I didn’t watch the State of the Union speech.  I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I feel really bad that I’ve gotten to the point that I’m just tired of empty rhetoric.  I think that is one of the most disappointing parts of the last year to me.  I bought into the “Obama phenomenon” hook, line, and sinker last year.  For me, it was a big step to send money to anyone.  Both because I don’t have much to send, and because I’ve been so turned off by politics since the Viet Nam war and the assasination of RFK.  Also, the advent of “progressive talk radio” had grabbed my attention and I started listening to the so-called progressive voices in the early days of Air America.  In fact, I’ve continued to listen to “progressive” radio since – sort of as an obligation.  I think it’s important to keep it going.  Recently I was saddened by the news that “Air America” radio had shut down and was liquidating.  To me, this is simply a symptom of the real problem – which is getting to the REAL SERIOUS stage.

I’ve heard commentary about both Obama’s State of the Union speech and the “obligatory” republican response, and I haven’t been surprised by either.  Well, I should rephrase that a bit.  I’ve been somewhat surprised by President Obama’s remarks in that he came out a bit more forceful – again, based only on what I’ve heard. (at some point, I’ll probably be able to bring myself to actually watch the speech)  Of course, everyone I listened to who was describing the speech said it was a “wonderful speech.”  The reality is that Obama gives “wonderful speeches.”  The problem I’m having is that it’s harder for me to watch the “follow through” of a politician that I support than one I don’t.  That is, GW Bush didn’t really surprise me.  If he surprised me at all, it was because he was actually WORSE than what I expected.  Him and Dick Cheney (and, really, the rest of the republicans) was why I was so invested in President Obama.  And, in my mind, Obama reneged on many promises – some MAJOR BLUNDERS – which is why I’m so discouraged.  (I’m not going into any of the broken promises – I have termed them “red flags” – there are over 200 posts for you to read if you’re interested in what I’m not happy about)

Well, I believe even Obama is owning up to the first year not being all that it could have been.  That’s good.  It’s refreshing to have a president who believes that it’s not beneath the dignity of a US president to admit mistakes.  I’m sure if you talked to George W Bush today, he’d still be reluctant to admit that anything he did was a mistake.  I’m positive that he’d still claim that destabilizing the middle east by invading Iraq under falst pretenses was not a mistake.  So, from that standpoint (and many others) Obama is a BREATH OF FRESH AIR.  However, as I’ve stated many times on this site, being better than Bush is not good enough for me.  When I voted for change, I actually thought there would be change.  I was ready for a president who would let the whole system be shut down to call out the republicans on their CRAP!  We still have a democratic party who cowers at the word filibuster (and they have a 58 member caucus!).  FOR GOD’S SAKE make the “you know what’s” ACTUALLY FILIBUSTER!  Bring in the cots (and bring in extra cameras with them) so that the American people can see these republicans for what they are.

For some reason Obama and the democrats don’t want to do that.  They continue to “play nice” with the republicans.  And, I can tell you, the republicans could care less about anything Obama and the democrats do (does anyone picture republicans “playing nice?”).  They will continue what they’re doing until the democrats FORCE them to change.  And, that will only happen when the Amercian people are painfully aware of what these republicans are all about.  Based on the exerpts I’ve heard of Obama’s speech, the commentary I’ve heard from TV pundits, and the hour of Randi Rhodes I heard tonight driving home from my work, I’m convinced that the president and his supporters still “don’t get it” regarding the “populist rage” they’re trying to counteract with their “new” words and proposals.  Randi Rhodes, tonight, did it again to me.  I listen to her a lot, I have a lot of respect for her, yet she continues to call the progressives “stupid” who call her show and tonight, worse than that, she was cow-towing to the “tea baggers” who were calling (claiming GW Bush was a “liberal” of all things).

And, to me, Randi has become the left wing version of the radio talk show host shill.  She can defend anything President Obama does – NO MATTER WHAT.  As Rhodes was essentially calling one of her listeners out, a listener who was a progressive, who was frustrated, and who was trying to get Randi to “tell the truth” to the “tea baggers” who call her show – Randi said something along the lines of “I want to talk TO them (“tea baggers”), not talk AT them.”  It was when she finished speaking to this caller (who, based on the conversation, I had surmised to be a very intelligent Black woman who was tired of President Obama being the brunt of racist garbage from the so-called “tea bagger” movement) that I realized Rhodes was doing to the progressives what she didn’t want to do to the “tea baggers.”  That is, she was talking AT THEM.  She referred to this woman – and in the process progressives (like me) who would agree with the woman – as STUPID.  I have heard Rhodes do this OVER AND OVER.  Presonally, I thought the woman was “right on.”  I’m, like her, tired of giving these right wing republicans and their “tea bagger” people any respect at all.  Contrary to what Rhodes said, they are racist by nature.  Yes, they’re angry about what’s going on in America, but the reason they’re so vulnerable to the scheming slugs like Dick Armey and Larry Klayman of “Freedom Watch” (don’t you just love the names these right wingers give themselves – these guys, ‘Freedom Watch,’ promote the corporatocracy that leads to fascism) is because of their racist tendencies – and, in case you’ve missed it, our President is the son of a Black person.  There’s no other rational explanation for it to me – check out the signs at their rallies – IT’S DISGUSTING – and it’s time we called it what it is!  (if they were really angry about an intrusive government, you’d think they would have been on the streets during the Bush years)

I don’t want to beat up on Obama (OK, maybe a little), but I just don’t agree with much of what he’s doing and I believe that MILLIONS of so-called progressives are right there with me.  Again, based on what I’ve heard of last nights speech, the direction President Obama is being pulled by the democratic defeat in Massachusetts and the so-called “populist rage,” is to the right.  That is what BUGS ME!  For some reason, the president (and people like Rhodes) think all the discontent out there is from the right.  Therefore, I’m seriously afraid we’re going to see MORE attempts to placate conservatives in this next year.  Someone’s forgetting:  THEY (conservatives) WERE THE ONES WHO SCREWED THINGS UP!  These conservatives just won’t go away based on the efforts of our president and his supporters like Rhodes.  I don’t know when Obama, Rhodes, and the democrats are going to figure out that we ARE AT WAR!  The republicans feel empowered because the DEMOCRATS LET THEM!  The republicans are a racist party, they believe in welfare for the rich, their leader – Rush Limbaugh – encouraged Americans NOT to help the Haitians after the devastating earthquake a couple weeks ago (democrats should be reminding voters of that EVERY DAY), the new senator from Massachusetts believes in torture (and believe me, it will be “back” if the republicans manage to get back in power – which will only happen after the democrats PROVE they can’t govern), and the more Obama moves toward them the worse it is for the rest of us.

Some of what I heard last night that bothered me:  a three year spending freeze (on non-military spending) to cut the deficit, (I hope I heard this next one wrong) opening up our coastal areas to more “offshore drilling,”  an increase in “clean coal” energy (is there such a thing?), and I forget the other one (OK, now I remember the other one – nuclear power – did I hear him right, proposing more nuclear power plants?  I hope not), but it all sounded like more placating of the right.  I can tell you one thing – IT WASN’T THE “RIGHT” WHO ELECTED THIS PRESIDENT!  Everytime he tries to reach out to these weird people who will NEVER be in his corner (it would be great if I was wrong on this one – but, I’ve become a realist in my old age) Obama loses support from the “people who got him there.”  That is where the real danger lies, in progressives just getting turned off by the whole process.  Obama, Rhodes, and everyone else who wants to see him be a two term president (that includes ME) need to understand that MUCH of his “base” are people under the age of 35.  THEY WILL STAY HOME IF THEY FEEL THEY’RE BEING IGNORED.  I think President Obama is getting BAD ADVICE from all fronts.  Why else would he still be reaching out to the very people who are “betting” everything on his defeat.  Now, Obama even has Randi Rhodes talking “nice” to these racist thugs.  Maybe someday I’ll come around and understand what they’re doing – but, it hasn’t happened yet.  I believe with all my heart that to turn things around in this nation we need President Obama (and his supporters like Randi Rhodes) to talk AT the “tea baggers” and talk TO their progressive supporters!  It is the sense of betrayal President Obama is giving his “base” that is causing the plummeting pole numbers.

How do you spell disheartened?  Well, however you spell it, I get the sense that a HUGE part of the progressive community in America is either there or heading there.  The “light at the end of the tunnel” that looked so bright to me when Barack Obama was sworn in as President is contracting at an alarming rate.  Actually, the “red flags” as I called it, went up prior to his inauguration as I watched in disbelief while President-elect Obama made one curious selection after another when setting up his cabinet and his circle of advisors.  I knew little about Rahm Emanuel, but what little I had heard was ALL BAD.  Talk about your “consummate” politician – your “political insider” – your “same old same old” Washington politician.  My first thought was, “How can that lead to the ‘change I can believe in’?”

Then there came Tim Geithner.  Again, I knew little about Geithner because I live on the “left coast” and he was the chairman of the New York Fed (as well as – by my understanding – another Treasury Secretary who was a ‘devotee’ of Goldman Sachs).  However, me putting two plus two together led me to believe that Geithner had an unknown complicity in the meltdown that actually guaranteed victory for Obama.  I mean, how could  a majority of voters pick a candidate like John McCain who claimed “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” while it was actually crumbling as he spoke?  (considering McCain’s “great foresight” in his choice for VP – everytime I think of my disappointment in Obama I’m reminded the choice was McCain/Palin – OH MY GOD!)  Since President Obama’s inauguration EVERYTHING I’ve learned about Geithner has further caused me to wonder what it is that our President sees in this guy as our nation is heeving at her sides from the strain of the unemployed and underemployed workers?  Wall Street banks are making BILLIONS yet loans to small businesses which fuel employment are MINISCULE. (OK, you guessed right, the “too big to fail” banks are gambling with cheap money from the Fed again)

Of course, I’ve mentioned several times on this site – I started saying this PRIOR TO THE INAUGURATION – what was Obama thinking that caused him to choose Larry Summers as his chief economic “analyst.”  Again, Summer’s history put him right in the middle of the meltdown that Obama was chosen to “fix.”  Did anyone besides me find it ironic that McCain’s economic advisor (and presumably he would have been Treasury Secretary had McCain won) was Phil Gramm while Obama’s chief advisor was Larry Summers?  These two economic “geniuses” were instrumental in repealing the Glass Steagall Act which had been in place since the years after the Great Depression to prevent banks from doing EXACTLY what they’ve been doing since Gramm and Summers “had their way” with the rest of us.  All these “investment banks” such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and formerly Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers were prohibited from collaborating with commercial banks such as Chase, Bank of America, etc. and insurance companies.   The result of what became known as Gramm-Leach-Bliley has been the merging of commercial banks, investment banks, and insurance companies to form corporations who are now considerd “too big to fail.”  Thus, the rationale for the so-called “TARP” bailout of AIG, Goldman, B of A, etc.  (actually, as far as I can tell, the TARP funds that Bank of America got were used to buy Merrill Lynch – certainly not to get “lending” going again).

I figured out that President Obama’s view of the military changed dramatically once he became “commander in chief.”  Somehow, I felt he was trying to convince republicans that he wasn’t “weak.”  Therefore, we’re still in Iraq at almost pre “surge” levels ONE YEAR after Obama took office.  He has NO INTENTION of getting our troops out of Iraq in the 16 month timeframe he PROMISED in the campaign.  (in fact, it’s unclear to me whether or not he’s bought the military “coolaid” that we need to leave a substantial level of troops there indefinitely)  He’s due for his first “State of the Union” speech and it will be very interesting how he approaches the subject of Iraq.  Will he even mention it?  My guess is that if he does, it will be in passing and he will frame any comments he makes in what a wonderful military we have and what a great job they’re doing over there (where they don’t belong) and he won’t mention that he’s following the “timetable” negotiated by GW Bush (and, likewise, paying for it with borrowed money).  President Obama, when looking at this realistically, has shown not ONE OUNCE of leadership when it comes to Iraq.  (our brave soldiers are still having their lives ruined every day over there – where they don’t (and never did) belong – to “save face” for America – remember Viet Nam – deja vu all over again!)

