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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The motivation which got me started writing on this site was the incompetence of the Bush administration in virtually every aspect of their “reign.”  Most importantly, the frustration I felt at watching George W Bush and Dick Cheney recreating the national disaster which highlighted my post high school years in the sixties which was, of course, Viet Nam.  Ever since the invasion of Iraq, pundits have been shying away from making the comparison.  Of course, we were not only mired in Iraq – FOOLISHLY and CRIMINALLY (just like Viet Nam) – but we continued the occupation of Afganistan in a fruitless and aimless fashion (also, just like Viet Nam).  All the while boosting the pockets of America’s defense industry (including the many “contractors” who were sending personell to do what our American servicemen/women used to do only for FIVE TIMES AS MUCH MONEY) and, at the same time, RUINING our standing in the world as leaders who believed in freedom and human rights.

Of course, in my view, Iraq and Afganistan have evolved into something worse than Viet Nam.  For one thing, there’s no draft and the “burden” of this war has fallen on an undersized military for the job given it by civilian leaders who had NO IDEA what was involved in prosecuting a war.  The FACT that we have service personell who have had upwards of 6 or 7 tours of duty in these two fiasco’s should speak for itself in supporting those of us who have wanted OUT for many YEARS now.  Worse than that, George W Bush enacted a tax cut – geared mainly toward the wealthiest Americans – that not only took our economy DEEP into the “red,” but led to an underfunding of critical needs of our troops such as armor on vehicles, etc.  Additionally,  Bush (with the “blessing of Congress”) BORROWED every dime that was needed to fund these two occupations.  His suggestion, in answer to a question of “how can the average American support these war efforts,”   was “KEEP SHOPPING!”

 When I read (about two or three years ago – I believe in a book by Sy Hersch) that both Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had PROFITED by over $100 MILLION each from their stock in companies who were winning NO BID contracts from our involvement in Iraq and Afganistan I was further outraged (there were others in the Bush “inner circle” who managed HUGE PROFITS off of the suffering of the Iraqi people and the abuse of our troops).  Of course, there doesn’t seem to be too much interest from our professional media to expose this crap and one of the reasons I’m down on President Obama is his willingness to look the other way to what happened (not to mention that he is now taking full ownership of these two HUGE BLUNDERS).

As the Bush administration “aged,” the BLUNDERS continued to come fast and furious.  It was like the American people were sitting there helpless, anxiously waiting for this “nightmare” to end.  There was the (non) reaction to Katrina.  There was the evidence that continued to come out during the entire eight years of Bush/Cheney regarding the incompetence leading to 9/11 – it should have never happened (I believe we haven’t learned nearly all we’re eventually going to learn on that one).  There was the incredible “outing” of a CIA agent directly from the Vice President’s office (kind of gives you an idea of why not too many Republicans wanted to take Cheney “on”) – I’m still amazed that further investigation of that TREASON hasn’t happened.  I mean, the executive branch simply CAN’T BE OUTING CIA AGENTS and still claiming they’re “keeping us safe” – as we constantly still hear from the mouth of Cheney.  There was the attempt to “privatize” Social Security (can you imagine where we’d be right now had they succeeded on that one?).  There was the TOTAL POLITICIZING – unapologetically – of the foundation of order in this nation, the Justice Department.  I mean, that one in itself, when you think about it, should be TOTALLY INVESTIGATED and prosecuted where appropriate.  Do you remember; they were actually taking “loyalty oaths” to the Republican party and the Bush administration to hire lawyers for the supposedly NEUTRAL Justice Department.  Just think about what that would do to this nation had they succeeded.  If you weren’t a Republican you’d better watch what you’re saying or you might end up on their “enemy combatant” list.  Remember, Alabama’s  former Governor Donald Siegelman who actually spent 9 months in jail (being moved around to keep him inaccessible to what’s left of the true investigative journalists out there) on VERY SUSPICIOUS charges that can be EASILY traced right back to Karl Rove in President Bush’s White House?  For some strange reason, the Obama Justice Department isn’t paying too much attention to Mr. Siegelman’s woes – I suppose because they are TERRIFIED of taking on the Bush people in court! (I’m actually beginning to wonder if Dick Cheney has the “goods” on our President – this pro-Republican behavior is inexplicable to me)

