I keep thinking the time to stop writing is near, but there never seems to be a shortage of things to “discuss.”  Today, for example, as I was driving to school (for anyone new around here, I’m a sixth grade school teacher) I listened to a newscast where it was pointed out in one breath that Congress was voting down legislation aimed at continuing unemployment (and other) benefits for longterm unemployed people in America and, in the next breath, the broadcaster calmly said something like, “and, Congress has passed another 60 BILLION DOLLARS for suplemental funding of the “wars” in Iraq and Afganistan.  Doesn’t that tell it all as to where we are as a nation?  It honestly makes me ashamed when I think of the priorities of my own government!  I ALWAYS VOTE – so, therefore, some of this is on me.  The members of Congress I get to vote for are IN Congress (that means the ones I voted for won their elections) and, I voted for President Obama.  So, I’ve got to rethink my own priorities – because I’m in such disagreement with those of my government!

I almost don’t know where to start with all of this.  Something like 15 MILLION Americans are without work – thanks, in large part, to the policies of previous administrations who allowed large corporations to run ruff shod over them.  And, the “nirvana” for these corporations was the Bush/Cheney adminstration which not only allowed an increase in the gutting of regulations, they installed “managers” into government oversight departments who had no intention of fulfilling their obligations.  For example, putting “oil people” in the Mineral Management Service who had no intention of overseeing offshore drilling, coal mining, or anything else which might interfere with the profits of the large MULTI-NATIONAL corporations involved – our environment be damned.  The “multi-national” part of that last sentence is the worst part.  We’re allowing the endangerment of our WORKERS (remember 29 WORKERS died in the recent coal mining disaster, and 11 WORKERS died in the deep water oil disaster) and our environment to protect the profits of companies which AREN’T EVEN AMERICAN COMPANIES!

How far are we going to let the so-called “free market” thugs push this before we start pushing back?  And, of course, it’s entirely possible that we won’t see any pushing back until there is a thorough “house cleaning” in Congress.  However, I can virtually guarantee you that the “housecleaning” had better not result in the election of candidates from the “tea party,” unless you believe the best way to put out a fire is to throw gas on it.  Those people think Bush/Cheney were leftists!  We’d not only get MORE DEREGULATION with the Rand Paul’s of this world, but we’d take a GIANT step BACKWARD in the fight to end racism in America once and for all and, while they’re claiming to be “constitutionalists” we’d be giving up even more of our “inalienable rights.”  Just take a moment to think about what it means that we, as a nation, won’t spend money for our long term unemployed, but there’s no questions asked when it comes time to keep our military entrenched in two unwinnable occupations in Arab countries who absolutely don’t want them there. 

The day is fast approaching when the price tag for Afganistan and Iraq (combined) will reach ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!  Now, if that doesn’t have any meaning to you, let me put it this way.  The state I live in is laying off thousands of teachers and other public servants because of a 2 BILLION dollar shortfall.  Now, for all you people who hate state employees, I’ll just tell you that I find it sickening that there are so many who are willing to stack the deck MORE against success for our children’s education.  It also makes me sick when I listen to someone who has his/her education complaining about that of today’s children in school (the “I’ve got mine, screw you” syndrome).  And, the other public servants we’re talking about that are expendable?  Policemen, Firemen, social workers, mental health workers, people working to help the MILLIONS who are unemployed – essentially, people working with “the least of these” to quote a phrase from my main advisor – Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at this from another direction.  (and, keep in mind that I believe the ONE TRILLION DOLLARS for the two occupations doesn’t include the cost of treating the sick and wounded who come home from their multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afganistan – those multiple tours being another disgusting reality which is cause for a post on another day)  One TRILLION DOLLARS was the estimate of what it would have cost to implement a health care plan that included a ROBUST PUBLIC OPTION over a TEN YEAR PERIOD!  Are you kidding me?  We are so willing to keep throwing BILLIONS down the “drain” in Iraq and Afganistan to the point where it will possibly BANKRUPT our nation, but we can’t provide health care for our own people (health care reform which would arguably be a MAJOR FORCE in rejuvenating our economy).  What is wrong with us?  We’ve got these right wing WACKOS on the radio airwaves spewing the same lies of Bush/Cheney OR WORSE suggesting that BLOWING all this money is keeping us safe.  Osama bin Laden couldn’t ask for more!  When he attacked us on 9/11 his wish was to get America ENTRENCHED in Afganistan like the Soviets in the 1980’s.  Bush/Cheney did him one better and LIED us into Iraq – with a new president, now, who seems unwilling or unable to take decisive action to end these FIASCOS!

Of course, it would be too much to expect people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and the also ran “talkers” on the “right” like Lars Larson and Michael Savage to understand that the very people they support are playing right into the hands of our enemy – bin Laden.  I didn’t hear one of them complain when the Bush administration let bin Laden go free at Tora Bora so that they could justify their invasion of Iraq.  No, and why not you might ask?  Well, we’re getting right back to this “free market” economy those nimwits are so proud to boast about.  It’s a free market for corporations like Haliburton, GE, McDonald Douglas/Boeing, Blackwater (now Xe), Bechtel, Kellog Brown and Root (KBR), and – you guessed it – BP plus other corporations who either cut off continual FAT HOGS from their PLUSH no bid contracts from the US government’s seemingly constant intrusions into foreign lands or from “waivers” allowing them to plunder our natural resources on the “cheap” as with BP.  Who do you suppose is giving these right wing “talkers” (propogandists) their “talking points?”  Who do you think is supporting them?  Beck has lost something like 100 – 200 sponsors since some insensitive racist remarks a few months ago – but, there’s plenty of DEEP POCKETED “sponsors” who want to keep the likes of him and the others on the air.  To them, as long as people continue to fall for their pathalogical lying, Beck, Limbaugh, Larson, et al are good investments.  And, these “talkers” apparently have no consciences!

Believe me – these corporations aren’t going to give up that “FAT HOG” easily.  The FACT we just lost our 1000th service person in Afganistan means NOTHING to them.  The ONLY thing that has meaning is that we continue to spend the money without any oversight.  I’m sure they’re right with bin Laden on this one – they’d like to see this war go on forever!  You have to remember that George W Bush wanted to be remembered as the “War President.”  Well, I seriously hope he gets his wish!  I truly wish for the history books to be clear about the lying, bumbling, and incompetently ignorant miscalculations of the Bush/Cheney “war machine.” (although, I believe he miscalculated by thinking perpetual war would be a “boon” for our economy – it should be an eye opener to Americans that bin Laden outsmarted the supposed “most powerful person in the world.”)  The REALLY disappointing part of all of this for me is that President Obama has been in office going on a year and a half now and the democratically controlled congress has been “in charge” since 2006, AND WE’RE STILL IN IRAQ AND AFGANISTAN!  Just a little reminder to Obama and the democrats, Viet Nam was “owned” by Nixon by the time we got out – and Obama is precariously close to “owning” both Iraq and Afganistan.  At the point that happens, I don’t anticipate the above mentioned corporations complaining, but I can’t wait to hear the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, Larson, and the others.  We’ll have thought Bush/Cheney never existed.

Don’t get me wrong here.  I won’t be blaming the repuplicans and their “talking heads” at that point.  Obama will deserve the criticism if he continues to show a lack of leadership in extricating us from these RIDICULOUS occupations.  I’m just pointing out that these “thugs” will be gladly taking the money but will continue with their plan to make sure our president “fails.”  It’s called the “have your cake and eat it too” plan.  I’m sure the next stage of their “plan,” in that regard, (to make sure that our Black president doesn’t succeed) will be to pin the BP oil disaster on Obama.  Of course, if you looked at it from his (Obama’s) point of view, he was definitely in a no win situation with these ambassadors of hate.  And, I hope he’s finally realizing this.  Taking the reasoned pragmatic course that he’s taken has required him to “trust” BP to stop the oil leak and clean up the mess in the gulf.  Of course, as all the evidence pours out, BP shouldn’t be trusted for anything.  Every indication is they were trying to reap the harvest of a HUGE oil reservoir (estimated at 100 MILLION barrels) on the CHEAP – with ABSOLUTELY no plan B!  Ultimately, I believe the problem will trace back to the bludgeoning of the Mineral Management Service by the Bush administration – and, it will highlight the FOLLY of Obama’s seemingly endless patronizing of republicans.  These agencies are still filled with people who shouldn’t be there – they need to be PURGED!  Just as I’ve advocated for Obama to PURGE the justice department of all the politically appointed Bush/Cheney holdovers, so should these other regulatory agencies be purged of the people who were hired to cause the agency they worked for to fail – to give ALL the benefits to the private corporations.

In fact, in all too many cases, government oversight has been actually “contracted” to private FOR PROFIT businesses.  To me, that’s one of the scams of the century.  The republican party convincing the American public that government is evil and we should be trusting these private corporations, many of which are run by our own enemies.  Let me give you one good example.  Fox “news.”  The two largest share holders in Fox are not Americans.   Rupert Murdoch is an Australian (right winger) and the second largest shareholder in Fox is a Saudi Arabian.  (If you don’t remember, most of the hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia – bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia – and where do you think his money comes from? Seriously!)  The same Saudi Prince owns a huge “stake” in Citicorp and Halliburton, for good measure, is now located in Dubai.  Then there’s IBM’s computer division which was sold to a Chinese corporation – Lenovo (just think of the possibilities with that one).  It wouldn’t take a lot of time on Google to add many examples to this list.  So, this is what our present government seems so desperate to continue supporting – these multinational corporations while the millions of long term unemployed face loss of benefits.  It would take a small fraction of the money going to Iraq and Afganistan to not only continue the unemployment benefits, but to prevent the layoffs of all the teachers, cops, firemen, social workers, and others who care about the basic needs of our own people.  The question becomes, how much of America’s future are we willing to sacrifice to save face in Afganistan and Iraq?  Additionally, who’s more important?  The American people? or the multinational corporations who are buying off our politicians and intruding on our democracy MORE and MORE every day? (need more proof as to America becoming a total corporatocracy?  click here or Google: “Citizen’s United” – read the Supreme Court decision)

For some reason I always like to preface “patting myself on the back” with saying “I’m not trying to pat myself on my back” when it’s obvious I am.  I mean, why else would I leave all these posts in the “archive” if I didn’t want there to be evidence at the “I told you so” moments.  It didn’t take me long after President Obama was elected (let alone inaugurated) to start posting the “red flags.”  And, there’s been one BAD decision after another which should have – and slowly has – put the “progressives” on “red alert.”  (does that qualify as a pun?)  It all started, as far as I was concerned when I heard that Rahm Emanuel was hired to be Obama’s chief of staff.  What was Rahm Emanuel famous for?  He was famous, at least as far as I could tell, for being the consummate “Washington insider.”  Of course, he’s from Chicago so President Obama must have taken some solace from that and it must have given him a level of trust – which, in my mind, was totally MISGUIDED. 

