Month: April 2014

The Dangers Of The Supreme Court Run Amuck In Favor Of Wealthy And Corporations!

Ronald 3 Comments

The Supreme Court is totally out of control, with its new decision on having no limits on campaign spending by wealthy donors, added on to the Citizens United Case of 2010, and the limitation of voting rights in a 2013 decision.

Chief Justice John Roberts has solidified a five member GOP majority to destroy all attempts to prevent corporate and wealthy people from controlling the political system, an effort pursued from the time of Theodore Roosevelt a century ago through Senator John McCain and Senator Russ Feingold in the 1990s and early 2000s.

That is all for naught now, and shows the dangers of a runaway, reckless, right wing radical Court!

This is what made Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Barack Obama criticize Court power, along with progressive reformers including Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin, Senator George Norris of Nebraska, Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont!

This is the result of 13 Supreme Court nominees since 1960 by Republican Presidents, to only 8 by Democrats, and with two of those Democratic appointments (Arthur Goldberg by John F. Kennedy and Abe Fortas by Lyndon B. Johnson), only lasting three and four years respectively.

Of course, Republican appointments of Harry Blackmun by Richard Nixon; John Paul Stevens by Gerald Ford; Sandra Day O’Connor by Ronald Reagan; and David Souter by George H. W. Bush, turned out to be major surprises in their rulings, but we also ended up with some of the most reactionary and right wing radical appointments in all of American history with the appointments of William Rehnquist by Richard Nixon and the elevation of Rehnquist to Chief Justice by Ronald Reagan; Lewis Powell by Richard Nixon; Antonin Scalia by Ronald Reagan; Clarence Thomas by George H. W. Bush; and Samuel Alito by George W. Bush. The appointments of Chief Justice Warren Burger by Richard Nixon; Anthony Kennedy by Ronald Reagan; and Chief Justice John Roberts by George W. Bush, have been more of a mixed bag, sometimes good, and sometimes horrible in its effect on constitutional law!

Meanwhile, John F. Kennedy selected a mostly conservative Justice Byron White; Lyndon B Johnson selected Thurgood Marshall; Bill Clinton selected Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer; and Barack Obama selected Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, but sadly, their influence in the last four of the five names listed, has been mostly in being the opposition, sometimes vehement in nature!

The effect on the future of American democracy is massive, with this right wing Court majority, and the only hope is the eventual retirement of Scalia and Kennedy, and hopefully, continuation of a Democratic Senate and President for the rest of the decade, so that the Court changes direction in the future!

Presidential Retirement Years And Constructive Post Presidencies

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All of our Presidents, except for eight who died in office, have had periods of retirement after their years in the Presidency.

Some have had very short periods of retirement, periods of less than ten years, including George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James K, Polk, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Alan Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

So fully half of our Presidents either died in office or had periods of retirement less than ten years.

On the other hand, the following Presidents had particularly long periods of retirement of fifteen or more years: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Grover Cleveland, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush.

The following Presidents had between ten and fifteen years of retirement: Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Ronald Reagan.

Bill Clinton has had 13 years out of office, and George W. Bush has had five years out of office at this time.

With the retirement periods of all of these Presidents listed above, the question that arises is which Presidents made major contributions in their post Presidency years.

That list is a short one:

John Quincy Adams
Martin Van Buren
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Herbert Hoover
Richard Nixon
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton

Adams served nearly eighteen years in Congress.

Van Buren ran for President on the Free Soil Party line in 1848.

Roosevelt ran for President on the Progressive Party line in 1912, and went on an African safari, and explored the Amazon River basin in Brazil.

Taft served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for nine years.

Hoover wrote books and served as an adviser to President Truman on reorganization of the executive branch of government.

Nixon wrote about ten books and remained an adviser on diplomacy in his nearly twenty years in retirement.

Carter has written nearly twenty books, and engaged in diplomacy, promotion of democracy, fought diseases, and built housing through the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity.

Clinton has done similar good deeds through his Clinton Initiative, and also worked on relief for the Haitian earthquake and the Pacific Tsunami with George H. W. Bush.

The contributions of these former Presidents have had a major impact on America, and are worthy of remembrance!

Affordable Care Act A Plus, “ObamaCare” A Minus: What It Tells Us About America!

Ronald 7 Comments

Now that the Affordable Care Act, also known as “ObamaCare,” has gained 7.1 million participants, the conservative movement and the Republican Party continues to denounce the law, despite the fact that it gives millions of Americans the rights and benefits of health care, which will save hundreds of thousands of lives!

But it is very revealing that when ordinary citizens are asked how they feel about the Affordable Care Act, a vast number say they like the idea of it and its benefits.

But then if asked if they like “ObamaCare,” the same people get very defensive, saying they do not like to be told that they must have health care, or face a penalty, seemingly not realizing that there is no difference between the Affordable Care Act and “ObamaCare,” except that the President’s name is on the legislation, when discussed by the news media.

