Act

Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009

Food Safety Enhancement Act

Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2009

Military Readiness Enhancement Act

Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act

Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009

Public Option Act

Respect for Marriage Act

Shark Conservation Act

Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act

Uniting American Families Act

Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act

Wow! Now that is some America-freedom-enhancing, improve the life of the working man (and all Americans mind you) legislation. It would seem that when you have Democrats in control of Congress and one of the best presidents we have ever had governing our nation, a lot of good can come from government.

Let’s take a quick look at what the 108^th Congress proposed but did not enact:

Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003—I guess they were too busy spending the money from those tax cuts on things like boats, four-wheelers and home repairs.

What did the 109^th propose but not enact?

Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act—More Big Business protection.

Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 – Vetoed—This could have prevented a lot of people from suffering from Alzheimer’s. But…

Jessica Lunsford Act

Digital Transition Content Security Act

Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005 (Akaka Bill)—Say what?

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006—Welp, better luck next time.

A Failed Liberal Agenda?

2010-08-13T02:07:00.000-07:00

The Spin

“Failed liberal agenda.” Senator Jim DeMint spoke these words about why Americans will be voting out the Democrats this coming November.

I simply cannot agree with his very partisan and rather misleading statement.

Let’s see, “failed;” this word would seem to imply that we actually tried something. In order to fail, you have to have made an attempt; in the case of governing our nation, you have to have put forth ideas and policies that could stop the spread of the GOP cancer that has grown in our nation since 1980.

While the GOP was governing there was one overriding policy tool (well, two actually): cut tax and less government; and, while they were saying this they were expanding government payrolls like only one other non-wartime president had in the past one hundred years—Ronald Reagan; and, they were cutting taxes leading us ever to massive, massive deficits (part of their agenda).

When the GOP’s “failed neo-conservative, preachy and highly hubristic agenda” was scrapped in 2008, like good losers—and the tradition of being a good sport is as old as America—should have realized the err of their ways and tried to govern with the newly-elected President. Instead, they chose to vote “no” on everything he put before them; even in cases where they themselves had created the legislation he was asking them to vote “yes” on. Again, this obstructionism is part of their agenda—don’t help lead America to a better, healthier place for fear it will get Obama re-elected. They did this with Clinton and they are doing it now.

America is a massive and complex nation. President Obama has been president for a little over a year and a half—there is no way his policies have led us to where we are today. Some of them are just barely starting to kick in and others, very small ones, have run their course. Still other major ones will only start much later; President Obama is trying to rebuild the foundations of our nation—health care, education, green technologies and financial reform—so that the noxious fallout of 30 years of “failed neo-conservative agenda” can be, once and for all, laid to rest in the landfill of really stupid and really dogmatic ideas.

President Obama, like Clinton before him, has been forced to waste so much time trying to work with the GOP—modify his policies (like the stimulus which had way too many tax cuts), reaching across the aisle in the hope they would give real ideas and not just reruns of the ones that led us to this state of affairs—and the GOP has been successful in slowing him down only to the harm of America; yet, as always to the benefit of their agenda.

President Obama hasn’t had time to “fail.” So, take that word and shove it.

Liberal Agenda

If we ask the average supporter of the GOP, of the Tea Party, of Palin, “what is the liberal agenda?” we will hear something like the following answer: socialism, big government, choking out private investment, big brother, entitlements (SS, Medicare and Medicaid, unemployment, educational grants, etc.), anti-Constitution, anti-gun, anti-free choice, pro-illegal immigrant, pro gay marriage, pro-abortion: all untruths.

Let’s instead take a look at the “failed neo-conservative agenda” that has held America in its grips for the past 30 years: anti-choice (trying to legislate a woman’s right to have an abortion); anti-division of church and state (it seems they want to make us a theocracy like the countries they so hate); anti-education, pro-gun in every pocket, anti-government, militaristic (Palin’s great comment recently was “I want to use our military to fight for the protection of our Constitution.”—scary); anti-Constitution (this document’s beauty and strength is that it is left alone, the GOP would make it look like the Russian Constitution which at last count has over 7000 amendments); anti-immigrant even though we are a nation of immigrants, anti-worker (destruction of unions, shipping labor off shore to squeeze a few more pennies out of that margin, hoarding of cash as seen of late), pro-fear-mongering (newsflash: not all foreigners hate us and it is less dangerous to walk down the street in 99.7% of all cities in the world than it is to spend a Sunday at a Luby’s (25 were killed) or at day at work (recently 8 were killed); and, the “failed neo-con agenda” is a racist one—see government reaction to Katrina, more needs not be said; and, last but certainly not least, anti-intellectual--just look at their leader’s mockery of the teacher in Alaska peacefully protesting. Palin and her dumb daughter (whose great quote was “it’s called the United States” but then she made the shape of a globe with her hands…go figure.) showed in their empty and ugly faces just how the entirety of the GOP feels about teachers and education.

The failed neo-conservative agenda had led us to a place where for the first time in nearly a century America was disliked by the world thanks to our arrogance and foolishness in attacking Iraq. Because of this loss of leadership as a better and more-evolved nation, we had not been able to lead the world on stopping Korea, Iran, on slowing the effects of global warming; Putin of Russia has become a regional sickness again, etc. China does what it wants with little or no regard thanks to our failed neo-conservative agenda which espouses a “better-than-thou” attitude to the entire, educated world.

As we sit at 13^th place among industrialized nations for number of college graduates per 100,000 and the Pax Americana system of “debt-consumption” has led the world to the brink of financial ruin, many countries are realizing that our way is not the right way. We made it as a nation to 2008 always believing that our scientists were the best and then thanks to 30 years of the “failed neo-conservative agenda” we now mock scientists if they, after looking at the data, say that global warming is real—Bush’s White House even had data showing that global warming was real stricken from all reports by federally-funded scientists. The world is shocked by what we have become and guess what: we need the world.

PS: Agenda, a very negative word suggesting that there are some hidden plans to be sprung once all the pieces have fallen into place. The GOP’s agenda was real: by cutting taxes to nothing you get the best of all of your worlds—less government because there is no money left and almost no entitlement programs for the same reason.

An Agenda

This election season make sure that when speaking about President Obama and the Democrats who control Congress you refer to their policies not as an “a failed liberal agenda” but merely as an “an attempt at refortifying our nation after 30 years of lies, abuse and treachery” for the overall betterment of all Americans regardless of race, creed or color (or who you sleep with, etc.).

God Bless that America!

Iraq will only cost us $3 Trillion!

2010-08-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the majority of politicians still governing the country voted to give $26 billion in aid to states to help them pay for education. With this move, the democrats saved up to 140,000 jobs and ensured that come the fall, class sizes in some parts of the country won’t double.

Education, the democrats so foolishly wager, has the possibility to make Americans more competitive in what is now a labor market that no longer concerns itself with borders—the money goes where it can get the brightest for the least: America is barely holding onto its leading position. If we let the Republicans have their way, we will lose our leadership on this front very soon.

How did the Republicans label the silly financing of education by the Democrats yesterday? “A vote for more tax-hikes and special interest bailouts,” said some random spokesman for John Boehner. Senator Gregg suggested it was a “pay-off to education unions.”

$26 billion, fully paid for, goes to help strapped states pay for the education of America’s future; $30 billion was to be invested by Democrats in helping small business owners—the back-bone of any economy. The Republicans were against both of these measures calling them foolish, generational-theft and typical “tax and spend” policies of the Democratic Party.

The True Death Tax

When a soldier is killed in Iraq, the family of the deceased receives a check for $500,000. Who covers this cost? The US tax-payer—this is a tax against the middle class, the working poor; by giving this money to a grieving family, the government is making a choice: instead of invest in said crumbling bridge, education, health care or tax-breaks for entrepreneurs seeking to develop green energy technologies, the money goes to this family. The “opportunity cost” is $500,000. That money is now gone, off the books and with this family. In order to invest in the bridge or education, etc. we must take that money from somewhere else. (The Republicans will probably defend policy and say it is good that the government's wealth is being dispersed to the poor through the payment to the family--I think the family would most likely rather have their loved one.)

So, as working-American stands in traffic because that bridge is crumbling resulting in two of the three lanes being closed because they are simply too unsafe, working-American is being taxed—taxes are not always in the form of money; this fact, however, the Republicans simply refuse to understand.

As the government readies that $500,000 for investment in the bridge, suddenly another American soldier dies in Iraq; and another, and another; and another. With each flag-draped coffin returning home—something the Republicans felt we weren’t mature enough to see all those years—the problems of America’s infrastructure mount. They worsen and the cost for fixing them increases.

Despite what Bush and Rumsfeld had said would be the cost for victory in Iraq--$50 billion was the amount Rumsfeld told the gathered journalists back in April, 2003—America’s involvement in that desert that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 (had no WMD and never, ever even hinted that they needed our messianic war) rapidly approaches the amount that was invested in World War II (in real terms).

Um, let’s see, World War II: participated in the largest, most horrific war in world history and through bravery, sense of purpose and American greatness, we conquered true and pure evil.

Iraq. I need say no more. Iraq has been a tragic waste of lives on both sides. Thanks to Iraq, the foundations of our economy are rotting as if there has been a termite infestation and the Republicans have the audacity--the gumption--to blame President Obama and the Democrats: Orwellian double-speak if there ever was an example.

When a soldier dies, the tax-payer not only has to pay his family the $500,000; but, the economy loses future economic value from the man or woman killed and the survivors also tend to become less economically efficient because of depression and sadness.

The Costs

Iraq will end up costing our economy over $3 trillion dollars; it will cost us the lost ideas, accomplishments of those who have suffered and who are suffering with no arms or legs.

What is our budget shortfall today? How much will health care reform cost? What has Iraq already cost us? What was the cost of those tax-cuts for the richest Americans for whom George W Bush had the sheer arrogance to pass into law while we waged war on two fronts? (True generational wealth, true dispersal of the nation's wealth, true class warfare.)

The next time some Republican makes such absolutely ridiculous statements about Democrats caving to the “interests” (paying for education and helping small businesses) or “generational theft” (health care reform) just remember that thanks to the mistake that is Iraq—and those God-forsaken tax cuts (which they want to make permanent)—we are in the economic quagmire we see today.

When did we become so militaristic and just down-right stupid?

Sadness decreases the economic value of many Americans today...the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves; but, they aren't. They mock us instead.

Whose elite would you rather have?

2010-08-02T02:08:00.000-07:00

CEO’s of most companies are smart, well-educated people with experience running things. The head of the NRA is probably a smart man, also. A corporation—the lobby--probably need such people to run their companies. If I were a share-holder, I would not want to think that the man or woman who is heading up my company was stupid or somewhat unbalanced.

The people given responsibility for companies and in the case of the NRA, pro-gun lobby, are most likely very wealthy. And, there is nothing wrong with that. According to most economists, the CEOs and the NRA head are part of an “elite” in America. They are the people who shape our nation through the Political Action Committees (PAC) they support and the politicians they anoint with their magical, bloated wallets.

This “elite” have very simple orders for the politicians of their making: support and put forth policies that brought said wealth and preserve and when possible increase said wealth.

A market, like any game, has rules and the politicians supported by the elite, wealthy interests ensure that the rules of this game always favor the CEO’s, the heads of lobbies, etc. The Supreme Court’s recent decision permitting companies not to take responsibility for ridiculous and often scandalous advertisements against any politician who is not willing to guarantee that all laws and regulations favor the wealthy elite will only further strengthen the wealthy elite. It will make the moat surrounding their fortress, protecting them from working Americans, ever wider.

To further understand the power of these elite, we must consider the fact that their corporations and lobbies are now being granted rights and privileges that used to belong only to citizens—one man one vote, one corporation one politician. And, when these corporate citizens commit crimes—sometimes leading to the death of hundreds or damage to other Americans in the billions of dollars—they are strangely usually let off with innocuous slaps on the corporate wrist.

A company with quarterly profits in the billions of dollars knowingly produces products that hurt consumers and gets fined a few million dollars; then they hire a great PR team, invest ten times the amount of their fine and somehow turn the tables so that the fault lies not in their decision as a board but in “too much government regulation;” or, the “socialist plans for the country that so-and-so president/politician has.” Had a regular Joe done what the corporation had, he would be on death row in most states.

The Myth

As the elite grows and gains power, it invests ever more money in creating a myth that some liberal, better-than-though, well-educated people—quite often from the north—seek to create an “elite ruling class” bent on making America socialist if not communist. These liberal people seek to obtain power so that they can offset the unfair advantages the “wealthy elite” have gained thanks to—in our case--thirty years of Republican obstructionist governing. Now, obstructionism in this case is not the same as it is today when the Republican minority refuses to govern while President Obama struggles to reset the scales.

The Republican obstructionism of the past thirty years has tried to completely alter all of the rules of the playing field so that they always favor the wealthy elite. So that the working American doesn’t pay too much attention to the fact that fifty-eight cents of every dollar of real income growth since 1976 has gone to the top 1% of the nation, the wealthy elite through their very own political party—the GOP—create emotional scandals and regularly find bogeymen in the dark: communism everywhere, Whitewater investigation (while we should have concerned ourselves with Al Qaeda), WMD, gay marriage, Swift Boat controversy, no global warming, Obama is a socialist Muslim, death-squads just to name a few.

Obstructed from being able to progress forward as a nation, from solving our current problems; from protecting our people from natural disasters and poor decision-making like the illegal invasion of Iraq, the wealthy elite thanks to their mouthpiece and protector guarantee that while the interest of the nation is held distracted by the endless scandals the GOP fabricates, they will plod forward, passing laws that further ensure the indentured-servitude of tens of millions of working-poor thanks to predatory lending policies; they will pass legislation that steals more and more of our Constitutional Rights while vociferously shouting from the rooftops that they are actually “preserving our Constitutional Rights;” they will find more nations of no consequence to play our fools only to then be invaded by us when the elite feel the next round of military technology is ready for use—to be bought by this same federal government they so claim to hate but whose pockets are always as deep as they need be when shifting the nation’s wealth from the working Americans to the elite ruling class.

The United States is the world’s largest economy. It is arguably the most complex and important society in the world today. The president and the people helping him oversee the massive machine that is the federal government should be well-educated, experienced, balanced and not given to emotional outbursts or just plain old deceit.

Smart People--so what

If the Americans, who happen to be smart, well-educated liberals running our country today happen to be considered an “elite” then I say so be it. Their elite status, for the most part, comes from the fact that they have always been the top of their class; they have always excelled academically and professionally and they probably went to colleges that are very selective. Today, they are President Obama and his advisors. I see nothing wrong with that. Actually, I love that fact. I love knowing that the President of the United States of America is smarter than me.

That couldn’t be said when referring to W; it certainly can’t be said about the current leader of the GOP, Sarah Palin. What can be said about them, though, is that they will do their “darndest” to make the wealthy elite proud of them—and vice versa.

Fox-News Flash: Obama is really a woman!

D-Day 2010--Lessons learned and forgotten

2010-07-09T00:32:00.000-07:00

As I checked into the small hotel not far from the town of Bastogne awkwardness overcame me: here I was, like some child chasing a balloon that had slipped from his hand; chasing a moment in history that had passed 66 years ago.

These people had probably moved on long ago, I thought; and, like in my life, over those 66 years, so much had transpired: births, deaths, other wars had come and gone, marriages, divorces, accidents and worldwide epidemics had even changed the way we speak.

What happened in the woods and fields surrounding the town of Bastogne were events lost to text books and Hollywood, I figured; certainly the people here in this little village, the man plowing his field at ten o'clock at night so as to catch the last few strands of sunlight from this day, had forgotten.

Oh, how I was wrong.

The Belgians are aware of our sacrifice. They celebrate our veterans in plaques, memorials, town squares, through hotel and bar names, museums—so many of them—and fields that have been set aside not to be plowed but to remember the young Americans who gave their lives to push the German offensive back into the forest and out of Belgium.

Inundated in this love-fest for America, I walked around the woods of “Bois Jacques” and the town of Bastogne and, yes, tears of pride came to my eyes. When asked where I was from: “the US,” nods of silent recognition and small smiles pulling at lips greeted me; the unspoken thank you hung in the air. As I sat, sipping on a Belgian Ale, I so wanted to share with my relatives long-since-passed (Uncle Charlie, Aunt Lottie, Gram, my mother and father) the stories, the impressions being made upon me by these people. In place of them, I found an elderly couple from Pennsylvania , the man had fought in those very woods, and we talked. I felt a little better.

I left Belgium for Normandy.

The Normans

On 5 June, I tried to enter the town of Ste. Mere Eglise but due to the crowds the town was closed to traffic. I was forced to park about a mile from downtown. As I clicked my car doors locked, 30 WWII-era C47’s roared overhead and left in their wake a trail of parachutists; floating in peace toward the earth, it was hard to imagine the gunfire, the ringing church bells and the flames from the burning farmhouse which had accompanied a similar jump 66 years ago.

It was all so festive and restoring.

Once on the town square, with American, French and British flags draped all over the town like some set for a movie, I found myself in “Love Fest Number 2.” Packed with revelers, picnics everywhere, rides for the smallest children whirred and smoke from grilled sausages filled the air tugging at stomachs; I grabbed a cold beer and settled in next to a table of vets from the 82^nd who had liberated the town. They were regaling with stories of that night paratroopers from today’s 82^nd and their French, British and even German “brothers in arms.”

Despite the dwindling number of veterans at the festivities this year and the less-than-obvious presence of townsfolk who were awoken on the night when some of our boys had the misfortune of landing on the main square—resulting in their immediate deaths—the baton of gratitude has been passed. The Normans are grateful and in their French stoicism, even I felt like they were glad to have us there on that day celebrating with them.

Yet, whereas the Belgians are almost giddy at seeing Americans coming to their country to recall those tough months of battle, the French being the French always reserve their most precious emotions for themselves; we get a big thank-you but it still is, like it was only weeks after the liberations, marked with a sense of “okay, you freed us now get going so we can get back to our amazing lives.” Yes, the French still somehow imagine that the greatest sacrifice on that day was their own sacrifice.

Perhaps, they are right but being an American, I simply will never agree with that sentiment. Having walked the beaches and sat in the hedgerow shortly after midnight on the 6^th and listened to the sounds that greeted our boys, I was frightened—and this is 66 years later.

The Normans make great cider and wonderful cheese and have accomplished countless amazing things throughout history, but, on D-Day the sacrifice belonged to us, to the Brits, to the Canadians and even the to the French paratroopers who jumped in shortly before midnight on the 5th.

Sacrifice

Over the course of these two days this past June, I had the great honor of meeting and thanking our veterans—“the boys” as they prefer to be called. Two of the men I met had landed in the first wave literally 100 yards away from each other and had never met before. They started recalling similar events—particularly large explosions, pauses in the shooting—“like everyone on both sides just took a deep breath”-- and the many tragedies from that day.

As they recalled a certain LST—troop carrier--explosion, they both fell silent, turned toward the gathered crowd and made some comments about how they had lost the groups they had come here with; the tears had dried already for these men as slowly walked off toward the white crosses, but for many of us present, the tears fell.

“I was there.” One 93-year old vet looking at my “Battle of the Bulge” baseball cap said. Reaching out my hand, I began to stumble over the words, swallowed and said “thank you for your service, sir.” A tear fell and I wondered, what else can be said to a man who landed on D-day, fought through Bastogne and ended the war in Berlin?

As I sat in my car overlooking Omaha Beach just after H-Hour, I sipped on a cider from trees that had been christened by the blood of our boys. Marveling at the distance from the water to the seawall, I wondered, are we as good a nation today as we were then? I wondered, could I have made that run across the sand under such intense fire? Would I have even tried?

The boys on those beaches, falling from the sky, rotting in the jungles of the Pacific, fought not so we could become the nation we are today; responsibility for everything shunned by all, pinned to some “deep dark moment from childhood;” gluttony now the new national pastime and like dark periods from what we had hoped were in the past, immigrants—both illegal and legal ones—being persecuted not by fanatics this time but by so-called mainstream—although somewhat radical—Americans.

And, these policies are being veiled in “Christianity” and "patriotism." Sounds, however, just like the ideology our boys landing on these Norman shores were fighting to rid Europe of.

The Boys fought for Different Reasons

The boys of D-Day did not fight for an intolerant America; an America where corporate interests and the wealthy are permitted to spend however much they want to get their “representatives” elected; an America that disrespects a President because he is black, has a Muslim-sounding name and tries to off-set the gains of thirty years of political abuse by the right in order to give the struggling American worker a fighting chance.

The boys of D-Day fought for truth, liberty and justice for all: not lies passed off as the truth ( WMD, no global warming, health care is socialism), imprisonment because you are poor and no justice for the same reason. They did not fight for an America that has come to so hate educated and smart people. It used to be a sign of accomplishment to have obtained a great education but today, unless your institution of higher learning is not a place linked to bible studies or great football teams, then you are considered a leftist, a “communist.”

In Normandy, I was so proud and I thought: if only every American spitting the vitriol of today’s political hysteria (the Tea Party nuts) could see this, we would be a better and freer nation still.

Tomorrow would be better than today--a very American notion, indeed.

The Mind is a Beautful thing to Waste

2010-05-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

Ideas and thoughts are like people.

If a person sits around day in and day out eating Oreo cookies and drinking RC Cola, expends as little energy as possible physically shuffling from ever-close La-Z-Boy and big, AC-cooled car and spends hours upon hours listening or watching the opinions of others, then the brain, like one's muscles, begins to atrophy.

Well, atrophy might not be the right word; the brain begins to evolve into a Venus Fly-trap like specimen: any ideas that are fed it from the given "talking head" leach out reason and in their stead leave a gooey mass of "someone else's rhetoric;" rhetoric which has been crafted, analyzed by marketers and focus-groups and presented with as much emotion and mindlessness to guarantee reaction from the masses.

As was the first monkey to stand up on his two legs and reach for an apple a bit higher in the tree was ridiculed by the other slow-to-evolve, less brave monkeys, so too are progressive and original thinkers persecuted and ridiculed in the post-GOP, "dumb-down America" experiment: commenced on January 2o, 1981 and still in progress.

A Corporation is a Person and a Person is a Country

And so we have it, the greatest run against our individual rights and freedoms, the right granted by the hyperactive US Supreme Court in its decision to permit Corporations to pump millions of dollars into political candidates of their making, a stomach wound from which few--and no Constitutions--can survive empties us our democracy of vitality and a future.

Now, the GOP and the radical, neo-fascist right are pressing to have individual criminals, American citizens with sympathies for the cause of our enemy, denied their Miranda Rights.

In the same way that a corporation cannot be confused for having the same rights and privileges as a person, so too a person cannot be held to represent an entire nation. Especially, if that person is a US citizen. Timothy McVeigh's "American-ness" was never questioned. Many in the Teabag Party probably consider him a patriot; a bit radical but, he was a man devoted to a cause they believe: trying to save America from the Big Brother "federal government."

Faisal Shahzad, a name which sounds scary and foreboding, is a US citizen. Never mind, where he was originally from; the color of his skin, lacking of pure-bred, small-town America breeding of a Timothy McVeigh, he is entitled to all the rights of the US legal system. End of discussion.

Yet, because of that name and those eyes hidden by a seemingly permanent shadow, one in which he and all Pakistanis are undoubtedly plotting the destruction of the US, people, those same ones who support the Teabag nuts, W, think that we were victorious in Iraq and who question Obama's "American-ness," want this man to be tried as a war criminal.

Even the former-maverick (yet, he swears he never called himself that) John McCain, a man so hungry for power he has completely tilled the soil of what had been an honorable record in the Senate so he could plant the seeds of his mind-numbing, knee-jerk reactionary (and finally) near fascist policies just so he can hold onto that wonderful view of the Washington Monument, staggers about like a scarecrow mumbling in a recent ad: "build the fence, dang it."

Again, my dear friends, the right is wrong and what we are witnessing thanks to their ever abuse of that word is a tidal wave-like movement in the English language: the word "right" will very soon not be able to be used to express "correctness" but will actually be used to express "wrong-ness." Thank you, GOPCONers.

Flash Paper

The right is playing with fire. Living in a nation whose sole and most powerful tool for uniting the unevolved masses is xenophobic rantings at the drop of the shapka, if we continue to go down this road of anti-immigrant rhetoric than it will very, very quickly become one that does not stop with the immigrants. Very quickly it will start to engulf all Americans; white, black and brown: how many of us after a nice day at the beach just may fall prey to the over-zealousness of a local cop?

"Papers."

"What? Are you kidding me? Man, I was playing Little League right around the corner from here when you weren't even born yet."

"Sir, please step out of the car."

"What?!"...and the rest becomes a blurb in the local paper.

Sounds ridiculous and far-fetched? Not so.

So, before we sit about and facebook away about how we are Americans and we demand that immigrants have their papers and we post cute little neo-fascist "Bill's of Anti-Immigrant Rights", exercise the brain we have been given and think; imagine; go a few steps beyond the cool-sounding rhetoric and venom that regularly embodies every single minute that one of the right's talking heads speaks, and take yourself to that place where the 22-year old cop with barely a high school education is standing before you with a gun on his hip and demanding to see YOUR papers.

It can and will happen. Keep stoking the coals.

Tyranny by the Mob

2010-03-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

When you have a major political party, one of only two in our "free and democratic system", whose major goal is the complete dismantling of government so that the "people" can rule, you have a major, major systemic flaw: in other words, we are all screwed.

The republican drive since the rise of the lunatic McCarthy which was followed by the more intelligent but just as dangerous Goldwater, and whose disciple went on to become president (Reagan), has been to empower the so-called "patriots" of America so they can fight for the "real freedom" of America. When they say "patriots" they mean people like Mr. "give me liberty or give me death" (Patrick Henry); or, they are referring to people like Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams (certainly not John Adams); Paul Revere and so many other rebels against the tyranny of the state; at the time, an English king who mocked our desire to be independent.

The lunatics who today are attacking both physically and verbally the democrats who voted for health care reform are jokes; they are hooligans; they are losers; they are in no way shape or form patriotic; yet, they are armed to the teeth thanks to the craziest and stupidest gun laws in the world's history. They are empowered by a "God" who truthfully wouldn't shake their filthy, murderous, hate-filled hands for fear He would be swayed to their heathen ways.

The GOP loves it when these nuts blow up abortion clinics; they love seeing the attacks which are going on now--isn't it nice to have the crazy on your side, right--for they are not condemning them but rather implicitly saying: "yes, we understand your anger." And so, the crazies continue their threats like the one a representative from New York received: "we will launch sniper attacks against your family." Sniper attacks!!!?? Why does this person have a sniper rifle to begin with? And, why does this white, bald loser feel so empowered to do say such a thing?

Because the modern day GOP is nothing more than a mob. An out of control bunch of America-haters whose sole raison d'etre (which sounds really funny using such a fine term like that for Neandrothals) is to ensure that soon, very soon there will be no government remaining. And, my question, and warning to those lily-white, "God fearing", sexually perverted and non-Christian Christians, is what do you plan to do when you mob turns on you? The day will come when that mob, having rid itself of the dems, of the institutions which regulate fair play and protect us from the murderous and greed-driven missions of big business are all gone, then those tooth-less, moonpie-eating, "my sister is my mother", white, losers with bad knees from their years of fatness and immobility, pose the question: "ok, congressmen from the GOP, now it's your turn to go."

Will they go? No, they won't go but by then they will have ensured that the courts, the military, the armed-to-the-teeth mobs and the "laws" will all guarantee their continued existence so as to protect the nation from "invading forces." All of the emotions needed for a fascist takeover of our nation are in place: xenophobia ("Golly, it's so hard being an American nowadays, er'one hates us."); anti-immigrant; non-stop propaganda by the likes of Limbaugh and Beck and so, so many others. One of our greatest freedoms, freedom of the press, is the one that will ultimately be seen from the mantle of the future as having been the one that destroyed us most soundly. Just like in Weimar Germany, freedom was granted to all to prostelytize their views and legally run for office and by 1929, the Nazis were a legally elected and powerful force in a democratic Germany.

Why are we so sure that cannot happen in America? If I walk into a town in Arkansas, Michigan and Ohio even, with a t-shirt saying "Thank God for Health Care Reform", I stand a good chance of being beaten up or even murdered. Is this normal?

In the way that big business threw its support behind Adolf Hitler from 1932 onward, they were certain that they could control the "raging little Austrian" and they knew his "revolution" would be great for business, so too is big business firmly backing the GOP and the mobs. With the Supreme Court's decision to permit corporations to become "people" and to contribute whatever they want to their causes, yet another seed of our destruction takes hold.

When the elections role around and the best advertising companies in the world are tasked with making creative and convincing ads--these are the same ones that make us think Coca-Cola is good for us and all-American--that say something like "fight for your freedom from Socalist take-over. Fight against the heatlh spending bill on November 4th." A lot of underemployed, uneducated white guys with guns are going fully understand the meaning of that word "fight" and blood will be shed.

The GOP is officially and completely against America. When, when, when, will this become as screamingly obvious to others as it is to me?

Time for us to fight, my friends!

Love it or Leave It

2010-03-22T22:44:00.001-07:00

As the glitter from celebration settles over our nation's capital, let's take a rational look at what has transpired.

Emotional Propagandizing

Yesterday, as I read about how the Grand Old Party would now devote all its energies to repealing this great health care reform bill for all of America, for the first time I asked myself the question. Putting aside all the emotions and rhetoric, I mumbled in the crowded tram: why are "they" so against this bill? The woman next to me thought I was nuts and this is what I think of those against it. But, I stray...

A recent study showed that people of the conservative affliction tend to be less evolved. This group of people, usually the majority, tend to be the ones not responsible for carrying humankind through to the next evolutionary stage; they prefer the status quo; they prefer to energize as opposed to dissipate social prejudices/injustices:

"Racial and homophobic epithets met the Democratic lawmakers as they entered the House on Sunday." (New York Times. "GOP faces drawbacks..." 23 March 2010.)

Congressman Randy Neugebauer, Republican of Texas, called Bart Stupak--a former priest--a "baby killer" on the floor of the House. It was another GOP congressman who called our president a liar during his State of the Union address; and, in 1859, Congressman Preston Brooks, a southern Democrat--the Party would effectively become the Republican Party after 1876--put Congressman Charles Sumner into a coma by beating him so severely with his walking stick.

Brooks supported slavery; Brooks would have been againt the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and he would have been against Health Care Reform on Sunday March 21, 2010. If the "Republicans" had had their way--please look up the historical switch that occurred in 1876--forget about health care reform, we would still be trading negroes today!

Evolution

Other fun and lies-filled terms put forth and manipulated by the GOP were ominous-sounding ones like "death panels", "government takeover", "socialism." It is here, on socialism, that I must stop. Honestly, most of the unevolved have simply no idea what socialism is. It's like when people say "irregardless." This word does not exist and socialism, what it truly is, is nowhere to be seen on the American horizon. Socialist nations, real ones, put the welfare of its citizens first. It looks at its people as being the greatest resource and it does all it can to protect them from injustice.

Granted, in deep socialist systems, there are problems (not the point of this article). The American government is not a socialist nation. The welfare of its people is not concern number one. Concern number one is the welfare of the super rich; and, more importantly, big business (corporations); and, its military might.

Everything our great nation originally stood for has been manipulated and prostituted to push forth an ever more canabalizing big business agenda. Protecting our nations environment became "communist." If you are against the invasion of Iraq, you are a traitor; if you are against the "right to bear arms," you are a traitor; if you want to reform the predatory lending of credit card companies and banks, you are a socialist; if you want to give a woman the right to choose, you are a "baby killer." In all instances, big business benefits each time the lumpen, unevolved right goes to the mattresses for these causes. Board rooms are giggling with delight at the "impassioned pleas" of the Stepford armies chanting and even murdering dems and blowing up abortion clinics.

