Month: March 2009

Now that CNN correspondent and neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta has withdrawn as a candidate to be the next Surgeon General of the United States, the rumor mills have spread the idea that Dr. Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 2004, Democratic National Committee Chair from 2005-2008, and a medical doctor, is a front runner for the position.

Everyone can admit that Dean played a major role in the revival of the Democratic party after the loss in 2004.  Everyone can concede that he added color and excitement to the 2004 Democratic Presidential race by his candidacy.  Everyone can acknowledge that he is a man of strong convictions and beliefs.

Having said that, it must be said that Dean harmed his own self image by his shrieking public display of enthusiasm after primary results came in from Iowa, and that his outspokenness alienated many Americans who came to see him as radical and overly controversial.  He made many enemies within the Democratic party.

It was surprising that Dean was not offered a position with Obama before this, but it might be because of his stormy public image and tendency to shoot from the hip. It must be said that while he is certainly qualified to be Surgeon General on paper, that it is predictable that his proposed nomination will cause a storm of opposition from the Republican minority in the Senate and may also alienate moderate Democrats.  The question is whether Obama is prepared to back a controversial nominee in the midst of so many other issues that are all on his plate at the same time.  Dean comes across as almost "too political" to be Surgeon General, so I would hope that this proposed nomination not be followed through on, and that the President finds a less controversial choice to be the next Surgeon General.

It is now reported that President Obama will sign an executive order on Monday in a White House ceremony, overturning the federal ban on funding of embryonic stem cell research.  This will overturn the ban established by President Bush in 2001.

This change in government policy will allow further research into the causes and cure of such diseases as Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and Diabetes, as well as allow for the possibility of pathbreaking developments in the field of paralysis.  What the actor Michael J. Fox, President Ronald Reagan, and actor Chris Reeve represented, along with millions of other victims of these horrible diseases and conditions, will now finally have the possibility of seeing major progress in future years.

Health care policy should not become enmeshed in religious debate.  Individuals have the right to adhere to their religious beliefs, but religion should NOT become a determinant of medical research, particularly with the likelihood of major reforms in finding cures and solutions for so many medical ills.

Rush Limbaugh has become more egotistical and obnoxious than ever before.  Already making clear his hope that President Obama’s programs fail, and having become in many people’s minds the image of the Republican party despite his low personal public opinion rating, he now has gone one step further in yet another outrage.

Rush declared today that the President’s health care initiative, were it to be passed, would be named the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Act, therefore predicting the death of the "Lion of the Senate".  This horrible statement matches the insanity of Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, who a couple of weeks ago predicted the death within nine months of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who like Kennedy is a cancer patient.

How low and gross  and lacking in class can public figures descend!  Both should be ashamed of themselves, but imagine this.  Senator Bunning issued an inadequate apology, misspelling Ginsberg’s last name twice in a  printed statement.  That puts him way above Rush Limbaugh, who one could not expect would have the character to withdraw his statement and apologize.  How this man can have anyone listen to him and endorse his views is beyond understanding, but it is clear that there are millions of Americans who have no dignity and class, just as those who represent them, such as Rush, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Michael Savage.  This is, unfortunately, the price one must pay for a free society, that those who have no respectability can still obtain an audience from those who enjoy gross behavior and character assassination!

An eye-opening development in California is the lead in the polls of former Governor Jerry Brown, presently Attorney General and also former Mayor of Oakland, over the Mayor of Los Angeles, the Mayor of San Francisco, and the Lieutenant Governor for the Governorship in 2010.

Jerry Brown was governor at the young age of 35, when he was first elected in 1974.  He was re-elected in 1978, and was an active Presidential candidate in 1976, 1980 and 1992.  He gained a reputation as a populist but also as a flaky guy who preferred to sleep on the floor of his apartment than live in the Governor’s mansion in Sacramento. 

For him to come back at age 71 as Governor, with the Democrats greatly favored over any Republican, would be startling beyond belief.  Imagine, 36 years, after being first elected, and 28 years after leaving the Governorship, to come back to office would be the story of the political year 2010. 

Considering that California has elected two actors as governor (Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger),  it is obvious that ANYTHING is possible, but still the return of Jerry Brown to the governorship would be an astounding event!

Former Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota has dragged out the election battle for more than two months now, denying his state one of its two senators.  He has failed in court to overcome the 225 vote lead of Democrat Al Franken.

Originally, when Coleman led by a small margin after Election Day, he said that Franken should accept the result and avoid a long drawn out court case and the possibility of another Senate election race, which would be costly for the state, particularly in a time of economic difficulty for all states.

Nothing has changed except Coleman has wasted everyone’s time and state money in a fruitless search to gain 226 votes.  To make things worse, now Coleman demands a NEW election, which is totally uncalled for.  Al Franken has been very patient and decent in his struggle with Coleman, while Coleman has shown absolutely no class and  comes across as a sore loser, who is willing to do anything to prevent the seating of the rightful winner, Al Franken.