We’re also about 60,000 troops deeper into Afganistan.  All this to the tune of close to 200 BILLION DOLLARS per year (including Iraq) that “We the people” don’t have.  We’re STILL BORROWING money to pay for military adventurism.  The truth is that the United States CONTINUES to have troops stationed all over the world at a huge expense to the taxpayers – but a CONTINUING BOON to the “military industrial complex” – with NO END IN SIGHT.  President Obama is responding to David Patreaus in the same manner that George Bush did.  I know that Obama is sensitive to the comparisons to Bush – I’ve heard some people call it “Bush-lite” – but, the reality is WHAT IT IS!  And, after all of this, does ANYONE think that Barack Obama has convinced ONE REPUBLICAN that he’s “strong?”  Is there anyone out there who believes there is a republican ANYWHERE who’s going to support this president ON ANYTHING?  Well, I’m sure you can tell, if there is anyone, it sure as heck is NOT ME!

 I was really hoping President Obama would try to convince ME he was not weak.  (I could have said strong)  How could he have done that?  Well, he got off to a good start when he set a ONE YEAR timetable for closing GITMO – of course, this is another timetable that appears to have been words only.  Soon after making his stand on GITMO our new president started a STARTLING string of curious actions which seemed to play into the hands of the republicans.  It  was almost as if Obama didn’t understand there’s a war for the heart and soul of this nation going on and he’s a CENTRAL FIGURE.  He wasn’t elected to make nice to republicans.  He was elected to CHANGE the course of Washington.  Just showing leadership in the FIGHT to “right” the “wrongs” of the Bush administration would have gone a long way to keep my support.  Well, where then has he failed?   I’m not going to go into that in too much detail – if you are interested in my thoughts I’ve got over 200 posts, and curiously (I’m only a 6th grade school teacher) – I think my advice to the president has been much more accurate than what he’s been getting from Emanuel, Geithner, Summers, and the others he’s surrounded himself with.

I’m going to go chronological – because if you’ve been here before you’re likely to know what my number one gripe is.  But, let’s start with the so-called “stimulus” package.  That was an early “red flag” for me, because it was pared back considerably to get 3 republican votes.  The bill could have been passed using reconciliation – EASILY – with a full slate of “projects” to refurbish the sagging infrastructure of this nation – and instead we got a smaller bill with tax cuts for the people still working instead of help for those who weren’t (I’m one lucky enough to still be working – would have GLADLY gone without the $40 or so that came my way from the tax cut each month – it might even be less than that).  Now, the word is out that Obama is going to implement a “freeze” on NON MILITARY (naturally – who would have guessed) government spending – my guess is this will FURTHER EXACERBATE the unemployment situation (is he still trying to please republicans?)  Obviously, the additional “stimulus” that is needed at this time AINT GOING TO HAPPEN – unless you consider the stimulus that will result from the escalation in Afganistan.  As far as I can tell, the Massechusetts senate election has put our president into “panic mode” and we will have more poorly thought out decisions coming.  (I honestly wish I didn’t feel this way – and, as usual, I HOPE I’M WRONG)  It’s almost as if President Obama and the LARGE MAJORITIES OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS are afraid of republicans.  I think that is what is most disheartening!

OK, I know I’m repeating myself but this is MAJOR so you know that I couldn’t go without bringing this next thing up.  President Obama chose Eric Holder as Attorney General.  I had NO knowledge of him.  At this point in time, I wish Obama would treat Holder as if he was a fish which was too small – and THROW HIM BACK!  What has this guy done?  Well, his most significant move was to throw out the conviction of Alaska’s Ted Stevens (a republican – of course) for prosecutorial misconduct.  To make matters seem more convoluted, he’s left the conviction of Donald Seigelman in tact – but Seigelman was a democrat who was targeted by Karl Rove and the “Bush Crime family,” so I guess that’s territory that Holder won’t “tread.”  Holder – with Obama’s blessing – has turned his back on our previous president and vice president who ADMITTED on national TV to committing WAR CRIMES.  Bush – everyone knows this – violated FISA THOUSANDS OF TIMES – everytime he did it, he was committing a FELONY – but, for some reason Holder (and Obama) don’t want to go there (are they wiretapping?).  Dick Cheney committed treason (outing a CIA agent) along with being a war profiteer (while if not illegal – deserves investigation and castigation), Donald Rumsfeld authorized torture and was also a war profiteer – as the DEFENSE SECRETARY!  And, this torture led to several deaths – including the recently exposed MURDER of three “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo – and Holder (with Obama’s blessing, evidently) doesn’t want to investigate.  The only explanation for this is that Holder (and Obama) can’t see the “forest for the trees” – or – unfortunately, if not that, then the only other conclusion I can come to is that they are doing the same things that they should be investigating Bush/Cheney for.

President Obama, recently, has come out supporting strictor regulations of the Wall Street Banks that are snubbing their noses at the very taxpayers who bailed them out.  Obama has finally figured out that there’s a lot of “populist rage” out there.  Unfortunately, I’m not at all convinced that he’ll get this right either.  It seems that President Obama sees everything from the “prism” that for him to remain successful he has to placate republicans.  I’m afraid he’ll take the results from Massachusetts and interpret it as some kind of republican “steamroller” on the loose.  I interpret it as a large group of progressive voters in a “Blue” state – doing what I (and MANY OTHERS) have been predicting for months – STAYING HOME, not voting at all.  Then you have all the “independents” who are going to vote against the establishment until they get the message – which, apparently isn’t going to be anytime soon.  And, I’m afraid Obama’s going to increase his attempts to placate “conservatives” as the result of the Massachusetts debacle – when he should be doing whatever it takes to ENERGIZE LIBERALS!  Without his liberal base (I’ve been trying to tell him this since before his election) he’s not only a ONE TERM PRESIDENT, but a TOTAL FAILURE as a president.

Obama’s decision to essentially PARDON Bush/Cheney will go down as one of the MAJOR BLUNDERS of all time.  Here’s why: as the President continues to grapple with where he stands on issues, he will be undermining his own chances for re-election and with that the democratic control of congress.  If the republicans manage to gain control of either the White House or Congress in the near future – THAT WILL BE THE REASON WHY!  If the American public had any idea what had been done under Bush, I’m convinced the republicans would be an afterthought.  THEY’D BE TOTALLY ON THE DEFENSIVE – and, then being the party of “NO” would truly BACKFIRE on them.  As it stands, we have a president who will soon be considered an “empty message” if he doesn’t figure out that trying to be the democratic version of Ronald Reagan is a BAD IDEA!  I’m a school teacher and I’m hearing several of my workmates saying they don’t even want to watch the “State of the Union” speech – the reality is that Obama’s losing credibility with the “ones that got him there.”  And, he seems to be the last one to figure this out.  I have no doubt that Rahm Emanuel is telling him something like, “Don’t worry, they’ll be there when you need their votes.”  Well, I believe the message of Massachusetts is saying just the opposite.  Do you honestly think there’s anything President Obama can say in the State of the Union address that will please republicans?  I’m still waiting for him to do something that pleases me.

One thing that both conservatives and liberals can agree on is that the politicians in Washington are out of touch.  Of course, they view the problem in almost opposite directions, but at least there’s “bipartisanship” on something in America these days.  Myself, falling on the liberal side of the “problem” fail to understand WHAT’S WRONG with these democrats.  I guess the real problem I’m having is that the only place I can go for “relief” from republicans is to the democrats – the reality is that America is a two party system of government and I don’t realistically see that changing anytime soon.  So, we have a real problem here – witness the first year of Barack Obama’s term as president.

Don’t get me wrong.  I REALLY LIKE President Obama.  I think he’s a brilliant, honorable, man of integrity.  I think he’s working his “tail” off trying to fix the MESS he inherited from the despised (even by republicans) Bush administration.  The problem, as I see it, is that Obama and the democrats are WAY TO trusting of the system, and WAY TO stuck on protocal to fully understand the motivations and the methods of republicans.  The republicans are ALWAYS one step ahead of the democrats – EVEN WHEN IT APPEARS the democrats are winning!  Take for example the Obama presidency for starters.

I fully believe the republicans had a “four year” strategy for Obama’s presidency RIGHT FROM THE START.  They’ve been trying to TOTALLY UNDERMINE the American system of government as it emerged from the New Deal of FDR since the inauguration of Ronald Reagan.  They have masterfully figured out how to turn the voters against their (the voters themselves) very own self interest.  They understand the nuances of our system and they’re using our own system to undermine it.  While they talk about the “founding fathers” they’re trying to undo everything the founding fathers intended by using the system against itself.

The intent of the republicans, dating back to the 80’s and Reagan’s emergence on the scene, has been – and continues to be – a PERMANENT REPUBLICAN MAJORITY!  They’ve actually made no secrets about this – which is why it’s so astonishing to me in watching the democrats stumble along as if these republicans are going to “play ball” with them.  I mean, in the last election – where most everyone knew it would take a miracle for the republicans to win after GW Bush – the democrats final two choices came down to a Black man and a WOMAN.  Now, the republicans tried to prove that they didn’t have anything against women by putting Sarah Palin on the scene, but – remember – the democrat’s woman was Hillary Clinton.  If there’s anyone the republicans might despise more than a Black president it would be Hillary Clinton as president.

Knowing it was almost CERTAIN they were going to lose the White House due to the COMPLETE INCOMPETENCY of GW Bush I believe their plan changed to allow for four years of democratic rule during which they would purposely undermine EVERY THING the democrats attempted with an eye for taking over again in 2012.  And, I know also that democrats are pretty “cocky” thinking the republicans are going to put Sarah Palin on the ticket, but I’m convinced there’s another Bush “laying in the weeds” who will be a lot more formidable.  So far the democrats still haven’t figured out that there’s a war going on here.  This war is for the heart and soul of this nation.  And, if the democrats don’t wake up pretty soon, fixing the MESS left behind by Bush and company will be almost beyond the realm of possibility.  In fact, we’ll all be reliving it!

Here’s what the republicans are going to do – and their plan is coming together, I’m sure, almost exactly as they had planned.  They understand that the democrats are SPINELESS – by and large.  Also, most of the democrats have a conscience and most of the democrats believe in “bipartisanship.”  The republicans are exploiting both of those tendencies TO THE HILT.  Just as they “tricked” the American public and lied us into Iraq, they’re going to “trick” us again and attempt to use their secret weapon (the Supreme Court) to help them lie their way back into the White House. 

In the past couple days there has been a HUGE CLAMOR over the Supreme Court’s decision to essentially rule the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law designed to limit corporate spending on elections to be unconstitutional.  And, it’s true that all the clamoring is justified.  THIS IS BAD!  Really bad!  However, any democrat paying attention knew this was coming for months.  This decision AMPLIFIES one of the parts of the republican strategy.  That was to STACK the Supreme Court with idealogues who will vote in accordance with whoever it is in the background pulling the strings for all the shills we have to listen to every day who call themselves republicans.  (I can’t wait to hear John McCain come out and support this Court decision)

This ruling exacerbates the idea that a corporation has the same constitutional rights as an individual.  Well, that’s absurd on it’s face and as I ponder it – my first thought is, “Only in America.”  We’ve all been brainwashed for so many years that we actually believe some of the phony ideals that our politicians so disengenuously hammer into our brains until we just assume they MUST BE telling the truth.  I believe the republicans have even convinced most democrats that they believe in these ideals.  Of course their actions BELIE this, but even our democratic politicians seem to be afraid to hold republicans accountable for their actions.  This Supreme Court ruling makes the actions myself – AND MANY OTHERS – have been calling for for months EVEN MORE IMPERATIVE!  If the democrats fail to stand up to the reality of a country where corporations now have UNLIMITED ability to influence elections by spending UNLIMITED amounts of money, well we’re all in trouble (except, of course, for the corporations).

