Tonight I’m trying to think of a good metaphor which would represent my thoughts about how TOTALLY SCREWED UP the United States of America has become. And, this is coming from a person who has voted in every election since 1968, who feels privileged to have been born in America, and who, at one time, enlisted in the US Marine Corp to help “save” us from communism during the now infamous Viet Nam Fiasco. I participated in the protest marches of the 60’s aimed at the Civil Rights movement. Oh, how things have changed since then. Essentially, I’ve spent my lifetime absorbing the same “brainwashing” that every other American has been absorbing about how we are the “savior” of the world. Seemingly, every other nation on earth is “third world” compared to us. We have evolved into a nation which is being eaten alive – from the inside out – by the very forces which we’ve been convinced we should believe in. And, more than that, the diversity which is represented by the moniker “The Melting Pot” is evolving to the point where those who are in control are desparately trying to retain their “hold” on our society and the incredible wealth they’ve managed to siphon out of the system in the past 30 years.

Some of what I’m observing would be laughable if it were in a movie – but some stark realities are FINALLY setting in for me. The discourse of this great nation has become so absurd that I’m confident if I was a true journalist I could come up with example after example of “truths” which would indicate we are a nation in decline – essentially, we’re shooting ourselves in our own feet. The beauty of our system of government is that, ideally, we the people have the ultimate authority to get things “back on track,” but the very nature of the technological advances we’ve made in the past 30 years are making that “job” MUCH MORE DIFFICULT. We have a President who is a VERY GOOD PERSON – there is no doubt in my mind about that – I’m just not sure that he “gets” the gravity of the situation. Instinctively, I have to believe he does, but today I watched as he participated in the so-called “beer summit” with the Cop who STUPIDLY arrested a man (the fact the man is Black and the fact that the President characterized the arrest in what I would call “mild” terms – isn’t the point here – the point is how the “enemy within” is spinning this – along with anything else they can spin – to try to destroy the President’s credibility with no concern for the health of this nation) in his own home after he showed ID. The man was arrested for evidently giving the Cop “what for” for entering his home illegally. I’m trying not to get sidetracked here, so – my main point – I saw President Obama as an excellent mediator in an attempt to mitigate the reaction he received from the right wing fringe for calling an act by police as “stupid” – EVEN THOUGH IT WAS STUPID! Yes, the Cop seems like a good man – but the truth is he SCREWED UP AND LIED TO COVER UP HIS MISTAKE – and because the so-called “race card” was involved we see everyone “tiptoeing” around the real issues involved in a case that realistically should have never been more than a local issue in Cambridge Mass. I’m OK with the dialogue about Police abusing their “power” and how it affects the Black Community (and other minorities) – I’m just not OK with our President feeling like he has to walk the political tightrope because of the reaction to his statement from the right wing “nut jobs.”

It’s time we call this what it is – a battle for the heart and soul of this great nation. And, believe me, this battle will not be won by a bunch of timid “progressives.” The “enemy” (which, if you don’t know me from previous posts is the right wing of the Republican party) has no conscience when it comes to the words spewing from their mouths. It has gotten to the absurd and this little issue with the Harvard Professor being cuffed and taken down town because evidently he wasn’t subservient to the Cop who arrested him is just a microcosm of the challenge all of us who actually believe in the constitution our leaders take an oath to defend have in front of us. As I’ve mentioned many times on this site, it’s gotten to the point where it’s all I can do to listen to the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and the others for even a minute or two. To me, THESE PEOPLE ARE THE ENEMY WITHIN. They are unbelievable liars – and, by that, I don’t mean it’s that hard to believe that they’re lying – what I mean is they are so arrogant about their lying that they have NO CONSCIENCE about it. They are PATHALOGICAL liars and, as I’ve said before, they seem to actually believe their own lies are true. Believe me, Beck and Limbaugh and Congress people like Jeff Sessions calling Obama and Sonia Sotomayor RACISTS is almost more than I can handle. These are people who definitely are having a hard time accepting that the WASPs are not AUTOMATICALLY going to be in charge anymore. It’s almost more frustrating that virtually no one in the “liberal” media calls them on the lies – I guess because of the “fair and balanced” syndrome.

It’s as if when they say something – you can pretty much believe exactly the opposite. This propoganda machine was initiated during the Reagan years in the eighties when Rush Limbaugh was thrust onto the scene. I’m absolutely certain that the Republicans had a plan back then to take over the airwaves and they’ve been blasting us with their “talking points” ever since. Even when Bill Clinton was President the Democrats were not sharp enough to figure out what was going on. It was under Clinton that the telecommunications companies were granted great leeway in consolidating to the point where now only a very few corporations control the vast majority of the airwaves. It was also during the Clinton years when much of the deregulation leading to the economic “meltdown” of 2008 was initiated. Clinton went along with the deregulation – thinking it would be good for business – but not, I’m sure, grasping the plans of the corporate heads who were behind the “push” for this and not fully understanding their insatiable greed – which we are still witnessing today while still essentially in the middle of a huge economic crisis (for example today, the announcement of BILLIONS in bonuses to the Wall Street bankers who are still in business due to the taxpayer bailout – UNBELIEVABEL!). While all this was taking place the Republicans were virtually controlling the entire radio airwaves with their “right wing talkers,” and – to anyone paying attention – there wasn’t much “blowback” to the endless supply of “expert pundits” who repeated the same lie OVER AND OVER AND OVER again – until they believed the lies – and, of course, many of the unsuspecting public just assumed that if they were on the airwaves and they had the moniker “news reporter” by their name – THEY MUST BE TELLING THE TRUTH.

Over time, people like Limbaugh, Hannity, and O’Reilly developed large listening audiences – there was absolutely NO COMPETITION until Air America emerged sometime after the turn of the Century (I discovered them sometime around the election of 2004 – which I believe was still in their “infancy”) and the so-called “progressive” talk continues to have less than 10 percent of the airwaves and, in many cases, is broadcast on the weakest signals (Portland Oregon, the market close to me, is an exception). I believe there are still many cities in the US which have no “progressive voice” on the radio airwaves – people can only get it either on their computers or through satellite radio – which would eliminate people like me from their audience. And, “progressives” have had to identify themselves with that word because the “conservative” talkers turned the word “liberal” into a “dirty word” through their classic propoganda strategies. What’s worse for me (I call myself part of the Christian “left”) is that many Christian leaders – like Jim Dobson of “Focus on the Family” who I once admired – got sucked into the “politics” and participated with the Republican “talking heads” into trying to marginalize anyone who could be called a “liberal.”

The gravity of the lies has reached the point where, as stated above, I believe the “real war” we’re involved in is an internal one for the very fabric of our nation. I didn’t understand its origins until President Obama got elected. The corporatacracy that has emerged since the Reagan years is appearing more and more to me as a White Male supremacy movement – underneath the overt corporate GREED aspect of it that is fairly obvious to anyone who is paying attention to what’s REALLY going on. How else can you explain these people who have such a clear history of racism in their own lives (ie, Limbaugh, Beck, O’Reilly, Hannity, Sessions, and I could go on) choosing – as one of their main attacks on President Obama – RACISM! This is unbelievable to me! THEY ARE ASSUMING EITHER THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE STUPID, OR THAT THE MAJORITY ARE RACIST AS WELL. Call me optomistic, but I believe these thugs are inciting a base of about 20 to 30% of the population – AT MOST. Call me naive, but I believe this strategy will BACKFIRE on them just like everything else they’re trying to do will backfire on them. America is a true MELTING POT and I believe the time is near when peole like Beck and Limbaugh (and the others) will be identified for what they are. I continue to struggle, as a Christian, with the reality that it is the “Christian Right” which is the base for these people. I honestly don’t know how anyone could reconcile belief in Jesus Christ with a racist heart. It is really offensive to me when these people imply that what they’re doing is what Jesus would do!

Here’s some stuff I’ve heard in the last couple of days that should get anyone’s attention who is interested and who is wanting this country to get “healthy” again (and, as I write the word “again” it causes me to pause – thinking about “when was it healthy?”). In the past three months, the “health care industry” has spent $133 MILLION to prevent health care reform. I shouldn’t have to explain this – THEY DON’T WANT REFORM, THEY WANT AS MUCH MONEY AS THEY CAN GET THEIR GREEDY FINGERS ON! This nation is in desperate straights to “fix” the health care system and get the “profit motive” out of it – our nation’s economy and the health of the people are at risk here – but these corporations care ONLY ABOUT THEIR BOTTOM LINES! I listened to a right wing “talker” from Portland today (his namd is Lars Larson – he’s a classic propogandist) claiming that the “Public Option” will result in the denial of care for the elderly – let them die so that “the government run system” wouldn’t be spending money on them. AS ABSURD AS THAT SOUNDS (and it is, because I looked up the bill and as with every other issue – LARSON WAS LYING) I’ve also heard the same claim from several others including Republican members of Congress – the only excuse any of these people could use to defend their lying is that they haven’t read the bill – what kind of excuse would that be for a member of Congress? They are also claiming that the “public option” will have the government paying for abortions. I even saw an add that was put out by the Republican party – MAKING BOTH OF THOSE CLAIMS! Additionally, today, I saw Republican adds blaming Obama for “bailing out” the banks and the auto industry – in both instances – of course, the “bailouts” were initiated by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen. Obama’s oversight of the stimulus money is what created stability (Obama and Geithner actually put “strings” on the money they doled out), but you’ll never hear that from these lying Republicans (I guess they assume, and maybe accurately – unfortunately – that the American public has a very short attention span – and they can’t remember who caused this mess in the first place).

Bush/Cheney et al spent eight years scaring Congress into one infringement on our liberty or our best interests after another. The Patriot bill, the FISA legislation, the Military Commissions act (or something close to that name – remember, when they eliminated habeous corpus from the “rights” of “enemy combatants” – which, by their definition, could have been you or me), and all the “Orange” alerts – warning us about imminent terrorist attacks right before elections or important votes in Congress. I still remember the words of Franklin D Roosevelt – “YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR, BUT FEAR ITSELF.” Well, these Republicans have become experts at playing the “fear card.” AND, I FOR ONE AM SICK OF IT! Bush/Cheney took us to the abiss of economic disaster, they stretched our military to the maximum, they ruined our standing in the world, they branded us a nation that tortures, and they lied us into an endless war – all of this while they and their cohorts were STEALING OUR TREASURY BLIND (I’ll always believe, unless someone can prove it otherwise, that Bush/Cheney wanted Iraq’s oil – that’s what our troops suffered for and why they destablized the Middle East – THEY WANTED THE OIL). But, the lying from Republicans didn’t stop for a second once President Obama took office – and these people (the K street lobbyists who are Republicans) have so much money that they continue to unabashedly BUY OUR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS – I guess, because THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT! Which one of the right wing talkers is going to expose this? It shouldn’t be a surprise that the answer to that question is none because – well, guess who else is being “bought off?” (three guesses and the first two don’t count) This is all so disgusting and unbelievable – I mean, I can hardly believe the words flowing from my own computer.

