Month: August 2010

Tea Party Activists: Back To The Articles Of Confederation, States Rights, And Secession! NO WAY! :(

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There is a new movement developing to promote a constitutional amendment to take away the power of the federal government, and allow states to refuse to obey federal laws and statutes! This is secession all over again, just as we come close to the 150th anniversary of the secession of the Southern states between December 1860 and April 1861! 🙁

Tea Party activists and other conservative interests want to negate the effects of the Civil War, which ended for all time the concept that states rights could be utilized to defy federal law and the Constitution!

Basically, what these radical extremists want to do is revive the Articles of Confederation, which denied the national government any real authority, and totally failed between 1781-1789! The American people were in the “critical period” during this decade, with states going their own way and no federal authority to enforce the concept of one nation indivisible! The Founding Fathers saw the necessity of a stronger national government when they gathered at Philadelphia in the spring and summer of 1787, and drew up the Constitution we live under now for 221 years!

These Tea Party activists fail to understand our history, and the essential nature of having a central government which keeps order and promotes freedom and liberty!

The history of the states is that many have failed to promote equality and freedom, so all this does is try to revive the past, when the mass of common citizens were denied just treatment under the law!

Do we really want to go back to the era of the Articles of Confederation; or the times of the Southern Confederacy; or the Gilded Age, when big corporations ran rampant over the rights of their workers, and immigrants and women and children were exploited for the benefit of unbridled capitalism? 🙁

Do we want the rights of minority groups and women taken away by state governments that historically have not given any concern to basic human rights?

Is this not a power play by conservative interests to bring back the 19th century, the “good old days” of slavery, segregation, labor exploitation, mistreatment of women and children, and widespread nativism against immigrants? 🙁

Has not the American dream been advanced by the federal government, the Supreme Court, and Presidents of both parties who saw the NATIONAL interest, not petty, sectional and regional interests, as essential for the common good?

The fortunate thing about this mad rush to destroy everything that has been good about our national experience is that it requires a constitutional amendment–two thirds vote of the House of Representatives and of the Senate, and three fourths (38) of the states with majority vote in both houses of the state legislature!

This is a tall order, and thank goodness, the Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, made sure that outrageous ideas such as this loony amendment would not see the light of day, beyond the suggestion itself!

The American people need to make clear in their votes this November that the Tea Party activists are repudiated as a anti democratic movement that would take away progress, human freedom, equality, and basic fairness!

The American dream was not meant to be in the form that these disgraceful extremists wish to take it! 🙁

Unpredictability Of Republican Senate Candidates Not Favored By GOP Leaders: Future Troubles For Mitch McConnell?

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican party leaders in Washington, D. C. are now faced with six nominees for the Senate not originally supported by the GOP Senatorial Campaign Committee! There is unpredictability as to what this means for the party structure and stability in the Senate, if all or most of the six win their Senate races!

Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sharron Angle of Nevada have made the most news with their controversial statements and refusal to talk to mainstream media!

But also not originally favored by party leaders are Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ken Buck of Colorado, and Linda McMahon of Connecticut!

The only one of these six that can be seen as a definite winner in November is Mike Lee of Utah, a state where the Republicans dominate to such an extent that it is clear his Democratic opponent has no chance to win the seat! Senator Robert Bennett was defeated by Tea Party activists in a state convention.

Rand Paul defeated the establishment favorite, Trevor Grayson, in Kentucky, and has been an embarrassment to Mitch McConnell, and if he wins the Senate seat over Jack Conway, will be a “loose cannon” sure to give the Republican leader and his party a lot of grief!

Sharron Angle defeated Sue Lowden in Nevada, the party favorite, and has been a literal nightmare as she campaigns, and will be a “lightning rod” if she manages to defeat Harry Reid!

Marco Rubio managed to destroy Governor Charlie Crist’s chances for the GOP nomination in Florida, and is loved by the Tea Party, but as an Independent, Crist might yet win the Senate race!

Ken Buck defeated Jane Norton in Colorado, and is a Tea Party favorite, but faces a tough race against Michael Bennet, and has made statements highly controversial in the vein of Paul and Angle!

Linda McMahon, the former head of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) has used her substantial fortune to defeat establishment favorite Rob Simmons in Connecticut, but faces an uphill race against state Attorney General Dick Blumenthal!

