Month: June 2009

The news today that Nevada Senator John Ensign, a supposed presidential candidate in some circles, has cheated on his wife through having an extra marital affair, should not be surprising, as the "family values" party is full of hypocrites and worse.

Ensign joins Senators David Vitter of Louisiana, Larry Craig of Idaho, and John McCain of Arizona, and Congressmen Bob Livingston of Louisiana, Newt Gingrich of Georgia, Henry Hyde of Illinois,Vito Fossella of New York, Mark Foley of Florida, and Dan Burton of Indiana, and also former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani, and other past and present members of the GOP who have been disloyal to their wives.  Not that Democrats are angels, as we know that Gary Hart, Bill Clinton and John Edwards at the least also engaged in illicit sexual activity, along with Governors Elliott Spitzer and James McGreevy and others as well.

The thing that bothers me the most is that many of those guilty of such trangressions have had the nerve to offer themselves up for the Presidency, including Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, John Edwards, John McCain, and Rudy Guiliani; and Newt Gingrich and John Ensign have been flirting with the idea for the next round.

These politicians, and this includes President Clinton, have seemed unable to have a sense of shame about their activities.  Their behavior has made them a terrible model for the future generation of leadership, and they seem unable to understand that their conduct is something that they cannot hide or get away with.  If nothing else, the idea of "getting caught" should be enough of a deterrent, but obviously it is not, regrettably.

Republican strategist Mike Murphy, who worked for John McCain in the 2000 Presidential campaign, has written an  article for TIME Magazine, in which he predicts an "Ice Age" for the GOP unless they can change their appeal to the electorate.

A careful study of the 2008 Presidential election demonstrates the trouble the Republican are in.   They lost the growing Hispanic vote by a wide margin.  They lost the younger voters, who are more than ever socially liberal, even if many are economically conservative.  They lost a growing percentage of suburban voters on the borders of major cities, a group which used to be strongly Republican.  They also are losing a growing number of college educated voters, and the white working class is getting smaller, so does not offer hope for the Republican party.  Geographically, they are practically nonexistent in New England, the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, and California and the Pacific Northwest.  They have now lost key battleground states, including Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico,  and even in Texas, with the growing numbers of Hispanic residents, the future for the GOP seems gloomy.

The Republicans are becoming more than ever Southern  and Appalachian white working class, and culturally conservative and religious devout whites.  Even  a growing number of women nationally, more than ever before, are voting Democratic.

So the Republicans are being marginalized, and may be in the minority and in the wilderness for a long time,  or as Murphy says, entering the "Ice Age",   unless they do major surgery on their party ideology and principles.  Maybe they will indeed be replaced by a new major party as time goes by.  No one can say for sure, but right now the Democrats are in a commanding position for the long term, as James Carville declared in his recent book.

After five months of the Obama Presidency, the good news is that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen above its 2008 close in December.

The Dow has also risen in 12 of the past 14 weeks and gained 34 percent in that time, making for the best 14 week performance since 1975, when Gerald Ford was President.  In addition, the S&P 500 has improved this year by 40 percent and the Nasdaq by 47 percent.

Additionally,  polls indicate that Obama remains very popular with about 64 percent favorable toward the new President.

These signs of optimism compare to the constant negative and critical assessments of conservative talk show hosts and Republican leaders and spokesmen.  At the same time, most Americans cannot figure out who the leaders of the Republican party are.  So it looks as if a vast majority of Americans, including people who have in the past voted Republican,  are quite disgusted with the GOP,  and quite content with Barack Obama’s  performance,  and that investors are showing the same faith on the stock market.

David Letterman, the CBS late night comedian, showed very poor taste when he joked about Sarah Palin’s daughter being "raped" by Yankee star Alex Rodriguez in the seventh inning "stretch".  There is no way to justify what he said.  However, he made an apology for it, which I think should have been accepted by Sarah Palin, and life should have moved on.

But not for Sarah Palin, who has decided to dramatize and drag out the cause of  "motherhood"  as part of her attempt to draw attention for a possible Presidential race in 2012.  If this mother had been more attentive and aware, maybe  her 18 year old daughter would not have become pregnant, actually at the age of 17 by 18 year old Levi Johnston, which technically meant it was an act of statutory rape, something she now claims Letterman was joking about regarding her 14 year old daughter, when he was referring to the new mother of Trig, Sarah Palin’s first grandchild.