Actually, eventually even the corporations will be in trouble, because their greed will only GROW if they are able to manipulate who is holding office in this country.  EVERY BUBBLE EVENTUALLY BURSTS!  It’s just that the fallout from this one could be disastrous to our country as we now know it.  If you are happy with MONEY being our God, corporations with unlimited access to our legislative system, corporations able to determine who’s president, and the mean spirited republicans of the Bush era being in control for the forseeable future, well, you probably are happy with the ruling.  For those of us who think it’s RIGHT to call TORTURE illegal, for those of us who believe our military should be used ONLY to defend our nation or our allies, for those of us who believe in the bill of rights and the constitution AS WRITTEN, for those of us who believe in a Justice Department which administers our laws in a non-partisan manner, for those of us who DON’T believe in corporate welfare, for those of us who believe in a vibrant middle class, and especially for those of us who have grown children and grandchildren (baby boomers) it’s a time to be ashamed of what the leaders of our era have turned this nation into.

This ruling sets the stage for a BOMBARDMENT of corporate spending in the next two elections and you only had to see who was cheering the verdict to understand what that means.  Mitch McConnell (the minority leader of the Senate – that means he’s a republican) hasn’t had a smile that big on his face since Trent Lott claimed we’d all have been better off if SEGREGATIONIST Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948 over Harry Truman (I’m not sure if the smile then was more that he believed what Lott said, or that he knew the result would put him one step closer to being the republican leader in the Senate).  John Boehner, the republican leader in the House, was so giddy that it looked as if he spent extra time in the tanning booth while he was gloating.  He proclaimed this was a “victory for free speech.”  Can you picture this, Exxon now has the same free speech rights as you or I!  What kind of person would see that as a victory for free speech?  What do you think the future of the energy bill is, or the fight against global warming?  And, these republicans have convinced this STUPID tea bagger group that they (the republicans) are for the “little guy.”

So, this ruling by essentially the same court who put GW Bush into office, is the “ace” in the hole for the republicans in their plan for only a four year hiatus from the White House.  This is EXACTLY why I’ve been so upset with the President who I was so supportive of while he was running for the office.  Somehow, I was convinced he – of all people – understood what these republicans were like.  As soon as I saw him spending more time wooing the votes he had NO CHANCE to get from them, and ignoring the very voters who put him in office, I KNEW WE WERE IN TROUBLE!  I’ve railed almost since his inauguration hoping that somehow there would be enough voices calling Obama out for his “milk toast” approach to the problems he inherited – but to no avail!

And, now things are VERY SERIOUS!  Thom Hartman has been warning people about this verdict for months.  Everyone SHOULD have known it was coming.  The House member who’s fast becoming my favorite – albeit it will be hard for him to pass Dennis Kucinich or Peter De Fazio – is a man named Alan Grayson from Florida.  He’s a first term member of the House, he had six bills already introduced over a week before this decision became final to counteract the effect of the decision – so it’s obvious he SAW IT COMING!  So, what’s up with the rest of the democrats?  They were asleep at the switch in Massechusetts, they couldn’t fashion a health care bill that was acceptable to the American people (you know, the same old CRAP that people are sick of – the “dealmaking” in public – they JUST COULDN’T STOP THEMSELVES), and they’re acting as if they were blindsided by this verdict.  I’m so uneasy depending on THEM to carry the fight against  these devious republicans – it’s borderline depressing!

OK, so what do the democrats do now?  Well, my tune hasn’t changed hardly at all – it just seems MORE DESPERATE that the democrats come to their senses.  President Obama gave me a “sliver” of reason for hope a day or two ago.  The day after the MALE NUDE MODEL (and I’m not talking about Sarah Palin’s would be son in law) won Ted Kennedy’s seat for the republicans in the Senate Obama proposed something akin to the Glass Steagall act in an attempt to “reign in” the big Wall Street banks.  Glass Steagall was a victim of the deregulation done during the last years of the Clinton administration.  This was done with the blessing of Larry Summers who is President Obama’s economic advisor and Phil Gramm who was McCain’s economic advisor (do you get why many besides me were disheartened when Obama “hitched his wagon” to Summers?) and many (including myself) feel that the removal of this law was instrumental in the financial collapse of 2008.  I hope and pray that Obama can pull this off, but he’ll have to fight like H E double toothpick to succeed – especially now that this latest Supreme Court ruling has opened the flood gates to corporat spending in our elections. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m not real confident there’s a lot of Senators who are going to be willing to take on the rath of Goldman Sachs – fresh off a quarter with almost 5 BILLION in earnings, almost all of it through GAMBLING with “FREE” money from the Fed.  If Goldman Sachs is planning on giving bonuses that amount to close to TWO BILLION DOLLARS – how much do you think they’re going to be willing to spend to prevent President Obama from DOWNSIZING them?  And, if Goldman doesn’t have enough money to “rig” the next couple elections, well there’s always Bank of America and Morgan Stanley Chase who will be spending “shoulder to shoulder” with them.  And, then think of the money the oil companies have.  I guarantee you Obama is more of a target already than he was just a week ago!

So, I’m going to give our president some advice (again!).  If you’re a regular around here, you might want to tune out at this point, because I’ve been harping on my NUMBER ONE PRIORITY since before Obama put his hand on Lincoln’s Bible!  ORDER Eric Holder to start naming special prosecutors for the KNOWN deeds of the Bush administration – and here’s a good place to start!  Almost hidden in the events of the last week is the FACT that interest in the THREE “enemy combatants” found HANGING in their cells at GITMO with their hands tied behind their backs, with their feet tied together, with wads of cloth jammed so far down their throats their jaws had to be broken to get the cloth out, and who were DEAD for hours before the bodies were “discovered” – BY GUARDS WHO WERE SUPPOSEDLY WALKING THE CORRIDORS CONTINUOUSLY – has been renewed.  Of course, the original determination of death was – HOLD YOUR BREATH – suicide!  That’s right, they crammed wads of cloth so far down their own throats that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to take another breath, they THEN tied their feet together, and THEN somehow managed to tie their hands behind their backs, and THEN MIRACULOUSLY were still able to climb up on a stool or something as such, put a noose around their neck, and then hang themselves.  THREE DIFFERENT PRISONERS, IN THREE DIFFERENT CELLS, ALL IN THE SAME MIRACULOUS MANNER AT THE SAME TIME!

We Americans must have become COMPLET IDIOTS if we are going to allow our leaders to convince us of that ridiculous lie.  I know that we’re all calloused by politician after politician lying to us – BUT ISN’T THAT ONE A BIT TOO RIDICULOUS?  And, it almost puts me into COMPLETE DEPRESSION when I hear that Eric Holder’s Justice Department doesn’t find those circumstances a bit “fishy.”  Do the republicans have something on Obama and Holder?  What is keeping them from investigating an administration that was akin to the mafia?  There was the KNOWN TORTURE, there was the KNOWN ILLEGAL WIRETAPPING, there was the KNOWN OUTING OF A CIA AGENT, there was the KNOWN LYING US INTO WAR, there was the KNOWN WAR PROFITEERING by the very people who lied us into the war, there was the KNOWN POLITICIZING OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, there was the constant stream of Bush surrogates (including the infamous Karl Rove) who REFUSED TO ANSWER SUBPOENAS, and there was the former head of Goldman Sachs allowing his arch competitor Lehman Brothers to collapse prior to “bailing out” his OWN SELF INTEREST. 

These are all MADE TO ORDER scandals that the democrats could have in front of the voters for the next couple of years while they attempt to gather the courage to actually take up the battle in the REAL WAR that is threatening this nation.  That’s the war “within” which is pitting the republicans – and their corporate cronies – against “WE THE PEOPLE.”  The problem I’m having in all this is I’m afraid the democrats will decide their best course of action will be to “compete” for all the money that’s bound to be thrown around by the corporate heads who are soon to be deciding the fate of all of us.  We need people like Alan Grayson in our Congress, BUT WHO DO YOU THINK WILL BE ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TARGETED by the big corporate heads?  I believe, if you’re reading this blog, you know the answer to that question.  “We the people” can’t afford to give the democrats in congress more than a few months to find out if they’re up for the battle that looms.  If not, then IT REALLY IS TIME FOR A THIRD PARTY! 

Obama’s first step (bringing back Glass Steagall) was encouraging – but if he continues to fear the reprisals of investigating the republicans under Bush, he will be a one term president.  And, if the democrats think they’re going to get their “fair share” of the corporate “donations” – maybe a better way to put it is that if they think they can “out-prostitute” the republicans – they’re dreaming.  The only way to win this battle is to FIGHT!  Take them on STRAIGHT UP!  If another republican gets into the White House in 2012 just the damage of THE SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS will be a lasting legacy of this corporate greed for several generations to come.  THIS IS NOW GETTING REALLY SERIOUS!  Earth to Democrats, America’s at war and I’m not talking about Afganistan or Iraq!

I’m a long time independent voter who supported nothing but Democrats in the last two elections due to the complete incompetence of GW Bush.  In fact, I voted for Democrats in 2000 because I could see what was coming regarding Bush.  The ONLY thing that surprised me about Bush’s administration is that I had miscalculated how EVIL Dick Cheney was and how much influence he would manage to GRAB during Bush’s term in office – especially, the first 6 years.  In fact, now that I have my thought for the evening going, I started getting really turned off by Republicans after the election of Ronald Reagan and the ALL OUT ASSAULT on America’s unions that followed.  It was Reagan who turned the Republican party into the “trickle down,” greedy – cut taxes for the wealthy – group who have disdain for the New Deal which built the middle class of this nation into the envy of the rest of the world.  The dirty tricktsters with the attitude of WINNING AT ANY COST started with Nixon, but hit “full speed ahead” under Reagan.  Over the 30+ years of the “Reaganomics,” or voodoo economics, as George HW Bush called it in the 1980 campaign, this nation’s government has been depleted to the point where republicans had almost succeeded in destroying it (with the exception of their masterful way of collecting corporate welfare!)

So, with all the damage done by the previous administration, everything SHOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD – AND GO – for President Obama once he took office.  Well, tonight the results are in from Massachusetts and the nude MALE model running as a right wing Republican for Ted Kennedy’s senate seat appears to be “in,”  therefore OFFICIALLY ending the fiasco of the 60 vote democratic majority in the Senate.  (there’s hope for Sarah Palin’s son in law after all :o)  The other night I wrote a post hoping that Obama would “get it” no matter the result in Massachusetts – because everyone knew that, at best, the democratic candidate Martha Coakley would win in a close race, and it was possible Kennedy’s seat would go to a republican.  The democrats hit the panic button a week or two prior to the vote – not even considering the people of Massachusetts would think of such a thing.  Well, all I can tell you is that I’ve been predicting JUST THIS for MONTHS NOW!  I still fail to understand why a 6th grade teacher on the “left coast” could figure this out, and our leaders in Washington seem almost CLUELESS!

I’m trying not to get angry at them.  But, when I look at this from a purely selfish point of view (that’s what we Americans have evolved to, isn’t it, SELFISH?) I get pretty upset.  I mean, I feel as if I was tricked during the last election.  And, it’s not that President Obama isn’t a lot better than ANYTHING the republicans could come up with, because he is.  It’s just that he promised “change I could believe in,” he said, “now is our time, America” – as if something was going to be different.  But, other than what you would expect from a change of party in the White House, NOT MUCH IS DIFFERENT!  I mean, everything that’s come out of Washington seems just like BUSINESS AS USUAL to me.  And, I’m even tired of all the pundits that don’t seem to “get it.”

I listen to a lot of progressive radio (and, some conservative – just to keep a little perspective) when I’m driving to and from work.  I do believe some of the “talkers” do understand the pent up POPULIST rage in this country that comes from both THE RIGHT AND THE LEFT!  But, by and large, many of the people who SHOULD be on Obama’s side DON’T seem to “get it,” and it’s not doing him any favors.  Tonight, on the way home from work I listened to Randi Rhodes – who was still predicting that Coakley would win in Massachusetts – go over this long list of reasons why Brown – the republican candidate who eventually won Kennedy’s seat – is “just a shill.”  Randi, who I believe is VERY INTELLIGENT, was pointing to all the republican initiatives the man was supporting without knowing why.  Well, to me, Rhodes has become a shill for Barack Obama.  And, he DOESN’T NEED THAT – he needs someone to be telling him the truth.

