Communism

130th Birthday Of Harry Truman: A Man Of Courage And Decisiveness!

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Today is the 130th Anniversary of President Harry Truman’s birth, a man of true courage and decisiveness!

Suddenly thrust into the Presidency on April 12, 1945, he made tough decisions to use the atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II; waged the Cold War with the Soviet Union; recognized the new nation of Israel; integrated the armed forces by executive order, leading the fight for civil rights; and took us into the Korean War, preventing the loss of South Korea to Communism, with South Korea today one of the leading economies in the world, and a democratic nation!

On his 61st birthday, one month after taking over the Presidency, we saw the end of the war in Europe, and the celebration of V-E Day, and although there was still a few more months of war, the “Greatest Generation” had succeeded in fighting Fascism and Nazism, and saved democracy in the world!

So this is a day to salute not only President Truman, but the millions of soldiers who fought in World War II, many of them sacrificing their lives, and the number of living veterans dwindling rapidly every day, 69 years after the war ended!

1914 And 2014: Are The Scenarios Similar, Meaning A Potential World War III?

Ronald 11 Comments

A century ago, misjudgements, emotion, nationalism, and extremism led to the outbreak of the First World War, wrongfully called the “Great War,” leading to tens of millions of dead and wounded all over Europe, and causing the demise of empires, and the rise of Communism, Nazism, and Fascism, and the eventual coming of the Second World War.

After the Second World War, the Cold War evolved, and for nearly a half century, tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States created the danger of another world war, which, however, was avoided, despite tremendous crisis after crisis, with the super powers going to the brink, and then stepping back from the precipice.

But now, a quarter century after the Cold War ended, Russia’s move into Crimea, taking sovereign territory away from Ukraine, has created the biggest international crisis since 1989, and to the possibility of a scenario where extremism, nationalism, emotions, misjudgements by leaders, and the actions of a few could lead to the outbreak of a massive war, that would be called World War III!

This is very worrisome, and statesmanship, and commitment to avoid war is essential, or else we could reach a new precipice, that we might not be able to back away from, and would destroy the world we live in!

Five Years Of President Barack Obama, And Three Years To Go!

Ronald 4 Comments

Today is Inauguration Day, if an inauguration was to take place, as it did in 2009 and 2013, for President Barack Obama. It is also, this year, the commemoration of the birth of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was actually born on January 15, but whose birthday is celebrated on the third Monday of January every year since 1986.

If Martin Luther King, Jr. were here today at age 85, he would be very proud of the performance of a man who has seen as much racial hatred and venom, if not more totally, than King faced in his short 39 years of life.

Obama has suffered an average of 30 death threats per day, over 10,000 a year, and 50,000 in five years, more than any President in American history, even likely Abraham Lincoln, who suffered the most vicious hate of any other American President.

Obama has been called a Socialist, a Communist, a radical, all terms used against King five decades ago. It was also used against Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. He has been accused of being “unAmerican”, because he has a mission to provide equal access and opportunity, and the protection of human rights of all minority groups, women, immigrants, labor, as well as protect the environment and promote economic and social justice for the vast middle class and the poor.

If Obama were white, he would be attacked by the right wing, but not with the viciousness that he faces because he has an African American appearance, due to the genetics that made him look more black like his Kenyan father, than white, despite his white mother and the greater impact of her and her parents on his upbringing.

Barack Obama has proved to be a man of calmness, coolness, strength, confidence, class, dignity, and he has accomplished a lot more than his critics are willing to give him credit for, since they consider the fact that he breathes to be a fault in itself.

History will look kind on Barack Obama, while acknowledging his mistakes and shortcomings. which every President and every human being possesses.

Obama’s critics will look terrible, horrible, short sighted, hateful, and wrong in the long run of history, and future Americans will be appalled at the racism, nastiness, viciousness, and wishes to harm him, so common among the right wing talk shows on radio, Fox News Channel, conservative organizations, and the Republican Party of the second decade of the 21st century, an embarrassment to the long and proud history of Republicans in the past, who often were correct and contributory to the nation’s history.

Obama will outdo his critics, and go down as an above average President, maybe even near great, who was a path breaking President who made a dramatic difference in American history for the better!

“Moderate” Conservatives And The Future Of The Republican Party

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Some observers have argued that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie performed “well” at his nearly two hour press conference, on Thursday, answering question after question from journalists about the Fort Lee I-95 scandal, blocking traffic for four days in September, and threatening the health, safety and security of tens of thousands of people all over the lack of an endorsement of the Fort Lee Democratic Mayor for the Republican Governor in the state election campaign.