Bush/Cheney were illegally wiretapping who knows how many American citizens.  And, really, here’s another area of disappointment I have in the new administration.  This is a direct violation of the 4th Amendment to the constitution along with a host of other laws.  Yet, President Obama and Attorney General Holder showed not one ounce of interest in uncovering what happened in a way to assure the rest of us that this kind of abuse wouldn’t be tolerated.  (in fact, Obama and Holder are defending the Bush policies in court – UNBELIEVABLE TO ME)  These people take an oath to uphold, defend, and protect the Constitution when they take office.  It seems that oath doesn’t mean much these days.  Richard Nixon claimed that “if the President does it, it must be legal.”  This was proved wrong at an historic time in American history, but the present Democratic President and Congress are showing an alarming lack of courage to uphold the precedence that “if the President does it and it’s illegal, the President gets prosecuted.”  (I realize Nixon wasn’t prosecuted, but he was essentially impeached – and, had the Democrats impeached Bush I don’t think I’d feel this need to prosecute him and his co-conspirators)

And then there’s everyone’s – well, not everyone, but a lot of us – favorite curiosity that will also seemingly go unanswered – and that has to do with the bailout of the Banks and the resulting MELTDOWN of the economy in Bush’s last pitiful days in office.  For some reason the people in the so-called “liberal” media think those of us who would like to see a FULL INVESTIGATION of the connection between Hank Paulson and the banks who received the TARP funds are fringe nuts or something along those lines.  They don’t seem to see the same possibilities people like me see.  Hank was the CEO of Goldman Sachs prior to taking over as Treasury Secretary.  Goldman’s chief rival in the Credit Default Swaps and derivatives scam was Lehman Brothers and Goldman’s “risk” was “insured” throgh AIG (and, believe me, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THIS ALL WORKS).  Well, to make a long story short, when Lehman failed and AIG was destined to fail, reports were that Goldman and Morgan Stanley weren’t far behind – maybe a few days.  This is when Paulson jumped into the fray with his famous three page proposal to Congress which specifically would put Paulson in charge of 700 BILLION taxpayer dollars with the usual Bush credo of NO OVERSIGHT.  Well, Paulson didn’t get exactly what he wanted, but he did get enough to essentially have the taxpayers purchase AIG (promising a potential amount of bailout money that I believe normal people like me can’t even imagine) – which was necessary to discreetly save Goldman (AIG had insured a tremendous amount of Goldman’s “risk”) and then throw in another ENORMOUS amount of taxpayer cash to overtly save Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and evidently some banks who didn’t even need the money.  I believe Paulson’s entire portfolio of Goldman stock (I know it was probably in a trust somewhere, but I can’t bring myself to believe that Paulson wasn’t protecting his self interest when obligating me and every other American to the Wall Street banks who caused the huge economic meltdown – to the tune of potentially TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars) was on the line and he was unabashed in using his position as Treasury Secretary to protect it. (and, of course, Paulson as CEO of Goldman up until 2006 was largely responsible for putting the company in such a risky position in the first place)

The best way I can describe the Bush administration and the people who were at the heart of it is GREED PERSONIFIED.  But, now that we have Republicans running around complaining that Barack Obama isn’t keeping us safe, due to the “underpants” terrorist who failed to destroy a plane headed for Detroit on Christmas day, let’s look at their record for keeping us safe.  It was, after all, on the Bush/Cheney watch that the worst attack in the history of this country took place.  3000 people died because of their incompetency prior to 9/11.  I’m not going to give all the details I’ve read about tonight, but suffice it to say there is OVERWHELMING evidence that the 9/11 attacks should never have happened.  According to James Bamford in “The Shadow Factory,” the NSA had a “line” on the perpetrators to 9/11 from the first days of the Bush administration, but infighting among the different intelligence agencies let these guys pretty much have “free reign” in carrying out their plan.  This doesn’t even take into account all the direct intelligence that was given directly to Bush himself and his immediate surrogates – especially Condoleeza Rice – which was ESSENTIALLY IGNORED.  Bush, as widely reported, chose to take an extended vacation after seeing a memo (the now famous August 6 memo) which basically predicted what was to happen on 9/11.

