The Political Punch

Coming Up Next On the Punch

2011-11-23T06:59:00.001-06:00

When Capitalism Gets Sick
Addresses the symptoms, the cause and the cure for our sick American Economy.

The American Occupation Party
I will explore why the Occupy Movement must evolve into a viable third political party to insure that the protections laid out by our Founding Fathers will not be taken away from the middle class and the poor.

by Joseph M. Fasciana

Will the 9/11 First Responders Law Do the Job?

2011-04-01T01:07:00.001-05:00

by Barbara O'Brien

In the final days of the 111th Congress, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health And Compensation Act, also called the "9/11 First Responders bill," finally passed. The Act will provide medical monitoring and care for those who worked on the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks, as well as for many who lived and worked nearby.

However, at the insistence of some senators, the final bill was considerably watered down from what it had been originally. More than $3 billion in funding was cut from s previous version of the bill, for example. Will the revised bill still do the job?

When the Senate passed the bill, initial news reports said that the monitoring and health care program would end after five years. However, the actual language of the bill provides for funding limitations for monitoring and health care after fiscal year 2016, which suggests the program might continue if Congress authorizes funding for it.
The monitoring issue is particularly critical. The collapse of the mammoth World Trade Center towers released thousands of tons of toxic particles into the air. For many weeks after the attacks, people who lived and worked in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn suffered burning eyes and hacking coughs from the foul air. Yet at the time, the federal government and the city of New York assured people the stinging fumes were not dangerous, just unpleasant.

Several days after the terrorist attacks, some independent researchers slipped past the police barricades to take samples. They found the air contained more than twice the number of asbestos fibers considered “safe,” as well as deadly levels of benzene, dioxin, and other toxins.

Why should people exposed to the toxins continue to be monitored? Asbestos in particular is a very slow killer. It has been well documented that the first symptoms of the deadly lung cancer mesothelioma may not show up for 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. But early detection should prolong lives and make mesothelioma treatment and other medical care more effective.
The final bill does close the Victims Compensation Fund in five years, which is separate from the health monitoring and care part of the bill. It also provides for more stringent monitoring of benefits, which might make it harder for people to get into the program.

Today — more than nine years after the attacks — many rescue and recovery workers are suffering deteriorating health. A study published in April 2010 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that New York City firefighters and emergency workers continue to suffer from severe and persistent lung problems because of their exposure to the World Trade Center debris. Some of these 9/11 heroes already have died.

Firefighters, police officers, and other responders who had been begging Congress for help for nine years called the passage of the bill a “Christmas miracle.” Let us hope the final version of the bill will do the job.

At the End of the Right Wing Rainbow

2009-09-10T06:40:00.004-05:00

During President Obama's major health care speech on Wednesday, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson (R) yelled out "You lie!" when President Obama said the legislation would not mandate coverage for undocumented immigrants.

This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.

What else would you expect from an ignorant lying right wing nut job redneck congressman from South Carolina, who couldn't control his hatred and rage during Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress in the House of Representatives.

Even though he was the one that lied about the proposal, he fails to admit it in his apology.

The non-partisan organization FactCheck.org has debunked the claim that health care reform would mandate coverage for illegal immigrants.

False: Illegal Immigrants Will Be Covered

One Republican congressman issued a press release claiming that "5,600,000 Illegal Aliens May Be Covered Under Obamacare," and we’ve been peppered with queries about similar claims. They’re not true. In fact, the House bill (the only bill to be formally introduced in its entirety) specifically says that no federal money would be spent on giving illegal immigrants health coverage:
H.R. 3200: Sec 246 — NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS
Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.
Also, under current law, those in the country illegally don’t qualify for federal health programs. Of interest: About half of illegal immigrants have health insurance now, according to the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center, which says those who lack insurance do so principally because their employers don’t offer it.
"Misleading GOP Health Care Claims" July 23

It is very obvious to me how the right wing politicians avoided the real issues and challenges that have to be addressed in order to overcome the problems to put health care in order. Instead they have chosen once again to insult the collective intelligence of we the people.

They did this by misinforming the people with bullshit. Saying that health reform would be the start of Death panels, federally funded abortion, forced sex change operations, insuring illegals, rationed health care, government takeover of all health care, socialism, communism just to name a few.

Instead of stepping up and helping to solve health care problems they (the right) made up propaganda to instill once again the only thing they know anything about, "fear" into the people that really didn't take that much to make them believers of this nonsense, they already hate the left and Obama to begin with and they picked on the elderly for the obvious reasons, they are the easiest to upset and to scare.

Tort reform which is a republican idea, in my mind is a good tool to help lower health care. I also think that cross state buying of insurance is another good right wing idea. Congress has included 161 other republican amendments in the package I don't know them all, are to be part of this bill.

It is time to change health care, it is time to care about the families being devastated by health issues, this is not the time for our representatives to be worried about insurance company profits. It is time for both parties to stop taking money from big Insurance and Pharma.

It is our time to be represented by the people we elected to help us. Or else we will all end up in that dirty little shit house at the end of the rainbow.

In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle the Lion Sleeps Tonight

2009-08-26T05:28:00.001-05:00

" To whom much is given much is expected."

Ted Kennedy, the man upon whose shoulders was foisted the Kennedy family for better or worse. In spite of all his flaws he was rock solid. The fact that he faced his demons head on was remarkable.

He could have easily folded up his tent and gone away yet he withstood the barrage of blows after experiencing the deaths of his three older brothers.

While a young boy he lost his brother Joe to WW I I, then as we all know that ideological assassins killed his brother John and then Robert. He also lost his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver just a few weeks ago.

When he drove his car off of Dike's Bridge and the resulting accident took the life of Mary Jo Kopechne, one would think that such a regrettable action would have certainly doomed this man, leaving him to broken to carry the unimaginable tragic burdens still to come at him and his family.

In spite of his personal frailties and surviving a plane crash, he still managed 47 years of untiring and unwavering service to his country. He worked very hard for the less fortunate and he was well respected by his opposition.

George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, released a statement early Wednesday morning on the death of Senator Edward Kennedy.

"While we didn’t see eye-to-eye on many political issues through the years, I always respected his steadfast public service - so much so, in fact, that I invited him to my library in 2003 to receive the Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service," President Bush said. "Ted Kennedy was a seminal figure in the United States Senate - a leader who answered the call to duty for some 47 years, and whose death closes a remarkable chapter in that body’s history."

Kennedy was the first American to receive the Bush Award. In November 2003, the Massachusetts Democrat received the honor from the former president at the Texas A&M-based library.

"We are not here to celebrate a partisan ideology," Mr. Bush said that evening, "but rather, the steadfast public service of a seminal figure in the U.S. Senate, and by extension, his remarkable family."

The widow of another president, Ronald Reagan, was one of the first to speak out from the Republican Party.

“Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised by how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family,” Nancy Reagan said in a statement from Los Angeles.

“But Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research, and I considered him an ally and a dear friend. I will miss him.”

I too will miss Ted Kennedy, if you look at any piece of legislation over the past 50 years and if it had anything to do with the advancement of civil rights, education, equal pay, health or economic issues for the everyday man and woman it will also have his name attached to it.

Thanks for all that you have contributed to this country not only in mind but in blood too. "RIP" Ted.

United We Fall and Divided We Stand

2009-08-09T02:24:00.000-05:00

FIND YOUR SPINE
No I didn't get my "title" an age old adage upside down and wrong. Sadly it is the state that we find our nation in, and its people are headed towards an actual physical clash of civil disobedience.

I usually try to highlight the differences between ideologies not by pointing fingers but by trying to hold both sides accountable.

However I feel in this instance when one side keeps pushing it is only going to be a matter of time before the other side pushes back. That is if they ever get a spine.

As usual its the neo-con chickenhawks in our society fueling the ignorant with lies and misinformation to stoke hatred and fear, for their own corrupt corporate gains and to take care of their contributors and to fuck their constituents. Instead of arming the right wing with policy talking points, and legitimate information to counter the left they (leaders and spokespersons from the right) are arming them with the encouragement of violence and subversion. Counting again on the inability of a certain segment of society to know the difference between a disservice or a service.

When people are shouting out "keep government out of my medicare", you know they are ignorant dumb asses marching to the orders of O'Reilly and Limbaugh.

They call for them to compare the leaders of the left to Hitler, they preach to them the ills of socialism, and lie to them saying that part of health reform entails the government to euthanize the elderly.

When people are supporting the continuation of the preexisting clause in health insurance and the escalating costs of even the shitiest HMO, you can be sure that they are ill informed especially when they actually think that the government wants to euthanize them, and that Obama is not an American citizen. If you believe in any of the things mentioned in this paragraph then there is a good chance that we will remain a divided country from here on out.

Hannity, Beck, and Limbaugh to name a few along with some elected officials from the right are on a daily crusade to cause physical harm to elected officials from the left and in general anyone that doesn't buy into their sick version of conservatism.

They and others like them are taking the principles of conservatism and are distorting the truth about matters that will help all Americans. They like to hide behind the shield of conservatism while spewing hatred and hoping for the worst possible outcome of left wing policies without any regard for America or Americans.

They are no better than the Islamic terrorist that hide behind their religion to propel their agenda at any cost too.

When Bush and company had to deal with 9/11 the whole country rallied behind him including the left, not to mention most of the world.

Now with America facing two wars, rising unemployment, record home foreclosures, a collapsing economy on the brink of a deep recession or depression. Where was the support from the right?

Maybe it is time for this country to split. I am certain that I don't want to live in a country where the ideals of this type of conservatism are shoved down my throat.

Whatever happened to the Eisenhower Republicans? Now that was principled conservatism that you could live with.

Beyond the Horizon of Scandal

2009-07-20T06:19:00.003-05:00

Big deal, its just another sex scandal. I guess if you look at these types of behavior and take them at their face value then so what.

Yes this would be the case if you are a selfish insensitive person that has a mind overwrought with ego and fueled by power and greed.

It is fodder for the pundits, and since they think they are not victims of the sexual scandals perpetrated by politicians, its accepted by the ever apathetic public as nothing more than business as usual.

There is never any mention of the victims of these scandals, and the public at large remain just to stupid to realize that they have just been victimized themselves.

Since there has been an overwhelming plethora of scandals involving men as the aggressor I will write this post in the masculine gender, mind you I know women also do these same things, but not in the realm of politics, in this milieu it has been for the past 200 years an all boys club.

Without further ado let me introduce you to the victims of these blowhards. The first to suffer are the immediate families that are through no fault of their own forced to swallow this betrayal. To a loyal wife and her children it is mentally devastating, and sometimes it even affects the physical health and well being of a wife and her children depending on their age. The extended families of mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandma and grandpa these are just a few more of the shamed and hurt members of the family that are victims.

In some cases these men chose patronizing prostitutes, then shamelessly parade their innocent wife onto a TV station to stand there and act supportive after being battered.

Others chose to be more discrete and have sexual affairs while their wives lay in a hospital bed fighting cancer. Yet some tried to have a homosexual tryst with strangers in public restrooms.

Some chose to abandon their public office for weeks at a time and run to another continent then profess publicly, true love, not to his wife but to a mistress. How humiliating!

While some even donked their own close associates wife, then paid hush money, dragging his parents into his lurid life.

Others while on America's dime tried to lure young underage pages into homosexuality.

Betraying your own flesh and blood and the woman that carried your child is a sin in of itself. It stands alone and shows all the world to see that these men do not even have any self respect, yet alone respect for their own children. Think for a moment who is closer to you than your child? While supposedly serving the public they engaged in a cabal of deceit, shame and dishonor and they scarred their victims forever.

