Day: July 7, 2011

From An Economic Crisis To A Constitutional Crisis: The Insanity Of Tea Party Conservative Republicans In The House Of Representatives!

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With Tea Party and conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives holding firmly against any raising of the debt ceiling by raising revenue through tax reform and the ending of tax loopholes, it seems more likely that we may reach a situation where the good faith and credit of the United States could be lost by August 2, leading to a worldwide economic collapse that would put our nation into another Great Depression!

What could be done to prevent this scenario if no agreement is reached between the White House and Congressional Republicans?

As Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner had suggested in May, the 14th Amendment, Section 4, would be a solution, as it guarantees all government debts must be paid, so the debt ceiling would automatically go up without a congressional vote under such a situation.

But now, there are threats of impeachment of the President, first suggested by black Republican conservative Congressman Tim Scott of South Carolina, a member just as looney as Congressman Allen West of Florida in his irrationality!

Of course, there have been threats of impeachment before over ending support of the Defense of Marriage Act; illegal immigration policy; and the “Birther” controversy by other nutty Republicans, and Obama will not let such threats deter him from doing the responsible thing!

But it means we may be moving soon from an economic crisis to a constitutional crisis, and if that is the case, bring it on, as there is no way that Obama would ever be removed from office by a two thirds vote of the US Senate!

The economic survival of the nation is more important than the fruitless move to impeach another President, bringing back memories of the abuse of impeachment by the Republicans against President Bill Clinton in 1998-1999!

Bill Clinton Reminds Us About “Jim Crow” Voting Restrictions On Blacks, Warns Against Them Returning!

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Former President Bill Clinton has made a major speech criticizing Republican Governors and legislatures passing restrictions on voting rights, comparing them to the old “Jim Crow” restrictions that ruled the South for nearly one hundred years until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The new restrictions being promoted and put into law with the backing of Florida Governor Rick Scott, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and many other Republican Governors would require drivers license ID cards to vote, shorten hours and days of early voting, require college students to vote at home instead of where they live, and restrict felons who have completed their obligation to society from being able to cast their vote. The theory is that these states are trying to prevent voter fraud, which in reality, is a very slight problem historically!

This is all designed to harm groups–African Americans, Latinos, the young, and the poor–who are perceived as likely to vote for Democrats.

Clinton reminding us of “Jim Crow” should lead to law suits to stop this new limitation and discrimination of the right to vote, something supposedly overcome by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s as part of his Great Society.

Somehow, we seem to repeat history’s mistakes over and over again!

Israel, The Pew Poll, And Conservative Falsehoods Against Barack Obama

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Conservatives and Republicans have been working very hard to create an image that Barack Obama is against Israel and pro Palestinian, particularly after his speech over a month ago in which he advocated negotiations based on the 1967 War with negotiated land swaps, similar to the George W. Bush stand on the Middle East problem.

But a Pew Poll shows that the American people, and including Jews, still feel by 48-11 that they sympathize with Israel over the Palestinians.

50 percent think Obama has the right balance on the issue of the Middle East, while 21 percent think he favors the Palestinians, so there is not much of a difference between the sympathies and the feelings about Obama’s approach to the issue.

To believe that the Jewish community, in particular, in any meaningful numbers will vote against Obama in 2012 is to believe in fantasy, as Jews are certain to remain strongly Democratic, not just on that issue, but on social and economic matters.

The number of Jews who can be considered right wing is small, but they make a lot of noise, which makes one think they might be a majority, which is very far from the truth!

The Nightmare Of The News Media Publicity Hounds: Refusal To Accept Trial By Jury!

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The Casey Anthony trial is further proof of the reality that the news media has gone amuck, led by publicity hounds including Nancy Grace, Jane Velez, Geraldo Rivera, and others who saw no need for a trial by jury, since they were convinced that this woman was guilty without a trial, and in so doing, built up a fever pitch of anger that now threatens the peace of mind of not only Casey Anthony, but also her family members, the judge, jury, and lawyers in the case!

In the battle for ratings and the almighty dollar, these media disgraces set a horrible standard for journalism, and care not a bit about how they are making the lives of the participants in the trial a literal nightmare for now and the future!

Casey Anthony may have won the case in court, but in a sense, she is in a permanent prison WORSE than prison, the inability to have a “normal life” ever again, enough to imagine that someday she might, tragically, decide to take her own life to end the misery!

Even that would not satisfy Nancy Grace, Jane Velez, Geraldo Rivera and the others like them who have the nerve to call themselves “journalists”, rather than the trash that they are!

This is freedom of the press gone crazy, preventing an open minded attitude on the evidence and the facts in any trial, and it is the demise of serious journalism!

As Judge Belvin Perry, who presided over the trial, said, the age of responsible journalism, of Walter Cronkite, Douglas Edwards, and Peter Jennings and others, is over, and this is the tragic ending of journalism as a profession!

Why have a trial when one can have a lynch mob mentality fueled by ambition, ego, and material greed?

Why have a trial when trial by jury, with all its faults, is not respected by even those who are lawyers who make their living by exploiting public opinion, rather than practice their profession in court?

Sensationalism and irresponsibility and recklessness have become standard in American journalism, and made it a tragedy of our democracy, which desperately needs RESPONSIBLE journalism, and cannot expect it anymore in the present political climate in America!

An Absolute Environmental Sacrilege: Republican Proposals To Permit Uranium Mining In Grand Canyon!

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The Grand Canyon is our greatest natural treasure, providing enjoyment and recreation to millions of tourists, and the Colorado River running through it provides drinking water to 25 million Americans.

Who would think that ANYONE would be so shortsighted to wish to have mining interests, particularly in the uranium industry, have access to the Grand Canyon, and therefore destroy this greatest of our national parks and the wildlife and plant life contained within it?

Republican Congressman Jeff Flake of Arizona, who plans to run for the US Senate seat of retiring Senator Jon Kyl in 2012, is the villain who, with financial backing of mining interests, is attempting to force a change in Interior Department rules to allow such a sacrilege!

Flake and others in the House MUST be fought tooth and nail to prevent such a outrageous rape of our greatest natural wonder! President Theodore Roosevelt would turn over in his grave if he knew what his party was attempting to do, and were he actually alive, he would be ready to go into combat to prevent such an outrage!