Month: October 2010

Is Glenn Beck The New Joseph McCarthy? :(

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Talk show host Glenn Beck spoke yesterday about the Progressive rally on the Washington Mall last Saturday, and he introduced an element of McCarthyism to the vicious attack that he has been delivering for the past two years against President Barack Obama!

The fact that a small element of the mass of people who showed up for the rally happened to be identifiable as “Communists” led Beck to claim that President Obama is being given advice by “Communists”, a totally preposterous charge!

There is absolutely no evidence of such an accusation, but it sounds suspiciously like Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who ran rampant for almost five years from early 1950 to late 1954, accusing everyone within reach of being either a “Communist” or “soft on Communism”, including President Harry Truman! 🙁

One would think that such a ridiculous charge was long gone as a dirty tactic, but it looks as if Glenn Beck has no limits in his character assassination of President Obama! 🙁

It just adds to Glenn Beck’s image as an irresponsible, reckless demagogue of the first order! 🙁

Joe Miller’s Hypocrisy: Unemployment Compensation!

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Alaska’s Republican Senate nominee, Joe Miller, a favorite of the Tea Party Movement, has made it known that he opposes the continuation or expansion of unemployment compensation because it promotes an “entitlement” mentality!

This is his view despite the fact that we have had the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression for the past two and a half years!

And yet while he now enunciates this hard hearted view, it turns out that his own wife received unemployment compensation recently, even though Joe Miller is a successful attorney and therefore did not need for his wife to take such an “entitlement” to make ends meet! 🙁

But Joe Miller has no shame at “taking” government money, but wishes to deny it to those who desperately need it!

What hypocrisy and gall on Joe Miller’s part, and another reason for the voters of Alaska to repudiate his candidacy for the US Senate this November!

Senator Jim DeMint, Teachers, And Sex!

Ronald 3 Comments

Conservative Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina has called for the banning of gay people and sexually active single women from the profession of teaching! 🙁

Apparently, sexually active heterosexual single men and married men and women who cheat on their mates should have the right to teach, however!

So Senator DeMint wants to tell people they cannot enter a field because of their personal lives in their off time, although he conveniently leaves out the reality of sham marriages and divorces that demonstrate just how much heterosexual men and married couples are engaged in similar behavior to those groups he wants to ban from the profession!

Should we have the right to interfere in the lives of gay people and single women, and treat them as special cases that should not have the same right to private lives that heterosexuals and single men have? 🙁

Is this not a new form of discrimination that is again connected to the religious right which wants to impose its beliefs and narrow minded ideas on all of us? 🙁

What a nerve Jim DeMint has to wish to promote discrimination and take away a person’s right to privacy! 🙁

As long as a teacher at any level performs his or her profession in a proper way, his or her private life should be off limits to any intervention by Senator DeMint or anyone else!

Reality: The New Deal And The Great Society Have Saved America Again!

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Conservatives and Republicans love to attack the idea of big national government, but it is just that–government intervention since the New Deal–which has sustained us through economic downturns since World War II!

The Recession of 1973-1975 under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford avoided being even worse because of FDR and the New Deal!

The most severe recession, in terms of unemployment percentage, under Ronald Reagan in 1982-1983, was less severe than it might have been because of FDR and the New Deal!

And now the Great Recession since December 2007 has been less severe, as bad as it is, because of FDR and the New Deal!

It is unemployment compensation which has sustained many people in this horrible recession!

It is also food stamps, promoted during the Great Society by Lyndon Johnson, and expanded under Richard Nixon, which has allowed people to feed themselves during the toughest of times since then!

And yet, Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, and prospective GOP candidate for the 2012 Presidential nomination, wishes to trash unemployment compensation and food stamps, which only adds to the Republican image of not caring about ordinary people who are victims of this recession, as well as earlier recessions!

What Gingrich is promoting is absolutely despicable and disgraceful! 🙁

The Wall Street Rally: Will It Affect The Midterm Election?

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The standard viewpoint of late has been that since the economy has not recovered adequately from The Great Recession, the Democrats will suffer massive losses in the midterm elections coming up in November.

But the recent Wall Street rally in September, the best September since 1939, and the improvement in the market in the early days of October, have to make one wonder if that is a sign of economic expansion!

If it is seen as such, then it might just affect the attitude of many Americans who have soured on the Obama Administration!

Psychology is a very important part of politics, and it is well known that people’s memories are short, so the increased economic activity might just turn the tide for the Democrats, and they may lose fewer seats than often expected!

It just makes the waiting for the election results four weeks from tonight even more interesting and significant!

Republicans And Science: Repudiated In Favor Of Religion!

Ronald 3 Comments

The Republican party has been outrageous in its refusal to accept science, and instead back religion as the basis of understanding the natural world!

It is embarrassing how the Darwinian evolution concept has been abandoned in favor of “creationism”, which teaches that the world is six thousand years old and that dinosaurs walked the earth with mankind! 🙁

It is also beyond belief that, despite the evidence of global warming, such as the highest recorded temperatures in the past decade and more, and the rapid melting of glaciers, and so much other scientific evidence that should give us pause and make us want to work toward the dangers of climate change, instead every Republican nominee for the Senate repudiates the idea!