What makes you think that a man that is spineless and lacks integrity and puts himself above his own wife and children and even above his own parents cares about you or your needs? You are nothing to these types of men, and you have to be an idiot to think that your needs are on their minds, and you would be a dolt to lend further support and vote for them, are you like those people? Would you dishonor your family too?

You cannot cheat on your own flesh and blood and destroy their hearts and souls, and then in the same breath care about the needs of your constituency that happen to be total strangers. An oxymoron to say the least.

It is time that we the people demand that in order to run for public office that candidates take profile tests along with some psychological and IQ tests to assure that they possess some intellect, and that they reach certain profile benchmarks.

The higher the office the harder the tests. From what I have been exposed to about our public officials and not just about sex scandals, but about governing in general there are some very scary and incompetent people in who's hands our destiny lies.

He Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth

2009-06-16T00:30:00.001-05:00

This clip of Bill Maher pretty much sums up how I have been feeling about Obama and his administration.

Now America Reaps What Bush and Cheney Have Sown

2009-06-10T08:53:00.002-05:00

When I heard the disturbing news Tuesday morning that two American journalists had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor by a North Korean court for the "crimes" of illegally entering the country and committing "hostile acts." We can only hope that the reclusive, bizarre and barbaric leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, is putting on a show to get the attention of the rest of the world, that's what he seems thrive on, and that the two TV reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, will be allowed to return home soon.

So as we all hope for the safety of the two American journalists being held in North Korea, and as we support actions to help secure their release, let us not forget that what makes the United States the country we are all proud to live in is that we stand for the very freedoms not available in North Korea, and that we oppose the kind of abuses used by that nation, and is currently perpetuating on two of our innocent citizens.

But the problem before us is we didn't exactly think that way for about the past eight years while Bush and Cheney ran the show, and kept their followers is lockstep.

I also read about Lakhdar Boumediene, and the truly disturbing story of what happened to him after the 9/11 attacks. An Algerian man living with his wife and two children in Sarajevo, Bosnia, he was working for the Red Crescent in October 2001 when he was arrested and charged with conspiring to blow up the American and British embassies in the city. An investigation revealed no evidence of his involvement in any plot, so a Bosnian judge ordered him released, but the Bush & Chenney administration intervened, and in January 2002 he was shackled and flown to Guantanamo Bay.

He was the name plaintiff in the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case that, in a rebuke to the Bush policy, found that detainees had a right to challenge their detention in court, and a federal judge (a Republican appointed by Bush) later found that the evidence against him was a joke and ordered his immediate release. France agreed and accepted him, and he is now living as a free man in that country, reunited with his family.

In the end, Boumediene was held for 7 1/2 years in Guantanamo, during which time, he says, he was tortured. He says he was kept up for 16 days straight, beaten, and forced to run while chained to guards, and if he could not keep up, he was dragged until his body was bloody and bruised. Soon after he began a hunger strike, he had food tubes put up his nose and, he alleges, soldiers would purposely poke IV needles into the wrong parts of his arm, just to induce pain.

Guess what the one thing that was never done to him was? Nobody asked if he was ever involved in a plot to blow up the U.S.A. and British embassies in Sarajevo. Rather, all he was repeatedly asked about was his connections to al-Qaeda and to Osama bin-Laden and his answer for 7 and a half years was still the same, a resounding no.

Now we have two Americans at the hands of a Korean madman, who unfortunately has gotten his Q's from Cheney and Bush. Hopefully he won't be as stupid as Cheney and Bush, but he only need say to us, look what you Americans have been doing for the past 8 years so don't tell me who I cant capture and don't tell me how I have to treat my prisoners.

The part that is problematic for me is that all the while the Bush administration had been repeatedly warned, by Generals, and POW's even John McCain just to mention a few, not to break the rules of the Geneva Convention for the sake of protecting Americans.

But these two had plans of their own, and listened to nobody. Now two lonely, helpless frightened American women may pay the price.

This North Korean jack off has only to point his finger at the past administrations actions and pretty much do whatever he wants.

If we would have taken the moral high ground in the first place we would have a leg to stand on in this argument. One thing we can't effectively do is stand up and order some one else to act lawfully, when we didn't.

I'm sure Bush and Cheney will figure a way to blame this on the Clinton or the Obama administration. Cheney just sickens me, we have much to pay for the sins of this past administration and it will take quite a while before the healing begins.

Neo-Con Lasts 6 Seconds of Waterboarding

2009-05-23T00:44:00.000-05:00

There was never any doubt in my mind that waterboarding is torture, plain and simple. I have seen it done in Vietnam and I knew instantaneously how cruel this act was.

Mancow is a conservative radio talk show host who in the past has repeatedly ridiculed the idea that waterboarding rose to the hieghts of torture.

To prove his point he volunteered to let himself be waterboarded in front of media camera's. He changed his tune about the subject in a quick but terrifying six seconds.

Listen to the man as he has to recant his right wing belief that waterboarding was not torture. Proving as most sane people already know that Cheney is a fraud and a liar that has cost Americans their lives.

In contrast to submerging the head face-forward in water, waterboarding precipitates an almost immediate gag reflex. The technique does not inevitably cause lasting physical damage. It can cause extreme pain, dry drowning, damage to lungs, brain damage from oxygen deprivation, other physical injuries including broken bones due to struggling against restraints, lasting psychological damage or, ultimately, death. Adverse physical consequences can start manifesting months after the event; psychological effects can last for years.

Quasimodo Wouldn't Speak at Notre Dame, Should Obama?

2009-05-17T06:30:00.001-05:00

I wonder why Notre Dame is receiving so much flak for inviting Obama to speak at a commencement? Shouldn't these people be protesting against the colleges practice of pervasive discrimination.

Twenty five percent of the yearly enrollment at Notre Dame is set aside for the children of the alumni. These legacy preferences allow entrances not based on merit but on ancestry and cronyism. Ask Quasimodo he will certainly tell you a thing or two about discrimination.

Face Up To It

2009-05-10T07:42:00.002-05:00

When the answer to a question that is being asked everyday is staring you right in the face, rather than recognizing that fact, it seems better to deny the obvious and ugly truth of the matter.

The question being raised by all the talking heads on the cable news soap programs, and even by legitimate major TV news organizations, by newspapers and blogs left and right, during this month has been who is the face of the Republican party?

In spite of how apparent the answer is, the question is usually responded to with stock answers, like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh or Steele the Republican party chairman, or by some other meaningless blather.

All the while the real face of the Republican party Dick Cheney can be seen crusading on radio and television talk shows from the Dakota's to the west coast at least once or twice a week if not more. His need to come out of the closet after eight years of law breaking and shredding the constitution, in the name of the constitution is most remarkable.

While avoiding interviews that may pose a threat to his far right talking points. He manages to defend his past illicit tactics and has no problem breaking precedent to denigrate Obama any chance he gets during his propaganda puppet shows. Appearing with soft ballers and mostly right wing hosts and on fox he avoids any rebuttals or follow ups, and gets away with saying whatever he wants, doesn't matter if its true or false, he speaks with total impunity.

It is my opinion that the true hardcore right wing kneels before Cheney. I say this with confidence because the numbers back me up.

When asked in a recent poll of Americans only 23% would identify themselves as Republicans. More than 23% of Americans believe in ghosts. This is about the same percent of the Republican party that is loyal to only the far right, and Cheney is a neo cons dream. The Life and Career of Dick Cheney

It is also my opinion right now, Cheney an American politician who was sworn into office to uphold the constitution and help his fellow man, allegedly he has easily surpassed even the treachery of Nixon. In time history will change this from merely my opinion to a fact. Cheney the Vice Precedency

For a clear perspective on Dick Cheney click on the links above, they are very well narrated and informative slides, they are also very short and get right to the points of this post.

Down the Stretch they Come

2009-05-02T16:24:00.002-05:00

The sport of kings has produced yet another prodigious field.
In short I will share my picks. Good luck to all my fellow bettors, and have a good race day.

First, Pioneer of the Nile
Second, Dunkirk
Third, Chocolate Candy

Lets all hope that the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby goes off without any injury to man or horse.

Water Boarding for Dollars

2009-04-30T02:14:00.005-05:00

I always wanted to post my opinion about Sean Hannity. The reason that I never went ahead with my plan was that I knew my opinion would be about the same as it would be for any far right fundamentalist. To some I would be preaching to the choir and to others I would be a biased left wing socialist. So I will let Sean himself let you know what kind of a person he is by watching this short clip.

America's Fix All, Lawyers, Guns and Money

2009-04-27T02:15:00.007-05:00

Written By Warren Zevon

I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the
Russians, too?

I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this, hyeah

I'm the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock
and a hard place
And I'm down on my luck
Yes I'm down on my luck
Well I'm down on my luck

I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan

All right
Send lawyers, guns and money
Huh!

America's Looming Moral Bankruptcy

2009-04-20T04:37:00.019-05:00

WARNING VERY DISTURBING AND GRAPHIC PHOTOS

WARNING VERY DISTURBING AND GRAPHIC PHOTOS
How embarrassing and degrading can we be ? When did our moral senses take leave of our souls ?

Americans fail to protest over the hideousness of wars, that continues to allow events displayed in the photos above to be perpetrated against brave American men and women, and on innocent Iraqi and Afghani civilians. Kill in spend is now seen in some Americans eyes as a better alternative than tax and spend.

Instead the right and the left continue to slug it out over money. There are tea parties spewing with hatred, not for life and limb but for cash, and for less taxes, or to lay blame on which administration bailed out who.

We no longer tag one another as liberals and conservatives, now we are fascist and socialists. I do not want my hard earned tax dollars used to kill human beings, unless our country is attacked first, so I'm not sure what to call myself yet.

Why is it such a crime to keep the American automobile industry intact but not a crime to spend trillions on death and destruction ?

Priorities in this country are disgustingly wrong and America is amoral.

All of our political leaders in the house, and even the President seems to busy to address the two wars that continues the policy of kill and spend, while right wingers are crying about the politics of tax and spend.

The left has yet organized a significant protest to counter death and destruction, and while all this turmoil about money is front and center the American soldiers get put on the back burner. This gives the new administration, and everyone of our political leaders from the right and the left the chance to turn a blind eye to the needs of our veterans, and towards war crimes and torture, and finally putting an end to the war in Iraq. How patriotic.

Tea for Two

2009-04-16T03:11:00.008-05:00

Since yesterday all you hear about is the big tea party. Its on all the blogs, left and right, its on all the cable news/clown shows left and right, and it is even being promoted by FOX television station, you know the station which is renown for being fair and balanced.

So I thought, there will never be a better time to actually talk about tea, and to show off some of my favorite teapots.

Since there is such a large variety of these aromatic bags I will get right to the point . My favorite tea maker is Tazo, they import all their herbs from around the world and manufacture their tea in Portland, Oregon, yes that would be one state that doesn't want to secede from the USA.

My favorite flavor is organic black chai, oh yes that would be black, as the black president of America who is giving us the biggest tax cuts since President Ronald Reagan.

This tea is a rich blend of sweet cinnamon, zingy ginger, spicy star anise, cloves, and warm cardamom. These spices are flown in from Asia, Central America and Africa, yea Africa, the Africa where our black president was not born in.

Did you know ? In the foothills of the Himalayas, chai wallahs can be found serving up steaming cups of sweetly spiced chai to wandering souls.

Come Together

2009-04-04T02:47:00.004-05:00

With the weight of the world upon his back and with many an international ear set firmly by his lips Obama began the arduous task of healing this nation.

If you have read my blog in the past you will take note that I don't always agree with Obama at every turn. Yet I was quite exhilarated when I witnessed the positive reception he garnered abroad.

