Month: July 2011

Bill Clinton Reminds Us About “Jim Crow” Voting Restrictions On Blacks, Warns Against Them Returning!

Ronald Leave a comment

Former President Bill Clinton has made a major speech criticizing Republican Governors and legislatures passing restrictions on voting rights, comparing them to the old “Jim Crow” restrictions that ruled the South for nearly one hundred years until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The new restrictions being promoted and put into law with the backing of Florida Governor Rick Scott, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and many other Republican Governors would require drivers license ID cards to vote, shorten hours and days of early voting, require college students to vote at home instead of where they live, and restrict felons who have completed their obligation to society from being able to cast their vote. The theory is that these states are trying to prevent voter fraud, which in reality, is a very slight problem historically!

This is all designed to harm groups–African Americans, Latinos, the young, and the poor–who are perceived as likely to vote for Democrats.

Clinton reminding us of “Jim Crow” should lead to law suits to stop this new limitation and discrimination of the right to vote, something supposedly overcome by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s as part of his Great Society.

Somehow, we seem to repeat history’s mistakes over and over again!

Israel, The Pew Poll, And Conservative Falsehoods Against Barack Obama

Ronald Leave a comment

Conservatives and Republicans have been working very hard to create an image that Barack Obama is against Israel and pro Palestinian, particularly after his speech over a month ago in which he advocated negotiations based on the 1967 War with negotiated land swaps, similar to the George W. Bush stand on the Middle East problem.

But a Pew Poll shows that the American people, and including Jews, still feel by 48-11 that they sympathize with Israel over the Palestinians.

50 percent think Obama has the right balance on the issue of the Middle East, while 21 percent think he favors the Palestinians, so there is not much of a difference between the sympathies and the feelings about Obama’s approach to the issue.

To believe that the Jewish community, in particular, in any meaningful numbers will vote against Obama in 2012 is to believe in fantasy, as Jews are certain to remain strongly Democratic, not just on that issue, but on social and economic matters.

The number of Jews who can be considered right wing is small, but they make a lot of noise, which makes one think they might be a majority, which is very far from the truth!

The Nightmare Of The News Media Publicity Hounds: Refusal To Accept Trial By Jury!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Casey Anthony trial is further proof of the reality that the news media has gone amuck, led by publicity hounds including Nancy Grace, Jane Velez, Geraldo Rivera, and others who saw no need for a trial by jury, since they were convinced that this woman was guilty without a trial, and in so doing, built up a fever pitch of anger that now threatens the peace of mind of not only Casey Anthony, but also her family members, the judge, jury, and lawyers in the case!

In the battle for ratings and the almighty dollar, these media disgraces set a horrible standard for journalism, and care not a bit about how they are making the lives of the participants in the trial a literal nightmare for now and the future!

Casey Anthony may have won the case in court, but in a sense, she is in a permanent prison WORSE than prison, the inability to have a “normal life” ever again, enough to imagine that someday she might, tragically, decide to take her own life to end the misery!

Even that would not satisfy Nancy Grace, Jane Velez, Geraldo Rivera and the others like them who have the nerve to call themselves “journalists”, rather than the trash that they are!

This is freedom of the press gone crazy, preventing an open minded attitude on the evidence and the facts in any trial, and it is the demise of serious journalism!

As Judge Belvin Perry, who presided over the trial, said, the age of responsible journalism, of Walter Cronkite, Douglas Edwards, and Peter Jennings and others, is over, and this is the tragic ending of journalism as a profession!

Why have a trial when one can have a lynch mob mentality fueled by ambition, ego, and material greed?

Why have a trial when trial by jury, with all its faults, is not respected by even those who are lawyers who make their living by exploiting public opinion, rather than practice their profession in court?

Sensationalism and irresponsibility and recklessness have become standard in American journalism, and made it a tragedy of our democracy, which desperately needs RESPONSIBLE journalism, and cannot expect it anymore in the present political climate in America!

An Absolute Environmental Sacrilege: Republican Proposals To Permit Uranium Mining In Grand Canyon!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Grand Canyon is our greatest natural treasure, providing enjoyment and recreation to millions of tourists, and the Colorado River running through it provides drinking water to 25 million Americans.

Who would think that ANYONE would be so shortsighted to wish to have mining interests, particularly in the uranium industry, have access to the Grand Canyon, and therefore destroy this greatest of our national parks and the wildlife and plant life contained within it?

Republican Congressman Jeff Flake of Arizona, who plans to run for the US Senate seat of retiring Senator Jon Kyl in 2012, is the villain who, with financial backing of mining interests, is attempting to force a change in Interior Department rules to allow such a sacrilege!

Flake and others in the House MUST be fought tooth and nail to prevent such a outrageous rape of our greatest natural wonder! President Theodore Roosevelt would turn over in his grave if he knew what his party was attempting to do, and were he actually alive, he would be ready to go into combat to prevent such an outrage!

The “Do Nothing” 112th Congress: Worst In Generations!

Ronald Leave a comment

The 112th Congress, the first at least since 1900 to have a Republican House and Democratic Senate rather than the opposite when there is a divided Congress, has managed in six months to create a disgraceful record of NOT dealing with the economic crisis facing the nation!

With Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and others in the Republican Party focused on making the economy worse as a reason to have the voters turn out President Obama for a second Presidential term, we have seen no action on creating jobs, passing bills, approving Presidential appointments to various judicial and executive posts, or doing anything constructive in any form!

This irresponsible Congress comes right after one of the most constructive Congresses in American history, the 111th Congress under Speaker Nancy Pelosi!

This could be the most negative, unaccomplished Congress since Harry Truman ran against what he called the “do nothing” 80th Congress of 1947-1948, leading to his surprise victory and the Democrats regaining the majority in both houses in the 1948 election!