How has Emanuel screwed up?  Well, you have to assume that many of the major decisions coming from the White House which put “getting anything” done above principle emanated from Emanuel.  It will be a long time until I forget that Emanuel called myself and those who think like me “f__king retards.”  Not really the way to win friends or INFLUENCE VOTERS!  (I said at the time that “time” could throw that statement right back at him) I don’t doubt for a minute that it was Emanuel behind the strategy on health care which threw the “public option” under the bus in return for something that NEVER MATERIALIZED – which was support from republicans.  The end result was a bill that benefits insurance companies FOR SURE, and MIGHT benefit the rest of us, although that verdict is yet to be rendered.  (Plus, the bill included lot’s of “deals” like the ones people are thoroughly sick of on “both sides of the isle”) The fact these people (Obama, Emanuel, the democrats in congress) are “promising” the bill is “just a starting point” and that they are going to make it better rings HOLLOW with millions more besides myself.  EVERYTHING it seems the Obama administration does, or so it looks to me, is predicated on looking “progressive” with the least possible political risk – that is at the same time placating the “right.”  Evidently, Rahm Emanuel hasn’t taken the course titled “if you try to make everyone happy you end up making no one happy.”

Kissing up to republicans is such a HORRIBLE strategy that I still can’t believe President Obama has allowed himself to be convinced to follow that for almost the first year and a half in office.  Now we have the Wall Street regulation which is sufficiently watered down to make sure the Wall Street bankers can tolerate it.  OK, I “get” that “Citizen’s United” has made these “moneychangers” even more powerful, but is indecisive action the solution to such a severe problem.  This leads me to the second “wave” of concern I had when President Obama started choosing his advisors and cabinet.  He surrounded himself with Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, and for good measure was taking advice from Robert Rubin.  Now, if you’re not too familiar with why those characters would raise “red flags” give me a moment.  Geithner was the head of the New York Fed as the Wall Street gluttony was hitting high gear – I can see no evidence he was attempting to put a stop to their excess GAMBLING.  And, the gambling with depositors money was literally enabled by Summers who was Clinton’s chief economic advisor when Clinton signed Gramm-Leach-Bliley – the bill which repealed Glass Steagall.  And, of course Rubin was Clinton’s Treasury Secretary at the time and he leveraged his support for the repeal of Glass Steagall into the CEO”ship” of Citicorp – one of the “too big to fail” mega financial institutions which became an investment bank, commercial bank, insurance company, et more – ALL WRAPPED IN ONE huge corporation – thanks to Glass Steagall’s repeal AND with the mega paydays that go with such a job!  These three at the top of the economic “food chain” in Obama’s administration didn’t come across to me as the “change I could believe in.”

Ah, but there’s more – MUCH MORE.  Let’s talk about Iraq and Afganistan.  I was predicting what ultimately would happen there long before it became “public knowledge.”  That’s not because I’m some kind of sixth grade teacher genius – but because I like to read and I read a bunch of books on Iraq and saw Obama’s unwillingness to “stand tall” against the American generals almost from day one.  (Also, Thomas Ricks pretty much predicted what was going to happen in “The Gamble”) It appeared to me that President Obama was bound and determined to prove that he’s qualified to be “commander in chief.”  One of the things that really bugs me is watching him climb down off of Air Force one with the same demeanor as George W Bush – with the same salute, that just seems too phony to me coming from someone who’s never served in the military.  Maybe this is just me still recovering from the eight long years of watching GW bungle everything he did – while our best young men and women were dying and getting maimed needlessly in Iraq and Afganistan for the same reason this happened years ago in Viet Nam – TO SAVE AMERICA’S “FACE.”  Makes me sick to even write this – and to think that President Obama has so MAJORLY violated his pledge (to me, a pledge is a promise) to bring ALL the troops home in 16 months.  Not only has he failed to do this, but he’s leaving something like 50 – 75,000 “non-combat” troops in Iraq for (at least) another 15 months from the end of this summer!  I guess his plan is to be finally getting them out right before the 2012 election thinking that will be a political plus for him.  This one has Rahm Emanuel written all over it as well!  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?

What is it going to take for them to “get” that we’ll never kill all the “terrorists” by stationing our troops indefinitely in Iraq and Afganistan.  When are they going to understand that every month we still have more troops there, we’re helping al Qaeda recruit more fanatics to their cause.  Iraq was the “gift that keeps on giving” to Osama bin Laden, and I really thought that Obama understood that – which was one of the main reasons I voted for him.  Does he (Obama) really think that as we draw down our troop levels in Iraq that the violence is going to subside with the drawdown?  Here’s the deal.  Bin Laden hates the Shia.  Iraq is majority Shia and Iran is Shia and the two countries are close to being “joined at the hip.”  Bin Laden doesn’t want that to happen and he doesn’t want America to withdraw – he wants us mired in Iraq until we have bankrupted our government – just as the Soviet Union bankrupted themselves in Afganistan in the 1980’s.  However, Obama has given bin Laden a double bonus with the “surge” in Afganistan where we’re now BLOWING more resources each month than in Iraq.  Between the two fiasco’s we’re still WASTING something in the neighborhood of a couple hundred BILLION each year – and, that’s not counting the miserable treatment (the expense of it) that we’re providing for our wounded and damaged vets once they return (many from 6,7, or more deployments).  This is all DISGUSTING and Obama is taking ownership of both fiascos at this point in time – due to a total lack of leadership. (I call this Bush-lite) And, to bin Laden’s delight, there’s really NO END IN SIGHT!

And, speaking of “Bush-lite,” what about the warrantless eavesdropping?  Now, I  can’t prove that Obama’s still doing it, but I’ve heard people with close ties to his administration quoted as saying he didn’t want to give up this “power.”  Of course, any power that he’s talking about would be illegally usurped power which was the result of eight years of Dick Cheney and George W Bush.  The saying goes, it’s much easier to give our rights away than it is to get them back – and this is a good example of this.  The “red flag” on this one came when Obama voted for the “FISA” bill that gave “retroactive immunity” to ATT&T, Verizon, and any other “Telecom” who participated in this illegal wiretapping activity while he was a senator running for the presidency.  I actually wrote Obama after that vote (it almost cost him my vote) and got a response saying that once he was President he would work to “FIX” this bill as a top priority.  Well, not only has the bill not been “fixed,” but Obama and his attorney general Eric Holder have taken up the “torch” for Bush/Cheney in court trying to defend the legality of their illegal activity (they lost the case and I haven’t heard if they appealed – which would just tick me off more if they have)

So, why am I so busy patting myself on the back?  Well, when Obama committed the gravest sin of them all and pardoned (for all intents and purposes) George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Don Rumsfeld, and all the others I not only pointed out what a grave mistake that was for the future of our nation, but I pointed out that I could no longer support him.  There’s no way I can vote for a president who violates his pledge to defend the constitution.  I don’t know if that was a sign of cowardice, a total political maneuver (on advice from the likes of Emanuel), a general act of stupidity, or some kind of collusion – kind of like doctors don’t testify against doctors, etc – but, what I’m certain of is it was the one major blunder Obama made which energized the republican party into even thinking they could wrestle power back from the democrats in 2012.   It had “weakness” written all over it!

Not only is the political debate switched away from the torture, the illegal wars (of course, again, I was expecting Obama to actually bring the troops home), the politicization of the justice department, the outing of a CIA agent, the HUGE deficit and who REALLY is responsible for it, the deregulation which led to TARP, TARP itself (and Hank Paulsen’s role in creating the problem), the bludgeoning of virtually every government department (ie – the Minerals Management Service – who’s corruption contributed to the present BP oil disaster), the no-bid contracts in Iraq and Afganistan and the war profiterring by the highest of government officials – including Cheney and Rumsfeld, and the virtual ruination of our nation’s economy from the perspective of the blue collar worker, but Obama is turning OFF progressives by the droves.  The only way the “tea party” and the republican party has any chance of success is if Obama can encourage MILLIONS of voters to “opt out” of the next couple of elections because of their disappointment in his lack of leadership.  The great speeches only go so far!

I’ve heard it said that President Obama hates to be compared to President Bush – but, he’s brought this on himself.  While the idea of “bipartisanship” is a nice idealistic notion – NOT WITH THESE REPUBLICANS!  They’ve got to go – and, we elected President Obama because we thought he would have the GUTS to stand up to them.  The question becomes, why isn’t he doing this.  Now, the president has backed himself into a corner – and, I believe he’s going to have to get different advice to get out of it.  And, the transparency he promised us is going to have to be part of the solution.  LOTS OF MISTAKES HAVE BEEN MADE – and, one thing Bush/Cheney should have proved was the futility of refusing to admit to mistakes.  If you’re only goal is to stay in office – maybe that makes sense.  But, if you’re trying to mobilize this nation into returning to our “roots” (at least our post WW II roots – “New Deal roots”) then the course has got to change – and FAST!  Every day the oil from the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico creeps farther inland in the marshes, wetlands and estuaries of Louisiana – while Obama (and Emanuel) remain in Washington DC doing what appears to be business as usual – this disaster becomes closer to being Obama’s “Katrina.”  (and, all of the other blunders are magnified)  Well, what can he do? you might ask.  I’ll tell you what I think he should do.  Get his butt down to Louisiana and get his hands dirty helping to fight the fight.  Become part of the fight.  Show some guts in holding BP accountable – and the people in the MMS (Minerals Management Service) – for their blunders, mismanagement, and their lying.  Treat this as the national disaster which it is!  Show the people of Louisiana that the full force of our nation’s government is going to attempt to save their way of life.  Prove to these people who wanted nothing to do with the government stimulus money that the government is there for them FULL FORCE.  In other words, drop everything and make it look as if you REALLY CARE ABOUT THIS MONUMENTAL DISASTER!   There’s only a couple hundred people each day who read my blog (that, in itself, I find incredibly amazing because I have no idea how one of you found this) and, President Obama has proven to me that he cares little (or nothing) about what I think.  But, I do find it interesting that a sixth grade school teacher’s advice would have conceivably been better than Obama’s own advisors!  (OK, that is a bit arrogant, but, I can’t tell you how many people I’ve heard since last year – either in person, or “talkers” on the radio – saying there’s no way they are voting for either Obama or a republican in the next two elections – which is exactly what I’ve been predicting on and off for the past year and a half.  If the “tea party” actually succeeds, it will be Obama’s own fault)

When I got home this evening there was a “furor” on the “news” I was watching as it seems the WHOLE WORLD had discovered the “tea party” candidate who won the nomination for the US Senate from Kentucky (as a republican), Rand Paul, is racially insensative (I’m being polite here) as shown by recently made statements WHICH BROUGHT ATTENTION TO numerous public statements made over the past few years.  In fact, the viewers of the several shows I watched were left to surmise (or, should I say infer?) that Paul is a racist.  And, I can tell you for a certainty that I was shocked as I watched these “news” broadcasts.  Not by the revelation that Rand Paul has racist tendencies (there I go being “nice” again), but by how absurd the “news” media is to act like this is some kind of surprise!