Caller after caller tries to tell Randi what the problem is, and she continually uses the excuse that “we don’t really have a 60 vote majority in the senate,” or “it’s Washington and you (meaning the caller) are stupid – and don’t understand how things work here.” Tonight, she even claimed that it was Harry Reid who insisted that Joe Lieberman be given his “chairmanship” of a committee in the democratically controlled senate despite his TURN-COAT support of John McCain and Sarah Palin in the last election (can you just imagine where we’d all be if Lieberman’s judgement was honored on that one?).  Well, the CALLER WAS CORRECT in pointing out that Barack Obama was the one who told Reid to give Lieberman his “committee.”  I specifically remember the President elect  insisting that the democrats “forgive” Lieberman in order to keep him in their caucus.  And, I expect them to continue to do this even though they’ve lost the “magic” 60 vote majority because Obama will hold out hope that some republican will jump ship in the next year.  THIS IS BORDERLINE STUPID!

Obama’s advisors, like Rahm Emanuel, Timothy Geithner, and Larry Summers are ALL long time political Washington insiders who DO NOT represent change.  In a brief answer to people like Rhodes – many of us DO understand how Washington works, AND THAT’S WHAT WE VOTED TO CHANGE!  It’s like the threat of a filibuster makes democrats run for cover.  No one’s willing to FIGHT the good fight in Washington DC.  The health care bill is going to be a joke – unless you’re an insurance company who’s going to get government subsidized customers by the millions – with only a few strings attatched that can easily be worked around.  That bill took up almost an entire session of Congress while millions upon millions of good American jobs were lost in the “real world.”  And what do we hear from Geithner – “it’s going to take years to recover these jobs – this could be a jobless recovery.”  That’s JUST NOT ACCEPTABLE. 

And, how about the Black community, or the hispanic community who rested such high hopes on our new President.  What has he done OVERTLY – in a way that shows STRONG LEADERSHIP – to address their needs.  The unemployment rate – and, I mean the REAL unemployment rate – I’m sure, in the Black communities around America is in the 20’s AND RISING!  Tonight Rhodes listed 91 “promises” Obama had kept from his original state of the Union speech.  I didn’t hear them all, but I’m ABSOLUTELY SURE there was some SERIOUS SPINNING to come up with the list.  So, let me give you the list which represents why the people of Massachusetts voted to end the health care debate – and most of the rest of the democratic agenda, unless democrats can draw up the nerve to use the reconciliation process in the senate.

First – as I’ve stated OVER AND OVER on this site – it was a HUGE MISTAKE to essentially PARDON George W Bush and Dick Cheney before they were even investigated for what EVERYONE who’s been paying any attention at all knows are crimes.  (Well, the new Senator from Massachusetts thinks that waterboarding is NOT TORTURE despite the fact he was a JAG in the Military)  I”m telling you, if the Republicans get back in the White House, the torturing will RECOMMENCE – and I will blame Obama – for not putting a FINAL STOP to it by allowing the prosecution of Bush/Cheney – AND EVERYONE ELSE INVOLVED!  That was really bad in itself – AND TURNED OFF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS!  It was a no-brainer, it had to be done to protect our constitution from the Bush/Cheney assault, and it would have prevented what happened tonight in Massechusetts because the reality of what those two did would still be FRONT AND CENTER.

Secondly, we need a President who CLEARLY understands the gravity of the UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM.  The figure of 10% is the government’s way of using statistics to make a horrible situation look a little better – I’m sure the real rate is far closer to 20%.  Also, how about the FACT, almost all our troops are still in Iraq and they won’t be home before the end of 2011 – if they’re home then – remember the 16 month timeline?  Nobody associated with the President even talks about that now – as if us “stupid” progressives don’t “get” what has happened.  (we’ve been trying to get our troops home from there since before 2006’s election) Of course, President Obama evidently felt that there would be no backlash for the “bushlike” escalation in Afganistan which will probably net the same result the “surge” did in Iraq.  Let me explain something about the “surge” in Iraq.  It has just put off the inevitable clash between the Sunni and Shia which will happen at some point in time.  Moqtada al Sadr is just waiting, I’m sure, for the American troops to leave after which  he’ll return from Iran.  I believe I understand this one – the cultural rift between the Shia and Sunni in Iraq goes back thousands of years and won’t be “fixed” by our “surge.”  Another issue: President Obama is INEXPLICABLY defending the Bush wiretapping policy in court – do you think he’s doing the same thing?  Why would he defend felonious violations of the FISA law?  And, of course, there’s the health care legislation which those who supported Obama don’t now support EN MASSE – due to the NORMAL watering down, bartering with special favors, THAT REPRESENTS BUSINESS AS USUAL in DC.  I certainly would have stood firm with the President had he been willing to take these republicans on.  At the present rate, he’s an EASY TARGET for them.  THEY HAVE NO CONSCIENCE – and they’ll do anything they can to win – the TRUTH means NOTHING to them!

Tonight I listened to Howard Dean, who I also respect, claim that “it’s not time to point fingers – placing blame is for losers.”  Well, I’ve got a different take.  I’ve been pointing fingers for months, and NOBODY’S LISTENING!  If the democrats keep doing what they’re doing they’ll find themselves back in the minority – AND SOONER RATHER THAN LATER!  SOMEONE’S GOT TO POINT FINGERS!  I can tell you, the democrats aren’t doing anything to raise my enthusiasm, but I know where the republicans are coming from and I don’t understand why the democrats would even give them a chance to re-emerge!  Someone needs to talk to our President and clue him in that HE’S THE LEADER!  We need someone out front fighting these “tea-baggers,” and other racist groups who can’t stand the fact that our president is Black.  And, the ONLY way to defeat them, is to take them on STRAIGHT UP!  So far in Obama’s Presidency we’ve seen nothing but “cow-towing” to republicans and conservative democrats.  At some point in our history, SOMEONE’S got to say, ENOUGH ALREADY – and take these people on – calling them what they are and not worrying about what Fox “news,” or any other “news” is going to say.  Our nation is being attacked from within, and those of us outside the “beltway” feel helpless and we’re expecting the leaders we put in Washington to “carry the torch” for us!

I don’t believe for a minute that the people calling Rhodes talk show (and other “progressive” talk shows, for that matter) are stupid, or that they don’t understand Washington.  What I feel people like Obama and Rhodes don’t understand is the sense of frustration people feel from watching these Washington politicians succumb to special interests, ONE BY ONE – with NO ONE willing to take up the aforementioned “torch” for the VOTERS!  If President Obama and Randi Rhodes really want to pass a progressive agenda, then they’re going to have to understand that people don’t want to compromise with these republicans.  WE WANT TO DEFEAT THEM.  I fully understand that I have a very small audience (I’m surprised there’s an audience at all), but I would love to have an opportunity to speak face to face with President Obama.  I would tell him the truth (I’ve written him a couple times, and evidently he doesn’t want to talk to me because I’ve gotten no response).  However, I have a better chance of sometime speaking to Randi Rhodes (although I hear her on tape) – and if that ever happens I would say, “Randi Rhodes, you call Scott Brown a shill for republicans, but aren’t you a shill for President Obama?”

I’m beginning this post after writing a couple times regarding the Limbaugh’s, the Robertson’s, and the other “right” wing people of this nation who have made deplorable comments following the devastating earthquake in Haiti.  And, over the course of the year I’ve expressed my displeasure – on an entirely different level – regarding the decisions of Barack Obama in his first year in office.  But, tonight I want to say how thankful I am that he’s our president based on his actions toward the people of Haiti.  He has shown what a decent person he is in an office where he’s forced to deal with people who are predominantly motivated by money and pure greed.  The contrast between Rush Limbaugh (the defacto head of the republican party) and Barack Obama (the leader of the Democrats) can leave questions in NO ONE’S mind as to who is coming from the right place.

I have been saying from well before President Obama was elected that the only explanation for much of the opposition to him is due to the color of his skin.  In the past few days people like Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, and others in the republican party have only confirmed that suspision.  The republicans are feeling “energized” because the Democrats have done a very poor job of pushing through the MAMMOTH agenda Obama put on the table as he took office in the face of an UNBELIEVABLE MESS left behind by GW Bush and, really, 30+ years of “trickle down” economics.  In my mind, President Obama has made some significant mistakes along the way – not the least of which was the enabling of the criminal activity of the Bush administration and the incompetence of the Republicans in general – they should STILL be the story.

When I heard that our new president was enlisting the help of George W Bush to raise funds for Haiti, it reconfirmed two things to me.  First, he’s a very forgiving and honorable man.  Bush left him a nightmare to deal with – yet, he’s willing to look the other way in order to help the people of Haiti.  Second, the investigation of the Bush administration which I feel is SO NECESSARY for the long-term health of this nation I love – AINT GOING TO HAPPEN.  Somehow I’ve got to bring myself to let that hope go.  I really don’t think our president understands the ramifications of the decision.  I’ve been trying to tell him for over a year, but the reality is that my 100 – 200 visitors each night don’t hold a lot of sway in the White House.

The reality of what I’ve been predicting might possibly show up WAY SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.  There was a time not too long ago when I wouldn’t have even thought Massechusetts would be the state bringing down the health care legislation.  Well, the panic seems to be setting in with the White House and the Democratic party based on the emails I’ve received.  It’s at least VERY POSSIBLE that a republican – who posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine at one time for God’s sake – might take Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts.  Whether that happens or not, lets hope the people surrounding Obama and those supporting him in the “field” (ie Randi Rhodes among others) get the message before it’s too late.  If Obama doesn’t stop taking the liberal base that voted him in for granted, things are going to get a lot worse than losing a senate seat in Kennedy’s home state.

People are SICK of “politics as usual” in Washington, and the health care bill looks too much like politics as usual.  Either the White House has done a TERRIBLE JOB of educating the American people as to what they want in the bill, or they’ve done a terrible job of managing the “battle.”  It appears to a lot more people than myself that even if Obama gets a bill to sign, it’s going to be a good deal for insurance companies and a bad deal for the American people.  When the government starts mandating people to buy insurance, when they start taxing the hard earned health benefits of working people (instead of taxing the wealthiest Americans as the House proposed), when the unemployed see the healthcare “fight” taking almost an entire session of congress while they can’t even get interviews for jobs, while the Wall Street bankers continue to lavish themselves with obscene bonuses at the expense of the people on “main street” – Obama’s “base” won’t vote for republicans – THEY JUST WON’T VOTE!  And, that’s almost as bad!

People would rather see our president fight for the “right” bill – which would include at a minimum the “option” for all Americans to “choose” a public medicare like option – not just the uninsured – and lose, than impose a HORRIBLE compromise that has been manipulated by people like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson.  What is wrong with giving those two people the opportunity to ruin the “right” thing and allow the people to correct the mistake of sending them to Congress.  I believe the American people fully understood that the “change we can believe in” wouldn’t happen over night.  Obama made some terrible political miscalculations and it will all come home to roost if the Democrats lose Kennedy’s seat prior to the President signing the healthcare legislation – which is why the bill will probably not get “saved” at all by the House.  I believe the Democrats all now understand that they should have passed something before the election in Massachusetts just to make sure they’re not “sidetracked.” 

Personally, I hope the House progressive caucus holds their ground, but I don’t have a lot of hope.  Hearing a few nights past that Lieberman was asked into the negotiations made my stomach curl.  That means they’re checking with him to make sure he’s going to vote for whatever comes out of the conference.  Of course, that virtually guarantees that the final bill will be unacceptable to a WIDE RANGE of progressives – and millions of people beside me will be deflated as we accept the FACT that the “change we can believe in” still hasn’t arrived.  As stated above, President Obama is a HUGE upgrade from anything the republicans have to offer, but it’s still the same old same old partisan, lobbyist generated, bartered for votes, watered down, legislation which will come out of Washington.  By the time the Congress gets serious about addressing the MAJOR problem in America right now, UNEMPLOYMENT and UNDEREMPLOYMENT the Democrats will have blown an opportunity to make the republicans go the way of the dinosaurs.

