What is it about these Democrats that makes them want to be the minority party to a bunch of thugs? I really don’t get it. I’m watching this present “health care debate” with astonishment. It’s not a debate at all. How can you call it a debate when the people you’re supposedly debating are doing nothing more than OBVIOUSLY playing you for a sucker? And, why on earth can’t these Democrats “get” this? When I voted for Barack Obama I was thinking “finally, we’ll have someone with some intellect in the White House!” The problem, or so it seems, is that President Obama doesn’t understand how to deal with people that despise him. As I’ve been saying for months now, this “reaching out” to Republicans is going to make Obama a one term President. The worst part of that is that the Progressives who voted Obama in will not get the legislation they were expecting (and, believe me, it will be at least another 15 years until we have another chance to implement a people friendly health care system if the present attempt fails), they will end up putting up with another Republican administration (God, help us!), and all the misdeeds that Bush/Cheney put in place will still be “on the books” because of the errant attitude of “looking forward and not backward.”

Now, I fully understand how presumptuous it is of me to be giving President Obama advice (I’ve been doing this for several months now, and he’s surely not going to follow it, even if he somehow reads it), but my never say die attitude forces me to keep trying (if enough people email him this, maybe …… well, who knows). I’ll tell you why I feel like I need to keep doing this. The present debate has been manipulated by Republicans to the point where there’s no way the Democrats can win, short of tearing up everything that’s been talked about and starting over. I guarantee you, at this point, even if there ends up being a so-called “Public Option” on the final bill, it will be far removed from what most people picture in their minds what a “public option” should look like. I would bet that most people figure the “public option” to be something along the lines of a “medicare for all” policy that everyone would have the option to buy into, should they choose – therefore, public OPTION. However, I’m guessing that this so-called option will be so watered down that no one will recognize it. The fact that President Obama himself has said Repbubicans have over 160 amendments in this legislation tells me to “watch out.” What we’ll end up with is legislation which somehow makes the insurance companies EVEN MORE MONEY! Remember, the main agenda of the Republicans is to help Obama fail (and to help insurance companies make more money – they could get the old “two birds with one stone” here). THEY WILL DO NOTHING WHICH MIGHT HELP HIM SUCCEED! That’s just the reality!

So, President Obama, please listen carefully. Your “reaching across the isle” strategy is not only turning off large numbers of your “base” it’s totally playing into the hands of the Republicans who won’t sleep well until you’re out of the White House. They figure that the only job for someone of African descent in the White House is on the kitchen staff or the janitorial service. I know you don’t want to hear this about your former colleagues in the Senate on the Republican side (and, unfortunately, I think there’s some on your own side as well) – but, keep in mind these thugs run everything by Rush before they make it public – and, if you don’t know where Rush is coming from, then what happens is all on you. Those of us on the “progressive” side of things – you know, liberals before Republicans managed to make liberal a dirty word through their propaganda machine which has been picking up steam since the 80’s – are counting on you to put up a better fight to put these criminals “out to pasture.” This is why it was such an egregious error on your part when you decided that a President couldn’t possibly be a war criminal. You might as well have injected those in the Republican party with a shot of adrenaline – Mr. President, if this doesn’t work out, you will be responsible for the resurrection of a bunch of people who your supporters put up with for eight long years (actually, longer than that, because GW was just an extension of the “Reagan Revolution”) and worked diligently to get rid of – supposedly, ONCE AND FOR ALL!

All you had to do was get out of the way of the justice system, which – AS YOU SAID – clearly states that NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW! I would love to hear Rush Limbaugh criticizing your administration for upholding the constitution FOR ONCE IN MY LIFETIME! We’ve put up with Iran/Contra, Watergate, and worse than both of those Bush/Cheney et al! And, EVERYTIME, the Democrats (well, except Watergate – and the truth is that Democrats and Republicans alike stood up against Watergate – but that was before corporations owned our Congress – LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL!) let the Republicans off the hook. The problem with letting Bush/Cheney off the hook is that THEY COMMITTED WAR CRIMES, THEY WIRETAPPED AMERICAN CITIZENS ILLEGALLY, THEY OUTED A CIA AGENT, THEY REFUSED SUBPOENAS TO CONGRESS, THEY LIED TO CONGRESS AND EVERYONE ELSE – ALL THE TIME – AND THEY UNDERMINED THE VERY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT THAT WE THOUGHT YOU WOULD RESTORE TO RESPECTABILITY! Your “looking forward” has itself undermined everything your supporters stand for. You’ve even gone into court defending some of the indefensible positions of the Bush administration. You might be OK with being a one term President, but there’s a bunch of us out here who don’t want a Republican in 2012, and it’s almost as if you’re alright with that.

I’m going to assume that you really do want to do what’s best for America. So here’s some more advice. STOP THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE RIGHT NOW, AND PREPARE TO START ALL OVER AGAIN – WITHOUT REPUBLICANS! Enlist your supporters for the fight, because the real “war” in America right now is for the soul of this great nation, and if you don’t get over “bi-partisanship” and SOON, your supporters could be right back where they were before you entered the scene. NO ONE I KNOW ANTICIPATED YOUR KEEN DESIRE TO PLEASE REPUBLICANS! Anything you do that has their support will ultimately loose your support with your base. You need to GET THAT THROUGH YOUR (THICK?) HEAD right now. Once you have scrapped the present fiasco – WHICH IS GUARANTEED TO BE A FAILURE, (THE REPUBLICANS WILL VOTE AGAINST IT, AND DESPITE THE FACT THEY WILL BE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FAILED PARTS OF IT, THEY WILL TURN AROUND AND BLAME YOU FOR EVERYTHING – the classic LOSE LOSE situation for you!) – make a health care plan that you can explain to the people and take it out of the hands of the Congress to write it. THAT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE, admit it and move on. When you come up with the new plan, make sure that the “pure” public option, that is a Medicare like plan that every American has the option to buy into, is part of the proposal – AND MAKE IT NON-NEGOTIABLE! If the health care insurers don’t like it, well TOUGH S*@#!

While you’re working up the new plan, push through a second stimulus bill that is solely aimed at creating jobs – and STOP WORRYING ABOUT REPUBLICAN VOTES! If you respond to the people who voted you in, THEY WILL STICK WITH YOU! It’s this coddling of Republicans that’s making your supporters crazy. If you can’t see the writing on the wall, we can! You watered down the initial “stimulus” package to get three Republican votes. IT’S NOT WORTH IT! We still have almost 10% unemployment – and, I’ll venture a guess that the true figure is more like 15%. Put your focus on JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. Let your surrogates put together a much more easily understood health care proposal – the single payer option would obviously be best, but a “Medicare for all” TRUE OPTION would be acceptable, and let the ground forces help you get it passed. The reason your support is waning is because EVERYONE KNOWS that the present legislation is watered down already – and you seem to be still looking for more compromises! ughhhh! Plus, even your own supporters don’t understand what’s in the legislation. Believe me, despite the fact many still trust you, HARDLY ANYONE – EITHER PARTY – TRUSTS CONGRESS, and that’s who’s writing this bill.

Oh yes, before you do anything after you scrap the present legislation, you’ve got to turn the justice department loose on Bush/Cheney et al. Stop with the enabling of their crimes. Give the Republicans like Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Hannity, DeLay, McConnell, Boehner, Palin, and the others something to complain about. While they’re busy complaining about how waterboarding couldn’t possibly be considered torture, and how even though Abu Ghraib was ordered by Rumsfeld, he shouldn’t be held accountable because if the “grunts” hadn’t taken pictures no one would be the wiser for it, you can be busy creating jobs for America’s middle class (while you’re at it, let’s pass the employee free choice legislation). And, let them make the argument again that Valerie Plame Wilson was just a desk secretary. There are enough TV sound bites to put these guys away for years (let alone what you’d find in normal “discovery” from a legitimate investigation), and there are a lot more people than myself who wonder why we’ve got some Privates and Sargeants who were poorly trained for the job they were given at Abu Ghraib and were doing what they understood had been ordered – and now are in Leavenworth while the people who authorized their actions are writing memoirs and making millions. Mr. President, with all due respect, if you continue to ignore the torturers you become culpible. According to the Geneva Conventions, as I understand it, you don’t have the option of “looking forward and not backward.” We all know that you understand that both Bush and Cheney committed war crimes (authorized waterboarding – admitted on national TV by both men), therefore, if you do nothing about it, you become part of the problem. I’ll end by asking you, can you tell me that you are absolutely NOT continuing the Bush wiretapping abuses? I REALLY hope I’m wrong on that one, because it will come back to “bite” you if you’re still doing it. Mr. President, the only thing being accomplished by your coddling Republicans is the restoration of the Republican party! They are not laughing with you, they’re laughing at you!

I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be writing in this “blog.” It all started when I felt such frustration over the Bush administration’s policies and the failure of the Democratic Congress (elected in 2006) to both end the Iraq fiasco and impeach the President and Vice President who had both clearly committed “High Crimes and Misdemeanors.” I have always been one to believe that the constitution would carry the day, no matter who was in the White House. I still remember the Watergate hearings, when the Congress of the United States showed that it had some integrity and there were statesmenlike members on “both sides of the isle.” Even Republicans in those days realized that the “President isn’t above the law” contrary to the claims of Richard Nixon. Well, George W Bush and Dick Cheney failed to understand that and were enabled, first by a rubber stamp Republican Congress and then by their “spineless” Democratic comrades, and finally by Barack Obama himself. As long as I live I’ll never forget the words of Nancy Pelosi when she became the first woman Speaker of the House; “Impeachment is off the table.” I should have known right there and then what lay ahead. The discouragement I’m feeling watching these Democrats in action is tempting me to go back into my “happy space” where I just ignore what my government is doing.

And, as much as I want to “bow out” of the dialogue at this point, I still have children and grandchildren who will be well-justified in asking “What the H were you people thinking?” when they understand how much “We the People” have taken from them in the past 30 years. Most of my ranting has been against Republicans, and they are deserving of every rant I can muster up, but lately I’m feeling more and more like ranting about Democrats. In 2008 we voted in enough Democrats to make the Republicans irrelevent – which is right where they belong until they change their tune. In fact, I’ve often thought (and written) about the need for a third party because the Repubicans are so “out there” that I figured it won’t be long and only the hard core 20 -25% would be listening anymore. I mean, for heaven’s sake, Rush Limbaugh is the de facto head of their party. THAT IS UNBELIEVABLE TO ME! The Republican politicians seem to be running everything by Rush to make sure it’s OK to say in public. Well, I couldn’t imagine anything making these thugs relevent again. However, it’s now become clear to me where I was wrong and what can bring them back into prominence – a combination of an un-educated public and DEMOCRATS! The truth is that the mess we are presently in is the result of eight years of Bush and his “rubber stamp” Congress and a bunch of Democrats who’s favorite saying is “We don’t have the votes.”

