Month: October 2010

The Tea Party Threat In Congress! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

The Tea Party Movement is within striking distance of gaining up to 33 seats in the House of Representatives, and 8 seats in the Senate, if Democrats, progressives, and independents fail to come out and vote 18 days from now! 🙁

The NY Times has come to that conclusion today, and it has been made clear that if the Tea Party Movement accomplishes that kind of gain of seats in Congress, then the following will be promoted by them! 🙁

1, Privatizing of Social Security.
2. Privatizing of Medicare.
3. Repeal of the Health Care legislation and Minimum Wage Laws.
4. Ending of Unemployment Compensation.
5. Ending of Food Stamps.
6. Ending of Public Education.
7. Repeal of the 17th Amendment–Direct Election of Senators.
8. Repeal of parts of the 14th Amendment having to do with citizenship at birth in the country.
9. Repeal of the 16th Amendment–Federal Income Tax.
10. Repeal of the Estate Tax.
11. Eliminating the Internal Revenue Service.
12. Prevention of any legislation on the environment.
13. Prevention of any financial regulatory legislation.
14. Promotion of the Arizona illegal immigration law elsewhere.
15. Wiping out all federal cabinet agencies except State, Treasury, Defense, and Justice.
16. Promotion of a balanced budget amendment.
17. Following the “original” intent of the Founding Fathers at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
18. Investigation of every action of the Obama Administration, and impeaching him as a foreign born citizen from Kenya.

It is more obvious than ever that this Tea Party Movement is extremist, radical, and right wing, and they not only threaten the whole basis of modern America, but also the whole political party system–not just the Democrats, but also the Republican party which is dangerously flirting with these wingnuts! 🙁

50th Anniversary Of Peace Corps Concept!

Ronald Leave a comment

Today marks 50 years since Democratic Presidential nominee John F. Kennedy proposed the concept of a Peace Corps, which became law in the first months of his administration in 1961, and has been the longest lasting legacy that he left behind!

The concept of a Peace Corps actually began with Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, who suggested it a few years earlier. Ironically, although Humphrey competed against Kennedy for the Presidential nomination in primary states and lost, his idea was picked up by Kennedy in the last weeks of the election campaign.

The idea that young Americans and others not so young would be willing to give up two years to do good deeds in the so called “third world” nations of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, instilled in the “baby boomer” generation the motivation to help others through involvement in road building, housing, health care, and education, and became part of the idealism of the 1960s!

The Peace Corps still exists today, and does good deeds which makes the US look a lot better than all of the military forces and economic impact that our country is more remembered for, often to our detriment overseas!

One of the best ideas and government agencies ever created, it is proper that we salute Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy for the Peace Corps concept and the good work it continues to do today! 🙂

Christine O’Donnell In Debate: Another Sarah Palin! :(

Ronald 2 Comments

Christine O’Donnell, the GOP candidate for the Delaware Senate seat, debated her Democratic opponent, Chris Coons, yesterday, on a nationally televised debate on C Span and CNN!

What stood out about the debate was that O’Donnell was aggressive, interrupted Coons constantly, evaded the specific questions that were asked, came up with vague generalizations designed to promote “code words”, and showed her lack of knowledge of specific Supreme Court cases, a la Sarah Palin two years ago! 🙂

Coons made a point of saying that a lot of what O’Donnell was saying made no sense, had no relevance, and was just plain erroneous, but that the debate format made it impossible for him to refute much of what she said in a brief one or two minutes!

Coons acted like a gentleman, so that he could not be accused of “beating up” on a woman, similar to how Joe Biden handled Sarah Palin in the Vice Presidential debate two years ago!

The impression gained is that Coons showed more command of the subjects of the debate, but that O’Donnell might have gained a bit just by not doing a “Jan Brewer” type of total panic reaction, as occurred in the Arizona Governor debate a few weeks ago!

But polls indicate that Coons is far ahead of O’Donnell, and it seems doubtful that a majority of Delaware voters will be swayed to back a candidate seen by many as not qualified to serve in the Senate!

Charlie Crist Endorsed By Arnold Schwarzenegger And Robert F. Kennedy, Jr!

Ronald 1 Comment

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has just been endorsed by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, and also by the environmental lawyer and son of Senator Robert Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.!

Crist is still ahead of Kendrick Meek, the Miami Congressman who is the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat, in the polls, but Republican and Tea Party nominee Marco Rubio is far ahead at this point in the polls! 🙁

There are rumors that Meek may drop out, although he denies it, but as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said, if the moderate to progressive vote remains split, there is almost no chance to stop the ascent of Rubio, a strong right winger, to the Senate, and who knows, maybe into the Presidential race at some point! 🙁

So, although many Democrats would prefer to stay loyal to Meek, reality makes it likely that Crist will start to gain more Democratic support, and that Meek should consider the concept of withdrawing, in order to stop Rubio!

