If you're tired of the flood of rightwing books that portray President Obama as a third-worlder, closet Muslim,a post-American President who wants us weak because of some ideology borrowed from Saul Alinsky,the hero of the teabaggers, I have just the book for you. If you are a leftist, you might even agree with the author. Fidel Castro enters into the Obama book fad with his small book of essays, "Obama and the Empire" (Ocean Books, 2011 (first book of the New Year)). Fidel says that after the white males of the United States screwed up so badly and capitalism went into a global crisis,the powerbrokers needed to find someone who did not match the usual profile of the white male patriarch in order to salvage the political-economic system. In a racist society, such a man was found in Barack Obama, who could then be used to deceive the world and restore America's fading prestige. Castro claims it was a cruel joke to play on those who struggled in the African-American liberation struggle--which normal people call the civil rights movement. Castro gets in his usual jibes and pet themes in the book. He says that Barack Obama received the Nobel prize for having won the presidential election in a racist society--which is true-- but then nominates Evo Morales for the Prize. He criticizes Obama's relationship with the new generation of anti-Castro Cubans and blasts the virtual annexation of Colombia by the United States. And Castro comes through on the issue of climate change and uses this theme to taunt the industrialized countries. Probably Bill Ayers would agree.
If you endured the revisionist history of the Pilgrims put out by Fox News over Thanksgiving--that the Pilgrims abandoned socialism for capitalism in order to survive, you might treat yourself to a superb new history of the Pilgrims by British author Nick Bunker (Knopf). "Making Haste from Babylon:the Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World" explores extensive new materials discovered in England and New England to draw a new portrait of the Pilgrims' religious and political experiment and the creation of a little new empire in New England based on the extensive trading of beaver pelts to England. Beaver pelts were considered the equivalent of the gold in El Dorado and assisted the Pilgrims' rise in political fortunes. As for John Winthrop's "City on the Hill", he warned that the greatest threat to it was Greed, something true today and then.
If you have read the extensive critiques of coal mining and listened to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s environmentalism,the counter-intuitive response is James Fallows' "Why the Future of Clean Energy is Dirty Coal: It's the only way to stop Global Warming."(Atlantic, December 2010). Fallows examines the joint U.S.-China Clean Coal Project led by our Energy Secretary Stephen Chu. The project is due to open its first plant in China next year and then come to the States in 2014. Stephen Chu said this past week that the advances by China in the area of alternative energy should be this generation's "Sputnik" moment. Fat chance that our political system will seize the moment. That's why the stimulus package had billions in seed money for these clean energy sources. Fallows' article is fascinating how international cooperation works away from the media limelight. The China-U.S.team has been working constantly for several years and have developed a productive working method and a sense of camaraderie among the participants.
Steven Weber and Bruce Jentleson believe the United States must develop new approaches to engage the world and can not rely on hegemony. Free-market capitaism, hegemony, Western culture, peace and democracy--the ideas that shaped world politics in the twentieth century have lost a great deal of their strength and political and cultural authority is now more contested and power more diffuse than ever. The United States must now see itself as competing in the world of ideas instead of waging a war of ideas. Now ideas and influence are the critical currency, even more than military might. Weber and Jentleson have written a small but dense book "The End of Arrogance: America in the Global Competition of Ideas" (Harvard, 2010).
Continuing his excellent writing on torture, Scott Horton in Harper's analyzes the Wikileaks Cable dated February 6, 2007, which covers the American efforts to stop Germany from indicting CIA officers who renditioned and tortured a German citizen and green grocer Khaled El-Masri, who was mistaken as an Al Qaeda agent from the Hamburg cell. El-Masri was travelling by bus to Skopje, Macedona to visit his family. He was seized by the CIA and protested he was innocent of anything. He was beaten, stripped naked, shot full of drugs, given an enema and put into a diaper and sent to the CIA "snake pit" in Afghanistan where they conducted harsh interrogation. Despite the insistence of Washington on El-Masri's guilt, CIA on the ground were convinced he was the wrong man and that he had been right all along. Deciding that he knew too much he was held incommunicado. Later he was bundled up and left off alone miles from his Macedonian home. After walking to the village where his wife and family were supposed to be , he found out from neighbors that they thought he had abandoned them so they moved to Lebanon. Horton deals with Condi Rice and Jeff Ballinger's attempt to get the Germans off the case of persecuting the CIA agents. What's clear from the exchange was that the decision to seize El-Masri was made in Washington and probably by Condi Rice herself.
Following that up is Horton's interpretation of the Wikileaks Cable that showed that the Obama Administration and former Bush officials interferred with the Spanish courts so that they didn't bring war crimes charges against Bush, Cheney, Richard Addington,Yoo and others for condoning torture. Revelations of this interference have fueled outrage among the American Left. It was bad enough, they reasoned, that Obama just wanted to move forward and not look back but here he's interferring with another country's judicial system, perverting both their justice system and our own.
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Public Policy Polling Reveals GOP Nuts
While the RS2000 flaps continues, with cease and desist orders going out to Markos Malitos and Nate Silver at www.fivethirtyeight.com over their claims about fraud in the polling organization, we should not take this to imply their Rs2000 poll of Republicans was also an anomaly.
Yesterday Public Policy Polling reiterates their findings about Republicans. In September PPP found only 37% of Republicans believed Barack Obama was born in the United States whle 42% think he was not and 22% were unsure.
In November PPP found that 52% of Republicans though ACORN stole the 2008 Presidential election while 27% thought he legitimately won it and 21% were unsure. These figures were actually higher than the RS2000 findings.
In December PPP found 35% of Republicans thought Barack Obama should be impeached while 48% thought he should not be and 17% were unsure
Now John Avalon's book Wingnuts inspired a Harris poll to measure some of the extremes in our political landscape.
Here's a short list of the findings:
67% of Republicans believe Obama is a socialist
57% of Republicans believe Obama is a Muslim
45% of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States and is not eligible to be President
38% of Republicans say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did"
24% of Republicans (14% of all Americans) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist"
For the historical record, the antichrist was Nero, whose name using the ancient practice of gematria adds up to 666. There are the other signs of the antichrist that are linked to Nero, who committed suicide in 68AD and was thought to be resurrected and coming back with an army from Persia. It's actually an interesting story.
Yesterday Public Policy Polling reiterates their findings about Republicans. In September PPP found only 37% of Republicans believed Barack Obama was born in the United States whle 42% think he was not and 22% were unsure.
In November PPP found that 52% of Republicans though ACORN stole the 2008 Presidential election while 27% thought he legitimately won it and 21% were unsure. These figures were actually higher than the RS2000 findings.
In December PPP found 35% of Republicans thought Barack Obama should be impeached while 48% thought he should not be and 17% were unsure
Now John Avalon's book Wingnuts inspired a Harris poll to measure some of the extremes in our political landscape.
Here's a short list of the findings:
67% of Republicans believe Obama is a socialist
57% of Republicans believe Obama is a Muslim
45% of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States and is not eligible to be President
38% of Republicans say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did"
24% of Republicans (14% of all Americans) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist"
For the historical record, the antichrist was Nero, whose name using the ancient practice of gematria adds up to 666. There are the other signs of the antichrist that are linked to Nero, who committed suicide in 68AD and was thought to be resurrected and coming back with an army from Persia. It's actually an interesting story.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
We Do Not Fear The Future, We Shape It
so saith the victor tonight, President Barack Obama and the rest of us. Welcome to the modern world, America. A stunning legislative victory. We should mention that the student loan bill passed also, which Republicans in the Senate have railed against more than the House.
