I started writing about the consequences of President Obama’s futile attempt at “bipartisanship” from the beginning of his term in office.  I also pointed out the FOLLY of surrounding himself with Washington AND Wall Street INSIDERS as he began his historic administration.  I, along with MILLIONS of other LIBERALS (progressives – we seem to have given up that word “liberal” in the face of the republican propoganda machine), began pointing out the “mistakes” as they were unfolding only to be referred to as “f___ing liberals” by Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.  When Emanuel received no consequence for lashing out at the “base” I knew we were in BIG TROUBLE.  And, I wish I could put this differently, but I’m just now getting a grasp at how big the trouble is.  I’m feeling that President Obama and those surrounding him got EXACTLY the WRONG message from the recent midterm election.

Now that I’ve seen the president in action for almost two years I have to admit that I almost anticipated this.  He’s already reaching out to republicans in a way that I’m guessing will allow them to succeed in getting the “Bush tax cuts” extended.  Remember, if they’re extended for even two years the republicans will be chomping at the bit in 2012 to get them “permanently extended” then.  This will be another in what’s appearing like a long line of “deja vu’s all over agains.”  (OK, I “get” that was a bit awkwardly put)  And, if we haven’t reached depression stage with our economy by then, we’ll be even more on the “brink.”  I think I’ve already written this, but if Obama “caves” on this one, he won’t even get the democratic nomination for re-election.  What’s TOTALLY ironic to me is the so-called “tea partiers” railing against the deficit, yet supporting the tax cuts, the wars, and all the corporate welfarism that runs Washington DC.  It makes about as much sense as when Ronald Reagan first proposed the idea:  “I’ll cut taxes and balance the budget.”  Voodoo economics then, voodoo economics NOW!

President Obama has cringed when he’s been dubbed “republican-lite” by those of us who really want him to succeed and he, along with his supporters like Randi Rhodes, are quick to reel off a list of accomplishments that would separate him from republicans.  Yes, he’s headed in a different direction in the overt decisions of his administration, but when you look a little deeper, it’s a lot closer to “business as usual.”  That is what has the “liberals” upset and that is why they stayed home in November.  Personally, I voted in November, but I’m thinking this is maybe a necessary “correction” (I’m an optimist by nature) because most of the democrats who were “purged” from Congress (with a few notable exceptions – and, I have to add here that, in my mind, Alan Grayson of Florida is one of my favorite politicians.  Talk about your congressperson with the guts to speak the truth as he sees it – without fear of losing his seat – which he lost.  But we need more leaders willing to speak their minds without putting re-election ahead of their values) were the so-called “blue dogs.”  The democratic party is in need of a remolding to get it back to Main Street and away from Wall Street.  If Obama doesn’t figure out what’s really happening, and FAST, the struggle to save this nation from the suffocating grip of multinational corporations will become even more daunting.

“Grass roots” is a great notion, and it can be very powerful.  But, you need leaders to guide the “ship.”  Take the “tea party” for example.  They had a convention with something like 600 people attending.  Their movement has been inspired by corporate cronies with unlimited funds to spend on advertising, TV personalities with mammothly egotistical agendas, and Americans who – whether you want to believe this or not – just can’t handle someone who’s not “white” in the White House.  Unfortunately for those of us who are shaking our heads that this phenomenom could reach such “heights” in present day America, President Obama has taken the wrong turn at almost EVERY intersection when confronting this.  I’ve been listing these things for almost two years, but I’m going to do it again (relax, I’ll try to be a bit abbreviated :o) because if Obama doesn’t start fighting back, those on the left need to begin looking for a different leader – YOU HAVE TO HAVE A LEADER!  (That’s where I believe the “tea partiers” are going to fall short – I think their agenda is likely to conflict with the “republican” agenda, and the fallout could be very interesting to say the least – remember, their de facto leader is Sarah Palin)

I wrote about this to the point that I probably turned off some of the 300 or so of you reading these posts (I still find it hard to believe anyone found my spot in cyberspace) – but President Obama’s decision to BLOCK all investigations of the Bush/Cheney administration will go down in history as one of the major presidential BLUNDERS of all time.  That decision alone GAVE the debate back to the republicans.  It was like showing blood to a shark in the water.  It showed Obama to be indecisive and basically spineless – not up for a good fight.  He said at the time he wanted to “look forward instead of back” – which is absurd on its face – I’ve pointed out that using his logic (and he’s a constitutional lawyer) there would never be another crime committed in America – because you have to look back AFTER THE CRIME’S BEEN COMMITTED!  He also said he didn’t want the “distraction” of all the investigations (and, there would have probably been an endless stream of them because the fraud, abuse, and outright lawbreaking was routine in the Bush/Cheney White House).  Well, what Obama got were way more “distractions” anyway.  (not to mention the “distractions” Obama’s going to be facing with a republican chairing the House government oversight committee in the next congress)  He (and the rest of us) would have been much better off had the “distractions” been focused on what Bush/Cheney did illegally instead of on Obama caving in on one piece of legislation after another.

Let me refresh your memory.  Obama took office with two wars being mismanaged, the economy was on the precipice of disaster, the government itself had been essentially dismantled, jobs were being lost at a rate approaching 1 MILLION per MONTH, and the previous president was leaving town with his “tail between his legs.”  I’m dead serious when I say that in the last few months of his presidency George W Bush looked like a “deer in the headlights.”  I’m not even sure he realized the magnitude of destruction he had imposed on America and the rest of the world.  In fact, it was Bush’s Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen – former head of Goldman Sachs who was intimately involved in the risk taking abuses which led to the “meltdown” – who created the TARP bailout that so angered MILLIONS of Americans.  It was forgivable for Obama to vote for the bailout as a senator, but it was unforgivable for him to then ally himself with Tim Geithner (also intimately involved in the process leading to the crash) and Larry Summers (another Goldman Sachs alum who was instrumental in the repeal of Glass Steagall which allowed the Wall Street banks to become “too big to fail”) and then BLOCK all investigations into the impropriety of what was being done in the name of (and to) the taxpayers.

By abandoning what should have been a process to uncover ALL the wrongdoings in an attempt to make certain they didn’t happen again, President Obama opened himself up for the absurd criticism which has led to, as of the mid term elections, upwards of HALF of American voters believing it was Obama who engineered the TARP bailouts.  I realize this is an indictment of what I call the “low information voters” in America (there’s your opening Lars), but the president is the LEADER!  The investigations would have made things clear.  Also, they possibly could have uncovered ahead of time the malfeasance which led to the mine disaster in West Virginia and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  In both of those instances, culpibility goes right back to regulatory agencies “in bed” with corporate interests in such a way to save them money at the risk of their employees lives.  To me, that is ALL unacceptable!  Now we have energized republicans sans “tea partiers” clamoring for less taxes, less regulation, less government, and – oh yes – a balanced budget.  And, for good measure, they’re not only happy to be bumbling through TWO wars indefinitely, they want to increase instead of decrease our nuclear arsenal and many of them would love to invade Iran!

It gets worse.  I realize that the republicans could care less about how America is viewed by the rest of the world, but the reality is that it’s very important and we are in a state of accelerating decline.  It’s almost as if we’re shooting oursleves in the foot and we’re wondering how it happened.  For anyone reading this who is unaware of the economic realities of the day, much of America’s HUGE debt is held by foreign nations.  The dollar is tenuous, at best, in it’s role as the leading international currency.  And, America and it’s voting base seems to be oblivious to the potential of this impending disaster (and that would be the world turning away from the dollar).  We have become a nation of consumers and we’ve evolved to consumers who have to borrow to purchase goods.  2008 seems to have been the breaking point of our ability to continue borrowing so that we could keep consuming.  However, we’ve also – since the days of Reagan – been actually promoting American businesses to locate “over seas.”  Well, not only have the jobs been going over seas but so has our technology – which is the real prize in the eyes of the Chinese, the Indians, and others.  Keep in mind, once they build their own economies sufficiently, they have PLENTY of consumers.  Combine this with America’s imperialistic tendencies which are turning nation after nation off and I hope you can see the writing on the wall.  The cycle of greed that seems to have a grip on the corporate elite in America is choking the rest of us, it’s risking our position as the “leaders of the free world,” and – combined with “Citizens United” and the republican propoganda machine which controls our media – it’s threatening to leave our children with a nation in ruins.

Because of Obama’s decision to “look forward instead of back” we now have a bunch of extreme right wing “whackos” energized to bring our government to a halt.  They don’t want to “fix” the health care bill (which SHOULD have included a “PUBLIC OTPION” for ALL) they want to repeal it.  They don’t want to make sure the “too big to fail” banks don’t screw us again, they want to repeal regulations protecting us from them.  25% of the voters in the recent election were over 65 and now we’re looking at a scaling back or repeal of Social Security and Medicare.  They want to destroy public education, arguably the MAIN REASON America has reached such lofty heights.  (This hit “full steam ahead” with “No Child left Behind” and unfortunately is continuing to accelerate under Obama – we give schools mandates, we just don’t give them the resources necessary to carry the mandates out)  As someone approaching 65 I’m actually ashamed that these older Americans have been taking from this country for their entire lives and now are voting against the very programs which have benefitted them.  Of course, they don’t want to take away benefits now, just from their children and grandchildren.  I honestly don’t get it.  These people won’t believe in issues such as Climate Change until New York or Los Angeles is under water.

Worse than those “challenges” facing “progressives” in the coming two years, by “looking forward” President Obama has allowed George W Bush and Dick Cheney to travel this great nation essentially BRAGGING about authorizing TORTURE.  Again, in the eyes of the world now, we’re a nation that believes in TORTURE!  All the “human rights” posturing aside, I can’t believe we’ve evolved to this.  Does Obama really believe that by him saying we won’t TORTURE anymore that it makes it so?  Come on here!  TORTURE is a WAR CRIME!  It not only violates our own laws and international laws, it violates the Geneva Conventions which we were instrumental in setting up as the supporters of “human rights.”  The other day I was forced to listen again to George W Bush ADMITTING to authorizing WATERBOARDING and then claiming that by doing so he “saved lives.”  That is complete BULL S#*@!  EVERY professional interrogator I’ve heard interviewed or read has pointed out that waterboarding gets NO actionable intelligence.  Khalid Sheik Mohammed was providing actionable intelligence UNTIL he was waterboarded (183 TIMES!) after which he began trying to tell the interrogators anything to get them to stop.  Aside from that – waterboarding is a WAR CRIME!  If you do it, or if you authorize it, you have committed a WAR CRIME!  As far as I understand the legal system, it’s as simple as that.  Obama has created an environment where Bush is comfortable traveling from city to city bragging about this.  Again, UNBELIEVABLE to me.

So, we’re stuck with democratic leaders who are supporting Bush/Cheney illegal actions in court (warrantless wiretapping), supporting secrecy in government by defending the “State’s Secrets privilege” in court – something abused beyond belief by Bush/Cheney, who backed off of sufficient stimulus in the face of republican opposition at the beginning of Obama’s term, who willingly dropped the “Public Option” despite support from almost 75% of the public, and on and on.  The democrats have shown no willingness or capability to “take on” the republican propaganda machine.  Give the republicans credit – they are “out messaging” the democrats as if it’s men against boys.  The problem is that due to their lack of resolve during the past two years, they are going to need MORE resolve in the next two.  And, the initial indications I’m seeing since the mid terms is NOT good.  I’ve heard leading democrats already willing to throw in the towel on the tax cuts – I’ve pointed out here several times, just let them expire.  It’s time for Americans to start paying for the services we need – including TWO WARS!  The so-called “Deficit Commission” – who’s leaders made an initial report yesterday – have drunk the republican “coolaid” before any negotiations take place!  Republicans have somehow convinced the American public that taking care of the “rich” is the government’s main function.  It’s like we’re headed to 1929 ALL OVER AGAIN!  The battle against this impending corporatocracy will require courageous leadership.  It will require politicians who are not bought and paid for by the very interests who are undermining our nation.  It will require politicians far more courageous than those presently leading the democratic party.

I’m going to end with a couple thoughts – thoughts that will kind of lay out the prospects of what lies ahead for the next two years.  Within a couple weeks the so-called 99ers will lose their unemployment benefits.  Are the democrats going to make a stand in the lame duck session?  That alone will tell us a lot.  And, of course, with inaction the “Bush tax cuts” will expire.  I am in favor of letting them expire – I don’t believe the democrats have the guts to do so (that would raise mine and probably your taxes).  Short of that, they could propose IN THE HOUSE the extension of tax cuts for anyone making less than what seems to be the “in” cut off for “rich vs poor” – $250,000 – and send it to the senate – putting republicans in the senate on the spot to either vote for tax cuts for 98% of Americans or against it.  I seriously doubt that this president and this democratic congress has even the will to do something like that – which is arguably supported by 80% of the public – because they are cowering to the response by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and the other right wing “talkers” who would figure out a way to demonize leaving those at the top out of the picture.  Those two issues will pretty much define, in my view, what we – as progressives – face for the next two years. 