Instead of raising money for the people of Haiti (although money needs to be raised for them – FOR SURE) President Bush should be raising money to defend himself for committing war crimes while representing me and every other American in the White House.  Due to the fact I’m a Christian (I call myself part of the Christian “left”) I’m around republicans ALL THE TIME.  The thing I’ve noticed is that EVEN THEY thought Bush/Cheney should have been held accountable.  It’s like the students in my classroom who act like they’re very mad when held accountable for inappropriate behavior and then end up calling me their “favorite teacher.”  People in this nation instinctively know where the lines should be drawn.  Here’s some places that are WIDELY accepted as “un American:” torture, war profiteering, lying to justify war, outing CIA agents (treason), unfair justice (politicizing the Justice Department), stealing from the “poor” (Wall Street gambling with the money of everyday citizens and then getting rewarded for it by the very people they stole from – the taxpayers – becuase of one of the worst offenders, Henry Paulsen[when he was CEO of Goldman Sachs]).

Everytime I talk to a republican about those issues, they either agree with me that Bush/Cheney should be held accountable or they don’t believe it’s true.  The ones who don’t believe it’s true, when asked what they would think if it was true, say the same things that every other person I talk to says.  THAT STUFF JUST ISN’T OK!  The people who listen to Fox “news” or Limbaugh – from what I can tell, it’s the same audience – and shrinking – have been battered by such unbelievable propoganda it REALLY causes me to wonder; how that can happen in America?  What happened that there is no “oversight” of our media?  Is free speech outright LYING?  Fox “news” is run by a republican operative – Roger Ailes.  That should tell the people who watch it something.  And, of course, Limbaugh has been “pushing” the republican “talking points” since their inception in the mid to late eighties.  These people are like a republican news outlet.  The other day when Limbaugh was encouraging his listening audience NOT TO DONATE TO HAITI I thought, “How could any decent American even listen to this thug?”  The reality is that President Obama has allowed all this to continue by preventing justice from happening regarding the misdeeds of the Bush administration.  And, yes, I’m thankful Obama is in the White House, but – I hope our President “gets” the message from Massechusetts – whether Coakley wins or loses!  The people didn’t vote for him to be “milktoast” with republicans who are trying to destroy this country as it existed after the New Deal.  Success to republicans is measured by corporate profits and, unfortunately, it seems too many democrats as well are buying into that theory!

The other day I essentially “marveled” at how Republicans could take a statement made by Harry Reid during the previous presidential campaign and turn it into a salacious argument on racism.  I’ve thought about Reid’s statement – that Barack Obama was light skinned and spoke WITHOUT a “NEGRO” dialect – which (these characteristics) gave Obama a real chance to become president.  A very poor choice of words, to be sure, for a prominent politician to say to someone who’s writing a book (although, I’m fairly certain Reid was thinking his comments were “off the record”)  Well, just like other similar arguments the “right” (wrong) wing “clamps” onto – because of the ideology of the very people making the argument – Reid’s statement rings true.  Remember the republicans “pouncing” on Obama’s comments about how they divide people to the point where voters unsuspectingly vote against their own self-interests due to “wedge issues” such as guns and religion.   I mean, can you imagine the fuss Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Boehner, McConnell, O’Reilly, and the rest of them would be making if Obama was “dark skinned,” had dreadlocks, and spoke with the “street” dialect?  The sad reality is that it wouldn’t matter how brilliant he was – under those circumstances he’d have no chance – which I believe is the “gist” of what Reid was saying.  Just like the FACT republicans use issues such as abortion, gays, guns, and religion to hide the FACT they support HUGE CORPORATIONS who are stealing Americans blind, supporting and profiting off of illegal and immoral wars, and doing everything in their power to repeal all the benefits of the New Deal in order to destroy the middle class in this great country.

After listening to Limbaugh and some of them acting like BOLD FACED HYPOCRITS following the revelations about Reid’s comments I thought these guys have finally hit the pinnacle of “lowness.”  The phrase I used the other day to give the best analogy I could think of was they reminded me of “The pot calling the kettle black.”  I thought, “They just can’t get any lower.”  Well, I WAS WRONG!!!!  Last night, after just a couple days to digest how TOTALLY disgusting the republicans who identify with people like Limbaugh are things got even worse! (and, I’m sorry to say that – but adults in this country should be able to easily figure out what a lowlife liar he is – I have former friends who believe what he says – that I can’t even bring myself to associate with anymore – I see the racist behavior coming from them and they don’t even recognize it’s happening and they get REALLY MAD and defensive when it’s pointed out to them – not just by me)

I heard Limbaugh last night going off on President Obama regarding Haiti.  He said something like Obama was using the situation in Haiti to further his standing with “both light skinned and dark skinned” Blacks.  He implied (I can’t remember the exact words, I was listening to the radio) that our President was taking advantage of the “situation in Haiti” for political gain.  Well, at the time I hadn’t heard what the “situation in Haiti” was.  When I got home and turned on the evening news I saw what Limbaugh was talking about.  Almost instantaneously I felt like a human being couldn’t get any LOWER than Limbaugh.  Even he had outdone himself this time.  This guy must not have a compassionate bone in his body.  The pictures I saw on TV showed a small nation – already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere (if not the world) – that had been virtually DESTROYED by an earthquake.  Estimates were of something like 3 MILLION people displaced (almost half the population of their country), and anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 people dead!

So, Rush Limbaugh had the golden opportunity to ONCE AGAIN show what a racist he is and to confirm that he has absolutely NO COMPASSION for anyone outside his own little circle (if he has any compassion at all).  When I saw the devestation on TV in Haiti, it made his words seem even worse.  Every once in a while I tune in just to keep abreast of what his latest lies are.  THIS WAS OVER THE TOP!  How can any human being take a terrible tragedy like this and turn it into a partisan political issue.  And, does Limbaugh really believe the American public is stupid enough to fall for this (accusing Obama of using this for political gain). 

I guess the so-called “ditto heads” could be renamed “dumb-asses” if they really listen to this crap and take it seriously.  As far as I’m concerned HE’S GONE TOO FAR this time.  Of course, Limbaugh’s sponsors don’t seem to have a bit of moral fiber in themselves either – and they will probably continue to support him because he has a large audience.  In America, money rules.  These so-called “Religious right” supporters talk about “family values” to hoodwink the voters who are swayed by the very wedge issues President Obama referred to in the campaign.  Tonight as I was driving home – yes, despite my liberal leanings I go to and from work EVERY DAY – here was Limbaugh at it again.  This time he was urging his “ditto-heads” NOT TO DONATE to the relief effort in Haiti.  He even took that into the partisan political realm.  He said something along the line if you donate to the Red Cross, pretty soon they will be asking you for money for Obama’s campaign (evidently, he was talking about donating through a White House link to the Red Cross on the internet – as if Obama and the Red Cross have some secret pact to turn this Haitian tragedy into a fund raiser).  He finished the diatribe I heard by saying something along the lines that “you’ve already donated to the Haitian relief fund – you’ve paid taxes.”  THIS MAN IS SICK!

When I looked at the pictures of the devastation in Haiti tonight it brought tears to my eyes.  A school with 700 children completely flattened with not a sign of one survivor.  7000 people put into a mass grave as the country braces for the aftermath of all this death with decaying bodies and the disease possibilities which conceivably could compound the incredible problems they’re already struggling with.  Every person who is able SHOULD BE DONATING TO THE CAUSE to help those people who have survived.  I still remember George W Bush’s Mom stating that the Astrodome or the Superdome in New Orleans was a “good place” for “these” people after Hurricane Katrina because they were “underprivileged.”  Evidently Pat Robertson – another from the “right” wing of the Republican party is blaming this earthquake on a 400 year old “pact with the devil,” and then there’s Limbaugh.  Everytime they get the opportunity to prove they’re racists, they jump at the chance!  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?   And, how does the Republican party even continue to exist in this nation without kicking people like this out?  Why would ANYONE want to be associated with people who think like that?

It is discouraging to me that people who think like Limbaugh and these others continue to get a national stage to spew their garbage.  Thank God, people from all over the world are mobilizing to provide relief to Haiti.  Obviously, it’s too late for thousands, but the possibilities of magnifying this tragedy are real and my prayers, and I’m sure the prayers of millions of others all around the globe, is for the people to get the water and supplies necessary to minimize the suffering – and for the relief workers to somehow manage to prevent widespread disease from the aftermath of this earthquake.  While I’m praying for the people of Haiti, I’m going to include a prayer for those of us in America:  Rush Limbaugh, please …… JUST GO AWAY!

If you want to be on the other side of Limbaugh, click HERE

I wasn’t going to write this evening.  I got home – I had heard inklings that something was “up” with Harry Reid, but I just don’t bother with all the “news” shows anymore, so I didn’t really know what all the “buzz” was about.  Well, it appears that during the last campaign for President, Harry referred to Barack Obama (in a statement of support for him no less) as “light skinned” and someone who was electable because he didn’t talk in a “Negro dialect,” or something of that nature, when he’s talking to people who aren’t Black.  That was the “gist” of the newest “scandal” as far as I could tell.  Now, let me preface any remarks I might make in the rest of this post by saying that I’m no fan of Harry Reid.  I realize ALL the Washington insiders on the Democratic side love the guy, I see him as part of the systemic problem which I was hopeful President Obama would change once in office.  True to EVERYTHING ELSE that is happening in Washington, out come the rabid Republicans looking for their latest opportunity for a “pound of flesh.”

Now, I don’t know Harry and I can’t attest for him in any way, but this whole thing gave me “pause,” AGAIN, as I surmised our political reality in Washington.  First of all, when I examine myself – I like to spout about all my Black friends, some of them very dear friends, when I defend my liberal nature – but, the reality is that I grew up in a house with a blatant RACIST as a father (who, I’m glad to say I helped “bring around” before he died), I went to a high school that was TOTALLY ALL WHITE, and I met my first Black friend when I played basketball in junior college at the age of 18.  I can still remember being afraid when I discovered that I was going to be on the same team with several Black persons, I was going to have to shower with them, go on bus rides with them, and socialize with them.  I like to think that I’m “color blind,” but when I take an honest look at my ENTIRE life, I realize there’s probably something in me that could produce some stupid words if I was in a position where people were montitoring EVERY SINGLE WORD I said. (I can’t even imagine anyone wanting to be in that position)

So, I’m perfectly willing to take Barack Obama’s word, Al Sharpton’s word, and Eric Holder’s word that there’s not a “racist bone in Harry Reid’s body.”  I’m OK with that.  I can agree that for a person of his position to say such a stupid thing to someone actually writing a book was …….well, for lack of a better word…..STUPID!  Of course, we’ll never leave it at that and I’m sure you can guess why.  Of course you can and, you’re EXACTLY RIGHT – It’s because there are still REPUBLICANS left in this world.  Harry Reid making a comment like that in earshot of a Republican would be akin to a shark sensing someone swimming nearby with a cut finger.  RED MEAT!!!!

Here’s the question I would pose to all the Republicans who are lining up in this incredulous display of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS!  Do you really want to go there?  Tonight I listened to a Senator, I believe it was Cornyn of Texas (of all places), claiming Reid should resign because he said something similar to what caused Trent Lott to resign in 2002 (or somewhere around that time) from his role as majority leader of the Senate.  Of course, Lott – at the 100th (or so) birthday party for Strom Thurmond – the Republican’s SEGREGATIONIST candidate for President in 1948 bragged about how the people of his state voted for Thurmond and, that wasn’t good enough for Lott (from Mississippi – do you “get it”) – he HAD TO ADD that had the entire country voted for Thurmond, “We’d all be a lot better off today.”