Let’s just focus on the MSNBC “Keith Olberman” show which I’m most likely to watch (if I watch anything).  I’ve seen countless RACIST signs, and heard countless RACIST remarks from “tea party” participants (at rallies) while watching Olberman’s show – enough in fact to be able to say definitively tonight that it’s NO SURPRISE to me that someone who would rise to the top of that movement would have racist tendencies.  How could you not?  I mean, how could you look at all the signs they carry at their rallies and continue to be associated with their “movement” without being at a minimum RACIALLY INSENSITIVE?  How else could you explain all their complaints about Barack Obama after being TOTALLY SILENT during the eight LONG years of George W Bush and Dick Cheney – the two MOST RESPONSIBLE for all the ILLS these “tea partiers” are CONSTANTLY bickering about.  And, that’s not to mention the pictures of Barack Obama with a bone through his nose, or being depicted as a monkey, or with words such as “The zoo has an African lion, the White House has a ‘lying African.'”  It’s true that Olberman takes these people on, but his “surprise” at the RACIST remarks of Dr. Paul seemed a bit disengenuous to me.  (these remarks have been part of the public record for months)

Come on, I’m just a sixth grade school teacher and I can figure all this out – and, RATHER EASILY!  Think I’m nuts?  Take a listen to Rush Limbaugh once in a while.  Or the other water carriers for the extreme “right” of this nation.  The thought to them of a Black president succeeding is just not acceptable.  And, they’re willing to take this nation down in an attempt to make sure that Obama “FAILS” as Limbaugh so UNelequently puts it.  Why would all these people want Obama to fail so much as to appear to want it almost desperately?  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure this out.  If Obama succeeds, it will be like every other aspect of American life that these people figure is “lost;” and that is we will have other future presidents and national leaders of color.  I mean, if you don’t remember, Limbaugh’s stint on Monday Night Football only lasted one night because he just couldn’t keep his racist thoughts to himself.  It was too much, even for ESPN (which is owned by Disney) to allow someone to be berating a quarterback on the air (and, a great one at that) because he’s black.  (I’m guessing that, in private, Limbaugh is still angry that Jackie Robinson was allowed to play major league baseball)

So, what’s the big surprise with Rand Paul.  Of course he’s a racist – he’s the darling of the “tea party” movement and he’s right out of the heartland of Kentucky which managed to give us Mitch McConnell (the master of the code words) and Jim Bunning – two republicans who have shown they are more than willing to ruin this country in an epic “patriotic” attempt to “save our county.”  I’m still wondering if anyone has asked any of these people who they want to “take our country back” from when they spew those words.  Are they meaning they want to take it back from the 53% of the people who voted for Obama?  I mean, they (the “tea partiers”) seem to be supporting the republicans who created the economic, military, and legal mess we’re all suffering through – so, are they saying they want more of the Bush doctrine?  Personally, I’d like to see more of the “fourth estate” stand up and be counted here.  Do some serious reporting so that when “flaps” like this one with Rand Paul show up it’s not such an apparent surprise to so many people.  Have the media been intimidated right out of their much needed duty to report the actual news by the corporate masters who are pulling the “strings” for people like Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Lars Larson?

Why are what’s left of our media outlets so timid about reporting the truth about people?  I mean Rand Paul seemed so surprised when his words started coming back to haunt him.  I’m sure he felt it was some kind of witch hunt – which maybe it was (although, these were his ACTUAL words).  Of course, the only way I could see that as being true would be if there was some plan to wait for him to win the primary before he got the “magnifying glass” treatment – when people should have known the truth about him long before the primary.  In fact, I have no idea whether the voters of Kentucky knew Paul to be a racist or not.  My good side wants to trust that they didn’t know and that now that they do know he will have a difficult time winning in November.  However, my instincts are telling me that he’s a republican, he’s running in Kentucky, and that’s all we need to know – he’s in.  Can he cause more harm than Jim Bunning?  Well, I believe he’ll manage to stay awake during hearings, and he’ll be every bit as beholden to the corporate masters as Bunning was – meaning he’ll be another sure member of the republican no squad – voting lock step in whatever direction McConnell points him.

All that being said, the reality is that I find it interesting that it’s Kentucky which has an opportunity to put the present trend of the republican party to rest (and, to prove my instincts wrong).  Should Jack Conway, the democratic candidate (who would make a good senator from what I can find out) win the seat, it will send a strong message to Washington – which will be different from the one they’re perceiving at this moment.  Most of the talk is about the anti-incumbent fervor in the country, but the “fervor” should be about an anti republican (as the party exists today) movement.  They are the ones, after all, who are responsible for almost ALL of what “ails” us.  Of course, you’d never guess that to listen to them – they’re still spouting the “lower taxes” line, they’re still claiming torture is an effective deterrent to terrorism, and they’re still claiming the democrats are the “big spenders.”  They don’t want to talk about Iraq or Afganistan (and, Obama’s done them a favor here by continuing the Bush policies – putting the democrats in an awkward position on the two occupations themselves) and, it won’t be long until the republicans are blaming the Gulf oil spill on Obama while the republican governors of Louisiana and Mississippi have their hands out requesting federal aid – despite pretending to decline “stimulus” funds while telling the “feds” to “mind their own business.”  (of course, it wasn’t too long after that when these same governors started taking credit for the job creation from those same stimulus dollars they ended up “reluctantly” accepting)

Here’s the thing that’s bugging me tonight.  I’m leaning toward the position that it doesn’t matter one way or the other who wins these upcoming elections because of the impending effect of the “Citizen’s United” decision from the Roberts’ Supreme Court.  It’s the multi-national corporations who have their collective “hands in the cookie jar.”  They are the ones who are buying off people like Limbaugh, Beck, Larson, and the other right wing water carriers.  I know those people probably have been spewing so many lies that they actually are believing their own lies are true,  but the reality is they’re following directions given to them from “on high.” (and, I’m not talking about anything remotely spiritual here)  The “assault on reason” will continue – in fact, it’s going to increase exponentially based on my interpretation of “Citizen’s” – so, the battle is about to be cinched up a notch – and, that’s the battle for the heart and soul of this nation.  My concern is that the democrats will figure this out too late – the senate appears to be like a fraternity house – there’s little chance the democrats will “rock the boat” sufficiently to turn the present state of affairs in America back on the republicans where it belongs.  As I’ve stated many times, the prime opportunity to do that was at the beginning of the Obama adminstration and President Obama chose (inexplicably) to “look forward, instead of back.”  If my (and many others) worst fears regarding “Citizen’s United” come true, Obama’s decision to pardon Bush/Cheney will be exposed as a MAJOR BLUNDER comparable to some of Bush’s worst miscues.  Either way, this ludicrous corporate led debate over the future of America needn’t even have had to take place.  Had the republicans been totally exposed for their crimes against the American people, we wouldn’t be facing the possibility of a US Senate with the likes of someone with Rand Paul’s extreme racist views. 

Normally when I’m driving home from work I listen to “progressive” talk on my car radio and it’s usually Randi Rhodes whose show is on at that time.  Most of the time I find her show very entertaining and, at times, enlightening.  It’s mostly the days when I tune in to Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage or Lars Larson or the likes of them that I get worked up to write.  However, the one thing about Randi Rhodes that bothers me is her willingness to defend Barack Obama, even when to do so is a direct contradiction of what she’s been saying. 

Today, for example, the topic on Rhodes’ show was the Iraq war and the Bush/Cheney “legacy” regarding the lies to get us into the war all the way to the war crimes that were never prosecuted which both Bush and Cheney admitted to prior to leaving office (and, again after leaving office – both of them!).  Rhodes quite accurately portrayed the “Bush lies” regarding the WMD’s, the the lie regarding Saddam’s supposed “link” to al Qaeda, the false accusation of “yellow cake uranium” coming from Niger to Iraq, and even the “coincidence” regarding the “spike” in oil prices after Bush/Cheney effectively kept Iraq’s oil off the market (which is still true today).  The people in the audience – well, save a couple republicans who called in to feebly attempt a defense of the indefensible (Bush/Cheney) – were creating this great conversation which was tending toward the enlightening side when a man from Southern California called in and brought up the FACT that we all know that MAJOR CRIMES were committed by Bush/Cheney et al, yet the present administration has stifled any investigation of this – therefore giving the American people effectively ZERO REDRESS of these issues.

The man was frustrated.  In fact, as I listened to him it sounded as if my twin brother (which I don’t have) was on the line with Randi expressing my exact thoughts.  The man shared his frustration over this and then asked something like, “what can we do when we elect someone into office and they don’t perform the basic duties you elect them to perform?”  This is where I lose patience with Randi Rhodes.  The man was clearly wanting her to comment on the refusal of Barack Obama to allow even investigations of the wrongdoing of the Bush/Cheney administration and how it reeks of collusion.  His “what can we do” question, meaning all us “progressives” who feel “left out,” is about what I’ve been writing in this blog for almost a year now.  And, apparently Rhodes and evidently Obama still don’t “get” this. 

Randi’s suggestion was that until all the different “factions” in America come together nothing will happen to address this type of issue.  She included democrats, republicans, and even “tea partiers” in this comment – which, to use her own term, was unbelievable to me.   Well, the type of issue we’re talking about here is the fundamental issue that I thought we ANSWERED during Watergate as Richard Nixon was being thrown out of office – which is – the FACT the Preisdent does it, DOESN’T make it legal!  We (meaning “we the people”) went through a lot to make that point – and, just as “Citizen’s United” overturned 100 years of campaign finance precedence – so to did Obama/Holder turn over nearly 40 YEARS of HARD FOUGHT (by progressives – OK, I’ll say it – LIBERALS!) legal precedence that the president is NOT above the law.  The ONLY way I can interpret Obama’s actions is to think that he AGREES with Richard Nixon now that he’s president.  The problem I have with that is this issue was ONE of the main REASONS I voted for Obama  – he SPECIFICALLY promised, during the campaign, that the president isn’t above the law – in fact, he CLEARLY said – NO ONE’S ABOVE THE LAW! (He also said, “Waterboarding is torture” and “If I see evidence of torture, it will be prosecuted” – I heard him say that with my own ears Randi, so please don’t tell me something different)

Earth to Randi – You could have all the factions in the world come together on this one – but, the ultimate responsibility would STILL lie with the president.  If you’re suggesting that the reason Obama didn’t allow these investigations is because there wasn’t enough public support for them – to me, that’s even worse.  That’s either total abdication of responsibility, lack of leadership, or just plain cowardice.  I don’t know which one of those you want to call it, but none are flattering!  Randi, please don’t tell me that before George W Bush and Dick Cheney (and the others) can be held accountable for their illegal activity we have to have some kind of “unity” in this nation.  On those terms, no one will ever have to face accountability for their actions again.  I mean, the first time I heard Barack Obama claim he was going to “look forward instead of back” I just about puked!  Based on that logic, there will never be another crime prosecuted in America(I know I’ve said that before, but it’s time to say it again, evidently).  Randi, tonight you were explaining how dumb (that’s my term for whatever word you actually used) many American voters are, but I personally know a WHOLE BUNCH who are not dumb enough to buy that logic.

And, the ulitmate price the democrats pay for this – and, I believe what the caller to Rhodes’ show was trying to point out before she overwhelmed him – is that “progressives” are going to stay home from the elections in DROVES!  So Randi, what are you and President Obama going to do if that prediction holds true?  Are you going to blame all the progressives who feel it doesn’t matter who they vote for, we still get politicians CORRUPTED by money?  And, PLLLLEASE don’t try to tell me that President Obama is free from the “money issue.”  Obviously, the few pitiful $25 donations I managed to throw into his campaign didn’t buy me any influence, but I’m guessing some of the “big boys” are having their say.  Actually, I’ve watched American politics long enough that I can “take” that – I’m sorry to say that I understand it’s part of the “game.”  However, ignoring the laws of the land by our top government officials falls into a similar category to me as the “Citizen’s United” decision thrust upon us by the Roberts Court.