It is time for the Minnesota courts to put an end to this disaster, and declare Franken the winner and reject the idea of an expensive redo of the Senate race.  Enough is enough, Norm Coleman!  Go into retirement without further ruining your reputation!

At at time when the Republican party is at a low point and seemingly has Rush Limbaugh as its unofficial leader, a guarantee for continuous GOP failures in elections in the future, suddenly a bright star has emerged who just might be able some day soon to lead the Republicans out of the wilderness if only people in that party use their heads.

I am talking about Utah Governor Jon Huntsman who has spoken up on the need for the GOP to change its tune and message.  In an interview with POLITICO, Huntsman declared that the Republicans must understand the need to appeal to the young, minorities, and intellectuals if it is to revive as a serious opposition party with the possibility of winning back power. 

To do so, Huntsman makes clear that the GOP must move toward the moderate center on the environment, gay rights and immigration.  Appealing only to the South and Appalachia and the Great Plains will not bring about any return of the Republicans to national influence, so Huntsman emphasizes the need for the party to be " "intellectually rigorous".

It would be a smart idea for the GOP to separate itself from the likes of the talk radio set, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee as they represent a guaranteed minority status for the party for the long term.  Huntsman is a bright light in a gloomy time for the minority party.

Over last weekend, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, one of two Republican members of President Obama’s cabinet and a carryover from the Bush Administration, was asked on Meet the Press to compare Presidents Obama and Bush.

Gates paused and then said that President Obama is more analytical, that he wants to know what everyone at the cabinet and other meetings feels about the issues at hand, and will ask someone who has not volunteered his or her views.  Bush, on the other hand, while not discouraging feedback, did not have the curiosity to ask those who did not speak up on their own.

This tells us something very obvious:  Obama is a lot brighter, more curious, more intellectual, and is interested in the free flow of ideas.  Bush was just the opposite, but then is that really surprising to anyone who has observed Bush for the past eight years and Obama for the past two years since his Presidential campaign began?  The answer is NO of course, and it proves what many people fail to realize:  It DOES matter who is President.  It changes the course of history in a positive or negative way.  The concept that ignorant people have that no matter who is elected, things remain the same, is totally wrong and shows such people to be totally uninformed.

The nation is fortunate to have a President now who is outstanding in his intelligence, commitment, and desire to bring necessary change!

Queen Elizabeth II has given British knighthood to Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, an action that has no legal effect in America, but is a nice gesture and honor to a senator who has been a statesman in so many ways in his 46 plus years in the US Senate.

With Senator Kennedy already the third longest serving senator in history, and suffering from a malignant brain tumor, it is wonderful that honors are coming to him to let him know how much he is appreciated for his long service to the United States.

Kennedy has had many controversial aspects to his career, but his reputation and image have improved the longer he has served our nation.  While there will always be controversy about his misbehavior, and particularly about the issue of Chappaquiddick in 1969, Kennedy is already acknowledged by Democrats, as well as by Republicans who disagree with him philosophically, as having had a positive impact on the Senate and having become a major historical figure, one of the Senate greats of all time. No one would say  the same about the two senators who have served longer, the late Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, and still serving Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

We should all wish Senator Kennedy a return to good health if that is at all possible.  If not possible, then giving him his due while alive is very appropriate.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to Washington and delivered an address before a joint session of Congress and met President Obama at the White House in the past two days.

His message was that,  in the midst of what is becoming a world wide economic downturn, Great Britain and the United States must continue their long time alliance of cooperation and work together on a Global New Deal.  This is an idea that makes total sense, as the worst thing we could do is become isolationist and cut off trade with the world, the mistake we made in the early 1930s, which only made our Great Depression and the world wide depression worse. 

Our century long alliance with our British cousins helped them and us survive military and economic crises, and the necessity is to have both governments continue their close association.  After all, there is no nation on earth that we are closer to and means more to us in history, beginning with the administration of Theodore Roosevelt.  The future economic and military security of the world depends on the alliance of the two leading English speaking nations!

Senator Patrick Leahy, Vermont Democrat, and head of the Judiciary Committee, has proposed a full investigation of the Bush-Cheney Administration regarding violations of law in such areas as torture, rendition, wiretapping and eavesdropping, and the general concept which has just been revealed that the President had no limits if national security was the issue at hand.  Top lawyers in that administration made it clear in the last days of the term that what had been asserted was legal was NOT legal and needed to be retracted.

When one realizes what little we know and how scary it is what we already are aware of, one can already come to the conclusion that Presidential authority and powers ran amuck during the past eight years, all justified by the 9/11 attacks.  In other words, in the process of preserving the American nation, the President could go ahead and break the Constitution and claim executive privilege to do anything he chose to do.  Imagine what would have occurred had we been attacked shortly after 9/11 again!  The enemy would have truly won the battle if they had helped through their actions to destroy constitutional government in America.

We cannot allow this constitutional crisis we have been through in the past eight years to be pushed under the rug and hidden from investigation and full exposure.  American democracy is at stake, and if need be, people high in that administration need to be held accountable and be brought before the bar of justice to answer for their crimes.  Anything less than full transparency would be a disservice to the American people and the traditions of American history!