Labor

The Romney-Ryan Ticket As Seen By African Americans, Hispanics-Latinos And Women: Worst Since Polling Began!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan Presidential ticket is in deep trouble, as polls demonstrate the unbelievable gap that they face gaining support among African Americans, Hispanics-Latinos, and women.

In one poll, Barack Obama leads Romney 94-0 among African Americans! Did you see that, ZERO for Romney, a stunning figure!

In one poll, Barack Obama leads Romney 63-28 among Hispanics-Latinos, a 35 point gap!

And among women, Barack Obama, in a recent poll, leads 54-39 percent, a 15 point gap!!

With absolutely ZERO support among African Americans, 35 points behind among Hispanics-Latinos, and 15 points behind among women, the Romney-Ryan ticket is on the road to total disaster, as they are also behind among labor voters, Jews, young people, moderates, Independents, and also behind Obama in all “swing” or battleground states except North Carolina, and almost even in Colorado.

Although they will win more states in the “heartland”, and therefore more electoral votes than Barry Goldwater did in 1964, they are on the way to a worst defeat than any GOP loser—Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole or John McCain–since a half century ago!

Medicare Will Decide The Election: IF Obama Wins Florida AND New Hampshire Of “Battleground” States, He Wins The Presidency!

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Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet The Press just demonstrated how close Barack Obama is to a victory for the White House.

Showing an electoral vote map with 237 electoral votes in Obama’s camp and 191 in Mitt Romney’s camp, Todd demonstrates that there are NINE true “battleground” or “swing” states, and if Obama wins Florida and New Hampshire, he has the second term he wants in the White House! And the issue of Medicare, brought to central focus by Paul Ryan and his budget plans on that program, will be the center of the victory of Obama for the Presidency!

Even if Romney wins the other seven contestable states—Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada—he would lose the Electoral College 270-268, due to Florida’s 29 electoral votes and New Hampshire’s 4 electoral votes!

But, to assume that Obama would really lose all seven of those states is also delusional, as it is certain that he will win some, and probably, most of them!

This author has been saying this for a long time, and has found some readers of this blog, conservative and Republican friends and associates, and people on Fox News Channel and talk radio, act as if only the public opinion polls, which often show a close race in many states and nationally, should be paid attention to, but that is NOT the case!

The election is decided by the Electoral College, NOT the popular vote nationally,and do not forget that George W. Bush LOST the popular vote in 2000, but was declared the winner of the Electoral College! The same happened to Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford Hayes, and John Quincy Adams in the past!

But to conclude that, somehow, Barack Obama will lose the national popular vote, with the Republican alienation of Hispanics-Latinos, African Americans, women, young voters, the middle class, senior citizens, gays and lesbians, the poor, labor, educators, consumer advocates, environmentalists, and secular voters—in each case, the majority, not all of any group, of course—indicates that those believing what they do are indeed delusional, and cannot be helped by ordinary medical intervention!

The Economy Issue Outweighing Foreign Policy And The Supreme Court: The Ultimate Tragedy For The Nation

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It has often been said that people vote their “pocketbook”, that is, how they are affected economically, including having employment, the inflation rate, the housing situation, and the ability to plan for their children’s college education and their own retirements.

So if the economy is in bad shape, the President or party in office loses the election, and that possibility now rears its “ugly head”, due to the downturn in the stock market this past month, and the slowing of job growth that hints at a stall, if not a reversal, in job growth.

The facts are that all economic conditions are much better than they were when Barack Obama took the oath of office, but since people tend to think of the moment, not of the previous few years, Barack Obama is seen as in danger of being defeated.

The odds are still that he will win re-election, but it is going to be a “nail biter” at best, and that is a true tragedy, considering Obama’s accomplishments in foreign policy, national security, and constitutional issues.

There is no question that, despite Republican propaganda to the contrary, that Barack Obama has accomplished a lot in these areas, but it is being overshadowed by the economic situation, which, no matter who is President, is going to take years to repair after the Great Recession that began under George W. Bush.

If Mitt Romney is elected President, we are not going to see a magical economic recovery! We are, instead, likely going to see austerity that will make things far worse! One can be assured that within six months of taking the oath, Romney’s honeymoon will have ended, and there will be “buyers’s remorse”!

And we will likely see the “necons” take back control of the White House, and decide on a new war with Iran, which will only further damage the deficit and the national debt!

