George W. Bush

The US Chamber Of Commerce, Foreign Corporations, And The Conservative Agenda! :(

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News has emerged that the US Chamber of Commerce has been utilizing money from foreign corporations in India, Bahrain, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil and other locations to finance attack ads against Democrats and the Obama Administration!

American campaign finance laws are being broken in the name of promoting outsourcing of jobs overseas and giving huge tax breaks to multinational corporations! 🙁

The purpose is to elect Republicans who will be out to continue to advocate tax breaks for the wealthy, which will add $700 billion to the national debt over the next ten years! Also, the aim is to negate any regulation of Wall Street financiers, who caused the Great Recession and have no desire to reform themselves to prevent a future repeat of the same reckless behavior that led to the economic collapse that is the worst we have seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s!

It is clear that the insurance, banking and oil industries, along with many others, have declared war on the Obama Administration and want to see the reforms that have been accomplished in the past 20 months repealed or scaled back!

This is a sustained attack on the American population, most of which is suffering massively, for the aggrandizement of the elite upper class, which now has more of the national income, percentage wise, than at any time in American history! 🙁

If progressives lose the gains that have been made, the country will be going back to a “Gilded Age” mentality just two years after repudiating all of the abuses and shortcomings of the Bush era!

Can the masses of people be that shortsighted, that easily manipulated, that unaware of the damage they would be doing? This is not a time for the average American who voted for change to sit on their hands and be apathetic! The stakes are too high to choose to ignore reality!

The California Of Jerry Brown, 1974 and 2010!

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Imagine yourself in a time capsule, going back to 1974 and examining the race for California Governor, and then fast forwarding it to 2010!

What would you discover? A state government official, Jerry Brown, son of former Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, is running for Governor! 🙂

In 1974, Jerry Brown was Secretary of State for the state, and in 2010, he is the Attorney General!

In 1974, Jerry Brown is running to succeed a former actor, Ronald Reagan, who had served two terms as a Republican Governor! In 2010, Jerry Brown is running to succeed a former actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had served almost two complete terms (minus nine months) as a Republican Governor!

In 1974, Jerry Brown ran for Governor at the young age of 36, while in 2010, he ran for Governor at the advanced age of 72, exactly double in age!

In 1974, California was affected by a major recession under President Gerald Ford but originally occurring under President Richard Nixon, with nine percent unemployment, while in 2010, California was harmed by the Great Recession under President Barack Obama, who inherited it from President George W. Bush, with a 12.4 percent unemployment rate!

In 1974, California had a half billion dollar surplus in its state budget, while in 2010, it accomplished a balanced budget only after budget cuts of $19 billion!

In 1974, the population of California was just over 21 million people, while in 2010, it is at 37 million people!

In 1974, Brown was described as a “flaky” bachelor, but in 2005, he finally married, but is still regarded by many as “flaky” in personality. 🙂 He went on after eight years as Governor of the largest state, to become Mayor of Oakland and California Attorney General!

Brown also sought the Presidency three times, in 1976, 1980, and 1992, and alienated future Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton!

Even now, at age 72, and with a Democratic President in the White House, Brown has been asked if he would run for President again! 🙂 He deflected the question, but some might wonder if he would consider it, since we have had a former California Governor who served as President in his 70s (Ronald Reagan), and being Governor of California puts Presidential disease into your veins (Arnold Schwarzenegger wished there would be an amendment to the Constitution that would allow foreign born nationals eligibility to run for President)! 🙂

So California has changed, or has it? 🙂

A final thought: Jerry Brown won in 1974 by a small margin, and many think it will be that close against Meg Whitman, the GOP nominee and former Ebay CEO,who has spent more than $120 million of her personal fortune! So the more time passes, the more it remains much the same! 🙂

Former Presidents, And Selective Memory Of Critics, Scholars, And Public Opinion!

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Being President of the United States means glory and fame and being never forgotten in history, but it also includes bitter attacks, criticism, and a negative reputation in the minds of many critics, scholars and public opinion!