Yes, that decision (Citizen’s) is bound to have an enormous – possibly fatal – influence on our democracy as we know it (OK, I realize we have a democratic republic – I’m just trying to make a point) – but, no more so than allowing Bush/Cheney and the others to walk away “scott free” after all the damage they’ve done to this country.  If they can’t be called “onto the carpet” then who will possibly ever have to answer for their actions.  The message sent to future administrations is potentially staggering.  In fact, if you’re paying attention, these ridiculous republicans are still spouting the “merits” of all the torture – as if they kept us safe!  The time to put all their lying, scandulous rhetoric and actions to rest was right after Obama took office.  And, in my view, this is but one of many terrible decisions he’s made as he continues to kiss up to republicans.  Randi Rhodes, we watched republicans cover up for Bush/Cheney for years, let’s not do the same for President Obama!   The proper answer to the caller who was upset by this lack of accountability was that YOU, Randi Rhodes, could be the uniting force that would allow people like us to pressure the White House into fulfilling their obligation of upholding our nation’s laws.  Not only would it send a strong message to America and the rest of the world that we really are a nation of laws and not men, but it would re-energize the “left” in time to salvage additional gains in November.  We could then further marginalize these extremists in the republican party and begin the process of bringing America back toward a political system with two parties that can talk to and work with each other.  Randi, you played a huge role in getting people mobilized to get Obama elected, I believe you have an even more important role now in helping us FORCE him to take the progressive approach he promised us when he was on the campaign trail.  It might be too late to investigate Bush/Cheney, but it’s not too late to send a message to the president that we voted for a leader and a statesman, not another money driven deal maker politician!

Make no mistake about this bickering, partisan atmosphere which has engulfed the political landscape in the United States of America – it is part of a larger plan.  The “attack” on liberalism has been no accident.  This was part of the larger plan which was spawned during the 1980’s under the guise of the “Reagan revolution.”  And, make no mistake about this either, “these guys are good.”  Whoever is behind this move for a “permanent republican ‘majority'” knows how to control the media – and, they FULLY understand the word PROPAGANDA!  They also understand the word PATIENCE.  They’ve been at this for over 30 years and were OH SO CLOSE until they screwed up and chose George W Bush as their “ringleader.”

As much as the progressives such as myself despised Bush (and Cheney) I’m convinced, at this point in time, that the financiers of this “republican revolution” – who choose to remain anonymous for all intents and purposes – despise Bush even more.  I’m guessing these people were among the cheerleaders, for example, when Bush/Cheney virtually destabilized the entire world by intruding into Iraq – only, they too expected the American troops to be “greeted as liberators.”  I’m guessing what they would have preferred to avoid was all the publicity surrounding the inhumane torture America became notorious for under the Bush/Cheney regime.  Additionally, I believe they just assumed that Bush/Cheney would have had at least a modicum of a post-Saddam strategy for keeping order in Iraq – something that would have appeared as if it was well thought out.  Something which would have headed off the barrage of books – both from “liberal” and “conservative” reporters all saying the same thing – the Iraq invasion was an incompetent, ill-advised, STUPID mess!

And, of course, whoever these people are, I don’t doubt for a minute they were in favor of the so-called “Bush taxcuts.”  I mean, it saved them TRILLIONS of dollars over the ensuing 10 years (well, it’ll be 10 years soon).  Also, I don’t think they were all that upset with ANY of the deregulation OR the MELTDOWN that followed.  It’s just the timing of it all.  I’m sure they feel Bush should have been able to put off the crash until a democrat had taken office – at least, as long as they had to “temporarily” give up the White House.  In fact, I believe they think to this day that had the “meltdown” come 6 months later, we’d be looking at a McCain/Palin administration – which would be even MORE MONEY for whoever these people are!

I don’t question that these people blame Bush’s incompetence on the FACT they couldn’t get Social Security “privatized.”  That would have created even a greater opportunity to FLEECE America than they had during the 2008 meltdown where they only had the non-social security funds to abscond with.  It’s still not clear in my mind if these people realize the American public isn’t going to fall for privatizing social security, or if they simply think it didn’t happen because Bush’s bumbling nature was becoming more readily apparent by the time he took on that endeavor.  However, despite his weaknesses, Bush did come through in some important ways for these people.

For example, despite the FACT Bush/Cheney was the result of a Supreme Court 5-4 decision these “unknown” people were still very concerned about the makeup of the court.  GW came through in a mighty way!  I really don’t think “Citizen’s United” (If your head’s been in the sand, that’s the recent Supreme Court 5-4 decision which has opened the “floodgates” to corporate money’s dominance of our future elections) would have made it without the STRONG RIGHT WING leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.  Both justices violated their pledge not to be “activist” judges in a decision that can only be described as the result of careful planning by – again – whoever is behind this push for the “permanent republican majority.”  (Can you even picture Sarah Palin in the White House?)  These guys knocked over 100 years of judicial precedence in one felled swoop – and, getting that decision overturned is going to be more difficult over time because of the very nature of the decision.  Come on now, do you think the large corporate board rooms are going to spend their money trying to overturn the decision which gives them extraordinary influence on the politics of this nation?  That’s like expecting our members of Congress to vote in term limits which would put themselves out of jobs.  It just aint gonna happen!

I honestly believe the part of all this that causes these “behind the scenes” people to despise Bush the most is the fact that his blundering led to a BLACK president.  And, one who is a formidable opponent.  Barrack Obama goes about his job completely different from Bush/Cheney (I put those names together because I was never certain who was really in charge).  For one thing, not only can Obama put a complete sentence together, he can give one heck of a good speech.  Also, he can do a press conference where the press actually asks him intelligent and relevent questions.  I’m not sure if the American public has picked up on this difference yet, but despite my differences with Obama, I find that just a bit refreshing.  A President with a high level of intelligence.  I realize Clinton had a high intellect, I just had issues with his personal behavior – which I agree has little to do with the job – unless you’re spending countless hours answering republican accusations. (most of them false)  So, Bush/Cheney opened the door to a Black president who might succeed – despite every effort these republicans and their “secret admirers” will “throw” his way in an effort to make sure he doesn’t – and, that – I believe – will be the lasting legacy of disgust these people put on Bush/Cheney.  Had they shown any level of competence at all, the republicans would have been in for good!

Just think of this.  President Obama has already nominated TWO Supreme Court justices.  Now, most people are thinking that the two he nominated will keep the court at its present right wing 5-4 majority.  But, just think where we’d be for the next 30 years had McCain/Palin prevailed.  You’d be at a 7-2 majority – which is what I believe all these republican “secret admirers” were counting on.  Most people have no idea what that would have meant for this country.  And, if Ruth Bader Ginsburg retires – that would have led to an 8-1 majority.  I guarantee you if a republican was in the White House, neither Elena Kagan nor Sonja Sotomayer would have been considered for a spot on the court.  We’d probably be looking at someone like David Addington or John Yoo!

Bush/Cheney were systematically politicizing the justice department during their administration – they just weren’t subtle enough with the process to get away with it sans negative publicity.  What they were counting on, however – and the democrats came through for them – was a weak democratic party.  The republicans have figured out how much more power they can wield by uniting like a bunch of thoughtless robots (and taking their directions from this invisible force I’m trying to get my mind around tonight) while the democrats squabble amongst themselves over how much corporate money they can take before it starts to look as if they are on the take like their right wing brethren.  The problem, as I see it, is that the democrats don’t “get” that they’re not very good at playing both sides of the fence.  I’m sure they spend moments watching these republicans in admiration as they take money from special interests in one hand and then proclaim they are against the same special interests with the other (of course, with their fingers crossed!)

All of this leaves us voters (at least the ones who are thinking along progressive – or LIBERAL lines) with an “issue.”  We know how bad Bush/Cheney were and that the arrogant republicans are still proposing the same CRAP that got us in this economic, militaristic, diplomatic, industrial, and on and on MESS that we’re presently stuck in.  We also are seeing more and more how many democratic lawmakers in the senate and the house of the Untited States of America are on the take.  OK, I know what you’re thinking – but, just for a moment, let’s not say that because all the republicans are bought and sold by the corporate special interests that means the democrats have to do the same to “keep up.”  In fact, the “tea party” idea of getting rid of ALL OF THEM is sounding better and better all the time.  However, the problem with that is the people the “tea party” (I was going to say “nut-jobs” here, but let’s just say I have a problem with all the racist rhetoric – and SIGNS – I’ve seen and heard from “tea partiers” – despite that I “get” their frustration) would replace them with – are even further to the right than these republicans who’ve already nearly sunken the ship.

Here’s the quandry – at least for me.  There’s a LOT I like about President Obama.  However, there’s some decisions he’s made which I believe are almost un-American.  For starters, he looked the other way from OBVIOUS, PROVABLE War Crimes – simply because they were authorized by our previous president and vice president and carried out by our CIA!  To me, THAT’S NO EXCUSE!  In fact, it’s my belief that when we start saying our leaders, who take an oath to defend the laws of the land, are above the laws of the land – we are in danger of losing our civilization as we know it.  That was a dangerous and UNACCEPTABLE precedent to take!  There are other decisions which have been “weak” – just as republicans would describe democrats – because the democrats can’t get it together to stand for something.  For example, regarding health care – 70+% of the population wanted a “robust public option,” – with 53% (or more by some polls) favoring a SINGLE PAYER insurance system and our democratic congress could come up with neither.  And, in the process, they turned off millions of would be “progressive” voters with their back-room antics.

I could go on, but the sad reality of all of this is it’s bound to lead to a lower turn out at the polls for the “progressives.”  There are more than myself saying, “why keep supporting these people when they’re going to do the bidding of their corporate masters anyway.”  And, I believe that is a legit complaint – despite the FACT that President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel called people like myself “f___ing retards.”  That’s more a compliment I’d expect to come from someone like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, or Lars Larson, but I still take it with pride.  At some point Obama and his entourage will wake up and realize that they can’t win by turning off the people who voted for them.  THERE’S NOTHING THEY CAN DO TO GET THOSE RIGHT WING VOTES THEY’RE PANDERING FOR!  I really don’t see the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, Savage, or Larson joining the Obama “bandwagon” anytime soon.

Just as Osama bin Laden must have celebrated when Bush/Cheney chose to allow him and his followers to go free and to reconstitute themselves while the US was invading Iraq so must the republicans celebrate every time President Obama “throws” an overture their way.  Not only does it give them another opportunity to STIFF HIM but it gives them another opportunity to create dissention in the democratic ranks.  And, as a famous republican once said (I can’t remember his name right off the top of my head) “the fewer the number of American voters, the better chance for repulbican success.”  So based on that theory the Obama administration is playing right into the hands of the republicans.

The republican’s benefactors (those secret minions I’m struggling to identify) are out in great force these days.  “Citizen’s United” has opened the doors for a barrage of “swift boating” which will make what happened to John Kerry in 2004 look like child’s play.  And, the democrats will probably be trying to decide whether their best course of action is to solicit the available funds (and support) from the corporate “donors” themselves or to stand up like courageous leaders and put a stop to this deplorable, corrupt, course our government is on which has led to the two indefinite occupations in Iraq and Afganistan, the economic meltdown which we may or may not be recovering from, the reputation of a nation which tortures, a coastline bathed in oil while “right wingers” like Sarah Palin keep shouting “drill baby drill,” the reality of a globe with melting polar ice caps which we are apparently content watching melt, and a democratic president and democratic party which is dead set on creating an atmosphere of bipartisanship with people who should be thrown out of office. 