I confronted my local Congressman at a Town Hall (one that convinced him not to have more town halls – and we were civil in our disagreement with him) when he announced he would support the “surge” after the 2006 election. While it’s true that the “surge” was responsible for reducing the violence (short term) in Iraq – and believe me, I would like nothing better than to see a stable Iraq – NONE OF THE POLITICAL OBJECTIVES WERE OR HAVE BEEN MET because of the surge. The fissure between Sunni and Shia is deep and it’s still there. The Shia are in control now and are showing some signs of restraint, but the fact has always been that if Iraq is going to stabilize it will be because of what the Iraqi’s do – not Americans. I will always question whether putting off the inevitable (Iraqi’s deciding if they want a stable government) was worth the lives of well over 1,000 American troops, not to mention all the wounded, along with the BILLIONS of dollars spent there by us EVERY WEEK (and, unfortunately, counting). My Congressman is a Democrat and he clearly went against the will of his constituents in making that vote. So, I confronted him saying “I can understand you feeling an obligation to the Iraqi people, but what about our own people?” “If you have to vote for the surge, the least you can do is vote to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney,” (the whole auditorium broke into loud applause as I finished my sentence) and Congressman Baird’s response was the famous Democratic response to just about every important question: “We don’t have enough votes in the Senate (to convict).”

What these Democrats don’t seem to get, is that they are losing their “base” with all these timid responses to hard questions from their constituents. One thing that will get Republicans back into power will be a low voter turnout in the upcoming elections, and that is exactly what the Democrats are going to be facing in 2010 and 2012 if they don’t get their act together and FAST! Just as Nancy Pelosi didn’t have the right to take impeachment “off the table,” Obama didn’t have the right to “look forward and not backward” when he took office. They are not only ignoring us, they’re ignoring their Constitutional duties. We voted Republicans out OVERWHELMINGLY in the last election and by looking at what’s going on in Congress YOU WOULDN’T KNOW IT. Yesterday I watched in dismay as Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota, said on national TV, “There will be no “public option” in the impending “health care reform” bill,” because “WE DON’T HAVE THE VOTES IN THE SENATE.” He then added, we never have. Well, what he forgets is that they did have the votes – they had them on November 4th, 2008. When they won’t have them will be in November of 2010 and 2012 if they vote against their own President on his “signature” legislation. I’m not the only “progressive” member of society who is sick to death of that excuse.

Now, I’ve stated in previous posts why I believe President Obama is making some critical mistakes in his first year in office. I have railed against the idea of “bi-partisanship” with these Republicans (in their present form) and I believe putting all his eggs in the health care basket (not even knowing where his party stood) was a huge mistake. So, now that the cards have been dealt, the reality is that for those of us who want President Obama to succeed, somehow this health care legislation has to make it to his desk WITH THE “PUBLIC OPTION” IN TACT! I salute the house Democrats who have stated that they will not vote for a bill without the so-called public option. I totally agree with them that we are better off with nothing than with what Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, and Charles Grassley – all recipients of millions from the health care lobby – come up with. President Obama needs to get out front and declare that he won’t sign a bill without the public option, and “We the people” need to let our Congresspersons know that we will hold them accountable for voting against it. That gets me to the main thought for the evening. President Obama needs to step it up. Even if he doesn’t get a bill, we – meaning those of us who got behind him in 2008 – need to see him standing tall for what we voted him in for. We’re smart enough to figure out how messed up the Senate is. And, I realize that they only get voted in every 6 years, but we can send an even stronger message in 2010 if we feel it will be worth our while.

However, President Obama hasn’t shown me he’s up for the challenge. I’m seeing too many signs of him being “wishy-washy” on important issues. I’m not one who would mind seeing the Republicans sleeping on cots in the Senate while they filibustered every piece of legislation offered up by the Democrats. I would like to feel that President Obama is actually leading the Democratic party as opposed to some kind of facilitator in “reaching out to Republicans” and constantly seeking bi-partisanship. The fact is that there isn’t a Republican who’s going to vote for anything that might make Obama successful. They have stated very clearly that their main objective is that President Obama fail. Unfortunately, the Democratic Congress is making that all too real a possibility. As the saying goes, someone needs to “grab the bull by the horns.” And that someone, by default, MUST BE PRESIDENT OBAMA! I’m on record as stating that his unwillingness to press for investigations of Bush/Cheney et al was a “deal breaker” for me. My thinking was that I’m just one vote, and it won’t make that much difference. But, that unwillingness is proving to be just a symptom of a bigger problem – instead of being the statesman we anticipated, Obama is looking more like the consummate politician who’s trying to make everyone happy. The end result of that: NO ONE ENDS UP HAPPY! (When I say “no one,” I’m obviously talking about progressives – BECAUSE THE COURSE OBAMA IS LEADING IS MAKING REPUBLICANS VERY HAPPY!)

President Obama is playing right into the hands of the Republicans. I’ll give them credit, they are a lot more “forward thinking” and “united” than the Democrats. Some Dems think that’s good – that the party is so diverse, and to a degree I agree with that – but, on REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF the Dems have proven themselves OVER AND OVER AGAIN to be cowards (or, worse yet, bought by the same corporations who rule the Republicans). I still remember one analysis of the Republican’s strategy in 2008 was to give up the White House for 4 years, anticipating that the American public would forget how incompetent they were under Bush, and then take back the White House in 2012. At the time, I thought they were dreamers. Well, they’re looking less and less like dreamers the more these Democrats show their disrespect for the people who voted them into office. Trust me on this one, these paid disruptors at the town hall gatherings during this August recess, are miniscule in comparison to all the good working class people who went to the polls last year and are just expecting their President and Congress people to follow through on the campaign promises – including a health care bill WITH A PUBLIC OPTION! If the Democrats allow these thugs to influence their vote on this health care bill, THEY DON’T DESERVE TO BE RE-ELECTED. And, if Obama doesn’t step up and show some assertive leadership here, HE WON’T GET RE-ELECTED! (and, I’m not talking about going around the country giving Town Hall meetings – I MEAN, TAKE CHARGE OF THE SENATE DEMOCRATS AND GET THEM ON BOARD HERE – OR ALLOW US TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.) My own Senator, Maria Cantwell, much to my chagrine is one of the “balkers” on the “public option.” I’m planning a visit to her office, and I’m sending no more money to her and hoping to be able to support someone else should she allow herself to be bought off on this. AND, BELIEVE ME, THE ONLY REASON A DEMOCRAT WILL VOTE AGAINST THE “PUBLIC OPTION” IS BECAUSE THEY’VE BEEN BOUGHT BY THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY! When 72% of the public wants something and they vote against it, there’s no other rational explanation. If they had any guts, they’d be pushing for a single payer “Medicare for all” plan that would really be the best and most efficient way to insure all Americans.

I’m going to try to get tonight’s thoughts out without too much patting myself on the back – well, on further consideration, that’s not possible. I’m going to do some “patting.” I’ve been listening to this health care “debate” to the point it’s making me sick to my stomach. I’d just like to push the calendar ahead a few months, get whatever they’re going to come up with over, and move on. The problem is that this whole debate reminds me of the phrase, “be careful what you wish for.” The President let it be known that this was the “signature” legislation of his first term in office and wanted it passed by the August recess for Congress (we’re seeing the result of that not happening as I write). At the same time, he keeps on with this attempt at “bi-partisanship,” whatever that means in today’s America. It is becoming evident that what I’ve been saying (OK, I’m not the only one) is true. There will be no meaningful “bi-partisan” health care legislation. In fact, if the Republicans get their say in the bill, President Obama is going to lose a bunch of support from his “base” because what they want and what the Republicans want are NOT COMPATIBLE!

All along, since the first days of Obama’s Presidency, I’ve been asking “why would you want Republican input on any important legislation?” Didn’t the years 2001 through 2009 tell you anything? They want tax cuts – especially for the wealthiest Americans, they want no regulations on business (despite the FACT that deregulation of the financial industry came close to (and still could) destroy our economy), they hate “government” and are – and have been – trying to destroy it, and they have proven over and over again the saying – “If their lips are moving, THEY ARE LYING!” Why would anyone civil want to “negotiate” with someone who has that bent? I certainly don’t get it. I understand that President Obama wants to be the Democratic re-creation of Ronald Reagan as the “Great Communicator.” Honestly, I get that. However, let me remind anyone who might happen upon this site that there’s not been one Republican in my lifetime who was eager to be bi-partisan – including Reagan. Let’s just look at the last 8 years. Yes, the Democrats showed an alarming tendency to go along with Bush administration proposals, but it wasn’t on a true bi-partisan basis, it was at the threat of “agree with this or we’ll attack you as obstructionists.” What did that get us? Well, for one thing – as we now listen to Republicans complaining about the deficit – Bush took a 250 Billion dollar surplus and turned it into a 500 billion dollar/year deficit (which he managed to balloon to well over a trillion before leaving office) with a single stroke of his pen when he signed the so-called “Bush taxcuts” into law in his first year in office. Actually, some of the Democrats actually went along with him on that one – but, I don’t think he asked for their feedback (they’re just spineless).

We all know how he crammed the Iraq occupation down our throats – which wasn’t really “bi-partisan” because Bush/Cheney et al had no conscience in their lies and, again, with a bunch of spineless Democrats got a bill with some Democratic signatures on it, but you couldn’t call it “bi-partisan” unless you were a fool (or maybe better, because so many Democrats were fools). This happened over and over. The Patriot act started the assault on our civil liberties – again with a bunch of spineless Democrats who don’t have the nerve to stand up to these Republicans because they realize that the so-called “liberal media” is controlled by Conservatives – like GE, Rupert Murdoch, and the like. They all care more about their own re-election than what is in the best interests of this nation. There was the Military Commissions Act where, along with the spineless Democrats who were really “tag alongs” and not bi-partisan participants in the bill, the Bush administration attempted to (only to be stopped by the Courts) revoke the right of Habeas Corpus, a fundamental human right since the days of Jesus Christ. And, the warrantless wiretapping, do you think they gave a hoot what Democrats thought. Unfortunately, the Democrats did participate in the FISA legislation which enabled Verizon and ATT&T immunity from participating in the illegal wiretapping of American citizens – which, I firmly believe, continues to this day. The first red flag for me regarding President Obama, was when he voted for the FISA bill while still a Senator. Thinking back, I should have pulled all support for him the day he chose to do that. (I did write a letter to him, and got a “hollow” promise back that he intended to “fix” that bill once in office – obviously a lie)

So, now we have a President who is a “master communicator” out on the “stump” pushing for his health care bill. Believe me, that’s the perfect scenario for all the Republicans he’s trying to “work with.” Even if they somehow come up with some miracle package on this that actually benefits consumers the politics involved are so disgusting that the “aftertaste” of the whole thing is going to be sickening to many Americans. Let me give you a good example of why this all is so ugly. The other day you had President Obama doing a Town Hall somewhere in New Hampshire, trying to give the people a positive view of what is being proposed. Sticking to his “bi-partisan” theme he chose to single out Chuck Grassley, the senior senator from Iowa as a Republican deserving of praise. Now, before I get to how Grassley showed his appreciation for that, let me point out that Grassley’s on the Senate Finance committee chaired by Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and between the two of them they’ve cashed enough campaign donation checks from the health care industry to start their own insurance company. I guarantee you, when either of those two are thrown out of office (and, as far as I’m concerned, THE SOONER THE BETTER) they will immediately accept multi-million dollar lobbyist jobs for the health care industry in Washington DC. OK, Obama’s just said what a great guy Grassley is and out comes the knife – you know, the one low-lifes stick in the backs of people who are unsuspecting and/or naive.

