This week, following the verdict in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin trial in Sanford, Florida I’ve heard a plethora of commentary, both “official” and comments from listeners, as I drive around listening to “talk radio.”  Usually, due to an issue that I may share in this post, I’m listening to XM radio because the “progressive” station in my area was shut down.  (The closing of the progressive talk radio stations is part of the bigger picture that I see emanating from the verdict “exonerating” Zimmerman from murdering Martin)  However, what caught my attention was a short period I listened to a “conservative” station I happened on by accident (don’t know what program it was – I have to force myself to listen to their “stuff” occasionally so I have some idea of the latest set of “talking points” their minions are putting forth – not sure what I’m talking about?  Read one of my posts connecting the Goebbels’ “Big Lie Theory” to the republican [“conservative”] philosophy of media strategy).  To my surprise, a person claiming to be (and his conversation led me to believe him) an overseer of medical examiners in the state of Texas phoned in and broke down the evidence that is public record in a way that was astonishing to me.  Frankly, I was surprised the moderator (again, don’t know who it was) allowed this person to give his entire “testimony.”  In fact, he (the caller) pointed out the “expert witness” (medical examiner) that the Zimmerman defense relied on (and, which evidently helped sway the jury) was unprofessional and would be facing disciplinary action back in Texas due to his actions in this case.  Of course, the details of this all went over my head, but the point the man made was clear – there was no intention on the part of either the defense OR the PROSECUTION to get a guilty verdict for George Zimmerman.  Based on the information of this man, the trial was a sham designed to diffuse the negative national attention brought to their area due to the obvious racial profiling that led to the death of Mr. Martin.

According to what this person said, much of what Mr. Zimmerman’s defense relied on was not credible and there was EASILY evidence that would refute his claims of “self defense” that the prosecution chose not to use.  I don’t remember all of what was said in this particular phone conversation, but as I’ve listened to the blow-back from multiple sources since the end of the trial, it’s clear to me that justice was NOT carried out in this case and the issue of race, that I’ve been writing about since Barrack Obama won the presidency, is a MAJOR issue in America and we need to deal with it SOONER rather than later.  While this case was in progress I started and finished a very interesting book titled “Red Summer – The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America” which details the struggle of Blacks in America during the summer of 1919 as racial tensions exploded into mob violence leading to Blacks being murdered, tortured, and lynched in DROVES with little to no consequence for the violators of their civil rights.  In fact, many in America, at the time, didn’t believe African Americans should have civil rights.  As I read more about Black History in America (I have to mention that when I got the XM radio in my car I started listening to a program called “Make it Plain,” hosted by Mark Thompson, which is “progressive” talk from the perspective of those in the Black Community in America – it’s spurred me to read more about Black History including the biography of WEB DuBois who was one of the leaders of the NAACP as Blacks began to “fight back” during the “Red Summer”) the Zimmerman acquittal helps me to understand what must be extreme frustration from the Black perspective and a FEAR that the people I’ve been railing about for the past several years might be succeeding in pushing the “clock” back to the days prior to FDR and the “New Deal.”

The idea that the prosecution in this case had no intention of “winning” makes my stomach uneasy.  I’m really starting to question how deep is the infiltration of our justice system of the “loyalists” that were hired during the reign of George W Bush and Dick Cheney.  (Remember, it’s a FACT that new hires at the Justice Department, during the Bush/Cheney regime were forced to take a “republican” loyalty oath as a condition of employment – despite the FACT this would be a FELONY – and this went on until someone “leaked” the information to our “liberal media” and it was presumably stopped.  However, I’ve never seen evidence that one “impartial” member of the Justice Department who took that absurd oath was ever fired, the person administering the oath (and her superiors) never faced accountability, and also, all the lawyers who quit in protest of that policy are presumably working elsewhere.  The evidence that our “IMPARTIAL” Justice Department is tilted HEAVILY to the right seems to show its ugly head repeatedly.  Now, I realize that the prosecution in the case against Zimmerman was local, but I honestly have little faith that the Justice Department will intervene based on the very REAL probability that Trayvon Martin’s Civil Rights were PERMANENTLY violated.  This was such a “slam dunk” case against George Zimmerman that it has to raise eyebrows from anyone who believes in a fair justice system, and – from the perspective of Blacks in America – I can only surmise that the feeling would be more of a sense of deja vu all over again horror.

I was listening today to a caller (presumably a Zimmerman defender) on the Thom Hartman show complaining that in Texas two Black youths shot and killed a white person and there’s no national media following of this case.  Of course, I’m not familiar with the case, but Hartman suggested this was a case that was brought to the public via Sean Hannity – presumably suggesting that the “liberal media” is showing its bias by focusing on the Zimmerman case.  Again, I don’t know the details, and the reality was the caller to Hartman’s show was attempting, evidently, to suggest that the only reason there’s so much publicity in this case is because Zimmerman is white.  And, I don’t know the details of the other case, but I would suggest that if the caller’s information was correct and if two Black youth killed a White person in cold blood and then claimed to be innocent because they were acting in self defense (they felt their lives were in danger) there would be a lot of attention on the case – for example, if there was a “Stand your Ground” law defense – especially, if there was an all Black jury that acquitted them in the face of overwhelming evidence they were guilty. (as in the case of Zimmerman, there has never been any question that he shot Trayvon Martin right through his heart).  That kind of blow-back from the “right” (Hannity, Limbaugh, Fox “news,” Wall Street Journal, etc., etc.) is part of the LARGER picture that I see as the real PROBLEM here.

Of course, before I get to that, just take a moment and picture in your mind how this story would have unfolded had Zimmerman been Black and Martin White.  One more thing, I seem to remember when this case was unfolding that George Zimmerman, at the time of his arrest, had no visible marks on his head and/or face.  That was one of my curiosities as I tuned in to a small segment of the trial.  The defense was talking about all the wounds to his head as the result of Trayvon Martin’s violent attack.  I was wondering why the prosecution didn’t post the pictures I saw at the time that showed NO marks on Zimmerman’s head?  Back to this bigger problem – and, I believe it is what will keep the Justice Department from intervening in this case on behalf of Martin.  I’ve shared in previous posts that the local “progressive” talk radio show was shut down just days after Barrack Obama won his second term by defeating Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.  What I didn’t know until just recently is that “Clear Channel” – the station which was airing the “format” was bought out by Bain Capital (Romney’s Bain Capital) a year or two prior to the election and their claim was that KPOJ’s progressive format was losing too much money due to a .08 “market share” of the local radio market.  (This is in Portland, Oregon)  The progressive “voices” were replaced with a version of FOX in the form of a sports channel.  Since that time, it has been reported that the LIBERAL talk format had an audience almost TEN TIMES larger than the replacement.  I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that “evidence.”

Knowing this only confirmed my suspicions (and fears prior to the shutdown) that “conservatives” would be willing to “invest” in the closure of progressive talk radio as a way to cement their stranglehold on our “liberal media.”  As I read more about the demise of KPOJ I saw that several other cities have suffered the same fate.  Prior to this assault on LIBERAL talk on the radio airwaves the conservative point of view occupied over 90% of the air space.  Evidently, that wasn’t enough for them.  So, how does this connect with the Zimmerman/Martin case?  Well, I believe the politicians in Washington, including our president. are political creatures who just don’t want to take on this “liberal media” – you know, like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Lars Larsen, and the rest of the people who are willing carry the “torch” for the Koch Brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and all the other corporatists who pay for their message to dominate the air waves.  This brainwashing has been going on for so long that many Americans just assume it’s “news” because there’s very little “blow-back.”  Many in America’s unsuspecting public actually believes, for example, that Fox is “fair and balanced.”  So, for some reason, the “right” took up the cause of racist killer George Zimmerman and if the Justice Department attempts to “jump in” all hell will break out in the right wing – oops – “liberal media.”

I’ve been pointing out on this site since the day Obama was elected that the racists in America were/are coming out from under their rocks in droves.  As long as we had White people in the “White House” it seemed as if the racial divide in this nation was diminishing.  I remember still getting tears in my eyes as I witnessed a Black (actually half Black) person winning the White House – as something that seemed inconceivable in my lifetime.  Well, that event has certainly “triggered” a reaction from the “right” that I really didn’t think would happen.  The overt racism on places like Fox and with the “talkers” like Limbaugh and Hannity has been over the edge for me.  I’m still wondering how they’re getting away with it.  For example, Limbaugh has made NUMEROUS comments much more offensive than Don Imus – Imus was FIRED but, evidently the entire world is afraid of Rush Limbaugh – because he just keeps spouting his hate and seemingly gets away with it. (I have heard that many sponsors are abandoning him, but whoever he works for obviously does not have the “stones” – in the words of Bill Clinton – to fire him as he deserves)  Hannity is the master with the “code words” along with other talkers and many of the leaders of the republican party.  Their “opinion” of Blacks in America, to be sure, is no secret to anyone paying attention.

So, what happened in Sanford, Florida didn’t surprise me all that much (although, in my mind is was a “slam dunk” case for a guilty verdict right from the start).  Florida is in the South and let us not deceive ourselves on what that means to persons of color.  Blacks are profiled ALL THE TIME (not just in the South) and the calls for immigration reform (from the right) want to extend that profiling to Hispanics.  I’ve only heard about what’s going on in Arizona, but it appears that if you’re of Latina descent you’d better be careful when around a police officer.  This case (Zimmerman/Martin)  should be (ANOTHER) wake up call to all progressives in America that there’s a WAR going on for the heart and soul of this great nation.  The Koch’s and their ilk have UNLIMITED funds and they will not stop – they can’t take NO for an answer.  (for example – the “Tea Party” controlled House this week made something like their 38th attempt to block the so-called “Obamacare”)  If they win we will get more right wing media, more right wing Court decisions (like Citizens United and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act), more fossil fuel welfare in Congress and less support for alternatives, more anti-Black and anti-Women legislation, and ULTIMATELY more CORPORATE control of America’s government.  The only people who could possibly make George Zimmerman out to be a “hero” are the “Tea Party” supporters of the republican party!  They shout REALLY loud!  It will take a ground swell of populist revolt to stop this right wing republican takeover of our government which includes this assault on Blacks and Women  – and, I hope and pray it happens SOONER rather than LATER.

Finally, just a reminder – the Supreme Court bludgeoned sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act and the longer it takes Congress to “fix” that decision (and remember, the Tea Party won’t be agreeable to fixing it) the more damage will be done in the form of disenfranchising voters who will be key to stopping this corporate takeover of our government.  We really DON’T want this Zimmerman verdict to somehow become “precedent” in our justice system.  Should that happen, I would advise you to read “Red Summer” to see how bad you want these people (the Koch’s, etc.)  to be able to take us back to the twenties!

I recently finished part one of a biography, written by Blanche Wiesen Cook, about the years of Eleanor Roosevelt’s life up to 1933.  I’ve read several biographies of FDR from that period on and was aware of the significance of Mrs. Roosevelt, but in this day and age of republicans attacking Women’s rights, this book has spurred me to write another – presumably – anti-republican post.  I was really wanting to show my “bi-partisanship” by writing about some of my disappointment with the democrats in general and President Obama in particular, but these republicans with their relentless attacks on what, essentially, Eleanor Roosevelt stood for and worked so hard (with many others) for simply keep me feeling a need to vent – in their direction.

Republicans, of course, have gained control of the Supreme Court which has led to some of – what I believe will go down in history as – the most abominable decisions in the history of this great republic.  Without going into detail I will remind you that this right wing court (albeit with a bit of a different make-up) chose George W Bush/Dick Cheney over the will of the people in 2000 (and, somehow got away with it – thanks in large part to that “liberal media” all the republicans seem to be constantly bashing) and that decision led to disasters of monumental proportions.  Then there was Citizens United – which I believe a majority of Americans continue to have NO CLUE as to the ramifications of what – I thought – at the time to be the worst decision in my lifetime – yes, even worse than Bush v Gore due to the long term effect on our electoral system.  And, just recently, the gutting of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 stands to be every bit as effective in the republican pursuit of TOTAL control of our system of government (ie, the so-called “permanent republican ‘majority'”) as Citizens United.  To me, these two unspeakable decisions by the court are simply more evidence that the republicans have their sights set on complete control of America’s government.

Since the Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights act we’ve seen the fringe “right” BOLT into action in several places around the nation as they attempt to reduce the number of  voters (the fulfillment of Paul Weyrich’s dream – from his famous quote to republican insiders, “As a matter of fact our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down“).   The result, of course, will be, if they get their way, far less democrats voting and a stranglehold on our system that will be EXTREMELY difficult to defeat.  (This is where much of my frustration with President Obama comes in; he continues to “pander” to these people – I can’t imagine his legacy if they succeed in their plans under his “watch”)  Additionally, we’ve seen republican legislatures around the nation feeling emboldened to go after female reproductive rights in a way that suggests they have every confidence this court will support their attempts to determine the most basic rights of women.  And, make no mistake, this is a play to energize their “base” because most of them must understand that the only women who will be affected by these efforts are poor women who won’t have the means to sidestep their legal roadblocks.

