Month: January 2011

Eric Cantor’s View Of The Senate: Hypocrisy Personified! :(

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia has expressed frustration about the fact that the US Senate, under Democratic control, will not even take up the Health Care Reform repeal bill passed by the House of Representatives yesterday.

He feels that it is wrong that the Senate becomes the equivalent of the “graveyard” or “dust bin” (my language) of legislation that passes the House of Representatives.

Somehow, this comes across as if Eric Cantor has not been awake and conscious in the past two years, when the Senate minority, the Republicans, bottle necked hundreds of House bills by utilizing the filibuster tactic. That apparently was not a problem to Cantor, and we never heard him protest the blockage of what the majority wanted in the Senate.

But now when the MINORITY in the Senate wants to impose their agenda on the American people and take away the advantages of the Health Care Reform, suddenly Cantor is outraged that the Democrats are finally ready to play the same game, and block any consideration.

The only major difference, and I emphasize MAJOR, is that the Democrats ARE the majority, and have every right to block the attempt of the GOP to destroy a piece of legislation which is of historic proportions!

To say the least, Eric Cantor is a pure HYPOCRITE, par excellence! 🙁

Celebration Of Two Years Of Barack Obama: Public Opinion Ratings Soar! :)

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Today marks two years of the Obama Presidency, and an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll shows his rating with the public has soared from 45 to 53 percent in the past month, the highest it has been since July 2009! 🙂

Why has this happened? Apparently, his handling of the Lame Duck Session, demonstrating willingness to work with the opposition Republicans, is a major factor.

Also, his handling of the Tucson tragedy was overwhelmingly popular, as he showed empathy and ability to speak to the country in a soothing manner in the midst of a major crisis and depressing moment for the nation.

Also, there is growing optimism long term and short term about the economy, and Obama comes across as a reasonable person, rather than as an extremist, as so many Republicans present themselves.

The pressure is not on the President, as many thought after the midterm losses in Congress, but rather with the Republicans to show reasonableness and desire to work with the President for the good of the country.

But don’t hold your breath on such cooperation, as every evidence is just the opposite.

Speaker John Boehner failed to attend the State Dinner for the Chinese President, something totally inappropriate, considering that Boehner is second in line for the Presidency, and yet has no interest in interacting with the leader of the second largest economy.

Almost no Republicans attended the State Dinner, with the major exception of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who seemed somewhat embarrassed, when asked about it, that he was the rare Republican to be at the banquet.

The Republican party, with the battle beginning among probably more than a dozen individuals to be the GOP nominee for President in 2012, and with their ties to the Right Wing talk show hosts, including Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity, among others, gives the advantage clearly to the camp of Barack Obama! 🙂

Congratulations, President Obama, on an outstanding first two years of your administration, and the growing likelihood that you will have the great advantage for a second term as President, because of your accomplishments and principles, and the growing image of the GOP as out of step with the American people, as evidenced by the Health Care repeal vote yesterday in the House of Representatives!

January 20: Historic Day Over And Over Again! :)

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Today is January 20, which has been Inauguration Day for the President of the United States every fourth year since 1937, due to the 20th Amendment which was added to the Constitution in 1933 in record time, after the horrors of waiting four months until March 4, 1933, to see the transition between defeated President Herbert Hoover to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the worst days of the Great Depression.

So every President since then has been inaugurated on January 20, with the exception of Harry Truman in 1945 (upon the death of FDR), Lyndon Johnson in 1963 (upon the death of John F. Kennedy), and Gerald Ford ni 1974 (upon the resignation of Richard Nixon). But Truman and Johnson were later inaugurated for a full term on January 20, with only Gerald Ford never experiencing the pomp and circumstance of Presidential Inauguration Day, as a result of his defeat for a full term of office in the 1976 Presidential Election to Jimmy Carter.

Round numbers tend to carry more weight, somehow, so today it is 50 years since John F. Kennedy took the oath and 30 years since Ronald Reagan uttered the oath.

It is also 30 years since Jimmy Carter left the White House, and 10 years since Bill Clinton left the Oval Office.

Kennedy and Reagan have become the favorite Presidents of the poorly informed general public, based on public opinion polls every year to commemorate President’s Day every February.

But it is worth some consideration to think about the contributions of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton AFTER they left the White House!

Carter has already had the second longest retirement of any President, and in mid September 2012, he will surpass Herbert Hoover as the longest retired President ever, and since he is seemingly in tip top shape physically and mentally at age 86, it seems likely he will beat the Hoover record.

Often called the best former President in American history, while far from the best President in office, Carter has stirred some outrage and animosity for some of his views and statements in the past thirty years, particularly regarding Israel and the Arabs.

But despite this, he has been engaged in many good deeds, including Habitat for Humanity and promotion of democracy and free and fair monitored elections all over the world through the Carter Center in Atlanta, and he has great acceptance as an outstanding man promoting peace and diplomacy and the fight against poverty and hunger in the world community.