And let history record, I was off by three on the approval of the Senate bill; and only two on the final House Reconciliation Bill, which automatically disqualifies me from becoming a high-paying pundit. You must fail upwards. Notice Nate Silver isn't asked on many television networks. That's because he's rational and too correct most of the time. I had an excuse. I didn't know there were now four empty seats in the House.
Michelle Bachman had to go outside and tell the tea party crowd not to become violent. The Secret Service is now investigating a conservative blogger who calls for the assassination of President Obama because of this vote.
Too tired tonight to comment on the Tan Man's hysterical speech except to say he doesn't understand representative democracy. I will write about it tomorrow because I took notes on all the things that really bugged me. Eric Cantor's speech was the GOP laundry list of lies about the bill and also the real state of our healthcare system. Rumors has it that it was really Dana Rohrbacher who yelled out "Baby Killer" at Bart Stupak, when he urged the rejection of the Stupak-Pitts amendment. Wonder if the Family is going to pay Bart a visit tomorrow. Phyllis Schafly, who is now immortalized in the Texas history books, quickly responded that "Now we know the myth of the pro-life Democrat."
Bloggers commented that the Tan Man went longer in his speech on the climate change bill than he did tonight. One said this was dissing the "tea party" people ,who didn't have the cash the oil industry has. Another claimed Tan Man was having a tantrum and wondered "if Chuckie Cheese was still open?"
It's interesting that the voting was only kept open for fifteen minutes. For Medicaid Part D, the prescription drug vote, voting was kept open for an amazing three hours as the Republican leadership twisted every arm.
Connie Mack said that "Freedom Died Today." Tomorrow I'll see." Pete Hoefstra from Michigan went out to the teabaggers to say he would get the bill repealed in the courts.
Senator De Mint, Mr. Waterloo, said that he would introduce a bill in the Senate tomorrow to repeal the whole thing.
As I understand it,President Obama signs it on Tuesday and it becomes law and then the Senate debates the House changes. So my understanding is that if the Republicans actually try and fool around with the House changes in the Senate, the original Senate bill would stand. Not so great but the basic principles of health as a right would remain.
The passage of the bill tonight came after 92 phone calls or meetings between President Obama and members of Congress.
Strangest element: Tan Man's call for a physical vote, since electronically everyone is recognized immediately and the list are published the minute the final vote was tabulated. I believe he was just trying to drag the proceedings out so President Obama could not address the country. It made no other sense.
This late night news: The Costa Rican military have been ordered to guard the country's borders and stop Rush Limbaugh from entering.
And let history record, I was off by three on the approval of the Senate bill; and only two on the final House Reconciliation Bill, which automatically disqualifies me from becoming a high-paying pundit. You must fail upwards. Notice Nate Silver isn't asked on many television networks. That's because he's rational and too correct most of the time. I had an excuse. I didn't know there were now four empty seats in the House.
Michelle Bachman had to go outside and tell the tea party crowd not to become violent. The Secret Service is now investigating a conservative blogger who calls for the assassination of President Obama because of this vote.
Too tired tonight to comment on the Tan Man's hysterical speech except to say he doesn't understand representative democracy. I will write about it tomorrow because I took notes on all the things that really bugged me. Eric Cantor's speech was the GOP laundry list of lies about the bill and also the real state of our healthcare system. Rumors has it that it was really Dana Rohrbacher who yelled out "Baby Killer" at Bart Stupak, when he urged the rejection of the Stupak-Pitts amendment. Wonder if the Family is going to pay Bart a visit tomorrow. Phyllis Schafly, who is now immortalized in the Texas history books, quickly responded that "Now we know the myth of the pro-life Democrat."
Bloggers commented that the Tan Man went longer in his speech on the climate change bill than he did tonight. One said this was dissing the "tea party" people ,who didn't have the cash the oil industry has. Another claimed Tan Man was having a tantrum and wondered "if Chuckie Cheese was still open?"
It's interesting that the voting was only kept open for fifteen minutes. For Medicaid Part D, the prescription drug vote, voting was kept open for an amazing three hours as the Republican leadership twisted every arm.
Connie Mack said that "Freedom Died Today." Tomorrow I'll see." Pete Hoefstra from Michigan went out to the teabaggers to say he would get the bill repealed in the courts.
Senator De Mint, Mr. Waterloo, said that he would introduce a bill in the Senate tomorrow to repeal the whole thing.
As I understand it,President Obama signs it on Tuesday and it becomes law and then the Senate debates the House changes. So my understanding is that if the Republicans actually try and fool around with the House changes in the Senate, the original Senate bill would stand. Not so great but the basic principles of health as a right would remain.
The passage of the bill tonight came after 92 phone calls or meetings between President Obama and members of Congress.
Strangest element: Tan Man's call for a physical vote, since electronically everyone is recognized immediately and the list are published the minute the final vote was tabulated. I believe he was just trying to drag the proceedings out so President Obama could not address the country. It made no other sense.
This late night news: The Costa Rican military have been ordered to guard the country's borders and stop Rush Limbaugh from entering.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
ALERT! SHARIA POSTPONED
Yes, I was looking forward to sharia law being imposed by our President. There would be no interest charged on credit cards and mortgages and car loans so the US could get out of this Great Repression rather rapidly. I admit my wife would have to wear a Burka for a while but in the name of getting out of debt I'm sure --not really--she'll agree.
Well, it seems that Missile Defense Agency really didn't change their logo. They just decided to print a three color logo for handouts and publications. 3 color was cheaper than 5 color. And no, the Obama Administration didn't do this. It was all ordered during the Bush Administration. So no, it really doesn't imitate the Obama campaign logo either. And if another military officer has to answer these crazy questions, yes, we will have no missile defense system. Can you imagine government officials having to answer this nonsense! They do all the time but still.
Horrendous News from Chile as a 8.8 earhquake rocks the country--that's said to be hundreds of times stronger than the one which hit Haiti. Early photos show places I remember well in Santiago destroyed. I'm beginning to take all these natural disasters personally. It's like my mental landscape is being destroyed bit by bit. The entire Pacific Rim is on Tsunami Alert and Hawaii is preparing to evacuate. Climate Change anyone?
South Dakota has passed a law requiring teachers to say that climate change is a scientific theory, not a fact and that there are many reasons for it--including astrological. So, it's the Year of the Tiger--hence alot of tsunamis and earthquakes. What about theological? Jesus is coming; these are the days of tribulation and rapture is around the corner.
Tony Perkins--not the actor, he's dead-- of Focus of the Family was booted from the president's prayer breakfast at Andrews Air Force base because he attacked President Obama after the state of the union address for wanting to get rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The Catholic representative at such prayer breakasts said that Tony's religious rights were being violated, a constant theme of the religious right. I don't think this crowd would make great Christian martyrs--they're big bunch of whiners.
Rev. Wallis of the Sojourners finally woke up after a long nap. He finally expressed the religious view that the Republicans were wrong about health care from a theological point of view and that their favoritism to the rich over the poor and the lower middle-class was against the Gospel. Given the energy the Religious Rights has poured into the debate, I have wondered why normal Christians hadn't been more forthright in supporting health care and suppport for the poor. Hopefully, this is the first shot across the bow.