Now, as you know, with Republicans you have to try to figure out what they really mean when they’re talking.  Usually, their racist comments are framed much more cleverly in their “special code.”  Remember, like when John McCain referred to then Senator Obama as “That one” during the Presidential debates – without a second thought as to what that might imply (this is the same McCain who opposed a national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.).  Or when Sarah Palin kept referring to Obama as some kind of terrorist and made “slips of the tongue” about his middle name – ignoring threats from her audience such as; “kill him.”  Lott was just too out front with his suggestion that if Thurmond had won in 1948 we might still have segregated schools, Black baseball players could still have their “Negro league,” we could have Black platoons and company’s in the military instead of the mixed up mess we’re “stuck with” today, and there’s NO WAY WE’D HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT TODAY (was Lott having a premonition?).  I think the Republicans were so upset about the fallout from Lott’s statements because everyone should have known that he was a racist – his comments were nothing new, so why the big deal  (I actually kind of agree with them on that one – his words didn’t surprise me one bit)?

But, like everything with these Republicans they are always trying to get back at Democrats for something.  You know, Dick Cheney was still angry about all the laws passed after Richard Nixon proved that Presidents can have mafia type personalities.  Cheney was determined (and succeeded to a large extent) to reverse all the “restrictions” placed on the exectutive branch of our government post Watergate.  Like, for example, the FISA laws.  Those, in Cheney’s mind I’m sure, were outdated the day they were passed (with bipartisan support, I might add).  The President should have the right to wiretap his citizens without a warrant if he wants to.  You remember the claim:  “If the President does it, it must be legal.”  The Republicans have also been angry at Democrats since the days of Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush – when members of their administration were “busted” for carrying on an ILLEGAL WAR in Nicaragua.  They went by the same theory, “If the President does it, it must be legal.”  Well, Ollie North, John Poindexter, and the others all got off – eventually, after being convicted in courts of law – but the Republicans are still bitter that they even had to defend themselves for simply ILLEGALLY fighting a war in a soveriegn nation.

Then there’s Lewis “Scooter” Libby being forced to sacrifice himself for Cheney’s TREASONOUS OUTING OF A CIA AGENT.  I still remember Rush Limbaugh and the others take on the “company line” that Valerie Plame was simply a desk clerk for the CIA and all of the “hullaballoo” over her “outing” was partisan politics.  Of course, all the while we’ll never know what happened to her “contacts” all across Europe who were “outed” with her – I’m sure you remember, they were the ones who were gathering intelligence on the nuclear capabilities of Iran (imagine what the Iranians did to those in their country who were associated with her “operation”).  Despite all the rhetoric to the contrary coming from the Bush White House about what a threat Iran’s nuclear program was – it mustn’t in reality have been so important if destroying our capability to gather “actionable intelligence” wasn’t more important than getting back at Joe Wilson (Plame’s husband) for telling the truth about Saddam Hussein’s nuclear capability.  These Republicans don’t seem to care for anyone who tells the truth about what they’re “up to,” no matter what the consequences.  Dick Cheney has such a “way” about sending “messages” to people who don’t agree with him.

Getting back to Harry Reid and all these self righteous Republicans who will be trying to make this into some kind of huge story and, in the process, portray themselves as the “bridge” to racial harmony in the United States – I would just say CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES WISELY!  I fully understand that on Fox “news” you probably won’t get a lot of video of say, the “teabagger” marches.  You know, the ones where the images of Barack Obama would make anyone with a sense of fairness in their being regarding the racial issues in America would become sick to their stomachs.  Pictures of Obama that are almost indescribable for me right now – if you didn’t see them, maybe you should google their rallies.  I can remember one picture of Obama with a bone through his nose (can you imagine Democrats doing anything along those lines with President Bush), there was a picture portraying Obama as a monkey (come on, even Republicans can understand the imagery of that one), and there was one sign that I can remember which said something like, “There’s an African lion in the zoo and there’s a lying African in the White House.”  I hate to even write this garbage.  But, now you have these very people who were speaking at the rallies in front of the people waving these signs (and, worse than that – calling the sign wavers patriots! UGHHH!) calling Harry Reid a racist and DEMANDING his resignation from the Senate (or at least his leadership post) for his admittedly STUPID remark.  Maybe we’ll get Rush Limbaugh doing an encore version of “Barack the magic Negro” before he calls for Reid’s resignation for being a racist!  THIS IS WORSE THAN THE “POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK.”  Oh dear, is that racist?  Come on, GIVE ME A BREAK!  I really didn’t want to write tonight, but these Republicans WON’T QUIT!

And, the media is getting rich over all these foopahs that they can BLOW UP into something that will last for days – in some instances for weeks and months, even years.  Most people in America don’t realize that our “liberal media” is controlled by about four or five LARGE CORPORATIONS who are in the business of MAKING MONEY and not necessarily providing information.  The sooner they can get the next election under way, THE MORE MONEY THEY WILL MAKE.  These people don’t have the best interests of this nation in mind, they have the best interests of their stockholders in mind – THAT’S IT!  And, I don’t care if it’s Fox, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, or whoever.  Their interest is CLEARLY in making as much money as they can.  THAT IS WHAT AMERICA HAS EVOLVED INTO – the country where the national interest is having large corporations make as much money as they can while Republicans and Democrats argue over who are the racists instead of regulating them.  In fact, if the corporations can manage to get to the point – through aquisition over aquisition over aquisition – where they become “too big to fail” as in AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, etc. then we (the taxpayers) will guarantee their profits for their stockholders!

So, what do we have to look forward to.  Well, you can be guaranteed that Democrats will continue to make stupid comments from time to time (remember Joe Biden is Vice President), the large corporations don’t seem to be getting smaller, and with the refusal by the Democrats to hold the Republicans legally accountable for their lawbreaking they (Republicans) won’t be going away anytime soon.  Additionally, I don’t see any will in Congress to “undo” the damage from Clinton’s telecommunications act of about 1996 which allowed the consolidation of the nation’s information sources into a scary few so, these ridiculous news cycles will continue, the Republicans will continue to attempt to undo President Obama with untruth after untruth, the United States will remain in a state of internal turmoil, and we’re stuck with news about Sarah Palin for the forseeable future (she draws ratings on both the “left” and “right” – it matters not that she’s the most unqualified person to hit the national political scene in my lifetime – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE RATINGS, remember? I had to just throw her into the conversation in the hopes of increasing MY RATINGS! ).  Somehow, I’m going to have to make it through this next cycle where the Republicans are going to portray themselves as the great defenders of the honor of Black people everywhere.  Harry Reid used the term NEGRO in public!  GOD HELP US!

I keep trying to better understand my own feelings about the inadequacy of my own government.  I was so excited when Barack Obama was elected President, and have – conversely – been disappointed since – that I am constantly taking pause to figure out the origin of this disappointment and what I think needs to be done to change it.  I’ve expressed this from MANY angles since Obama took over the White House and I’m always uneasy when I write something less than complimentary about our new President, because the WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN, in my view, is a return to Republican rule.  It was the Republicans, after all, who created ALL THE PROBLEMS we are still suffering from.  President Obama’s decisions, however, have slowly put him in a position to “own” some of the “mess,” and I think that is what bothers me the most about what has happened since he took over – plus, the fact, at least in my opionion, that his decisions are making the possibility of the return of the Republicans much more of a possibility than I could ever have imagined last November.

 President Obama had a very AMBITIOUS agenda when he took office.  I’m sure he (and everyone around him) felt this was absolutely necessary.  Where I think they made their TERRRIBLE mistake was in the decsion to “look forward” – therefore allowing ALL THE MISDEEDS of the Bush/Cheney era to go UNCHALLENGED (except on the internet in places like this).  I understand why they thought this was the right choice.  I’m sure their thinking was that the distractions of an investigation – and the subsequent prosecutions – would interfere with the agenda they were so intent on passing.  They played it exactly opposite, in my view, to how they should have.

They made some terrible miscalculations.  First, I believe President Obama was confident he could “pry” a few votes from the Republican caucus.  The Republicans showed where they were coming from when three of their members voted for the “stimulus” package after negotiating out several parts that would have been job creating in return for additional unneeded middle class tax cuts.  The uproar from the Republicans – based on these three votes – caused Arlen Specter to switch parties and sent a message to Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine that they had better stay in line – OR ELSE!  Essentially, President Obama cannot count on a SINGLE REPUBLICAN VOTE on any legislation of consequence – PERIOD!  The only thing on the Republicans’ minds is causing President Obama to fail!  They have proven that their own political future (hopefully, it’s not much of a future) is more important to them than the future of this great nation! (The Republicans have been very upfront about wanting Obama to “fail”)

By looking the other way from the crimes of the Bush administration Obama and his supporters miscalculated the American people’s, in general, short memory.  For most of them – I’ve talked to many – the FACT there were no investigations led them to believe that the Bush administration didn’t do anything wrong.  Most of the people I’ve talked to – SADLY – believe that if the Bush/Cheney administration had actually TORTURED anyone, they would have been prosecuted.  Therefore, since they weren’t prosecuted THEY MUST NOT HAVE DONE IT (despite the fact they admitted to authorizing waterboarding on national TV) – what everyone who’s paying attention KNOWS IS THEY DID!  Can you tell I’m frustrated?  Additionally, I know several really good people who are Republicans – kind of by default because of their misinformation regarding the abortion issue – who were ready for the “change we could believe in.”  They are middle class people who have been productive members of the work force for 30+ years and they lost their jobs.  THE REASON THEY LOST THEIR JOBS WAS BUSH’S INCOMPETENT MANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY.  However, the lack of action to create jobs – what appears to be a crisis on the “back burner” due to the health care legislation – has these people now looking to Obama when they look to place blame.  And, if something drastic isn’t done soon to boost the creation of jobs in this nation – I DON’T BLAME THEM.  They’ve been without a job for a year, the prospects are depressing, and they can’t remember who caused the problem – they only know that, in their minds, nothing’s being done to help them.

Barack Obama has put it all on the health care bill.  And, what is seemingly going to come out of all the negotiation – IF THERE’S A BILL AT ALL – is something that is going to be REALLY DISAPPOINTING to Obama’s base.  Remember, the Republicans are not going to support Obama NO MATTER WHAT HE DOES – so it has been very curious why he has seemed to be more willing to negotiate with them than with his own “side.”  I have to say that when all is said and done with this health care bill it’s going to be all about Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, and Blanche Lincoln.  The willingness to “sell out” to these so-called “blue dog” Democrats and ignore what is OBVIOUSLY in the best interests of the Amercan people is discouraging.  It appears to me that the ENTIRE PROCESS WAS MISMANAGED from the start.  And, now it’s probably too late to fix the bill and it’s also probably too late to go back and fix the real problem which energized the partisanship from the “right” – letting Bush/Cheney off the hook.

Had the President allowed the Justice Department and the Congress to investigate the wrongs of the Bush/Cheney administration the FAULT of the mess they’ve had to try to fix would still be clear in EVERYONE’S MIND.  Because Obama didn’t want the distraction of the investigations he’s risking everything we all fought so hard for when he was elected.  It really felt to me as if I had been betrayed.  Bush/Cheney were SO BAD that I wanted President Obama to make sure no one would ever do the things they did EVER again.  I’ve listed them on this site ad nauseum, but since I appear to have a bunch of new visitors let me make a short list again – IT’S REALLY ASTONISHING when you look at it that an American administration would be so ARROGANT!  For starters, lying us into Iraq instead of finishing the job on Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda (at Tora Bora) was UNBELIEVABLE.  When you read the information out there about how they blatantly lied – and in one case created a false “memo” in an attempt to support their actions – you wonder how anyone could “look forward and not backward.”  I mean, something like a million Iraqi’s are DEAD and several million displaced, injured, or out of the country PLUS over 4000 American troops DEAD and tens of thousands injured – not to mention the PTSD which will probably NEVER BE TOTALLY accounted for.  Bush/Cheney left two MISMANAGED wars for Obama to figure out, they had authorized (both admitted to this on national TV) war crimes, it has been documented that Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others profited in the hundreds of millions of dollars from the two wars – via NO BID CONTRACTS – and UNBELIEVABLY – there’s been NO INVESTIGATION!  Only in America could leaders get away with such injustice.