I suppose Obama will rationalize this as “Grassley’s just playing to his base” – which, if he does, just confirms how ugly and dirty politics is in this country – and that maybe the Republicans are correct when they suggest Obama is weak. The next day after Obama’s praise I heard Grassley speaking to a town hall in Iowa confirm to the audience that they have every reason to fear this healthcare proposal because it does contain a provision which will kill elderly people (I’m paraphrasing – he confirmed the “death squad” fear tactics of the right wing). Of course, that provision WHICH HE WAS LYING ABOUT, was in the bill his committee was considering – so the next day he claims he’s gotten the provision REMOVED from the bill! OK, so Grassley is trying to portray himself dishonestly as some kind of hero to the right wing fringe (I mean, how could HE get the provision removed? – how could he get anything removed? – he’s one of a small minority in the Senate – theoretically, his vote counts for NOTHING!). But, it gets worse. The second day after Obama complimented Grassley, Grassley is on tape as bragging that he was responsible for stalling the legislation so that it didn’t pass before the August recess (which may or may not be true) so that the “grass roots” (you know, the paid disrupters from Freedom Works – Dick Armey – and the other right wing mouthpieces for the health insurance industry) could disrupt all these town hall meetings. PRESIDENT OBAMA, WITH FRIENDS LIKE GRASSLEY, YOU DON’T NEED ANY ENEMIES!

So, here’s the deal – and the reason I’m patting myself on the back. I (along with millions of other Americans) voted for President Obama because I was certain we would get something different from what the Republicans have been jamming down our throats for the past 30 years. I recognized from day one that the Republicans weren’t going to support a thing the President did. It was my understanding that the Democrats “got” that was why everyone was trying so hard to get them a 60 vote caucus in the US Senate. With a 60 vote caucus WE DON’T NEED A SINGLE REPUBLICAN VOTE! Therefore, the question becomes, WHY THE HELL ARE WE TRYING TO GET REPUBLICAN VOTES? Bi-partisanship would be great if there was some kind of civil discourse out there. But these people ruined our economy, have come close to ruining our millitary, they’ve trampled on our constitutional rights, they’ve turned us into a nation of torturers (and we will be until the day that justice prevails over political expediency), and THEY LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING! When is it going to sink in with the Democrats? DO WHAT IS RIGHT AND SCREW THE REPUBLICANS! You watered down the stimulus bill for three unneeded votes. And, now you’re going to pass something that nobody likes in an attempt to be bi-partisan. DEMOCRATS, YOU’RE FALLING INTO THE TRAP THAT THE REPUBLICANS SET FOR YOU!

The sad truth is that the Republicans fully understand that their lack of conscience is a huge advantage over the Democrats. The rest of us out in the “heartland” and beyond are depending on the Democrats to “grow a pair!” President Obama, you are the leader, MAKE THE BREAK! Let everyone know that you’ve tried to get them “on board” but they just want to stand in the way of everything, so we’re (I guess that means you and the Democrats in Congress – but, at some point, you might consider those who voted for you) going on without them. YOU DON’T NEED THEM. Even if you can’t get all 60 in the Democratic Caucus to vote to end debate on the health care bill, PASS IT USING RECONCILIATION! That’s how Bush got through the obscene tax cuts which started the free fall of our economy and that’s how Clinton, before him, passed the economic package which led to the surplus that Bush bludgeoned. The Republicans are going to complain, they’re going to call you a socialist – and worse, they’re going to accuse you of ruining our system, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO! Remember, a large percentage of the people complaining at these town hall meetings are there because you are Black – for no other reason! You won’t be able to get their support under any circumstances. SO, LET’S QUIT TALKING TO THEM AND GET THIS THING OVER WITH – and end up with a bill that is actually going to work for the American people.

I’ve said before that I believe it was a mistake to put so much “on the table” with this legislation. That gives the Republicans the opportunity they were looking for – which is to defeat President Obama. THIS IS NOT ABOUT HEALTH CARE – most of the people complaining at the town halls are conservative, elderly WHITE PEOPLE. Come on now, I don’t think our school system is so bad that people can’t add two plus two – these people are mostly happy with their government run healthcare – Medicare – they just can’t handle the idea of Obama as President. Can you imagine what would be said in our “liberal news media” if the shoe was on the other foot? The Democrats didn’t have the nerve to challenge Bush on any of the legislation which slowly brought this nation to it’s knees – but what if a bunch of Blacks would have been storming around the country shouting down Republicans everytime they were trying to have a dialogue? Can you imagine the result? Do you honestly think we’d be talking about “free speech” rights? I still remember a little old lady being arrested in front of a venue where President Bush was speaking because of the shirt she was wearing. Do you really think a group of Blacks complaining about his policies at a town hall meeting would have been tolerated? I’ll say this again, what should have happened from day one of the Obama administration is the actual “cleaning up” of the mess left behind by Bush and company (if you don’t undersand this – listen closely – well, read closely – the people causing all this angst are the remnants of Bush/Cheney and they feel empowered because no one’s doing anything about their tactics – both, Bush/Cheney’s during their administration, and those constantly disrupting afterward – and, TRUST ME, the place to start to “fix” this problem, is AT THE TOP). That wouldn’t include “looking forward” and it wouldn’t include putting the Presidency on the line with such poor foresight. I realize that no one is going to listen to me, but if Bush and Cheney were facing charges for being War Criminals right now, we could be having debates about health care that were centered on what’s best for the people of this great nation (the Republicans would be busy complaining about how waterboarding isn’t really tortrue – no matter what the Geneva Conventions say). By “looking forward” Barack Obama has empowered the constant lying by Republicans to go on unabated! It’s not too late to fix that, but what I’m seeing is a Democratic party that’s not quite ready for prime time, and a President who is trying too hard to be a unifier! If Obama fails, we could end up with another Bush in the White House – and, for me, if that happens, it won’t be a proud day for America!

Honestly, I “get” the importance of health care reform. However, Political Science 101 tells me that maybe we’re going about this “ass-backwards.” I realize that President Obama had a lot of “political capital” when he assumed the White House. His approval ratings were in the 70’s and everyone was painfully aware of the blunders of the previous administration. President Obama had no choice but to have an agressive initial agenda. The truth was that the economy was in “free fall” from a President who seemed to be AWOL during his last year in office – especially the last 6 months when the economic nightmare, which those of us on Main Street could see, became visible to those on Wall Street and in Washington DC. Initially, the President got it almost right – he pushed through a massive “stimulus” bill. The problem I had with the stimulus bill was that, in an effort to get THREE Republicans to vote for it, about 300 billion dollars went into needless tax cuts for the “middle class” when it could have gone into “infrastructure” projects which would have EMPLOYED WORKERS. However, the need for the stimulus bill was obvious to all but those who continue to believe that the solution to every problem in America is tax cuts. (what we really needed along with more infrastructure spending was tax increases – a national commitment to PAY FOR STUFF- I’ll get to that later)

Bills were pushed through the Congress and a new candidate for the Supreme Court was announced, all to the chagrin of the right (wrong) wing Republicans. They’ve been using terms anywhere from Communist to Nazi ever since, only accomplishing that it’s clear to anyone they don’t understand the terms they’re using – well, to anyone except the unsuspecting and uneducated “base” of their party. Now, we’re in this huge fight for health care reform – a political calculation on Obama’s part that it’s the right time to do this (and I honestly hope he’s right) – while a huge number of people in this nation have no job, or a job that doesn’t pay the bills for their family, or like the single Mom from my church who wasn’t there Suday because she now has to work Sunday’s on HER SECOND JOB! Therefore, in my view, this health care debate is a HUGE GAMBLE. I remember when Hillary Clinton attempted this in the early part of Bill’s Presidency. When it failed it was “off the books” now for over 15 years. YES, WE DESPERATELY NEED HEALTH CARE REFORM. Three quarters of all Americans agree on this, in fact, over half want a “single payer” system – a “Medicare for all” system with some upgrades to Medicare. The problem, obviously, is that the health care industry DOESN’T WANT THIS. And, they OWN a large majority of the members of the Senate and possibly enough in the house to derail this legislation. Believe me, if it’s derailed it won’t come up again next year. Which leads me to the even worse possibility that some “compromise” will be made that is a bigger disaster than what we have. It will leave us thinking the problem is solved and it will lead to another 15 years until we address it again. THIS IS A HUGE GAMBLE ON OBAMA’S PART (that’s twice I’ve said that, and it could come again).

Let me give you a better and more practical scenario of what SHOULD have taken place. UNEMPLOYMENT! President Obama could have focused more effort on creating jobs for those on the Unemployment roles – through retraining programs and government incentives to businesses – including the incentives to start new businesses that are “eco-friendly.” All President’s go through periods where their approval ratings go down. But you have to consider that the Republicans essentially control the “liberal media” (what a joke that is, huh?) and any Democratic President is going to be the recipient of a constant battering from the fringe elements of the Right Wing. We saw this for eight years under Clinton, and we’re seeing a repeat of it under Obama. Think I’m off base here? Well, lets consider the last two Presidents before Obama. Bill and Hillary Clinton were under eight years of investigations over a failed land investment (Whitewater) where they were trying to invest $10,000 in order to “cut off a fat hog.” At the time, I was just out of the Real Estate business, and I remember thinking if people are upset with them losing ten grand on that, I hope they don’t start investigating some of the deals I’ve seen as routine in my years in the business. Virtually no one, who was at the top of the Real Estate business where I live, could have run for public office under that scrutiny.