While one cannot be sure, it seems likely that a Senator Charlie Crist would ally with the Democrats, while remaining an Independent, as Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders have done!

Progressives can only hope for the best, and should have faith in Charlie Crist doing what he honestly believes is best for the state of Florida, if he is sent to the US Senate!

The Copiapo Copper Mine Rescue In Chile: A Repudiation Of Rand Paul’s Libertarian, Anti Government Lunacy!

Ronald Leave a comment

The whole world is gripped by the rescue that has begun of the 33 copper miners who have been stranded underground for ten weeks in Chile, and the realization that Chile has no regulation of the conditions of its miners! This crisis is a call on Chile, an advanced country compared to most in Latin America and the world at large, to accept the responsibility of its government to change its attitude on this matter!

But it is also a repudiation of Tea Party favorite and Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul of Kentucky, with his assertion that the federal and state governments should not be meddling in the conditions of coal miners, whether in Kentucky, where they are not unionized, or elsewhere, where some mining operations are unionized. Paul is upset that, in all cases, there is federal oversight of mines!

We have seen so many accidents and tragedies in coal mining and other mining operations in the recent past, as well as in the long run of American history!

For someone running for the Senate to assert that federal oversight is unnecessary, and that unionization is interference with the free market, makes one wonder what kind of lunatic Rand Paul is!

A man with such anarchistic views, who does not give a damn about the lives and safety of coal miners and other miners, and wants to leave their condition in the hands of mine operators alone, should be denounced!

If Kentucky elects Rand Paul to the Senate in three weeks, with such outrageous views on his part, it can be said that the state will gain the reputation of being one of the most backward states of the Union! The proper reaction would be to say “Shame on you!” 🙁

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repealed By Federal District Court Judge :)

Ronald Leave a comment

A Federal District Court judge has finally taken action that may mean the end of discrimination against gays in the military!

Immediate end of use of the practice was decreed, subject to a 60 day period of appeal, but meanwhile all action against gay soldiers is banned during the appeal period!

It is doubtful that the Obama Administration will take any action to appeal this action, as the 60 day period of appeal coincides with the return of the Congress after the midterm elections, and gives the Senate the opportunity to repeal the law, already agreed to by the House of Representatives earlier this year!

There may still be opposition in elements of the military services, and among Republicans in the Senate, but it is hoped that a few Republicans will do the right thing and join the Democrats in completion of the necessary repeal of the law passed under President Clinton in 1993, an act that has caused the loss of many thousands of dedicated, highly trained soldiers who were drummed out of the military because of their sexuality!

With most European countries and Israel and Canada having abandoned discrimination and adjusting to gays in the military, it is the right time now to finish what this Federal District Court judge has courageously done today!

Tea Party Republicans Gone Mad: Rich Iott, The Nazi Re-enactor! :(

Ronald 2 Comments

The Tea Party Movement has shown up as loony in so many ways, promoting candidates who back racism, sexism, homophobia, nativism, and the transformation of the Constitution by changing the 14th Amendment, getting rid of the 16th and 17th Amendments, and discussion of the revival of states rights! 🙁

But now, we have a candidate for the 9th Congressional District of Ohio, Rich Iott, who has a hobby of dressing up in Nazi SS uniforms, and participating in war games with others on the weekends, who sees no problem in such a warped social activity, but with full understanding that even in Germany, it is not permitted to re-enact the Nazi image that caused the death of millions of Jews and others in the Holocaust in World War II! 🙁

This excuse of a candidate for the House of Representatives has been repudiated by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, himself Jewish, who was rightfully outraged by the lack of sensitivity of Mr. Iott!

To top it off, Iott claims he has been involved in this activity to bond with his son, but what kind of parent would engage in this kind of activity with his own children? Only a total whacko bigot, and it is essential for the Republican Party and the Tea Party Movement to totally repudiate this monster, and hold financial support from him in the last few weeks of the campaign! 🙁

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur has held this seat with distinction for the Democrats for a long time, and the good thing is that this scandal guarantees she will retain the seat!

NY Gubernatorial Nominee Carl Paladino: A Nightmare For The Republican Party! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

The year 2010 has been a weird year of political oddballs running for high office. But New York’s Republican nominee for Governor, Carl Paladino, may very well be the most outrageous, extremely weird candidate of them all! 🙁

Paladino defeated the mainstream Republican candidate, former Congressman Rick Lazio, in a hotly contested primary race in September, despite his record of being angry, nasty, confrontational, and defiant of party leaders and the news media!