Instead of offering a real alternative for 14 million plus unemployed people, all the Republicans can do is promote economic instability and threaten the safety net of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which one would think were well established and would not come under sustained attack!

It all comes down to the old reality that Democrats care about people, and Republicans care about property and possessions–or material things in another descriptive manner–rather than the welfare of the masses of citizens!

The Tragic End Of The Space Shuttle Program: A Mistake!

Ronald Leave a comment

This nation is going through difficult economic times, but still one has to have vision about the future, and not only think about the present!

Therefore, it is a mistake that the space shuttle program is ending, and that many of the talented engineers, scientists, and support staff at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in central Florida and in Houston will now, after years of dedication, lose their jobs, and in the process, leave us rootless in space!

While President Obama today suggested travel to the nearest asteroid before going to Mars, there is no plan for any definite commitment to a space future, a mistake once made in the 1970s, but then revived with the Space Shuttle beginning in 1981 under Ronald Reagan.

Two weeks before astronaut John Glenn’s 90th birthday, we are faced with the fact that the only way now to reach space, specifically the International Space Station, will be through Russian vehicles, of all situations imaginable!

It is again a shortsighted view of what really matters, and a sad commentary on the fact that America is losing its vision of the future in so many ways, while the elite rich become wealthier, with a larger portion of income and a greater stratification of the social classes than at any point in American history, and greater than the worst extremes in the history of Great Britain!

Here We Go Again: Exxon-Mobil Oil Spill In Yellowstone River In Montana’s Pristine Wilderness!

Ronald Leave a comment

It is hard to believe, but Exxon-Mobil, the most profitable corporation in America and the world at large, has committed an oil spill of at least 1,000 barrels of oil in the pristine wilderness of the Yellowstone River in Montana!

Already, there are indications that the corporation is reacting slowly, and with old technology, to the job of limiting the environmental damage!

But Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer, one of the leading Democratic governors with ambitions to move beyond the Governorship in the future, has indicated he will have his hands on the throats of Exxon Mobil management until the cleanup is resolved to the satisfaction of the state of Montana and its citizens! However, he still seems willing, at the same time, to support a project of a pipeline of Trans Canada Corporation, which supposedly could not have the same type of tragedy occur, according to that company’s executives! It makes one wonder whether Schweitzer can be believed in his sincerity on this issue with Exxon Mobil!

Hopefully, this is not just rhetoric, and Exxon Mobil will be expected to restore the environment as much as possible, at a total cost to them, and not to the state’s citizens! But many will have doubts about the Trans Canada corporation plans!

This just reminds us again of the reality that this nation MUST find a way to get off oil dependency for the long term environmental, energy and economic future of America in the 21st century!

The Problem Of The Media, Justice, And Fairness!

Ronald 1 Comment

The controversial decision in the Casey Anthony case, along with that of the much more famous O. J. Simpson, Robert Blake, Michael Jackson, and many other cases, brings to mind the reality of our justice system.

The media tend to exaggerate, distort, sensationalize and over dramatize cases, using pundits and “talking heads” who tend to poison the public mind, and make them angry when a jury, going by the evidence presented in court, comes up with a decision they do not agree with, after tons of propaganda have been planted in their heads!

It is also troubling how much more than not, innocent people are found guilty, and some are on death row or have been executed, with new evidence often not being permitted to reconsider their cases!

The old saying is “Better that a guilty person go free, than an innocent person go to prison for a long time or be executed”!

In the midst of the anger and outrage at what happened in the case of Casey Anthony, let us remember that, and dedicate ourselves to a better system in which true justice can be accomplished!

And also realize that the average prosecutor is paid far less than the average defense attorney, and that many prosecutors switch sides because of that reality!

So if we want so called “better” prosecutions, besides having adequate evidence, let us realize that the compensation of prosecutors needs to be dramatically improved!

Again, if taxpayers are not willing to pay for better services in so many areas of government, including prosecutors, then we get what we deserve–inadequate legal response to crime by our government!

Proper Policy Change: Letters Of Condolence From President Obama To Families Of Soldiers Who Commit Suicide!

Ronald Leave a comment

An important change has been made to military policy, regarding Presidential letters of condolence to families of soldiers who die in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

With the suicide rate of soldiers who have served arising at an alarming rate, it is appropriate that the President of the United States send letters of condolence to the families of those tragically taking their own lives, as it is the stresses of combat that led to such suicides.

It is important that the American people recognize that soldiers are not only victims of physical injuries, but also of mental illness arising from their patriotic service, and they should be appreciated and mourned for their sacrifices for this nation!

More must be done to assist soldiers in dealing with the mental strains of combat zones, as we owe it to them with their decision to serve our nation in wartime!

The Arizona Dust Storm: Hints Of A New Dust Bowl As In 1930s?

Ronald Leave a comment

The news yesterday of the Arizona Dust Storm over Phoenix, one of the largest metropolitan areas in America, was stunning.

It demonstrated once again what a crazy year we are having weather wise–with devastating and frequent tornadoes, major flooding, wildfires–and now a massive dust storm at least 50 miles wide and churned by near hurricane force winds!

It also reminds us of the dust storms over the rural Great Plains during the 1930s, which led to mass migration to California as an escape.

Hopefully, this Arizona dust storm is a fluke, but it could also be a forerunner of the future, of shortages of rain leading to many metropolitan areas in the Southwest and the Southeast being subjected to massive dust storms that threaten lives and health of millions of Americans in urban areas, not the comparatively small numbers of people in rural areas, as in the 1930s!

America is certainly starting to see the effects of climate change or global warming, no matter how much the naysayers deny it!