And we will see up to three appointments by President Romney, turning the Supreme Court to the extreme right for a generation, the greatest tragedy of all, as it will set back gays, Hispanics and Latinos, African Americans, women, labor, the environment, and government regulation of Wall Street!

So the economy may be in bad shape, but the country will be in worst shape if Obama loses because of the economy!

Confessions Of Dirty Deeds By Those On The Right Politically, But Cowardice By Many Republican Leaders!

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In the midst of obscene racism and misogyny and bashing of labor and gays by right wing extremists in the media and the Republican Party, every now and then, we get some who feel guilt and confess to their horrific work and ask to be forgiven.

Examples include Lee Atwater, who mastered the concept of the political smear for the campaign of George H. W. Bush in 1988 against Michael Dukakis, and later confessed and asked for forgiveness on his death bed, dying from cancer.

Another such case was David Brock who smeared Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas controversy in 1991, and did other dirty deeds for right wing hate mongers including smearing Bill Clinton, but later confessed and works to expose Fox News Channel and others who distort and smear, through his leadership of Media Matters For America.

And a third is Ken Mehlman, former chairman of the George W. Bush re-election committee in 2004, who helped to promote an anti gay agenda that year, and yet is himself gay, and has now apologized for what he did eight years ago.

This kind of conservative dirty tactics, as practiced by Atwater, Brock, and Mehlman still is very widespread, so we find Republican leaders unwilling to condemn Rush Limbaugh, for his description of a college student, who testified for the right of women to have contraceptive coverage on health care plans sponsored by employers, as being a slut and prostitute, who should produce sex tapes for Rush and others to watch! Speaker of the House John Boehner, and Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have no ethics that allows them to openly condemn such outrages by Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and other propagandists.

At the same time, there are conservative commentators who are decent and principled enough to condemn these kinds of statements and actions, including David Frum, Kathleen Parker, and Chris Buckley.

What a disgrace, that there is no standard of decency past or present on the right, in the mad rush to condemn, besmirch, and smear those they oppose, rather than criticize based on issues and viewpoints alone!

Republicans Committing “Suicide” Among Many Voting Groups

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The Republican Party, with its extreme right wing taking hold of the party, are only insuring their ultimate defeat in many Congressional races and in the race for the Presidency.

It can be assured that a vast majority of the following voting blocs will NOT vote Republican:

Women
African Americans
Hispanics and Latinos
Labor
Gays and Lesbians
Jews
White Collar College Educated Middle Class
Independents

Of course, SOME people in these different categories will vote Republican, but with a strong majority alienated by the extremism of the GOP, the Democrats will win the majority, often very strong majority, of these groups.

Barack Obama has not pleased everyone with all of his policies, but again, the election is a choice between alternatives, not perfection of anyone. There is no question that the Republican Party is committing political “suicide”, the only good thing about this for them being that it will force them to move back to the center of American politics in the future, or be repudiated and replaced by a new “centrist” party in the mainstream of America!

Rick Santorum: 2012 Most Important Election Since 1860? He May Have It Right!

Ronald 1 Comment

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania Senator, and leading Mitt Romney in the Michigan polls, is becoming the center of more attention, having to defend Foster Friess, his “sugar daddy”, who is keeping Santorum going financially. Foster Friess made fun of women and contraception, suggesting that years ago, before birth control pills, women would put aspirin between their knees to prevent pregnancy! What an amazing statement, and all Santorum can do is say he is not responsible for what his financial and other supporters say! If he was to take responsibility, he might lose his financial support, so of course, no principles, Rick, except your own aggrandizement!

But now, Santorum today has gone further, to state that the 2012 election is the most important since the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, 152 years ago!

What an interesting comparison! It is VERY CLEAR that he is appealing to white blue collar workers, north and south, craftily reminding them that before 1860, without saying it, that we did not have to worry about civil rights, human rights, such as the reality that African Americans were mostly in slavery, women had no rights, immigrants were being victimized by the American (Know Nothings) party, that government was small and based on states rights, that labor had no rights, that we exploited natural resources without regard for the environment, etc. In other words, the “good old days”, before that “dastardly” Republican named Abraham Lincoln had to “ruin” everything, and then other Republicans like Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and George H. W. Bush, and others in Congress, and of course northern Democrats and Democratic Presidents had the nerve to “change” things away from what they were in 1860.

Of course, the kind of people Santorum is appealing to, in most cases, have no knowledge of what he is talking about, except in small snippets. But Santorum has a veiled message, and is promoting a “culture” war, of them against us!