Middle Class Loses

The final big lie which had been and will continue to be manipulated for years to come is how the health care reform will bankrupt our nation. All I have to say to this, and I really don't know where these nuts on the right get their balls from, largest unpaid for tax cuts in the history of the world--$1.6 trillion; two wars and both were launched when taxes were being cut; $500 billion and more for the prescription drug reform and completely unpaid for. That was the largest gift to corporate America in US history: real life, not lies or rhetoric, wealth redistribution.

Comments by the hysterical yesterday in the aftermath March 21, 2010 often revolved around how the middle class would be forced to carry this burden. Obama was a "true socialist" because he was stealing from the middle class so as to help the "poor and wetbacks Mexicans." The reform bill is for the middle class! Secondly, there is a little, seldom heard term in all of these debates and it is called "opportunity cost." When Bush chose to cut taxes, invade two nations and reward big pharma with $500 billion, who is footing that bill? Not the rich, their taxes were just cut! Yes, the middle class and this reform will save the middle class $131 billion over the first 10 years and over a trillion dollars in the second ten years. (Where was the republican proposal? How much did they want to save?)

Thanks to the above acts of treachery against our nation, many US states are on the brink of bankruptcy: who is to blame for this, according the hysterical and their drug-addicted demigods? Yes, President Obama caused this pain. Thanks to their incompetence New Orleans is still barely a second world city. The city that had the most effect on the culture of the world over the past 150 years, was left to drown and rot because the President at the time saw no political or commercial gains to be had. Is this normal?

Thanks to their "government is the problem" mumbo-jumbo, our banking system collapsed and the world economy nearly went with it. President Obama saved this banking system and now he will reform it and guess who is against this? Yes, the unevolved GOP. And why, because it is not in the interests of big business; but, it is certainly good for the American people.

Where does this all take us? It takes us to today, March 23, 2010. Despite their best and most treacherous efforts health care reform has been passed; the government-backed college loan program has been passed (it will save us $51 billion over the first 10 years, and what is wrong with that?) and of course they were against it because their big biz buddies would lose profits; banking reform will be passed and perhaps we can avoid future economic meltdowns; and, we will fight with China to protect American business--again, they are against the American worker, also, but they will hide behind some outdated precepts of "open and free trade."

The rhetoric and violence will only increase between now and November. The neo-fascist revolution the Tea Party freaks are trying to ignite is more against the principles of our nation than anything I have seen in my life time; and, sadly many of those people are getting violent and for the first time in our lives we may see actual bloodshed; the unevolved are taking things too far and this cannot be good for our nation.

I will now borrow a conservative mantra of the late '60's: love it or leave it! Got it?

Enough Already

2010-03-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

China's announcement yesterday that their currency was not undervalued was stated with the same feigned sincerity--and faux shock--with which the Republicans so passionately claim that they are "for America."

Both lies.

The "Renminbi"

Most economists believe that the Chinese currency, we will call it the "ren" for short--renminbi---is undervalued by 20% to 40%. In very simple economic terms this means that when they produce something, it comes onto free and open markets, like the US, at least 20% to 40% less expensive.

When we take into account that the average Chinese factory worker is little more than an indentured servant--he receives a small wage, is fed in the company cafeteria and lives in company dormitories--the costs for the imported, say, hair dryer, are yet another 20% to 40% less than the average US worker's cost.

Conservatives cry that the unions have priced US labor so high that we are not able to compete with countries like, China, India and Brazil. Conservatives are all for these amazingly open markets which guarantee the lowest possible price for the shit sold at Walmart, Target and other box-stores. Their claim is that these artificially low prices are actually better for the American consumer: the lower the price for that hair dryer, the better.

So, the cost of materials for the hair dryer is $4. The cost of labor is $.75; the devalued "ren" makes the overall price actually about $3.75, in real terms. So, when we add the transportation costs to the hair dryer, Walmart receives the hair dryer for about $4.05. They then add their cut, say, 30% to 50% and the final price is $5 to $6 before tax.

An American made hair dryer--if you could find one--would cost around $9 to $11. Or, the difference between the devalued "ren" and the "indentured servant labor wages" paid at the Chinese factories. In addition, when anything is exported to China from the US, the Chinese regularly manipulate Western laws by filing fictitious complaints to the WTO about American price-fixing; devalued Western currencies; or, they cry that they are a "developing" nation and should be permitted to develop the way they see fit.

The Chinese rulers bend reality, manipulate process and the good will of a more democratic nation--remember China is a communist nation in the true sense of the word--in ways very similar to how we see the GOP manipulating facts about health care reform ("government takeover of 1/4 the economy"), Global Warming ("see the snow, what warming?") and so many other issues they are not in agreement with the Democrats on; and, on issues that most intelligent and educated people agree are real and need fixing.

Lower Prices are Good

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad about lower prices. But, our sole and most important role as Americans is not to consume shit from Walmart. Sundays are not supposed to be spent trolling about malls and shopping centers looking for more variations of cheaply made shit that we threw away 3 months ago only to buy again today for $.50 cents cheaper--just because there is nothing else to do.

We, as a nation, should not want to be in competition with Brazil, India or China. In all honesty, I wouldn't want to live in either one of those nations. They are poverty stricken, filthy in many respects and despite rich and amazing cultures--and booming economies--they are solidly Second World nations; if not Third World, even. China's ecological disaster kills hundreds of thousands each year. And, all of that is done to make sure that a) the Chinese have work and b) the West's stores are filled to bursting with cheap and unnecessary shit; guaranting point "a."

In addition, as the world tries to pull itself out of this recession, the surplus of manufactured shit that China has created simply denies any efforts small or mid-sized American businesses might try to hire and employ Americans.

For example, Joe's small shoe company plans to hire 20 artisans to make great shoes. Joe makes the shoes but in the time that he spent crafting amazing and high-quality boots, let's say, Chinese marketers saw that niche and filled it in 2 months with similar boots--the Chinese ones retail for $30 and last 3 months; the American ones cost $120 and last for 3 years.

But, we will never buy the American ones because Joe cannot find a market/retailer willing to stock them. Twenty Americans are not hired; and, those twenty Americans, who would have been paid a solid middle-class wage won't be able to spend in their communities. Yet, they will be able to get jobs in those retailers selling Chinese-made shit and buy that shit for a quarter of the price. Three months later, they again buy those boots and three months after that they buy another pair of boots because they keep wearing out.

When is enough, enough? When do we stop catering to the Big Business/GOP and say to China, basta? When do we stop looking at Americans as mere consumers, as bottom-lines for the whims of Big Business?

I know when.

On April 15th the US Treasury is required by law to report to Congress about what countries may be manipulating their currencies to the harm of our own economy.

On April 15th, if the US Treasury, guided by the Obama Administration, tells the US Congress, fortunately still in the hands of Americans for America (and not solely for Big Business) that Americans are unemployed and starving (but they can buy blow dryers for $5!) because of China's malfeasance, then there is hope for our economic recovery.

My proposal (and that of some Nobel Prize winning economists): temporary surcharges (25%) on all items imported from China. When they value their currency correctly, then we remove the surcharges.

April 15th is right around the corner. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

The Curtain has been Pulled Back...Again

2010-02-16T23:02:00.000-08:00

It's official. America is finished as one nation.

Republican hysteria has once and for all replaced economic sense and the never-ending obsession with maintaining power has driven them to finally, slide back the curtain and permitted all to see just how sad and crazy the wizard of their anti-America movement is.

Seven senators who had previously supported a bipartisan bill to cut the debt, refused to support it simply because the General Secretary of their Party ordered them not to: "do so, and we might not regain power in November."

The Sharks are Circling

America is wounded and bleeding and all republican members of Congress are circling, nipping at the drowning swimmer, waiting until the legs have stopped paddling and then they will strike for the final and deadly blow--slowly then, America will be bled to death.

Neo-cons and their republican breathren blame President Obama for all of the problems that exist. The laughable and hysterical name-calling that has united them behind idiots like Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney and all republican members of congress has replaced any semblance of governance. They do not seek to help the majority party govern the nation out of its death throes. They want to pull the plug.

The verdict is now in: the Bush tax cuts and other legislation, plus two wars, were the final straws that collapsed the camel's back. The "government is the problem" hysteria and the anti-regulation movement of all financial markets and our banking system also played its role: this recession would not have happened if we had just some government regulation.

Yet, the republicans are truly genious. Reagan cut taxes and spent the nation into its largest deficits since the end of WWII. When Clinton became president, burdened with the Reagan legacy of deficits, he was forced to concentrate on balancing the budget; this pretty much meant that any social programs he might have wanted to pass had already been thrown off the table long before Mr. Reagan forgot his own role in that mess--let alone his name.

Reagan forced Clinton to be fiscally, socially conservative.

With surpluses of $5.6 trillions projected when W took office, within a few short years after his and the incomptence of his aides--Condie Rice and Ashcroft in particular--led to the single greatest and most deadly act of terrorism on our shores, our nation's economy began its slide into idiocy. Today, we are only relevant because we are consumption addicts and because we owe the world an unbelievable amount of money. Half of our public debt is owned by foreigners with China owning half of that.

Doing Nothing

And what do the elected officials of the minority party do? They make-up ridiculus names like "socialist" and "goverment takeover" and stoke the flames of obstructionism. They do nothing but let completely ignorant and stupid people like W, in the past, and Palin now, speak for their party; in one case, speak for America; and, in the other, wanting to speak for America.

The republicans are destroying our nation and their refusal to compromise is the single greatest proof of this; the other being the leaders around whom they coalesce. When Reagan was President, the dems worked with him; they compromised because they knew that the greater interest was America's and not their party's. The same held true when Bush I and II were presidents. Challenges arose for the nation that forced the dems to pass legislation that was not in line with their party's sensibilities--under Bush II, they really had to eat crow but they did so because the nation needed it government.

What have repubs done since Obama became president? Let us look at their role in governance, in defending the national interest. Other than saying "no" and more "tax cuts," please, they have been absent.

If the shoe was on the other foot and it was a republican president and a republican-led Congress, the likes of Beck, Limbaugh and Palin would be creating more hysteria in the media by accusing the dems of treason. Congress would be setting up commissions to study the Democratic Party's unlawful refusal to govern; the republican-controlled Supreme Court would already be passing down decisions on cases not brought to them on "why dem obstructionism" was against the law and so therefore, a punishable offense (they would probably somehow pull this lose interpretation out of the First Amendment).

Everytime they rant and whine about some made up boogey-man, eventually, they manage to sway the nation's misguided--those who get most or all of their information from Fox or radio commentators--into believing the hysteria. Ruin the banking and financial system and yes, you get temporary government take-overs--thank God, President Obama did that!

The republican method for governance when they are in power is to destroy the government of which they are a part and while it dies, to ensure that they will all be covered commercially in the all-encompassing and destructive market which will replace what had once been the American nation.

If you know the history of the Soviet Union, you will know that this is exactly what was done by the one party in charge there. So, so sadly this is being done by the republicans and it is being masked in patriotism.

Yeah, and Lenin and Stalin really wanted to give "power to the people."

Who Lost China...rather America?

2010-01-31T00:33:00.000-08:00

In 1949, when the Chinese communists took power, an echo could be heard across the land, "who lost China?" The foundations for the myth, that Democrats were soft on fighting communism, were laid; the republican machine went to work and Aldai Stevenson would be defeated by Eisenhower for the presidency in the 1951 elections partly because Americans feared a communist takeover.

Soft on fighting communism is, sadly, such a loaded term that it has led to countless deaths in Korea, Vietnam, Chili, Cuba, Grenada, Nicaragua, etc. Communism was always doomed and its ultimate demise came not so much because of our policies toward it; but it's own policies toward itself--a country cannot politicize economics and expect to survive; a country cannot make an economy subservient to the needs and interests of a small, very wealthy, very protected minority.

Similar to members of the Communist Party, who had the full apparatus of the Party at its disposal to make the people obey, so too now, republicans in Congress have the full power of their corporate constituents with their extremely deep pockets to create the needed "reality" in the media to ensure their continued destruction of our nation.

This brings us to China.

Greed, God and Morality

In 1981, when Reagan took the oath of office, China was a backwater: underdeveloped, rural, oppressive and simply off the radar of the world's economy. At this same time, the politics of greed, of morality, of putting God in government, anti-gay, anti-abortion, military build-ups and Hollywoodian swagger took our nation by storm. The good old days, a throwback to an era of the GE Home Theater and of Reagan's "Time for Choosing" speech--which introduced Barry Goldwater at the 1964 Republican Convention--were upon us and all seemed simple, nice and reminded many of an America that had been the uncontested leader of the world.

Over the course of the next 8 years, and then 4 under Bush I, America focused on short-term, get-rich economic policies. "Government was the problem" dogma's and "get government off my back" rhetoric. Along with the rising power of the NRA and other neo-fascist groups, this combined to create an aura of the "American pioneer spirit."

Lost in the understanding of that spirit was that people, the original pioneers, found strength and glory in America because they were free to do and be what they wanted--no government was allowed to decide who they sleep with; whether they have abortions; whether they pray a certain prayer in schools, public ones, mind you. Yet, while taxes were being cut for the extremely wealthy, while financial regulations, set in place during The Great Depression, were being eliminated so as to allow for financial fiascos like the Savings and Loan debacle and most recently today's collapse, the republicans were forcing their moral agenda onto all of our lives--government was invading all aspects of social life.

While we were eating ourselves from the inside, wallowing in the worries of an overfed, over-consumed nation--the worries of a people with too much for its own good--the Chinese were building and building and investing and learning and studying.

When we did get a president who "got it", who understood the dangers of a China on the horizon, the republican-led congress spent 8 years trying to impeach him not for anything he did bad to our country; but, ultimately because he lied about having an affair!

(Do we really think the internet would have received government financing if a republican was president?)

China was creating a new and powerful infrastructure to take away our manufacturing base and we were endlessly cutting taxes for the wealthy who were using that money to invest in China's future. Wall Street, the republicans and the wealthy were decimating the middle class for personal gain and helping to create the China we see today.

Why are the rich NOT investing in our infrastructure?

When was the last time a wealthy, Southern, God-fearing republican took a chunk of the money he was returned from the IRS thanks yet another major government hand-out, paid for a road, a bridge or the "internetification" of a small, rural town? Never. Why? Because why would he bother? That, after all, is the obligation of the government.

Yet, a government without a tax base cannot keep its nation infrastructurally sound. What used to be our greatest resource, our truly amazing infrastructure, is quickly becoming our greatest weakness. Europe unites itself and spends and spends to make itself one, inter-connected continent--creating a base for its future.

China spends billions each day remaking it's infrastructure. Whereas the American factory owner simply fixes the machines he has, ones dependent upon oil and fossil fuels, the Chinese owner is putting in place the latest and best technologies. Like post-War Japan which was recreated by the American tax payer setting the stage for decades of economic brilliance, so too China will be the world leader only on a scale much, much larger and much, much more deleterious for the interests of America.

The Chinese middle class is making astounding gains each year! Their quality of living rises and people tells stories of how poorly they lived just 5 years ago; the American middle class recalls how well they were living just 10 years ago and how today it is harder and harder to get "jobs that matter, that pay not just the bills from today but help for tomorrow." A Chinese gain is an American worker's loss. Economists can spin this however they want, but, the Chinese boom is now our dilemma.

Yet still, the republicans are against all that President Obama has tried to do to make us more competitive; stronger, faster and more able to compete. "Less government" they whine like a hysterical bunch of witch-hunters.

Green technologies were our chance to have a new economic revolution in our nation. We still are the smartest and brightest. But, we are burdened with a 1950's view of the world and it is the modern day republican party. They just don't get it: today we are dependent upon and addicted to fossil fuels; we had the chance to harness the sun, wind and create grids so this power could be sent to parts of the country that need it; for this to happen, we need creative governance; tax breaks for small businesses working in these technologies; government investment in Research an Development--not in the R&D for new weapons!; we need a smarter, better educated American student.

But instead, we get God-fearing, flag-waving, gun-toting hysteria. We get "tea parties" and "less government" cries and we have our time-tested institutions abused by the Grand Old Party (see the Supreme Court and Southern congressmen screaming at the president during speeches to the nation); we get lies and 8 years of "no responsibility" for the most heinous crimes ever commited by our government against this nation.

Now, we get the party of no and its obstructionist strategy to win the next cycle of elections so it can get back to stopping our nation from improving, from getting smarter, stronger, more economically secure.

And, while they rejoice in their solidarity and their "no's" the Chinese are now leading the world in green technologies.

Tomorrow, we will not only be a nation where everything is "made in China;" but, we will be a nation where everything that is lit, propelled forward, creates heat or cold, will also be "thanks to China." And lest we forget, we owe more money to China than to any other nation.

So, who lost our America?

Now I Could Vomit!

2010-01-20T00:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's loss in Massachusetts was not the great rebuke of President Obama as the so-called "pundits" are saying it is.

The loss yesterday was a victory for the Republican Establishment. They are truly good at what they do. Great, maybe. Despite the worst 8 years in our nation's history, despite the fact that the party which is supposedly better at protecting us failed (see 9/11), despite the fact that the party for less government created more than any president in our history (see The Department of Homeland Security), despite the fact that the party supposedly better at creating jobs via their endless tax-cuts (see "zero job creation since December 1999"), Americans have very, very quickly forgotten that it is these same tired and failed Republicans who have spent all of 2009 lying about the benefits to be gained from health care reform--and most recently, the proposed tax on the massive bank bonuses.

They are disgusting. Oh, and the dems are ball-less. Absolutely, utterly ball-less! If the shoe was on the other foot and it was the republicans seeking to pass health care reform (one that would certainly only really benefit insurance companies) do you really think the republicans would have decided not to force through passage of health care in the 15 days it will take to certify these election results? Never! These fascists would, as they did with the largest tax-cuts in world history, have already voted yesterday. Actually, they would have already passed the legislation via reconciliation, which needs only a simple majority.

Ball-less-ness

Instead, the dems again, in an act of political good-will and making yet more efforts to be bi-partisan have stupidly, ball-lessly already promised that no legislation will be put to vote until Mr. Brown is sworn in. Disgusting!

President Obama came to office and immediately, with the power of a mandate in hand, started to reach out to this republican colleagues; while at the same time, he politely reminded them that it was he who had the mandate for change, not they. But, par for course, when the interests of our nation conflict with the interests of party, the republicans always choose their party; and, really, they are only looking after the interests of a small, neo-fascist, ant-life, anti-choice, weirdly-born-again-Christian and financially reckless arm of their constituency.

Goose-stepping together throughout the entire year, regardless of what Obama put to them for passage, regardless of how in need the nation was, all they did was say "no" and obstruct. The stimulus bill, which was way too small and we all knew this back then, was the first attempt Obama made to work with the republicans. He listened to their concerns and even made compromises--1/3 of the stimulus is in the form of tax-cuts.

The stimulus has worked and without it we would be more screwed economically today than when W was president, but, it needed to be more aggressive and larger. "They" were against it, however. Not because they had a better plan--except for ever more massive tax cuts--they simply were and are against all Obama has done because if he succeeds, then it is Democrat success also and this would prove bad for their party.

Republican Establishment: lies and thievery

The past year was a year during which Republican Establishment so successfully planted the words like "socialist" in the minds of the lumpen proletariat. Sadly, 99% of the people using this word don't know what it means. These people tune into Fox "News" and failing to realize that their elected officials are "missing in obstruction", they blame Obama for trying to lead our nation--something that hasn't been done for 8 years--firstly back into the modern world and secondly, back to its prominent place of world leadership.

He brought to our nation a health reform package whose costs would be off-set--our future, national wealth would not suffer but actually increase thanks to the bill--and what did the republicans do? Nothing. Passage would doom their chances for regaining seats so, once again, against America, they fanned the embers of lies into the American psyche via Fox and the oxy-addict Limbaugh and a blaze took shape. No one in the media dared pursue them for their flip-flop: they said they wanted a bill that would not cost us money, they got it but all promised to vote no, anyway.

The GOP is a party of inaction, lies and theft. The medicare reform bill that was passed under W is pure and true theft of our national wealth. Payment for this bill comes straight out of the till. Nowhere is it offset by decreased costs, taxes or anything. Instead, the doctors and insurance companies actually make a killing on this bill and the American taxpayer is screwed--by whom? Yes, by the republicans; who is paying for that one war and the occupation of Iraq? Yes, those same taxpayers.

And what is not being paid for? The upkeep of our nation's infrastructure for one. Schools are losing their funding. We are already falling educationally behind all major nations and with nothing left in local governments to pay police and firemen, communities all across the land are cutting education. California's system, one of the best in the world and an oasis in the desert of neo-conservative mind-rot which has taken over our nation since January 20, 1981, is being cut to shreds for the state is bankrupt.

We are screwed...

Nothing good for America will come from yesterday's loss. A lot of good will come to the republican party, though. And, the beleaguered worker, taxpayer with no health care, will only have himself to thank when the bottom falls out. And, amazingly, thanks to the incessant propaganda of Fox, Limbaugh and the nation's media, the republicans will not be blamed for collapse. Instead, they will find another enemy in a desert and send another 200,000 troops to wave flags and shoot guns and remind us all of the dying empire we once were.

They will pass more pro--guns laws, more Americans will be senselessly slaughtered like happened yesterday in Virginia (a 39-year old white guy. I will bet a dollar that he is a republican and voted for W twice!); they will pass more anti-abortion laws, seek to cut more taxes and shift more of our nation's wealth into private hands--something the communists did in the Soviet Union until finally the whole things collapsed. Sadly, a plight not so inconceivable in our nation (see Vermont independence movement, see Alaska independence movement, etc.).

History will look back on this era and mark it as the end of the American empire, our fall. We are living during the fall and we have the president to stop it and instead, we would rather ride around blissfully ignorant in big, gas-guzzling cars, in ever-hotter and colder (global warming is actually global weirding) weather, blaming taxes, dems and ever worshiping Ronald Reagan.

Who would've imagined that in the first decade after the start of the 2nd millennium , after a century with the most amazing technological developments in world history, we would actually have a government that was ritualistically denying the facts of science; purging the national record of statistical and scientific fact about global warming just so it could preserve the massive wealth of its tiny coterie of backers? This too, is what the communists did in the Soviet Union.

History will show Reagan as being the president who launched our collapse; and, thanks to the Americanization of the world's consumption habits, it will be looked at as the period when the world turned to corner to its final and tragic end.

And, when it is almost over and we are dead or dying, some republican will surface and demand ever more tax cuts to get the nation back on track.

Dry-heaves

I will vomit but only once because I am sincerely considering no longer giving a damn about the future of the greatest nation on earth. I am sincerely considering doing what the republicans have mastered: giving a damn only about my own personal gain and screw anyone or anything--like national interest--that should interfere in my getting as wealthiest as possible.

Oh, what a sick and sad existence that will be.

Yes, for me yesterday's loss is one that goes beyond health reform. It is the one that finally makes me realize that my country is no longer the country I imagined it to be. We have become really, really stupid. Historically, conservative politics are usually based on emotion, little thought, manipulation of fear and

I Could Spit

2010-01-18T01:32:00.000-08:00

One year into it and the Republicans are again succeeding at doing what they do best: nothing.

President Obama took the reins, the very same ones which were tangled up in a ball in the muck and grime beneath the lurching and shuddering wagon which had become our nation, and immediately he went to work; he guided us through some of the most troublesome economic times we have seen in our history.

Banks are needed and the actions of President Obama saved the biggest banks; banks, really, that were too big. Should one or two fail, they can yank the whole economy, the world's that is, down to its knees. This is not right. President Obama, avoiding the rhetoric and demagoguery that is so abused by republicans, saved the banks and now proposes to ensure that this does not happen again. Who is against this banking reform? Yes, the republicans.

And, while he was at it, he saved the US auto industry; he then went after the irresponsible and shark-like tactics of the credit card companies (smell financial need and they swarm you with high-interest but already-approved credit cards); and, while taking a break from his accomplishments, he has rightly led us to the brink of what will be the greatest social contract in our nation's history: health care reform. Who was against all of the above? Yes, those same missing-in-obstruction republicans.

Stealing our Wealth

The Conservatives (really, I am so confused by who is what in that party, so let's go back to calling them the GOPCONers) love to lie about how President Obama is bankrupting our nation. Well, here is a little ditty for ya: we are already bankrupt. Let's take a look at GOPCON accomplishments since W stole the White House in 2001 and see how we got there:

1) 9/11. They were in charge, it happened on their watch so guess what who gets blamed? Also, Condoleeza Rice, the least competent NSC chief we have ever had blatantly ignored all the warnings about the imminent attacks; and, monkey boy (W), never one to be bothered with reading his Presidential Daily Briefing, failed to take notice of one in late August 2001 entitled "Bin Laden determined to use hi-jacked aircraft as weapons against US targets." Wow! Lost wealth.

2) Late on the night of 9/11, W told Richard Clarke, the expert on Al Qaeda who had not met with President Bush (needed emphasis) until after the attacks had occurred, to find a link to Saddam. Clarke insisted that none existed but Bush testily told to "find one." (Clarke used to meet with Clinton once a week to discuss Al Qaeda not once in 8 9 months had he met with the new Prez.)

With Bin Laden trapped in the mountains and intercepted messages from him to relatives in which he was saying his good-byes showing just how "caught" he was, we got up and left him there. We instead invaded Iraq. We all know what this has gotten for our nation.

Um, nothing, zero. Name one tangible thing that was gained from that so-called war--although, it is not a war officially. 5000 dead Americans (lost economic value); 40,000 amputees (not just lost economic value but continued drains on our nation's wealth); and, trillions of dollars of money spent not on our nation's infrastructure; not on making our economy more competitive; not on preparing us for what are already the obvious effects of global warming; no, money we didn't have wasted on a war no one needed. Lost wealth.

3) Those tax cuts: the largest tax cuts in the history of the world were enacted by W in his first 6 months in office; and then, after 9/11, with our troops in 2 countries, he cut some more taxes. Since 1999, we have had zero overall job growth in the private sector. Yet, as usually happens under republicans, the federal pay-roll expanded in leaps and bounds. W failed to listen to the CIA and their warnings about Bin Laden and we get strapped with the Department of Homeland Security, the largest expansion of the federal government in our history. Lost wealth.

Oh, and whatever happened to that tried-and-true economic "theory" of cut taxes and then watch the wealthy invest in jobs? Didn't happen because, you see, the taxes were being cut on virtual wealth, derivatives and housing bubbles and such. Also, taxes were being cut for people who don't own factories, small businesses and start-ups but rather on the types who take that money and stuff it away in off-shore accounts to avoid the IRS so as to create ever larger empires for their rotten offspring. These rich people don't reinvest in the economy! When are the GOPCONers going to get this?

Propaganda

Oh and how they lie and obstruct, those GOPCONers. When they are dismantling our wealth by invading nations and ensuring that the nation's tax base--where a nation gets it's money from--is being decimated, they also like to reach into the private lives of people and micromanage there. They force God into lives; they contradict themselves about life and death--anti-abortion but pro gun. Guns kill people. Make your fingers look like a gun and try shooting someone. Doesn't work, right. Put a gun in that hand and watch out.

A nation needs to be governed. Governments provide infrastructures which make nations safe, economically more competitive and which provide quality of life for all citizenry. A good government tries to ensure that all of its citizenry are getting the best possible chance to succeed in life; success requires clean air, clear water, safe roads and bridges, safe parks, health care, professional police and ever watchful TSA agents.

When one party spends all of its time and energy attacking a president at a time when the nation needs unity to survive a crisis that the minority party brought on, you have to ask yourself, are they not traitorous? After 9/11, the Dems puts politics aside and supported W. The republicans have not done any pro-America governing since the Carter-era. From Clinton's ascendancy to date, they have ruled by emotion and lies.

They are a dangerous and harmful force in our national saga and sadly, most of America cannot see this because it is precisely those Republican-style lies and emotions which make for great news ratings: the media are in full cahoots because they too are making lots of money from all of this.

Let's look at the run-off for the seat in Massachusetts which will take place tomorrow; the media are focusing on this as an "anti-Obama" vote; a anti-incumbent vote; they are fanning the flames to make it seem like Obama's leadership has been a failure to date. What they are not focusing on, and what should be the biggest headline of all is, that this republican, likely to win tomorrow, has already said he will not support President Obama's attempts to tax the big banks to make them pay back the money they us our government. Does that make any sense? They don't want to get the money back?

Again, the republicans are falling on the side of big business by supporting the same destructive, anti-working-class, anti-America policies that have gotten us here in the first place; and, all that the media can show is Dick calling Obama weak and Tea Party nuts calling him a socialist or a Muslim.

When will the GOP be taken to task for destroying our nation? When do the media decide that enough is enough and start to let all of America know just how the republicans have frittered away our wealth, our security all for the sake of their wealthy buddies at the country club?

PS: When that bozo tried to blow up a plane with his exploding shoe, why weren't full-body scanners introduced into all airports back then? Why? Because that would have cost the government a lot of money. And, that was precisely when the tax cuts were taking hold and our nation's revenues were starting to drastically drop; in other words, because it wasn't important to W to find money to enhance the safety of all for he was too concerned with increasing the wealth of the so, so few.

This is the America the republicans want for us all. I could spit.

The Wild (and Wet if you are New Orleans) World of Dick Cheney

2010-01-13T01:18:00.000-08:00

As in Disney World, a land of magical fun where fantasy and dreams meet reality, so too the world of Dick (and I mean that literally) Cheney--aka Mr. Potter--is one where fact and fiction wed and the result is often times a bitter concoction of anti-American diatribes cloaked in fear-mongering and patriotism.

Terrorists, schmerrorists...

Selected by the Supreme Court and elected by a minority of Americans, monkey-boy W Bush came to down riding a carpet woven together by anything but a mandate for drastic action. As we would find out, W and his VP were not so concerned with the reality at hand and what they did was force through the largest tax cut in the history of the world!

Yes, not just our history but world history! Imaginez, s'il vous plait, le petit prince disregarded dire warnings of an imminent terrorist attack because as Condie Rice said to Richard Clarke--the single greatest authority on Al Qaeda in the government at the time: "The President is too busy right now to meet with you about possible terrorist attacks because he is busy getting his tax cut passed."

Those words were uttered by the queen of incompetence in the Spring of 2001. And, right up until those buildings collapsed and 2,750 Americans were crushed to death, the president responsible for our well-being simply had no time to meet with anyone concerning the imminent attacks.

The month prior to those attacks he was AWOL at his ranch, clearning brush! Isn't that why we allow illegal immigrant Mexicans to hang on street corners? Why didn't monkey-boy ride a pick-up down to the corner and slow to a crawl to let a few of the Pepe's and Pedro's jump in for an honest day's labor?

No, our macho prez had to do it himself and America was rudderless in the final month prior to the attacks despite daily CIA warnings that an attack was absolutely in the works and going to happen "any day now." The rest is sadly history.

Cheney's World

On Christmas day of 2009, a want-to-be terrorist failed to blow up a plane. Bored and having nothing else to report on, the media decided to somehow make a national obsession of almost nothing. Yes, again the incomptence of government bureaucrats permitted a loser like that kid from Nigeria to board a plane. Yes, the heroics of passengers saved many lives on that day.

