Month: September 2010

A Sad September 11 In America, And Particularly In Gainesville, Florida! :(

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Saturday is the 9th Anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and it should be a day of reflection and remembrance!

What it should not be is a day marred by burning of Korans or any other religious books or documents of any faith! 🙁

What it should not be is a day that we all have to worry about violence against our troops overseas in the war zone or anywhere else on earth! 🙁

What it should not be is a day that American civilians traveling and living all over the world have to be concerned about becoming victims of violence! 🙁

What it should not be is a day that Americans have to worry that the small cell of radical Muslims that is present in this country will be emboldened to strike back at innocent people, because of their anger at the provocative burning of the Koran by a Christian zealot who represents the same type of radicalism and extremism that he professes to despise! 🙁

What it should not be is a day that a great university town, the home of the University of Florida, one of the most outstanding universities in America both for sports and for academics, has its reputation besmirched because of the actions of a person who should be prevented from doing the dastardly deed that he plans to do, with no consideration of the effect on the community, the state of Florida, the nation at large, and American foreign and military interests! 🙁

September 11 is indeed a sad day for America, but not just for the past tragedy, but for the future tragedy that is unfolding as we sit idly by and seem unwilling to do anything to prevent! 🙁

The Governorships And State Legislatures: A Crucial Year For Both Political Parties!

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The elections in 37 states this November for the office of Governor, as well as the state legislative battles raging across the country, will have a very powerful effect on the fortunes of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party for the next decade, as this is the year of the census figures, and reapportionment of seats for the House of Representatives and the state legislatures will be determined over the next two years by the election results!

The party that controls the state legislature can use the practice of gerrymandering to set district lines to favor their party for the next decade! In a sense, redistricting allows leaders to choose their voters, instead of voters choosing their leaders! 🙁

The Republican Party is seen as favored to gain more by likely control of more state legislatures, with an estimate of gaining at least ten chambers this fall, which could give them the power to redraw up to 25 congressional districts!

At this point, the Democrats have the advantage, controlling 27 states to 14 for the GOP, with eight states having divided legislatures! But the momentum is against them in this round of such crucial elections!

However, the governorships are also a factor, as a governor can veto redistricting plans of the state legislature, and force the issue into extended court suits, if the Governor is of the party opposite of the legislative majorities!

So although there are 50 states, the larger states with more Congressional members have a greater role, and in those states, the Governorship races are therefore more crucial for both parties to win! Certainly, the most important states would thus include California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Georgia, the top nine states, and all of these are battlegrounds, except possibly New York, where Andrew Cuomo is a heavy favorite to overcome either of his Republican opponents!

So the state races, both for the Governorship and the legislative balance, matter greatly, even more this year than usual!

Time To Unleash Obama’s “Secret Weapon” For The Midterm Elections: Vice President Joe Biden!

Ronald 1 Comment

With eight weeks to go to the midterm Congressional elections, and with the Gallup polls showing volatility and flux, it is time for President Obama to unleash his “secret weapon”, Vice President Joe Biden!

Obama is actively being more aggressive, a la Harry Truman, but Joe Biden is naturally a great campaigner, who knows how to inspire audiences and how to go on the attack against the opposition!

This is not a time, again, to act “nice”, as the opposition Republicans have no limits in tactics or speech regarding their purpose to destroy the Obama Administration!

So, Mr. President, it is time to “unleash” Joe Biden, send him out on the road, being as good if not better than Harry Truman, and not worrying about Republican and conservative talk show host criticism!

One good point, among many others, about Joe Biden is that he easily deflects irresponsible criticism, and is willing to anger and infuriate the opposition and still can sleep at night! 🙂

Joe Biden is one of the greatest assets Barack Obama has, and the President MUST utilize him to the fullest, as Joe is totally loyal to his President and will do whatever he is asked to do!

So hopefully, Joe Biden will be a true asset in this midterm Congressional election campaign! 🙂

The Total Hypocrisy Of John Boehner, The Would Be Speaker Of The House! :(

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House of Representatives Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio is confidently planning to be the next GOP Speaker of the House, even though if anyone in his congressional district or in the country looks at his total hypocrisy, they would vote to remove him from Congress altogether! 🙁

This is a man who has promoted total obstruction and lack of concern for what this Great Recession has done to millions of Americans! 🙁

Boehner has also constantly lied and misled us in an evil way, trying to pin the blame for the Great Recession solely on the Democrats, as if the GOP did not control the White House and Congress for the first six years of this century! 🙁

He would have everyone believe that the so called “Bailout” that most Republicans voted for in September 2008 was solely a plot of the Democrats to harm the American people!

The fact is that IF that “Bailout” promoted by President George W. Bush, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, and other Republicans and many Democrats had NOT been done, we would be today in total GREAT DEPRESSION NUMBER TWO! 🙁

And, of course, Boehner would not want us to remember that he was weeping on the floor of the House of Representatives on September 29, 2008, begging his party members to do what was right for the nation’s economic survival! 🙁

So the Republican Party is lying through its teeth, and John Boehner is a total hypocrite, who deserves to be denied the Speakership of the House if his party somehow wins control, and rightfully, should be defeated for reelection by his district as not concerned about their interests!

