She Who Smelt It...Dealt It

There is a pretty strong stench coming from some of the republican candidates these days. If they have not been drawn into an argument yet about who among them is the most frugal with the tax payer's money, they soon will. Who is leading the charge? Representative Michele Bachmann, Congresswoman of Minnesota's 6th District and republican candidate for president in 2012. Bachmann has remade herself into a Tea Party darling by relentlessly criticizing the President's health care initiative and any government spending that she and the Tea Party see as wasteful spending. Some say that she has stolen Sarah Palin's schtick as the poster child for capitalism made in the USA. This shameless pandering to the Tea Party has made her the movement's unofficial leader.

But for someone who is such a visible and vocal opponent of wasteful government spending and the free market has Representative Bachmann towed that same line when she represents those in her own district? An even more serious question arises when we ask if she has ever received a handout from the government for herself or her family?

Now to make things perfectly clear, part of the job of a state level or federal level representative is to do just that; represent the constituents in their districts. Sometimes that includes something as easy and simple as a proclamation. At other times it includes money for projects. But in the case of Bachmann's district it would apply to subsidies for pork farmers. Some call the appropriation of funds for project which have no merit "pork." In the case of Bachmann's request it would appear that this is pork for pork.

But what is so astounding about this is that it would appear to be the height of hypocrisy for someone like Michele Bachmann. Not only does she vocally proclaim that the American free market is the greatest system on earth. She also rails against earmarks and giveaways.

The Conservative Mind

It not easy being from the middle.  You would like to think that one takes ideas from both sides of the isle and use what is best to form a more perfect union.  But just like that phrase itself, working toward a more perfect union is become more and more difficult.


It is no secret that we are a more polarized electorate than in any time in recent history.  With that polarization comes ideology that is to one extreme or another.  Don't get me wrong, the liberals have their own set of crazies out there.  I understand that we are not all going to live in a Utopian society where everyone gets along and shares everything.  There is no such thing as money and somehow magically everyone gets what they need.  I also don't think that we are going back to riding on horses as a primary mode of transportation any time soon and unicorn transportation is just not going to happen.


But the real craziness comes from the right.  If there ever was decorum in a debate the right has thrown that all out the window.  After reading several right wing articles recently they begin their discourse by saying that liberals refuse to use facts while debating; this before even making a point themselves.  It's difficult to begin a debate before one side even makes a statement.  To attack the credibility of any possible statement opposing point made by your opponent before it is stated violates all the rules of common decency and discourse.  That gets to the crux of why the right is dangerous.  The conservative mind doesn't want to take a stand and they don't want the other side to attempt to debate.


The second aspect of the conservative mind is treating the rest of us as if there is no context to their thesis.  They accuse the left of one or another obscure failure or another while not acknowledging that their side often created the mess.  For example, former Vice President Dick Cheney likes to point out every misstep by President Obama while he himself created the hole our current administration is digging out from.  One of our own generals finally called out Mr. Cheney by saying that he has no right to speak as the architect of one of the worst foreign policies in modern times.  Conservatives refuse to recognize that it takes a lot longer to pull out of a war than it takes to declare one.  They refuse to understand that it takes a lot longer to recover from an economy that has gone bad than to watch it, as the previous administration had done, sink into the worst recession since the great depression.


In a matter of fact, Barack Obama's entire administration has been largely defined by having to dig out of the crater that the last administration had created.  Yet conservative commentators like Bill O'Reilly asked within 90 days of the Obama administration taking office why he was unable to turn the economy around.  O'Reilly, no idiot just knows that his viewership is.


The conservative mind pretends to care about America and the economy but in reality has found the one weakness in our form of government.  It takes two, sometimes three branches of our government for something to happen.  If you are in charge of one of those branches of government and decide to do nothing, nothing happens.  We don't have opposition in this country by the conservatives, we have a party that simply refuses to participate.  So if you have been out of work or are just sympathetic to those who have been, our recovery, which almost no one thinks is happening too quickly is largely the byproduct of those who refuse to act.


The conservative mind can't share credit.  The Affordable Health Care Act was by and large the product of the conservative mind.  In a matter of fact is was  conceived by a conservative think thank and implemented by a conservative governor in a liberal state.  You would not know that by the way they have treated it when presented by a black liberal president.  If it is not their idea it is bad for America.  There lies the truth:  If the conservatives don't do it, than there is no merit to it.


The conservative mind claims to be all for personal freedoms and capitalism until it goes against what they believe.  They have been trying to tell women what to do with their bodies for generations.  Ignorant statements by one governor or senator or congressman too numerous to recount would propose the clock be set back on woman's health nearly a half century.  They believe in free market capitalism until it goes bad for them and then they are all for bailing themselves out.  They are firmly against welfare claiming that those who are down on their luck should simply pull themselves up by their bootstraps until it is their corporate buddies who need a handout.  It is then just good business and political preservation.  The latest fraud perpetrated by the right is that they are trying to sell us on accepting that conservative religious freedoms are being trampled and therefore others' personal freedoms can be placed in jeopardized.  There will be much more to come on that one. 


So if you can't get health care, thank a conservative.  If you are a woman and cannot get access to the services you require, thank a conservative.  If you are desperately trying to find a job and your unemployment benefits run out, thank a conservative.  If you are wondering why a stimulus package cannot be passed like it had been in all other previous modern day administrations, republican or democrat, thank a conservative.  If you want more of the same, vote republican this fall.

Not in a Vacuum

With the 2014 election cycle gearing up and the 2016 election on the horizon a lot will be made of the deepening divide between the rich and the poor and the haves and the have-nots. 

 

In just the latest high profile rant from billionaire Thomas Perkins co-founder of Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield and Byers a former venture capitalist claims that the poor are like the Nazis.  The Occupy Wall Street movement is akin to Kristallnacht the infamous assault by the Nazis on Jewish homes and businesses marking and aggressive turn in the persecution of the Jews.  Mr. Perkins’ misguided comparison blaming the poor for the plight of the rich is just the latest by the well to do complaining that they now are the persecuted class and what did they do to deserve all this bullying by those who are jealous of what they have?

 

Nothing happens in a vacuum, sir.  Although with the press always chasing the latest shiny object, one might question as to what has led us to this point so quickly?  In reality, these turns of events began gestating nearly a generation ago under President Ronald Reagan.  They largely lay dormant under the Bush 1 and then under Clinton era presidencies, who passed The North American Free Trade Act.  But the assault on the poor and middle class picked up full stream and in many ways took on a life of their own culminating in a perfect storm under the presidency of Bush 2/Cheney.  

Several factors have let to the divide between rich and poor as we sit in 2014:  Mergers, acquisitions and Wall Street and pay to play government  play an enormous role.  Deregulation of and the loosening of ownership rules for media and communications companies also fact in weakening what some used to call our fourth branch of government, the press. 

Cause:  Starting a generation ago President Ronald Reagan loosened rules governing FCC regulation on media ownership.  Provisions rules such as “equal time” and the “Fairness Doctrine” which had provided equal time for each side, right and left, to get their messages out equally were no longer enforced and deemphasised.  For those of you living in a time where you know nothing other than Fox News representing the right and MSNBC the left, understand that the major networks were required to give each side equal standing to present all sides.  if they presented one point of view, they were required to present the other.  The benefit was that people heard each argument rather than in the present day entrench themselves under the propaganda banner in which they agree.  We now have media giants like Viacom, Comcast/NBC/Universal Disney/ABC controlling content and delivery.  Effect:  Greater polarization of political ideologies.  Media companies consolidating and no longer having to compete in single markets being able to own multiple stations or newspapers in a single city effectively controlling the message.  Ratings rather than quality now the standard.

 

Cause:  We have seen tremendous merger and acquisition activity in the past 25 years.  Household name company logos such as Northwest Airlines, GTE, McDonnell Douglas and American Motors that were familiar to millions have disappeared.  Many brands that have remained such as Coors Beer and even Budweiser are now just hollow brand names part of even bigger conglomerates that produce adult beverages.  The consolidation of American business has been happening at an alarming rate over the last 25 years.  These large companies all extol the virtues of competition when they want to release themselves from government regulation, interference or taxation but when it comes time to eliminate their direct competitors they aggressively lobby our government officials cozying up to them for approval claiming that it will make their business more efficient.  Effect:  Fewer well paying jobs through consolidation combined with a growing population equal greater competition for what jobs are left.  Income stagnation.  Consolidation of power and proprietary relationships developed with government representatives in the legislative and executive branches.  

