Let me start off today with my thoughts as I reflect on my feelings about GW Bush when he assumed the Presidency. I remember thinking, as he was running, “Couldn’t they find someone more qualified than this guy?” – not too positive. And then when he won with 3 million less votes than Al Gore and with the suspicions of millions that his brother had “jobbed” the system in Florida I was not a happy camper. I knew enough about Dick Cheney to be even more alarmed that he was the Vice President and then as I watched him in action once it was settled that Bush was the President-elect I braced myself for a re-run of the Reagan years. It was apparent from the start that Cheney was filling many of the important positions with the same people he had worked with in administrations dating back to the Nixon years but especially with Reagan holdovers. Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary was a problem for me, but little did I know at the time how much of a problem it would become.

In listening to President Bush, in the beginning, I found myself being able to actually “pull” for him. I, despite everyone around me thinking I’m a flaming liberal, have always considered myself a conservative in many ways. I thought a “compassionate conservative” would be OK and hoped that Bush would actually fulfill that expectation. And, at this point in time, I think that Bush may have really been a compassionate conservative who screwed up by choosing Cheney as his running mate. Especially after 9/11, I was pulling for Bush to make the right decisions – I had no idea that his ultimate goal was to essentially gut the federal government of any type of regulation that hampered his business “partners” and to control the Iraqi oil fields. I was not able to conceive how strong the “Republican base” would be in determining the direction of Bush’s administration. As his administration evolved I began to wonder who was REALLY in charge? Was it Bush, was it Cheney, or was it the blowhard underlings like Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, etc? Whoever it was, at least until the 2006 elections, I’m still convinced that Bush – if he was in charge at all – wasn’t really the “decider.” After the invasion of Iraq I started to realize that whoever it was that was in charge, their agenda was not what was best for the people of this great nation.

The thing that has struck me as I think back to this is the question: Does the office of the Presidency mold the man or does the man mold the office of the Presidency? In Bush’s case, I believe that with Cheney’s help they were consciously trying to mold the office of the Presidency. Like my sixth grade students, it appeared to me they were “pushing boundaries” at every opportunity – in a brazen attempt to increase the power of the executive branch of government in relation to the Congress. And with 6 years of a Congress controlled by Republicans they faced absolutely ZERO resistence in doing so. Obviously, this has led to a meltdown of government of proportions that may be unmanageable. The downward spiral in the economy may be accelerating faster than the Obama administration can even imagine – because failure of this proportion has never been seen before. Even the failure during the Great Depression was of far less magnitude if for no other reason than there were far less people, far less businesses, the government was far less BIG, and there were far less “second guessors” for every decision made. So Barrack Obama takes office at a time when the two questions above are very relevent and DIFFICULT.

The pressure he faces has to be HUGE. And the question which I have tonight is will Obama mold the office of President of the United States or will it mold him. I hope it’s the former but I’m afraid I’m seeing signs that it is the latter. Now, Obama took office on a campaign of “Change we can believe in.” He made many promises – and there are signs that he’s trying to fulfill them. But there are also signs that the realities he’s facing and the position he’s in along with the “advisors” he’s surrounded himself with are beginning to MOLD him. Take for example the Iraq war. He did say he would “be as careful getting out as we were reckless getting in.” But he clearly said he would have ALL the troops out in 16 months! Yesterday he announced (as I had predicted over a week ago on this site) that his 16 month timeframe would be 19 months and at that time “Our combat mission in Iraq will end.” That statement, in itself, is an example of the office molding him. IT IS DISENGENUOUS! There is no reason for a “combat mission” as I speak today. And the fact that he’s casually saying he’s leaving 50,000 troops behind “to train the Iraqi’s” is absurd! This is Bushlike speaking – again a sign that the office is molding Obama instead of the other way around.

Now, I totally appreciate much of what he’s trying to do. He is trying to appeal to a broad spectrum of the nation and it is true, whether some people like it or not, he is the President of all Americans. But he has a huge responsibility to restore this office to its rightful place in the American hierarchy of government. We are not a dictatorship, or an oligarchy, we are a representative democracy and it is on Obama to return his office to a place that respects that reality. What bothers me about his announcement of yesterday is that he made it as if he was fulfilling his campaign promise with the caveat of being a couple months more than originally “promised.” Let me tell you straight up – with 50,000 troops still in Iraq he has not fulfilled his promise – NOT EVEN CLOSE as far as I’m concerned. And it’s the way he went about this that really bothers me – kind of like taking us all for a bunch of idiots – just like the Republicans – and doing it with a straight face. The LEAST he could have done is explain to the American people why we need troops in Iraq “training” the Iraqi troops we have supposedly been training for almost 6 years. THIS IS ABSURD ON ITS FACE and I hope the so-called liberal “base” of Obama lets him know about it.

If he’s going to be “sly” about this, what is next? I know that he’s gambling everything on restoring the economy – and I, for one, am hoping that he’s successful in that regard (although, as I’ve said before, I believe his “stimulus” bill was too small and contained too many tax cuts and not enough infrastructure spending). However, in the long run, there are some other issues I consider WAY MORE IMPORTANT. For example, the government for the past five years or so has been eavesdropping on phone calls and emails from virtually every US citizen – all of this obviously without warrants (it would be very inconvenient and expensive to get warrants for millions of “wiretaps” :o) – and so far, no mention of putting a stop to this from the Obama administration. In fact, the little I’ve been able to find out, the exact opposite is true. The ugly rumors are that he “doesn’t want to give up this power.” I can say this with all honesty, if Obama continues the wiretapping policy of the Bush administration I WILL ASK FOR MY MONEY BACK. I have threatened this half-heartedly before, but I will actually send a letter to his office asking for a refund of my campaign pledges if he doesn’t reverse this blatant violation of our constitutional rights. This again would be the office molding the man instead of what I had hoped for.

Finally, if he’s going to say in front of both houses of Congress “The United States does not torture” what is he willing to do to the previous administration who did torture? Again, is Obama going to mold the office (actually by this I mean – if you haven’t figured it out – fulfill the obligations of the office based on his oath to the constitution) or is it going to mold him. If I know that George W Bush and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld authorized torture then shouldn’t President Obama know this as well? And if he knows that someone has committed a crime isn’t he obligated to – as the President – to insure that the laws of the land are obeyed? This double talk about “Combat operations being over in Iraq” (with 50,000 troops still there) is very disheartening to me. And as I’ve said on this site before, President Obama does not get a “free ride” from me as Bush got from his supporters after the 2000 election. We are all obligated as citizens to look at issues responsibly and to speak out against things that we see which are WRONG. And to me, I hope Obama’s double talk ends with this Iraq speech he gave yesterday – but history tells me that it will be otherwise. The problem with the office of the Presidency is that the office seems to mold the man instead of the other way around. George W Bush and Dick Cheney purposefully attempted to expand the power of the Office of the President illegally (their ambition “molded” them into criminals – whether the Obama administration prosecutes them as such is another matter) and the only hope that we, as citizens, have that these abuses will be reversed is if Barrack Obama reverses them. So I say tonight; President Obama, please don’t let your office mold you into something you’re not!

These are truly historic times.  Not only are we experiencing diversity in the White House – FINALLY – but the economic meltdown is one for the ages.  I keep thinking that if I was a young man I would be watching all of this even closer – because the learning that could take place is phenomenal.  You can’t get this kind of education in a classroom.  I’m soaking as much of it in as possible, but at my age it probably won’t do much good in the long term.  Watching the stock market and those who survive gambling on it is quite fascinating to me.  I can kind of relate because there was a time in my life when I was training horses at the race track as an expensive hobby.  It was a hobby that put me right in the middle of a group of people who liked to say they were making a living gambling on the “ponies.”

I even remember having a couple really good days and suddenly thinking that working for a living was for ordinary people.  Temporarily, I thought I was smart enough to make a living gambling.  Fortunately for me, I figured out pretty soon that the only ones at the race track who consistently make money are the track owners.  And I think Wall Street is somewhat the same.  The ones who make the money consistently are the brokerage houses who get $10 or whatever when someone buys or sells a stock.  They make money whether or not the market is going up or down – or at least that is what it seems like to me – because people are buying and selling millions of shares daily one way or the other.  I even got into the stock market a bit, only enough to figure out it was gambling as well.  They like to call it investing because the euphemism sounds better – but it’s gambling – and millions of Americans are finding this out in “spades” during the present economic crisis.