Meanwhile, Utah passed a law that " miscarriage was an act of homicide". 50% of all pregnancies in Utah end up in a miscarriage. Under this law, women will be prosecuted for what most consider a tragedy. Are there any women legislators in the state?
Arizona's Trent Franks weighed in yesterday that blacks in America now have it worse than under slavery. He claims that 50% of black children are aborted. Actually it's about 30% and we don't know the number of viable fetuses but that has never stopped the so-called pro-life crowd in tallying numbers. Pat Buchanan previously this year said the best thing to happen to blacks was being forced to come to America. And, somewhere, Randy Newman is playing "Sail Away".
I received a fund-raising letter from the Hannah Giles Legal Defense Fund, which claims that Hannah, who was the female partner of Mr. Acorn pimp on Fox News, is being hounded by Barack Obama's ACORN thugs. It's like Ollie North's great fund-raiser," Mu'ammar Qaddafhi wants me Dead! Send money." Hannah and her partner apparently are being sued for manipulating the videotape they showed and taping illegally. But what price do you put on Freedom!
With the tea party's about to celebrate their first anniversary, some smartass decided to create the Coffee Party. Count me in!
If we have lived through enough right-wing madness recently, the Tenthers are holding a national summit in Atlanta under the auspices of the Tenth Amendment Center, featuring great Patriots like Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and gubernatorial candidate Roy Moore and Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. This is the third of the conservative conferences which are called Obama Resistance conferences. Nearby the NAACP held a rally, which was greeted by members of the KKK. History never dies, like Faulkner said,"it isn't even past."
Some of the things the tenthers are against--federal highway system, health care reform, the New Deal, desegregation and the federal income tax. Tenthers assert the rights of states to secede from the union. Even Fat Tony Scalia, reactionary extraordinaire, wrote this month that the civil war ended these issues once and for all.
Thomas DiLorenzo will lecture on Abraham Lincoln as an enemy of the constitution, now saying that the first Republican President was the original progressive despot and that Jefferson Davis was a beacon of freedom, defending liberty. Thomas Woods, the author of the Politically Incorrect Guide to History, a popular book among conservatives, will talk about conservatives' traditional sympathy for the American south and its people and heritage. Dr. Woods was at the founding of the neo-Confederate Organization, League of the South,which advocates "independence of the Southern people" from the "American empire."
The Tenth Amendment movement has sponsored so-called "state sovereignty resolutions", which ,depending on the state, call for states to secede if the federal government intrudes any further on (you fill in the blank). Georgia's state sovereignty resolution called for secession that further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms, including prohibitions of type and quantity of arms or ammunition' would trigger secession. The resolution also reserved for Georgia the right to judge "how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom". Similar resolutions have passed in Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Idaho, Louisiana and Alaska. Sarah Palin signed Alaska's bill right before she resigned office. And, of course, the Texas Governor Rick Perry is a Tenther.
The good news for all of us is that all the states who have signed so far received far more federal money than they put into the national treasury. So we could sue for past compensation and probably halve the budget deficit. We could prevent stimulus money from going to these states--none voted for president Obama--and we could start withdrawing major federal projects like NASA from Texas and created thousands of jobs in states with patriotic Americans. It's a win-win. As I told a Texan friend of mine, who was mouthing this nonsense, then Texas would become part of Mexico.
The Queen of the birthers, Orly Taitz, Moldovan, Israeli and American, has petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Council for protection against the American government. The crime was that a federal judge finally fined her $25,000 for her nonsense in filing all the nuisance suits on Barack Obama's birth certificate. The Free Republic drummed her out of the wingnut movement because she appealed to "world government", which is a step more evil than President Obama.
John McCain got off a smart ad attacking J.D. Hayworth as a birther. It would work anywhere but the very state he is running. Over half the Republican Legislators are birthers and they persuaded their party to vote a resolution that in 2012 Obama must produce his birth certificate in order to get on the ballot. Since this is a closed primary, John may become the first real victim of the birthers. But never fear John still on Meet The Press--once again--in an exclusive. I'm sure he will trash Obama because he needs to be more right-wing than Republicans in his state.
Charlie Crist claims he will not run as an independent in Florida as Marco Rubio amasses a large lead in the primary. Crist also hasn't backed down from accepting stimulus money. Neither did Arnold Schwartzeneggar. The CBO said the stimulus either saved or created 2.1 million jobs. The problem as I've said repeatedly and Paul Krugman and Bruce Bartlett,the father of supply side economics agreed, was that it was too small.
President Smartypants in his Saturday address said that if we all were as united as we are in routing for our American olympic athletes, we can pass health care. He said he would compromise if the Republicans would. (But the time is up on Wednesday--he didn't say that.) Nice touch--that's why I support the guy.
On the Human Rights front. The House has passed a resolution to assist Argentina through the release of documents about the " dirty war" to locate the dispappeared.
The deleted torture number 12 of the lawyers' memos from Yoo was "mock burial". Yoo also wrote that a President could order the massacre of villagers, crush the tesicles of a son of a detainee to make him talk, order troops into mainland America (hence the legal rationale for Dick Cheney's planned invasion of Buffalo, New York), and the fake burials of detainees. Rep. Nadler has sent these documents to the appropriate Bar Associations asking them to disbar both Yoo and Bybee.
Speaking of the massacre of villagers, human rights violations linger far beyond the time when they were committed. It has been twenty-four years since I was on the OAS' Human Rights Commission and one of the last situations I dealt with was the disappeared in Guatemala. Last year, some brave souls actually found lists and locations for the disppeared. While we were investigating these killings, we never could obtain any documents about who, where and why these people were killed. And this is extraordinarily rare--since repressive governments always document the killing of their enemies. Today, the Guatamala Forensic Foundation begins excavation of a cemetary where they believe over 200,000 bodies may be buried. These bodies are from that time over two decades ago. Yet their families never knew what happened to them.
Last week, neo-Nazis wanted to commemorate the firing bombing of Dresden, an awful event that provoked a series of sermons from my grandfather and a novel from Kurt Vonnegut, who was there. Even in Just Wars, criminal acts are done and human rights are violated. That's why one hopes to protect human rights. We don't want the people who would violate them in the future to embrace victims of the past as justification for their future deeds.
Now for some lighter news. Carly Simon has revealed that "You're so Vain" was written about David Geffen, who was infatuated by his new star Joni Mitchell. In my view, Joni's Geffen albums were the best musically she did--that was her jazz stage. Get well, Joni. She suffers from a truly horrible and grotesque skin disease that forced her to cancel touring and recording last year.
To impress your friends and family, I provide you with a bit of trivia I only discovered reading Patti Smith's Just Kids. For the hip among you, you'll remember the Holy Modal Rounders, who used to play with the Fugs. Their great song was "I've got a daughter, she's half-grown; jumps on a man, like a dog on a bone. Hey, Black-eyed Susie." Now their drummer was----the great playwright and movie actor San Shepard. I know you're thrilled.
I have not mentioned J.D. Salinger's death because frankly I never cared for him. OK, Catcher in the Rye was about adolescence everywhere. The interesting issue is how many books did he leave behind. Here we have a literary recluse whom we are told wrote everyday from dawn until noon and by letters in the mid-1960s we have been told he had at least two finished manuscripts. This could be a literary case where the author actually left behind more finished manuscripts than he ever published in his lifetime. It would mean his whole work would have to be re-evaluated. That's neat.
