Month: July 2010

Louisiana Senator David Vitter, Backing The “Birthers”: A Cover For His Scandals! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter is running for reelection, and faces a competitive race against a moderate Democrat, Congressman Charlie Melancon.

Vitter has plenty of “skeletons in his closet”, having been implicated in a scandal involving a “Madam” that he was a regular client of over a period of years, and the fact that one of his congressional aides was involved with death threats and assault on a woman, and yet he worked for Vitter for another two years until his recent resignation! 🙁

So to cover up these stories, or take attention off them, Vitter has now distinguished himself by legitimizing the “Birther” wingnuts who claim that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, but rather in Kenya, despite the Hawaii state government under Republican Governor Linda Lingle asserting that such charges are false, and publishing on line the birth certificate of the President!

For that alone, plus the scandals he has been involved in, the people of Louisiana should retire Vitter and put a decent Congressman, who has been tormented by the oil spill’s effect on his state, Charlie Melancon , into the US Senate for the next six years!

Baseball And Politics: How They Affected The NY Yankees Under George Steinbrenner! :)

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George Steinbrenner, the controversial owner of the NY Yankees, overall the best team in Major League Baseball history, died this morning at age 80, leaving behind a legacy of 11 American League pennants and 7 World Series victories under his ownership since 1973!

Of course, any fanatical baseball fan, as the author is proud to say he is, knows that the NY Yankees, love them or hate them, have the unbelievable historical record of 40 American League pennants and 27 World Series victories! This is over a period of 105 World Series years, not including the two years there was no World Series (1904 and 1994), but counting from 1903 through 2009!

But as a political fanatic and junkie as well, the author finds fascinating the history of Steinbrenner, the Yankees, and the political parties in power during the years he owned and controlled every decision of the Yankees!

Steinbrenner became embroiled in legal trouble for giving a political contribution to Richard Nixon in 1972, and was later pardoned for this by Ronald Reagan, both Republican Presidents!

But his seven World Series victories were under Presidents Carter, Clinton, and Obama (all Democrats), while his four losses were under Presidents Ford, Reagan, and George W. Bush (all Republicans)! 🙂

The Yankees won in 1977 and 1978 (Carter), 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 (Clinton), and 2009 (Obama), while losing in 1976 (Ford), 1981 (Reagan), and 2001 and 2003 (George W. Bush)!

For a baseball and political and historical fanatic and junkie, today is a very special day, and this trivia is fascinating! 🙂 LOL

Financial Reform Legislation Finally About To Pass, Thanks To Three Republican Senators! :)

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The most significant financial reform legislation in generations is about to pass the Senate, after patient behind the scenes negotiations by Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Obama Administration!

With the loss of Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the opportunity of gaining 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster seemed unlikely, but as on the economic stimulus legislation, three Republican Senators from the Northeast, seen as moderates in a party more right wing than ever, have had the courage to cross party lines and back the President!

On the economic stimulus bill last year, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania backed the President, and then switched parties.

So Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are now joined by Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who has proved to be an independent in many ways, and very hard to predict what he will do on any legislation!

At a partisan time such as now, with the fall campaign already in motion, it is important that we salute Senators Collins, Snowe, and Brown for bipartisanship of the best kind!

Thank you, Senators, for doing what is best for the American people! 🙂

The Obama Coalition In Trouble As 2010 Midterm Election Nears! :(

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President Obama has a lot of accomplishments to be proud of, and has been judged by observers as having accomplished more in 18 months than any President, other than Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson!

But try and tell that to the various groups which made up the Obama coalition of 2008!

Labor Unions are unhappy with Obama for failure to gain major labor goals!

Gays are impatient with Obama for the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and other initiatives not yet accomplished!

Jews have been unhappy with Obama because he has been perceived as tougher on Israel, although the recent Obama-Netanyahu summit seems to have changed the image of antagonism that had existed between the President and the Israeli Prime Minister!

Environmentalists are unhappy with Obama’s handling of the BP Oil Spill!

Hispanics are upset that the illegal immigration issue has made little progress in Congress, although happy that Obama has initiated a lawsuit against Arizona through his Justice Department!