A couple of days ago I started reading “Obama’s War” by Bob Woodward and I’m finding the book intriguing to say the least.  I’ve been railing against republicans since President Bush tragically blundered this nation into the quagmire of Iraq – essentially destabilizing the entire world in the process.  Not only did Bush abandon the real fight against al Qaeda in Afganistan – in my view, he purposely allowed Osama bin Laden and his forces to escape certain defeat at Tora Bora in order to enable his real intention all along which was to find a way to invade Iraq.  Thusly, the United States of America has been mired in two unwinnable, poorly managed, extremely costly wars going on ten years now.  For those of us old enough to remember Viet Nam – it’s Deja Vu all over again.  Of course, not only did Bush/Cheney screw up our foreign policy, but they did a royal number on our economy at home as well.  They left Barack Obama arguably the WORST MESS any president in history has faced upon his first day in office.  Which brings me to my point for the evening – despite Obama needing to pull out some kind of miracle to resuscitate our economy he has two INCREDIBLY complex WARS to deal with that somehow have managed to get lost in the “tea party” headlines of the past year or so.

I’m just about a third of the way through this book, but as I read it I’m just getting more and more angry with the republican party, and unfortunately the large number of Americans who seem willing to turn the “reigns” back to them in congress.  When you start looking at the nuances of what these people are doing, it really is feeling traitorous to me.  Now, I’m not talking about the “man on the street” because most Americans don’t seem to have the time to look beyond the headlines.  And, the republicans have figured out that they can buy their way past the obvious hollow message that lies behind the so-called “talking points,” which is what we hear on Fox or the other media outlets who’ve bought into the “fair and balanced” nonsense.  America is STUCK in two wars – BOTH the work of incompetent republican policy decision making – and these people are doing everything they can to UNDERMINE a sitting American president.  I honestly can’t imagine this happening during a time of peace – yes, it’s OK to have disagreements and attempt to persuade the public that one position is preferable to another.  But, that’s completely different from CONSPIRING to cause an American president to FAIL.  And, that’s exactly what the republicans have been doing since day one of this administration.

I’ve often thought the main reason they’re doing this is because Obama is Black, although when I consider what they’d be doing had Hillary Clinton won the White House I don’t think it would be much different.  The bottom line with them is that the well being of this nation is secondary to their selfish, greedy desire to have POWER.  All you have to do is look at the amount of money being spent – SECRETLY – by large corporate donors and then think logically: “Why are these people willing to spend MILLIONS for a mid term election?”  The answer is disgusting – the republican party, in concert with who knows which large multinational corporations – are attempting to undermine the very foundation of our representative democracy through a concerted, well financed campaign of mis-information aimed at undercutting President Obama’s ability to change the direction of our nation from the Bush/Cheney/Reagan attempt to turn America into a corporatocracy.

President Eisenhower warned us all about the power of the “military industrial complex” back in the fifties – cautioning the American people to not allow this “behemoth” to get out of control.  Well, it’s out of control and it’s going to be very difficult to get it back under control – especially if the American people don’t rise up and demand an early end to the “Citizens United” era – which is coming at us like an out of control freight train.  I’ve been warning about this since the day the decision was announced.  Actually, I (and other listeners of Thom Hartman – “progressive” radio “talker”) heard about the pending possibility some weeks prior to the decision, but when it happened, and I took just a casual look at the implications, I reacted in almost horror.  My thoughts: “This can’t be happening in the America I’ve been living in for the past 60+ years!”  But, yes it can.

I can still see Samuel Alito sitting in the Supreme Court section of the congress during Obama’s State of the Union speech when Obama warned of the severity of this decision and the need to “fix” the problem.  The Supreme Court had essentially overturned 100 years of campaign finance laws – actually going way beyond the decision in front of them – yes, Lars if you’re reading this, your right wing judges are the most ACTIVIST judges I’ve seen in my lifetime – and, they opened the doors to FOREIGN corporations having a major influence on our elections.  (ANY influence they might have is TOO MUCH!)  As Obama was correctly pointing this out, there sat Alito shaking his head and mouthing the words “no way.”  Despite the unprofessionalism Alito displayed by doing so, the reality is that we have already been inundated by an indeterminable amount of foreign money in this, the first election cycle since the HORRIBLE decision.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Karl Rove (who’s controlling something approaching a half a billion dollars), and the other “Supre PACS” who don’t have to disclose where their money is coming from are undoubtedly receiving funds from foreign sources.  Hell, News Corp, run by Rupert Murdoch with its second leading investor ($3 BILLION) coming from a Saudi Arabian sheik have OPENLY funneled several MILLION dollars to various republican committees and right wing candidates.  Murdoch is an Australian and the Saudi sheik has ties to Osama bin Laden (that is, he’s helped finance bin Laden in the past) but this isn’t getting much play from our “liberal media.”  The sad truth is that we’ll probably never know where all the money’s coming from – but, $4 BILLION spent on a midterm election is obscene.

To make matters worse – and, if you’re paying any attention at all – Mitch McConnell, apparently in an attempt to stay lockstep with Rush Limbaugh, recently announced that the NUMBER ONE priority of the republicans is to assure that President Obama is a one term president.  Limbaugh, on numerous occasions, has publicly declared that the top priority of the republican party is the make sure that President Obama “FAILS.”  Are you kidding me?  Let me remind anyone who’s sensible out there, we’re still in TWO WARS!  When in American history has one political party been going out of their way to insure a president FAILS in the midst of two wars.  Let me be clear here, I believe that trying to insure that a president fails is bordering on treason – especially during wartime.  If the president fails, the people fail with him.  This is udder nonsense, yet, with all the money pouring in from special corporate interests thanks to “Citizens United” it is possible the republicans will retake control of one or both houses of congress (I really hope that doesn’t happen) meaning their OBSTRUCTIONISM will become even worse. (I started this post prior to the election night – we now know the republicans have a solid majority in the House)

Do you remember the endless “investigations” during the eight years of Bill Clinton’s presidency?  Well, that’s what is likely to happen.  The irony here is that had Obama followed my advice and allowed ALL the investigations which were warranted upon the departure of the Bush administration in 2009 we wouldn’t be having this discussion.  I hope the president has learned something here and I hope it’s not too late.  We are in THREE wars – and, in my view, the most important one is right here at home and it’s for the heart and soul of this nation.  I can’t even imagine a nation with Sarah Palin as a true national leader, but if the democrats don’t figure out what’s happening, we could all be in trouble.  I’m old enough to remember that Ronald Reagan was a marginal, at best, national candidate – but, with the help of the right wing manipulation machine and some short sighted democrats he managed to take the White House and this dreadful 30+ years of undermining our government at the expense of America’s middle class and FOR the benefit of the large corporations – just like in the 1920’s – was thrust upon us.  Honestly people, do we need another GREAT DEPRESSION to figure out what’s happening?  Does the American public have NO sense of HISTORY?  We’re repeating Viet Nam (twice) thanks to republcans and I’m wondering are we going to repeat the depression?  Ughhhhh!!!!

Back to Woodward’s book.  It is even more clear to me as I’m reading this that the republicans in the Bush White House conspired with the military leaders, prior to their anticipated defeat in 2008, to tie the hands of the incoming president.  Now, I believe Obama could have followed through with his plan to TOTALLY remove ALL American troops from Iraq by NOW – except that he would have had to renege on the withdrawal agreement Bush made with the Iraqi’s prior to the election.  In doing so, Obama would have created a major conflict with the military leaders such as General Patreaus who was part of a scheme to force Obama’s hand into keeping the troops there.  In fact, I’m convinced that when the end of 2011 comes around they (the military leaders) have a further scheme to keep the so-called “non-combat” troops there indefinitely.  I hope I’m wrong on this, but only time will tell.  At the same time, these military leaders were more than happy to have the troops being pulled out of Iraq funneled into Afganistan – where, I believe they would be willing to stay indefinitely as well.   You have to remember that many of America’s Generals are still stung at the thought of Viet Nam and America’s withdrawal without “victory.”  I guess they have a hard time accepting the FACT that in recent memory, our civilian leaders seem to have the propensity to put them in untennable circumstances.  However, I’m convinced they just don’t want to leave without being able to claim “victory,” whatever that might be.  Does anyone know what “victory” is in Iraq or Afganistan?  In Iraq, Moqtada al Sadr is ultimately going to be an integral part of that nation’s leadership and Iran and Iraq are going to be almost united.  This is TOTALLY due to Bush/Cheney’s decision to invade – but, the republicans will find a way to blame Obama.  The reality, as I see it, is there is no “victory” from the original goals of the U.S. in Iraq.  (and that’s not even with me putting in my cynical “two cents” about how I believe it was mostly about the oil)

Afganistan is called the “graveyard of empires” for a reason.  Somehow our leaders are convinced that we can do something that hasn’t happened in 4000 years.  This is where what I’m reading in Woodward’s book is making me even angrier about this war and the incompetent way it’s been prosecuted.  I’m convinced that the military is forcing decisions on Obama because they understand the political realities he’s facing as the first Black American president.  He’s young, and arguably “inexperienced” – although no more inexperienced than any of his immediate predecessors with the possible exception of George HW Bush.  He’s got an economy in virtual ruins and a near depression to deal with domestically, so having a major FIGHT over policy in Iraq or Afganistan would not be prudent.  And, if there’s anything obvious about Obama it’s that he’s prudent (sometimes frustrates me, but considering the alternative I find that character trait quite worthy).  As I’m getting into “Obama’s Wars” it’s becoming painfully obvious that the military leaders provided him with only options that were palatable to them.  That is, they PURPOSELY failed to give the president a wide range of options which would include withdrawal.  It’s like these people are suffering from major TUNNEL VISION when it comes to how to bring these “wars” (I really believe “occupations” is the correct term) to a conclusion.  They’re almost CHALLENGING Obama to take them on – Patreaus has done a masterful job of putting himself in a place where most Americans think he’s a military genius and he’s the reason for the reduction of violence in Iraq.  As I read this book, I’m seeing him more as a conniving, manipulator who will do whatever it takes to force a decision onto his superior that HE wants.  Patreus want to be the one calling the shots – and, he’s very sneaky in the way he goes about his “business.”

So, now Obama’s lost his large majority in Congress and the “you know what” is hitting the fan.  The next two years should be interesting – and, the “tenor” should be somewhat clear soon.  Are Obama and the democrats going to continue “caving” to the right wing – I mean it could look pretty bleak from their standpoint – or, are they going to show some spine?  People like me have been BEGGING for the spine to show up for almost two years now (actually, since 2006 with the democrats – yet, we’re still in both Iraq and Afganistan – and, the dems still don’t “get it”).  I realize they think they’ve done that (been courageous) – but, the reality is that Obama surrounded himself with a bunch of “business as usual” people at the beginning of his administration and any change has been superficial.  I said soon after he was in office, if he didn’t figure this out, quit pandering to republicans, and take an agressive progressive approach to the “problems of the day,” he was headed toward a one term presidency.  By now, maybe that looks good to him.  But, if he really wants to be the catalyst for the “change we can believe in” the intensity of the “fight” must be accelerated and SOON!  Obama and the democrats didn’t lose ground in this election because their policies were too bold (which is how the republicans will characterize this) – they took a good ole fashion “whippin” because their policies were too timid – they showed almost NO spine. 

 The stimulus package was too small – and, it shouldn’t come as a surprise now – because if I could figure this out at the time, then Obama’s team should have been able to do so.  Going along with the TARP bailout and supporting a resurgence of Wall Street was STUPID under the circumstances – and the re-regulation was too weak.  Abandoning the “public option” instead of strengthening it – in the face of nearly 75% public support (now, there’s bipartisanship with the public) was STUPID – if you can’t take a stand there, when can you?!  (the dems couldn’t even take a stand on tax cuts prior to the election – it was as if they were worried what a principled stand would do to their chances)  The backroom dealing that went into the health care legislation simply exposed the democrats as being republican-lite in their corrupt connection to the insurance industry and other corporate interests.  Also, Obama negotiated a similar deal to Bush’s Medicare Part D fiasco with the Pharmaceutical industry simply to buy their withdrawal from the “debate.”  That looked REALLY bad!  The opening up of offshore oil leases just in time for the Deep Horizon oil spill was a major blunder and, I could go on.  Tonight, I was watching Chris Matthews (not one of my favorites) on MSNBC giving analysis of the republican gains in the midterm election, and he said something that I started saying over a year ago.  “I’m tired of the rhetoric – I want to see action.”  I want to see leaders who will stand up – LITERALLY – for the rights of the middle class in America which has been under assault from the right wing since the Nixon years.  Until these democrats figure this out, I believe America continues to decline.  The greed of the republicans and their supporters seems to have no bounds.   