Watching the politicians during this crisis has been fascinating as well.  I remember listening to George W Bush speaking to a bunch of Wall Streeters a couple of years ago and then giving one of his rare “impromptu” question and answer sessions.  I believe he was “turned loose” on this occasion because he was “speaking to the choir” and there wasn’t much chance of his remarks making it to the main stream media where his foopahs were often ridiculed.  When Bush’s remarks were  finished I took a good look at the economic situation (The DOW was approaching 14,000) and said to myself, “oh my gosh, this guy is virtually clueless!”  I can’t remember exactly what he said, but the crux of it was that he didn’t even come close to answering the questions posed to him – I mean his remarks were TOTALLY disconnected to the questions.  It was right after that when I pulled all of my (not much) money out of the stock funds and put them into savings – getting about 4.7% ever since – during the ensuing period the DOW has dropped about in half.  The thing that really struck me was that the chief executive of our country was pretty much clueless about what was happening with our economy.  My assumption was that someone else was in control because he couldn’t possibly be – and putting 2 + 2 together, I thought THIS IS NOT GOOD!

Obviously, this was one of the few good moves I’ve made, financially, in my lifetime (I’m a a teacher, that should explain my financial situation) and I’ve been watching the “managers” (Greenspan, Bernanke, Paulsen, and now Geitner) very close since then.  What has really struck me as interesting is how the so-called free market “capitalists” – those who stood with Clinton as he attempted to eliminate “welfare” in the 90’s – have been looking to the government they fleeced of regulations to help them out of the mess they essentially created ( you know they now apparently believe in – welfare – only corporate welfare, which I guess is OK).  Some of the Banks involved have been labled “too big to fail” as has the insurance giant AIG.  These are all corporations who have invested heavily in the Republican party that was mainly responsible for eliminating the regulations which kept these companies in “check” as much as possible.  And now, they are – one by one – unashamedly holding out their collective hands for government “bailout” money.  Already, the Wall Street companies have received well in excess of half a trillion dollars and there seems to be no end in sight.  It’s like the government believes it would be worse to let them fail than to pore probably what will amount to in excess of a trillion dollars onto their balance sheets in a bid to keep them afloat.  And what does the government get?  Evidently they are getting shares in these companies.  That in itself brings up some even more interesting questions.

I looked the other day and one of the companies being propped up by Uncle Sam (Citigroup) had a market cap of about thirteen and a half billion dollars – based on the value of the stock.  The government has already poured $45 Billion (yes that’s already almost 4 times what the company’s stock – all of it – is worth) and they’re talking about a lot more.  To me that’s not gambling – that’s stupid!  Is Citigroup really that important? Wouldn’t it be a much better investment to allow them to fail and then pick up the pieces?  And then there’s AIG.  This is beyond ridiculous.  Their market cap is less than 2 Billion dollars and the government (remember this was Henry Paulsen – I hope someone at some time investigates the connection he had with this company) has already put up $150 Billion (yes 75 TIMES THE WORTH OF THE COMPANY) and they’re coming back for more!  What did we get?  An eighty percent stake in the company.  That’s 1.6 Billion for an investment of 150 Billion.  Even I can figure this one out.  Again, to me this is stupid!

And then the people who keep telling us that these companies are too big to fail turn around and fight giving a loan to General Motors for 20 or 30 Billion dollars.  The message I’ve gotten from all of this is that the government officials believe the fat cats on Wall Street are much – exponentially so – more important than the blue collar workers who have made this nation great (the ripple effect of the demise of GM would be about 6 million jobs – mostly blue collar jobs).  Remember, the auto workers and those affiliated with them (parts manufacturers, etc.) MAKE STUFF.  The Wall Street execs – GAMBLE WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY.  What’s really interesting is that when they lose – and in this case they have lost in the trillions – they still consider themselves to be irreplaceable and apparently there are many in the government who agree.  The fight over bonuses and executive salaries of CEO’s who have led their companies into virtual bankruptcy has also been fascinating.  Once again, we have seen the image of people who believe – despite the fact they’ve brought an entire nation, the richest nation in the world, to its knees – they think they are so important that we can’t solve the problem without them – their high salaries must be justified because if the government “caps” their salaries they will have to  go elsewhere (they can’t live on $500,000 per year with no bonuses).  That is such a ludicrous argument to me – I mean where would they go?  Are things so absurd out there that a CEO who left a company which had lost tens of billions of dollars due to mismanagement – because his multi-million dollar salary got “capped” at half a million – can find another company to pay him that same multi-million dollar salary so that he can help them lose tens of billions of dollars for their stockholders?  Are these guys who are demanding accountability for me in my classroom trying to tell me they are so important that they should have no accountability?  These really are interesting times.

The reality, as I see it, is that the major banks in this country went so far over the edge during the Bush years that they will very likely fail, no matter what the government does (yes, there really is a free market out there).  I’m sure that the brilliant minds in Washington have figured out that it’s cheaper to keep propping them up until they eventually become profitable again – but it seems that the government is going to pretty much “own” them one way or the other.  I’m going to keep watching closely whichever way this thing plays out – and I recommend anyone who might happen upon this site do the same – especially younger people.  I believe that what caused me to pull what little money I have out of the stock market before all this happened was my experience in the 80’s during the Reagan years when we had the last Banking “crisis.” (If you remember that one, John McCain was right in the middle of it – and not in a good way – can you imagine where we’d be right now if we were depending on him to figure a way out of this present mess?)  Watching the housing prices soar by over 20% per year for several years was enough of a red flag for me (along with the realization that my President was clueless regarding the economy) – signaling that I  get to as safe a place as possible with what little I had.  I know that the government (under Obama) will get things turned around at some point, but the damage from this “meltdown” will be felt for years and years to come.  I get the sense that many of the “gamblers” on Wall Street are just waiting for the “green light” so they can go back to “business as usual,” but I believe that day, if it comes back, is a long way off.  The mentality of these guys on Wall Street was pretty well summed up by the CNBC guy who had the incredibly selfish rant the other day about any attempt by the government to help regular homeowners during this crisis.  I guess the commentator, Rick Santelli doesn’t want the government helping his neighbor with their mortgage, but he’s OK with Uncle Sam keeping his bank afloat!

Tonight President Obama gave a rousing address to a joint session of Congress and I have to admit it was masterfully done.  And I,  for one, am hoping totally that Obama succeeds and Rush Limbaugh is proven to be the traitor that he seems to me when he says, among other absurdities, that he hopes Obama fails.  I think even some of the die hard Republicans are beginning to understand the impossible circumstances that existed when George W Bush left the White House.  Looking at Obama’s first month in office and how much has been done gives a good glimpse at the damage this nation incurred while Bush was AWOL during his last year in office.  In fact, the last few months were as if there was no one in charge of our government – and we’re seeing the importance of the “adults being in charge” as the economic crisis worstens.  That being said, I have to emphasize that no one will be able to accuse me of blindly following President Obama and refusing to criticize him when I deem it necessary – which is totally different from virtually all Republicans marching in lock-step behind Bush during his two terms at the helm.

A few days ago I wrote a piece laying out what I called my “Red Flags” from the first month in Obama’s Presidency.  Well, tonight, neatly “snuck” into the excitement of his stirring speech was the news that my “Red Flag #2” is coming to fruition.  Just as I had surmised, President Obama is about to renege on his pledge to remove all American troops from Iraq in 16 months.  Not only is he going to extend the time-frame he’s going to “muddy” the waters by leaving, by some accounts, 50,000 troops in Iraq after the new “deadline” of 19 months for “getting out.”  Now, I don’t know how you would see this (again, I’m assuming I might be talking to someone other than myself – because it should be obvious how I see it) but, to me, leaving 50,000 troops isn’t getting out!  So he’s about to stretch the timeframe 3 months – which probably wouldn’t meet with too much angst – but I guarantee you the 50,000 troops staying is going to be a problem for Obama.  It appears to me that he’s still trying harder to please Republicans than necessary (personally, I don’t think he needs to please them at all) and he’s taking his base support for granted.  The part that really bothers me is that I believe there’s more to come.  I won’t even get into my thoughts about loading up troops in Afganistan with no real mission there, but I’m really concerned about the warrantless wiretapping that is continuing as I write this piece.  I’m not prepared to “turn” on Obama, but I can tell you that he doesn’t get a free pass with me.  And I not only don’t like the news from tonight, I don’t like the way they’re going about “leaking” it – I’m sure in a brazen attempt to mitigate the political damage – kind of mixing the bad news in with another rousing speech.  I’m not buying it.

This gets back to another of my problems with Obama.  If he doesn’t encourage prosecutions of the Bush lawbreaking the Republican party will just go along its merry obstructionist way, and we will end up with business as usual in Washington despite all the inspirational prose.  I watched this speech and for the first 2/3 of the speech all the applause was coming from the Democratic side of the isle.  It was very strange, almost embarrassing, watching the Democrats stand and applaud parts of the speech while the entire Republican side just sat there, almost like they were sitting on their hands.  Finally, toward the end of the speech, the Republicans joined in some of the “celebration.”  I think there must have been some monitors which allowed them to see what they looked like to us in the TV audience as they glumly sat, expressionless, while the Democrats rose to approve of one part of the speech after another.  THEY REALLY LOOKED THE PART OF THE “PARTY OF NO!”