There is something about the passage of time that often soothes bad feelings and helps to restore a positive image of a President who has been under constant scrutiny! While a President may often leave office with a low public opinion rating and be seen as a disappointment or failure by many, over time he may be perceived in a very different light!

Such is the case with former President Bill Clinton and members of the Republican party who were his harshest critics, went after him in a vicious way for eight years, moved to impeach him for his private indiscretions, and used him until recently as a political issue against Democrats!

Now, many Republicans are praising Clinton, calling him a better President than Barack Obama, a moderate who benefited the nation, a compassionate conservative who was willing to negotiate with and work with the opposition party, once his own party lost control of Congress in 1994!

Another example of selective memory and how time heals wounds is that a CNN poll shows George W. Bush only two points behind Barack Obama on a question as to who is the better President! Obama leads 47-45, while last year he led by 23 points!

There is obviously a tendency for the negative emotional feelings that develop during the term of office of a President to dissipate over time, indeed sometimes within just a short span of time!

But it also shows that a thorough, balanced analysis of any Presidential administration takes inordinate amounts of time to accomplish–decades, generations, maybe even centuries!

After all, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and other Presidents before the 20th century are still being researched and evaluated, with no final judgment that cannot be challenged by new evidence!

Imagine This Scenario: The McCain-Palin Administration After 20 Months! :(

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Let’s just imagine that Senator John McCain had become the President and Governor Sarah Palin had become the Vice President in January 2009!

How would a McCain Presidency have been different than an Obama Presidency?

1. There would have been no bailout of the banking industry, and the financial collapse ensuing would have likely created unemployment and foreclosures twice the rate that they have been!
2. The domestic auto industry would have disappeared completely, and with it, hundreds of thousands of jobs in allied industries, as well as the auto workers!
3. There would have been no economic stimulus, and America would be in Great Depression Number Two, rather than a severe recession!
4. Health care reform would have not occurred, and health care rates would be much worse than they are, and millions more Americans would be denied health care, because of loss of jobs and homes!
5. The Great Depression Number Two would have created more instability in the world economy than this recession has caused!
6. Hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers, fire fighters, librarians, and other local and state workers would have been dismissed, creating a breakdown of state and local governments on a scale unimaginable!
7. When the BP Oil Spill occurred, the McCain Administration would not have pushed BP to do anything to provide aid to the victims or pay for the cleanup!
8. There would have been no financial reform legislation, no credit card legislation, no student loan legislation, no action on the environment, no movement on gay rights in any form, a sharper crackdown on illegal immigration, and a continuation of tax cuts to the wealthy despite its tremendous burden on the national debt!
9. McCain would have chosen two strong conservatives to the Supreme Court!
10. A lot of Bush II appointees would have ended up working for McCain, and it is likely that former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, one of the major architects of the home mortgage crisis, would have been Secretary of the Treasury!
11. It is likely that neoconservatives who brought us into Iraq would be in power, and the war in Iraq would be further escalated, at a cost of American lives and treasure!
12. The war in Afghanistan would be further escalated beyond what President Obama has promoted!
13. It is likely that McCain would have been building up toward a war against Iran, and possibly North Korea, at the same time, again part of the neoconservative influence!
14. America’s relationship with the world would be much more antagonistic, similar to Bush II, and tension with the Muslim world would be far worse! We would be less safe from the threat of terrorism!
15. Finally, Sarah Palin would be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, and no one could sleep at night without worrying about John McCain’s health! 🙁

It is certain, upon further reflection, that one could come up with other ideas as to how McCain would have influenced the history of the past 20 months, but the list above is more than enough to say to any reasonable person: Thank God Barack Obama is President of the United States!

Michael Steele, The Republican Party, and The Minimum Wage!

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Republicans all over the country are campaigning to reduce or eliminate the minimum wage, presently at $7.25, which was originally created under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1938!