Finally, Wayne Newton. Yes, Wayne Newton, las Vegas entertainer and compulsive gambler, returned to Virginia this past week to push the state to recognize his Indian tribe, the Powhatans. While Disney can make a film about them, our government can de-legalize them as they have with many Indian nations. Strange as it seems, the Powhatans were legally obliterated and Wayne came to seek a correction to this injustice.
Well, it seems that Missile Defense Agency really didn't change their logo. They just decided to print a three color logo for handouts and publications. 3 color was cheaper than 5 color. And no, the Obama Administration didn't do this. It was all ordered during the Bush Administration. So no, it really doesn't imitate the Obama campaign logo either. And if another military officer has to answer these crazy questions, yes, we will have no missile defense system. Can you imagine government officials having to answer this nonsense! They do all the time but still.
Horrendous News from Chile as a 8.8 earhquake rocks the country--that's said to be hundreds of times stronger than the one which hit Haiti. Early photos show places I remember well in Santiago destroyed. I'm beginning to take all these natural disasters personally. It's like my mental landscape is being destroyed bit by bit. The entire Pacific Rim is on Tsunami Alert and Hawaii is preparing to evacuate. Climate Change anyone?
South Dakota has passed a law requiring teachers to say that climate change is a scientific theory, not a fact and that there are many reasons for it--including astrological. So, it's the Year of the Tiger--hence alot of tsunamis and earthquakes. What about theological? Jesus is coming; these are the days of tribulation and rapture is around the corner.
Tony Perkins--not the actor, he's dead-- of Focus of the Family was booted from the president's prayer breakfast at Andrews Air Force base because he attacked President Obama after the state of the union address for wanting to get rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The Catholic representative at such prayer breakasts said that Tony's religious rights were being violated, a constant theme of the religious right. I don't think this crowd would make great Christian martyrs--they're big bunch of whiners.
Rev. Wallis of the Sojourners finally woke up after a long nap. He finally expressed the religious view that the Republicans were wrong about health care from a theological point of view and that their favoritism to the rich over the poor and the lower middle-class was against the Gospel. Given the energy the Religious Rights has poured into the debate, I have wondered why normal Christians hadn't been more forthright in supporting health care and suppport for the poor. Hopefully, this is the first shot across the bow.
Meanwhile, Utah passed a law that " miscarriage was an act of homicide". 50% of all pregnancies in Utah end up in a miscarriage. Under this law, women will be prosecuted for what most consider a tragedy. Are there any women legislators in the state?
Arizona's Trent Franks weighed in yesterday that blacks in America now have it worse than under slavery. He claims that 50% of black children are aborted. Actually it's about 30% and we don't know the number of viable fetuses but that has never stopped the so-called pro-life crowd in tallying numbers. Pat Buchanan previously this year said the best thing to happen to blacks was being forced to come to America. And, somewhere, Randy Newman is playing "Sail Away".
I received a fund-raising letter from the Hannah Giles Legal Defense Fund, which claims that Hannah, who was the female partner of Mr. Acorn pimp on Fox News, is being hounded by Barack Obama's ACORN thugs. It's like Ollie North's great fund-raiser," Mu'ammar Qaddafhi wants me Dead! Send money." Hannah and her partner apparently are being sued for manipulating the videotape they showed and taping illegally. But what price do you put on Freedom!
With the tea party's about to celebrate their first anniversary, some smartass decided to create the Coffee Party. Count me in!
If we have lived through enough right-wing madness recently, the Tenthers are holding a national summit in Atlanta under the auspices of the Tenth Amendment Center, featuring great Patriots like Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and gubernatorial candidate Roy Moore and Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. This is the third of the conservative conferences which are called Obama Resistance conferences. Nearby the NAACP held a rally, which was greeted by members of the KKK. History never dies, like Faulkner said,"it isn't even past."
Some of the things the tenthers are against--federal highway system, health care reform, the New Deal, desegregation and the federal income tax. Tenthers assert the rights of states to secede from the union. Even Fat Tony Scalia, reactionary extraordinaire, wrote this month that the civil war ended these issues once and for all.
Thomas DiLorenzo will lecture on Abraham Lincoln as an enemy of the constitution, now saying that the first Republican President was the original progressive despot and that Jefferson Davis was a beacon of freedom, defending liberty. Thomas Woods, the author of the Politically Incorrect Guide to History, a popular book among conservatives, will talk about conservatives' traditional sympathy for the American south and its people and heritage. Dr. Woods was at the founding of the neo-Confederate Organization, League of the South,which advocates "independence of the Southern people" from the "American empire."
The Tenth Amendment movement has sponsored so-called "state sovereignty resolutions", which ,depending on the state, call for states to secede if the federal government intrudes any further on (you fill in the blank). Georgia's state sovereignty resolution called for secession that further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms, including prohibitions of type and quantity of arms or ammunition' would trigger secession. The resolution also reserved for Georgia the right to judge "how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom". Similar resolutions have passed in Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Idaho, Louisiana and Alaska. Sarah Palin signed Alaska's bill right before she resigned office. And, of course, the Texas Governor Rick Perry is a Tenther.
The good news for all of us is that all the states who have signed so far received far more federal money than they put into the national treasury. So we could sue for past compensation and probably halve the budget deficit. We could prevent stimulus money from going to these states--none voted for president Obama--and we could start withdrawing major federal projects like NASA from Texas and created thousands of jobs in states with patriotic Americans. It's a win-win. As I told a Texan friend of mine, who was mouthing this nonsense, then Texas would become part of Mexico.
The Queen of the birthers, Orly Taitz, Moldovan, Israeli and American, has petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Council for protection against the American government. The crime was that a federal judge finally fined her $25,000 for her nonsense in filing all the nuisance suits on Barack Obama's birth certificate. The Free Republic drummed her out of the wingnut movement because she appealed to "world government", which is a step more evil than President Obama.
John McCain got off a smart ad attacking J.D. Hayworth as a birther. It would work anywhere but the very state he is running. Over half the Republican Legislators are birthers and they persuaded their party to vote a resolution that in 2012 Obama must produce his birth certificate in order to get on the ballot. Since this is a closed primary, John may become the first real victim of the birthers. But never fear John still on Meet The Press--once again--in an exclusive. I'm sure he will trash Obama because he needs to be more right-wing than Republicans in his state.
Charlie Crist claims he will not run as an independent in Florida as Marco Rubio amasses a large lead in the primary. Crist also hasn't backed down from accepting stimulus money. Neither did Arnold Schwartzeneggar. The CBO said the stimulus either saved or created 2.1 million jobs. The problem as I've said repeatedly and Paul Krugman and Bruce Bartlett,the father of supply side economics agreed, was that it was too small.
President Smartypants in his Saturday address said that if we all were as united as we are in routing for our American olympic athletes, we can pass health care. He said he would compromise if the Republicans would. (But the time is up on Wednesday--he didn't say that.) Nice touch--that's why I support the guy.
On the Human Rights front. The House has passed a resolution to assist Argentina through the release of documents about the " dirty war" to locate the dispappeared.
The deleted torture number 12 of the lawyers' memos from Yoo was "mock burial". Yoo also wrote that a President could order the massacre of villagers, crush the tesicles of a son of a detainee to make him talk, order troops into mainland America (hence the legal rationale for Dick Cheney's planned invasion of Buffalo, New York), and the fake burials of detainees. Rep. Nadler has sent these documents to the appropriate Bar Associations asking them to disbar both Yoo and Bybee.