Then you have George W Bush. Bush was flying around for the 2000 election in a jet provided by Ken Lay CEO of ENRON (remember, the guy who mysteriously died the weekend after being indicted – the guy who was on Dick Cheney’s “energy taskforce”) The collapse of Enron – which was running a scheme that rivaled Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and then some – left millions of Americans with a huge hole in their retirement portfolios. Was there EVER an investigation into the connection? NO! And no investigation into the connection with Cheney either – in fact the Supreme Court (which put the bums in office in the first place) refused to cause Cheney to have to divulge who was in his “task force.” (does “why we invaded Iraq” ring a bell?) Cheney outed a CIA agent (this is treason) and no Congressional investigation. Bush authorized warrantless wiretapping – no investigation. Torture – no investigation. And, to top it all off, the news media pretty much accepted BOTH (the Clinton harrassing and the ignoring of Bush crimes) as OK. This points out another of the problems Obama has in getting meaningful healthcare legislation through – BIG CORPORATIONS CONTROL THE MEDIA – we will see and hear what they want us to. So, I’ll say it again, with unemployment OVER TEN PERCENT – I know the government says it’s 9.4 – but there’s untold millions of workers who have quit looking for work – health care reform is a BIG GAMBLE.

Now, if the Democrats would “circle the wagons” and quit even talking to Republicans and just pass a bill that they know “We the People” want, then I might change my tune. But, this idea that we need “bi-partisan” legislation only leads me to believe that the Republicans will have a say in the final product, and therefore, the final product will favor insurance companies. Did you hear the news yesterday about the CEO of United Health Care’s salary? The dude is making over $102,000 PER HOUR! THAT’S OVER $800,000 PER DAY! Are you kidding me? And the CEO’s of the top five health care insurance companies ALL LIVE IN HOMES valued over 40 MILLION DOLLARS! Now, this wouldn’t be so obscene if there weren’t 50 million Americans without healthcare (which those with healthcare are paying for), if the insurance companies weren’t spending almost 10% of their premium income denying healthcare, and if the profits of these companies hadn’t risen five-fold in the last 8 years. The truth is that about 25% of every dollar of my premiums go for the “overhead” that pays these people – in the case of United Health care – a quarter of a BILLION dollars per year! Personally, I’m OK if this guy joins the 15% of Americans on the unemployment lines should we come up with an option that causes these companies to have to compete in the marketplace.

Getting back to my point, if we can’t get a GOOD BILL we’re better off with no bill, in my view. And, President Obama has gambled A LOT on this legislation. Here’s my worry. What if the Republicans succeed in derailing this legislation (and, if you’ve been paying attention, you know that they are very determined to do this – they’ve pulled out “all the stops”)? Then, how much “capital” will Obama have left? Will he be able to get additional stimulus through which will actually have a dramatic effect on the job market? Will he be able to make a case that the inner cities could be rebuilt by the people who live there – thus solving two problems – restoring the cities and creating jobs for the most affected group of people in the country? The estimate is that to bring our “infrastructure” up to code would cost $2.2 TRILLION. Will Obama have the political capital to address that need? (The Republicans seemingly would let all the bridges crumble to “save taxpayers money”) Will Obama have the capital to address the huge deficit that, while some people seem to think is no problem, I believe is destroying the fabric of this nation? Let’s face facts – President Obama at some point is going to have to RAISE TAXES. We have two wars we’ve put on credit cards, we’ve borrowed almost $4TRILLION from the Social Security Trust fund (with, in Republican thought, no intention of ever paying it back), and there was over $10 Trillion in debt when Obama took office with the last year of Bush’s budget (remember, Obama’s first deficit will be next year) leaving a deficit of an unbelievable $1.7 TRILLION!

In summary, we need more jobs and we need to get the national debt under control. Once those two things are addressed, I believe the healthcare debate becomes more doable – because President Obama would have a much more solid constituency (especially, the people who would then have jobs). With Republicans, raising taxes is a dirty word – they like to run up debt. However, it wouldn’t take much to turn this around. For example, I believe that the public will only support a certain price for gas, whether it’s going for taxes or going to the oil companies for profit. Therefore, the federal government could raise the gas tax – somewhere in the range of 20 cents/gallon to maybe 50 cents/gallon – and ALL AMERICANS WHO DRIVE WOULD BE CONTRIBUTING TO THE REBUILDING OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE and therefore, helping to create jobs – a national necessity! Congress should have reversed the “Bush taxcuts” immediately as a show of responsible government – that, in itself, would raise a fair amount to cover what are obscene deficits (Republicans complain about “Obama’s deficits” and their solution is more tax cuts – I hope America has finally seen past that ploy). And, I for one, believe that President Obama could reverse the tax cuts put in place in the stimulus bill to buy three Republican votes – and address the nation and say that the deficit is a national emergency and we all, not just the top 2%, need to participate in getting it under control. We need to pay for whatever our troops need, and we need to pay for these wars up front – if they’re worth fighting – or get the H out of Iraq and Afganistan! Of course – concerning heath care, if Democrats and the President will stop trying to be bi-partisan and just pass the legislation which “We the People” want, this would all be a moot point.

I remember back in the early nineties when Bill Clinton won the Presidency, thanks to third party candidate Ross Perot, who garnered a fair percentage of the votes from people like me who were disgusted with the federal deficit run up under Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush. I wasn’t much of a Clinton fan at the time, although I started to come around as the deficit was reduced and the economy showed the results of a government which was “paying as it went.” Of course, as a Christian and a father of two beautiful young ladies, I was totally turned off by the Lewinski affair and the lying about it. However, I was more turned off by the incessant Republican attacks on Clinton – which happened for virtually his entire term in office. I will always believe Clinton’s sexual misconduct was the only reason George W Bush stood a chance in 2000, and, I believe, once the truth about the voting in Florida becomes known, we will all know that GW Bush was an illegitimate President right from the start. The only thing which keeps me from extreme bitterness about that election to this day is the FACT that Al Gore chose Joe Lieberman as his running mate, and Lieberman turns me off more than GW Bush. I realize he wouldn’t have had the type of power Dick Cheney exercized, but the thought of Lieberman being Vice President, to this day, makes me shudder!

I remember researching GW Bush prior to that election and finding that the man had NO CREDENTIALS to make him a likely candidate for President. The more I found out about him, the more astonished I became that he somehow managed to win an election on a national stage. That was the real beginning, for me, of questioning just what had happened to our so-called “liberal” news media. I mean George W Bush had never really done anything that ended in success. Every business he became involved in was the result of his family connections and money, and every one of them ended in FAILURE, with the exception of his being granted partial ownership in the Texas Rangers baseball team – again, only because of his family connections. He managed to help get a new stadium built and then sold out his interest in the team with a profit of something like 10 million dollars. Other than that, pretty much everything GW touched was a collossal failure. Even his political career was the benefit of his Father’s influence and it was non-distinguished (unless you consider the huge number of executions that took place on his “watch” while Texas’ governor as being something of distinction).

His grasp of the English language was such that he needed a script for everything, he needed advisors to keep him from being in situations where he had to think on the spot, and he followed the advice – regarding his message – of the guy who said, “Keep it simple stupid.” That, along with the Republican “machine” worked to get Bush into the White House. I still remember the most profound statement I heard during the campaign, although it took me a couple years to totally appreciate the brilliance of it. Jay Leno, on the Tonight Show (which I rarely watched) compared Bush/Cheney to the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” I’ll never forget him saying, to the laughter of the audience – with no one understanding how spot on his words were at the time – “Bush needs a brain, and Cheney needs a heart.” As it turned out, Bush will go down in history as one of the worst Presidents ever and Cheney is considered by many more than me to be “heartless.” I believe it took Bush about 6 years to figure out how much he was poorly served by Dick Cheney. I know that many “pundits” say, to this day, that their relationship is still good – but, I believe that is mostly because they need to be united in defense of their illegal actions in an attempt to keep the Obama administration from “looking backward.”

I’m saying all this to frame my thoughts for tonight. The 28 years prior to the election of Barack Obama, for me, were FULL OF FRUSTRATION. Even when President Clinton was reducing the deficit (to me, managing the economy is job number one for the President) all the Republican rancor combined with the Lewinski affair kept me pretty much turned off by my government. Bush’s tax cuts and his misadventure into Iraq just put me over the edge (hence this blog). I have two grandchildren and the thought of Bush leaving office with a 1.7 TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT (for just his last year in office, on top of doubling the national debt during his term, despite inheriting a $250 Billion surplus upon his election), and an economy in complete shambles, two unwinnable poorly managed wars which were destroying our military, and a Republican party that had evolved into something I imagined might be a political party in Russia or something like that – TOTALLY MEAN SPIRITED – left me in great anticipation of a restoration of the country I love and knew before the so-called “Reagan Revolution,” once Barack Obama took over the Presidency.

Well, if you’ve been reading any of my other posts on this site, you’ll know that I’m feeling a bit naive on the one hand and, probably a better word for it is disappointed in our new President. I thought he would come in and have the guts to start reversing all the abuses that took place in the previous 8 years and ALL WOULD BE WELL. I knew there would be a fight because I knew that the Republicans weren’t going to agree to anything. It was obvious to me that the idea of a Democratic President didn’t sit well with them, but a BLACK PRESIDENT was more than they could stomach. It was also obvious to me, RIGHT FROM THE START, that the only thing important to the Republicans was the FAILURE OF BARACK OBAMA! The slogan John McCain used in the Presidential election, “Country First,” went out the window as soon as they all digested the fact that our commander in chief was half African. And, one interesting thing I”ve noticed since then is that the only people willing to use the “race card” since Obama’s election are the Republicans. They are showing their racist selves in so many creative ways (“tea baggers,” “birthers,” and outright accusing President Obama and his Latina selection to the Supreme Court as being racists – OK, I have to add this here although it wasn’t my original intent – and if you don’t know these guys and what they stand for, Google them – Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Jeff Sessions, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and I could go on ALL CALLING OBAMA AND SOTOMAYOR RACISTS! – THIS, IN ITSELF IS BEYOND THE PALE) – and the “Liberal Media” is letting them get away with this.