The fact that the minimum wage was not raised at all under President Ronald Reagan, and only in the seventh year of the Presidency of George W. Bush, means that it is about 40 percent behind the cost of living as it was set originally in 1938!

And yet, Michael Steele, the Republican National Chairman, is totally unaware what the minimum wage is, and is unconcerned that even if the minimum wage is retained, it means those living on it are making about $15,000 a year!

It is obvious that many Tea Party Republican candidates, including Sharron Angle, Joe Miller, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ken Buck, Christine O’Donnell, and Linda McMahon, among others, have no concern for workers who are poor but trying to survive, and these candidates also desire to end unemployment compensation and privatize social security and medicare, and repeal health care legislation passed earlier this year! 🙁

How any struggling worker, white or black or latino or asian, could conceive of voting Republican in this midterm election is beyond understanding! The Democrats need to emphasize the reality about the Republicans and working people–that the GOP is dangerous to the American worker, and only cares about corporations and the wealthy! 🙁

Record Gap Between Rich And Poor In Census Bureau Report–What Should Be Done About It?

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The United States is now witnessing the greatest gap between rich and poor in the history of record keeping since the 1960s!

The top 20 percent of Americans, earning more than $100,000 a year, had nearly 50 percent of all income, compared with 3.4 percent earned by those considered poor, about 14.5 percent. This nation has the greatest difference in this regard of any Western industrialized nation!

Young adults 18-34, who have lesser skills, are being ignored by employers who prefer higher skilled, more motivated older adults. This is a major crisis for the long run, as to how these people are to function in society in the long run! 🙁

The poverty rate for a family of four in 2009 is just below $22,000 a year! Meanwhile, the top five percent earn more than $180,000 a year!

The Great Recession has, of course, worsened these income statistics, and it is hard to imagine any great turnaround at any point in the near future! 🙁

The question is what should be done by government about this horrible gap, which has been exacerbated by the Republican control of Congress from 1994-2006, and the eight years of the Bush II Administration!

If the decision is to do nothing, a conservative viewpoint, how much worse can it become without a violent reaction? One has to wonder! 🙁

The Amazing Revival Of Bill Clinton!

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Former President Bill Clinton has emerged as the most popular Democrat in the nation, with ratings in the 60s in public opinion polls, while President Barack Obama languishes in the low 40s! Of course, Bill Clinton is not in a position of power, while Obama is!

Considering how Clinton faced impeachment in 1998-1999 and was constantly pilloried by the Republican party, it is amazing how he remained highly popular in his last years as President!

Out of office, he became intimately involved in the Clinton Initiative, promoting health care, education, eradication of poverty, and involvement in world issues of all kinds, making him a world leader of high respect!

His popularity may have suffered during his wife’s pursuit of the Presidency in 2007-2008, but he has now become a trusted adviser to the Democratic Party and President Obama, promoting the party’s values and programs!

It is clear that if the Democrats avoid the major disaster many have predicted, it will be due a lot to Bill Clinton’s campaigning!

Bill Clinton has devoted his post Presidential years to great deeds, in that sense matching, if not surpassing, former President Jimmy Carter!

It has been said that if there were no 22nd Amendment, Bill Clinton would have run for a third term in 2000, and would have beaten George W. Bush!

It has also been speculated that were he able to run in the future, after years of retirement, he would be a tough candidate to beat for the White House!

But Bill Clinton, no longer able to wield power in office, has become a giant figure, much admired by a majority of Americans, and his contributions should be saluted for what they are: fantastic! 🙂

Stephen Colbert And Undocumented Farm Labor: The Truth

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Stephen Colbert of Comedy Channel is famous for being humorous, but he was on Capitol Hill today, testifying on the work conditions and life circumstances of undocumented farm labor, which is responsible for our supplies of fruits and vegetables at cheap prices!

Colbert tried a day of this backbreaking work and came away with an understanding of why very few American citizens are willing to do that kind of work in the broiling sun, with the tremendous physical strain on human bodies as a result!