And then, rather than sit down and really study what went wrong, in a manner that should have been done after 9/11 but thanks to the criminal obstructionism of the Bush/Cheney White House we still do not have complete picture of government wrongs leading up to and 9/11, CNN and Fox started to quote Cheney. "This president does not know their is a war going on against terrorists."

Now, why didn't a smart America and an astute media pose one question that could have and should have shut that clown up: "Dick, on whose watch did 9/11 happen in the first place? Where were you and your 'know-it-alls' when those warnings were being given to both you and the president on a daily basis for 3 months prior to 9/11?"

Some follow-up questions could have been: "Um, Mr. Potter, wasn't it you and W who decided to stop pursuing Bin Laden in Afghanistan when he was cornered in the mountains? Wasn't it you who ordered an illegal invasion of Iraq and who STOPPED that war against Al Qaeda rebels in Afghanistan in December 2002? Wasn't it you who started a war we are still in against people who are NOT the terrorists? And isn't it President Obama who has redirected our efforts at engaging the terrorists in Afghanistan by sending an additional 30,000 troops? If that is not an understanding of war, then what is?"

First of all, Cheney is one of the most anti-American people in America today. He honestly is probably sad that that plane didn't get blown up all so as to show that Obama is incompetent.

Secondly, Cheney wants Obama to stoke the coals of fear. He wants the American people to become obsessed again with the monster in the dark closet; the one hiding under the bed. He wants civil liberties to be encroached upon; he wants Obama's domestic agenda to fail so he is trying desperately, and succeeding thanks to a disgusting and irresponsible media, by sowing the seeds of doubt in this man's leadership.

A Great Leader

And, a leader he is. Obama did exactly what he was supposed to have done: nothing. "Nothing" is good and why? Because terrorists want to know that they are disrupting everyday life, weaving fear and anxiety into everything we do, day in and day out. Obama's reactions behinds closed doors should have been to head butt some people for this failure to detect this kid with the exploding underwear. But, in public he should have merely praised people for their heroics, announced the beginning of an investigation of what went wrong and then gone back on vacation.

The terrorists were emboldened, however, by Cheney and the anti-America GOPCON idiots who have since that day made careers denouncing Obama for his "weakness on terrorism" and by saturating the airwaves and printed media with dire warnings of armageddon thanks to the next generation of "jockey underwear bombers" in training in the outback of Africa.

Attention and fear is what they were aiming for and when I flew to Miami on January 2nd, it was simply chaos! The lines were endless and the "checks" of our personal belongings the same, nothing had changed but for some reason we waited 2 hours to pass through security only to have had to run to the gate in our socks. The terrorists had failed but Cheney and the GOP had once again succeeded in drawing our attention from real problems at hand and for making all of America ill at ease.

It's not the terrorists but anti-America Republicans, it's the economy, it's their failed leadership since 1994 and it is their demonizing of government that has made our nation a much less safer and even a poorer nation than we had been in 1996.

Always remember, 9/11 happened because of a mixture of arrogance, ignorance and sheer laziness and it happened while Bush and Cheney were in charge. So, who is he to talk and why is it that the American media listen? (Oh, yeah, because when a lot of people are watching TV, the ratings go up and they can charge more to advertise on their channels...)

Eat Less Meat, Save the Earth

2009-12-09T04:16:00.000-08:00

Whilst the pawns of ministers race to and fro from small country working group to big country working group in Copenhagen discussing ways to reduce carbon emissions, which are being caused by excessive use of fossil fuels, once a day the lunch bell rings and these same pawns, a smattering of bishops and an assortment of rooks retreat to the cafeteria.

Tucking into soups and salads and breads with butter many do. Topped with jams are hams. Burgers of beef, salads of chicken and kebabs of lamb adorn plates of paper amidst conversations of conservation and ways to avoid the flu. What the world's climatological elite seem to forget, however, is that world eating habits are as destructive if not more so than world manufacturing.

Meat for Everyone

In 1958, per capita consumption of meat (beef, chicken, turkey and lamb) in the United States was 196 pounds, today it is 273. In Europe it was 123 and today it is 196. Ireland went from 121 to 213; New Zealand from 248 to 312 and China rose from 8 pounds of meat to 119: 1.3 billion Chinese are eating 119 pounds of meat each year.

Most of this meat is eaten in the form of the sadly-ubiquitous and highly-processed hamburger and other such similar "culinary advancements." The hamburger and fast-food industry is like none other with its universal disregard for worker's safety, abuse of the cows, relaxed attitude toward consumer's safety, destruction of the environment, etc.

Now, let us consider this little fact: 33 calories of fossil fuel (as they say "from semen to cellophane") are burned to produce one food calorie of beef. For every 1 calorie of fossil fuel burned, grains and vegetables give us 1.5 to 2 food calories. For every single bite of a piece of meat, we are wasting the earth's limited resources. The larger the steak, chicken or turkey, the warmer we cause the earth to get. It is a simple as that--well, not really, but, for argument's sake and so as not to bore with Gore-like facts and figures, this is the case.

Mass Produced Meat (including "free range and organic") is Destroying the Earth

All across America and the world, ever more and more arable land is being set aside to grow grain and soybeans for the raising of livestock. All throughout Africa, the ruling elite, realizing the wealth that can be attained via the exporting of beef to Europe, China and the US, enforces the planting of crops for the raising of feed for meat production.

We all have heard about the dangers of deforestation. The Brazil rain forest loses .3% each year. The local people hack away hundreds of acres a day, then burn the chopped wood and then plant crops for the production of grain and soybeans. Brazil's loss, however, is nothing in comparison to places like Argentina and Columbia.

In America, Africa and other parts of the world, it is not called deforestation but rather "desertification." In the world today, there are around 1.5 billion cows (20 billion chickens, a billion pigs, a half a billion turkeys and 800 million goats). When millions of cows graze and graze over and over on the same tens of thousands of square acres, the land is destroyed: rivers are destroyed as a result of the destruction of vegetative cover, compaction occurs from the extreme scuffling and infiltration declines resulting in runoff and soil erosion (boring, yes).

(By the way, a single pig farm in Texas produces 2000 tons of urine each day, all which goes into water tables; and daily in the US, 24,000,000 chickens are slaughtered.)

In addition, to ever increase the amount of grain obtained from one acre of land (monocropping), excessive applications of nitrgen-laced fertilizer are used. Nitrogen is 100 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide and will tip the scale toward destructive global warming much sooner than C02 will. Nitrogen leads to the formation of vast wastelands of toxic algae which choke life out of the oceans leading to a depletion of oxygen and an increase of CO2; nitrogen also depletes the ozone layer, to say the very least.

As the world meets in Copenhagen bent on protecting its "development"--a misnomer if there ever was one-- and ever devoted to the post-WWII Pax Americana principles of hyper-consumption, the real issues are not being discussed. Each country will do its best to ensure that its "economic interests" are not being tread upon; however, the ultimate destruction of the earth is not one they consider potentially debilitating--if we in America were to look at the tax payer dollars going to recover areas devastated by hurricanes, forest fires, floods, etc., we would all agree that it would be cheaper to prevent global warming then to deal with its growing effects.

So, as the world misses yet another chance to do something good for all of us, each one of us can start today by merely cutting our meat consumption in half; and, in a year, cut that in half and 6 months after that, cut that in half. With such progressive and positive eating habits, we will have done more to prevent the dangers of global warming then the so-called elected officials whose job it is to protect our interests at day's end.

Eat more veggies, less meat. However, with that said, I will enjoy my monthly stewed rabbit with rosemary and peeled, cherry tomatoes and carrots. Nothing wrong with enjoying some meat, just do it in great moderation.

The Danger of China and our TVA Moment

2009-11-24T23:53:00.000-08:00

Not too long ago, rice paddies reigned where today amazing well-laid out factories with armies of workers eat, sleep and mass-produce stuff in almost every shape, size, color, taste and crumbling wall. Massive and modern cities have arisen from the paddies in just 25 years. Where an ox pulled a cart in 1989, today a tram is being hauled over sleek, new tracks.

At the same time, our country has shed "useless", low-technology job after job to China and most recently to India and Brazil. In 1987 or so, I used to argue at Rutgers and with my father about how the US economy was shedding those jobs because "who needs these harmful and mind-knumbing industries anyway?" My father told me that these were jobs Americans were losing and I said, "yes, but, they will be replaced with new technologies."

He was right and I was wrong

Oh, How wrong I was...

Sadly, when my father and I were battling over this, it was at the time when the Reagan mantra of "governmnet IS the problem" was taking hold. This was the time when suddenly confronted with a collapsed Soviet Union, our hubris overcame us and instead of using our so-called "peace dividend" to reinvest in America's then-crumbling infrastructure, we continued along the same path that had been blazed by Reagan: we cut taxes, cut taxes, demonized government and deregulated banking and Wall Street.

The core of my naivety, if it had been supported by spine-less politcians, would have resulted in a powerful, sound and booming American economy. We would have been glad to have had China take up those "meaningless" jobs for us; to produce our doilies, thingamajigs and whatjamacallits. Harmful manufacturing would have been their domain and life-advancing technologies would have been ours.

Sadly though, with the deregulation came "quick return addiction (QRA)." In 1925, when taxes were cut for the owners, they plowed much of this money back into the sprawling American infrastructure/manufacturing base. WWII made the US economic power we all knew and loved entering Vietnam and the heralded profits were invested all over the US and world for the sole benefit of the United States tax base.

Reagan was fed on this belief, of American economic greatness, and his belief was for the most part a real one. Yet, the Republican tendency then as it is now, was to say "screw the poor and working poor." If you can't make enough money to support yourself in this "booming America" then you must be lazy or weak and so you must suffer the consequences. If you aren't supporting yourself then you are simply not working.

Well, things have really changed since those axioms were applicable to our nation: China changed, India changed, Asia changed.

Boom Times

When Clinton came to town and boom times came shorly afterwards, the anti-government movement was alive and well. Tax cuts were a reality and record ones were enacted by W (whilst waging a two front war, nonetheless). Now, here is the difference between 1925 and 1995: then the super wealthy had places in America to invest in to make crazy returns, today there is nowhere to invest to make crazy returns but in crazy, unregulated and scantily-taxed Wall Street ponzi schemes.

The super rich, with freshly-minted tax cuts in hand, realized that the hyper-saturated US market demanded ever larger and larger initial investments (entry costs) in order to get even fair returns over many years. The conclusion drawn from the Reagan "revolution" is that it was an anti-America one. It has denied America a future and made the military industrial complex our only advancing and old-fashioned American industry which employees millions--directly or indirectly. The seeds for a banana republic were planted under Reagan and have been harvested under W. If we are not invading and waging war or selling war, than we have almost nothing left to offer.

The Reagan, anti-regulation, me-first revolution rewards myopic corporate decision-making all so the quarterly profits--not annual, not 5-year--can be maximized. How do you maximize a quarterly profit? Don't invest in your workers or your infrastructure or make really low-quality products. The quick-return-addiction has decimated our economy.

This QRA has led so-called patriot, American businessmen to relocate all of their businesses to China or India. This means that the jobs are there also. This means that the second largest employer after the military industrial complex is Wal-Mart! Wal-Mart: the purveyor of low-quality crap, bad meat and processed foods; literally, everything that is wrong with America today can be summed up in one word: Wal-Mart.

If we combine all retailers, then most Americans are working in some capacity for large, box-stores. And, the Chinese are pumping out the endless streams of crap to fill those stores. We have become drones to their whims.

The Danger of China

The worst thing for the Chinese government is to have unemployed Chinese people. The Chinese love to work and when not working, they are not eating. And a hungry mass of 100,000,000 unemployed is enough to send the Chinese government packing and then hanging from trees. So, what they do? They lower the value of their currency and order the factory bosses to start churning out even cheaper shit than before!

The struggling American worker who cannot buy Christmas gifts suddenly realizes that things this year are cheaper than a mere 3 months ago; and, by as much as 20%! Yes, Christmas will be had this year! Who can blame this family? Not me! They have kids and the kids expect Christmas.

Because the Chinese are producing these luxuries at below-cost prices and so cheaply, no American business, big or small, can possibly ever compete! Meaning that the no new job will be created because the Chinese have taken our principles of capitalism and "manufacture and conquer" and are now today enacting them better than we are.

President Obama has come to town promising to make our government more progressive, more pro-active in solving many of these problems. He wants to and has tried to launch an economic revolution based on the investment in green technologies. These technologies would take us off of our dependency for foreign gas and oil. It would permit us to create millions upon millions of new jobs all throughout our nation.

These jobs would offer careers to people, to families. These would be the kinds of jobs that father and mother would pass to son and daughter--precisely the kinds of jobs that over the past 20 years have been replaced by retail jobs, service-industry jobs. Stuck in this hyper-consumption model of economic development, if we want a modicum of economic well-being, then all Americans are forced to consume, consume and consume 24/7.

And even now, formerly a day when stores were closed for family, rest and relaxation, Thanksgiving has become yet another day to feed the family processed foods so as to make it to the front of the line at the Best Buy or Wal-Mart before other T-Day revelers can awaken from their turkey-induced naps. The cult of consumption not only has destroyed our formerly inherent American ingenuity, it now threatens one of our last and most truly national of all holidays.

Perhaps more tax-cuts will do the trick--NOT

Republicans will tell us that the problem with our nation is that goverment spending and taxes are killing us. Their medicine for making our nation less retail-oriented and more, in this case, focused on starting a green revolution, is to cut taxes for the super rich. The added money in their pockets will permit them to invest in the new technologies.

What's wrong with this formula? Look at the 4000 and rising dead fighting men and women in Iraq. Chosen by Cheney and his coterie of pug-uglies to supply our troops with the means by which they would carry out the illegal invasion of that sovereign nation, these companies chose to sell the most expensive, highest-margin items which the troops--in interview after interview confirmed--didn't need. The low-margin stuff like body-armor was deemed by the boards of directors and Cheney as "unnecessary."

And, this attitude toward our nation's troops, all hid in bunting and draped behind words of "Praise Jesus," was at a time of the greatest tax-cuts in our history--run through by the GOPCON Congress under the precedure we now know as "reconcilation:" Dems never had a chance to stop the theft from our nation's future!

Big Business, when granted more untaxed returns than ever before did what? Nothing. It did not invest in new technologies, it did not create new jobs for Americans but instead gave out larger bonuses, invested in super-high-return derivatives and watched as our nation plummeted. Today, the only player who can be counted on for investing in our nation's future, in an infrastructural grid which will enable us to become not just competitive again but the world's economic leader is the Federal Government.

Yet, while they accuse Obama of bankrupting our nation, the dumbing-down of our nation, the retail-oriented approach to economic growth, the budget-busting tax-cuts which are actually more "hidden" spending--called opportunity cost--than anything Obama has done to date, all happened on the watch of Republicans and Conservatives.

It is time to stop thinking all Americans should be drones in a retail-store saga playing the roles of consumers by day only to step into a phonebooth and come out again as workers by night in that same Wal-Mart. The desertification of our national industrial work base must stop. President Obama and the Democratic Congress must fight the good fight and direct our dwindling national wealth toward the following:

Wind-technologies, grid development which will make it affordable for getting wind and sun energy into cities and communities that need it, inexpensive and safe batteries for electric cars, solar panels for homes throughout the nation (the panels will be made where...in the USA!), no-tillage technologies for farming, high-speed rail systems, to name a few areas. If federally backed today, within 5 years there will be over 10 million jobs directly created and another 15 or so indirectly created. America will be booming for another 100 years or so and we will be doing good for the environment.

However, in order to do these things, we must fight the ingrained powers of yesterday: big oil, big coal (undoubtedly the NRA will be opposed to this approach), Republican ideas of less government and no taxes and sheer stupidity as our nation has come to believe that a $30 big-screen TV is better for us than capturing the suns rays and lighting your home so you can watch that TV.

A Commentary on Birthdays

2009-11-24T00:48:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday. 43 years ago, shortly after Thanksgiving dinner, instead of getting up to wash the dishes after the meal as was common for women to do at the time, my mother took the "easy way out": she went to the hospital and a few hours later, at 9:32 PM, gave birth to me.

It seems her avoidance to washing dishes that day, and perhaps her "guilt" at having left the other women with the task (grandmother and 2 aunts), instilled in me a passion for washing dishes. I love washing them and I feel so good, complete after I have knocked off a pile of dishes; day over, dishes done, now I can put the feet up and watch 60 Minutes or the Waltons (shows which have created a "lifereel" of sorts for my life).

"The Sound of Music" has also shaped my life and honestly, I never feel better as when I am near the Alps--except when I am sitting at Sweet Lew's in Freehold enjoying a breakfast with family, friends will be at a table nearby or just alone with a newspaper and hopefully another Yankee's victory or another Rutger's loss!

Lessons Incomplete

Amazingly, everything I was so sure of when I was 20 has now been disproven by me, my studies and time. Even some of my beliefs have embarassed me in their naivety. I remember sitting with friends on a porch on Main Street in Freehold arguing how it would be best to not have sex until you are married. We all agreed. A year or two later, we all forget about that agreement.

I couldn't cook anything when I was 27 and now I can cook or bake anything I see, taste or like. I have come to really not like eating in restuarants and have learned that any fanatical obsession with eating, exercise, not drinking, smoking or just any attempt to believe that I am better than then others always results in a "smack down" by life. So, although I don't eat sweets, today I will bake a pumpkin cheesecake pie and eat a piece! (Only one though.)

I am flawed and screw up everyday and every year and many a time during a day or a week or a month, I will ask myself, "idiot, why did you do that?" The idiot never knows but somewhere inside me the answer echoes: because you are the same, troubled, stumbling, ready-to-fight, bad tempered kid, one of 5, who was born 43 years ago, and you feel you must prove to somone something. What that "something" is and to which "someone"? Don't know. Just don't know (Sadly, most of those I should've proved something to are now gone. Yet, I know one thing, they were all happy with me when alive.)

Despite those years and a lot of knowledge I have gained, book and practical, I am still the same person in almost all respects. I still hear echoes of my thoughts, whether it be playing war with my friends in the cemetary on snow days when I imagined I was on some front in Belgium during The Battle of the Bulge; or, be it my excessive "homerun hitting" in the backyard against my brother who really hated baseball, I am still striving toward that great moment when I too will be able to extract minutes and hours of greatness from time's ordinary passage.

Fortunately, what I just realized last week was that there isn't one day, one moment, one place to which we should strive. So many times, I have left the gym after a good workout, gone to another country or spent some amazing moment at some party meeting famous people, and thought, "one day, when I am older, I will be sitting around on a porch with my guitar in my hands telling all of these tales to my kids, grand-kids and whomever else will listen."

It then dawned on me. Those people too will be living their lives and thinking the same things that I think. I suddenly realized that the life I am building is not so I can tell about it but so that I can be ready should someone ask. And, should someone somewhere need a bit of guidance as they are struggling to figure out this short stop on earth, in ways that I have been guided, I too must might find the right resources, words, examples to assist them as they go forward.

It took 43 years, but, after a nice weekend in my third hometown of Munich, sitting around drinking beers with the locals and talking for hours on end about everything--in the beer halls you can sit where there are free seats so often you sit with strangers--I came to the conclusion that I no longer need to strive for that one moment of greatness--that Reggie Jackson moment in the '77 World Series.

After 43 years of life, believe it or not, I have calmed considerably. I am ready for the next 63 years and I feel that my approach to this part of life is sounder. But, then again, in 20 years from now, these words too will seem naive and probably embarass me a bit.

And despite having so many times over the last 43 years felt like I was lost for good and would never find my beloved "Bedford Falls", someone, something, some song or some sky would snap me back on course and the snow would start falling again, some random "Bert" would recognize me and Zuzu's petals would be right where I left them.

I have no complaints, just make sure my beer is cold and that it has a nice, frothy head.

Happy Birthday to everyone on this day and the other 364.

The Daisy Spot and Sean Hannity

2009-11-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

A young girl is playfully counting as she pulls the petals off of a daisy. She is counting incorrectly. Suddenly, a man's voice starts a count-down of his own: 10-9-8-7 and so on until zero. At the end of count-down, we see a horrible mushroom cloud and hear: "Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high."

Run by the committee for the re-election of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and against the arch-conservative and father of today's conservative movement, Barry Goldwater (Ronald Reagan was not the father of this neo-fascist movement,like many want to believe, but rather merely its offspring).

Produced by the advertising pioneer Tony Schwartz, the ad immediately created an uproar amongst Republicans. They feared the images would too accurately show Goldwater for what he was: a man of extreme views and liable to act without thought as opposed to being a moderate, as they were trying to sell him to the American public.

Image Manipulation

The soundtrack for this ad, the images, the allusion that if Goldwater were elected we could expect nuclear war, were next to genius. They were primitive and straight-forward assaults upon the emotions of the viewers: tactics very common at the time. A billboard in Pittsburg, PA in 1959 showed the hand of a black man in a menacing, reaching pose, fingers curled as if ready to pounce and a white woman with a purse is reacting in horror supposedly seeing this hand. Beneath this imagery are the following words: "Vote Republican on November 4th."

Wow!

Although it seems we have been evolving away from such outright manipulation, such overt racist abuses in political ads, we should not forget Republican abuses like the Willy Horton ads run by George Bush I. I want to hope that that was the exception, really, and that even the win-at-any-price, earth-scorching Republicans know not to abuse black-white tensions so openly--not to say that it still doesn't happen.

This new era of high-tech manipulations, putting people in photos when they weren't there, putting in soundtracks that come from completely different situations, splicing in video in :03 seconds chunks and bits interlaced with venomous so-called "news-reporting/commentary" harkens back to clumsy and historically obvious cuts and purges of photos during Soviet times.

An entire exhibition in Moscow a few years back showed how Russian/Soviet history had lost figures from prominent photos only to see them reappear in the same photos some years later when the "lost person's" standing was renewed: the Soviets proved that the manipulation of journalistic history for control sake, for victory was a valuable tool; a tool in a society that is run by corrupt and evil-doing dictators. As a result, today few Russians put any stock in photos or video for they all know that it can be manipulated and doctored to sell any "present or historical truth.:" reality is in the eye of the editor.

The Republican Party's Propoganda Station: Fox TV

No one can ever accuse Fox-"News" of being journalistic. Truth and facts are not issues they seek to report but rather simplified and emotional versions of the former and latter. A less diplomatic person than myself would call what they report as "news", outright and blatant lies.

Many Americans tune into this channel for their daily dose of news. Sadly, the vast majority who thrive on the Kool-Aid ladled out by Fox-"News" don't seek to back up their information with other more reliable and factual sources: the Associated Press being the least opinionated of them all. The average Fox-"News" watcher doesn't read books on history or political histories. He doesn't have the time, desire or inclination to study these things and that is his free-choice. More power to him.

My beef is not so much with the arguably lazy Fox-"News" viewer as it is with the creators of the reality they pass off regularly as facts. These people are abusing a privilege they have earned from the blood, sweat and tears of generations of Americans who came before them. The boys who assualted the beaches at Normandy would be the last ones to lie or embellish the reality of their accomplishments of that "longest day." As was so sappily brought to my attention recently, the ideas for which our flag stands are ones of honor, truth, goodness, fairness and America.

Sean Hannity's abuse of journalistic principles, his open and obvious manipulation of video footage to create news where news was void, is heinous, irresponsible and should result in castigation. The fact that the ever-vigilante and real-left John Stewart caught this "mistake" should not draw our attention away from Fox's abuses of modern technology.

Fox regularly manipulates and bends the truth via video and audio technology in order to destroy any fair chance democrats--Obama--can have at properly and sanely governing our nation through hardship. Fox was the biggest cheerleader on the race to the illegal invasion of Iraq. They spliced and split and lied to provide "factual news coverage" to the viewers who use this news medium as their sole and gospel one. So many still believe that bombs of mass destruction were found and that Al Qaeda was funded by Saddam Hussein, all thanks to Fox and their support of Bush's lies.

Fox-"News" is not a news organization. It is mouth-piece of the GOPCON Party. It is the propaganda bureau of the GOPCON Party. Fox-"News" is no better than ITAR-TASS--the official "news" organ of the communist party in days gone and now the United Russia Party.

Nevertheless

Sean Hannity and his abuses will go unpunished. Fox-TV will actually gain viewers thanks to this scandal. GOPCON'ers will actually express delight about the fact that they are being duped, entertained by the likes of Hannity. In the vein of Limbaugh, these lazy and dangerous followers of propaganda geniuses on par with Goebbels, will become more boisterous and more anti-America than ever before.

And, as the problems fester and the calls for more tax breaks and less governance increase thanks to lies and abuses of journalistic rights, rights which have been guaranteed thanks to the spilled blood of soldiers past and present (and future), Fox and Hannity will keep laughing their way tot the bank as their viewership increases and the advertising dollars pile up.

The Daisy ad was genius as it mastered the subtlety of allusion. The Daisy Spot was a paid-for political advertisement. Fox-TV pawns off this mockery as factual news coverage or somewhat biased commentary; commentary, however, they claim based on facts. Like the Swift Boat scandal, which was proven to be all lies after the election was "won" by W, the Republicans continue to demonstrate that they will stop at nothing to denigrate Democrats and our president.
And in attempts to hide these despicable tactics, they drape themselves in flags and the memories of battles fought by soldiers in whose ranks they never stood. They cry patriotism when they fail to realize that their tactics for maintaining power are anti-America, anti-small town values, anti-freedom. They too become the walking, living lies that they listen 24/7 on the channels led by the likes of a drug-addicted fat-ass, Limbaugh, and Mr. Hannity.

Journalism is dead, long live journalism!

http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/timeline/years/1964b.html

Communist Baseball!

2009-11-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

Given that it seems like good sense and America-first thinking will prevail and healthcare reform will be passed sometime soon, I figured it was time to address something that has been bothering me for some time. How is it that the great American past-time, the greatest sport to have ever been conceived by man, could fall prey to communist (really, socialist) precepts?

If we were to toe the line and quote the words of some of the past and present leaders of America and our economy (Reagan and Greenspan), we should all be living and dying with the belief that "government is the problem;" and, that "the markets will correct everything, even fraud." In other words, keep your hands away from the market and in a Maradona-esque way, the hand of "God" will always balance the scale and ensure fairness for all.

Profit-sharing

In 1923, the New York Yankees opened their own stadium at 161st in the Bronx and that same year they won the World Series. Back then, the Yankees were nowhere near being the wealthiest club in baseball. The teams of inner-America, of St. Louis and Cincinnati, Pittsburg and Chicago and Detroit were the original powerhouses of Major League Baseball. The New York Highlanders (from 1913 on the Yankees) were not founded until 1903. And success was not immediate with the first World Series victory only coming in 1923, 3 years after acquiring Babe Ruth.

Through a mixture of luck and great baseball, the Yankees would go on to win another 20 WS titles before hitting the drought of the 60's and 70's. In 1972, George M. Steinbrenner would purchase the team and an era that still lives today was born. Steinbrenner was a successful businessman who despite his promises that he would not interfere with the team, did interfere and has driven the team crazy and to even greater baseball feats: 7 World Championships have been come thanks to him and his teams.

And, then, Steinbrenner and the Yankees were penalized for their shrewd business decisions and for their greatness. Whereas other owners were cutting investment from their teams, keeping them as perpetuals losers never able to win pennants, Steinbrenner and his team were ever thinking of new ways to make the Yankees better. Mr. Steinbrenner wanted to please the fans and he new that nothing less than a World Series trophy would do.

We Didn't Buy Greatness

One fine day, in 1997, a bunch of whining really wealthy and cheap whitemen (and one woman) gathered to say it was unfair that the Yankees and other so-called "big market teams" were making so much money while they were losing so much money. In other words, these team owners were admitting that a) they were losers; and b) that they fans were not loyal and at best were fair-weather ones: "if my team is winning I will come out and watch but if not, then I won't...wah."

If I make bad business decisions, am I not to suffer for them? If my company is being mismanaged and poorly run and I lose revenue as a result, why should expect my well-to-do competitors, many who have wisely and freely invested in making their businesses better, give me hand-outs to make me more competitive? And then, when I win, it is because I am playing true baseball and when the Yankees win, it is because they "bought another World Series." To quote the 101st Airborne's acting commander Brigadier General McAuliffe when asked to surrender to the Germans at Bastogne: "Nuts!"

We Didn't Buy Nuttin!

The New York Yankees are the greatest team in any sport because their are the best at what they do. They play baseball. Yankee owners maximize the resources they have the best and this guarantees them a run almost every single year! Yet, despite the massive amounts of investment that is put into this team, we have not won the World Series 59 times. And, there have been droughts as long as 18 years! From 1978 until 1996, the Yankees were spending more than everyone else yet also losing more than most others.

Putting a winning baseball team on the field is not easy--ask the other 29 teams. Ask a Yankee fan. Yet, we, the fans, pay what we do and obsess the way we do, like many other fans, yet the owner of our team respects us and therefore invests in greatness for us. As a result, the whining, cheap capitalists, the first ones to beg for a tax-cut from the government and to change the toilet paper from two-ply to sandpaper in the men's bathroom, all to save a dime, sold their souls. These criers of capitalist conjecture with their "I love Barry (Goldwater)" tatoos on places seldom seen by non-loved-ones, went commie!

Marxist-Leninist Baseball

No one really knows what it says in these Marxist tomes lying on the bottom of the dustbin of history (today being the 20th anniversary of that system's almost total death), but one thing is for sure: if you take from the rich to give to the poor then you are exacting the same kind of revolutionary tactics which ruined the country struggling for life just beyond the window at my back: Russia, in other words. Penalizing people for being great, for working hard, for investing their money so as to make their lawns look nicer and their yards bigger, for example, is communist; it is socialist; it is not American.

Baseball, one of the finest things we have given parts of the world, so bizarrely became communist. What is even odder than that is that so, so many of the people who think Reagan a god and Greenspan a genius, never even blinked when their losing teams became the recipients of the distributed wealth of their greater, better and more successful breathren.

Having said this, I will say it again, the Yankees are the greatest franchise in any sport because they are the best at what they do: playing baseball and running their business. All the other recipients of our largesse can either pack their bags and head to China, the last beacon of communist rule; or, they can simply admit that the Yankees are great because they are great.

Say we bought it and you admit you are a commie.

Fox: The Dumber the Better

2009-10-27T23:59:00.000-07:00

There once was an American creed which, to paraphrase, stated the following: to those who rise early, who are honest and who respect their neigbors, the fruits of their labor will bring them rewards.

And then, the era of corporate welfare began in earnest; the era of hysterical governing in which a tactic often used by "communists" in Russia was employed to such a degree that still 15 years later we are stuck in this quagmire of "ungovernability."

The deke used with such amazing success by the hysterical-right (HR, hereinafter) is a simple one: lie about one's enemy with passion, believe your lie, and then force him to disprove the lie, nevertheless however, the stain will be on the dress (thank you Monica for saving it). This has been an amazing tactic used for nearly a century by Russian communists and now today's so-called democratically-elected governing party. In Russia, and in other low-trust societies, you lie and he who has the money to spin that lie and make it "reality" is the ultimate victor for the other guy expends all his energy disproving the lie.

Not My Concern

Russia, however, is not my concern. Despite living here for many years, I have learned one thing: keep your mouth shut in this society. You can have a negative opinion but just don't try to apply that to action or else very quickly you will be identified, isolated and expelled or arrested.

My concern is what I see happening in our America. Yes, we have always had an emotional and slightly hysterical bent to our politics. George Washington hated the media and the opposition so much when he left office he secretly feared that America couldn't last if new rules for governing weren't instituted. Not much was done, though, and today we still see similar tactics being applied by the media and the opposition.