These Republicans are so repulsive to me that I hate the idea of writing anything that is “anti-Obama.” On the other hand, I REFUSE TO ACT LIKE REPUBLICANS did with GW Bush and just agree to everything. Somehow, we have to get this country back to the place where there can be a debate on the issues and people can express their views in an adult manner. I’m an Independent voter and I always look at the issues before I decide if “I’m for it or against it.” So, despite the fact I feel like I’m helping the Republicans by pointing out the things I see wrong with what Obama is doing, I have to keep doing what I think is right. I guess my hope would be that someone in Obama’s administration would get wind of what A LOT OF PEOPLE BESIDES ME ARE SAYING and get him to re-direct his course of action. Just as I pointed out that ALL THE MISBEHAVIOR AND LAWBREAKING of the Bush administration will EVENTUALLY come out, so will the actions Obama’s taking that are not in harmony with the impression he left on his voters during the campaign. This morning I read a column in the NY Times by Frank Rich that gave a hint of what I believe is certain to come.

Obama’s supporters are caught up in the “health care debate” and many people believe that is the make or break legislation for his Presidency. And, to a certain extent, they may be right – because, the media is really good at one thing, and that’s manipulating the public – although, I believe the media is constantly being manipulated by the politicians themselves with the Republicans MUCH BETTER at this than the Democrats. However, the Republicans are so extreme in their beliefs at this point that I’m not sure they can become viable again without someone TOTALLY DIFFERENT emerging who is willing to CHANGE THEIR BASE. But, rest assured, THEY’LL KEEP TRYING. Getting back to my point, as Rich started to point out, but didn’t do it very well, Obama’s reneging on much of his promises of reform will probably turn off many of his supporters as it becomes known (it’s already happening with me). The term Rich used was that Obama was “Punking us.” Well, I believe Rich has a point – at first I thought maybe he’s reading my blog – but Obama is “Punking us.” By “us” I mean the millions of “progressives” who supported him and trusted him to follow through on his promises of “Change we can believe in.”

I’ve listed this stuff before, but I’ll do it again because I’m so passionate about this – AND IT’S NOT TOO LATE FOR OBAMA TO CHANGE. First, he’s refusing to investigate the Bush administration’s illegal activity (or even allow investigations – although I know there’s continued pressure for this because the ACLU is pushing for investigations of the torture program and the warrantless wiretapping programs – I know this because what little money I have for the “process” is now going to the ACLU) – many people besides me heard Obama state clearly that “no one in America is above the law” and “if there’s evidence a crime was committed it should be investigated and prosecuted.” SO THAT’S DISAPPOINTMENT NUMBER ONE for me. Then, you’ve got the so-called “transparency” promise being hidden by secrecy MORE AND MORE – and we’re only in the first eight months of Obama’s Presidency. Additionally, there are still the PRE-SURGE number of troops in Iraq and, despite Obama stating that we will be out of there, he’s now following the plan negotiated by Bush and there’s ample evidence that we’re going to be in Iraq far longer than anyone who voted for Obama anticipated. Many will feel “Punked” when the reality of this becomes “news.” Then, you have an escalation of the war in Afganistan without so much as an explanation to the American people what the purpose is and it appears that it could become the new “Iraq.” After reading the book “Three Cups of Tea” I could be convinced that we have a role in Afganistan, but this unilateral escalation with no explanation is QUITE DISTURBING TO ME. On “top of all that” you have the wiretapping policy of GW Bush. I’ve heard more than one Obama associate saying that “President Obama doesn’t want to give up this authority.” Well, to me as I’ve stated many times on this site, I DON’T BELIEVE HE HAS THE AUTHORITY.

President Obama is not only continuing Bush’s warrantless wiretapping policy (with the data mining and all) BUT HE’S DEFENDING THE BUSH POSITION IN COURT. And there are other Bush abuses that Obama’s Justice Department is defending in court (some relating to GITMO). It’s like IT’S JUST TOO HARD TO GIVE UP POWER, EVEN IF IT WAS GAINED ILLEGITAMATELY. And now reports are coming out that Obama is continuing the practice of “signing statements” that Bush abused beyond imagination – this is where the President signs a bill and then makes a “signing statement” pointing out that he doesn’t intend to follow a provision of the bill. I was hoping Obama would reverse most, if not all, of the Bush signing statements – but he’s following the same course. THIS IS ALL VERY DISTURBING. I don’t think I’m the only American who was trusting President Obama to reverse many of the Bush abuses – AND I’M SHOCKED THAT HE’S FOLLOWING THE SAME PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR! So, reality is setting in for me and, I believe many other “progressives,” – and, I think, Frank Rich almost had it right – but it’s way more than the health care debate (I’m beginning to think what we’ll end up with there is something that’s worked out in the back rooms of Congress – JUST LIKE IT’S BEEN DONE FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER – not “Change I can believe in” – and I believe the health insurance companies will come out of this feeling their HUNDRED’S OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS USED TO BUY OFF CONGRESS AND THE WHITE HOUSE – was money well spent. President Obama continually told us “This is our time” during the campaign – well, as Rich put it – “WE’VE BEEN PUNKED!” I was up for a fight to put these Republicans and their mean-spirited agenda OUT TO PASTURE. What we’re ending up with is POLITICS AS USUAL, no sign of courage in Washington DC, and something that sounds different coming out of Obama’s mouth, but looks the same when one takes a close up look at the process.

I’ll say this again, because it’s not too late for the “change we can believe in.” President Obama, the people who voted for you, by and large, were sick of George W Bush and the Republican party. We don’t want a health care bill that represents their values (which would be more profits for the insurance companies), we don’t want you to look forward and not backward – we WANT ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE TORTURING AND THE OTHER ILLEGAL ACTS – I mean a CIA agent was outed for God’s sake – THAT CAN’T BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN! We want the transparency you promised! We don’t want the government intercepting our emails and phone calls – you can stop terrorist attacks without shredding our bill of rights. We don’t want the signing statements, we don’t want you defending Bush/Cheney in court, and we DON’T WANT YOU COW TOWING TO REPUBLICANS. PUT UP A FIGHT – they are not going to “like” you, no matter what you do! (well, some of them might, but they’re not the leaders – ie Limbaugh, et al) President Obama, we didn’t vote for you to defend the Bush administration, we trusted you to make sure their abuses NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN in America! It really does feel like we’re being PUNKED!

Today I read a column in the New York Times by Paul Krugman, an economics professor at Princeton (I think) and an excellent OP-Ed contributor at the Times, talking about the protestors who are “disrupting” the town halls being held by Democratic Congresspersons around the country during the August recess. In his article he points out what the “news” media has been focusing on regarding these protests. For example, there are many who compare them to the protests orchestrated by Tom DeLay after the 2000 election designed to stop the recount in Florida (which was successful). And, I suppose, there are a lot of similarities – so, why not? If it worked once why not try it again, right? Certainly, the Republicans have shown themselves over and over to believe in the philosophy that the “end justifies the means.” This is nothing new for them, they’ve been on this course since I can remember. Krugman also points out that many of the “protestors” have been paid by two organizations: first, Freedom Works – an organization (which seems to be opposing freedom) led by the former House Majority leader Dick Armey (one of many Republicans now bilking the public as a lobbyist after being forced out of Congress for ethics violations) and second, “Conservatives for Patient’s Rights” led by Rick Scott – formerly the head of Columbia/HCA which is a hospital chain most noted for paying a 1.7 BILLION DOLLAR fine resulting from their practice of OVERBILLING the federal government and state governments on medical claims. Scott was thrown out because of this but evidently had no criminal liability (sound familiar? If these Republicans were ever honestly investigated, who knows how much graft would be uncovered?). As every fairminded person I’ve talked to – Republican and Democrat alike – this kind of “dirty trick” is disgusting. The stated purpose of these “disruptors” is to have no debate at all. To stop the debate so that they can stop the legislation supposedly allowing them to DEFEAT PRESIDENT OBAMA.

Now, this is where it gets more interesting. When I look at the crowds on TV and the people who are making the big ruckous one thing comes immediately to my mind. Most of the people shouting down the Congresspeople trying to get a feel for where their constituents stand on the legislation are older than me. That would mean that most of them are Medicare recipients. So, therefore, I see something really DISENGENUOUS in their message. HOW CAN YOU BE PART OF MEDICARE AND ARGUING AGAINST “GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTHCARE” AT THE SAME TIME? That’s the part that really sticks out to me as I watch this soap opera like scenario playing itself out. And, of course, the present legislation is FAR REMOVED from “government run health care.” I watched one lady, who had to be at least 70, yelling how she didn’t want anyone to take away her health insurance. Well, her health insurance is MEDICARE! Ideally, wouldn’t it be great if there was MEDICARE for ALL? Yes, there would have to be a change in the rates paid to doctors and, I’m sure, many other changes and “upgrades” to the system, but I’m pretty sure that the money most of us who are insured are paying would go a long way toward paying for a strong Medicare for all system. In fact, from what I’m reading, everyone could be covered and I would be paying LESS NOT MORE!

Back to Krugman’s point. He finally started to talk about what I’ve been talking about for months (you don’t think he’s one of my 50 viewers per day do you? :o) and that is the strong group of Americans who just can’t handle a “Negro” (my word) as President and Commander in Chief. I watched one pitiful lady CRYING as she wailed out: “I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!” And a bunch of people in the audience cheered. This was a Town Hall in Arkansas – and it wasn’t health care which was bothering them. Another group in Missouri, at a town hall for a Republican (a friendly audience – no protestors at this meeting) cheered loudly when the Congressman referred to the treatment Democratic Congresspeople were receiving as “Lynchings.” Call it a Freudian Slip, but these people are not hiding anything from me. Blacks are OK as long as they are sports heroes and holding menial jobs. The idea of a Black person (remember, President Obama’s the result of a “mixed” marriage) as President is more than they can handle. When you get all the right wing “talkers” fueling their emotions it starts to get dangerous – AND IT’S STARTING TO GET DANGEROUS.

Barack Obama was RIGHT ON when he pointed out, during the campaign, that many of these people vote against their own self-interests because politicians “play” to their fears and prejudices. This has been clear with the abortion debate over the years, the wars and terrorist claims, and now virtually everything our “Black” President is doing – not because it’s not the right thing to do, but because – WHAT IF HE’S SUCCESSFUL? Would that mean more Black Presidents in the future? Or, what about a Latina President – I mean look at the Supreme Court – we now have a Latina WOMAN on the Supreme Court. The Republicans made it clear what they thought about that in the confirmation process – a process which they knew they would lose right from the start – but one where they felt it necessary to feed the racists in their “base” to “recharge” them after the loss in 2008. I’m honestly not sure what these thugs are thinking – I can only hope that the backlash they receive is severe enough that we don’t have to continually endure this type of degradation. I look back to the eight years of Clinton – and I really hope that we don’t have a repeat of that performance here. The people “protesting” against health care reform stand to benefit from it, just like everyone else. So, to me, the objection clearly is the color of our President’s skin.