The Bush/Cheney reaction to 9/11 was beyond reason itself.  Of course, almost everyone – everywhere – supported the invasion of Afganistan to “get” al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.  Had they just done that, all would be good, and President Bush probably wouldn’t today be widely regarded as the WORST President in our history.  They not only let bin Laden and his cohorts go, they used 9/11 as an excuse to go into Iraq – which was their main objective from the first day they took control of the White House – thus making the United States less safe since then – and for (based on what President Obama is doing) the foreseeable future.  The torture, the rendition, the killing of HUGE NUMBERS OF CIVILIANS, the “bring it on” attitude that President Bush was so proud of – and his supporters seemed to thrive from – has TOTALLY UNDERMINED everything the US worked so hard to achieve as far as its standing in the world – and worked TOTALLY as a major recruiting “tool” for al Qaeda and other extremist groups since the day we “toppled” Saddam Hussein’s government and DESTABILIZED the Middle East.   Republicans turned Iran into a MAJOR force in the Middle East and the world, yet complain bitterly about the very problem they created as if it’s Obama’s fault.  Moreover, listening to these Republicans politicizing the “underpants” bomber as a failure of Obama makes me want to PUKE. 

I even heard one guy today complain that it took Obama “three days” to make a public statement.  Well, it’s Christmas time and I haven’t been watching things too closely the past few days, but I wondered – does this guy want us to compare whatever Obama did to the actions of the Republicans under Bush?  I believe they should think twice before getting into that debate.   Shouldn’t we just be trying to come together as a nation with the intent to figure out how to make it as difficult as possible for terrorists to  succeed while still defending the core principles of our constitution – which the Republicans are likely to attack again (and, to be honest, I’m not too sure about the Democrats – let’s hope we don’t have another assault on the 4th amendment or something like that in response to this guy who evidently ended up burning himself in a very sensitive place).

There’s a lot about what President Obama’s doing that I just can’t accept.  If you’ve been around here much, you know what I mean.  I’ve pretty much channeled my energy from Bush and company to Obama and company – mainly because I’m still VERY UNHAPPY with the direction of MY (and, of course, your) government.  However, let me be clear – THE REPUBLICANS ARE NOT THE SOLUTION!  I’m convinced that there are many reasons why progressives are unhappy with President Obama – and they (we) should continue to express this unhappiness – in the hope that he will “come around.”  However, if that doesn’t happen, we need to make sure that NO ONE MISUNDERSTANDS THE DISCONTENT FOR REPUBLICANS!  Make no mistake, however UNSAFE we are today, whether it’s from the “underpants” dude, or wherever it comes from – the reason is BUSH/CHENEY/RUMSFELD and, essentially, the Republicans who enabled EVERYTHING they did for 6 years.

I, personally, would be willing to support progressive candidates in primary elections to unseat the so-called “blue dog” Democrats who are nearly as obstructionist as the Republicans themselves – that might send a sufficient message to Washington – but, if not, then maybe it really is time for a new political “progressive” party.  What we’re doing isn’t working – ie, the health insurance reform legislation where the Democratic Congress is voting against the will of something like 70% of the American public.  I could get excited about Dennis Kucinich leading a new Progressive (liberal) political party in America!  But, let’s not sit here and allow the “blame game” everytime one of these crackpots tries to commit a terrorist act on this nation.  The only reason I point out the blundering of the Bush regime at 9/11 is because these thugs will use anything to undermine President Obama and they’re “throwing stones from a glass house.”  While I want Obama to “chart” a different course than he’s chosen – I DON’T WANT TO UNDERMINE HIM!  I want him to succeed!  And, for any Republican who might read this, I wanted Bush to succeed as well.  I yearn for America to reclaim her role as an example of a nation which puts the interests of her people before the interests of her politicians and corporations.  I really could care less about which party it was (including a new one) that actually managed to do this.