Cause:  Wall Street is the bastion of capitalism.  It is the free market at work.  Until of course it all falls in on itself.  Then we, the tax payer have to bail them out.  Why?  Because if we don’t, they take the rest of us with us.  Our stock market is fundamentally flawed because in American business today, our biggest businesses measure themselves three months at a time.  Decisions on growth, new business, hiring and firing and research and development all hinge on the previous quarter and year-end profit and loss.  Contrast this with developing countries such as China or India which takes a long term approach to business and societal success.  Result:  A disloyal workforce and even more disloyal employers willing to cast aside human resources without warning like aging, outdated equipment.  An outsourced labor force to circumvent US labor laws causes chronic historically high unemployment.  

Pay to Play Government:  A generation ago Watergate exposed corruption and lawlessness at the highest levels of government.  It was a shock to many that the President of the United States could be behind a criminal enterprise while in the White House.  Today just 40 years later we have a loosening of laws that actually allows lobbyists and interest groups to write actual legislation that OUR elected officials put their names to and have passed into law benefiting those interests.  Bills making it Ok to send jobs overseas have decimated our service and manufacturing economies systemically weakening our economy and displacing hundreds of thousand of workers.  Our lawmakers gerrymander districts whereas voters no longer pick their representatives but representatives pick their voters.  The rich and wealthy wine, dine, entertain and have access to those that are supposed to represent us yet we in our best efforts could not even dream of meeting our elected officials.  Representatives in the House and Senate have access to financial information provided by companies they are supposed to oversea allowing themselves to capitalize on their knowledge and create great wealth for themselves.  Is any of this against that law?  No.  Should it be?  Absolutely yes.  But who will represent us if our representative government is not?  Effect:  Tremendous mistrust of our government and a feeling that only the privileged few who can afford access and benefit from our government.  

You add into the mix Supreme Court rulings such as Citizens United where corporations are deemed to have the same rights as people under the Constitution.  You now have individuals and companies competing with one another over rights afforded us under the Constitution.  What happens when those interests collide?  Who prevails has yet to be determined.  However with the current conservative make up of the court court and recent rulings one can only wonder how long it will be before the pendulum swings even further to the side of big business.  Pile on the narrative that some who have unprecedented means claim that those that do not are “takers,” we are backing into the making of a class war.  What is even more unbelievable is that those that have think that they have accumulated wealth all on their own, without anyone else’s assistance. 

So the answer, Mr. Perkins is that all this has not happened in a vacuum.  When stock price is more important that long term corporate growth and societal well-being, the citizenry becomes fed up.  With unemployment high, with jobs evaporating and moving overseas the natives, for lack of a better term, are beginning to get restless.  People start to ask a fundamental question:  do the people of this country exist to prop up business and corporate interests or are these entities a byproduct of our way of life:  democracy, capitalism?  The United States is no longer a leader in education or health care or even quality of life.  Statistically the United States is not even near the best country to be able to start from nothing and get a head despite what our elected official proclaim in high profile rhetorical speeches.  Wages for the middle class have been stagnant since the 1980s while those in the 1% have gained disproportionately.   

So don’t worry about your money, your status and your way of life.  It is not in imminent danger.  You have enough of even middle class and working class people fooled.  But it won’t be long if there is not a change and you may say to yourself, “we have seen the enemy and he is us.”

Enough Already

Somehow the Affordable Healthcare Act is the worst thing to happen to the United States...ever?  Well if you listen to people like Senator Ted Cruz or Congressman Daryl Issa you would think so.  Most industrialized and many non-industrialized countries have a national healthcare policy and strategy.  Canada does.  Japan does.  The UK does and are just a few of the examples of countries that do not allow their citizens to wallow in the gutter when they are sick.  In a matter of fact, one progressive state in this country, Massachusetts, under a Republican governor passed what is a very popular public healthcare initiative.  The people of Massachusetts are very happy with their state’s healthcare system.  The program was such as success that the conservative Heritage Foundation made the Massachusetts program the model for what they felt healthcare should look like on a national level.

All that changed when a democratic president, Barak Obama decided to make Massachusetts the model for his national healthcare initiative in 2009.  Was this a surprise?  Hardly.  He campaigned on making healthcare affordable for all.  What was a surprise was that he would receive so much opposition from the Republicans who until that time held Massachusetts up as a model of modern healthcare reform and successes.  In what became a circus, the new President was so anxious to get bipartisan support for the Affordable Healthcare Act that he all but begged Republicans to sit down in a conference room in public to offer feedback on what they would want to see in the new legislation.  Representative after representative under the hot lights of the CSPAN cameras would only offer that they did not want to participate and wanted to start all over effectively stalling any healthcare reform.  In the end they refused any support whatsoever to offer the people of this country an opportunity to fix what had become a broken system. 

With a democratic majority and some arm twisting the Affordable Healthcare Act passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by the president.  The most substantive aspects of this monumental bill would not take place until the 4th quarter of 2013 but benefits were immediate to some, most notably that families could keep their adult children on their family plans until those children were 26 years of age.  The wrangling by the Republicans to undo what had been done and would be done would also just begin. 

Every effort by the Republicans would be made to repeal the legislation through the Supreme Court.  While conventional wisdom would be that the conservative Supreme Court would undo the Affordable Healthcare Act striking down a key provision having to do with Interstate Commerce.  In a surprise ruling Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the majority who said that the law was Constitutional as it was written.  While it might appear by now that that The Affordable Care Act had passed all three branches of government, that this would be the end of it and the law could be implemented without further turmoil.  But that would not be the case. 

In the 2012 Presidential election the Republicans would make the Affordable Care Act a centerpiece, some said a referendum on the presidency of Barak Obama.  Their objective to make this president a one term president.  There was just one major problem:  The person they selected to run against Barak Obama was the man directly responsible for the popular Massachusetts health care program, the former governor of Massachusetts.  How could he make the case that the Affordable Healthcare Act was wrong for the country while the program that it was modeled after and he developed, the Massachusetts Law, was a resounding success?  On the campaign trail he could not.  He tried, dodged and even worked to change the narrative but in the end there was no way to spin the negative aspects of a very popular law that helped many in his home state while trying to tell the rest of the country it was wrong for them.  It’s been said that you can fool all of the people some of time and some of the people all of the time but in the end he fooled no one.

But the Republicans, undeterred in early 2013 forged on.  Known as the least productive Congress in US History, the Republican House of Representatives has managed to vote to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act nearly 50 times knowing it would go nowhere while unable to pass any meaningful legislation until a lackluster compromise budget was passed just before the holiday recess.  They even successfully shut down the government for two weeks in attempt to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act which in addition to making them the least productive made them the least popular.  Congressman Issa has taken his show on the road holding mock hearings about the Affordable Healthcare Act with witnesses friendly to his cause.  Freshman Senator Cruz in what has become his stock and trade, self-serving hyperbole, called The Affordable Healthcare Act (ObamaCare) worse than any war. 

Now as the program has been rolled out it has not been without its problems.  A monumental failure on launch month showed that many who tried to enter the web portal to sign up for healthcare could not.  Sign ups slowed to a trickle  This now appears to be fixed.  In states that have set up health exchanges having their own websites have seen thousands if not hundreds of thousands successfully sign up for health benefits.  As the biggest social program to be rolled out since Medicare there are likely bound to be other problems along the way.  Normally, these would be smoothed out by bipartisan compromise from both sides.  But if recent history is any indication, don’t count on anything from the Republicans.  Because if it is one thing the Republicans have demonstrated, they have no problem being on the wrong side of history. 

What is in store for 2014?  Well, if an unsuccessful Supreme Court challenge, a failed national election based on the Affordable Healthcare Act and attempted repeals numbering near 50 did not deter obstruction of this legislation, then expect more of the same as election season kicks off.  Watch republican governors try and justify not rolling out healthcare reform in their states.  Watch Republican Senators and Congressman spew half truths and out and out lies about affordable healthcare in the United States.  Watch as these elected officials criticize every hiccup and bump in the road as they offer no solution to try and make it better.  Watch as this program becomes more and more popular among Americans who have long suffered as one of the few industrialized countries previously without a national healthcare strategy.  See what happens to the Republicans who in November of this year will become the party that missed a great opportunity to make this country a better place.

A New Day in America

Baseball, it's America's Pastime.  It is somewhat ironic that we are in the middle of the baseball playoffs and I cannot think of a better metaphor for what is happening in Washington D.C.

Baseball is a game of honor.  If you wanted, while at bat you could get hit by the ball and are sent to first base.  It's automatic.  If you wanted to do this all day long, I don't see why you could not just continue to have your players get hit by the pitcher's ball and eventually your team will score a run and then many runs.  Theoretically, you would never need to give the other team a chance to play offense because your team is continuously being hit by balls and rounding the bases.