Which gets me to Krugman’s final point. With Rush Limbaugh working for Obama’s “FAILURE” at every opportunity, with the Republicans disregarding anything that would resemble integrity, with reports that white supremist “cells” are springing up all over the country – THE REST OF US HAD BETTER FIGURE OUT SOON THAT THIS REALLY IS THE “WAR WITHIN.” It would be foolish to underestimate these right wing (you put the word in, every word I’m thinking here is inappropriate for a sixth grade teacher). Krugman pointed out that the “base” that got President Obama elected had better get re-energized (my words) or there could easily be a defeat of the health care legislation. I will take it a step further, Obama’s Presidency could well be in the “balance.” There’s a lot of positive news pouring in, which conceivably could counteract the defeat of the healthcare legislation, but Krugman has a good point which might go unnoticed by virtually everyone – including Krugman.

Obama’s support is dwindling. Some of that dwindling comes from the very person writing this post, ME! I’ve been on “Red Alert” for some time. I believe the Republicans are much better than the Democrats at making a plan and sticking to it. They are setting one trap after another for Obama – and the prize is the independent voter (again, like me). Last night I heard Keith Olberman making light of a Republican Senator who was complaining that President Obama was collecting email addresses of “opponents.” Olberman’s point was – this Senator was behind President Bush’s “warrantless wiretapping” program – evidently thinking it (the wiretapping program) was a thing of the past. I’ve got a surprise for Mr. Olberman. THE WIRETAPPING PROGRAM IS STILL ONGOING! President Obama has shown (in my view) a disturbing lack of resolve in reversing many of the abuses of the Bush administration. The reality in my eyes is that “if I have the power, why give it up?” This is what is bothering, I’m sure, many more of Obama’s supporters than me. I’m guessing the number of people who are disgusted that Obama is “looking forward” and not backward regarding the “Bush Crime family” is in the millions. Everytime he takes another “Bushlike” action, the more people will “jump off the bandwagon.” I didn’t vote for President Obama because of the color of his skin and he doesn’t have to prove anything to me – HE JUST NEEDS TO HONOR HIS PROMISES. So, as much as I like most of what he’s trying to get accomplished, if he continues to “cow-tow” to Republicans, if he continues to resist “UnBushing” the executive branch, if he continues to look the other way at crimes committed by our elected leaders my support is weak at best.

If you’ve been following the news lately I’m sure you’ve heard the reports on Blackwater (now called XE – pronounced ZEE) – the militia started by Eric Prince and now infamous for the random killings (more reports surfacing every day) of civilians in Iraq. Prince considers the Iraq war a “crusade” and – based on reports from his former employees – was complicit in encouraging and then covering up many murders of Iraqi civilians during their tenure as “bodyguards” for our diplomats over there. Astonishingly, they are still over there – despite being “banned” by the Iraqi’s. I wrote around one year ago about Blackwater – wondering what they will do once they are no longer employed by our government. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN ARMY – FULL OF DANGEROUS MERCENARIES, SOME FROM THE WORST PARTS OF THE WORLD – THEIR OWN AIRFORCE, AND INTELLIGENCE DIVISION. These guys are affiliated with the militia movement types, like Chuck Norris and the people who are successionists, and THEY HAVE A BOATLOAD OF MONEY. So, this war I’ve been talking about, could become more than a war of words. The inciteful language used by people like Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Hannity, Savage, and others – including many Republican members of Congress – could lead to something tragic. I guarantee you that these people don’t want a BLACK PRESIDENT! Remember what happened to George Tiller – the doctor who was performing late term abortions (virtually everyone of them was the result of a dead fetus or a mother who was fighting cancer and needed chemo which would kill the baby – EVERY procedure was performed to protect the health of the Mother)? Bill O’Reilly led that public “fight” against Tiller which resulted in him being murdered while sitting in church – and, believe me, there wasn’t any regret from O’Reilly and the people he incites.

What’s going to happen if one of these “low-lifes” who are being incited against a Black President does something stupid? Obama definitely needs his “base” to rally around him, but I, for one, need to see more of a progressive statesman than a middle of the road politician. It almost appears that, in this health care debate, Obama and the Democrats are trying to make as many people as possible happy. To me, that is what is threatening to turn me off. When Obama was elected I and, I believe, millions of others like me were tired of Republicans and what they stand for. Now, I’m already tired of President Obama’s trying to get their bipartisan support. The way for President Obama to get my enthusiastic support again would be to fight back as if he finally understands the magnitude of this war. He probably does, and I’m guessing that the reason there hasn’t been the investigations I believe should be MANDATORY is because of the fact Obama knows how these people will react if a Black President and Black Attorney General “go after” their hero – George W Bush. The truth is that these people represent a minority of America – as Cheney so eloquently put it – THE DARK SIDE – and they, along with the rest of us, need to know the TRUTH of what our government has been up to in the past – NO MATTER WHERE IT LEADS US! I, for one, am tired of wondering what despicable act my government is up to today. The fact that I supported President Obama, doesn’t mean that he gets a free pass on despicable acts. Krugman was exactly right, if Obama’s “base” doesn’t get VERY ACTIVE he stands to lose the health care battle. This would threaten his chances for re-election – and once that happens it would then be too late for any investigation. And, in my view, not investigating the “Bush Crime family” would be a despicable act!

Today I was talking to the new Principal of my school and she gave me the proper word for my Blog entries (I was trying to use words like personal diary entries to vent my frustrations) – she called them rants. And, upon further reflection, I believe she got it right on. I continually watch what is going on in American politics (I’ve been doing this since JFK was President) and it never ceases to amaze me what “We the People” allow our elected Representatives to get away with. And, it’s gotten to the point where I believe there really isn’t any “news” reporting out there (with the possible exception of PBS – but they’re not really out there reporting the down and dirty news stories). Take for example the present day situation where a bunch of people are swooping in on “Town Hall” meetings with the publicly stated position of “disrupting” those meetings in order to prevent ANY health care legislation from being passed. These people are being paid by the health care industry which is spending a reported 1.4 MILLION DOLLARS PER DAY – that’s right- PER DAY – to stop the health care legislation which they feel will cut into their profits (I hope they’re right – if they’re making enough to spend hundreds of millions in just three months to defeat reform – they’re MAKING TOO MUCH). Everyone (in the media) knows who’s bankrolling these smucks, but no one wants to call the culprits to task.

Have they no shame? Well, the answer to that is that this is the same type of strategy Republicans used when Tom DeLay and a bunch of his “minions” swooped in on the Florida Recount in an attempt to insure that GW Bush stole the 2000 election (obviously, they were successful). Here’s the part that probably bothers me more than the tactics of these Republicans. It’s the response of the Democrats. In 2000 the Democrats pretty much gave the fight to DeLay and the Republicans and allowed their buddies on the Supreme Court to overturn the “Will of the People.” Can you see the difference in the “fortitude” of the American people and the Iranian people? What have we evolved to? I know that most of us are so comfortable that we’re going to be OK no matter what happens in the elections, or in the “debates” in Congress. I’m sitting here healing from a major surgery which was pretty much covered by the health insurance I can afford to pay for. How obscene are these Republicans going to have to get before the pushback amounts to what Newton called the “equal and opposite reaction?” I think most “Progressives” just sit there shaking their heads and wondering what rock did these weirdos come out from under?

The problem is that the people who are behind the “birther” movement, the “tea party” movement, and the anti-healthcare movement are all affiliated with groups that are White Supremist and/or militia minded people. If you’ve been paying any kind of attention to what news we’ve gotten lately a lot of the “story” on Eric Prince and Blackwater is coming out. If you don’t know who/what Blackwater is (they now call themselves XE – pronounced ZEE) they are a mercenary Army the United States hired to “protect” American diplomats in Iraq to the tune of multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts. Prince is a radical right wing Christian who is very much anti-muslim. He has state of the art training facilities in North Carolina and other places, he has an army, an airforce, a huge cache of weapons, and an intelligence force – and probably more. During the Clinton Presidency it was reported that Prince and some of the leading evangelists in the country were considering a coup de tat on our government. Prince comes from the same ilk as Chuck Norris (formerly “Walker Texas Ranger) – it was Norris who recently claimed that there are thousands of “cells” around the country ready for insurrection and he was part of the succession movement in Texas.

In summary, the people behind all this are more than a bunch of nut bags (although that fits as well) – they have the will and THE WHEREWITHALL to cause the rest of us a LOT OF PROBLEMS. It has been reported that Prince has had people who were willing to testify against him in investigations of the many abuses of Blackwater (Remember in 2007 they murdered 17 Iraqis without cause – and five of their members are under indictment for that atrocity) murdered. This guy has built his mercenary Army by hiring some of the “baddest” rebels from places like Chile, Columbia, and other places where he can find hired killers for cheap prices. His intelligence division includes people who were high up in the Bush administration along with members of our CIA who were among the elite there. I listened to one person talking on TV tonight and he was asked “do you think Prince will be prosecuted?” It was his answer that really got me. The guy said something like “Well, I think it would probably be something to be looked into.” I mean, that’s what things have come to in this country. I’m not sure why our elected leaders are so AFRAID to enforce our laws. These Republicans are operating under the premise that the Democrats might not like what they’re doing, BUT THEY’LL NEVER HOLD THEM LEGALLY ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS – so “Katy barr the door!”

I’ve been RANTING (I want to thank my new Principal for the right word) for months about the importance of holding our leaders accountable when they break the law. In fact, I’ve pointed out many times that they TAKE AN OATH to uphold the constitution and enforce the laws of the land. Barack Obama, during his campaign promised me (and every other American) that NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW in America. We are a nation of laws and not men. So, now, it seems to me, that we’re painting ourselves into a corner. We’re letting all these people who have no respect whatever for the constitution go free (let me give you an example – calling for toppling the government – ie Chuck Norris – is called sedition – you think I’m nuts, well, here’s the definition of sedition: To write, print, utter or publish, or cause it to be done, or assist in it, any false, scandalous, and malicious writing against the government of the United States, or either House of Congress, or the President, with intent to defame, or bring either into contempt or disrepute, or to excite against either the hatred of the people of the United States, or to stir up sedition, or to excite unlawful combinations against the government, or to resist it, or to aid or encourage hostile designs of foreign nations. – would calling for the toppling of our government fit? What about Glenn Beck calling the President of the United States a Racist? Or falsely claiming he’s not a citizen? Or calling him a terrorist or someone who “pals around with terrorists?”).