The danger, however, lies not in these tactics but in the collaboration of these tactics. When the media becomes the opposition then we set out into swamps only traveled by the likes of Nazi's and Communists. For 15 years, all media in Nazi Germany were slipping into all aspects of their reporting, from weather forecasts to sales of lady's pantyhose, that Jews were "vermin." Guess what? During the immediate de-Nazification era after the war, Germans from 15 to 30 years of age were absolutely convinced that Jews were vermin. Fed lies by the mass media for over a decade, the lies became the truth.

Under Communism, for 70 years, lies (propaganda) were spilled across every aspect of society: from newspapers, to radio, to TV, to subway walls to park benches, the glory of communism was extolled. True, many knew that these "glories" were not so great. Yet, to this day, there are entire generations who are convinced that it was the American army that committed atrocities during WWII against Germans and Jews; that the firebombing of Dresden was genocide; that presidents are chosen by elite committees behind closed doors and so on. Now, the current system is again spoon-feeding the nation lies, opinions and creating for modern-day Russia, it's reality.

Hysteria for Power's Sake

The HR, the GOPCON Party and Fox-"News" are taking plays from the playbooks of some very dangerous and destructive parties. No good can be gained when a major network news program, with the resources of not just a TV station, but countless internet sites, newspapers and magazines, so vociferously creates a false reality for to the nation about politicians it does not feel fall in line with its political views.

Fox's behaviour is traitorous. The support of the HR for Fox's tactics is based on greed and immediate political gain. The GOPCON wants power so they can go back to ruining our nation through their inherent mismanagement; go back to bankrupting our nation through their ridiculus corporate welfare (tax cuts); so they can return to making America dumber by NOT investing in education, by making it less likely that working Americans can get student loans, by perpetuating our obsession with fossil fuels which leave us stuck in the go-nowhere economic muck we are currently in.

The dangers of letting Fox mangle the truth by inseminating it with lies is that since the birth of Fox, a generation of youth have come to age. These youth now believe these lies to be the truth. Class assaults that under Reagan would have been considered impeachable offenses, thanks to the hysteria and lies stoked by Fox, are today reasons why Republicans get elected in many states. And, the danger lies in the simplistic world of dichtomies: good versus evil, us v. them, black v. white, Yankees v. Phillies. The simpler the argument, the easier it is for people to understand.

Fox is for Dumb People

If we were to look at the places where Fox is considered the Gospel, we would notice that these parts of America are the least educated. The more outrageous and simplistic the lie, the easier it is to understand, the less worry a politician has about his hysteria and lies being questioned by an informed electorate.

Last year in Russia when the chess-genius Gary Kasparov tried to run for president, his followers were beaten and jailed. Why? Because he is smart and his platform was simple: are we better off today than we were 8 years ago? And then, the smart, well-spoken and well-respected, if not adored by many Russians chess champ merely laid out the problems that have gotten worse under Putin. He was chased out of the country. The goverment/party-controlled mass media made him out to be a drug-using, child-molesting lunatic--all lies, but, the truth was created by a the ruling party's media.

Putin feared Kasparov's intelligent and rational critique would result in smart voters, the majority being concentrated in St. Petersburg and Moscow, not turning out to vote on election day. So, he silenced rational, unemotional opposition and he kept the voters in the dark; instead they spent months pondering whether it could be true that their chess hero was really a heroin-addicted pedofile. And, Medvedev won by a landslide. He created emotional responses where none should have been and manipulated them against his potential opponent.

Some Questions

Finally, I would like to ask some questions of my sane and educated breathren on the other side of the political pendulum: can you really think any good will come out of joining the GOP with Fox-News? Can you really think any good will come from making our electorate dumber so they will question less? When will you return to the core values that made our nation strong, sustainable and great?

The GOP is Obsessive-Compulsive

2009-10-20T05:02:00.000-07:00

Everything is governed by a natural order. We blink when something nears our eyes; when cold we shiver, when hot we sweat; when sick the body grows tired and forces us to lie down. All of our energy then goes to battling the illness.

Sex is pleasurable. Even this was done for a reason. Imagine if it was torturous (yes, it is for some)? If sex were horrible and not pleasurable, then man would long ago have become extinct.

Sex, in nature, among animals, mammals, etc. is a natural need; like eating and like so many other innate acts which escort them through life each day. For man, however, sex has become a mix of emotions which go beyond our absolute natural need. Yes, we need it, but probably not in all the costumes, positions, places and with varying partners as we seek it out. These aspects of sex are less physical and more mental--the brain craves the act, the excitement, the smells and it drives many to ever more acts of sex.

Let it be said, there is nothing wrong with this fascination for sex. So long as sex, like anything is, kept in its place and life is not handicapped by this passion for "getting sweaty." Sex, however, like anything else, when it becomes an act of obsession than it is not good.

Prostest is next to American-li-ness

There is nothing wrong with protest. The right NOT to like a sitting president or the party in control is the Constitution-given right that makes our nation great. It is natural to protest in America. However, when the protest becomes detrimental to the nation's welfare, when the protesting (opposition) party stops offering any constructive advice and just votes as one big bloc "no" so as to prevent the nation's business from being conducted, then this is obsessive behavior. And, like any psychologist will tell you, obsessive behavior is detrimental to proper development.

The GOPCON Party has not offered one single, legitimate counter-argument to any issue in our nation since January 20 of this year. For all intents and purposes, from the moment their wreckless and child-like obsessions for tax-cuts (the boogey-man) and "less government" ("I am afraid of the dark") led us to the brink of economic disaster last September, they silently slunk (past-tense of "to slink") away, tail between their legs (or, rather, heads up their asses) and quietly waited for the democrats to start governing the nation again out of the sink-hole of their destruction.

After a summer of farcical protests, which had been preceded by even more ridiculus "tea parties" (which I originally thought kind of creative until I found out that it was Fox-"News" who promoted and launched this hysteria), the cons, despite their deep-seated belief that the healthcare reform being put forth by Obama will help our nation in the long-run, are now going too far in the destruction of our nation by launching their boats to the sails of insurance industry lobbyists.

Again, the God-fearing and Bible-thumping, Southern-accented crackers (except their Uncle Tom leader), are willing to seek short-term political/financial gain at the expense of our nation.

By Any Means Necessary

The behavior of the cons and their minions is again shameful. Recently, a leading Senate GOPCON'er said that regardless of what the President puts forth, we will seek to destroy the legislation 'by any means necessary'--filibuster, lies, scandal, obsessive behavior, foot-tapping in men's bathrooms, anything goes for them.

So in other words, regardless of whether the President puts out a plan that meets all of their demands, they will still kill it so that their short-term political gain will be greater than the gain of the average, working American. And, even more ridiculus and harder to comprehend is that many of the same nuts ranting about Obama being a communist because he wants to reform healthcare will sometime very, very soon benefit thanks to the reforms that will be enacted.

When this low-skilled worker finds himself without a job because the gains that could have been made thanks to the green revolution instead went to China, Germany and elsewhere, silly, obsessed Cleet from Arkansas will find himself uninsured because the GOP ensured that the status quo live on for another generation. He will be eating moon-pies and RC Cola for Thanksgiving whilst his obese wife rots from the inside-out because she can't get the needed operation "cuz we ain't gat dah money to pay the doc."

Obama's green revolution, which could still create millions of jobs, even whole new industries and make American an economic leader in something other than weaponry, also suffers from the abusive and obsessive idiocy of the GOPCON.

Every initiative he has put forth to make the lives of average Americans, all Americans a little better, a little sounder, a little safer, has been obsessively attacked and mocked by a vociferous and well-fianced minority of greedy, greedy Americans. Americans, whose political views would never have let their relatives even set foot in this great nation 100 years ago, sit in the safety of their well-groomed communities, many behind gates and embarass themselves and all of American by their obsessive, self-serving whining.

For the sake of our great nation, I pray to a God, not the one they worship, that President Obama succeeds. I hope he passes healthcare reform; I hope his reforms of the credit card industry stick; I hope he can force tougher and real regulations upon the giant financial houses on Wall Street; I hope he can make our future less hot and longer and filled with less rain and less hurricanes thanks to massive, massive cuts in greenhouse gases all thanks to the successful launch of our green economic revolution.

"Oh for Our Sake"

If he fails on all of those fronts, then, that whining, greedy minority of "America-haters" will have won and we, the people, the majority, will have lost. They are wealtheir than us, they are more wily than us and they have fewer morals and so their tactics are free from rules like no kicking or biting.

We must fight the good fight and win. And, if for a second it seems we will lose, always recall that the sneakiest and arguably most effective blow to an unsuspecting opponent is a good, crisp head-butt to the bridge of his nose.

And then victory will be ours! After all, it is the end result we are seeking and the means mean nothing at all...for the victors, at least.

You go, President Obama!

The Anti-America Movement grows...in our own backyard

2009-10-13T05:23:00.000-07:00

When I open my passport, the words "United States of America" greet my eyes. When I flip through its pages, an assortment of state seals guide me through our great nation. I see the words "US Passport Agency" and other such harmless and generic terms. What I don't see are republicans and Democrats. Not present are the hysterical tea-parties, neo-fascist anti-health-care protests and other partisan aspects of our, once again, great nation.

An Award to Be Proud of...you'd think

And yet, a little less than a year after we, the America people, demonstrated to the world that two of our greatests assets as a nation still exist, the ability to peacefully elect a president and our system of balances, that mass of hysterical and anti-America idiots scoof and snort and mock when our president receives one of the most prestigious awards that exist. The conservatives, again, demonstrate their true hatred for our great nation.

I must comment on our system of balances. Peacefully electing a president is being done by more and more nations each year: great but less unique than it used to be. The world has learned from us well. What still seperates us, however, from so many is our amazing system of three branches of government: the Legislature, the Judical Branch and the Executive one. Under W and Mr. Potter, the Executive Branch gained inordinate amounts of power at the expense of the other two--many will say (including me) that an abuse of the Judicial Branch is what gave us W in the first place.

After 8 years of no leadership, corruption the likes only seen before under Reagan and Nixon, and sheer and complete incompetence--even, an obvious reluctance to govern by W (he was sitting in front of the Ranger games by 6 PM each evening and clearing brush by the months each summer at his ranch), Americans and even many of the most reactionary and the loudest in the current "I hate America" GOPCON Party were ready and willing to see W head off into that January sky on Marine Two. A sigh of relief was heard for many even feared that Mr. Potter might try to pull a military coup that January day not too long ago, such were the abuses of power by W and his coterie of flying monkeys.

Shocked and dismayed at our own seeming hatred for the values that made our nation one of the greatest in world history, foreign governments waited and hoped that our system of balances would once again prove effective. And, it did.

Since that day that Obama assumed the presidency, beyond all that he has done on a 24/7 time-clock to help our nation survive the irresponsible policies of 30 years of republican incompetence--"no government, no regulation, power to the states (sounding very similar to "power to the soviets")--President Obama has made it one of his top priorities to reinvigorate "brand America." And we, as a declining world power whose greatest weapon always was the strength of our soft culture and the lure of an America with streets paved in gold, cannot, should not underestimate the resource that "brand America" is for us.

It Earns us money and it saves lives

Everytime one of these psuedo-wealthy big-mouthes open their traps and criticize Obama, my skins crawls. If they were citing facts and real figures, it would be one thing. However, arguments like 1) he was not born in America; 2) he is a Muslim terrorist; 3) he is a communist/socialist; 4) he is expanding goverment so as take over our lives are simply ridiculus claims fed by the idiocy of Fox-TV and drug-addicts like Rush Limbaugh. Sadly, many in America get their political opinions from these entertainment outlets and confuse it for truth.

Yet, if we were to set aside the issues that divide us and look at the one thing we should all want and hope for, a strong and stable America, then the receipt of the Nobel Price for Peace by President Obama, our president, should be something to make us not just proud but safer and happier.

President Obama has not done one act which you could put your finger on and say, "ah, this is why he got it." No, but he has changed the mood in the world. If W's policies had permitted the patients (Russia's abuse of their gas diplomacy, North Korea's and Iran's nuke programs, a melting Pakistan, etc.) to take over the mental hospital--Obama's reaching out to the world has made diplomacy once again a valid tool and served as sedative to the nuts in the world.

And, if we can spare the lives of over 4000 young men and women serving in our armed forces (and tens of thousands of innocent civilians) from making the ultimate sacrifice caused by to hubris and greed of the neo-con right as they were led by W and others, then I say, President Obama: GREAT JOB! He deserves any award he can get for the sake of us and a better world.

President Obama has changed the mood in the world and being an American who lives in the "world" and has traveled to 12 nations just in the past 8 months, I can tell you this: people are thrilled by this man and the mood is one of change, of hope, of possibilities.

As a result of this feeling in the world, America's stock is going up. Despite our ailing economy, not caused by Obama, the world likes having a sane and rational America once again at the helm. Yes, the world also feels burned and slightly embarassed because of their attempts to deal with W and Mr. Potter as adults only to be spurned and even mocked by those two. President Obama must demonstrate that he can rule regardless of the destructive and obstructionist right. The world waits and it has hope, though. Hope was something they did not have under W.

Congratulations America

Our national brand equity is increasing in value thanks to President Obama and his policies, his beliefs. The Nobel Peace Prize further increases brand America's value. This is something we should not pooh-pooh, this is something we should not doubt, this is something we should not hestitate to take silent pride in.

There used to be a saying in America, before the right became so openly hostile to our nation's future, domestically it is acceptable to disagree and argue with the President; but, internationally, he is the man and we should at least respect him and hope he does well internationally for our own good.

President Obama's award is our award and the world is better for it but sadly, not even that fact is enough to snap those anti-America conservatives out their hateful, obstructionist stupor.

Shame on them all.

A Nation Held Hostage and GOP emotional sabotage

2009-10-08T01:12:00.000-07:00

If a person were to sell a product that knowingly killed people then this person would be arrested, tried and most likely convicted. The person would then spend years in prison and all involved in the downfall of this person would feel good, neighborly and as if they had contributed to the making of a better and safer nation.

When a corporation sells a product that kills, they hide the evidence; lie about the product's negative effects; spend millions on campaign donations and to lobbyists and then, only after years of having tried to prove that their product is safe, some internal memo pops up showing that all along they knew to be true what their accusers had known: said corporation had knowingly been dealing in death/harm to Americans.

The company will be fined a mere pittance in most cases. Almost never does anyone from the company go to jail, however, for the dilemma is always: you can't arrest the corporation. For so many decades in our history, big business's goals and values have run counter to the ideal of an American nation. Big business proved itself so egocentric in the late 19th Century that many new laws were put onto the books to break up these empires of evil all for the protection of the working Joe and Jane: the little people were getting their fair shake.

Upton Sinclair went after meat packers and others in his book The Jungle and, thanks to presidents like Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Hoover, FDR and others (not Reagan, Bush I or Bush II), big business was in many respects brought to task. This does not mean, however, that their have not been instances of gross negligence over the past century. On the contrary, whereas we may have started producing cleaner, better products, we now live in a everything goes, marketing/advertising rules world where so long as you are making sales and huge profits, you are safe to produce whatever you want.

Their lost War became a Partisan one against our values

I have said it before and I will say it again, most of what is troubling or causes harm and nasty, emotive reactions in our society starts in the states which used to belong to the Confederacy; and, usually, these evils are supported by, yes, the GOP.

Let's take a look at cigarettes: the dwarves--company CEO's--appeared before Congress a decade or so ago and said that cigarettes weren't harmful. Then a while later, internal memos were leaked from decades prior showing that even their own studies proved that cigarettes caused lung cancer. They had lied under oath and did any of them go to prison? Were they fired in disgrace?

Bill Clinton, hunted by a Republican-led Congress, was eventually caught in a lie--one that had nothing to do with the original accusations and for which an "indepedent council" had been commissioned (murder, insider trading, espinage, rape, etc.). His presidency greatly suffered as a result of this distraction and so too did the American nation. But, in the parlance of the GOP since Reagan came to town (although he never would have condoned such emotive whining and abuse of power), "who cares about America, it is all about the GOP and our hold on the reins of power."

Bill Clinton was "impeached" by the House for his lying under oath about whether he had had sex. The cigarette companies were fined, no one went to prison, no one was hung and today, despite declining sales in America, they are enjoying amazing profits: billions upon billions of dollars.

I won't even start on the NRA and their evil: in history only the Nazi Party of Germany has been more fascist and destructive than this group of gun-toting losers. And yes, the vast majority of them are losers. They are cowards. They don't know how to fist-fight so they arm themselves to the teeth so they can blow away their neighbor who knocked at the door late one night for a cup of sugar--oops. Most of them are white, well-off, probably out of shape and vote Republican (and, where did this neo-Nazi party begin, yes, in the South. It was a reaction against recently enfranchised former-slaves.)

Next, and it has finally been getting its rightful blame in the obesity crisis that cripples our nation, is the anti-American company known as Coca-Cola. The most recognized brand in the world. T-shirts and memorabilia are sold through our nation and the world with the logo and "drink Coca-Cola" on shelves with the heading "Americana." This company is irresponsible and it is a bad and callous employer. I know people working for them and Coke's attitude toward their employees is simply disgusting--each one of them is like an indentured servant, unless you are in management, of course.

Many will argue that Coca-Cola is a good company simply selling a good product. It is doing what a business is supposed to do, make profits. Yes, I agree. But Coca-Cola is no better for you than cigarettes so where are the restrictions against use by minors? Why is it sold in schools? Why is it cheaper to drink Coke than bottled water? Why are we not taxing the consumption of this product--and really, I don't care that it will disproportionately hurt the poor. Coca-Cola, by the way, is from Atlanta.

Some E. coli with that burger

An industry not dominated by the South is meating packing. They gleefully distribute beef patties throughout the nation knowing that someone is likely to die from the complications of an e. coli infection. Lies, cover-ups, obfuscation, firings of line workers, etc. are just some of the tactics these monolithic, and in many cases, private companies employ to ensure that the consumer is not being protected.

How did we get to this place? How is it that we envision ourselves as the most civilized nation in the world, the one from which everyone else should learn; how everyone else should strive to live and yet we have big business, which provides us with 99.9% of everything we touch, eat, see and wear in the course of day, picking and choosing which one of us will suffer as a result of their quest for increased short-term profits?

The GOP loves to scream, and they do so in that squeaky, white-is-right, faux-patriotic way at their candle-lit rallies (quite often in Southern states), less government; government is evil. Government regulation is needed.

Bush II and his "wage war and cut taxes" (complete idiocy, look at our economy now!) mantra has financially bankrupted our nation making things like an economic stimulus hard to come by; making universal health care something that could potentially break the banks (oh, and the banks--no regulation). Bush II, led by Reagan, did everything he could to bankrupt our nation so that the evil, government, would have nothing left to regulate the greedy and destructive impulse inherent in all big corporations.

Here we sit today. Our food supply is tainted not by terrorists (not yet, anyway) but by stupid, anti-America Republicans. Our cities flood and the government sits by, well actually, flies over and shakes its collective head: what a pity. People are paralyzed by burgers, other people, hopped up on a sixes of Coors, yank high-powered machine guns out of trunks of cars and gun down their neighbors; children are addicted to sodas and sweets and now 48% of all American youth under 15 are considered obese--look at the health care dilemmas awaiting our nation tomorrow!

The conservatives will say that the obesity is caused by bad parenting; 50 years ago, parents weren't necessarily better, government was. And, it tended to work a bit more effectively because it had funding; because it had a mission: make our nation safe for its people.

The Republican Party is a criminal organization. It is a grouping of home-grown terrorists with no interest in making our nation better, stronger, safer. Today, the Senate said the health bill making its way to the President's desk will lower the deficit: guess who is against it nevertheless? "Big government, big brother, blah-blah-blah." "Shut up! Go delay some confirmation so a key Obama advisor won't be able to do his or her job to make our nation better after the mismanagement of GOPCON rule!"

Enjoy a Coke and a burger today, or better yet, pull that pistol out of your belt and and play a round of Russian roulette: same game just different weapons.

Thank You, President Obama

2009-09-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

Dear President Obama,

Nearly a year ago, 28 years of hyper-deregulating government policies led us and the world to the brink of economic collapse. You assumed office almost 6 months after this moment, 15 September 2008, and since then, through partisan action and your strong and decisive leadership, we are stepping back from the precipice. We can take a breath and whether others will join me or not, I don't know, but I want to say: Thank you.

Of course, it has not been an easy road for you, for the country, for the world. Many are still without work; new businesses are not opening up and credit is still not readily available to most; yet, during this time, and despite the best (or worst) efforts of the Republican Party, you have fought the fight for the American people.

Laying policies that will lower costs over the long-term; depriving greedy, and in many instances, morally reprehensible big businesses from their obsession with short-term profits (see finance industry, auto industry, energy companies, insurance companies, maybe even Coca-Cola); you have been harassed and mocked by a substantial minority of Americans and what used to be a relevant political party in our nation. Yet, you persevered.

The members of that party, I call it the GOPCON Party (GOP meets CON-servatives), have done everything they could to obstruct you; to prevent you from not just leading our nation out of the morass of 8 misguided years of abject incompetence, but, even in many cases from simply governing. They want America to fail.

You, Mr. President, and your party--although not all of them--initially strove for bi-partisan solutions to problems that had not been seen in 70 years. They, however, chose a talk-radio approach to our nation's future by littering the present with emotional garbage, nonsensical delays, demagoguery, rebel-rousing and tactics so common to roving groups of neo-facsists: fear and threats.

President Obama, I am proud to be an American again. I was shamed by how our nation had behaved over the last 8 years. I live abroad and truthfully, I tend to be somewhat of a loud-mouth and don't fear too many people so not many foreigners could scare me in their overt disgust for our antics since W became president; however, it has not been easy. Many people didn't so much as hate us as they were simply shocked that we, America, would behave so stupidly, be so reactionary and twice vote in a man who could barely speak a sentence that even the dumbest Americans could understand, let alone bright ones.

Your policies have set the auto industry back on a track that at least resembles principles from Business 101: build products that people want to buy. You are trying to get our nation to see the benefits of a green revolution and just how many jobs could be created should "we", I mean those so-called wealthy businessmen ever lobbying for tax-cuts so they could invest in American businesses, use our once great American ingenuity to lead the world in this field--instead of giving this too off to China.

Your Accomplishments

You have fought the credit card companies and made it safer for us to use credit cards. Their irresponsible and predatory customer-trolling policies were nothing more than legalized loan-sharking--who hasn't been cheated by a credit card company? But, changes have been made. You, the president, the government, is forcing them, a monstrous corporate entity against which we, small, hardworking, Americans simply have no recourse, to change their ways. Good job!

The environment bill could have been better but I am a gradualist. If you try to go too far then the "system" will stand to lose too much money and it will prevent you from doing anything. Again, hats off for being a pragmatist. Next time, we will do better. The clunker program was anything but; yet, if we listen to those idiots on the right, they will say this too was farcical. Name one program, Mr. President, that they have supported or passed that has made our nation better in the past 30 years.

Soon, you will save tax-payer money by cutting out the banks as the middlemen in the student loan process and again, despite what you can be sure will be GOPCON obstructionism, the quality of American's lives, those of the "disregarded majority", will be set on firmer ground. You will fight the fight against big business by going after obesity. If people cannot smoke--I am not a smoker--because it harms them and us, why are companies allowed to poison us with these sugary, fake-foods. Why is 30% of our nation allowed to drain our nation's resources because they make life choices that turn them into herds of scootering-zooming fatties?

Finally, President Obama, I sleep well at night knowing that you are doing your best to make our nation as great as it could've been had the GOPCON Party not stopped the wheels of modernity; had we not been side-tracked by sheer and unadulterated stupidity, greed, contradiction and shameless fake-religiosity and anti-Americanism.

You need to be civil to the likes of that idiot southern congressman, Joe Wilson. I don't have to be--I still blame that state for firing the first shot. So, until you are ready to completely and fully accept their political irrelevance as a modern day political party and govern as if they didn't exist, we will continue to fight the battle for you.

The America in which you and I want to live, Mr. President, does not condone such antics like what were seen on the floor of the Congress when you were speaking. The America you and I love, voices our opposition, and then when the nation needs decisions and governance, we make decisions and govern: the GOPCON Party has chosen to extract itself from governing the nation. They should be ashamed, they should be impeached.

What is the next problem we will tackle, President Obama? Perhaps, we can start taking away their guns?

Par for the Course

2009-09-10T03:11:00.000-07:00

They should be ashamed, but, they won't be.

There are things like, let's see...a constitution. ""Ah, that's just an outdated piece of paper," they mutter over grits drowned in butter. There is a court that is supposed to make decisions based the letter of the law. "Yeah, but, most of those justices were chosen by republican presidents so they had to choose W for the presidency," they rejoice whilst staring at maps of the world where thanks to our troops "democracy" has taken root.

There is even an office, an oval one, in which sits the highest, elected official in the land. He is the President of ALL the United States of America. Shame was brought to this great office by Nixon; by a republican congress-led witch hunt, which did to Clinton what is trying with some success to do to Obama--spread lies and hate against the president so as to distract him from his agenda and wait until he makes a major mistake. Yes, Clinton was stupid to start that affair given the HUAC-style pressure he was under from a nation held hostage by Newt and company.

W brought shame to the White House, to the nation; but, he was and still is called President Bush and in all my dislike of him, I would be awed to meet one of less than 50 men in the past 200 plus years to have held the title of President of the United States of America.

Last night, some southern Joe from none other than the state that fired the first shot against federal troops in 1861 at Fort Sumter, had the utter indecency to shame the office again by screaming (like a spoiled, rotten brat) "you lie." Not since a southern senator beat a northern one with his cane into a coma in the 1850's has such a display been seen.

Shame on you! Shame on the GOPCON Party!

President Obama is all ya all's president so respect him, or at least tje office, an shut the hell up, Joe!

A Common Good

2009-09-08T02:58:00.000-07:00

Ownership is a good thing. Owning a car, a home, a dog, a bike, a chair and even a garbage can are all good and helpful things.

Each one of those things requires certain care in their respective handling so as to ensure that they will be maximized in their use for us. Each of these things, to a greater or lesser extent, is a resource for the owner and even for non-owners in some cases.

Each of these things becomes a part of our routines of life, a life woven into a common one. We sit in the chair to eat, read the paper or surf the web. We walk the dog and pet him, relaxing on the couch after a long day soaking up the unconditional love of a good pup. The garbage can, if properly used, sorts our recyclables and this act in our personal life adds to the common one which makes it better--good.

Ownership

American society is an ownership society. Again, there is nothing wrong with this; well, there are many wrongs but the overall basis for this concept upon which our nation was founded is not wrong. Yet, when people own things, they strive to ensure that their neighborhoods are good, clean, safe and happy. If all of this, then a town or a neighborhood can be a great place to own a home, a dogs, bikes, balls, TV's, bbq's, etc. By acting in a manner that is conducive to an overall good, one contribute to a sounder, common good.

A common good is something that the GOP and the conservatives don't want for America. I believe this from the bottom of my heart. This is not rhetoric. They do everything they can to put the interests of America behind the needs and interests of a) the wealthy and b) big business. How else can we justify what they did to our nation during W's 8 long years? How else we can justify the way they are creating panic and hysteria over the president's courageuous efforts to overhaul health care? They mocked the clunkers program--an obvious benefit to some but at the end of the day, a benefit to all.

There are so-called preachers wishing President Obama dead and there are talking-heads on Fox hinting that something "radical" must be done to stop him. Is this good for our nation this hate? How is it that when W was lying to the world about Iraq, all debate on the need for that invasion was considered "anti-American" and "support for the terrorists"; and now, when we are trying to pull our nation back from the brink of bankruptcy by overhauling the greatest drain on our nation's wealth, the failed healthcare system, conservatives and the GOP are turning the debate into a screaming match while wrapping themselves in the buntings and banners of silent Old Glory?

The Media

The emasculated and fading-from-relevance, traditional media is not questioning or condemning these tactics. Why? Again, the profit incentive. They too need to make money, they are looking after their own interests. The Iraqi invasion was exciting. It was good for sales of newspapers and magazines. Many a smart journalist probably knew as I that the "truth" W was selling was about as accurate as a history book written by Soviet historians. Those same journalists also knew that uncovering W's deceit would sell still more papers and magazines, etc--help them and their interests.

Writing an article with the facts and figures about the healtcare dilemma, showing support for the president and why these conservatives and the GOP are simply wrong and even anti-American, is boring. Such journalistic responsibility can't compete with the lies of Fox News, the reprehensible and irrresponsible criticisms by Cheney of Obama's policies so why try, they figure.

With no regard for the nation's rules, mores and precedents before him in regards to governing and the US Constitution, Mr. Potter (Cheney) has again broken with protocol and less than 6 months out of office, already, he is vocally challenging the president; trying to plant the seeds of doubt, hate. When will death knock on his door I ask? It will be a great day for our nation when he dies and I will be the first to shout with joy. (So Republican of me, such anger. Imagine, waiting for someone to die. So, non-Christian of me.)

At a time when our nation needs to gather behind our president as he struggles to lead us to a better place, the lies and emotions of the conservatives threaten to destroy our president, our nation. Why? Because they want to be re-elected, they want to limit more abortions, kill more criminals, invade more nations which were not threatening our good, embarass us on the world stage more often, ruin the environment further, give more tax breaks to the billionaires, bankrupt more local governments and states further: California, arguably our greatest state, is stricken by disasterous fires and bankruptcy.

A Genius Idea

Cars pulling into a Burger King in New Jersey drive over a medal speed bump at the drive in and energy is created and stored. Eventually, it is hoped that this would be used at all drive-thrus, toll-boothes, etc. This invention received stimulus money from Obama's "failed stimulus package" (so say the conservatives). If used at all the drive-thrus and in other places throughout a town of 15,000 people, 30% of its energy needs can be taken care of in this manner. This is a simply genius invention which will do wonders in lowering energy costs. This is something that never would have seen the light of day under a republican administration.

A woman was interviewed in a local paper in New Jersey about how she would feel if these things were put around the town" "So long as it doesn't mess up my routine, I don't care. But, if it gets in my way, don't need'em." What has happened to our "can do", "community first" attitude? When did we become so obsessed with our own so-called personal good? When did the cult of comfort, ease and leisure replace our belief in the American nation? Have we become so self-possessed that we can't slow the car a little, add 22 seconds onto our drive to the store, for the sake of creating energy to run the street lights in our town? For the sake of maybe, just maybe, staving off the disastrous effects of global warming by a decade or two: a common good.

What has happened to the common good and who is left to make sure it survives? President Obama is one and this is why the conservatives are finding it so easy to railroad his healthcare overhaul. He has proven himself to be naive and foolish: he believes in the America that drove our troops across battlefields in faraway countries, in their efforts to accomplish the mission and lead us to victory.

He wants to make ALL of us better and not just some of us. How cynical we have grown as a nation. We are more like Europe than we want to admit.

Summer Shorts

2009-09-03T02:37:00.000-07:00

For good or bad, better or worse, I am back to my editorial rantings on "what I see, feel, hear, eat, smell, know, don't know, think I know or feel like acting like I know but don't really know about."

It has been a long month since my self-inflicted bout of silence. I felt that I was getting in too deep, sounding a bit angry and being consumed by my inherent hatred of the conservative wing of the GOP (I don't dislike the other wings of the GOP, after all, who hated the Bad News Bears?)