But, there’s much more!  Cheney OUTED A CIA agent!  Lewis “Scooter” Libby took the “fall” for him – but, even the prosecutor suggested that Congress should investigate further implying their investigation would go right to the Vice President’s office.  Outing a CIA agent is TREASON!  As bad as this is, there’s never been further investigation.  Bush/Cheney ILLEGALLY wiretapped American citizens.  They violated the FISA law probably THOUSANDS OF TIMES.  Not only did Obama and his Attorney General not have the “balls” to investigate this, they have been defending Bush’s actions in court.  The ONLY REASON I can figure for that one is that President Obama is also using the abusive wiretapping laws that Congress passed to protect Bush – after the fact – to “data mine” the phone calls and emails of his own citizens.  If I’m correct on this one, when that becomes general knowledge Obama’s problems with his “base” will magnify.

Not only did Bush/Cheney commit war crimes with the torturing, they authorized secret prisons which resulted in an untold – and without investigations it will always be untold – number of “enemy combatants” who “disappeared.”  There have been reports of truckloads of so-called “enemy combatants” – many of them innocent Afgans or Pakistani’s who were “sold” to the Americans by money hungry war lords who Bush/Cheney were not only supporting with money – but “looking the other way” from as these people jump started the Afgan drug trade into a world-wide illegal drug nightmare – entire truckloads of “enemy combatants” dying of suffocation as they were transported in trucks without ventilation to the secret prison sites.  I have read reports that 80%, or more, of the illegal heroin that comes into the United States comes from Afganistan via these warlords – and our troops were ordered to “look the other way” during the 7 years after 9/11 by Donald Rumsfeld.

Bush/Cheney TOTALLY UNDERMINED our Justice Department.  Not only were they taking “loyalty oaths” from prospective prosecutors – many who were totally UNQUALIFIED and recent graduates of discredited universities, but they stocked their office of legal counsel with unscrupulous lawyers who were willing to write whatever the President and Vice President requested – AND CALL IT LEGAL.  As long as I live I will never forget John Yoo’s answer to a question regarding torture at a Congressional hearing.  Yoo was asked by a member of Congress, who was incredulous at his answers regarding what was or wasn’t torture in Yoo’s mind, “If a person was buried alive, but dug up before he/she died, would you (Yoo) consider that torture?  Yoo’s UNBELIEVABLE answer was that he would have to look at the circumstances as to why he/she was buried!  I (and the Congressperson asking the question – I can’t remember his name) took that to mean that Yoo felt there could be circumstances where that wouldn’t be torture – as long as you dug him/her up prior to death!  Jay Bybee is a sitting Federal Judge (with a lifetime appointment from George W Bush) after writing the infamous torture memos that enabled the so-called “enhanced interrogations” which included “waterboarding” – a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions.  These people felt like they didn’t need to follow the Geneva Conventions, evidently because we’re the United States and we can do whatever we want.  By “looking forward and not backward” Barack Obama has enabled this behavior!  The Justice Department, under Bush/Cheney were prosecuting people based on partisan politics – ie Donald Siegelman the Democratic ex-governor of Alabama and an “enemy” of Karl Rove.  This wrong has never been “righted.”  The list goes on and on, (remember the 9 US attorneys fired for not prosecuting enough Democrats?) and by “looking the other way” Obama is allowing the people of this nation to possibly lose confidence in our judicial system – which, should that happen – we’re ALL IN TROUBLE!

The list is REALLY LONG – but I would be remiss in not talking about the economy.  The combination of deregulation under Bush/Cheney, abusive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, encouragement of corporate abuses domestically and internationally, putting people in charge of government institutions who were trying to undermine the very institutions they were in charge of, and “looking the other way” regarding Wall Street abuses led to the “crash” of 2007/008 which could still morph into the second GREAT DEPRESSION if Obama and company don’t take more drastic action to reign in the greedy multi-national corporate plague that is destroying Wall Street and eventually could destroy “main street.”  Boy, that was a sentence!  Henry Paulsen came up with emergency legislation which amounted to an UNBELIEVABLE amount of corporate welfare – devised by the so-called “free market” Republicans – legislation which SAVED the very company Paulsen was CEO of before he took the reins of the Treasury department – and, not even a whimper from Obama and the Democrats.  I think back to the investigations of Bill Clinton over a failed land deal (Whitewater) that lasted some 8 years – a land deal that essentially hurt no one – and yet, we have no investigation of Paulsen throwing BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars at Goldman Sachs and others – not only to “save” them, but presumably to save his ENORMOUS financial interest in them.  I’m guessing that Paulsen’s personal interest in Goldman was in the hundred’s of millions – and, yet, no willingness to investigate this. (I wouldn’t have expected Republicans to want to get “to the bottom of this,” – I mean when they were in the majority there wasn’t even the thought of an investigation after ENRON almost took down the economy – but, what is the Democrat’s excuse?  “We the people” have to be able to depend on someone, don’t we?)

Even if one wouldn’t have the partisan view of all of these fiasco’s – AND THERE ARE MANY OF THEM, I HAVEN’T LISTED THEM ALL, understanding what happened seems to me to be IMPERATIVE!  This crap is going to happen again – and probably sooner rather than later – because of the lack of investigations.  And, I’ve kind of come to accept this – but the thing that’s really bothering me today, is the FACT (at least in my mind) that President Obama is undermining his own administration by “looking forward” as he puts it.  The American people can hardly remember the Bush administration at this point.  Millions of them will never think anything wrong was done and they are looking at what’s going on and thinking that the Democrats can’t govern so the obvious answer is more Republicans.  The mess President Obama assumed was so huge that he needed the cover he would have received from these investigations.  I believe, under the best of circumstances, we were looking at 5 to 10 years to reverse the effects of what Bush/Cheney did to this nation.  IT WAS IMPERATIVE THAT IT ALL BE MADE PUBLIC!  I’ve read something on the order of 25 books about all that happened under Bush/Cheney, but the average person in this nation has read NONE!  I work with teachers who have master’s degrees who don’t have the will to find out what has really gone on in our government under Bush/Cheney.  Even many of them aren’t sure any laws were broken – they assume that if there were, people would be prosecuted.  That is, isn’t it, the American way?  No one is supposed to be above the law – Obama even promised that if there was evidence of wrongdoing there would be investigations and prosecutions where warranted.  But, that was in the campaign – and once elected, for some strange reason, he changed his mind.  AND IT’S BACKFIRING on him BIGTIME!  Even if the health care legislation passes, President Obama is now on shaky ground.  He’s turned off a significant number of the people who voted him into office to threaten his very agenda.  I believe the number of people who agree with me on this is in the MILLIONS!  I believe the very opposite of what he was thinking about these investigations is true.  I think he thought that the “distraction” of the prosecutions would have disrupted his attempt to pass health care reform, and other important legislation.  When, in actuality, the distractions he was worried about would have exposed the Republicans for what they really are – TO MILLIONS OF UNSUSPECTING AMERICANS – and would have given him the “cover” and time he needs to turn around a nation that’s headed for disaster because of the very people he’s “letting off the hook.”  Allowing investigations of the Bush administration would have improved the chance for passage of Obama’s “agenda” dramatically!  I can only pray that President Obama changes his mind on this – if it’s not too late already to do so.  Aside from everything else, the American people have the right to know EVERYTHING that’s been done in their name.

I’ve been saying since the day Barack Obama was elected that I want him to succeed.  I’ve also spent a fair amount of time questioning some of the rationale behind his decisionmaking to the point of being dissatisfied with his performance.  I’ve made it clear that I have no intention of doing what the Republicans did with GW Bush and Dick Cheney which was giving them a kind of “blind loyalty,” rubber stamping virtually anything they wanted.  That all being said, I have to say that as the so-called “underpants” terrorist plot is becoming clearer and clearer I am SO THANKFUL that President Barack Obama is “at the helm” instead of what we had prior to him – because I FEEL SO MUCH MORE SAFER with Obama than I ever did with Bush/Cheney.

As the folly of the intelligence community becomes more apparent what we’re seeing is almost a duplicate “replay” of 9/11.  And, while Dick Cheney and other Republicans go around the country claiming Obama is not keeping us safe and “it’s his fault,” I would remind you that the “bickering” that evidently goes on between the different branches of the intelligence community was going on at the time of 9/11.  That is to say, the people who flew the planes into the Twin Towers were in this country for almost a year and the NSA knew it, they knew their phone numbers, and the only reason they weren’t tracked more closely is due to the lack of cooperation between the NSA, the CIA, the TSA, the FBI, and I’m sure other agencies that can be described by some combination of capital letters from our alphabet!  So, since Obama’s only been in office for something approaching one year, we can surmise that the Bush/Cheney “team” spent 7+ years after 9/11 failing to address the fundamental problem that made us unsafe in the first place.  Of course, all the while they were NOT KEEPING US SAFE (and there were several other ways they weren’t keeping us safe besides not addressing the miscommunication among intelligence agencies), they were traveling around this great country claiming JUST THE OPPOSITE of what was true.  THESE REPUBLICANS ARE UNBELIEVABLE! (literally AND figuratively)

Here’s the real problem I’m having with all of this.  WE STILL HAVE DICK CHENEY GOING AROUND SHOOTING OFF HIS MOUTH.  And, if ever there was a man who fit the saying “if his lips are moving, HE’S LYING” it’s Dick Cheney (well, OK – I “get it” – you could put Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin [woman], Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, John Boehner, Michael Steele and “fill in the blank” with your favorite Republican – in the same lying spot).  Dick Cheney claiming that President Obama is “weak”on fighting terrorism – with the ensuing inference that Cheney was “strong” – makes about as much sense as Tiger Woods claiming the reason he’s taking time away from golf is to “spend more time with his family.”  When are Obama and/or the Democrats going to SHUT DICK CHENEY UP?  The man was totally out of hand while in office – HE’S WAY BEYOND THAT NOW!

If you’re wondering how even the Republicans can put up with Cheney (I know, Rush Limbaugh loves him, but I would say Limbaugh falls into pretty much the same category – they come from the same school of propoganda) read the book “Angler” which documents how Cheney, while supposedly “vetting” potential VP candidates for GW, collected massive amounts of sensitive material on dozens of unsuspecting Republicans (telling them all they were on the “short list” of candidates – pretty cute, huh?) prior to naming himself VP  – then “OUTED”  one of the potential candidates – making sure all the other candidates were fully aware of what he did so they could anticipate the same thing happening to them should they “cross” him – therefore, gaining their “LOYALTY.” (Cheney is famous for “outing” people)  Of course, “LOYALTY” is a big thing to Republicans these days.  They even want anyone who is running for official Republican office to sign a loyalty oath to the basic tenets of their party – stray on even one principal and “you’re out.”  Remind you of anything?  I’m going to assume if you’re reading this blog you have a level of intelligence.  I’ll just say that it’s ironic the people who are claiming our sitting President to be a fascist would be the ones who would adopt such an ACTUAL fascist approach to “party politics!”

Everyone knows that Bush/Cheney totally SCREWED UP Iraq and Afganistan, created “black hole” rendition camps, openly endorsed TORTURE, outed a CIA agent, blundered Hurricane Katrina into an “all time” disaster, illegally wiretapped our citizens (to “keep us safer”), destroyed the Justice Department AND THE ECONOMY, and I could go on AND ON – but, can you ever imagine either one of them doing what Barack Obama did the other night?  I actually heard an American President say that our intelligence community SCREWED UP and it is HIS (OBAMA’S) RESPONSIBILITY to make sure the problems get fixed – AND FAST!   He said the screw-up was “intolerable” – instead of “great job Janny!” (Janet Napolitano – for those of you with your head in the sand).  Bush and Cheney would have been busy doing, in office, what Cheney’s doing out of office – FINDING SOMEONE TO BLAME – but themselves!  There’s a lot I’m disappointed about with President Obama, but it was REALLY REFRESHING to hear him take the responsibility to get this problem of miscommunication FIXED!  And, contrary to the Republicans, I believe he’ll do it – assuming he doesn’t have to find a way to get the Senate to go along with him – I’m sure the Republicans would filibuster any move whether it would prevent future terrorist plots, or not.  (In fact, I’ve always felt, from their rhetoric, the Republicans are secretly wishing for a terrorist plot to work – to make themselves feel better.)

