George H W Bush

The Medicaid Cuts Affecting Children And Adults With Disabilities: The Safety Net Full Of Holes!

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It has been shown that children and adults with disabilities often cannot find medical doctors who will see them, and that seeing a specialist who is willing to accept Medicaid is a long drawn out process, even for those with severe health issues.

And state after state is cutting Medicaid access to more disabled people in the name of cost controls, and therefore sending a message that disabled people, supposedly covered under the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, a proud moment in the administration of President George H. W. Bush, no longer matter in the name of tax cuts for the rich and the corporations!

What could be more obscene and disgraceful than to show lack of concern for the health of those among us who are basically being blamed for their disabilities!

What could be worse than to say that their lives do not matter, as long as the almighty dollar stands in the way!

The quality of life of disabled people is something those of us fortunate to have no such disabilities do not experience.

But there is a high level of immorality and indecency in allowing the abuse of those who wish they had no disabilities, and are being told they do not matter, and turning our eyes away!

Two decades after the ADA, we are seeing a major deterioration, with little conscience displayed by America’s governors and state legislatures. This says a lot about the concept of America as a special land better than anywhere else, a total lie if we can choose to victimize the helpless and justify it!

The Internal Struggle In The Republican Party: Minnesota Vs. Mormonism!

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With the announcement today that Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels will not run for the Republican Presidential nomination, the race seems more than ever to be one of FOUR who are likely to dominate vote getting in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the early primary and caucus states next winter!

As one looks at the field, it seems clear that Newt Gingrich has self destructed in his first week as an official candidate. Rick Santorum seems unlikely to take off as a candidate, based on his own past crazy statements and walloping defeat for re-election in Pennsylvania in 2006. Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, and even Ron Paul, will make noise, but are unlikely to poll many actual votes.

So unless someone such as Chris Christie or Jeb Bush suddenly enters the race belatedly, there seem to be four major contenders for actual popular vote support in the primaries and the caucuses early on–Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, and surprisingly, Michele Bachmann!

Bachmann is the favorite of the Tea Party people, more even than Ron Paul, who is seen as too old and flaky to be much of a vote getter. Even though she is outrageous in her statements and actions, Bachmann is likely to have a serious following in Iowa at the least, and could affect who of the other candidates benefits by her candidacy.

Bachmann, being from Minnesota, and therefore from the Midwest, poses a real challenge to former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who has been very careful to avoid outrageous statements and actions, and yet is competing for the Tea Party support and for the backing of Midwesterners. Iowa is a crucial state to both, so they are therefore at loggerheads as Bachmann could ruin Pawlenty’s chances. So expect the beginning soon of sustained attacks by each on the other, and increasingly so, as the campaign gets closer to the first vote test in Iowa, which has many evangelical Christians and Tea Party people, and will likely kill off either Bachmann or Pawlenty. So it is the battle of Minnesotan vs. Minnesotan!

But the 2012 race is also of Mormon vs. Mormon, as Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah, and seen as a moderate to some extent, is challenging Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, who is also often seen as a moderate. Both are working very hard to wipe such ideas out of voters’ minds, as both oppose health care and support Medicare reform along the lines of the Paul Ryan Budget plan. Both are much more electible on paper, but being Mormons and having the old image of moderation could harm both, and certainly, one will be hurt by the success of the other.

What is likely is that the nomination will come down to Pawlenty vs. one of the two Mormon politicians, with Huntsman being newer and fresher and more interesting a candidate.

So the final struggle is likely to be Pawlenty vs. Huntsman, and it would seem likely that Pawlenty would have the edge, but only if he can overcome the influence of Bachmann with Tea Party faithful.

For the election, Huntsman or even Romney would be a better bet to win than Pawlenty, but the Tea Party influence is such that the bet would be that Pawlenty will be the sacrificial lamb, with the likelihood that Barack Obama would win a major victory, possibly on the level of George H. W. Bush over Michael Dukakis in 1988!

Forget Jon Huntsman! His Disgraceful Surrender To The Far Right Of The Republican Party!

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When one thought about the upcoming Republican Presidential race, there was some hope that someone moderate might actually show principle and be an alternative to the extreme right wing of the party.

And this author had hope for Jon Huntsman, the former Governor Of Utah and President Obama’s Ambassador to China, as a possible alternative who, were he to win the nomination, could give the President a real race for the White House, and were he to win, would be acceptable as the occupant of the White House.