Speaking of the massacre of villagers, human rights violations linger far beyond the time when they were committed. It has been twenty-four years since I was on the OAS' Human Rights Commission and one of the last situations I dealt with was the disappeared in Guatemala. Last year, some brave souls actually found lists and locations for the disppeared. While we were investigating these killings, we never could obtain any documents about who, where and why these people were killed. And this is extraordinarily rare--since repressive governments always document the killing of their enemies. Today, the Guatamala Forensic Foundation begins excavation of a cemetary where they believe over 200,000 bodies may be buried. These bodies are from that time over two decades ago. Yet their families never knew what happened to them.
Last week, neo-Nazis wanted to commemorate the firing bombing of Dresden, an awful event that provoked a series of sermons from my grandfather and a novel from Kurt Vonnegut, who was there. Even in Just Wars, criminal acts are done and human rights are violated. That's why one hopes to protect human rights. We don't want the people who would violate them in the future to embrace victims of the past as justification for their future deeds.
Now for some lighter news. Carly Simon has revealed that "You're so Vain" was written about David Geffen, who was infatuated by his new star Joni Mitchell. In my view, Joni's Geffen albums were the best musically she did--that was her jazz stage. Get well, Joni. She suffers from a truly horrible and grotesque skin disease that forced her to cancel touring and recording last year.
To impress your friends and family, I provide you with a bit of trivia I only discovered reading Patti Smith's Just Kids. For the hip among you, you'll remember the Holy Modal Rounders, who used to play with the Fugs. Their great song was "I've got a daughter, she's half-grown; jumps on a man, like a dog on a bone. Hey, Black-eyed Susie." Now their drummer was----the great playwright and movie actor San Shepard. I know you're thrilled.
I have not mentioned J.D. Salinger's death because frankly I never cared for him. OK, Catcher in the Rye was about adolescence everywhere. The interesting issue is how many books did he leave behind. Here we have a literary recluse whom we are told wrote everyday from dawn until noon and by letters in the mid-1960s we have been told he had at least two finished manuscripts. This could be a literary case where the author actually left behind more finished manuscripts than he ever published in his lifetime. It would mean his whole work would have to be re-evaluated. That's neat.
Finally, Wayne Newton. Yes, Wayne Newton, las Vegas entertainer and compulsive gambler, returned to Virginia this past week to push the state to recognize his Indian tribe, the Powhatans. While Disney can make a film about them, our government can de-legalize them as they have with many Indian nations. Strange as it seems, the Powhatans were legally obliterated and Wayne came to seek a correction to this injustice.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
David Plouffe versus The Prince--the Rumble in the Jungle 2010
David Plouffe, the architect of the Obama campaign and the creator of 21st century electioneering, has been called by Obama to coordinate the Democrats' House and Senate races this year. David is the rarity of people in this field--the anti-sleazebag. Compared to Lee Atwater, Mary Matalin, Karl Rove and even Steve Schmidt for the Republicans and James Carville and Mark Penn for the Democrats, David should be canonized. He sticks to his plan and rides it to victory no matter the spin, the media second-guessing and the temptation to sling the mud. One of the great attributes of the Obama campaign was its high-tone and issue-oriented style. For what I knew could have been thrown at McCain and Palin, Plouffe was the model for restraint but he threw great head fakes sucking McCain into the Pennsylvania swamp where he couldn't escape. What's strange is that conservatives always e-mail me complaining that David Axelrod was the mastermind of the campaign. The Republicans have never digested that David exists or how he played the game.
No joke--I believe David Plouffe is one of the great heroes of the global democracy movement. He created our Velvet Revolution. I use his techniques as a model for growing a grass-roots movement in whatever country you live.
But with the Supreme Court decision, he'll be going up against Prince Al Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Azziz al Saud, the 22nd richest man in the world and the second largest shareholder in Rupert Murdoch's media empire. The Prince has controlling interests in Citicorp, Hewlett-Packard, Disney, Compaq and other American corporations. And it seems he has plenty of opinions about American politics. He has gone on the Charlie Rose show to slam Obama's proposal to tax banks, opposed health care reform and claims that Medicare and Medicaid are "timebombs". He is currently on a PR tour of the U.S.,even appearing on Fox News, where they didn't say he owns the place. Forbes has given a full spread to his lifestyle--the Really, Really, Really Rich and Famous--where they oo'd and aahh'd over his car collection and priceless art. No doubt because he is a big buddy with Steve Forbes.
Forget ratty old American rich guys like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the new powerbrokers in America will be people like the Prince and next month it will be a suave Chinese billionaire, who will lecture us on the deficit and how we must reduce the social welfare net if we are to be able to compete in the world's economy. Through the American companies where they hold controlling interests, they will pour buckets of money into the next election. Fox News crowd are selling the Supreme Court decision as a populist one saying that conservative groups such as Focus on the Family and Citizens United will have a greater say in politics.The average American will have greater access. Not so Romeo, it will be people like the Prince, who happens to own Fox News.
And it's like the good old days, can Barack Obama defeat the Democratic establishment that had the money and the seasoned veterans like Mark Penn?Yes, We Can! Can America defeat the world's richest people in their campaign to finalize the looting of America? I don't know but at least we have to go down fighting. If we lose, at least we can always remember Barack Obama as the last truly democratically elected President of the United States.
But I bet on David Plouffe once. Why not double down on him? I really believe these are the stakes. And I also believe that the Supreme Court decision, the way it done, the way it ignored the last two decades of law written by real conservatives, was a deliberate attempt to make this nightmare happen.
No joke--I believe David Plouffe is one of the great heroes of the global democracy movement. He created our Velvet Revolution. I use his techniques as a model for growing a grass-roots movement in whatever country you live.
But with the Supreme Court decision, he'll be going up against Prince Al Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Azziz al Saud, the 22nd richest man in the world and the second largest shareholder in Rupert Murdoch's media empire. The Prince has controlling interests in Citicorp, Hewlett-Packard, Disney, Compaq and other American corporations. And it seems he has plenty of opinions about American politics. He has gone on the Charlie Rose show to slam Obama's proposal to tax banks, opposed health care reform and claims that Medicare and Medicaid are "timebombs". He is currently on a PR tour of the U.S.,even appearing on Fox News, where they didn't say he owns the place. Forbes has given a full spread to his lifestyle--the Really, Really, Really Rich and Famous--where they oo'd and aahh'd over his car collection and priceless art. No doubt because he is a big buddy with Steve Forbes.
Forget ratty old American rich guys like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the new powerbrokers in America will be people like the Prince and next month it will be a suave Chinese billionaire, who will lecture us on the deficit and how we must reduce the social welfare net if we are to be able to compete in the world's economy. Through the American companies where they hold controlling interests, they will pour buckets of money into the next election. Fox News crowd are selling the Supreme Court decision as a populist one saying that conservative groups such as Focus on the Family and Citizens United will have a greater say in politics.The average American will have greater access. Not so Romeo, it will be people like the Prince, who happens to own Fox News.
And it's like the good old days, can Barack Obama defeat the Democratic establishment that had the money and the seasoned veterans like Mark Penn?Yes, We Can! Can America defeat the world's richest people in their campaign to finalize the looting of America? I don't know but at least we have to go down fighting. If we lose, at least we can always remember Barack Obama as the last truly democratically elected President of the United States.
