I'm sorry folks. President Obama has compromised enough during his term(s). He first did it with the Bush tax cut extension, and has continually given the GOP some of what they want in order to have what should be status quo at least, or moving the country forward at best. And now the Republicans have issued what they say is their list of demands in exchange for raising the debt limit in a few weeks. Or I should say, the Tea Party has done that. Or I should say, Charles and David Koch have pulled Ted Cruz' and Mike Lee's puppet strings to do that.
One of my favorite bloggers, the Rude Pundit, put this so eloquently yesterday when he said, "It's the whole thing. In other words, it's calling on Obama to surrender his presidency to the Tea Party."
So yeah, it would basically be Obama saying "screw my party's platform, I'm going to institute the GOP's 2012 platform, which was soundly defeated in the last election." It would be preposterous if it wasn't so sad.
But I think it's time Obama stopped being nice once and for all. He has shown signs of being a badass, like when he had Susan Rice's back when he was considering her for Secretary of State. And yesterday he kind of showed that again, repeating that he won't negotiate on raising the debt ceiling in order to pay our bills that Congress has racked up.
Democrats in Congress say it should be a clean bill, as it's been many many times before with no political concessions or grandstanding. But Obama has said he won't invoke the 14th amendment, which says basically that the president has the power to raise the debt limit without the approval of Congress. And I agree with Nancy Pelosi in that he needs to do it. Maybe he's waiting to see if the GOP shows some sense and retracts most of their demands....but really, he shouldn't agree to a single one of them.
No, it's time for Obama to take out the big foam middle finger you know he has in his closet, and set the Tea Party on fire. It's time for him to just be a douchebag the way they are.
PS: and it sure shows a stark contrast, doesn't it, that Obama is making peace with Iran while Cruz is reading Doctor Seuss on the senate floor?
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Breaking the Silence on Independence Day
Admittedly, I've been too busy to write in this space lately. But I've been watching, listening and reading. It's easy to conclude that the government(s) in this country--both federal and state--are corrupt beyond belief. But it's getting worse. This country is becoming more divisive and at times, downright dangerous to live in because of corruption, greed, and ignorance. Here are a few thoughts I have about recent topics of discussion in politics:
Abortion rights--are you kidding me? Abortion has been legal in our country for 40 years, and before that there were horror stories of botched back alley abortions and problems with women's health. Now we are headed there again in states like Mississippi, South Dakota, Arkansas, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, and more recently, North Carolina. The Republican majorities are ramming through legislation in the dark of night when no one is looking, sneaking them into budget bills and the like. They know this is an extreme far right agenda and not what the people of their states want, but they are ramming it through amidst protests anyway. It's disgusting. These Republicans preach small government, and then they intrude on women's health in a way that is bigger than the big government ideals they say they oppose. It's all being driven by the extreme, the.....
Tea Party--if you align yourselves with the values and ideals of the Tea Party, you are a pawn in their plan of taking over the country and the world, literally. The Tea Party is a farce assembled by corporate bigwigs like David and Charles Koch, Pete Peterson, and Art Pope who use nut bags like Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Rand Paul, and Louis Gomert as puppets. Their agenda is driven by the desire to funnel as much money to the top as possible, hence why the 1% keep getting richer and the middle class keeps shrinking and the poor keep getting poorer. They buy elections, they buy votes and then suppress Democrats from voting, they draft legislation denying global warming so they can pollute at will, they buy TV networks (hello FOX so-called news) to push their agenda, and sadly, they influence one of the last bastions of hope we have for democracy--the Supreme Court and use....
Social issues and racism--the extreme right may believe in the anti-gay, anti-minority and anti-abortion views they tout, but I think many of them just do it as a tool to win blocks of votes. They literally use the fact that we have an African American president to spur racist entities to get riled up and engaged, and use anti-abortion, pro-life views as a way to get a huge block of evangelicals to their side of the voting ledger. They use the big, bad....