Sarah Palin fails to realize that when one enters the political world, one is subject to constant scrutiny, criticism, and jokes, and unfortunately, even the children, particularly the adult children, cannot escape being exposed to that reality.  Comedians all of the time are saying outrageous things that many could object to, but the only way to escape this in a world of freedom of speech is to leave the public spotlight, which Sarah Palin is not about to do.

It is hard to see how this situation will end, as David Letterman DID apologize and offered to have Sarah and Todd Palin on his show, which they refused.  Many politicians who have been "wronged" as they see it end up making up with the talk show host or comedian, and are able to laugh about it, including John McCain with David Letterman during the campaign last year.  Why can’t Sarah Palin stop promoting the "outrage" image and allow us to spend our time dealing with really important issues and problems?  I think it is because she wants to exploit it for all it is worth and maybe create a movement to take her to the White House.

I find it hard to believe that the American people are gullible enough to react in the way she wants.  As always, there is the temptation to say to Sarah Palin:   "We have heard enough and BE GONE!"

President Obama was in Wisconsin today to promote his health care proposals, and an incident occurred that shows just how special a man and President he is!

A man in the crowd with his daughter asked a question, and mentioned that his daughter was with him, and had cut the last day of school to have the opportunity to see Obama.  The President asked what her name was, and the man said it was Kennedy, to which Obama responded that it was a "cool" name. 

Obama proceeded to ask if the man wanted an excuse note, and to the dad’s surprise, actually wrote a note and presented it to him after the rally!  Can one imagine any teacher NOT accepting a note from the President? :)  LOL

This is one of those really human events that will make Obama always remembered in the future beyond the normal reality of having been President.  It is very obvious that with a gesture like this,  he proves just how special he really is.  But would you not be willing to bet that right wing talk show hosts will find some way to criticize the President, such as claiming that he is promoting a kid being hooky from school?  That is the difference between them and Obama:  that he has humanity and compassion, both of which Rush Limbaugh and company do NOT have!

Rush Limbaugh, a totally irresponsible talk show host, who many see as the titular leader of the Republican party, has long been known for outrageous, despicable comments and statements,  and for character assassination of people he sees as his enemies.

Now he is claiming that the right wing crazy who killed a security guard in the attack on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum got his inspiration from the left wing and from Barack Obama.  Limbaugh is attempting to blame the attack on the President and to promote the view that the perpetrator gained his anti Semitic views from what Limbaugh calls the anti Jewish and anti Israel policies of the Obama Administration.

This contradicts the voluminous evidence that the killer of the security guard gained his influences from the far right and had regularly condemned liberals and liberalism, as well as Jews and African Americans.   The man’s conspiracy theory views sound very much like rhetoric we have been hearing from right wing talk show hosts, including Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Bill O’Reilly, and from GOP politicians such as Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, among others. 

This does not mean that I am saying that the talk show hosts and Republican politicians mentioned above are responsible for, or being compared to,  the right wing nut who committed this horrible action.  However,  the spewing forth of poisonous statements and promotion of conspiracy theories centered around the Obama Administration are not helpful one iota, and could very well encourage more bloodshed and violence, and even threaten assassination attempts against Obama or members of his administration.  Rational, reasonable criticism is to be understood, but not insane accusations such as those promoted by Rush Limbaugh and others who attract a large audience, and have a responsibility to temper their language as many statements they have made over time can encourage incendiary reactions by unstable listeners and watchers.

In an action long overdue, the Senate has joined the House of Representatives in passing strong regulation of the tobacco industry, and President Obama, himself a smoker fighting the habit, will sign the bill into law.

The Food and Drug Administration will have strong powers over a product that, on the average, kills about 400,000 Americans each year and about 10 million worldwide.  Not only are these statistics imposing, but also about half of those who smoke will eventually be killed by the habit.

The goal should be to lower dramatically the number who smoke,  and to have the tobacco industry on the defensive for the product they offer to the public.  Of course, this will have an effect on people who work in the industry, but when one considers that the annual total of deaths in America from tobacco is greater than the number of Union soldiers killed during the four years of the Civil War, and sixty percent greater than the number of Confederate soldiers killed during the Civil War.  and also the same percentage greater than the number of Americans killed during World War II. 