The people who need to hear from “we the people” are President Obama and the Democratic members of Congress. I’m planning to contact my Senator (Maria Cantwell) again – and reiterate that, not only will I never vote for her again if she continues to oppose the so-called “public option” in the health care debate, but I will actively work to get her defeated the next time she’s up for election. I have no idea what effect that will have, but if enough people contact her in an attempt to overwhelmingly “override” the ramification of the money she must be taking from the insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital industries – I believe the main culprit would be the insurance industry, because they’re scared to death of the “public option” – maybe she wouldn’t vote with the Republicans and the “Blue Dog” Democrats on this one. President Obama needs to hear from people to get him to understand he’s not the “mediator” as he was in the “beer summit” – HE’S THE LEADER! He needs to quit being nice about this and go on the attack. He needs to confront the Democrats who are “balking” at supporting the “will of the people” and make it clear that he won’t accept some watered down legislation designed to get a few Republican votes. HE SHOULDN’T NEED ANY REPUBLICAN VOTES! Have the courage to pass what is “right” and let the consequences come from the success or failure of THE PLAN THAT REPRESENTS THE BEST PLAN FOR THE PEOPLE! THE REPUBLICANS DON’T WANT BIPARTISANSHIP – THEY WANT TO UNDERMINE OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY – THAT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO THEM THAN WHAT IS BEST FOR THIS NATION! IT’S TIME TO CALL IT WHAT IT IS. It was President Kennedy who warned us about the “enemy within.” That is, if the United States would ever be defeated it would come from an “enemy within” – meaning our own people. Well, the “enemy within” in America right now is the Republican party and the multi-national corporations they represent. I look forward to the day when someone emerges from the Republican party with the courage to tell the truth about what they’ve been doing and who truly believes in the Conservative principles outlined by Barry Goldwater in “Conscience of a Conservative.” The actions of the present day Republicans would have Goldwater “turning over in his grave!”

I’m trying to write less about Republicans because, as I’ve stated many times, if the Democrats had their act together, they wouldn’t waste their time even giving the Republicans more of a platform than they get on Fox “News.” Many of the things I’ve warned about are coming to fruition for Democrats, so I’ve got to keep up the rhetoric in hopes that I can play a small part in making sure that the Democrats don’t screw up to the point where we get Republicans again in the next 40 years! (keep in mind, I’m an independent voter, but I see the present day Republicans as toxic) These Republicans don’t know when to quit. And when we have a so-called “news media” that is really all about ratings and entertainment – NO ONE SEEMS TO HAVE THE GUTS TO CALL THEM ON THEIR LIES. And, when I say lies, THESE GUYS ARE OFF THE CHARTS!

Now, if you’ve been reading many of my previous posts, you would know that I’m a public school teacher. I work at a school where there is MUCH diversity, both in socio-economic status of the families, and in the nationalities of the students. There are students from all spectrums of our society in my school. One thing I’ve grown really impatient with is racism. And, as a teacher, you learn to identify both the subtle forms of racism as well as the overt racist statements or acts. So, I’m watching the Republican response to a President who has a white Mother and an African Father in almost a state of shock. And, worse for me than the racist actions of the Republicans (I pretty much understood this from the “git-go”), is the lack of will from the news media to call them on it. Before I go any farther on my thoughts of this evening, I will remind you (if you’ve been here before) that I have my issues with Barack Obama. However, his race isn’t one of them. I’m totally impressed with his intelligence, his honorable character, his honesty, and his idealism – I just believe he’s making some fundamental mistakes in dealing with Republicans. However, their actions are so dispicable to me that I’m starting to get angry that people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity – to name a few – are being allowed to get away with their racial incitement of the so-called “base.”

I got an email from my brother in law the other day and he lamented that he wished I could convince one of his friends that Rush Limbaugh wasn’t telling the truth. Well, his friend is a former school teacher which would imply that he’s got a college education (I believe his subject was physics) which would imply that he knows how to “fact check” information and knows how to think critically. However, the reality is that there’s a large block of Americans who don’t want to think critically and who listen to these thugs taking everything they say as truthful (educated teachers included). Taking Limbaugh for example. The guy has a long history of being an overt unapologetic racist. I remember when, for some strange reason, he was added to the crew of “Monday Night Football.” That, in itself, caused me to boycott the show, but it only took Limbaugh about a week to get thrown off the air because his racist rhetoric didn’t go over very well with the National Football League’s audience. Of course, his “ditto heads” could care less, which has always led me to believe they agree with him. In fact, I have a (former) good friend who always quoted Limbaugh as if he was a truth teller, and after a couple blatant instances of seeing my friend’s clear racist tendencies, I chose to end the relationship. How can anyone not see through this guy (Limbaugh) when he’s referred to the President of the United States as an “oreo.”

That, of course, would be reference to the fact that Obama is of mixed races with a white Mom and a black Dad. Then, Limbaugh, after all of that has the nerve to call President Obama a racist because of his “stupid” comment regarding the arrest of a Harvard Professor (in his own house for burglary) who happened to be Black and clearly not doing anything wrong – and, personally, I don’t call raising your voice to a Police Officer who has illegally entered your home as being illegal and worthy of handcuffs and a trip to the pokey. In fact, as far as I’m concerned President Obama’s remarks were tame – compared to what he could have said – but at a minimum – THE ARREST WAS STUPID. People like Limbaugh and Beck and Hannity are just looking for anything that they can twist to incite all the racists in their audiences – AND, FOR SOME REASON, THE MEDIA IS AFRAID TO TELL IT LIKE IT IS! It has been shown, since the hubub started, that not only was this cop stupid to arrest Professor Gates, he falsified the arrest documents and he lied about what took place. Of course, the Limbaugh’s and Beck’s out there would always take the Cop on his word without question. Is it any wonder why the men in the Black community don’t trust the police or the leaders of this country? It would only be speculation to try to figure out how many Black Men are incarcerated on trumped up or wrongful charges in America. I understand why President Obama is meeting with the Cop and the Professor – for “beers” – but, in my view, there should be an investigation of the incident and, if the cop lied, as it seems likely – HE SHOULD BE AT LEAST REPRIMANDED, if not fired!

Here’s the mess President Obama’s gotten himself into by “reaching out” to Republicans in an effort to bridge the partisan divide in Washington (a noble idea, but he’s going about it in the wrong way). They feel empowered to keep up the constant stream of lies that fires up the militia minded base they are playing to while, as long as they can continue to get away with their tactics, it’s making President Obama look weak – which is what I predicted months ago. Do you remember Bill Clinton? We put up with eight years of Republicans constantly on the attack against him for mostly frivolous reasons. Now, I have to admit I lost all respect for Clinton when he had his affair and then pointed at me on the TV and lied about it. But, that doesn’t justify the actions of the Republicans. And, make no mistake about it, they’re going to use the same strategy on Obama. They’ll just have to find other “fodder” than Whitewater and womanizing. I mean, it should be obvious to everyone what they’re doing. First it was the tea baggers – people who probably didn’t even understand what they were protesting about – pawns of the Becks and Limbaughs. And then the so-called “birthers” who continue to push the idea that President Obama is not a natural born US citizen. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Where were these birthers when John McCain – who was born in Panama – was the Republican nominee? Now, they had much more of a case there. Despite the fact that both are sons of American Mom’s only Obama has proof that he was born in the USA! The truth is that these people can’t handle the fact that the “Commander in Chief” is Black – THERE’S NO OTHER RATIONAL EXPLANATION FOR THEIR BEHAVIOR!

And they could care less about what’s best for this country. Now, the latest LIE that I’ve been listening to is that the proposed health care reform is designed to “kill old people” and “pay for abortions.” The real problem is that these people are pathological liars – which means they lie so much that they actually BELIEVE THEIR OWN LIES! It is incredible how they can do it with a straight face. And, when someone calls them on it, they either just add lies to their lies or they go ballistic. The other day I listened to an exerp of Glenn Beck’s radio show where a womand challenged him on his lies and the guy went BERSERK! It was unbelievable, and REALLY EMBARRASSING – to think that this country has evolved to a place where a NUT JOB like Beck can have an audience. I have long since boycotted Fox – but I’m about to start watching – just to get a list of advertisors – so that I can contact them and let them know that I won’t be buying any of their products. Personally, I believe that is the only way to reel in these thugs – Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, and I know there are others that I just can’t bring myself to listen to.

So, these guys are really the enemy of what is best for this nation. Take health care, for example; Does it take a brain surgeon to figure out that if the health care industry is paying lobbyists 1.3 MILLON DOLLARS PER DAY to defeat the health care reform that 72% of the public wants – and they seem to be succeeding in defeating the “will of the people” – SOMETHING’S TERRIBLY WRONG? And the problem here is bi-partisan. I mean, in the last quarter, the health care industry has spent 133 MILLION DOLLARS bribing Republicans and Democrats to stop any meaningful reform – THEY TAKE US FOR BEING STUPID – ARE THEY RIGHT? Getting back to Obama: It’s not too late (although it’s close) to turn the tables on these thugs. This will sound like beating a dead horse, if you’ve been around this site for any amount of time – BUT STEP ONE – is to get the investigations of the Bush administration under way. GIVE THESE THUGS SOMETHING REALLY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT! If the problem is there are still too many Bush people in the Justice Department – GET RID OF THEM! STEP TWO – get after Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats and give them something to vote for. DEFINE THE “PUBLIC OPTION” AND DRAW THE LINE IN THE SAND – NO PUBLIC OPTION, NO BILL, NO VACATION. Model it after Medicare and don’t be afraid to expect people to pay for their health care. I’m already paying $1200 per month for health care for myself and my wife – I believe they can beat the plan I have for a lot less money. STEP THREE – (probably should be step one) STOP TALKING TO REPUBLICANS. Pass the bills, let them complain, continue to work toward balancing the budget by the end of the second term and keep the door open to any moderate Republicans who might decide they want to side with the vast majority of the American people instead of the lunatic fringe who are constantly being incited with divisive rhetoric.

President Obama, if you would go on the offensive as I’m suggesting, I guarantee you that the groundswell of support that got you into this office would be energized. There are millions just like me who are devastated that you’ve gone back on your word that “No one is above the law.” We have a former President and Vice President who are almost bragging about being war criminals – and when you look into the abuses of Abu Ghraib you see that Donald Rumsfeld was the initiator of the abuse there – AND YOU HAVE SHOWN NO BACKBONE IN PURSUING JUSTICE FOR THESE HORRIBLE CRIMES! That deflated my excitement about your Presidency. And, I know that the wiretapping is still going on, I can’t believe a constitutional scholar would sacrifice our liberty for information which could be gained legally – and the public knowledge that you’re continuing the Bush wiretapping is just going to make matters worse for you when it becomes more “public.” I won’t even get into your lack of resolve in ending the wars in Iraq and Afganistan (I realize that Patreaus is persuasive – but you PROMISED!) but at least think about putting the Republicans on the defensive. That is the real war – and if you don’t win it, and you let these thugs off the hook – WE WILL ALL HAVE TO ENDURE MORE OF THE BUSH LEGACY – It will just have a different name on it (well, unless we end up with Jeb Bush – and, if they get back in – these abuses you’re looking the other way about, will be policy again! UGHHHH!). So please President Obama – I suppose free speech protects the lies of Beck, Limbaugh, et al, but the only thing protecting the Republican lawbreakers is a Democratic lack of will! I GUARANTEE YOU THAT INVESTIGATIONS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WILL TOTALLY CHANGE THE “PLAYING FIELD.”