I’ve been writing since almost before the inauguration about decisions Barack Obama was making that were, to me, “red flags.”  Well, many of these so-called “flags” are coming home to roost.  And, this was my purpose all along, I really hoped President Obama would start to listen to the people who elected him instead of the Rahm Emanuel’s and the Tim Geithner’s and the Larry Summer’s – because – kind of like how I feel with my students when one of them fails- we’re all in this together and IF OBAMA FAILS we all fail.  I’ve also written lately about my frustration with the “pundits” on the “left” who are willing to be the “mouthpiece” for the President – as if those of us who supported him are Democratic carbon copies of the Republicans who fell into line “lockstep” behind George W Bush.  I have listened with admiration to Randi Rhodes for several years and believe she is one of the better informed personalities on the public media – but, felt as if she was talking to me when she called callers to her talk show “stupid” because they were unhappy with the President.  In my view, as stated many times here, THERE’S A LOT TO BE UNHAPPY WITH!

I “get” the argument that if we don’t support Obama the alternative is the Republicans.  And, I’ve felt for some time that Obama’s administration has taken the tactic that just letting the Republicans implode would be enough to get support from the “left” as he directs most of his decisionmaking toward the “right.”  Yes, it’s a darned sight better than the previous administration, BUT THAT’S NOT SAYING MUCH.  To me, the argument that Obama is better than Bush is a non-starter.  I can’t think of a single candidate – well, yes I can – Sarah Palin – who would be worse than Bush (OK, McCain, Pawlenty, Romney, there’s a bunch who would be terribly bad – including GW’s brother Jeb) – it would almost be impossible to be worse than Bush.  Most candidates, whether Republican or Democrat, would have some of the best interests of the American people in mind – which would make them better than Bush.  But, just the topic of being “better than Bush” gets me to the MAIN GRIPE I’ve had since Obama first stepped into the White House.

George Bush and Dick Cheney are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the deaths of – by many accounts -over one million people because of their misadventure into Iraq.  President Obama is essentially carrying out the “Bush doctrine” in Iraq.  I’m sure people like Rhodes would say the withdrawal has begun – which is true – but, the end result of the “withdrawal” from Iraq will be 50-75,000 “non-combat” American forces still stationed there.  The multi-billion dollar American embassy is not going to be left “wanting” for occupancy anytime soon.  If our generals have their way, we’ll have a significant force in Iraq for a generation.  Obama seemingly doesn’t have the “guts” to follow through on his campaign promise to remove the troops within 16 months of taking office.  Not only is President Obama continuing the Bush doctrine in Iraq he essentially enabled their lies and incompetence by blocking any investigation of the Bush/Cheney administration.

Republicans are still claiming that torture is OK – that, despite all the FACTS pointing to torture producing NO ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE torture is necessary to keep our nation “safe.”  Of course, there’s millions more – in my “humble” (well, OK, not so humble) opinion who agree with me that Bush, Cheney, and anyone else responsible for the heinous torturing (which led to many murders) during the Afganistan and Iraq fiascos MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.  This is not only for the long term good of our nation – making a statement that this behavior is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE in America – but also for our standing with the rest of the world.  Whether we like it or not, we are the “leaders” of the “free world” and THIS WAS NOT A GOOD EXAMPLE to set!  Obama’s decision to look the other way will go down in history as a far worse decision than when the Trailblazers (Portland’s NBA team) drafted Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan.  It’s probably too late for him to change his mind – but, this decision was just a forerunner of what we were getting from our “progressive” President.

I heard the list of 90 accomplishments of Obama’s first year “the media doesn’t report” again today while driving around and listening to the radio – well, actually just heard some of them, but I’ve heard the list before – and, it’s true there are some accomplishments.  But, I would argue that there’s another side to many of these “accomplishments” – and, from a progressive point of view – that can be argued.  I’m not even suggesting taking on the “tea bagger’s” arguments, or the arguments of the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, and their ilk.  I’ve personally written all those people off – the only thing they’ve PROVED to me is that if their lips are moving, they’re lying.  In fact, as I’m writing this, I believe that after the enabling of the Bush crimes the thing that bothers me the most about our President is that he’s even negotiating with these thugs.  We had had enough of them when we voted him in, and weren’t looking for someone to worry about what they thought of the proposed solutions to the “Bush mess.”