Well, such illusions have now been destroyed, by Jon Huntsman himself! And this is very upsetting!

Huntsman has now changed his view on climate change, on the economic stimulus, and the health care issue, and has told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that were he in the House of Representatives, he would have voted for the Paul Ryan plan on Medicare, which would destroy Medicare as we know it in ten years.

The man may be charismatic, handsome, and appealing in an intellectual way, but he is a major disappointment by his abandonment of what he believed in.

His decision to move his unannounced campaign headquarters from Utah to Florida indicates he hopes to have an impact in the Sunshine State, but that indicates that he might even abandon his support of gay civil unions, as in Florida and many other states, the opposition to gay rights is still very strong in Republican primary voters, many of whom are evangelical Christians.

If Huntsman, who is Mormon, and must deal with that issue just as much as fellow Mormon Mitt Romney, hopes to gain evangelical backing, he will have to change his position on gay rights. Not that such a decision will guarantee evangelical support, but without such a switch, there is no hope at all of such backing!

So, disllusionment with Jon Huntsman just adds up to a sense of hopelessness that there is any chance of ANY Republican being mainstream in the traditions of the party in the age of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and EVEN Ronald Reagan!

WIth Mitt Romney backing away from “Romneycare”, and Jon Huntsman surrendering to conservative extremist views, the GOP is a shell of its old self, and gives progressives no hope that there could be any sense of acceptance of ANY Republican Presidential winner in 2012!

Eighth Anniversary Of The Iraq War’s Beginning, And Now Libya!

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It is quite ironic that on the 8th anniversary of America’s involvement in the Iraq War, which killed over 4,000 and wounded over 30,000, many very seriously, that suddenly we are engaged in war against Libya and its leader, Moammar Gaddafi!

The first missile strikes against Libya were by the French, but soon were joined by the United States and Great Britain, with the war effort being endorsed by the Arab League.

President Obama has said there will be no combat troops on the ground, that the purpose of the conflict is to prevent mass murder in Benghazi and other locations in eastern Libya, and to allow the rebels against the central government forces of Gaddafi to have a chance to succeed in defending themselves and to overthrow the 42 years long Libyan dictatorship, which has been condemned by UN Resolution 1973.

So we are now engaged in THREE wars at the same time, although Iraq is not considered to be hostile territory anymore, and American forces are scheduled to leave at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is a war we are now engaged in for the 10th year.

The question is whether we can be certain that our involvement will be just missiles and air attacks, or whether it will deteriorate and lead to combat forces, no matter what Obama is saying now.

The thought of three wars at once, and the economic costs involved is enough to make one sick, and will probably mean further cuts down the road in domestic spending!

And there is concern that the Arab world and Muslim nations, while no friends of Gaddafi, might yet someday turn against the West, led by the US, France and Great Britain, and accuse them of a holy war against Islam.

There is also concern that Obama has not involved the Congress in the war planning, although that fits Presidential actions under Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and the two Bushes, and other Presidents have intervened in a non war situation without Congressional approval. The War Powers Act of 1973 is again proved a “paper tiger”, and Congressman Dennis Kucinich is leading the attack on Obama asserting too much authority without approval of Congress.

So this Libyan intervention has just begun, and is bound to be longer lasting and creating more headaches, both domestic and foreign, than one wants to imagine today!

But at least, we will not be able to say that we ignored a potential mass holocaust, as Jimmy Carter did in Cambodia, and Bill Clinton did in Rwanda!

A Look At Post Presidencies On Presidents Day

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As we celebrate Presidents Day, on the third Monday of February, it is significant to look at post Presidencies and their impact.

Among earlier Presidents, a few stood out in public office after the Presidency.

John Quincy Adams served nearly 18 years in the House of Representatives from Boston, and led the fight against slavery and the “gag rule” which banned discussion of slavery on the floor of the House.

Andrew Johnson served briefly back in the Senate where he had been the only Southerner to remain loyal to the Union, of all the Senators from the Confederate States.

William Howard Taft served nine years as Chief Justice after almost a decade out of the White House, and came up with the plans for the Supreme Court Building.

Herbert Hoover served President Truman in reorganization of the executive branch as the head of the Hoover Commission after World War II.

Richard Nixon wrote numerous books on foreign policy, and became regarded as an elder statesman who was asked for advice by every President, despite the disgrace of the Watergate Scandal.