My instincts are to write more about Republicans. After all, Sarah Palin is now officially “on the loose” and we’ll be hearing a lot more about her as she cashes in on the fame she gained during the last Presidential election. I can’t even imagine her in a national office, but you’ve got to give her credit for being a good loyal Republican who fully realizes when the opportunity to fleece the system for millions is there. I expect her to be rich within one year and I expect her to run for President in 2012. As one who’s not wanting a return of Republican rule, I can only hope that she succeeds in getting the nomination. You also have more reports coming out on Dick Cheney’s antics (I’ve been telling people all along this would happen, and it’s far from over in my view). OK, if you’re a Republican you agree to everything Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh want to do, but can you imagine American troops entering a city to “arrest” so-called “enemy combatants?” That is what, according to reports, Cheney wanted to do post 9/11. Boy, that would be a good way to let everyone know “who’s in charge,” wouldn’t it? And, of course, the now infamous John Yoo gave Cheney the “go ahead” by writing one of his famous – tell me what you want to do and I’ll justify it – memos that essentially said that if the administration claims “national security” the constitution is null and void.

I, of course, could go on about Republicans (like the ones calling themselves “birthers” – arguing that President Obama is not an American citizen – you know, that large percentage of Republicans who are overt racists) but tonight I’m feeling that tug to spend most of my time talking about Democrats. The sad truth is that after the last election most of what I’m talking about these days shouldn’t even be an issue for discussion. The Republicans now represent something less than a quarter of the population (although, the Democrats seem to be determined to make that number rise again) and given their propensity to say no to everything along with the reality that they are totally outnumbered in Congress – THE BLAME FOR THE MESS IN WASHINGTON NOW RESTS TOTALLY ON THE SHOULDERS OF DEMOCRATS. And, I think there’s some hard realities to face here as well.

First, while as stated before I like and respect Barack Obama tremendously, it’s his job to lead us out of the abiss. However, he is the first Democrat I believe is making huge mistakes (even though his intentions are more honorable than any President – with the possible exception of Jimmy Carter – in my lifetime). Had Obama done the RIGHT THING and not only allowed investigations and prosecutions of the Bush “crime family” these constant absurd stories about what was done in the Bush administration would be confined to their proper place – and that would be the reporting on the court proceedings and the investigations being conducted by special prosecutors. There wouldn’t be millions of Americans just like me who are bewildered and ashamed that our government is saying that torture and abuse of our constitution are OK if it’s done by our own elected leaders – and, of course, that “strategy” of governing in itself is illegal. To President Obama, the stories are going to keep coming out and you will continue to lose support due to your lack of will to “do what’s right.”

The next reality that we have to face is that the Democratic party is not devoid of racists either. I honestly believe that there is something in the area of one fourth to one third of our nation who are having difficulty accepting a Black man as President. While most of them are Republicans, they’re not all Republicans. And, for certain, the Democratic caucus doesn’t seem too eager to support President Obama’s agenda. As stated above, I’m not happy with the President’s cajoling of Republicans, and I don’t think he’s got all that much control of the Democrats either. Especially, in the Senate where he’s forced to deal with one of the more spineless political leaders of my lifetime in Harry Reid. I can tell you what I would have done with the Senate had I been in Reid’s position. THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO AUGUST RECESS UNTIL THE HEALTH CARE PROPOSAL WAS PASSED – period, end of story. And, there wouldn’t be this huge debate over whether there’s going to be a “public option” or not – THE LINE WOULD BE IN THE SAND! I’m not sure how much influence Obama has with these guys, but what I need to see from him is a stronger effort to get the Senate to pass HIS BILL. This idea that we’re going to go “round and round” trying to figure out what “works” is going to produce something that no one’s happy with.

Let me give President Obama and the Democrats some more advice – I know this is presumptuous – but I JUST CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT I’M SEEING! YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET REPUBLICAN VOTES ON ANYTHING! Certainly, with a 60 vote caucus, there are plenty more people than me who will be extremely disappointed to see a final bill that is watered down in order to get Susan Collins to vote for it. I could care less if ONE REPUBLICAN votes for it. What is important is that the government realizes where the bipartisan support is – THE PEOPLE OF THIS GREAT NATION SUPPORT THE PUBLIC OPTION ALMOST 3 to 1! If the Congress of the United States of America can’t respond affirmatively to that – THEN WE’RE IN WORSE SHAPE THAN MOST OF US THOUGHT. So, here’s what needs to happen – and keep in mind that it took a huge “grass roots” movement to get the Republicans out of office and to elect Obama as President.

The names of every US Senator and US Congressman (and I suppose it would be appropriate to limit this to Democrats) who stands in the way of the “public option” for a “medicare for all” option to the American people for health insurance need to be published. And, those of us who are determined to see our government back in the hands of “we the people” (and believe me, in my mind that should be a combination of Democrats and Republicans) need to work for the removal from office of ALL OF THEM! In my state (Washington) it’s, at this point, Maria Cantwell. I actually sent her money during her last campaign, and there’s no more money and no more support for her until I see her out of the pocket of the health care industry. And, of course, when you see a politician being manipulated by one special interest group, then you have to wonder; who else is buying his/her vote? Across the river in Oregon, I thought I’d never say this – and, of course, I can’t vote in Oregon – but, I’ll work to help defeat Ron Wyden if he continues to caucus with the so- called “Blue Dog Democrats.” To me, Wyden joining in on this deplorable position by leading Democrats is almost as devestating as if Russ Feingold would do this (and, of course, I can’t imagine that he would).

There are places on the web where you can find out exactly who’s buying off your Senators and Representatives. I’m thinking that is where I need to start putting more of my energy. In the last 4 years I’ve read close to 30 books about Iraq, the Bush administration, and the general functioning (probably non-functioning would be more appropriate) of our government. One thing that has been very consistent in all that reading is that one leader after another is lying through their teeth everytime their lips move – and, sadly, most people seem to just accept this. The politicians know that the people seem to just accept this – and, in the process, the problems become greater and the people become more frustrated. I think I’m at the point where I need to re-invigorate myself because for some reason I thought that after the last election there really would be “change we can believe in.” While I admire President Obama I’m disappointed in his lack of resolve to hold people accountable. However, I fully realize he can’t do this on his own. The Congress is mired in a kind of “legal corruption” where they police themselves and we have to rely on them to stop the flow of money from the corporations who have no interest in anything but their own profits. We can’t afford to wait another three years to try to get this right. We have to somehow remind candidates of both parties that the people of this nation is who they represent and that, despite the legal definition to the contrary, CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE!

I’ve written in a couple earlier posts that I would love to see a third party emerge that could realistically challenge the Democrats and Republicans. In my view, the Republicans are past the point of no return. They have their heads so stuck in the politics that brought them to power in the late eighties and early nineties that you would have to see New York and Los Angeles under water before they would agree that “global warming” is a problem. Their phones would have to be tapped before they would admit that the fourth amendment to the constitution provides a “right to privacy.” They would probably have to be waterboarded before they would admit that our government committed war crimes – IN ALL OF OUR NAMES! And, for years the Democrats had the excuse of being in the minority, so the blame could be easily aimed where it belonged – on the Republicans. But, now that they have the super majorities in Congress, THERE’S NO MORE EXCUSES. What are these Democrats afraid of? Are they afraid that some of these policies won’t work? Well, the truth is that we all know that the status quo is not only not working, it’s leading us into a MAJOR DISASTOR! The American public understands that the Republicans got us here – THEY EXPECT THE DEMOCRATS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT – and, more of the same IS NOT AN OPTION – at least for people like me.

I continue to hold out hope that somehow the Justice Department will take up the responsibility that it’s been shirking for the last 8 years and start holding our leaders accountable to the oath they all swear to when taking office. I’m hopeful that the Democrats will come to their senses and pass a health care reform bill that includes the public option (and includes a long term fix to medicare). I would like to see the Democrats have the guts to reverse the “Bush Tax Cuts” that were the first step in bringing this nation to the brink of bankruptcy. I would like to see them pass regulations overseeing the financial industry that are designed to protect consumers and not the banks who again have the money to “buy” legislation in their favor. Of course, I would like to see our troops come home from two ill-conceived and poorly administered wars – wars which have already cost us the lives of close to 5000 of our best young men and women along with trillions of dollars. Wars which have stretched our military to the breaking point and have left one in four of the troops involved with PTSD to go along with the untold thousands of other injuries. And, I would like to see the Democratic Congress come up with an energy bill that actually points us in the direction of a nation determined to find alternatives to fossil fuels for our energy along with a determination to become a leader in the fight against climate change. The way I see it, it’s time for the Democrats to (word of your choice) or get off the pot!

I don’t have much time tonight, so I’m just going to jot down some thoughts and, if it amounts to something, whalaah – another post! Here’s what I’ve been thinking about. A third party! I don’t know how one would go about actually trying to start one that wasn’t headed by some whacko who had no chance. I truly believe there’s a market out there for something different than what we’re all pretty much stuck with. I can’t even imagine that Republicans who are not idiots and think for themselves could be happy with the state of Republicanism these days. Did anyone ever imagine that the Republican party would be beholden to someone like Rush Limbaugh. Even if he has 20 million listeners (as claimed) that’s not enough to make anyone a serious candidate. And, I have to believe that Limbaugh is turning decent people off by the droves these days. I listened to him for less than two minutes the other day and he made at least THREE BOLDFACED LIES that I could have refuted on the spot in just those three minutes. Now, I do know some people who actually listen to him and take everything he says as the “gospel” (I really HATE to use that term when talking about Limbaugh) but if they would just “fact check” him once in a while they’d understand that Limbaugh is to news what Pro wrestling is to the actual art of wrestling – PHONY AND MADE UP!

And, I know a lot of Democrats who are becoming increasingly impatient with the party that has the so-called 60 vote caucus in the Senate and still can’t get anything of substance done. For one, I really like (most of what I see from) Barack Obama. As I’ve stated on this site many times his refusal to hold the Bush administration accountable for their egregious actions was a deal breaker for me. I not only feel it’s a long term problem for this nation, in that we will be reliving some of the same abuses down the road should Republicans gain power once more, but I believe it’s the main reason Obama is having such trouble passing his agenda with a solid Democratic majority in Congress. He would seem so much more assertive and “in control” if he had chosen to demonstrate that the United States of America is a nation of laws and not men. He had the perfect opportunity and that opportunity is pretty much out of his grasp (unless something happens to the contrary SOON!). When I listen to Obama speak, his intelligence, his empathetic nature, his passion for the people of this nation, and his character all shine brightly. He’s just trying to be “nice” to Republicans and that is the exact opposite approach he needs to take to get their attention and their respect. It’s not too late for him to realize this, but he REALLY doesn’t have much more time – I’d say the investigations would have to be started by the end of the so-called August recess (where Congress abdicates it’s responsibility to get the health care legislation passed) or it will be too late.