His eloquence coupled with the right amounts of certitude and humility then balanced with his willingness to be accountable for America's arrogance and mistakes spoke volumes, and it gave insight to the sincerity and truthfulness of his intentions, his tone was hard to dismiss by Americans and our global neighbors alike. Even as he made it clear to the world that America has also been the catalyst of many good deeds that have affected the world positively.

What may be hard for the world to believe, is the knowledge known by the majority of Americans. That knowledge being that even during these, the worst of times in American history in more than sixty years, the majority of the opposition party wants President Obama to fail.

The right wing has tried like an old cowpoke to cover their trail by swishing a branch over their footprints. It is to late to take back words that are recorded and videos that reveal the divisiveness percolating in our own country.

After having a near illiterate, rude and arrogant face representing our great country for the past eight years one would think that an American from either side of the aisle would take great delight and pleasure and be proud to be represented by a thoughtful person, a representative of our country who is held in esteem by most of the worlds population, and not in disdain.

I firmly believe in that America we have a duty to agree to always have healthy disagreements, it is part of our fabric, but to wish the leader of our country ill will and to fail is an act of treason. I hated what the previous administration stood for, but I only wished that they would stop breaking our laws and stop stealing our liberties by shredding our constitution. I never wanted our leaders to fail if only for the sake of my country and my personal well being.

I am glad that Obama and his team have extended a long awaited hand in an effort to aide our planet. Hopefully in these dire times all recognized world leaders will in the words of John Lennon "Come Together" right now over me.

The Land of Opportunity

2009-03-29T04:07:00.005-05:00

I am beginning to wonder if the needs of the population at large will ever be addressed. I believe that we will need to hire lobbyist of our own in order to get the attention of our ever more aloof politicians that have no intention of enacting any policies that will help the common folk that have built this country with their hard work, and the blood they have shed from the many wars that they have fought, in the name of freedom.

The political machine seems to be fixated with tending only to the needs of their corporate contributors, by bailing them out at any cost. They also seem content to continue their divisiveness, to point fingers and to obstruct each other, and to politicize anything that they think that will give them an edge come election time.

They do this openly right in front of our faces. They have no respect for us or our votes. They trust more in our ignorance than in our diligence, they cater only to the demands of lobbyists and to no one else.

No president including Obama has the means to end the power that corporations have over the masses. We are all slaves to the culture of corrupt capitalism that has been enabled by years of deregulation. It has let these Wall Street crooks march through their companies and steal as much as they could carry, all financed by the 401k plans of the average Joe. Then after that they let their house of cards tumble along with the hopes and aspirations of the middle class.

Here are some of the more obvious results of the aforementioned, by the way as the media and politicians choose to ignore as tent cities pop up throughout our nation, " The Land of Opportunity." Here are the facts.

As many as 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year (1% of the entire U.S. population or 10% of its poor), and about 842,000 people in any given week.

1.37 million (or 39%) of the total homeless population are children under the age of 18

Familial composition
* 40% are families with children—the fastest growing segment.
* 41% are single males.
* 14% are single females.
* 5% are minors unaccompanied by adults.

Backgrounds.
* 23% are veterans (compared to 13% of general population).
* 25% were physically or sexually abused as children.
* 27% were in foster care or similar institutions as children.
* 21% were homeless at some point during their childhood.
* 54% were incarcerated at some point in their lives.

Education
* 38% have less than a High School diploma.
* 34% have a High School diploma or equivalent (G.E.D.).
* 28% have more than a High School education.

Employment
* 44% report having worked in the past week.
* 13% have regular jobs.
* 50% receive less than $300 per month as income.

Until we demand that our political system is not run by lobbyist and Wall street criminals these numbers will not only continue to expand, they will weaken the fiber and security of our country. No one that we elect into office will do this for us, not even Obama, as he has already demonstrated by hiring lobbyist into his cabinet by issuing a waiver. Waive this.

Nightmare on Wall St. My Social Security

2009-03-18T04:07:00.018-05:00

I believe that trying to create a New World Order was a coveted priority on the agenda of the Bush administration. In my opinion for this plan to take hold its implementation had to have the seeds of destruction of the middle class and the poor to be sown right here in the United States.

After the attacks on American soil on 9/11/01 the administration with much of the worlds support led the attack on the enemy that was mainly centralized in Afghanistan. I'm going to cut to the chase and skip over what most thoughtful Americans already know, to further the ambitions of the far right wing they had to take a commanding position in the Mideast and to do so they simply fabricated evidence and invaded a country that had no means, no WMD's, no way, or technical knowledge to attack America, the analogy I hear from time to time from Chris Matthews "well it would be like attacking China after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor." Going back to the crux of my post, Rove and his gang used all this action to divert attention from the American people while they were in a patriotic frenzy, to get Bush to try and convince Americans that privatization of social security was the only way to save it, and that the government had no right to hold our money, and every other lame excuse to take it away from the safety of the federal government, and hand it over to their cronies on Wall Street.

Then there were all these right wing intellectuals, and the not so intellectual talking heads like O'Reilly, Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity, and Republicans from both houses backing up this insanity, even some young Americans were sold on this plan. The market has crashed, now you can't find not even one of the big mouths that backed this plan nor the people that said that they supported it. Nope ask Cheney about it and he would just lie and say they really never cared about the success of that plan.

The point is if the conservative agenda on social security would have been crammed up our ass like everything else Bush and Cheney did, every poor and Middle class American would be dirt poor and on our knees because of the market collapse, we all would have had even less to look forward to. The only survivors would have been the elite rich, that is the top 2 to 5 percent of all Americans that do not need any social security. The divide between the rich and the rest of us would become an abyss, while providing another notch in Carl Roves gun grip.

I have lost over 50% of my meager IRA which was invested in very low risk mutual funds, and a money market account all with a huge company, American Funds. No matter what, I will never recoup all of that money. Now all I really have to rely on is social security an entitlement program that I have pumped money into all my life, and I am entitled to it. Not Bush, Rove and Cheney's friends on Wall Street, that they refused to regulate the past 8 years.

Thankfully social security stayed right where it belonged in a slow growing environment but a safe one, not in the hands of the cheats and speculators. The problem was that Bush and company always had a plan b, although not as destructive as bankrupting social security. Americans ended up being soaked at the pumps, at the hands of Bush's Saudi friends, that by the way were given immunity after 9 of their countrymen bombed America and also have one of the worst human rights violations against women on record, not to mention his domestic oilmen that had clandestine meetings with Cheney, that we until this day still have no idea of who was there or what was said.

If you add all the no bid contracts awarded to Cheney's Haliburton, Black Water now called Xe, Kellog , Brown and Root, and the Bechtel Group just to name a few. This filthy dirty downright war profiteering robbed hard working Americans of trillions, and more importantly the lives and limbs of thousands of patriotic American men and women. I guess you know by now there is more than one way to skin a cat.

The Stem Cell VS. Collateral Damage

2009-03-10T03:35:00.035-05:00

If you look at the smaller photo that is at the very top of this post above the two larger photos you will see a human embryonic stem cell that is magnified about 7 thousand times or more, I'm not exactly sure. On the left side of this print you see an Iraqi man holding the mangled dead body of a little girl, most likely his daughter and if not she no doubt was a close relative.

On the right you you are looking at the dead bodies of three children in a crudely made coffin, as their father mourns in anguish while raising his arms and crying out to his God looking for an answer to why his children have been blown apart and no longer have a life.

I feel that it is my obligation to point out the ideological differences between myself and people that throw the words "collateral damage" around like it some how justifies the deaths of children during acts of war and that it relieves anyone involved, of any issues of morality in the actions that took place to end these innocent lives, a sort of free pass if you will. Of course innocent men and women are killed in these vile acts as well, but I want to stress the deaths of the children to make my point clear.

If your asking yourself if I am qualified to have an opinion about this matter, I will advise you that I have had the misfortune of having been part of a war. I will be the first to admit that I am biased. I am very anti war not only because 60,000 Americans died in my war, but also over a million civilians bit the dust, and like many other soldiers it is hard to find self forgiveness even though you are doing what your country has asked of you.

In America there is a society of individuals from a number of fundamentalist persuasions trying to make the claim that by using the human embryonic stem cell that you see in the photo above for science, is an act of murder. Even though these human stem cells have been offered up to other couples to use in order to have children, which I think is a very good thing, the fact is they produce about 400 births yearly. All the cells are not used so the 500,000 to 650,000 remaining cell are destroyed as medical waste every year.

Obama has reversed Bush's archaic stand against science and now out of the woodwork come all these politicians that totally ignore the pictues on the right and left of that stem cell, and find it very easy to dismiss real murder.

I am not trying to pass judgment on our troops they are soldiers, just as I was and many others, doing our jobs and being patriotic in every sense of the word, by putting their lives on the line and in over 4,300 cases having made the ultimate sacrifice.

I just find it hard to deal with the hypocrisy when it is so vivid and clear, why are the pro-lifers ignoring the thousands of dead children, at the cost of 4 trillion dollars and 4,300 American lives, it remains senseless to me. They should be so outraged that they should be fighting for every life that is being lost daily. Instead they are trying to make the case about a cryogenically frozen cell, that is about to be discarded.

It is unfortunate that those very people who are so concerned about a frozen stem cell that will be turned into medical waste if not used to help save more life, haven't the least bit of concern for those four children that I have noted earlier, if they did they would be up in arms about it wouldn't they ? How about the many others that get wounded beyond repair, if they cared it would be quite a different story. This is no way that an innocent little child, should he survive, have to live the remainder of his life just because a missile went off course. Not to mention how much pain and trauma that will end up being his constant companion instead of other children. This is sinful.

This sudden grandstanding about stem cells and calling them live beings in the face of the children worldwide that are suffering and dying daily from starvation and wars is drama at its worst. The time has come for me, and I will not accept the crazy ravings of American fundamentalism. American fundamentalist need to realize that the world does not revolve around them, and the sooner they stop trying to legislate their isms on me especially when they fight for the rights of a non living frozen cell rather than a living breathing human child, I would say they need a checkup from the neck up.

I also want to add that I will despise these words until my dying day "collateral damage."

Red State Blue State, How Great

2009-03-05T02:07:00.014-06:00

What you are looking at directly above are the Electoral College maps of (top) President Reagan's 1984 presidential election's sweeping victory winning every state but Minnesota, and before that President Nixon's 1972 overwhelming victory winning every state but Massachusetts.

More importantly the right wing was not only popular, they were the power brokers of the time and they were the rulers of the kingdom. Subsequently the left wing was only able to interrupt the right wings agenda with a short stint of 4 years from President Carter. Then a more successful campaign with progressive ideals ensued with the 8 year term of President Clinton. Today it is a different story as the popularity of the Republican party continues to fade.

This next illustration is the Electoral map in Clinton's 1996 victory over Bush #1, You now begin to see the changes in the attitude toward the less populist right wing mores. In spite of Clinton's economic success, and his ability to totally eliminate the deficit and hand over the largest surplus in modern time to the next administration, the left wing failed to continue governing the White House. Instead Bush #2 won the next two presidential elections by very narrow margins, in his first victory he won the Electoral college but lost in the popular vote. In the second contest he won the state of Ohio by a few hundred votes once again giving the victory to Bush.

America is in a mess and many people are in a bad place right now, some of them because of the inept administration that ruled as an anarchy over the last 8 years, and other Americans through thoughtless spending. In the end the largest amount of money went to the top 5% of Americans while average middle class incomes decreased by $2,000 during the Bush administration. The failures and the recklessness of the past administration led to the overwhelming victory once again by the left wing and now President Obama.