Of course this ridiculous scenario would never play out.  Why?  Is it against the rules?  No.  It would not happen because in baseball there is a degree of decorum.  Most baseball players go to great lengths to avoid being beaned by the ball.  Continuously being given a pass to first base is just something that is not done.  More to the point, they feel that they could get a better opportunity for their team to hit the ball.  The outcome most of the time is that you are sent back to the bench to try again.

Politics has always been about compromise, true compromise.  Is this latest crisis unique in American politics?  The answer is both yes and no.  We have had other shows of power on both the left and the right.  We have come up against budget and debit ceiling limits in the past.  So on that account this latest crisis is not in itself unique. 

What is different about this debacle is that for the first time it was initiated to repeal settled law and to completely halt the workings of government if one side does not get its way.  The Affordable Care Act or "Obama Care" is what has started this whole circus.  A very few in Congress decided to take a stand against the President's signature legislation and has refused to budge on opening the government or lift the debit ceiling until something is done about settled law!  To make things even more preposterous, the law itself was being implemented within days of the threats.  What they have done is to refuse to take their best shot up at bat.  They think being hit by the ball is a better outcome because playing the game as intended would assure failure because they have an inferior team.

Republican House Leadership and their follow representatives on what was considered to be the "moderate right" are petrified about meeting with opposition from their own party in their own districts next year if they were to vote on what has been considered normal course for the past generation.  So what we are talking about is that because they are unable to swing the bat, they would rather be hit by the ball and get a pass.

Decorum or doing the right thing is definitely not part of today's American right.  We are 24 hours away from a government default and House Republicans are threatening to pass their own bill (which may not pass at all) and then leave.  In other words they are going to great lengths to being beaned by the ball.  What would be the outcome?  No one really can answer that question, today.  Two days from now we will begin to experience the answer, first hand.

But unlike baseball, this is not a game.  We are already seeing some of the effects of the Republican shutdown of the government by refusing to fund it.  National parks are closed losing millions of tourist dollars for the communities in which they reside.  This country's largest exporter, Boeing is seeing newly finished aircraft ready for delivery sitting on the tarmac because final inspections cannot be completed certifying airworthiness to new customers.  Revenue that would be spread back to suppliers and the company's bottom line. 

Workers are being furloughed in less high profile but just as vital positions throughout the United States of America.  We Americans often have a way of not really caring about the opinions of others.  We also have short memories and care little for history.  But our neighbors far and near have a different prospective.  We are being watched closely by those who have made a financial bet on us.  What does all this do to our reputation around the globe?  There are a lot of unknowns here and on the world stage.  But already there are rumblings about America no longer being a reliable bet.  The next step and yet unforeseen consequence is that America is no longer a stable entity. 

This take no prisoners attitude by a small minority so that they get their way is not the way America was designed to be run.  Politics is compromise.  There is a degree of decorum and honor involved in running a country.  Sometimes you just have to accept your losses and live to fight another day.  If you don't think that has happened recently just ask the Democrats who, in the majority saw gun and immigration legislation go down to a minority.  Sometimes being a good loser for the greater good has its place and is what has made this country great.  The Republicans could learn a thing or two from America's pastime. 

Big Loss

We are half way through 2013.  The dog days of summer are almost upon us and what will the political buzz be about after Labor Day?  The mid-term elections of 2014 will be just over a year out.  Too soon?  Don't bet on it.

So I ask myself what do the Republicans stand for?  That used to be a pretty easy question.  They were for government getting out of the way and letting the private sector and people showing their worth; less government intrusion into the citizen's lives.  They have also loudly proclaimed that they are the party of fiscal responsibility taking the fiscal high road as opposed to "tax and spend" liberals.  The Republican party was also supposed to be about personal freedom.  As long as you did not bother me, then what you did was your own business.

But at this time in our country's existence the Republican picture has been muddied if not completely turned on its ear.  It has become apparent that the Republican party is a party of contradictions. 

The Republican party is for smaller government as long as they are not in the White House.  No republican president has ever shrunken the size of government going back to Ronald Reagan.  President Reagan talked about smaller government in his many rhetorical speeches but in fact increased the size of government and when it comes to fiscal responsibility ballooned the Federal Deficit during his time in office.  Another fact is that President Obama has allowed the bureaucracy of government to shrink while in office through attrition not filling some of the open positions in order to shrink government and slow the deficit.  Had this president hired replacements the government employment numbers would look much different.

No Republican president has balanced the Federal budget in modern times.  Not Nixon, not Reagan, neither Bush 1 or 2.  The only president to deliver a balanced budget to congress is President Clinton.  When George W.  When Bush had the opportunity to pay down the deficit he pandered to the American people and claimed that President Clinton's fiscal surplus was due back to the American people.  Where was the Tea Party when this was happening?  There guy was in office so they looked the other way.

Even now, the Republicans are holding up an historic Immigration Bill until more border security guards are hired and a 700 mile fence is built to keep out illegal immigrants.  The cost:  $37 billion.  Funny how you don't hear the Tea Party screaming about this. 

What the Republican party has become is lazy, self-centered and vindictive.  They have become a party of tantrums.  Since President Obama was elected in 2008 and took office in early 2009 the Republican party has made it their official policy to stand in the way of the great recovery that is slowly emerging after the worst recession since the great depression.  Would we have recovered more quickly had they been partners rather than obstructionist?  Many think so.  Is the act of obstruction in an economic emergency anti patriotic?  I would say so.

But a dynamic where if they don't get, nobody gets is a hurtful.  A situation where they are trying to suppress anyone who does not think like them is downright nasty.  The Republican party has in the past four years continuously blocked or stalled common sense legislation to regulate fire arms, create an immigration policy that helps this country move forward and provide equal rights to all that live in this country.  They have tried to put limits on woman's healthcare decisions and choices.  They also have tried over 37 times to overturn a health plan that their own party originally came up with.  Talk about a waste of time and money.  And they wonder why their party doesn't get the votes.  The Supreme Court this week, lead by the Republican (or conservative) majority struck down The Voting Rights Act that 98% of Congress approved of in 2006 when it was renewed.  Did the court say it was unconstitutional?  No.  In their opinion they just claimed it was out of date; not necessary anymore. 

Within hours those states that were under the jurisdiction of the Voting Rights Act did exactly what the Voting Rights Act was designed to stop.  They moved forward with previously agreed upon restrictive voting rules limiting the poor and minority classes in anticipation of the ruling.  Figuring that Congress may step in to re-examine and pass a new Voting Rights Act, Speaker of the House John Boehner said that there was little interest in Congress to handle such legislation.  This just seven years after a Republican President signed into law the renewal of the Voting Rights Act.

So where does this leave the Republicans in next year's mid-term elections?  The Republicans, along with their new attitude, have a warped perception of how the electorate remembers these actions.  The tantrums will begin shortly.  Why don't they vote for us? Remember Mitt Romney's shock at not winning the 2012 Presidential election. He could not believe what had befallen him.  He even had fireworks ready to go in Boston harbor. 

My prediction is that the American people are smarter than the Republicans (and often Democrats) give them credit for.  They will remember.  Latinos will remember that the Republican party had no interest in real immigration reform.  They will remember that the NRA has a bigger say then they do when it comes to common sense gun control.  They will also remember that it is the Republicans who want to restrict the poor's ability to cast a vote; a very basic right that goes back the founding of our country.  Finally, I think that the American people are finally coming to the realization that the Republican party has prolonged the misery of so many for so long who are simply trying to get back on their feet.  They will remember that the Republican party's primary interest is propping up the rich, financial institutions and those who already have.

Be aware.  The landslide will come in November 2014.

A Country of A**holes

It has been quite a week of contrasts.  First let me begin with what is right.  We saw once again that our country can come together in the time of crisis.  The city of Boston showed what any community does in the time of crisis.  It helps those in need and does so in an unabashed fearless way that only makes one wonder why we have to wait until a crisis to see the good in people.

We also saw some of what is really wrong with the country.  While 90% of the population favoring some type of gun regulation, the US Senate did not have the courage to stand up to the most powerful lobby in the country, The NRA, and voted down a simple gun registration law.  They did this while the events in Boston were page one on all the media outlets.  They knew that their lack of courage, which would have been spotlighted on almost any other day of the year, would go largely unnoticed as a result of the terror attack.  Not even the President on the lawn of the White House with parents from Sandy Hook broke through.

But this latest failure by our elected officials is but a symptom of what we have become.  This lack of leadership and more importantly an inability to do the right thing exemplified by our nation's leaders has been trickling down to those of us who try to go about our business every day and are stopped in our tracks by those who simply are in a position to put up roadblocks. 