But I bet on David Plouffe once. Why not double down on him? I really believe these are the stakes. And I also believe that the Supreme Court decision, the way it done, the way it ignored the last two decades of law written by real conservatives, was a deliberate attempt to make this nightmare happen.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Public Option--Health Care
If I want to learn anything about the health care debate, there are only two people I listen to--Dr.Howard Dean and Barack Obama. The rest of the pundits and the Republican scream machine are simply nuts. Within minutes of today's press conference by President Obama, American Health Insurance Plans and Blue Cross/Blue Shield warned that a "government health plan" would dismantle employer coverage in the US and would not compete fairly with private health insurance companies. President Obama today was asked whether a public option is necessary for his health care plan.
It is apparent that the private health insurance industry is terrified by a public option. Almost all the arguments being used against the public option really relate to private insurance companies. Health care is already being rationed--as they claim about any government system--bureaucrats are already deciding proper medical care, --as witnessed by the complaints by private doctors that insurance companies prevent them prescribing certain medicines to their patients, --key procedures are being denied--maybe even triggering rescinding of the health insurance policy, leaving the patrient with the bill. The health insurance industry is in terrible financial shape and they are buying congresscritters left and right to block any fundamental reform that will force them to streamline their own bureaucratic bloat--almost 40% of current medical expenses--and will cut into their profits.
One reporter asked President Obama whether he can guarantee if someone likes their insurance they can keep it ,if the company decides to go on a public plan. Talk about a red herring. Today, you can't keep your plan if your employer drops coverage or moves to a less expensive option. I couldn't even keep my own organization's plan and I was the President. I'm no longer on it.
The media is not really being straight with the American people. I have yet to hear or to see a simple demonstration of what the public option would look like. President Obama clearly knows and keeps describing it as a menu of options--but this doesn't carry to the bulk of Americans. It sounds to0 vague and iffy as if it isn't being practiced right now. You can actually look up the menu of options right now.
A major network should do the CNN electronic screen and type into the internet www.opm.gov/Insure/Health and review all the options available for employees of the federal government. Simply type in your zipcode and then decide what type of employee you are, as an experiment. I choose to be an employee of the FDIC. You are then presented with a long list of options from the top providers in the health insurance industry--Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, etc. Then click a check for all the programs you want to compare. You will be amazed by the prices of the insurance. My wife and I spend $17,000 a year on health insurance for a family plan, a comparable program under this menu would cost one-half that. Same benefits, same deductible and same coverage.
In part, it's because of the larger risk pool that lowers the rates. Another nice feature is a list of questions about doctors choice, response speed, patient satisfaction so you get an idea about the users' responses to these health plans. No wonder the insurance companies are terrified--they simply don't want this option explained--clearly and succinctly to the American people. Even the media refer to Congressmen and women as having Cadillac programs--suggesting these would not be available to the average American. This is simply not true.
It is apparent that the private health insurance industry is terrified by a public option. Almost all the arguments being used against the public option really relate to private insurance companies. Health care is already being rationed--as they claim about any government system--bureaucrats are already deciding proper medical care, --as witnessed by the complaints by private doctors that insurance companies prevent them prescribing certain medicines to their patients, --key procedures are being denied--maybe even triggering rescinding of the health insurance policy, leaving the patrient with the bill. The health insurance industry is in terrible financial shape and they are buying congresscritters left and right to block any fundamental reform that will force them to streamline their own bureaucratic bloat--almost 40% of current medical expenses--and will cut into their profits.
One reporter asked President Obama whether he can guarantee if someone likes their insurance they can keep it ,if the company decides to go on a public plan. Talk about a red herring. Today, you can't keep your plan if your employer drops coverage or moves to a less expensive option. I couldn't even keep my own organization's plan and I was the President. I'm no longer on it.
The media is not really being straight with the American people. I have yet to hear or to see a simple demonstration of what the public option would look like. President Obama clearly knows and keeps describing it as a menu of options--but this doesn't carry to the bulk of Americans. It sounds to0 vague and iffy as if it isn't being practiced right now. You can actually look up the menu of options right now.
A major network should do the CNN electronic screen and type into the internet www.opm.gov/Insure/Health and review all the options available for employees of the federal government. Simply type in your zipcode and then decide what type of employee you are, as an experiment. I choose to be an employee of the FDIC. You are then presented with a long list of options from the top providers in the health insurance industry--Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, etc. Then click a check for all the programs you want to compare. You will be amazed by the prices of the insurance. My wife and I spend $17,000 a year on health insurance for a family plan, a comparable program under this menu would cost one-half that. Same benefits, same deductible and same coverage.
In part, it's because of the larger risk pool that lowers the rates. Another nice feature is a list of questions about doctors choice, response speed, patient satisfaction so you get an idea about the users' responses to these health plans. No wonder the insurance companies are terrified--they simply don't want this option explained--clearly and succinctly to the American people. Even the media refer to Congressmen and women as having Cadillac programs--suggesting these would not be available to the average American. This is simply not true.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The New GOP --Part II
My previous blog was rudely interrupted and published.
Nate Silver at www.fivethirtyeight.com has an interesting article "Are the Republicans going Galt?" He cites the libertarian roots of the Fox-sponsored tea parties and that 80% of Republicans view government as a bigger threat than either Big Business or Big Labor, a traditional Gallup poll. Democrats only see Big Government as a bigger threat at 32% and Big Business as 52%. Independents view Big government as a bigger threat by 59% and Big Business by 30%. Big Labor has almost disappeared as a threat, even to Republicans.
Nate argues that Republicans are not shouting about illegal immigration as much because of the trampling they took with the Hispanic vote, are uncertain about gay marriage and have even started discussing legalizing marijuana. While I respect Nate's work, I am highly dubious of the ultimate effect of libertarianism on the Republican Party.
The leading contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination are all born-again Christians or self-proclaimed religious crusaders--Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal and New Gingrich. Newt as a born-again Catholic has been acting as a new Torquemada. He almost looks like Brando in the role in the film Christopher Columbus. Newt is leading the crusade for torture and banning President Obama from receiving an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame because his politics are not in concert with Catholic doctrine, which the new convert as thoroughly memorized.
Currently, conservative religious activists are spearheading the drive to stop Governor Kathleen Sibelius from becoming the next Secretary for Health and Human Services. The list of advocates are an aging who's who of the religious right--Brent Bozell, Tony Perkins, James Dobson and the ever-present Grover Norquist. Similarly, Senator Imhofe is heading the filibuster against Judge Hamilton on the basis he ruled that the Indiana House of Representatives could not lead off their sessions with prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, a ruling that only followed Supreme Court rulings but conservatives no longer care about law.
Our neighbor Craig Shirley, who conducted some of the PR for the tea parties, says that "the GOP appears to be bankrupt of ideas." Some GOP operatives are trying to tag along with the tea parties. Newt has proposed July 4th parties to celebrate America's freedom--something we do every year but which Americans are loathed to politicize. The Ohio Militia has countered Newt's idea with a 1 million militia march on Washington, complete with guns. The tea party sponsors are pushing to link up with Glenn Beck's 9/12 project for a second-round of tea parties at that time. In short, Shirley is right--the Republicans are short of ideas.