President Obama's Electoral map (below) indicates that a few states that were red had felt that they needed a change from the policies that emaciated their people and they ended up in the left wing column. Although Obama had garnered 365 electoral votes in his commanding victory over John McCain, it is worth noting that Clinton's margin of victory of 379 electoral votes in his election was larger.

If the current administration is able to lift America and Americans up during the next 4 years, then there is a good chance that the map will change once again, when the incumbent, President Obama runs for the White House against Rush Limbaugh in 2012.

Anarchistic Governors Hurt the Unemployed

2009-03-01T05:32:00.016-06:00

During the 14 months from December 2007 through January 2009, the total number of mass layoff events (seasonally adjusted) was 25,712, and the number of initial claims (seasonally adjusted) was 2,632,336. (December 2007 was the start of a recession as designated by the National Bureau of Economic Research.)

The national unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in January 2009, seasonally adjusted, up from 7.2 percent the prior month and from 4.9 percent a year earlier. In January, total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 598,000 over the month and by 3,500,000 from a year earlier.

I didn't pull these numbers out of some liberals ass, they come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When these rebellious Republican Governors refuse to take stimulus money for their states, especially money for food stamps that return $1.39 to our economy for every $1.00 in food stamps used, or money to extend unemployment benefits so that families can feed their kids and buy medicine, or to keep civil servants from getting laid off, (police, firemen, first responders, teachers, etc.) then the Governors choosing ideology over the needs of the people should be impeached.

It is also incumbent on the President to make sure that his Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is not dragging her feet, and starts to immediately fund shovel ready infrastructure jobs. I see no sense of urgency from the left or the right as 20,000 jobs are being lost every month. Americans are hurting and they really are in trouble, and it seems like the no one gets it. Especially the Americans at the top percentile of wealth.

I thought by now there should have been at least a few ground breaking ceremonies that would be signaling the start of the rebuilding of our country.

A Grim Reminder

2009-02-27T18:32:00.009-06:00

USS New York It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, 'those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there. The ship's motto? "Never Forget". Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up." "It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down.. We're going to be back."

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

The Night Intellect Killed Hubris

2009-02-25T00:17:00.014-06:00

Last night the President of the USA gave a speech that was an oratory delight, not to mention his commanding presence. It did not matter to me whether I agreed with every single issue that he put forth. He is an absolutely scintillating speaker and politician. He was able to speak of his agenda in such a way that the highly partisan house had no choice but to stand up and applaud him, especially when he was speaking about matters that favored the masses. The Republicans could not take a chance that a camera may have been upon their face to reveal what was going on in their minds. Staying seated was not an option for the right wing when Obama spoke of populist issues. It was an odd sight to behold, both sides of the aisle giving standing ovations in such a symphonious fashion. He had cornered the right wing using his intellect instead of hubris.
The speech given by Obama had been laced with kind of rhetoric that was hard to dismiss, because it was full of hope and it went right to the causes of the problems facing us all, he was not afraid to point out that to help in gaining solutions, much hard work lay ahead for all politicians from both sides and that all Americans had a responsibility in helping out too. If he delivers on only half of his rhetorical promises he will have achieved in the face of madness what others thought impossible, so for his ambitiousness I am with him. I hope that he succeeds because America and Americans need to have the pride and dignity not to mention the means that they have been stripped of to survive in this world spinning wildly out of control. If you stayed tune to hear the rebuttal speech given by Governor Jendal of Louisiana, I could only say that he never listened to Obama's speech in order to give a proper response. He actually started of his rebuke by bringing up Katrina. I would think that would be the last thing a Republican would want to talk about. Well in short his speech was sophomoric at best. He spoke only to the hard core right wing. I don't think he was prepared to speak to the masses about solving their economic problems, he spoke right out of the can of neo-con talking points period.

Two Can Play the Same Game

2009-02-23T23:37:00.003-06:00

The idea that racism in this country has somehow been put to rest because America voted for an African American to lead this country is a misnomer, just look at the NY Post or listen to Limbaugh, Hannity or Coulter.

Why This Country Is in Dire Straits

2009-02-22T04:59:00.006-06:00

JUST ANOTHER REASON WHY THIS COUNTRY WAS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
Again a picture is worth a thousand words.

"Venom Deserves Venom"

2009-02-20T01:23:00.014-06:00

I really hate to go here again mostly because I am being redundant. I have already written about this person in an earlier post. Now I want to insult her, and her lack of civility, and also the people that voted her into office, especially after her continual displays of madness. Look closely and you will see the face of a pretty insane person, no strike the pretty (please I am not sexist), lets just go with an insane person whose sole purpose is to engage in outright lies, not just about what she claims to be in the stimulus package, but how she takes a hateful disposition about anything and any person that does not fit into her own world of warped ideologies. I feel compelled to use some other adjectives to describe her, so I will. She is dangerous, a menace to society, hateful, uninformed, and very insensitively ignorant. The disgusting diatribes produced by whatever is left between her ears are just not worth repeating.

I am sure that many people from the left and the right have watched TV cable news, or read about her in newspapers, or on other blogs in the last few days, and they are already aware of her divisiveness. I think this is worth writing about again because she does have supporters, this is a frightening fact, and it is very unsettling. Her supporters are people with the same ideologies that she espouses, they too are cut from the same cloth, and they don't see anything wrong with her or themselves for supporting such a crackpot. She is without doubt another example of what makes me keep on keeping about people like her, and the likes of people that support her. The right wing has been very clear about never working in unison with the left, even if it means not helping Americans that have taken the hardest hits from the past thieving and failed Republican administration. They (the right) will forever remain and harbor spitefulness towards the left. Let me end this post with an apology for publicly exposing this dastardly person to all you kind people that read my blog, and also for lowering myself to her level, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. (hint Obama)

Shipwrecked

2009-02-12T00:19:00.016-06:00

The catch phrase used by politicians these days that "we are all in the same boat together" while used by both parties to try and rally a nationalistic feeling amongst Americans during this time of depression really needs some defining, especially after seeing in general the Republican reaction to the situation that our country is in today. Might I add mostly as a direct result of the past 8 years of conservatism led by the illustrious duo of the Bush & Cheney vaudevillian administration. If you want to insist that we are all in a "boat" let me break it down for you. The poor in America are in the mighty ocean on Huck Finn styled rafts hanging on for dear life. The middle class Americans from both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum are in the ocean simply put on a sinking ship. Finally the richest and the most privileged of the Americans navigate the same waters on a luxury cruise ship with all the amenities that a person could ever ask for. This is how it is and to use this "we are all in this same boat together" line is simply a lie.

So this is why I am tired of hearing this particular catchphrase from any politician. This also comes to bare as a result of either parties ability to identify with the real problems that are plaguing Americans today. I say this about the left because they caved in to the demands of the right on the ideology of what the make up of the Stimulus package should have been, and now rendering it less helpful, the left also let the right frame their attempt to re-regulate Wall St. and help ailing Americans in such a negative light, and with impunity to boot that you would swear after hearing a Republican tyrade about the actions of the left in regards the Stimulus, that the best thing to do to help America and its citizens would be to do nothing at all.

Fly'in High with "Captain Composure"

2009-02-08T22:35:00.006-06:00

After watching "Sully" Sullenberger being interviewed by Katie Couric tonight on 20/20 I felt compelled to tip my hat to "Captain Composure". I was amazed at the level of his humility and certitude. He really displayed rather brilliantly the true meaning of what being a man is all about. "Sully" thanks for the reminder.

Stimulate This

2009-02-03T23:50:00.012-06:00

Instead of a large overbearing stimulus package that is loaded with pork, and steals more of the American workers money, while at the same time making it very hard to understand and follow I offer this proposal. Let us have individual Stimuli Packets. Each packet will be addressed to only one issue at a time, for example lets say we call the first proposal the Infrastructure Packet. All the money in this particular packet will be earmarked for infrastructure build outs and nothing else. The dollar amount allocated to the packet along with the exact project and location would be listed online for any person to see, very simple black and white language, with no double speak or gray areas to confuse the issue or the project at hand.

Each state would submit to the federal government a prioritized list of roads, bridges, buildings etc. that need immediate attention. The jobs to do these repairs would be immediate and the impact on the economy would also be immediate, not to mention that the taxpayers can see not only how much but where and how their cash is being spent. Our next packet would be the Energy Grid Packet, same idea as the first packet totally open and all the money in this packet is earmarked only to get our grids up to par so it doesn't shut down when it rains to hard.

It is not my intention to list every packet or every problem but it is suffice to say that there are very easily five to ten needs that can be easily prioritized as real stimulus, then broken down and approved. They would meet approval only if the stimulus is focused on job creating or job sustaining solutions, manufacturing and production growth.

We should demand that our hard earned money will be spent with the utmost of transparency. It is hard to believe that the prior administration has doled out $350 billion dollars without an iota of accountability. No matter your ideology you were just robbed by Bush once again as he left office, unless you were one of the chosen few that received part of 18.4 billion dollars of the bailout on bonus checks. I guess you would be one of the happy jerk-balls, that continue to take and never give back.

The Stimulus Package as it stands will surely help America to it's knees quicker than you may want to admit. The solution is to be aggressive where it creates and keeps jobs, and gets us off our addiction to oil, and to physically make our country strong enough to stand up to rainstorms, and a little snow, and naturally against our sworn enemies.

Wake Up & Smell the Republicans, I Mean the Coffee

2009-01-29T15:58:00.007-06:00

It looks like Obama has wasted precious time and resources by trying to extend a bipartisan hand to the republican party. Maybe he did it all for show and no go, who knows and who cares. The idea that the right wing will work with the left wing is absurd. Clearly Bush and company drew that line in the sand over eight years ago when he totally ignored the left, and he had the majority in both houses. I really don't mind if the parties ever work with each other any more, it's clearly to late to kiss and make up. This is what U S politics has evolved into, "majority rules" So wake up and smell the coffee Obama and stop the ass kissing already.

Now you have the majority, in both the congress and the senate. Take a tip from your predecessor and start cramming your programs down the throats of the right wing. They showed this country no mercy when they had the power to take away our liberties or send Americans to die in a war of choice. They got everything they wanted including redistributing or should I say stealing from the poor and middle classes of hard working Americans and giving it to the top 10 percent of America's wealthiest people. Bush, Cheney and the right wing senate and congress didn't even bat an eye and why should they, they knew that their spineless counterparts on the other side of the aisle would do nothing to stop them.

You have a couple of high ranking Republicans in your cabinet, you broke bread with the elite right wing intellectuals, and you have tried to be inclusive to a point. In return you have half the country wishing that you fail, meaning that if neo-con ideology is not running this country they rather have a failed state. Mr. Obama you have right wing congressmen and senators giving a bombastic radio show host apologies and by the way more respect than they will ever give to you. What are you waiting for ? Well don't worry I think the coffee is already burnt.

Keith Olbermann

2009-01-24T08:06:00.004-06:00

I must admit when I first started to watch his show it was nice to hear something from the other side, Olbermann was the ad hoc anti Limbaugh and O'Reilly, but he lost me during the primary when he and his pal Chris Matthews displayed so much blatant sexism and venom against Hillary Clinton. I will admit upfront that I supported Obama, but only after Clinton lost to him in the primary. Now yesterday before the heat in the Oval Office could reach 72 degrees Obama broke his first promise to the American people that voted him into office, here are Obama's words.

"I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over," he said this in November 2007 in Des Moines, Iowa. "I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president." You heard it right from the horses mouth, so what happens next is hard to swallow because Obama chose to appoint a defense contractor's lobbyist this Thursday to become his No. 2 official at the Defense Department.