As I watched this spectacle tonight the one thing that became clear to me was that it’s time for the Republican party to be the “third” party in our system.  We need another party to challenge the Democrats.  President Obama probably feels somewhat comfortable in making decisions that he must know will rankle people like myself who voted for him with the idea that we would be TOTALLY out of Iraq in 16 months OR LESS.  It’s like, “What are you going to do about it – vote for them?”  I mean, as I looked at Mitch McConnell sitting there I couldn’t help but think how could he rise to the leadership position of any party in this country?  And John McCain – I’ll say it again – can you imagine McCain giving that address with Sarah Palin sitting in Biden’s place?  The people on Wall Street would really be ready to “throw in the towel.”  These Republicans are like a bad dream that keeps coming back over and over again.

Take for example the guy on CNBC (Rick Santelli) who gave the incredibly selfish rant the other day about the “losers” – meaning the homeowners who stand to benefit from $75 Billion of the TARP money designed to actually stem the tide of the foreclosure crisis (he, of course, had nothing to say about the “losers” on Wall Street who have already burned over $500 Billion – This including AIG – and are back for more) – and how the government spending his tax dollars to help these homeowners “pay their mortgages” was “Un-American.”  Well, from a Republican standpoint, unless you’re a corporation, it probably is – which begs the point that the plan isn’t to pay anyone’s mortgage – it’s designed to restructure mortgages so deserving families that are victims of this crisis can stay in their homes.   To fight the criticism of his rant he goes to, where else, but the king of the Republican obstructionists – G. Gordon Liddy.  Now Liddy has a syndicated radio show that proves that these guys just keep coming back – I’m sure Liddy is a folk hero among Republicans because of his prime role in the Watergate scandal which was really the beginning of the Republican’s present day practice of using corrupt, dirty tricks  to get power by any means possible (this was the “spawning” of Lee Atwater which led to Karl Rove).  Now, it’s not that I TOTALLY disagree with Santelli on this seemingly endless “bailout” by our government – although I would clearly favor any money going to homeowners instead of the banks – it’s that when the White House criticized Santelli – he goes right to Liddy – the lowest common denominator in the Republican party.  The fact the guy’s on the air is, on the one hand, a testament to free speech, and, on the other hand, an indication of where Republicans are at.  My point here is that we need someone else besides these clowns as the opposition to the Democrats.  Should Obama continue to act like Bush on the war, on wiretapping, and on prosecuting government lawbreakers – I just can’t picture myself voting for any of these Republicans.

 I’ve been eligible to vote for 40 years (the voting age was 21 for me) and I’ve never missed an election.  And I suppose I won’t miss any in the immediate future as long as I retain my faculties.  But I can’t see myself voting for President Obama again should he continue on this path.  Tonight he talked about the importance of the “long term” as the impending legislation is put together.  I couldn’t agree more.  And, while the economy is of vital importance right now, and I agree that he will be judged (in the short term) for how he deals with the economy, continuing this illegal occupation indefinitely (and believe me, in my mind as long as we have any troops in Iraq the occupation is still on), how he deals with the wiretapping issue, and how he deals with the Bush administration criminals will have more of a “long term” effect on the future of this great nation.  Osama bin Laden will rejoice at the news that we are staying in Iraq (and, by the way, it will be interesting to see how many of the “contractors” remain – these are the ones who are really “bleeding” the American taxpayers – we’ll see if Obama’s “honesty” addresses the contractors or if he continues the Bush policy of pretending they aren’t there), plus if our government continues its policy of “data mining” our phone calls and emails – the terrorists have won another major victory, and if the Bush people go un-punished for the tremendous “wrongs” they inflicted on all of us – they will be back and the “long term” that President Obama so eloquently talked about tonight will look grim – no matter what happens to the economy.

 I really want my granddaughter and future grandson (and by extension my children) to be able to talk on the phone or express themselves in emails without fear that “Big Brother” is listening.  THIS IS HUGE!  Also, I don’t want my children and grandchildren spending the rest of their lives apologizing for their grandfather’s generation who violated the very principles of their great grandparents who, after World War II set up the Geneva Conventions to ensure that no civilized nation would ever resort to torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners during a time of war.  I am confident that, should we fail to prosecute our own in this matter (torture), my son – who recently joined the US Marines – is much more likely to be tortured should he ever (God forbid) be captured in the field of battle.  This is a legacy that I believe a majority of Americans don’t want on our “ledger.”  Then Senator Obama sent me a letter (all right, it was one of his underlings) after the FISA vote (during the campaign) assuring me he would “correct” the problem of illegal warrantless wiretapping soon after assuming office, should he be elected – I’m still waiting – and the “scuttlebut” has not been favorable.  I also heard him on more than one occasion say that if laws have been broken, people should be held accountable – and he also said “No one is above the law.”  So, this is my plea tonight;  President Obama, don’t renege on your promises on the war in Iraq, warrantless wiretapping, and torture!

I was going to take the night off, but I just have to get my “two cents worth” in. I was reading on the Yahoo finance website how all the Wall Street – I don’t know what to call them – people are singing the blues and in some cases it was reported investors were “throwing in the towel.” This comment was followed by the statement that the “government seems to be unable to get this situation under control” as the stock market dipped to levels not seen since 1997 (I don’t think it’s done going down).  Now keep in mind this kind of rhetoric is coming from the land of the so-called “free market” where the executives have been living like glutonous kings for the past many years thinking there was no end to their seeming infinite sources of income. As the crisis has unfolded I’ve watched as many of them continue to search for the bottom so they can “jump in” assumingly with the idea of making another “killing” as they’ve been doing for many years. There’s some real irony here and it would behoove all of us to pay attention to it.

First, I find it interesting that all these “free marketers” are clamoring for the government to continue to bail out Wall Street. This after getting an intial “dose” of government “corporate welfare” in the form of $350 Billion in TARP funds – just as Henry Paulsen ordered it up – with virtually no accountability. They were able to take this money and hand it out in obscene bonuses,  the buying of struggling banks – some of them not even in the U.S., and spend it on just about everything except what it was originally intended. Oh yes, and then they were able to act defiantly when President Obama, the Congress, and the vast majority of America’s citizenry became disgusted with them. The result of all this – they’re coming back to the “well” for more – and when the new administration balks – either by putting strict restrictions on the money – or, heaven forbid – by letting the bankrupt among them go bankrupt – they clamor in great unison that the government is unable to control this problem originally created by them because of this unabated greed. Kind of makes whatever I had for dinner tonight curdle in my stomach!

Next, there’s the group of “traders” like the guy on CNBC the other day who are ranting that the government is attempting to help some of the 10 million or so Americans who are facing forclosure – yes, some of them because of their poor decisions and lack of foresight into the impending consequences of the sub-prime meltdown of the banking system – but many just because of the failing economy that was perpetrated by 30 years of “trickle down” economics and the fact they believed the Republicans who said “deficits don’t matter.” These guys rightfully point out that 90% of all Americans are paying their mortgages, so when is this government bailout stuff going to stop. Well, aside from the fact that the sooner we stop the foreclosure crisis the better everyone in this nation is, I’m just disappointed that the original $350 Billion wasn’t used for the people in foreclosure instead of going to the banks. I don’t know if stopping the foreclosure crisis, if it can be done, will help the banks – but they’ve proved to me that printing money and giving it to them is not the answer. From what I can see, these banks are history – as they exist today. We might as well stop throwing “good money after bad” and just deal with the “clean-up.” They are so top-heavy with over paid executives that until these executives are purged from the scene nothing is going to change. This is a HUGE problem and anyone who thinks it’s going to be like the past recessions in most of our lives is kidding him/herself. I would not be surprised to see the DOW drop to close to 5000 by the end of this year.  Despite their rhetoric, I find it interesting these investors are looking for the government to solve this problem when the one thing I can agree with them on is that the government probably can’t solve their problem.

Then you have all the Republican politicians who are continuing to press for more corporate tax cuts and capital gains tax cuts (led by the great economic guru – who’ll go down in infamy for his “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” claim as Wall Street was beginning its descent into oblivion – John McCain) and fighting President Obama’s attempts to “stimulate” the faltering economy at every opportunity (can you imagine a McCain/Palin administration right now?). THESE GUYS ARE A PROBLEM. I believe at some point Harry Reid is going to have to invite them to actually filibuster – NOW I MEAN REALLY FILIBUSTER – future stimulus legislation -let them talk until they can’t talk anymore – so all the bad ideas that the two Senators from Maine will throw in as they attempt to control the destiny of each bill won’t have to be included in the legislation. The situation is really too grim to allow these people to even have a say in the solution until they start coming up with some actual ideas that might get people working again and reduce the federal deficit.  In addition to creating jobs, AT SOME POINT WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY FOR WHAT WE ARE DOING. In my opinion, a good place to start is a national 50 cent per gallon gas tax along with the instant repeal of the original “Bush taxcuts.” Wouldn’t it be fun to watch all these Republicans fight the idea of trying to actually have the government balance their budget?