Tasks and daily chores at the city or community level that used to be taken as common courtesy are now being filibustered by small minded people who simply refuse to help or even do their job simply because they can.  There is no oversight or even if so, the overseers have no power to stop those who they supervise. 

I began to see this degradation in society several years ago.  I wanted to add onto my home.  I had gone through the entire planning and pre-permitting process before I was denied a permit to build an additional room and bathroom.  Why?  Because someone said my home was built closer to the next property than what now was allowed.

My home was built almost 30 years before I purchased it.  I have to assume that at that time it conformed to current laws and regulations.  Yet someone in the planning department just decided to make things difficult.

The addition to my home was not even on that side of the house so why should this matter.  Eventually I was able to get the permit but not before I had to wait several weeks and go before a building commission to beg them to allow me to add onto my house.

When I was young teachers like to teach.  They were respected.  The problem was that I was lazy and did not want to study.  Now for many like my daughter they know that the only way to get a head is to study.  But the roles have been reversed.  My daughter is begging for help from her teacher and he refuses to help.  Why?  He appears to be lazy but it gets even better.  They are "on strike" this week and refuse to help their students who need extra time at lunch.  He has also refused to help during his two prep periods.  To make matters worse, the teacher gives an exam on material that the students cannot get help on and then wonder why they are not "getting it" in class.

My wife has taught art part time in the schools for almost 14 years.  She has received nothing but positive scores on her performance review for the past 12 years.  She had been through two principals before a third arrived two years ago.  Although she had hardly spent any time with her the Principal decided to give her two poor scores on her performance review; just for the fun of it.

My wife had been teaching an optional after school art program for some of the kids who enjoyed the program but wanted more art than was being offered during the school day. 

A full time teacher in the school decided that she liked art and wanted to teach after school art too competing with my wife.  Now my wife is the only art teacher in the district that has to compete with another teacher teaching art in her school.  To make matters worse this other teacher is now teaching curriculum that my wife teaches during school that is part of the required state standards!

The parents are paying for something that is being taught for free.

My neighbor, after seven years working at a company flies to Europe on business only to be blindsided when he is terminated upon his arrival. 

I am sure you have examples of some of the inequities out there that you have been victim to.  But the question needs to be asked:  when did we become a nation of a**holes? 

With freedom comes responsibility.  What exactly does that mean?  With freedom we do have free will and can do within limits what we want.  But what most have forgotten is that with that freedom we need to remember to do the right thing by people.  When did common decency between two people become a sign of weakness.  It is that part of the equation that we seem to have forgotten and this week the spotlight has shown brightly.

Second Time Around

We witnessed history yesterday as Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States of America.  While everyone was very honorable in their demeanor yesterday, you and see once again the party lines being drawn.

Republicans, your shtick is getting old.  I heard Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly saying last night that the Republican party is not yet done.  Well, I would agree Bill, but it is on life support if you look at it objectively.  Let's review:  For the past four years, during one of the deepest recessions since the great depression, the Republican Congress has obstructed more proposals and passed the fewest bills of any of its modern day predecessors.  Now they are trying a new strategy:  The President is a bully...he won't work with us.  He refuses to socialize with us. 

Here is some advice to the Republicans.  You need to treat the American citizen with a bit more intelligence than you have been treating them for the past five or so years.  They remember what you say and what is reported in the press. 

For example, when the Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell says that their number one priority is to make Barack Obama a one term president, people remember that.  They also know that when their house is under water and they don't have a job, cannot make their house payment and have difficulty putting food on the table, Republican gamesmanship is the last thing they want to hear.  When the debt ceiling has been raised unceremoniously for as long as anyone can remember and Republicans put the country's debt in jeopardy and threaten a government shutdown, people remember that.  When the President is dogged by extremists who say he is a Muslim and not born in this country and the Republican party or leadership does not forcefully dismiss these unsubstantiated allegations, people remember that too.

It is also time to come back into the mainstream.  Women's reproductive rights, for example, is already settled law.  Supporting allowing companies to dictate the type of health care services they want to provide employees because it interferes with the employers' religious beliefs is not a way to win over the majority of the citizens of this country.  Demanding that benefits we already have paid for need to be cut back because the government borrowed money from the account is also not the way to win over the electorate.  Finally, taking a hard line stance against restricting weapons that are just designed to do the maximum amount of damage is not a way to win over most rational thinking people.

The Republicans have a built in contradiction to their party.  They have always been for fiscal responsibility, smaller government and less regulation letting the private sector dictate the direction of the country.  There is nothing wrong with this philosophy.  But somewhere along the line the message got turned around.  Under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush deficits skyrocketed.  Government became much bigger.  Under President G.W. Bush two wars were started without any way to pay them off.  He put it on the country's credit card.  On top of that he told everyone that they were getting a tax refund!  Does this sound like the Republican party that is fiscally responsible and a strong advocate for smaller government?

Then from left field the party that believes in personal responsibility for business has told people how they expect to live their lives; women in particular.  They want to limit a woman's right to choose, they want doctors doing ultrasounds for women who want to consider aborting their fetus'.  Some of their party members proudly proclaimed that rape should be redefined calling it "legitmate rape."  So while they are all for deregulating business, saying that environmental protection is too strict and letting the banks run wild again, socially they are willing to regulate woman's health care issues to those that existed 100 years ago.  There is just a huge contradiction between their party ideology and their practice.  This is what is holding the party back and the American people see it.

It is there for all to see. These are just some of the issues that the right has taken and for lack of a better term, perverted it.  They are largely led by Fox News, their media arm or from lobbyists like Grover Norquist or the NRA.  If the Republicans want to have a place on the national stage in years to come, they need to have a better vision and see where the country is going.

What A Mess

Happy New Year.  For most of us our taxes will not be going up as of yesterday.  It would seem that the circus that is the House of Representatives in a brief moment of sanity passed the bill that now averts for a couple of months higher taxes for all and automatic spending cuts to defense and what are known as "entitlements" in the US will be put off for now. 

But as of this morning some of the biggest blowhard Republicans are crying that they were sold out by John Boehner and the others that voted to raise taxes on just those making more than $400,000 individually and $450,000 as a couple.  Newt Gingrich tweeted that the GOP has been engaged in a two month dance of defeat and surrender.  Donald Trump called the Republicans the worst negotiators in history.  Other prominent Republicans were equally disdainful of the bill but in the end the President signed it and America lives on.  Even Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, reportedly hated the compromise deal so much he threw it in the fireplace and let it burn.  One thing was clear:  the Republican leadership was fractured by this vote with Boehner and former Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan voting for the bill and Eric Cantor voting against. 

With this latest drama played out on the world stage the biggest concern for the 98% of us is that the power concentrated in the remaining 2% should be of concern to the rest of us.  How can the power and leverage be so strong that what should seem like an easy decision comes down to a nail biter between our elected representatives and the American people?  Who best represents this concentration of power?  The lobbyists.  We know that Grover Norquist and his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, has extracted pledges from most of the the conservatives on Capital Hill to never raise taxes and worked hard to protect the 2%.  But there are undoubtedly many whose names we do not know how are also twisting arms behind the scenes.  It is those that we need to be really concerned about.

Who was the real winner here:  Compromise.  This is something that has been missing in Washington since 2008.  Without a filibuster proof majority this administration has had a very difficult time moving forward its agenda.  An agenda at times aligned with what was at one time the Republican's own agenda.  As John Boehner was appointed Majority Leader of the House of Representatives he proclaimed on CBS' 60 Minutes that he felt that he did not need to compromise.  Two years later he made good on his pledge and the 112th Congress became the least productive since the 1940's passing just 383 bills while the Congress before it passed 463.

But will this be a new trend in Washington or just a momentary pause in the conservatives drive to destroy the recovery in America?  The Congress is already gearing up for the next fight which will be over the sequester, automatic cuts to defense, social security and medicare, and their tying is to the tie it to the debt ceiling.  That will take place in the next 6 - 8 weeks.  The President has said that tying anything to the debt ceiling will be a non starter in any negotiations.

Another residual fallout from this so called mini deal is that victims from Hurricane Sandy will not receive additional aid.  Influential Congressman like Republican Peter King from New York and Governor Chris Christie are outraged that members of their own party would betray them in their time of need.  He squarely placed accountability with House Speaker John Boehner saying that he was responsible for continuing the pain and suffering of innocent victims of a natural disaster.  Could John  Boehner not only be the worst Speaker of the House in modern day history but also the laziest?