A Senate with all of these individuals in the chamber would be a major nightmare for Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders! In fact, there is no guarantee that there would not be a rebellion against the party leadership, that could lead to more extreme Republicans such as Jim DeMint of South Carolina or James Inhofe of Oklahoma as the Senate leaders!

The Tea Party is creating a scenario for the Republican Party that they may long regret! 🙂

The good news is that as things stand right now, as stated earlier, the only certain winner is Mike Lee of Utah, but all of these six races will be key ones for assessing the future impact of the Senate on American politics, no matter whether the Democrats keep control, or somehow, the Republicans win control!

Robert Gibbs, Barack Obama, And The “Professional” Left!

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President Obama’s Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has made a lot of enemies recently between his comment that the Democrats could lose Congress, and now his criticism of the “Professional” Left, which he says would not be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was President, and would not be happy unless there was no Pentagon budget, and we adopted the Canadian Health Care system!

It is clear that Gibbs believes in being blunt, which provokes many on the left, and some have called for him to be fired. But this is not the solution to the issue of his outspokenness!

Rather, it is important that the Obama Administration and the cable channels (particularly MSNBC) work to understand each other!

It is the job of the cable channels and others on the progressive side of the political spectrum to push and prod the administration into accomplishing as much of the progressive agenda as is humanly possible!

They are not the enemies of Barack Obama, but rather are disappointed that he has not gone further than he has on many issues, and has been too concerned much of the time with his conservative critics, often caving in on many issues to try to gain support from Republicans, who unfortunately, have no interests in any cooperation or bipartisanship! Instead, they unleash vicious, hateful rhetoric designed to divide the nation, and undermine efforts at economic recovery and international understanding! 🙁

But at the same time, Barack Obama HAS BEEN a disappointment in many areas!

Obama has not closed down Guantanamo Naval Base, as he had pledged, and moved terrorist suspects elsewhere, as he had stated he would do within one year!

He has allowed his government to deport more illegal immigrants than his predecessor, George W. Bush, most of them not in any way criminal, but here without legal documentation!

He has allowed soldiers who are valuable to the military but gay in sexual orientation to be dismissed, while the government procrastinates on ending “don’t ask, don’t tell”!

He compromised and gave up on a “public option” on health care, so that his health care plan is far from ideal!

His administration failed to focus on the creation of enough jobs through public works programs, the rebuilding of the infrastructure of America, and the economic stimulus has been inadequate. But Obama has refused so far to fight for another economic stimulus, which is sorely needed for economic recovery! Instead, the likelihood is a double dip recession, exactly what conservatives and the GOP want to happen so as to gain political points! 🙁

Obama has escalated our war in Afghanistan, and casualties have mounted, without any real evidence that any progress is being made in that war torn country!

He has failed to accomplish any progress on the matter of global warming and climate change, despite all the right rhetoric, and this is an essential topic that must be dealt with!

His response to the BP Oil Spill Crisis was lacking in leadership early on, and has done a lot of damage to his public opinion ratings!

He has allowed the issue of border security to be used against him by his slow response to the need for more National Guardsmen, only now signing legislation for a beefing up of troops at the border, and with the need for many more than have been provided for in the legislation!

Obama has disappointed in his diplomacy on the Middle East, antagonizing many Jews by his seemingly siding with the Palestinians, although in reality that is not the case, but perception often matters more than reality!

These are just ten issues that trouble progressives and liberals, and it is the job of the so called “Professional” Left to hold the President’s “feet to the fire”, in order to prod the President toward his “friends” and his own inclinations!

But the answer is not to fire Robert Gibbs, but come to the conclusion that the criticism is well meant, that the “Professional” Left wants only the best for Obama and for the nation, and that a truce needs to be declared!

Instead of sniping and infighting, what is needed is to do what Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the third year of his first term–turn to the left and accomplish his greatest goals in office, including the Social Security Act, which as said in the next earlier entry, celebrates its 75th Anniversary today! 🙂

Social Security’s 75th Anniversary: A Moment To Rejoice! :)

Ronald 1 Comment

Social Security reached 75 years old today, and it is a time to rejoice! 🙂

Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed through this landmark legislation as part of the Second New Deal, and it is often thought to be the greatest single accomplishment of the many attributed to FDR during his 12 years plus as President!

Not only did it give dignity and a source of security to the elderly, but it also protected widows, orphans, and the handicapped, which many Americans today are not aware of!