And there’s more, such as the people like Richard Shelby of Alabama – a state which gave tax breaks equivalent to $175,000 per job created to Honda and Toyota (or Hyundai or some foriegn auto manufacturer) in order to induce these companies to build plants in their state – trying to undermine Chrysler and GM (and of course Ford, because if GM goes down, Ford will be right behind). To me, these guys are un-American. When I buy a car, I buy the best one I can get with the money I happen to have at the time – but there isn’t a shadow of doubt in my mind that we, as Americans, MUST HAVE A DOMESTIC AUTO INDUSTRY – the idea of depending on Japan, Korea, and China to produce our TV’s is one thing, but our cars!? YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. And the Republican goal of destroying every union in the nation is exactly backward. What we need are more jobs for people that actually pay a decent wage and provide reasonable benefits for middle class Americans – so that they can start buying things again. The problem for these businesses who are fighting unions isn’t high wages it’s lack of customers that can afford to buy their goods. It was unions that turned this nation into the greatest nation on earth and the sooner we realize that the better for all of us.

Finally, as I wrote about last night, there are actually people who found the cartoon in the NY Post depicting President Obama as an ape shot dead by a couple policemen who were saying “They’ll have to get someone else to write the next stimulus bill” funny. That kind of crap has to stop. The bulk of Americans made a profound statement on November 4th about what they think of those who are still harboring racist feelings and ideas. I realize that you can’t control what people think, but the more I ponder that cartoon, the more I believe Rupert Murdoch, News Corp, and Fox News need to go back to Australia or wherever Murdoch is from. That editorial was WAY OVER THE LINE. It is these people along with the aforementioned bankers and Wall Street investors who have been so much at the heart of what has transpired during the eight years of GW Bush and the previous 20 years that began with the so-called Reagan revolution. These are the people who helped to create this incredible “false economy” and they are the ones screaming the loudest for the government to figure out how to solve this problem for them. The truth is that the free market is actually working – and it’s going to continue to work until there is some sense of equilibrium in this nation. YOU CAN’T HAVE 1% OF THE POPULATION CONTROLLING OVER 10% OF THE WEALTH (and it might be as high as 20% – I’ve said it before, if I was a real “blogger” or journalist I would find out). The “haves” have pushed their greed too far, and things aren’t going to get better until many of them have been brought “down to earth,” so to speak. This economic crisis will end with the revival of America’s middle class! (whether Republicans like it or not)

I would really like to move on from my seemingly endless diatribe against Republicans, and remember, I’m talking about the Republicans at the top of the “food chain.” I’m convinced there are many unsuspecting Republicans out there who can’t even imagine what their leaders are doing and saying. For example, I have friends who are Republicans who I believe in my heart are not racists. However, to listen to the leaders of the party and to see some of the stuff they put out in support of their positions, it’s hard not to call the republican leadership not only racist, but overtly racist. I mean where is the long line of disgusted Republicans responding to the “cartoon” (I put cartoon in quotes, for those of you who are a little dense – and possibly Republican – because cartoons are supposed to be funny) in the New York Post depicting Barrack Obama as a Chimpanzee which has just been shot by two policemen with a caption coming from one of the policemen’s mouth, “They’ll have to get someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” I haven’t seen that GOP line objecting to this, in fact what I’ve seen and heard are a bunch of Republicans who actually think it is funny and don’t “get” why anyone would be offended.

It is this kind of vile stuff that has motivated me to encourage President Obama to not only allow, but to encourage, investigations of the Republican leadership under George W Bush. Many of the thugs who are in leadership right now whould be eliminated from the political scene. The Republican party would be forced to find some fresh faces and if they come up with some more racists who believe in welfare for corporations but not for individuals then we know it’s time for a different party to challenge the Democrats for control of this great nation. If you haven’t seen this cartoon, you have got to look it up. I doubt if it’s still on the Post’s website, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find elsewhere. The fact that Republicans are using a monkey to depict Obama is nothing new. The fact that the outrage is limited to the left wing of the Democratic party is also nothing new (remember, a lot of the so-called “Blue Dog” democrats aren’t far from the Republican “lair”), but the fact that the monkey has been shot dead is the most alarming part to me.

Just remember the heightened rhetoric of the recent campaign when Sarah Palin (mostly) and John McCain were calliing Obama a “terrorist” – by association – a socialist, and other names that stirred up their crowds to yell things like “Kill him” with not even a whimper from either Palin or McCain to talk sense into the fervent “nut jobs” who were spouting this kind of hateful rhetoric. I remember several people besides myself feeling that McCain/Palin would have to accept “ownership” of anything any of the “crazies” at their rallies might do after some of the unbelievable stuff was said. You have no idea who you’re talking to in that instance, and selling a paper to – in the instance of the Post’s editorial cartoon. I truly hope the people of New York not only stop buying this paper (or anything else under the control of Rupert Murdock) but also take the time to call the advertisers and tell them they will purchase no more of their products as long as that advertiser continues to support the Post.

My last post outlined five “Red Flags” I am feeling after President Obama’s first month in office. It is easy for me to see that I’m not going to be totally happy with him, and quite possibly I might be asking for my money back – depending upon some of his pending decisions (re: Iraq, Afganistan, wiretapping, prosecutions of the Bush administration, and more) – but this country can’t withstand one or more of these right wing nuts to try to fulfill the intent of the “cartoon.” It was just about a year ago that one of the “faithful” to this message of divisiveness and hate broke into a church or school and killed a buch of children because he couldn’t kill the ones he wanted to kill – the 100 liberals mentioned in a book by Bernard Goldberg (a nut job himself) – or all the Democrats in the House and Senate who are turning this into a “Communist” nation. The guy (James Adkisson) had a massive amount of “hate propaganda” spewed out by O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, and the other right wing “talkers” who are playing to the worst side of every American who might happen upon their shows piled up in his room when he committed these horrible crimes.  To just assume that this “cartoon” in the post is “funny” and look the other way, is preposterous thinking – all it will take is one crazy fool to put the message of this cartoon with the rhetoric of the Republican leadership and we could have a national tragedy of HUGE proportions. Combine “cartoons” like this with rhetoric like what came out of Alan Keyes mouth shortly after the “cartoon” was published – saying Obama is a socialist and he’s not an American citizen; saying he was born in Kenya and isn’t really our President – is indicative that the Republican party has gone over the deep end.

One right wing Republican after another is berating the so-called “stimulus” package – with nothing better than “we need more tax cuts for corporations and investors” as a response. In fact, some of the more ridiculous Republican governors were first threatening to “not take the money,” and now have “tempered” their disgust with the plan by saying they might not take some of the money. Personally, I think their first inclination was the best – don’t take any of it – and those of us with either Democratic governors or “moderate” Republican governors can split up the money these other guys don’t want. I would really like to see their chances for re-election should they turn the money down. The reality is that most of them will end up taking the money, and like their brethren in the Congress, travel around their state taking credit for the benefits of the money that they “wanted” to turn down – it’s called blatantly wanting to “have your cake and eat it too.”

I will sign off for tonight by saying that the other night I actually heard a Republican leader say that he felt another eight years just like the previous eight years would be better than the “stimulus” package passed by the Congress and signed by Obama. It is clear that these guys are living in another world than the rest of us. I would have preferred that Uncle Sam hadn’t “bailed out” the Wall Street banks which participated in creating this crisis. I was all for them going “under” and being opened by the Federal Government and sold to new management. That, in my view, is the only way to weed out these people who are putting themselves into a class which no one in this country deserves – these banks are operated on the theory that the successful “risk managers” will become almost instant millionaires – and they get caught up in a lavish lifestyle causing them to think they are actually worth the millions they’re pulling from their banks each year. I was OK with the loans to GM and Chrysler because I believe the saying “As GM goes, so goes our economy” is still a truism – we need an auto industry, we need to be making things in this country, and we can’t afford to lose the millions of jobs tied to the auto industry, especially at this time (despite the right wing claims to the contrary, most of the jobs which will be saved by keeping GM afloat are blue collar jobs – middle class working “folk”). I would have preferred that the “stimulus” bill had less tax cuts and more spending on infrastructure, but it was a step in the right direction and I truly hope it at least stalls the downward spiral we’re in right now.  What we should all want to see is more of the same – legislation designed to create jobs.  What I don’t want to see are Republicans encouraging racism and violence – which is what the NY Post editorial does. This should be unacceptable to EVERY AMERICAN at this point in our history. While I will defend free speech to the bitter end, something should come from this heinous editorial – some substantial consequence. In my mind, a fitting reward for the New York Post’s editorial “cartoon” would be repealing the waiver allowing Rupert Murdoch to own multiple media sources in the New York market. Maybe that would get his attention, and the cronies who suck up to him.

