Month: September 2011

First Impressions Of CNN-Tea Party Express Debate In Tampa, Florida

Ronald Leave a comment

It will take some time to analyze and interpret the CNN-Tea Party Express debate just completed in Tampa, Florida, this evening.

But first impressions include the following thoughts:

1. The debate was much more vigorous and challenging than any earlier debate, with excellent questions asked by all who had the opportunity, including the moderator, Wolf Blitzer of The Situation Room on CNN.
2. The reactions of the Tea Party audience were quite horrifying and scary, and to imagine a majority of the nation having these views and voting them into the White House is enough to encourage nightmares! These people as a group are very reactionary, mean spirited, self centered people, well dressed and making it clear that they do not want to feel any responsibility to society, but only to their own selfish interests. This is a guarantee of anarchy ahead as America faces a future quite different than the overwhelmingly white, older age, comfortable upper middle and wealthy class of citizens.that showed up at this debate!
3. Rick Perry came under sustained attack, held his own quite well, making very few concessions, but still can no longer be seen as a guaranteed front runner in the Presidential race.
4. Mitt Romney was also under attack, and held his own better than Perry, and remains a serious challenger for the duration, but not well liked by the Tea Party crowd.
5. Jon Huntsman again performed very well, but faced, as Romney did, a unsympathetic audience, but his answers were solid and mostly good in content, even if one did not agree with all of them.
6. Ron Paul gave some great responses if one was a libertarian, and received some applause, but also some strong boos when he condemned US foreign policy.
7. Michele Bachmann recovered from a lackadaisical performance in the last debate, strongly criticizing Rick Perry,and must be seen in a more serious light with her recovery in this debate.
8.Rick Santorum also improved, going on the offensive against Rick Perry, and must be seen in a more serious light than before.
9. Newt Gingrich gave some strong condemnations of Barack Obama, and showed his usual intelligence, but it is doubtful that he gained much overall in this debate.
10. Herman Cain was the least impressive of the eight candidates, and cannot be seen in any way as someone to watch, and his lack of government experience is a major negative.

So overall, Huntsman, Bachmann, and Santorum probably gained the most, while Perry and Romney held their lead. Paul got some sympathy support, but it is bound to go nowhere, and the same for Gingrich and no real gain for Cain.

It will be interesting to see how polls look at these eight candidates later this week, but to say it is strictly a Perry-Romney race is almost certainly incorrect.

Finally, if this debate does not convince Democrats, progressives, liberals, and Obama supporters, of the need to contribute to the campaign and work for Barack Obama with great devotion over the next 14 months, then nothing will!

This is a crisis for the nation, with a nightmarish alternative that must be seen as unacceptable! More will be said about this debate in future posts on this blog!

What The Tim Pawlenty Endorsement Of Mitt Romney Means For The GOP Presidential Race

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Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, the first dropout of the Presidential face in the Republican Party, has endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for President, has agreed to be the national co-chair of his campaign, and will be at his side tonight as Romney participates in the fifth Republican Presidential debate in Tampa, Florida, which is sponsored by CNN and the Tea Party Express.

What does this mean?

1. It is the beginning of a concerted campaign to stop Texas Governor Rick Perry.
2. It is an attempt to draw the GOP toward the center of the political spectrum, away from right wing extremism.
3. It is an attempt to convince evangelical Christians and Tea Party activists, some of whom liked Pawlenty as a possible Presidential candidate, to come over to Romney.
4. It is an attempt to take away any possibility of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann regaining support in Iowa,and elsewhere, as a fellow Minnesotan has firmly rejected her candidacy by endorsing Romney.
5. It is an attempt to weaken any hope of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman somehow overtaking Romney and becoming the alternative to Perry.
6. It is also a veiled attempt of Pawlenty to remain in contention for the Vice Presidential nomination on a Romney ticket, a position he came close to gaining with John McCain in 2008, before the Arizona Senator made the fateful decision to select Sarah Palin.