NRA--they use the NRA to drive home so-called second amendment protections in order to make citizens believe that their rights are being violated so that their friends can keep making gobs of money selling their weapons. And they slap those in the face who have lost their loved ones to gun violence, in particular in Newtown, CT, by saying it's more important to let everyone be armed and dangerous to protect their precious second amendment rights than to protect the rights of our children to, you know, be protected from the douchebags they empower to carry guns. But something like 90% of Americans, including NRA members and conservatives, support background checks, something that failed to pass the freaking Senate a couple months ago. All in the name of selling more goddamn weapons, weapons that make our streets and schools more dangerous every day, and also in the name of gaining the votes (and money to buy votes) of crazy gun-toting extremist groups (read: hate groups/white supremacists).
George Zimmerman trial--are you kidding me? If you look at one simple fact only, the fact that when Zimmerman was pursuing Trayvon Martin and called the police, and he told the policewoman on the phone he was going to get out of the car to pursue Martin, and she told him not to, and he did anyway, that's the case right there. He could have driven away and gone home. But he took the law into his own hands and killed that poor kid. In my opinion this should be first degree murder, not second, but I fear Zimmerman will be found not guilty by a mostly white jury. And that will spur more hate and protests across the country.
Climate change--100 year floods every year, terrifying hurricanes and tornadoes and wildfires that are ripping lives and homes apart. And you have douchebags like James Imhofe (whose own state had some of the worst tornadoes in our history two months ago) denying global warming because he takes money from the Koch brothers. Do you see how this all fits together like pieces to a puzzle? The earth is warming, assholes.....and it's causing crazy weather patterns that are killing people. Let us do something about it, huh?
Voting rights--Voter suppression is real. The right (Tea Party/Kochs) are not stupid, and they knew if they won governships in 2010, they could gerrymander federal voting districts and make their boys (and girls) safe from democracy-touting voters. They require IDs that some minorities and poor do not have, eliminate early and Sunday voting to keep mostly African Americans from voting, but allow gun permits as IDs because they know most of those folks are Republicans. And they lie about goddamn voter fraud, which is about as non-existent as the consciences of most GOP politicians. The Supreme Court that these folks bought, has now shown their activism by striking down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, saying that racism is basically non-existent now. That will allow (and has already) Republican run states like North Carolina and Texas to ram through voter suppression bills. They know the people will turn out to protest now and at the ballot box in 2014 and they are doing everything they can to stay in power.
I really could go on, and maybe someday I should try and write a book. I know we can take back this country and restore democracy, because make no mistake--it's being taken away from us every day. Look around. Do not watch FOX or listen to Rush Limbaugh or your gun-toting friends, and actually look at what is happening. Republicans lie, and they are doing all they can to stay in power and keep funneling money to their rich donors and corporations. They are stealing our money before our very eyes.
Bottom line....we cannot let corporations, the rich, and the extreme hate groups take over. Today, on Independence Day, I vow to do my part to help restore democracy in our country. Are you with me? Or are you with the Koch brothers?
Abortion rights--are you kidding me? Abortion has been legal in our country for 40 years, and before that there were horror stories of botched back alley abortions and problems with women's health. Now we are headed there again in states like Mississippi, South Dakota, Arkansas, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, and more recently, North Carolina. The Republican majorities are ramming through legislation in the dark of night when no one is looking, sneaking them into budget bills and the like. They know this is an extreme far right agenda and not what the people of their states want, but they are ramming it through amidst protests anyway. It's disgusting. These Republicans preach small government, and then they intrude on women's health in a way that is bigger than the big government ideals they say they oppose. It's all being driven by the extreme, the.....
