conservatives

Republican “Chicken Hawks” And The Reality Of The Stress Of Military Service!

Ronald 13 Comments

Very few members of Congress or the executive branch have served in the military, so they have no real understanding of the stress of military service, and how it can affect one’s reaction to combat conditions.

But it is Republican “chicken hawks”, and conservative talk show hosts who spout their mouth without any facts, all just to make more money and promote more hate, who have been in the lead in condemning Bowe Bergdahl.

So we have Dick Cheney and many others in the GOP, who avoided service, and talk show hosts who never considered volunteering for military service, who are now being shown up, with the revelation that Bergdahl was tortured, beaten, put in a cage, and has gone through hell in captivity with the Taliban, after wandering off the military base in Afghanistan, without a weapon or any real way to keep contact with the base.

It is clear that Bergdahl had a mental and emotional breakdown, and this can happen to anyone under stress. And now, as a result of captivity for five years, and horrible mistreatment, he has been victimized enough already, but leave it to the hypocrites to do more to destroy whatever peace of mind and sanity he might have left, at the young age of 28!

Any decent human being should denounce the Republicans and conservative talk show hosts on radio and Fox News Channel, as they have demontrated no common decency or concern, but simply have this compelling need to destroy a soldier who volunteered, and obviously, has suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

We should pray that this young man be given a chance to come back into American society, and his parents stop being sent death threats, and the exaggerated accounts by fellow soldiers should be taken “with a grain of salt”, as they are NOT the judge of another person’s mental stability! There is already much evidence from the New York Times that much of what fellow soldiers say is far from accurate in reality!

An Important Step Forward Environmentally: EPA Plan For Cut In Carbon Emissions, Greenhouse Gases By 2030!

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The Obama Administration has taken an important step forward on climate change and global warming, with the Environmental Protection Agency decision to call for a 30 percent cut in Carbon Emissions and Greenhouse Gases by 2030 from the level that was present in 2005! Power plants around the nation would have to comply under the proposed directives.

Of course, the energy industries are up in arms over this, and predictably the same with the Republican Party and conservatives, but that is par for the course.

The coal producing states and counties are, obviously, unhappy with the EPA ruling, and the same with the Oil states, so predictably, we see Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky and Senator Mary Landrieu, and other Democrats from the energy producing states, opposing any action.

But this is just a medium step, as the nation must think about the long term future, not just the present, so the battle on climate change and global warming goes on!

The Importance Of Higher Education Over A Lifetime Worth The Investment!

Ronald 2 Comments

Propaganda has been going around, promoted by conservatives and Republicans, that higher education is not worth the investment, that many students end up with a debt that will take many years to pay off, so that, instead, it is better to avoid college education. Their goal, ultimately, is to promote ignorance and apathy among the masses, so as to advance their agenda of impoverishing the middle class and the poor!

Yes, college debt is a major problem, and the interest rates charged are ridiculous, and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wants to promote legislation to lower rates, stating that an investment in the long term future should not become victim of greedy lenders!

While it is true that many college and university graduates cannot find work in their chosen field, and that it has become particularly difficult for recent college students to find appropriate work, one must think in the long run, not the short run, and the evidence is clear that a college education, over a lifetime, pays dividends in higher pay, a better lifestyle, and a much more enlightened citizenry!

College graduates on the average make at least double the income of non college graduates, and over a lifetime, about a half million dollars is lost if a person has not attended and graduated a four year degree.

Also, the level of satisfaction at work, and the knowledge base of a college graduate, is far greater than a non college graduate. A four year college degree is still the best ticket to the middle class for anyone who is struggling to make ends meet!

The Disgraceful Dr. Benjamin Carson: Right Wing Extremist Exploiting For His Own Ambitions!

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Dr. Benjamin Carson was a renowned neurosurgeon who did miracle work on children, and he should be acknowledged and praised for his medical career.

But now that he has retired, he has emerged as a man who has delusions that he can be the Republican Presidential nominee, despite never having been in public office, and he has joined other African American Republicans, including former Florida Congressman Allen West and 2012 Presidential contender Herman Cain, in turning their backs on the African American community, and advocating extremist right wing views!