Gerald Ford’s Pardon Of Richard Nixon, 36 Years Ago Today!

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On this day 36 years ago, probably the most controversial Presidential pardon in US history occurred, when President Gerald Ford, in office just one month, announced a full and unconditional pardon of former President Richard Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate scandal!

The Ford pardon caused an uproar nationally, was bitterly condemned by Senator Ted Kennedy and most other Democrats, and is seen as having undermined Ford’s later bid for a full term as President in the 1976 election, leading to the victory of Jimmy Carter by a two point popular vote margin, with the belief that Ford lost at least five percent of the vote due to the controversial pardon!

It was disturbing to many that others involved in the Watergate scandal did not receive pardons and served time in prison, while the former President seemingly escaped punishment!

However, 25 years later, Senator Kennedy arranged for a special award from the John F. Kennedy Library for former President Ford, and Kennedy declared that upon reflection, what Ford did back in 1974 was the right thing to do under the circumstances!

It still remains an area of debate today however, but it must be said that President Ford’s reputation improved in the nearly 30 years that he lived beyond his Presidency, and he is seen now, a few years after his death, as having served the country in an honorable way, and was indeed a “Profile In Courage!”

Richard Nixon’s reputation has been revived somewhat due to his insightful domestic policies, but the Watergate Scandal and questionable success in foreign policy (once thought to be his great strength) have contributed a great deal to the reality that Nixon still is seen as primarily negative in his impact on American history!

The unbelievable reality though is that after the many failures of George W. Bush, and his abuses of power much greater in many ways than Nixon, all of a sudden Richard Nixon looks a lot less evil than he has been seen in the past! 🙁

What a sad commentary on the decline of faith and belief in the American Presidency! 🙁

The Volatile Nature Of Public Opinion Polls Regarding The Midterm Congressional Elections!

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The Republicans were rejoicing last week, when the Gallup poll indicated the largest lead for the GOP among likely voters in the past 60 years, a margin of ten points over the Democrats!

But just one week later, the shocking reality is that now there is a literal tie between Democrats and Republicans, switching from 51-41 GOP last week to a 46-46 tie today!

This shows the lack of validity of public opinion polls, particularly in a highly volatile situation as we face now, where there is tremendous amounts of flux among the electorate!

But what else does it seem to show? It demonstrates what the author has made clear in earlier entries! And that is that Barack Obama by being assertive, combative, aggressive, and on the offensive, can indeed have an effect on public opinion!

Barack Obama has been vilified wrongfully by the GOP opposition for too long, and has been too nice, too much of a gentleman, to attack in an aggressive way! But now this week he has been acting like “Give Them Hell Harry!” Truman, who produced what was seen as a miracle when he won reelection in 1948!

Obama has a lot to be proud of, and he needs to make that case to the American people over the next 55 days, and fight for his agenda, and declare “war” on the Republican Party which wishes him ill! He needs to make it clear that the GOP is not concerned about the middle class or the poor, but only the wealthy two percent of taxpayers and the corporations!

It is time for this nation to be taken back for US, the American people, who are entitled to leadership that cares about the average American, and Barack Obama and the Democrats, while not having a perfect record, have done much in the 111th Congress to deserve to keep control of the 112th Congress in 2011-2012!

The Gainesville Koran Burning: Arrest Preacher Terry Jones Under “Clear And Present Danger!”

Ronald 2 Comments

It is shocking that we still have not heard a peep from any major Republican leader about Preacher Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, who has announced he will burn copies of the Koran this Saturday evening, September 11, despite pleas from General David Petraeus, and as seconded by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Retired General Russell Honore (who led the rescue effort in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina)!

It is even more amazing that it seems that no one is willing to assert, despite the well believed fear that the Koran burning will cause a danger to American soldiers and civilians in the war in Afghanistan as well as Muslim countries all over the world, that we simply must state it cannot be allowed, instead of begging this jerk not to do it! 🙁

There is a definite way to deal with this, and we need to see some courage and guts in our public officials, and not be concerned about protests from anyone! 🙁

That is, the local authorities in Gainesville have already made it clear that they are not going to give a permit to burn the Koran under city ordinances! The pastor Terry Jones needs to be reminded of this fact in a stern way!