The fact that Christie held the longest press conference of any politician in history, and spoke longer than the doomed President William Henry Harrison, who spoke an hour and a half when inaugurated in 1841, dying from pneumonia he gained from the rainy, cold weather, dying exactly a month later, is looked upon as a sign of stamina and accomplishment.

But there are many unanswered questions, and Christie is known to have a vicious reaction to critics in the state government, having fired some, and having taken from the State Senate President, Richard Codey, who has been Acting Governor several times, his security protection over a dispute. How petty and nasty this man is, and we already know how he has been disrespectful to teachers and parents and journalists, and revels in being a bully, which he denied, much like Richard Nixon said he was not a crook, revealing himself similarly as exactly that!

Christie could face impeachment or recall, and could be facing criminal prosecution, ironic for a man who was US Attorney, prosecuting and imprisoning others, sometimes unjustly, but making “corpses” on the way to power, with his arrogance and his swagger. It would be only “just desserts!”

But meanwhile, the right wing in the GOP is reveling in the realization that this comparatively “moderate” conservative, who was the frontrunner in many polls for the Presidency, and even led Hillary Clinton in some polls, looks now as if he has fallen on his own sword, as far as the Presidential race of 2016 is concerned.

So who can so called “moderate” conservatives turn to in stead of Christie?

Is there any Republican Governor who could be seen as a “moderate” conservative?

Is there any Republican Congressman who could be seen as a “moderate” conservative?

Is there any Republican Senator who could be seen as a “moderate” conservative?

The silence is deafening as every Republican officeholder today in Congress and the Governorships is far from a “moderate” conservative, other than Christie himself!

They are all “hook, line and sinker” tied to the Tea Party Movement directly, or afraid to challenge that right wing, anarchistic, libertarian movement that hates government, while they all make big salaries and take lobbying money in large amounts, while demonizing poor people, single mothers, children, elderly, veterans, and minorities, and pontificate how the world is coming to an end because of gay marriage! And of course, they are still promoting the “Birther” myth about Barack Obama, while hailing Canadian born Ted Cruz as legitimate to run for President, and loving that he resembles so closely the appearance and tactics of the late Wisconsin “witch hunter of Communism,” Senator Joseph McCarthy!

So who can moderate conservatives turn to?

There are only two realistic possibilities, with neither likely to get very far in the search for a Republican Presidential nominee, and therefore, the GOP is on the road to electoral destruction as a result.

Those two possibilities are former GOP Governors, who have a brain and credentials, but are hated by the extremists on the right:

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (also Ambassador to China)

Bush has the problem that he is a “Bush”, and has been out of office since the end of 2006, and his brother, George W. Bush, ruined the family brand.

Huntsman has the problem that he is too damned intelligent and knowledgeable, is an independent minded Mormon with an open mind, and had the nerve to work for Barack Obama in China for two years! Imagine that!

Huntsman is, by far, the better of the two, but neither is likely to be a serious contender, and in fact, it could be that neither will announce. But if they do, the right wing talk show hosts, the Koch Brothers and their manufactured Tea Party Movement, and the think tanks will obliterate them, even as now they are celebrating the “political death” of Chris Christie, much too arrogant and abusive as he is!

But really, except for being somewhat more “moderate”, how is Christie really different from those to his right? Their personality traits and character are not really all that different to begin with!

So the GOP is worse off because of the Christie Scandal!

Many Significant Anniversaries In 2014

Ronald 1 Comment

As we enter the year 2014, we are reminded that many significant anniversaries, that have affected America and the world at large, are being celebrated this year.

In 1689, 325 years ago, we had the Glorious Revolution in England, which ended absolute monarchy and established the rule of Parliament, and the promotion of the English Bill of Rights, all of which would become the model for the American Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.

In 1789, 225 years ago, we had the French Revolution’s beginning, with its promotion of the concepts of liberty and equality, and it would affect the concept of revolutions in other nations over time, and also advocate the concept of popular sovereignty and democracy.

In 1914, 100 years ago, we saw the beginnings of the First World War, which would kill over 8 million people, bring about America’s first major international engagement, and lead to the rise of Communism in the Soviet Union, Fascism in Italy, and Nazism in Germany, all leading to World War II.

In 1939, 75 years ago, we had the beginnings of a war that caused even greater loss of life and property damage, World War II, and would see the horrors of the Holocaust, and the rise of America to leadership of the free world against the Soviet menace, and the beginnings of the Cold War.

