Category Archives: Politics

The Politics of “Oh Yeh?”

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Remember when you were a child?  Remember when somebody said something bad about you or someone you cared about?  Remember how you too often responded with something that started, “Oh yeh?  Well, you’re a…?”  Or maybe you repeated the ever popular, “I’m rubber and you’re glue.  Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”

This childish behavior now extends to the highest levels of our government.  And nobody is better at it than Teapublicans.  It’s as if they’re forever adolescents mentally frozen in the fifth grade.  Witness the Teapublican response to Democrats’ call for freezing interest rates on student loans.  The House passed a student loan bill that was amended to take money from the budget intended for health care. Then, in the Senate, Teapublicans filibustered a student loan bill that didn’t include the budget trick.

“Oh yeh, Democrats, take that!”  No honest debate.  No compromise.  Just another gotcha.

And how about the Teapublican reaction to the anniversary of the attack on Osama bin Laden?  As soon as President Obama posted a commercial commemorating the event on the Internet, Mitt Romney tried to diminish the gravity of the event by saying, “Of course I would have made the same decision.  Even Jimmy Carter would have.”  And the Teapublican megaphone, aka Fox News Channel, was turned up to full volume with all the hosts reading the following Teapublican talking point from their teleprompters:  “It’s as if President Obama is spiking the football in the endzone.”

Really?  That’s the game you want to play?  Ignoring the fact that President Bush played the 9/11 card for almost every event, couldn’t you think of a more adult response to President Obama?  Wouldn’t a grown-up admit that the president made a good decision, congratulate him and simply move on to another issue? 

Apparently, that’s not an option for Teapublicans. 

It seems that as soon as you register as a Teapublican, the Party bosses automatically rewind the way back clock…in your mind.

As Long As We’re Telling The Truth…

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A recent editorial in The Washington Post was headlined, “Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.”  The writers go on to say, “We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.”

This is not coming from the so-called “liberal media.”  It’s from one of the most respected and unbiased newspapers in the land; the newspaper that covers both sides of politics from our nation’s capitol. When The Washington Post makes such a statement, everyone needs to pay attention.

This amazing admonishment of the right, follows the revelation of a meeting that took place the night of President Obama’s inauguration.  With the nation having just experienced the collapse of the housing industry, the freefall of the entire global economy, the loss of 4.4 million jobs, the loss of billions or trillions in tax revenues, a bankrupt financial system, huge deficits adding to our national debt and two wars (one unnecessary), all caused by the decisions of an 8-year Republican administration, these “patriots” seemed concerned with only one thing:  How could they cause the Obama administration to fail?

Unaware of the plot against him, President Obama began his administration by trying to accomplish the goals of his campaign – to repair the fractures in our nation by working with Republicans. He asked several Republicans to join his cabinet in order to heal the nation.  Most declined.  Instead of accepting the president’s hand, Republicans claimed he was not an American citizen and, therefore, not a legitimate president. When the administration and Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and offered loans to the failing auto industry, Republicans cried “Socialist” and organized the “Tea Party” from their most right wing supporters. They appeared at Presidential speeches with guns. They carried signs calling him a Fascist, a modern-day Hitler and threatening to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights.

Republican Senators filibustered almost every initiative to create jobs in the hopes that the struggling economy would benefit them politically.  They filibustered and obstructed legislation that would prevent a repeat of our economic collapse.  They refused to allow votes on a record number of presidential appointments, including federal judges and heads of government agencies.  A Republican Congressman even broke long-standing decorum by shouting “You lie” during a State of the Union address.

The stalemate caused by the Teapublican obstruction worked.  Teapublicans took control of the House in 2010.  Still, President Obama reached out to find compromise with the right.  In response, the Republican House Speaker said he didn’t believe in compromise; that he didn’t even know what the word meant.  Since then, Teapublicans have only become more obstructionist, more unyielding and more uncivil.

Now we’re approaching yet another election.  No thanks to Teapublicans, more than a million auto industry jobs have been saved, we’re digging out of the economic abyss, we’ve ended one war and placed an end date on the other, we’ve eliminated the leadership of al Qaeda, and we’ve greatly improved our reputation throughout the world.

By almost every measure, President Obama deserves to be re-elected.  Teapublicans, on the other hand, have earned a place in the very darkest corners of our history.

What’s Your Definition Of Freedom?

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If you listen to conservative talk radio, you’d think conservatives are the only ones who care about freedom.  They call themselves “patriots” and wrap themselves in the flag in a show of false superiority.  But, truth is, moderates and liberals want freedom, too.  The difference is in the way we define it.