One final depressing note is that this is just the first “salvo” of the “Citizens United” era. If strong action isn’t taken soon to reverse that decision, we Americans could find ourselves in a situation that once seemed impossible.  Nothing scares me more than the successful “marriage” between large corporate interests and our federal government.  The “war” for the heart and soul of this nation hasn’t been lost, but people on the left had better wake up soon or the challenge could become more than daunting!  The republicans have shown they have no boundaries in their quest to regain control of our government and if they succeed again in 2012, with the help of Citizens United, I guarantee you they will pull out all the stops from that date onward to make their “majority” permanent!

I just finished a great read, “After Shock,” by Robert B Reich – former Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton. (remember, when the economy produced over 22 MILLION jobs in just 8 years?!)  I had the pleasure of receiving the book at a lecture (about the book) Reich gave in Portland, Oregon.  The man is VERY short in stature, BUT very LARGE in ideas – some of which I’m not sure I agree with, but his “take” on our economic struggles I found to be “right on.”  The crux of Reich’s argument is that what ails the economy is not a debt gone wild or jobs being shipped over seas or the list of other common complaints, but it’s the rise of wealth to the “top” at the expense of the middle class causing a terrible imbalance where those in the middle class (the bulk of America’s consumers) have lost the wherewithall to purchase what our economy is capable of producing.  Therefore, the idle factories, the gross levels of unemployment, etc. (I hope I paraphrased that well – without insulting Reich)

In the course of making his argument Reich provides similar statistics to books I’ve recently finished by Joseph Stiglitz and Kevin Phillips which parallel what’s going on in this republican assault on our economy to what took place in the early 1900’s as America’s greedy business leaders led us into the Great Depression.  They’re doing it all over again and this time they’ve figured out how to buy their way into the heart of our media, how to buy one congress person after another (mostly, but not entirely, republicans er “tea partiers”), and how to turn an absurd argument that almost guarantees a declining future for America’s middle class into what could possibly end up being more tax breaks for the rich, more right wing judges for our courts, less wages for America’s workforce, and a bunch of embarrassing “leaders” in congress.  Remember, it will take 6 years to purge people like Sharron Angle, Christine O’donnell, Rand Paul, Joe Miller, and the others from the senate if America’s voters are STUPID enough to send them there.

If the voters take a GIANT step backwards on November 2nd, the great ideas of people like Reich, Stiglitz, Paul Krugman, Phillips, and other moderate to progressive voices in the economic community will be even more silenced than they have been in the past 10 years.  I’m starting to get the feeling that Barack Obama is beginning to realize some of the political calculations made by his “team” in the past 20 months were a bit off base, to say the least.  He’s ginning up the “troops” at the last moment – and thankfully, because I hope they turn out in large numbers – at least large enough to preserve the democratic majorities in both houses of congress – and I hope Obama becomes more assertive in fighting for the true progressive agenda should the democrats hold onto their majorities.  The way I look at it, instead of kissing up to republicans for a few votes that won’t be forthcoming, the democrats should eliminate the filibuster in the senate and FORCE the republicans to say NO to legislation that the public favors. 

For example, I believe there is an even stronger MAJORITY of Americans today as opposed to when the legislation was passed who would back a move to open up Medicare to ALL Americans – including people like me who already have medical coverage (during the so-called health care reform debate something approaching 3 in 4 Americans supported the “public option”).  I read the other day that 81% of Americans are opposed to the “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision which will always identify the Roberts’ Court as part of the business lobby – the democrats need to pass legislation which, at the very least, prevents the foreign money and the secret money being infused into our election process.  Just the prospect that republicans would NEVER even think of doing that (remember, Mitch McConnell – the republican leader in the senate – was in the courtroom applauding the decision when it was made) should be enough for any THINKING American to vote against ALL REPUBLICANS.

Citizens United could be the “catalyst” these right wing thugs use to attempt to impose some form of fascist regime on the rest of us.  Make no mistake that these republicans are all about POWER and they’ll grab it by any means possible.  That’s not to say that there aren’t problems on the other side.  In fact, I believe if the “tea party” would have adopted a true grass roots progressive agenda, they’d be on the verge of taking over the congress.  The problem they can’t run from is that too many in their midst are OVERT RACISTS and their only agenda is defeating a sitting president (because his father was Black) plus, ironically, they are being funded by the very people they’re railing against – the large corporate interests which derailed this economy in the first place.  To me, that shows how intellectually devoid (OK Lars, there’s your opening) their movement is.  They are taking money from the corporations who’ve been ripping us (and them) off for years and somehow think they’ll get away with voting against these corporations once in Washington!  Talk about your naivete!

Reich very accurately points out that the middle class in America has been under assault for over 30 years.  The real period of prosperity was somthing like from 1947 until 1968 – that is, for most of that time “real wages” were rising in accordance with productivity and inflation.  Put another way, workers were not losing ground and were able to maintain their “standard of living.”  It was in the 60’s when American households started requiring two incomes to maintain that standard and women began to “work for pay” in increasing larger numbers.  Reich points out this was necessary for the family’s income to keep pace with its expenses.  When two jobs became an issue, people began working longer hours – in many instances two jobs – to make “ends meet.”  This was a phenomenom of the 80’s and early 90’s.

When people couldn’t work any more hours they started to BORROW money to keep up their standard of living.  Credit Cards became routine – I myself am still to this day getting two to three offers a day for 0% credit cards that I’m “pre-approved” for.  Plus, the Federal Reserve, which all these economists say has been throwing money at the problem for years – which is a large reason for the “boom and bust” cycles, lowered interest rates in the 2000’s to the point where homes became like debit cards – people (including me) kept refinancing their homes as interest rates continued to drop to the point where there was no equity left and now we’ver managed to get to the point where all these solutions to the problem that the middle class is not earning enough have “hit the fan.”  There are no more short term options like we’ve been using for the past three or four decades and it’s time to face up to the problem.

And, while I’m telling you DON’T VOTE REPUBLICAN, there is a lot of complicity in the democrats.  Should they manage somehow to turn away this republican “tide” I would recommend to President Obama a different approach to governing in the next two years.  (If the republicans wrest control of Congress, we’re going to be depending on Obama to have the courage to pen a lot of VETOES)  Let me go back to when Obama took office.  I’ve been complaining since day one about Rahm Emanuel, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers as his close advisors.  Emanuel and Summers are now gone, but Geithner is still there.  The man was instrumental in the policies which led to the collapse of 2008 as the head of the New York Fed (he’s in the “in crowd” with Goldman Sachs) and he was heavily involved in orchestrating the TARP bailout which not only allowed the “too big to fail” banks not to FAIL, it allowed them to get even BIGGER!  Much of America’s outrage is aimed directly at that moment in time, and I’m simply surprised that Obama doesn’t recognize the image problems he creates by keeping Geithner around.  Please don’t try to convince me he’s the only person qualified to do this job.  If he would resign, they’d have a qualified replacement in a matter of weeks.

The level of corruption in Washington DC is almost beyond imagination.  In my last post I said that Karl Rove and his associates were going to be controlling something like 500 MILLION DOLLARS in this mid-term elections – most of it from unnamed sources.  What I’ve read since then is that the total spent on this MID TERM election will approach $4 BILLION.  Are you kidding me?  That’s a lot of obligations for our congressional leaders to keep track of.  Honestly, I’m going to assume there’s no one who might happen on this site who wouldn’t undertand that the people putting that kind of “dough” into the election expect a handsome return on their investment.  Do you think that might be why they want to remain anonymous?  This whole process is beginning to make me sick to my stomach as I’m watching it closely – but, then tonight I visited my grandchildren and remembered – sick to my stomach or not – I’ve got to keep writing, keep talking to people (I think I’ve convinced at least 5 or 6 FORMER republicans to vote against the thugs who are acting like wolves in sheeps clothing), and – most importantly – keep writing to Obama and the democrats to encourage them to actually take up an agressive fight against these right wing authoritarian obstructionists.

What I don’t think Obama fully understands is there is a large body of Americans who will stand strongly behind him if he “leads the charge.”  Trust me, no matter the results of this election, these people (republicans) won’t go away easily.  They have to be THOROUGHLY DEFEATED!  That is why I railed so about Obama’s pardoning of the Bush administration two years ago.  Their deeds need to be EXPOSED to the public so that the public knows exactly what’s been going on.  I keep wavering from thinking Obama has, unfortunately, bought into so much of what Bush was doing that he can’t allow investigations (because they would reflect poorly on him) to him not being combative enough.  Well, we need someone who’s combative – someone who thrives on the HATE that is inevitably going to be coming from the “right.”  In the 1930’s FDR said something like “I wear their hate with a badge of honor” (my paraphrasing) – The only way to FIGHT this corporate BEHEMOTH is to be agressive and force them to expose their selfish motivations to the general public.  Reich calls what emerged from the New Deal as the “Basic Bargain” for the middle class.  That is, wages would be sufficient for workers to buy what they could produce.  That bargain is badly broken and the main culprit is the policies of the tax cutting for the rich by the republicans – starting with Reagan.  Their claims that tax cuts for the rich stimulate the economy have NO basis in FACT.  During Bill Clinton’s eight years in office the economy made huge gains despite the FACT taxes were modestly increased on the “rich.”  The interesting irony of all that, even the rich, who were paying higher taxes, came out ahead of the alternative.  The way we’re going, not only is the American economy likely headed for stagnation at best and another true depression at worst, but these rich people who HATE taxes will be gaining less in the long run as well.

This is my second attempt at capturing my thoughts this evening – thanks to either my computer going haywire, or me pushing the wrong “button” (I’m getting up there in years, so I’ll let you figure out the probabilities here :o).  My concerns are centering on my frustration with the direction of this country I love (the United States of America) and the reality that it’s my generation (“baby boomers”) who are largely responsible for what is looking to me like an acceleration of the decline of America world wide.  And, the negative possibilities of this decline are very real and sobering, considering I have children and grandchildren who are among those who stand to inherit what we leave for them.  I’m beginning to feel that, as Americans, we are making some really STUPID decisions.

I just finished reading “Bad Money” by Kevin Phillips and he makes a very compelling argument that the transformation of America’s economy from one centered on manufacturing to one centered on finance as the “trigger” we will all look at years down the road to be the beginning of our downfall as the world’s leading “power.”  (that’s my summation of his argument – using my words – he compares America’s decline to the decline of previous “empires” which is the term he uses in reference to the U.S.)  Philliips’ argument makes total sense to me and it is consistent with other views of economists I’ve read making me wonder why our leaders aren’t getting the message.  My initial thoughts in response to that “wondering” is that our leaders are too busy grabbing as much money as they can while they still can.  This nation is in the grip of a small group of people who have an insatiable appetite for wealth – it’s like they can’t get enough – and, anyone who threatens their “money grab” is the enemy.  I’m talking about a small number of multinational corporations (and the people who run them), the financial industry – especially Wall Street, the hedge fund business, and the politicians who do their “bidding.”

These people have an enormous amount of power – due to their unbelievable wealth – but, the bottom line is the American voters, who have the ultimate power to thwart all of this, are either STUPID or are in a confused state from the effects of the 24 hour propaganda cycle known as cable news.  The “mess” that America is in right now is the result of over 30 years of greed and right wing economic policy which has been aimed at creating power at the head of corporations at the expense of government power.  Some of the leaders of this movement – which actually precedes Ronald Reagan, but which I believe history will put at Reagan’s “feet” – are not too subtle about their disdain for government.  Reagan himself proclaimed that government was the problem, not the solution.  Grover Norquist, a leading operative of Reagan’s and the republicans, was quoted as saying “My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”  The “tea party” and hence the republican party which it is transforming to an even more extreme position, is STILL working to bring Norquist’s goal to reality.  George W Bush, from Norquist’s standpoint, did a good job of destroying government and, in the process, enhancing the greed of the aforementioned corporations – all this to the detriment of the VAST majority of Americans – especially what once was a vibrant middle class.

I was almost depressed when Reagan was elected in 1980 and the election of George W Bush with Dick Cheney as his running mate in 2000 was unthinkable to me (of course, history will have a never ending “field day” with the FACT Bush/Cheney were appointed by our right wing Supreme Court – and, when ultimately history looks at this long term republican conspiracy to TOTALLY control our government, the stacking of the Supreme Court will be one of the main “cogs” in that scheme).  That last thought brings up a topic I’ll discuss at further length on another day – which is the ability of the republicans to see farther into the future – that is “long term” than the democrats who seem to be more short sighted.  The dems seem to always be on the defensive – reactive instead of proactive in their approach to problem solving.  It was the election of Bush/Cheney and their subsequent misadventure into Iraq in combination with one demonstrable incompetent act after another which caused me to start writing in the first place.  While apparently many Americans have already forgotten the damage caused to America and the world by those two, I’ll go to my grave remembering what they’ve done to this great nation and to many other nations around the globe – which is actually what is prompting my thoughts of the evening (sorry for the wordiness).