Tea Party--if you align yourselves with the values and ideals of the Tea Party, you are a pawn in their plan of taking over the country and the world, literally. The Tea Party is a farce assembled by corporate bigwigs like David and Charles Koch, Pete Peterson, and Art Pope who use nut bags like Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Rand Paul, and Louis Gomert as puppets. Their agenda is driven by the desire to funnel as much money to the top as possible, hence why the 1% keep getting richer and the middle class keeps shrinking and the poor keep getting poorer. They buy elections, they buy votes and then suppress Democrats from voting, they draft legislation denying global warming so they can pollute at will, they buy TV networks (hello FOX so-called news) to push their agenda, and sadly, they influence one of the last bastions of hope we have for democracy--the Supreme Court and use....
Social issues and racism--the extreme right may believe in the anti-gay, anti-minority and anti-abortion views they tout, but I think many of them just do it as a tool to win blocks of votes. They literally use the fact that we have an African American president to spur racist entities to get riled up and engaged, and use anti-abortion, pro-life views as a way to get a huge block of evangelicals to their side of the voting ledger. They use the big, bad....
NRA--they use the NRA to drive home so-called second amendment protections in order to make citizens believe that their rights are being violated so that their friends can keep making gobs of money selling their weapons. And they slap those in the face who have lost their loved ones to gun violence, in particular in Newtown, CT, by saying it's more important to let everyone be armed and dangerous to protect their precious second amendment rights than to protect the rights of our children to, you know, be protected from the douchebags they empower to carry guns. But something like 90% of Americans, including NRA members and conservatives, support background checks, something that failed to pass the freaking Senate a couple months ago. All in the name of selling more goddamn weapons, weapons that make our streets and schools more dangerous every day, and also in the name of gaining the votes (and money to buy votes) of crazy gun-toting extremist groups (read: hate groups/white supremacists).
George Zimmerman trial--are you kidding me? If you look at one simple fact only, the fact that when Zimmerman was pursuing Trayvon Martin and called the police, and he told the policewoman on the phone he was going to get out of the car to pursue Martin, and she told him not to, and he did anyway, that's the case right there. He could have driven away and gone home. But he took the law into his own hands and killed that poor kid. In my opinion this should be first degree murder, not second, but I fear Zimmerman will be found not guilty by a mostly white jury. And that will spur more hate and protests across the country.
Climate change--100 year floods every year, terrifying hurricanes and tornadoes and wildfires that are ripping lives and homes apart. And you have douchebags like James Imhofe (whose own state had some of the worst tornadoes in our history two months ago) denying global warming because he takes money from the Koch brothers. Do you see how this all fits together like pieces to a puzzle? The earth is warming, assholes.....and it's causing crazy weather patterns that are killing people. Let us do something about it, huh?
Voting rights--Voter suppression is real. The right (Tea Party/Kochs) are not stupid, and they knew if they won governships in 2010, they could gerrymander federal voting districts and make their boys (and girls) safe from democracy-touting voters. They require IDs that some minorities and poor do not have, eliminate early and Sunday voting to keep mostly African Americans from voting, but allow gun permits as IDs because they know most of those folks are Republicans. And they lie about goddamn voter fraud, which is about as non-existent as the consciences of most GOP politicians. The Supreme Court that these folks bought, has now shown their activism by striking down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, saying that racism is basically non-existent now. That will allow (and has already) Republican run states like North Carolina and Texas to ram through voter suppression bills. They know the people will turn out to protest now and at the ballot box in 2014 and they are doing everything they can to stay in power.
I really could go on, and maybe someday I should try and write a book. I know we can take back this country and restore democracy, because make no mistake--it's being taken away from us every day. Look around. Do not watch FOX or listen to Rush Limbaugh or your gun-toting friends, and actually look at what is happening. Republicans lie, and they are doing all they can to stay in power and keep funneling money to their rich donors and corporations. They are stealing our money before our very eyes.
Bottom line....we cannot let corporations, the rich, and the extreme hate groups take over. Today, on Independence Day, I vow to do my part to help restore democracy in our country. Are you with me? Or are you with the Koch brothers?
Friday, March 8, 2013
Democracy In Peril
Money.
