Month: November 2013

Advancements On Gay Rights, But Plenty Of Struggle Ahead

Ronald 4 Comments

The vote of the US Senate yesterday to agree to overcome a potential filibuster, and allow a final vote on ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) is a great move forward on civil rights.

The proposed law, discussed for many years, would ban employers from firing, refusing to hire, or discriminating against workers or job applicants based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The procedural vote was 61-30 with 54 Democrats (all but Claire McCaskill, who was not present), and 7 Republicans (Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte, Dean Heller, Mark Kirk,. Rob Portman, Orrin Hatch, and Pat Toomey) in favor.

So the bill will pass the Senate in the next few days, but disturbing is that 30 Republicans had the nerve to vote for continued discrimination, and 8 Republicans were not recorded as voting.

It will be interesting to see if any of these 38 Republicans will vote for the final bill, particularly such Senators as John McCain and Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and John Thune, who at times have shown some moderation as compared to most in the Senate Republican caucus.

At the same time, Illinois moved today toward final acceptance of gay marriage, making that state the 15th to have gay marriage, going into effect by the summer of 2014.

At the same time, other states seem to be moving in the same direction, including Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, although at different measurements of progress.

Regarding the ENDA legislation, IF Speaker John Boehner allowed an open vote, the legislation would become law, with most Democrats and enough Republicans to make it the law of the land , but Boehner has indicated that he will not allow a vote, which, if it is pursued all the way, would stop any chance to do what is morally right to do, stop job discrimination, So pressure must be brought to convince him to change his mind, and allow a vote even without a majority of his caucus.

Five Year Anniversary Of Obama Being Elected President, And Low Point Today Of His Presidency!

Ronald 22 Comments

Barack Obama became our 44th President on this day five years ago, and on this fifth anniversary, he has reached his low point in public opinion polls, with 42 percent satisfied with his performance.

The likelihood is that Obama’s poll ratings will continue to go down, due to the total disaster of the inception of the ObamaCare website, plus the horrible mistake of Obama claiming that anyone could keep his health care plan if satisfied with it.

The glitches in the website are bad enough, but the fact that 5 percent, about 15 million Americans, are discovering that their health care plans are being canceled, and that the future of their health care is unsettled, and that many seem to be likely to pay a lot more for health care, if not resolved soon in a satisfactory manner, could destroy the signature achievement of the Obama Presidency.

Obama is shown to have lied, shown to be arrogant in refusing to listen to experts on the website matter, and to have thought that the fact that the purpose was to improve health care would, somehow, overcome the insecurity and uncertainty of millions of Americans suddenly having the health care plans they had taken away from them so abruptly.

It is said that millions of Americans will benefit from ObamaCare, but the fact that other millions are being victimized in coverage and cost, to fit the model that the government wants them to have, could destroy any chance of the long term success of ObamaCare.

This could ruin the long term legacy of Obama, and hurt the Democratic Party and those who believe in progressivism and liberal values.

So today is not a day to celebrate, but rather to hope that the disaster that has been occurring can be resolved very soon in a satisfactory manner, for those affected, and for the future of the concept that the federal government can do things right, as to promote anything else, means a return to abuses by private business interests without government oversight in the interests of the American people.

Presidents Replacing Their Vice Presidents: Not Very Productive

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The new book, DOUBLE DOWN: GAME CHANGE 2012, states that Barack Obama’s campaign seriously considered dumping Vice President Joe Biden for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a rumor long believed and promoted.

Would such a change have brought about a different election result? Hardly so, and Obama came to realize that his Vice President was an asset, and that it was best to leave well enough alone.

When one looks at history, it is clear that “dumping” a Vice President is not a good idea, although there have been cases of such situations sometimes being necessary.

This is true of Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, with Burr having tried to take the Presidency away from Jefferson in the Presidential Election of 1800.

It is also true of Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun, who were at tremendous odds over the protective tariff in 1832, with Calhoun finally resigning the Vice Presidency with three months left in the term, before being replaced by Martin Van Buren for Jackson’s second term.

Abraham Lincoln’s decision to dump Hannibal Hamlin for Andrew Johnson in 1864 is seen as a mistake, as Johnson ended up being impeached, although not convicted, by Congress when he became President.

Ulysses S. Grant’s first term Vice President, Schuyler Colfax, being involved in scandal, was replaced by Henry Wilson for the second term, a necessary action, due to the Credit Mobilier Scandal revelations.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had three Vice Presidents in his four terms, with John Nance Garner refusing to run with FDR when he went for his third term. But Henry A. Wallace was replaced with Harry Truman for the fourth term, due to opposition from Southerners and conservatives who worried about Wallace on the issue of race relations, and his views of the Soviet Union during World War II. Looking back, it was better that Truman, rather than Wallace, became President upon FDR’s death in April 1945.