Now, I have to add here that I am not in favor of abortions.  I can’t imagine anyone being in favor of abortions.  This issue, to me, goes way deeper than the “abortion issue.”  In my mind, it is indisputable that when a female egg is fertilized and attaches to the womb, then requiring only food and oxygen to grow, it’s a living “thing.”  I’m a father and I believe it then becomes a fetus.  So, I’m not looking to get into that debate.  I once heard President Obama, when the topic of Roe v Wade came up saying that we should be focused on REDUCING the demand for abortions and I totally agree with that.  (My opinion on how you do that is a subject for much more than I’m going to write tonight)  What I find actually disgusting is watching a bunch of right wing MEN blustering over their success in sneaking anti-women provisions into their state budgets like what I saw with Governor Kasich in Ohio last week.  What it seems to me they will accomplish with their anti-women legislation – regarding women’s reproductive rights – will be creating MORE unsafe medical situations for women, especially those women without the ability to pay for needed medical procedures.  (Actually, what I HOPE they accomplish with this anti-woman strategy, is to energize women voters to help eliminate this right wing republican cabal FOREVER!)

I thought I would add, according to “AlterNet,” what they’re calling the “6 truly unbelievable ways Ohio has just eviscerated women’s rights.

“1. Places Limits on Rape Clinics

Rape clinics are no longer allowed to counsel victims on abortion options under the new budget. If clinics do undertake that counseling, public funding would be cut off.

2. Forced Ultrasounds

The bill requires any woman seeking an abortion to undergo a trans-abdominal ultrasound.

The legislation mandates “an obstetric ultrasound examination that portrays the entire body of the embryo or fetus.” The bill also requires an explanation of the what the ultrasound shows, and for the doctor to search for a heartbeat.

The main author of the bill, State Representative Ron Hood, told the website MediaTrackers.org that “if you talk to the pregnancy-center people across the state, they’ll all tell you that when a mother sees that ultrasound, she really realizes that, in most cases, the vast majority of cases, she doesn’t want to abort this baby.”

3. Cuts Funding to Planned Parenthood

The budget signed by the governor cuts off the reproductive rights group Planned Parenthood from $1.4 million in family-planning money.

Planned Parenthood provides abortion services to women, but also a number of other crucial reproductive rights services. These include STD testing and treatment, contraception services, cancer screening and treatment and more.

4. Restricts Clinics From Working With Public Hospitals

The anti-abortion legislation would end the practice of abortion clinics transferring patients to public hospitals. So if a woman has the ability to get an abortion–a big if considering all the restrictions–she would have to find a private hospital to get post-abortion care done.

5. More Money For ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’

While abortion clinics will see their operations severely curtailed–potentially leading to their closures–more money will be given to “crisis pregnancy centers.” These centers, run by religious organizations, usually give inaccurate information to women who enter them. They also seek to dissuade women from getting abortions.

6. Gives Women Information on Fetus to Dissuade Them From Getting Abortions

The budget also requires doctors to inform women  “of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics” of a fetus. This is done in order to dissuade women from getting an abortion if they’re able to get one. Doctors also have to give women information on adoption–another way of pressuring women not to get an abortion.”

Again, I have to emphasize here that I’m not arguing in favor of (or against) abortions.  I would hate to see either of my daughters faced with that decision, but I’m certainly not the one to make it for them, nor are politicians like Kasich.  What my point is (I realize that sometimes it takes me a while to get there) the hypocrisy of republicans who are constantly clamoring for “less government” while, at the same time, pushing government into places it clearly doesn’t belong – like between a woman and her family and doctor.  This is consistent with the republican efforts to prevent people from voting and, essentially, to do whatever it takes to further their privatizing corporate welfare state and thus gaining a stranglehold on POWER in America.

Getting back to the biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, which spurred my thoughts as I pondered writing tonight.  The very people behind the attack on the voters who will be disenfranchised by the Court’s ruling on section 5 and the politicians who are seeking ways to prevent women from getting legal medical treatment and procedures are the same ilk who’ve been trying to reverse the effects of the New Deal which was the result of the administration of Franklin D Roosevelt.  And, as you read more about his wife, you realize the effect she, and those brave women she associated herself with in the 1920’s and on, had on the legislation that became the “New Deal.”  You have to remember that it wasn’t until 1920 that women even had the right to vote.  That was an enduring struggle in it’s own right that, as I look back, is an unbelievable blight on our history.  It’s not, at least to me, of the same magnitude as slavery and the subsequent evolution of minority rights that led to  the “Jim Crow” era and then the racism that still exists in America today, but the subjugation of women was carried out by the same male politicians who believe in White supremacy.  Obviously, as we’ve seen with the reaction of so many republicans to a Black president, and now with these attacks on women and minority voting rights, this faction of America is alive and well (and very powerful).  (Can you imagine how these people will react if Americans elect a woman president in 2016?  How do you spell apoplectic?)

Eleanor Roosevelt and many of the women she partnered with in various groups led the fight for the (at the time) 48 hour work week (which ultimately became the 40 hour work week – yea!), child labor laws, unemployment insurance, “old age” insurance (which, obviously, became Social Security), unionization of workers, bank regulations, and various other worker’s rights that evolved into key components of the New Deal legislation which ultimately, with a little stimulus from WW II, fostered the great American middle class that thrived until the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Since Reagan, the republican focus  has been  a systematic program of dismantling the “New Deal” piece by piece via people who always seem to be remnants of the “Reagan revolution” or further to the “right” – ie, Koch brothers and people of their ilk – John Birch Society-ish.  (Seriously, Google the JBS so you understand where these people are coming from)

Of course, after Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson further antagonized this right wing bunch with his “War on Poverty” and the “Great Society” which brought us Medicare (At the time, Ronald Reagan said, “Medicare will usher in federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country.” and, “All of us can see what happens once you establish the precedent that the government can determine a man’s working place and his working methods, determine his employment. From here it’s a short step to all the rest of socialism, to determining his pay….He will wait for the government to tell him where he will go to work and what he will do.”) and ultimately Medicaid.  The great irony, as you examine the response to Medicare and Medicaid from the “right,” (including the aforementioned Reagan quotes – which came from ads sponsored by the AMA at the time – 1961 – as they attempted to stop this “socialized” medicine) is the stated fear of socialism by a group of people who are presently acting like authoritarian fascists.  Yikes!!!  And, as I realized that it was women’s groups, who had just gained “suffrage” who spurred on these great advances for ALL AMERICANS, it gave me pause, and hope, as I’ve been observing this misogynous and racist assault on our society from the fringe right.  (Actually, people like the Roosevelts were subject to the “Socialist,” “Bolshevik,” “Communist,” scare tactics that are still part of the republican “attack” arsenal today – J Edgar Hoover had a significant dossier on Eleanor Roosevelt while she was America’s “First Lady”)

People like the Koch Brothers (with BILLIONS to buy legislatures), Rush Limbaugh (an overt misogynist and racist radio “talker” with a large – but shrinking audience), Bill O’Reilly (and the others at Fox “news”), Mitch McConnell (in the Senate), John Boehner and Eric Cantor (in the House), and basically the republican party of today (that walks in “lock step” – which is the sign of any good AUTHORITARIAN organization) maybe have stepped in their own “you know what.”  As I thought about all the good that came from Eleanor Roosevelt and the other women of her era who fought for so many advances for working class people in America, it dawned on me that these attacks on women’s reproductive rights just might awaken a HUGE segment of our population that will lead the fight against this republican authoritarian corporatocracy.  Evidently, the “stakes” haven’t been high enough for the rest of us to get our attention.  I believe that not only the legislation republicans are cramming through (while they think no one’s watching), but also the way in which they’re doing it (no public comments, much of the legislation passed in “midnight” legislative sessions, etc.) is going to “backfire” on them.

I would welcome the dialogue on how we significantly reduce the demands for abortions in America.  I certainly would agree that there should be no public funding of abortions.  However, it really baffles me how politicians on the one hand seem gleeful (as in the case recently in Ohio – Kasich and a bunch of old men acting like they’d just gotten away with something) as they attack the right of women to “choose” and then with the “other hand” pull funds from programs that provide women with education and support should they choose to become mothers.   I no longer have access to the liberal “talker” Randi Rhodes, but she used to put it best – republicans seem to “love the fetus, but hate the child.”  As a sixth grade teacher in a high poverty school, I’ve seen the result of that attitude “up front and personal.”  This has been the republican “mantra” since the beginning of the “Reagan revolution” and it is leading the United States to second rate status in the world.

I realize the issues I’m discussing in this post, by themselves, don’t warrant the previous “accusation,” (that the US is headed for second rate status) but the mentality that would allow for this kind of collective attitude in one of our major political parties is what is leading us in that direction.  That is exactly why I’ve been lobbying for people to vote out all republicans for the past several years.  I still like to call myself an independent, but the republican party has moved so far to the right that the only solution is to vote against ALL of them – until we get republicans who will think for themselves and recognize that the function of the government is to work from the “bottom up” in their support for our society.  That “aint gonna happen” under the present republican leadership and, while I’ve got many issues with democrats, “we the people” CANNOT allow the so-called “permanent republican majority” to become a reality.  Instead of further dismantling the “New Deal” we the people should be RESTORING the key pieces of it – like Glass-Steagall, pro union legislation, single payer health care (OK, that’s an “add on”), repeal “free trade” agreements, re-regulate business (like doing away with all the off-shore tax havens for people like Mitt Romney and others who can’t seem to get rich enough), jobs programs, rebuild our infrastructure, un privatize health care, prisons, etc. and on and on.  (I could – and have- write several posts on the issue of, for example, the folly of privatizing prisons.  The corruption that it leads to is unbelievable – and why anyone would allow that is beyond me.  Just think about the motives of a “private prison.”  It certainly wouldn’t be rehabilitating the inmates.)

In my mind, the only way working class people (and remember, there’s more of us than there is of “them”) can support republican policies is as a result of the brainwashing we’ve endured for the past 30+ years.  Somehow Ronald Reagan convinced “we the people” that we could reduce the taxes of the wealthiest among us and “balance the budget.”  That, “Government is the problem, not the solution.” Reagan convinced too many Americans (workers included) that unions are bad and he was the stimulus behind this awful privatization of so many of the vital responsibilities of government.  That was the beginning of the “plan” that’s on the verge of “coming together.”  And, it’s frustrating to me that so many Americans watch outlets like Fox “news” (GOP TV) and listen to people like Limbaugh, Hannity, Lars Larsen, and the others who have convinced America’s middle class to vote for their own destruction.  They’re good at what they do, I just don’t understand how some of them can sleep at night.  (Actually, pathological liars, after a while, begin to believe their own lies as the words leave their mouths)

Since the day Reagan succeeded in selling the so-called “Trickle down economic” propaganda scheme we’ve been sinking further and further into debt and the working class (middle class) in America has been shrinking.  Many of the young people I talk to today have no idea what people like Eleanor Roosevelt were all about and they take many of the benefits resulting from the struggle she led for granted.  As stated above, my hope is that the republican “war on women” will “wake up” that MAJORITY of our population and there will be a severe price to pay for their (the republican) intrusion into the private affairs of these women – because it’s just a segment of the larger struggle.  Of course, if that wish comes true (women uniting against republicans), then the next step is to go after the democrats – many of whom are “feeding from the same trough” as the republicans.  It has been LIBERALS like Mrs. Roosevelt who’ve led the fight for so many rights we all enjoy (and, incidentally, she eventually was also a leader in the civil rights movement for African Americans) and, I look forward to the day when our “liberal media” no longer portrays the word LIBERAL in a derogatory manner!  It appears to me that, just as in the 1920’s, it will be women who play a significant role in stopping this republican assault on the foundation of our system of government.

There have been a few occasions where I’ve started posts by saying something like “I’m not trying to ‘pat myself on the back,'” when clearly that’s exactly what I’m doing, and this could be another of those occasions.  Today, as I was driving around I heard the news that our WONDERFUL Supreme Court has decided to “gut” the Voting Rights Act that was the result of so much sacrifice from so many back when I was a “youth.”  This (like the recent reports of our government “surveilling” we the people) came as no surprise to me because this is the same Court “makeup” as the 2000 Court which chose to “crown” George W Bush as president despite the FACT he was not the choice of “we the people” and which managed to “upend” over 100 years of campaign finance laws with the absurd “Citizens United” decision, “judicial activism” in its purest form from the very people who decry “judicial activism.”  Seriously, this is getting SERIOUS!  I have been pointing out the sophisticated ways the “right wing” of the republican party have been slowly CREEPING toward their “permanent republican majority” and this is another vital step in their strategy.  It has long been on the “public record” that republicans believe the fewer the number of people voting the better their chances for success, and this is a key component of that strategy.