Jimmy Carter has been heavily involved in Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center, engaged in promoting diplomacy and free elections and better living conditions all over the world, and has also been a prolific author.

George W Bush has been involved in Haitian relief and other activities, and his father,  George H W Bush, now will be honorary co chairman of the University of Arizona Civility Institute, an outgrowth of the violence which led to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords last month, sharing that responsibility with Bill Clinton.

And Bill Clinton has been a “whirlwind” of activity with the Clinton Global Initiative, which aims to help the promotion of prosperity and human rights all over the world, with the support of the business community, and he also was involved in the Haitian relief after last year’s earthquake, and now is to be part of the Civility Institute activities at the University of Arizona.

In fact, this evening on MSNBC, Chris Matthews will host an hour review of the many activities of Bill Clinton since his Presidency ended 20 years ago.

So on this day when we commemorate Presidents, let’s remember the contributions of former Presidents as well!

The Presidential Medal Of Freedom Awards For 2010

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President Obama has chosen 15 Americans for the Medal of Freedom, and they were honored at a White House ceremony three days ago.

It was, as always, a special moment, but particularly special in the mind of the author.

This is because his childhood baseball hero, Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals, who has just reached 90 years of age, was one of the honorees. It brought back memories of childhood and the thrill of watching “Stan The Man” perform flawlessly on a baseball field! 🙂

But also among the honorees was former President George H W Bush, basketball great Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, Civil Rights leader and Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, former AFL CIO labor leader John Sweeney, poet Maya Angelou, and President Kennedy’s sister and sole survivor of the Kennedy generation of nine children, Jean Kennedy Smith, who also served as Ambassador to Ireland.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was honored as well, along with Billionaire Warren Buffett, Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez, Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein, American artist Jasper Johns, National Resources Defense Council environmental founder John H. Adams, and humanitarian Tom Little who was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan while providing vision care to local citizens.

As Obama said, this is one of the most enjoyable perks of being President of the United States, to honor those who have done so much good for the nation! 🙂

The Assault On Organized Labor And The Working Class

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The year 2011 is seeing a frontal assault on the hard earned rights of organized labor and the working class, gained over the past century with the aid of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, George H W Bush, and Bill Clinton.

Collective bargaining is about to disappear in many states controlled by Republican Governors, and the Supreme Court has been actively restricting labor rights and promoting the rights and privileges of corporations.

We are rapidly descending back into the Gilded Age and 1920s mentality, including the possibility of National Guard actions against workers in Wisconsin, and who know where else eventually! 🙁

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate threatens to create a permanent underclass, and employers are making things only worse.

The white population has an unemployment rate of about 8 percent; the African American population rate is 16 percent; the Hispanic rate is 12 percent; and the Asian American rate is about 7 percent. Add to this the growing number of disabled and handicapped workers as well, and then add to the mix the news that employers more than ever are refusing to consider anyone for employment who is at this point without a job.

If this strategy continues, which would seem to be against the civil rights laws on race, ethnicity and the disabled and handicapped, then we are on the way to a permanent underclass of people who will be unable to find work, and will be denied or thrown off unemployment compensation (which is only temporary in any case)!

This sets up a situation of social dynamite, which could lead to bloodshed and violence, including use of the National Guard against the American population, by bully governors who decide to use force against people marching and demonstrating and demanding a change in attitude and policy to give this underclass hope and confidence that there is a future for them.

This whole evolving situation is extremely scary and troubling! 🙁

Virginia Thomas: The Clarence Thomas Supreme Court Controversy Revived By A “Loose Cannon”! :(

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Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas has been on the Court for 19 years, charting a consistently conservative course, and showing very little ability to grow beyond his narrow views, expressed by his statement when he was confirmed that he would stay on the Court longer than any Supreme Court Justice in history to “confound the damn liberals” who he felt had tried to derail his nomination!

Thomas, appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1991, to replace retiring liberal Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the Court, became enmeshed in a controversy over charges of Anita Hill, an African American woman who worked for him at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that he had sexually harassed her during her employment at that agency.

The accusations led to testimony by both Thomas and Hill before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and it set up a very embarrassing situation, in which senators and the public took sides, with many believing Thomas’s denials, and others believing Hill’s accusations.

Thomas was confirmed 52-48, the closest vote for a Supreme Court Justice in the 20th century, but he continued to feel bitterness and anger about the situation, and in his memoir written in 2007, he vented about it.