His stature has risen, and he is the author of about ten books, the most prolific author ever, even surpassing Richard Nixon.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton in ten years time has pursued a similar commitment to peace, diplomacy, and the fighting of hunger and poverty through the Clinton Initiative. He has a great international image and is seen, much like Carter, as a man of wisdom and principle. He has written his memoirs and has given advice to President Obama, and has stood by very proudly as his wife has become an exceptional Secretary of State after being a Senator from New York for eight years.

Both men have their definite faults and shortcomings, as all of us do, but both have gone the extra mile and done the office of the Presidency proud, setting a distinct image and imprint on the potential of a former President to have a major impact even beyond his years in the Oval Office!

So there is a lot to celebrate on January 20 this year!

The Republican House Of Representatives Repeal Of The Obama Health Care Law: What It Means!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican controlled House of Representatives has just voted to repeal the Obama Health Care legislation.

In so doing, the GOP has made clear it has no desire to protect the health of the American people, but rather cares more about the insurance companies, the corporations, and keeping their own excellent health care.

They demonstrate that they do not care about 129 million people with pre-existing conditions, many of them unaware because they have not been able to afford health care!

They show that they do not care about the cost of prescription drugs to senior citizens, and the slow closing of the “donut hole”.

They make it clear they do not care about children being able to be under their family’s medical plan, if the family has one, to age 26, at a time when many young people cannot find work and cannot be protected, therefore, for health care.

They indicate they do not care about people bring thrown off their health care plan once they get sick.

They leave no doubt that they do not care whether someone has a lifetime limit on health care coverage, including children who have serious health issues.

They demonstrate all of this and more, that they are a party which only cares about the rich and the corporations, that they have no humanity or empathy for the sick, that they do not concern themselves with the sustaining of life, and would rather demagogue the issue of health care than come up with a real alternative that allows the most advanced nation in the world to protect people’s health, as every other democracy in the world has.

They have shown how far right the Republican party has gone, considering that Theodore Roosevelt first proposed national health care in the 1912 Presidential campaign; that President Dwight D. Eisenhower first promoted and supported a cabinet agency of Health, Education and Welfare in 1953; that President Richard Nixon proposed a national health care plan in the early 1970s; that Senator and later Presidential candidate Bob Dole offered an alternative health care plan to that of Bill Clinton in the early 1990s; and that President George W. Bush and his party instituted a prescription plan in the early 2000’s.

Now the GOP has nothing to offer except negativism, and mean spiritedness, and most of its membership is monstrous and nasty and leaves the image of “to hell with the American people”!

One can be assured that their negativism will go no further in success, and that the American people will surely reject them once they understand what Barack Obama and the Democrats have been trying to do—promote health care for all as any civilized nation should have done long ago!

The Danger Of City And State Budget Cuts: Future Lawsuits!

Ronald 1 Comment

The city of Camden, New Jersey has just cut its police and firefighter contingents by 45 percent, in a city infamous for the second highest crime rate and a large number of suspicious fires.

At the same time, in New York City, a 75 year old woman had cardiac arrest, and with the failure to clean up the snowstorm that hit the city, it took three hours for help to reach her, and she passed away, and now her daughter is suing the city because of the lack of response.

It is easy to say–cut, cut, cut–rather than to tax to keep services. But these developments mentioned above are happening all over the nation, and it means crime rates will skyrocket, fires will destroy much property and kill large numbers of people, education will become truly a mockery, health care in hospitals will deteriorate, sanitation will not be able to keep up with vermin that will overrun where garbage gathers uncollected, libraries will shut down that offer people a chance for an escape and to do job seeking on their computers, etc, etc, etc.

There are no winners in this situation, including hundreds of thousands or even millions of dedicated public servants who will be unemployed as a result.

Instead of everyone facing up to the reality that we do not get necessary services by praying to God, but must pay the appropriate level of taxes to keep our service, even in a difficult time, the nation will deteriorate to a level that will destroy the body fabric long term.

It also is reality that more lawsuits will ensue, which will use up city and state budgets for attorney fees, and the likelihood of payouts in the millions of dollars for reckless endangerment of all citizens because of the budget cuts!

It is due time for all citizens to face reality: we are all in this together, and must stop seeing taxes as the great evil, as lack of services is a far greater sin! 🙁

The Kennedy Presidency Is Finally, Truly, History!

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With the death of Sargent Shriver yesterday, Ted Sorensen in October, and Ted Kennedy a year earlier, the Kennedy Presidency is finally, truly, history!

Shriver died just two days before the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961.

There are no leading figures left from the Kennedy years, and even people who were associated with Kennedy in other ways are just about all part of the past.

As we commemorate the Kennedy years tomorrow, we can all be pleased that the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Massachusetts has made all of the Kennedy materials in its library available in digital form online, the first Presidential library to do so.

It was an undertaking of a long period of time, and should become the model for all of the other 12 Presidential libraries, along with the less official Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois and the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Virginia.

For those of us who lived through and remember vividly the Kennedy years, therefore, there is good news in the midst of the final emergence of Kennedy as part of History, not current events!