This all fits neatly into the “master plan” of the “right wing machine” which is dead set on that aforementioned “permanent republican majority.”  Yes, Bush/Cheney has set them back – but, they’ve got lots of money, and as I said earlier in this post – they’re very patient.  They’ve been after this for over thirty years for heaven’s sake!  The “minions” pushing  this permanent republican majority?  Take a look at the United States Chamber of Commerce!  I believe by looking there you might find a group of corporations who are willing to undermine the fabric of this nation to increase their bottom lines!  They have a HUGE investment in this last thirty years of corporate greed being accepted as “normal,” while they’ve been breaking unions, shipping jobs overseas, and making GIANT profits while paying NO TAXES!  Until we have an opposing party to the republicans willing to say ENOUGH ALREADY – and FIGHT BACK – matters will get worse.  As of now, it’s the democrats we’re depending on to “carry the torch,” but it’s really looking as if too many of them have succumbed to the money for this to happen.  All I can say is that it seems to me if the democrats don’t figure this out by Novemeber it might be too late.

A few posts back (and in others as well) I posited that all Congress need do to fix the “too big to fail” problem with the Wall Street Banks was to reinstitute the Glass Steagall legislation which was repealed with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.  As I said at the time, it was put together (the bill that is) by republicans, but it was signed into law by Bill Clinton.  Well, so much for wishful thinking with the present “reform” that is heading through the senate.  There won’t be any Glass Steagall type legislation involved and we won’t be able to blame this on the republicans this time.  Last week an amendment was put before the US Senate to the bill designed to re-regulate Wall Street (from the deregulation which began under Ronald Reagan) which would have broken up the “too big to fail” banks and the amendment was defeated with the help of something like 27 democratic votes.  This bill, presumably, would have prevented Bank of America from also being Merrill Lynch – it would have prevented Citibank from being a bank, an investment brokerage house, and an insurance company (among other things).  It would have, as I understand it, required banks to be banks – which was one of the important regulations coming out of the Great Depression that led to many years of prosperity for the middle class of America.

I really want to say here, “with the help of republicans” the middle class is being “hammered” by government policies which favor the “rich.”  The problem that’s becoming more and more apparent as time goes by is that the democrats are complicit in this “attack” as well.  Yes, there are many in the democratic party who seem to be acting as if they are traditional democrats – favoring the blue collar working class of America – but, the problem is there are many in the democratic party – enough to offset the others – who have not only enabled this deregulating frenzy of the republicans, but gone along with it.  And, along with the policies themselves has come a vicious propoganda campaign which, along with the recent “Citizen’s United” decision by the Supreme Court, has made and will continue to make a “change in direction” IMPROBABLE at best. 

Last week President Obama was whining and dining Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase, CEO of one of the 6 Wall Street Banks that control, essentially, over 60% of America’s GDP – a frightening statistic in itself.  Tim Geithner and Larry Summers, Obama’s top economic advisors, are right out of the culture of Wall Street.  Eric Holder, Obama’s Attorney General spent eight years at a prestigious corporate law firm (handling cases for the major corporations which will be peddling even more influence now, thanks to the aforementioned Supreme Court case), and one by one as Obama’s administration comes under the “microscope” I keep seeing politics as usual instead of “the change I can believe in.”  I keep remembering the slogan “yes we can,” and feel a bit embarrassed that I allowed myself to get sucked in.  “Yes we can” what?  I forgot to ask – or to make sure I understood what that meant.  I still remember all the “pundits” bringing up the first hundred days of FDR with the obvious reference to the difficult situation Obama inherited – and, that he was going to bring an FDR type response to the republican nightmare inflicted on all of us.  I also remember telling myself that if I continued writing (this blog started as a response to Bush’s absurd Iraq policies) I would not “rubber stamp” President Obama as the republicans had done to Bush should he come up “short” of my perception of his promises.

Not that my opinion means much in the big picture, but, if you get enough people thinking in the same direction who knows, maybe that can influence the “machine” in Washington DC.  One thing’s very clear after watching Obama’s first year and a half in office (well, not quite) is that it’s very difficult to steer the ship in a different direction.  And, the reason for that seems quite clear in my mind.  MONEY!  The “chaps” back in D.C. have been corrupted by corporate money almost beyond hope.  The “Tea Party” solution?  Get rid of government – or, at least, reduce it even more than was done during the Bush/Cheney fiasco.  My solution?  Clean up government.  Get rid of the lobbyists who are throwing good money around in order to create bad!  I still remember Ronald Reagan turning up the “heat” on government, as if it was government that was causing all our problems.

You have to keep in mind some of the reasons Reagan was unhappy with government.  On the surface he railed against deficits (that proved to be quite the joke, didn’t it?) but what he was really angry with was the “New Deal” phenomenom which had brought prosperity to so many “ordinary” Americans.  Reagan claimed that Medicare would be the end of us – something like it would be the beginning of the end of our freedom, just as the republicans before him pronounced Social Security as socialism which would destroy our nation.  Reagan HATED the fact that people making MILLIONS were being taxed at a higher rate than those of us down near the bottom.  That led to the massive assault on the New Deal regulations which were designed to prevent the very problems we’re all experiencing today – including the tax cuts on the “rich” which have led this nation into or near the “poor house.”  Additionally, Reagan opposed the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s to the point that he announced his candidacy for president in Philadelphia, Mississippi – the place made “famous” by the deaths of three civil rights workers in 1964.  Reagan was unhappy with the role of government because it was empowering “ordinary people” – and, I’ll let you surmise what that means.

And, what’s wrong with taking the “lid” off what people can earn?  Why is it wrong to claim, as the republicans do, that the rich people know better what to do with their money – and that, ultimately, when they are “richer” the excess will “trickle down” to the rest of us?  I suppose that theory comes from people who believe we’re all saints (of course, it’s being pushed by many who profess to be Christians, people who suposedly believe we’re “fallen”) and will share any excess they earn with the less advantaged.  We see evidence of that type of thinking all over the world, with the resultant unrest among the “haves not” that seems to be “flying below the radar screen” of those at the “top.”

For example, I’m presently reading a (very interesting) book, titled “Search for Al Qaeda” by Bruce Riedell, a former CIA agent and national security advisor to two presidents, and he points out that the “heart” of the problem in the middle east is that Palestinian refugee camps have been holding people in untennable situations for decades.  It is from these camps that many of the terrorists are coming, and the rest of us seem to be turning a “blind eye” to the fact that so many people are living in these deplorable conditions.  As I wrote recently, in our own American cities, we have ultra high levels of unemployment and children are being gunned down, due to similarly deplorable conditions,  regularly with hardly a “whimper” from those of us fortunate enough to be in better circumstances.  At the same time, the headlines are full of stories about people at the “top” raking in BILLIONS gambling on stocks and commodities using other people’s money – and paying little to no taxes on the “bounty.”  And, then our leaders claim we can’t “stimulate” the weaker parts of the economy because of lack of money.  Or, you have the “tea partiers” out there clamoring for laws that order cops to pull over “suspected illegals,” ask for papers, and if they’re not produced the person goes to jail!  For God’s sake, how many of those inner city Chicagoans I talked about in my previous post do you think carry their “papers” around with them?  (now that I think about it – what about me? What papers am I supposed to have?)

The bottom line here, as I see it (at least tonight :o) is that we have a Wall Street “run amock” and we have a United States senate which has been bought and paid for by the same Wall Street.  There’s no other explanation I can come up with that would present the facts as they seem to appear.  These “gamblers” (hedge fund operators and others at places like Goldman Sachs) are paying taxes at a lessor rate than I am (I believe it’s 15% or less – and in one instance, at least, on 4 BILLION in income).  Before Reagan (and after Hoover), anyone making more than what I will call the “marginal” income paid at least 50% of that income in taxes.  In fact, during World War II the rate was 94%!  This marginal income amount, in today’s dollars compared to the $200,000 it was defined as in 1944 would be something approaching $3 MILLION.  That means, on the first $3 MILLION you would pay the same taxes as you do now.  Anything over $3 MILLION the rate goes up substantially.  The idea was – and, in my opinion, should still be – that when you start earning more than that it becomes all about the money (OK, this is getting into my philosophical thinking, I’m no economist) and we end up with a problem of SYSTEMIC GREED!  This is what Marx was talking about as he predicted the collapse, ultimately, of capitalism.  Too few at the top, and too many at the bottom.  I’m oversimplifying this, but it’s going to be more of a problem in this nation if our US Senators continue to kiss up to the ones at the “top.”  I mean, when does it stop?  How bad do things have to get for the actual people who vote them in before our US Senators figure this out?  Or, do they care?  Do the “moneychangers” just assume that anyone new to the Senate will “succumb” to the money as well?  Is the only way to fix this to have the people who are corrupted do the fixing?  That’s not very encouraging!  THIS IS GETTING DEPRESSING!

How do I connect this to the Obama administration?  Well, as I’m watching them “progress” through their first two years I’m seeing a lot of “politics as usual” from the “centrist” or “pragmatic” approach to governing.  An attempt at “consensus building,” or something that looks that way to me.  Obviously, if you’ve read many of my previous posts about President Obama, I’m not altogether that happy about what his administration is doing.  Yes, they passed a “health care reform” bill.  I see it as something that needs a LOT of fixing and is in the (hopefully) better than nothing category.  There’s now the Wall Street reform.  As stated above, without something along the lines of reinstituting Glass Steagall this reform appears to be something that will be “better than nothing” to people like me, but accpetable to people like Jamie Dimon.  There was the “stimulus” bill, which needed more stimulus – sacrificed “stimulus” for three republican votes.  Iraq?  Nothing at all new or courageous there.  Just following the “Bush” plan – all the way to the end.  Avoiding any kind of real decision regarding Iraq.  What I’m seeing is more of a return to the Bill Clinton approach to government, than a return to FDR.  I realize that it was my wishful thinking, at this point, which was expecting more.  But, I believe with all my heart that it’s the people in the above referenced “deplorable situations” which are the problem.  And, we won’t solve the problem of people in destitute situations through “trickle down” politics.  When the people at the “top” understand they are better off when the people at the “bottom” are healthy, the United States will be on the road to real recovery!  The republicans would claim “socialism,” and this will never happen without strong courageous leaders willing to take a principled stand against the greed which is destroying America like dry rot destroys a house.  As of the present time, there is a void of this type of leadership in Washington DC!

Often times I ponder what lies ahead for us (Americans) which seems to be the motivating force behind these posts.  I’m sure I’m not alone in this endeavor.  And, obviously, we Americans like to predict the future – as if we actually know something.  One of the things that is continually “hammered” home to me from my experiences is how little I know.  That being said, I don’t anticipate a change in my “need” to predict the “future” at least as I see it, anytime soon.  I have become almost obsessed with reading books which give perspectives (along with inside information) on what our leaders are doing.  I try to stay away from the books which are TOTALLY politically motivated (although, I realize they all are to some degree).  For example, I’m not going to read Sarah Palin’s book (which, I’m guessing was written by someone else), or Sean Hannity’s book, or Glenn Beck’s, or – from the other perspective – people on the “left” who are collaborating with “ghost writers” to “cash in” on their “fame.”

People like Seymour Hersh, Naomi Klein, Kevin Phillips, Thomas Ricks, John Dean, Bob Woodward (I started to lose respect for Woodward in the past couple of years), Frank Schaeffer, David Sirota, Frank Rich, Greg Pallast, George Packer, Jeremy Scahill, Thom Hartman and a long list of others look past the political expediency of the moment in an attempt to find the truth about what is really happening at the top of our political “food chain.”  The picture is not a good one.  And, for those of you into bipartisanship, from my perspective the picture is BAD from BOTH SIDES OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM!  The republican party and those affilitated with it have been consumed by GREED, and the democrats – well, where are the democrats when we need them?  The bitter truth is that you’ll find the “high rollers” in this nation feeding both political parties in an orchestrated program designed to make sure that their best interests come before everything else.