Gerald Ford is the last President to replace his Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller, with the choice of Bob Dole, but that helped to defeat him in a close race with Jimmy Carter.

Overall, it is best for a President to stick with his Vice President when running for a second term, unless there are extenuating circumstances as with Jefferson, Jackson, Grant and FDR.

Republican House Districts Worse Off Economically, But Vote GOP Anyway Due To Racism, Fear, And Religion!

Ronald 1 Comment

Statistics demonstrate that hard line Republican House districts, who have supported Tea Party candidates, and are vehemently anti Barack Obama, have a higher unemployment rate than the average House district.

The rate in the Tea Party districts is around ten percent, while the rate in other Congressional districts is 7.5 to 8 percent, a substantial difference.

One would think that the Republicans who represent these districts would wish to do anything and everything to encourage job growth, and to avoid the disarray of confrontations that undermine economic development, but instead it is the opposite,

When Barack Obama has promoted the need for infrastructure projects and educational investments, that has been enough to convince Tea Party types, plus the GOP leadership in both houses, to sit on their hands and refuse to cooperate in any fashion!

One would imagine that the voters of these districts, who elected these representatives, would begin to realize that they are playing politics, refusing to allow Barack Obama to have any ability to claim any progress economically, but at the expense of their constituents, who would benefit from such economic progress.

But instead, the emphasis is on fear of the “black” President from “Kenya”, obvious racism, and instead invoking religion, which should have no place in the public sphere, so we see emphasis on abortion and gay marriage to scare these constituents into voting for representatives who do not give a damn about them, and are even willing to cut food stamps, which benefit many of their own population, especially considering that the majority on food stamps nationally are white!

The ignorance and prejudice of so many people in these Tea Party districts, and other Republican districts, is absolutely mind boggling!

63rd Anniversary Of Only Attempt On A President’s Life In His Home–Truman And Blair House In 1950!

Ronald 2 Comments

Eleven Presidents have faced assassination attempts, but only one, Harry Truman, on this day in 1950, 63 years ago, had a direct attack on his residence. At the time, it was Blair House, where the Trumans were residing due to renovations on the White House that were ongoing.

Two Puerto Rican nationalists attacked Blair House, while the Trumans were inside, and a Secret Service agent was killed in the process.

This assassination attempt, while it never actually reached to Truman personally, is one of the moments when one must recall that our President, whoever he is, is under constant threat of his life being taken by evil forces.

It is believed that President Obama has an average of 30 death threats, known to the Secret Service, every single day, making him the most endangered President we have had.

The sickness of assassination threats should sober all of us, as we commemorate this day in 1950 when we could have lost our 33rd President, Harry Truman, and a dedicated Secret Service agent, Leslie Coffelt, prevented it with his life!

Conservatives And Republicans Want People To Have Inferior Health Care—AMAZING!

Ronald 19 Comments

Conservatives and Republicans have viciously opposed ObamaCare, not giving a damn about whether tens of millions of Americans have health care coverage, even though that makes health care more expensive for taxpayers when these people go to emergency rooms, or else these people die, which they seem not to care about!

But, having failed to prevent ObamaCare, and complaining about its difficult roll out, as if they wanted it to succeed, now they are complaining that millions of people with independent coverage, who have crappy health care contracts, are being forced to get new coverage that covers more areas, has lower costs, better conditions, and will prevent people from losing coverage, or be told that preexisting conditions are not covered!

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Fox News Channel right wing talk show host Sean Hannity lead a whole group of charlatans, who are working to mislead consumers, and make ObamaCare an issue that they can exploit for political gain, while working to convince people that they are being exploited, rather than the truth that they are being given a chance for FAR BETTER health care coverage!

These right wingers do not know how to tell the truth, because if they do, they know the conservative movement will recede into the dustbin of history, as not caring about the health care needs of the American people!

Remember that the basis of ObamaCare is both the basis of the Heritage Foundation plan for health care of 1993 and of RomneyCare in 2006 in Massachusetts, but neither source will dare admit the truth, and expect Mitt Romney to say the same this Sunday on Meet the Press, the reason why he had no chance to win the Presidency in 2012! Romney could not tell the truth if he tried, and stands out as the biggest liar of any Presidential candidate in modern history!