The reality of Obama’s first year to me is that MILLIONS of Americans are out of work and our new administration seems to be all talk and no action when it comes to REAL solutions to the problem of unemployment.  And, I can guarantee you when they use the excuse of this health care legislation as the reason for no significant ADDITIONAL stimulus (to the insuffiecient stimulus package passed earlier in the year) IT’S NOT GOING TO FLY with millions of Americans.  And, when the working “stiffs” in this country who have been keeping the union movement afloat find out that the healthcare packages they’ve sacrificed wages for in tough negotiations are going to be taxed if the Senate health care bill becomes law – OBAMA’S GOING TO LOSE A LOT OF SUPPORT IN THE UNION MOVEMENT.  And, when the 40 MILLION Americans who are going to be forced to buy health insurance from the very companies who are presently ripping off the system – there’s going to be a lot of unhappy “progressive” campers on that one as well.  I’m glad President Obama trusts the health insurance companies to lower their rates after this bill goes through – forgive me – but I don’t trust them AT ALL!  I would prefer there was not trust at all in this bill – if the government had stuck to their guns (maybe with enough of a backlash they still will) on the public option and actually made it available to ALL AMERICANS – then you’d see progressives excited and mobilizing for the next “fight.”  There would actually be reason to believe the insurance companies would be facing REAL COMPETITION and our government was serious about reform.

One of Obama’s 90 accomplishments is that he’s “starting to get us out of Iraq.”  To me, his lack of willingness to show courage regarding Iraq (Most of our troops should be home already and ALL should be coming home – within the 16 months he PROMISED!) ranks right up there with his biggest failings.  And, the escalation of the Afganistan occupation is a gamble that could be even more devastating to the United States of America.  I think I understand the reasoning behind the move – but, it was definitely the “easy way out.”  I believe, personally, that we could bring our troops home and still not “abandon” Afganistan.  The $65 BILLION we’re going to spend on this newest “surge” (along with the money we’d be saving had Obama kept his promise to bring the troops home from Iraq) would do wonders in stabilizing Afganistan – and there are many who believe this could be done without a bunch of US troops over there killing people.  If I actually believed there would be a concerted effort to neutralize al Qaeda, it would make more sense to me (although we shouldn’t need the additional 50,000 troops Obama’s now committed to Afganistan to do that) – us remaining in Afganistan, but the Afgan people don’t want us there and it seems that Obama may be defying history thinking he can “nation-build” in the place often referred to as the “graveyard of empires.”

Finally, we hear about Rahm Emanuel making comments like “we don’t have to worry about the liberals,” Randi Rhodes calling progressives who disagree with Obama “stupid,” and Obama himself questioning members of Congress as to why they’re not happy with him (John Conyers for one – I’m sure there are others).  This attitude is going to be exactly what the Republicans will need to get rejuvenated.  THEY SHOULD BE HISTORY.  But, leave it to the Democrats to, in my opinion, be the ones who are “stupid.”  There are many more besides myself who will either sit out the next election or vote for something other than a Democrat.  I’m an independent and I voted straight Democrat the last time to send a message to the Republicans (obviously, they didn’t get the message – but neither, evidently, did the Democrats).  Ralph Nader is looking better and better to me.  The truth is that I’m getting up there in years, I don’t have the energy to become involved in the Democratic party to “change it from the inside” as some have suggested, and I continue to look for leadership that I can trust.  When I voted for Obama I had the upmost respect for him (still do in a lot of ways).  I’m choosing to believe the problems are coming from the people he’s surrounded himself with.  As soon as he chose Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff I went “uh oh!”  And, nothing has happened to change my mind about that problem since.