How over the edge do these Republicans have to get before our Democratic leaders fight back using the tools at their disposal – OUR CONSTITUTION? I’ve mentioned over and over on this site that to begin cleaning up the mess left behind by the years we all had to endure Republican rule all our President and his Attorney General have to do is fulfill their oath to the Constitution. Start with Bush and Cheney and follow the path where ever it might go in thorough investigations. I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS IS SO COMPLICATED AND WHY THEY WON’T DO THIS! They are harboring torturers – for starters. Now you have Eric Prince (who’s still receiving millions from our government – even though the Iraqi’s banned him and his company from their country) who’s close associates in depositions have alleged he has had witnesses KILLED to thwart investigations of his many alleged illegal activities. Tonight, it was reported that Prince illegally smuggled weapons into Iraq and that some of them ended up in the hands of the insurgency which, at the time, was killing Americans. Additionally, they introduced illegal weapons into Iraq – ammuntion which exploded on contact with the victim, totally blowing them to bits! UGHHHHHH!!!! While, I’m hoping for the best with all the ambitious plans of President Obama, I’m definitely worried that any health care legislation which gets passed will be a boon to the insurance companies instead of putting them “out to pasture,” because we want it to be “bi-partisan.” And, what good will health care reform do any of us if our legal system continues to be the laughing stock of the right wing? I’m praying that President Obama and Eric Holder will have the guts to face up to this, but, in all honesty, IT DOESN’T LOOK GOOD.

The last post I made ended with a statement that I believe it’s possible for, essentially, a conservative to be human. However, in my continuing observation of “what’s going on” in the world of American politics, it’s not happening imminently. The present leaders of the Republican party just don’t know when to quit. And, you’ve still got the remnants of the failed “Contract for (on) America” spewing their rath on the system they’ve been trying to destroy for the past 30 years. Dick Armey, the former House of Representatives “whip” under Tom Delay – a guy who’s about as mean spirited as they come and definitely a corporatist – is the head of a group called (of all things) “Freedom’s Watch” – don’t you like how these guys are so good at playing on words? – For example, if it says “Freedom’s Watch” it really means “Freedom’s Enemy.” This is the group which is gathering up “dirty tricksters” (I’m using the Nixonian term because these are the tactics that emerged during the Nixon era and led to Watergate – which I’m sure Republicans are still bitter about – all they did “back in the day” was break into a few offices and tap a few phone lines, what’s wrong with that?), putting them on buses, and sending them around to the town hall meetings on health care being held by Congressmen/women and Senators with the stated goal of disrupting the meetings in an attempt to stop the health care debate.

This is the kind of crap that began with the Nixon Presidency, continued throughout the 80’s and 90’s although it was much more subtle (robo calls, etc.), and then peaked again under GW Bush with the “master” Karl Rove. Actually, Karl Rove was mentored by Lee Atwater who was the master at winning elections at all costs. The sad reality is that the remnants of the Republican party are of the same ilk. They are in the habit of resorting to dirty tricks to get what they want, and, unfortunately, most of them are no more than puppets of the corporations who lavish money on them unabashedly – everyone knows they’re beholden to the corporate heads but they just seem to keep “marching on.” For some reason the national media, with a few exceptions chooses to look the other way regarding the effect of corporate money on our politics (I believe, last night, Keith Olberman was going to publicly list the Democrats who are taking money from the health care lobby and then failing to support the “public option” which 72% of the American public wants – I wasn’t able to watch it). By paying these disrupters who Armey is thrusting onto the scene during this August recess, clearly shows the Republicans have no shame. I often wonder, do they even think about the conseqences of doing nothing, which is what they are hoping for? (I believe the failure of our economy and our environment would be worth it to them as long as President Obama “fails” in the words of Rush Limbaugh – isn’t that kind of like being a traitor?)

Obviously, as just surmised, their strategy is the defeat of Barack Obama. The last thing they want to see is for Obama to succeed. I suppose they’re getting a little nervous as the economic news starts to brighten. I honestly feel they want the economy to go deeper into the abiss than Bush left it in January and/or they would love to see America attacked again. Based on that philosophy you would think, if they really think this health care proposal is so bad, that they would let it pass so that the horrible results would give them leverage in future campaigns. The reality is that they fully understand that Americans are paying twice what every other industrialized nation is paying for health care and getting worse results – add to this that the uninsured plus underinsured count is approaching one third of the nation – which is obscene in today’s world. How do these guys sleep at night? Well, I guess we know where their interests lie when we look at the FACT that the health care industry is spending 1.4 MILLION DOLLARS PER DAY in an attempt to defeat the reform legislation. While on the one hand they claim that the government can’t do anything efficiently, they seem to be insisting that the “public option” would put the for profit insurance companies out of business. Now, that doesn’t make sense to me. If the government is so inefficient what is there to worry?

Maybe what they’re worrying about is that their profits won’t allow for the 1.4 Million dollars per day given to politicians. If you haven’t heard of “K street” in Washington, it’s a bunch of Republican (former) politicians who have become lobbyists. They actually take jobs lobbying for firms they did business with in Congress once they leave. Now, I know what you’re thinking – and you’re right – the Dems are guilty as well, just not as organized as the Republicans. I mean, the other day, I heard that Tom Daschle – who was Obama’s original choice for Health and Human Services Secretary (thereby leading this fight) is actually lobbying against the “public option.” Why would this so-called good “liberal” side with the Republicans? Well, for the same reason Max Baucus of Montana and others in the Senate. THEY’RE TAKING TRUCKLOADS OF MONEY FROM HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES, BIG PHARMA, ETC. This is so obvious that it’s OBSCENE! When is the last time in America when we’ve had a true bi-partisan proposal? And by bi-partisan I mean, when 72% of the public are in favor of something. This support has to transcend party lines.

The problem with this support is that it’s on “Main Street.” We’ve already, in the past year, seen glaring evidence that our political leaders are focused on Wall Street not Main Street. Somehow, those of us on “Main Street” have to come together and make sure that we fix this problem. There’s been a lot of cleansing back in Washington, but obviously the work is only partially done. I know that we are all going to hold President Obama accountable for what happens here – and rightfully so. I’ve stated many times on this site where I believe he has come up short – but it’s not in his proposals. (If you haven’t read any of my previous posts, I’m no fan of the “reaching across the isle” attempts by President Obama and his refusal to hold the previous administration accountable for obvious criminal activity was pretty much a deal breaker for me – I don’t ascribe to the theory that our leaders are “above the law.”) The people who need to be held accountable here, in my view, are any Democrats who cave into the health lobby and vote against the clear will of the people. I could care less what their excuses are – they need to be voted out of office. EVEN IF DEMOCRATS ARE REPLACED BY REPUBLICANS. We voted out the Republicans because they were not responsive to the will of the people, WHY SHOULD DEMOCRATS GET ANY DIFFERENT TREATMENT?

Now, to me, the significance of this health care debate is symbolic. That is, I believe the long term damage of letting George W Bush, Dick Cheney, John Woo, David Addington, Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove, and the rest of the thugs in Bush’s administration “walk” will outlive any fallout from the health care debate. Eventually, we’ll get health care reform – and, hopefully, sooner rather than later, we’ll have the single payer system with not for profit hospitals that everyone knows is in the best interest of the people and the economy of this nation. Based on where they’re coming from and their known constituency you would expect a fight from the Republicans on this because they’ve been on the side of corporate profits over the interests of the average working class American since the days of Ronald Reagan – probably before – but Reagan made no bones about it and the Republican party has considered him their guru ever since (even though I still believe that ultimately, when all the history books are written, Reagan will be considered one of the worst Presidents ever). The fact that we had a President (GW Bush) who authorized war crimes – AND EVERYONE KNOWS THIS – and a sitting President (Obama) chooses to “look forward instead of backward” still makes me sick to my stomach – despite the health care debate. If you’ve noticed, the health care debate has removed the “Bush Crime family” from the discussion.

The list of abuses from the Bush administration was off the charts. But, I guarantee you that by “looking forward” Obama will be instituting some of them into his administration and – before you know it – they are accepted as Presidential powers. The wiretapping? Well, for those of us my age (baby boomers), we’re leaving a horrible legacy for our children and grandchildren. When future Presidents choose to “look forward” these abuses will slowly grow – I can see the day when it’s totally accepted that the government is listening to our phone calls (if it’s not here already) – you know the line: “I don’t care, I’m not saying anything to worry about.” That kind of rationalization makes me crazy. So, the Republicans are continuing to outsmart the Democrats. Largely because of their total disregard for integrity. They have turned the health care debate into a debacle – they have no shame – I’ll say it again, $1.4 MILLION per day is UNBELIEVABLE TO ME. SOMEONE OUGHT TO NOTICE THAT, AND CONNECT THE DOTS. And, then you have Armey’s army of disruptors. They don’t even hide this. EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT THEY’RE DOING. It really is obscene, but I’m not even sure what it is exactly that they’re trying to get here. Their motives might be something entirely different from what seems obvious. They’ve certainly managed to succeed in getting the torture issue resolved. IT’S PRETTY MUCH OVER! (although, never say die person that I am, I’ll continue to hope that Eric Holder “grows a pair” in the near future). I’m just wondering when the Democrats are going to understand that THEY’RE AT WAR! And the war isn’t in Iraq, it’s WITH REPUBLICANS! Will Democrats ever figure out that it would be so easy to put the Republicans TOTALLY on the defensive? It seems like they are always one step behind. All they would have to do is start the investigations of Bush and company, and the debate would totally change – AND, I GUARANTEE YOU, THE REPUBLICANS WOULD BE ON THE DEFENSIVE! (and, we could have a true health care debate – actually about how to make a plan that works)

Yesterday I wrote a post about how “absurd” the discourse in this nation has become, largely as a result of the propoganda campaign launched by Republicans in the eighties during the reign of Ronald Reagan. Any semblance of telling the truth in the national debate went out the window as the politicians figured out how to use the new technologies which were evolving at the time. Remember, cable television was in its infancy – we still had people like the recently deceased Walter Cronkite repoting the news. There were standards that most Americans pretty much took for granted – like there was actually some semblance of respect for journalists in those days. As I stated last night, the Limbaugh phenomenon hit the airwaves and the so-called “talking points” were thrust on the unsuspecting public in a way that led to the “Contract for (I really call it “on”) America which brought in the likes of Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay, Dick Armey, Bob Livingstone, and a host of other Republicans who would eventually prove their entire message was based purely on hypocrisy (all of the above were removed from Congress in disgrace for violating the very principles they were claiming as their own). Combined with the fact that many in America (including myself) were outraged by the abortion issue and the seeds were planted for the disaster that has unfolded itself into today’s Republican party. And, I truly believe when all is said and done, these Republicans will hold a place of infamy in the history books of the United States of America.