Simply put, the United States position in the world is teetering on “thin ice.”  There are a plethora of reasons for this – but as “all roads lead to Rome” I believe you could say all reasons lead back to the greedy, selfish, arrogant attitude of those in power who are attempting to turn America into a corporatocracy.  And, let me remind anyone who’s not been reading my posts or others like it – the “melding” (my term) of corporations with government is the foundation of fascism.  Also, since it is the very people who are behind this movement (republicans) who are calling our present president a fascist – Google the term political projection – I’ve posted on this in the past and don’t have the space to do it again, but I’ll just leave it by saying, in my view, this is a serious issue.  What’s interesting about this push for unlimited corporate power in America is the voters have the ability to stop it in its tracks – and, a HUGE majority of voters have the self interest to do so.  These corporate “thugs” are doing everything they can to squeeze even more of America’s wealth up toward the top and they won’t be happy until ALL unions have been busted and America’s workforce is grovelling for whatever wages they can muster ON THEIR OWN.  One of their main objects of scorn (aside from Social Security and Medicare) is the minimum wage.  I’m finding that, of the people whom I actually talk to who consider themselves republicans, most have NO IDEA what “their” party is up to.  In fact, when I tell them, they don’t believe me – they believe that people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck wouldn’t tell lies.

Again, as I’m thinking that we as Americans are STUPID I can’t help but wonder if anyone out there knows or cares that the rest of the world is moving toward a position of doing without the U.S.?  Do you think that’s really possible?  Well, that’s probably a bit over the edge – mainly because, for the forseeable future, the United States will continue to be a major exporter of FOOD.  And, yes – even the Chinese realize they are going to need a lot of food going forward – just as we are going to need a lot of OIL – if we continue to elect republicans who refuse to face up to some long term realities.  Of course, that last statement causes me to back track just a bit because I, just a few sentences ago, claimed the republicans are better at thinking “long term.”  What I meant in that statement was in their ability to formulate a plan to gain and KEEP power.  Quite naturally, one of the premises of my discontent with republicans is that from a positional point of view it would be hard to even call their positions “short term.”  As far as I can tell – THEY HAVE NO POSITIONS – other than manipulating voters in order to keep and maintain POWER and deplete America’s treasury – that’s what it’s ALL about for them – THAT’S WHY THEY’RE SO DANGEROUS!

People around the world wondered why we re-elected Bush/Cheney after they so bungled America’s foreign policy to TOTALLY destabilize the middle east while at the same time allow Osama bin Laden a free pass out of Afganistan and into Pakistan – a country with an arsenal of Nuclear weapons – deliverable weapons!  That, in and of itself, was MAJORLY STUPID!  Their incompetence in “prosecuting” their invasion of Iraq led to arguably hundreds of thousands of deaths which – from the world’s standpoint – didn’t seem to phase Americans enough to vote these people out of office.  The result is a MAJOR decline in America’s standing around the world – the consequences of which is what I am trying to get at – but, along the way there are so many thoughts springing into my head.  For example, how is the “world” going to view America if we now put these repubicans back in charge of our congress?  I honestly don’t believe there are many Americans who understand how dependent we’ve put ourselve with some of these countries who are on the verge of totally turning against us.

We are not only dependent on oil that comes from some places where leaders have nationalized the oil industry and would use it as a tool if necessary to express their disdain for our greedy and destructive policies (and these policies have been ongoing for decades) but we are becoming increasingly dependent economically on some countries which are losing patience with us and OWN BILLIONS of our dollars.  Countries such as China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, and I could go on are tiring of our history of exploiting them for their resources.  We’ve largely created a behemouth economy, which is now based on debt and living beyond our means, and if we can’t figure out how to turn this around, I believe these other countries will force us to do so in the not too distant future.

The American public voted for Barack Obama in 2008 to turn the tide away from this corruption and military incompetence.  And, without question, Obama is a MAJOR improvement from Bush – although, the discontent from “progressives” such as myself has been spreading since the first days of Obama’s term due to some quizzical decisions.  For me, the TERRIBLE act of PARDONING (for all intents and purposes) the Bush administration for what EVERYONE (including most of them) knew were legal transgressions (I’m trying to be polite here) was the first MAJOR blunder.  Abandoning the “Public Option” (and one that was actually an option for EVERYONE) was extremely disappointing to me – that was a place to draw the line with over 70% of America “on board.”  I could go on, but the point here is that despite the disappointments, turning away from Obama at this point is STUPID because it would be turning back to the Rove, Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh, Palin, McCain, Boehner, McConnell, Beck, O’Reilly, Angle (ughh!), Paul (double ughh!), O’donnell (triple ughh!), and the rest of the republican – now – tea party crew which are destroying America’s image in the world.  Picture how that looks to those in other parts of the world who are looking for the U.S. to regain it’s place at the top of the “food chain.”  Believe me, the people in China, Russia, the Middle East, Japan, India, South America, and other parts of the world with mega resources who are holding mega amounts of dollars are NOT stupid!  Are America’s voters going to push this to the point that all these countries abandon the dollar as the world’s leading currency?  Do America’s voters understand what that will mean? (I’m trying to understand and feel that I still don’t – but, based on my readings I believe it’s NOT GOOD!)

Over the past 30+ years the republican party has managed to push the United States of America so far to the right that I know consider myself a “flaming liberal” as one of the members of my church called me.  In the 70’s I thought I was a conservative.  I’ve been railing against government debt for almost 40 years – and, guess who’s created the public debt?  Almost ENTIRELY on “republican watch.”  Started with Nixon, Carter cut it in half.  Reagan and Bush 1 took it to unbelievable levels.  Bill Clinton brought sanity back to the budget process.  It didn’t take Bush 2 long to put what his father and Reagan did to the debt on steroids.  And, now it’s up to Obama to pull us back to something reasonable.  When Dick Cheney crowed (as he was pushing through the second of Bush/Cheney’s tax cuts that were UNFUNDED) that “Ronald Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” I knew we were in for more trouble than I had originally imagined when they took office.  The irony is listening to all these republicans complaining about the debt now and blaming Obama for something they are almost TOTALLY responsible for.  I hope Obama and the democrats have the courage to let ALL the so-called Bush “tax cuts” expire in December – including the portion that affects me – but, I doubt they will have the courage to do so.  They’d have to say to the American people, it’s time to “tighten our belts.”  I realize that’s no way to get out of a recession, but I have ZERO confidence they can get the republicans to agree to extend only the cuts going to the middle class.  If Obama and the democrats cave in on the “tax cuts to the rich” I’ll be totally through with them.  But, that will happen after the election so we just have to hope they’re developing a backbone.

One way to guarantee issues like the tax cuts don’t go the republican’s way is to fight back in this election where I believe the totals when it’s all over will show that something like half a BILLION dollars will have been secretly infused, thanks to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, almost all of it intended to turn Congress back to the republicans.  And, as I’ve stated many times on this website, once they gain control the problem becomes immense – for the same reason.  Citizen’s United will preclude democrats from fighting back due to the financial differences between “we the people” and the Multi-national corporations who benefit from republican control of our government.  Do you honestly think the politicians who are receiving “secret” support in the multi millions of dollars – sans Karl Rove or the Chamber of Commerce or any other of the so-called “Super PAC’s” – don’t know exactly where the money’s coming from and won’t be “beholding” to the sources of their election?  This is shaping up, in my opinion and despite my disappointment with the democrats, as the most important election in my lifetime.  It was important to stop the “Bush doctrine” in 2008, but these people are coming back like a bad dream and we MUST send a message to them.  I’m voting today – and, as an independent voter, I refuse to vote for a single republican until common sense returns – which won’t happen until the American public REPUDIATES this extremist right wing agenda they’re pushing.  I’m a Christian and I take Christian positions on issues that put me at odds with some democrats, but when Sharron Angle says the solution to a 12 year old girl becoming pregnant by her father is to “turn the lemon into lemonade” – meaning it should be illegal for her to terminate the pregnancy – this, to me, is one of MANY examples where these people are going way too far.  It shows that while they claim they want less government, what they’re really saying is they want less government in areas that benefit big business and MORE government in areas that will actually intrude on the lives of everyday Americans.  The time to stop the “tea party” – republican – agenda is November 2nd!

I’m presently reading “Bad Money” by Kevin Phillips who, in my mind, is one of the best republicans out there – although, I’m guessing he no longer chooses to be associated with the republican party.  The guy is brilliant, although his books are very tedious to me when I read them because they are so “heavy.”  This is the fourth or fifth book I’ve read on America’s economy and the meltdown of 2008 and it further convinces me that without drastic change this nation is headed for second class status in the not too distant future.  In fact, Phillips kind of parallels the decline of other “empires” to support the point that we, in America, are unknowingly repeating the history of the Dutch, the British, and other empires that have come before us.  I haven’t internalized the information in this book, and probably won’t, but his point about the decline of America seems even more real to me as I’m trudging through the pages.  I love this country and I wish I could say I thought he was “full of it,” but, I believe Phillps will be doing a lot of “I told you so-ing” somewhere down the road.  His reward for his brilliance?  I’m guessing he is persona non grata in the repubican circles where he once was a stalwart.

I wrote a bit about this in my last post – and, I’m not sure how much sense I made because all of this economic stuff is very hard for me to understand.  The collaterized debt obligations, the mortgage backed securities, the asset backed securities, the credit default swaps (and other “swaps”) all seem to go over my head.  All of these instruments (I believe it was Joseph Stiglitz who called them “weapons of mass deception”) played a significant role in the undermining of the American economy during the Bush administration – and, failure to better understand what they are and what they’ve done, in my view, would simply be stupid.  In fact, I believe many of our politicians aren’t reading the books available, because “Bad Money” originally came out prior to the 2008 meltdown (although the recession was “under way” despite the denials of Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and other economists leading the way during the last of the Bush “years”) and Phillips (along with people like Joseph Stiglitz – and others) were warning about the bursting of the housing “bubble” long before it happened.

It’s as if somewhere along the line Wall Street determined that instead of producing “things” America could base its economy on producing “wealth.”  And, from their perspective, I’m sure they believe they’ve done and are continuing to do a very good job of this.  The average working “stiff” who’s pension plan is in a shambles, or is out of work with no “light at the end of the tunnel” apparently is just collateral damage.  Of course, the American public was largely aware of what was happening which led to the election of Barack Obama and a significant majority of democrats to the congress in 2008.  To say the ANGER has ramped up because the democratic solution to the economic crisis was a half response is an understatement in my view.  Most of the public is aware of the “anger” on the “right” – hence the “tea party” – because there is a concerted effort on the part of the “liberal media” (for those of you who’ve not been to this site – some of my prior posts explain how somehow “conservatives” are controlling this “liberal” media) to put these whackos on the news or the front pages of the papers.  But, make no mistake about the fact that there is a SIGNIFICANT amount of ANGER on the left.  Anger at the republicans – to be sure – this has been gaining steam since GW Bush lied us into Iraq – but, also anger at the tepid response to the misdeeds of these republicans by the democrats elected to reverse the wrongs committed by Bush/Cheney et al.  So, the republicans “got off” for their illegal behavior thanks to democrats wanting to avoid the “distraction” of holding them accountable and Wall Street is continuing to operate as if creating wealth from wealth is productive – as I’ve pointed out here many times since Obama’s inauguration; Business as usual!

Well, why wouldn’t producing wealth from wealth be productive you might ask?  The stock market has recovered almost half of what it lost after the near collapse of the entire financial sector of our (and the world’s) economy.  Companies like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, etc. are back to reporting BILLION dollar earnings – per QUARTER.  All should be well, right?  I guess the question I have, and I believe Phillips would have along with Stiglitz (and many other economists, I’m sure) is what is the next “bubble” and when is it going to burst?  How many “bubbles” have to burst before the people running this country decide it really is the time for “the change we can believe in?”

One of the things that has perturbed “progressives” (liberals if you must) has been Barack Obama’s proclivity for throwing in to republicans with hardly a whimper of a fight.  Recently, there have been signs that maybe Obama is “getting it” and realizing that we are in a fight for the very “heart” of this nation.  I believe it would have been so because of the obstructionist policies of republicans and the OBVIOUS FACT they have a problem with a Black person occupying the WHITE HOUSE! – But, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision only made it clear how important this fight is.  And, the reality is that for the democrats to win the fight President Obama has to be leading the “charge.”  There is NO WAY they will win by campaigning away from Obama.  And, there’s NO WAY the democrats win if they continue to be fragmented to the point that they can’t defend their own positions in public against the barrage of attacks coming from the corporate right.  So it was doubly disappointing to hear the other day that Obama is already planning his negotiations with republicans after the midterms – almost as if a republican sweep of the upcoming elections will be a good thing.  Sometimes I honestly have to wonder who’s giving advice to our president!

For anyone who might read this and who doesn’t understand;  the “melding” of corporate interests with government is the foundation of fascist governments.  When you have a republican party marching in “lock step” – that is, there isn’t ONE OF THEM that I’m aware of who has the courage to speak out against the racist, authoritarian positions being put forth by one republican leader after another – especially this crew that call themselves the “tea party,” you have to wonder where their accusations of fascist or communist aimed at Obama come from.  If you feel precluded to do so, look up the phase political projection – that should give you a good idea of what’s coming at us from the “right.”  