Carson first became noticed when he condemned the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, with Obama present to hear his denunciation.

Carson has made outrageous statements, and has employed divisive and incendiary rhetoric, and now works as a commentator on Fox News Channel, and writes a column for the conservative Washington Times.

Carson has said ObamaCare is equivalent of slavery; says “socialized medicine” is adopting Soviet leader Nikolai Lenin’s strategy to control the people; has compared same sex marriage to pedophilia; has said white liberals are the most racist group in America; has praised Russian leader Vladamir Putin for his tough stand on homosexuality; and has attacked the Darwinian theory of evolution and climate change.

A man with such views should not be taken seriously by anyone, but with the fluid situation in the Republican Party, who knows if Carson could emerge as a serious contender?

But there is no possibility of Carson ever being President, even if somehow he emerged as the Republican Presidential nominee, so do not put betting money on such an unlikely scenario!

“Fishing” Expeditions Mount As Republicans Lose On ObamaCare!

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The Republican Party is so desperate to find an issue to attack the Obama Administration, now that ObamaCare is working, and polls indicate growing support for the landmark legislation that twenty years ago the Republicans supported, and which Mitt Romney put into play in Massachusetts eight years ago, now shown by statistics and research to have saved many lives in that state.

So now the Republicans are engaging in another attack on the Benghazi terrorist tragedy in Libya, despite the fact there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

And they also have cited Lois Lerner for using her Fifth Amendment rights in the investigation of the Internal Revenue Service targeting political organizations who want tax exempt status, even though progressive groups, as well as conservative groups, were investigated as to their right to a tax exemption.

Also, there is heat being brought against Eric Shinseki, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, over the problems in providing health care for veterans, even though the GOP has no problem with trying to deny millions of poor people the opportunity to have health care through Medicaid expansion!

The hypocrisy of the Republican Party is beyond belief, and the American people need for the Democrats to fight back in clear terms, and make all voters know the truth about the GOP strategy, so that they do not reward them for their lies and deceit in the upcoming Midterm Elections of 2014!

Rand Paul And Rupert Murdoch As His Guest At The Kentucky Derby: A “Marriage” Made In Heaven?

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Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is working at wooing Rupert Murdoch, and invited him as his guest at the Kentucky Derby horse race last weekend.

It made quite a splash in the newspapers and on cable tv, that the Australian tycoon in his 80s, one of the most powerful conservative giants, as the owner of Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and The Weekly Standard, was allowing himself to be the guest of the son of the libertarian giant, former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.

The question is whether this means that Rand Paul will eventually gain the backing of Murdoch and his top lieutenants in the conservative spectrum of politics, including Roger Ailes and Bill Kristol, among others.

At this point, it would seem highly unlikely, but it could be a “shotgun” marriage, although the odds of Paul being the GOP Presidential nominee, let alone the winner of the Presidency in 2016, is highly speculative!

New Scientist Report Shows Massive Climate Changes Going On, Time For Action!

Ronald 1 Comment

The battle over climate change continues, and a new report by 300 scientists makes clear for everyone and anyone who cares about the future national security of the United States, that dramatic action is needed!

To ignore the obvious evidence of devastating climate change already affecting the globe and the nation is to be an ostrich with its head in the sand.

The worsening reality of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, sinkholes, droughts, forest fires, avalanches, landslides, and glacier meltings at a very rapid rate is a warning sign of what is happening, and much more rapidly than was predicted.

The sad truth, however, is that Republicans and conservatives and those in the energy industries, are vehemently opposed to any action, claiming there is no climate change going on, just normal changes that happen over time but are not extreme in the long run of mankind’s time on earth.

So the battle of the Obama Administration on this issue will face the same stalemate, gridlock, and conspiracy theories that has been visited on everything the President engages in, while trying to promote necessary change!

A Fact That Cannot Be Denied: With Creation of 120,000 More Jobs, All Jobs Lost In Great Recession Are Recovered!