So this endorsement and involvement in the Romney campaign by Pawlenty means a lot more than is obvious on the surface!

We shall see how the Pawlenty strategy works out, but clearly the GOP establishment is terrified at the thought of Rick Perry being the Republican nominee against President Barack Obama, seeing disaster ahead!

The Five Greatest American Tragedies of the Past Half Century!

Ronald 9 Comments

In the adult life of the author, if one were to judge what the five greatest American tragedies have been, whether man made or natural disasters, they would be the following in ranked order:

1. September 11, 2001–The worst tragedy in American history as 3,000 Americans were killed at the World Trade Center in New York City, along with deaths at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the bringing down of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, preventing the possible attack on and destruction of the US Capitol Building or the White House in Washington, DC by Muslim terrorists.

2. Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 and the days after, which caused the flooding of New Orleans, coastal Mississippi, and the death of more than 1,300 people , with a very slow response by federal, state and local officials.

3. The truck bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building by Timothy McVeigh on April 19, 1995, causing the death of about 168 people, and the wounding of 680 other victims, the greatest terrorist act on American soil until September 11, 2001.

4. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

5. The killing of seven astronauts in the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster on January 28, 1986, including the first teacher to go into space, Christa McAuliffe.

This list could be much longer, as we have experienced other disasters, but these five will always be remembered as the top of the list of tragedies!

The What Ifs Of September 11: If It Never Happened, How Would America Be Different?

Ronald 1 Comment

As we commemorate the 10th Anniversary of September 11, one can wonder how America would be different if September 11 had never occurred.

Among the thoughts and possibilities are:

1. There would be no Homeland Security Department in the federal government, and no special precautions at airports.
2. There would not be level of secret government activities, including intrusion on American citizens and interferences with civil liberties, that we have now.
3. There would not have been prolonged wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for ten years.
4. We would not have the level of national debt that we have now because of reactions to September 11.
5. Very likely, George W. Bush might not have won reelection because of the domestic economy problems, and a “new” type of Democrat, such as Howard Dean, might have won the Presidency.
6. A President Dean, in peacetime, and with reforms, might have won reelection in 2008, and there would have been no President Barack Obama.
7. Problems with Iran might have been more focused on, and there might have been military reactions against Iran as a result, and instead Iran is a major threat to the world in 2011.
8. Problems with China in 2001 might have led to more confrontation with that nation, instead of depending on China for much of our national budget through their buying of US debt caused by the wars we have waged after September 11.
9. We would not have the level of distrust and suspicion of the Islamic faith that we have today.
10. Politics might not be as polarized and confrontational as it has become in the past decade.
11. We might be having a spirited contest in 2012 with different faces in the mix for the Presidency, with President Howard Dean finishing his second term of domestic reform and no major foreign policy crisis, unless Iran or China had become so problematical that there was military conflict with either nation.
12. The Middle East would still have Saddam Hussein, but he would remain contained, but by now, with the Arab Spring, he might be facing turmoil and rebellion, as in the rest of the region.
13. Domestic reforms greater than Barack Obama has achieved would have likely occurred under President Howard Dean, including national health care, as there would not have been the kind of defense and war spending that occurred in the past decade.

Of course, all of the above are suppositions, theories, projections–all of which might NOT have happened, but it is fascinating to try to imagine Others will see things differently, and it is the stuff of historical fiction to conceive a novel with the imaginary past!

Shanksville, Pennsylvania Flight 93 Memorial Dedication Very Moving!

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The dedication of the Shanksville, Pennsylvania Flight 93 Memorial in honor of the courage and selflessness of the 40 passengers and crew which, by bringing the plane down on September 11, 2001, prevented an attack on the US Capitol or the White House, only about 40 miles away, just finished, and it was a very moving ceremony!

Highlighted by well crafted speeches by President George W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, and Vice President Joe BIden, the memorial was unveiled to show forty wall panels, each with the name of one of the heroes of that flight, who gave up their lives for their country!