The sad reality of all of this is that we will continue facing one “BUBBLE” after another until we purge our nation of these contemptuous people who are all about MONEY.  (here I go making predictions again)  However, the people at the “top” seem to be totally removed from the rest of us – almost as if we are “collateral damage” when their actions backfire or simply don’t work.  Take Wall Street for example.  The large banks that survived the 2008 “meltdown” – Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, B of A, etc. – simply got a bit bigger after the recent crisis and their reprehesible behavior slowed down only an “instant” until the TARP bailout “righted the ship.”  It’s as if these guys will just keep grabbing for more until there’s nothing left to grab!  And, the republican party is right there with their collective hands out asking for their share of the spoils in return for fighting regulation.  All this while the democrats rig up regulations which are better than nothing, but don’t go nearly far enough to shift the direction of this nation’s wealth back toward the middle class.

That’s basically the choice “we the people” are faced with.  The republican party, as it’s constituted today, will take the GREED position (every man/woman for him/herself) right over the cliff, while the democrats are content to be “better than nothing.”  That’s the way it was for health care, that’s the way it’s looking for financial regulation, that’s pretty much the way it looks to me on just about any issue.  I mean, we’re still in Iraq and Afganistan – these occupations have been going on long enough under democratic control of congress that the blame can no longer be just aimed at Bush/Cheney (although, they are mostly to blame – their actions have just made it clear the democrats are spineless).  And while I don’t expect Sarah Palin to stop shouting “Drill Baby Drill,” I also don’t expect Barack Obama to admit that he made a HUGE mistake in agreeing to open up our shorelines to more offshore drilling.

Deflation is what happens to an economy when it begins to shrink instead of expand.  It is also what happens to citizens in a free society when they begin to realize that their voices don’t much matter.  I can hear all the Obama supporters saying that he’s doing what he said he would do.  However, the reality of ALL the things he’s doing which couldn’t be anticipated based on his election promises is GROWING – and, the lack of enthusiastic democratic voters is growing right along with it.  Obama doesn’t seem to “get” this.  Now, I’ve been voting for over 40 years and fully understand that American politicians say what they believe their audience wants to hear.  So this one’s on me.  I actually thought “change we could believe in” would be real change – and back toward the fundamental values which made this a great nation.  Much to the chagrine of those on the “right,” – at least what they would like to believe – America never reached “world power” status until the “New Deal” of FDR.  America came out of World War II as the “leader of the free world.”  And, the rest of the world is still looking to us for leadership, and instead we’ve allowed ourselves into this downward spiral caused by massive GREED.

This GREED was facilitated by Ronald Reagan when he began the propoganda scheme that claimed by reducing taxes for the “rich” the money would “trickle down” to the rest of us.  It was ridiculous when he said it, and it’s even more ridiculous today – despite the FACT people on the “right” are still trying to cram this philosophy down our throats today.  The bottom line is that our wealth has “trickled” up to the point where a smaller and smaller group of Americans control a larger and larger pool of money.  THIS IS UNHEALTHY!  I often wonder, how much do these guys need?  I’ve read the reports of the apartments in New York, the chauffeur’s, the home in the Hamptons, the two trips a year to the Carribbean or Aspen, the exclusive private schools, and the expensive country clubs as being necessary for this “lifestyle,” but, I also read today a column in the NY Times by Bob Herbert about the deteriorating conditions in America’s cities, the children being murdered in alarming numbers, and the lack of concern by society at large for the problem.

So, here’s how I see things playing out if we continue in the same direction we’ve been headed for these past 30+ years.  The wealthy in this nation will continue to get wealthier – creating the “wealth bubble.”  This will be TOTALLY supported by republicans and “accepted” by democrats (I think I’m more disgusted by the democrats as I think about this – because they’re the ones I would expect to be fighting for the “New Deal” principles).  Certain things are bound to happen as long as we continue this course – I’m just not sure in what order.  The climate will continue to change, without a concerted effort to reduce “man’s” role in that change – UNTIL A DISASTER HAPPENS!  We will continue to burn fossil fuels at an accelerating pace – UNTIL A (well, maybe I should say until more) DISASTER HAPPENS!  Who knows how many DISASTERS have to happen before we realize what a stupid course we’re on in the middle east and elsewhere? (if you read Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” you will see that it’s these very disasters that fuels the right wing agenda)

I could go on with this, but I want to focus on Herbert’s article a bit.  Because, it’s America’s cities which are becoming the looming DISASTER that no one seems to want to notice.  Herbert is an articulate editorial writer for the Times who is focused on the real human costs of our GREED.  And, this latest article should get people’s attention, although I’m skepticle that it will.  I guess I’m regressing back into my cynical stage based on my disappointment with President Obama’s direction (I mean, he had the head of one of Wall Street’s banks as a guest at the White House last week – for heaven’s sake!)  I suppose if I’m feeling that people won’t fully address the issue of climate change until a major city is under water, then it should be no surprise that American’s will ignore their own inner cities until they erupt in violence resulting from their “inhabitants” frustration at a general lack of concern for their problems.  In Herbert’s article he interviewed people who are afraid to go outside to “wash their cars” in inner city Chicago because of the threat of gun violence.  Yet, our congress will continue to cower to the NRA and other lobbyists who will perpetuate the situation until it erupts in a way that interferes with the “good life.”

Just the other day, speaking of the NRA and the “gun lobby,”  I saw clips of republican senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina arguing against a bill in congress which would deny suspected terrorists the right to buy guns or explosives.  Now, Graham was singled out because, on the same day, he argued that it was wrong to read someone his “Miranda rights” if he was accused of a terrorist act.  I’m pointing this out to show how absurd our entire national debate has become.  Refusing to allow guns to a suspected terrorist would violate their 2nd amendment rights – and, that would be bad.  Giving them their “Miranda rights,” (right to counsel) guarnateed by the 5th amendment, however, is bad because we should just torture them in order to get them to say whatever we want to hear!  I mean this is convoluted thinking.  It is the thinking that has allowed all the 16 year old gang members in cities like Chicago to be “bearing arms,” with the result being something like 150 children KILLED in the past year alone – with hardly a whimper from the rest of us.

Something is terribly wrong here, and as long as our leaders continue to cower to the forces of the high money rollers little will change.  What will cause change will be the DISASTERS!  In the educational world this is called being reactive instead of proactive.  The FACT we can see all this “stuff” coming, seems to have little effect on the ones who could do something about it.  That’s the people who are, unfortunately, unable to resist the temptation to take the money of the “moneychangers” in Washington DC.  It certainly wasn’t lost on me that a cool BILLION dollars was invested by the health lobby during the previous “health reform” debate – and, there’s no question in my mind that they will get their money’s worth!  Despite the proclamations of Obama and the democrats, I have no doubt that the health care industry will get every dollar back in “spades.”  This translates in so many different directions.  And, in my view, as long as the politicians keep taking the special interest money, the children being murdered in our cities will be “back page news!”

Attention democrats!  There’s an opportunity sitting right in front of your noses and if you can pull yourself away from the corporate lobbyists long enough to figure out that this is a potential critical time in our history you can marginalize the combative rhetoric FLOWING from the “right” and turn the direction of the “ship of state” back toward the true republican values of our founding fathers.  It seems remarkable to me that it’s not obvious to you (democrats) that the people are longing for a strong stand against the corporate greed of the previous 30 years which has resulted in discontent that is truly bipartisan – that is, from both the “right” and the “left.”

Republican values?  Of course, that does not have anything to do with the present day republican party.  That refers to the values put forth by Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Hamilton, Franklin, and the others who were there at the infancy of this nation.  And, just for clarity’s sake, let me get this off my chest for starters – in case any of the “tea partiers” somehow would happen onto this site (I mean, somehow Lars Larson showed up recently) it’s time for someone in our government – and, it appears it’s going to have to be the democrats – to remind the people of this great nation that this country was founded on the principle of the separation of church and state.  The people who came here originally from Europe (yes, the ones who killed most of the “Native Americans”) came here to get away from religious intolerance.  And, as a Christian myself, I am continually grieved by all the people turned off to the teachings of Jesus by the Christians who for some reason believe they have an obligation to cram religion down other people’s throats – and, worse than that, they want to do it through  a self-righteous intolerant government!

Yes, I’m advocating for our leaders to remind EVERYONE this nation was founded on the principal of religious freedom.  OK, there’s another issue that seems a bit over the edge lately.  Immigration!  The reality, as I see it, is that virtually every “American” who’s advocating that we need to somehow deport something like 12 MILLION undocumented workers is an immigrant themselves.  I teach 6th grade history, and based on the history books, virtually everyone in this nation is descended from an immigrant.  Does the fact that my family came here in the 1600’s (on my father’s side, they did) make me less of an immigrant than the students I have who’s HARD WORKING parents came to America less than 15 years ago – or even people who have come in the past year?  Are the opponents of immigration saying that we should close our borders because they no longer want this nation to be built on the premise (or, promise – if you will) of opportunity?  Or is their real message that they want to preserve a majority of “white people?”

I recently heard the governor of Arizona claim that the recent law passed in that state which MANDATES that police officers stop anyone who they SUSPECT might be an undocumented worker and demand their “papers,” with the public having the right to SUE the police if they believe they’re (the police) not doing a good enough job of this, is not promoting “racial profiling.”  Are you kidding me?  Remember the old saying, “I might be dumb, but I’m not stupid?”  Well, I’m constantly feeling as if the people running various parts of our government just assume we’re all stupid.  I certainly can’t bring myself to believe that the people of Arizona are that stupid.  Isn’t it obvious this law is aimed at people who are non-white?  Like, especially Mexicans?  Isn’t that racial profiling? Or, am I going to have to produce my “papers” if I travel to Arizona?  Honestly, I don’t know what papers I’d have to show them.

They don’t believe Barack Obama is an American citizen in Arizona – despite the FACT he was born in Hawaii.  Obama even went to the absurd length to post a picture of his birth certificate on his website which wasn’t good enough for them.  How am I to know if my birth certificate would be enough for them.  I can tell you, I’m not going to go to Arizona to find out – plus, the truth of the matter is that I don’t carry my birth certificate with me when I travel (actually, I don’t travel that much – but, when I do, it won’t be to Arizona).  All of a sudden, Arizona feels like a different country to me.  I have to admit, after getting a close up and personal look at John McCain during the previous presidential election, I had my doubts about Arizona then.  The guy rivaled George W Bush in his PROVEN incompetence, but I guess his years in a prison camp during Viet Nam “trumped” the FACT he was in the BOTTOM 10 of a class of almost 900 at Annapolis – in fact, the only reason he got into Annapolis in the first place was that his father was an Admiral in the Navy.  And, what McCain proved to be adept at while in the Navy was WRECKING PLANES!  According to my sources he crashed 5 planes, including the one which landed him in the Viet Cong prison camp.