It took us to 1935, long after Germany, France and Great Britain had developed a system of protection of the elderly and the needy, to accomplish this legislation!

It made getting older something that was not dreaded, but appreciated!

Social Security has never missed a payment to anyone, and it has been a tremendous success, and yet there are many younger Americans who are convinced that the system will disappear before they reach the age of entitlement!

That will NOT happen, but obviously, there will have to be reform of Social Security, due to the large baby boom generation now retiring, and the fact that now there are only two to three workers for every recipient, while it was more like 9-1 back then in the early years of the reform.

We have already had one extension in the age of full benefits from 65 to 66 and 67 based on birth year, and it is obvious that it will have to be extended for the long term to older ages of 68, 69, and 70, based on decade of birth.

Also, the amount of income, on which social security taxes will be assessed, will have to rise as well, to all income, as is the case with Medicare!

But this successful program cannot be allowed to disappear or collapse, so eventually, measured reform as in 1983 will be enacted!

As a scholar on FDR and the New Deal, this is a moment to hail both the program and the President who saw what was needed, and brought it about so skillfully!

So let’s salute the anniversary and the President who transformed this country in so many ways, but most importantly in the area of Social Security! 🙂

Barack Obama, Religious Freedom, And The Ground Zero Mosque!

Ronald 2 Comments

President Obama has just weighed in on the controversy in Lower Manhattan over the building of a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, the site of the former World Trade Center that was destroyed by Muslim terrorists on September 11, 2001.

The project was approved by the appropriate agencies in New York City, and has been supported by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Obama issued a statement tonight calling for the understanding that religious freedom allows the building of houses of worship, whether they are churches, synagogues, or mosques. America’s values require the right for all people to worship freely at buildings constructed for promotion of their faith, the President asserted.

The author totally agrees with the sentiments of the President, as to the right to worship freely, no matter what religion is involved. The whole concept that some right wing nuts have made, that would refuse to allow the building of ANY mosques on American territory, is totally outrageous and discriminatory!

No one should associate themselves with such despicable evidence of hate and prejudice! It is amazing how so called believers in the Constitution are so easy at destroying that document, and the Bill of Rights, if it is convenient for them to do so!

However, having made clear my agreement with the President, and my denunciation of those who would ban the building of all mosques, I will still, without any pause, make clear my view about the Ground Zero mosque!

My thoughts remain the same: It is NOT a good idea to build a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, as it fails to consider the sensitivities and emotions of the families of those who died on September 11!

Why is it that there is such insistence that the site must be that close to Ground Zero? There are many other sites further away, not as easily associated with Ground Zero, where such a mosque could be built!

There are already many mosques elsewhere in New York City, but this particular site, so close to the horrible event, should be given up in respect to those who died! Good will would be promoted if the proposed building was moved further away to another site!

Tolerance and good will would be promoted better if this particular project took into account the broader public opinion, which clearly, in New York City and nationally, opposes this project!

Religious freedom does not mean that a particular site MUST be a place for a mosque, considering the history of the area! It is time for reconciliation, and it can be done in a decent manner, with the backing the President has just given to religious freedom!

The Suicidal Nature Of The Republican Party: Why They Have No Long Term Future!

Ronald 2 Comments

The author has written plenty on the faults and shortcomings of the Republican Party, and how they have stood in the way of promoting necessary reform and change in the midst of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression!

The Republican party, by embracing Tea Party Movement favorites, such as Sharron Angle of Nevada, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Dan Maes and Ken Buck of Colorado, and Marco Rubio of Florida, have painted themselves in a corner!

Some, or possibly all of these candidates, might win office this fall, in the mood of discontent that exists in this country, but particularly for those running for the Senate, all of the above except Maes, their victory would only have the effect of weakening the Republican appeal for 2012 and beyond, and would lead to total chaos and anarchy in the Senate, worse than now exists, as these people have no desire to work at solving anything! 🙁

All they are interested in doing is “stirring up the pot”, and promoting whacko, loony ideas that will never make it to law or the Constitution! Their behavior, as Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post published this morning, is unpredictable and outside the mainstream, unwilling to work “across the aisle” or even with other Republicans! 🙁

This is NOT what we need at a difficult time for our country, and the Republican leadership in both houses of Congress will come to regret the fact that they have flirted with these Tea Party extremists who are just as willing to work against the establishment leaders, as against the Democrats!