OK, the third party. I would like to see a progressive leaning party with a staunch determination to balance the Federal Budget – AND TO START PAYING DOWN THE DEBT (which would include repaying the 3 to 4 trillion the Feds have “borrowed” from the Social Security trust fund – with no intention of ever paying it back and, while claiming the system is going broke!). I would like to see a party where NO CANDIDATE was allowed to take ANY SPECIAL INTEREST money. That means, they’d all have to raise their money by getting us “little people” to support them – like $25 at a whack. I don’t know it this is reasonable, but I can tell you watching this health care debate in Congress really emphasizes how “sick” our political system is. How can we expect all these Senators who have been virtually purchased by the health care industry to write legislation which endangers their “sugar daddy?” It’s obvious to me as I’m watching all of this that WE CAN’T! I mean Max Baucus is the “key” to getting a bill on the floor of the Senate and the guy has accepted over a million dollars from at least three different branches of the industry President Obama is trying to “reel in.” The guy (Baucus) could care less what’s best for the American public, he’s going to do what’s best for the people who have bought him off. And, the sad thing is that it’s no secret to anyone and you keep hearing everyone rationalizing the situation in a way the prevents the truth from being in the headlines. It should read something like “Despite overwhelming public support, the “public option” will not be in the health care bill passed this year by Congress because the leading Democrats in the Senate have been bought by the health care industry.” Nobody will put it that way, but EVERYONE WHO’S PAYING ATTENTION KNOWS THAT’S THE TRUTH!

So, I will check out for the evening wondering if I’m WAY OUT IN LEFT FIELD. Believe it or not, I think that a third party could be made up of a combination of moderate Republicans, moderate Democrats, and moderate independents. For example, when I take a close look at Dennis Kucinich and listen to everything he says (instead of the sound bites) he makes a lot of sense to me. On the other hand, once I forgive Colin Powell for his part in the Iraq invasion (he would have to repent publicly for me to do so) he would be a Republican who would fit in nicely – and I’m sure there are plenty of others. It would just be nice to have a bunch of leaders who you KNEW weren’t the “possession” of the large corporations who now are controlling virtually every important piece of legislation coming out of Congress. Maybe a third party with no affiliation to special interests could really create the “Change we can believe in.”

I’m the type of person who doesn’t give up easily. When I was younger and playing a sporting event my team could be hopelessly behind and I would still be trying to “pull one out for the gipper.” Sometimes I look at it as perseverance and other times I look at it as a combination of naivete and/or stupidity. With that in mind, I’m going to keep writing about the sad state of affairs politically in America. There is so much to write about that I see as ridiculously WRONG that I’m struggling with the concept that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” This week for example, I’ve heard another “blast” from Republicans making racist accusations (this time aimed at Barack Obama), I’ve listened to the health care debate swallow up just about every other newsworthy item as far as the media is concerned, There’s been news about the wars that no one wants to talk about anymore, news about Don Siegelman that should make every American who believes in justice cringe, and – of course, even though it’s now made it to the fringe – there’s still news about the escapades of Dick Cheney and the former President Bush. (and more, but that’s plenty to think about for one evening)

The most disconcerting of all the things I listen to keep coming from the mouths of Republicans. OK, I do believe in the first amendment to the constitution, but these guys are such liars that, at some point, THEY’VE GOT TO BE CALLED ON THEIR LIES! I’ve listened to various Republicans talking about the so-called “health care debate” with unimaginable lies. These guys are so used to lying that they’ve got to the point where “if their lips are moving, they’re lying!” I’ve heard them say that if Obama’s health care bill passes some ungodly percent (I can’t remember it right on the spot) of Americans who presently are insured will lose their insurance. They claim that if there is a so-called “public option” it will put private insurers out of business. From my perspective, if the “public option” was available to everyone (which is the plan) then the only way it would put the private insurers out of business is if it was a much better choice – and people “flocked” in droves to sign up for it. The reality is that the “for profit” insurance companies are dictating how the health care industry works and their main objective isn’t health care – IT’S SHAREHOLDER PROFITS!

I can give you an example from my own experience. Several years ago it was determined that my hips were “shot,” using the doctors words. I was sent to a specialist who would have been able to “resurface” my exising hip to keep me from having a “total hip replacement.” The insurance company said, “NO!” They wouldn’t pay for it, I had to have the total hip. As it turned out, the total hip that the doctor “installed” was defective and three and a half years later I was back in to have another hip replacement. Had the insurance company allowed the original doctor to do the resurfacing – which HE SAID EMPHATICALLY was the best option for me, I would have been able to avoid the surgery which I’m recovering from as I write. Believe me, I know first hand that the doctors know what is best for the patients – NOT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES. And this same insurance company, from reports I’ve been given, spends about 10% of it’s premium income on preventing health care. They have all kinds of little ways to cheat patients and providers out of money – and they do it unabashedly.

And then there’s the Republicans still calling Sonia Sotomayor and now Barack Obama racists! I’m telling you that I for one can’t stand more than a few seconds of Rush Limbaugh at a time – although I’ve thought about listening a bit more just to get a grip on who his advertisers are so that I can contact them letting them know I’m now officially boycotting their products. Last night Obama called the Cambridge Mass. police department “stupid” because one of their officers arrested a Harvard Professor (who, naturally, was black) IN HIS OWN HOME for burglary. The guy is 58 years old, needs a cane to walk, and was cuffed and booked for breaking into his own house. Now, I don’t doubt that people like Limbaugh have a hard time identifying with that type of action, but I’ve got many Black friends and they just shake their heads and say “The more things change ……….” well, you know the rest. The sad truth is that the racist nature of MANY white Americans is rearing it’s ugly head because they are only comfortable with a continuance of the domination in our society by the WASP’s (White, Anglo, Saxon, Protestant – for all you young people) as leaders. I listened to Limbaugh for just a couple minutes today and he’s still on the Richey case regarding Sotomayor (ridiculous in it’s own right) as evidence of some racist attack on white males and now it’s Obama because he said the truth about an officer making a stupid mistake in Cambridge Mass. I’d like to see the evidence of how many white Americans were arrested in their own homes for burglarizing in the last week.

Getting back to the topic of health care: the thing I don’t like about this health care debate is that it’s allowed President Obama to get away with looking the other way in the face of mounting evidence regarding the crimes of the Bush administration. Here’s where my never say die attitude comes in. I’m still hoping that investigations will be opened and there will be prosecutions where appropriate regarding the Bush/Cheney abuses of power. It’s not totally too late, but I really don’t see it happening because Obama doesn’t want to get people’s minds off of health care. To me THAT’S A BIG MISTAKE. I believe he would have a much better chance to pass health care with the investigations. As it stands, these Republicans feel like they can do and/or say anything and they’re immune from any consequences from the spineless Democrats. And, as much as I hate to agree with Republicans on anything, I’ve got to give it to them on this one. They’re right, the Democrats are spineless! I don’t disagree that the health care debate is huge – but it’s not as huge as Obama is making it. He’s the one who put the artificial timelines on the process. He’s the one who is putting his prestige on the line over this health care reform. And, I don’t disagree that it’s VERY IMPORTANT (there is no doubt that we would have to face up to this either this year or in the near future). The problem is that, as I see it, Obama’s risking allowing Republicans back into power the way he’s going about things. And, look at it this way, if Obama loses the health care debate and an acceptable bill isn’t produced – we could be facing Republicans in power SOONER RATHER THAN LATER. And, if they get back into power, all of these abuses that need to be “put to rest” will still be on the “books” and we all could be going through another GW Bush nightmare (in fact, mark my words, there’s another Bush waiting in the wings for the right opening to get another “thug” back into the White House. That might sound stupid to you, but I believe it’s a distinct possibility – which is why I’m so upset with Obama for “looking the other way” as far as all the crimes are concerned.

Oh yes, then there’s the wars nobody’s talking about: yesterday, President Obama said the US is still on track to pull all of our “combat” forces out of Iraq by the end of August of next year – of course that means the 50,0000 that are left behind would be non-combat! If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you. So far, we still have the “pre-surge” level of troops in Iraq and I hope he can get them out, but I haven’t seen a lot of determination on that front from anyone lately. And, this month has been the “deadliest” as far as the number of American troops killed in Afganistan since the original invasion. If President Obama is going to truly be “transparent” then he needs to tell the American people what our purpose in Afganistan is. Are we “nation building?” Are we fighting the Taliban? Are we propping up Hamed Karsai – corrupt to the core from every report I’ve read? Or are we truly trying to capture or kill Osama bin Laden? (I did hear that bin Laden’s son was killed) I, for one, would like to see our troops home and see our government try to “refresh” our military. With people having served as many as 6 terms of duty in Iraq or Afganistan it appears to me that our leaders have stretched our military beyond any reasonable state. If these wars are so important there should be a draft or something along those lines to spread the responsibility around – and that would be a draft that sons and daughters of wealthy people would be unable to avoid.

Feel comfortable with a Justice department which believes in selective prosecutions? Tonight I heard more news about Don Siegelman. If you’re not familiar with him, you should be. He was the Democratic Governor of Alabama and Karl Rove had him jailed on trumped up charges through associates that were “loyal” to the Bush administration. Siegelman was even moved from one prison to another for up to nine months before he finally was released on appeal. He’s still fighting the original charge (and, of course, Rove is still “scot free,” becaue Eric Holder seems to have a lack of courage in facing up to Republicans – just like President Obama) and tonight it was reported that the government’s main witness was coerced by the government prosecutors and even coached on his testimony before testifying against Siegelman. Well, why would someone do this? I thought you’d never ask – the government reduced this witnesses own sentence in exchange for his testifying (actually perjuring himself) against Siegelman. They did the same thing to a woman (Democrat) in Minnesota as well, and, in neither case, HAS ANYTHING EVER BEEN DONE ABOUT IT!

Finally, we’re all depending on a bunch of Democratic Senators who are taking money by the truckful from the health care industry to fashion a bill that would cause the health care industry to possibly become a “not for profit” industry. When I was a child (many years ago) all hospitals were not for profit. I remember in the 80’s (I always called it the decade of greed) when Reagan took over at the White House – the whole attitude of our government changed. Instead of businesses that were loyal to their workers they became fiercely loyal to their shareholders (and these businesses’ greed was supported by politicians who removed regulations on their businesses). There has been one get rich quick scheme after another since those days. Hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and others are all making huge profits off of the American system of health care. And, it’s about the 37th best system in the world despite spending far more per patient than any other nation on the planet. We have a higher infant mortality rate than CUBA! Right now you have a Republican party that feels empowered by the lack of courage coming from our President and Congress in calling them on their “misdeeds” (the proper term would be crimes) standing in the way of EVERYTHING including health care. They are openly trying to defeat health care because they feel they will have then defeated President Obama. I’ll say it again, because it’s really not too late, Hold these Republicans accountable for their crimes and then it will be a lot easier to get legislation passed that the people support. The last thing the American public wants is a bunch of whimps running the government! (the Republicans understand this and they’re doing everything in their power to prove the Democrats are whimps)

I guess that I keep writing about Republicans because it is just so hard for me to understand how they have ANY credibility left AT ALL! Tonight, I’m going to write about Republicans again, but before I get started, I’ve got to throw in a bit on Democrats. I mean, the ugly reality is that we are stuck with Republicans and Democrats. And, honestly at this point, I don’t know which group frustrates me more. The Republicans seem to have the unmitigated gall to say whatever they think will get the attention of the public – NO MATTER THE COST, NO MATTER HOW ABSURD IT IS (what they’re saying, that is). The Democrats just seem to be SPINELESS! And, the sad truth is that too many members of Congress on “both sides of the isle” are bought and sold by the lobbyists and special interest groups. I’m guessing that these lobbyists and special interests actually write the legislation which gets “debated” in Congress. My take on Democrats tonight: Well, by my count, there are at a minimum (including one of my Senators, Maria Cantwell and Oregon’s Ron Wyden) 20 Democrats in the Senate who are standing in the way of the so-called “Public Option” in the health care debate. It is truly going to be “on them” if this doesn’t get passed after “we the people” put the Democrats in a “super majority” position in the Senate. I can see the claims now for the next election: “If we can just get to a caucus of 70 votes, MAYBE we can get something positive done. America’s Congress is getting more laughable all the time – the problem is their incompetence IS NOT FUNNY!