So where do we go from here?  If you here it from the right wing pundits it was a crushing defeat for the Republican party and the Tea Party in particular.  They say that this is nothing more than a tax increase without a spending decrease.  But the news is not all bad.  What is not being reported is that the deficit has been shrinking slow under the Obama presidency.  What pundits and the media seem to be downplaying is if this latest deal has been a good one for the American people.  The early answer seems to be yes, but we will know more in just a few more weeks.  Stay tuned. 

Where Does It All Stop

It has been a little over a week since one of the darkest days in the history of American senseless violence occurred in Newtown, Connecticut.  26 people, children and educators lost their lives.  That is the darkest day since the last senseless slaughter of innocents occurred in Oregon just a day or two before that.  Then there was the shootings in Aurora, Colorado, the near assination of Representative Gabby Giffords and the loss of human life in on that day in Arizona.  One thing is for sure, this type of gun violence occurs frequently in this country.  Since 1980 there have been 61 mass shootings in the United States.

Pathetically this type of thing is now happening all too often in America.  Gun rights advocates say that a the time of these senseless incident is not the right time to discuss laws to control gun sales.  But at this point, with the frequency of these shootings, that  means by definition you can never discuss the subject.  But when it does come up you get someone like Wayne LaPierre, Executive Director for the National Rifle Association saying that armed guards should be placed at every school in the United States.  What about shopping malls? What about movie theatres?  What about post offices?  Why don't we just post an armed guard at the entrance to every public venue like parks and businesses?  This should take care of the problem.

For a long time we heard that "guns don't kill people, people kill people."  These same gun advocates say that cars kill thousands of people every year and ask, "are we going to ban cars too? " My response to that is simple.  Over the years cars have actually become safer.  For years safety glass is now required on all vehicles.  Seat belts which at one time were optional on all cars are now standard on all vehicles as is a supplemental restraint system (airbags).  Developments in automotive technology like anti-lock breaks and traction control are also features that make cars even safer than they once were.  One could rattle on about all the safety features added to the automobile in the past 50 years and they were not always popular with the driving public or the manufacturer.  But people still get to drive cars and it is not even a right, but a privilege.

So what about guns?  Have they become safer?  I am no gun expert but the proliferation of fire arm incidents in this country has exploded (pardon the pun).  Of the last 11 mass shooting in the US, 5 of them have occurred since 2007.   Over 15,000 murders occurred in the US in 2011.  Why in a country like the United Kingdom were there only 619 murders in the same year? 

At this point let me make a disclaimer: I have nothing against gun ownership...if you need a gun or even reasonably want a gun. If you are a hunter, target shooter or even a collector of firearms have at it. I used to shoot trap and owned a shot gun. I don't anymore. The second amendment of The US Constitution allows for fire arm ownership in the United States. I respect that.

So what can be done?  We as a society have to ask whether or not any gun is available for sale?  What do we need guns for that shoot multiple automatic rounds?  Why should someone be allowed to purchase automatic weapons?  We need to ask ourselves whether or not the lives of innocent non-armed people are less valuable than some one's right to purchase a high powered weapon?  We need to better understand why criminals are often better armed than law enforcement? 

If you use the car analogy, why can't guns be sold with mandatory gun locks?  Why can't a purchaser of a fire arm be required to prove that they have a safe method for storage of that fire arm?  What about a background check and waiting period?  Would this not be an evolutionary improvement on this tool just as an automobile is used as a tool?

This country is looking at an overall solution to violence.  Video games, music lyrics, those that should not own weapon, media images and violent TV shows should all be on the table as debatable solutions to reducing violence of any kind in this country.

Maybe it is time to start looking at weapons and fire arms from a different point of view.  Rather than either for or against, it is time to be rational and reasonable about owning a gun or guns.  We need to take a more pragmatic rather than dogmatic approach.  In our Constitutional Republic we have always compromised as a means to make for a more perfect nation.  While for some compromise has become a dirty word in the past few years, compromise is what is needed to solve this very divisive issue.  No one is for what is happening now.  One surprising fact:  gun ownership in the US is at an all time low.  You would not know it by all the destruction they cause.  It is time to change that.

No Lessons Learned From The Last Election...Reality Check

Just received this from a right wing friend. 

' "A Lesson in Irony. The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing this year the greatest amount of free Meals and Food Stamps ever, to 46 million people.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us "Please Do Not Feed the Animals."

Their stated reason for the policy is because "The animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves."

Thus ends today's lesson in irony' "

 

OK Now For Some Reality

 

First of all do you think the government is really “proud” to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever?

Secondly, last I looked there was no shortage of jobs in the forest due to a real estate meltdown, two un-funded wars, tax breaks for the wealthy and their work is not being outsourced to the lowest bidder. They also don’t have to deal with deregulated banks, Wall Street bandits and a do nothing obstructionist Congress in the woods. There is plenty of food in the forest for the animals.

Finally, real wages have not gone up significantly for workers in 30 years. The working class has had to work harder becoming the most productive workforce in the world with little increase in pay while US corporate executive pay has skyrocketed 728% between 1978 and 2011. Worker pay has risen just 5.7% in the same period according to the Economic Policy Institute. What do you think is going to happen? This has led to a lower standard of living. I guess the working class should just buck up? Most of us are workers. Be careful, you could be on food stamps too one day.

Thus ends today’s lesson in telling the real story.

The Real Losers, Some Advice and Mitt Romney

Another election behind us.  This one turned out Ok.  We accepted Michele Bachmann and kept President Barack Obama.  That is a deal I would take any day.  Nothing is perfect but this is close enough. 

Let's begin with what we got:  America continues on the right track and will likely be headed in that direction for the next four years with or without the Republicans.  The Supreme Court is safe for now with no crazies waiting in the wings to be appointed by a Republican president.  We won't gut the economic recovery by selling out the poor and middle class so that the rich and ultra rich get tax breaks.

The real loser:  Not Mitt Romney.  He will get over it and take his quarter billion and move on.  But Carl Rove how do you answer to some of the richest and most powerful people in this country (and maybe the world; we'll never know) and tell them that you wasted $390 million of their dollars?  Maybe the best images of Tuesday night was of Rove telling Fox News that they should not call Ohio because it was too early only to be told by the number crunchers in the back room that they could call this with 99.95% certainty.  Priceless!  Rove looked over his shoulder on set a couple of times.  I wonder who he is expecting?

Some advice:  So here is my observation.  Most of my right wing buddies, and I do have many of them only watch, read and hear what reinforces their own opinions and ideology.  They go to right wing websites, right wing newspapers, right wing bloggers and the grand daddy of the all, Fox News for all of their information.  They get all the red meat they need.  The only issue is that they are often wrong.  Just ask poor Dick Morris who is often wrong but was really wrong predicting a big Romney win.  What a surprise.  

So here is the advice.  Look around you.  The media is not what it used to be.  Go to outlets that are both right and left and try to pick a couple that are pretty accurate.  I for one went to CNN on election night and Fox News.  I knew what MSNBC would be say.  Fox was beautiful; deer in the headlights.  On a regular basis I watch both MSNBC and Fox just for entertainment but I certainly don't pretend that either is my source for news.  I would choose ABC or CBS for that.  If you want to get blindsided next time, keep doing what your are doing.  I for one hope you do.

Mitt Romney:  I am sure you are a nice guy one on one.  But you had a hard time connecting with people that have to go to work every day.  That is understandable.  But there are two things that lost this election for you in a big way.  1.) You just cannot flip flop on big ideas like health care and abortion.  You cannot be for something and then against it and then kind of for it all in the same race even if it is a primary and general election race.  2.) You cannot think that the American people are stupid enough to forget your campaign manager saying that you can Etch-E-Sketch away positions.  It is one thing to do it and another to say that you are going to do it.  Your campaign team also said that they were not going to let "facts" get in the way of your campaign message.  Again, people are not that stupid but your campaign manager thinks we are.

We need to remember that we still have a lot of challenges ahead of us in the next four years.  There is a lot to do and real work lies ahead.  The campaign is over and it is time to govern again.  It would be great if the right and the left could find common ground to solve very real issues that face our country and our world.  Part of me wants to think that it will be different this time around.  But the other part of me looks at recent history and the divide in this nation and I have to temperate my enthusiasm.  We wait and we will see.

Brainwashed

With the Democratic Convention just hours away the amount of flat out made up completely false, COMPLETELY FALSE information coming from the Republicans is at a pace I have never seen in US politics following it closely for over 30 years.

Let's go back a few days. Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan during his acceptance speech blamed the President for a GM plant closing in Wisconsin. That was a claim that was almost immediately debunked when in reality it was getting to close on W's watch before Obama was even sworn in as president. Now today he claims that he never even said what he said.