In the 2012 election cycle there were numerous attempts by various states in the union to disenfranchise voters.  Their targets:  Blacks, students, poor people, Hispanics, etc. – basically the portion of the voting public that would tend to vote in favor of democrats.  Just last night I watched a portion of the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC (I rarely watch anything on TV that’s considered “news” anymore – it’s ALL biased, although Maddow generally appeals to me as we seem to see things through the same “lens”) and she pointed out a plan being proposed in a section around Houston Texas to reduce the number of polling places from 80 something to around 12.  The interesting part of the plan is that in the sections of that area of the country where people are “affluent” (white)  there would be something like 6500 voters per polling place.  In the poor (Black/Hispanic) areas the ratio would be 67,000 “voters” to one polling place.  This is just one example of the methods republicans are using to make it more difficult for “minority” and/or poor voters to participate in the electoral process.  Almost as soon as today’s decision was rendered you could hear the “conservative” secretaries of state around the nation (especially in the South) proposing new voter ID laws designed to disenfranchise the very voters this law was designed to protect.

If you’ve been following politics for the past 30 or so years (or longer) you know this is the republican plan that’s “coming together.”  I can hear Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, Roger Ailes, and I could go on and on,  on the sidelines saying “I love it when a plan comes together.”  As I said in a recent post, losing an election doesn’t slow these people down at all.  They have clearly been proponents of “the end justifies the means” theory for years and they’ve finally got to the point where they’re getting a grip on our political “system” from virtually EVERY angle.  And, they’ve got unlimited capital which they’re willing to use to accomplish their goals.   Let me remind you, what the republicans are doing is EXACTLY what the “founding fathers” of this great nation were trying to PREVENT!  The system of “Checks and Balances” was put into our constitution to prevent specific “factions” from being able to control the government.  In this case, it’s a “faction” (the fringe right of the republican party) that publicly professes to HATE government – yet, they (people like the Kochs and other wealthy “elites”) are spending BILLIONS in order to gain a stranglehold on that government they HATE!  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out why they’re doing this.  It’s all about the POWER and the MONEY!

There’s not enough space on this post for me to go back over the entire history of the process of what’s “HAPPENING,” but let me just summarize by saying they ( this right wing fringe element of the republican party) already have control of two of the most important parts of the “wheels” of government – that is, they control the Supreme Court and they control the “liberal media.”  (something “unbelievable” to me is that two of the Supreme Court justices, Scalia and Thomas, regularly meet with Koch affiliated support groups – and, this is hardly mentioned by our “liberal media” – just think of the ramifications of them doing this) This process has been going on for years and, through their (republicans) control of America’s media (both print and broadcast), they’ve brainwashed “we the people” in a way that’s actually quite clever (and, from my perspective, scary), but also is designed to be destructive to our representative democracy (I guess the correct term for our form of government is “republic”).  I can’t tell you, for example, the number of supposedly educated Americans I’ve met who actually believe our media is “liberal.”  This is the classic “Big Lie Theory” of Joseph Goebbels in its finest form. (for anyone not paying attention, Goebbels was the head of Nazi propaganda during the Third Reich)  If you look at who controls the VAST majority of America’s media it becomes obvious there’s not much “liberal” about any of it.  large corporate interests “own” the airwaves and CONTROL the messaging.  We the people are continually getting our brains “POUNDED” by the messaging that is intended to enrich and enable the corporatocracy that seeks TOTAL control of America’s government.

I could try to explain this in detail, but I’ll trust you to “infer” ( the same skill I teach my 6th graders) from one example.  Have you ever wondered why BP is always putting adds on TV that claim the “Gulf is better than ever?”  Especially, when – if you do a little research – you know that the damage from the huge OIL SPILL of a couple of years ago has left HUGE (under water) columns of oil in the Gulf of Mexico that will be an environmental hazard for years to come.  Why the adds then, “informing” us that the Gulf is “better than ever?”  Well, let me just say, the media outlets would prefer the money generated from BP’s adds to doing actual investigative journalism to expose the realities of the aftermath of the oil spill.  I’m just giving one example, using BP, but think of all the commercials you’ve seen on TV from companies that are selling nothing.  I know I said just one example, but have you ever wondered why Monsanto advertises on TV?  Such a wonderful company.  Well, as a former small “family farmer,” pay attention to the process that produces America’s “Farm bills.”  Again, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to understand corporations like Monsanto have a corrupt “grip” on our national legislature and they don’t want anyone in the “liberal media” exposing what they’re doing to the general public.  The corporate TV interests are more interested in their advertising (to whom?) dollars than the truth about their seeds and their corporate practices.

Back to the issue of the Voting Rights Act (of 1965 – re-authorized 4 times since, upheld many times before this by previous Courts) so I make sure you understand the significance of this Court action.  When I look at the map of the states involved – that is, the ones affected by section 5 of the Act which is the heart of the Act and was the section “gutted” by the Court, most of those states are what are termed “Red” states already.  (do you find it interesting that the color associated with republicans is “red states?”)  That means they’re already voting republican.  So, you might think, what’s the difference? What matter does it make?  Well, if we can get beyond the issue of how important it is in America that EVERYONE has access to the polls, that our government is not making it more difficult for ANYONE to VOTE and, you can get past “Well, they vote republican already” you will be able to see why this court decision is so significant.  It’s really hard for me to put these reasons in a sequential order because they’re all so significant, so I’ll just list them as they come off the top of my head: First, as is the norm now with republicans, while they complain about “judicial activism” (which is very dangerous) this decision, along with Bush v Gore and Citizens United, take judicial activism to really scary heights.  Instead of being the arbiters of America’s “agenda” this court is setting the agenda!   Second, this vote clearly brings into focus the republican’s fears about the “color line” in America and how it’s changing.  Those of us who are “white” will soon no longer be a majority, and with the election of Barrack Obama it’s clear (I”m sure to the republicans) that too many “white minions” are willing to vote for people of color.  These people (the Kochs, Rupert Murdoch, and all the others who are funding this right wing republican party) are planning ahead in an attempt to keep their “majorities” in these mostly southern “bastions” of their WHITE “Christian” base.  For example, in Texas, the Hispanic population is growing rapidly and they vote predominantly democratic.  Here’s a way to “keep them down.” And, finally, (I’m sure I’ll think of other reasons later) when you have the appearance of justices who are not impartial, the very foundation of our system of government is called into question.  In my view, Justices Scalia and Thomas should be removed from the Court for their partisan political activities.  I pointed this out during the Bush/Cheney regime that Bush/Cheney were undermining the foundation of our government through “loyalty oaths” from members of the Justice Department (some who are presumably still there) and the association of Scalia and Thomas with people like the Koch brothers at public functions is just as BAD and should be UNACCEPTABLE.  This whole episode is further evidence that UNACCEPTABLE is no longer an obstacle to members of our nation’s government. (ie – do you remember Bush/Cheney being war criminals and nary an investigation)

Additionally, this Court decision opens the door to political shenanigans in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and other places where Koch brothers (Tea party) funded “conservatives” have assumed control of state and local governments.  Just last year (2012) the Justice Department had to intervene in Pennsylvania (for one example) to block an attempt to disenfranchise poor and/or Black voters during the presidential election.  Had the republicans been able to keep enough “minority” voters from the polls in Pennsylvania and Ohio we’d be forced to stomach Mitt Romney (and his hundreds of Cayman Island Tax haven accounts) and Paul Ryan (he of privatizing Social Security and Medicare).  I’ve stated this many times on this site – people like the Koch’s, Rush Limbaugh (the de facto head of the republican party), Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Ron and Rand Paul, John Boehner, and the list goes on of right wing republicans, HATE the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt.  All of the “rights” that came with the New Deal, the Civil Rights movement, and the “Great Society” of Lyndon Johnson, to name some of the “liberal” movements in America’s history, took years of toil to accomplish.  The American people need to understand that this right wing cabal will be able to dismantle these advances in a matter of months and days if they succeed in gaining their “permanent republican majority.”  And, this action by our Supreme Court is another crucial step in this republican attempt to sidestep the intentions of our founders.  They only need about 4 more seats in the Senate and the White House and, should that happen, I guarantee you that if you think like a “liberal” you will be very, very disappointed.

I’m going to end this by referencing the NSA “eavesdropping” that was divulged by the so-called “traitor” Edward Snowden. (He was actually charged with espionage – I’ll have more to say about that on another day)  Many people I’ve talked to give the unnerving response to being spied upon by our government by saying “I don’t have anything to hide, I don’t care if they’re listening to my phone calls.”  (OK, I know “they” aren’t listening to phone calls, they’re just collecting the data from EVERY phone call and email and ????? you/we do)  It’s this attitude that really makes me nervous.  My parents went through the “Great Depression” and I had great conversations with my grand parents about what it was like.  It was during that era that many of the advances the republicans are trying to reverse took place.  And, in reality, we’re not far from that (the Great Depression) situation today – with nearly 100 MILLION  Americans near or under the “poverty line.”  (This makes me even angrier as I watch and observe the objectives of this right wing republican party – they’re cutting food stamps, meals on wheels [for the elderly], Head Start, unemployment insurance, and other parts of the “safety net” that was the signature of the New Deal and Great Society)  My point is this:  The American public needs to understand, it’s much easier to give up rights than to get them back!  The same attitude that is willing to allow government eavesdropping (despite the fourth amendment to the constitution) is one that looks the other way when the Court “guts’ the Voting Rights Act – our most fundamental “right.”  (And, very curiously to me, is outraged at the thought of any “gun laws” they believe – incorrectly in most instances – will infringe on the second amendment) When the people behind this right wing movement gain a stranglehold on our government, getting rid of them will be much more difficult than if “we the people” band together NOW and say ENOUGH ALREADY!

I’ve been watching (and listening) with curiosity as the “liberal media” “processes” the news that a “leaker” has spilled the beans on the NSA’s (National Security Agency’s) secret spying (with compliance from the major communications corporations) that’s been presumably going on under “Obama’s watch.”  Here’s the rub for me; if you check my archives (and, I’m not going to look up all the times I’ve written about this) we shouldn’t have needed a “leaker” to point this sad reality out to all of us (meaning “we the people”) – I’ve been writing about the abuses of the original FISA law since the “dog days” of the GW Bush/Cheney regime when the abuses of the 4th amendment went all “Nixon” on  us (again).  I’m just a 6th grade school teacher – if I was able to put two plus two together, why is this such a surprise to so many Americans?  And, I’ve (even though I’m one of those strange Americans who want our president to succeed) not been too gracious to President Obama on all of this.  If you check, you’ll see that I actually wrote him back in 2008 when he was still a US Senator and he committed one of his first “red flag” events by voting for the FISA bill which, for all intents and purposes, gave corporations like Verizon, AT&T, etc. exoneration for succumbing to government pressure which led to illegal surveillance without the benefit of a warrant.

Obama, in a response to my letter to his campaign complaining about his vote, (OK, I know the response didn’t come directly from him) assured me that once in office he would “fix” the FISA bill.  As he’s done nothing of the sort, it didn’t take a lot of logic to figure out the reason he wasn’t eager to “fix” this rotten bill was because he was doing the same thing (probably, at this point, more-so) that Bush/Cheney were doing.  And, anyone who thinks he’s not aware of what’s been going on, well, I’ve “got a bridge I’d like to sell you.”  This is kind of like “we don’t torture” – yet we have Bradley Manning sitting in solitary confinement in clearly “torture” conditions for almost a year (or more) – right in front of everyone’s noses, yet the only push-back comes from a few internet “watch dogs” who are not part of that “liberal media” I so often refer to.  You know, like Fox “news” (GOP TV), CNN, ABC, CBS (the outfit that fired Dan Rather in a classic case of the “liberal media” being intimidated by the conservatives who run it) etc.  Now there’s congressional leaders calling for the guy who did the leaking (Edward Snowden) to be extradited from China (or wherever he chose to seek asylum from America’s “anti-leaking” police).

My response to these congressional thugs is “huh?”  The guy just told the truth.  If this isn’t a problem, then why all the secrecy?  I’ll tell you why all the secrecy – it’s because this “data mining” is very likely a violation of the fourth amendment to the constitution.  All these “important” officials who believe that our “safety” is contingent on throwing our constitution “under the bus” are, to me, short sighted dimwits.   I mentioned this in a previous post (again, I can’t remember which one – I’m getting up there in years) that our “leaders” are totally doing what Osama bin Laden hoped they would do when he orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on America.  Those who “rule the roost” in Washington DC have been operating via the fear factor ever since that fateful day.  And, this will continue until “we the people” put a stop to it – through the ballot box.  Now, I’ve got plenty of disappointment in President Obama, but I’ll just throw out AGAIN, for anyone paying attention, that I believe step number one in “taking back our country” as the Washington politicians like to put it to us, is purging Washington DC of EVERY republican who is walking in lockstep to lead our nation to failure under President Obama.