Anyone who’s been reading any of my posts on this site would know that I’m pulling for President Obama to be successful (more importantly, I’d like to see this country setting a proper example to its own citizens and the rest of the world), I think the Republican party as it is presently constituted should be no more than a bad memory, and that I believe hardly anything is more important, for the long haul, than investigating and prosecuting those culpible for the legal transgressions of the Bush administration. In the process of all this I’ve started getting somewhat egotistical as if I’m some kind of journalist with an impressive audience of one (although, according to my ISP my audience has numbered as high as 49 and often times is in the twenties). I guess it’s that journalistic wannabe in me that makes me want to write the “you’ve heard it here first” type of “article.” Well, tonight I’m going to give that a shot.

As a person who has little “discretionary” income, it was unusual for me to be sending then Senator Obama money as he campaigned with the backing of somewhere approaching, by November, 5 million individual donors via his web “domain.” Even when he inexplicably voted for the unacceptable FISA bill I wrote to him expressing my displeasure, and then getting a response assuring me that he would “fix” this once he was elected I was concerned. I was skeptical then (I’m 61 and haven’t seen too many politicians that are true to their word, so for me seeing is believing) and I’m even more skeptical now. So, tonight after feeling one red flag after another, I’m going to paint the possible scenario where the Obama “bubble” bursts. I REALLY HOPE I’M WRONG. I honestly don’t want to be able to point people to this site and say “I told you so.” However, if you happen accross this site and read this post and agree with my scenario, please write to President Obama and encourage him to “do the right thing” as his administration evolves. OK, I’m sure if you’ve made it this far it’s time for me to explain the “red flags” I’m seeing that are concerning me about the direction of our 44th President after only one month in office.

I know he promised to engage Republicans, but I hope that “promise” doesn’t supercede the promises he made to the faithful who were largely responsible for getting him elected. Red flag number one: This isn’t the first thing that has raised my eyebrows, but all of a sudden it has made it to the top of the list. Against the backdrop of a military that can’t even define our mission in Afganistan, and our own country on the brink of economic collapse, Obama sends an additional 17,000 troops to Afganistan. This is disconcerting. Our original reason for invading this country was to “get” the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. While I believe we still have a “right” to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, this continued occupation of Afganistan with no stated purpose seems to be more of the American policy of almost saying the lives of our troops are of such little value that we will put them in hostile environments with success being that they survive their “tour” of duty. PLLLLEEASSE President Obama, don’t get caught up in all the fabrication of the Generals who still believe we can “nation build” in Iraq and Afganistan. I certainly thought I was voting for a President who had the guts to stand up to the military industrial complex in this country and who had common sense about where our troops would be deployed. Now, I understand that one of your campaign promises was to finish the search for al Qaeda and bin Laden, but this doesn’t sound like its intended for anything more than getting us mired deeper in the country that bankrupted the Soviet Union in the eighties. I hope i’m wrong here, but just the same, RED FLAG.

And I guess the reason the 17,000 troops in Afganistan is such a “red flag” is because of the reporting that the 16 month exit from Iraq is not going to happen. I certainly haven’t seen any sign of troops coming home as of the first month in office. Now, if it’s that difficult to get them out of there, I believe something should be happening by now. This is RED FLAG number two. I can virtually guarantee you that as soon as Obama announces that he’s not going to get ALL the troops out of Iraq in the 16 month period that he promised it will become evident that he will be getting more Republican support and less Democratic. If you’re on the Democratic side of things, this will be terribly discouraging. Again, I really hope I’m wrong here, but I’ve seen sufficient signs to call this a red flag. Obama had better be very careful here, I’m not sure whether he should be willing to trade his “base” for a few Republicans who might “come over” if he leaves American troops in Iraq indefinitely. But there’s more ………

I earlier mentioned the FISA bill Obama supported during the campaign – you know, the one which let the telecoms off for conspiring with our federal government to be virtually spying on any American the “decider” wanted to spy on – without a court warrant. This is RED FLAG number 3. It has been reported a couple of times, enough to get my hair up, that now President Obama doesn’t want to “give up this power.” Uh Oh!? If these reports are true, THIS IS BAD!!! George W Bush was not a constitutional lawyer and was (supposedly) relying on legal oppinions (everyone knows they were fabricated by lawyers lacking integrity) by his so-called legal counsel – but Obama has no excuses if he goes down this path. The government needs to get out of the business of spying on its citizens and FAST!!! This is another area where I believe President Obama is risking the support of a large part of his “base.” I’m sure there are a lot more baby boomers such as myself who will become beyond cynical if Obama doesn’t fulfill his promise to roll back the abuses of the Bush administration. However, I’ve already heard quotes from a couple of his staffers saying that President Obama doen’t want to “erode” the powers of the President.

This brings me to RED FLAG number four. One of the things that has so many Americans frustrated about our government is the incredible and open abuses of power of the Bush/Cheney White house. They assumed way too much power. I just concluded, based on some of Obama’s comments during the campaign, that this was a no brainer. Once he was in office, he would work to roll back these abuses and help to restore the legitimate concept of the three equal branches of government. I have watched many times in my lifetime how power can change people and I’m hoping, almost desperately, that Obama fulfills his promises to restore the office of the Presidency to its rightful place in this triumvirate of power. But I’ve heard some alarming comments in this area as well. For example, the White House counsel doesn’t want Karl Rove to go before Congress and claim (absurdly) executive privilege from the previous President regarding the firing of the nine Attorney’s Generals. His point was evidently that they would possibly have to side with Rove, because they don’t want to “weeken” Presidential powers. The thing that bugs me about this is that they are talking about powers they only have because of the arrogance of Dick Cheney, who I believe was the architect of the abuses of the previous eight years. I would hate to see the Democratic Congress have to take Obama’s White House to court to prove that these claims are baseless. And does anyone really believe that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would have the stomach to fight Obama when they wouldn’t stand up to Bush. WE NEED SOME LEADERSHIP HERE, AND IT NEEDS TO COME FROM THE PRESIDENT HIMSELF!

And the final RED FLAG. The persistent reluctance to encourage investigations of what everyone knows was a rogue administration who broke one law after another and who it could be safely said of, “If their lips are moving, they’re lying.” I have been saying this for months, but I believe it with all my heart, if these thugs aren’t prosecuted they will return on the scene and we will be writing these same kinds of articles all over again. Remember, many of the perpetrators in Bush 43’s administration were also part of Iran/Contra or Watergate – the last two Republican scandals where virtually everyone got pardoned and came back like bad nightmares. PLEASE PRESIDENT OBAMA, LET’S PUT THESE PEOPLE TO REST ONCE AND FOR ALL!? I’m beginning to get the idea that Presidents are like doctors in the sense that they “stick up” for each other. It’s like my hip that was put in wrong – there’s not much I can do about it because one doctor wont’ testify against another – it’s just grin and bear it – you know tough it up! Well, I really hope that isn’t going to be what we get from Mr. Obama. I REALLY HOPE I’M WRONG HERE – BUT THAT’S A LOT OF RED FLAGS!!!

So much to write about, so little time, so little space. I’ll do the best I can. Today, while I was continuing the process of mentally digesting how President Obama should take on the unbelievable mess left to him by George W Bush, I had the opportunity to see pictures of the American Embassy in Iraq. Now, I’ve heard about this place and it bothered me that our government was building a multi-billion dollar embassy in an Arab country where at the minumum 75% of the population don’t want us there, while our troops in Iraq are being electrocuted in their quarters taking showers because of faulty work by American contractors. And when I saw this embassy, I quickly realized the chance of someone being electrocuted taking showers there are probably pretty slim. The place is bigger than the Vatican, its got fancy swimming facilities, basketball courts, and who knows what else. Nothing but the best for our diplomats – in a country that we have virtually decimated for the past 6 years. Now, isn’t that just the American way to show people what we really think of them. Do you think the American embassy will have electricity for 4 hours per day???

What bothered me even more was the report, by Thomas Ricks – the highly acclaimed author of “Fiasco” – that the senior American military personel are planning on upwards of 35,000 troops in Iraq as late as 2015. And, why would you build a multi-billion dollar embassy and then abandon it? OK, it looks like President Obama is going to have another round of trying to placate Republicans and Democrats at the same time. Let me tell you why I believe that is a bad idea.