William J. Lynn III, Obama's choice for deputy defense secretary, was senior vice president for government operations at Raytheon Co. and lobbied as recently as last June on issues including missiles, sensors and radar, advanced technology programs and intelligence funding. This after Obama has vowed that no political appointees in his administration would be permitted to work on areas that "directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." During his presidential campaign, Obama took pains to tell voters he wouldn't tolerate influence-peddling. Under Obama's rules, political appointees also would be precluded from lobbying the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of his administration. The president like every other one before him sold us a bill of goods.

Well this is obviously a very disappointing choice to me on a personal level and I have already made calls to my state senators and to one congressperson in my district, asking that they vote against, and not confirm this choice.

As for Olbermann not a word, not a pip not question, no special comment on the first contradiction to the presidents own rule, nada, nothing on his show last night about this obviously blatant lie made by the new president to America. It just goes to show you that whether they are talking heads from the left or the right they will only speak to divisiveness, and stay on point for their man no matter what, and the politicians can always count on good old American apathy to let them get away with the business as usual in Washington, old style no change tired and dishonest politics.

Ann Coulter

2009-01-15T05:02:00.009-06:00

It is useless to toss negative cliches at this woman and think that it would matter. Look at the comments from people on many a blog defending her, they are all of the same DNA, as the likes of Bush, Cheney, and neo-cons in general. Any thoughtful person would just ignore her. She is what she is and she only preaches to a shrinking choir. This country and its citizens have been abused to the point of desperation, economically and morally, with the outgoing administration seeing the Constitution as paper to line the bottom of a bird cage our nation had no chance. We need to keep focused on the positives and ignore the ignorance of any person that is going to continue to earn a living by being divisive. There has been enough American blood and treasure and goodwill wasted because of conflicting ideology.
I only wrote this quick post because of the uproar and accusations made by Coulter after she had been canceled by NBC on the Today show. I guess she was going on to promote a new book of hers, and at the last minute NBC had a chance to interview Bush's lap dog Tony Blair. So began the attacks on the left wing media (NBC) even though she was re booked. I think that the recent extraordinary outreach made by the Obama administration should not only be commended but recognized for the good will it has already started here at home. He has made scores of courtesy calls with reputable people from the far left and the far right, he has called and visited the Supreme Court and chief justice John Roberts, and leaders representing a variety of religions. I hope his actions will in the long run help diminish the haters from both sides of the aisles.

Change We Can Beleive In, Maybe In Your Pants Pocket.

2009-01-06T08:49:00.012-06:00

OBLAGOVICH

I guess I'm just disappointed more about the conduct of the Obama selection process. I know he isn't personally choosing Kennedy as Hillary's replacement for her New York senate seat, but he is the new party leader and if he asks Patterson to appoint her its a done deal. I heard Caroline on the tube again yesterday, I mean she was asked some very simplistic questions that only required a one or two sentence response to clarify her stance, she just jabbered on repeating adverbs and useless adjectives that had little to no meaning in helping to clarify her posture on the issues brought to her. Instead she mimicked the same Palin style of beating around the bush, for a person of her perceived magnitude, she does not come across as a political wonk, her sound bites are pathetic and her looks project weakness, where strength and confidence are going to be key essentials to win the battles that besiege Americans today. From the bottom of my heart, I loved JFK.
Now to make matters worse there is a scandalous trail on Obama's coat tails leading from Illinois to the White House, besides the apparent quid pro quo favor to Ted Kennedy, to the disgraced Illinois Governor Blogoyavych appointment to the senate to replace Obama's seat, now top cabinet appointment Gov. Bill Richardson (commerce secretary) appointee has to pull out because he is allegedly involved in some pay for play bid scandals, nice job the Obama vetting team has done. The Obama administration won't begin for another 2 weeks, and no one knew of the upcoming charges. Seriously nothing is changing or will change its dirty politics as usual. Yes I am still awaiting some progressive intellectuals that I thought along with millions of others thought would become appointments to this administration. So far Obama has shunned the progressive left wing and gays, two large groups that had a role in his gaining this election.

World Wide Blog Board

2009-01-04T23:00:00.002-06:00

Just a quick update for all the nice people that have registered to use the "Blog Board" services. I took care of the fly in the ointment and I apologize for the inconvenience that I caused you. If you have already registered the original info that you submitted should let you log on. If not just re-register and it should be good to go. Thanks for helping me get this project up and running, I just hope it attracts World Wide POV's along with our own in the USA.

The Best To All,

Joseph

Type rest of the post here

Sweet Caroline...Or Sour Grapes

2008-12-28T00:26:00.010-06:00

Just for the record, I have nothing against Caroline Kennedy. In the arena of her personal life I know that she is an accomplished lawyer, and author. She also deserves kudos for her philanthropic endeavors which leaves no doubt to the goodness of her spirit and the hope she had over the years brought to so many fellow citizens in need. She has by choice led a very reclusive life, which has no bearing on whether she would become a good senator. It is only worth mentioning this particular bit to support the feelings that I have of her, to me she appears quite abstract.

In the realm of her politics I know what you know, and that would be what she has chosen to reveal, some very profound insight. "I am a mother" and "I am a Clinton, Kennedy, Obama, Democrat. Wow, what an astounding resume for a senator to brandish during the collapse of our economy and the entrenchment of our Armed Forces in the Afghanistan and the Iraq wars. I know that my sarcasm is not very insightful or helpful, but I know full well why and where my feelings are derived from. First, Caroline Kennedy is the daughter of JFK the ruler of Camelot, and that factor is the driving force that gives the possible appointment of her to the senate, rather then for her body of political work, an aura of entitlement rather than an appointment earned from years of hard work and party loyalty.

The media never came clean on the total failure of Caroline and Ted Kennedy to deliver the iconic senators state of Massachusetts to Obama, instead most talking heads spun this failure, claiming it was the turning point in the primary race that spurred Obama on to victory when Caroline and Ted threw their support behind Obama. Truth is Hillary Clinton dug in, she won more contests from that point right to the end. This is another item which seems to diminish the political gravitas of Caroline.

My last concern about Caroline, was in the little bit of public speaking that we have been exposed to was uninspiring, from her monotone delivery and her lack of enthusiasm and fire, the common substance that when missing usually leaves the speaker flat and emotionless, left me sitting there trying to figure out how this tyro if appointed will defend her seat.

Apathetic Americans Make America Pathetic

2008-12-13T03:33:00.004-06:00

I am guessing that the last eight years of the Republican administrations destruction of America, with the help of the usual spineless Democrats seemed to be okay for everyone in this country. Well look at us now as we all stand on edge. We now have to lean on Communist red China for cash , and the Saudi monarchy for energy. Two countries that have as much use for human rights as Bush and Cheney have for the Constitution of the United States of America. As our government deregulated conglomerates and tortured the (enemy) and abased the middle class, no one really cared, and why should you, did you or a family member experience rendition, you haven't lost your home, or job? Well even though a few politicians lost their jobs this last electoral cycle, for the most part the rest of them were pretty secure, and the overwhelming majority of the no care, no matter, congressmen, senators, governors, mayors and so on just kept on politicizing. Here is how I see it. The media first of all never held anyone accountable for anything, starting with 9/11, the war in Iraq, the lies, the outing of a secret service agent, the torture, abu ghraib, Guantanamo, Katrina, so on and so forth, they only joined the band wagon when certain information appeared on the internet or if there were any high profile leaks. In general they never dug into these crimes as their professions had mandated that they did in the past, the media lacked any real professional old style go get them journalism as in the past when reporters really got into the thick of it and came to the forefront to reveal to the public the secrecy and the crimes that may have been perpetrated by the government on the public, after all that's our only tool that we the people have at our disposal to keep us informed. The Bush/Cheney gang wasn't going to say shit about anything, they just did whatever they wanted to do and the media remained apathetic. The republican majority of civilians didn't give a dam either, just as long as gays weren't afforded marriage and and they could fly their confederate flags they could care less, it sort of seemed like everyone including the Democrats in office were afraid to confront the obvious crimes committed on the people by the Bush/Cheney madness. Most house democrats supported the majority of these enactments, that included torture and the losing of many of our constitutional civil rights in the name of Home Land Security. They too are apathetic, long as they had their jobs and benefits they did nothing to even slow down the gang of mad dogs running the government. They didn't even have the nerve to stop funding the Bush/Cheney habit even when they had the numbers to do so, and the public backing, they were scared shit and showed their usual backbone without any embarrassment, why would they be embarrassed they have bared it so many times during the past eight years, they were the most apathetic creatures of any of us. Yes they the Dems, they unlike you and I, they had some power and authority to put at least a partial end the the gangs activities but at the end of the day apathy won over again. Americans that voted in this past election numbered 122,842,626*(estimated). The number of Americans that are of voting age in this country is 231,229,580*. So do the math and see why I say Americans sow what they reap and are apathetic. There were 108,386,954 American citizens that were no show's. Who knows maybe if they would have done their civic duty and exercised their precious right and freedom to vote, unqualified people like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed wouldn't be leading the party in the houses, but special mentions to Senators Mitch McConnell, Bob Corker, and the prostitute loving David Vitter, would not be on the senate floor spewing bald face lies about the hard working blue collar workers who they blame for the near collapse of the big 3 automakers. Listening to what each of them had to say was not only delusional but very disgusting. Just as disgusting as they actually appear to be in real life, real pieces of work these three, that if they ever had to work just one forty hour work week, 5 days a week on an assembly line, they would not be able to survive. They are so out of touch with the American worker and the middle class that it is stunning that these dumb asses actually get elected into office. They only want to bust the union at any cost, even if it's some million or more American workers and the futures of their children, and they don't care about the consequences of their actions as long as they can bust the unions and hurt the middle class it's mission accomplished for these corporate lowlife scavengers. Americans need to be outraged by the blight envisioned for the middle class all in the name of greed. I didn't see these three republican senators trying to say how much money that the white collar workers that they just bailed out for 700 billion dollars should make, nope its just the middle and lower middle class and poor blue collar workers that they want to eviscerate. Sure I say to my fellow Americans. please stop with the apathy. Call your local representatives, we need to advance the middle class, don't stand by the sidelines and do nothing while these jerks take your hard earned taxes and hand out corporate welfare by the billions. We need to go against the idealogue that strides to divide us with petty issues. We need to fight at every turn. This is going to be a struggle for our very existence. Get into the frame of mind that will encourage you to stand behind the issues that in your heart you know without question are morally sound.

O. J. Get's Juiced

2008-12-07T07:25:00.005-06:00

I remember the night that I bumped into Simpson and his posse as they were leaving Casey's, a popular spot in the mid 1970's located on the Elmwood strip in Buffalo, owned by the late Butch Casey and his hard working Dad who I respectfully knew only as Mr. Casey. You may have seen Butch on T.V. Those crime shows relentlessly play the tapes from his home security system, that caught the murder of his two female guests and of Butch too.

So back to O.J. as he and I made eye contact we acknowledged each other, he recognized me, I had served him a cocktail or two at Mulligans Brick Bar, a joint so notorious for its madness that everyone from celebrity to mooch frequented this place to get shitfaced and or laid. Well right at that moment of our mutual head nods I reached in my pocket and asked him for his autograph. I had promised my little nephew Nick at the time that the next time I saw him I would get it for him. Many years have past since then but what was remarkable is that the Bills organization had some kind of a reunion of sorts in May or June of 1994, by that time I had moved from Buffalo to Chicago. I had come back to visit my beloved mother, on one of the days I decided to go to one of my friends restaurant located on Main Street. When I arrived he wasn't there so I had a few shots of tequila and waited around for a while. To my surprise in walked the owner, who I came to see and his brother. We hadn't seen each other for a while and we had a few more shots and I was getting ready to shove off. I reached my limit, but they said hold on some of the Bills are coming in for dinner c'mon stick around so I did. A minute or two later in walked four of the Bills that I knew from back in the day and then in walks Simpson. We all talked, took some group photo's and then I said my goodbyes and left. A month or so later I believe O.J. killed his wife Nicole and her friend Ron. It was a bitter pill to swallow, not only most importantly did two people lose their lives, and the loss to both families was and still is incomprehensible, the whole city of Buffalo was dealt a familiar smash in the face.