Eventually, there will be orchards of trees, forty in number surrounding the memorial, but it still needs $10 million to complete. 75,000 people have donated to the project, and 1.5 million have visited the location in the past ten years.

Bill Clinton and Speaker of the House John Boehner have joined forces to raise the $10 million still needed, and this is the time for the extremely wealthy among us to give back some of the unwarranted wealth they have been able to retain, since they did not sacrifice in tax increases over the past ten years, so it is time for them to “cough up” and show their patriotism to the country that has given them the opportunity to become super wealthy!

September 11 Ten Years Later: Its Long Range Impact!

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Tomorrow will mark ten years since the greatest tragedy in American history–the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City; the Pentagon in suburban Virginia outside Washington, DC; and the heroism of the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 who prevented that plane’s hijackers from attacking the US Capitol Building or the White House by rebelling, and forcing the plane into a crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania!

Over 3,000 people died as a result of September 11, most in the Trade Center, but some in the Pentagon, and also on the the four planes involved in the terrorist plot.

Additionally, about 5,000 soldiers have been killed in the wars In Iraq and Afghanistan, and about 45,000 wounded, including a few thousand severely wounded, making more than 50,000 killed or wounded as a result of September 11.

It has been very difficult to conceptualize and cope with the tragedy of that day, and ever since in the never ending involvement in the wars against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Words cannot describe the torment that most Americans feel about this greatest of all human tragedies in American history, other than the tragic battles of Antietam and Gettysburg in the Civil War, along with the losses of our troops at Pearl Harbor which led us into World War II.

September 11 changed the American Presidency forever, making it that all Presidents in the future will have to be prepared to deal with a terrorist attack that could come at any time, no matter how much preparation and alertness Americans have. This is a never ending war that will cost us plenty in national treasure, and already has put us into economic straits worse than any time since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Socially, September 11 has made the country fearful of the religion of Islam, and made Americans suspicious of immigrants in general, an ugly revival of religious intolerance and of nativism, which is a massive problem for the long term, and could subject us to more danger because of hate mongers who can incite reactions by people who have no connection to September 11, and yet feel victimized.

September 11 united us briefly, but now it has led to political divisions that endanger the future of the country both domestically and in foreign policy dealings.

September 11 has also made us realize, like at the time of Pearl Harbor but then forgotten, that we are vulnerable to attack, and have been too self assured and cocky about the greatness of our nation, leading to the wrong headed attitude that we are superior and cannot be touched or threatened internally. We have learned the hard way the folly of our self proclaimed “exceptionalism”, a super nationalism which endangers our relations with other nations and makes us feel that we are best in every way, which is far from the truth!

September 11 has also endangered our Bill of Rights and civil liberties, some of it understandable, but much of it dangerous and unacceptable violations in the name of security. It has created an intrusive government which can spy on us with cameras, phones, internet and other forms of technology, and has caused the growth of so many intelligence and spy agencies that the Washington Post has published about secret governments and expenditures that we have no concept of, or ability to gain awareness of in detail!

In many ways, while we have fought the terrorism successfully, we have also become the victims, in the sense of losing our freedoms, security, contentment in being Americans, and sense of well being.

So September 11 has done great harm to us, and its impact will never dissipate, sadly!

From “Give Them Hell Harry” To “Give Them Hell Barry”!

Ronald 1 Comment

In 1948, President Harry Truman was in deep trouble on the economy, had organized labor and many liberals against him, and had a Republican Congress majority in both houses, dedicated to destroying the New Deal and making Truman less than a one term President, an accidental President.

But the GOP turned against organized labor, alienated the masses by trying to repeal the New Deal, and Truman gained support of those who had been critical of him, and waged an active campaign against the 80th Congress as a “do nothing” Congress, and went out to the country and gained the nickname “Give Them Hell Harry”!

Now it is time for Barack Obama to do the same with the 112th Congress House Republicans and the reactionary Tea Party Movement that has taken over the party and its Presidential nominees, with the exception of Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney.