In addition to their destructive behavior, which will undermine the party, the fact that the GOP is gaining a reputation as the party against African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, gay and lesbian Americans, women, and young people, will doom them long term!

More than ever, they seem to be the party of WHITE older Americans and rural Americans, but the long term reality is that African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, gay and lesbian Americans, women, and young people (both white and nonwhite) will reject this party that represents a past that cannot be revived, and promotes a message of division, hate, racism, prejudice, and concern only for the wealthy and privileged! 🙁

The Republican party as we knew it no longer exists, and is in the process of imploding! 🙁 This is a serious, and at the same time, sad matter, as the GOP in the past had much to offer as a legitimate alternative to the Democrats!

But now the Republican party is a shell of its old self, and an embarrassment to mainstream Republicans who can no longer be proud of where their party is headed! 🙁

To Newt Gingrich, Jon Kyl, Judd Gregg, Sharron Angle Et Al: Unemployment Compensation Is NOT Welfare! :(

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In the midst of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, the Republican party is demonstrating how it has no concern or compassion for the millions of Americans who have lost their employment, some for two years or more already!

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, and Senate candidate Sharron Angle of Nevada, among others, have all described people on unemployment compensation as people on “welfare”, who are lazy, shiftless, and to be condemned as unwilling to take any job offer which comes along! 🙁

Unemployment compensation is not enough that anyone can live in luxury and contentment! It is only a portion of a worker’s former income! Many people have no opportunity to find a job, no matter how hard they try! But if they find a job that pays just a fraction of their former pay, then they cannot spend time finding a job that allows them to pay their mortgage or rent, and put food on the table, and plan for their children’s education and their own retirement!

These GOP politicians live off the public tax rolls, and mostly come into office wealthy, so what do they know about the struggles of everyday citizens? They have no concern, except to divide the nation and exploit for their own benefit!

The middle class has been decimated due to GOP policies while they controlled Congress from 1995-2007 and under the administration of George W. Bush from 2001-2009! How anyone with any intelligence could vote to back candidates who consider unemployment compensation as “welfare”, when everyone pays into the system throughout their work lives, is beyond comprehension! 🙁

Nativism Gone Viral: Tom Tancredo, Louie Gohmert, And Illegal Immigration!

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The issue of illegal immigration is one that will be an embarrassment when we look back at it historically, as the assertions and viewpoints of those who are exploiting the issue bring out the worst in our nation! 🙁

The latest outrages have been expressed by former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, and Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, both Republicans!

Both are further evidence that the GOP is painting itself into a corner for the future, as with the growing Latino and Hispanic vote, it will make many say what Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said yesterday–that he could not understand why any Hispanic or Latino would vote Republican! 🙁

Tancredo, long a nativist, sought the GOP Presidential nomination in 2008, and is now seeking the Governorship of Colorado as an Independent. He has stated that if he is elected Governor, he will make sure that the children of illegal immigrants are not educated in the public schools of the state!

This is certainly a statement that can arouse those who want to send millions of immigrants back to their home countries! But the reality is that there is no possibility of returning millions of people, and meanwhile, if we are going to ban public education for these children, what are we to do with them? Shall we keep them out of school and on the streets lacking education? Will this promote civil order to have them idle and ignorant? How preposterous and ridiculous a campaign pledge this is, and certainly, it would be lost in court if Tancredo somehow became Governor and tried to enforce such a ridiculous idea! 🙁

Congressman Louie Gohmert, infamous for some really outrageous and loony ideas, has now come up with the idea that many illegal immigrants come to this country to have their children, then go home and breed them over the next 20-30 years as “terrorists”, with the plan to send them back to overthrow America! If this is not paranoia and hysteria and craziness, what is it? So we are to be afraid of babies and see them as vicious terrorists for the years between 2030 and 2040!

If this does not make Louie Gohmert delusional and needing of psychological counseling, and Tom Tancredo needing the same, then our country is in deep trouble with such political leaders sowing hate and fear, and making unstable people go over the edge to violence! 🙁

Both should be roundly condemned as having no purpose but to divide and stir up a tempest for their own political aggrandizement! 🙁

Congressional Candidate Ben Quayle: A “Chip Off The Old Block”! :(

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Ben Quayle is a Republican Congressional candidate in Arizona who has issued a political commercial stating that Barack Obama is the worst President in American history, and that the drug cartels in Mexico and the “tax cartels” in Washington, DC, have a lot in common! He also says that he, Ben Quayle, was brought up right!