Back to the Republicans. These guys are going to stand in the way of everything. Now, as stated above, I’m going to blame the Democrats (and the Republicans know this) when nothing gets done. However, the absurdity of EVERY ARGUMENT I hear coming from the mouths of people like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner is UNBELIEVABLE TO ME! I don’t know how these thugs even get an audience anymore. I guess you could give them credit for being so open about their LYING (I can’t believe I’m even feeling the need to write this – how can things in a country like the United States get to this point?) that they aren’t even trying to hide their prejudices anymore. I watched a short amount of the hearings for Sonia Sotomayor, and I honestly couldn’t believe what I heard coming from the mouths of these Republicans. ONE OVERT RACIST AFTER ANOTHER – and the great irony was that these guys were essentially basing their objection to Sotomayor on the grounds that SHE WAS A RACIST! Honestly, it was all I could stomach to listen to Jeff Sessions of Alabama accuse the nominee of being a racist. These guys have no conscience about taking one line out of a speech and twisting it to serve some ridiculous purpose – and even after having the line put back into context – THEY KEEP DOING IT! I didn’t hear one Republican talk about Sotomayor’s record as a judge – with the exception of one case where she ruled with precedent that if a city gives a test for promotion and NONE OF THE MINORITY PERSONS TAKING THE TEST PASS IT – the test needs to be rewritten so that it’s fair to all aspirants. As a school teacher I’ve seen many a test which was totally unfair to certain students just based on the vocabulary used in the test (among other factors).

The Supreme Court overturned this decision by essentially rewriting the law – and these Republicans on this committee which was interviewing Sotomayor took that to mean that she was a racist. I suppose had she ruled the other way (this was a case which came before the appellate court she is presently sitting on) they would have accused her of being an “activist” judge. And, of course, they didn’t suggest “activism” for the Supreme Court’s ruling because it was essentially the Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia, and Kennedy block that the Republicans hold dear to their hearts. These Republicans accusing Sonia Sotomayor as being a racist was one of the most extreme examples of “The pot calling the kettle black” I’ve ever seen. They all knew that she is undoubtedly going to be confirmed (and by all accounts that I’ve heard, she should be a very moderate addition to the court) and they decided that “playing to their racist base” was more important than turning off millions of other Americans in the process. I actually believe that the Republicans think that NO ONE IS WATCHING.

So, Republicans are fighting any kind of health care legislation which would be beneficial to the every day American, they’re showing themselves as overt racists (seemingly with pride), and – when it comes to energy – it’s almost like they would be OK with the planet self-destructing. I’m thinking maybe they think that would be the fulfillment of Revelations in Scripture. At this point I’m assuming Republicans will stand as much in the way as they can of every attempt to reduce carbon emissions, reduce our dependency on oil, clean our air, create a new energy grid which will transport electricity from wind turbines or solar power generators, and anything else that might reduce our dependence on the oil and gas companies who have billions to spend to keep these politicians “in line.”

I could go on and on about these Republicans, but the sad reality is that as I’m sitting here writing this and thoughts are swirling through my head as to what can be done to counteract these people – the solution keeps coming up the same and it’s almost as depressing; Democrats. There are a few Democrats who I believe are keeping their eyes “on the ball.” One that I’m personally very impressed with is Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont and former head of the DNC – in fact, he’s probably the most responsible for the resurgence of the Democratic party as far as gaining a majority in Congress. The problem is that he can’t control how these people vote. Dennis Kucinich is another Democrat who I have a lot of respect for. And, Bernie Sanders is neither a Democrat or Republican and he seems to be someone who has a conscience and is willing to vote it. I have to say that I’m beyond discouraged when I hear that my own Senator, Maria Cantwell, who I sent money to, seems to be at the mercy of the Insurance industry when it comes to the health care proposals. I would expect her to be at the forefront fighting for the “Public Option” and yet she’s apparently standing in the way. If she persists I will never vote for her again. This legislation needs to be passed and passed in a reasonable time frame – I’m OK with them taking a bit more time to try to “get it right.” What I’m not OK with is my Senator, the Senior Senator from Oregon, and about 18 other Senate Democrats siding with the health care industry and against 72% of the public.

So, this is all hard to swallow. I’ve been “putting up” with the Republicans for too many years – but I’m feeling a bit “used” due to getting my hopes up that we would really have “change we could believe in.” And, I do believe ultimately the responsibility will rest on the shoulders of Barrack Obama and if these Democrats don’t get their act together – THEY WILL BE THE ONES IN DANGER OF GETTING VOTED OUT IN 2010! Here is what I’m beginning to hope for. A THIRD PARTY WITH A MAINSTREAM AGENDA AND A VIABLE LEADER. I’m not sure how this emerges. Call it the PROGRESSIVE PARTY! The people of this great nation thought that’s what they were voting for in the past two election cycles. President Obama is acting (by my thinking) way too much like a “politician” instead of a firm leader, the Republicans are – well the best I can say is disgusting, antiquated, corrupt beyond help, – I don’t know – they should be “history.” There is some possibility with the Democratic rhetoric, but their actions bely their words – so there HAS TO BE A VIABLE OPPOSITION. At this point in time too many Democrats seem to be beholden to the special interests that their constituents want “reeled in,” and Republicans are essentially hopeless. In reality, it doesn’t look good that Congress with it’s present make-up will be able to come up with policies which actually move us in a different direction as a nation – what it appears to me that I’m seeing is the SAME OLD SAME OLD! Maybe what the Progressive movement needs is a third party, THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY!

Tonight I want to write more about Dick Cheney – in my last post I pointed out how the Obama administration was apparently feeding “info” to the press at times when the stories would be missed or buried by other news by Monday. In the case of Cheney’s apparent “ordering” the CIA to violate federal law – well, no surprise there to me – but, they weren’t able to “hide” the story and, as I’ve predicted, the pressure for investigations of the Bush/Cheney administration is mounting. The “stuff” is just going to keep coming out – these guys were operating a kind of mafia like administration – and, much to their chagrine – I’m sure – WE DO HAVE A CONSTITUTION. We’re about to find out how much the Democrats in Congress, in the Justice department, and the White House believe in the Constitution. I keep hearing the phrase that in America “No one is above the law.” Well, at some point I believe that phrase will hold true because I don’t think President Obama can stand in the way of finding out EVERYTHING the Bush administration was doing much longer. It’s almost getting embarrassing how they’re trying to avoid a showdown over this – especially considering that if they do it correctly – it will enhance (not detract) from their image to the VAST MAJORITY of Americans. Remember, only something a bit less than 1/4 of Americans now consider themselves “supporting” the Republican party.

Before I get to Cheney, and because I’ve spent a fair amount of time criticizing President Obama, I want to say a few words about him. I truly do believe he is a good and honorable man. I believe he’s a good husband and father to his family (that goes a long way with me), and I believe he’s a great ambassador for the ideals this nation rests on. I also consider President Obama to be VERY INTELLIGENT. As stated (probably) too many times on this site, I’m just not OK in his determination to reach out to the very Republicans who have undermined the credibility of this country to lead in a time of international unrest. He’s no longer a professor, or community organizer, he’s now the President of the United States. Personally, I’m tired of all the warmed over legislation that comes out of Washington and moves us nowhere – or sometimes, as with Bush, backwards. To me, change I can believe in is assertive decision making, courageous stands on critical issues, and the guts to push through what is right and live with the consequences. One example of what I’m talking about would be the stimulus bill. A bill could have been passed without a single Republican vote – a bill that would have included no tax cuts at all (in fact, in my view, at the time a gas tax would have been perfect) – and the bill could have tied up the same amount of taxpayer funds (well, OK, Chinese funds – if that’s where we’re getting the dough) and included 3 to 4 times the “stimulus” aimed at reconstruction of our infrastructure – and it would have thus generated countless additional jobs (which is going to be the “achilles heal” of Obama’s economic recovery plan). Once things start to turn around there will be plenty of Republicans who want to join in the action and then there might be the possibility of some kind of constructive “bi-partisanship.”

OK, back to Cheney. I studied the Constitution many years ago in college and I have to admit it’s a bit “foggy” to me at this point in time. However, if I remember correctly, the Vice President’s job is to take over for the President when appropriate (like death, or surgery, or something like where the President is not consciously available), direct the Senate, and basically walk the President’s dog. He’s NOT ANYWHERE IN THE “CHAIN OF COMMAND.” It is becoming more and more apparent how much Cheney was in the Chain of command. The present crisis regards a so-called “assasination squad” in the CIA which was targeting leaders of al Qaeda (why would that need to be secret whould be my first question) which Cheney ORDERED not to be reported to Congress as required by statute. To me, as stated in my last post, kind of “Oh well, another example of Dick Cheney breaking the law.” It’s such a benign story that I thought it might end up getting buried – and the Obama administration would get a repreive in their attempt to protect their predecessors from facing the criminal charges they so richly deserve to face.

Well, it’s Tuesday, and I’m still seeing and hearing a lot of “shock” from pundits and Democrats alike again calling for investigations and, if warranted, criminal prosecutions. OK, as you might imagine if you’ve been here before, I’m OK with that. The thing that kind of bugs me here is how the politicians and the media play this stuff out. I mean, the list is already a “mile long” on both Dick Cheney and George W Bush. How many of these examples of arrogance toward our legal system and our constitution do we need before people, including our now sitting President, realize that the best way to get this stuff “behind us” is to do the COMPLETE INVESTIGATION and put no “boundaries” on it. All of this, President Obama, IS NOT GOING AWAY – until you put it away! And, through all of this, Friday’s story, which I consider a bit more serious, where it was disclosed that President Bush himself ordered the infamous trip to the hospital bed of John Ashcroft in an attempt to circumvent the Justice department lawyers who were calling Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program what it was (and still is) – UNCONSTITUTIONAL – did get buried – I guess the media has a greater interest in seeing Cheney “swing” than with Bush – and now, at least for the time being, Bush is off the hook (although, if there ever is an investigation, I guarantee you that the “hook” will be a large one.