For example, conservatives seem to believe freedom means being able to do whatever they want without restriction.  They seem to equate freedom with money…the more money the more freedom.  And some seem to believe the color of their skin gives them more freedom than others.

Some believe corporations should be free to exploit natural resources without regard to the quality of our air and water.  They believe corporations should be free to sell foods that slowly poison their customers.  They believe corporations should be free to sell any product no matter how flawed or dangerous.  And they believe corporations should be free to use their money and influence to control our government.

Moderates and liberals, on the other hand, believe corporations should be regulated to protect our families and our environment.

Many “conservatives” believe that they should be free to impose their religious and moral beliefs on others.  To tell others who to marry and who to love, and what they can do with their bodies.  Some believe they should be able to control who votes.

Some believe they should have the freedom to speed, to tailgate and to run red lights.  Some believe they have the right to ridicule and intimidate others.  Some believe they should be free to cheat, lie and steal.  Some believe freedom is tied to the barrel of a gun.

Others, like me, consider such people to be bullies and cowards.

That’s the difficult thing about freedom.  Everyone has a different definition.  With more than 300 million sharing this land, freedom requires compromise and we should never allow any ideology to co-opt it.  In fact, the only thing standing between your freedom and mine is government; the system of representation and laws our Founding Fathers had the wisdom to create.  We can’t permit conservatives to claim ownership of it.

Still Gutless After All These Years!

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For many years, Teapublicans have cowed Democrats into compromising their ideals.  In fact, Democrats have become so accustomed to withering under partisan attacks many now give up their principles willingly.  Witness the news from just the past two days.

Yesterday, the Obama administration dropped controversial new safety standards for children who are hired to work on farms.  Apparently, the lies and misinformation circulated by Teapublicans that the new standards would negatively affect family farms was enough to make the administration’s testicles shrivel to 2009 size.

Then today it was announced that, with the help of 13 Democrats, the Republican-led House passed a student loan bill that includes cutting the Prevention and Public Health Fund; part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  The end result is to reduce funding for women’s and children’s health programs.

Who needs the Supreme Court?  It would seem that some Democrats are willing to help Teapublicans kill “Obamacare” themselves.

Also today, former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi stated that she was willing to embrace cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare as part of the Simpson-Bowles Plan to reduce the national debt.  Say what?  Whatever happened to protecting safety nets from the Teapublican ax?  What happened to ending tax breaks for the wealthy?  What happened to fairness in opportunity and income distribution?

The events of these past two days capsulize one of the greatest problems with our government.  Teapublicans whine and bully and threaten to get their way without concern for the welfare of our citizens and our nation.  They can count on Democrats to drop to their knees and metaphorically pee their pants.  And Democrats seldom disappoint them.

Damn, it’s difficult to be a Democrat!

How “Starve The Beast” Became “Starve The Poor.”

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For years, Teapublicans have marched to a tune called “Starve The Beast.”  The premise is that government has gotten too big and expensive so, in order to bring it under control, they must deprive it of the revenue needed to fund it.  As band-leader-in-chief, President George W. Bush cut taxes, primarily for the wealthy.

As a result of those tax cuts, two unfunded wars and a bill designed to buy the votes of seniors in time for the 2004 election, the Bush administration squandered the Clinton-era budget surpluses and led us into massive deficits and an ever-growing national debt.

Rather than being alarmed by these Bush decisions, Teapublicans reveled in them.  And, when the economy collapsed in 2008, Teapublicans recognized two opportunities:  One, by blocking every attempt to speed up the recovery, they hope to make President Obama a one-term president.  Two, by howling about the enormous deficit and debt they created, they hope to make it easier to cut government and the things Teapublicans seem to hate most: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

They say Americans can no longer afford such programs.  They point to the long-term “instability” of Medicaid and Medicare while failing to admit that much of that instability is caused by the skyrocketing medical and pharmaceutical costs they refuse to address.  I believe their hatred for “Obamacare” is driven by the fact that it will help mitigate costs, thereby saving Medicaid and Medicare.

Likewise, Teapublicans seem to relish every new report on Social Security that shows the program running out of funds in the not-too-distant future.  They point to the large group of retiring Baby Boomers as the reason the program needs to be privatized (gotta get it out of the clutches of big government, you know).

What they fail to mention is how easily Social Security could be permanently fixed.  Either increasing individual contributions to the plan by little more than 1 percent or removing the cap on incomes above $106,000 would protect Social Security for future generations.  But that wouldn’t allow Teapublicans to meet their long-term goals of privatizing Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

As for the people whose health care would be left at the mercy of large, greedy insurance companies and the retirees who might be relegated to dumpster-diving the next time the stock markets crash, no worries.