Particularly noxious are the right-wing gambles to run primary challenges to established Senators Arlen Specter and John McCain because they are RINOs (Republican in Name Onlys.) If such challenges are victorious, both seats would turn Democratic. Also, conservatives are trying to run primary candidates against such favored candidates as Christie in New Jersey, thereby jeopardizing any gains at the statehouse levels. The party faces alot of bloodletting before it can stablize, which will be long after the economy does.
Conservatives are all out of sorts over the Obama administration's identification of extreme right ideas as magnets for recruiting by militant organizations. Within the conservatives circles they talk about a war by the Administration on conservatives. However, a reality check would show that certain acts will cement democratic majorities for years to come without any direct assault on conservatives. If the Obama Administration passes any type of meaningful health reform and immigration reform, those two acts alone coupled with the new census would make a conservative resurgence very unprobable. Some on conservative websites have said these issues constitute the Republican Alamo, another recent theme of conservatives. Perhaps, next stop Masada.
Without getting into specifics for now, Republicans face insurmontable odds to prevent the Democrats from passing the 60 number in the Senate. By just a glance, I can see from a 3-5 seat gain for the Democrats in 2010. I also don't think Dodd or Reid are as vulnerable as Republicans make out. I also think Burr will be defeated in North Carolina, Bunning will go down in Kentucky and Missouri will go Democrat. Republicans could pick up Delaware if they ran Mike Castle, former Governor and representative. Republicans will also lose New Hampshire.
As to the House side, we will leave it with Newt to predict a Republican take-over. His advice to Eic Cantor on this score is so improbable and beyond historical reasoning. Barack Obama is not Jimmy Carter as Newt claims and is not Bill Clinton as Newt dreams.
Nate Silver at www.fivethirtyeight.com has an interesting article "Are the Republicans going Galt?" He cites the libertarian roots of the Fox-sponsored tea parties and that 80% of Republicans view government as a bigger threat than either Big Business or Big Labor, a traditional Gallup poll. Democrats only see Big Government as a bigger threat at 32% and Big Business as 52%. Independents view Big government as a bigger threat by 59% and Big Business by 30%. Big Labor has almost disappeared as a threat, even to Republicans.
Nate argues that Republicans are not shouting about illegal immigration as much because of the trampling they took with the Hispanic vote, are uncertain about gay marriage and have even started discussing legalizing marijuana. While I respect Nate's work, I am highly dubious of the ultimate effect of libertarianism on the Republican Party.
The leading contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination are all born-again Christians or self-proclaimed religious crusaders--Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal and New Gingrich. Newt as a born-again Catholic has been acting as a new Torquemada. He almost looks like Brando in the role in the film Christopher Columbus. Newt is leading the crusade for torture and banning President Obama from receiving an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame because his politics are not in concert with Catholic doctrine, which the new convert as thoroughly memorized.
Currently, conservative religious activists are spearheading the drive to stop Governor Kathleen Sibelius from becoming the next Secretary for Health and Human Services. The list of advocates are an aging who's who of the religious right--Brent Bozell, Tony Perkins, James Dobson and the ever-present Grover Norquist. Similarly, Senator Imhofe is heading the filibuster against Judge Hamilton on the basis he ruled that the Indiana House of Representatives could not lead off their sessions with prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, a ruling that only followed Supreme Court rulings but conservatives no longer care about law.
Our neighbor Craig Shirley, who conducted some of the PR for the tea parties, says that "the GOP appears to be bankrupt of ideas." Some GOP operatives are trying to tag along with the tea parties. Newt has proposed July 4th parties to celebrate America's freedom--something we do every year but which Americans are loathed to politicize. The Ohio Militia has countered Newt's idea with a 1 million militia march on Washington, complete with guns. The tea party sponsors are pushing to link up with Glenn Beck's 9/12 project for a second-round of tea parties at that time. In short, Shirley is right--the Republicans are short of ideas.
Particularly noxious are the right-wing gambles to run primary challenges to established Senators Arlen Specter and John McCain because they are RINOs (Republican in Name Onlys.) If such challenges are victorious, both seats would turn Democratic. Also, conservatives are trying to run primary candidates against such favored candidates as Christie in New Jersey, thereby jeopardizing any gains at the statehouse levels. The party faces alot of bloodletting before it can stablize, which will be long after the economy does.
Conservatives are all out of sorts over the Obama administration's identification of extreme right ideas as magnets for recruiting by militant organizations. Within the conservatives circles they talk about a war by the Administration on conservatives. However, a reality check would show that certain acts will cement democratic majorities for years to come without any direct assault on conservatives. If the Obama Administration passes any type of meaningful health reform and immigration reform, those two acts alone coupled with the new census would make a conservative resurgence very unprobable. Some on conservative websites have said these issues constitute the Republican Alamo, another recent theme of conservatives. Perhaps, next stop Masada.
Without getting into specifics for now, Republicans face insurmontable odds to prevent the Democrats from passing the 60 number in the Senate. By just a glance, I can see from a 3-5 seat gain for the Democrats in 2010. I also don't think Dodd or Reid are as vulnerable as Republicans make out. I also think Burr will be defeated in North Carolina, Bunning will go down in Kentucky and Missouri will go Democrat. Republicans could pick up Delaware if they ran Mike Castle, former Governor and representative. Republicans will also lose New Hampshire.
As to the House side, we will leave it with Newt to predict a Republican take-over. His advice to Eic Cantor on this score is so improbable and beyond historical reasoning. Barack Obama is not Jimmy Carter as Newt claims and is not Bill Clinton as Newt dreams.
Monday, April 6, 2009
The Crack-Up Continued
A CNN poll has 79% of Americans believing Obama did well on his first overseas trip and that he improved our image abroad. The President holds a 65% approval rating this week. He managed some significant policy achievements at the G20 Summit in London and also laid out his Afghanistan policy before the NATO countries with some hesitancy shown by the European countries. A meeting with his Russian counterpart produced a willingness to negotiate a new arms reduction treaty and his Prague speech laid out a vision to eliminate nuclear weapons. He concluded the trip with an appeal to Turkey, who at least privately has expressed relief that the American Administration has changed. The one negative of the week was the launch by North Korea of a missile that could carry nuclear weapons.
But these events seemed not to have touched parts of our political system. One can argument about the President's tone, the fruitfulness of his meetings and even the rhetoric he used in his major speeches. But that's not what we heard.
Instead, Michell Bachman warned her constituents to be armed and ready for revolt. Yesterday,she warned that President Obama intended to turn the expanded AmeriCore program into re-education camps.
New Gingrich with an eye to the 2012 Republican presidential nomination echoed former Vice President Dick Cheney by saying that President Obama made us less safe as a nation. Newt promised he would have intercepted the North Korea missile. What would have happened if the U.S. missed? Then Newt warned us about electronic pulse weapons being developed. How many threats, Newt, are we supposed to be afraid of at the same time?
Rudy Guiliani, America's Mayor, blasted President Obama for not speaking about Islamic terrorism in his talks abroad. And it was the diplomatic language President Obama used toward the Muslim world that seemed to set the Republicans off. Frank Gaffney speaking on a major television station, not Fox, claimed that the way President Obama spoke to the Muslims was a coded language saying that he, Obama, would introduce Sharia law.
Sharia law got alot of bang for its buck this week. President Obama's nominee for the lawyer to the State Department, the scholarly Dean of Yale Law School Harold Koh, was attacked in the New York Post, Fox News,the National Review, for advocating Sharia Law. Consequently, Republican Senators have placed a hold on his nominee despite Ted Olsen's defense of Koh's integrity and scholarship in the days Koh served in the Reagan Administration.