Today the Republicans are making automated phone calls to anyone who won't hang up the phone claiming that President Obama has changed Medicare and that it will never be the same. Another false claim.

My question? If the Romney Ryan ticket can't tell the truth now, do we really think they will tell the truth once they would be elected. Anybody out there think that?

What ever happened to people just simply telling it like it is. Everyone stretches the truth now and then and politicians get a bit of an artistic license on both sides. But flat out making things up. When did that become accepted? Then you wonder why our kids don't tell us the truth? That is the true trickle down. When our leaders or presumptive leaders flat out lie, what should be expected by the rest of us? It is a sad erosion of our society.

What is even worse is that I received something over the weekend regarding the Affordable Health care Act. It was nearly an 11 minute video challenging point by point Obama care. It was a beautifully produced video professionally narrated. As I went through several of the preposterous assertions I decided to actually pull up the bill itself. Since the video gave specific pages and sections and quotes, I figured that they would be easy to find. I researched the first five claims which were in the first minute of the video. Not a single quote, not a single claim on the video was true.

I know that the Internet is not exactly a bastion of truth. What was more disturbing to me was that this video was sent by a friend. This friend sent me the video as if I were just supposed to believe it was true. Two points here: either my friend believed it as true and did not question a single point or she knew that it was false and thought I was actually stupid enough just to fall for was could only be considered a complete fabrication. Inotherwords she wants Obama and Obama care repealed so badly that she is willing to risk her own personal credibility and send this piece of fiction to a friend and pass it off as dangerous.

What is even more sinister is that we seem to be doomed to repeat the past. This is the same type of tactic that the Nazis used prior and during the Holocaust. Slickly produced propaganda that gets passed off as truth. You may think it is cool to send it off to your friends and pass it off as the truth. But when the propaganda turns against your way of life, your sex, ability to make a living or worship then it becomes an issue. But by then it will be too late.

Mr. Romney, Mr. Ryan if you really think you can do a better job than the President, just tell us why. Give us your plan for a better future and let us choose for ourselves. That is one thing I did not hear last week at the Republican convention; a plan for a better America. I heard a lot of Obama bashing, some of it pretty incoherent, but not a lot of planning for the future.

I did hear about American exceptionalism, whatever that is. But if we are so exceptional, how can you be running down the country as it stands right now and say that it is so great. If we are so exceptional why are you just not telling it like it is? You can't have it both ways. Ultimately, the American people are smarter than that.

A Fresh Look

I love a little context now and then. I have spent a weekend in Montana. Now with a little down time in the airport I have had the opportunity to catch up on the weekend's news. Too bad for me.

We should get out of Washington more often. This is a bit of a revelation for me because I do not live anywhere near Washington, D.C. or state. However, I seem to hang on every word that comes out of our nation's capital. The campaign, the vitriol coming from each side but particularly from the right, the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the Health Care Bill and all the other noise that we think is so important. Of course it is important, but when did it become all that really mattered? If you believe everything you read and watch you would think that America was on the brink of failure and if you listened to Rance Priebus, the leader of the Republican Party you would think exactly that because that is what he said. But nothing could be further from the truth.

As the week that includes our Nation's Birthday comes to a close, I can tell you that America is bustling away from the big cities. People filled our National Parks. There were crowds everywhere as much as a National Park like Yellowstone could have crowds. There were people from all over the country and many from far off lands visiting the United States. People dressed in native clothing. Many spoke the universal language of a smile. I sometimes wish I would hear about our elected representatives visiting these parks themselves with their friends and families and maybe their perspectives would change too. It might do them some good to see things out there that are bigger than themselves.

Kids are finding jobs. I visited with young people this weekend who were not yet ready for professional positions but they were all able to find jobs that kept a few dollars in their pockets' enough for a good time and to realize how lucky they are to be able to get an education and to work at the same time. Some were even considering second jobs or public volunteer service to fill their time. They are getting good educations and many have or are considering masters' degrees. Planes are full and long haul trucks are carrying goods across the country on our nation's highways and interstates. People were buying things and the restaurants and bars were full.

I know that there are people out there who are struggling. I saw a few of them too on the side of the road asking for money or a ride. There are many more out there whose struggle for employment is far less visible. We should never lose sight of those who are less fortunate and do what is necessary to help. I also read this weekend that in North Dakota the unemployment rate is at 1%. They have 3,000 job openings there.

If you listen to Mitt Romney you would think that the sky is falling which is kind of ironic considering I am in Big Sky country. What else can he say? He is running for President. Maybe it is his lack of a real plan which shows that there would not be much more he could do as president if he were elected. Representative Allen West from Florida this weekend call Social Security a modern form of slavery. Funny how he does not mind getting his paycheck from the government. George Will called global warming "summer," choosing to ignore that 20 of the last 30 years have been the warmest on record. But none of these guys ever made a buck saying how good things really are.

If you yourself have any doubt and cannot get away for a day or two to somewhere you have not been before, take a walk, go for a bike ride. Take a friend to dinner. People watch and lose yourself in what is good about your surroundings. Turn on the TV and it is easy to find what's wrong. It takes a little more to find the good, but it is out there.

The Stupidy Crescendo

Well, it has been a pretty good week for the left.

Mitt Romney said that he did not really care about the poor because they had a safety net. Gingrich is having a hard time convincing even himself that there is any viability left in his candidacy. Santorum has said that global warming is a myth. Bachmann, trying to remain relevant and getting her own Congressional seat re-election campaign off the ground said that she was the "perfect" Presidential candidate. John McCain got into the crazy act by saying that he thinks military action may be warrented in Syria. Is there anyone he doesn't want to bomb? Today, restricting gay marriage was considered unconstitutional. Even Bill O'Reilly had to admint that Obama is leading Romney in the polls.

Another decision that put the right on the wrong side of an issue was the Susan G. Komen Foundation's plan to no longer fund donations to Planned Parenthood. This was a short term PR disaster for the Susan G. Komen foundation. Within hours of their proclaimation independent donations streamed in and Planned Parenthood found themselves with nearly the amount of the total donations provided by the Susan G. Komen Foundation itself. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City donated $250,000 of his own money to Planned Parenthood. Why was this a huge loss for the right wing of the Republican Party? They have been trying to starve Planned Parenthood of funding throughout the Obama Presidency. But as the smoke cleared from the 48 hour Susan G. Komen debacle, they reversed themselves on their own policy and apologized for mixing themselves up in a political firestorm they themselves created. All this because a portion of the privately funded revenue goes to providing abortions.

This activity was all in the last week and does not include the good news about jobs and the economy. Too bad the election will be not held today.

But the biggest evidence that the Republicans are not serious about winning the elections in the fall may have come over the weekend. The tell was a simple commercial that ran during the Superbowl. It was the commercial that was all the buzz Monday morning. It featured largely a voice over by actor Clint Eastwood. A Republican lauding that fact that the auto industry and manufacturing in America was on the rebound and that it was "halftime" in America as far as our return to economic prominence. There was definitely a subtext that without assistance the car industry would have been a thing of the past.

This was THE commercial of the Superbowl. More people were buzzing about the commerical than the New York Giants win. Rather than just leaving it alone the Republican elite were out with a venomous zeal. Who led the response? Karl Rove. He said that he was "frankly offended by the commerical." He called it "Chicago style politics." Rove went on to say that the car company, Chrysler, paid for the two minute spot with money from loans that were yet to be paid back. Which in itself is inaccurate. Chrysler paid back the loans early with interest. And yes Mr. Rove, it was no thanks to the Republicans that the auto industry has for the time being averted disaster. Your party and particularly your likely nominee for President, Willard Mitt Romney wrote in a Michigan newspaper that he thought the auto industry should not receive loans. It was a gutsy move by the Obama administration and one that had it not gone as it did, the Republicans would have roasted Obama for his ineptness. Need proof of that? See what they have said about Solyndra.

But Rove's hurt feelings means nothing more than him being outsmarted and not thinking of something similarly genius himself. After all, it looks to be like something right out of his own playbook.

As we stray farther away from the Bush years and close in on the election in 2012 there seems to be a distinction that the Democrats are making between themselves and the Republicans. Pro-worker vs. the 1% in this country that have benefited greatly during the first eight years of this century. Did the Republicans have a bad week or are they just showing the rest of us what they really believe in?

A Slippery Slope

Two weeks ago a defense funding bill was passed through Congress and quietly signed by the President. We need defense and a military to protect our country so unlike the extension of the Bush tax cuts this bill, the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) made it through Congress and to the President's desk for signature will little bickering or chest thumping that has characterized the past three years of partisan brinksmanship.