Ron Reagan Vs. Michael Reagan On The Historic Image Of Ronald Reagan: A Family Feud!

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Next month, on February 6, the nation will commemorate the centennial of the birth of President Ronald Reagan.

Sadly, his two sons by different marriages–Michael, adopted by Reagan and Jane Wyman–and Ron, born to Reagan and Nancy Davis–have been bitter enemies since the former President’s death, as they both fight over his legacy.

Michael is a right wing talk show host, and Ron is a left wing talk show host, and both have now written books about their dad. But Ron has not treated his father with total adulation, but has instead demonstrated his love and admiration while seeing shortcomings, such as his belief that his dad may have shown signs of mental disabilities, as in the debate with Walter Mondale in the Presidential campaign of 1984. Also, Ron pointed out in his book that his father may have suffered from deficits due to his advancing age and also from being shot by John Hinckley in 1981, the only time a President was shot in office and recovered to serve his full term in office.

Ron presents Reagan realistically, but Michael condemns him in bitter terms as just trying to make money on a book, as if Michael is not out to make money with many irresponsible statements over the years on his talk show.

Instead, Michael wants to paint his dad as somehow incapable of shortcomings and perfect in every way, a totally unrealistic portrayal! Michael comes across as petty, nasty, and refusing to realize that his dad would not like the trend of the Republican party, were he alive today, unlike Michael, who has no problem with the mean spirit of the GOP in 2011! 🙁

If one wants a sympathetic and realistic appraisal of the 40th President of the United States from a family member, read Ron Reagan’s memoir and ignore Michael Reagan’s propagandistic view of his father!

Sargent Shriver, A Truly Great Man And Magnificent Public Servant, Dies At Age 95!

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Sargent Shriver, the brother in law of President John F. Kennedy, passed away this afternoon at age 95, after years of being a victim of Alzheimers Disease.

Shriver served as the first head of the Peace Corps under President Kennedy; as the leader of the War on Poverty under President Lyndon B. Johnson; as Ambassador to France under President Johnson and President Richard Nixon; and as the Democratic Vice Presidential running mate of Senator George McGovern in the Presidential campaign of 1972.

He was also the father of Maria Shriver, who was a news person on NBC and MSNBC for many years, and the father in law of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Shriver was well respected and much admired across the country, and he will be much missed, as he was the model of a great public servant. We have suffered a loss that cannot be measured, and he cannot be truly replaced!

Gabrielle Giffords’ Congressional Seat: Should It Be Taken Away After Three Months? NO! :(

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A controversy has developed about Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ Congressional seat, as there is an Arizona law that states that if a member of the legislature cannot serve for three calendar months, then the seat should be declared vacant, and an election held to replace that member.

It is only felt to affect state legislative seats, and not the US Congress, which has always been the judge of its own membership.

Even the suggestion that her seat be taken away from her after three months due to the long period of recovery from being shot in the head in Tucson is an outrage!

There have been many examples of members of Congress who had long recuperations from injuries or health crises and did not see their seat taken away.

A few examples are as follows:

Senator Lyndon B. Johnson took six months off after a severe heart attack in 1955.

Senator Ted Kennedy was in the hospital for months after a small plane accident in 1964.

Senator Joe Biden was out of commission for months while recuperating from brain surgery in 1987.

Senator Tim Johnson had a long recovery after suffering a massive stroke which paralyzed him for a period of time in the early part of the past decade.

Of course, Congresswoman Giffords would have to decide whether she could seek reelection in 2012, but in the meantime, the only thing that is lost is her vote, as her staff is well equipped to handle all constituent needs without her presence.

It would be unjust to strip her of her position in the present Congress after such a horrific attack.

If she chooses to leave, that is her own choice, and if she chooses not to run for reelection, that is also her choice, but she should not be pushed out.

And certainly outrageous would be to hold an election, which would likely lead to a Republican replacing her. If anything, a Democrat could be appointed to replace her without an election, so that the party victory is upheld.

President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address Fifty Years Later: Prophetic!

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Fifty years ago today, President Dwight D. Eisenhower had three days left in office.

He proceeded to deliver what is often regarded as the second best Farewell Address, just behind George Washington in 1796.

He also gave the best speech he ever gave in office, without any doubt.

A famous World War II general, his utterances in that speech were particularly prophetic!

Eisenhower warned against the emergence of a “military-industrial complex”, a combination of defense contractors with the military, and he expressed concern that education and health care would suffer budget wise, and that democracy would suffer, as the military and the corporations would promote war and militarism.

What is often not recalled is that Eisenhower promoted cuts in the Pentagon budget, similar to what Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been advocating during the Obama Administration.

It is also often forgotten that Eisenhower warned against the escalation of the Vietnam war under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

The defense budget cannot be allowed to be sacrosanct as the nation has to consider budget cuts, due to the national debt and the deficit!

Eisenhower was a sage that we should listen to now, a half century after he gave us the best advice possible!