But Republicans also put a hold on Dawn Johnsen's nominee as chief of the Office of legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. Johnsen has actually held the post before during the Clinton Administration. Her crime was publishing articles depicting her negative opinion of the torture memos by Johnny Yoo.
Both Koh and Johnsen's nominations are held up by the Republicans to coerce the Obama Administration from releasing the second tranche of torture memos as promised. Previews of these memos indicate they are darker than the first, which were alarming enough in that they claimed the President had the power to suspend several articles of the Bill of Rights and to allow the U.S. military to conduct search and seizures in American homes without warrants.
A man convinced that President Obama would seize all Americans' guns, an idea promoted by the NRA, the rightwing websites and some talk show personalities shot and killed four policemen in Pittsburgh. The man had been a blogger on racist and neo-Nazi websites and claimed all the media and financial institutions were run by a zionist conspiracy. Glenn Beck, the Fox television personality most vocally identified with warning the public about the Obama gun seizure policy denied culpabilityfor the man's attacks on the policemen, saying he only provided information on the worst case scenerios, while the man himself was a nut. he went on to say that there would be unrest in the country because people were fed up.
Beck's companion on Fox, Sean Hannity, selectively edited President Obama's speech to Europeans where Obama mentioned America's occasional haughtiness in foreign affairs without showing Obama's criticism of "insidious anti-Americanism". The Newt popped up again to claim that Obama's foreign policy was like Carter's fantasy world.
This type of rhetoric has escalated several fold since the fall rallies of the McCain-Palin campaign. Is this a diversionary tactic so we don't recognize that the Obama budget swam through both the House and the Senate? Is this nuttiness meant for us to forget that the Republican counter-budget released on April 1 was a joke and was perceived as a joke by everyone inside the Beltway? Or are these people purposely trying to stir up hatred of the President in order to provoke an attack on him? It certainly is not the language of dialogue or constructive opposition. It feeds the dark paranoid bottom-feeders in our political culture.
On a more fun note, the "birthers" held a conference here in Washington to probe the "profound" mystery of the President's birth. To protest the state of Hawaii's less than cooperative attitude to the birthers requests for information, the crowd has called for a worldwide boycott of Hawaii as a tourist destination.
But even more fun is the whole Palin family. Todd's sister got nailed for breaking and entering in a house. Levi, Bristol's former fiancee, went on television to talk about having sex with her in Sarah's house and asserting that Sarah had to know. This provoked the now predictable attacks from Governor Sarah that Levi lied. The Queen of the North will soon get even with a book rumored to be searching fro a seven-fgure advance--certainly a reasonable sum in a time of a deep recession. Sarah again provided much needed entertainment by slamming the McCain campaign for not having anyone around with whom she could pray.
And finally as we head toward Easter, some evangelicals are challenging the whole premise of the religious right saying that they would be more persuasive if they simply acted as Christians and stayed out of politics. Amen, Brother.
But these events seemed not to have touched parts of our political system. One can argument about the President's tone, the fruitfulness of his meetings and even the rhetoric he used in his major speeches. But that's not what we heard.
Instead, Michell Bachman warned her constituents to be armed and ready for revolt. Yesterday,she warned that President Obama intended to turn the expanded AmeriCore program into re-education camps.
New Gingrich with an eye to the 2012 Republican presidential nomination echoed former Vice President Dick Cheney by saying that President Obama made us less safe as a nation. Newt promised he would have intercepted the North Korea missile. What would have happened if the U.S. missed? Then Newt warned us about electronic pulse weapons being developed. How many threats, Newt, are we supposed to be afraid of at the same time?
Rudy Guiliani, America's Mayor, blasted President Obama for not speaking about Islamic terrorism in his talks abroad. And it was the diplomatic language President Obama used toward the Muslim world that seemed to set the Republicans off. Frank Gaffney speaking on a major television station, not Fox, claimed that the way President Obama spoke to the Muslims was a coded language saying that he, Obama, would introduce Sharia law.
Sharia law got alot of bang for its buck this week. President Obama's nominee for the lawyer to the State Department, the scholarly Dean of Yale Law School Harold Koh, was attacked in the New York Post, Fox News,the National Review, for advocating Sharia Law. Consequently, Republican Senators have placed a hold on his nominee despite Ted Olsen's defense of Koh's integrity and scholarship in the days Koh served in the Reagan Administration.
But Republicans also put a hold on Dawn Johnsen's nominee as chief of the Office of legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. Johnsen has actually held the post before during the Clinton Administration. Her crime was publishing articles depicting her negative opinion of the torture memos by Johnny Yoo.
Both Koh and Johnsen's nominations are held up by the Republicans to coerce the Obama Administration from releasing the second tranche of torture memos as promised. Previews of these memos indicate they are darker than the first, which were alarming enough in that they claimed the President had the power to suspend several articles of the Bill of Rights and to allow the U.S. military to conduct search and seizures in American homes without warrants.
A man convinced that President Obama would seize all Americans' guns, an idea promoted by the NRA, the rightwing websites and some talk show personalities shot and killed four policemen in Pittsburgh. The man had been a blogger on racist and neo-Nazi websites and claimed all the media and financial institutions were run by a zionist conspiracy. Glenn Beck, the Fox television personality most vocally identified with warning the public about the Obama gun seizure policy denied culpabilityfor the man's attacks on the policemen, saying he only provided information on the worst case scenerios, while the man himself was a nut. he went on to say that there would be unrest in the country because people were fed up.
Beck's companion on Fox, Sean Hannity, selectively edited President Obama's speech to Europeans where Obama mentioned America's occasional haughtiness in foreign affairs without showing Obama's criticism of "insidious anti-Americanism". The Newt popped up again to claim that Obama's foreign policy was like Carter's fantasy world.
This type of rhetoric has escalated several fold since the fall rallies of the McCain-Palin campaign. Is this a diversionary tactic so we don't recognize that the Obama budget swam through both the House and the Senate? Is this nuttiness meant for us to forget that the Republican counter-budget released on April 1 was a joke and was perceived as a joke by everyone inside the Beltway? Or are these people purposely trying to stir up hatred of the President in order to provoke an attack on him? It certainly is not the language of dialogue or constructive opposition. It feeds the dark paranoid bottom-feeders in our political culture.
On a more fun note, the "birthers" held a conference here in Washington to probe the "profound" mystery of the President's birth. To protest the state of Hawaii's less than cooperative attitude to the birthers requests for information, the crowd has called for a worldwide boycott of Hawaii as a tourist destination.
But even more fun is the whole Palin family. Todd's sister got nailed for breaking and entering in a house. Levi, Bristol's former fiancee, went on television to talk about having sex with her in Sarah's house and asserting that Sarah had to know. This provoked the now predictable attacks from Governor Sarah that Levi lied. The Queen of the North will soon get even with a book rumored to be searching fro a seven-fgure advance--certainly a reasonable sum in a time of a deep recession. Sarah again provided much needed entertainment by slamming the McCain campaign for not having anyone around with whom she could pray.
And finally as we head toward Easter, some evangelicals are challenging the whole premise of the religious right saying that they would be more persuasive if they simply acted as Christians and stayed out of politics. Amen, Brother.
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