In 1989, 25 years ago, we would see the end of the half century Cold War between the Soviet Union and the Western democracies, led by the United States, with the Berlin Wall symbol, which had been built in 1961, suddenly coming to a dramatic end, and the liberation of the Eastern European nations which had been part of the Soviet Empire, followed by the fall of the Soviet Union itself in 1991.

We will see a lot of attention paid to these anniversaries this year, particularly the First World War, the Second World War, and the Cold War, as they have shaped so much of world history and American history in the past century!

Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela, And South Africa

Ronald 2 Comments

The push is on to promote an image of Ronald Reagan on South Africa that is false, that he was a supporter of freedom in South Africa, but could not do so because of the Cold War with the Soviet Union,

While it is true that Reagan worried about the African National Congress being linked to Communism in the 1970s and 1980s, the fact is that the US Congress, including a large number of Republicans, overcame a presidential veto of legislation to put sanctions on South Africa in 1986,

Who was on Reagan’s side? People like North Carolina Republican Senator Jesse Helms, one of the most outrageous racists ever to walk the halls of Congress, and ironically, hailed earlier this year by Texas Senator Ted Cruz as someone he admired, and wished there could be 100 Jesse Helmses in the US Senate today!

Also, one must recall that Reagan did not promote “human rights” in countries that Jimmy Carter had condemned, and withheld foreign aid from during his Presidency, nations such as the Philippines and Haiti, and only after “peoples” revolutions in those nations in the same year as the override of the presidential veto on South African sanctions, 1986, did Reagan suddenly become an advocate of human rights.

And one must remember that Reagan worked to undermine the civil rights laws in the 1980s, including opposition to affirmative action, and had never been an open advocate of those laws when they were passed.

So while no one is calling Ronald Reagan a racist, least of all the author, his lack of sensitivity on the outrage of apartheid in South Africa, still stand out as reprehensible!

And the greatest example of how the Reagan view has been repudiated is the fact that three former Presidents–Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush—and President Barack Obama, are all going to the funeral of Nelson Mandela next week, a tribute to the greatness of this man considered by many 30 years ago as a “terrorist”, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, who himself could be considered a war criminal by many for the waging of the war in Iraq on false pretenses.

Dick Cheney is no model to follow, any more than Jesse Helms!

If this is said to be representative of the conservative movement in America, then they have made their own downfall as a serious alternative to what matters most, human rights and dignity!

Ridiculous Statements About ObamaCare By Conservatives And Republicans!

Ronald 2 Comments

The conservative movement and the Republican party, and Conservative Talk Radio are pulling out all the stops to try and stop ObamaCare from going into effect on October 1.

There is no stupid or ridiculous argument or statement that they have not utilized!

ObamaCare is equivalent of Nazi Germany!

ObamaCare is worse than the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850!

ObamaCare will kill women, children, and senior citizens!

ObamaCare will promote total government control over our personal lives!

ObamaCare is utilizing other nations’ “socialist” experiences in Europe and Canada, undermining the greatness of America!

ObamaCare is Communism, taking away freedom!

ObamaCare is encouraging abortion, homosexuality, undermining of religious values!

ObamaCare is Marxism!

ObamaCare is destruction of the family unit!

ObamaCare is a way to enslave Americans, making them dependent on the federal government!

Imagine when ObamaCare is shown to work, how the right wing will be left holding the bag, with their philosophy and ideas repudiated for the long term by the vast majority of Americans!

Senator Ted Cruz Praises The Late Senator Jesse Helms, Adding To The Image Of Cruz As The Most Dangerous And Divisive US Senator Today!

Ronald 3 Comments

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a freshman, is like a bull in a China shop, still in his first year, but laying waste to his party establishment, and making enemies along the way, and thoroughly enjoying the attention he is getting, and unconcerned about the enemies which are piling up in the process!

Cruz, who looks eerily like the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, and is the same age as McCarthy was when he became noticed (42), has already gained infamy by claiming that Harvard Law School professors were Communists, and advocating the Tea Party Movement desire to destroy ObamaCare, and go to war against everything Barack Obama stands for!

Now, Cruz has hit a new low, praising former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina as a model for the Republican Party.

Helms, who died in 2008 at the age of 86, served thirty years in the US Senate, from 1973-2003, and “took no prisoners”, using racist tactics in his election campaigns, opposing a Martin Luther King national holiday, and being rude and nasty toward the first African American woman Senator, Carol Mosley Braun of Illinois, among other horrible actions!

Helms was a full scale segregationist in the age of civil rights, non apologetic for upholding the Confederate heritage, and never reformed in any form, unlike Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Governor George Wallace of Alabama, who both mellowed and reformed somewhat in their later careers.