Keep in mind that President Bush comes from a family that has a long history of ignoring the legal system of America and getting away with it, usually with HUGE profits. His grandfather, most people know this, made a fortune selling materials to Hitler in the thirties that allowed Hitler to build a huge, well armed, army that came close to “taking over the world.” Samuel Bush was reprimmanded by FDR, but never lost a dime of the fortune with any kind of accountability at all – I believe other than maybe a public “tongue lashing.” In fact, I believe Bush’s grandfather from the other side (Walker side) was right in the middle of all that too. Then there’s George HW Bush – Reagan’s VP and the 41st President. He should probably have gone to jail for his role in the Iran/Contra “affair” – as should a lot of other Republicans, but – again – these guys were at the top and they were allowed to walk away “scott free.” A couple of them were convicted (Ollie North was one I believe) – but, naturally, pardoned. They were breaking the law for our government – so it was OK. The Republican party is chock full of operatives who have either served their time or were pardoned and are welcomed back in as heroes (North, Charles Colson, and G. Gordon Liddy to name a few). And, then along comes Bush/Cheney and tops them all – I’m sure fully expecting to get away with their crimes – kind of a family history.

Cheney has been a part of all of the great scandals – Watergate, Iran/Contra, and – of course – Bush/Cheney. The difference to me was the bold and constant arrogance Cheney displayed from the first day he took office with GW. It was like “I’m going to abuse this power, and what the hell are you going to do about it?” I’ll give him this, I’ve never seen a more in your face politician in my lifetime. He must be intimidating in person, although I have to admit I’ve fantacized about getting the opportunity to go “one on one” in a debate with Cheney in front of an audience (not his kind of audience, where everyone has to make a loyalty pledge before getting into the room). Personally, I would not be afraid to call him on some of this stuff – including the 9/11 attacks. This morning I heard Cheney’s new surrogate mouthpiece, his daughter, magnify the “We kept you safe” lie to “He kept us safe for 8 years. Well, I’ve got news for Liz Cheney (Dick’s daughter) it’s still not eight years since the tragedy of the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Plane in the field of Pennsylvania and, by all accounts, that disaster was preventable – AND BUSH/CHENEY DIDN’T PREVENT IT. No other President in our history has kept us LESS SAFE than that! And, to me, it’s not that he didn’t keep us safe, it’s not that he told the CIA not to tell Congress about this program, it’s not that he seems like the most evil person ever to hold such high office in this country, but it’s all about the Constitution. It’s the Constitution that will still be standing when Cheney/Bush – and me, for that matter – are gone. What our children and grandchildren will be left with is how that document is interpreted. There are already too many “implied powers” in the Constitution thanks to our courts (like “exectutive privilege” and the “States Secrets doctrine”) which seem to purposely leave “grey areas” that are open for interpretation and allow Presidents to “push” boundaries. The last thing I want to leave to my grandchildren is a Constitution that is the work of Dick Cheney! That is why all of this MUST come out, MUST be investigated, and MUST be prosecuted where appropriate!

Well, there’s been a lot of visits to my “lair” of late, yet still no “comments.” I’m assuming this is because you have to register to comment, not because everyone agrees with everything I say (wouldn’t that be a sad miracle). In case you read this, I’m OK with “comments” (in fact, I’m looking forward to the first one :o) and I have no plans (or ability) to do anything with info if you sign up. In fact, I don’t even know what you have to do to sign up, but if it involves an email address, please rest assured that I will do nothing with ANY INFO (I don’t even know how to check for it). So, now I’ve admitted what a clutz I am, writing in the middle of cyberspace. If you’re new around here, I started writing shortly after my first grandchild was born – simply as a way for me to “blow off” my frustration with the direction of our government. It was sometime in the middle of GW Bush’s second term in office, and everyday he was there was difficult for me. I’m a Christian who has opposed Bush’s actions from almost day one. I, like most Americans, was supportive of the invasion of Afganistan for the SOLE PURPOSE of capturing or killing Osama bin Laden. After Bush got sidetracked into Iraq – with almost complete support from the Christian community – I started to feel like some kind of outcast.

I decided that I didn’t have to give up my own spiritual connection to God because Bush and many of his Republican cronies were quoting scripture to support many of their illegal or immoral actions. History is full of leaders justifying obscene behavior by quoting scripture – and I’ve been determined to “stay the course” with my own beliefs and fight back against what I eventually came to believe was the most corrupt administration in the history of this great nation. If you’ve read many of my posts, I BELIEVE STRONGLY that it will be a HUGE MISTAKE if former President Bush and his associates are allowed to walk away from the damage they’ve done to this nation, and more egregiously, to millions of HUMAN BEINGS with no accountability. It’s almost like all the people who are dead have just become statistics for people (like me) to banty around in a debate that is falling on deaf ears in the Obama administration. As I’ve stated in the past couple of posts, I believe my frustration with President Obama could potentially supercede my frustration of Bush, simply because I was such an ardent supporter of Obama’s and I really expected something much more idealistic than what I’m seeing.

Hundred’s of Billions of dollars have been skimmed from the taxpayers in the name of the Iraq war and fighting terrorism, I’m guessing at least a million humans are dead based just on the decision to invade Iraq (who knows what else these thugs were up to?), the infrastructure of Iraq has been virtually destroyed, estimates have the number of displaced Iraqi’s somewhere aroung 4 – 5 million people, and the wounded numbers are astronomical. Our military has been stretched to the breaking point and we have hundred’s of thousands of troops with “side effects” of varying degrees who are struggling just to get care once back in the states – and JUST LIKE IN VIET NAM these troops are coming home to a nation which is virtually ignoring them – DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN! What’s the old saying?, “Those who choose to ignore history are destined to repeat it.” On top of all of this the Bush administration was BEYOND ARROGANT as all of this unfolded – continuing to support the pillaging of our treasury by their “contractor buddies,” continuing to abuse detainees in UNIMAGINABLE ways, refusing ANY ACCOUNTABILITY even after the Democrats took over Congress – to the point of even refusing to answer subpoenas! UNBELIEVABLE!

Yet, the Democrats during the 2006 – 2008 session of Congress proved to be total cowards, as far as I was concerned. I continued to support them during the 2008 election because then Senator Obama convinced me he had the “guts” and the “will” to do something about all these abuses. In concert with the “evil one” – Dick Cheney – George Bush had pushed the boundaries of the executive branch of our government WAY PAST what is defined in our constitution. I supported Obama and the Dems because I was convinced they would push these boundaries back. It is in EVERYONE’S BEST INTEREST (Republicans and Democrats alike) that these abuses be reversed. Our constitution is a “living” document, meaning “precedent” plays a huge role in how the document “evolves” over time. Yet, the constitution will always define who we are as a nation. Therefore, should Obama and the Democrats fail to reverse all of these abuses, we may be stuck with them indefinitely – that means my generation will have left a legacy for my children and grandchildren of TORTURE, ILLEGAL WIRETAPPING, ROGUE WARS, PERJURY, and just plain arrogance that the leaders of this nation are not subject to the same laws they swear to uphold when taking office.

OK, the lack of will in the House of Representatives shouldn’t be too big a surprise to me. Shortly after the Democrats took control of the House in 2006 Nancy Pelosi was “crowned” Speaker of the House and promptly took “Impeachment off the table.” That was a jaw dropper for me. I thought, “How can she do that?” If crimes have been committed isn’t she and the rest of the House OBLIGATED to act? Well, the answer is that YES! they were obligated to act, but in our new interpretation of the constitution it appears that selective enforcement has been somehow included in the document – you know, if it’s politically expedient, then we’ll follow what the constitution dictates. At the same time Harry Reid, as the Democratic leader of the Senate (with a razor thin majority – which included Joe Lieberman – ugh) showed time and again that just the threat of a filibuster by the opposition was enough to kill anything meaningful. It was like Harry didn’t want to force anyone to have to actually vote on important issues and he certainly didn’t want the poor Republicans to actually have to get up on the floor of the Senate and actually do a filibuster – ALL HIS THREATS WERE HOLLOW (see my post of the previous day – and, in fact, the Republican behavior hasn’t changed much even though the Dems supposedly now have the “magic” 60 votes necessary to “cut off debate” on the floor of the Senate).

So, none of all that surprises me at this point. The wrongs are still sitting out there in front of all of us. More and more is becoming “public knowledge” and that trend will continue – yet, still NOTHING’S BEING DONE ABOUT THE ABUSES OF POWER. And, I have come to the conclusion that, as far as I’m concerned, the blame is going to be squarely on the shoulders of Barrack Obama and his staff of “long time” Washington insiders who seem to be all about “business as usual.” Not being the world’s greatest political expert, my suspicions were alerted when Rahm Emanuel was chosen as Obama’s chief of staff. I knew enough about him to understand he had a record of being able to “get things done,” but I also understood that the man was totally ingrained in the culture of Washington, DC – which has been evident from day one of Obama’s administration. And, David Axelrod is the consummate Washington insider and political strategist. What I’m seeing is what I should have expected – the same type of politics that has permeated Washington for as long as I can remember. I WAS VERY NAIVE! I thought “Change we can believe in” wouldn’t be MORE OF THE SAME!

Let me give some examples of what I mean – and, really, I’m not trying to “beat a dead horse” here, but – in my mind – this stuff is critical to the future of my children and grandchildren and I just can’t seem to bring myself to SHUT UP. I’ve mentioned many times the problem I have with President Obama defending the secrecy positions of George Bush in court – THIS IS REALLY BAD, but lately I’ve seen evidence that the Obama administration is “going back” on it’s pledge for transparency. It appears to me that those behind the “military industrial complex” that President Eisenhower so wisely warned us about back in the fifties are “getting to Obama.” Not only regarding his decisions regarding Iraq and Afganisatan, but his decisions to imbed torture into the character of this nation FOREVER – by refusing to investigate the OBVIOUS abuses of the Bush administration. He’s even showing signs of incorporating more secrecy into what is going on inside the White House. The “tide” seems to be slowly turning toward an administration which is finding many of the Bush abuses to be “convenient” in pushing forward their own agenda – so, not only will the abuses like torture, illegal wiretapping, politicizing the Justice Department, outing a CIA agent, lying to Congress (in fact, eventually refusing to even talk to Congress) go unchallenged, but it appears that many of the other abuses of power will “stay on the books” and will become part of the way Obama does business. Here’s a really sly Bush trick that Obama seems to have picked up – that is, how to hide information you’d rather not be made public from the public, but still put it out – I hope that’s not written too awkwardly.