My seething disgust for the cons was drawing me away from rational thought and I found myself succumbing to their eternal war which evokes emotional outbursts devoid of intellectual thought--I too was becoming the demogogic diatribe, the shadow of Limbaugh only standing to his left.

Having cleaned the head and spent some time in the promised land, America, I am back and ready to set at it again with earnest.

Clunkers

Man, isn't it nice when you see the federal government actually demonstrating that there are some intelligent and America-first (read: not just Big Business but all Americans, rich and poor) people still involved?

The clunker program had it problems and of course the usual suspects were against it--although I am sure that many of them made trade-ins and received the $4500 check from the government--but, for the most part, it was a wonderful and successful program. It was precisely what our government has been void of for the past 8 years under Republican rule: creative, progressive, take-action-now thinking/governing. America will be better off for it.

Overall 690,000 cars were sold thanks to this program with Toyota leading the way. The fact that the Japanese automaker was number one in sales again demonstrates just how bad our auto industry has been over the past two decades. Chrysler, however, did finish second.

Many Republicans shouted that this was middle-class welfare (and tax cuts for the billionaires isn't welfare for the rich?). Last time I checked, though, I think the backbone of America's power was it's well-developed middle class, so what is the problem?

Also, it seems that if this $3 billion investment by the government resulted in the sales of 690,000 new cars, isn't that a stimulus to the economy? Yes, the good old cons, always against America.

Health Care

All I can say about this spectacle of neo-Nazi heckling and white-led rebel-rousing is: obstructionism, obstructionism, obstructionism.

They have absolutely nothing else to offer but fear-mongering (see GOP Scare Tactics and the 'War on Terrorism' due out soon by Eichmann, Hitler and Goring Publishing and written by Cheney and Rumsfeld) and lies: "death committees." Sweet baby Jesus, couldn't they have come up with something more Dr. Suessian like yuzz-a-ma-tuzz or grikly-gructus or diffendoofer committees? Now, that would have at least shown that they had made some progress since their last great quotable: "drill, baby, drill," not to be confused with "Seig Heil."

Sadly, our new president seems a bit overwhelmed by these tactics as they are truly overwhelming and when we have a president who actually strives to make our nation better for all (and to repair the damage of GOP control), one can get distracted. However, my good friend Paul Krugman writes on a regular basis helpful editorials and I quite often respond to the Obama's when they email letters about what they are doing.

So, yes, to the chagrin of the cons, we will pass health care legislation and we will probably increase the deficit but whereas endless tax cuts for the wealthy and endless wars against all middle-eastern nations that don't look like fat, balding white men don't lead to savings for the nation (or increased tax receipts), the savings gained from health care will eventually lead to a lowering of the deficit. Inaction will only increase the deficit and lead to our ultimate bankrupting and this is what they--yes, I said it, "they" (who you calling 'they'?)--want.

Wal-Mart

Re-energized from a lovely end-of-summer trip to New Jersey and surrounding states, I marvelled at the Wal-Mart commercials on TV.

"Live Better. Save Money." In this stylishly done ad, they show some pretty cool cats enjoying USDA steaks (read: "yo, Mexican boy, if you can't clean the carcass in 3 seconds of shit and other gorey matter, then get off the line. A little e coli is good for people.") and sitting wearing nice clothes around a stylish dining room table.

A) All of the people are thin and seem to have a modicum of intelligent thought in their heads; B) there is no 'B', I just needed my rant to seem deeper. Really, though, the whole notion that by buying--yes, buying--shit made in China (and never in America), somehow we will live better because we are saving money on that shit, makes my head spin. Call me a commie or whatever, but, I will never comprehend why and how consumption is the answer to our problems.

Granted, we need things to live and to survive. Families have needs beyond what I can imagine (having no children yet of my own) and when on a tight budget a place like Wal-Mart is helpful. I am not against that end of the bargain and I am grateful that there is such a place to keep prices in perspective for we all know that Big Business and their lobbyists (read: GOP) are evil; however, let's call it what it is: Wal-Mart kills small American businesses faster than the Chinese and rabbits can breed.

Every dollar spent in Wal-Mart is money out of our nation; it is killing a small business downtown--not that they offer much anymore (thanks to Wal-Mart). Wal-Mart, however, could lead the nation in a American small-business revival if it too decided to ensure that at least 50% (or even 60%) of everything sold there was being made in America.

Imagine, the increased prices by such a policy would be offset by the higher-wage-paying jobs. Sadly, however, when my wife and me try to buy "typical American souvenirs" for friends in Russia, we are always shocked to realize that everything you touch--even the Amish star I bought from an Amish store--is made in China!

We tried this time to buy only "made in America" souvenirs and guess what? Our bag of gifts was empty.

Well, enough for now, I am starting to sweat.

Soon, it will be time for College football (Go Knights), the World Series (Go Yanks) and the Oktoberfest ("another beer, please.").

Tomorrow Should be Better than Today

2009-07-29T04:30:00.000-07:00

In a nutshell (Brazil Nut), a liberal can be summed up as a person who believes that society (and he being a driver/participant in it) works to ensure that yesterday's ills and wrongs can be overcome. The resulting effect of this triumph over the "wrongs," be they technological or wrought by basic human prejudice, is that everyone eventually will live a better, happier life.

In a nutshell, a conservative believes this is all pie-in-sky nonsense and that it is each man for himself, survival of the fittest. And, if the "fittest" have a conscience then they donate to charities of their choices.

The Rule of Thumb

An economist by the name of Arthur Okun stated that when unemployment drops by 1%, GDP drops correspondingly by 2% to 3%. Many hesitate to call this a law so therefore, it is called a "rule of thumb."

Over the past 30 years, our economic ups and downs have all revolved around either the creation of virtual wealth; speculation on bubbles in the investment arena such as internet/techonology and then the real esate bubble; and, ultra-hyper-mass consumption leading to the "virtual ownership" through the abuse of consumer credit.

Conservatives and believers in the tooth fairy still like to claim that tax cuts were responsible for much of the growth of this era but what they are not willing to admit is that the vast Reagan and W tax cuts came during periods of massive deregulation of our banking and financial markets. Perhaps, it was the loss of oversight on these industries which led to the increases in investment?

Progress

30 years ago, we had no internet and the government, led by rising stars like Al Gore and then Bill Clinton, wisely aided the development of this technology. The internet today has arguably had more impact than any development since the creation of electricity. Had W been president, then we would still be mailing letters and calling each other from telephones attached to kitchen walls.

In these 30 years, we have also seen a massive assualt on modernity. The republicans/conservatives, led by their bible-thumping breathen from the Southern states, have reacted in many of the ways that Islam has reacted to US encroachment on their youth cultures via our enticing soft culture: Benjamin Barber a pompous but very wise former-Rutgers professor called it Jihad vs. McWorld. Fundamental, theocratic cultures are being threatened by the internet and its uncontrollable morals and so we see violent reaction.

These reactions manifested themselves on 9/11 and they have united and made powerful the GOP since 1994. Barry Goldwater was liberal in many of his views compared to what the conservatives of today espouse as rational, intellectual thought. They call any progressive behavior communist and as is typical in reactionary, fear-driven, change-adverse societies (I happen to live in one today), forward-looking, intellectual thought is called "pseudo" and "faux."

Yet...tomorrow may not be better

For 30 years, we have seen the lives of Americans made "better" thanks to the increase of consumer credit. Yet, today, we have more Americans bankrupt or in crippling debt than at any other time in our history. We have not seen the advance of any serious, long-lasting technologies, other than in the military industrial complex, during this period.

At the expense of our long-term well-being, for the sake of short-term profits and massive bonuses, conservatives have poohed-poohed investment in any area that might have paved the way for gradual and positive development in our economic infrastructure: what are we capable of leading the world in today other than in the field of arms? Obesity? Soft culture?

Driven by greed and void of the so-called 'invisible hand', big business has been free to make profits off of their profits without showing anything other than virtual wealth and needless consumer goods.

In the never-ending quest for lowered margins so that quarterly bonuses could be ever larger, big business, patriots all of them, "Jesus-sayers" predominately from Southern states and almost always conservatives, willingly drove their businesses out of America. Unemploying the American workers, they espoused that the market, the gospel of the profit incentive, demands such sacrifice. And so, today, we see that as 1% of Americans join the ranks of the unemployed, the GDP is dropping faster than it did in the past--and vice versa: Okun's rule is screamingly conservative compared to today's reality.

Another consequence of our failed experiment at a greed-driven economy void of governmental regulation is that these jobs, it is estimated, won't return to our eonomy after the downturn subsides. The lost jobs are lost for real because places like China and India and Mexico are now doing the work that Americans did just 20 years ago; but, for a mere fraction of the cost and all for the sake of the quarterly profits of that shrinking pool of owners.

Obama's Vision

They obstruct and they obstruct yet the conservatives haven't yet found the key ingredient to dismantling the man's vision. He has vision and being an American, I am addicted to vision and national goals: a man on the moon by the end of the decade, only fear we should fear, ask not what your country can do for you, etc., etc.

President Obama is trying to make the changes we found impossible to make beginning in January 1981 when greed came to town. President Reagan had vision, granted, but he also had an economic understanding that was perfect for the nation in which he came of age. By letting Detroit off the hook on gas emission requirements in the mid-80's and pretty much paving the way for SUV's, Ronald Reagan took our economy back to the post-WWII era of useless consumer crap in all shapes and colors for everyone at the lowest possible price. Which has directly led us to where we are today: nowhere.

We are for all intents and purposes bankrupted as a nation. What is our plan for going forward? More consumption for the sake of consumption? More unregulated profits thanks to super risky mortgages, etc.? President Obama is trying to make us a green nation because he knows that this may be one of our last pillars of world economic leadership. We are America. We used to be the smartest nation until taxs were cut so far that federal funding dried up for research grants resulting in a dumbing down of our universities (although, we still are the best in this area, the world is catching up fast).

Our college grads speak English poorly. Too many are focused on making big and quick profits in finance. We have lost our way and been dumbed down thanks to the cultural battle against modernity. We have to seize the golden opportunity which is sitting before us and we must become the world's leader of all green technologies. Europe and Asia, led of course by China, are making great strides at capturing this new and growing segment of the world's market.

It is time for us to boldly strive forward, like Americans, and to conquer yet another frontier for the betterment of our nation. If this means that we need government leadership and funding then so be it. Because one thing is for sure, the sales of more cans of soda or bigger bags of beef jerky at Wal-Mart are not going to preserve our place at the top for much longer.

Conservative response: "need to cut taxes. The market will make the necessary adjustments and then all will be good again." Been there, tried that and look where it got us.

Truths and Lies--Right to Life Hypocrisy

2009-07-21T04:42:00.000-07:00

Recently, while fielding the condescending fly-balls of a conservative as he fungoed sound-bite after sound-bite to me: "Obama is a Muslim. Obama is making America socialist. Obama is a tax and spend liberal. Obama's stimulus has failed. Obama supports murder. D.C. is more violent than any other city and it has a no-handgun law. Blah-blah and blah;" I made a diving grab of one of his more egregiously boring and emotion-less diatribes and decided: "this one would not get away."

This conservative, like the millions of other Stepford cons with their love for country music, chewing tobacco, Reagan and fraternities, argued that while the Constitution does guarantee the "right to bear arms"; it did not permit for the right of a woman to have an abortion. Having successfully pooh-poohed this bold attempt at turning the US Constitution into silly putty, we got right down to the issue at hand: he told me that "God didn't like abortion."

This answer impressed me the most. On the one hand, if he had such an open line to God, then I have a whole list of questions that I would like to pose; and, the top is when will Rutgers football get into and stay in the top 10? But, needless to say, neither does he have an open line nor God's email address. When the cons say that "God" is against abortion, what they are saying is that they are.

The Grand Hypocrisy

That fact established and feeling as if I were getting my sea legs, it was decided that ever bolder forays into the swamp-like thought process of the conservative needed to be made. Stepping carefully, lest I fall into one of those emotive traps lined with lime-like emotional idocies for which there simply is no answer (Barack Hussein Obama is really a Muslim), the grand hypocrisy needed to be scaled and conquered.

Cons (Conservatives and Republicans) refer to the evilness of abortion. They say abortion is murder. Many were simply gleeful and rejoiced when they learned that that doctor was killed in his church in Kansas. His sin, they say, was that he was the only doctor in the US doing third trimester abortions. Whether I agree with such an abortion is not the matter of discussion here (probably I don't but I would need to consider all of the circumstances).

Their joy at his tragic murder in church can easily be reacted to with the same disgust and anger that we Americans felt on 9/11 when CNN showed crowds of Muslims celebrating the deaths of so many Americans: terror and the ill effects of it should not be high-fived. In both instances, laws were broken and most importantly the law of God, "thou shalt not kill."

And this leads us to the hypocrisy. If abortion is murder then we can assume that the cons are God-fearing folk who are against murder. Yet, they celebrate the murder of this doctor in a place as invoilable as the church on a Sunday morning. How?

Then, we can statistically say (I don't have these numbers up to date but when I worked on my master's thesis in 1994, they were accurate), the majority of children aborted are done so for economic reasons. A family, one perhaps mired in poverty, admits that it does not have the means to provide for this expected child and so, they abort the pregnancy in, quite often, the earliest possible stages.

Now, this is the part which simply boggles my mind. When we so-called liberals admit that abortion should not be abused we want to provide for people who happen to fall into high-risk groups for such behavior, family planning training. Like math, planning for a family which includes instruction and information about contraceptives, is something that needs to be taught from the earliest possible age: the moment a girl or boy are capable of mating.

Yet, the cons are almost always against such training. They consider contraception to be against God's will. When, this is the hypocrisy which really turns up the heat on my brain to a level where some steam begins to leak out, babies are born into families and communities that have had little or no training as to the why's/how's/if's of starting families void the necessary economic means the cons go berserk; in these communities where there has been no easy access to contraception and suddenly a young woman of 20 has three children already, the cons will scream should God-forbid any public assistance be offered to help this young woman provide at least a bowl of Trix for her growing kiddies each morning.

When the cons cannot guarantee that in fact no pubic assistance will be offered to these "people of loose morals," then they start cutting taxes left and right. And as it says on page two of the "How to be a Real Con" instructional manual, the tax-cutting tool is really not so to "put more money into the hands of the wealthy so they can invest more;" No, it is so the cons can take more money out of the hands of the government thereby leaving ever less and less in government coffers for nefarious things like welfare, family planning, etc.

Finally, I mentioned that he should at least like the idea of "Head Start" programs in these communities overflowing with underage, single moms. He told me that "Head Start" was just another one of those liberal 'we know better than y'all' things and that it was 'elitist.' Choosing not to fall into the trap, I merely turned away and let those words drift off like balloons into the night sky. And then after about a half hour of silence, he asked me: "What is Head Start anyway?"

I told him what it was and he listened. We clarified that abortion was not being done because the child had already been born. He realized that some of the kids might actually learn something and pull themselves up out of the poverty into which they were born. When I told him it was like teaching them how to fish rather than buying them the fish, he smiled. I had hit home. And then, we got going on hunting and how guns should be in the pockets of all Americans, etc, etc.

We all need guns to defend against the criminals. When I mentioned that had not so many children been born into abject proverty, maybe, crime would be lower. He called me a racist again. As if whites aren't born into poverty? He also managed to rethink his position on Head Start and said that a good, traditional family could provide what Head Start did and that deterence would come by having more prisons.

And, the hypocrisy continued. They are against murder. Aren't guns used to kill? But, they will say that it is not guns but people that kill. Yes, their lies and their truths are one in the same so be careful or else you too will find yourself knee deep in lime and soon you will have no knee left.

I Can Hear the Thunder Already

2009-07-15T01:54:00.000-07:00

It is a fact that not all Americans have health care. It is a fact that when someone loses a job they lose their health care, also. It is a fact that poor working families prevent their children from taking part in school sports for fear that should their child be injured, then, they could be bankrupted.

It is a fact that many of our doctors are beholden to the interests of pharmaceutical companies--prescribe a high-cost medicine rather than do a low cost procedure or hands-on treatment. It is a fact that our health care system stresses (and excels at actually) dealing with the illness when it has occurrred and not in preventing the onset of the illness.

And, it is a fact that the entire health care debate, like global warming, has been so politicized that constructive dialogue is nearly impossible.

The Democratic controlled House of Representatives has found an amazingly painless way to finance at least half of the cost of the health care reform being demanded by our president. Painless, I should say however, for a mere 98% of all American households. The other vast 2%, those earning from upwards of $350,000, will have to pay anywhere from $500 to $9000 in a surtax. Those poor souls, what will they do without that extra night in a top hotel in Naples, Florida--which for a standard double they would have paid around $1500?

You know what? I don't care what they will do without that extra night. I don't care that a person making $1 million has to pay a bit extra to ensure that his fellow countrymen, so many who are of the working poor with several kids and no health care, might now have a chance to get health care. Make health-care-less Joe's health better and his productivity levels go up; he is a better consumer of the goods and services that might be responsible for that $1 million salary; he will certainly be a consumer longer, right? Maybe, that $1 million salary will actually go up as a result.

Besides, as many probably know, when you are making so much money, there are a lot of perks that go with the job. The amount of freebies a person making upwards of $350,000, in many cases, probably add up to be more than the average salary of the healt-care-less working poor.

Hidden Taxes--Opportunity Lost

This year the US goverment will pay close to $2.5 trillion on health care. $207 billion will be lost to the economy as a result of shortened life-spans because people don't have health care. And so, a surtax that would cost the nation's wealthiest 1.2% to 2% $544 billion over 10 years, simply does not upset me in the least bit. Actually, it is fair, it is right and it is the American way.

Why is it that the lack of universal heatlh care, which puts a debilitating drain on the whole economy and disproportainately effects the middle class down, is acceptable to a nation which has never paid homage to an elite, ruling class? No universal health care is a tax against all Americans in that opportunities are lost and the costs of these lost opportunities result in bankrupted local governments, states and even our federal coffers echo in their bareness.

The American Way

We are a capitalist nation. We are a nation of free-enterprise. We are a nation that has the God-given resources to effect positive and timely change in a world that often looks after its own small, regional or national interests first. We have caused no world wars. When there is tragedy in the world, Americans join together and send money, help and even prayers. We are a good nation. However, why do we have such anger, such disregard for our fellow countrymen when they are in need?

Granted, our system of giving, of charity, is the best in the world and it is to be commended. However, for instance, in a time of economic downturn like now, what happens to charity? It too dries up. And, despite some foundations like Bill Gates' trying to provide health care, when proposals are put forth by anyone to provide governmental, systemic help for our fellow countrymen in need, the issue immediately becomes hotly politicized. The whole argument lapses into the conservative modus operandi of "us versus them", "black and white" and "communism versus capitalism."

When did we become such a greedy and almost vengeful nation? It is as if the thinking at the country clubs goes, "they are poor, they deserve no health care." Why is a payment of $9000 for a family earning $1 million not a reasonable thing to ask? Why can this uninsured American not be guaranteed health care by his nation? We are not, after all, a third world dictatorship. Although, health care in Cuba is free and universal.

The Expected and Passionate Reaction of the Right

For many of the right, travel to Europe and many other nations in the world is limited to Mexico. Yes, a generalization but a fair one. World travel by Americans has never been a great past time. The overwhelming majority of us don't have passports and why should we? Yes, we have all of the beauty and greatness right in America, so why do we need to travel?

Personally, I love travel and that is my hobby. (I live in another country.) What travel does afford us with is the ability to compare. I have sought health care in other countries and truthfully, despite the scarey propaganda of the AMA as to the dangers of "socialized medicine", their systems work; they work efficiently, are free and to fill prescriptions costs around $3. And, as a result, the drain on GDP is anywhere between 7% and 10% in Europe and Canada (and everyone is covered including visiting foreigners!).

This means that their workers are healthier and their economies are losing less. This means that our wonderful system of free enterprise, void of that ever guiding "invisible hand", is sabotaging our ecnomic health as it holds the nation hostage through unimpeded rising health care costs for every aspect of health care all for the sake of ever larger profits.

The republicans/conservatives (I really wish the conservatives would come up with a new party because I am certain many of them don't wish to be aligned with the GOP anymore) will act in the same way they have since Obama took the reins: obstructionism, lies about socialized systems and the "long lines" for what really are health procedures that take up about .0001% of all health procedures; and, as usual, they will scream about increased taxes.

Increased taxes will somehow be linked to the 2nd Amendment and to abortion and then to liberal values and gay marriage and suddenly, Bucky Davis from Mississippi (who makes $1,745 a month) and hasn't seen a doctor since a doc cleared him from the womb, will punish democrats because they dared to raise "his" taxes. Also, lest we forget, the increased taxes, as the conservatives like to say, will lead to decreased investment by this 2% of Americans and so business development won't take place and the economy will sputter further.

$500? $9000? If a wealthy American is so petty as to punish his nation by not investing in his own business because his was "surtaxed" to help pay for health care, then I say, he is not an American. In my America, we give our neighbors a helping hand, we help the world, we are God-fearing Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. who strive for the better of all not just "me."

If the right to bear arms is so vehemently protected, why is not the right to live a heathly, productive American life somewhere on that radar of obstructionist, Goldwater-hatched conservatism?

The Truths--Global Warming

2009-07-10T00:53:00.000-07:00

A 'sacred precinct' is what Rome was called in the 4th Century. Too far off the beaten trail to be relevant as far as conquering and administering was concerned, Rome, a city bloated with temples, palaces, fountains and theaters was simply no longer so relevant to the Empire. It's greatest value was what it offered in terms of the symbolism.

This week, in L'Aquila, Italy, the United States led by a popular president with a near cult-like following in the world, put forth drastic measures for uniting the world against the now-obvious and debilitating effects of global warming. China and the India, number one polluter and another country soon to overcome the US for its levels of CO2 emissions, both said with a resounding thud: no. "We don't agree with you so go home and bend to our needs if you want to find an agreement."

Having long been the nation that was able to coax the world to do things that would eventually prove good for all in the long run, America, under W, became a petty and vindictive nation seeking financial gain for its decreasing minority of wealthy ever at the expense of the nation's increasing percentages of poor; and, on a world stage, we did what we wanted, when and where with no regard for the opinions of others. We acted wrongly, callously and very hypocritically.

Today, while a lazy Europe longs for a more friendly and progressive American government after the catastrope that was W, the developing world has shown us again just how far we have fallen. Conservatives will blame Democrats and even President Obama, but, a nation's power and relevance can not be measured against itself in a mirror. If we have little diplomatic sway in the world, and just a massive army with thousands of warheads, then what real power do we have in 2009?

The Obvious

Leaving the facts and graphs and figures to Google, we are today living with the obvious effects of global warming. More so now than at any time in my life, we are witnessing strange weather occurrences throughout the world: torrential downpours for days on end, tornados in places never before seen (Moscow, Russia for one), heat waves in place like Oslo, Norway, litte or no snow in the Alps, extensive flooding, long winters evolving into a bizarre Spring-Summer period (Spummer), etc.

The world needs American leadership on this issue and our failures over the past 8 years emboldened the Chinese and Indians. A tarnished America came to L'Aquila reaching into a playbook with the title "Diplomacy: 1978." This was the year that the US led by Jimmy Carter signed an agreement with Canada and Norway outlawing chloroflourocarbons (CFCs). While Europe declined to join, 10 years later they did and today the Ozone layer is again intact and danger averted.

The key here to victory was the bold and smart action of the Carter Administration. Sadly, if this problem had arisen in 1983, the Republicans would have said that this treaty would force too harsh terms on American industry and so, they would not have passed legislation. Their view would have been: let the world act first and then we will follow. Yet, what boggles my mind, is that when there is a chance to effect change through leadership in diplomatic cirlces, on things such as the CFC issue, Republicans consider this weakness. For the conservative movement, it is only our army and American so-called "free enterprise" which has any relevance. If we look at the world today compared to the way it was when President Clinton handed the keys to the mansion over to W in 2001, those two things they so worship have actually weakened us.

Name-calling

In Russia, there exists a wonderful tactic when you want to tear a good person down: swear on everything holy, promise away your unborn children if you are wrong, but, find the craziest lie about the person you seek to tarnish and start telling this new "truth" to all who will listen. A man who never drinks, perhaps, just because he does not like it, would be called a raging alcoholic. The key to this tactic is that when enough people hear, it then becomes the duty of the accused to prove that this is not true. And, in Russia, if, in your indignation at such an accussation you become too emotional, then your denial becomes almost an admission.

The Bush II administration learned this lesson well. The government under W spent its resources not studying how we might prevent this catastrophe; but, rather how doubt could be cast on the motivations of those suggesting that this castastrophe was imminent. Beginning with their mockery of Gore, the man they love to say "invented the internet", to anyone else who dared say that global warming was real, they ran Soviet-like disinformation campaigns. We, the believers in global warming, became granola-eating, tree-hugging, pot-smoking, baby-eating freaks.

So successful they were that today when the topic arises in casual conversation in the US, many people, despite willing to admit that the weather is getting weird, still love to toss out the notion that perhaps this is all just cyclical. W so perfectly politicized this issue, that today, as we saw in L'Quila, America's leadership has not only been questioned but simply ignored. As we all know, if not America, then who will lead? The rest of the world selfishly almost always puts their interests first until America forces them to act differently. With the new found power of China and India, real change cannot be realized unless we truly make economic sacrifices as per the demands of the Chinese (thanks W yet blame will go to Obama).

Stop Eating

Every processed morsel of food we plop into our mouthes contributes to global warming. Every time we drive to the corner for a paper and coffee, we are increasing our carbon foot-print. Every time we buy a strawberry in December (depending on where you live), we are worsening the problem. The battle for global survival must commence not only in L'Aquila at the G-8 meeting but with each and everyone of us. But, sadly, W has given America as way out.

To alter our eating, exercise and living habit is difficult. For many, it is simply too late. So, marketers make it easy for us. They sell us "green" this and that, adding a nickle or so to the price with promises that this more-costly technology will help in the battle against global warming. And, for most Americans, this is where their participation ends.

When they are confronted with real sacrifice, the need for real change, they can always pull out news articles or Fox and CNN broadcasts showing how a government study has nearly "proven" that the increasing temperatures are not only just cyclical but actually GOOD for the earth. So, in other words, consume more, the study suggests. Yes, this is an exaggeration (I hope), but, these are the types of "studies" that the W people were putting out. And, rather than walk to the 7/11, someone can always claim that they are doing their patriotic duty by driving.

Ultimately, the W people have linked belief in the imminent castastrope of global warming to anti-Americanism, socialism, support for terrorists, liberalism and all of the other emotive terms that so fire up and unite their base of, yes, "dumb" people. Elitist, you say? Maybe, but, I would rather be elitist than "dumbist" and this is precisely what the conservatives have let flourish in our nation today: simply crazy ideas backed by only emotion and rhetoric which just make people sound dumb and make those of us trying to debunk them sound elitist and un-patriotic--very Soviet, indeed.

It is time to de-politicize global warming. It is time to agree that we may go down in history as the greediest and most selfish generation if we don't start making changes, all of us, small ones and then bigger ones, in our daily lives. If we don't start demanding that our elected officials stop caving into the interests of big business, then soon, very soon, there won't be anything left of our grand experiment.

Global warming threatens not just our lives in the physical sense, it threatens that great, yellowed document, the US Constitution, in ways more real than W and Cheney even managed. Now, I will grab my raincoat and walk to work.

Almost a Great Trip in Moscow

2009-07-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

When there are two kids on the school playground who are supposedly equal in fighting prowess, mutual respect peppered with a fear-driven hatred exists. Coalescing around the two strong boys are weaker ones whose interests are not so much for the betterment of their "strong boy" but rather for self-preservation.

In some cases, one of the strong boys may prove to be a fair and somewhat fatherly "leader" in the vein of Napolean: doling out just punishment to his followers only when they threaten disent within his ranks. The other strong boy may be a leader in the vein of Stalin: abusive, disrepectful and ever unpredictable meting out 'justice" in cold and vicious ways striking fear in the hearts of friends and foes.

One strong boy, unexpectedly, finds himself beat up by a lesser foe and from that moment forward, his former followers, sensing his weakened state, race for the protecting arms of strong boy two: the undefeated one. Strong boy one, beaten and lost, stumbles into a period of internal chaos; he is mocked and he is resentful. He knows that his strength is real but, poisoned by hubris, he over-reached and he was smashed and beaten by a foe unknown, weaker even, yet now victorious.

This is pretty much what happened when the Soviet Union collapsed. Not only did most of Eastern Europe and the former-Soviet Republics seek comfort in the expanding reaches of the United States; but, even so many Russia's citizens wanted to find a positive and permenant place in the eye of the victor. Pax Americana settled upon the world, upon a chaotic, poor and demotivated Russia. Many Russians were relieved and now hoped for the best.

Too Much Vodka

Say what you will about Yeltsin, a promoter of democratic freedoms, a stalwart against the communists who refused to die, but, most Russians are utterly embarassed by him. He was so drunk once he could not leave the plane after it had landed in Ireland. Russia was privatized by bandits and an oligarchy was born allegedly stealing the nation's biggest prizes from the people.

With the arrival of Putin, Russia very quickly put the Yeltsin era behind itself. Rising oil prices played into his hand of nationalism and today, the Russian nation, is once again proud, angry and as usual, it's own worst enemy. Of course, "all foreigners" are to blame with America leading the way, so says Putin. However, and trust me when I say that my emotions are more lined with extreme-frustration at their pettiness and wastefulness, than with any great love, our US government does nothing to make them feel any safer.

Putin has truly manipulated facts and suppressed all opposition to the point where what appears on TV here, in the papers, on the radio and in the mouthes of famous actors and entertainers is actually an even more effective and precise propaganda tool than it was 30 years ago.

Back then, everyone knew it was all lies but nowadays, the "truth" is veiled in the shroud of economic freedoms and so, Russians, having gained some experience of the outside world, now just put their conspiracy theories and disgust for governments onto all the world's governments; they believe that the conspiracies sold by Putin about the nefarious doings of other nations; after all, they reason, "all governments are probably like ours and so they would be expect nothing less from a foreign government."

This said, W's complete disregard for their national inferiority complex, although tough and cowboy-like, did nothing to ease tensions in the world. It didn't make our so-called "war on terror" any more effective as Russia was always dealing behind our backs--something as a nation they are really adept at (this is why they are master chess players).

With them not Without them

Progress with Iran cannot be had without Russia being in agreement with us. The moment President Obama arrived yesterday and started to talk about joint-cooperation, started to put Russia into a "regional" and even "world" power role it had not experienced since the late 1980's, amazingly, the main TV stations, the internet and the newspapers started to talk of a threat from Iran. President Medvedev told the nation that "the world is getting dangerous because of these rogue powers and together Russia and America must stop them."

The change in the government-backed rhetoric was so fast that even after I tried to bookmark one article to share with people, this morning, the page could not be opened. Perhaps, someone noticed that maybe the speed at their turnabout was simply too dizzying.

And today, as I ironed my shirt for worked and watched the Russia Today channel, government-backed propaganda but in English, my iron dropped and I nearly burned my shirt: President Obama was planning on meeting with opposition leaders in Russia and leaders of non-governmenal organizations (NGO).

Why would he jeopardize the success of the trip so that he could rub Putin's nose in the fact that, whether he considered Kasparov a legitimate politician or not, we do; and, we plan on meeting with him. Putin has effectively silenced all voices that are not lockstep with his party line.