But unlike past appropriations bills this one included something that has passed by many. With the holidays approaching the press and pundits gave it little attention. It was a provision in the bill that Americans potentially could be held in America indefinitely without a trial if suspected of terrorist or terrorist sympathizers activity. No mainstream citizen of the US condones terrorist activities but this would appear to be a tipping point in our country's history and a major violation of our US Constitution and legal system.

It should also be said that both the Bush administration and the Obama administration have interpreted other legislation which would allow them to hold certain al-Qaeda suspects indefinitely until the ceasing of terrorist hostilities. But this is the first time that this activity has been codified in a bill giving the military and the Executive Branch of the US Government the right to detain suspects indefinitely. Does this cross the line of the rights to a trail guaranteed in our Constitution?

Some say it does. Now I am for using every tool at our disposal to capture and interrogate and extract information out of those who wish to do us harm both here and on foreign soil. But it is important to clearly distinguish wartime rights of prisoners overseas and here domestically. It is important to clarify the rights of US citizens residing here legally during peacetime. I might even argue that under the right circumstances and overwhelming evidence US Citizens abroad could be treated differently than they would if they were performing the same acts on US soil. But to arbitrarily seek indefinite detention on US soil even in times of peace seems to go against some of the ideals on which our country was founded. Maybe this power will not be abused by the Obama administration or its successor, but what about those who will lead our country in the future? If this erosion of our rights takes place now, what will the next step in this process be?

If you think that this is a hypothetical question, just go back a few years and consider the Patriot Act. (Or what I like to call the Unpatriotic Act). In a time of national mourning and panic post 911 our government granted itself what was considered unprecedented power to search and listen in on those who were potentially considered terrorism suspects. It gave the government the right to look at telephone bills with the large phone companies seemingly willing participants. Libraries were required to disclose to law enforcement books checked out by suspected terrorism suspects and the rights to wire taps and warrants in terrorism cases were loosened dramatically. At the time these tactics were questioned by civil libertarians but the tide of public opinion in the wake of 911 made their constitutional queries seem unpatriotic. This was the beginning of the slippery slope that makes this most recent legislation's passing into law seem almost like a forgone conclusion and one that has gone largely unnoticed.

But several questions come up. While this law speaks primarily to al-Qaeda, what about domestic terrorism? It is no less of a potential threat. Prior to 911 the Oklahoma bombing was the most serious case of terrorism on US soil. How should suspects be treated in similar cases which to the families involved are no less despicable than the attack on Pearl Harbor or 911?

What sets us apart from a large part of the rest of the world is that we have a system that takes care of criminals and suspected criminals. We also have tools both physical and enacted laws that address crimes against individuals and crimes against humanity. They have worked pretty well up until now. That would include the prosecutions in both civilian and military criminal cases with terrorism both foreign and domestic. Why now do we need to change the dynamic and alter the Constitution of the United States, an example to many around the world? If we continue to trample on the rights of our citizens, even those accused of crimes against humanity, have not the terrorist really gotten what they were after in the first place?

Promise Broken

Was this any surprise? The Republican House of Representatives voted or technically hid
their vote to not extend the Bush tax cuts beyond December 31st, 2011. The
Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner and his cohort Majority
Leader Eric Cantor did not even have the courage of their convictions to send
the Bill to the floor for a vote because they knew it would have passed. So they
sent it to a committee of five where 3 of the 5 committee members said they
would never vote for a compromise to extend the tax cut beyond the end of the
year. Game over.

The President and Senate were blind sided by the
behavior of the speaker and the Republican controlled house because over the
weekend everyone thought that they had a deal to extend the tax cuts for several
months allowing the beleaguered middle class to continue to take home more money
in their paychecks. The Republicans in the Senate were so happy with the
bi-partisan compromise that Mitch McConnell, the Republican Minority Leader in
the Senate was seen with a rare broad smile across his face high fiving a
colleague on the way out the door. After that vote, satisfied with their job
well done, they all left for their Christmas break.

So what happened? We may never know what happened behind closed doors. It was thought that Boehner was taken out to the wood shed by the Tea Party caucus members and told that
there would be no deal. It did not take an expert to read Boehner's body language when he emerged from the meeting to tell anyone who would listen that yet again he could not deliver a deal to keep his word on a compromise that he alluded to being able to pass just days before. He looked like a leader close to tears. As he was using terms like "kicking the can down the road," Boehner's demeanor told another story: one that said that he would rather be anywhere else
than behind that lectern. He tried to explain that the American people want
a longer term solution to the tax cut by no one was buy that, not even people in
his own party. It was apparent that even John Boehner had no idea about what the
American people want or how to apease the extremists in his own party.

But two promises were broken in this fiasco. The first was that fact that the House Republicans led by Boehner (and more realistically by the Tea Party) left their colleagues, the Senate Republicans twisting in the wind. So much so that several prominent Republican senators
openly criticized their own colleagues in the House. Now that is something we have not seen in recent memory. Republican Senators such as Scott Brown from Massachusetts are on the hot seat in the 2012 elections are furious with Boehner and the Tea Party for this latest vote to derail America.

This latest mess may or may not be cleaned up by the time the workers in America have to pay
an additional $40.00 per paycheck in taxes. But the more important "promise" broken is the one that nearly all Republicans made to lobbyist Grover Norquist. The now very famous promise made by nearly every right wing representative and candidate and nearly every right wing Presidential candidate was to never, ever raise taxes under any circumstance for any reason. Funny thing is that Norquist has been very quiet. He did issue a statement saying that this latest failure to act by the Republican House of Representatives and effectively raising the tax on the middle class was not a breaking of the vow by Republicans to never raise taxes. But the damage has been done. No one believes him. He is being exposed for what he and his lobbying firm really are: a shill for the wealthiest who do not want to pay their fair share. Give him credit though. He had many fooled fora long time.

Will this latest act or more accurately this inability to act expose the Tea Party, John Boehner and Eric Cantor, Grover Norquist for what they have become and who they really are? Too early to tell. Most reasonably minded people understand that for now the middle class needs to be left alone to fight their way out of this economic downturn that refuses to ebb. It is only the Tea Party who believes that taxes need to be increased on the working and working poor. But as we enter 2012 and the upcoming Presidential election, the Republicans have shown their hand and for a while it was a pretty convincing bluff.

Republican Party?

It is no secret that even the Republican electorate thinks that it has a weak field of Candidates. At this writing Newt Gingrich is the front runner with Mitt Romney running a distant second. Many, however, think that Romney will ultimately be the nominee. But Romney's buzz is that he is the unenthusiastic choice for the Republican Party. Why? Because he is uninteresting, has no real new ideas and perhaps most importantly is not really a conservative. He has flipped flopped on everything from health care to abortion both of which at one time he was for but is now against.

But is this really anything new for the Republican Party? Within the last few years the Republicans don't really know who they are. From the early 2000's they gave back money to the American people which was needed to fund a war. Make that two wars, one of which was unprovoked. They initiated a prescription drug program that was unfunded. All this was put on the American people's credit card in the form of massive debt. Now they claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility

The Executive Branch all the way up to the Chief of Staff for the Vice President exposed a covert CIA operative after her husband, Joe Wilson, was asked by the administration to investigate yellow cake uranium shipments to Iraq. In simply telling the truth he said that no such shipments existed and his wife was was exposed as a covert operative.

Do theses examples sound like liberals spending wildly without any accountability? Sound like America hating anti-democratic unpatriotic liberals? No, these were the actions of "neo-con" conservatives. Republicans. These were the actions of the Bush administration.

You can throw in a financial meltdown due to lax oversight. Finally, for good measure you can also include the demise of the US auto industry with two of three remaining US car companies filing for bankruptcy. The picture was pretty bleak just three years ago. Anti business Democrats? No, Republicans.

If Barack Obama had an (R) next to his name he would be considered the new coming by Republicans. He has ended the war in Iraq much to the consternation of many Republicans. Just ask Dick Cheney the instigator of the mess in Iraq who says we should have a permanent presence there. On Obama's watch our troops captured Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind 911 who alluded the US Government for nearly 10 years and during all of the Bush administration. He passed a sweeping health care initiative that every president, Republican and Democrat, back to Richard Nixon called for but was unable to pass. He turned around the financial system from a near catastrophe without losing any US taxpayer money. He lent and has be repaid for loans to the US automotive industry which is now making a comeback. While unemployment still remains high, it too is also beginning to show signs of improvement. He has done this all while trying to keep taxes at their lowest rate to GDP in history only proposing, but not getting passed, a tax increase for the wealthiest American. What is he called? A socialist and the worst US President in history. He has done all this without assistance from the Republicans whose main goal is to get the President out of office.

