Ronald Reagan

The Lunatic Right Goes Berserk After Supreme Court Health Care Decision

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The true nature of the right wing Republicans and conservative radio talk show hosts and Fox News Channel is revealing itself in the aftermath of the decision of the Supreme Court on the Obama Health Care law as being constitutional, written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Roberts is being pilloried as a “traitor”, the Court being denounced as a “death panel”, and Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana, who once thought of running for President, said the Court decision was the equivalent of another September 11!

How reckless on the part of Mike Pence! How disgraceful a behavior by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Congresswoman Jean Schmidt of Ohio, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, and the others on the lunatic right!

They are showing us the dangers if they were to gain total power, as Fascism would be around the corner, ready to destroy the middle class and the poor, in their support of the elite plutocracy that has become a threat since the time of Ronald Reagan onward!

We must pray every day, even if not religious, for the safety and the health of President Obama, Chief Justice Roberts, and other courageous people of different political views, who nevertheless remain in the mainstream of American politics, and want to do what is proper to promote and maintain democracy and opportunity for ALL Americans, not just the wealthy top one or two percent!

These extremists, and there are many others, reveal their true selves as they rant and rave, so go ahead, lunatic fringe, and show us what and who you are, and the American people will reject your leadership, and your talk shows in droves, as they realize that you do not give a damn about them, but only about your own selfish selves, your money and your power!

House Republicans And Attorney General Eric Holder: A Travesty of Justice And A “Lynching” Of Our First African American Attorney General!

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It is shocking beyond belief that our first African American Attorney General Eric Holder, under our first African American President of the United States, Barack Obama, is facing a contempt of Congress vote on Thursday, the same day the Supreme Court issues its judgment of Obama Health Care legislation!

What has Eric Holder done wrong? He has refused to release internal documents regarding the failed, so called, “Fast and Furious” Mexican Drug Running setup begun by the Bush Administration, which sadly ended in the death of a border agent. Holder had held numerous meetings with the committee headed by California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, and given documents, and Issa well knows that nothing corrupt has occurred, but is still on a rampage to destroy Holder’s reputation!

Holder, by withholding some sensitive documents, is doing nothing different than any Attorney General in the past, and many Attorneys General, including those under Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, have been involved in controversial activities, that never led to a move to cite for contempt of Congress.

Rather than deal with the jobs issue, the Republican House under Speaker John Boehner is running amuck, making for the most disgraceful Congress in many decades, and helping to cause the lowest public opinion rating for Congress in history, since polls began!

Even if Holder is cited for contempt of Congress, that will simply make him a victim of his race, and the prejudice against Barack Obama.

Holder has been an excellent Attorney General, fighting against the discriminatory immigration laws of Arizona and Alabama; battling against the attempt in Florida and elsewhere to cut people from the voting rolls; and taking other stands that conservatives and Republicans hate!

If Speaker John Boehner has any sense, he will work to prevent such a contempt citation, and push Darrell Issa to stop his bullying, but sadly it is unlikely to happen, but will reverberate on the Republicans in November!

A Reminder: The Supreme Court Determines The Future!

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WIth the Supreme Court term about to end on Thursday, and all of the tumult about the upcoming decision on the Affordable Care Act, and the decisions today on immigration, corporate spending in campaigns, and juvenile sentencing for life terms for murder fresh on one’s mind, it is again important to remember what most Americans don’t even know or realize: The Supreme Court determines the future, more than any part of American government!

A lifetime job, with total freedom to say and do what one wants, is a great power, and we are now suffering from the reality that Ronald Reagan may be dead for eight years, but two of his appointments to the Court (Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy) are still dictating much of what happens in America; George H. W. Bush’s appointee, Clarence Thomas, is not going away anytime soon; and George W. Bush’s two appointments, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito, will be around for at least two more decades on the Court, assuming good health!

And now with Scalia and Kennedy being 76, and Clinton appointees Ruth Bader Ginsberg being 79 and Stephen Breyer being 73, it is certain that one to four appointments are likely to be made by the winner of the 2012 election.

Can we afford President Romney shaping a Court that will be to the “right of Attila the Hun?”

It would destroy the chance for fairness, equity, humanity on the Court, and would continue the corporate conquest of American government going on with the Citizens United case, and the new Montana case just decided, that reaffirmed that earlier, disgraceful, decision!

It cannot be emphasized enough that NOTHING matters more than the Supreme Court and the federal circuit judges in this upcoming Presidential election! Economic policy and foreign policy are much less significant than constitutional law!

Obama and his supporters NEED to bring up this issue regularly, and never stop referring to it, with the hope that it will penetrate the brains of the American people!

The “Lynching” Of Attorney General Eric Holder: Racism And Political Revenge Against Principled Cabinet Member And Barack Obama!

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In American history, we have had Attorneys General in several Presidential administrations that have proved to be involved in criminal activities–Harry Daugherty in the Warren G. Harding Presidency and John Mitchell in the Richard Nixon Presidency, most notably.