This “culture war”, trying to take away separation of church and state that our Founding Fathers gave us; promotion of constant war overseas; and advocating the advancement of corporate America against the very blue collar whites that he claims to represent, IS the new “war”, just as important as the Civil War, as it is indeed the NEW “Civil War” for the future of American freedom and opportunity!

Can Mitt Romney Survive A Loss In Michigan Primary? His “Competition” With George Romney’s Image And History!

Ronald 2 Comments

The biggest crisis in Mitt Romney’s privileged life is coming in Michigan, the state of his birth, the state which elected his father George Romney Governor for three terms in the 1960s, the state which he fundamentally abandoned when he called for the ordered bankruptcy of the auto industry, the state in which there has been a major turn around and drop in unemployment due to the intervention of the federal government to help General Motors and Chrysler survive. General Motors has seen its best growth in 25 years, and Michigan and the Midwest, as bad as they are in economic terms, are far better off because of what Barack Obama did, as opposed to what Romney wished to do for the area–NOTHING!

Romney is about to be paid back in spades, as the odds are now heavy that he will lose his “home state” to Rick Santorum, who can relate to blue collar workers on a fundamental basis, as compared to the filthy rich Romney who has no clue as to the struggles of auto workers or anyone else, and lives off investments but can joke about being “unemployed”!

If Romney loses the Michigan Primary, he is doomed, and will not be able to survive and win the nomination. And even if, by some intervention by “establishment” forces on Wall Street, he gets the nomination, he will have a flaw that will be enough to cause his defeat in November. He is simply too plastic, to stiff, too elitist, for the average American, and by catering to the extreme right in his rhetoric, he is causing the loss of major groups of voters–women, Hispanics and Latinos, African Americans, labor, the struggling middle class, independents, conservative Democrats, gays, etc. Does anyone NOT get the point?

Mitt Romney is NOT electable; he may have the lifelong desire to be what his father failed to be–President of the United States! But in a way, he is competing with a ghost, as George Romney was a much more genuine candidate, a man who knew what it was like to be poor, a man who really built up the auto industry, rather than live off buying up companies and firing workers, and making money on the resale of those companies.

George Romney was genuine, compassionate, principled, and honest to a set of values! Mitt Romney is none of these attributes of his father!

In a way, this reminds us of the struggle between father and son of George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, another case of son trying to overcome the achievements of the father, but never matching up in any way, shape or form.

The difference is THIS time, it is not going to work out that this country has to deal with the psychological effects of the father-son battle for supremacy, as Mitt Romney is NOT going to be President of the United States, and is highly unlikely, as things stand now, to be the GOP nominee chosen at the Tampa Republican National Convention in August.

It is actually humiliating and embarrassing to see Romney trying to pander to Michigan now, talking about his old high school, the height of the trees, loving the lakes of the state, loving cars and Detroit! Such phoniness and catering to voters who know better than to be suckered by a rich guy who does not care about the “very poor”, the middle class, but only the rich, despite his protestations to the contrary!

Mitt Romney And His Mormon Church: Disturbing Realities

Ronald 4 Comments

With Mitt Romney seemingly the likely Republican Presidential nominee, focus turns to his religious beliefs, as he would be the first Mormon President if he won.

The Mormons, a much persecuted religion in its less than 200 year history, is seen by mainstream Christians of all denominations as a cult, rather than a Christian sect, even though Mormons claim to be Christian. There is discontent about its polygamous past, and the fact that a radical separatist sect still practices polygamy in areas of Texas, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. Its decision to get involved often in politics, rather than promote separation of church and state, also disturbs many.

But there are other more important issues.

The Mormon Church forbids any non Mormon from entering its temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.

When Mitt Romney was married to Ann, his wife, she needed to be converted, but her parents were not allowed in the Mormon Temple for her marriage, and had to stay outside.

When Ann Romney’s father died in more recent times, he was converted to the Mormon faith after death without his permission, and despite the fact that he was a religious skeptic, in actuality a declared atheist.

This tendency to convert dead people has included Jews who died in the Holocaust, who unknown to their families, have been converted.

The Mormons keep detailed genealogical records on many millions of people around the world, useful in studying ancestry and family connections, but disturbing to many as intrusion, and wonderment about why they are gathering so much personal information on non Mormons.