Now his wife has revived the matter, by leaving a phone message at the office of Hill, a law professor at Brandeis University, asking her to consider an apology to her husband, and to explain why she accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, and nearly derailed his Court nomination. Hill handed over the information to campus police and they notified the FBI, because of concern that it might be a prank.

Virginia Thomas is obviously a “loose cannon”, and has become controversial as the head of a right wing lobbying group, Liberty Central, connected to the Tea Party Movement. Some have wondered if what she engages in is a conflict of interest, considering her husband’s position on the Supreme Court!

She does not seem to care about her image, and her contacting Anita Hill, is proof of it, and one has to wonder if she consulted her husband before making the phone call to Anita Hill.

Of course, Anita Hill made it clear no apology is forthcoming, because what she claimed happened back in the 1980s REALLY happened, a view the author has always held since the beginning!

It is perfectly clear that Virginia Thomas has a grudge, and rather than consider that her husband may have covered up the truth, as many believe, she instead revives the controversy, which frankly is better forgotten, with Thomas imposing his reactionary views on the Supreme Court for a generation, and unfortunately, probably for an equivalent period in the future, and in the process, holding back progress and undermining constitutional law! 🙁

Congressional Candidate Ben Quayle: A “Chip Off The Old Block”! :(

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Ben Quayle is a Republican Congressional candidate in Arizona who has issued a political commercial stating that Barack Obama is the worst President in American history, and that the drug cartels in Mexico and the “tax cartels” in Washington, DC, have a lot in common! He also says that he, Ben Quayle, was brought up right!

So you might say, so what? Well, understand that Ben Quayle is the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, arguably the absolutely worst Vice President in history, under George H. W. Bush from 1989-1993!

During those years, the country had to be concerned about the competence of our Vice President, who came across as ignorant, foolish, and someone to fear possibly becoming President!

Quayle is best remembered for misspelling “potato”; criticizing a television show (“Murphy Brown”); comparing himself to John F. Kennedy (which led VP opponent Lloyd Bentsen to say that Quayle “was no Jack Kennedy”); stating that he wished he had studied Latin so he could understand Latin America; asserting that he wished the Middle East was like the Middle West; and alarming the nation when President Bush had medical issues, concerning all Americans as to the thought of what if Quayle became President!

Dan Quayle lost all credibility as Vice President, and totally flopped when he tried to win the Republican Presidential nomination in 1996! He was the constant butt of jokes, including that his wife, Marilyn, was so much smarter and brighter than he was!

Now his son is running for Congress on the family name, and has already had problems, including posing two children in a campaign commercial implying they are his, when he has no children; and denying that he had written on a salacious website in Scottsdale, Arizona, and then having to admit that he had done so a few years ago!

So was he brought up “right” , when he has lied twice already, and has the gall to claim after 18 months that our President is the worst ever? Does this man have good judgment, or is he clearly very honest? 🙁

You make the judgment, but whatever you decide, we may be blessed with another Quayle in public office–more mediocrity, as if there was not enough in Congress already! 🙁

Extreme Anti Abortion Views Of Libertarian Tea Party Republican Candidates For US Senate!

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The Republican Party has had an anti abortion plank in its national platform since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980!

But Presidents Reagan, Bush I and Bush II all made clear their beliefs in exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother!

Recently, the GOP position on exceptions on abortion has become more hard line, particularly so among libertarian Tea Party backed Republican candidates, most notably for the United States Senate!

Kentucky Senate nominee Rand Paul; Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle; and Utah Senate choice Mike Lee have all made clear their belief that a woman should be required to go full term on a pregnancy, even if caused by rape or incest–that as Sharron Angle terms it, two wrongs don’t make a right! 🙁

This is shocking for libertarian Tea Party types who would argue against big intrusive government in our lives, but yet are prepared to have government intervene on a personal matter of a woman’s body and health, and force her to follow through on a traumatic pregnancy caused by rape or incest!

This shows the hypocrisy of the Tea Party Movement and of libertarians who rail against big government, but insist that government has the right to force women to go through nine months of trauma after a shocking sexual assault!

This is a denial of personal freedom, but conveniently, the only freedoms Republican libertarians believe in is freedom of corporations to exploit the American people, and freedom of hypocrisy by these despicable candidates for public office! 🙁