But never have we had a Congressional committee do what was done today to Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, citing him for contempt of Congress, in a dispute over the withholding of internal Justice Department documents in an investigation of a botched gun trafficking investigation called “Fast and Furious”, begun by Attorney General Michael Mukasey under President George W. Bush, and ended under Attorney General Holder.

This action by the House Committee On Oversight And Government Reform, headed by publicity seeker Congressman Darrell Issa of California is an embarrassment to the Republican Party and the House of Representatives, and was accomplished by a straight party line vote.

This action, which may lead to a full House of Representatives vote next week, could in theory lead to Speaker John Boehner disgracing the House if he allows such a vote, and could lead to Holder, in theory, being put into a jail cell that exists in the chamber, something unprecedented in American history!

And why is this occurring? Is Eric Holder such a lawbreaker, such a criminal, that it is proper to disgrace him in this manner?

NO, it is simple RACISM and POLITICAL REVENGE against the principles and policies of the Obama Presidency!

Do not forget that Eric Holder is African American, and President Barack Obama is African American! This would NOT be happening if they were white, simple to say!

Eric Holder has angered many Republicans because he is having the Justice Department fight the racist immigration laws of Arizona and Alabama!

Eric Holder has angered many Republicans because he is fighting the voter suppression laws of Florida and other states, designed to stop the African American, Hispanic and Latino vote in many states that would vote for the Democrats this November!

Eric Holder is pursuing justice, fairness, equity in civil rights and civil liberties cases that give the average American a fair shake, rather than favoring the elite and the powerful!

Eric Holder has done an excellent job as Attorney General, and for that, and being black, he is being “lynched”!

What a disgrace the Republican Party has become, an embarrassment to Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and even Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush!

40 Years Since The Watergate Scandal Erupted: Its Long Range Effects

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40 years ago today, the Watergate scandal erupted, as seven “burglars” were caught at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC, inside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

The scandal lasted more than two years before President Richard Nixon was forced to resign, in the midst of an impeachment effort that had succeeded, and would have led to his removal from office had he not resigned.

The events of 40 years ago transformed the Presidency, the news media, the political parties, and Americans’ views of their government.

It has led to investigative media that is ready and willing to expose scandal and evil like never before.

It has led to such partisanship that no President can ever really have a true mandate anymore, and antagonism between the major political parties is at an all time high since the Civil War era.

Most Americans are skeptical of the value and virtues of government, a terrible and tragic event, considering the complex world we live in.

Richard Nixon’s reputation has risen quite a bit since his resignation, as many have realized how tragic his downfall was, as he had actually accomplished a great deal of good, mixed in with the evil events of his Presidency.

Disillusionment with many of his successors in the White House has also helped to make him look “better” in many people’s eyes, but the revelation of new transcripts of the Watergate tapes every year remind us just how dangerous and law breaking the 37th President of the United States actually was.

The need for mental health evaluations of Presidential candidates seem more essential now than ever, considering that there were manifestations of mental illness by Nixon, and instability in behavior by Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush in later times.

The Watergate scandal still fascinates us, as a turning point in American history, on the level of the Civil War and the Great Depression, in its long range impact on the nation.

With the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and the major exposer of the scandal, John Dean, still alive and kicking, Watergate in many ways is still current, but the question is whether the lessons of that scandal have been learned in a time when we are having millionaires and billionaires investing obscene amounts in campaign spending on the Presidential campaign, thanks to the disgraceful Citizens United case of the Supreme Court in 2010.

So in a sense, Watergate is the past, but also part of the present political situation, sadly!

Rush Limbaugh’s Attack On Government, Media, Academia, And Science: The Promotion Of “Know Nothingism”!

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Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, the largest, in all ways, of windbags, who loves to divide America, on the road to further enrichment of his massive fortune, is at it again, but what else is new?

Limbaugh now claims that America has four enemies within its midst: the federal government, the news media, the academic community, and the field of science!

Limbaugh has no problem with the hypocrisy of organized religion; the corruption of Wall Street and the massive corporate influence; the massive rise in the national debt under George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and others in the past three decades; and the tremendous costs of constant warfare overseas in the past decade, and its effect on military personnel’s physical and mental health.

Limbaugh is disturbed if the government does anything to deal with the disaster visited upon the middle class and the poor by the events of the past decade. He is also upset that the news media have the gall to expose the evils and problems that exist, due to the deleterious influence of the Republicans in the past ten years. Of course, academia is seen as evil because it actually promotes knowledge, learning, interpretation, analysis, thinking–all characteristics which Rush Limbaugh lacks! And rather than look at science as something to be respected, instead Rush promotes corporate greed which undermines the future of our environment and planet long term.

Rush Limbaugh is an extremely obscene individual who revels in promotion of ignorance, prejudice, narrow mindedness and hatred, and is only out for his own aggrandizement! When will his audience wake up and realize the truth, and that he has no concern for those who listen to him, except to glorify his own ego and enhance his own fortune?

Will people ever learn and see the truth? One would hope so!

Two Republicans Not In Tune With Party Direction: Jeb Bush And John McCain!

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Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain have complained about the direction of the Republican Party in the past few days.