It should be obvious that the nation needs really to heavily discourage young people from starting a lifelong habit that will kill at least 50 percent of them.  So giving the FDA new powers of regulation is to be applauded and endorsed!

Those who think that terrorism is only international, and only Muslim related, should be sobered by recent events.

Last week, an anti abortion terrorist in Wichita, Kansas,  murdered one of the few doctors in America who will help women in the third trimester who have a child who has died in the womb, or a woman who has been raped, or a woman who has major health problems develop that could cause the loss of her life.  This monster decided that he had a right to end the life of this doctor in the name of being pro life.  What a disgrace, and it is obvious that this character is very unstable, but the constant harrassment at abortion centers terrorizes women who choose to make a tough decision at any stage of the pregnancy to terminate, something that is legal in America, whether individuals like it or not.  Why is it that these fanatics think they have the right to break the law and intimidate women, and in the process, to indirectly encourage violence in the name of principle?

Now just today, an anti semite and racist, involved in white supremacist group activity in Idaho and elsewhere, murders a guard at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.  This monster denies the Holocaust ever occurred and promotes extreme right wing insanity, condemning Jews and African Americans.  He has spent a long lifetime promoting hate and conspiracy theories, and is probably close to the oldest murderer we have seen in America, being 88 years old. 

This violence is just the tip of the iceberg, and the lack of adequate gun controls due to the power of the National Rifle Association as a dominant lobbying group, and the unwillingness of most politicians, including many Democrats,to fight for effective regulation,  allows this bloodshed to continue to occur, particularly now when the situation is very dangerous, due to many people who are angry and looking to blame someone for their loss of employment and housing.  The weakest and most vulnerable groups in society face threats, whether women, Jews, African Americans,  Latinos, gays, or in reality any group which is seen as dangerous to the so called white majority, a small percentage of which are willing to blame these groups for their own failures, shortcomings or bad luck.  We live, indeed, in very dangerous times, and something must be done to quell this growing violence.

With all of the incendiary talk by right wing talk show hosts, this kind of bloodshed and violence is, at the least,  indirectly promoted, and it scares one to think that our President is in constant danger due to the loose rhetoric which is thrown around by conservatives and Republicans who fail to demonstrate responsibility and appropriate language and respect for our leadership, whether they agree with the government or not.  It is time for irresponsible invective to stop before we end up mourning another national tragedy of greater proportions than we have seen!

President Obama’s speech in Germany at the Buchenwald concentration camp, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Elie Wiesel, the highly acclaimed Holocaust survivor, was a moment of emotion and great recognition of the significance of the Holocaust, and at the same time, a condemnation of those who deny the Holocaust ever occurred.

Obama’s own great uncle on his mother’s side helped to liberate a portion of the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945, and  it had a long range impact on the man.  One could see how shook up Obama was at seeing direct evidence of the mass loss of human life that took place at Buchenwald and at many other camps during the time of Hitler and World War II.

The fact that Iran’s President, and so called scholars,  and also David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, could conduct conferences that deny the veracity of the Holocaust was roundly criticized, as Obama said this kind of horror could not be allowed to happen ever again.

Obama certainly made a great impression that he understood the importance of this issue and would not sit idly by as this kind of situation arose again in the future.

President Obama’s speech last Thursday to an audience at Cairo University was a brilliant attempt at changing the relationship between the Muslim world and the United States.

Obama accepted the fact that the United States had, in the past, committed errors, been involved in misdeeds, and even failed to recognize how the Muslim world perceived American actions. 

He called for friendship and cooperation with the Muslim world, and demonstrated humility and honesty.  He pointed out that he had taken the first steps toward the closing of Guantanomo as a prison camp for terrorists, and ordered the end of torture that had been endorsed by the Bush administration.

He also expressed understanding of the feelings of Israeli Jews and Palestinians alike, and called for direct action to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict.  He even went so far as to say that the problem with Iran was not over having nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but their attempt to develop nuclear weapons which would have the effect of raising tensions in Middle East nations, as well as Israel, if the Iranians acquired the ability to have such weaponry.

Obama also condemned terrorists and extremists, who as he pointed out, have actually killed more Muslims than Christians or Jews in the name of Islamic extremism. 

It is obvious that Obama’s speech is a good first step, but there are many challenges to face in the next four to eight years to improve the relationship between the U.S. and the Islamic world.