And, how is Wall Street going to be re-regulated when Obama’s two economic advisors were right in the middle of the de-regulation which caused the meltdown.  I believe that both Geithner and Summers have ties to Goldman Sachs which, while maybe not as strong as Hank Paulsen’s, are such that they should have been disqualified for their respective positions.  And, nothing that’s happened since Obama took over has caused me to change my mind on that “red flag” either.  In fact, I believe it’s probably Emanuel who’s giving Obama the advice that’s liable to get him in further “hot water” with the true progressives.  President Obama’s not only acting “Bushlike” in too many ways, he’s defending Bush abuses in court (such as the state’s secret claims Bush made in order to keep his illegal activities from the public).  Two of the things I felt were non-negotiables that we would get with Barack Obama as President were transparency and honesty.  If I could talk to the President in person I would ask: President Obama: how is defending “state’s secrets” transparency and claiming you didn’t promise the “public option” honesty?  (his promise of the public option is on tape, I’m sure)  I want President Obama to succeed enough, that I’m going to keep writing, because I’m convinced that at the present rate he will be a one term President.

I’m always trying to get a grasp on my own thoughts as I “ponder” what’s going on back in Washington DC.  Often times I’m not too happy with the way I express myself – thinking I could be much clearer.  I’ve been trying to find a balance to my sense that “blind loyalty” to any political candidate is TOTALLY WRONG – I mean, that seems to me to be the way the Nazi’s took power in the thirties in Germany.  I couldn’t stomach the Republicans and their blind loyalty to the administration of GW Bush and Dick Cheney.  I better understood why some of them were “staying in line” after reading “Angler” by Barton Gellman – Cheney got the “goods” on many of them while “vetting” potential VP’s prior to appointing himself as Vice President after GW was nominated in 2000 – but, I continue to watch in amazement as Republicans everywhere seem to cower from the potential rath of Rush (Limbaugh for those of you with your head in the sand) and support what seems to me to be very un-Republicanlike policy.  In fact, to me, the Republicans have become a bad joke – with leadership the likes of Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, Newt Gingrich, and a slew of others who spend every waking hour hiding their personal behavior from their politcal self-righteous clamoring to a “base” which seems to be continually shrinking – the Republicans stand for nothing anymore accept maybe NOTHING (a better way, maybe to put it is that they ARE AGAINST EVERYTHING – as long as Obama “fails”).

So, faced with that as the opposition, things should be mighty EASY for the Democrats, right???  Well, not so fast – if you’ve been following the so-called health reform debate – you’ve seen the American political system as it’s seemed to have evolved into almost a total embarrassment of special interest bribery.  I don’t know any other way to put it.  “We the people” spent an enormous amount of energy during the last election putting the first African American (we all thought he was a “true progressive”) into the White House signalling a supposed “break” from the past.  The promise:  “The change we can believe in.”  The chant:  “Yes we can” – presumably meaning “yes we can” have “the change we can believe in.”  Additionally, we worked double time to put a supposedly “filibuster proof” majority into the Senate on top of a huge majority of Democrats in the House.  It was all in place: health care reform, energy reform, the cleaning up of the Justice Department, the clean-up of the mess left behind by Bush/Cheney in all areas – including investigations of the illegal activity ensuring that their “stuff” would NEVER  again happen in America, and a “New” New Deal to jump start the economy which had been laid to waist in true “Herber Hoover style” by the previous Republican administration.

Funny thing happened on the way to the Legislative session:  Lobbyists!  Yes, Lobbyists were one of the “issues” we were “promised” would be cleaned up.  Well, at $1.5 MILLION PER DAY to defeat the health care legislation – the lobbyist cleanup is evidently on hold.  The result: well, the so-called health care reform (while evidently doing some reforming) will – unless changed drastically in the Senate-House conference (which isn’t even guaranteed to happen) – provide 30+ MILLION NEW CUSTOMERS to the very companies who are supposed to be reformed.  As the bill has moved closer to passage, the stocks of the companies who supposedly “oppose” this “reform” have increased over 30% in just the past couple of months!  That tells you how much they and their shareholders fear the “reform.”  Additionally, and I don’t believe many working “stiffs” in America understand this “benefit” – but, if you’re getting employer based health benefits, they are soon to be taxed to pay for this “reform.”  (the Senate and our “progressive” President just cant’ bring themselves to reverse the “Bush Taxcuts” on the “rich”)  I’m guessing my “benefit” from this “reform” will be a net increase of around $100/month over the $1300/month I’m already paying for insurance for myself and my wife.  So much for the “public option” which was going to give me the opportunity to “choose” a government run health plan which would be similar to medicare and have 30% less administrative costs compared to the private plans on the market – our congressional leaders couldn’t allow that to happen because this “public option” might REALLY COMPETE with the private insurers who are ripping Americans off to the tune of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS PER YEAR – and paying out the above mentioned $1.5 MILLION PER DAY – and, it shouldn’t take a brain scientist to figure out who’s benefitting from all the money!