Kasparov was made out to almost be a terrorist by the media. His supporters have been regulary beaten up by the police when and if they should meet. I have seen these beatings and they are disgusting, however, by meeting with Kasparov here in Moscow, President Obama will do absolutely no good for anyone.

Not Everyone wants to be an American

The naive and arrogant belief that the rest of the world wants to be "Americans" is one of our greatest downfalls in world affairs. Why do we believe that we can go to another country, friend or foe, and lecture people on how they should run their internal affairs. Yes, there are things that should be protested if they go against our core values but how can we come to a nation, sit with the president and prime minister of that nation and then meet with a politician they have a rabid fear of? How can we expect that that might do some good for an already strained relationship?

Kasparov is to Putin as Limbaugh is to Obama. Imagine President Medvedev leaving the meeting with President Obama in the US so that he could meet republican leaders of congress, Micheal Steele and fat-white Rush? Putin simultaneously would be telling black jokes with the head of the KKK; or better yet, meeting with some known, radical Muslim clerics. This is how the Russian leadership looks at the likes of Kasparov.

President Obama also met with leaders from an assortment of non-governmental organizations. Putin believes in his heart of cold-KGB-hearts that NGO's and civil society are the nicotine in the revolutionary cancers that have brought Ukraine, Georgia and other nations to their knees. He does not want his citizens solving problems; he does not want international organizations giving his people money so that they can provide for things that he is not capable of providing.

Putin travels to America and meets with Anarchists for America or the American Communist Party. Wouldn't all of the nation's press be up in arms? Wouldn't all Americans be protesting about such brazen behavior?

Why are we allowed to act as if other nation's historical nuances and paranoia's don't exist? Probably because we think everyone wants to be one of us, citizens of America, and it is our messianic duty to aid their transition along--just don't try to immigrate.

President Obama, this was a wrong move and whoever advised you on this should be fired. I await to see just who it shall be. Building bridges in international affairs to deal with terrorists and rogue states is great idea. It is wonderful idea compared to the idiocy of W's foreign policy mistakes/tragedies. Today, you built a bridge and mined it at the same time. Don't blow it up.

Tomorrow, the propaganda will start anew. Putin was made a fool today.

John McCain's Temporary Insanity

2009-07-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

Last year, as the election was winding down, Barack Obama, despite his great victory over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, was barely ahead of John McCain. The lead he had was the kind that could have easily been overcome in the waning months of the election should a strange fact or rumor have arisen; say, Obama likes to wear pantyhose on cold days (Joe Namath was allowed because he was a stud quarterback).

And then suddenly, John McCain, former POW and war hero almost on par with John Kerry; John McCain, truly great senator and always a man marching to the beat of his drum usually striving for the betterment of our nation, chose a woman, a mother, a governor of a small state with a great view of Russia to be his running-mate.

Today, as we all awaken on this 4th of July, we are barraged not with well-wishes of "thank God for America," as we prepare for family barbecues filled with salads and dogs and burgers and fresh celery cooling in cold water; but, we are all tickled pink by the latest episode of the Sarah Palin saga. In a jittery and stumbling announcement, Ms. Palin, mother, former vice-presidential nominee for the second major party in the greatest nation on the earth, of-late a frequently-seen face in tabloids, announced that she was abandoning the state of Alaska.

Well, poor Alaska I would say, so many scandals in the past year and half, but, I am sure many there are breathing a sigh of relief. And, with all due respect for their "troubles", I am not just sighing with relief. A sigh here just won't express my glee. I want to pour my bowl of blended carrots, pears and apples with a touch of yoghourt over my head, undress, run outside and scream to the rooftops as my heart simply overflows with happiness that John McCain did not win last year.

Imagine

Vice President Sarah Palin is meeting with the head of state for some random, small nation and in a fit of unpredictability, she refuses to come out of the ladies room because one of the reporters dared to question her preparedness for being the VP. "What does your view of Russia have to do with your ability to understand world affairs?" he asks. She stammers, stutters and runs into the bathroom until her really bizarre hubby Todd threatens the reporter leave or else.

"Yo, outta here or else I am going to shove that turbin up your ass."

In the aftermath of this incident, President McCain would have had to spend months repairing the damage done by her Alaska-ness's bizarre, emotional and completely unpredictable outburst. Our president would have been baby-sitting this governor of that oh-so-tiny state (not physically so) rather than repairing the damage done to our nation by...let's save that for another blog.

Yet, I don't blame Sarah Palin. I don't think that the sweet and angelic Susan Boyle is crazy. Who wouldn't have slightly cracked under the pressure of the entire world's press running magnifying glasses over you life like a kid over ants on a hot day; a life that before she was chosen to be the VP, before Susan appeared on "Britain's Got Talant", was idealic in its smallness; perfect in its quaintness and one that was truly dedicated to family and friendships (I am being really nice to Sarah Palin here).

John McCain may have had all the qualifications to be president but he failed his party, he failed the nation, he failed himself when he chose Sarah Palin. This blunder, I am sure, is one that probably had been depriving him of sleep ever since he made it. But, time was healing that wound until today, July 4th, 2009, when Sarah Palin so bizarrely told the world she was quitting.

Time Out

Truthfully, I think John McCain should get a time-out on the steps of the Capitol building. The Senate should vote to force him to sit on those steps for one year holding a sign announcing to all the world how he almost put that woman one heart beat away from the presidency. And, at his age, that was a real possibility.

I think the GOP should lose their right to run in major elections for at least 2 years for their complete disrespect for the White House. The so-called honor they had promised to return with W became mere mockery when they put forth that woman as the VP nominee. Made a fool by W in the eyes of the world, and yes, I know, W supporters don't care that the world thought us foolish or stupid for choosing W twice (who needs the world? they say), Sarah Palin would have been the worst thing at the worst time for our nation.

I must go and celebrate the 4th in the rain, as I am sure many will be doing today (wettest summer on record in many parts of the world, global warming anyone?). But, as I wrote yesterday, I today reiterate: thank God that we chose Obama and let freedom ring!

PS: Oh poor republicans, how are you guys going to dig yourselves out from this fiasco? Another major figure from your party self-destructs on the national stage.

Let Freedom Ring!

2009-07-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

For the first time in 8 years, America can truly celebrate Independence Day. The fireworks will glow brighter, the mustard will be a bit tarter as its seeps into the steaming hotdogs, the watermelon will be juicier and seeds will be spit ever further as Americans and non-Americans all over the world breath easier, safe in the knowledge that the most blatant assualt on our masterpiece of governance, the US Constitution, has been successfully parried.

Our amazing system of balances, of voting and an ever vigilant (although always devoted more to sensationalism than truth) press has prevented the former president and his coterie of neo-conservatives from manipulating fear to the maximum, from suspending our unalienable rights as humans, Americans (eavesdropping on our calls, reading our emails, lying about the effects of global warming, lying about the reason to go to war, just to name the most obvious assualts).

Freedom does ring this year, July 4th, 2009 and its resonance will be more harmonious for we, all of us, not just the wealthy, not just members of the GOP, not just buddies from Texas or companies formerly run by Cheney, are recipients of national government with our interests at its heart. This year, we have a president from the people, for the people and his every waking moment is spent on actually trying to solve the problems of our nation that he has inherited.

Of course, the other half of the poltical spectrum, so-called Americans, so-called Patriots, root daily for his failure. His stimulus, they say, has failed. Well, just a point of reference for those nay-sayers, $700 billion is like a baseball jumping off an aluminum bat: if you are standing 50 feet a way, you hear it immediately, if you are standing 1000 feet away, you see the hit but only hear a slight ping after a few seconds. So, too, this money has been dropped into our vast economy and so too, it's ping will only reach the outer realms of our vastness much later this year.

President Obama and his family are fully aware of the amazing opportunity the American people have given them and what are they doing with it? They are giving as much as they can back. They know just how much a meeting with the president can mean for a young man struggling to survive the effects of poverty. They appreciate that their garden at the White House just may get some families to rethink their junk-eating habits; they know that by going to a local ice cream shop for a cone just may inspire a family to do the same with their kids which just may make a difference. They know that their love-affair is inspiring to many and this is what our nation needs now, today, July 4th, 2009 after the last 8 years of pure, sad, totally-un-American arrogance.

President Obama is defending our interests. He is trying to get us all health care, he is trying to save the auto industry, his is trying to prevent, what may already be unpreventable thanks to a decade lost, the ever-worsening effects of global warming, he has gone after the credit card companies (could you ever imagine W doing that?!), he is trying to make our nation better for all Americans, for all the world.

And, on the "war against terror" front, despite the rhetoric and diatribes of Cheney and the extreme, obstructionist right, he is making improvements that W. could never have dreamed of. His speech in Egypt on national television was simply a masterpiece of statesmanship. He showed the world, the masses who are very, very tired of Al Qaeda, that there is a road to peace that does not involve complete submission to a Western-Jewish-Christian world.

On this 4th of July, freedom is ringing and I want to thank President Obama, his family and all Americans who made his presidency possible. And to those against him then and still so today, I say, don't worry. We, the majority, are now in control and despite your best efforts, we will work to protect our America from your endless attempts at making America weak, poor and just plain mean.

(Oh, yeah, watch the flying bullets, as I am sure there will be more concealed hand guns at your bbq's tomorrow than our ours and, everyone knows that alcohol and hand guns just don't mix.)

The Basic Truths

2009-06-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

Ideas are not radical. Ideas are expressions of deeper, inner thought which surface above the noise of life and are filtered into existence. "Idea men" are either considered genius or they are considered crazy, sometimes both or sometimes neither. For an idea to be happily accepted in our highly-processed, corn-syruped society, the idea must either promise millions of dollars in potential income; or, it must fall into a neat and safe strait-jacket of rules, niceties and boundaries.

The truth, sadly, in our modern life, has become an "idea." When one speaks the truth, others, less comfortable with it, will often say, "you have no idea what you are talking about;" and, they shake their heads, look to others who are also NOT in agreement and, quite often, they will laugh--a reaction which is based on the fear instinct. Laughing is a sign of fear, believe it or not.

The truth is in the eye of the beholder; and, the news we are fed is in the eye of the beholder. Fox News, CNN, ABC, CNBC, etc. are not in the business of reporting truths. The truth is not something that sells. In a similar way that doctors are beholden to drug-companies, so too are TV "news" execs beholden to viewer ratings: without them, they won't get advertising dollars and the "business" makes no sense. Truth being often boring needs to be twisted and sensationalized so that we, in the safety of our homes, can be entertained (see Tony Schwartz's writings on this matter).

There are so, so many resources for obtaining truth. Yet, this said, true truth gathering is a process that is learned; it comes with years of patience, critical analysis of the so-called facts (anyone putting forth a fact has an agenda, usually); and, it requires inquisitiveness: "why is that person saying that this is the truth?"

Sadly, so much of what is the truth makes the vast majority of us uncomfortable. We cannot deal with the raw, cold and often ugly facts of life which surround us so we always somehow find a disclaimer on the so-called truth: "ah, computer error, well, they will fix that error and all will be well." Perhaps, had the metro system in DC over the past 10 years not been running on a bare-bones budget indirectly caused by massive federal tax cuts, that "computer error" would not have occurred.

In this blog, which no one reads except for myself and a few other people, I am putting forth the truth of our life and on top of it I am adding sarcasm and consequence. I am imbibing the truth with cynsism for the purpose of reaching emotion. Without emotion, written words stand no chance against the bells, whistles and smoke screens of CNN, FOX and the other entertainment conglomerates.

The few who read this blog often call me a radical. I am not a radical. I study the life we all live with the eye of an anthropologist. I travel to many places and meet even more people. Having met them, I then begin to study their life, politics and culture until a foundation has been created from which further and proper analysis is made possible.

Then, I will return to their country, state or village and I meet them again but only now, with an enhanced understanding. Once, I feel comfortable, after having read thousands of pages about them and having had dozens of meals with them and conversations, I dare to espouse something which may begin to resemble a truth.

That is what this blog (a blog I write for my future children so they can know I was active, albeit in a relatively passive way), is all about. It is about truth. To those not in agreement with me, to those made uncomfortable by my words, to those for whom I am a radical, I say, dig beyond the piping-hot servings of infotainment and search for the truth. It is available. Our great American society permits us to have the real truth in many forms at any time. All we have to do is ask, but, this requires action.

The truth is often inconvenient, to borrow from Al Gore--an idea man many consider nuts (I consider a genius). Life is complex and difficult and so often there is simply no time for finding the truth; if this be the case, then I merely suggest that rather then pooh-pooh the "ideas" of someone not in agreement with you, listen and consider them; after all, they are making a contribution and never can thought be a bad thing in our modern, American world.

In the following 10 blogs, 10 truths will be put forth for consumption, consideration and discussion. Each one will make many uncomfortable. From these future postings, I gain nothing but a sense of satisfaction that the God-given powers of observation and analysis granted to me are being put to use, for better, for worse, for me, for someone, for my future children; to use.

Just Leave Iran Alone for Crying out Loud!

2009-06-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

The Hollywoodian "happy ending" is as American and anticipated by world cinema-goers as the Indian Bollywoodian "dance ending" when cast members break out into dance--as seen at the end of "The Slumdog Millionaire" movie. Having grown up on a century of often corny and even sometimes completely unrealistic endings to Hollywood films, the psyche of America has been transformed: we always expect things to turn out for the best.

And, really, thank God! Or, more precisely, thank the founding fathers of Hollywood for this small and relatively little-noticed-at-the-time transformation of a entire nation's subconscious forever. Yes, we Americans always expect things to turn out for the better. Be it through the good graces of an ever just God. Be it through our own, "pulling ourselves up by our boot straps," somehow, after a little bit of complaining and whining, we manage to get it done.

We are not a cynical nation. We don't expect government to step in and solve problems that we can solve by ourselves. Our demand for action from government tends to be for the resolution of problems and issues on a more macro-level: health care, for instance, military, space exploration and most recently the solving of the global warming issues (despite the fantasy of conservatives/republicans that this is NOT a problem).

Europeans expect their governtment ministers to wallow in bureaucratic infighting. The British regularly make such fun of their elected officials that all one need do is add that "Benny-Hill"-music to a meeting of Parliament and hysterics are guaranteed. The Russians simply don't have government, thugs, corrupt officials and lying ministers, fill that void.

The GE Theater

Ronald Reagan, one of the most popular presidents in our lifetime, was a master of the Hollywood setting. He was a studio-created creature whose role during WWII was to make propaganda films for increasing support for the war. Such propaganda was a needed and good thing for the war effort.

Afterwards, he hosted The General Electric Theater, mastering the ability to sell barely real benefits from GE products; persuading listeners that these new appliances and services were magical and born of American genius--certainly some truth was present but a real lot of "salesmanship" was layered in amongst the facts.

Reagan's magic for the rhetorical flair was at its best when he challenged Gorbachev to "tear down this wall;" these words, as spoken, echoed off the Berlin Wall with East German boarder guards standing less than a football field away. The world was awed and a few short years later, that Wall was torn down by inspired East Germans.

Reality check: despite Reagan's child-like belief that American "democracy" was the pancea for all ailments (despite the dogma of Reagan-worshippers that all that is good was created by his hands and molded by his words), the Soviet Union collapsed under the weight not of Reagan's obviously heavy words. It collapsed from decades of incompetence; it collapsed as a result of a near century of massive misdevelopment of its entire infrastructure; it collapsed because oil prices had again sunk to then record lows and the nation. Physically falling apart, the vast nation needed repairs and there just was no money left because the Communist Party members had stolen everything they could get their hands on--and that had been going on for at least 30 years prior to Reagan's speech in Berlin.

But, we live in a movie and we needed a John-Wayne moment: "tear down this wall." Cut to the wall being pulled apart several years later and guess what, when watching on Youtube, it really seems like Reagan was the most powerful man to walk the earth in the past century. Jump to W and his wonderfully B-movie-esque comment: "bring it on." Jaws across the world dropped in shock. Terrorist HR directors in caves throughout Afghanistan-Pakistan high-fived each other. W had done more for their recruiting cause than 9/11 had done.

Do you speak "Iranian"? Hungarian?

Iran is not a nation the average American can understand, let alone find on a map! In the same way that "democracy" didn't break out in Russia after their collapse in 1991; in the same way Ukraine is a basket-case today despite their "democratic" revolution; in the same way that pretty much every nation that has acquired "freedom" and "democracy" since that Reagan moment in Berlin is struggling today. With the bitter experience of the W catastrope when he "freed" the Iraqi people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, we can now safely say that an Iranian internal conflict, stoked by rhetoric from Obama will not result in a "morning for Iran."

President Obama is doing exactly what he is supposed to be doing: almost nothing. Conservatives/republicans are criticizing him for not speaking out with 16-year-old-boy-like words of "yo, Iran, I'll kick your ass if you don't let that vote stand." "Go ahead, I dare you to not let that election stand, try me, man, COME ON!"

In 1956, the Hungarians, egged on by Voice of America with words "if you rise up against your communist oppressors, we will come to your aid", rebelled. A week later, after countless thousands has been killed and run down by Soviet tanks, Ike's complete failure to back up Voice of America's words bridged their struggle to tragedy. Ask a 65-year old Hungarian what they recall from that moment and they will not tell of the Soviet tanks, they will tell of being "instructed" to rise up by America and then being slaughtered: pawns in a big chess opening.

Ike did nothing because he couldn't. He was not going to risk WWIII for the sake of tiny little Hungary. WWII was "started" when the British and French went to the defense of Poland, Ike would not fall into this trap, too.

The Trap

Should Obama fall into the childish and irresponsible trap that is being laid by the conservatives, the same ones who loved W's "bring it on" comments; the same ones who have thrown our military into every conflagration across the globe so that today we are more overstretched and as a result weaker than we have been in decades; Iranians, emboldened by the rhetoric of a popular American President, could start to rebell enmasse and guess what? We won't be able to do anything but watch.

And then, as thousands will be slaughtered by the Iranian military, Obama, not having the money or the military power to respond, will sit quietely, aghast, and then he will be hung by world opinion. And, his brave attempts at rebuilding our own society will come to a terribly Hollywoodian "un-happy ending."

What is going on in Iran is about the Iranians and not what some preacher in a small Church in Kansas thinks--"let us pray for our brothers, the Iranians, as they struggle for their democracy, and for our President so that he will know what to do to support their fight." It is not about Limbaugh or Cheney or the other fascists seeking power while manipulating such lofty words like "freedom", "democracy" (everything they were against), it is about Iran and Iran alone.

While the Iranians struggle for their freedom, I say, good luck. Call us when it is over. In the meantime, in case no one has noticed, our nation is economically depressed for the most part, right-wing conservatives are calling nuts with guns to arms and the killings are increasing because the lunatics think they will soon lose their weapons--the NRA is espousing these lies; we struggle to pass a universal health care act.

The nation's plate is full. Yet, the conservatives don't want America to get better. They want to draw attention from the problems with some good old-fashioned swagger and rhetoric so that just maybe, we can get ourselves another war. Why? Because today, as is in America, the worst off we are, the more money those America-haters make.

President Obama, keep leaving Iran alone, for the sake of America's future.

Their Hate is No Good

2009-06-15T05:32:00.000-07:00

All countries eventaully decline. It is the natural order of things. Leadership is not easy. Nations, by their nature, like people, are ever in competition. Some find their greatness in being second, third or 33rd. The nations that make up the top 20 in the world, are in their respective positions pretty much because that is where they want to be.

Some are in flux, certainly. Russia is always either rising or declining, depending on the price of oil and some other things. China is rising. Some in Eastern Europe are rising but there is not so much room for these smaller, less powerful nations so they will jostle and fight for their places somewhere between 40 and 20 and be happy.

The United States of America is arguably still number one. Then again, how do we define this? Is it GDP, GNP, level of education, level of health care, percentage of GDP spent on health care, level of deficits, miles of road, number of infant deaths per thousand, number of deaths by hand guns each year, etc.?

Or, is it the amazingly unmeasurable notion of "freedom" that makes us number one? Is it the amazing system of balances that our government still flaunts so many years after its inception? Truly, this is one of the greatest contributions to modern governing. Our ability to always find a way to recalibrate the scales so that no one branch ever becomes too powerful is simply mystifying to the world. It prevents something like Nazi Germany from ever happening in America.

It is a Constitution

Foreigners just don't believe that this system exists; they can't because it suggests that there is a certain selflessness amongst the leaders of these three branches. It suggests that the leaders of the three branches are devoted to something even grander than their own tenuous grips on power: they are all beholden to a Constitution.

The Bush II people, and Cheney still, made the most aggressive assault on that system and really, we should thank them. What good is a system that is never tested every now and again? The system worked wonderfully and even despite the manipulation of fear by W to get us to forget about our rights and the balance that ought be, all found its original equilibrium. And, we are once again, America, for better or worse.

As America teeters in its role as the world leader, however, we have found a new voice and commitment to excellence. President Obama is our president and he is leading all Americans, whether you voted for him or not, to a place that will certainly be better for all. He is determined to make us a good as we can be and by all of us becoming better, America becomes greater. This is a worthy goal and one that should be supported.

Yet, the hate has once again commenced. An abortion doctor is shot to death in church by a man who undoubtedly voted republican in the last election and who most certainly is a fan of Rush Limbaugh. A WWII vet slaughtered a black guard at the Holocaust museum solely for the reason that he was black. This man too, 88 years old, is no doubt a conservative and probably hates Obama.

The Department for Homeland security has said that the "chatter" on the airwaves is similar to what it was like when Timothy McVeigh was getting ready to blow up that daycare center in Oklahoma. They say that the chatter is of American origin and is against blacks, Jews, gays, the government, etc. Why do we permit this nonsense? Why is our nation so afraid of change?

Why do the conservatives have this monopoly on the US flag and patriotism and soaring eagles and apple pie? Yet, at the end of the day, it is these same conservatives who hate so many of their fellow Americans. Why isn't someone like Limbaugh called what he is by the national press, by the President, by the FBI, "a revolution-espousing fascist" who will only rest when this nation has been brought to its knees? (Oh, and he is a drug addict, as well.)

The conservatives and their more radical kin, the "people haters" (the brownshirts), manipulate our system in ways similar to how the Muslim terrorists use it. And, like those terrorists, they use this system not to make our nation greater, but to destroy it.

Just Once

Just once, I wish someone would have the balls to go to one of their NRA rallies, one of their conventions where they praise the Lord and quote Limbaugh, and I wish this person would...but then again, that would make us no better than they are. I refuse to live with the hate that unites them.

As Obama makes us better, heals us, they will tear us down still and yes, we will decline into the cauldron of failed powers, consumed by our own idiocy and backwardness. Jesus would not tolerate them for who they are, so then why do we? Oh, I remember why, because they are our fellow citizens and there is that document, parched and probably enclosed in glass.

This document legally permits them to "hate", to "blather endlessly, mindlessly" yet always in the hope that just once, a word, an idea, a proclomation might prove worthy of national notice. That document, ratified in 1789, is our playbook for governing right. It is the US Constitution and it belongs to all of us, so be it.

2009-06-09T22:56:00.000-07:00

Many used to think the streets in America were paved with gold. Of course, we know that this was never the case. Yet, for the millions of immigrants seeking a better life, seeking an escape from the poverty and the oppression, this simple, glittering fact lulled them asleep night after night until they arrived to our shores.

Arrival did not guarantee success or an easier life. Those willing to work, to struggle and to even fight for that new chance at life were in varying degrees rewarded. Obviously, not each person can succeed. The resources which make wealth are not endless and they cannot be granted to all. Some were lucky and the streets, although not gold, certainly seemed so in comparison to the dirty, stone pathes of the

Here We Go Again

2009-06-09T01:38:00.000-07:00

As gas prices rise across America, journalists are making the rounds to service stations. "We just filled up our SUV and it cost $89." Shocked and awed, they ponder about the effects of another season of lost sales earnings caused by frugal Americans: our adolescent recovery, may not make it out of puberty, they threaten.

Yes, it does hurt when you drop a $50 into the tank and it still isn't full. However, the picture is still wrong. Many being interviewed at the gas stations are still driving the wrong cars. Last summer, when gas was sky high, I recall seeing Hummer's and other such monstrous and failed business ideas of the now extinct car companies, sitting in driveways collecting bird droppings.

Then, around New Years, when gas prices were bottoming out again, those lunch-box like cars with their racing strips and tinted windows could be seen idling at lights with tiny mothers chatting gleefully away on cellphones while the kiddies in the back watched movies and ate chips. America's heroin was again cheap.

Lost earnings as a result of less travel this summer caused by high gas prices may slow our recovery but in the long term, it will speed up our national transition from a nation held hostage to 50 years of good, old-fashioned bad American business practices. The whims of the board room and the scavenger hunts for profit at any cost are now considered by many as the causes for our decline. The era of make bigger and worse and less competitive cars has come to an end.

As the end of that era settles, bankruptcy for GM drying in the books, "il Chryler" soon to become part of Fiat, the Obama people have made it a national priority to force big business to actually produce things that can compete in a world economy; and, the main priority of whether to produce or not will no longer be, "by how much will it increase our bonuses at the end of the year?"

Greed

It was the greed of big business which led us to where we are; and, it was the idiocy of government, usually republican led congresses and administrations, that permitted big business to turn our manufacturing core into something that is barely more efficient than Russia's.

Conservative disingenuousness sold the mantra to the masses that government intervention in the market was bad: it was "communist, socialist...liberal even." Yes, democratic presidents have also chosen to believe that the market is self-correcting and usually right. This philosophy may have held some water back when there were some regulations still in place.

But, from the "government is the problem" speech of Reagan to W's dismantling of our government so that there simply were no resources left to properly regulate anything, the profits being made by big business and Wall Street were simply so amazing that really it is hard to blame them for stealing our nation's wealth, our future. Owning islands and box seats for every team would be kind of cool, right?

President Obama, being accussed by those same wealthy patrons of the last 30 years of republican-led theft, is forcing big business to recall that the nation in which they are located, and whose interests they should also consider when they have their board meetings, is America. Islands belong to countries and not corporate "barons." The new Yankee Stadium is farcical in its catering to the corporate world. Whoever heard of paying $2000 for one seat at one game?

These companies, Wall Street, are not "island-companies" inhabiting a world of other "island companies" abusing the world's resources, human and natural, all for the sake of wealth, more wealth and still more wealth. They are corporate entities obligated to give to the national foundation which permits them to exist.

Business, in America, is now being forced to be people, nation-friendly. Perhaps, I am naive to believe such a thing, but, I know one thing for sure, virtually everything President Obama has done since becoming president is a step toward this end goal.

Unless, however, the republicans/conservatives regain some power and then, they will continue to dismantle our national wealth and then it will be too late--the global warming which doesn't exist, they say, will have done its deed and by then Denver will be under water.

Yes, rising gas prices make today difficult, but they remind us of our dependence on foreign oil and on really, really bad business decisions of the past half-century. Business cannot again be allowed to run free without rules and without the interest of the nation at the heart of its mission statement.

Good luck, President Obama!

$5, the Key to Happiness

2009-06-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

For the price of a Starbuck's breakfast, with change back ($1), happiness, new beginnings, a sound night's sleep and maybe even the next Nobel price winner in economics, can be had. Isn't America great?

$5 can get you a Sunday New York Times, although I am not sure. It will certainly get you a 7/11 20-oz coffee, a daily Times and leave some change jingling about in your pocket. Imagine that with the flick of a wrist by our president (although, probably not his wrist but some mid-level bureaucrat), America has managed to chip away at the patina of incompetence that led the world to wonder: "so, it is true, they do all of those good things around the world only in the hope of opening more markets."

Katrina came and went and in the wake lives were lost and lives were ruined. And, after the news vans pulled out, what remained was devastation. America's cultural gem, a city that so many snobs throughout the world label "America's only contribution to world culture" (they are refering to jazz), was decimated and fell into Gomorra-like destitution.

Oddly, a person like Brad Pitt, and I am sure so many other amazing Americans, started to do something to help these people, the city. The government was completely absent during all of this (I will not recall that photo of our "hands on" President sitting in Airforce One looking down at the misery). It is simply too easy to say that nothing was done because most of the sufferers were black and poor. But, really, a) what contributions were the sufferers making to the tax base? And, b) how many of them had voted republican (or had voted) in the last election?

Had a beach been eroded in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, you can be rest assured that the government would have had the Army of Engineers out there rebuilding that lost property value for the republican faithful. But, New Orleans is only relevant when crime sprees prove that "well, look at them, they're animals." Or, when we need a Super Bowl to be played there as if this shows that America is uniting to help this lost city.

Really, this $5 is not for New Orleans, but for the victims. It truly boggles the mind when I read recently that the homeless there, those who had lost their homes during and after the hurricane, were about to be evicted from their trailers. Imagine? I cannot imagine this and I am certain that W., living in that swank neighborhood in Dallas and enjoying bbqs with neighbors where a wink and a tug on the elbow are silent signs of "haha, they go theirs, uh?" has no idea that this was going to happen. I am even more sure that his only response would be: "well, uh, the goodness of Americans and our tradition of giving will certainly help these folks." Said, whilst the sheriff has pad-locked these homes and the bulldozer is shifting gears.

W. and Mr. Potter's responses would have played out perfectly with the conservative lumpen, for they believe that charity from the rich to the poor is the real way to run a nation. And, if there isn't any "charity" left, then this is because the government is taking too much from them in taxes and so, well, we know the story. The bottom-line is that such thinking makes it impossible to sell homes for $5 because really, the barrel has found it's bottom, we are a broke nation, and yes, "$5 here and $5 there all adds up." Here I agree with the conservatives!

Yet, for a mere $5 the homeless, who had been stuffed like sardines into tin trailers, which are only a little better than a sweltering subway car in August heat, were about to be evicted and President Obama said: "no, this will not happen while I am president." So, for a mere 500 pennies, these people bought their "new homes" and with this they bought security, a sound night's sleep; they bought tomorrow in the place where they went to bed at yesterday and the day-before.

Stability and knowing where my favorite shirt is hanging, where my cat is sleeping at this moment of the day, knowing the smell of the breeze as it makes it's way through the neighborhood, pulling along with it smells of frying fish, a cigarette, some freshly-washed strawberries and then finding you, sitting in a chair sipping on a tea, cooling you and reminding you that "for better or worse, this your home and tonight you will sleep under this roof," is a very powerful commodity. For these people, however, it is a "luxury" and that is not right.

We are better than this. President Obama has again shown us that we, all of us, are truly better than what Bush and Cheney had made us out to be. And, once again, we are a safer nation thanks to our President and a government that is governing. To this I say, and I will borrow shamelessly from the conservatives, "thank you sweet Jesus!"

I'm gonna kick your ass, man!

2009-05-29T03:43:00.000-07:00

In 1870, the Prussian King Wilhelm I met, with great courtesy, the French ambassador at Ems. This ambassador then sent off a telegram (the infamous telegram from Ems) to Paris. An ambitious Prussian politician by the name of Otto von Bismarck intercepted the telegram and had it reworded to sound more arrogant; to make it truly offensive. And then, he had the telegram published in Prussian newspapers so everyone could see how the Prussians had disrespected the French.

Upon hitting the streets in Parisian papers, it was gobbled up and the brave Parisians were outraged at what they thought was a very arrogant Prussian attitude. Knowing Germans as well as I do, I don’t doubt that the letter was spiced with that very typically German “I am better than thou, you foreign monkey,” (it was precisely this inherent disdain for everything foreign which permitted them with such apparent glee to slaughter 50 million foreigners during the WWII) and so the Parisians were probably right in being upset.