I saw O.J. on the news and he was pitiful, as he uttered "In no way did I mean to hurt anybody, to steal anything from anyone," Simpson said, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it. "Friday's verdicts came 13 years to the day after a Los Angeles jury acquitted Simpson of killing, Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman. The way Simpson acted after the murder trial was pretty sickening even if he was really innocent, mocking Nicole's death, making stabbing motions, and the "If I Really Did It" crap, the list goes on. The contempt that he has shown publicly to the Brown and Goldman families has been hideous in nature. In the end his pomposity and his belief that he was untouchable because of his celebrity, finally caught up with him. Simpson was so sure that he was above the law, and beyond reproach, that his ego maniacal rational over came what little logic he may have possessed and that foolishness steered him clear of a plea bargain deal that he was offered. A deal that if taken would have left him with less time to serve. I must admit I am elated with his choice.

Why Did This Happen?

2008-11-29T00:28:00.008-06:00

"In my administration," Bush told voters in Pittsburgh in October 2000, "we will ask not only what is legal but what is right, not what the lawyers allow but what the public deserves." What happened to Bush that made him denounce his own paradigms? Was he so weak minded that he was easily influenced to go against his own moral values, or was he born an amoral person? His actions clearly demonstrate that he had no reasonable understanding of what he had uttered in October of 2000. The questions about this man are not fostered from any enigmatic or profound unexplained complexities of how he processed information. They rose instead from the traits he readily exuded and paraded around like the beautiful fanning feathers of a proud peacock. The problem was, what he was strutting out for all the world to see was the ugliness of his hubris, and his lack of common manners. He was a poor example of American etiquette and his behavior was proof for anyone to see. He drove the stakes of morality by his administration into thin air instead of the terra firma of mother earth. As his second term of incompetence began, the hardships and burdens being foisted upon the poor and the middle class continued to take it's vile and shameful toll.

For Bush, his administration and their cronies it's been a solid eight years of breaking or bending the laws of our land, including the Constitution. They have ravaged America and the majority of it's populace. The largest redistribution of money from the middle class to the rich has taken place in all of modern history during his watch. They after eight years are leaving our country in shambles. They took so much that they were very close to destroying their own political party. It isn't the money that Bush, Cheney and his administration stole that is problematic. It is the arms and legs, that they took, it is the lives of the Americans made to go on combat tour after combat tour without proper breaks and proper equipment, it's all the collateral damage to the tens of thousands of men women and children, its to all the families that they destroyed, all the American good will that they vanquished. In the end, Bush and Cheney's greed and need for power took precedent over life and limb.

To Help Or Not to Help ?

2008-11-23T02:23:00.010-06:00

That is the question. After trying to balance the many pro and con ideas of why the U.S. tax payers should or should not loan the Big Three automotive industrial complex more money in order to save them from total collapse. Well for me to arrive at what I think is a thoughtful answer I had to look at the big picture of government spending. I will attempt to include certain data that is pretty much fact in order for you to make your own conclusion. So lets start with foreign and military aid that we the taxpayers pay for via the administration that happens to be calling the shots at the time they are in power. I will concede that I will not be able to recount everything perfectly but I will use only the numbers that I have done the research on.

I think the Mideast is a good starting point so here we go. More than one hundred countries, though a small handful of them receive the largest share. Israel and Egypt have traditionally been the single-largest recipients of U.S. aid, dating back to the 1978 Camp David peace accords between the two countries. For both countries, the majority of this is military aid—$2.4 billion in military aid is requested for Israel in 2008 and $1.3 billion for Egypt. Afghanistan and Iraq, involved in massive U.S.-led nation-building efforts, and Pakistan, an important ally in the war on terrorism, also receive huge amounts of foreign aid. Separate from the aid disbursed by the State Department, the Defense Department also has a growing role in post-conflict situations, providing billions of dollars in reconstruction aid in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. I will give you those 2009 budgetary numbers in a bit. In the meantime lets go right to Israel. Since 1949 the U.S. has given Israel a total of $83.205 billion. The interest costs borne by U.S. tax payers on behalf of Israel are $49.937 billion, thus making the total amount of aid given to Israel since 1949 $133.132 billion. This may mean that the U.S. government has given more federal aid to the average Israeli citizen in any given year than it has given to the average American citizen. Since the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan has become one of the largest recipients of US military aid – reportedly more than 10 billion dollars. Since 1950, the US government has provided over 91 billion dollars to militaries around the world from a single fund. There are a number of additional funds, so the total is substantially higher. Most of the money comes from the Defense and State Departments. Pakistan rocketed from receiving 9 million U.S. dollars in military aid in the three years prior to Sept. 11 to receiving 4.2 billion dollars in the three years after the terrorist attacks, going from 56th on the list of U.S. military aid receivers to No. 3. Israel and Egypt retained their positions on the list at first and second. Jordan retained its fourth place on the list and Afghanistan moved from 64th place to fifth.

Bush released a $3.1 trillion budget, "We all understand that there is a level of unpredictability with such budget estimates, but it is critical that we attempt to plan for expenses we know are coming," said Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. So lets get back to those 2009 numbers and the current numbers to date. Bush has already asked Congress for $70 billion to pay for the wars, and more money will be sought later this year. Last year, the Pentagon asked for $189 billion in war spending. For all of the 2009 fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, the Bush administration said it planned to spend $651.2 billion. That includes the $515 billion request and anticipated supplemental spending bills.
The request will allow the United States to maintain its "technological advantage over current and potential enemies," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

So folks by citing just a few of the situations that we humble tax payers are already spending trillions of our hard earned dollars on foreigners and some of which really hate us is not a pleasant feeling, any way for me it is not. Now really I only mentioned a few things here to put a little perspective to the money coming out of your pockets and being well you know redistributed, by the way the last I heard that was a dirty word if your from the right. Let me mention the other agencies that redistribute your money, there are many, including the departments of agriculture, commerce, defense, homeland security, justice, labor, treasury, transportation, health and human services, and interior. Separate permanent authorizations exist for foreign aid programs such as the Peace Corps, the Inter-American Foundation, and the African Development Foundation, as well as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. If I were to include all of the cash we give out without preconditions from all of these other agencies of redistribution, well I think you get the picture here. I haven't even mentioned the money that you and I give to all these countries for just plain old economic foreign aid, that's another story in itself. What galls me the most is that while all these trillions are going out of our pockets to spend on military budgets, we still have not taken care of the victims of Katrina and Ike, and the victims of the floods this year in the Midwest. This money that our government seems to give away without accountability is so enormous that they have already tapped the pocket of your children and the pocket of their unborn children. So armed with this information I say if helping the American auto industrial complex actually keeps three million Americans working then do it. Compared to the trillions that we give to dictators and our enemies the world over what's the big deal when it comes to helping American workers ?

The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla

2008-11-15T06:55:00.007-06:00

In today's New York Times, Dick Cavett offers up a humourous look at Sarah Palin's use (or abuse) of the English language. A sample:

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.
And, she concluded, “never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or a continent, I just don’t know about this issue.”
It’s admittedly a rare gift to produce a paragraph in which whole clumps of words could be removed without noticeably affecting the sense, if any.
(A cynic might wonder if Wasilla High School’s English and geography departments are draped in black.)

Read the full article here.

Post Election Fun

2008-11-10T06:49:00.016-06:00

Just this morning, I stumbled across this most excellent motivational poster:

see Sarah Palin pictures

For the complete collections, check out:

Purely Opinion

2008-11-10T05:08:00.033-06:00

Now the election is over, but I don't think that from what I'm hearing from Fox news, and pundits like Bill O, Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, and others that there will ever be anything that will lessen the divide that is etched upon the land of our people. So I guess you read the first sentence of my post and by now your saying there goes Joseph again, his party won the election and he is still complaining. Well if that is what you are thinking you are partially correct in coming to that assumption, because when it comes to politics I am never really content with the status quo, no matter what party is in power at any particular time in my life. I really want you to know why I'm coming at you this way, and it's simple. I am being influenced by the words of the people that I mentioned in my opening sentence. If you are of the right wing persuasion no doubt you have heard them yourself, if you are from the left I will tell you that it is not worth the time it takes to report their quotes. I'll just paint a broad picture of all their comments in combination to give you the feel of their underpinnings. They are all indicating in one way or another of the impending doom that the commie socialist Obama will throw down on our country. The point is Obama, has not been sworn into office yet, and they are already on alert and ramping themselves and their flocks of loyal followers up, so that by the time he does get sworn in, they will (right wing)be ready for an all out "ambush". So now that we are talking about Bush, what about those last eight years of compassionate conservatism. Most people have suffered as a result of this administrations interpretation of compassionate conservatism. Yet certain people of the conservative movement are all upset because they have lost the bully pulpit, a tool that they used most effectively to override sense and sensibility. It would be hard for me to believe that every conservative is upset about this presidential election, in my heart of hearts I believe many are upset with their party for sure, they lost many house seats in the process. But why be upset now? That is the question I mean they had 8 years to demonstrate to the world and the dirty anti-American liberals how superior conservatism is and how pro American it is.

If I were of the right wing persuasion I definitely would have been disgusted with the outcome of this administration on every level. If the left wing was in power and committed the same crimes and neglected this countries needs, and broke constitutional law, I know I would be feeling the same way absolutely bewildered, even more so because they are in my party, and to tell you the truth I still feel that the democrats displayed their usual amount of spinelessness by not fighting back on certain issues. Well although I may seem biased, if the new administration doesn't do all that is possible to correct the situation that the good old US of A is in and to help the citizenry on all levels I will pound them on this blog just the same, probably even more. So to put this in perspective, from what I have studied about conservatism, I saw absolutely none of its dogma's enacted, except for maybe, yes they did cut taxes for the 5% of the wealthiest of Americans and they did dole out trillions in no bid contracts to their cronies, and billions in tax incentives for corporate America, as a matter of fact they did more than I thought they did. The government has grown twofold. They even have two wars going on and manage to neglect the veterans that have repeatedly fought in them. I wonder what's wrong with me how could I forget all of that compassion. I really thought that letting the poor citizens in New Orleans and Mississippi drown in real time on TV while Anderson Cooper was reporting the news that Bush knew nothing about as Rice was out shopping for shoes, yeah that was pretty compassionate too.

On the positive side I have received some surprise emails from a few people around the world. They expressed a general theme of, glad to see Obama win, he will do much to unite the world. I can't say that I agree with them wholeheartedly about the uniting the world stuff, but I just hope an Obama administration restores some of all the good will that was squandered by King George and Prince Dick.

A Well Deserved Victory

2008-11-07T01:52:00.015-06:00

Good morning to all. I did not want to begin this post with any ill will, but how it may end I can't say for sure. What I am sure about is, this will be a historic event of epic proportions, when Barack Obama is sworn into office this coming January. The election of Obama to the highest office of this country will be seen not only as racial barrier breaking sea change, but it also radiates through out the world that we are a true democracy. This election was not only decisive I believe it left Obama with a clear mandate to govern just a little left of center without much room to go to far to the left, especially if he wants to unite this nation. If he chooses to govern as Bush did, saying he was going to bring us together then instead Bush stopped governing and started simply to rule over anything that stood in his way and if it wasn't far right it was not going to happen. He shut over half of America out for eight years.