First, nothing is more clear to me than that the Republicans want Obama to fail. I’ve written before that the only way for them to have any chance of regaining power, which is what they’re all about, is for Obama to fail. Now, everyone knows who created this terrible mess, but evidently, the Republicans think that if Obama can’t solve all the problems they created from the previous 8 years – and do it in the next 4 – then the American people will be ready for Sarah Palin. Should that happen, then I will agree with all my Christian friends that we are in the last days. Obama MUST FIGURE OUT SOON that the time to be bipartisan is after we get the wave of economic destruction imposed upon us and the rest of the world by the “trickle down” Republicans led by GW Bush for the previous two terms under control. By that, I mean unemployment figures going down instead of up, middle class income going up instead of down, and the Federal budget deficit getting smaller instead of exponentially bigger. None of this will happen if the Republicans have anything to say about it.

Furthermore, if Ricks is correct, then President Obama is soon to begin to prepare his most devout followers that the 16 month withdrawal from Iraq is not going to happen. Even if that made some Republicans happy, especially the ones profitting from our occupation, I’ll give you several reasons why that’s a bad idea – not the least of which would be Republicans calling Obama on breaking his word moreso than Democrats. They would delight in some kind of decaying of Obama’s base support, and believe me, it will happen quickly as soon as he says we’re staying in Iraq. According to Ricks, one of the main reasons the Generals are lobbying for this is because they say the “Civil War” hasn’t happened yet. I guess their thinking is that we should stay indefinitely in order to prevent it from ever happening. What they’re not taking into account is that the so-called surge didn’t accomplish any of its main goals – which all had to do with the necessary political progress allowing for the assimilation of the Sunni and Shia sects, the sharing of Oil revenues, and more. What happened is that the US armed the very Sunni insurgents who were killing Americans (the ones who were originally in Saddam’s Army and “let go” by Paul Bremer – in one of the stupider [is that a word?] moves – in the early stages of the occupation). They then paid these insurgents to “turn” on the Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia insurgents who the Americans were unable to defeat up to that point.

The Problem: There is still no Sunni/Shia reconciliation – and there very likely won’t be – and now this so-called “Awakening” is heavily armed and capable of taking on the Shia government at some time in the future. In addition to that, Moqtada al Sadr is away in Iran, preparing to return in a year or two as the Grand Ayotollah – somewhat in the same vein as the Ayotollah’s in Iran. Don’t kid yourselves, this guy has a huge following in Iraq and these people will “go to the well” for him. (In case a Republican who can’t add two plus two happens by – Sadr is a Shia Cleric, he’s not very nice, he’s still REALLY MAD at the Sunni’s, and he will have the full support of Iran when he returns – Bush’s worst nightmare) Eventually, the you know what is going to hit the fan in Iraq – whether we stay there or not. Of course the Army Generals and the leftover diplomats from the Bush era (Ryan Crocker) are going to argue otherwise. Obama would be very foolish to listen to them and turn his back on the millions of Americans who voted him into office. We’ve been trying to get our troops home from Iraq for several years now – the last two elections for sure – and Obama would be wise to fulfill this campaign promise. Can you imagine the outcry from his supporters if they have to witness more placating of Republicans because of a campaign promise and then to break this one???

And, of course, the Republicans would like nothing more than to get Obama to lose his base while trying to cozy up to them. Isn’t that what you would call the ulitimate “win-win” situation. They would get what they wanted as far as the illegal occupation of Iraq and they would bring down Obama at the same time. Now, in my heart, I believe President Obama to be smarter than that. But Thomas Ricks had it right on in “Fiasco” and he now has another book out (which of course I will be reading ASAP) which is implying maybe Obama hasn’t learned the lessons as well as we all thought. I can tell you, if he doesn’t start standing up to these Republicans, AND SOON, there is going to be a disenchantment in this nation that is unprecedented. There are many people such as myself who are feeling like “finally” we have a President who will represent the will of the people. It’s only the first month, in fact not even quite a month yet, but I’m getting a bit worried.

Bush/Cheney HAVE TO BE PROSECUTED whether Obama likes the idea or not – they’ve publically admitted to war crimes. We are still, I’m sure being wiretapped by the NSA – that needs to stop soon or Obama is going to own a piece of that disgusting legacy. The troops HAVE TO COME HOME! And sooner rather than later. Iraq is going to break out into civil war whether or not we stay there – WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE – And our nation is going bankrupt carrying on two wars while we can’t even take care of our own people. The true world hotspot is in Pakistan which will take every bit of Obama’s and those aroung him’s genius to figure out without some kind of huge disaster happening. I mean, Bush left things in such an unimaginable state – that it’s probably going to be too little and too late – whatever Obama does. But today, just to spite myself I think, I tried to listen to Republicans for Obama (I wrote this the other day and it’s not too clear – I didn’t mean that there are any Republicans “for Obama” – what I meant was that I would do Obama’s “dirty” work for him – and actually try to listen to some of these guys – I couldn’t handle it for more than a couple minutes. And it wasn’t just the commentators – they’ve brainwashed their listeners – the people calling the shows were about as uninformed as it gets – but they sounded as if they were very confident that what they were saying was actually true – the mantra of Republicans. They’ve told so many lies that they actually believe their own lies to be true). I was listening in order to get a better idea of the people Obama’s trying to win over. I listened as long as I could stomach it to a couple right wing radio talk shows. This one guy – his name was Lars Larson – the guy was spewing out one lie after another (I’m a teacher, he was attacking Public education – the one thing he said that I felt was the truth, he wants to see the end of all Teacher Unions – the Republican mantra since Reagan) and the other guy was Sean Hannity of Fox “News.” These guys and their audiences continue to believe that they have no culpibility in the sorry state of this nation and the world. Tonight, incredibly, I heard a former Republican house member say that he believed another eight years like the last eight years would be better than what President Obama is proposing and the people voted for. He blamed the economic nightmare on Chuck Shumer (Senator from New York) and George Saros! Really, I’m not kidding you. These guys are NUTS!! It’s like they are hoping for President Obama to fail, evidently believing they are imune from a total collapse of our nation. Obama must ignore these people. Republicans are betting their future on Obama’s (and America’s) failure!

If you’ve been reading any of my previous posts, I have to make something abundantly clear. I DON’T HATE REPUBLICANS! It’s just that I believe the ones who have been in charge for the past 30 years or so have been very deceitful and have put their own selfish interests ahead of the good of this great nation. The train wreck that has hit this economy has been predictable. A lot of my acquaintances didn’t believe me 2 years ago when I warned them to get out of the stock market and to start saving more money. Many of my friends have been disgusted with me for my anti-invasion stance regarding Iraq. And many of my long time friends who make a lot more money than I do refused to accept that the Bush tax cuts were poison on top of what had been done during the Reagan/Bush (the first Bush) years – and I’m talking about what had been done to the national debt. Personally, I never believed that “deficits don’t matter.” My point tonight, is that there are many, many good Republicans out there – it’s just that the crew that is in charge (the Congressional leaders plus their mouthpieces such as Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, etc.) won’t let any of the good ones into a leadership position.

And make no mistake, in my mind, we need at least a two party system for our government to work properly. At present, I’m just not sure that the “opposition” party should be the Republicans. If they can’t cleanse themselves of this crew who believe the solution to every American problem is more tax cuts – then I think we need a new group to challenge the Democratic party for national leadership. Don’t get me wrong here either, I’m not too happy with the Democrats. One thing WE DON’T NEED in a time of national crisis is a bunch of timid leaders. While I’m happy that the Congress just passed a stimulus bill to attempt to “jolt” our economy in the right direction – I honestly believe the “package” was WAY too little, and possibly – based on its size – too late. What I mean by this – it is kind of like trying to stop a virus with an anti-biotic that isn’t strong enough – and sometimes if the cure isn’t strong enough it only makes the disease even stronger. YOU DON’T WANT THE DISEASE TO GET STRONGER THAN THE AVAILABLE MEDICINE. To me that is what is being risked here with the so-called “stimulus” package.

There are several possible reason for this – especially considering that President Obama won a clear mandate from the American people with just short of a commanding control of Congress by the Democratic party to go along with almost 400 electoral votes. The first, I’m sorry to say – yet in a way I’m happy to have a President who is trying to do what he said he would do – is President Obama’s determination to instill a “bipartisan” spirit in Washington. I too would love to see that, but the reality is that Washington clearly isn’t ready for that (so, I suppose, the question is what is the path to bipartisanship after so many years of angst) and at this point in time effective legislation, even at the cost of this dream of cooperation, is far more important than how many Republicans vote for anything. The second reason is a Republican party that says it doesn’t want to be the party of “no” while saying no to virtually everything (remember their campaign slogan during the Presidential election was “Country First” – what a joke!). Either they don’t realize what an incredible plague they’ve put on our economy and our position as the leader of the “Free world,” or – as I believe in my heart – the leadership of the Republican party would rather this nation failed if that is what it takes for them to regain power. I for one will go to my grave, if necessary, letting as many people as possible know who has caused the crisis that is potentially destroying this nation. OK, and the third reason is the weak (yes, I can agree with the Republicans on one thing) leadership of the Democratic party. I’m a school teacher, and these guys remind me of teachers who want the students to “like” them, and end up getting “runover” by the very people they are trying to “impress.”