I have no problem with their disagreeing with Obama’s philosophy of government.  What really is annoying (actually, I should come up with a more severe word there) is their obstructionism that has caused Washington to be in TOTAL gridlock since the day Obama was elected.  Even what legislation does get through is substandard because of all the hoops that have to be gone through to get ANYTHING passed.  This is while our nation is in a virtual depression that is the result of corporate and Wall Street excesses initiated during the years of Bush/Cheney (OK, and prior).  The tax cuts, the deregulation (much of that damage done in the Clinton presidency – ie repeal of Glass Steagall, Telecommunications Act of 1996, NAFTA, GATT), the unfunded (and illegal) wars, the TARP bailouts, etc. all put America “behind the eight ball” when Obama was originally elected.  The obstruction since then has been unconscionable.  However, to me, that does not excuse the Obama administration for the illegal wiretapping, the torturing that’s continued (Guantanamo is still alive and well), and the secrecy surrounding an administration that CLEARLY PROMISED transparency in their original campaign.

Do you remember when guys like me originally started to question the “path” of President Obama?  Do you remember Rahm Emanuel?  He called “liberals” “f—ing retards.”  With little to no backlash from the president that I remember.  The problem that they don’t seem to understand is that it’s the LIBERALS who got them elected into office!  One of the many dangerous precedents President Obama may be committing is patronizing liberals to get elected and then abandoning them once the election is over.  Now, I realize that is somewhat a bit of a “reach” because President Obama is FAR BETTER than the alternative.  But starting his second term with a proposal to “cut” Social Security and Medicare (to even put them “on the table”) and now to be defending the NSA’s “data mining” – Obama seems to think they’re not really doing this (based on part of an interview I heard him give) – is not the way to mobilize “liberals” for the 2014 election which is President Obama’s only hope for “getting things done” during his second term.  I can guarantee you that there’s no way for the democrats to take back the house without strong support from liberals.  And, I’ve seen this many times before, liberals will “sit out the election” if they don’t believe the president is going to FIGHT for the issues that matter to them.

So, what can be done to “move things forward?”  Well, in my mind – even though it’s getting dangerously late to do this, President Obama needs to lead a strong fight to STRENGTHEN Social Security and Medicare (and Medicaid), re-institute the need for the “public option” in regards to the roll out of “Obamacare,” FIGHT for a major “jobs bill” that addresses the needs of America’s crumbling infrastructure, make a major push for relief to America’s inner cities and the high unemployment there, get our troops out of Afghanistan and CUT the defense budget, make a concerted effort for education reform (without trying to destroy public education), break up the “too big to fail” Wall Street conglomerates (re-institute Glass Steagall), PUSH for accelerated advances in alternative energy, and I could go on.  Essentially, Obama should take a FDR (or was it really Eleanor Roosevelt who instigated the New Deal? – I’m reading a biography of her right now and we need another ER) approach to his last 3 1/2 years as president.  The right wing corporatists who are fighting him now are descendents of the same people who fought FDR (If you remember his famous quote, “I welcome their hate”) during the implementation of the New Deal and Obama needs that same attitude toward them.  Unfortunately, from where I sit, it has appeared that our president has been constantly “reaching out” to them, and the sad reality is there’s NO CHANCE they are going to agree to anything “progressive” while President Obama is in office.

Oh yes!  One last thing.  In 1996 Bill Clinton signed the aforementioned Telecommunications Act of 1996 which has allowed the takeover of America’s media by a few right wing corporations.  That particular “Act” needs to be repealed.  It is unthinkable to me that people like Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Brothers can gain a stranglehold on the print and broadcast media because of their great wealth.  This is exactly what the “founders” were trying to prevent when they came up with the system of “checks and balances.”  This, along with the suggestions mentioned above, to name a few things that would ignite liberals, would be the way for our president to have a FIGHTING chance to get that democratic congress he needs to be able to enact any of these “progressive” initiatives.  The “status quo” is not what people like me expected when President Obama took office.  We’re chomping at the bit to FIGHT for the values we believe made this nation great, and there’s a LOT of work to be done, but I don’t see cutting Social Security and Medicare and now, being exposed as a “data miner,” as the way to create a “catalyst” for “the change we can believe in.”  I’ll end by saying, if the “surveillance” being done by the NSA is legal, then why on earth all the secrecy?  They don’t have to tell me who they’re surveilling, they just need to be up front about doing it!

I was reading my email this morning and got a good taste of why, as a sixth grade teacher, I try to teach my students the importance of “comparing and contrasting” as you process information.  First, there was the email from Alan Grayson which included the “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” written 50 years ago by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – to say the least a “profound” read (I posted the letter if you want to read it) – and then an internet petition to sign (they’re coming fast and furious these days – and, thankfully, there’s a lot of “activists” out there “fighting the good fight”) From Credo to oppose the Koch Brothers acquiring the Tribune Company, which includes several major newspapers including the Los Angeles Times.  What an interesting combination!  Dr. King is a hero to many like myself in America and yet people like the Kochs are, and have been for years, doing everything they can to make sure King’s dream is never fully a reality.  The election of a Black president put the Kochs and their “ilk” on “red alert” and they’ve been throwing everything, including, seemingly, “the kitchen sink,” at making sure President Obama FAILS and that they have such a stranglehold on the “message” that they don’t have to worry about a repeat of what, in their minds I’m sure, is a real tragedy.  You have to remember that the Koch’s father was an original member of the John Birch Society, and if you don’t understand what that means in relation to Black presidents, “Google it.”

The first reason this “comparison” has rung a “bell” with me is that I live in the radio market of Portland, Oregon.  Over the previous 8 (or so) years, prior to Obama’s initial election there was a “liberal” talk radio station in Portland that was kind of a prototype for what amounts to a miniscule opposition to the right wing messaging “machine” that has evolved on “talk radio” since the first days Rush Limbaugh started his right wing racist ranting during the Reagan years.  I have believed all along that it’s (right wing talk radio) part of the larger plan to form what Karl Rove calls the “permanent republican ‘majority'” (the additional quotes are mine – if it happens it will be a “majority” similar to Hitler’s “majority” in the 1930’s Germany).  After Limbaugh was established, along came Fox “news” and “think tanks” like the Heritage Institute of the Kochs both of which have worked in tandem with the right wing talkers like Limbaugh to “cement” the right wing propaganda “machine.”  Portland’s liberal talk station was a push-back, albeit a minor push-back because the “conservatives” control over 90% of the radio airspace.  So, it was no surprise to me when, shortly after Obama’s second election Portland’s (KPOJ) was replaced by (surprise surprise) a “wing” of the Fox network.  I was angry, but not surprised – for anyone not paying attention, this is just further evidence of the FACT the “conservatives” have a stranglehold on our “liberal media.” (seems like an oxymoron, huh?)

That gets me back to this morning’s emails.  I’ve known for weeks that the Kochs are attempting to purchase the Tribune company and that it will be a travesty if it happens.  I’m also very aware that Koch Industries generates over 100 BILLION dollars in revenue per year and the Kochs themselves are worth well over 50 BILLION dollars.  If they want to buy the Tribune company, they have the funds to do so.  The question then becomes how much of a stranglehold of our media are “we the people” willing to allow this right wing message machine to control?  I can’t even watch Fox “news” because I’ve read too much to allow me to NOT understand that they are purely and simply a right wing propaganda organization (as long as you’re “googling” things, Google the holdings of Rupert Murdoch – the owner of Fox “news,” the Wall Street Journal, and many other media outlets – and “Google” his political leanings).  They are run by a republican operative of the 70’s and 80’s – back in the days of Watergate (Roger Ailes).  They have “both barrels” aimed at Barrack Obama and anyone who might be considered “liberal” and they care only about POWER and nothing about the average and below American (their ONLY concern with the “average and below” Americans is keeping them IGNORANT of their REAL motive – ie – keeping them as “low information voters” – that’s the term that got Lars Larsen to call me an “elitist liberal” :o).  Their “talkers” (Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Limbaugh, along with the small time voices like Larsen’s, etc.) are willing to say anything for their large paychecks.  And, they are the epitome of liars who lie so much that they get to the point where they’re believing their own lies as the lies come out of their lips!  (the term is pathological)

Losing elections doesn’t slow this right wing cabal hardly at all.  That’s the problem I see with those of us “liberals” – and, that is we seem to think once we win an election the message has been “sent.”  For example, the previous election of 2012 was focused on the “social safety net” – programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment insurance, Head Start, etc. along with the so-called “roll-out” of “Obamacare” ie – “The Affordable Care Act.”  Since that election we’ve seen republicans in the House voting AGAIN (something like the 38th time) to repeal “Obamacare.”  There’s no shame with these people.  Instead of trying to figure out how to make the legislation better for “we the people” they’re focused – STILL – on undermining our president.  And, of course, he’s playing into their hands by seemingly an endless attempt to get them to agree to something – which led to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid being put “on the table” in the ill advised budget negotiations (which aren’t really negotiations at all because there’s no way the republicans will agree to anything Obama will sign).  Liberals like me have only to hope that the democrats will AGGRESSIVELY work to gain enough control in congress by 2014 to be able to pass some progressive legislation.  That hope was dealt a severe blow by Obama putting the foundation of the “New Deal” and “Great Society” signature achievements “on the table.”  And, sadly, many democrats are so concerned with their reelection that they’ve become intimidated by the power of the right wing media.  I can guarantee you, there will be no let up from the “right” until “we the people” vote them out (along with the wishy washy dems) en mass!

Additionally, the other day I listened to parts of a speech President Obama gave to the graduating class of Morehead State University in which he AGAIN chose to “lecture” an audience of Blacks – this time newly graduated Morehead seniors and their faculty and families about the importance of being responsible men in our society.  I guess because our president is Black he feels comfortable broaching this subject (over and over) with Black audiences – but, I find this a bit disconcerting.  While there’s validity, I’m sure, to what he’s saying – I can guarantee you the problem is “bipartisan” – or whatever the correct word would be for there not being a “color line” for irresponsible men and fathers.  So far, I haven’t heard the same subject being “preached” to a white audience – not that it’s impossible that he has.  My point in bringing this up is that I don’t see Obama as a great leader for the Black community.  Again, I realize he’s up against a congress which is NOT going to agree to ANYTHING he wants – and this suffocating “liberal media” – controlled by conservatives is bent on his “failure” – but, he MUST put up a fight for the basic values that made the democratic party the representatives of the average Americans, the workers, the Blacks, the Hispanics, the unions, etc.  Liberals feel as if they’re fighting a losing battle if they work to elect people who then turn around and push republican values in their faces.  As I’ve written before, if I wanted Social Security and Medicare cut, I would have voted for Romney/Ryan.  If I wanted to hear my leaders attacking the Black community, I would vote for republicans.  President Obama seems unaware of the magnitude of the WAR that’s going on right now internally in America.

As I stated above, despite losing elections (including the last one) republicans continue to try to cram the same CRAP down our throats we’ve been getting since the day Ronald Reagan gained the White House.  Only, now it’s the fringe “right” who are “guiding the ship.”  Most people I know, many of them with graduate degrees from top universities, don’t even know who Charles and David Koch are.  They have no idea how much power they’ve managed to gain in the last 30+ years and they have no idea how “out there” their philosophy is.  The Kochs are the money behind the so-called “Tea Party” which they managed to work up into a frothing lather in 2010 (after Obama’s first “victory”) that resulted in all the “Tea Party” freshmen republicans who took over the House in that 2010 election (if you watched any of their “rallies” during the 2010 election or listened to the speeches you know how overtly RACIST the “Tea Party” is).  What many of us didn’t understand at the time, was that they also gained control of many legislative bodies and governorships across the nation and managed to “gerrymander” countless congressional districts (this happens every 10 years – next time it’s possible will be 2020) making it more difficult for democrats to unseat some extremely radical republican members of the House.  Now, I’m hearing reports of the same type of aggressive, anti-government, anti-Obama rallies as they are evidently going to make the same “push” in the 2014 election with the objective of taking control of both the House and the Senate.

That’s obviously where the battle lines are presently drawn.  For those of us who are “liberals” (or progressives if you’ve “bought” the right wing “cool aid” that “liberal” is a dirty word) recognize that unless democrats can take back control of the House of Representatives the republicans will continue to block any kind of progressive legislation for the remainder of Obama’s term in office (and presumably going forward – they are trying to convince the American public that the “only” way to get anything “done” will be to elect a republican president (which would give them their “permanent majority – that is, control of the House, the Senate, the courts, and the media – and, in reality, they are correct – it will be hard to unseat them)  On the other hand, the liberals who are fighting back recognize the same problem and are (hopefully) intent on gaining control of the House while retaining control of the Senate (and removing the filibuster rule) so that we can move this nation back in the direction that created our great middle class in the first place – toward the New Deal and Great Society.  These “Tea Party” rallies should energize the “liberals” in America if they will only pay attention to what is being said there and how these people are carrying themselves.