The old adage that money is the root of all evil is painfully obvious to those of us who care deeply about protecting our democracy and value what that democracy means to our children and our children's children. Unfortunately much of our government is corrupt and ruled by money and lobbyists and corporations, and they are all conspiring to take more and more of the wealth pie in our country. And it's really, really sad.
First of all, government spending has grown more slowly under President Obama than it has under any president since Eisenhower. Don't believe me? Check out this article from Think Progress. When Republicans talk about giving Obama a blank check or wanting to curb his "out of control spending" or the fact that he wants to grow government, it's actually the opposite that is the case. They just want to stifle the economy to make this president fail.
Then there is the "Fix the Debt" group led by billionaire Pete Peterson. Do you ever hear Republicans blather on about how we have spending/debt problem? Pretty much every day, right? Also, do you ever notice that Wall Street bank CEO's like Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein try to tell you that Social Security is broken and not sustainable on its present course and that it as well as Medicare and Medicaid are the main drivers of our debt and need to be cut? They do and it all stems from Peterson's Fix the Debt campaign. And here, check out PR Watch's Lisa Graves debating and cutting Fix the Debt's publicist at the knees with the one thing Republicans can't ever truly debate--facts.
Here is another great article courtesy of Think Progress that talks about how the debt everyone is freaking out about does not exist. It doesn't, and the deficit we have comes almost entirely from the two unfunded wars and the Bush tax cuts we've had in place for ten years.
And finally there is this. The wealth inequality in this country will blow your mind. We are NOT broke, it's just that we've allowed the 1% to hoard money like never before, and corporations have been able to hoard money and not pay workers a fair wage. They want to keep giving the rich tax breaks (I'm talking mostly about Republicans here), and to chop down entitlement programs that we all pay into so that they will ultimately let their rich friends privatize everything--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid....the Post Office! That's for another story.
Another thing for another story--election rigging. It's all a grand plan for total Republican control, and I will continue to shout this from the rooftops--we cannot let them take away our democracy. We have to get money out of politics and elections and stop the rigging and lying. We have more people than they do, and ultimately we will win this fight. I really believe that.
The old adage that money is the root of all evil is painfully obvious to those of us who care deeply about protecting our democracy and value what that democracy means to our children and our children's children. Unfortunately much of our government is corrupt and ruled by money and lobbyists and corporations, and they are all conspiring to take more and more of the wealth pie in our country. And it's really, really sad.
First of all, government spending has grown more slowly under President Obama than it has under any president since Eisenhower. Don't believe me? Check out this article from Think Progress. When Republicans talk about giving Obama a blank check or wanting to curb his "out of control spending" or the fact that he wants to grow government, it's actually the opposite that is the case. They just want to stifle the economy to make this president fail.
Then there is the "Fix the Debt" group led by billionaire Pete Peterson. Do you ever hear Republicans blather on about how we have spending/debt problem? Pretty much every day, right? Also, do you ever notice that Wall Street bank CEO's like Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein try to tell you that Social Security is broken and not sustainable on its present course and that it as well as Medicare and Medicaid are the main drivers of our debt and need to be cut? They do and it all stems from Peterson's Fix the Debt campaign. And here, check out PR Watch's Lisa Graves debating and cutting Fix the Debt's publicist at the knees with the one thing Republicans can't ever truly debate--facts.
Here is another great article courtesy of Think Progress that talks about how the debt everyone is freaking out about does not exist. It doesn't, and the deficit we have comes almost entirely from the two unfunded wars and the Bush tax cuts we've had in place for ten years.
And finally there is this. The wealth inequality in this country will blow your mind. We are NOT broke, it's just that we've allowed the 1% to hoard money like never before, and corporations have been able to hoard money and not pay workers a fair wage. They want to keep giving the rich tax breaks (I'm talking mostly about Republicans here), and to chop down entitlement programs that we all pay into so that they will ultimately let their rich friends privatize everything--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid....the Post Office! That's for another story.