Bush, certainly a conservative, has questioned the rightward tilt of the party, saying it is a party that his dad, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, would have a problem recognizing, and a problem also being nominated by the present GOP.

McCain has been highly critical of the wild spending by billionaires, such as Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Brothers, and the former author of the McCain Feingold law that tried to limit campaign finance, made it clear that he disagreed with the Citizen United decision of the Supreme Court, and believed corporations were not people, a line that Mitt Romney has used in his campaign speeches.

The best thing that could happen is the walloping of the Tea Party Movement and its mentality in the upcoming elections, but there is no guarantee that such will happen, and therefore, there is concern that democracy will decline, with McCain referring to Theodore Roosevelt’s attack on monopolies in big business a century ago, an action totally reversed by the right wing Supreme Court two years ago.

One can long for the “good old days” of a reasonable Republican Party, and wonder if what Jeb Bush and John McCain advocate will ever return to American politics!

Labor Unions: The Unsung Creator And Persistent Supporter Of The Middle Class In America!

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We live in an era where labor unions have been under attack since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and the “Bully” Governors elected in 2010 have been mounting a major effort against labor unions, trying to set back labor conditions to what they were in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

Many Americans, who should know better, tend to agree with the conservative and Republican propaganda against labor unions, whether public or private. The Republican Party has always been against labor rights, and that is why labor is strongly Democratic on election days throughout the past century, as their greatest triumphs have come under Democratic Presidents and Congresses.

But the lack of care and respect for labor unions is because many do not realize how important they have been to the rise of the middle class in America, particularly after World War II.

What have labor unions done for us, even those who have never been members of unions?

In no special order, the benefits include:

Weekends or Five Day Work Week
Lunch Breaks
Paid Vacation
Family Medical Leave
Sick Leave
Social Security
Minimum Wage
Civil Rights Laws barring work discrimination
8 hour work day
Overtime Pay
Child Labor Laws
Occupational Safety and Health Act
40 hour work week
Workers Compensation
Unemployment Compensation
Pensions
Employer Health Care Insurance
Collective Bargaining Rights For Workers
Sexual Harassment Laws
Americans With Disabilities Act
Holiday Pay
Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
Pregnancy and Paternal Leave
Military Leave
Right Of Workers To Strike
Age and Gender Discrimination Banned

There are even more points than the long list above, but realize corporations and businesses did not give these rights and privileges out the goodness of their heart, and fought “tooth and nail” against all of them, but with progressive and liberal reform over a long period of time, these benefits were finally won!

If the conservative agenda and Mitt Romney win out, we will see a further deterioration of labor rights, as already is occurring in states governed by Republican Governors and legislatures. And if Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin wins the recall election scheduled for next Tuesday, June 5, it will be a major blow to the labor movement and a danger sign for November!

This is NOT political propaganda! These are the unvarnished facts and truth! We would, literally, go back a century and more, to the harsh economic conditions of the Gilded Age!

Mitt Romney: A Chameleon, But Also A Damned Liar!

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Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, has often been described as a chameleon, a person who constantly changes his views, which already makes him a suspect candidate, as one finds it hard to believe anything he says, and to accept any position he takes on any subject as being his final view.

But worse than being a chameleon is the reality that he also is a damned liar!

Romney has been campaigning on the idea that Barack Obama is a wild spender, when the truth is that federal spending has slowed up under his Presidency.

Federal spending increased the most under George W. Bush, 7.3 percent in his first term and 8.1 percent in his second term, followed by Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and finally, Barack Obama, with only 1.4 percent annually during his first term.

Romney, as Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post observes, lies about Obama “apologizing for America” when he has never done that; claims that Obama does not believe in American “Exceptionalism”, which is also false; and says that Obama is guilty of “appeasement”, which is ridiculous, considering Obama’s exceptional work against terrorism; and while stating all these falsehoods about Obama, Romney exaggerates his job creating while at Bain Capital, another total lie.

For a person who claims to be a “good Mormon”, very religious, it makes one wonder what that term “very religious” means! Apparently, it is the right to lie through one’s teeth and keep a straight face!

New Statistical Method Predicts Election Victory For Barack Obama In November

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Three political scientists–Seth Hill of Yale, John Sides of George Washington University, and Lynn Vavreck of UCLA–have set up a new election forecasting model, and used it to judge past Presidential elections, as well as the present one.

The factors involved in the predictions are the gross domestic product in the first three quarters of the election year; the President’s public opinion rating in June of the election year; and and whether one of the candidates is the incumbent in the office.

By these standards, Barack Obama, if his popularity rating holds at 48 percent, and even if there is ZERO economic growth, he has a 58.4 percent chance of winning a second term in the White House!

This works if one looks at 12 of the past 16 Presidential elections, and is, therefore, seen as authoritative by many observers.

Using this model, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan had a 97 percent rating; George W. Bush had 76 percent, his dad 64 percent (but affected by Ross Perot’s third party run and Pat Buchanan’s challenge in the primaries), and Jimmy Carter at 34 percent, with everything against him in 1980.

This is just another indication that Mitt Romney has a major challenge overcoming Barack Obama this coming fall!