The outrage, however, was not worth going to war over. Prussia had tried to bribe the Spanish Parliament into choosing Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern to become the next King of Spain. The French didn’t like this idea.

In those days, however, when smoke signals tended to get confused with puffing locomotives and pigeons with messages of peaces tended to lose their way, a “your momma”, “uh-uh, your momma” contest kicked off. Mobilization in those days was a thing that once launched was difficult to stop.

War was inevitable. War happened and once again, the Germans kicked French ass.

Disgruntled by this loss, the next generation of French and their leaders happily sought an entry into another war with Germany. When that young Serb assassinated an archduke who nobody really missed, the gloves were off and WWI occurred. Then, after the horrific reparations brought down upon Germany at Versailles by the bitter French and the petty and trite English, WWII was just a matter of time.

I’ll Kick Your Ass, Man

When W. and Mr. Potter (Cheney) started the name-calling, recall “axis of evil” (Iraq, Iran and North Korea), all of the lessons learned over the last century were, in oh-so-Republican fashion, disregarded and once again, the Republicans showed the world that they know better than the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Hoover, FDR, Churchill, Truman, LBJ, Gandhi, etc.

What was accomplished with this spate of name-calling? 10 years ago, North Korea wasn’t anywhere near capable of testing nuclear missiles but today, they are doing it on a regular basis. Iran was isolated and suffering and near economic collapse. Iraq was Iraq and some 250,000 Iraqis were still alive and well, not to mention over 4000 American men and women who were living their lives quietly with their families.

In the time that we became the big, dumb and somewhat emotional bully, China has not only challenged our economic hegemony but it is now we who are seeking to stem the tide of their lead; Russia has regained significant regional power and even has the energy power to force Europe to turn a blind-eye to their human right’s abuses; Chavez mocks us; North Korea knows we are overstretched in our Iraqi and Afghani quagmires so they too act as they see fit.

Mexico is on the brink of becoming a failed state thanks to our insatiable hunger for drugs and our failure to understand that US-made weapons are only exasperating the situation. And, whilst we were becoming a less relevant and a weaker nation outside of our boarders, internally, we were abandoning the working class Americans. We were selling our future greatness so that already really-really-really rich people could enjoy ever more fruits at the ever-increasing labors of the working poor in America.

Dialogue

When President Obama opened up dialogue with Iran and even Al Qaeda, he was paying honor and respect to the statesmen of the last 100 years. When he shook the hand of the President Chavez, he was demonstrating to the world that sticks and stones may hurt but names are just words that can always be called back and forgotten.

Each time President Obama seeks dialogue as opposed to war and what now is obvious to the world, empty threats about how we will invade here or attack there, he is paying respect to the men and women who have “made the ultimate sacrifice.”

He is saying: “Your death was not in vain. We will resolve this ‘conflict’ and we will prevent others from losing what you have, my friend, the one life that was granted to you by a God who is all forgiving and who couldn’t be upset by mere name-calling.”

And, when we resolve our differences with Iran and Venezuela and North Korea, boys and girls in America will not have to look to a folded-flag for words of wisdom from a dearly, departed mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, friend…And, we will be made ever safer.

Safer, yet--Part Two

2009-05-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

Of all the industrialized nations, of which we are one, we are the only country where today's high school graduates are less likely to go onto college than their parents; the trend of each generation growing up to be smarter, or at least better educated, than their parents has ended.

Those of us who graduated in the aftermath of Reagan-Bush, and who started families under the Clinton-era boom, are today the last of a national trend that was commenced shortly after the signing of the peace treaty in Ghent, Belgium--1814, it officially ended the War of 1812. America moved forward at varying rates of speed, always improving itself, despite mistakes and a Civil War, etc.

Excesses from unbridled capitalism ultimately led us to a world-wide depression that devestated many parts of our nation; but, thankfully, led us to a new era of government activity from which many Americans, workers, unemployed ones, etc. still benefit today. A national infrastructure, schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, dams, an army, air traffic control, the internet, electricity for all and so many other great achievements were attained.

Yet, the sad irony in all of this is that although so few Americans would want to live without the things listed above, many of the same people today hating Obama and screaming "socialism" would not give up any one of those things. And usually, it was a Democratic government, be it president or congress, that fought to obtain these things for the masses. It was usually the Republicans fighting to get rid of them by labeling them as "communist", "socialist", "tax and spend liberalism", "theft from future generations," blah, blah, blah.

Theft

Soon, we will celebrate the success of D-Day yet again; boys between the ages of 17 and 30 assualted the beaches and lept from airplanes for the future of our national well-good. With bullets spraying sand around their feet until the mark was met and they crumpled to the ground, so few of these men really doubted why they were there.

Thanks to the government progressivism of FDR and so many Democrats after him, Bill Clinton being the last until the election of Obama, our nation had invested today for the better of tomorrow. How can the Hoover Dam, how can the nation's road networks, how can public schools, how can the internet be "theft" from future generations as it is being labeled by Republicans and Conservatives (a "conservative" is republican so embarassed by the excesses of the GOP that they choose this Suess-esque euphemism). All they do is stand in the way of progress and prevent our nation from advancing logically forward like any living organism is supposed to do according to the laws of nature.

Jesus a Democrat

As Spock said when he was dying, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one or the few; and yet, they have governed over the past century as if the opposite were true: tax cuts for a tiny percentage of already sickly rich people; more guns in the hands of anyone for the sake of ever larger profits for the gun and bullet makers; fewer abortions for the poor and even less money for these kids born into poverty; no family planning education to perhaps help these people to make better decisions and no condoms and no jobs because the wealthy, conservative owners have shipped them all to China.

No strict standards for auto-makers to make cars better so that the air might be made a tab bit cleaner. Why? Because it is always more politically expedient to do nothing and sit back and count the money. Al Gore's impact on the battle against global warming could prove to be the turning point, if it is not already too late. 9 years were lost in this battle because they simply hid the truth, lied to us all about the effects of global warming and today the world is hotter and further from concensus than ever before.

Now, 16 years after they successfully destroyed a chance at healthcare for all Americans via lies sold as public service announcements, today they pull out their same tired slogans and again will do everything they can to prevent Joe and Mary Middle-America from obtaining affordable healthcare.

When our president, finally, went after the credit card companies, what did they do? They attached a rider onto the bill that would permit Americans to carry concealed weapons into parks. How will that help our nation tomorrow, 10 years from now, 50 years from now? How many of us will be killed by one of those weapons at a bbq gone bad in a public park?

The conservatives have stolen the one thing from us which government was supposed to have guaranteed its citizens: the right to be safe, to which they say, "arm yourself." Jesus didn't carry a gun.

The republicans, the conservatives with their so-called fiscal conservatism handed out trillions of dollars of surplus created by Clinton's truly austere governing and today, we are a weaker, a poorer and a less safe nation.

If anyone is against the policies of President Obama, then I say to them: "Go to the next sale of slaves at your local auction and complain about it to people who care." Oh, there won't be an auction because government action did away with that peculiar thing supported by...yes, the South. And for those who will say Lincoln was a Republican, yes, he was and if he were in office today he would be a Democrat. If you know American history, you know when the parties changed their core policies. It was after the war.

Our nation should be better and I don't understand why conservatives want us to be so weak and so hated and so broke and so stupid, fat, unhealthy, unemployed, violent and so backward.

Obesity is big money. Guess who supports this industry and guess who was against telling Americans just how many calories are in a Big Mac? Why do they fear knowledge and truth?

"Praise Jesus, Amen blah-blah-blah." My Jesus is a Democrat.

We are Safer--Part One

2009-05-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

After the recent reincarnation of Mr. Potter (DICK Cheney), the dish "he is making the nation less safe" has been on the menu.

"Less-safe"...uhmmm...let's see, if you were living in New Orleans; if you went to work in the towers on 9/11; if you are young, under-educated and were unemployed so you joined the Guard and now find yourself in the Iraqi-quagmire for tour number 4; if you happened to be sitting on a porch, in church, in a store, etc. when a recently unemployed, gun-toting neighbor lost it and unloaded round after round until many were left dead, then yes, our nation has become "unsafe".

We should consider the fact that not once in the last 100 years--and really many more--had world opinion been so against us, the American nation and our grand experiment. On 9/12, the entire world, except for a handful of fanatics in caves and ghettoes in some Muslim nations--mostly nations that had been at war or been victimized by Israel--was so sympathetic toward our suffering--suffering which really was miniscule compared to what our government has supported in military dictatorships in Latin and South America.

The world wanted us/needed us and prayed for us to succeed, to recover. Learning I was an American, a woman cried in a hotel in Italy. A bouncer in Belgium beat up an Irish drunk for yelling how grateful he had been that 9/11 had happened. In Munich, the walking street near the City Administration building overflowed with candles, flowers and posters of support such that it was unpassable in spots.

Very quickly, however, the myopic, the arrogant, the prejudiced, the overly-religious and the Republicans started to abuse our nation, our good-will, the good-will of the world by "treading" on the rights of the world; by wiping the bloodied faces of the tortured with our Constitution--a masterpiece on par with anything Michaelangelo had ever done!

Foolishly, ignorantly, like a group of kids raiding the liquor cabinet while the parents are at Bingo and mixing things like Anisette and vodka, bourbon with rum, our nation, the world woke up with a screaming hangover; and even worse, the fun of the drunk was never appreciated because it was as if the concoction had been funneled into us.

Less safe: our infrastructure is in a shambles and we have no money to pay for it so we must go deeper and deeper into debt to the Chinese. Our wealth has been frittered away in the desert fighting a nation that had nothing to do with whether the average American was living more or less safely, happily.

The surpluses created by President Clinton through aggressive budget balancing were handed out to the wealthy in scenes of corporate and rich-people welfare (massive, unjustified tax cuts) never before realized; the welfare given to the rich in the past 10 years has proven to be more costly to our nation's future than the welfare that has been given to the poor since 1965. At least those poor people reinvested a lot of that money back into their communities via purchases; in some way or another these poor Americans educated and raised sons and daughter.

From the moment the Republicans took control of our nation, government stopped governing and it started preaching; those in charge started forcing upon us their personal views of how we should live our lives; a bunch of southern hypocrites who, through manipulation of their built-in excuse that they are "weak sinners", allow themselves to commit any act of treachery against anyone and usually against the interests of our national good and usually wholly in line with the interests of their groups of white friends at the country club, have wasted our national wealth; but, so long as they pray, go to church and drop "Lord Jesus" into every third sentence, they are always righteous.

And, while government wasn't governing things were happening. Storms were brewing, natural and financial, bolts were weaking, rails were rusting, troops were being shorted their body armor, the skies were being polluted, parks were being drilled, fanatics were training in Iraq, Russia was manipulating it's gas power, China was buying the world and our nation was heading for a fall; and, it fell and guess who was in charge of our nation? Yes, the Republicans, Bush, Dick, Rummy and others.

Are we safer today than we were one year ago? With W. out of the White House and Cheney not a heart beat away anymore, yes, we are.

American Terrorism

2009-04-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

From the moment all of America and the world were shocked to their collective core by the events on September 11, 2001, 120,000 Americans have died at the hands of "terrorists".

This terrorism of which I am speaking is for the most-part native born. It is supported by a vast minority of our elected officials. Anyone who should dare speak out against these terrorists and their instruments of death is labeled "liberal", "anti-American", "communist", "for big, instrusive government."

The proselytizers of this cause legally give money to get officials elected. They are permitted to invest millions into smear campaigns against anyone who might dare infringe upon their ability to earn money. The people earning money from this industry are about .5% of our population. They employ directly or indirectly about another 1%. Yet, the reach of their industry, the fruits of their labor, devastate communities, ruin lives, support criminals, turn places into anarchic nightmares of violence, of lost dreams and dashed hopes.

Poisonous Fruits

The poisonous fruits of their labor can effect any American at any moment in any setting every 17 seconds: at home, at school, at church, at Michael's Craft Store, at McDonald's, in college, sitting on the front porch of a neighbor sipping iced tea making plans for the upcoming summer. At any moment, a bullet that you had no way of knowing about had your name on it, can find its mark are you are no more.

While I am writing this and while you are reading this, 52 Americans were gunned down--some in fights between gangs in a ghetto; some in a school because father forget to secure his weapon and little Joey found it and decided to scare the bully. Some person left her home to run errands and when stopping for a coffee, marvelling at the new spring flowers, she didn't notice that the coffee-shop was being held up. This woman is no more, yet, a minute ago she was.

Why? Why does living in America mean that someone else has the right to manufacture products which permit others in drunken rages or acts of "temporary insanity" or "true insanity" to kill the rest of us who are struggling to make the best out of the one life we have been granted by the Lord?

Oh, yes, the "Lord". I almost forget. The overwhelming majority of these people who support the makers of high-powered rifles which are sold to young men with a lot of testosterone raging through their veins are Bible-thumping, hypocritical, red-neck Southerners or Southerner wanta-bes or anti-government freaks from places like Montana or Kansas, etc. There may be no gay marriages in the Bible but there are also no guns!

Old Number 2

The poor Second Amendment states the following: the right to keep and bear arms. In 1789, this was a very pertinent concern for Americans; there was the danger of the wilderness to be contended with; and, there was the fear that if all the power was to be in the hands of a government then again, Americans could eventually become victims of that government as had been the case while under the rule of the English.

By maintaining weapons, we could defend ourselves from criminals, wild animals and disgruntled Native Americans and from a government which was not yet ready to be trusted. Also, the concept of the "citizen soldier" was a real and needed one.

It is 2009. We have an army. We have police. We have laws. We have a civil society that promotes trust, neighborliness, good will and a belief in one nation. Despite the Republican Party, we are a religious nation. Weapons stored at police precincts that would be checked out for sport: hunting, target practice, etc. make sense.

Weapons sitting around homes waiting for a "criminal" but usually used on everyone else sooner or later, at any chance, every 17 seconds is madness. It is government-backed terrorism. It is amoral. Permitting the NRA to do what it does, permitting the manufacture and sale of guns in the manner that they are being sold today is madness: the blood of the 35 people killed since I wrote about the previous 52 killed is on the hands of anyone and all who support the sale and manufacture of handguns for the sole reason of having one.

Texas

In Texas, they are seeking to pass legislation that would permit college kids to carry concealed weapons. College kids, the most rational and sober thinking people in the world: if this happens deaths will occur nto every 17 seconds but more like every 9! I would have been killed a few times when I was in college and probably would have killed a few people--by accident, course.

Terrorism is the art of striking at the enemy in any setting at any moment and never permitting the enemy to be prepared for the attack resulting in a heightened sense of fear and a decreased quality of life as a result. Sounds very familiar to America today.

Why do we the people tolerate this absurdity? Because too many people with too much power are making too much money and so we are lulled into silence the way the lobster is lulled to sleep as the water warms and warms until it boils and then the lobster is no more.

Some legislator in Texas said that "kids on campuses without guns are like sitting ducks." And, we call ourselves a civilized nation? And we invade other nations because we consider them uncivilized, backwards...another American was just murdered and someone else's bottom-line improved.

In 1979

2009-04-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

In 1979, despite having just come off the embarassment of the Vietnam failure, America was still the beautiful, the skies for the most part were spacious and the grain was amberish from sea to shining sea. And, a little of 1/3 of the world's economic might was concentrated in the collective hands of the US nation--it's people and it's government.

And then, he came to town. With a mix of Andy Griffith meets Timmy and Lassie; Laverne and Shirley grit mixed with a dash (a big one I might add) of The Walton's, Ronald Rea--GUN, as he was so lovingly known to many of his droids, set forth the downfall which has led us to where we are today: the end of the Post-World War II era, the end of the American Century; the end of Pax Americana; the end of our empire of good-will and common-good and good-manners and good-wine and good-music, and, well, everything that could be "good"...good riddance, I say.

Many today who support President Obama as he tries to revive our nation after the worst 8 years of governance since the 4 years of missing leadership under James Buchanan, our 15th president and the last president before our nation was pulled into the vortex of Southern emotion, hate and rascism that led to the premature deaths of over 1,000,000 (direct battlefield deaths of soliders were around 618,000), believe that Reagan was a great president.

Nutshell

Let's assess in a nutshell. Ronald Reagan took office and immediately began to cut social programs that he complained had been bankrupting America; our so-called welfare state, the least developed of all industrialized nations, was creating a culture of poverty: those born into poverty would remain poor because the "system" wasn't giving them the needed stimuli to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" so they could pick up and get out of the ghetto.

In order to give America its winning edge back, Reagan started to cut back on federal funding of this "welfare system." His cutbacks, really, were quite small compared to what would happen under W.; however, the demon seed under Reagan was the combination of increased goverment spending on things like defense and the massive tax-cuts that his economic witch-doctors had proposed to feed the hunger of the voodoo-economic's swamp-thing.

Ronald Reagan's appeal to the masses was similar to an Amway meeting; in some random Hyatt ballroom, hyper-hair-sprayed southerns with names like Robertlee Davis and his sparkling wife Crystal Maryjoy would take the stage and start telling stories to crowds of lower-middle class followers of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" about how they had flown to this meeting (which each Amway member had to pay $35 for attendance) in their "own private jet!"

To hoots and hollers and high-fives between people whose rating in Amway were based on the rareness of stones--the gem level, the diamond level, the rock level, etc.--the Davis' would brag about their worldly possessions while deftly sprinkling in words of gratitude to the greatness of "our Lord Jesus Christ" and, of course, to the American way.

Yes, this was the effect that Ronald Reagan has had on Americans who formerly knew pretty much where they would end up on the economic side of life: middle-middle class (or lower-middle class), happy with a set of kids for whom some government funding would be made available to send those kiddies to college; a job in some factory or company and some very limited health care; and, of course, a pension from their employer and an SS check each month. But, Reaganway told us that extreme wealth was just around the corner for all: just need to cut taxes and live as if we were all Donald Trumps.

So, given that we are all potential Trumps, such a "welfare state" would've been simply too generous. They also felt that our streets had too few weapons so by manipulating a so-called heartfelt respect for the Constitution, they claimed that being anti-handgun was the same as being anti-American. What it really meant was real big profits for their friends the gun manufacturers. What it has meant for us future Trumps is not just the deaths of over ten of thousands of Americans each year from handguns; but, now on our boarder we have a northern state in Mexico adrift in chaos as a result of unprecedented violence thanks to weapons that just pour south from Americans whose only moral compass is the bottomline: oh, yes, and the "Lord Jesus Christ."

As the foundation for the economic and moral bankrupting of our nation was laid, Reagan made it acceptable to "hate" and "ridicule" anyone who sought any kind of federal support or protection. Support and government investment in the infrastructure and the people that really seemed to fall so obviously under the lead of a federal government, were suddenly squeezed from federal budgets until eventually everyday, American life for us, the average, struggling, working Joe's became like a walk through the Atari game "Pitfall." If you don't know the little secrets, then you fall through the cracks.

The newly-Christened-enactors of his "revolution", people who desparately needed those "Happy-Day-esque" emotive umbrellas like "Evil Empire" and "culture of povety" started to dismantle any government oversight whose chief task was to have ensured that middle America could live in a safer, cleaner and happier America: eating breakfast can be as dangerous as Russian roulette nowadays due to the missing-in-inaction Food and Drug Administration.

Because the fire lit by Reagan and stoked by Bush-I and then set ablaze across the West Texas prairie by W, America has lost its true moral compass. FDR said in his second inaugral address (to paraphrase): a nation needs to be economically moral. Wealth is not a virtue.

The Collapse

From Reagan until this most recent and final collapse of our economic way of life, wealth had become virtuous. We were not economically moral. The "virtual wealth" that had been driving our economy for the last 20 years has so rapidly lost it steam, that the government was forced to seek ever new places for savings; eventually, with the poor safely off the political radar screen, the GOP began manipulating and attacking the backbone of America: the middle class.

Today, being in the middle-class is such a rarity that it is almost comporable to being in the upper-class 100 years ago. And the criteria for being poor and thereby "not virtuous" have been so expanded that many who had traditionally been middle class are now at best "the working poor."

Over the past 28 years (except for the 8 under Clinton) our government has inflicted an economically amoral way of life upon our nation. The virtue of wealth as they see it, which should be gained at any cost regardless of what it takes from our nation and regardless of how it enriches other nations, has driven the vast majority of widget-manufacturers to seek cheap labor elsewhere. At the same time, the elected officials, usually republicans, have repeated like a mantra: tax cuts, tax cuts, less government, less government, more guns, no abortion, no family planning, war, war, no immigrants, no head-start for kids in poverty, less government, eavesdropping on Americans (the Patriot Act, Orwell at his best!), etc.

The drive for virtuous wealth has made American businesses more myopic than ever and today despite still so many brilliant ideas that are spawned in America, our industrial infrastructure, with the ability to create jobs for Americans and to refortify the disappearing middle class, is so weakened after these 28 years that again it is Asia, not just China, which will lead the next economic revolution. The republicans under the guise of Reagan's revolution have weakened our nation in every possible way for their own personal gain. We are an economically amoral nation.

A perfect example is the lack of federal response to Katerina. This was because the Bush White House had no privately-owned, politcally-reliable company that could move fast enough to get into New Orleans and clean things up. There had been no time for funneling billions in rescue efforts to crony-companies because no one expected the hurricane to be so bad. Because the government and its ability to respond to crises had been so stripped of any resources it might need, FEMA, run by an incompetent with no prior experience in any such organization (a Party man), just sat (an in some cases flew) and waited for the waters to recede. This is the nation that is ours today and 11 weeks of Obama hasn't changed this.

That natural disaster showed us why Reagan was wrong; why all of these Reagan-worshippers are not true patriots but selfish and even anti-American. They would rather guarantee their own wealth and comfort and America be damned! It is exactly this kind of love/hate that the Communists in the Soviet Union had for the Party and country--they loved the party because it made them wealthy but hated their country. This relationship led many of them to abandon their Party when it stopped enriching them and then their country, the USSR, collapsed.

America's refusal, let's say, the Republican refusal, from Reagan onward to take responsibility for its citizenry is treacherous. If in a wealth beach-front neighborhood, homes are damaged by hurricane seas, the Army of Engineers, using tax-payer money, will rebuild the beaches to not only return the lost value to the wealthy but even increase the value of that property. What is New Orleans today? Why is it still so abandoned and bleak? Because those people, the sufferers, are not wealthy and therefore, they are not virtuous.

We the People...

As Americans, we should all be ashamed of ourselves. We have not been true to those who lost their lives on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. Those boys did not leap into cold and violent seas to charge machine-gun nests for what we have become today. The boys whose lives have been lost in all of the wars, except for those who fought for the CSA (Confederate States of America) did not die or kill for this loss of economic morality.

Resetting our moral compass will not be easy and a lot of people who are now realizing that the last 28 years of our nation's history have been the single most wrong period of our development might just become sore loser's and do something foolish.

I say, beware of the the losers; beware of Dick Cheney; beware of anyone who says Ronald Reagan was a great president. These people don't have America's true interests at heart.

Dear Europe...

2009-04-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Europe, how do I say this? Um, it's difficult for me to say, but....well...here goes: Kiss my American ass you whining, ungrateful, boring murderers and snobs!

I like Europe. I like going to Germany to drink the best beer in the world. I like going to France to eat wonderful cheeses, amazing salads and good wines and ciders. France has great roads. Bavaria is God's country.

The rest of Europe, especially Italy, I love also. It amazes me that how by just traveling a mere 5 miles, the languages are so different that they really can't understand each other. The foods are so different between those two villages just 5 miles apart; they might even have hated each other so much in the past that they have repeatedly tried to kill each other. Barns are even contructed differently! Europe is truly amazing.

SINCE WWII

Europe since the end of World War II, a war which began at the conclusion of WW I when the bitter and nasty French and the English sore losers (they really got their asses handed to them in that war. The Germans just hung out in their trenches and fired artillery into the brave but foolishly charging English troops, slaughtering them by the ten of thousands.) mocked President Wilson in his naivete and forced upon the Germans a horrifically unfair "peace treaty." Well, the seeds were sown by those upper-crust Europeans and the result was the slaughter of another 100 million a mere 20 years later.

In the ruins of this world, where the formerly differing barns were now gone and in their place were mass graves and perhaps strewn body parts from a late war mine explosion, Roosevelt and Churchill met at Bretton-Woods and drafted what would become the world's economy going forward after the final and ultimate destruction of the German nation. It was based on fairness for most and goodness. Sure, America would stand to make a lot of dough because we were the last man standing at the end of the war.

But, it was a system based on friendly cooperation. It wasn't the system of societal destruction and abuse forced upon Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union. It wasn't the genocidal and evil wrought by the Japanese and German nations. It wasn't the pompous and boring British way of rule. It was a helpful and relatively fair and economically supportive system based on free trade.

And, whilst we were laying the foundation for this world, Americans were pumping millions into the bombed out world, Europe and Japan. We had offered to help Eastern Europe and even the Soviet Union. Stalin, however, forced the communists in charge in those countries to decline the badly needed aid. In their typical suspicious way it was believed that the American offer was really an attempt to overthrow those nations (ones that had been overthrown by Soviet agents just years and in some cases months earlier).

I TOLD YOU SO

Europe, despite saving them during two world wars and then rebuilding their nations and the world economy after the second one--and really, never saying "I told you so" or so pompously and arrogantly (in a truly European way) lecturing them on their inabilities to coexist peacefully despite their so-called belief in God (that same God that the republicans so fancy)--these inbred, bad-toothed, frogs and krauts and many more swamp type nationalities, have the balls to tell us that we, the Americans, the suppliers of their peaceful and prosperous ways of life since the end of WWII, have screwed the world simply disgusts me.

During the peak of cold war anxst, the American taxpayer was investing $346 per capita for European defense compared to $86 they were spending on their own defense from the thousands of Soviet tanks parked across the boarder in Czechoslovakia. Their amazing and simply fat social safety nets were their reward for waging murderous war against all who spoke or ate differently from them for centuries.

A LITTLE GUILT

Yes, we should take a lot of the blame for this economic collapse. The Reagan revolution was a house of cards. It created fake, virtual wealth that drove millions across the globe to quote that line from Jerry Maguire ("Show me the money", I have heard this spoken in 7 different languages!). We abused our brand essence as the world's financial lords and simply led the world down the rabbit hole which turned out to be a septic tank.

But, to have those backstabbing, want-to-be's lecture us about our failings; to tell us that they wouldn't invest money into stimulus programs because "we don't need to, we have already created sound social safety nets that you Americans didn't feel your citizenry needed." (Because, we were busy investing in your defense and rebuilding your economies, you ingrates!) This just makes my blood curdle.

So, to Europe and the whining and weak French with their spoiled boy president who threatened to walk out of the G20 meetings, I say this: Remember D-Day!

To the Germans and their oh-so-arrogant way of lecturing others about what is right and what is wrong, I say this: Remember D-Day!

To the Czechs, the Brits and anyone else kicking us while we are down, I say this: Remember D-Day!

Oh and also, I say this: Kiss my ass!

Barack FDR Obama

2009-03-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

The times demand bold actions. In a similar way that FDR played with the price of gold from his bed each morning in the White House, so too must Obama continuing doing what he is doing. He is writing new rules to the US economy and there is simply no playbook--they are like the rules we all have applied when we made up games in childhood: "ok, if you tag me but I am eating my ice cream at the time, then I am not it."

President Obama's strategy is a multi-layered one. Complainers who claim his increasing of the deficit threatens to ruin our nation--and on this bandwagon are some reknown economists--are the same people who sat back and enjoyed the deregulation ride; and, in the case of the economists, failed to predict the imminent collapse of the Anglo-American Economic system as set to stone at Bretton-Woods in 1944.

FDR

FDR did a lot of things wrong actually. He was tinkering with the fate of the world's economy because he really had no idea what needed to be done. There was no existing panacea for that era's woes and the same holds true today: our world is a lot different from what it used to be thanks to hyper-deregulation and the creation of "virtual wealth" (VW).

We, the prostelytizers, the white, we-know-everything, God-fearing, Christian-for-the-most-part Americans were wrong! And today, the entire world is gripped by seeds of greed planted by these God-fearing Christians. What boggles my mind and truly empassions me to despise these fat-asses is that they really do pretend to believe in God--"God Bless", they say like others say "hey, what's up"--and they truly believe that they are right in every belief they hold. Many of these knuckleheads would have supported slavery and fought for the Confederacy had they been alive.

The wonderful thing about Obama's attempts at getting our nation running again is that is what they are: attempts. He is trying! He is giving it the old college try with hefty doses of creativity and small pinches of compromise. Interest groups on both the left and the right complain that he isn't doing enough. Repigs will say that he should be cutting taxes to stimulate business (yeah, like that will fly in this climate of hate towards those wealthy widget-makers; afterall, we have seen what they were making for the past 20 years, VW--see above).

Armadillos

Unlike W. who was frozen like an armadillo in the headlights, Obama has been shaking things up and in the vein of FDR, first, you float it out there and get the talking heads chirping and then make some corrections (granted sometimes they have only changed the name of their remedies and not altered the content). They are churning out programs, weaving together long-overdue reform that will not only create jobs in and of itself but will also benefit the expanding ranks of the working poor (and the vanishing middle class).

Mythes

The Depression of the 1930's was not ended by the onset of WWII: that just served to be a great jobs program and then we sort of forgot about the depression. No, FDR paved the way for a better America and a then a dreamy, young man who received the benefits of that America, Ron Reagan, came along and commenced the financial dismantling of our government.

As I write this today, pistachios are being recalled for salmonella; yet, another example of our government failing to protect us from greedy businessmen. It used to be the ghettoes were only the real and living example of Republican anti-government programs; today, eating peanut butter or nuts can result in death. Our own ktichen cupboards have become as dangerous as a ghetto, a post office, a Michael's Craft Store (no gun control) or an abortion clinic (those Christian people, save a live by killing).

Anyhoo...President Obama should be praised for trying and sooner or later, like FDR, he will find the right mix and we will recover. Unitl then, anyone with tired ideas--anything heard from a conservative, a repig or on Fox TV--should move to Bermuda or somewhere.

We need a new TVA; actually, we have it and it is called wind power!

China Owns Us--This cannot be Good

2009-03-17T03:19:00.000-07:00

It had been a nice but short vacation. Ever since that cold January day when Mr. Potter was wheeled to his car and tossed into the back seat for his ride home, America hadn't seen much or heard from the evilest person in America: Dick Cheney.

Last Sunday, he was on the Sunday talk-show circuit telling us (actually, sort of spitting out through that "I just ate a lemon look") how President Obama had weakend the US by regarding terrrorism as a law enforcement issue instead of a strictly military one.

In perfect Repig-speak, with a oink-oink here and littel piggy went to the market there, he had the audacity to say that he and his buddy, W., only took actions that were took in line with the Constitution: yeah, maybe the Russian one.

Really, so much of what he was spewing was rhetoric, pure and without pulp. But, the words that have stuck in my head and continue to ring like a massive and intricately carved church bell bonging and bonging and bonging are these: "he has weakened our country."

A Deep Breath

I have taken a deep breath and now I am ready to continue. Today, China owns 60% of our government paper. That is not good. Somewhere some economist is saying that in the new world where all economies are linked together in a web of cooperation, this does not matter so much. This same economist will tell us that China cannot hurt us because then they will lose their investment. This same rationale is used by the mafia when someone owes the a lot of money--kill the guy and you never get your money. I really don't think we should want our nation being compared to a degenerate gambler, for example.