I get a close-up look at where this Republican party is coming from. They feed on the fears of people who have the best intentions, but who either have no interest in politics or who are just ill-informed. Unfortunately, in America – where “we the people” determine the course of our government – there are many who are turned off by politics, have no interest in politics, or just assume that our leaders must be telling the truth when they speak. We’ve been inundated with subliminal messages since I can remember on how the United States is the “greatest nation on earth,” to the point where it is just not possible to believe anything else. We’ve all heard our leaders talk about how we are the world’s defenders of “human rights,” and all of our politicians pretty much have to be wearing the American flag when in public or they stand the possibility of someone accusing them of not being patriotic. On top of all of this – kind of combining it – we’ve become (and by we’ve, I’m talking about the working middle class which I feel I’m a part of) so busy trying to keep our heads “above water” that – unless we go out of our way to become informed – we depend on “sound bites” for information (“sitting ducks” for the talking points strategy).

Email has become a weapon for spreading information as more and more people rely on their computers for news and whatever else that “feeds” them – from an information point of view. I see it from both sides – I get email from Democratic sources (I donated some money in the last couple elections even though I’m not officially a Democrat) and my wife gets the right wing Republican email. Actually, she’s not at all interested in politics, but she got pulled into the Republican side of things because of the abortion issue. While I agree (mostly) with my wife on abortion, I figured out long ago that the Republicans were using this issue – just as then Senator Obama said, and was widely criticized, as a “wedge” issue – garnering votes from people who are often times voting against their own self interest because they have no idea what else these Republicans are up to (on top of this, I believe the Republicans have no desire for the abortion issue to be resolved in “their favor” – meaning their favor is for repeal of Roe v Wade – thereby, giving them a staunch “base” that pretty much cares about little else that has to do with politics). Additionally, I’ve always been curious listening to my middle class Republican friends touting the tax cuts for rich people (something them or I have no clue about – being rich that is) and then trying to blame the deficits that resulted from that “philosophy” on the “big spending” Democrats (I’m still seeing emails claiming that the way to solve this present economic crisis is MORE TAX CUTS). The argument is absurd on its face – but Republicans have been GETTING AWAY WITH IT Since Ronald Reagan promised to “reduce taxes and balance the budget.” I’m not claiming that the Democratic emails are without bias, but they are not TOXIC like the ones I see coming from the “Right Wing” (personally, I call it the wrong wing).

In an attempt to put all this into perspective, today I looked at a questionaire sent to my wife telling her that the answers to the questions will “underwrite our Party’s campaign to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in 2010.” It says, “be certain to answer each question carefully and honestly.” OK, I “get” the idea of trying to “poll” your supporters in order to guide your policies. BUT THIS QUESTIONAIRE IS SO ABSURD that it’s a backhanded attempt for “rubber stamping” the plans they already have on their agenda. I guess, the idea is to try to make people like my wife feel like they’re part of the process, while getting some meaningless data that supports what they’re going to do no matter what (they may be a bit surprised when they get this questionaire back). Oh yes, and one more thing – THEY’RE TRYING TO GET SOME MONEY. Now, I really get that too – I receive the mailers asking for money all the time. I did notice one thing that was different from the ones sent to me by Democrats (who I’m not sending money to either, but that’s a story for a different day) – while the Democratic mailers usually ask me for – starting out – maybe $25 or $35, this one starts out by asking for $500. Now, they do work their way down so that the “regular people” like us could donate $25 or $50 – but, they start at the higher number whereas the Dems that send fliers to me start at the lower number. I’m not sure what that means, but I thought it was interesting – I guess I think it means that the Republican fundraisers are used to dealing with donors with more money than public school teachers like myself and my wife.

I hear what you’re saying so I’ll get to the point: The questions on this questionaire – at least to me – assume people are idiots. They are framed to not only appear to be asking the reader for their “opinion” but they clearly are an extension of the dishonest propoganda scheme these guys have been expertly perpetrating for more than the past 20 years. I’ll give you some examples: “Should Republicans continue fighting congressional Democrats’ efforts to grant full unconditional amnesty to illegal immigrants?” (the question obviously doesn’t refer to the FACT that former President Bush wanted to do this – to some extent – although I’m not sure that anyone, Republican or Democrat, is promoting “full unconditional amnesty.” Here’s another one: “Do you agree with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi’s efforts to impose massive tax hikes on the American people?” (The truth, of course, is that what has been proposed is that the top 1% of taxpayers revert to the same level of taxation they had under Clinton – remember, when the budget was in surplus? – and most Americans are now receiving a modest tax cut from the so-called stimulus bill WHICH HAD VIRTUALLY NO REPUBLICAN SUPPORT). Want more? OK: “Are you in favor of the federal government using tens of billions more of YOUR tax dollars in an effort to further bailout the U.S. auto industry?” (This one’s really cute, isn’t it? First, it was Bush/Paulsen who originally gave GM and Chrysler about $30 Billion in the last days of their tenure – WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED – that would be a “bailout” – Obama/Geithner forced accountability with the companies – actually firing GM’s CEO – and forcing them into a planned bankruptcy which will actually allow both companies – and, over a million workers – a strong chance to succeed – and give the taxpayers [when they say “your” tax dollars and they’re talking about billions – I know they’re not really talking to me or my wife] a good chance to recoup their money with interest – remember, Obama/Geithner gave GM and Chrysler loans NOT BAILOUTS, and us taxpayers own a large share of the companies until they get back on their feet).

I’m going to give a couple more examples, but my point is EVERYTHING THESE REPUBLICANS DO IS FRAMED IN DISHONESTY – it’s a way of life for them – PATHOLOGICAL LYING. But, it gets worse: “Do you support the Democrats’ efforts to create a massive new federal government bureaucracy that would be run by unionized government employees and would have complete control of your heathcare costs and choices?” (If you want more of an idea of how dishonest this one is, read my previous posts. The truth is that the Republican party [and unfortunately a few Dems as well] have been bought off by the special interests in the health care industry. A couple things here – Republicans hate unions – unions are on the side of the workers, which most of us are – and the “complete control” claim is SO DISHONEST I don’t know where to start. Personally, I wish it was true – I believe a single payer system is what we really need – but THE TRUTH IS what is being proposed is the OPTION to purchase a government insurance policy along with the OPTION to keep your private insurance. What the Democrats are proposing is a system that will reduce costs and make health insurance available to ALL AMERICANS! What is it that the Republicans don’t like about that?)

There’s a lot more and I’m going to limit myself to one other example, but my point here is that these people don’t even have the integrity to be honest with their own – everything they do seems to be an attempt to manipulate people into supporting positions that go against their own best interests. I’ll give the Republicans credit for one thing – THEY ARE GOOD AT THIS – even thought it’s despicable. Here’s the last example (believe me there were a lot of choices for me here): “Do you believe that American business and industry will be able to compete in the world economy if the Obama Administration bends to pressure from radical environmentalists and implements draconian regulations on emissions, energy consumption and transportation beyond what is required in other industrialized nations?” (I could go on and on here – I’ll try to keep it short – but note their choice of words – draconian means harsh or severe. I’m assuming they equate “radical environmentalists” with the overwhelming number of scientists who are telling us that if we don’t change our ways SOON we are in danger of catastrophic consequences from “global warming.” All I can say here is that every “expert” they have put forth which I’ve seen has been employed by one of the major oil companies – par for the course with Republican leaders, they’ve aligned themselves with the “bottom line” and not the interests of the people they serve. And, to suggest that we shouldn’t go beyond what is “required in other industrialized countries” means to me that we should base our response to the environment on the requirements of countries like China and Russia. Personally, I would hope we’d choose to be leaders, but that won’t happen if Republicans ever get back into office. The harsh (draconian) regulations on emissions and the other regulations they mentioned are part of Obama’s plan to get us away from our dependence on imported oil. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT?)

As I said, I could go on, there were 17 questions on this questionaire and at least 15 of them were ridiculous and either blatantly dishonest or at least disingenuous. What does it mean when you can’t even trust the people who support you with the truth? They are all about using people and manipulating. The challenge then, in my view, is to find conservatives who have the courage to be honest and stand on real principles – because we really do need a conservative option as voters. Personally, I believe in a fiscally conservative government. The problem, for me, is the only administrations in my lifetime that were at all fiscally responsible (you know the idea – PAY AS YOU GO) have been Democrats. Jimmy Carter reduced Nixon/Ford’s deficits in half – and was defeated by Ronald Reagan whose campaign slogan was “reduce taxes and balance the budget.” Well, if you know anything about recent U.S. history, you know how that worked out. Bill Clinton, for all his weaknesses, had the courage to “raise taxes” and actually balance the budget (in FACT, he left office with a projected surplus for the next 10 years). again, we all know what GW Bush’s tax cuts and war by credit card did to that. It remains to be seen if Obama can reduce the deficit even in half during his term in office, but the TRUTH is that he inherited a deficit of 1.7 TRILLION dollars and the WORSE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN since the Great Depression. For the Republicans to attempt to project the fallout from the mess left behind by GW Bush on Obama is obviously UNACCEPTABLE TO ME and the height of dishonesty. But, in my view, that doesn’t mean we don’t need a responsible Republican party.

Questionaires like the one my wife received in the mail the other day tell me it will be a long time until there’s a Republican with the guts to stand up and admit that their party is OFF BASE. I believe that we can have a combination of fiscal conservative government along with social compassion. I have a lot of Republican friends right now who are collecting unemployment benefits (there was a question in the questionaire that asked if you believed the “founding fathers intended for the federal government to provide unemployment assistance?”) and I’m sure they are grateful for the help – IT’S REALLY HARD TO FIND A JOB RIGHT NOW, ESPECIALLY FOR US OLDER FOLKS. Why would anyone vote against providing assistance to good hard working Americans who lose their jobs through no fault of their own? One of my friends had a back injury and no longer has health insurance so just “toughed it out” hoping that the injury would heal on it’s own given time. He was lucky, but what if he’d needed surgery so that he could go back to work once a job was available? Would it be fair for him and his wife to lose their home because it’s impossible for working class people to pay for insurance on their own, especially when unemployed? Somehow, I can’t buy that one, AND I DON’T THINK MOST REPUBLICANS WOULD BE IN FAVOR OF THAT IF THEY HAD THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON OUT THERE. I guess my point tonight, because I’ve been harping on the “lying Republicans” for some time now, has been to give concrete examples of one way Republicans go about their dishonest propoganda campaign. It’s all well thought out, and as I said, they are really good at it – but who wants to be good at something that goes against the very principles they claim to stand on? Let me end by saying, I believe it’s possible to be conservative AND to tell the truth AND believe in social justice! When someone comes along with those credentials, I’ll once again consider casting a vote for a Republican!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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