Take for example this stimulus bill. The Democratic leadership and President Obama got something in the neighborhood of what they wanted, or so that is what they are saying. However, I believe there was hundreds of billions of dollars worth of actual stimulus that won’t happen because of the Democrats allowing the Republicans to manipulate the process. I still haven’t seen Harry Reid actually force the Republicans to filibuster. If he can’t get 60 votes to stop debate on something – that seems to be it. I keep thinking back to Bill Clinton’s first budget. It passed with a 50-50 split in the Senate. Why didn’t the 60 vote rule stop that bill? And when Newt Gingrich and the Republicans took on Clinton in the mid nineties, Clinton let them stop the government. And the public opinion prevailed just as it would have this time had Obama and the Democrats taken the high road – with a trillion dollar, or so, bill with only minimal tax cuts – and pushed it through Congress – forcing the Republicans to filibuster until they couldn’t talk any more. Believe me, the public opinion would have allowed the President to prevail!

The problem now – as I mentioned above about the medicine not being stronger than the disease – if the stimulus package doesn’t work, or doesn’t sufficiently slow the downward spiral in our economy – it will be even harder to find a cure, because the “disease” will be far worse than it is now. Under the present leadership in Congress, getting anything done at that point will be exponentially more difficult than doing it right the first time. I believe the “bipartisan” plan should be put on “hold” until we get this mess straightened out. If Congress has to go back to the table (as I suspect) we can’t afford more “watered down” legislation. To Obama and the Democrats: It’s time to take a stand and push through legislation that you believe in and can be clearly held accountable for – win or lose. Whether it’s domestic or foreign policy – make a clear “change” from the past 30 years. Give the American people a good look at the results of progressive vs. Republican (I don’t call them conservative because I believe Republicans have sullied that word) policy. Only then will a true “bipartisan” debate be possible – once the McConnell’s, the Boehner’s, the Limbaugh’s, the Hannity’s, the McCain’s, the Palin’s, and all the “Joe the Plumblers” out there have been put in their proper place.

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned there are many good Republicans out there, and I feel it will take a strong stand by Obama and the Democratic Congress to create the environment where the Republican leadership gets “fixed.” Tonight, I listened to the new Transportation Secretary – I can’t remember his name – but he’s one of the two Republicans in Obama’s cabinet. This guy is a good Republican. What he said made total sense and he wasn’t hiding behind some “voodoo” philosophy that refuses to accept reality. All I needed to hear from the guy was that we need to create Jobs in this country and the best stimulus right now to do that is the government – the investor of last resort, so to speak. We also have Robert Gates as the Secretary of Defense. In my mind, this guy has been a bright spot to our nation since he took over for Donald Rumsfeld after the 2006 elections. He seems like a quiet, effective, and honorable person who REALLY does believe in supporting our troops.

Now, Gates and I might have some differences on Iraq, I suppose that would be a no-brainer – considering my position as a teacher thousands of miles away from the spotlight he’s in (although he stays out of that spotlight as much as he can) and my opposition to the occupation – but the man has earned my respect. He appears to be the epitome of a true public servant to me. And the fact he can work for people as diverse as Bush II and Obama is a real testament to that. My point is that there are some outstanding Republicans out there – they just don’t seem to be wielding much influence in their party. My hope is that the Democrats will somehow stop this trainwreck that was left behind by Bush/Cheney and in the process put the “trickle down” tax cutting Republicans out to pasture – making way for some true conservatives who believe in our traditional values, being responsible about paying for the services we receive (of course in times like this – deficit spending is a must), and finding ways to work toward restoring the true “family values” that they like to say they believe in.

This country has regressed in so many ways since the “Reagan revolution,” which I believe is the bottom line cause of today’s calamity, and it has been the Republican party that has initiated so many policies that have undone the very things they say they believe in. The anti-union policies have been effective in destroying unions, but it has also led to an assault on the middle class. The family structure that Republicans supposedly stand for has been steadily deteriorating since the first days of Reagan’s first term in office. Our national debt has almost doubled five times – that in itself is unbelievable to me for the supposed party of fiscal conservatives (and somehow they’ve managed to get ordinary Americans who are being devastated by this to vote for them). And, during the Bush/Cheney administration they pre-emptively invaded a soveriegn nation who had not attacked the U.S. for the first time in our history – and worst than that, they not only borrowed every cent to pay for this invasion (leading to abominable treatment of our troops) but they cut taxes at the same time – when they should have been asking all Americans to pony up and support the troops by paying MORE taxes. The fact we had soldiers dying because they didn’t have sufficient armor on their vehicles is an incredible national outrage – and I honestly don’t understand why more people weren’t outraged by this!

So, my fear is that the “pendulum” will swing in the totally other direction and the permanent Republican majority scheme will, ironically, produce a permanent Democratic majority. I don’t think either one is healthy. Our founding fathers did everything they could to prevent that from happening. We need two vibrant parties in this nation to debate issues and come up with the best possible solutions. The atmosphere in Washington has been polluted over the previous (I don’t know how many) years – and, to me, both parties are responsible in different ways for this – and somehow this needs to change. I respect President Obama and his determination to do this – I’m just not sure of the timing. While it remains to be seen whether or not Obama’s “medicine” will work to save our failing economy – one thing we know – the Republican’s scenarios of either doing nothing and letting the economy correct itself, or cutting taxes AGAIN, just won’t work. Even if the intitial stimulus package stops or slows the downward “spiral” which our economy is presently experiencing – there are still many legislative battles looming. In my mind, the time is right to make a stand against these obstructionist Republicans. They aren’t going to support anything Obama does. So, if they want to vote against everything, I say good for them! The present Republican leadership needs to be run out of Washington and right now Obama has the political capital to do this. And if decent leadership can’t be found to replace them, then maybe it’s time for a new political party on the American scene!

I’ll never forget about 30 years ago when I watched the Republicans come up with a strategy to get Ronald Reagan elected. Before Reagan was originally voted into office he was nothing more than a “fringe” candidate – who had been hanging around national politics for a few years, formerly the governor of California, and before that a B movie actor. In fact, my most vivid memories of Reagan prior to his election as the 40th President were his advertisements for 20 Mule Team Borax. The Republicans took advantage of the disenchantment in the Democratic party – especially the left wing of the party (sound familiar?) – by putting up a third party candidate. The guy’s name was John Anderson (a good thing to remember for trivia buffs) and he was a liberal Republican who ran as an independent and took virtually no votes from Reagan and about 10% of the Democratic vote from Jimmy Carter. In fact, it was one time in my life when I was mad at my Mom – she was so unhappy with Carter’s centrist positions that she voted for Anderson out of spite. I tried to tell her, and anyone else who would listen, a vote for Anderson was a vote for Reagan – but the unthinkable (to me) happened.

Once in office, Reagan proved to be “The great communicator” by using his dramatic skills to act as the front man for the people who have been in the shadows, destroying our government ever since. Reagan put it right up front; “Government isn’t the solution, Government is the problem.” The tax cuts started, the deficits went into overdrive, and the middle class started to shrink. In concert with corporations who wanted complete power in this country the Republicans put Rush Limbaugh on the air and the guy somehow convinced millions of working class Americans to vote over and over again against their best interests. Reagan and his administration set into motion the philosophy and the events that have put this nation at the brink of economic disaster. It is still very questionable whether or not President Obama can change the course of this economy which is headed to virtual bankruptcy. In fact, I suppose you could make a strong case that it’s in bankruptcy right now, and what they are determining is whether or not “re-orgainization” is possible.

George W Bush was the final straw as far as the mechanism designed to destroy this country. And, if you’ve been listening to the Republicans during the present debates in Congress, they’re not finished yet. It’s like someone hanging from a cliff by their fingernails, the Republicans, if they can keep everyone in “lockstep” will be able to stop the Obama phenomenom – largely due to the ineffectual Democratic leadership in Congress. There have been a few bright spots of late – and I’m not talking about the stimulus bill which required the vote of three Republicans to prevent the Democrats from doing something they apparently have no stomach for – and that’s to make the Republicans do an old fashioned filibuster – make em talk, talk, talk, until they’re blue in the face. Put them up in front of the American people to show them for what they really are. However, back to the bright spots, both Patrick Leahy and John Conyers are talking about thorough investigations of the Bush administration for past lawbreaking. This is encouraging. I will continue to say that the way to really put these Republicans in their place is to put them before a judge and let them answer for the treasonous behavior of the previous eight years.