Young people are having trouble finding jobs when they leave high school and college, and it tends to make them less enthusiastic to work for Obama and his party in the midterm elections, and even to vote! 🙁

Independents and moderates have been backing away also from Obama, and the percentage of white voters who backed Obama are now declining in support for him and his party, at least based on public opinion polls!

Educators are displeased with Obama with his promotion of accountability for teachers, and his pushing of educational reform not supported by the teachers unions!

Many liberal bloggers and talk show hosts and journalists are becoming more highly critical of the President and his party!

It is ironic that Obama has accomplished a lot, but yet it is simply not enough to please most of his constituencies, and yet the reality is that if the Republican Party wins control of Congress or makes major gains, it will make all of the initiatives of Obama harder, if not impossible, to achieve!

So in many respects, the criticisms and opposition developing is self defeating, as while Obama may be far from perfect, any weakening of his ability to accomplish his goals will only weaken and harm his constituencies!

So if there is any common sense out there, it is time for the coalition to stop sniping, and work to back the Democrats and Barack Obama, or they will be responsible for the demise of their desired goals and accomplishments!

Unemployment Compensation, Tax Cuts For The Wealthy, And The Problem Of The Deficit!

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Republican Senators and Congressmen are actively involved in condemning an extension of unemployment compensation as wasteful, not paid for, adding to the deficit, and promoting laziness and shiftlessness in those people who need to have the “work ethic”!

But, at the same time, they claim it is essential to continue to promote massive tax cuts to the wealthy, even if it adds to the deficit!

If one is to back the idea of the deficit as a major crisis, which it is rapidly becoming, then it makes no sense to assert that tax cuts are acceptable, when these wealthy people have had major increases in income in the past ten years, while the average American either pays more in taxes, or has only had a small decrease in taxes!

When people who are unemployed receive unemployment compensation, it keeps them “above water” and gives them purchasing power, which helps to promote a revival of the economy! It is NOT the same as working, and to say that people who receive part of their salary as unemployment compensation, are living “high off the hog” is an outrageous, uncaring, despicable fabrication! 🙁

But still, Senators Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Jon Kyl of Arizona, and Orrin Hatch of Utah, along with numerous Congressmen and radio talk show hosts and Fox News Channel, continue to spread the word that the rich need more tax cuts, and the poor unemployed be damned! 🙁

What kind of country that calls itself advanced and civilized would allow such a circumstance to continue to exist? If the top one percent already have 17 percent of all income in the country AFTER taxes, is not that enough? 🙁

The “Tea Party” For Progressives And Liberals-“One Nation”!

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Progressives, liberals, and their supporters have tried to combat the Tea Party Movement, which promotes conservative ideals, by forming so called “Coffee Party” groups!

But with the rapidly growing fear that conservatives will make major gains this fall, the Coffee Party activists have now formed a national group called “One Nation”, and are trying to organize labor and civil rights groups!

A total of 170 groups are forming a coalition to get their message out for the fall campaign for Congress and the states!

There will be a march on October 2 in Washington, DC, to emphasize the need for more jobs! The goal will be to encourage young people and minorities, a very important part of the success of the Obama candidacy in 2008, to become more active and committed in promoting change, as they did two years ago!

“One Nation” is disappointed that much remains to be done on the Obama agenda, and aim at pressing for more action, and more enthusiasm among the progressive electorate is urgent if what has not been achieved is to have a chance of enactment in the next two years!

Are We On The Way To A Third Depression? The 2010 Midterm Elections Are The Key! :(

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Nobel Prize Winning Economist Paul Krugman, a NY Times columnist, has stated recently that the United States is in danger of falling into a “Third Depression” that will last for many years! 🙁

This is not the first time the suggestion has been made, mostly out of fear, that the economic downturn that began in December, 2007, may slip further into a long range deterioration in employment, housing, corporate growth, state and local government services, and sustainability of the government “safety net”! 🙁

Krugman describes what he calls the “Long” Depression of 1873-1879, begun by the Panic of 1873 on Wall Street, but causing economic instability for two decades after the formal end of the event, lasting until the turn of the 20th century!