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A plain fact that Republicans and conservatives wish to deny is that the entire loss of jobs from the Great Recession under their President George W. Bush, the worst since the Great Depression, and actually in pure numbers, far worse, is nearing an end!

With next month’s report of job gains, the negative will finally have ended, six years after the total collapse!

Only 120,000 jobs need to be created, and every job created after that is additional, and the job growth will continue over the remainder of the Obama Presidency!

Yes, the author is well aware that this is not in itself something to rejoice, while we have so many people unable to make a decent living, and millions having to survive on the minimum wage or just above, and others further impoverished by the refusal of Republicans to extend unemployment compensation.

And manufacturing jobs, while reviving to some extent, are still losing to overseas competition, and too many jobs that are created are service jobs, traditionally low paid.

The fact of the recovery of the millions of jobs is to be saluted, but the need to create millions of new, high paying jobs is still the daunting task of Obama and the next President of the United States, but with GOP obstructionism, that will continue to be difficult.

The fact of the recovery of jobs, however, should be bragged about by Democrats, and should be a major factor in avoiding major loss of seats in the House and Senate, as if the Republicans had cooperated in the past four years, our economic revival could have been swifter and more focused on creation of good jobs, rather than just minimum wage jobs, which are in pay, 25 percent behind what they were in economic value in 1968!

Republican Senators And The Minimum Wage Law

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The Republican Party has effectively written off those workers who are paid the minimum wage, not caring about how they are to survive in an economy with the situation stacked against them.

It has been nearly a decade since the minimum wage was raised, and people forget that the minimum wage was never raised during the 1980’s, and so the cost of living is way beyond what the minimum wage should be.

Originally established at 25 cents an hour in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. the minimum wage should now be about $15 an hour based on inflation, but instead is, nationally at $7.25 an hour for nearly a decade, although some states have raised the limit.

The bill that failed to get to a vote in the Senate, due to the filibuster tactic, would have raised the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in stages until 2016, but NOT one GOP Senator, not even Senator Susan Collins of Maine, or Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, or a few others thought to have some “moderate” tendencies, voted for the rise in the minimum wage.

Many of the minimum wage workers are breadwinners for their families, and the stress of having too little income also affects their physical and mental health, but obviously Republicans and conservatives do not give a damn about those realities!

Today’s minimum wage is 25 percent below what it was in 1968, an absolute atrocity! Putting extra money in the hands of the working poor would make life easier, add to business profits, and would certainly all be put back into the economy, but the Republicans are determined to punish the poor for being poor, and in so doing, harm children and women, even more than men.

If this is not the new “Gilded Age”, what is it, not only for the poor, but for the dwindling middle class?

This is Scrooge at its best!

The Republican Party: The Party Against Life! Pro-Gun, Anti Medicaid, Pro Death Penalty!

Ronald 2 Comments

The Republican Party and conservatives love to say they are the Pro Life Party, as they oppose abortion rights for any reason, including rape, incest, and life of the mother (for the most so called “religious”).

But at the same time, they are against any gun regulations to prevent future Sandy Hook Massacres or the reality that 12,000 people a year are killed by lack of regulation of firearms. So many cases of children killing siblings because of reckless parents who leave loaded firearms around, or killing of partners by wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, abound.

Also, about half of the states have refused to expand Medicaid, and are therefore responsible for the death of people within their states who cannot gain health care.

And for those states which have the death penalty, and allow the idea that a mix of drugs used to execute prisoners, without awareness of what they are, and their effect on the victim, can lead to the botched execution in Oklahoma last night, is an atrocity only fit for the Middle East or Russia or China, not the United States.

These Republican and conservative and “religious” promoters of death should be condemned, and it is clear that the states have run amuck in regards to basic human rights, including the right to live, free from gun violence, with access to health care, and the abolition of the death penalty, as it has not led to lower crime rates, but simply as a method to kill more people of minority status. The vast number who face execution in states that have a record of racial discrimination over the long period of years is testimony enough to this truth!