The other day I heard that Michelle Bachman was going to run for Speaker of the House if the republicans take over in November.  Can you even imagine that?  Do you know who that woman is?  What the hell is going on with our country?  In my heart I have to believe that the voters will speak in the election and put these people “out to pasture” where they belong – but, I’ve grown not to trust any aspect of the process anymore.  The voting machines?  Well, we know they could be rigged.  If you don’t believe me and the two election of GW Bush wasn’t enough to convince you, take the time to research the democratic primary in South Carolina this past spring.  The guy who won wasn’t even a viable candidate, didn’t campaign, didn’t have ANY money, and defeated a statewide known candidate who actually had a chance to compete against the republican in the general election.  One way to prevent the possibility that democrats retain their majority?  Rig the machines!  One democratic voter after another in South Carolina claimed, after the primary, that they tried to vote for the other candidate, but the machines wouldn’t let them.  Republican corporations own and operate the voting machines that are used around the country, and many of them leave absolutely NO “paper trail” – so that it is evidently impossible to prove the rigging of the machines – although, several groups have proved how easy it WOULD be to rig them.

Kevin Phillips points out very clearly that the United States is in decline and we apparently aren’t going to do anything about it until it’s too late.  What might happen you ask.  Well, I believe he’s trying to get our leaders to recognize how close we are to having the rest of the world abandon the dollar as the world’s main currency.  The world is watching us and they can’t believe what’s going on in America.  Bush/Cheney was too much for them as well as us.  But, if we vote in the same ilk again the saying “fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me!” becomes totally relevant.  Countries who have resources we depend on are watching carefully at what our voters do.  If they decide to abandon the dollar, the US economy is in bigger trouble than it now seems.  Additionally, other world leaders are looking for America to assume it’s leadership role in many areas.  For example, if we elect a congress that believes global warming to be a hoax and refuses to address our HUGE outlay of fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere, many of them will do more than just shake their heads.  Remember, this is a truly global issue.  If we continue to treat the Muslim world as if they are ALL terrorists, our future looks dim (we can’t kill them all, we can’t defeat everyone in the world who doesn’t like us).  If we continue living beyond our means and consuming WAY MORE than we produce, we will be facing even more serious problems.  If our bankers on Wall Street continue to plague investors around the world with bogus investment instruments they will spend their money elsewhere.  America’s corporate interests are ripping off anyone and anything they can, including the American public, international investors, and America’s political system.  These corporations have teamed up with their foreign shareholders and officers to instigate an assault on the American political process, which, if successful – according to people like Kevin Phillips – will lead this nation to second class status in the world.

I’ll conclude this rant by pointing out that the American politicians have for years been “cheating” or “cooking the books” to make things look better to the American public than reality would suport – all the while losing the respect and willingness to cooperate of the world leaders who now control “the money.”  Inflation reporting has been “tweaked” in order to save the government money and make it look as if they are doing a better job managing the economy than we all know is true.  The dollar has been kept artificially “low” in order to make our exports (and our trade deficit) look better.  Two wars were waged with ALL THE MONEY kept off the books to make our deficit look smaller – and, ON AND ON.  In the mean time, “third world” countries (like Venezuela, Brazil, the middle eastern countries, etc.) with the natural resources America got so used to exploiting have nationalized their oil companies (and other natural resources) and have created “soveriegn wealth funds” with all the dollars we’re now spending for their expensive oil and other commodities.  Foreign leaders are beginning to look at our Wall Street Bankers and Hedge fund managers as “locusts” – according to Phillips’ book – and, they are beginning to “look elsewhere” for their investments.  The American voters started this drive toward “decline” when they voted in Ronald Reagan in 1980.  They exacerbated the problem with the election of George W Bush in 2000 (don’t get me totally wrong here, Bill Clinton was no saint as far as stopping this trend), and if they now turn to the “tea party” …… well, I think you can see where I’m (and possibly America) is going with this.

I’ve been very up front with my disappointment in the Obama administration.  From the day of the announcement that Rahm Emanuel would be Chief of Staff to President Obama’s surrounding himself with Washington “insiders” – right from the start many of the decisions were not surprising – although disappointing to varying degrees.  I understand there are political realities that don’t get changed in one or two years, but some of the decisions were simply unacceptable.  And, the “fruit” of those decisions are coming home to “roost” as I’m writing this.  The democrats are in danger of losing their majority control of congress and will, most likely – at best, have much “thinner” majorities.  In the senate, anyone who’s been paying attention knows what that means for the next two years.  (in my heart, I honestly can’t believe there are enough Americans who would be fooled into voting for republicans to get them back into office –  but, nothing surprises me anymore.  Remember, no one’s talking about voting machines that could be rigged – just one of the many reasons I don’t trust republicans as far as I can throw them)

President Obama had the political “capital” when he took office to take on the republicans.  Essentially he “blew it” with his obsession with  reaching out to politicians who were OBVIOUSLY not going to agree to ANYTHING he wanted to accomplish.  In the process Obama allowed George W Bush and Dick Cheney to walk away from serious LAWBREAKING without even an investigation – a BLUNDER that will be creating problems for the American people for who knows how many years to come.  We need to, and SHOULD, know everything about the bank bailouts – and the connections of America’s leaders to the Wall Street firms bailed out, we need to know EVERYTHING about the illegal invasion of Iraq, the failures to enforce regulations, the TORTURE, the politicizing of the Justice Department, the illegal wiretapping, GITMO, why Osama bin Laden was allowed to escape Tora Bora – and, I could go on.  Our country is still REELING from the effects of Bush/Cheney and it could get a lot worse before it gets better (if it ever does!)

I’m beginning to think that the democrats themselves haven’t figured out the magnitude of the republican assault on our way of life – and the corporate “heads” behind it.  Essentially, that is what I’m wanting to “vent” about this evening – that is, the republican assault on America and Americans.  I have two grown daughters, a son entering his adult life, and two grandchildren (with more possibly on the way).  I’m very concerned with the country we’re leaving for them.  In fact, I’m starting to realize that those of us who value the America we grew up with in the 60’s through the end of the 20th century had better realize the fight it’s going to take to preserve anything close to “our country.”  People like Sarah Palin spouting “We want our country back” while participating in selfish, greedy, and racist groups don’t fool me one bit.  What she’s opposed to is a country where the middle class is vibrant, where people have good union jobs, and where there is a sense of community between the government and the governed.  But, unfortunately, with the help of our “liberal media” (which is controlled by right wing conservatives – if you need convincing I’ve got several posts in the archives with details) and a “right” wing Supreme Court there are many unsuspecting Americans who are buying the “Voodoo” Palin and others of her “ilk” (Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and the entire republican party sans “tea party) are selling.  The effects of these people combined with the “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision are fast becoming more than simply  a problem “on the horizon.”  America could find “herself” on the outside looking in as far as her relationship with the world community (which, I’m sure would be fine with Palin and the “I’ve got mine, screw you crowd”)

I started warning anyone who would listen about “Citizens United” almost from the day it was handed down by the Roberts’ Court.  President Obama warned of it in his State of the Union Speech..  Do you remember Samuel Alito shaking his head in disgust as Obama warned that foreign corporations would be influencing our elections?  Well, guess what – FOREIGN CORPORATIONS are doing everything they can to influence our election of 2010 – and, this is just the FIRST one since the decision.  People, this is going to get a LOT WORSE before it gets better (if it ever does).  Remember, it will take aggressive acts of congress to counteract the effect of this decision – and, would you expect that to happen once congress is filled with recipients of the secret donations of the corporations unleashed by this EVIL court ruling?  Even my sixth grade students could figure that one out.

Therefore, what we have here is a bunch of democrats who have been TERRIBLY disappointing since being given control of congress in 2006.  They are quick to point out why they can’t do anything before they try to do it.  Nancy Pelosi took “impeachment off the table,” presumably because she felt the senate wouldn’t convict if Bush/Cheney were impeached.  Little did it matter that they BOTH had clearly committed High Crimes and Misdemeanors.  For some reason it appears the democrats are afraid of confrontation with the republicans.  Despite this disappointment, the election of 2010 may be the most important election of my lifetime – I’ve been voting since 1968.  Why on earth would America reward the republicans for destroying our economy, ruining our military and our standing in the world, attempting to destroy the fabric of our very government, and standing in the way of EVERY piece of legislation proposed since the last election?  Now, I realize all the democrats had to do was to get rid of the filibuster – which would have taken a minimum of courage on their part – and they could have then passed legislation which would have gone a long way toward alleviating some of the more severe problems we face – but they didn’t do it.  President Obama COULD HAVE really brought the troops home from Iraq – we’d be TOTALLY out by now – but, he chose not to and instead chose to buy into the military “coolaid” – the same goes for Afganistan – very disappointing to say the least.  And, the list goes on – but, everytime I start going over this list in my head I think of the alternative – which is republicans.  The question keeps coming up – how could we possibly put them back in office?  Does the American public really want to make America a second rate nation?

If you think that’s just bloviating on my part, let me give you a few facts that could change your mind.  First, the reality that we live in a time of global economics is inescapable.  If you don’t understand that you might as well stop reading right here and go back to being brainwashed by Limbaugh and company.  Most of the damage we focus on from Bush/Cheney is that which is obvious – like the invasion of Iraq’s effect on our military, the economic meltdown from lack of oversight during their 8 years in office, the irresponsible tax breaks for the rich which ballooned our national debt, the TORTURE and the image that left on the rest of the world of America (the list goes on and that’s why the investigations were so important – undercovering all the “stuff”).

 Well, there’s some afteraffects which are still to come and with the American “way” of waiting till a problem is a crisis before we deal with it, most people aren’t even thinking of some of the problems created by Bush/Cheney let alone talking about them.  I’ll just give you one example: oil.  Of course, everyone knows that both Bush and Cheney were “oil men.”  There is enough evidence to make me a believer that Dick Cheney’s secret “energy task force,” once entering the White House, was largely focused on taking over Iraq’s oil wells upon the Bush administration’s figuring out a way to justify an invasion.  So, aside from all the problems that created which we’re all aware of, what are some that are maybe still flying under the radar?  Well, let’s start with the FACT that America’s invasion of Iraq turned country after country in the world AGAINST us – even if they couldn’t come out and say it at the time.  Bush/Cheney’s arrogant attitude – as if America “ruled the world” – sent “shockwaves” through most middle eastern countries, not to mention Asian countries, and even some of our staunchest allies.  Keep in mind that the US produces only about a third of the oil it consumes and is, therefore, dependent on the oil producing countries – like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Russia, Kuwait, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, etc – for the remainder of the needed oil supply.  To me, the logical solution to this problem would be to CHANGE the direction of our economy away from oil ASAP – but, do you really believe if republicans gain control of congress that will happen?

One way George W Bush propped up the American economy during his two terms in office was by allowing the dollar to weaken.  Combine that policy with America’s militaristic arrogance plus our dependence on foreign oil and now many of these oil producing countries are looking elsewhere for their customers.  In addition, while they’re waiting for the growth in China, India, and other developing nations (including the middle east nations as well) to catch up to their supply needs, these countries are accumulating American dollars by the TRILLIONS.  What does all this mean?

Well, without me trying to get everything I’m thinking out of my mind at once tonight, it means two really important things.  First, at some point down the “road” – and maybe nearer than anyone in Washington DC thinks – America could be facing a HUGE oil shortage.  Now, it’s hard to imagine that these countries holding all these dollars would purposefully sabotage the country where their dollars have the most value – but, what’s easy for me to imagine is these countries (who have created what they call “sovereign wealth funds” with the money) coming into America and converting dollars, which they’re worried about losing value, into ownership of “American” companies, real estate, and American politicians (I always think of Judge Alito shaking his head when I imagine that one).  These foreign governments HATE our leaders, but there’s still lots to like about America itself, so they will be BUYERS.  I’ll give you one example:  I’m writing this on an IBM laptop purchased a few years ago – maybe six or seven.  I recently purchased a newer version of the same laptop and it is now a LENOVO – IBM’s laptops are now owned by a Chinese company.

The Saudi’s have TRILLIONS of dollars – they have been, are, and will be investing in core American companies far beyond what the average person on the street will be aware.  News Corp – which is the parent company of Fox “news” and the Wall Street Journal – to name a couple of its holdings – is owned by an Australian right wing conservative with its second leading shareholder ($3 BILLION) a Saudi Sheik who is known to have supported Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda.  We are so dependent on these people’s money that there’s little we can do about this – at least right now.   Sometimes I think that if I had the time (and the energy) I could write a book on how the republican party has undermined this country, how they are enabling their secret supporters to siphon TRILLIONS from our taxpayers, how they are purposefully attempting to DESTROY our very government and the strong middle class formed by the New Deal of FDR, and how before they’re done, they will have sold what’s great about America to foreign interests.  They’ve been BRAINWASHING the American public since the days of Ronald Reagan – and, their plan is close to complete for the “permanent republican majority” that’s been their vision for the last 30+ years.  I had thought George W Bush was such a bumbling idiot that he ruined the plan in 2008.  But, they’ve hardly skipped a beat.