Now, I have a lot of respect for anyone who serves in our military (including McCain), especially in combat (I actually signed up to do so myself during Viet Nam, but it didn’t work out), but that doesn’t qualify them for a leadership position on a national scale as far as I’m concerned.  One of the first things McCain did upon entering the senate of the United States was to help facilitate the banking crisis (savings and loan) of the late 1980’s (along with George W Bush’s brother – are you seeing a pattern here?).  And, since then – as of this writing – McCain has proven to be a “flip flopper” extraordinaire – seemingly more adept at changing positions than even Mitt Romney – if that seems possible.  Now, I understand that over the course of time people are going to change their minds on things – but, McCain seems to have changed his mind on just about everything.  I even remember seeing him in the last election being interviewed by Rick Warren in front of Warren’s “mega-church” (along with Obama) and putting on his “Christian shoes.”  It was interesting listening to McCain telling a story – I don’t even remember the details at this point – about a prison guard and a “cross in the sand” or something along those lines.  The problem I had at the time was that I had already heard essentially the same story before, and McCain wasn’t in it.  He made it up to impress Warren and his congregation, and it worked.  Because, it seems, no one on the “right” wants to fact check what McCain (or any of their other “leaders) was saying.

So, democrats, if you can get out of the “good ole boy” mentality which seems to permeate the senate of the United States, isn’t it time to take the offensive.  We’ve got guys like McCain and Mitch McConnell (the subject of my previous post) as leaders alongside Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and (ughhhh!) Sarah Palin (thanks again John) leading the “party of NO” as they attempt to block Wall Street reform, blame someone besides themselves for the environmental disaster which is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, along with blocking a comprehensive energy bill, and I could go on and on.  Simply put, as Limbaugh has so clearly articulated oh so many times, their agenda is simply that President Obama would fail.  Considering that, does the Arizona bill aimed at Mexicans surprise anyone?

Here’s what I think.  Statistics say that it won’t be long and a majority of Americans will be “non-white.”  For the white supremicists this is intolerable.  All you hear is “we want our country back.”  I’ve been wondering for some time, back from who?  Well, just as I teach my students to “read between the lines,” I’m asking you to read between the lines.  OK, I’ll do it for you.  Demanding our sitting president provide his actual BIRTH CERTIFICATE before he can be placed on the ballot in Arizona?  Ordering cops to haul in “suspicious” Mexicans?  Are these guys afraid of competing against Blacks and Mexicans in the future?  My “read between the lines” is telling me this could be so.

  Is this the America we all want as a consequence of 9/11?  If you’ve ever read the book “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein, you will understand what I’m about to say.  If not, you should read that book – in my mind, it should be required reading for all American adults.  For years, the republican party has been using disasters or trajedies to push their agenda.  Mostly, it was their “free market” agenda in South America and Eastern Europe.  Tricking countries into giving up their natural resources in return for our “help” following some kind of trajedy (some of which we caused for them ourselves).   Well, the time has come when many of these countries are no longer being fooled – remember GW Bush?  “Fool me once……….”

9/11 was the springboard for Halliburton, Dick Cheney, and George W Bush to push for the invasion of Iraq.  I’ve read something approaching 20 books on the subject of Iraq, and the one thing that is clear (well, there’s a bunch of things that are clear – but, this is the most startling to me) is the Bush/Cheney White House was simply looking for a reason to invade Iraq from the day they took the oath of office.  They were so focused on Iraq, that they were willing to allow Osama bin Laden to “get away.”  Now, if there are any right wingers here (yes, that would be you Lars) explain to me how that has been “keeping America safe.”  Really now – we’re stuck in an endless occupation of Iraq which is going to cost more than it would to pay for universal health care for OUR OWN PEOPLE three times over!  And, to top that off, we’re also still STUCK in Afganistan plus bin Laden is still at large!  There’s enough evidence for me to believe that when the CIA and the Afgan’s Northern Alliance had bin Laden (along with his al Qaeda fighters) cornered at Tora Bora – the Bush administration didn’t “seal the deal” by sending in the troops necessary to kill or capture him because they wanted to invade Iraq and capturing bin Laden would have taken away their “excuse.”  Makes me sick every time I think about this (my son’s about to join the military).

9/11 also got us the “Patriot Act,” warrantless wiretapping, the suspension of Habeous Corpus, torture, extraordinary rendition, and the loss of respect from virtually the rest of the world.  Well, it wasn’t 9/11 which caused us to lose respect, it was the republican reaction to it!  And, now we’re all depending on the democrats to stand up and be ADULTS!  Stop taking the money from the corporate lobbyists and make us all proud of y’all!  Quit “kissing up” to these republicans and go on the attack.  I did notice that Harry Reid decided to give the republicans the opportunity to talk “all night long” regarding their objection to the financial reform, and that ended the “filibuster” right there.  Even the republicans aren’t stupid enough to do that.  We haven’t really seen a real filibuster in years.  Democrats – it’s time to allow the republicans to actually do a REAL filibuster every time they object to something.  Let them get out the phone books and start reading them – and put cameras in the senate so all of us “little people” can see what is really going on with our leaders.  But, make no mistake about this;  There is an opportunity for democrats to lead, and they won’t be successful caving in to republicans.  They caved in to republicans enough for a lifetime, as far as I’m concerned, during the eight years of George W Bush.

As someone who, in his earlier life, spent a few years training thoroughbred race horses (at a small 2nd rate track) I have a real affinity for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky itself.  Kentucky is the home of the great horses in the history of racing and is called the “bluegrass state” presumbably because the bluegrass in Kentucky is the best food for young growing horses.  History would seem to validate that as almost every great horse has been bred in Kentucky.  That being said, and me having a profound interest in politics, how in the world did all those fine horse people in Kentucky end up sending Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning to the United States Senate?

I was watching the derby today (and wishing I’d gone to an off-track site to place my bet on Calvin Borel) as the thoughts raced through my mind about the contradictions I see coming from that great state.  I guess, to be frank (and I hate to always come to this conclusion), many people in Kentucky still haven’t gotten over the idea that Blacks are equal members of our society.  I really can’t figure out any other reason why McConnell (he is the leader of the “party of No” in the senate) continues his efforts to BLOCK every intiative proposed by Barack Obama and the democrats.  Is regaining “power” so important to these people that they’re willing to risk the very future of this nation in order to do so?  And, the people of Kentucky – are they really that happy with the results from the previous 30+ years of supply side republican economics which has left the horse breeding industry that is the face of their state on the brink of collapse?  I continue to wonder in amazement as good people keep voting against their own best interest – I mean, even people who don’t pay much attention to politics should recognize that the economic devastation we’re experiencing is the result of the republicans who are led by McConnell!  (who, by the way is CONTINUING to PROPOSE the same kind of tax cutting nonsense which got us into this mess in the first place)

Yes, there was a “full house” of fans at the derby wagering in a mostly futile attempt at identifying the best three year old thoroughbred in the world – it really is an astonishing feat to win that race – but, reports are that many of the traditional farms where the horses are bred either have for sale signs hanging at their entrance or they’re “pocket listings” for the upscale real estate agents in an attempt to keep the reality the farm is for sale from the people who are working there or planning to send their mares to that particular farm for breeding.  Fees for the greatest stud horses in the world are plummeting, and prices received for the top of the line yearlings and two year olds are also plummeting.  No one should be too surprised by all of this because we are still, as a nation, trying to recover from the disaster called the BUSH ADMINISTRATION which did everything it could to be called the HOOVER ADMINISTRATION reincarnated.

It was the Wall Street banks who, through reckless gambling with other people’s money, created a calamity of enormous gravity in an atmosphere of lax oversight which began 30 years ago with the election of Ronald Reagan – still the “god” of today’s republicans looking for anything to “hang their hats” on – and it culminated with George W Bush/Dick Cheney who were so determined to cram their theory of the “unitary executive” down our collective throats – with the TOTAL COMPLICITY of the republicans led by the likes of McConnell and, to a much lessor extent, Bunning – that oversight of any large corporation was looked upon as republican heresy.  The large corporate “masters,” according to these republicans, “know best what to do with our money.”  What their “brilliance” has ended up producing is an economy which is driven by a financial sector that thrives on both making money and losing money.  That’s what they produce – financial wins and losses – AND THAT’S IT!  They don’t make anything that anyone can use.  (in fact, the recent civil suit against Goldman Sachs alleges they were selling “toxic” investments to unsuspecting investors who had no idea the AAA ratings were the result of collusion, while helping other investors harvest BILLIONS betting against the same investment!  Golman harvesting HUGE gains from both sides of the transaction.  And, who’s leading the charge to defend these guys?  Yep, you guessed it, McConnell)

And, despite the accusations from the “right” that the financial collapse was caused by “Fanny and Freddie,” and the claims that those two institutions were in cahoots with democrats (this claim despite John McCain’s campaign manager Ric Davis having received $15,000 per month over a period of more than two years for DOING NOTHING – except giving the banks access to McCain), the more that comes out about the collapse, the worse it looks for the big Wall Street banks, the Bush administration, and the republicans in general.  And, Kentuckians who are arguably experiencing an above the average surge of unemployment and loss of income, are stuck watching the republican senators from their state continually on the tube blocking every initiative the democrats are proposing in an attempt to get Kentuckians back to work (and the rest of America as well) – and, hopefully to reinvigorate the horse industry which is a major landmark of that state.  I have not had the pleasure of visiting some of the historic farms, like Claiborne, Calumet, or Gainseway, but from afar I view them as some of the most pristine landmarks of this great land.

Speaking of the unemployment problem in Kentucky (and across this country) that is where Bunning comes in.  Usually, we get his publicity from footage of him sleeping through committee meetings or being chastised by his own party who finally convinced him not to run for re-election.  But, he evidently didn’t take that too personally, because he was the “sacrificial lamb” of the republican party recently when he “objected” to a “unanimous concent” request in the senate which would have extended unemployment benefits to many of the long term unemployed in his state, Kentucky, and the rest of the nation.  The man who voted for both of the Bush tax cuts which bludgeoned the budget surplus left behind by Bill Clinton leading to the record deficits (tax cuts benefitting mostly the ones who didn’t need them), and supported both military fiascos which were paid for TOTALLY by borrowed funds was evidently all of a sudden worried about the deficit.  Talk about disengenuous on steroids!  Jim Bunning could have been remembered as a great former baseball pitcher, but most Americans will remember him as the senator who allowed himself to be USED by the “party of No” to create more havoc for the unfortunate middle class Americans who are fighting to save their homes through unemployment benefits as they attempt to find their way back into the workforce.  Tonight I was talking to a friend of mine who was a “devout” republican until he lost his job almost two years ago. He can’t even get an interview – and, he’s got almost 30 years experience as a purchasing agent for a major corporation.  He told me he’s so thankful that President Obama won the last election saying, “If the republicans had won I would have lost my home by now and would be homeless.”  (I didn’t tell him that he wouldn’t be homeless – because we have extra room in our home – but, I think you get the idea here)

As I watched the spectacle of the derby I couldn’t help but think about the contradiction between the great history of Churchill Downs and the great farms that have produced the greatest horses the world has known.  The sheiks from the middle east come to Keeneland to buy their racing stock.  People from all over the world know of Kentucky and the derby.  Yet, apparently the mindset of the people there hasn’t kept up with the changing world we live in.  How else can you explain two senators like McConnell and Bunning?  When I try to get my mind around what McConnell is doing as the leader of the “party of No” I have to guess that he feels secure in his “seat” in the senate.  I don’t know how else to explain this.  I know someone from out west who was acting like him wouldn’t last one more election in office – even without the attitude to purge incumbents.  This voting NO on EVERYTHING is new in American history.  Knowing that Rush Limbaugh is the defacto leader of the republicans (there isn’t a republican politician in America who DARES to cross Rush), and that his mission is for President Obama to FAIL, I can only conjecture that McConnell and Bunning (and the rest of the republicans) are just doing what they’re told.   Honestly, as I listened to “My Old Kentucky Home” during the derby’s post parade, knowing Mitch McConnell was the representative of those people took some of the joy out of the song.