So you might say, so what? Well, understand that Ben Quayle is the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, arguably the absolutely worst Vice President in history, under George H. W. Bush from 1989-1993!

During those years, the country had to be concerned about the competence of our Vice President, who came across as ignorant, foolish, and someone to fear possibly becoming President!

Quayle is best remembered for misspelling “potato”; criticizing a television show (“Murphy Brown”); comparing himself to John F. Kennedy (which led VP opponent Lloyd Bentsen to say that Quayle “was no Jack Kennedy”); stating that he wished he had studied Latin so he could understand Latin America; asserting that he wished the Middle East was like the Middle West; and alarming the nation when President Bush had medical issues, concerning all Americans as to the thought of what if Quayle became President!

Dan Quayle lost all credibility as Vice President, and totally flopped when he tried to win the Republican Presidential nomination in 1996! He was the constant butt of jokes, including that his wife, Marilyn, was so much smarter and brighter than he was!

Now his son is running for Congress on the family name, and has already had problems, including posing two children in a campaign commercial implying they are his, when he has no children; and denying that he had written on a salacious website in Scottsdale, Arizona, and then having to admit that he had done so a few years ago!

So was he brought up “right” , when he has lied twice already, and has the gall to claim after 18 months that our President is the worst ever? Does this man have good judgment, or is he clearly very honest? 🙁

You make the judgment, but whatever you decide, we may be blessed with another Quayle in public office–more mediocrity, as if there was not enough in Congress already! 🙁

The Connection Of Charlie Rangel, Dan Rostenkowski And Ted Stevens! :(

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Three veterans of Congress have been in the news in the past two days, none of them in a happy situation! 🙁

First, former Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens died in a plane crash at the age of 86! After 40 years in the Senate, he was convicted of corruption charges, although later the conviction was reversed, and the Justice Department decided to drop the charges, but only after Stevens had lost his Senate reelection contest. Stevens, the longest serving GOP Senator in history, left office under a cloud! 🙁

Then, New York Congressman Charlie Rangel mounted an awkward defense of himself in the House of Representatives yesterday, interrupting a vote on funding of teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public servants, by a party line vote. His defense was an embarrassment, and made many fellow Democrats angry and frustrated, as his upcoming ethics trial will certainly hurt the image of the Democratic party, but Rangel, age 80 and 40 years in the House, made it clear that he was not going to disappear and admit any wrongdoing or resign, therefore burdening his party at a time when there are thirteen charges against him, and the tone of corruption is clear and evident. Rangel has given up his leadership of the Ways and Means Committee, the most powerful committee in the House, but his refusal to admit any wrongdoing is a sad likely ending to a career which will probably hurt his party! 🙁

Now today, former Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski of Chicago, Illinois, who served 36 years in the House from 1959-1995, and was for 16 years Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, passed away at the age of 82.
He had been convicted and sentenced to prison for corruption after losing his seat in the 1994 Republican wave into power, which was helped by the controversy over Rostenkowski’s corrupt leadership. Bill Clinton later pardoned him, but still the corruption and conviction and imprisonment are part of the historical record! 🙁

So Stevens, Rostenkowski and now Rangel all had a lot in common: long term service in Congress, leaving Congress at advanced ages, all becoming involved in corruption that sullied their reputations, but all having made major contributions to the Congress before going over to the “evil” side!

All three can be seen as sad commentaries on the problem of longevity in public office! People can come to Congress with great idealism and decent motivations, but somehow longevity and gaining of powerful positions over time seems to lead to temptations and greed, part of the human condition! 🙁

While there is no way to enforce term limits, there is a growing argument for turnover and change so as to prevent temptation and greed taking over! No constitutional amendment is possible, but it becomes clear that the American people must take responsibility for promoting turnover so that power does not continue to lie in the hands of older, overly arrogant legislators!

Should anyone be the head of a committee in Congress for endless number of years? NO!

Should members of Congress serve more than the 30 years that marks most people’s careers in one employment position before retirement? NO!

It is up to us, the people, to enforce these changes, and argue that seniority and longevity have their limits, by their close attention to politics, and their votes! 🙁