Teapublicans are more than willing to starve the poor in order to Starve The Beast.

Whatever Happened to The “Liberal” Media?

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Oh, that’s right! The “liberal” media was never more than a figment of Teapublican imaginations and conservative radio nutjobs!

As I pointed out in a previous post, following the demise of the Fairness Doctrine, conservative talk radio has overwhelmed progressive and moderate talk radio. And the wackos on Fox News Channel have dominated cable news with Teapublican talking points. Those who rely on these stations for news are, instead, given an earful of conservative opinions, half-truths and outright falsehoods…all presented as absolute facts.

Moreover, the effect of the attacks on mainstream media has been to cause them to dance around the truth in order to avoid even more attacks from the right. As a result, the mainstream media tend to downplay or overlook stories that contrast with the conservative narrative.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. A recent examination of Sunday morning TV news programs by Think Progress found that, between June of 2011 and February of this year, 70 percent of the guests were Republican. And the latest survey from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (www.journalism.org) found that news coverage has been slanted against President Obama. The study states, “Of all the presidential candidates studied in this report, only one figure did not have a single week in 2012 when positive coverage exceeded negative coverage—the incumbent, Democrat Barack Obama.”

No matter. As long as legitimate news services refuse to pass along conservative crackpot theories as “news,” conservatives will continue to rant about bias. And conservative writers and media hosts will continue to claim that they alone are presenting the truth that the mainstream news media won’t.

The Legacy of Trayvon Martin.

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Following his tragic murder, the circumstances of Trayvon Martin’s death have focused national attention on Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law authored by ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).  It’s not as if the law is unique to Florida.  Like most of the thousands of bills ALEC has authored over the past 30 years, it was peddled to conservative legislators all over the country.  More than two dozen states have some version of the law.

Now that the publicity generated by Martin’s death has shone a bright light on ALEC, a growing number of the organization’s sponsors have severed ties with the group.  Coca-Cola, the Gates Foundation, Kraft Foods, McDonald’s, Pepsico, Wendy’s and Yum! Brands (A&W, KFC, Long John Silver’s and Taco Bell) have all announced they will no longer donate money to ALEC.

But we need to starve ALEC of all the funds it needs to control our legislatures.  We must keep writing ALEC sponsors. We must tell them that we will not support them as long as they support ALEC.  Ending ALEC, the Goldwater Institute and dozens of other such undemocratic organizations would be a great first step in taking back our government. 

And it would be a fitting tribute to the young man who was the victim of a senseless killing.

Latest Vatican Reprimand Says It All.

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On Wednesday, the Vatican stepped into the fray between the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the American bishops.  Not surprisingly, it came down hard on the side of the bishops.  Saying the group, which claims to represent 80 percent of the 57,000 nuns in the US, had failed to make the “Biblical view of family life and human sexuality” the centerpoint of its teachings, the Holy See and company accused the group of promoting “certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

In other words, in the opinion of the Vatican, the nuns were spending too much time worrying about poverty and social justice, and not enough time spewing anti-feminst, anti-gay propaganda.  (Imagine that…women not attacking the rights of other women!)

This latest reprimand comes from an out-of-touch group of unmarried old men who apparently believe the only proper role for women is to be subserviant to their husbands and almost continuously pregnant.  It’s a group of arrogant men who believe there is no acceptable role in society for gays, except maybe as priests. 

This is the same unbroken chain of clueless old farts who called for the slaughter of the “heretics” who left the Church, such as my Huguenot ancestors.  It’s a group whose predecessors virtually invented torture in order to make their victims admit to “crimes against the Church.”  A group of men who, to this day, refuses to acknowledge that the Inquisition was a mistake.  The very same group of men who allowed their subordinates to molest children for hundreds of years and then turned a blind eye to the victims who had the courage to step forward.

At this point, I should say that I have enjoyed the friendship of many devoted Catholic priests, nuns and parishioners over the years. For the most part, I find them to be joyful, caring and compassionate people. I don’t blame the majority of Catholics for the anti-feminist, anti-gay, out-of-touch political action group that the heirarchy of Church has become.  I blame the Vatican.  And I blame those who use their positions and pulpits to push their political views like the nitwit Bishop Daniel Jenky who recently used his homily to compare President Barack Obama to Hitler!

Is it any wonder that the Catholic Church has been losing members faster than any other religion? 

Sen. Phil Gramm. A Legacy Of Failures.

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Unquestionably, Gramm’s actions as a US Senator were failures for consumers and our economy. But given the massive profits of the “too big to fail” financial institutions, they were great successes for Wall Street and large corporations.