We all want to buy fruits and vegetables at reasonable prices, and yet we have people who rail against hard working immigrants who pay taxes and Social Security, work for very low wages, and yet complain far less than the average American worker about their work conditions!

If we did not have this immigrant labor, some of it undocumented, we would not have our food supply which is the most varied in the world!

Also, do most Americans want to cut their own lawns and clean their own houses and businesses? The answer is NO, and immigrants, including undocumented ones, do so without complaint!

Many immigrants also are involved in other tough jobs, including construction and taking care of young children, and millions of Americans count on them!

But yet, we have demagogues who keep on telling us that all undocumented immigrants are criminals, and should be deported!

Were we to turn against the reality that we are all immigrants or the descendants of immigrants, and deport millions of undocumented immigrants, we would soon discover how much we need them, and we just might show them respect and allow them to get on the line for future citizenship on the basis of the 2007 McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill backed by President Bush and future President Obama!

But sadly, even Senator McCain has become a demagogue on this issue to win the support of Arizona voters! 🙁

Instead, we allow politicians to exploit the issue and divide us, and give America an ugly image of being a nativist nation! 🙁

The Congressional Budget Office: Growing Inequality Of Wealth Since 1979!

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The Congressional Budget Office has released research that shows the tremendous inequality of wealth that has occurred since 1979, coinciding with the Reagan tax cuts of the 1980s and the Bush II tax cuts of the 2000s!

38.7 percent of the income growth went to the top one percent, with 15.6 percent going to the next four percent, and 9.4 percent to the next five percent! That means that 64 percent of the income growth went to the top ten percent of the American population, based upon income! 🙁

The bottom 90 percent received the remaining 36 percent of the income growth, with the 80-90 percentile gaining 11.5 percent, meaning a grand total of 75 percent of all income growth was among the top 20 percent of earners! 🙁

Is there any way that, in a country which promotes “equality of opportunity” and a so called “level playing field”, we can justify such outrageous inequities, and feel that it is wrong to expect those most successful to contribute more to the betterment of American society through higher taxation rates? 🙁

How much wealth and materialism is too much, and how much lack of concern for those less fortunate can a democracy sustain, without wondering about the so called “American Dream” being phony and just a myth? 🙁

If the average American, particularly those in the bottom 80 percent fully understood what has been going on in the past 30 years, they would refuse to back a party which promotes MORE inequity and MORE greed and MORE materialism for the wealthy! 🙁

The problem again is ignorance is NOT bliss, but rather destructive of the social order and the future economic stability of the United States! 🙁

The Total Hypocrisy Of John Boehner, The Would Be Speaker Of The House! :(

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House of Representatives Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio is confidently planning to be the next GOP Speaker of the House, even though if anyone in his congressional district or in the country looks at his total hypocrisy, they would vote to remove him from Congress altogether! 🙁

This is a man who has promoted total obstruction and lack of concern for what this Great Recession has done to millions of Americans! 🙁

Boehner has also constantly lied and misled us in an evil way, trying to pin the blame for the Great Recession solely on the Democrats, as if the GOP did not control the White House and Congress for the first six years of this century! 🙁

He would have everyone believe that the so called “Bailout” that most Republicans voted for in September 2008 was solely a plot of the Democrats to harm the American people!

The fact is that IF that “Bailout” promoted by President George W. Bush, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, and other Republicans and many Democrats had NOT been done, we would be today in total GREAT DEPRESSION NUMBER TWO! 🙁

And, of course, Boehner would not want us to remember that he was weeping on the floor of the House of Representatives on September 29, 2008, begging his party members to do what was right for the nation’s economic survival! 🙁

So the Republican Party is lying through its teeth, and John Boehner is a total hypocrite, who deserves to be denied the Speakership of the House if his party somehow wins control, and rightfully, should be defeated for reelection by his district as not concerned about their interests!