Another thing for another story--election rigging. It's all a grand plan for total Republican control, and I will continue to shout this from the rooftops--we cannot let them take away our democracy. We have to get money out of politics and elections and stop the rigging and lying. We have more people than they do, and ultimately we will win this fight. I really believe that.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
They're Comin' Fer Yer Guhns!
Yeah, that's the party line on the right. The big bad government is coming for your guns, and they will confiscate them, denying you of your second amendment right to bear arms. All because President Obama and Vice President Biden came up with a laundry list of common sense reforms to our gun policies in this country. They want to limit the sale of high capacity ammunition devices. They want to ban military style weapons like the one used in Newtown to kill all of those innocent little kids and teachers. They want to put more money into mental health research and facilities and most importantly, they want background checks on every gun sale. They are NOT trying to chip away at gun ownership in order to someday
confiscate every gun, making it harder for the people to rebel against
an oppressive government. That's so absurd a claim that it's not even
worthy of me commenting on it.
The key phrase: common sense.
They are trying to make it more difficult for events like Newtown, the Oregon shopping mall, the Colorado movie theater, the place of worship in Wisconsin, the Columbine and Virginia Techs from happening again.
And what do they get? The right wing comparing Obama to dictators and evil men like Hitler and Stalin. The NRA saying Obama is a hypocrite because his kids have armed protection and your kids don't. The NRA ginning up fear in order to sell more guns, and politicians (some lefties included) siding with the NRA because they are afraid of them.
I haven't looked at the numbers as of today, but I know this--the American people are largely on the side of Obama and Biden here.
You know who gets an "A" rating from me in Douchebaggery? Senator Rand Paul. That motherf--ker and some of his cohorts like Louie Gomert and Steve Stockman are saying Obama should be impeached. Impeached for trying to make America safer? Are you freaking kidding me?
Here is the bottom line, folks. The right does not want Obama to succeed. At anything. They do not care if our economy sucks, that our schools are not safe, that our air and water and food are safe, that our planet is inching closer to being wiped off the universe map by climate change....and I could go on and on.
I know that part of this is that the Republicans want to get at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and try to privatize them (i.e. make a profit for their pals who fund their elections), which is why they keep yammering on about spending cuts. Nevermind that George W. Bush got us so far into debt that we had a recession bordering on depression.
But I think it goes deeper. I think they are racists who do not want an African American president to succeed one bit. They truly are, as I heard a lefty radio host say, the KKK without the hoods.
The key phrase: common sense.
They are trying to make it more difficult for events like Newtown, the Oregon shopping mall, the Colorado movie theater, the place of worship in Wisconsin, the Columbine and Virginia Techs from happening again.
And what do they get? The right wing comparing Obama to dictators and evil men like Hitler and Stalin. The NRA saying Obama is a hypocrite because his kids have armed protection and your kids don't. The NRA ginning up fear in order to sell more guns, and politicians (some lefties included) siding with the NRA because they are afraid of them.
I haven't looked at the numbers as of today, but I know this--the American people are largely on the side of Obama and Biden here.
You know who gets an "A" rating from me in Douchebaggery? Senator Rand Paul. That motherf--ker and some of his cohorts like Louie Gomert and Steve Stockman are saying Obama should be impeached. Impeached for trying to make America safer? Are you freaking kidding me?
Here is the bottom line, folks. The right does not want Obama to succeed. At anything. They do not care if our economy sucks, that our schools are not safe, that our air and water and food are safe, that our planet is inching closer to being wiped off the universe map by climate change....and I could go on and on.
I know that part of this is that the Republicans want to get at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and try to privatize them (i.e. make a profit for their pals who fund their elections), which is why they keep yammering on about spending cuts. Nevermind that George W. Bush got us so far into debt that we had a recession bordering on depression.
But I think it goes deeper. I think they are racists who do not want an African American president to succeed one bit. They truly are, as I heard a lefty radio host say, the KKK without the hoods.
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