In 2010 there was one BLATANTLY racist sign after another at the “Tea Party” rallies.  If you go back and listen to some of the speeches it was very disgusting.  Many of the remarks coming from members of congress pandering to the group.  The “code words” were “flying” hot and heavy.  Many of the speakers I heard made little attempt to hide their disgust that a person they referred to as “other” could be living in the “White House.”  Now, we’re hearing comments like “Waterboard Obama” and “Waterboard Clinton” at their rallies by people holding signs adorned with swastikas!  I’m not going to “go off” on my frustrations at Obama for not allowing the investigations into the war crimes of the Bush/Cheney regime, but if republicans gain control again, they’ve made it quite clear how they feel about torture.  And, as I’ve stated before on this site – there’s a group called the “Family” that are at the foundation of this right wing push of the last 30 plus years – and, their original affiliation was with members of the Third Reich who were not prosecuted after WW II and they’ve adopted the propaganda scheme of Joseph Goebbels, the head of Nazi propaganda – the so-called “Big Lie Theory.”  If you really believe our media is “liberal” then explain to me why no one seems to be pointing this out, or even investigating it?  Read the book “The Family” – I believe the author is Jeff Sharlett – it should open your eyes a bit.

One of the most blatant of the congressional speakers at 2010 “Tea Party” rallies was then senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina who was spewing out the racial “code words” in a speech I saw while the “Tea Party’ members he was speaking to had the most disgusting racist signs regarding President Obama I had, up to that point, seen.  And, of course, DeMint was encouraging them with his racist rhetoric.  Since that time he’s become the head of the Koch’s “Heritage Foundation” – a “conservative” think tank.  Other members include people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, two of the major mouthpieces of the right wing “big lie theory” in practice.  They have unlimited funds and they have every intention of continuing this WAR for the heart and soul of America until they succeed in gaining the aforementioned “permanent republican majority.”  Of course, they’ll never have a real majority, but they might be able to pull off enough CRAP at the ballot boxes to make it appear that they do.  (remember 2000 and the Supreme Court anointing GW Bush as president – think that can’t happen again?)  The Heritage website proclaims to be wanting to take America BACK to “her founding principles” – and, make no mistake about it, they’re talking about pre New Deal!  The principles of no unions, no Social Security, no Medicare, no unemployment insurance, basically NO social safety net.  They are talking about the times when the “Robber Barons” were in charge.  They’re pushing a “race to the bottom” for wages and benefits of America’s workforce. (As I’m writing this, republicans are leading an “assault” on things like food stamps)

On the Heritage website it is written right out front for anyone to see (evidently, our “liberal press” doesn’t pay much attention to the Heritage website) – “The clock is also ticking on this historic opportunity to advance conservative reforms. As many as possible must be enacted and defended now, while liberals have their guard down and we have an opportunity to rally public opinion.”  They believe (and probably rightly so – as 2010 proved) that post election “liberals” are back to taking care of their families and “have their guard down” – this is the time to  CRAM through as much “conservative” legislation as possible.  They’re calling this a “once in a generations opportunity.”  And, I guarantee you their plan is to have a complete STRANGLEHOLD on our government that they so often say they despise.  Their plan is to turn America into a fascist state!  And, they’ve got BILLIONS of dollars to spend in order to pull this off.

That is why the contrast between the two emails I received gave me such “pause.”  There was a day, not too many years ago, when I thought we were on the cusp of achieving Martin Luther King Jr.’s “dream.”  I thought we might finally overcome the obstacles to a truly free nation that were represented in King’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.”  The night President Obama was first elected president I can remember thinking how much I had believed that a Black person would not be elected president in my lifetime.  I remember calling my teaching partner at the time – a Black teacher, pastor, veteran of Viet Nam – to me, the epitome of a great American – who was literally in tears.  Little did we know at the time that Obama’s election was going to energize people like the Koch’s and those in America who believe that this is a nation that should only be led by White people – and, certainly, little did I know how many people would join the movement to attempt to make sure our first Black president FAILS.  History will judge our president against all the obstacles thrown his way – when I watched the movie “42” (the story of Jackie Robinson) I was reminded that President Obama’s situation is somewhat similar to Robinson’s.  I would love to see our president being more forceful in his battle against these republicans, but I’m constantly reminded (in my thoughts) about how I have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes.  All I can say is that those of us on the “liberal” side have our work cut out for us – the “conservatives” as is published on the Heritage website – feel we have our “guard down” and they have every intention of taking full advantage of that.

Today I got an email from Alan Grayson, one of the few members of Congress who have not been “bought and sold” by special interests (therefore, he’s the TARGET of many a special interest groups – ie Koch brothers and their network of right wing “think tanks,” Karl Rove, Fox “news,” Rush Limbaugh, etc.) commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.”  That email and another I received regarding the aforementioned Koch brothers and their attempt to acquire the Tribune Company (which includes, I believe, 7 major newspapers including the Los Angeles Times) prompted thoughts of another post, but while I was allowing the thoughts to go through my head it became clear that I should post a copy of King’s great letter.  Maybe by reading that letter it will help people who are visiting this site to better understand why I have written so many posts about the NEED to get the republican party, as it exists today, into the history books.  Since the day Barrack Obama was elected America has inched more toward the days this letter was written than toward the days Dr. King was envisioning in it.  That is going BACKWARD and we need to be going FORWARD!  We need more in America to realize that the motivations of those who wish for our first BLACK president to FAIL are precisely because of the color of his skin.  There should be no place of leadership (I realize people are going to believe what they believe) in our society for the racists who are trying to undermine an American presidency (they did this to a lessor extent with Bill Clinton, called by some facetiously as the “first black president”).  Read this letter and pause to think about the reality of today’s political arena and I believe you will see the importance of standing strong behind the basis of King’s famous words:

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:… .

I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly….

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff[ly] creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you go forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience….

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …” So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists….

I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham, and all over the nation, because the goal of America [is] freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation — and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands….

One day the South will recognize its real heroes. There will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. There will be the old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: “My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest.” There will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience’s sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I’m afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?…

Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I haven’t done much “patting” on my own back lately, but I can still remember writing posts at the beginning of Barrack Obama’s first term as president explaining the gravity of his decision to “look forward instead of back” regarding the illegal activity of the Bush/Cheney “crime family.”  I pointed out that the republicans should have been exposed for the reality of what they were at that time – the American public deserved no less.  I also pointed out this, in my view, was one of the major executive branch blunders in my lifetime.  (This is following the “blunderest” administration of all time – Bush/Cheney)  It was not hard to see that this mistake would come back to haunt Obama and the democrats and it has – OVER and OVER!  Couple this with a spineless bunch of Democratic Senators and the republican propaganda “machine” (which has been operating at “full throttle” ever since) and you now have a recreation of the “Clinton years” as the topic coming from the “right” is “impeachment.”  Tonight, on my way home from work, I heard a clip on the radio of Dick Cheney (of all people) claiming (to Sean Hannity – go figure) that the Benghazi incident last year was the worst national defense disaster in the history of our country.  Other republicans, evidently, are comparing it to Watergate and who knows what.  And, the word is that the House is intent on impeaching President Obama.  OMG!

Talk about your “pot calling the kettle black!”  OK, I know I need to come up with a better analogy, because the real problem here is that the President of the United States is half BLACK.  The racists have been fulminating out from under their rocks since before Obama took the oath of office.  They even were blaming him for the failed economy and the TARP bailout before he took the oath of office.  And, their thoughtless “minions” have gone along with all the BS since the day the reality struck them that over 50% of America would vote for a Black person as president.  Who knows, some day it could be a woman – or even a Latina!  These people are in full out panic mode and it would be embarrassing if they didn’t have so much money and control of the media behind them.  This is exactly why I’ve been calling for the removal from office of every possible republican – until this right wing fringe group gets expunged from any kind of position of authority.  Really, is there anyone out there who really believes Benghazi was a worst disaster than 9/11, or the lying our nation into invading a sovereign country (for the first time ever without provocation) causing HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of lives to be lost and MILLIONS to by uprooted?  Was Benghazi worst than over 200 Marines killed in Lebanon (yes, during the republican’s god Reagan’s watch) with virtually no push-back from America?  Was this more dishonest than Iran/Contra? (I’m saying this not knowing what level of misinformation came from the Benghazi incident, because the republicans are simply recreating the “Whitewater” “witch hunt” that took place during the Clinton years – and the reports I’m hearing are pointing out the right wing “info machine” is “doctoring” their evidence.  I don’t know why that doesn’t surprise me)

The loss of the diplomats in Benghazi was a tragedy, no doubt, and there may have been mistakes – who knows at this point.  But, it seems a bit curious to me that the same people making a big deal out of this terrible situation gave not even a whimper during the Bush/Cheney years when something on the order of 60 American diplomats perished on duty in various places around the world.  The sad reality is that, due in large part to our militaristic government, being a diplomat in America’s diplomatic corps is very dangerous.  There are many places in this world where Americans are “Persona non Grata.”  And, the idea that none of them are going to be in harms way is absurd, even more-so in the face of a congress that has chosen to cut back on the available funds necessary for protection.  Again, this would be ridiculously funny if it wasn’t so real and so absurd.  How anyone in America can give any credence to media outlets such as Fox “news,” or radio talkers such as Rush Limbaugh is beyond me.  These republicans stated from the first day of Barrack Obama’s term in office that their number one goal was his defeat (they used the term FAILURE) notwithstanding the effect of that policy on our nation and our attempt to recover from the ills of the Bush/Cheney administration – which left America on the brink of financial and military disaster as they left Washington DC with their “tails between their legs.”

I hate to revisit all the ills of Bush/Cheney, but since Dick Cheney is right in the forefront of the most recent attacks on President Obama, I’m guessing some in America are suffering from severe political partisan amnesia.  And, I’m saying that as an elderly person who sometimes can’t remember if he washed his hair when he gets out of the shower in the morning.  However, I don’t think it’s possible for me to forget the damage Bush/Cheney did to this nation I love.  I can agree that Obama has committed some serious mistakes, but Benghazi and its aftermath are way down the list for me (whatever those mistakes might be).  Blocking the investigations into Bush/Cheney was – if Obama has committed an impeachable offense – a failure of massive proportions – he took an oath to enforce the laws FAIRLY.  For starters, both George W Bush and Dick Cheney have repeatedly admitted to being WAR CRIMINALS.  Both have confessed on national TV that they authorized WATERBOARDING – and worst, in my mind, they both have said they would do it again.  (click here to read about how America prosecuted Japanese interrogators who waterboarded American prisoners during WW II) This is a direct violation of American law and International law – CLEARLY violating the Geneva Conventions ban on this form of interrogation.  Additionally, you don’t have to read many books on Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to realize that torturing was much more severe than the waterboarding.  Prisoners were killed and brutally tortured by Americans and sent to “black holes” (ie Egypt, or Central Asian “prisons”) around the world knowing what would happen to them upon arrival.  I guess GW Bush and Dick Cheney – two men who “chickened out” of the Viet Nam war wanted to demonstrate how “tough” they are.  This is ABSURD!  You have to have your “head in the sand” not to understand that the orders to torture prisoners came from the White House and the office of Donald Rumsfeld in the Pentagon.

Yet there’s much more.  How about outing a CIA agent because you don’t like her husband exposing the truth about the lies used to get America entrenched in Iraq (which subsequently has destabilized the entire world to this day).  This was clearly Cheney’s doing but he was all too willing to “throw” his assistant, Scooter Libby, “under the bus.”  Of course, Bush commuted Libby’s sentence so that he could disappear into the sunset and Cheney, once again, could “get away” with breaking the law.  (Cheney even proved he can shoot people in the face while being drunk and avoid any consequences)  In case you wondered, outing a CIA agent is a treasonous offense.  Of course, we’ll never know how many under cover agents perished once Valerie Plame’s identity was on the front cover of every paper in the world – but, there’s a reason why disclosing the identity of a CIA agent is such an egregious violation of the law. (now, I’m no fan of everything the CIA does, but “I’m just saying…….”)

Then, you’ve got the undermining of the Justice Department (which, in my view, is still reeling to this day) where assistant attorneys general were fired for refusing to politically prosecute democrats – or for investigating republican lawbreakers.  They actually had a young attorney (from Regents University law school – home of Pat Robertson) who was forcing attorneys hired at Justice during the Bush/Cheney regime to take a “loyalty oath” to the republican party – in itself, a felony.  Undermining the appearance of impartiality at the Justice Department is, to me, an attack on the very foundation of our government.   And, then Attorney General Gonzales had to be quietly sent out to pasture because he got up before congress and perjured himself OVER and OVER for about three days of absurd (“I can’t remember”) testimony.  Of course, the democrats were unwilling or unable to call him to account for his lies and he was ushered out of town quietly and “all was forgotten.” (obviously, not by me – and, I suspect, millions of other Americans who believe the Justice Department has an obligation to be non-partisan and operating with integrity.)