In fact, that gets me back to my original thought.  My brother in law lives in Pittsburgh – I live on the West Coast – and he shared a thought from one of his friends with me that really put all my “searching” for the “grasp” on my thoughts I mentioned above into some clarity.  I really wish I could take credit for this – BUT I THINK IT IS RIGHT ON AND SHOULD BE MANDATORY  POLICY IN DC!  Congresspersons (both in the House and the Senate) should have to wear jackets or blazers when they are in ANY PUBLIC SETTING that have logos/labels sewn/ironed on them showing their “sponsors.”  That is, when they accept money from corporations they would have to put an acknowledgement of that on their jacket/blazer and wear it to work – therefore looking somewhat like outerwear NASCAR drivers perform in during races.  For example, Joe Lieberman would need a large moniker of Aetna on the back (or front – his or their? choice) of his jacket showing that they are one of his “sponsors.”  Max Baucus would have to have small monikers in order for all of them to fit on one jacket.  I suppose if they had too many “sponsors” they could be allowed to wear hats while Congress was in session.  Therefore, there would be no misunderstanding where their allegiances would lie during the legislative process.

Wouldn’t it be great to see a bunch of Republicans walking around with NRA stickers all over their coats, Tobacco company stickers, stickers for the corporations who have received all the no-bid contracts in Iraq and Afganistan, and stickers for the Wall Street banks they keep complaining about getting “bailed out.”  And, of course, the Democrats would have a lot less to lie about as they were explaining how the “Senate rules” were keeping them from passing this vital legislation in a way that actually benefitted the American people.  Somehow, I have the feeling that many of the members of the White House (yes, they’d be included in this plan) would have a lot of stickers representing “sponsorship” from Wall Street bankers along with big “Pharma,” and many of the large health insurance companies who are going to be “forced” to take on all these new customers.  And, what a contrast it would be to see both the Republican members of Congress and the Democratic members of Congress wearing the same stickers.  Maybe the size of the sticker could tell how “big” a “sponsor” each company was for each different Congressperson.

This would sure make for a colorful sight back in DC, wouldn’t it?  I wonder if there would be anyone without any stickers?  That would be really interesting.  When President Obama won the White House he promised, among other things, transparency.  I’ve been feeling that was “just another broken promise,” but, wouldn’t this be the perfect way to fix that problem?  To be honest, I’m really getting tired of trying to figure out why different representatives of the people continue to vote against the interests of the people.  I suppose most of them would say that “we the people” don’t know what’s best for us – politics are way too complicated and we need to just trust them to do the “right thing.”  I really wanted to believe that we were on that course when President Obama was elected.  However, right from the start, it’s been clear that “the change we can believe in” really meant more of the same – just a different party in control.  In fact, it almost appears to me that the Democrats would rather be in the minority.  There’s a lot less responsibility in the minority – it’s a lot easier to blame the opponents for everything that’s gone wrong when you’re in the minority.  They probably felt secure when this session started because the Bush administration had screwed things up so bad, that they could continue blaming them almost indefinitely for our problems.