Yes there is a deficit and yes, it is serious. But he did not create the problems we are in today and he did nothing any differently than any other president would have done in a similar situation to get us out of where we are today.

So what are the Republican ideas for making the US a stronger and better nation as we steam full speed to the 2012 election? They are against raising any taxes, especially on the wealthy. The rich are job creators. Only there is no real proof that they have created any new jobs. Tax rates in this country for all Americans are lower than they have been at any time in the modern era, yet for some reason unemployment remains stubbornly high. Just ask any Republican. They think that taxes are still too high and that if you lower them even further, unemployment will fall. But there was a small chink in the armor this past week when a bill to extend the tax breaks to all working Americans was opposed by...Republicans. Yes Republicans.

So who are the Republicans? Hard to tell. They are the party of family values. But then why has Newt Gingrich been married three times? Why was he married to his first wife while dating his second wife? Why did discuss divorce proceedings with his second wife while she was in the hospital recovering from Cancer? Why was he cheating on his wife while he publicly called for the impeachment of Bill Clinton for adultery? I actually heard the audacity of a conservative pundit ask why Democrats were held to a lower standard when it came to personal indiscretions? It is because Democrats are not preaching an holier than thou standard for themselves like Republicans. Call it the hypocrite factor.

So who are the Republicans? Well the are the party of the free market. But then why has Michelle Bachman's family received so much in farm subsidy revenue from the US Government over the past several years. Why has Bachman been such an ardent supporter of farm subsidies in a free market economy? Good question. But she has. She even wrote a note praising the Obama administration for their decision to continue these subsidies? You won't hear that from her in a campaign speech even in the State of Iowa. Does she ask for one thing and get another? You be the judge. But it would appear that some Republicans want it both ways.

So who are the Republicans? Ask Mitt Romney. He created a health care program in Massachusetts that most people really like. It has been considered a success. But now he is running away from that accomplishment and says that the states should do what is right for them much the way the South did what was right for them during the time of segregation. Romney was also pro choice when it came to being the Governor in Massachusetts. But now that he is running for president he is against a woman's right to seek an abortion. I think that there is only one thing worse than changing your stance on an issue: not having an opinion at all. That is obviously Romney's real stance; whatever it takes to be elected.

So choose carefully this election season, especially if you are a Republican. It would seem that nothing has really changed in the past six years. The Republicans are for less taxes as long as the working class pays more. They are for containing Iran through force, a neo-con position extracted from Mitt Romney by Paul Wolfowitz during the most recent Republican debate. How would we pay for that? Wolfowitz in case you are unaware of his name was the national security official that lobbied for and brought us the Iraq War. They are anti-gay wanting to turn back the clock nearly 15 years with gay Americans going back into the closet to serve in the military.

The one thing I have not heard from the Republican slate of candidates is what they would do differently to continue to have the country recover from what has been the worst downturn since the great depression. If you have any idea of what their stance is on fixing the economy I would like to know. There is one candidate who is no longer in the race that had a plan 9-9-9 but no one really took that seriously. Another candidate thinks that privatizing and deregulating everything is the answer to prosperity. One candidate says that we should relax child labor laws, fire school janitors and let the kids clean things up. Yet another candidate takes a more moderate stance on issues and is drowned out by everyone else. He has just 1% of the vote on a good day.

In the old days if you did not like something that someone was doing, you would propose an alternative idea. An idea that was reasonable and actually helped people. These ideas had to be plausible, have credibility and show merit. Nowadays the crazier the idea, the more airplay it gets. It is no longer about ideas, but about getting elected. Getting elected allows you to serve almost exclusively those who paid to put you there. What do we call the people who are proposing these crazy ideas? Republicans.

The Fox Guarding the Hen House

I watching 60 Minutes last week as I have done on many a Sunday nights for the past 35 plus years. I have to admit that the broadcast while still miles better than the competition has slipped a bit. But what caught my interest was the segment with Jeff Imelt the CEO of General Electric and President Obama's job czar.

The job czar position being one who advises the president on the best way to generate jobs. It would seem like a no brainer to appoint Imelt who runs one of the largest multi-national companies in the world, GE. GE makes everything from washing machines to jet engines for commercial and military aircraft to turbines to locomotives. Until recently they also owned a majority stake NBC/Universal which they recently sold (the majority) to Comcast. So naturally Imelt is a good choice for the job czar position that Obama has appointed him to, right?

The segment started out by showing a factory that Imelt was walking through that was recently built in the United States and provided jobs for US works at $13.00 plus an hour. The piece also followed Imelt around the globe to Brazil where GE has a large and growing presence and to China where they are partnering with that country to produce an airliner which may compete with Boeing and Airbus. At the end of the 15 minute report Imelt looks at Lesley Stahl, and inquires as to why the American people are not rooting for GE? He says that in Germany, the German people are rooting for Siemens (a Germany company). He cannot understand why the US people are not rooting for American companies and GE specifically?

Now it is understood that these reports are edited and since the segment included many global locations, it was taped over a several week period. But really, Mr. Imelt? You wonder why Americans don't root for GE's success?

Let's help you answer your question:

As one of the most stable companies in the modern era, GE's stock plummeted during financial melt down. Was it because it was following the rest of the market down? No. It was because GE Capital, GE's financial unit was caught up in the financial crisis much like the rest of Wall Street. That one unit dragged down the rest of the company and caused GE stock to fall to below $10 per share. Nothing like endearing the American public to your company by helping them loose hundred of millions of dollars in stock value by malfeasance of a destabilized financial division. But that is just for starters and is ancient news.

ABC News reports that GE laid off 19,000 workers in 2009. Now according to Mr. Imelt GE is growing again. He further acknowledged that he is putting people back to work again in the US. But he is growing even faster in Brazil where a whole city has sprung up to service the needs of GE's growing worldwide business. Guess where the workers are being hired?

It is widely known that GE paid no US taxes in 2010. They were not alone. Neither did Ford or Ebay and several other notable US logos. It is also widely known that GE hires former IRS and tax law experts who have expertise in the tax code to help Congress write tax legislation that helps benefit GE. Additionally GE and other US companies park billions of dollars of off shore profits that will never enter this country and therefore are not subject to US taxation. Yet with all this favorable treatment and having paid no taxes in 2010 Imelt still would like to see a "tax holiday" for businesses who want to bring that money back to the US. He further acknowledges that he does not know whether this additional benefit would lead to any significant US job growth.

Note that nothing in the behavior listed above is necessarily exclusive to GE. Other companies engage in the same or similar activity. Additionally, nothing GE has done is illegal, however the fact that their lobbyists and tax experts are writing or supporting tax legislation that is directly benefiting them is something that you or I would find impossible to do.

So why is America not rooting for GE Mr. Imelt? Well to begin with I do not know that this is exactly true. I am sure your investors and employees are firmly behind you. But I am pretty sure that if you are 1 of the 19,000 who were laid off and your job is in Brazil, China or India you are not exactly rooting for GE. If you lost thousands of dollars in GE stock because GE wrote off bad loans, then you are not rooting either. If Americans see technology transferred to China that might result in a loss of even more US jobs in the future you probably are not rooting for GE. If as an average American you see this happening over and over again by American companies like GE and at&t (they proudly told their stockholders that they would cut 40,000 US jobs if the acquired T-Mobile USA), then you might begin to understand why Americans are not rooting for American companies like GE. Ask the employees of Airborne Express who had their company purchased by DHL. DHL eventually shut down their US hub and put hundreds out of workers out of a job and caused a ripple effect of foreclosures, financial devastation and even suicide. Ask the employees of Whirlpool who had their jobs moved to Mexico. Ask the thousands of nameless workers who get pink slips for no other reason than some corporate accountant decides that a division is not profitable enough so they close it.

Americans love to root for something. They especially love to root for the home team. Just ask many football, baseball, hockey and basketball fans who either live near or grew up near the local team. Ask any student who roots for their school well after they have graduated. Ask the workers who built automobiles in the US just to see manufacturing go just across the border to Mexico in the name of maximized profits. We are a fiecely loyal bunch.

But loyalty is not blind and we are not going to cheer for companies that continually send jobs away from America. It is just becoming more difficult to figure out exactly who the home team is. Contrary to popular worldwide opinion Americans are not stupid. We see what is going on in corporate America. But you know as well as anyone that, at one time, people did root for GE. So, Mr. Imelt if you indeed don't feel like we are rooting for your company maybe now is the time, and your opportunity as the job czar, to give us a reason to root for GE and American business again.