Then he is to be informed that should he proceed to light a match on Saturday night, the police will be present and as soon as he makes that attempt, the fire is put out with the use of aggressive force, and the pastor is to be arrested and prosecuted under the law by the county, state and national government, utilizing the concept of “clear and present danger”, first enunciated in Schenck V. US in 1919. 🙁

Pastor Jones needs to understand that his action will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances as freedom of religion or freedom of speech! 🙁

This planned action is provocative, endangers the nation’s national security and safety, demonstrates total lack of responsibility, and is a mockery of freedom of religion and freedom of speech! No one has the right to “shout fire in a crowded theater” and call it freedom of speech, and no one has the right to invoke the concept of God and provoke bloodshed and violence when it endangers the whole nation! 🙁

We have had complaints that the government is too easy at utilizing the argument of “national security and safety”, but if this situation is not an effective reason for such assertion, then nothing is! 🙁

Why Are Not Republican Leaders Speaking Up Against The Koran Burning And Supporting General Petraeus?:(

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The threatened burning of copies of the Koran in Gainesville, Florida on September 11 by Pastor Terry Jones has alarmed our military leaders in Afghanistan, including General David Petraeus, concerned that such a dastardly act will provoke violence against military personnel and civilians throughout the Islamic world, and will undermine our ability to promote understanding among the vast majority of Muslims who are not radicals and not terrorists! 🙁

So under the circumstances, one would think that the Republican Party would wish to join in support of the military, since they have such strong belief and faith in General Petraeus!

Why is NOT former President George W. Bush speaking out? Why is former Vice President Dick Cheney remaining silent, when he has a problem since leaving office that he cannot keep his mouth shut? 🙁

Why is it Sarah Palin, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and all of the other numerous Republicans who are strong supporters of our troops, do not feel a responsibility to take a moral stand against this violent action? How would they feel if a Christian or Jewish Bible were burned in public? Would they remain silent if such occurred? It is obvious the answer is NO, so therefore, by NOT speaking up, does it not indicate that the Republican leadership is willing to risk alienation of the entire Islamic world by remaining silent, and therefore by omission, alienating a billion people around the world? 🙁

Is this not evidence of the total extremism and irresponsibility of all the leaders of the Republican Party? 🙁

Where is their conscience and their common sense? How could anyone feel that such leaders deserve national power and responsibility when they seem not to give a whit about the safety of Americans, both military and civilian, overseas, as well as in this country? 🙁

Do they wish to provoke more violence and bloodshed in this country by a small number of American Muslims who will be tipped over the edge by the irresponsible, despicable burning of the Koran by this whacko evangelical Christian sect? 🙁

When will the Republicans realize that they have a MORAL responsibility to speak up? 🙁

The Chicago Daleys Soon To Be Part Of History: Their Legacy!

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An era is coming to an end in Chicago: Mayor Richard M. Daley, the son the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, has decided to retire next April at the end of his term, having by then broken the record of his father for time in office!

On Christmas Eve this year, the younger Daley will tie his father for 21 years and 8 months in office, so by the time he leaves, he will have finished 22 complete years as Mayor!

His father served from 1955 to 1976, dying in office with the reputation of being the last of the political bosses that for a long time influenced the Democratic Party! Daley was behind the nomination of John F. Kennedy in 1960, and it is believed helped Kennedy win Illinois by having the “cemetery vote” come out in Chicago early and often! 🙂

Daley was also behind the nomination of Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968, but also called out the police then to beat up anti Vietnam War demonstrators at the Chicago Democratic convention, which ultimately doomed Humphrey’s Presidential candidacy, which was already burdened by the war, and the candidacy of George Wallace on a third party line, leading up to the loss to Richard Nixon!

Son Richard M. has been Mayor for what will be 22 years when he leaves office, the longest lasting mayor of any city, much hailed as his father was for what was said to be “efficiency” in running the third largest city in America, and yet, as with his father, always a tone of corruption and malfeasance which never, somehow, came to the door of the Mayor, but led to criminal prosecutions for people around both Mayors!

So the Daleys leave a mixed legacy, with the son presiding over a city which has seen record numbers of black youths murdered, more in one month this summer than in Iraq over eight months of 2010! 🙁

Overall, it is good to see change coming to Chicago, as the Daley Era soon is truly part of American history, and will be much researched and written about in future years! It will also have an effect on the history of the Obama Presidency, since Obama came from Chicago politics!

The Danger That Pastor Terry Jones Of Gainesville, Florida Represents: Planned Burning Of Koran On September 11 Denounced By General David Petraeus!

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It is amazing how a so called “Man of God” can be so intolerant, but as is well known, this is not all that unusual! 🙁

Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, a community that houses the renowned University of Florida, is about to besmirch that university town, the name of organized religion, and arouse world wide Muslim resentment, as he plans a burning of a copy of the Koran, the Islamic holy book, at his church on the ninth anniversary of September 11!

General David Petraeus, our renowned general in charge of the war in Afghanistan, has spoken up against this action, concerned that American soldiers will be more endangered by this action, and that it will sour our efforts to improve our relations with the Islamic world, which represents a billion people in the world!

This is as evil an act as Adolf Hitler ordering burning of books during the Nazi period in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, and should be seen as “a clear and present danger”, as the Supreme Court termed it in Schenck V. US in 1919!

The action should be prevented by local authorities by any means necessary, and if actually perpetrated, should lead to immediate arrest and prosecution of Pastor Terry Jones as undermining national security!

There is no room for this kind of action in the delicate world situation we face now! Pastor Jones will be responsible for possible death and harm, and all good Christians and Jews must immediately protest his planned action! 🙁