Day: January 25, 2011

Total Ignorance About American History: Michele Bachmann, Pat Buchanan And Other Republicans! :(

Ronald 2 Comments

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is demonstrating her total ignorance of American history and the history of her Republican party, based on the text of her speech to be delivered tonight after President Obama’s State of the Union Address!

She says slavery was ended by the Founding Fathers, showing she is unaware of the role of her Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War in ending slavery. She is, as always, demonstrating her total lack of knowledge of the American past and the American Constitution, joining many other Republicans, including Sarah Palin, in this regard! 🙁

But now, Pat Buchanan, former challenger for the Presidency against George HW Bush in 1992, and running for President as a third party party candidate in 2000, has also demonstrated his lack of knowledge, by asserting there were more slaves in the Union states that had slaves (Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri) than in any of the Confederate States that broke away from the Union! He also said incorrectly that George Washington freed his slaves after his wife died, but the reality is that his wife outlived him by over two years! 🙁

The ignorance and lack of knowledge of these and other Republican leaders is shocking and reprehensible! 🙁

The Founding Fathers (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin) and the statesmen of the pre Civil War era (Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas, William Seward, Charles Sumner, Abraham Lincoln) would be shocked and mortified if they came back today and witnessed the TOTAL STUPIDITY AND IGNORANCE of many GOP leaders, and Republicans of the Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower era would also be ashamed of what their party has become: a party without legitimacy, ethics, character, and morality! 🙁

Barack Obama’s “Sputnik Moment”: Promote Technology, Research And Development, And Education!

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Word has leaked out that President Obama will call, in the State of the Union Address, for the nation to meet its present “Sputnik moment”, a reference to the challenge that the Soviet Union presented when it went into space ahead of the United States a half century ago.

That shocking moment motivated the nation to move ahead, and Obama will promote the idea of investment in technology, research and development, and education as essential for the nation’s future.

Already, the GOP has made clear it wants no such agenda, as it means increased government spending, but without any such investment, including in infrastructure of the nation, there is no way to create enough jobs or economic growth to recover from the Great Recession we have suffered in the past three years!

There can be no compromise with lunatics, and that is how the GOP is coming across with its impossible and reckless attempts to gut the federal budget! 🙁

It is reassuring to see that Obama has a vision of the future, and he and his party must fight “tooth and nail” for the principles and programs they believe in!

The Republicans And The State Of The Union: Not The Time For Obama To Cave In To GOP Threats! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republicans have declared war on the federal budget, and the House membership of the party today unanimously backed a resolution giving Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, the Chairman of the Budget Committee, total control over the House budget bill for the remainder of the fiscal year 2010-2011.

This is fascinating for a party that is against centralized power and for states rights, that now they are willing to hand over total control to one Congressman over the federal budget. This makes Ryan a “Czar”, a title that Republicans are very willing to assign to advisers to President Obama who deal with different issues, but suddenly it is alright to have a financial “Czar”! 🙁

But Ryan, who will give the GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address tonight, has already made clear that he wants to privatize Social Security, gut Medicare and Medicaid, and dramatically lower taxes on the wealthy, even more than they have already by deals between President Obama and the GOP leadership last month.

And the Republican Study Group, a group of Congressional Republicans even MORE conservative than Speaker of the House John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Paul Ryan, wants more draconian cuts in the federal budget immediately and long term, including gutting Amtrak, PBS, NPR, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and funding for research on many diseases, including cancer, AIDS, and heart disease. And also the goal is the wiping out of the Department of Commerce, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Education, and the Department of Energy! 🙁

And to add insult to injury, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, the Tea Party favorite, will give her own response to the President’s State of the Union address, after Congressman Paul Ryan gives the official response!

And Eric Cantor, House Majority Leader, has made it clear that the Congress will NOT give any aid to any state or city to avoid layoffs of police, firefighters, teachers, and other public servants, therefore guaranteeing massive losses of jobs, and adding to the unemployment rate!

Rather than working to create jobs, the GOP is warring on the job market as it is, and has only destructive intentions as part of a war, not only on Barack Obama’s health care plan and other reforms, but also with the express purpose of destroying the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson and the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt! 🙁

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said today that if President Obama offers a message that includes all of what the GOP wants, they will be glad to support him!

What gall and nerve, without any indication that the Republicans in Congress are willing to make any concessions, but just expect Obama to cave in ! 🙁

The answer is that the President needs to make clear that he is willing to work and negotiate with the opposition party, but will not surrender the right to disagree and use his Presidential powers to protect government programs and the historic accomplishments of Roosevelt, Johnson and even Richard Nixon!

The President and the Democratic Party and progressives and liberals everywhere MUST understand that this is a battle for the heart and soul of the American nation, and they cannot cave in to the destructive tendencies of the Republican party, and must stand and fight to the bitter end, and stop worrying about those who say they are unwilling to negotiate and compromise, and tell them to look in the mirror at themselves! 🙁

The Loss Of America’s Soul: The Declining Interest In Government Promotion Of The Arts And Humanities! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

Tonight, at the John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts in Washington, DC, there will be a concert reminding people of the great musician Pablo Casals, who performed at the White House for President Kennedy nearly fifty years ago.

The Kennedy Presidency promoted interest and involvement in the arts and humanities, and Lyndon Johnson created the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities during his administration.

Today, sadly, we are hearing from the Republicans in the House of Representatives that all funding for the arts and humanities should be cut, and on the local level all over the country, we see art, music, drama and other cultural programs being dropped from public school curriculums, and even some universities cutting back on majors in some of the fields of the arts and humanities.

This is indeed a sad time, that somehow it is felt that the arts and humanities are “frills” that are not needed, and that the younger generation need not be exposed to the best of our cultural heritage!

This is a true sign of the decline of America, when we have politicians advocating that we eliminate the best part of the nation, its creativity and originality in everything but making profit!

A nation without the promotion of the arts and humanities is indeed a country without its soul! 🙁

President Barack Obama is certainly not of this view, but whether we can see a revival of the spirit of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in these difficult times, and harsh, no holds barred negativism, is an issue that awaits expectations! 🙁