Of course, the later “Great” Depression of 1929-1939, which saw a revival from 1933-37, but then a further decline in 1937-38, was the worst economic times this nation has ever seen! 🙁

The problem in Krugman’s estimation is that MORE economic stimulus is needed, rather than less, and this debate about spending versus the deficit is raging in Washington, DC, and will determine the future of this economic downturn we are living through, which is called by many others besides Krugman, as the “Great Recession!” 🙁

IF the Republicans, with their lack of ideas on the economy other than more tax cuts for the rich, somehow regain control of both houses of Congress in the midterm elections, then it seems quite clear that we are doomed to a further decline and total social disintegration, as if conditions do not improve, the danger of a breakdown of law and order is a real threat! 🙁

As the author stated in an earlier entry, we cannot afford to let 2010 and after become 1937-38, when Franklin D. Roosevelt gave in to criticism of government spending, cut government programs, and triggered a new economic collapse only turned around by World War II!

So the midterm elections are the key to our economic future, and will determine much of the next decade of economic history for all Americans!

What The Republican Party Can Learn From The British Conservative Party!

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Great Britain’s new government, led by Conservative David Cameron, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats under Nick Klegg as Deputy Prime Minister, is an example of how conservatism has modified in Great Britain, to the advantage of the country’s future!

At a time when partisanship and division in the United States party system is at its peak in the past century, the British government has managed to act responsibly on its many economic problems by allying in a coalition designed to resolve the serious problems the British face!

The austerity plan that the British government has enacted is seen by some as unwise, but at this point, the British government is at least moving ahead on resolving issues, rather than just promoting party bickering and looking to win points against the opposition!

In an interview on CNN with Fareed Zakaria, David Cameron suggested that a measure of social justice and open mindedness is a wise strategy for his party, getting away from the old Margaret Thatcher model!

In the same way, it is time for the GOP to “bury” finally the image of Ronald Reagan, which is much fantasized, and face the future with the understanding that being the party of NO, and only being concerned with foreign military interventions, and corporate alliances, and government intrusion in people’s private lives allied with religious forces, is a prescription for ultimate downfall of the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt!

The Republican party must move back to the middle of American politics, and reject the extremism of radio and tv talk show hosts who only enrich themselves by dividing the American people! 🙁

A Detailed Response To My Critics On Illegal Immigration!

Ronald 17 Comments

The author of this blog has been writing and presenting his viewpoints on all kinds of political and historical issues for almost two years now, but never has there been the kind of reaction that occurred yesterday after I published an entry on the Arizona immigration legislation and Governor Jan Brewer!

The reaction was so “thick and fast” that I have to believe that someone saw it, was angered by it, and spread the word to a whole group with similar sentiments! Honestly, I never thought that my blog was spreading that “far and wide”, and that reactions could be so numerous in such a short span of time!

I had a couple of people who responded who seemed to think that I was refusing to publish what they said, which was certainly NOT TRUE! 🙂 I just wanted to wait till the fury calmed down and everyone had had their chance to vent, and that is why I am now responding!

I never realized that those two words , NOT TRUE, would infuriate and irritate so many people, and please understand it was NOT my intention to anger and alienate people by use of that term, but my point is that there is much evidence from sources such as CNN, the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Arizona Republic, and public officials in Arizona itself that show that there have been exaggerations in reports of what is going on in that state!

Let me make it clear: I have not been in Arizona, and obviously, I do NOT have first hand evidence on what is going on, but am relying on media sources which MAY be manipulating the reality there! I do NOT claim that any media source is absolute truth, and I have been struck by the personal stories that many of the critics presented, and it does not make me happy to see that at least some people are experiencing “hell” from the Mexican drug cartels and the constant flow of illegal immigrants into the Southwest!

Understand that I do not support the continuation of illegal immigration, and feel that the US government MUST DO MUCH MORE to deal with the crisis, including thousands more National Guardsmen, and insisting that the Mexican government do more to deal with the crisis on the border!

Mexico has become a national security problem of the highest order, the most since the Mexican Revolution period of 1910-1920, and we MUST do more to crack down on the crime problem and the drug crisis!

But at the same time, to believe, somehow, that our country can literally deport maybe 12 million people is unrealistic, so a path to eventual citizenship after paying fines, paying back taxes, learning English, proving ability to hold down a job, and waiting in line for years for citizenship, is essential, and is basically the “old” McCain-Bush-Kennedy immigration reform bill of 2007!