Let’s get back to 9/11.  Whether Bush/Cheney will admit to this or not – this disaster happened on “their watch.”  They had more warning for this than I think Obama had on Benghazi if you want to look at it that way, but this was terrorists invading the United States from Saudi Arabia (mainly) with the response aimed at Afghanistan and Iraq.  Go figure!  I’ve read books that document that the NSA knew at least some of the “attackers” were in the country as early as January of that year and there were plenty of warning signs that went without response even suggesting an attack using aircraft.  That being said, I never tried to place blame on Bush/Cheney until their irrational and incompetent actions required revisiting EVERYTHING they did.  I actually was totally in support of the United States going to Afghanistan to get Osama bin Laden, which of course the Bush/Cheney regime had no intention of following through on because that would have undermined their REAL intention which was to FIND a way to justify invading Iraq.  When I listened to Cheney tonight on the radio (as mentioned above) it was clear that much of his motivation regarding the attack on Obama for Benghazi was an attempt to undermine the success Obama had in “getting” bin Laden, which of course, Bush/Cheney failed miserably in doing.  These people (republicans) are desperately attempting to rewrite HISTORY in a way that “looks forward instead of back” and, unfortunately, their biggest ally in this is President Obama himself.

I could go on and on with the FAILURES of the Bush/Cheney administration – or the illegal behavior – like the undermining of the very institutions they were under oath to protect (again, for you Obama “haters” – he’s under oath to enforce the laws which is why letting Bush/Cheney “off the hook” is such an egregious failure on his – and Eric Holder’s – part), the tax cuts which turned a 250 BILLION dollar surplus ultimately into a multi TRILLION dollar debt (which they, again, blamed on Obama before he’d taken the oath of office), and the deregulation which led to the “Too Big to Fail (Jail)” bankers and the TARP bailout under BUSH’S “watch.”  Remember, Hank Paulsen did not act until it was evident that Goldman Sachs was within days of crumbling into a pile of unredeamable debt – just like Lehman Brothers – one of their main competitors – Goldman Sachs being the company Paulsen had led prior to his stint as Treasury Secretary – and undoubtedly, in my mind, the home of his fortune in stock or stock options that was about to go away without government intervention.  I might be wrong on this, but – again – not even a hint of an investigation.  And, not one Wall Street Banker who had a hand in almost destroying our economy (and succeeding in destroying many a workers pension plan) that I know of was prosecuted and went to jail for their reckless gambling of public funds.  Again, for all you Obama haters out there – this lack of prosecution is on “his watch.”

The end result of “looking forward and not back” is the revitalization of Richard Nixon’s claim that “if the president does it, it must be legal.”   Is Obama’s message to us little folk that there’s a fraternity of presidents and that they really are “above the law.”  When I look back at Ronald Reagan and then look at George W Bush and Dick Cheney that’s the message I get.  Well, if I was face to face with the president right now I would ask him, “How’s this plan working for you now?”  Because, obviously, the republicans operate in an entirely different sphere.  Now, I really believe that the public is smart enough to see past any attempt to impeach our president over whatever excuse they’re (republicans) going to come up with, but none of this had to happen.  The investigations (as I believe I pointed out around 4 years ago) were inevitable, but they should have been about the actions of the administration that began (or accelerated) the downward trend of America in the eyes of the rest of the world as we emerge into the 21st century – Bush/Cheney.  There’s the old saying, “Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it.”  We’re seeing how true this is OVER and OVER again in the recent past of America.  I would love to put it all on the republicans (really, Iraq – to me – was from DAY ONE Viet Nam all over again – perpetrated no less by two Viet Nam “chicken hawks”) but President Obama should have known better than to let Bush/Cheney off the hook!  Now we’re likely to have to endure another ridiculous republican impeachment circus.  Really, at some point maybe the American public will listen to me and people like me and vote these thugs (right wing republicans) 0ut of office so that we can regain some semblance of a working representative democracy in our nation.  If democrats want this dream to have any chance of reality it’s time to quit placating republicans for a few meager votes (ie – putting Social Security and Medicare “on the table”) and start FIGHTING for the values this nation stood on from the end of WW II until the days of the “Reagan Administration” which began this terrible “lurch” to the “right” and set the precedent (Iran/Contra) that republicans can violate America’s laws and it’s OK because the democrats don’t have the stones (in the words of Bill Clinton at the last democratic convention) to hold them accountable for their blatant lawbreaking.

One last thought – it just popped into my head – the reality is that is how this site evolves – As usual, I believe the republicans are always “one step ahead” of the democrats because their tactics ALWAYS have a diversionary component to them.  That is, there seems to be an obvious “point” to their actions, but there usually also is a “hidden agenda” to every move they make.  You have to give them credit for being conniving and overtly dishonest in a way that almost implies people operating without conscience.  They CLEARLY believe “the end justifies the means.”  I believe they DO want President Obama to FAIL in the worst way – yet, they also understand that impeachment has no chance of being upheld in the Senate.  It’s a political side show and circus designed to throw “raw meat” to their most rabid base.  However, it’s entirely possible, in my mind, that the real object of their attempt to impeach Obama will be Hillary Clinton.  (via the Benghazi “blame game”) I ask myself, what could be worst for these racists who’ve been less and less covert about their motives since the day Obama took office?  Well, the obvious answer is how about another Clinton? – and, a woman at that.  Believe me, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, the Kochs, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, and I could go on and on, DON’T want a woman as president AND they really don’t want another Clinton.  One thing they know for sure about Hillary Clinton is that she will not be as amenable to their CRAP as President Obama has been.  I believe it’s very possible all this Benghazi “to do” of the past few days is directed as much at the possibility of Clinton running for president in 2016 as Obama being impeached in 2013 or 2014.

There’s an interesting (and tragic) phenomenon going on in America as I write this, and it’s been ongoing for the past few years.  Our government has failed to respond to the unemployment crisis in a way that would have prevented the huge numbers of long term unemployed – as republicans argue the debt they created is sufficient reason to ignore millions of Americans who’ve been turned into the “unemployable.”  These “unemployable” potential workers are no longer paying taxes so government revenues are down, yet they still require things like medical care, etc. causing government expenses (and those of the rest of us) to increase while “right” wing politicians continue to prevent increases in taxes from those who are succeeding at an astonshing rate – taxes that would allow investment in things like infrastructure which would create good paying jobs.  And, while all this is going on, more and more of the incredibly rich are moving their money to offshore tax havens so they can avoid any taxes that might “right the ship” in America’s economy.  No wonder so many people are throwing their arms up and saying things like “There’s no hope for America because the corruption in Washington DC is just too pervasive.”  Even the “low information voters” know that it is the politicians in Washington DC who enable all this.

I remember almost as if it was yesterday my thoughts as the “Reagan revolution” unfolded that Ronald Reagan and his supporters were attempting to change America from a “we” society to a “me” society.  And, it appears they have virtually succeeded.  These are the people who have been fighting the “New Deal” of Franklin Roosevelt since the inception of all the “socialist” ideals it put forth.  The FACT that the New Deal fostered the greatest middle class in the history of mankind is irrelevant to those who still worship Reagan as if he was some kind of god.  As I put forth in my previous post, Reagan was actually an informer for the FBI, he was a major hypocrite when it came to “following the rules,” and he believed that the wealthy SHOULD be in control of America’s wealth – not America’s elected government.  Reagan spearheaded the assault on America’s unions which is continuing to this day as we witness a kind of “race to the bottom” regarding the wages and benefits that major employers seem to believe their workers deserve.  The statistics say that worker productivity has increased tremendously in the past 30+ years while wages have remained stagnant, or worse.  The FACT the focus of our government has been shifted to the wealthy could not be clearer as we experience the so-called “sequestration” “cuts” to our nation’s budget.  Already “exceptions” to the cuts are being made for those fortunate enough to travel by air, but – as per usual – “the least of us” (in the words of Jesus Christ) will be “left behind.”

Well before sequestration went into effect I commented that the people at the top would hardly notice it – virtually all the “pain” would be focused around those at the “bottom.”  Well, that wasn’t totally correct as we saw when those who had to wait in the long lines at airports got action from their congress for an “exception.”  Did you notice that it was the congress members who were some of the people standing in those lines?  I wonder how much that affected their decision to vote an exception to their “across the board” cuts.  And, you can pretty much be guaranteed that when sequestration “hits” the department of defense there will be more “exceptions.”  Most of my “railing” on this site has been directed (with good reason) toward republicans.  But it’s almost more frustrating to be forced to depend on the democrats to be the counter force to the republican assault on America’s middle class.  For example (looking away from the sequestration) many democratic populists and many independents (like me) once again got behind President Obama during the last election.  (I pointed out that my vote was AGAINST Mitt Romney and the republicans)  It didn’t take long and Obama was proposing cuts to Social Security (which is absurd) and Medicare (which does need to be “fixed”) – a MAJOR slap in the face to the MILLIONS who got behind him leading up to the election.  To me, this is an obvious attempt by our president to get the republicans to agree to SOMETHING.  However, it also demonstrates his failure to understand that this is an INTERNAL war for the heart and soul of America.  We need to DEFEAT this brand of republicans, not find a way to get them to say “yes” to something – especially at the expense of the signature successes of almost 100 years of progressive battles for “the least of us.”  In a representative government it’s depressing when your TOP representative makes proposals AFTER the election which would have caused you not to support him/her BEFORE the elections.  If I was in favor of cutting Social Security and Medicare Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan would have been the “answer.”

In fact, the so-called sequester was the result of the same kind of bargaining we’re apt to see over Social Security and Medicare.  The benefits will go to those at the “top” while those at the bottom get even more SCREWED.  When democrats start showing a willingness to bargain away the signature victories of the New Deal, well, those of us who are considered liberals (I guess I’m supposed to use the term progressives because the right wing propaganda scheme has vilified the word “liberal”) have to be wondering “where do we turn” for support.  The stark reality of American government is that “we the people” elect representatives and we have to trust them to “represent” us in Washington.  When the “top dog” in Washington shows any kind of weakness he/she can expect to be the recipient of a swarm of special interest money intended to turn a tiny “crack” in the “dike” into a “fissure.”  I still remember during the 2008 presidential campaign Hillary Clinton basing her “claim” on the democratic nomination to her perspective that Barrack Obama was not “up to” dealing with what he was going to get from the republicans.  Over the course of time, I believe he is proving her to  be prophetic.  Instead of bargaining away programs like Social Security and Medicare Obama should be out there FIGHTING the obstructionists in Washington with the hope of turning the House BLUE in 2014.  He should be working on Harry Reid to accept the reality that the Senate’s filibuster rules are archaic and being used by republicans to block anything positive from coming out of the senate.  He should  be publicly BATTLING for the above mentioned “unemployable” members of our society.  (many of them in their 50’s or early 60’s and in danger of losing EVERYTHING they’ve worked their lives for)

The republican philosophy has been to gain power by causing FAILURE in Washington.  They are doing this through procedural methods that the democrats have allowed along with their control of the so-called “liberal media.”  One thing republicans have been up front and honest about since Obama’s election is their determination to make sure that he FAILS.  I really don’t understand why this was not considered heresy and why the democrats have not been demonizing the republicans over this more intently.  75% of America wanted a “public option” when health care reform was in the works.  The special interests prevailed against this (and when “Obamacare” goes into full effect we will understand why the democrats should have found a way to push that through).  Something like 90% of Americans are in favor of background checks and registering guns.  A large majority are in favor of other attempts to control the use of assault weapons.  Again, the special interests are winning the “battle” through their purchase of our legislatures (including democrats).  I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this is all becoming more than nauseating.

When we look again at sequestration, the whole idea was a way to force congressional action in the wake of all the obstructionist tactics of republicans (remember, their number one priority is not the success of America, but the failure of our BLACK president – I’m sure if you’re reading my blog you’re smart enough to put two and two together to understand their motives).  However, as the “chipping away” at the areas of “pain” will show – there will be exceptions which will allow the further steps of this despicable method of governing to proceed (remember, only the first “wave” of sequestration has taken place).  My prediction is that areas like Head Start, food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc. will remain in tact – that is, getting cut – but when the defense department bellows loud enough we’ll have another “exception.”  Or when we find another area that directly affects the congressional leaders who voted for this absurd way of budgeting government in the first place we’ll see another “exception.”  Kind of reminds me of how the congressional leaders who have the so-called “Cadillac” health care policies have no concern for those who have no policy and want to tax working people who are lucky enough to have health care benefits through their employment.  Really, the more you examine America’s present government, the more absurd it gets.