He needs to end the cooperative nature he has been promoting, and wage “war” on the GOP as a party which has no concern for the average American! He needs to go out to the country and gain the nickname “Give Them Hell Barry”!

With such a campaign, pointing out that the Republicans wish to destroy Medicare and Social Security, the backbones of the Great Society and New Deal, respectively, Barack Obama has the potential for a major victory against the Right Wing Republicans and bring back a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, and maintain a Democratic majority in the US Senate!

Obama’s American Jobs Act Speech: Sign Of Changed GOP Attitude Or Opening Salvo Of Obama Reelection Campaign Against Republicans?

Ronald 1 Comment

Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act speech, calling for a $447 billion dollar combination of tax cuts and spending programs to help us out of the economic mess we are in, has received a surprisingly good response from GOP leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor.

Obama called for the end of the “political circus” in Washington, DC, referring to public perceptions of Congress, which has reached a low in polls of 13 percent in favor and 82 percent against, along with 54 percent wishing to throw out all members of Congress and start all over in November 2012.

It seems as if it may have resonated with the GOP, although one cannot be sure how the Tea Party radicals in the House will react, and whether they will work with Boehner and Cantor.

The answer is that Obama should work with the GOP leaders, and if they can come along and cooperate on what is good for the nation, all well and good!

But if they do not, then it is the opening salvo in the Obama reelection campaign, with Obama going into every congressional district of a recalcitrant Congressman, or the state of every recalcitrant senator, and bringing public pressure on them, and hopefully defeating many of these reckless members of Congress!

The False Argument About Federal Income Tax Collection From Low Income Earners

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Conservatives LOVE to point out that 47 percent of the American people pay no federal income tax, and that it should be required that everyone contribute, before we raise taxes on the extremely wealthy and the corporations!

The fact is that the reason that so many Americans do NOT pay federal income tax is because their earned income is so low, or because of various deductions that are available to everyone in theory. And the wealthy get a lot more benefit out of using these tax deductions!

The fact that corporations and the wealthy pay very low taxes as compared to their income does not bother conservatives, but damn it, those poor people or single mothers MUST pay their fair share, which would, at the most, be maybe under $25 per year if a minimum was required.

That is NOT going to resolve the issue of collection of enough taxation to deal with federal budget demands!

And, of course, those who do not pay federal income tax because of low income, still pay the payroll tax on Social Security and Medicare, which can be quite a burden on a low income, while for Social Security, if one earns more than $106,800, they pay NO additional Social Security tax!

Additionally, all taxpayers pay state and local sales taxes and property taxes if they own their home, and this can be quite a burden on low income earners!

So the argument about federal tax collection is a FALSE argument, and conservatives should be criticized for their lack of honesty about the matter!

Barack Obama’s Jobs Speech: Aggressive, Blunt, Forceful, Extremely Effective!

Ronald 1 Comment

Barack Obama gave a fantastic speech before a joint session of Congress this evening, and he called upon the Republicans to be bipartisan, but warned that he will fight for his jobs agenda across the country if there is no action!

This is the kind of speech that his supporters have been wishing for over a long time period! Be a strong advocate, offer cooperation, but make it clear that he will not tolerate lack of action by Congress without a clear cut reaction, on the level of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman!

Calling for dealing with education by rehiring of thousands of teachers, infrastructure spending, tax cuts for small businesses and the middle class, and aid to the long term unemployed through further extension of unemployment compensation, Obama called for a fairer tax system as well, to revive the American economy!

Basically, he declared a war on the economy, and seemed to gain some GOP support, based on early reactions by Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. But if they follow the lead of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, pledging opposition to any Obama programs, then the Democrats will fight in every congressional district to get the message across, and put Republicans on the spot with their constituents!

The speech was inspiring, and is the opening salvo in the 2012 Presidential election, with and without GOP support! This is the time for all who believe that President Obama is doing the best for this nation to rally around the administration and its programs to deal with the economy!