In 1999, then Republican Senator Phil Gramm co-sponsored the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, aka the Financial Services Modernization Act, aka the Citigroup Relief Act which was enacted by the 106th US Congress and, unfortunately signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which had successfully protected consumer finances by erecting firewalls between banks of deposit, security investment companies and insurance companies. The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act removed those restrictions allowing financial institutions of all kinds to consolidate.

The bill was crafted to provide legal cover for Citigroup which, a year earlier had been formed by the merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group. For the first time since the Great Depression, the merged organization combined banking, securities and insurance services that included Citibank, Smith Barney, Primerica and Travelers.

For Wall Street, it was the best legislation money could buy.

But Sen. Gramm’s meddling on behalf of large financials didn’t stop there. In 2000, he sponsored the Commodity Futures Modernization Act which was also signed into law by President Clinton. It weakened yet another post-Depression law, the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936, freeing over-the-counter derivitives transactions between “sophisticated parties” from regulation under federal securities laws. It is the law that permitted credit default swaps.

Combined, the two Gramm-sponsored laws created an environment of massive profits for Wall Street and led to the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis which cost the world economy an estimated $7.7 trillion! And if that doesn’t give you cause for concern, consider this:  Despite being the poster boy for our current economic problems, Gramm was selected as the senior economic adviser for John McCain’s presidential campaign.

Had McCain been elected with Gramm advising him, imagine where our economy might be now!

Taking Back Our Government.

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Over the past 30 years, no organization or group of individuals has had a more negative impact on our nation than ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).  Sponsored by many of the world’s largest corporations, ALEC’s membership consists of the most partisan conservative legislators.  It maintains an ideological staff that writes legislation and peddles it to its members in every state legislature.  In turn, those legislators sponsor the bills, often without even reading them. 

ALEC’s website brags that, each year, nearly 1,000 ALEC-authored bills are introduced in legislatures throughout the US. ALEC has given us some of the nation’s most extreme bills, including the “Stand Your Ground” law that is at the center of the Trayvon Martin murder, Arizona’s infamous SB 1070 anti-Latino bill, anti-union bills and many others designed to promote an extreme ideology and to serve ALEC’s corporate masters.  And its legislation becomes more divisive every year.

How can we stop it?

Last week, several former sponsors showed us the way to defeat this insidious group.  Due to the public attention focused on the “Stand Your Ground” law, Coca-Cola, the Gates Foundation, Intuit, Kraft Foods, McDonald’s, Pepsico and Wendy’s announced they would no longer sponsor ALEC. 

We need to remind the other sponsors that they, too, are vulnerable to public backlash over ALEC’s extreme ideology.  Following is a partial list of the organization’s corporate sponsors according to www.SourceWatch.org.  Contact them and tell them that you will hold them responsible for extreme legislation such as the “Stand Your Ground” law.  If we’re successful, we can starve ALEC of the funds it needs to continue to make a mess of our political system.

Amazon.com, American Express, Amway, Anheuser-Busch, Arby’s, ARCO, AT&T, Bank of America, Bankers Insurance Co., Bayer Corp., Bell Atlantic, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, BP America, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CenturyLink, Chevron, Chrysler Corporation, Coldwell Banker, Comcast, ConocoPhillips, Cox Communications, Deere & Company, Dell Inc., Del Webb Corp., Dow Chemical, DuPont, Eli Lilly, Excel Telecommunications, ExxonMobil, Farmers Group Inc., FedEx, Fidelity Investments, Ford Motor Co., Frito-Lay, Fruit of the Loom, GEICO, General Electric, General Mills Restaurants, General Motors, Georgia-Pacific, Gerber Products, Harris Bank, Henkel, Honeywell, HP, Humana Corp., IBM, International Paper, JC Penney Co., Johnson & Johnson, Koch Industries, LaSalle National Bank, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Long Term Care, Inc., Marathon Oil, Mars Inc., Mary Kay Cosmetics, Microsoft, MillerCoors, Monsanto, Motorola, Nationwide Insurance, Nestlé USA, Northern Telecom, Novartis, Outback Steak House, Pennzoil, Pfizer Inc., Procter & Gamble, Prudential Financial, Reynolds American, Ryder Systems, Salt River Project, Sara Lee Corp., Schwan’s Sales Enterprises, Shell Oil, Sony Corp., Sprint Nextel, State Farm Insurance, Texaco, TicketMaster, Time Warner, The Traveler’s Companies, Unilever, United Airlines, UnitedHealthcare, UPS, VALIC, Verizon, Visa, Walgreens, Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart, Washington Times, Wausau Insurance, WellPoint, Xcel Energy, and YUM! Brands (owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver’s and A&W).