It’s hard for me to imagine how they could say NO to EVERYTHING and still have any chance to win the upcoming mid term elections.  However, the American public elected President Obama and the democratic congress to do away with the ways of the republicans – using whatever means it would take (even if you had to suspend the senate’s rules regarding the filibuster, Harry! – I’m imagining he’s reading this).  The democrats have come up terribly short.  Yes, they’ve worked hard to get some things passed (even if their bills passed were disappointing like the so-called health care reform) but their willingness to look the other way from republican abuses of power – including WAR CRIMES – and cave to their obstuctionism was (and continues to be) unacceptable to millions of Americans – which is why there is the fear many will stay home from the polls this November.  I “get” that.  However, I believe we (progressives – er, liberals) have no choice but to vote for democrats because the long term affects of republicans in charge of congress at this delicate point in time could be worse than a depression.  I believe the rest of the world is watching what the American voter does and if we re-elect republicans after what they did to us and people in countries all over the globe – country after country will start looking elsewhere for their “allies.” (remember, the financial meltdown of 2008 was global and it was caused by America’s Wall Street banks and their reckless behavior and it affected MANY other nations)  We need to vote for democrats one more time and somehow get the message across to them that “The change we can believe in” is NOT republican-lite!

For the past couple of years I’ve been kind of alternating my rants between my disdain for the republican leadership and their collusion with corporate interests (some of whom are finally being exposed – like the Koch brothers) which have little to NO concern for the “least among us” and the democrats who seem to be almost paralyzed in their role as the opposition party whom those of us calling ourselves LIBERALS (progressives when we’re cowering from the right wing spin machine) MUST depend on as we attempt to prevent republicans from achieving their “permanent republican majority.”  Wow, I’ve got to stop and take a breath – that was a mouthful!  I have no problem attacking the republican leaders for their BLATANT hypocrisy – which is above and beyond the arrogant stage – while feeling a bit reserved about going after democrats for their cowardice in the face of one of the most important times in America’s history – lest someone might read this “blog” and misinterpret my critcism of President Obama or the democratic party he leads.

The republicans seem to be an endless stream of “material” as far as writing about why they should NEVER be returned to a position of authority under their present make-up.  I’ve stated many times here that I’m a long time independent and there have been many occasions where I voted for republicans.  But, that won’t be happening again any time soon.  First of all, the memory of the Bush/Cheney administration – or should I say the nightmare of – hasn’t worn off.  It will probably NEVER wear off.  There’s NO WAY I could ever condone the tax cutting which cut a huge hole in our deficit, the illegal wars – and the lying that got us entrenched there – that, to me, is UNFORGIVABLE, the torture – which they actually BRAGGED about – as if it did any good at all (and for any “right” winger reading this site, don’t bother trying to convince me it did – I’ve read accounts of the official interrogators who have claimed over and over again that all “actionable” intelligence gained after 9/11 came from traditional methods – the torturing was counter productive – not to mention it was acts of WAR CRIMES), Dick Cheney “outing” an under cover CIA agent – in my mind, an act of treason (plus Cheney shot his friend in the face while DRUNK and hid from the cops for 24 hours until he sobered up), and for those of you with short memories – not only did the Bush administration bludgeon our economy and encourage the risky behavior of Wall Street which caused the “Great Recession” but they were the culprits who instigated the BAILOUTS for the bankers who ripped us off. 

That would seem to be enough to turn any good American away from republicans, but there’s more.  The Bush administration was the administration which pushed for deregulation on steroids, and where there wasn’t deregulation there was a purposeful IGNORING of what regulations remained (leading to the West Virginia mining disaster and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill).  Bush signed a record number of “signing statements” arrogantly demonstrating that he was “the decider.”  To hell with the rest of us.  Yes, there’s more.  Bush/Cheney/Rove/Ashcroft/Gonzales/Addington/Bybee/Yoo and others PURPOSEFULLY undermined our justice department – attempting to turn it into a partisan wing of the republican party – complete with loyalty oaths from prospective new hires when they were applying for jobs.  That should be enough to scare you away from these people – and, by the way, present day republicans are again preaching the “Bush doctrine” if you listen closely enough – they just leave his name out of the conversation.  (I predicted over a year ago that the republican nominee in 2012 could be Jeb Bush – and I’m not ready to “back down” just yet)  I haven’t even talked about the illegal wiretapping – which is a BLATANT intrusion of our 4th amendment right to privacy, the attempted hijacking of habeous corpus (if you don’t know what that means, you really should look it up – that’s a “biggee”), the indefinite “prison” at GITMO, Abu Ghraib, the refusals to answer subpoenas to congress, etc. etc. – I think (at least hope) you get my point.

That’s just the previous bunch.  The present bunch is WORSE!  God help John McCain for saddling the rest of us with Sarah Palin.  McCain has proven to be such an opportunistic nitwit that it wouldn’t surprise me if someone told me he’s on the Sarah Palin “bandwagon” – despite the FACT she RUINED his chances in the last election (although his lack of intellect played a large part in his defeat as well – remember “The fundamentals of our economy remain strong” – or his top economic advisor calling the American people “whiners” for complaining about the economy?)  Back to Palin – this woman is dangerous.  I suppose if I had the opportunity to cash in on my fame I would do the same thing as her regarding “getting rich,” but she’s shown herself to be the PERFECT Pawn for the POWERBROKERS behind this republican ASSAULT on the American public.

How could that be, you might ask?  Well, Palin is uninformed enough and ambitious enough to not only say whatever people like Murdoch or the Koch brothers or Armey or whoever is behind this “tea party” movement asks her to say but she is also dishonest enough to start believing the FACT that she said “it” must make it true.  Therefore, you get someone who is spouting vile rhetoric in a manner which appeals to the uninformed “populists” out there (OK, Lars – you can accuse me of being an “elitist” again if it makes you feel better).  The result is a thoughtless block of voters who are shouting things like “kill him” in reference to our President, or “death panels” in reference to health care reform (which didn’t go nearly far enough due to people like Palin), or even questioning if our President is even a U.S. Citizen – all the while waving an American flag, as if that means they are patriots.  These people have been purposefully attempting to bring down President Obama’s agenda – remember he garnered 53% of the vote in the last election – Palin and “crew” want to “take their country back” from the MAJORITY who voted for Obama in the first place – how does that make any sense at all.

If President Obama’s agenda was so bad, you would think the republicans would have backed away and let it be enacted so that the results would prove their point.  The reality: they’re scared to death that a BLACK president will succeed, opening the doors to more people of color and possibly women holding the office of president in the future.  They liked the ALL WHITE boys club that has been in effect since the inception of this nation, but as Bob Dylan once said, “The times, they are a changin.”  Not only has Palin shown her racist nature, but people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and I could go on and on with leading republicans – they’ve all shown little interest in being subtle about their racist attitudes.  And, then they hoist candidates on us like Rand Paul – who objects to the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause, evidently wanting to go back to the “separate but equal” days, Sharron Angle who wants to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, unemployment INSURANCE, and who knows what else – the lady is an IDIOT, there’s Joe Miller in Alaska who might be a topper to Angle, and then this lady in Delaware – Christine O’Donnell – who would impose her Christian values (hey, I’m OK with her having them – I’ve got my own Christian values – just don’t impose them on others) on the rest of us – including an interesting commentary on masturbation.  All I’ve got to say about that is once you’ve publicy put out your position on masturbation you should probably think about another profession besides politics.  Somehow, I have to believe the people of Delaware recognize the importance of this election enough to make sure this woman isn’t in Washington DC pushing anit-masturbation laws for the next 6 years.  I can hear all the jokes now, and I’m already sick of them.

I could go on and on about republicans, but lets get back to the democrats.  Considering the weird people the republicans have put in front of the voters you would think this is going to be a “cakewalk” for the democrats.  However, they have been so UNINSPIRING that there is a real possibility the voters who put Obama in office will stay home from the election.  All the polls suggest that republicans are by far the most “likely” of the voters.  This in a country where there is no risk to voting – such as in Afganistan where you could be killed or maimed if you voted at some of the polling places (and, sadly and interestingly, people still voted in possibly greater numbers than Americans will).  I’ve been writing on this blog since almost the day Obama took the oath of office that voter TURNOFF could be a HUGE problem in the mid term election.  They didn’t listen.  Rahm Emanuel, who’s thankfully QUITTING as President Obama’s chief of staff, called LIBERALS like me “f__king retards.”  At the time, I was disappointed that Obama didn’t FIRE him on the spot.  Emanuel’s attitude is EXACTLY what’s been wrong with Obama’s administration and the democrats in congress.  Combine Emanuel with Larry Summers and Tim Geithner and it wasn’t hard to predict “business as usual” from the earliest days of Obama’s 1st term (and, possibly last if he keeps these people around).  My disappointments with our President have been well chronicled on these pages – if interested view the archive (I can’t believe I’m almost up to 300 posts) – but the reality is that he’s MUCH PREFERABLE to republicans, and he’s actually shown signs of “coming around” of late – better late than never.

Of course, not only do we have to put up with the democrats in the Senate, but so did Obama.  However, I just can’t bring myself to approve rewarding republicans for OBSTRUCTING every part of Obama’s agenda by voting them back into the majority as the punishment to democrats for being too passive.  In fact, based on what’s happened over the past two years, republicans should be voted out of enough of a minority in the Senate to prevent them from being able to block ANYTHING.  However, that last comment not being likely, I’m hoping for a continued democratic majority in the Senate and then the democrats removing Harry Reid from his position as majority leader (should he defeat Angle – I can’t believe it’s even possible that she would be a U.S. Senator).  With Reid out, maybe the dems could gather the courage to change the rules and either modify the filibuster provision or eliminate it completely.  With the Citizens United decision hanging over their heads the democrats need to take decisive action or they may end up being the party that is an afterthought when, by all rights, that role should fall to the republicans. 

If you haven’t figured out yet that the republicans have gained control of both the media and the courts just think first of the Citizens United decision and then secondly, think about if you heard or read ANYTHING about the demonstration in Washington last weekend by “progressives” which drew arguably a comparable or greater audience to the Glenn Beck “tea” fest on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech on the Washington Mall?  When Beck’s crew was there and during the weeks before, that’s all we heard about.  I had to look around, but I found a picture of the crowd last weekend and it appeared to me to be every bit as large as Beck’s crowd – and, I only point this out for two reasons.  Again, almost NO ONE reported on it and secondly, for all the LIBERALS out there thinking about staying home because the dems are going to lose, MAKE SURE YOU VOTE.  And, I get the disappointment with Obama and the democrats (again, check my archives for the details) but, let me be clear; When I cast my democratic vote, I’ll be voting AGAINST republicans, not for democrats! 

If you are concerned about republicans taking over congress again and you’re reading this post – please tell someone else to make sure they vote.  And, if they’re disappointed in democrats, ask them to hold their noses and vote against the republicans like I’m going to do – trust that there’s a groundswell of people like me who are going to keep pushing for more progressive democrats – starting at the top with Obama.  If you don’t want to talk about it – email this post or something like it, to people who are on the fence and might not vote without a little prodding.  It really is time we “take back America,” and we need to take it back from the greedy corporate “heads” who are bankrolling these unsuspecting “tea partiers” so that their corporations can continue the pillaging of the American taxpayer in collusion with the republican party.

For years I’ve observed Americans (sometimes myself, I’m sure) casually commenting on how “ALL” of our politicians are LIARS.  Yet, up until recently, I’ve never given much thought to what that means – or what is the end result of our voters internalizing this “FACT” without hardly a second thought.  I guess what’s happening with me is I’m FINALLY having that “second thought.”  I’m even trying to make a distinction between “stretching” the truth and out and out BLATANT lying.  Those of us in America who’ve seemingly figured out how to solve all the problems seem convinced that whatever it is “we” think is “right” and what “they” think is wrong.  I’m saying this in the context that I’m as guilty as anyone from that perspective.  However, I TRY to draw the line with the out and out LYING as I continuously ponder my own perspective.

It’s hard not to be guilty of “stretching the truth” when one is giving one’s own opinions – everything is framed from the perspective of the experiences of the person expressing his/her thinking.  I mean, I often realize that with some of my opinions there seemingly is NO “truth.”  Like the saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”  We should be able to process each other’s opinions in a manner which increases everyone’s thinking.  That would be something in the neighborhood of the ideal.  Yet, in America at this time – at least in the political spectrum – it seems as if there is always a BATTLE going on for POWER – at any cost – with some individuals clearly ascribing to the “win at all costs” or “the ends justifies the means” approach to politics.