But they all invoke religion, despite the concept of separation of church and state that is part of our Constitution! And realize that the Republican party in the years after World War II and through the 1970s hardly ever invoked religion to the extent they do now, and it is only since the rise of the Christian Coalition in the late 1970s, that science has come under such bitter attack! 🙁

Instead of the Republican party living in modern, changing times, instead it has buried its head in the sand and promoted fundamentalist Christianity as the new science! This is indeed a sad commentary on a party that wishes to govern in the 21st century! 🙁

New Supreme Court Term Begins Today!

Ronald 2 Comments

The Supreme Court begins its new term this morning, and it is the youngest Court in many years!

This Court is unique in that it includes three women for the first time! But it also includes six Catholics and three Jews, so for the first term ever there are no Protestants on the Court!

Not that long ago, the Court was ONLY white Protestants, but now has become a Court of “minorities”, including an African American, an Hispanic or Latino, and two Italians, beyond the Catholics, Jews and women already mentioned!

The Court is now averaging in the mid fifties in age, due to the comparative youth of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s two Supreme Court appointments!

But this Court is still seen as leaning to the right, and it is not expected there will be any noticeable difference in Court decisions with Kagan replacing John Paul Stevens!

Cases involving illegal immigration and freedom of speech will highlight the Court’s term between now and next June!

As always, the Supreme Court will have the influence that former Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes stated in one sentence, often quoted, during the 1930s but repeated ever since–“The Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is!”

Record Gap Between Rich And Poor In Census Bureau Report–What Should Be Done About It?

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The United States is now witnessing the greatest gap between rich and poor in the history of record keeping since the 1960s!

The top 20 percent of Americans, earning more than $100,000 a year, had nearly 50 percent of all income, compared with 3.4 percent earned by those considered poor, about 14.5 percent. This nation has the greatest difference in this regard of any Western industrialized nation!

Young adults 18-34, who have lesser skills, are being ignored by employers who prefer higher skilled, more motivated older adults. This is a major crisis for the long run, as to how these people are to function in society in the long run! 🙁

The poverty rate for a family of four in 2009 is just below $22,000 a year! Meanwhile, the top five percent earn more than $180,000 a year!

The Great Recession has, of course, worsened these income statistics, and it is hard to imagine any great turnaround at any point in the near future! 🙁

The question is what should be done by government about this horrible gap, which has been exacerbated by the Republican control of Congress from 1994-2006, and the eight years of the Bush II Administration!

If the decision is to do nothing, a conservative viewpoint, how much worse can it become without a violent reaction? One has to wonder! 🙁

Progressive Rally Promotes Involvement And Commitment To Goals Of Jobs, Education, And Justice!

Ronald 1 Comment

An estimated crowd of 175,000 people showed up at yesterday’s One Nation Working Together rally on the Washington Mall, to promote support for the progressive goals of jobs, education, and justice!

To many observers, it seemed that Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally drew more people on August 28, although CBS News estimated that crowd at 87,000, as compared to Beck’s belief that 500,000 showed up at his rally!

In any case, it was obvious that the progressive rally, promoted by talk show host Ed Schultz of MSNBC,  drew a wide variety of groups, committed to progressive goals and wishing to rally people to vote next month so that the Democrats keep power in the House of Representatives and Senate!

With one month to go, the emphasis has to be on overcoming apathy and convincing those who supported Barack Obama in 2008, including young people, minorities, and independents, to be involved, and to understand the importance of voting to keep the Obama agenda alive and kicking!

Turnover At The White House And In Congress: What Does It Mean?

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As we come close to the midterm elections next month, the Obama White House is rapidly changing personnel, with the departure of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (running to be Mayor of Chicago) being the most fundamental sign of change coming!

With much of the economic team leaving, and the expected departure next year of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and National Security Adviser James Jones, the President must figure out who he will call upon to replace many of his top team!

Obama must also decide what kind of relationship he will have with the Congress, particularly if the Republicans win control. But of course, a lot of it will have to do with how Republican leadership decides to treat him!

IF the Republicans decide to play “hardball” and issue subpoenas to investigate everything about the administration’s personnel and policies, then there will be partisan warfare and total stalemate and gridlock! 🙁

If the Republicans decide to promote repeal of administration policies, the President will fight, and has the ability to stop much of the negative actions with his veto!

If, on the other hand, the decision is to co-exist in many areas, then it is possible to have progress on the deficit, on social security reform, and on appropriate actions on terrorism!

If the Republicans become too obstructive, it could backfire on them, and lead to them losing control of either house of Congress in 2012, and help Obama win his re-election campaign, similar to Harry Truman in 1948 and Bill Clinton in 1996!

Of course, the level of success of the Tea Party Movement will have a major effect on the Republican party’s reaction to the administration over the next two years! So the potential takeover of the party by this right wing extremist movement could actually doom the party’s reputation and ability to succeed in power over the long run!

Whatever happens, the next two years will be very interesting and challenging, and will have a long range effect on the ability of the country to deal with its numerous domestic and foreign policy challenges!