I can't imagine how proud that the African American community is. It must be especially poignant for those black and white Americans who fought and suffered through the civil rights movement leaving many killed or severely injured. Let us not forget the black men, women and children that suffered segregation and humiliation at the hands of the unjust laws that violated the civil rights of our fellow human beings, these laws where not only abusive but degrading to any human being, and they were meant to be shouldered only by certain individuals of our society because of the color of their skin, and for no other reason. That is why men and women like Dr. King and those before him going back to Harriet Tubman did what they did. It will be ninety six years after the death of Harriet Tubman that Americans can finally reap what she had sown. I hope that this event will help ease some of the racial tensions that will sadly always seem to exist in our great country, but it is what can be hailed as a good start towards equality.

Another reason why my hat is of to Obama, he not only had to overcome the racial prejudices which are still prevalent in American society, he also had to overcome his own name, then he had to defeat the Clinton machine, and Hillary was tough as nails no doubt about it, she gave him a run for his money. Then there was all this, be afraid of Obama, the GOP warned us. Be afraid of something new, something different. He would meet with our enemies. His middle name is Hussein. He "pals around with terrorists," consorts with the radicals at Acorn (which is "destroying the fabric of democracy"), and doesn't see America "like you and I see America." A vote for Obama would be "dangerous" and "too risky for America." Obama is a socialist he want's to take your money and spread it around, he's a communist, he's a Muslim terrorist sympathizer the GOP shouted. I mean a lot of people believe all this crap. It's like, did they forget that we have a Department of Homeland Security, did they forget that the Bush and Chenney oligarchy were taping Americans phone conversations, I mean how dumb can someone be to think that with the FBI, CIA, Special OPS, and all the other government agencies invading our privacy, don't you think they would have stopped a commie or a socialist or a terrorist from running for any office let alone the presidency, well I knew I couldn't stay totally positive, because when I think of how the right wing can't figure that out for themselves it just boggles what little is left between my ears. They just believe in the Rovian politics of fear and "amen".

Well anyway it didn't work this time and more people smartened up. Frankly the GOP ran a pretty insulting campaign, they never mentioned any solutions or plans to solve any kitchen table problems. They just kept warning us and trying to instill fear. Even the intellectual republicans that were embarrassed enough went on record to support Obama and give their assessments of Sarah Palin. In the end the man against all odds simply won in a landslide. He won because he does have an intellect that people think might be useful in these tough times. Most of all Obama won because he was disciplined stayed on message had a ground game that no other campaign has ever come up against, and that changed the electoral college map that actually turned
Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada all red states into blue states. The future in American politics belongs to the party that can win a more racially diverse, better educated, more metropolitan electorate. I think right now the Democrats get it and so does Obama.

Election Eve

2008-11-03T19:21:00.007-06:00

T'was the night before the elections and all through the house
all the parties were a stirring even the mouse.

Brother Tom says for McCain and Palin he sees nothin but clear sailing
and even Aunt Jayne wants Johnny McCain
but Uncle Neal won't whimper he's not gonna reveal

And Sis is a bliss with Mama because they both want Obama

Cousin Pete thinks republicans will be certain to repeat
While Grandma LuLu thinks they will be losing many a house seat

But Dad says, Hey! screw them all I'm not voting for no one this Fall.

Step "RIGHT" Up and Get Your Ticket, No Waiting No Lines, Step"RIGHT" Up

2008-10-26T08:32:00.013-05:00

Good morning all, I have to say I really enjoyed the outcome of the the neo-fascist congresswomen from Minnesota Michele Bachmann's (R) poll numbers, before she opened her mouth (see last post) she had a +13 point lead in the Minnesota 6th district race to a little known contender Mr. Tinklenberg (D), but as a direct result of her jaw flapping lies, she managed to fill the sails of Tinklenbergs ship with a sudden $900,000 in contributions, not only that she has fallen -3% behind him in her bid for re-election. You can see this at the latest polling realclearpolitics.com This all goes to a much bigger point which I've decided to share with all of you. If you are reading this post you can scroll down and see the title and or contents of my last post. I received some responses online and since I post my true identity and email I also receive a few comments via email. I just want to share a couple of the comments that are negative. I really don't mind the negative comments because if they are thoughtful or insightful or just plain civil, I will learn something from them after all, I am in most cases just sharing my humble opinion with you, unless I am stating data that needs to be backed up by facts, then I will always do my homework before putting my foot into my mouth so that I can at least report accurate information. So here are the comments I am speaking of, and they will tie into the later points of this blog post:
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Anonymous said...

your just another idiot liberal,all dems do is take,take your money and rights.palin is a governor,obama couldn't run a fruit stand,rather have her run the country than a white hating muslim

October 25, 2008 3:43 PM
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Jason said...Dear Joseph,

This right wing nut would like to ask a few questions. When it comes to really screwing it up (the economy) you should ask your party that question. It was your party lead by Frank, Dodd, and many othes that blocked reform efforts by Bush and the Republicans and Fannie Mae and Mac. It was not tax cuts that leads us down this road. It is maddening to me that Progressives are so quick to want to control other people money and eventually speack(Fairness Doctrine). Us Neo-Fascists guess just don't get it. And btw pinhead I hope the election is stolen by ACORN registering 10,000's of false registerations. Go luck the next 4 years I belive that some of you will writing on conservative blogs after your "chosen one" has literally screwed this country over.

October 25, 2008 9:26 AM

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Now I could be totally of base, but I hate to judge people when they are emoting their feelings when they may not be in a rational state of mind. So what I want to do is to list some of the hard core republican and conservatives that where brought up to be right wingers, and the fact that they are now going to support Obama, they have no motive other than to make this decision based on their intellect and the fact that they have the feeling that this candidate of their choice has a firm grasp of the challenges that lie ahead and that he is their best bet to salvage a nation that has been economically destroyed, militarily on its last leg, hasn't taken care of it's veterans, has let it's fellow Americans down, (Katrina) not to mention the complete ineptness of the two wars and the thousands of lives they have taken and the trillions of dollars they have wasted all in the name of oil and defense contracts. So I am only going to mention a few because there are many more prominent Republicans voting for Obama than I am going to list this morning. Keep in mind that these Republicans are all on the record, I didn't just make them up for the uniformed visitors. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and conservative talk-show host Michael Smerconish are hardly alone among Republicans supporting Barack Obama. A surprising number of recognizable Republicans are reportedly supporting Obama the Democratic nominee: Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland, former Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa, former Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Bush fund-raiser Rita Hauser, former National Review publisher Wick Allison, former National Review columnist Christopher Buckley (son of William F.), and former Reagan-Bush lawyer and pro-life legal scholar Doug Kmiec. (Even Jenna Bush, President Bush's daughter, told Larry King she's undecided.) Also today Fairbanks, Alaska's Republican Mayor Jim Whitaker endorsed Obama. Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican, and former Bush press secretary Scott McClellen. Tom Bernstein who went to Yale University with Bush and co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team with him. Oregon's First District GOP Congressional Nominee Joel Haugen. Reagan policy adviser Bruce Bartlett. Delbert Spurlock, who was Assistant Secretary of the Army under Reagan. Tony Campell, a former GOP congressional candidate from Maryland, Douglas Kmiec, a Republican who served in the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan. Dorothy Danforth Burlin, a lawyer who is the daughter of former U.S. Senator John Danforth. Susan Eisenhower, president of the Eisenhower Group. "It's been a very difficult thing for me because I've never endorsed a Democrat before...but sometimes in life you come to a juncture where it's very clear the national interest trumps party discipline - Jim Leach" A while back I wrote about Lou Thieblemont, mayor of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania and lifelong Republican switching parties so he could vote for Barack Obama in Pennsylvania. Lincoln Chaffe, Here is what the only Republican senator who opposed the war said when he endorsed Obama, "I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility, to restore our confidence to be moral and to bring people together to solve the complex issues such as the economy, the environment and global stability," Douglas Kmiec served in Reagan's DoJ but he's supporting Obama. Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence, and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and that he wants to return the United States to that company of nations committed to human rights. Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute, a libertarian free market think tank in Washington, said he was “seriously thinking of pulling the lever” for Obama in November. Although he is lukewarm about some of his policies - particularly on free trade and tax and spending - he believes that “the post-partisan, post cultural war rhetoric of Barack Obama is deeply appealing”. There is also the question of pay-back for eight years of Republican mismanagement. “There is a good chunk of people, like myself, who believe the Republicans ought to go down in flames,” he said. “They have made a complete hash of things and they deserve to pay.” Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican, and editor Christopher Hitchens have also endorsed Barack Obama. So with this information I hope to justify to the people that write those racist and hateful comments that they need to look at the big picture. Republicans with long respected records of loyalty to a party can change because they feel insulted by what they have been handed, I think all of these people are smarter than the commentators that addressed me think they are, and they are certainly smarter than me. Oh! and I almost forgot, CC Goldwater is on that list she is the daughter of the iconic Republican Barry Goldwater.

Hatred, Fear and Division

2008-10-18T03:06:00.012-05:00

I guess there is no getting around the right wing political playbook without those good old reliable never fail standbys for substance and issues, instead they give you hatred, fear and division. Yesterday was a day that really made me take a deep breath and then let out a long sigh, not of relief as you might imagine. No this was a sigh of disgust and disdain. What may you ask could have gotten you so riled up Joseph. Well let me tell you what it was. When I heard the disgusting low life remarks uttered from Minnesota congresswomen Michele Bachmann (R) on the tube today she sickened me. Now I have heard her a few other times on various political talk shows and I have never really heard anything positive or issue oriented from her foul mouth in the past, just the usual neo-con talking points which after 8 years of hearing them are kind of bearable.

So today I guess she decided to cross the line of good judgment and jumped face first into a pool of stinking crap. Bachmann's incoherent raves that she is demanding that the media and the justice department start investigating the liberals in congress that hate this country, she said they are there, she is certain they are anti American and the truth should come out. This foolish uninformed women is full of vitriol and it is people like herself, when their words are heard, that cast dispersions on our great country. Amid all the problems that our nation is facing militarily, economically and socially, she is on the tube spewing lies about something she know nothing about, and that about is patriotism. She has no answers for any of the problems facing most Americans, so instead of addressing issues she would rather invoke hatred by saying that only her right wing neo-fascist party is the party that loves America. What she forgot to add to that phrase is that they love to f*ck it up. She is an embarrassment to this country when she blurts such lies at the same time that the blood of the democrat and republican and the independent soldiers are soaking the sands in the Mideast for the Bush and Chenney oil corporations and defense contractors. She is a blight onto herself as is Palin who espoused that today she is campaigning in the small patriotic towns and so forth that love this country and so on by golly. These are the people that love America as to be the patriotic people of our nation from the rural patriotic areas dog- gone-it. Let me just say this about Palin I'll make it short and sweet, to infer that the people that go to her and McCain rallies are the only folks that love this country and not any others, makes her divisive and hateful as she sounds, and to steal the words of Bill O'rielly, and John McCain she "my friends" is a true pinhead.

Who Really Supports our Troops ?

2008-10-11T04:37:00.012-05:00

Top of the morning to you all. I am always amazed how well propaganda works. It has served both parties in the past and seems to be an important tool that enables one party to garner the vote over the other. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Hannity, Bill O'Rielly, Dick Morris you know I can go on forever but I think you get the gist of this. The right wing is always wagging the flag and painting everyone that is against the Iraq war as unpatriotic and we don't support the troops and we hate America. Well they then go on to say how the military votes republican as if the military was a monolithic group of undiversified human beings.