Unfortunately, in my view, this “environment” is mainly fostered by the republican party which has been “hijacked” by the so-called “tea party” and has been put under the “spell” of Rupert Murdoch (Australian right winger), Roger Ailes (Republican “hack”), Al Waleed bin Talal (Saudi sheik who funded bin Laden) and the other “lap dogs” (see there I go with my own “opinions”) of Fox “news.”  As someone who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s the idea of a “news” corporation being “home base” for a political party is UNTHINKABLE!  I keep wondering when Americans are going to come to their senses and solve that problem by tuning Fox OUT.  I mean, Murdoch is openly giving MILLIONS to republican political organizations and who knows how much he’ll spoon out secretively through “Citizens United.”  I can only stomach Fox “news” for short periods of time because the absurdity of what comes out of the mouths of people like Shaun Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Bill O’Reilly is shocking to me when I take the time to process what is really behind their lies. 

I’m getting impatient with adults I know who are unable to “get” what Fox is doing (along with Rush Limbaugh, Lars Larson, Michael Savage, and the rest of the right wing propaganda “machine”).  I mean, the last time I watched Hannity he was interviewing Sharron Angle, somehow the republican nominee for the senate in Nevada.  Talk about someone throwing their “guest” a bunch of “softballs.”  This was like SLOWPITCH softball and a paid advertisement for Angle.  They call themselves “news” people, but their “hidden” agenda IS NOT HIDDEN!  In this situation, it wasn’t long before Angle was “bragging” about how much money she raised by appearing on Hannity’s show and how that was the type of media exposure she was willing to submit to – spots where the interviewer would ask the “right” questions so that she could make her pitch for more campaign donations!  To me, this was UNBELIEVABLE – despite the fact I saw and heard it with my own eyes and ears.  I saw Sarah Paling on Hannity’s show once, and he was doing the same thing – it was almost as if he needed her approval prior to asking any questions.  In other words, Fox provides a service for the people they are promoting – NOT the audience. (keep in mind, there was a day when I would have voted for republicans – NO MORE!)

In fact, it’s sad what happens with the audience because I have personal acquaintences who actually believe this stuff (of course, almost everyone of them also believe Rush Limbaugh – I can’t even bring myself to listen to him at all anymore because the frequency of his LYING simply turns my stomach).  And, it turns unsuspecting people, who otherwise appear to be good hard working middle class Americans, into radical fanatics.  I’ll give you an example:  The other day I was driving home from work and there was a car in front of me with large letters all over the back (it was a van) which said, “Obama is not a Christian.  He approves the sins of abortion and homosexuality and he favors illegal immigration and the destruction of our county.”  Right under those words (in the kind of “stick on” letters you get at Home Depot for your mailbox) was a large sign that said “Jesus Saves” with a large cross between Jesus and Saves.  Next to “Jesus” was a Bush/Cheney bumber sticker and a “W” bumper sticker.  Now, that one really almost made me PUKE!

These people are not only hijacking the republican party, but they’re attempting to hijack Christianity – which, of course, is impossible.  It’s not impossible to get people such as the guy driving the van in front of me to buy into their CRAP, but it’s impossible to change a message of love into a message of hate – no matter how hard they try.  What is ironic to me would be the “Christians” – such as the guy driving in front of me – being so willing to PROCLAIM such an UNCHRISTIAN message!  At first, I was really angry at what I was reading on the guy’s car – but, when I calmed down I realized that maybe I should be praying for him – if I can somehow manage to keep from having my own faith hijacked.  What on earth is going on here?

People disagreeing with the President of the United States is nothing new.  I’ve been doing it for nearly half a century – and, it was part of America’s political environment long before I was a gleam in my father’s eye.  In fact, not much that is happening in America right now is new – except that we have a person of color as our President – and, anyone who believes that’s not an issue is, in my view, fooling themselves.  How could, for instance, the guy who was driving right in front of me believe all that stuff about Obama?  If he did a little research he would know that President Obama has been a Christian believer for over 20 years – say what you want about “The Reverend Wright” – if you’ve ever been in a Black church you know that we’re talking about some passionate believers.  And, to suggest that Obama believes in abortion is absurd.  Does he maybe have an issue with some people on how to best deal with the issue?  That would be a reasonable assumption.  But, the bottom line – at least as far as I can conclude based on my Christian faith – is that the person having the abortion is the one who ultimately will answer for the decision.  Obama’s desire to create an atmosphere where abortions are less in demand is a sensable approach in my mind to an issue that is just not realistically going to go away.

How does one explain going around with a “W” sticker on their car along side an out and out Bush/Cheney sticker and then criticize Obama for his stance on illegal immigration and gay rights.  Dick Cheney, who’s daughter is openly gay, is a proponent of gay rights and the Bush administration was pushing an immigration reform policy that was far more lenient than President Obama.  Do I have the answers?  Of course not – but, I’m convinced that people like this guy with the offensive stickers all over his car are reacting to what’s heard on the TV or radio.  I thought about following him just so I could interview him to find out where he got his “information” – but, decided that might be foolish.  However, I’d bet just about everything I have (not much) that the guy’s  a Fox viewer and listens to Limbaugh and/or Beck on the radio.  (possibly to the second rate “voices” such as Larson and Savage)

The end result is that people like this guy and many of our “fresh” politicians from the “tea party” are using the word “Jesus” to send a convoluted message to anyone stupid enough to listen to them.  Many people hear the word Jesus and automatically assume whoever’s using it must be telling the truth – without ANY FACT CHECKING!  Are you kidding me?  Does anyone out there really think Glenn Beck’s message is from Jesus?  Or is it more realistic that to Beck $35 MILLION isn’t enough – he wants to make more than Rush’s supposed $400 MILLION? 

I’m not totally sure what motivates these people.  Is it just to regain power?  Is it the money?  Or is there a deeper motive that involves some kind of authoritarian society that someone’s (somewhere) figured a way to achieve – by USING THE SYSTEM against itself?  Their plan? – since the days of Reagan was to apparently take over the air waves, control the courts, and then the legislative and executive branches of government.  I believe that “Citizens United” was the final “nail” in their plan – they’ve got the airwaves and the courts – that decision allows them to have a possibly insurmountable advantage on controlling congress and the White House in the future.  People like Beck, Limbaugh, Palin, Angle, and the others are very likely “pawns” in a scheme that may be extremely difficult to “undress” if the democrats lose their control of congress in November.  Even if they hold on, it will take a change in the democrats willingness to “fight” in order to turn back this corporate takeover of America.  The first step?  A willingness to be honest and transparent with the American people (one of Obama’s promises unkept – although, as of late I sense possibly a change for the better).  The goal?  Americans wouldn’t assume “ALL ” politicians are LIARS!

I’ve just finished reading Joseph Stiglitz’ “FreeFall” which is an excellent read about the “bursting” of the mortgage “bubble,” the response by both the Bush and Obama administrations, and America’s economy in general.  Let me preface anything I might say in this post with the disclaimer that I’m no economist and much of what I’ve been reading simply goes over my head.  I never finished “Bad Money” by Kevin Phillips – it was just too “heavy” for me – although what I remember about it is how inciteful Phillips was in his writing (actually, I’ve started re-reading it).  Essentially, pointing out how America’s reckless economic policies were headed for a fall – what Stiglitz refers to as the bursting of the bubble.  I did manage to get through Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short” which gave a great “snapshot” of the subprime abuses, the securitization of bad mortgages that were sold by the “too big to fail banks” by the TRILLIONS, the rating agencies who were virtually incompetent, the bankers motivated by GREED, and the small number of investors who got rich off of the backs of all the unsuspecting retirement accounts because they were smart enough to load up on “credit default swaps” – which I still don’t understand.

In my mind, economics should be simple.  It’s about the money supply in the nation.  The flow of money from one person’s hand to another’s in a manner which contributes to the well being of all.  The American economy is NOT healthy at this point in time.  I don’t care which president is trying to convince me otherwise, the evidence is overwhelmingly suggesting we have BIG – no HUGE – problems in America.  The “crash” which hit high gear in about September of 2008 – shortly after John McCain had proclaimed “the fundamentals of our economy remain strong” – OK, is anyone surprised at ANOTHER example of McCain being almost a comparable baffon to GW Bush? (God help him for unleashing Sarah Palin on the rest of us)is far from over.  The response of, first, the Bush administration and, then, the Obama administration suggest that we still have not elected leaders who truly believe in “the change we can believe in.”  Essentially, George W Bush abandoned EVERY economic principle his administration “touted” (we all know; not much of what they said meant what they said) by instituting the “TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM.”  This was an unimagineable “boon” to the banks who created the mess in the first place.  Essentially, telling these banks they were more important than EVERYONE else in America.  It still bothers me just to write this.  Then, along came President Obama and we got more of the same – debt relief for the Wall Street banks that not only got them off the hook for their cavalier behavior – but, allowed them to basically go right back to the same behavior – we taxpayers GAVE THEM BONUSES in the Billions for ruining our retirement accounts!  Unbelievable.

Compare this to Obama’s treatment of General Motors.  Not only was General Motors forced into a controlled bankruptcy where the stockholders lost EVERYTHING, but the CEO was CANNED!  The government essentially took over the largest car manufacturer in the WORLD!  Have you ever asked yourself why they didn’t take the same approach with Wall Street?  Have you wondered why all the shareholders of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Citigroup came out with value in their shares?  These companies were BANKRUPT!  Traditionally, when banks become insolvent, the common  shareholders are wiped out (as in General Motors) and the preferred shareholders and bondholders fight over what’s left.  Why didn’t this happen with the Wall Street banks?  And, why were these executives who allowed this to happen not only still working but receiving bonuses in the MILLIONS?  Think about this – what kind of message did “we the people” through our gutless (or maybe shareholder?) leaders send to Wall Street.  I’m sure as I’m writing this they think they’re more important now than ever.  And, they may be right – because I believe the amount of America’s economy they control has increased significantly since this fiasco.

I’m going to attempt to process some of my many thoughts after finishing Stiglitz’ book – it is very intellectually stimulating – even for a non economics person as myself.   And, I’m going to try to focus on what was done after the “meltdown” because, for all intents and purposes, it no longer matters what happened prior to that.  Bush/Cheney are gone (certainly not forgotten, at least by me) and now President Obama and his “team” are “steering the ship.”  And, I “get” that you have to “steer the ship” gradually – you can’t “turn on a dime” – but, as I’ve been pointing out since prior to Obama’s inauguration (there I go, patting myself on the back again), his economic team left a lot to be desired.  In fact, you could make a significant argument that most of his economic advisors were “right in the middle” of the mess I would just love to leave at the feet of George W Bush.

Make no mistake, George W Bush and Dick Cheney were INSTRUMENTAL in creating the climate which led to the meltdown.  And, the TARP program conceived by Hank Paulsen was unforgivable in my mind.  That being said, when President Obama and his “team” entered the scene they pretty much took the same approach they took with Iraq – essentially a “Bush-lite” approach – that is, a continuance of the Bush policies with no noticeable changes.  The banks continued to receive government support – most people have no idea how much support they’ve been promised.  The Stiglitz book confirms what I had heard – and claimed on this site – that America’s taxpayers are potentially on the “hook” for TENS OF TRILLIONS in bad investments by these Wall Street behemoths.  Siglitz called the response to the crisis by both the Bush and Obama administrations as “muddling.”  Meaning, neither were willing to take dramatic steps to address a HUGE problem and then instituting policies which were INTENDED to return things to “the way the were” before the crash. (the sad truth: we’ve returned to the way we were before the crash)

Here’s the main problem with that approach.  Things were REALLY BAD prior to the “crash.”  When you look closer at the economic statistics for the previous 30 years the results are sobering.  When you combine that with the realities facing America’s society today, taking a “business as usual” approach to a problem like this is unacceptable.  (I want to say COWARDLY because so many of our politicians have been bought and sold by the large corporations who are attempting to hijack this nation – but, I’ll save that argument for another day)  Not only were the shareholders of many of America’s largest banks “bailed out” but there wasn’t ONE investigation of the whole mess that I’ve heard of – save for the one lawsuit brought against Goldman Sachs for essentially selling bundled securities with one hand while “betting” on their failure with the other!  I find that incredible in itself – and worthy of more than a casual investigation by the SEC – SOMEONE SHOULD BE IN JAIL for that one!

We’re listening to the Obama administration (with support from people like Paulsen, and Bernanke) claim that their actions in continuing the bank bailouts and the so-called stimulus package saved us from going into a “GREAT DEPRESSION.”  That may well be true, but for how long?  After reading “FreeFall” I can see a clear argument that we’re just putting off the inevitable.  (In fact, I’ve even heard people claim that we’re NOW in a depression) Yes, the banks are (and have been since early in Obama’s Presidency) back to their misbehavior – gambling with cheap money provided by “we the people.”  They have developed some VERY BAD habits – and it’s going to be HARD to get them to change without getting rid of many of the people controlling the institutions (they have millions to spend on politicians so they might remain secure in their jobs).  The time to do that (getting rid of the execs) was when the banks were insolvent!  These people are now working behind the scenes to bring republicans back to power so they can have further free reign on this economy.  They are skimming profits in the TRILLIONS and many Americans – including the tea partiers – are blindly getting ready to open the floodgates to the treasury AGAIN by voting republicans back into control of Congress!  What’s that saying about the meaning of the word INSANITY?