Sarah Palin – John McCain is going to be remembered more for the most absurd choice for Vice President in America’s history than anything else he’s done (including his complicity in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980’s).  Talk about your politician proving all the media “moguls” who were claiming McCain to be the “maverick” to be just blowing hot air.  And, this one can be called “bipartisan.”  I’ve listened to media “experts” from “both sides of the isle” try to convince us (the voters) that McCain is some kind of “war hero,” and a courageous politician who’s not afraid to “buck” the “party line.”  Well, so much for all of that.  The man showed his true INCOMPETENCE by thrusting Palin onto the national political scene – and, thanks to Fox – we’ll be stuck listening to her crap for the next several years at least (I REALLY hope I’m wrong on that one and that she would be exposed “sooner rather than later”).  Plus, now we have endless video of McCain standing on the senate floor SPOUTING the republican talking points as if he was programmed in the back room of Fox “news.”

All I can think of everytime I hear reports of the looming oil slick approaching the coast of Louisiana (and possibly other Gulf states) is all the times I’ve seen Palin SHOUTING “DRILL BABY DRILL” to the rousing thunder of applause from the robot like supporters of the republican party.  Tonight, on my way home from work I heard Bobby Jindall, the former next great republican candidate for 2012 and governor of Louisiana, talking about the possibility of the oil (he believes in drilling for) getting into New Orleans and I heard others saying it is just a matter of time until this disaster exceeds the “Exxon Valdez” disaster of yesteryear.  In fact, I heard it reported that a second oil rig had toppled off the coast of Louisiana this evening although I haven’t managed to get the details of that one as of this writing.  Two things about this disaster (which I certainly hope can be brought under control ASAP): first, maybe this will at least partially shut Palin up.  I’m honestly not convinced the woman has more political knowledge than me – which should be a REALLY scary thought to any voting American (I’m a sixth grade school teacher).  The second thing about this that I find hopeful:  those of us on the progressive side of things have been very disappointed in President Obama’s constant kissing up to republicans.  For me, his proposal to “drill baby drill” (which I fully understood was a political ploy – just an unfortunate one) was nothing more than patronizing.  Hopefully, this disaster will have him coming to his senses (although, I’m guessing we’ll be seeing the usual political doublespeak as the Obama administration attempts to put a positive spin on their original proposal).

I keep wondering how bad do things have to get before the public, the media, and the politicians realize that America IS headed in the wrong direction (I keep getting asked that question from all the online polls I’m invited to give my opinion to).  And, in my opinion, it’s because we’ve been PUSHED so far to the “right” since the days of Ronald Reagan that we are almost DESPERATE for a PUSH to the left to get this nation back somewhere close to the “middle.”  I mean, are we going to wait until cities begin to take on ocean water before we decide to deal with climate change?  Are we going to wait until there is no more oil to begin looking for alternatives ERNESTLY?  Are we going to allow the fringe “right” wing groups to continue spouting violent, racist, seditious, hate speech until a major tragedy happens before we begin enforcing our laws?  How long are we going to look the other way as our “leaders” break the very laws they take an oath to enforce?  I honestly don’t blame those in the “tea party” who are simply “fed up” with our government – I just wish they’d get the racists out of their midst and point the blame at the actual perpetrators of the problems we’re facing TOGETHER.  There are many on the “left” fed up with government as well – and, probably for similar reasons.

The bottom line for me, though, is that when you look beyond the headlines to the root causes of our present day problems you ALWAYS see republicans.  It started during the Reagan years.  The huge deficits and the disregard for our laws.  In case you weren’t around back then Reagan promised to “cut taxes and balance the budget.”  It was one of the only times I could agree with a Bush when George HW Bush – who was, at the time, running against Reagan for the republican nomination – called Reagan’s plan “voodoo economics.”  During Reagan’s presidency the budget deficit increased tenfold as did the national debt. 

I guess you’d have to say that the illegal activity of the Reagan administration followed the Watergate era of illegal activity during the Nixon years, but the Reaganites were much more OPENLY defiant to the will of Congress with the “Iran/Contra affair.”  They were selling arms to Iran in violation of an arms embargo and re-routing the profits to the anti-Sandinista “Contras” in Nicaragua in an unabashed attempt to overthrow the legal government of Nicaragua.  Reagan was never indicted but Oliver North and John Poindexter were convicted of felonies – and ALL of the “accused” including those convicted – some prior to even going to trial, were pardoned by the first President Bush – setting the precedent that our leaders are above the laws they are trusted to defend.  (I’m not counting Nixon’s pardon because I agreed, at the time, that resigning from the presidency was enough of a consequence for his actions)  Additionally, George HW Bush was up to his eyes in the Iran/Contra affair and just as his son 10+ years later, he was masterful at skirting any legal responsibility for his lawbreaking.  This seems to be the republican way.

OK, if you’re a “right winger” I can hear you now, “but what about Bill Clinton?”  Well, you won’t find me doing much defending of Bill Clinton – although as alternatives go, he was a sight above the republicans because despite his personal failings the man could manage the government.  All these “tea partiers” who are clamoring about the budget deficit should be calling Bill Clinton their hero.  He took the record deficits of Reagan/Bush the first and turned them into record surpluses in just 8 years.  As much as Clinton’s personal affair with an intern turned my stomach, some of his decisions where he was “kissing up” to republicans (pay attention President Obama) have been the major failings of his presidency – in my opinion.  Clinton bought the “corporation is king” soup and ushered in the NAFTA legislation.  It’s true that the republicans were behind this legislation, originally, but the sad fact is that it was Bill Clinton who signed it into law.  He also signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which has had almost the opposite effect of what was “advertised.”  Instead of more competition, we have had a huge contraction in the number of independently owned and operated TV and radio stations, with the bulk of them now owned by large politically conservative corporations who have a vested interest in promoting the “corporatocracy.” 

Finally, it was during the final year of the Clinton presidency that the “flood gates” for the “meltdown” which has bludgeoned TRILLIONS from our present day economy were opened as the result of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act.  While I would like to totally blame this bill on Phil Gramm, then republican senator from Texas (and eventually John McCain’s economic advisor who gave McCain the “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” line as the economy was in “meltdown”), Clinton signed the bill into law and his Treasury Secretary was Robert Rubin who went on to ultimately become CEO of Citigroup which “benefitted” from this legislation by consolidating Citibank into one of the “too big to fail” financial behemoths which nearly dragged the United States (and the world’s economy) into another Great Depression.  Gramm–Leach–Bliley was the bill which repealed Glass Steagall – the recession era legislation prohibiting banks, insurance companies, and investment brokerages from merging.  (so far, to my knowledge, in the present “Wall Street reform” package in the senate, the democrats haven’t had the guts to reinstitute Glass Steagall)

Clinton was harrassed for eight years as if he was the most “corrupt” president in our history – of course, this came from the perspective of these republicans who qualify for the “if their mouths are moving, they’re lying” moniker. (or, the don’t do as I do, do as I say award)  I still remember people like Dick Armey, Newt Gingrich, and Robert Livingstone impeaching President Clinton when they were guilty of similar or worse behavior – which seems (again) to be the republican way.  What did happen because of Clinton’s behavior and the constant furor it created (with the help of the republican smear campaign and the “right” leaning Supreme Court) was GEORGE W BUSH!  Now, Bush the second was the ultimate as far as arrogant disregard for the laws being enforced which the very government “servants” involved took an oath to defend.  And, on top of that arrogance was a level of incompetency that I thought was beyond the possible – that is, until Sarah Palin hit the scene.  George W Bush and Dick Cheney just continued to gain momentum in their lawbreaking and incompetence as their ASSAULT on our nation progressed.  And, of course, where were the “tea baggers” during all of this?  The deficit ballooned from a SURPLUS of $250 BILLION to a record deficit of $1.3 TRILLION by the time Bush/Cheney were through with their HEIST.  They managed to get us entrenched in two UNWINNABLE military fiasco’s, they warrantlessly wiretapped Americans in violation of the fourth amendment to the constitution which they took an oath to defend, they OUTED a covert CIA agent and then lied to cover up their actions, they politicized the Justice Department which is the backbone of this “nation of laws” – a department that only maintains credibility with “we the people” as long as it keeps a NON-PARTISAN position on EVERYTHING, they lied to the American people and openly lied to Congress along with even refusing to answer congressional subpoenas, and what regulations they couldn’t get rid of they didn’t enforce allowing the large corporations to run RUFF-SHOD over the middle class of this great nation – the very middle class which made us great in the first place – all of which resulted in them leaving office and entrusting Barack Obama with a government TEETERING on the BRINK OF COLLAPSE!

And, now we have Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and a bunch of other thoughtless “water carriers” for the very large corporations who have benefitted from this PUSH TO THE “RIGHT” which was initiated by Reagan and his surrogates in the early 80’s, nearly bankrupted us (still might), and STILL they’re calling for MORE OF THE SAME – unbelievable.  And, more unbelievable, is the FACT that the so-called “liberal media” even gives them a voice.  What they’ve proven is that MONEY means more to them than the fundamental health of this nation.  It’s as if we can just continue on this suicidal pace of GREED for the few and America will somehow remain the “beacon” of freedom to the rest of the world.  If you listen to Palin and the others for just a few short minutes and you take a quick look at the economic reality which should be obvious to all, it’s not hard to understand why the rest of the world is scratching their heads in amazement at how stupid we Americans are acting.  Actually, the rest of the world is counting on US (that’s us – meaning all of us Americans, not the U.S. – although, I guess that would essentially be the same) for leadership to turn the direction of a floundering world toward the needy instead of the greedy.  It’s as if we, as a nation, are acting like the sixth graders I teach who are focused on themselves and have no perspective on the importance of the other students in the class or how their selfish actions impact those around them.

For some reason President Obama pardoned Bush/Cheney and the others who were complicit in their disregard for our laws – just as Bush’s father pardoned the culprits involved in Iran/Contra 20 years before Obama took office.  The past 30 years has set a HORRIBLE precedent for generations to come as to the integrity of our government.  Many of the “culprits” in Bush “Two” were also involved in Iran/Contra.  Obama had to know that by letting them “off the hook” THEY’LL BE BACK.  Yes, I’m seeing some encouraging signs from Obama as far as becoming a more assertive leader and fleeting evidence that he’s “getting” that, while the idea of bipartisanship is laudable, the reality in Washington right now calls for SWINGING the “pendulum” back toward the “left” and the traditional – well, traditional from a FDR perspective – American position despite the objections of the “party of NO.”  It was the middle class created by the New Deal which was responsible for turning this nation into a world leader, and for some reason, the republicans want to turn back the clock to the days when workers had few, if any, rights.  To me, Sarah Palin – the “darling” of the “right,” SPOUTING out DRILL BABY DRILL everywhere she goes (she’ll probably continue to do this as the oil spills into New Orleans) – says it all.  The republicans are all about CORPORATE RULE – and to hell with the rest of us.