I stated in an earlier post that the first “job” in fixing our nation’s government is to vote out all republicans who support this present day racist tea party philosophy that seems entrenched in their caucus and puts Obama’s failure above America’s success. (remember, republicans didn’t always act and function as they are these days – much of this obstructionist philosophy, I believe, emanates from the congressional days of Newt Gingrich – although, in my lifetime, republicans have been the bastion for America’s remaining racists) Once the republicans have been “purged” the job becomes to get rid of the spineless democrats who are “feeding at the same trough.”  I believe there is one TOTALLY bipartisan issue those of us outside of Washington can agree on and that is corporate money has totally CORRUPTED our government.   Somehow, that needs to change and I don’t think you can change the corruption by relying on those receiving the bounty.  It’s the same as expecting the fox to protect the hen house!

Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about the “military industrial complex” have morphed into a dangerous reality that continues to make America “less safe.”  It has fostered “moneychangers” who survive by promoting war and violence.  It has given us a bloated defense budget that surpasses virtually the rest of the world combined and an economy that is being drowned in the inescapable debt that is the result of those who believe in perpetual “warfare.”  The latest result, as we scramble to “get our economic house in order” is the sequestration.  That is just a symptom of how difficult it is and is going to be to overcome the incredible force behind this militarism on our nation’s economy.  Combined with the mentality of the republican party and the spineless democrats we end up governing through “sequestration.”  Honestly, I never imagined our country falling to this level of incompetence and corruption, but as I read more history it all seems inevitable.  Eisenhower knew what he was talking about.  I have to wonder: when will our people who are “down and out” become more important to our government than taking care of the “rich” and providing corporate welfare?

I’m presently reading a book – titled “Subversives, The FBI’s WAR on STUDENT RADICALS and Reagan’s Rise to Power” by Seth Rosenfeld – about how the FBI was violating the rights of “radicals” in the years leading up to  and into the 60’s at the behest of J Edgar Hoover – the head of the FBI for many years and apparently a paranoid, closet homosexual.  Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not “bashing” gays, it’s just that Hoover was – along with bashing anyone else who might not fit the bill (in his eyes) of the upstanding “conservative” “loyal” “patriotic” American – all the while why he was in a “same-sex” relationship for years himself.  OK, where have we heard that line before?  The derogatory term used by Hoover and his agents always seemed to have words like “left” or “liberal” connected to it and leading to the word “communist.”  Reminds me of the saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  This is going to be a hard post to write because the thoughts going through my head are almost overwhelming.  From my own experience and the many books I’ve read, even though McCarthy and his Communist “scare” seem like history that would never be repeated, it seems as if we’re in another of those “deja vu all over again” moments in time (similar to the unthinkable fiasco’s in Iraq and Afghanistan vis a vis Viet Nam).  One thing I’m learning as I continue my attempt at self-educating myself on the “goings on” in my own government – is that the CRAP that’s being hoisted on America by the right wing of the republican party today is nothing new.  It’s just becoming more sophisticated.

The other day I received, in the “snail mail” a brochure from the “National Review” titled “RESIST!”  I’m guessing, from the contents, whoever sent it to me had not read this blog.  Now, it’s true I’ve pointed out that I always considered myself somewhat of a conservative, until the recent 30 years of the “Reagan Revolution” has convinced me (and most people I know) that I’m a “flaming liberal.”  That’s why I found the brochure from the “National Review” to be most interesting.  I’m just going to include some of the quotes: “Obama’s dirty tricks.  Look forward to more administrative and regulatory tricks to circumvent Congress.” (my initial reaction: “Well, duh – I hope so, I mean with a Senate filibustering everything and a House voting for Nothing – somehow, something must get done in Washington)  “The liberal culture.  You won’t surrender to it and neither will we.” (can you see why I was a bit confused why they sent this to me?)  There’s more:  “The fate of America hangs in the balance.  Dim-witted liberals are leading the country half-cocked in dangerous new directions.” (Seriously)  And finally (this one, to me really says it all about the “right”):  “The coming leftist court.  More than one Justice could retire before Obama leaves office.  Look for a replacement who will spark a new era of aggressive leftist judicial activism.”  (are you kidding me? how could any court “out do” the Roberts’ court’s “Citizens United” example of judicial activism)  As I’m reading the present book and getting stuff like this from the “National Review” in the mail, the level of brainwashing that’s going on in America is almost beyond my imagination.  The problem is that it’s not imagination, it’s real.  And, they’ve (the people behind this propaganda scheme) got unlimited financial resources and a lot of technical savvy.  They’ve been at this for a long time and defeat at the ballot box doesn’t seem to affect them – they just “keep on keepin on.”

As I said, this topic makes my mind swirl with probably too many thoughts.  But, I think it goes right to the heart of what’s wrong in America.  Most of us normal everyday Americans have no idea how much power can end up resting in the souls of people like Hoover.  And, I’m certain there’s many more “out there” who would share his point of view.  The irony, to me, is that most of these people will claim that things like “moral decency,” “righteousness,” “honor,” “patriotism,” “integrity,” “less government” and other wonderful sounding words and phrases are what drives them and their thinking.  The problem I have with that is most of these people are just like the rest of us – full of “skeletons” in our “closets.”  Take for example, Hoover apparently living a gay lifestyle while “bashing” gays.  Reminds me of the Republican Senator from Idaho a few years ago who was leading the anti-gay “mission” of the republican party while having same-sex rendezvous in public restrooms at airports.  Or Newt Gingrich attempting to impeach Bill Clinton for cheating on his wife while being a double offender himself.  (I’m still wondering why Gingrich seems to still be a “talking head” of the republican party after cheating on his cancer stricken wife.  We’ll see if the democrats end up in the same situation with John Edwards – I seriously doubt it)  Then there’s Reagan, a “man of law and order,” mindlessly breaking one law after another, often times with the assistance of Hoover and Hoover’s “minions.” (or encouraging others to do so ie Iran/Contra)  Hoover (with the assistance of “informers” like Reagan) managed to destroy the careers of many “liberals” during his purging of “commies” during the years after WW II and, apparently, the political establishment feared him similarly to how the republicans of today fear Rush Limbaugh.  The message is somewhat the same – “liberal” is a dirty word.

Before I continue, I’ve just got to throw in something else quite ironic here.  In the history of the United States of America, virtually all advances that have benefited “we the people” have originated from “liberal” sources.  And, another irony – at least to me, as I’ve so often railed against the so-called “Christian Right,” is that many of these “liberal” initiatives were the result of public activism from Christians.  Yah, you got it right, the Christian movement in America has not always been stuck in this right wing rut that is turning so many (especially young) Americans off to the church.  The push to end slavery, the subsequent (long) push for civil rights for African Americans (which is continuing to this day), the labor movement (which so many in today’s America take for granted as republicans attempt to expunge every last union from the face of the earth), and the idea of a social safety net (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and other social programs aimed at helping “the least among us”) just to name a few, were the result of “liberals” (often times “liberal Christians”) pushing our reluctant government to do the “right thing.”  Some of these campaigns lasted for decades before there was success and those who oppose the idea of a “we” nation have been pushing back all the way.  It’s taken courageous leaders to overcome the “push-back” and it will take courageous leaders to prevent the present day “pushers” (like the Koch brothers, Limbaugh – and his benefactors, Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, the so-called tea party, outlets like Fox “news,” and people like Donald Trump and many others) from succeeding.

Much of Rosenfeld’s book centers on the FIGHT generated by the “subversives” (hippies, liberals, anti-war activists, civil rights activists, black activists – including Martin Luther King Jr., and others) who were willing to stand up to the authorities who were promoting the seemingly endless (in America) corporate sponsored control of America’s government.  I remember this time well as I was in college during the mid sixties and remember participating in anti-war rallies (once I realized the “domino theory” was a bunch of bunk).  I remember the passion on both sides of the war issue, the civil rights issue, and the other significant “battles” of the times (Medicare was part of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society”)  At Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University) it seemed as if EVERYONE was smoking marijuana – including many of the professors.  As I read Rosenfeld’s book I had to stop occasionally to think about my time in school during those years and wonder which ones of my acquaintances made it to the various FBI lists which were intended to inform our government which “subversives” should be arrested in the event of a national “emergency.”  (many “identified” through blatantly ILLEGAL surveillance) Rosenfeld spent almost 30 years fighting the FBI over Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documents relating to the unrest at the University of California at Berkeley and the part Reagan played in those years – as well as information about FBI files on others.  His writing is based on over 300 THOUSAND pages of FBI (actual) documents (which the FBI REALLY didn’t want to go “public”).  I really hope many choose to read this book (it’s really a good read – well put together) just because it gives even more information (if you need it) on the damage Ronald Reagan did to this great nation prior to his becoming president. (Not to mention the damage perpetrated by J Edgar Hoover – many of the people today who are claiming they want to “protect” the 2nd amendment gun rights are the same people who have idolized both Reagan and Hoover and apparently have no concern for the 4th amendment)

The part that was really unnerving to me in all of this was all the evidence relating to Reagan’s part as an FBI informant when he was a member (eventually president) of the Screen Actors Guild.  This was during the time of the “Red Scare” years of Joseph McCarthy – who was working on the “outside.”  However, working on the “inside” was Hoover with the help of people like Reagan.  Apparently, this was a time in America when many saw a “Communist” under every rock.  The “fear mongering” was right up there with what we’ve come to expect from our politicians in the “21st century.”  Certainly Reagan and Hoover thought alike in that if someone was a “liberal” that meant they were “subversive.”  I believe the great divide that is causing America, today, to descend toward second tier status in the world began right there.  Many of the people who are leading the “right wing” charge in the United States today came on the scene during the so-called “Reagan Revolution.”  Reagan spoke ad nauseum about “law and order” – he had a quote on his office wall that said something like “follow the rules or get out” – yet, he apparently didn’t think that saying applied to himself.  Reagan affiliated himself, in a condescending manner, to Hoover – who was routinely violating the constitution he was sworn to uphold with illegal unwarranted surveillance (with Reagan’s encouragement), and Reagan carried on Hoover’s tradition (the rules don’t apply to me) through his years as president.  The epitome, for Reagan, was the Iran/Contra “affair” of which he managed to avoid any consequences (lots of “I can’t remembers”), but his “informing” on fellow (and unsuspecting) actors, to me, tells the “tale” of Ronald Reagan.  And, this is no longer conjecture, because it’s all documented in the files Rosenfeld got right from the FBI file cabinets.  Reagan helped ruin people’s lives because he disagreed with them!

Even though I’ve never been in a position to gain “mucho power” I understand how it would appeal to someone who’s ambitious and finds him/herself in the position Reagan was in during the late forties.  He was a successful actor and he became involved in the Screen Actors Guild.  (Now, if you don’t find that ironic you don’t think as I do – I place the major BLAME on today’s republican vendetta against UNIONS right on the doorstep of Ronald Reagan – former union president)  Reagan OUTED a significant number of famous actors and actresses as either “Commies” or “Liberals” during the fifties and sixties which directly led to his rise in politics.  This also led to the ruination, in some instances, of the victims’ careers due to his “information and accusations.”  Honestly, to this day it’s hard for me to think anything good about someone who would do that to his fellow “brothers and sisters” in his union.  According to the files Rosenfeld managed to acquire, Reagan’s informant status with Hoover led to FBI manipulation of events as Reagan was emerging in politics and running for governor of California in the mid sixties on to his push toward the presidency.  Reagan was unhappy with the anti-war turmoil, the Free Speech Movement, and other “movements” (including civil rights) that were originating on college campuses, with Berkeley being at the forefront of the protest movement.  The FBI placed informants into these groups, some who actually urged the groups to violate laws (in one instance an FBI informant supplied weapons to the Black Panthers in an attempt to increase violence and turn public opinion against the protestors).  The disregard for the privacy rights of individuals was pretty much routine by the FBI with the encouragement of Reagan.  In fact, according to the book “Subversives” Reagan’s approach to the campus protests led to more violence and he condoned it by protecting the police officers who shot and or abused protesters. (this was about the same time as the campus shootings at Kent State University and elsewhere)  Ultimately, one of Reagan’s first acts after his election to the presidency was to pardon a couple officers who had been convicted of shooting protesters.  (one innocent bystander was killed and another lost the sight in both eyes when hit by buckshot fired indiscriminately by police officers)  In this instance, as in so many others, Reagan took the position that he could interpret the law in whatever manner he chose despite overwhelming evidence against the officers who were pardoned (And, not even following well established protocol regarding presidential pardons).