One more thing.  Here’s the typical way the Republicans work.  Didn’t you just know they would have some kind of financial motivation for this attack to work?  Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Secretary under Bush/Cheney, is a consultant for a company which builds x-ray machines which can do FULL BODY SCANS at airports.  These machines cost ONLY about a couple HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS apiece, and you’d need many thousands of them to cover every entrance at airports nationwide and internationally coming into the US – therefore you’re looking at a MULTI-BILLION dollar contract (potentially) for a guy like Chertoff if he can CON the government into thinking it’s important to view the private parts of every person who’s going to “fly the friendly skies!”  (and, of course, guess who’s out there pushing for the machines on every talk show he can manage to get booked into? – without disclosing his financial interest)  Aside from the FACT that x-rays CAUSE CANCER (think of the person who’s a “frequent flyer”), can you imagine all the people hooked on soft porn who would be scrambling for jobs at airports around the world?  Of course, when you get to the point where every man’s claims about his “package” will be verified everytime he boards a plane, the terrorists will be cramming the explosive devices YOU KNOW WHERE!!!  What a mess that’s going to make when one actually goes off!  All this, and you could avoid it by simply having the people at the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, the TSA, the Homeland Security Department, the State Department, and anyone else involved simply SHARE THE INFORMATION they get as if they are ALL ON THE SAME TEAM!  They could even NETWORK their computers – just like I do with mine at home.  I’m no geek, it’s really not that hard!

 I’ll sum up my thoughts by emphasizing AGAIN, how much I want our President to succeed – despite my misgivings about his first year in office.  This “underpants” episode has given us a FIRST HAND LOOK at the difference between a man who struggles to put a complete sentence together, and one who thoughtfully and intellectually looks at problems and then takes a relatively honest and responsible approach to fixing them.  WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY PROBLEMS (and, remember, virtually the ENTIRE MESS was the result of eight years of Bush/Cheney) it’s reassuring to have someone who thinks before acting at the “helm.”  I can’t conclude without reiterating that my main complaint with President Obama is that he’s too much of a “Washington politician” instead of the “statesman” I was hoping for and anticipating – and changing just one part of his “policy” would rid us of a lot of this problem – DICK CHENEY!  Had Obama followed my advice right from the start and allowed the investigations and, where warranted, prosecutions of the Bush/Cheney administration, you wouldn’t have Cheney running around making the most ridiculous statements EVER by a former Vice President.  I’ve been watching the American political scene for almost 50 years and have NEVER seen a former President or Vice President accuse his/her successor as being “weak” militarily while the country was in the middle of a conflict – it’s especially UNNERVING when you consider that the creator of the conflict is the one SPOUTING OFF HIS MOUTH!  I still don’t believe it’s too late for President Obama to do the right thing – AND TAKE A GOOD LOOK BACKWARD!  I’ve come to realize that the reason he won’t do this is because he is unwilling to give up the “powers” that Bush/Cheney USURPED!   That is the policy of Obama that makes me the most nervous about where he’s coming from.  I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, “The best way to shut Dick Cheney up is to get him talking to a Grand Jury or a Judge about authorizing torture, outing CIA agents, and lying the US into war!”

I wrote the other day that I could get excited if someone like Dennis Kucinich would lead a third party which was not contaminated by the coporate bribery and welfare which now permeates Washington DC, and therefore, the government of this entire nation.  I have written numerous articles expressing what has become TOTAL disdain for the Republican party, which I have trouble even understanding how it can continue to exist.  That is, until I do a little research to find people who have “bought” into the propaganda of the “right” wing.  Yesterday I googled Rush Limbaugh, just to see if I could find information relating to what I had heard was a heart attack he had suffered while vacationing in Hawaii.  I started reading one of the message boards and found, as I usually do, a BUNCH of so-called “ditto-heads” who have bought Limbaugh’s “shpeel” – “hook, line, and sinker.”  Most of the people I read posts from were speaking like “working stiffs” (I use that term “lovingly” as, for most of my life, that is where I place myself) who are so anti-Democratic that there isn’t much hope for any influence on their thinking outside of the Limbaugh realm.

A large percentage of the people I know who have drunk the “Limbaugh coolaid” are also totally connected to Fox “news.”  There isn’t one that I’ve talked to who knows that the owner of Fox is an Australian (or when I tell them they don’t care that an Australian right winger is in control of a HUGE percentage of the United States’ media).  They consider the New York Times a “left wing rag” – unless, of course it prints a story they agree with – and, they think Sarah Palin is qualified to be President of the United States.  Additionally, based on the “ditto-heads” that I know (a fair amount of them – although, the older I get, the harder it is for me to even associate with them) can’t stand President Obama – not for any policy differences with him (although they have the Limbaugh lies drilled into their heads) – but because of the color of his skin.  For some reason our “main stream media” has a problem with telling it like it is.  I mean, come on now, how many OVERT racist comments does Limbaugh have to make before he is called what he is ON EVERY FRONT?  And Rupert Murdoch – why are we “pretending” what he is?   There has been enough racist “stuff” published by his publications to answer that one.  Obviously, the guy has a lot of money and it buys him enough influence that he has control of a significant portion of our “left wing” media.  I’m guessing he gives the money to strategic Democrats in enough volume to guarantee his “immunity” from a Congress breaking up the media conglomerates who are literally destroying this nation.

It appears to me that in Washington DC, greed rules.  All one has to do is follow this health care debate for a short period of time and he/she can’t miss the true American political process – what it has evolved into since the days of Ronald Reagan.  You have to give it to the Republicans – even with a dwindling number of people who are willing to publically say they are part of that party, they continue to control the agenda.  The Democrats always seem one step behind, but I believe part of the problem is that they are “hooked” on the huge campaign donations as much as the Republicans.  I won’t be surprised if, after all is said and done with the present health care bill, over $1 BILLION is spent by the health care industry to protect itself from reform.  That should give anyone a clear example of how much they’re making and, given the 30 MILLION or more new customers they’re on the verge of being “gifted” how much more difficult to get reform once the present bill becomes law.  I’m feeling that the real hope is that the House can change the Senate bill, or KILL it.  It almost seems to me that the Republicans have Obama about half way out on the “plank.”

I keep saying on this site that “I hope I’m wrong” when discussing the first year of President Obama’s administration.  And, I really do hope I’m wrong.  The problem I’m seeing is that much of what I’ve been “ranting” about appears to be coming “true.”  I think the part of that that bothers me the most is how much I was encouraged when President Obama was elected.  When George W Bush was elected I had the same sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that I had when Ronald Reagan was elected.  There wasn’t anything that happened that surprised me (well, that might not be true in the sense that I knew Dick Cheney was a “thug” I just didn’t know how much of one he would turn out to be).   I suffered for eight years when Bush was President, so I expected “relief” when President Obama was elected.  As I’ve stated many times, I saw the “red flags” going up prior to the inauguration.  Rahm Emanuel was a MAJOR “red flag” – and he’s proving to be as advertised – the epitome of the Washington “insider” politician.  And, he’s the chief advisor to the President.

Economically, the more I find out about Timothy Geithner, the more I feel uneasy about the future of our economy under Obama’s “watch.”  I listen to the pundits talking about how the Democrats are so much better than the Republicans at managing the economy and THAT’S TRUE – but, as I’ve said here many times, that’s not saying much.  The unemployment problem is getting worse and the President and the Congress are still haggling over the health care legislation which is going to undermine President Obama’s credibility with his own supporters (unless, by some miracle they can fix it – which seems highly unlikely at this point – although I’m sending letters, etc. and I hope millions more people are doing the same – to let them know what we think).  Geithner has too many connections to Wall Street, especially Goldman Sachs, to cause me to have confidence he will initiate any kind of meaningful reform which will prevent those INCREDIBLY GREEDY bankers from doing the same thing that caused the present mess in the future.  And, having Larry Summers as Obama’s “economic advisor” doesn’t help, from my standpoint, either – I mean, his advice led to a lot of the present problems due to choices made while he was woking for Bill Clinton. 

Young people In America who want to work at fast foods restaurants for the minimum wage can’t even find jobs.  My nephew is a recent graduate of an excellent college with a degree in Math/Business and he can’t find a job (he had above a 3.5 grade average at one of the best universities in the nation).  I have friends with over 25 years  of employment who are educated, experienced, and honored members of the work force who can’t even get interviews for jobs that pay anything close to what they were laid off from.  Today, I talked to a friend who has been given notice by Tektronics – where he’s worked for 28 years – that his job will be going to China in August – as soon as Tektronics can finish a plant over there.  This is all the result of 30 years of “trickle down” economics combined with the “bipartisanship” of the Clinton years – which, on the surface were great economically, but allowed for the “rush” of businesses to relocate in places like China with the so-called “free trade” agreements and was also responsible for the conglomeration of our media and the repeal of Glass Steagall which led to the sub-prime meltdown.  All of these “deals” were made with Republican support – the focus of the Republicans for this entire time (the 30 years) has been to repeal the effects of the New Deal which created the greatest middle class in the history of the world.

I actually believed that President Obama was going to push through a “New” New Deal once he took the reins of the White House, at least I thought that when I voted for him.  By the time he was inaugurated I sensed that he had surrounded himself with Washington “insiders” and disappointment was a major possibility.  So far, I’ve been TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED!  Just as it took almost a year for the “experts” to figure out we were in a MAJOR RECESSION from when it actually started, I’m feeling like we’re approaching “Depression” era unemployment levels and hoping it doesn’t take a year for the “powers that be” to figure this out.  I’m listening to the “pundits” pointing to one month of 2.8% growth as a sign that “we’re coming out of it.”  Of course, that 2.8% soon became 2.2% and the reality is the economy is so low that 2.2%, while better than continuing to go down, isn’t going to do much for the MILLIONS of Americans who are out of work and wondering what their future holds.  Essentially, the Republicans RUINED OUR ECONOMY and it’s going to take drastic measures and a NEW ATTITUDE – both in Washington and in the “heartland” to fix this.  It won’t happen with “timid” leadership, which is what I see coming from Washington since the Democrats took over.  We need a strong leader at the “healm” – someone who’s going to challenge the system in Washington, demand changes to the corrupt nature of the “beast,” and “tell it like it is” to the American people so that we can “come together” to solve these problems.  There are plenty of ways to raise money that could be used to jump start this economy. 

For starters, Wall Street should be taxed – every stock transaction should have a tax of something like a .25 cents tax to help pay for the damage done by their terrible excesses of the past.  Another tax which would allow for money to help fix our infrastructure would be an additional 10 cents per gallon gas tax – which would raise BILLIONS and would help pay for the rebuilding of all the hiways and bridges that we all depend on which are falling apart, due to neglect.  Of course, the Democrats, if they had any guts at all, would have repealled the “Bush taxcuts” for the “rich” as soon as this term in Congress began.  What were they afraid of?  Did they think they might not get any Republican votes if they did that?  Well, guess what – they’re not going to get a single Republican vote on ANYTHING anyway – so, maybe they should be trying to impress their own supporters for a change.  George W Bush didn’t surprise me when he was in the White House, I knew what to expect.  When I voted for Barack Obama, I voted for “Change I could believe in,” which now feels almost like a “gingle” that an advertising agency came up with.  Progressives are battling for the heritage of this country, unfortunately they’re depending on Democrats to carry the battle!