So what are the sad conclusions from this reality?

It is clear that there are millions of Americans, who have been fed a diet of lies and deception about “ObamaCare!”

It is also clear that disliking “ObamaCare,” is heavily based on pure, unadulterated racism, plain and simple! The hatred felt toward Barack Obama personally is beyond all reason, and is clearly based on the fact that he is African American!

It is also clear that millions of Americans are purely ignorant of what goes on in government, and are easily manipulated!

It is also clear that many Americans seem to think that they should have no responsibilities to obey a government that they do not trust, which is extremely disturbing! This is promoted by conservatives and the Republican Party, the sense of no faith in the ability of government to do anything, and be believed to be legitimate!

The whole concept that one has the responsibility to have health insurance and pay for it, is no different than the concept that all of us must pay our fair share of taxes; that we must obey the law; that we must be ready to defend our country if called upon through a future potential military draft; and that we have a social responsibility to help each other in any way that decent people should have, in a democracy that is designed to reflect the needs and desires of the population!

Jeb Bush Suddenly Emerges As GOP Front Runner For 2016!

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Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has suddenly emerged as the theoretical front runner for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016, after a visit to Las Vegas and kissing the ring of billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

Other present time Governors–Chris Christie, Scott Walker, John Kasich—also saw Adelson, who is willing to spend tens of millions of dollars to back a Republican who will support his causes, including strong support of Israel, and working to overcome the Barack Obama Administration initiatives in many areas of domestic policy.

Jeb Bush has the advantage that he might draw support from a portion of the Hispanic-Latino community, as well as African Americans, and women. He is a favorite of the Establishment Republicans on Wall Street, who are terrified at the horrible Tea Party activists, such as Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio.

But the fact that his brother was unpopular, and in many ways, disastrous, works against Bush, and really, many might say, three Bushes is a bit much!

Once he would actually announce, his record as Florida Governor will be dissected, and while there are some good points one can make about Jeb, he was not universally popular when governor of the Sunshine State!

His own mother, Barbara Bush, has advised against running, and Bush has been out of office for ten years by 2016, making him longer out of office than any Presidential nominee who held an elective office, since Abraham Lincoln, who was out of office for twelve years, when he ran for President in 1860.

Much more could be said about the pluses and minuses of Jeb Bush as a Presidential candidate, and particularly against Hillary Clinton. There is time for that if Jeb actually announces. Could he, for instance, really win the caucuses and primaries in a party that is so right wing now? Does the nation really want a Bush and a Clinton in the same election, with Bushes going back to the 1980s, and Clintons to the 1990s, when now we are in the mid 2010’s?

That discussion can wait until he decides to run, and do not bet on that occurring!

Paul Ryan Out To Destroy Medicare And Social Security

Ronald 7 Comments

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan may be the new Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015, if the Republicans keep control of the House of Representatives!

This is another reason to work to acquire the 17 seats needed for the Democrats to gain control.

Ryan, having a nice inheritance and a wife whose family has money, does not need to worry about the future, as most Americans do.

He is now proposing that Medicare be voluntary for those under 55, endangering the health care of those people who decide to opt out, and then, when elderly, have inferior health care. Those ignorant people who do what Ryan suggests would be given a voucher, which would not cover all health care when retired.

This is similar to the idea of George W. Bush to make Social Security voluntary for those under 55, and allow them to put their funds in the stock market, which collapsed in 2008!

So Ryan, like President Bush, wants people to gamble, and in so doing, help to destroy Medicare and Social Security!

If the funding is removed, it insures the demise of the LBJ and FDR signature programs that have made America a better place!

Is that surprising, when the GOP has set out to destroy ObamaCare, the third part of this great set of social programs, what makes America a place equal to the advanced social reforms of Europe and Japan?

Hooray! ObamaCare Surge At End In “Red” States!

Ronald 4 Comments

ObamaCare is experiencing a massive surge of “Red” state citizens, rushing to sign up, as they finally realize that this is the opportunity of a lifetime for those who have never had health care coverage, or have lost it, due to abuses by insurance companies! And the number of enrolled is nearing 7 million, the original benchmark!

Now they are guaranteed coverage for preexisting conditions; for coverage for their children; for no lifetime limits; for coverage for prescriptions; and for knowing they can never be dropped, as long as they pay their premiums.

Some might pay more, but will have a far better plan, than the “junk” plans that they had with very high deductibles, or plans which did not cover all circumstances.

The Republicans know, in their heart of hearts, that they have lost this battle, and that ObamaCare is here to stay, as is so with Social Security and Medicare.

It is the signature achievement of Barack Obama, and will add to his stature when judged in history!

The GOP will suffer long term for their opposition, with Speaker of the House John Boehner indicating today that he still intends to promote the destruction of ObamaCare!

For that, he will be condemned in history as one of the absolutely worst Speakers of the House of Representatives in the entire span of American history!