Last Friday, late in the day, it was announced that the infamous trip that Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card took to the hospital bedside of then Attorney General John Ashcroft with the plan to get the groggy Ashcroft to sign re-authorization of the illegal warrantless wiretapping program which Bush/Cheney had instituted post 9/11 (by some reports, it was instituted pre- 9/11) was ordered DIRECTLY by George Bush himself. James Comey, the acting Attorney General – who was refusing to sign the document because it was unconstitutional – in a RARE ACT OF COURAGE during the Bush years, rushed to the hospital with the head of the FBI and stopped this incredibly insensitive abuse from happening. This just adds to the public PILE of evidence that George W Bush knowingly violated the rights of Americans countless times with wiretaps without warrants. Of course, President Obama is doing everything in his power to prevent any kind of investigation of the Bush wrongdoings – and, here, he’s adopted one of their strategies – release the information late Friday afternoon and by Monday it will be buried and lost due to whatever happens over the weekend – and, I might add, while this strategy is less than honorable – IT IS VERY EFFECTIVE. This weekend they even topped that one (which is what prompted this post). Late Saturday evening it was released that the CIA program in the news last week, where the CIA has some program which was hidden from Congress (violation of some law passed in 1947), involved Dick Cheney AGAIN! That is, the New York times reported in it’s addition that I get on my desktop at midnite Saturday evening that the program was hidden from Congress at the direction (order) of the Vice President. OK, so he’s violated another law – ANOTHER FELONY – how can we protect him? Get the news out Saturday evening – that might be more effective than Friday. That, of course, remains to be seen here – but I’m, for one, getting very confused. It’s like the Republicans are going around daring Democrats to “do something about it” regarding all the abuses that happened under Bush – and, yet, it’s almost like the Democrats AND PRESIDENT OBAMA are doing everything they can to protect them – they all know that if there are investigations EVERYTHING is going to lead right to Bush/Cheney – with a LOT OF COLLATERAL DAMAGE! It’s almost like George Bush and Dick Cheney don’t need lawyers to defend them, they’ve got Barrack Obama!

I’m going to start off my thoughts tonight with a little addition to last nights thoughts – BECAUSE THERE WERE 146 “unique visits” to this site yesterday. I have no idea (as I’ve mentioned before) how anyone has found my little private “journal” in the middle of nowhere – but’s it’s pretty cool for me, a 6th grade teacher, to see the traffic. It’s my experience as a 6th grade teacher that I want to use as I give President Obama and the Democrats a bit of advice prior to getting on to my discussion of one of the books I’ve just finished reading (and I really do hope to keep this one short :o). OK, one of the first things you learn as a teacher is that it’s more important for students to respect you than to “like” you. In fact, until they respect you there’s not much hope that they will like you. I often joke with my students about how I’m “everybody’s favorite teacher,” knowing full well that if the day comes when they actually agree with me I will need to regroup and change what I’m doing. Pushing them a bit farther than they want to go – and finding that “fine line” between pushing too hard – is what leads to their success and ultimately to the teacher’s feelings of success. That is, there is no success if the students aren’t “molded” and they don’t “grow.”

Transfer this philosophy to politics – and believe me, I see a lot of parallels. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A CLEAR VISION OF WHAT YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH to have any chance for success in both professions. YOU HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT – this is where I see one politician after another coming up short – DON’T SAY ONE THING AND THEN DO SOMETHING ELSE! I see this happen in school all the time. Take for example this past year. Mid year I got a student who had been essentially “ran out of town” from another school (keep in mind this is an 11 year old boy). To give you an idea of what the challenges were, the boy started throwing the “N” word around on his first day in my classroom (his father is African American, which apparently made him feel it was OK – which, of course, it wasn’t).  For the first three or four weeks at our school he refused to even lift a pencil, let alone finish any assignments. However, I discovered that the boy had a HUGE “upside” if we could just make the right connection. Unfortunately, the administrator of the school seemed to take this as becoming “friends” (I guess, that was the best I could figure out) instead of doing what I believed (and still believe) was the right thing to do, and that was to “draw” some clear BLACK AND WHITE boundaries and then hold the boy to them. I actually got the student functioning to almost a passing level, but the behavior never improved because the administrators couldn’t force themselves to follow through on their “promises.” Like, “One more referral and you’re long term suspended.” Instead, there was one more “one more chance” after another – until I had to confront my own Principal toward the end of the year and point out that this kid would be ruined if we didn’t stop enabling his behavior – which was his TOTAL problem. Needless to say, at the end of the year, this student’s tenure in my classroom didn’t feel like a success, because he was never forced (by us) to face up to what he was actually doing wrong.

I translate this directly to President Obama and to the Democrats in Congress – who seem to be afraid to DRAW CLEAR BLACK AND WHITE LINES WITH REPUBLICANS – defining non-negotiable boundaries. I mean, it should be easy for them because we have such an easily understood document in the Constitution which has held us in such good stead for over 200 years. But, for some reason they are acting just like my previous Principal was with our students – enabling clearly WRONG (and in the case of the previous Bush administration clearly ILLEGAL) behavior. The result of this doesn’t make the behavior go away. Thinking that “Well, they’re gone now, if we just bide our time everyone will just forget about all this stuff and we can “move forward” – IS FOOLISH THINKING. I have been almost SHOCKED to see this type of thinking coming from President Obama. In the case of the Principal I mentioned I believe all the “mandates” coming down on him from “above” caused him to think that the other stuff was more important – and thus, the “eye comes off the ball” and problems begin to magnify.

In President Obama’s case, I believe his rationalization for “moving forward” is the tremendous amount of challenges he inherited causing him to think that his Presidency will rise or fall on how he handles them. However, this kind of thinking tends to lead to, in my view, the “more of the same” approach to solving problems. In education, due to the tremendous amount of “politics” being crammed down the throats of virtually every administrator in America, we’ve evolved to the point where every year there’s a new “best way” of doing things. We’ve allowed ourselves to get caught up in the “accountability” nightmare that has turned our corporations away from employee first businesses to shareholder first businesses. The party of “family values” has led us into a spiraling “black hole” that is destroying the traditional family values of this great nation. And, by “latching on” to the “moving forward” thinking philosophy we are in essence accepting this crumbling family structure in America as being OK (along with the other stuff I’ve been pointing out for so long). I’ve been trying to say for months – STOP – clean up the mess you inherited FIRST – then take the time to figure out what would truly be “progress.” Don’t tell me that Wall Street is moving upward again, therefore everything is OK – the recession is over – I, FOR ONE, AM NOT BUYING THAT LINE OF THINKING.

Now, I’m approaching 62 years old and I’m not so stupid as to think that I was going to agree with President Obama on everything – BUT THIS IDEA THAT WE CAN’T “LOOK BACK” IS RUINING MY IMPRESSION OF OUR NEW PRESIDENT! His great speeches are beginning to be no more than a bunch of words to me – in fact, I’m getting to the point where I can’t stand to listen to them. You’ve heard the saying “All show, but no go” – Well, that’s how I’m seeing President Obama. At one point I started to write a book and I titled it “lunch detention” – how a sixth grade teacher would deal with the misbehavior of the Bush administration. It never got off the ground, but I can tell you that I COMPLETELY BELIEVE that my approach would be much more beneficial to the restoration of this nation’s “soul” than the approach Obama is taking. If you read my last night’s post (or many of the others) you know that I can real off a long list of criminal activity that still has not only been not prosecuted, BUT NOT EVEN INVESTIGATED. I mean, even sixth grade students could tell that Alberto Gonzales was an pathological liar when he was testifying in front of Congress a couple years ago – yet, still, nothing has been done about it – and obviously nothing will be done about it (in fact, I just heard that he was hired as a Law Professor at Texas Tech University – what does that tell you? John Yoo, a professor at Cal, Berkely – I mean what kind of lawyers are we looking at in the future?).

And, of course, from an international standpoint, the refusal to hold our leaders accountable for clear WAR CRIMES is beyond my ability to believe. I have been disappointed in my government many times in my lifetime, but I’m starting to feel that this will be the BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT! I voted for Obama, I sent him money, I campaigned for him – I remember, my enthusiasm was tempered when he voted for the FISA legislation last year, but I told myself that he probably had an understandable reason for doing so (I wrote him, and one of his staffers wrote back assuring me he would “fix” the FISA bill once in office). But, since Obama has taken office he seems to be moving closer to where President Bush was than following the path I had understood him to set. I believe, unless there is a stark change, Obama will slowly loose his popularity with the “Progressive” movement – and, I hate to say this, but I’m seeing the kind of “hunkering down” traits that I saw with Bush – that is – the inability to admit mistakes and the tendency toward MORE secrecy instead of less. Combine this with the inability, unwillingness, or lack of courage to face up to the Republicans – and you have a potential major disaster on your hands – I TRULY HOPE I’M WRONG – but, so far, most of my greatest fears regarding President Obama, seem to be coming true.

I don’t seem to be able to write short posts, and tonight I wanted to reference the book “Three Cups of Tea” (framing my comments with the above sixth grade advice to our President) which details the actions of Greg Mortensen as he has been working In Northern Pakistan and Afganistan for the past 15+ years building schools for poor children (mainly girls) in an effort to promote peace through education. Please, if you want a good read, READ THIS BOOK! In fact, Amazon donates a percentage of their profits to the schools the book is about. The relevence of this book to me, is how this incredible man builds relationships right in the heart of the country where the Taliban and Al Qaeda are located – the very rugged northern communities of Pakistan. What you learn from reading this book is that these people (both Shia and Sunni Muslims – with a few other sects thrown in) just want to be respected. They are very poor and they are very proud – most of the different tribes have been in these areas for hundreds and hundreds of years. Mortensen’s actions are a stark contrast to our government’s actions – and the results, in both cases, are predictable.

I bring this book up, because along with all the “enabling” of Republican behavior by President Obama, the continuation of the Bush administration policies in Iraq and Afganistan are going to ruin a great opportunity that Obama has to change the mentality of the people in that region toward us, and to change the mentality of the people in our country toward them.  And, this region of the world is TREMENDOUSLY important to the entire world at this point in time (again, thanks to GW Bush).  This idea of throwing more and more troops into Afganistan and killing more and more people (many of whom are innocent civilians, including women and children) through Predator strikes and other air strikes – is what is fueling the flames of extremism. Our own response to 9/11 (invading Iraq) has been the single most effective recruiting tool for Al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups, and we seem to be continuing along the same course. No one seems to have the guts to say “The bus is headed in the wrong direction – we need to get out of the bus, and get on one headed in the right direction.” The people of this region refer to us as “infidels” because of the huge difference in lifestyles – they really don’t want what our culture offers – and, of course, there’s a lot about their culture that we don’t want – but, the reality is – the possibility of peace exists – WE JUST NEED SOME REAL LEADERSHIP! Obama broke the ice by reaching out to the Muslim communities around the world with his rhetoric – but, believe me, THEY’LL SEE RIGHT PAST THE HOLLOW RHETORIC – they might be illiterate (in many cases) but, they’re NOT STUPID!