Although it may be true that high ranking officers and retirees may lean right the majority of the armed services are in fact made up of many minority blocs of NCO's and that includes the enlisted men and women of lower ranks that have more life altering problems than their civilian counterparts. Now election time is nearing and if the veterans of the past and present haven't had your respect or support this is now the time to stand behind them, because they really need you as much as any other combat vet needed the right vote and the people to stand behind them from any war. I will provide you with a link that will in a matter of one or two minutes time enable you to check the record of your senators and congressmen or woman's votes pertaining directly to taking care of our veterans. You owe it to them and to yourself to make an informed decision. You are going to be surprised when you see the truth about who really supports our troops. VETERANS REPORT CARD.

Palin and Biden Debate Dog-gone-it!

2008-10-03T05:55:00.015-05:00

After the VP debate most of my gut feelings about Palin and Biden were confirmed, but I went on the Huffingpost to read Arianna Huffington's post blog analysis. She was in attendance at all women high profile gathering at the Four Seasons in Aviara, CA. The Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit hosted by ExxonMobil, they had over a couple of hundred attendees of mixed ideology. According to Arianna the response by the women there was not very good. So I did respond to her blog with the following comment.

Dear Arianna,

On my own blog I have held back from criticizing Palin even with the revelations of her interviews with Gibson and Couric, to back me up, just so I would not be accused of sexism. I am hoping that in one of your future blogs that you would take the time to explain just what it is that makes female republican pundits, politicians and newswomen defend Palin. How is it that they are not embarrassed by her lack of common knowledge and her Bushianic mannerisms. I think that Palins' performance tonight and the description of your event tonight among women voters has enabled me to express my views without concerns of sexism. Thanks for your insight.

Regards,

Joseph

Well here is my take on McCains choice for VP. I think she is on the same plain as George Bush.
Now you must realize that this woman has excited the republican party, that she has galvanized the religious right wing, and has given hope to her ticket and that she is being defended by many high profile and long respected neo-cons. I just need to know how these people let idealism trump what they are actually hearing from Palins mouth. When I watch and listen to the nonsense that she speaks makes me want to think that this cannot be happening. I mean doesn't this really show the mentality of the people on the right that are supporting and defending her political chops. They did the same for Bush for seven years so I guess that I should not act so surprised. I mean the republican party is in the state of denial that is the only way any rational person would be able to accept what they are being handed.

Christina Applegate & Oprah

2008-10-01T05:02:00.016-05:00

I was channel surfing last night and as I was clicking away at the remote as if it were a dollar bill dispenser I saw Oprah introducing her featured guest Christina Applegate. Knowing that she has been fighting breast cancer I stayed tuned in to see how she was feeling. I was glad that I made the decision to watch the program.
It really enlightened me to some of the hard realities that women have to face on a daily basis, and it was touching to hear Christina talk about her battle and her choice to have both breast removed.

I was riveted by her positive attitude and her frankness to bare herself emotionally in front of a live audience and millions of viewers. The statistics that were spoken about were staggering, I believe they said that every 20 minutes 5 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and that about 40,000 women per year lose the battle. Well the reason that I decided to write about this on my blog which is mostly political, is that I also learned from the Christina and Oprah back and forth that the reason Christina decided to have both breast removed is that although removing the one breast would have put her on the road to recovery, she tested positive the breast cancer gene. Another thing that I learned from the show was that a mammogram does not always show if there is cancer present due to the density of a woman's breast, and after a mammogram a women should inquire about the density of her breast so that if she has density, the other option to make sure she is cancer free is an MRI.

How is this political you may ask? Well the insurance companies won't pay for an MRI for women and they also won't pay to find out if a woman is carrying the breast cancer gene. Now this no doubt is legal but immoral because of the Millions of dollars that the insurance lobbyist are paying to both parties. This is something that you can do something about. If you have the time to read this blog, don't waste any time, call or write or email your senators and congresspersons, repeatedly and get your friends involved, this is a horrible injustice, because it forces women who are not rich to not be able to take all the appropriate measures to put prevention on their side. I implore you to demand, that congress and the senate address the insurance industry to solve this situation, and that it should be mandated that greedy over paid insurance companies give all women an equal chance to prevent this traumatic disease, by covering these types of life saving tests. Please don't be afraid to come down on your elected representatives, tell them up front to stop taking money from the insurance lobbyist and if they continue to do so you wont vote for them, look after all they work for you and they should represent your interests not the interest of giant insurance conglomerates. To all the special guest on that show thanks for this information.

Just Do It!

2008-09-27T02:03:00.016-05:00

If there was ever a time that you thought you should make a promise to help your country and to help your fellow Americans this is it. The history of events starting on the tragic morning of 9/11/03 to the brink of the near collapse of our economy on or near the days ahead should shake every American out of their false sense of security or that sand castle that they are living in located in the sky, and bring them down to earth. Feet first, head first any position that it takes to snap us back to the reality that awaits us when we finally open our eyes and see what has happened here in America, see what is happening right now, and what we Americans will have in store for us in the not to distant future.

Now let me remind you that a good portion of us have made that fall and it has awakened us. Starting first with the families of the fallen and injured as a result of 9/11. That in turn led to the brave service men and women that made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan and Iraq and continue to do so as they are given combat tours one after the other should they survive, and lets not forget how hard that their families landed when that reality sank in. Let me remind all Americans that may be reading this blog about the the tens of thousands of citizens that had their jobs outsourced during the past eight years, not to mention the tens of thousands of hard working Americans that lost their life savings and pensions by the likes of the Ken Lay's of Enron and others, they too are aware. Now that brings us to Katrina, what can I say when the world saw for themselves the disgrace of letting our own just die. The video evidence was irrefutable as the bodies of Americans floated behind or beside Anderson Cooper in scene after scene on CNN. Those people that were left behind by the worlds richest nation still have no homes and are still displaced and still have missing family members and this is over 3 years ago, so I guess the next group of people that will get a dose of reality from this administration will be the victims of Ike.

My interest is to show all Americana that much of the pain and suffering could have been managed in a way that may have impacted our citizens in a less traumatic way. My intent is to point out the total incompetence that not only ruled over but destroyed many of our lives. The majority of people that these natural disasters and man made pitfalls or the wars didn't touch are the ones I would like to waken. Please wake up and register to vote. Now I know I didn't mention many of the other scandals and disasters that struck America, and its great American citizens on this blog, the reason, is because then this would not be a blog, it would be a book. I just hope that you register and vote, even if you don't agree with my politics. I hold the people that were in charge of our country at the time these things happened to be mostly responsible for bringing America to its lowest point in my lifetime. If this simplistic outline and its consequences don't make you think its time for change, then I guess you will have to walk in the shoes of the people that have been exposed to this inhumane suffering and total lack of accountability. Please Vote.

Will the Real John MCain please stand up, please stand up!

2008-09-24T03:33:00.016-05:00

I believe that now is the time for Obama to incorporate possible solutions to the every day concerns facing the average voter when responding to smears from John McCain. Obama's rebuttals should be short and concise followed by words describing the encouragement and support that will come to Americans via his administrations policies. Win or lose this race has brought to light the real men behind the names. I really am dismayed to see the kind person that politics has turned John McCain into, how sad it is to hear in large part that what he speaks just does not reflect what is on the record in terms of his votes and his legislative acts. McCain has consistently voted to deregulate, he has had a career of anti regulatory votes, and all any person that is interested in the truth has to do is to not take my word for it but just take the time and check out his voting record for themselves. His battle against regulations span everything from the mortgage industry to banking and energy just to name a few. Now he claims to be the great "regulator" who will get all the corporate crooks and all the fraudulent law breakers. Well I am just getting over the blight of the "decider" what makes the the neo-cons think that I am ready for the "regulator". Please, please just spare me. I don't know why the media and the Obama camp have given the "regulator" a pass, they should just publish what he has done and let the record speak for itself it will clearly show all his contributions leading to the sorry state of our economy. I'm paraphrasing Romney's speech from the republican convention but he said loud and clear that when McCain gets elected president, that "John would unleash a weed whacker on government regulation." Although both men have stretched the truth about each others misdeeds, there are public records that are irrefutable, so why don't you do yourself a favor and see for yourself who's kidding who. McCain has outdistanced Obama when it comes to inaccuracy in campaign advertising by a long shot. Here are few quick examples:
Candidates' Voting Record On Issues Related To Children's Health Care

-- State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) Reauth. (8/2007): McCain - No; Obama - Yes
-- Teen Pregnancy Education Amendment (2006): McCain - No; Obama - Yes
-- Hurricane Health Care Amendment, to provide emergency health care for survivors of Katrina (2005): McCain - No; Obama - Yes

Country First ???

2008-09-22T07:03:00.011-05:00

We as civilized human beings are supposedly learning to evolve in a positive manner. One of the most common methods at our disposal that should aid us in this quest to attain civility, I would think would be history, and I think we can all agree on this idea. But In spite of the most obvious outcome of every single modern day war in regards to the treatment of veterans, this country has problematically failed miserably to uphold the moral obligations that it owes to its combat veterans of every war in every era. This statement sadly is not rhetoric and it has been documented not only accurately, but experienced by the majority of vets that needed help then and now, and I don't mean to cast aspersions on the VA hospitals because the Md's and RN's and all of the staff are hard working and loyal, they just happen to be under staffed and under funded and continually over flowing, and to knowingly let there be homeless and jobless vets out there is just not only heartbreaking, its a sin committed by this administration every day.

I just want to share a brief bit of my personal history in regards to how past administrations have treated combat vets, and before I go any further I believe that no matter what your politics the Bush & Cheney administration by far has been the most disrespectful, odious and malignant human beings to have ever been in command of anything let alone the precious gift of life given to us by our Creator, and if your agnostic you still have to believe that life is indeed precious. My father and four of his brothers now all deceased all fought in WWII, and all they got for their blood sweat and tears were shrapnel and bullet wounds, malaria and shell shock, that's what they called ptsd syndrome back then. I am Joseph and I served in Vietnam along with two of my fathers brothers sons, my cousin Joe and my cousin Andy. The only thing I can remember getting from my government was an additional $65 dollars per month added to my paycheck for combat pay, but in general we got about the same thing our dads got and about the same thing our brothers got who by the way never get mentioned but suffered just the same in the Korean War.

This is one of the reasons that it is hard for me to say with conviction "country first" when the chicken hawks that run this country continue at all costs sending our brave children into the meat grinder of the military industrial complex, not just once but over and over again until they either die or break down, and by the way we were all forewarned about this by a great republican in the 50's president Dwight D. Eisenhower, but to no avail they are sent repeatedly, without regard for their families or their futures, this administration has used human beings like fodder to feed their greed and ambitions. Those are the men that drape an American Flag around themselves and cry support the troops, but refuse to sign a comprehensive GI bill, the same men who sent our sons & daughters, husbands and wives and even our grandfathers to war and not even give them the proper equipment to defend themselves, did you ever think in your life time that you would see a president of these United States of America make a mother or wife or other family relative go to a surplus store to buy their loved ones a bullet proof vest to send to them while they were already in a war zone or send Americans to war without the proper armor and armored vehicles. Did you ever think you would see a president that would mandate that after you went to war and served your time, that you would be back door drafted back into service. When the Bush and Cheney's of the world say "Americans & America First" then may I subscribe to the baseless republican slogan of "Country First"? just one of many slogans that we have had to hear in the past 7 years. I don't think so because republican leaders will never say Americans and America First. Finally for the life of me I still don't understand why of all men John McCain did not support the new GI bill sent to the floor by Senator Jim Webb ???