The Mormon Church never allowed blacks in the church until suddenly in 1978, from on high in church leadership, and under a federal lawsuit on civil rights, magically they were finally allowed into the church as equals.

The Mormons, like all other religious groups, treat women as second class citizens in the church, and promote the traditional family role as a norm for women, who are not allowed leadership in the church and are expected to obey their husbands, and spend their life pleasing them in all possible ways.

Mormon women are encouraged to have large families and avoid using birth control of any kind.

The Mormon Church will disown any member who is homosexual, and the norm in most Mormon families is to do so, and the names of such people are officially banned from the Mormon Church records as if they never existed. The church led the fight against gay marriage and Proposition 8 in California in 2008, financing the attack openly.

While the Mormon Church has tended to support immigrants and work to promote citizenship for illegal immigrants, it is seen primarily as a practical matter, due to the widespread missionary movement of the church in Latin America.

The Mormon Church has been strongly anti labor oriented, in regards to union organization and workers rights, even before the recent anti labor crusade by conservative Republicans.

The Mormon Church takes a very conservative view on most issues, and most of its political arm are Republicans. although there are major exceptions such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, and his cousin, Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico.

These realities stated above are not pointed out to promote bias or discrimination, but to make the general public aware of the growing influence of the church in American life, much of its practices and agenda highly disturbing!

Defense Of Liberalism And Progressivism: All Major Reforms Brought About By The Political Left!

Ronald 2 Comments

Lawrence O’Donnell on THE LAST WORD on MSNBC this evening utilized an episode of the old series, THE WEST WING, to defend liberalism and progressivism, demonstrating what all people of those persuasions know, but sometimes forget to use in defense against conservatives: that ALL major reforms in this country have come about due to those defined as on the political left!

Liberals and Progressives, (interchangeable names) brought about the following, whether Democrats or Republicans:

Anti Slavery Movement
Woman Suffrage
Social Justice Reforms
Labor Reforms
Voting Rights
Civil Rights Laws
Social Security
Medicare and Medicaid
Environmental Reforms
Consumer Reforms
Women’s Rights Movement
Gay Rights Movement
Disability Rights Movement
Immigration Reform
Anti Vietnam War Movement

What can conservatives claim, except to help the rich get richer; help corporations monopolize; undermine labor; exploit and condemn the poor; support religious groups that wish to restrict human rights; work against consumer rights and environmental regulation; deny voting rights; support slavery and segregation of blacks; deny woman equality in all ways; exploit immigrants and deny them equality; deny the “safety net”; work against equal rights for gays and the disabled; and support military adventures overseas that enrich corporations.

Would any conservative wish to deny the above? If so, write and comment on this post!

The Ugly, Obscene Cultural Phenomenon Of “Black Friday”

Ronald 1 Comment

That fairly recent cultural phenomenon known as “Black Friday” has come and gone again.

Developed in the past decade to the point of obscenity, it is the worst part of the capitalistic system, as wealthy corporations entice and encourage mostly people who don’t have much money or who, in any case, should not be going into hock for merchandise they do not need or often don’t even truly want, to act like animals with the most rude behavior and social dysfunction possible!

In recent years, an employee was trampled to death at a Walmart ;yesterday, a woman at a Walmart used pepper spray on fellow shoppers to gain a so called “competitive advantage”; a Target employee, being overly tired from having Thanksgiving dinner and then going to work without sleep before midnight on Thanksgiving Day nearly drowned in a canal in Palm Beach Country, Florida; and some people were robbed and shot at a shopping mall!

All this for a so called “bargain”, while the wealthy stayed at home, either not needing the “deals”, or preferring to do it online rather than in a mob gathering for hours before the opening bell late on Thanksgiving or early on the day after!

It demonstrated again that the wealthy don’t have to go through what average people seem to think they need to go through. and also how corporations, particularly in a time of high unemployment, can exploit their low paid workers to have no right to even Thanksgiving and the early hours of the next day to be free from work. Sure, they get paid overtime, but is that worth the reality of them facing mobs and being overworked and overstressed for the few extra dollars they manage to be paid for their sacrifices?

Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, Best Buy, Kohls, Macy’s and J C Penney’s, and all the other retailers who have made this “Black Friday” idea the obscenity it is, should be condemned for their greediness and lack of concern for both labor and the public safety. But, after all, what matters is the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, the PROFIT over humanity!

Sad and tragic, VERY SAD AND TRAGIC!