The “fallout” from all of this, in my view, is the sorry state of affairs we find ourselves in today.  The so-called Patriot Act, which followed the “9/11” attack compromised our 4th amendment rights in a way that was alarming to people like me.  Subsequent to that, the congress was not able to hold the telecommunications companies, who were illegally providing “private” information to the Bush/Cheney administration, to account for their violation of the FISA law.  The FISA law was the direct result of the “Church Committee” discovering the abuses of Hoover and the FBI during the 1960’s and mid 1970’s.  This was a senate committee chaired by Frank Church of Idaho.  I remember, at the time (during the Watergate years), feeling as if the government was “working.”  However, emerging members of the republican party at that time, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, felt the executive branch was weakened by this legislation.  They were prominent in the Bush/Cheney administration which openly violated FISA and managed to get the Patriot Act passed and the FISA Act modified to allow the government more latitude in “intruding” on the privacy of the American public.  Unfortunately, in my view, Barrack Obama pretty much “sealed the deal” when he “looked forward instead of back” and blocked ALL investigations into the illegal activity of the Bush/Cheney administration.  So, now we’re stuck with a situation where the government (which is really “we the people”) is gathering who knows how much information from the unsuspecting public and it’s not part of the “main stream” of discussion.  Americans are focused on guns (as well they should be).  However my point is this:  The secret actions of Ronald Reagan: the informing, the spying, the illegal activity should drive his legacy.  His role in the degrading trend in America’s government today should not be glossed over with the typical “right wing” revisionist history.  The level of corruption in Washington DC is depressing, and the government response of “looking the other way” can be traced back to the years of Reagan.  Not only our government leaders but also the leaders on Wall Street and in the corporate headquarters are much too confident that they are above the law.  Sadly, people like Eric Holder (our Attorney General) and Barrack Obama seem to be perpetuating this problem, but I feel the “root” of the problem goes right back to the administration of Ronald Reagan.  Read “Subversives” by Seth Rosenfeld and see if you don’t agree.

I was thinking the other day about the outcome of all the “privatization” which has been imposed on America since the days of Ronald Reagan.  If you’re as old as I am the words “Government is the problem, not the solution” is indelibly etched in your mind as either the “root” of all the decline of the past 30+ years (if you think as I do) or the “call to arms” in the right wing attempt to dismantle the New Deal of the FDR years.  (and the New Deal’s aftermath, which included the great work of Eisenhower in creating the amazing interstate highway system and the “60’s” when we got Medicare, the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964)  America’s great middle class was on the upswing during the post WW II years up until the 80’s with many of us “seniors” today being the beneficiaries of the sacrifices of our parents and grandparents through the years of the Great Depression and the second World War.  Somehow, we’ve allowed ourselves, as a nation, to let the right wing politicians (beginning with Reagan, but moving progressively farther to the right each decade since) to convince “we the people” that the government is not us.

The truth is that “we” are the government and, at least in my case, I continue to watch in amazement at how “we the people” keep electing people into government positions whose main objective is to destroy the very institutions they’re pledged to protect.  Reagan brought in the idea of “privatization” so that now we have private hospitals (up until the 80’s virtually all hospitals were “non profit”), private utilities, private security forces, private schools, private parks, private armies, private war contractors, and private prisons – just to mention a few of the results of this phenomenon.  There are many outgrowths of this type of policy thinking, and in my view most of them lead to further divisiveness in our nation.  That is, further separation of the “haves” from the “have nots.”  And, ultimately, if we continue down this path I believe civil unrest is inevitable.

The issue that brought this topic to my mind was a conversation I heard on the radio the other day (I had to subscribe to XM satellite radio because our local “liberal” talk radio was canceled for another dose of the Fox nightmare) regarding the alarming number of Black adults in the prison system of the U.S.  What was really startling to me was the discussion regarding “private prisons” that caused me to think in a way that would never happen if I was trusting the so-called “mainstream media” to provide me with information.  The discussion I tuned into was about how the operators of the private prisons are able to make sure that inmates are returned to their prison through political deal making with local politicians and law enforcement personnel through incentives that really amount to obscene examples of corruption.  Really, when you think about it, the purpose of prison “time” should be rehabilitation, but with a private prison the incentive is to keep the inmate incarcerated as long as possible because the operators of the prison don’t make money with “empty beds.”  This is crazy to me, just the idea that we would allow this to happen.

The hospital and health care system in America has evolved in the sense that medical procedures have advanced tremendously since my youth, but the availability of hospitals and medical services is dwindling as I write.  Despite the so-called “Affordable Care Act” I find a seemingly endless campaign to try to stop “health care reform” by the very people who’ve lost the last two elections in which health care reform was a major issue both times – the first time (2008) Americans saying they wanted “affordable healthcare” with a “public option” and the second time (2012) the voters saying they want “Obamacare” despite the FACT it is far less than what was envisioned during the initial campaign in 2008.  (I believe it will be painfully obvious how important the so-called “public option” was when this was all coming “down” as we see the private insurance companies attempting to gouge the public as the government “gifts” them 30 MILLION new customers)  I’ve seen reports where insurance companies (who, as I just said, are going to get millions of new customers) are threatening to raise rates even more substantially than they have over the previous 4 years and I’ve heard all sorts of other complaints about “socialized medicine” that sound to me as if they’re (the complaints) coming directly from the mouths of the Fox “news” bloviators or the right wing mouth pieces like Rush Limbaugh or Lars Larsen.  The brainwashing coming from the so-called “liberal media” (outlets like Fox “news,” The Wall Street Journal, CNN, etc.) even have acquaintances of mine who have no insurance and can get no insurance due to their previous medical issues believing that “Obamacare” is a bad thing.  The absurdity of this is beyond palpable.

One of my friends had a heart attack and needed quadruple bypass surgery to save his life.  The bill was over a quarter of a million dollars – an impossibility for him to pay.  Essentially, the hospital knowing that payment was impossible, “forgave” the debt.  A great thing for my friend (although I don’t think the doctor was as gracious – probably leading to some form of bankruptcy) but not so great for those of us who have been (and are) paying for health insurance (and, lucky enough to have it I might add).  I happen to be a person who has health issues and fortunately my insurance can’t be cancelled because I’m a member of a union and we have a large “group” that gets insurance through our employer.  (republicans want to destroy my union as well as all the remaining unions in America – God help us if they succeed)  I was recently in the hospital for around 24 hours for a surgery on my cervical spine.  The hospital bill was in excess of $40 THOUSAND for those 24 hours.  When my first daughter was born – back when hospitals were “non-profit” – my wife had a “C section” delivery (which is a major surgery) and she was in the hospital with my daughter for 4 days.  I had no insurance at the time, but the bill was $3000 which I was able to repay in less than two years (back then the prevailing wage was something less than $5 per hour).

I could go on with a list of examples where the “right wing” would have us believe we’re so much better off because of “privatization” that, in reality, are at best debatable – and, at worst – like the private prisons – a MAJOR sham on our society that is causing grief for the “least of us” (using the words of Jesus Christ) and a lot of profit for the wealthy among us who will do anything for money.  Since the days of Reagan our society has been on a steady course toward measuring success by money.  The result is clearly a widening of the gap between the rich and poor, a disintegration of America’s “middle class,” a disintegration of American families, a widening of the racial divide that so many have worked so hard to narrow, and what appears to me to be the creation of – or the attempt at creating – a permanent underclass through the undermining of the public education system.

The people pulling the republican “strings” are very sophisticated and, in my view, always one step ahead of the general public (and the democrats) in their actions.  When they are saying one thing out of one side of their mouths, it seems to me what they are really up to is what isn’t coming out of the other side of their mouths.  Take for example education, which I have a little knowledge about as a teacher for 20 years.  Once the Supreme Court had anointed George W Bush as president he immediately sought the passage of the so-called “no child left behind” legislation which was supposedly designed to bring all children to the same level of achievement by 2014.  To the unassuming person who believes our politicians are transparent and genuine I’m sure this sounded great.  Bush even got Teddy Kennedy to go along with his scheme (Kennedy realized he’d been snookered before he died, but it was then too late to “fix” the problem).  To educators the absurdity of the legislation was apparent from the 1st day.  For example, it’s unreasonable to expect a student with learning disabilities to be at the same level as a student who is fully capable.  If “parity” between the two different levels of students was realistic then the identifying of “special needs” (like autism, mental retardedness, dyslexia, emotional disorders, etc.) would be unnecessary.  However, the reality is that schools such as the one I work in have populations of “special needs” students with as many as 15 -20% of the students.  With “life skills” students, the teachers are, in some instances, teaching a student how to communicate the most basic of human needs.  These students shouldn’t even be taking tests.  Yet, Bush’s “no child left behind” legislation required EVERY student to be judged based on a single test each year – and, the result of that legislation continues to erode our education system as I type this.  I believe the legislation was intended to erode our public school system – that was actually its purpose. (with the intended result – private schools)

Schools are judged on whether their students are meeting “adequate yearly progress” and the standards, at least for schools such as mine, are virtually impossible for some students to meet.  It’s just a matter of time until my school, and most other public schools – are “failing.”  Yet, I see miraculous examples of students who are coming from generational poverty pulling themselves OUT all the time – so, to me the school I teach in is not a failing school no matter what the test scores say.  I’m not opposed to testing the students – it’s a way for me to measure whether my own students have grown appropriately over the course of a school year in the subject areas I’m teaching – but, the state mandated “high stakes” testing is causing too many schools to focus on test results and not on what is best overall for their students.  Aside from my contention that I believe “no child left behind” was part of the scheme to eliminate public schools and “privatize” education in America (again, God help us if the republicans succeed at this) – which will exacerbate that divide between the “haves” and “have nots” even more – I’ve come to believe that another “offshoot” of the bill could be what I see as the attempt to create a “permanent underclass” of workers willing to work for less – the large number of young Americans who are dropping out of school because of the focus on testing and going to college that apparently makes graduating from high school seem less important to so many.  I’ve got sixth graders who are already “giving up” because they can’t see a “light at the end of the tunnel.”  They believe the testing is identifying them as the “losers.”

Another despicable aspect of this “privatization” scheme and the “no child left behind” legislation which caused virtually EVERY state in the union to have a need for the “high stakes” tests – is that President Bush’s brother Neil is making a “killing” selling testing materials that are required based on his brother’s “signature” legislation.  This is how the privatization scheme works.  As I see it, there’s a shrinking group of very wealthy Americans/foreigners who are in charge of the multinational corporations which, behind the scenes, control America’s politicians who are legitimizing this turn away from the New Deal toward the idea of privatization.  When congress closes down part of the government and gives the “authority” to another private enterprise – this cabal of wealthy individuals who seemingly have an insatiable desire for MORE money – ALWAYS come out WAY AHEAD – while the American public continues to be the ones “left behind.”  They’re even doing this in war.

If you remember, the Bush/Cheney regime privatized a large portion of the FIASCO in Iraq and Afghanistan – “wars” which were seemingly endless – but, wars where the “cronies” of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld – and, they themselves – made HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars (dollars borrowed by the people who are now whining about our horrendous debt).  I’ve read where Dick Cheney’s holdings in Halliburton (a company that moved it’s headquarters to Dubai in order to avoid American legal scrutiny over their corrupt practices in Iraq – with virtually NO BLOW-BACK from our “liberal media”) increased over $100 MILLION during the Iraq Fiasco, Donald Rumsfeld’s holdings increased a similar amount, and Douglas Feith made a huge “killing” as well (no pun intended).  I believe Richard Perle, a former assistant Secretary of Defense and an associate of Paul Wolfowitz – both men major instigators of the invasion of Iraq – started a company which was set up to profit off of no-bid private security contracts in Iraq)  To me this is unthinkable, but evidently in our age of “privatization” any way you can make money is acceptable.  Halliburton and their subsidiary KBR (Kellogg Brown and Root) have a long history of “allegedly” overcharging the government, kickbacks, bribery, etc. and they continue to receive open ended no-bid contracts from the pentagon with no sign that I’ve seen of any accountability for their corrupt practices or their sloppy work.  It just seems that whenever they want to “privatize” something, someone is getting filthy rich as a result – and, “we the people” are always the losers.

I don’t question whether large corporations provide benefits to the American public, but I question the motivation of the people who continue to insist that private business is always more efficient than government.  The reality, in my view, is that there should be no profit in war, hospitals should be non-profit, the idea of “private prisons” is absurd, destroying public education so that the “wealthy among us” can send their children to private schools with public “vouchers” is a not so subtle attack on our students born into poverty, and we DEFINITELY don’t need private militias (like Blackwater) and private contractors fleecing America’s taxpayers with their will for endless “wars.” (actually, I don’t believe either the invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq are officially declared wars)  The people behind this movement for privatization are the same people who support no regulations on Wall Street, they support all the tax havens in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Switzerland, etc., and they are behind the effort to prevent congress from repealing tax loopholes for major corporations which allow many companies (like GE, Microsoft, Apple, etc.) from paying, in some instances, ANY taxes – or in many cases an amount that even approaches the traditional expectation corporations faced for their tax bills (percentage wise) in the years following WW II leading up to the days of “Reaganomics.”  The statistics are undeniable: since the days of Reagan the incomes of the wealthy in America have risen dramatically while the income of the working class (despite huge increases in productivity) has stagnated or declined.  Privatization works for the wealthy and Wall Street, but not for those of us on Main Street.