Paladino has a child out of wedlock, but has claimed that his opponent, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, is of high sexual prowess and has cheated just as he did, without any evidence of such assertions being provided!

Paladino has sent emails that are racist, sexist, and pornographic, and does not apologize for them! 🙁

Paladino has threatened a journalist with bodily harm in a public confrontation, and has sent campaign literature imbued with the smell of rotten garbage!

Paladino is constantly combative with everyone he deals with, and has said that poor people should be housed in prisons that would be turned into work camps to train them in personal hygiene!

Meanwhile, Paladino pledges that he would cut Medicaid, which is the medical plan for the poor by $20 billion, as his first act as Governor!

Paladino is opposed to abortion in all cases except the life of the mother, which means he believes that women who are victims of rape or incest should have to go through the pregnancy!

He just condemned yesterday the whole gay rights movement, as he spoke before a group of Orthodox rabbis in Brooklyn, New York, even though there has been a spate of anti gay violence recently in New York and nationwide!

Paladino also has made clear his desire to make life tough for those on welfare and unemployment compensation, as if those on these programs enjoy being in those unfortunate positions in a time of tremendous difficulty due to the Great Recession’s effects!

Paladino spent very little time in the military, but brags about his record as if he was General George Patton!

Paladino comes across as a nut, and as anti social, and the New York Republican Party would be facing a real rebel against their establishment, were he to be elected Governor, as he has made it clear he does not wish to cooperate with legislative leaders!

Thankfully, no poll shows him able to win the election, as it would be disastrous for the state, already enmeshed in a horrendous financial mess, to have to deal with such a maniacal personality!

This is another example of what the Tea Party Movement is all about, and hopefully, the American people will reject most, if not all, of these weird characters running to disrupt our system of government with their obstructionism! 🙁

We have many problems with government in this country, but we cannot afford to, as they say, “throw out the baby with the bath water!”

The US Chamber Of Commerce, Foreign Corporations, And The Conservative Agenda! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

News has emerged that the US Chamber of Commerce has been utilizing money from foreign corporations in India, Bahrain, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil and other locations to finance attack ads against Democrats and the Obama Administration!

American campaign finance laws are being broken in the name of promoting outsourcing of jobs overseas and giving huge tax breaks to multinational corporations! 🙁

The purpose is to elect Republicans who will be out to continue to advocate tax breaks for the wealthy, which will add $700 billion to the national debt over the next ten years! Also, the aim is to negate any regulation of Wall Street financiers, who caused the Great Recession and have no desire to reform themselves to prevent a future repeat of the same reckless behavior that led to the economic collapse that is the worst we have seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s!

It is clear that the insurance, banking and oil industries, along with many others, have declared war on the Obama Administration and want to see the reforms that have been accomplished in the past 20 months repealed or scaled back!

This is a sustained attack on the American population, most of which is suffering massively, for the aggrandizement of the elite upper class, which now has more of the national income, percentage wise, than at any time in American history! 🙁

If progressives lose the gains that have been made, the country will be going back to a “Gilded Age” mentality just two years after repudiating all of the abuses and shortcomings of the Bush era!

Can the masses of people be that shortsighted, that easily manipulated, that unaware of the damage they would be doing? This is not a time for the average American who voted for change to sit on their hands and be apathetic! The stakes are too high to choose to ignore reality!

Former Vice President Walter Mondale In Memoir: Proud To Call Himself A Liberal!

Ronald Leave a comment

Former Vice President Walter Mondale, who was influential in shaping the growth of that office while serving under President Jimmy Carter from 1977-1981, has just published his memoir, THE GOOD FIGHT: A LIFE IN LIBERAL POLITICS, at a time when he is nearing 83 years of age in January, which also marks 30 years since he and Carter left the White House!

Carter and Mondale have already set a record for the longest joint retirement of a President and Vice President!

Mondale made the Vice Presidency a very significant office, with the cooperation of President Carter, who had him share in all decisions and did not see Mondale as a threat to his own ego!

Mondale went on to run for President against President Ronald Reagan in 1984, and told the truth when he said he would have to raise taxes, and so would Reagan. He was truthful, and Reagan misled, as taxes did indeed go up in 1986!

Mondale also chose the first woman candidate for Vice President, Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York!

Although Mondale lost the race to Reagan in a landslide, winning only Minnesota, his home state, and Washington, DC, he went on to serve with distinction as Ambassador to Japan under President Bill Clinton!

Mondale, in an interview on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, stated that he was proud to call himself a liberal in the 1960s and 1970s, when he served with distinction in the US Senate, and he still is proud to say that today!

In that, the author joins him, as it is liberal and progressive ideas that brought about all of the great political, social and economic reforms in the 20th century, and now, in the early part of the 21st century! 🙂