I’ve made it about half way through Conyers book (actually it comes from the committee hearings he held in the basement of the Capital because Democrats couldn’t call witnesses during the first six years of the Republican “rule” under Bush) George W Bush vs The US Constitution. You don’t have to go further than halfway through this book to realize that there was sufficient evidence – KNOWN EVIDENCE – to impeach Bush and Cheney long before even the Democrats regained majorities in both houses of Congress. Finally, maybe they are going to do something about this. I mean we’re talking about some serious violations. Reagan ended his reign with the Iran/Contra scandal, which was another example of an administration totally ignoring the will of Congress. There were some investigations, but everyone, including Reagan and then VP and soon to be President George HW Bush got off for what was clearly willful violations of the law. Bill Clinton won the Presidency by a razor thin margin following the first Bush Presidency, somewhat as Reagan did, with the help of a third party candidate – and he chose to “look forward instead of backward” regarding Iran/Contra.

Well, the policies of the Reagan administration can be directly connected to the economic failure of our nation. They can be directly connected to the destruction of the regulatory system that is leading to one calamity after another (today’s calamity is the poisoning of numerous children with salmonella from contaminated peanuts which were allowed to enter the food system via lack of regulation). They can be directly connected to the mentality that led to the fiasco in Iraq. Essentially, many of the people in GW Bush’s administration that stand to be accountable for misdeeds are the same people who participated in the misdeeds of the Reagan administration. This country may or may not be able to withstand two administrations focused on destroying what it took forty years to build after the Great Depression – that is still to be determined – but another one would finish us off for sure! In my mind, the only way to prevent the possibility of the Republicans sneaking another Reaganesque candidate over on an unsuspecting public is to make the last one pay publicly for his (their) abuses. Ronald Reagan is the ghost of the Republican party, he deserves a lot of credit for America’s present state of destruction.

Last night I listened with interest to comments by Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary committe, regarding the necessity to uncover the misdeeds of the Bush administration through some kind of thorough investigation and/or prosecution. Everyone knows that Bush and Cheney, for starters, were putting themselves above the law. Although Bush didn’t come out and say it as Nixon did back in the 70’s during Watergate, it was clear he had the opinion that “If the President does it, it must be legal.” For anyone who might not be old enough, yet happen upon this site, the nation went through a very tumultuous time in making it clear that Mr. Nixon was not correct on that assumption. The astonishing thing, to me, isn’t that another Republican President tried to take up the torch, so to speak, for Nixon’s point of view – it is how much more severe the violations were by Bush/Cheney and how much more damaging the results will be if they are left to get away with their lawbreaking.

As I’ve mentioned in past entries on this “blog” American law evolves through precedence. What that means, and I think people like Leahy “get it,” is that if Bush is allowed to get away with his actions, they are much more likely to be “replayed” down the road, and it will be much more difficult to stop an executive branch that gets out of control. Of course, part of the problem in this instance has been a recalcitrant congress which apparently didn’t have the stomach to take on Dick Cheney (I’m convinced he was the architect of much of the illegal activity – intentionally pushing the boundaries of the executive branch – apparently with the perpetual Republican majority in mind, ughhh!!!) and the thugs who were giving the “doctored” legal advice that they will have to, hopefully, stand on in a court of law. Their theory that if you can find someone like John Yoo, a man who will justify just about anything with the idea that the President has unlimited power (remember, the only thing he labled as “possibly” being torture was burying someone alive for a few minutes, then digging them up before they suffocated to death – unbelievable as it seems) and get them to write “memos” justifying clearly illegal activities as “legal” then it is so. I’ve heard many legal experts calling that theory what is should be called – absurd!

If Bush and Cheney get away with their actions then here are some things we can look forward to as a nation. Let’s start with the outing of Valerie Plame (Wilson) who was a covert CIA agent. Ironically, her network of spies was working on the weapons of mass destruction issue in Iraq and Iran when Dick Cheney disclosed her identity. As soon as the Republican “water carriers” discovered that it was Dick Cheney who authorized this leak – which endangered who knows how many undercover people in her “network” – they started to claim that She was no more than a secretary at the CIA. Of course, their argument never explained why the CIA was so enraged when this happened, and immediately filed a complaint with the Justice Department. OUTING A CIA AGENT IS TREASON!!! Can you imagine what it will be like at the CIA if they believe agents could potentially be used as “political footballs?” THIS IS A SERIOUS CRIME! Dick Cheney got away with it because of the willingness of Scooter Libby to take the fall for him. And I’m sure that Scooter Libby will go down in the Republican “Hall of Fame” for not “snitching” – as my 6th grade students call it – on Mr. Cheney. But, the reality is that Cheney, Rove, and probably President Bush are “dirty” here – and potentially committed a treasonous act – AT THE VERY LEAST THIS ACTION SHOULD BE THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATED!

Then how about the fact the government, as I’m writing this, is listening into our phone conversations (well, what they’re actually doing is data mining – which means they’re collecting all the info and running it through sophisticated computer programs which reside on huge super-computers that can handle unbelievable amounts of data – to find out……. well, the truth is – whatever they want to find out – THEY DECIDE!), intercepting our emails, probably logging “bloggers” and putting them into data bases, tracking credit card transactions, and who knows what else. The reality is that once they step over the line of privacy that is guaranteed by the 4th amendment to the constitution – it’s going to be hard to get them to step back. As I’ve written before, it’s a lot easier for the government to install all the listening devices and software than it will be to get it removed. Especially in the secret environment that existed under Bush. Now, I believe this is an area that could fall into the “slippery slope” category for President Obama. I can virtually guarantee that this practice is still going on under his administration. I’ve heard rumors that this is “power” that Obama doesn’t want to “give up.” However, in my view, this is power he doesn’t have. HE HAS TO GIVE IT UP – AND THE SOONER THE BETTER! This illegal wiretapping represents so much what Americans – both Republicans and Democrats – should be standing shoulder to shoulder against. Our constitution is a sacred document and it MUST be treated as such. Not only should Bush/Cheney be investigated for these felony violations of the law – but I believe Obama needs to be very careful that he doesn’t fall into the trap of letting this go on. Should he do that – where do we draw the line? When does Obama become guilty of the same thing? I believe he not only should get behind the investigations – but he should IMMEDIATELY do what he promised me when I wrote complaining about his support of the FISA legislation during the campaign – he promised to “fix” the legislation once in office. I can’t imagine that he will allow this pervasive wiretapping to continue – but if he should choose to do so, then I will support him being investigated – probably in tune with a bunch of Republicans who will find this practice just as repulsive as I do, once they learn that they might be the target.

And then there’s the torture issue. I really believe that President Obama, the Senate, the House, the Justice department – are all REQUIRED to fully investigate everything that went on in this area. Both Cheney and Bush admitted authorizing “enhanced interrogation” as they left office. I’m not sure what their strategy was – maybe to pollute the jury pool – but I don’t see how the aforementioned bodies can justify not proceeding in the face of public admissions of guilt. It will be very bad, and an indication of how far this nation has fallen, if the investigation of the War Crimes has to be carried out by the French or the Germans or some other nation who take this matter to the Hague. Bush and Cheney clearly and willfully violated the Geneva Conventions against torture which we as a nation were responsible for setting up. They also captured recklessly hundreds of “enemy combatants” on the word of tribal leaders in Afganistan and Pakistan – while paying these informants up to $20,000 for each “terrorist” – resulting in the forced captivity without charge and torture of hundreds of innocent victims of Bush’s “war on terror.” Should Bush and Cheney just be allowed to walk away from this horrible travesty because they were the top executives of this nation? Should the fact they were the President and Vice President allow them to ruin the lives of several hundred innocent people – just because they were the “deciders?”

I can tell you, nothing has ruined the reputation of the United States more than this willingness to torture people, to take them captive on a whim and hold them with no rights whatsoever – these guys couldn’t even see the charges against them, they couldn’t defend themselves, it was unbelievable to me – Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, and the rendition prisons (wherever they might be) will go down in the history of this great nation as one of the all time black marks. I mean, we’ve got slavery, the destruction of the Native American culture, the Japanese internment, the Communist inquests of Senator McCarthy, racism, and now this – and this will rate right up there – because Bush and Cheney were violating – blatantly – one of the most basic principles of this nation, and doing so arrogantly. For Dick Cheney to suggest that torture is what has kept this nation “safe” for the past 7 years is absurd. It is one of the main things which will keep this nation unsafe for who knows how many years into the future. In fact, I believe how Barrack Obama deals with this will in a large way determine how severe the damage is. The way to mitigate the damage from these choices of Bush/Cheney is to hold them and Donald Rumsfeld accountable in a court of law. Prosecuting Bush/Cheney/Rumsfelf for torture will go a long way in letting the rest of the world know that the United States is “back.”