Helms would go down as one of the most negative characters ever to serve in the US Senate, and yet, now, Ted Cruz has said that we should have 100 Jesse Helmses in the US Senate, and it would be a far better body!

What is going on in the mind of this man, Ted Cruz? Why is he declaring war on common decency and humanity, insulting both Democrats and fellow Republicans on a daily basis?

Well, Cruz wants to be President, and he will stop at nothing to achieve his goal, no matter how many victims he leaves in his wake!

Many Republicans are afraid, literally, of him and his tactics and personality, reminding too many of Senator McCarthy, which again, Cruz has an uncanny resemblance to, in facial features and aggressive personality!

McCarthy was eventually, and rightfully, censored by the US Senate, including most of his own colleagues, and it may come to a time where an action like that will be required to tone down this threat to order and stability in the Senate, and the nation at large!

While we are on this idea of needing “100” of a particular person, this author has better suggestions, although the concept of “100” is actually ridiculous!

But if we are to do so, how about 100 Bernie Sanders; 100 Elizabeth Warren; or going back to past Senators, how about 100 Robert La Follette, Sr; 100 George Norris; 100 Hubert Humphrey; 100 Ted Kennedy; 100 George McGovern; 100 Paul Wellstone; 100 Joe Biden?

60th Anniversary Of Castro Revolution In Cuba: What Is The Future?

Ronald 4 Comments

60 years ago on this day, Fidel Castro led a failed attempt to seize an army barracks, which is marked as the beginning of his revolutionary uprising against Fulgencio Batista, leading after five and a half years of struggle to his seizure of power in Havana on January 1, 1959.

Fidel Castro gave up power due to medical problems in 2006, after 47 plus years of leadership, but his brother Raul succeeded him, and the Castro dynasty is still in power in Cuba after 54 and a half years, and Fidel Castro will be 87 years of age nest month, and is reported in good health.

Fidel Castro, as evil a man as he is, will go down as the most significant Latin American government leader of the past century of history, with only Juan Peron of Argentina a weak second behind him.

The effect of Cuba on the international scene has been massive, considering the fact that Cuba never made a dent in world affairs before Castro, and we nearly had nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union 51 years ago, a year and a half after a failed American attempt to use Cuban exiles to overthrow him in the Bay of Pigs fiasco!

And our domestic politics has been profoundly affected by the loyalty of the few million Cuban Americans to the Republican Party, making them a distinct Hispanic group in their political behavior, particularly in Florida!

We have also seen three Cuban US Senators–Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Ted Cruz of Texas–who have a great impact in the US Senate, as well as a few in the House of Representatives. Menendez is the lone Cuban Democrat who has made it to a prominent position, Chairman of The Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The question is what will happen when Fidel and Raul Castro leave the scene, at least officially in 2018, according to the plans of Raul Castro to retire. How will Cuba evolve, and how will the United States react to change in Cuba? Will democracy develop in Cuba or come about by a new revolution, or will the Castro influence and Communism persist in Cuba?

This island, just 90 miles from the Florida Keys, will become the center of world politics again very soon, and what happens there will affect America domestically and in foreign affairs for the long term future, just as it has for the past six decades!

The Castro brothers have managed to survive in power through the terms of 11 Presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Barack Obama! It is an amazing story just by that reality!

California Congressman Darrell Issa And Texas Senator Ted Cruz: In Appearance And Actions, Just Like The Infamous Wisconsin Senator, Joseph McCarthy!

Ronald 10 Comments

Sixty three years ago, Joseph McCarthy, Republican Senator from Wisconsin, became infamous, as he began his nearly five year tirade with false accusations, accusing great numbers of people of being Communists. He became an “ism”, and was ultimately repudiated by the US Senate, but only after most Republicans remained silent for years, even though they knew he was a demagogue!

Well, now we have California Congressman Darrell Issa and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, both of whom are engaged in demagoguery on a massive scale, just like McCarthy six decades ago!

And, interestingly, it is not just their tactics that are similar to McCarthy, but if one examines their faces and appearances, it is amazing how similar both are to their infamous predecessor! It is eery and weird to the extreme!

Issa is himself a person with a criminal background in his youth, and very easy at issuing accusations without substance!

Cruz is alienating and terrifying his Senate Republican colleagues, just as McCarthy did, with his wild, reckless statements and high level of arrogance and egotism!

It is likely that both will, at some point, “crash” in ruins, as McCarthy did in December, 1954!

Meanwhile, however, they will be destructive forces, with absolutely no ethics or sense of morality in their outrageous attacks on Barack Obama, Democrats, and moderate Republicans, the few which are left in the party!