And to say that because illegal immigrants have children in this country, that therefore those children should be denied citizenship, defies the 14th Amendment! It is frustrating, but should the “sins” of the parents be visited on their children? I do not think that is just, and is against the American way!

Let me also say that I have no intention of resigning as a commentator on this blog, or leaving my teaching positions, as I have had a great impact on generations of students and teach a balanced curriculum based on facts and information, not propaganda as we hear and see on talk radio and Fox News Channel! I make history and politics come alive, and have had hundreds of students over the years tell me that I had a great positive effect on them!

Let me also say that I am NOT a Marxist, a Communist, a Socialist, and am not that derogatory term used by one of the respondents (a spic), a term that sickens me!

Why is it that people have to use racist and derogatory terms about people they do not understand or know? 🙁 Why can’t people accept that we are all “God’s Children”, and treat all people of all nationalities and ethnicities and religions as being as “good” as we are? Particularly disturbing are those who would say they are religious people, but have no problem in trashing others who are different from them! 🙁

Also, let me make it clear that I am not connected to the Obama Administration; do not have my job due to them; and that I do not have favored tax treatment, and never had had such! 🙂

I am also disturbed that personal attacks are seen as necessary by some of the respondents, calling me a “dumbass”, a “jerk”, an “a___h___”, an “idiot”, and using the F word and S word as well! All this does is make the person saying or writing this lose all legitimacy!

Why can’t people who disagree do so in an agreeable way? And why do some see it as essential to use capital letters, which means they are shouting and yelling, instead of being civil?

I want to thank the more civil respondents who gave me other sources or ideas to investigate this topic! I also am saddened by the difficulties that people on the border are apparently suffering, and I hope this whole crisis can be resolved by legislation in Congress this year or next year, but to do so, the Republicans have to be willing to contribute, rather than be obstructionist, as they have constantly been throughout the 18 months of the Obama Administration!

Finally, even if you are not happy with President Obama, we should all hope for his success and wish him well, rather than ill, as this is our country, for all of us on all sides of the political spectrum!

We need to unite and deal with the problems facing our country, rather than snipe at each other! We need civil discourse, and I hope to contribute to that as I have attempted to do all along on this blog!

Yes, I am a progressive and a liberal, but that is not anti American! I have the right to my views, and again, I welcome your responses, all of you who read this blog, but please be respectful and civil as I aim to do! I wish to promote discussion and debate, but not anger and fury!

Oh, by the way, I am also NOT a traitor; am NOT an illegal immigrant and have no relatives who are illegal immigrants; don’t wish to live in Mexico, Iraq, or Russia; and feel that while English is our major language, all Americans need to learn Spanish as part of the reality in this nation, with Hispanics now the largest minority in America! In Canada, there are dual languages (English and French), and elsewhere most people learn English as well as their native language! We need to stop hating the world and realize we are a very small part of this world, about FIVE PERCENT, and we have to be part of the world, not isolate ourselves in bitterness!

I have said what I needed to say, and I hope this entry will clarify matters for all who read my blog! 🙂

Long Overdue: Veterans With PTSD To Be Covered For Disability Benefits!

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The Veterans Affairs Department under President Obama is finally doing justice to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan War, as well as those who served in Vietnam, who have developed PTSD–Post Traumatic Stress Disorder–as a result of their military service, whether directly in combat, or just the victim of stress conditions that have led to emotional and mental scars, not as easily recognizable as physical injuries!

Those who serve our country in the military have been shabbily treated in the past for mental and emotional disorders, and the effects of various chemicals used in warfare! Now, these people will be able to get benefits, including monetary compensation on a monthly basis plus health care! The trauma these troops go through is something possibly hard to understand for those of us who have been fortunate enough never to be in a war zone!

This is a real victory not only for the military, but also for recognition that mental illness is as much a problem as the more obvious physical illnesses!

The cost will be very high, but if we are able to find the money to send troops to war and endanger their lives, then we must fund care for them when they come home, and not just short term, but for a lifetime, if necessary!

President Obama is to be applauded for making this major reform come about, and it adds to his record of major accomplishments over the first 18 months of his Presidency! 🙂