As the largest single investor in the America, China has almost a right to be involved in Washington's affairs, more than so than even the tax-payers. China is bailing out our failing system; financing the rebuilding of our faltering nation. China owns us, feeds us, clothes us. What else?

Now, my question is this: who blazed this trail to massive government debt? Who made it not just acceptable but patriotic to run up massive government deficits? Which president started the bankrupting our nation via the shredding of budgets needed to keep our food safe, our roads safe, our air safe, our schools safe, our cities safe? Um...let's see, it wasn't Jimmy Carter. It wasn't Bush I--he actually raised taxes, God love him.

No, it wasn't Clinton who actually managed to balance the budget while investing in our nation's infrastructure, while making our cities safer, while overseeing drops in teen pregnancy and a decreasing mortality rate of children under 5 (we lead the industrialized world in this category today!!).

Well, let's end the suspense: yes, it was old silver shoes himself, Ronald Reagan.

Since 1981, we have had 20 years of Republican presidents and 8 for Clinton. In that time, our nation has rocketed itself into debt. We have spent the past 28 years rewarding the rich for creating wealth for themselves, only to be divied up amongst people who look very much like themselves. The American worker, despite his amazing levels of productivity, has grown poorer and poorer during this period; except, for a brief respite during Clinton, and the weatlhy have amassed ever more power.

And, all I need say is W. and most sane Americans can readily recall the 8 years of theft, corruption, dishonor and bankrupting that has taken place thanks to the leader of the GOP his fat, white friends like Dick.

We Are Weaker

Again, I write these words: we are weaker than we have ever been (and I am not talking about missiles or numbers of aircraft carriers); we are broke; our nation has been auctioned off by the GOP for the benefit of a very small amount of really wealthy Americans--many who have lost sunstantial sums in this crisis but, still have millions and even billions to keep them fed and clothed.

Nothing good can come out a world with a weak or irrelevant America. Irrelevancy, however, is nothing we have yet to worry about. We are so relevant that when our economy went sour so did the world's economy! The Chinese, however, with their wealth, the Russians with their gas and oil and the Indians with whatever they have won't let us pull them down again in the future.

Barack Obama has made our nation stronger from the very second the polls closed on election night. By making so many of us believe like we have not believed, feel empowered like we have not felt in so long, he has already done more good for our nation than the republicans have done since their policies of hateful-economics and then economics-dictated by politics took us astray in 1981.

For many of us, for the world's sake, America is again united. History shows us that a united America is a strong America, a good America and fair America. Now, today, once again, it is so important for us to let President Obama lead as he has been leading to let him take our nation, with our help, back to the prominent place the world wants for us: leadership.

Cheney's World

Dick Cheney's world is one where there is silence except for the whining music of a violin. Some random Hungarian ballad is being plucked to life while in this sepia version of Cheney's world good and evil are clashing in cataclysmic battles. Yet, what we learn in the end of this thriller is that the "good" are Cheney and his corporate friends from the big military industrial complex and the "evil" are all of us.

Kind of reminds me a little of "The Matrix."

Stop Playing Games

2009-03-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

In 1929 and 1930, when the economy started to sputter, President Hoover started to tinker. Truth be told, despite the fact that history has given him a bum rap on his handling of the period, Hoover had a pretty fair understanding of things economic. Hoover even tried some very creative things; many, of which were then expanded by FDR to make the "New Deal."

Yet, as we all know, due to his "tinkering" a sound and unified policy was not formulated in time and the economy tanked. In came FDR and after a continued period of tinkering the sputtered economy started to crawl forward. By the time the war was over, we were the world's economy.

Obama's Stim

Today, President Obama's stim, which by all accounts should have been larger, is proving to have been not enough to save our economy from the direction it went in 1930. What separated the country then, however, from now is that the Democrats (Hoover was a Republican) did not want the president to fail. In 1930, people knew that when a president failed, the country suffered.

Today, still the most effective weapon for most republicans in the war to defeat the economic downturn is the tax cut. In order to understand the effectiveness of the tax cut, one does not need to understand economics. The tax cut, whispered like 10 Hail Mary's after confession, is no longer an economic instrument. It is and will be for the next decade solely a political one. One whose sole reason is to give more wealth to the wealthy.

Our nation today, is for all intents and purposes bankrupt. 30 years ago, the middle class worker's wage was closer to his boss's by 20 times. The 20% wealthiest today control 84% of the naitons wealth. When the republicans give them tax breaks, that wealth increases. And the wealth of the nation shrinks on two fronts: a) we lose that money that should have been collected; and, b) the nation loses the benefit from that money that would have been invested in something like a bridge, a school, etc.

Rush is the GOP

Today, staring down the barrel of a shotgun that has not been seen since 1932, President Obama is trying to save our nation. Yet, the republicans led by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and that scattering of Christian, in-bred misfits and walking dead in Congress, are doing everything in their power to destroy his attempts; to play politics as usual.

We are beyond politics. Politics are what the GOP have been playing since 1981. Their political games tried to destroy Clinton and we can argue that their tireless efforts at proving he and his wife were thieves might have been just enough to have weakened his attempts to combat terrorism. W.'s game even made scientific facts on the environment doubtful--despite being proven by scientists all over the globe that global warming was real.

Today, as millions lose their jobs, the republicans continue their polical game by calling for tax cuts. They look at it like this: their objections to his stimulus package were enough to have made it smaller and less effective than it should have been. This battle, they have they won. Their strategy now is such that if each month 600,000 jobs will be lost, by the end of the year Obama will almost be a lame duck. This would mean yet a another victory for them, for the republican party!

W. was absent when the economy started to tank and under the guidance of Newt Gingrich the republicans refused to support a bail out in October. Today, they refuse to help America because they want us all to fail so they can go back to playing games.

If you ask me why I hate the republican party it is because the games I like playing, yatzee, scrabble, hearts and others are usually fun experiences shared with family and friends while have some chips, salsa and some beers.

The games the GOP lives for result in destruction of families; economic dismemberment; societal collapse; environmental collapse; rising crime; and, probably may have resulted in the 10 deaths in Alabama yesterday by a distraught man: he probably had lost his job, was economically irrelevant, and, oh, he also had ready access to very leathal weapons (whose sales support an organization that has great power over the GOP, the NRA).

Game over. Tax cuts are politics and politics are games. The next time you hear someone speak out in support of them, walk up to them and scream at the top of your lungs: STOP PLAYING GAMES WITH MY COUNTRY!

Starbuck's: The Revolution from Above

2009-03-05T01:59:00.001-08:00

In 1929, Stalin launched a revolution from above which resulted in thousands of top party people being slaughtered. Most were already guilty of atrocities so they probably deserved it. Stalin, also, having sought the cult-following that the dead Lenin had, wanted to rid the present of anyone who had known him prior to the revolution in 1917.

So too, Starbucks' the former great place for a good coffee and an even better cappuccino is now forcing change and altered perceptions from above in an attempt to draw away from the caramel-laced atrocities of the past 8 years.

There was a day, not too long ago, when the nation was perculating along under the prosperity created by the steady hand of Bill Clinton and Starbuck's was coffee. And then, as if with the appearance of the financial derivative, the "buck" lost its way in its caffeinated-inspired reality: sugary and cold frappuccino's and macchiatos with nice margins and really milky cappuccinos that no Italian in his worst nightmare would drink took front and center on the chalkboards. Gooey and diabetes-inducing caramel pressing against Jetson-esque plastic lids replaced cool, white with green logo-ed cups smelling pleasantly of coffee, steamed milk and a hint of chocolate shavings.

But I don't Want an Egg Sandwich

This week, in Starbuck's across the nation, in an attempt to fight back against the so-called unfair tatics of McDonald's where they say that all coffee at Starbuck's costs $4, the $4 breakfast is being introduced.

The breakfast to me means nothing: I have stopped eating anything of empty-caloric value for breakfast since 10 January of this year. The coffee means something still but even too, my super veggie-drink with muesili threatens to push this out of the picture also--simply no room for a coffee after one of those drinks.

Yet, I do watch the "buck" with great interest. For me, this company is the epitome of excellence in many respects. All companies make mistakes yet somehow, when it came to their core identity, the good cup of coffee in a pleasant setting, they always seemed to protect themselves. Until, that is, they like the nation in the late '90's and up until the crash of our economic system, found the brilliance of expanding margins thanks to the use of things like corn syrup and ice, simply too sweet to resist.

Yes, Howard Schultz, the coffee addict with the original vision in early '80's, lost his way in the world of greed. Money and the endless pursuit of getting more so you can sit and count those meaningless numbers (numbers for the sake of numbers) led him astray. And, thanks to Schultz's walkabout from the CEO-ship of the company, from 2000 to 2008, many, many Americans grew a lot fatter than they would have thanks to those hyper-caloric non-coffee drinks (one caramel macchiato with Breve milk has close to 600 calories and 42 (26 saturated) grams of fat!)

Now, in an effort to regain its lost coffee aroma, Starbuck's has introduced the $4 breakfast (actually $3.95 breakfast). Ok. Fine. I am sure it is tasty. But, Howard, you know as well as I do that it is not the absence of food that led you guys astray. It is not the economic downturn that has forced you to make deals with chicken-owners instead of coffee plantations (sure, some people have stopped going there but not as many as you may think).

It is greed. It is greed that drove you and your stockholders to the macchiatos. Now it must be a commitment to your original vision, to the idea that got your heart racing with excitement, to the passion you poured into this formerly almost-perfect company, that will take you back to where you should be: a great cup of coffee, a perfect cappuccino in a great setting whether alone over un giornale or talking with a priest about pre-Cana classes in a corner whilst seeking confidence in that frothy latte.

That is what Starbuck's used to be. Bring it back to those of us who now only find that same dedication to coffee-excellence in place as far away as Moscow! The caramel macchiato has not yet been introduced there.

Make Us Proud

I don't want Starbuck's to vanish. But, until this great company realizes that focus should not be on the bottom-line but on the values that made it the world's leader, the hard times are going to continue. In the meantime, a great Vienna-based company, The Coffeeshop Company has opened near me: the best cappuccino I can drink outside of Italy. The next best cappuccinos are being made by McDonald's in their "MacCafes".

Like our nation which has lost its commitment to the core values that made us what we were, so too a great company was seduced by the fatness of modern society. Shame on you Starbuck's. Now, go on back out there and make us proud!

The South: Moon pies and RC Cola

2009-02-26T23:55:00.000-08:00

Typical, big-government, spend, spend, spend, socialist, stealing from future generations, deficit-creating, LIBERAL, welfare state, give to the poor, steal from the rich, wah, wah, wah, wah, blah, blah, blah...

Now that this is out of the way, we can proceed to the heart and withering soul of our argument.

It's about time! It is about time that someone elected into power by the nation's sufferers has proven himself brave enough to completely buck a system whose DNA was designed by that oh-so capable team of magicians that came to Washington in January 1981. The madness must be stopped and President Obama with his courageous budget is demonstrating that he does not seek power for power's seek--if he fails, he will not be re-elected and he knows this and he still went ahead with the most brazen and bold attempt at stemming the tide of angry, Christian, White, Southern opportunism.

Barack Obama has said it: for too long, way too many Americans have been thrown into poverty or near-poverty because of our obsession with making the rich richer via ridiculus tax cuts which had absolutely no hold in practical economic reality. The notion that the increased wealth would eventually trickle down to "employees in waiting" is unadulterated nonsense!

Trickle-down My A..

There may have been a time when that theory in practice had legs; but, any economist with a frontal lobe will tell you, when an economy is percolating along and making widgets and competing with the world for the wigdet market, an added buck or so will be invested into operations to make the given company more competitive.

However, when a economy has entered the post-industrial phase and so many of the players who have been truly enhanced by the massive corporate welfare doled over the last 28 years are already creamy rich, that added buck or so is NOT invested because their widget market (which is now not a widget but a super, high-tech widget splicer) is a) their monopoly already; and b) a market greatly affected by the elasticity of supply and demand-meaning should they make more then they will actually start to lose money!

So, the money is not invested for an increase in productivity will throw the supply and demand elasticity off-balance. What could and should be done, according to those whacky supply-siders, the owner of corporation A would ideally take that extra buck he received as the result of the corporate welfare program and invest it in medical insurance for workers; or, maybe invest it in R&D so as to make his product not just more competitive today but even more competitive tomorrow! Instead, he divies up with his cronies and shareholders and they all say "The Lord's Prayer."

And this leads us to the crux of our argument: tomorrow. President Obama's right assessment that we have NOT been planning for tomorrow since the coming to town of the Reagan Train, has led us to the moral and economic collapse we have today. Bill Clinton tried to get us on track but he was so restricted by a Republican Congress which did everything it could to distract him from governing and leading by abusing the powers of the independent council (which was actually begotten at Clinton's behest); by persecuting the President and by the near bankrupting of our government as a result of the massive debt passed on from Reagan to Bush to Clinton--which so wonderfully restricted any real investments in our society.

Anyhoo!

I will wrap this one up by commenting on the latest Ponzi scheme which was reported in the NYTimes on Saturday. The Stanford Financial Group, a Memphis-based, really sickly Southern company run like a tight-knit mom and pop shop in some backwater of a town in a state where the Confederate flag is still the preferred flag and Reagan is a god, was accused of stealing billions of dollars. And, one of the owners, James M. Davis, would open company meetings with a prayer to a light-haired Jesus with blue eyes and an ivory complexion.

Yes, I blame them. I blame the red states with their "god" and their fake patriotism. I blame the two-faced, sweet as rhubard pie smiles and "hey y'all..." for the troubles, for evils that our nation knows today. Sadly, though, when I blame them, because so many of them are so poor, I lose my class argument: when we get into the swamp that is southern society today, we are not dealing with just arrogant, despicable rich Southerners but also all of those moon-pie eating, RC Cola-drinking Gomer Pile's who think think that "white is right" and W. was like having "Jaysus in the Watt House".

The Southern slant of our national politics and its taking hostage of our economy has been an attempt by the defeated confederate states to regain much of what was lost when the war ended (and, if you say "war" to them, they still know which one you are talking about--the Civil War, only we Northerners are so naive to believe that the issues of this War are long gone).

We won that War. Now, it is time to remind them and all who are listening that we too can play some of that sappy country music, wave a flag or two and talk about a god who is good. However, what seperates our words from the words of these sickly white and religious and mostly Southern pretenders is...we love our America and we respect our Constitution. A-f.....g-Men!

Reagan is Dead

2009-02-24T11:19:00.000-08:00

I really want to know what is wrong with trying to make our nation a better, safer and healthier place in which to raise families? I really want to know why so many people, and they are usually people who are doing financially "ok" (unless they are dumb and white and from the South), think it is wrong to want to make our nation truly better?

America used to have limitless resources. America used to lead the world in pretty much everything. We were usually on the right side when fighting a war outside of our national borders. For long periods we have tolerated policies that were not in any society right ones; that were not in the bible right ones, that were morally very, very suspect (slavery, hangings, no justice for blacks, segregation, anti-immigrant laws, corruption, etc.); yet, we have always somehow righted the clock's mechanism and time would go ticking onward, taking us from the past and present and into an ever brighter future.

However, I can honestly say that after Ronald Reagan came into Washington, despite his mild-mannered way of whispering sweet-nothings into our living-rooms about an America that conjured up visions of Capra-esque Anytown, USA, America's lost vision of herself, thanks to a drawn-out and lost war in Vietnam and a run on the Constitution by Nixon, was restored. Sadly, however, that vision was more like the one that D.W. Griffith silently laid out before aghast audiences in "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915.

My genuine dislike for Ronald Reagan stems not from the fact that he did do some good by bringing the Soviets to the table (although, most of Reagan apologists know nothing about the man Mikhail Gorbachev and had Reagan not had Gorbachev those troops cuts would never have occured); but, from the fact that Ronald Reagan finished the conversation that Richard Nixon began with the silent majority--and, he gave them the right to be really, really noisy.

And, with that boisterousness, came school-yard bullying of anyone and all not in agreement with those who fell in awe of Reagan's masterfully painted vision of small town USA: a place where whites were the kings and the upidy blacks knew their place; where taxes were minimal and charity was supposed to cover all of the gaping holes in a social safety net (charity is good but when it is THE system, it will keep the givers always economically and socially above the takers); where women were supposed to be at home and pregnant and where "girls were girls and men were men"; in a society where even the "old LaSalle ran great."

Much of what Reagan painted for us, in a very Seurat meets Rockwell way, sounds really nice; but, in that same fantasy, I am walking in from church to the smell of baking bisuits in the kitchen, the electric knife is slicing off pieces of roast beef and my Uncle Albert is sitting in a haze of smoke reading the Sunday Press. My grandmother is wiping her hands on her apron, my dad takes his chair and my grandfather offers up a cranky greeting to the five kids that have just invaded his house for another Sunday dinner.

In other words, the lovely scene that Reagan gave the US, and to which his followers still cling today is of an America that a) is no more; and, b) an America that never was. America has been a place of bigorty and greed and close-mindedness and hatred but at the same time, the principles inherent to our national experiment have always forced someone, an American, to challenge those with hatred and greed and bigorty and eventually, goodness has always won. The Reagan freaks hang onto that America that did not right itself and still honors bigotry, deception and even theft of our common resources.

The Reagan cult, not unlike personality cults in other nations of historical relevance, is so against any kind of government support for the expansion of the American dream to all corners and walks and races of life, that they have sought (and continue to seek) the complete bankruptcy of our nation.

They make up enemies in every corner of the globe; talk about how dangerous it is to travel outside of the US (I recently heard a hard-core republican say that it was too dangerous to travel to Rome because of all the terrorists!!); if any money is spent by the government on anything other than tax cuts or military then they go crazy and start shouting about socialism; they would rather see a city with the cultural richness of New Orleans wither away than support it rebirth (probably because most of those who would have received help were again, "from the other side of the tracks in their Reaganesque world-view"); despite their so-called fiscal conversvatism, they advocate the accumulation of massive societal debt so as to enrich those who resemble themselves and to build bigger armies and more secure gated communities; and, they advocate extreme lassez-faire economics which has led us to the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.

In their small town, "we are always on the right side of the moral issue", they can justify the invasion and occupation even of other nations. The consequences of Iraq, the lies by their president, the abuse of the Constitution and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people including soon to be 5,000 American soldiers, on our economy will be felt for generations; and, then today, when a president comes to town, a man who is truly leading our nation like it has not been led since the time of the Roosevelt cousins, they can only pull out their tired and worn out visions of Reagan's anti-America.

We are a better nation than the one that Ronald Reagan gave them. We do not hate those who don't look like us. We don't hate foreigners or immigrants; we don't believe in Church and State mixing; we believe that everyone should be allowed to be who they want to be, with whom they want to be; we believe that in any market based economy NOT EVERYONE can be wealthy so society MUST provide a safety net for a substantail minority who will end up below the poverty line.

In Bedford Falls, big business lost and the little man won. The bastardized, flag-whipping ways of Reagan's followers are anachronistic. They too have become irrelevant and so now, so soon will their politics.

2009-02-23T04:01:00.000-08:00

What does it say about the direction of our nation's economy and industrial base when the "Buy American" clause in the President Obama's stim does not really scare any of our foreign trade partners? There is a stipulation in the stim which says that if the item cannot be purchased in America, then it can be bought overseas--creating a job not for an American but for an Indian, a Chinaman or a Belgian.

Were those really the "days"?

2009-02-23T02:21:00.000-08:00

"Boy, the way Glenn Miller played. Songs that made the hit parade. Guys like us we had it made. Those were the days."

In 1971, with a tumultuous decade of change slipping behind us, Archie Bunker was given life by Norman Lear. In the sweet and cringing round face of that white man who had served his country during the "big one, WW II", America's "silent majority" was given a voice.

Archie Bunker, love him or hate him, demonstrated to most people, at least to those who were listening at least, that the argument of social conservatives of the day was a flawed one. Although, he usually commenced his tirades against people not like "guys like us" with the power and amusement that comes with name-calling and backwardness, he almost always brought his argument around full-circle to the point where he was just wrong. Archie usually argued the causes of evolving and changing America better than Mike Stivic (his son-in-law) ever could.

"And you knew who you were then. Girls were girls and men were men. Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again."

The young men who had fought in WWII and their young wives who had supported them were now the fathers and mothers of a generation seeking new frontiers, expanded horizons. They were people who were openly gay, who dated out of their "color schematic" and they were young people wanted progressivism from their government so that poverty, crime and other social ills could be, if not eliminated, than at least addressed by their government--and, not just by the building of more prisons.

Herbet Hoover, arguably one of the most qualified men to become president, was unfortunately caught off guard by the collapse of the stock market and the ensuing depression and so his presidency was ruined. However, by harkening back to the days of Herbert Hoover, social conservatives are misreading American history. Herbert Hoover was one of the most active men in politics at the time. If he wasn't trying to build dams then he was saving the homes and communities of those flooded out by the Mississippi, all using the purse of the federal government. He was a continuation of Teddy Roosevelt; the severity of the depression led us to the extreme activism of FDR.

"Didn't need no welfare states. Everybody pulled his weight. Gee the old LaSalle ran great. Those were the days."

America was a different nation then: population 121 million. The world was a different place then: population 1.8 billion. The US was exporting to the world in roughly the same proportion that China today exports to the world. Things were considerably less complex than they are today. First of all, America is not a welfare stae

They Boggle the Mind

2009-02-17T00:36:00.000-08:00

As the dust settled on lower Manhattan and the nation shook off the effects of the worst attack in our history, the democrats in Congress, having appreciated that the moment called for unity and not politics, joined their president in finding a response.

After our failure in Afghanistan, and despite it, the democrats, still fearing that any disagreement with the president would be contrued as heresy, despite reservations by some, supported this same president as he led us into the tragedy that has become Iraq.

Over time, we would learn that he had lied to us. He used lies, fear-mongering and propaganda in the most sacred of speeches, the State of the Union Address, to again make it political suicide should any democrat not agree with him. We invaded and America lost its innocence in what would become the worst quagmire since Vietnam: torture, abuse of presidental powers, obstruction of justice, lying under oath, dispersing state secrets to punish the disloyal and more.

Having won a majority in Congress, the democrats, for the sake of reuniting our worn and weary nation, chose NOT to seek the impeachment of George W. Bush. They chose not to pursue the vice president. And for the same reason that motivated Gerald Ford, in what historians still consider to be one of the most faithful and loyal acts by a public servant when he pardoned Richard Nixon (and absolute political suicide), the democrats knew that a long, drawn-out impeachment proceeding would do more harm for our nation then the short-term polical gains it would give them.

Democrats and Republicans are different. Let's forget about their differences like so-called spending versus fiscal conservatism; abortion versus anti-abortion, etc.; let's just look at what the Republicans have made their most effective and more heinous strategy for maintaining power for power's sake: they always attack and never put the good of the nation first if they feel that the democrats will reap any of the benefits of that so-called "good".

In 1994, when the Republicans backed by the pharmaceutical lobby and AMA fought tooth and nail to destroy the Clinton healtcare initiative, we paid 11.8% of GDP for health care. 15 years later, we are paying 15.2% of GDP (expected to increase to nearly 20% by 2015).

Had the Clinton healthcare initiative been passed (an internal memo then sent by Newt Gingrich laid it out very simply "if Clinton passes this thing, we lose seats at the mid-term elections so we must unite to defeat it"), we would today be paying around 9% of GDP for health care and all Americans would be covered!

The Republicans, however, decided that their interest lie not in the health of Americans, not in the strengthening of the economy in the long-term but rather in their ability to obtain and maintain power. At the end of the day, our economy today would be sounder if universal healthcare had been passed in 1994. No economist, who is not a hack to the GOP, would dare say that this is not so.

What they also felt was of the utmost of importance at the time (and somehow in the interest of the nation) was to relentlessly attack President Clinton. They ran non-stop indepedent councils until eventually they caught in him a lie (which happened to be under oath) about whether or not he had cheated on his wife. Any sane man would lie about an infidelity.

Was Clinton stupid and reckless? Yes! But, was his crime worthy of destroying a president and thereby politically tainting one of the tools available to the Congress that can punish a president who abuses his power? Not in a million years! However, the republicans again felt that for the sake of retaining and maintaining power, something as trivial as the office of the presidency and abuse of a little thing called the powers to impeach were much more aligned with their interests and the interests of the nation.

So, here we are again, gleeful over the big, fat zero they gave President Obama and "his stim", Republicans again chose inaction; they put the failed policies like tax-cutting ahead of the interests of America. Our nation today is in more danger than it was on September 12, 2001, and all they can think about is lying (they were shouting about $50 million that would be spent on protecting mice in California--this just didn't exist in the Stimulus Plan put to them!); obstructing the process of making our nation sound again.

They again prefer to pander to the big money men who will end up financing their re-election campaigns. They know that Joe, who has lost his job as a result of the economic crisis, cannot give them donations anymore. So, guess what, if Joe cannot keep them in power, then they don't need Joe and they don't give a "mice's" ass about Joe's woes!

Our nation has been humbled by the arrogance and mismanagement of a Republican president and a Republican Congress. Barack Obama and the democrats are trying to make our nation whole again.

And, while they govern and while Obama leads like we have not been led in nearly a decade, the republicans will continue to proudly vote "no" to anything he does to make us better. When does the rest of American realize that republicans just don't give a damn about America? Honestly, and this is not rhetoric, the modern-day powers that be in the GOP are simply corrupt, anti-American and fascist in the way of Hitler.

Enough (basta)! I just hope that the effects of unemployment will motivate the inbred bible-thumpers from the Southern states who think that all that is republican is America, to wake up soon and turn their back on the ignorance that ruins our nation.

Sadly, I don't think this will happen. So, I guess now we have only one choice and that is to get used to their obstructionist and anti-American ways.

America, with them, without them and despite them!

Gloves Off 2--The Developing Irrelevance of the GOP

2009-02-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

"Our stimulus plan would have cost two times less and we would have created twice as many jobs." These were the words of some idiot republican on CNN today, 13 February 2009. My initial thought was, "ok, if you are such a pro at governing and doing things that are great for the nation, where the hell were you 5 months (let alone 8 years) ago when this crisis melted our economy and turned it into a puddle in the driveway where just yesterday 2 feet of snow stood?"

But, then again, when I saw the "republican" descriptor beneath his name, I realized that those words were empty, meaningless, party-created, anti-frontal lobe, he didn't believe what he was saying himself, etc., etc., etc.

My poor, ball-less dems, they try so hard to fight for what is right for America; they try to be civil and to keep emotions out of the battles; and, really they usually succeed at doing just that: debate remains on a sane and rational level. What they fail to ever understand is that the repigs NEVER use facts or rational argument to win a debate. They abuse emotion, hearsay and just plain lie so as to obfuscate, obstruct and obliterate our nation's chances for recovery, for greatness.

So, rule number one for dems, in order to even give yourself a chance, you must learn to lie. Just blantantly, out and out lie to anyone and everyone about everything. You like coffee, tell people tomorrow you hate coffee; but, when you tell them you hate it, be really, really passionate about it! At the same time, and this is the beauty of being a repig, you can order a coffee! Get yourself a big 20-ounce from Dunkin Donuts--heck, get the Babe Ruth 3-D cup--and pour some half and half in their whilst ranting about the wonders of tea!

Let's go to the repig playbook; in this case, the coffee is a tax-cut and tea is being fiscally conservative; and, at the same time, that they are wailing about being fiscally conservative--in other words, hating coffee--they are screaming for and pushing through Congress massive tax-cuts!!

Now, what is a tax-cut? Some, the repigs, will say it is money not taken from the business owner or the consumer, usually a wealthy person who doesn't really consume as much as the average Joe (hard to phatom, well, not really, Joe buys local and Rich Bob buys not local and quite often internationally); the idea, as simple and genius as flying a kite with a key in a lightning storm to power a city or rubbing two sticks together to heat the house, is that Rich Bob will take this windfall of money and invest it into his business; he will buy more machines so as to make more widgets.

Well, first of all, we stopped making widget years ago because Bob, realizing he could make more by producing in China, moved his production facility off-shore (to China). Secondly, with increased savings from producing in China, because he is paying them $1 an hour, he takes that money and buys real estate in other countries, fancy boats, planes, baseball teams, etc. Guess what, though, he isn't investing that money in anything that is in the long-term interests of America. How much trickled down? Some tips here and there are distributed to the white guys holding open the doors to hotels he is paying $15,000 a night for--where he is probably staying with some call-girl running around $10,000 a night (yes, true trickle down, supply side economics).

A tax-cut is lost revenue. A tax-cut for a lack of any better word is SPENDING! It is welfare for the rich!

Then, the repigs, John McCain, so stupidly called the economic stimulus package a "spending bill"--and our very astute President (it is so nice have a president who speaks fluent English) says "um, what do you think a stimulus bill is [what he left out was "you stupid, tired, old, walking-corpse!]?

McCain goes onto the call the stimulus "generational theft." 8 years of Bush and Republican control has financially broken our nation's back. Our position in the world is more tenuous than it has been since just prior to the start of the Industrial Revolution; our military is so over-stretched that we are probably more vulnerable today than we were 8 years ago. Yet, the repigs have what the dems lack, and they are made of brass and real big, and so they just pretend that none of that was real. You know, this is the one area where they have something in common with the rest of American for there are probably 200 million Americans wishing that the last 8 years weren't real!

McCain made yet another completely mind-boggling accusation, he said that the president should be ashamed for having so blantantly lied to the American people about his desires for working with the republicans. McCain said the blatant partisan approach by Obama was simply crass and should be condemned. He offered to sit with the president today and truly work-out a new plan that is more bipartisan.

Did old-sack-of-dust's "clap-on" not work resulting in him lying on the floor of his office suffering the effects from a massive concussion while Obama was bending over backwards to appease the repigs? 12% of the stimulus plan is lost to tax-cuts! Yes, that is generational theft, I agree!

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky railed that the "taxpayers of today and tomorrow will be left to clean up the mess" of the stimulus plan. Unreal. And, what is his solution for making the stimulus better? What do you think? More corporate welfare, more tax-cuts. They truly have simply lost sight of what works and what obviously does not work. 8 years of supremely failed policies, based on the bogus economic formula of their king and the belief that his tax-cuts made us so strong so more of the same would make us stronger, have left us empty, struggling and simply frozen in the headlights of fundamental, across-the-board, economic turmoil--and this is only the beginning.

If tax-cuts are so good at creating strong economies, why did this crisis tumble us like a house of cards? Yes, mistakes were made along the way by both dems and repubs but, to admit any wrongdoing by a dem, assumes that we are talking with level-headed, educated republicans who too can admit that a) no Reagan was not a king and a genius and his bankrupting of the federal government has come back to bite us in the ass big time; b) that W. and republican abuse of our Constitution and destruction of balance of powers has left us weaker than we have ever been; c) that FDR did lay the ground work for a sound and dynamic economic foundation (to be completed by LBJ); and, d) finally, that Janet Reno could whoop Condoleeza Rice in a fight!

Anyway, thank you Republican party for making it so easy to see you guys fade away into the sunset of redunancy. You attacked FDR for his New Deal and by 1935, there were 17 Republican senators left in Congress; keep up the good work in attacking President Obama while Americans keep losing their jobs, soon there will be 100 dems in the Senate!

The Price we (oh, yeah, and those pesky little Iraqis) Paid for that Invasion

2009-02-11T03:42:00.000-08:00

Like the morning sun stretching its arms across the horizon, sending probing shards into bedrooms, rousing an occasional sleeper, energizing an inactive leaf or two, the end of the occupation of Iraq is taking form in a distance that no longer seems so far, far away.