The problem with that is the Democrats have managed to show their true – I don’t know if it’s dysfunctionality or lack of fortitude – colors during a time when America needs strong courageous leadership.  In my view, up to this point, we have seen neither from the Dems.  And, my brother in law’s friend has come up with the best way I’ve heard yet to publicize the problem.  I’ve long ago written off the Republicans.  They’ve continued to marginalize themselves since – well, really since the American public finally showed that they’d had enough with Bush/Cheney in the 2006 Congressional races.  I just haven’t been able to put a finger on why it bothers me so that the Democrats are in “control” – well, let’s take a closer look sequentially from 2006 – they not only didn’t end the war in Iraq, they voted for the “surge” (which many still are claiming was a success – but, I would point out that over 1500 Americans have died in Iraq since the “surge,” we are still “stuck” there while the Iraq’s political problems continue as they had pre-surge – it just put off the inevitable unless we keep a presence there for another 10 – 20 years! ughhh), Nancy Pelosi “took impeachment off the table” inexplicably (I didn’t even know that Congress could do that – either the administration committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” or they didn’t), the Democratic Congress enabled the illegal wiretapping of Bush/Cheney/ATT&T/Verizon by passing a watered down FISA bill, and they didn’t even question the motives of Hank Paulsen (former CEO of Goldman Sachs) as he bailed out Goldman Sachs and his other “buddies” on Wall Street after the Republican induced economic “meltdown of 2008” with $700 BILLION of taxpayer money. (I could go on – but, that should be enough for their first two years “in control”)

That’s before President Obama took over.  Since:  an undersized “stimulus package” which did some good, but didn’t do enough (even close) to stall the massive loss of jobs initiated by the Bush economic fiasco, refusal to investigate (and prosecute where warranted) the heinous illegal activities of the Bush/Cheney reign of terror on our Constitution, still refusing to bring the troops home the voters voted to bring home in 2006 (in fact, Obama is ramping up Afganistan while planning to leave 50-75,000 “non-combat” troops in Iraq WAY PAST THE PROMISED 16 MONTH DEADLINE TO BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME), the Obama Justice department is defending the Bush illegal activities in court (including use of “state’s secrets”) while, as of this writing, still not doing ANYTHING overtly to correct abuses that occurred during the Bush years (ie – the ousted Attorney’s General by Karl Rove for pure political purposes – they (the ousted prosecutors) weren’t willing to abusively go after Democrats for political reasons – or were prosecuting Republicans ie – Carol Lam in San Diego who prosecuted Duke Cunningham and was hot on the trail of Congressman Jerry Lewis when she was dismissed (Lewis was never indicted – he was implicated in massive defense contractor “kickbacks”) – or the obscene prosecution of Alabama’s Democratic governor Donald Siegelman), and I could go on there as well.  (seems like a lot of “I could go on’s these days regarding incompetent governing)

The great success which will be the reason given for all of these “shortcomings” will be the “historic” health care reform.  Personally, I don’t think the American public – which the leaders in Washington DC obviously think are pretty much STUPID (actually, as I’ve recently written, I’ve been indirectly called “stupid” by Randi Rhodes – who is now acting as President Obama’s “mouthpiece” to the so-called “progressive base” – she is claiming that “we the people” don’t understand how the process works.  Well, my response to that is I think I do understand how the process works – AND THAT IS WHAT I/WE THOUGHT WAS GOING TO BE CHANGED when we voted for the “change we could believe in.”)  I know that I didn’t consider doing the same things the same way as the “change I could believe in.”  President Obama (and Rhodes) would have me – and the other “stupid” progressives – believe that there was no other alternative but to accept this WATERED DOWN health care reform bill which will make the insurance companies that much more powerful in the future.  I sincerely hope they’re right when they claim that this is just a “first step” and that it will all come together in the next 5 – 10 – maybe 20 years – but, I’m not too confident about the immediate future and, if this all backfires on them, I think they will be the ones who are considered “stupid.”  If they’re wrong we could conceivably end up reliving the “Bush years” which will be more than I can tolerate.  My brother in law’s friend has the best idea I’ve heard yet for the “change I could believe in” and that would be: Let’s put monikers on the outerwear of all Congresspeople advertising their “sponsors” to help us better understand their voting records!  That would give “we the people” a much better idea of why we are “stupid” when we want legislation which actually solves problems.  My guess is that our Congressional leaders would have to have different jackets for each bill, because there wouldn’t be enough room for all the “sponsors” on one garment! (ie – health care “sponsors for health care legislation, energy sponsors for energy legislation, etc.)

CLARIFICATION: Actually, my brother in law heard Robin Williams on an HBO broadcast make the suggestion about the “sponsors” – no matter where it came from, I thought it was a great idea!