According to Stiglitz (and this is just a small “snapshot” of his book) the shareholders of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, etc. – the banks that were insolvent – should have been eliminated through an organized bankruptcy and the executives should have been fired.  Stiglitz also agreed with me (and many others) that the Obama “stimulus” package was too small, included tax cuts that were not “stimulative” enough, and – in effect – targeted too much money in the wrong direction.  This was an opportunity for America to address some of the glaring challenges that MUST be dealt with in the next few years.  For some reason, we Americans keep wanting to increase our already overblown living standards when we’re CLEARLY creating a NON-SUSTAINABLE economy and society.  How desperate are we going to have to get before the majority of Americans are going to be willing to face our REAL problems in a REAL way?

What I hadn’t thought about as I was clammoring for more money for infrastructure in Obama’s stimulus package was that if we simply rebuild what we have we are in essence planning to continue doing things the same way for the foreseable future.  For example, should we be funneling stimulus funds into rebuilding existing roads or into creating more MASS TRANSIT in our cities?  Rebuilding our existing roads simply encourages us to continue using fossil fuels at a rate that is unsustainable.  Maybe, after the “meltdown” that should have been a time for change.  Since the meltdown (this might be my inference and not part of the book) President Obama has opened up more “offshore drilling” leases when an emphasis on more wind power, solar power, and other forms of renewable energy would be money better spent with our children and grandchildren in mind.  Are we simply going to pass these problems on to them?

Stiglitz book was way to “much” for me to discuss in one post, but another point it clearly made was the contrast between the “market” economists and the Keynesian economists.  Essentially – no-regulation vs regulation.  He makes a compelling argument about the absurdity of the devotees of Milton Friedman – called the Chicago economists – their philosophy referred to by Natalie Klein as the “shock doctrine” – where they look for these catastrophic situations to cramm their greedy, self centered ideas on the “masses” with the resulting rush of money to the people at the “top.”  History and statistics both do not support what the “right wing” continue to claim is the answer to our “woes” – a “market” economy.  Since the days of Reagan – real wages in America for the middle class has gone DOWN!  We have experienced one bubble bursting after another in the past 30+ years and everytime this happens the “rich get richer” and the “poor get poorer.”  I’m just wondering when America is going to wake up to all this?

Republicans (with the help of some democrats) have been chipping away at the New Deal regulations which – while being enforced created a stable American economy – since Reagan moved into the White House.  Until the mid nineties these “too big to fail” banks like Goldman and Citigroup would have been impossible.  Robert Rubin (Clinton’s Treasury Secretary) and Larry Summers (Obama’s economic advisor) were instrumental, along with republicans like Phil Gramm, in repealing regulations such as Glass Seagull from the books allowing companies like Citibank to acquire insurance companies, securities firms and investment firms.  Rubin left Clinton’s administration to become CEO of Citigroup (the conglomerate he helped make possible), Hank Paulsen was the CEO of Goldman Sachs prior to creating the TARP bailout program, and Summers was a true Wall Street – Goldman type insider as well.  This has been an assault on the American taxpayers by people who believe they are more valuable and brighter than anyone else in the country – as Stiglitz calls them, “risk managers who are unable to manage risk.”  The people who support this type of policy (mainly republicans) are proposing more of the same.  And yet, we’re hearing in the news that America’s voters are going to put them back into office.

These people complain about the deficit (well, actually they weren’t complaining when Bush was in office) and then push for a continuance of Bush’s “tax cuts for the wealthy” – which is tax cuts for the top 1 – 2 percent – suddenly and apparently no longer worried about the deficit.  Personally, I hope the democrats allow all the tax cuts to expire – including the ones aimed at me – which would cut about 3.7 TRILLION from the projected deficit in the next 10 years.  At some point the American public is going to have to come to grips with the FACT that if you want something you should pay for it.  Arguing about what is wanted – that is, what republicans would want vs what I would want – if that was the choice – will be left for another day.  The point I’ve tried to make this evening is that of late – whoever’s steering the ship of America’s economy isn’t turning the rudder very far democrat or republican.  Until we stop cowering to the Wall Street bankers, America will continue to slip toward being a second rate nation!  While we’re all busy telling ourselves that “we’re the best” at everything – the rest of the world is passing us by – and wondering what’s gone wrong with the American people?  If we allow the “tea party” to influence our political process we could very well be headed toward isolationism – involuntarily!

I have to add at this point – the democrats in the senate are not even willing to have a “fight” with republicans over “tax cuts for the rich” – so the chances of “the change we can believe in” actually happening grow dimmer with each passing day.  This when their argument could simply be that during the Clinton years – before the taxcuts – the economy produced over 20 MILLION jobs while after the tax cuts it produced about 3 million – what the hell are the democrats afraid of???  If you haven’t read any of my previous posts, check the archive for what I’ve written about the failure of President Obama to allow investigations of the Bush/Cheney administration.  In my mind – one of the GREAT blunders of any American president.  Ultimately, if Obama’s term as president ends with failure, that will be the decision which paved the way for all the other shortcomings.  Feeling a need to depend on democrats to overcome this republican assault on America is DEPRESSING!

I believe John McCain managed, in 2008, to reduce his legacy to two words, “Sarah Palin.”  He unleashed this woman on America, a small percentage of Americans are “on board,” the democrats are almost acting as if they wish she would run for president, and my feelings are that as much as the woman turns me off – be careful of what you wish for.  While I do think her candidacy, if it managed to evolve into the republican nomination, would “wake up” the left – I’ve seen so many “dirty tricks” over the years by republicans that I think the democrats laugh off her prospects at their peril.  Remember Ronald Reagan – he was a fringe candidate until someone in the background figured out how to get him elected.  George W Bush – just Google some of his misstatements if you haven’t figured out what a bafoon he was – the republicans figured out how to get him into the White House despite the fact he LOST the election of 2000 and arguably the election of 2004 as well.  So, the more I hear democratic “pundits” scoffing at Palin and some of the outrageous things she’s doing and saying the more it makes me nervous that she could have a material effect on the upcoming elections.  (and, keep in mind – as stated here many times – the effects of “Citizens United” are still undetermined, but in my mind I feel confident in guaranteeing you the people who are in favor of that decision will also be in favor of Palin, SCARRY!)

I was reading the Washington Post today and there was an article about a Palin speech in IOWA (hint, hint – do you think she’s got her eye on 2012?) where she “hits Obama and GOP establishment.”  Regarding the “GOP establishment” she’s pushing for the republican “leaders” to get behind all these right wing “tea party” candidates, such as Sharron Angle in Nevada, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Joe Miller in Alaska – who wants to end social security, medicare, and unemployment insurance, and others who HATE government.  They HATE government so much that they want to run it – presumably so they can eliminate as much of it as they can.  Of course, that’s what George W Bush and Dick Cheney were doing – or at least attempting to do.  They were eliminating regulations, but they couldn’t manage to avoid the temptation of using government to funnel as much of America’s tax dollars as possible to their “friends” – like Halliburton, Blackwater, KBR, Wall Street (Goldman Sachs, AIG, Morgan Stantley, et al), BP, and I could go on and on.  In fact, Alaska got a heaping share of America’s tax dollars while Palin was governor – remember the “bridge to nowhere” that she supported until it was necessary to come out against “earmarks” as the republican candidate for VP (as if republicans didn’t do earmarks)?  The regulations they eliminated are the ones put in place during the “New Deal” designed to protect “we the people” from things like the “Great Recession” which is happening as I write this.

Just as these right wing candidates should be easy targets in the upcoming election, Palin should be a “sitting duck” of a candidate should she choose to run.  Maybe she’s just cashing in on her “fame” and raking in as much money as she can – that is the republican way – if there’s money out there to grab – GRAB IT!  To hell with the FACT that ONE IN SEVEN Americans are stuck in poverty, we’ve lost ELEVEN MILLION jobs since the day George W Bush took office, and over 50 MILLION Americans (and counting) are without health insurance.  Government is not for them, it’s for the rich who will someday decide to trickle some of their cash down to the needy.  That’s what Palin calls government from the bottom up – as with most republicans, if they (republicans) say something, look in the opposite direction for the truth.

However, some of what she says should be looked at closely and someone, somewhere, should cause her to give a thorough explanation of her remarks.  For example, in her speech in Iowa Palin said, “It’s the voters who will stop these leftist policies, the voters will stop this fundamental transformation of America that’s not good for America. It’s the patriots who will restore America.”  Of course, she’s referring to the policies President Obama has been attempting to initiate – but, more often than not – prevented from doing so by a minority of 41 Senators and a spineless democratic group of senators.  (and, by the way, wasn’t it these same voters who put President Obama in office in the first place?  Or, do the people who voted for him not count as “patriots?”)  She goes on to say, “It is time for renewal and a restoration of constitutional principles, and it may take some renegades going rogue to get us there.”  What the hell does she mean by that?  When is someone going to call this woman on this inciteful rhetoric?  In the 2008 election she was inciting her crowds to the point where they were shouting “kill him” referring to then Senator Barack Obama.  Someone needs to get this woman under control!

Keep in mind that Chuck Norris – of “Walker Texas Ranger” fame – another of the whacko right wingers in this country, was quoted as saying there are thousands of “cells” of people ready to “act” when the time is right (again, presumably against Obama’s administration – what this “act” would be Norris left to our imagination).  Sharron Angle, the whacko candidate for the Senate in Nevada made referrence to “2nd amendment remedies” when talking about “progressive” policies of the democrats and Obama should people like her not be elected.  I’ll let you make the connection between what all these nut jobs are saying. 

Personally, I don’t think President Obama has gone nearly far enough to the “left.”  For me, and I believe many other people who would be considered his “base,” he’s way to moderate.  I don’t see any reason to even talk to these people on the “right” fringes – they are NUTS!  But, they’ve got a LOT OF MONEY, they’ve got their own private army (Blackwater – now called Xe services to minimize publicity from their murderous activities in Iraq and Afganistan), and they’ve been ginning up people who think that Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Fox “news” tell the truth.  Plus, Fox “news” and Rupert Murdoch are part of their “team.”  I’m honestly starting to look at these people as the “enemy” instead of people I disagree with.  Unfortunately, the democrats don’t appear to have much of a mechanism (besides “we the people”) to counter this right wing onslaught.

Remember also, both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections were arguably won with the use of HACKED, or rigged, voting machines.  How far have we come since then.  Well, I can’t answer that any more than to say that the issue of rigged voting machines has certainly made its way to the back pages of the country’s dialogue.  Does that mean the problem’s been solved? Or, does that mean that we’re just going to get “hammered” again when we’re not looking and end up with another illegitimate president?  (re: George W Bush)  This is a WAR for America’s heart and soul – I know, if you’ve been reading many of my posts, I keep pointing this out – but, it’s the progressive leaders of our country who have to realize this.  Lately, I’ve been a bit encouraged by some of the “progressive” talkers on the radio who are framing the issue more along these lines.  Ed Schultz (and others) has a “march on Wahsington” scheduled for October 2nd and I’m hoping this type of rhetoric is used at that rally.  Somehow, despite the disappointment with some of President Obama’s decisions, the progressives (OK, I’m going to say it – LIBERALS!) in this nation need to wake up.  The way to get Obama’s attention isn’t to allow people like Angle, Paul, O’Donnell, Miller, and the others to invade our Senate for the next – what could conceivably be a miserable – 6 years.  Remember how bad it was enduring GW Bush and Dick Cheney?  Well, this could rival that.  We would then have a democratic president negotiating with these fanatical people with the hope of getting something done.  What’s the saying? “Don’t hold your breath.”

Do you find it interesting that many on the “left” are saying virtually the same thing as Palin in regards to her activities and the “religious right’s” attempt to take over our government?  For example, couldn’t “the voters will stop this fundamental transformation of America that’s not good for America. It’s the patriots who will restore America.” be coming from a liberal who wants to stop people like Palin?  Doesn’t their assault on the 1st, 4th, and 14th amendments of our constitution make you want to say “It is time for renewal and a restoration of constitutional principles?”  And, when she talks about the “will of the voters” is she forgetting that 70 MILLION voters voted President Obama into office instead of her and the shamed McCain?  When are the American people going to wake up to the fact that people like Sarah Palin and her ilk can’t stand having a person of color in the “White” house ?  None of her arguments make any sense, yet she continues to rake in the millions and is given credibility on the Aussie and Saudi run Fox “news” channel.  Give the woman credit for doing a great job of being greedy, but – as a leader – let’s hope not.  The fundamental values that made this nation great are the very ones that Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Fox “news,” and the other right wing whackos want to destroy!  Again, this is a WAR!