So, what I’m saying tonight is that I’m really looking for some strong leadership from President Obama – and I’m trying to give him a little sixth grade advice on how to go about it (and, I’m feeling like he doesn’t have much time to change HIS behavior – or his support base is going to begin shrinking rapidly, and then he will be in trouble – because it will be too late then to go after the Republicans). OK, so here’s the advice – First, regarding the “mess” you inherited: Clean it up before you “move on.” For starters (and you can do this somewhat covertly) get your Justice Department going on investigations of Bush/Cheney et al – and make sure that everyone knows this is happening – have Attorney General Holter APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR – THE GUY FROM CHICAGO (A REPUBLICAN) WOULD BE OK WITH ME – and make sure there are no people immune from this prosecution – PERIOD. Next, take another look at the so-called “stimulus bill” which included a meaningless tax cut for people like me – admit there wasn’t enough stimulus in the bill, and get another bill underway that is actually aimed at creating real paying jobs for our unemployed workers – AND JUST TURN A DEAF EAR TO ALL THE REPUBLICAN WHINING – YOU DON’T NEED THOSE PEOPLE! Then, to show us all that you’re really serious about the deficit – invoke a tax on the sale of gasoline, remember the people can only pay so much for gas, at a cerain point the price causes useage to go down – so more of the price might as well be taxes – and you can raise a lot of money for some of the needed projects that will transform this economy away from Wall Street and back toward Main Street – I’d say that 20 cents per gallon should raise a lot of money (I’d be OK with 50 cents per gallon) and FINALLY, pull our troops out of Iraq and change our policy in Afganistan from a military one to a humanitarian one – and, really the Karzai government probably has to go – that might be a bit complicated (even causing us to pull out initially) – but start treating those people over there with respect and quit killing all those innocent civilians! President Obama, do the right thing and listen to a sixth grade teacher before it’s too late! (so much for keeping it short :o)

While in the hospital my wife gave me a book to read titled, “Three Cups of Tea.” As I got into this book it soon became the most “I can’t put it down” book since “One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest” back, it think, in the 60’s. I REALLY want to write about this book, and I will soon, but “other matters” seem to keep cropping up – so I’ll put that off for another day. That being said, if you’re looking for a good read, try “Three Cups of Tea” – I ordered three copies today to pass along to my children and a friend of mine. I virtually guarantee that you’ll be inspired and uplifted from reading the book.

Tonight’s thoughts, if you’ve been around this site lately, you know that I’m recovering from surgery which has kept me pretty much away from the keyboard for about a week – I think I managed to fit one session in due to some excellent pain medication :o). It’s just been a couple days now since I could manage to sit in a chair long enough to watch one of the “News” programs I watch (really, are there any “news” programs anymore?). For well over six months I’ve been “harping” on what I consider to be the FACT that the “misdeeds” (ie – criminal activity) of the Bush administration MUST be investigated FULLY. Now, I realize we are amid the most severe economic crisis since the crash of 1929 and most people are concerned about their “pocketbooks” above all else. However, the harsh reality is that the economic crisis will be temporary – no matter how severe – and no matter what lifestyle changes are dictated once it “passes.” Abuses of power, if left unchallenged, can easily become permanent. To me, the scary part of all of this is the FACT that power is a very difficult thing to “give up.” I say that to frame my thoughts tonight about the abuses of the Republicans under Bush/Cheney from 2001 until 2009 (and, believe me – if the investigations take place – we’ll discover the abuses started well before 9/11 – that only intensified and expanded them). From the start – Dick Cheney was determined to regain the executive power he felt had been lost because of the Watergate fiasco.

Cheney is the ultimate authoritarian. I read a book on Dick Cheney titled “Angler” by Barton Gellman which, in explaining how Cheney chose himself as GW Bush’s VP, gives a very clear picture of what kind of man he is. He was Bush’s choice to “vet” possible VP candidates and he collected boxes of information on maybe the 30 top Republicans – all in strategic places – telling each one of them that they were on the “short list” for VP, to keep quiet about everything until a choice was made, and to make sure that they didn’t hide anything – just to make sure that someone wasn’t chosen who would be vulnerable to scandalous attack. Sounds like a good plan, right? But, true to his nature, Cheney then chose himself as the VP candidate while, at the same time, leaking information on one of the potential candidates (I believe the guy was governor of Nebraska – or some other midwest state). This information ruined the political career of the governor in question and sent the message to all the other possible candidates of “Oh, my gosh, he’s got boxes of info on me going back to my childhood.” The message Cheney sent to these leading Republicans was “Fall into line, and I’ll keep all this information confidential – step out of line and, well ………..” – I think you can get the message. And, I must add, it was a very effective strategy – for “loyalty.”

So, the abuses began soon after Bush/Cheney took the “controls” of our government. And, the secrecy was there right from the start (which leads me to some of my alarm regarding President Obama, but I’ll get to that later) – remember the so-called “energy task force” which met in Cheney’s office under a complete lid of secrecy and up to the last days in office Cheney had refused to divulge information from those meetings – which I’ve ALWAYS felt would give some of the motivation behind the invasion of Iraq. It would be no secret to anyone happening onto this site that the abuses of our constitution, the abuses of international law, and the power grab in the executive branch of government were ongoing, arrogant, and criminal. The years of the Bush administration were among the most frustrating of my life – as a person who passionately loves this country (and who actually studied the constitution in college). I’ve stated many times on this site my frustration that MY government was violating our laws, international laws, and abusing the power granted the executive branch by our constitution. My frustration has been pointed at the Republican party which “rubber stamped” everything Bush/Cheney did (somewhat understandable considering Cheney’s mode of operation as explained above) – but has slowly been swinging toward the Democratic party, which, based on how our system of government works is the “check” to the abuses being committed by the Republicans under Bush. The Democrats are the ones we voted into office to “fix” all the abuses!

I’ve also mentioned many times that eventually more and more of the truth is going to come out – and I keep hoping that something will be done about these abuses which GUARANTEE that they won’t be repeated. The Republicans have come to a place of almost pity in my mind – they’ve become so disgusting – HOWEVER, MORE AND MORE I FEEL THAT WE NEED A REAL CONSERVATIVE TO EMERGE – someone who’s not “owned” by the corporate heads that seem to be running Republican politics from behind the scenes. Someone who can lead the Republicans back into a respectable opposition party – one that I could vote for! (I’ve been an independent for over 40 years – even though I sent money to Democrats in order to get these Republicans out of office) The Democrats – who I’ve been calling weak and spineless for some time – seem to be all too happy to carry that moniker (weak and spineless, that is). THIS IS MAKING ME EVEN MORE FRUSTRATED THAN PUTTING UP WITH REPUBLICAN RULE. It’s like, well I’m trying hard to find the right words here, they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Let me go over the list – AGAIN – all stuff that is public knowledge, and all stuff that ends up going “unaccounted” for will be damaging to the future of this nation – well, I don’t want to get to descriptive here – but, suffice it to say that, in my opinion, the effect on our lifestyle if we allow the Bush/Cheney crew to “get away” with their crimes will be much more severe than anything that could happen – long term – based on the economic crisis created by the SAME PEOPLE who broke all these laws!

Honestly, as I’m sitting her writing this I can’t believe the words that are flowing from my computer. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE (and, in this instance, I’m talking about the Democrats)? OK, this is the list: Bush/Cheney lied us into a war that is bankrupting our nation (just ask yourself if each one of these things isn’t exponentially bigger than Whitewater – a poor business deal which led to 7 years of hearings in Congress), Bush/Cheney authorized and encouraged the use of Torture openly violating our own laws against such behavior and international laws which the Untited States was instrumental in establishing, post WW II (and, in the process, an undetermined number of prisoners were killed) – both men have admitted this in public MANY TIMES, Bush/Cheney authorized an illegal warrantless wiretapping scheme (that is going on to this day – SHAME ON YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA!) which has violated the FISA laws of 1978 on (at least) thousands of occasions, Bush/Cheney “outed” a covert CIA agent to get back at her husband for telling the truth and contradicting their most outrageous lie intended to gain support for their war of choice in Iraq – this is TREASON!, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others PROFITED by sums exceeding ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS from the no-bid contracts associated with their invasion of Iraq (again, compare that to Whitewater!), Surrogates of Bush/Cheney regulary refused to cooperate with Congressional subpoenas – actually refusing to show up when called to testify before Congress, Bush’s Attorney General told more obvious lies in front of Congress than anyone I’ve ever seen in my lifetime of following politics (with still no accountability), The Bush Whitehouse – led by Karl Rove – outed US attorneys based on their “lack of cooperation” in prosectuing Democrats and they used a “loyalty pledge” to the Republican party in their choice of lawyers hired into the Justice Department – totally politicizing it, Karl Rove had the Governor of Alabama (a Democrat) thrown in jail on trumped up charges that were enforced by political cronies, and I could go on, but I’ll end this list by saying that George W Bush wrote more “Signing Statements” declaring his intention to ignore the will of the Congress than all the Presidents before him COMBINED!

HERE’S WHAT IS REALLY BOTHERING ME! How can any Democrat sleep at night while turning their back on this stuff. Tonight, it was leaked that President Bush was the one who sent Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card to the hospital bed of then Attorney General John Ashcroft to get him to sign authorization of the secret wiretapping program which had become known and had gained opposition from justice department lawyers who acknowledged the program was unconstitutional. As I mentioned above and in many past posts – this stuff is going to keep coming out – and the longer the Democrats wait in doing something about this THE WORST THEY LOOK! It’s like they have no guts! I remember talking to my own Representative Brian Baird at a town hall meeting about the importance of impeaching President Bush – his response was (despite OVERWHELMING APPLAUSE FROM THE AUDIENCE IN SUPPORT OF MY POSITION) – this was during the period between the 2006 and 2008 election – “We don’t have enough votes in the Senate to convict.” This is their attitude. The TRUTH IS that if a President commits “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” the “Check” as per the constitution, is that the House of Representatives is OBLIBATED to impeach the President. This is just like the torture issue for Obama – theoretically – HE HAS TO PROSECUTE WAR CRIMINALS if he’s aware of war crimes. Now, Obama has stated publically that “Waterboarding is torture.” It is listed as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions – Both George Bush and Dick Cheney have publically admitted to authorizing this torture (and, read “The Ballad of Abu Ghraib” – it’s far worse than “just” the waterboarding) WHAT MAKES PRESIDENT OBAMA THINK HE HAS A CHOICE HERE? That would be like me having a student tell me they’ve been abused at home and then me, as a teacher, not reporting it to CPS – I would then be guilty of a crime! PRESIDENT OBAMA IS VIOLATING THE LAW BY LOOKING THE OTHER WAY!

This is what’s making me think we’re getting more of the same with a different moniker on it. Sure, the economic pollicies are a bit different and, at least, these guys recognize there’s an economic crisis at hand. But, I’ll say it again, what will be the most important accomplishments or lack thereof (and the lack thereof side seems to be looming strong at this point) will be how the Obama administration deals with the overreaching and lawbreaking of the administration which preceeded them. IT WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO GET WALL STREET BACK ON IT’S FEET! If we still have a government which is tapping our phones (Obama clearly doesn’t want to give up this “power”), if we still have a government operating in secrecy (the signs are strong here that Obama doesn’t want to “give up” some of the Bush abuses in this area as well), and worst of all, if we still have a government which is failing to enforce our laws on the people at the top, then we have something that is far too familiar to the past administration for me. In my mind, the people at the top are the ones who should be held accountable for their actions FIRST! How can President Obama stand in front of any group of people with a straight face and say that “No one is above the law in America” (I’ve heard him do this) while we have Sargeants and Privates from Army Reserve units (who were totally untrained for the job they were given at Abu Ghraib) doing time at Leavenworth for “Torture” while the men who authorized their actions (and then stood cowardly by, denying their role in the whole disgusting abuse of humanity – while these “grunts” took the entire “fall”) not only are walking free, but have profited handsomely all the same! We are in desperate need of some leadership in America right now and looking the other way to all this “Carnage” is the same as condoning it. If Democrats don’t have the courage to stand up to the Republican abuses, then it’s time for a THIRD PARTY!