Month: March 2010

The False Argument Of States Rights

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The move by Attorney Generals in many states to try to prevent enforcement of the Health Care Reform Act is a disgrace, based on the false doctrine of states rights!

States rights and secession were settled by the Civil War one hundred fifty years ago! Are we about to go back to the times of John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis? Are we also to go back to the times of Strom Thurmond and George Wallace?

The fact is that the US government and Constitution are supreme, and whether we like it or not, all Americans are required to obey the laws passed by Congress!

We are required to pay federal income taxes. We are required to pay Social Security taxes. We are required to pay Medicare taxes.

We are also required to obey the law regarding racial integration, and when Arkansas under President Eisenhower, and Mississippi and Alabama under President Kennedy refused to obey federal court orders, the National Guard was called in under federal control.

The fact that everyone will be required to have health insurance is not something to be argued about, as when people end up in emergency rooms, we end up paying much more than if they have insurance. No one can think that he or she, at any age, will not need insurance protection. This is now a requirement and a good one, and just like anything else, a way has to be found to do what needs to be done: protect yourself against accident and illness!

So, the false use of the Tenth Amendment is just an excuse to bring back an idea which was resolved long ago; the states may NOT disobey federal law!

Plaudits For Nancy Pelosi: The Most Powerful Woman In American History!

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With the passage of the Health Care reform bill, it must be said that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, has to be given the most credit for the major accomplishment!

Through thick and thin, under constant conservative and Tea Party and Republican attack, even on a personal level, Pelosi was able to keep her eye on the goal, and to prod and push not only her Democratic colleagues, but also President Obama, to get into the fray and fight for the legislation!

As The Economist magazine has said, Pelosi has become the most powerful woman in American history, and arguably the most powerful Speaker since Joe Cannon in the first decade of the twentieth century. She will go down as one of the greatest Speakers in her impact, along with Henry Clay, Sam Rayburn, and Thomas “Tip” O’Neill!

What angers so many critics is that here we have a woman, an Italian American Catholic, who had the “gall” to challenge the male chauvinist Republicans around her, particularly Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who came across as nasty, mean spirited, and narrow minded, a man who will go down in history as a “small minded” man who exploited every tactic possible to deny 32 million Americans the basic human right of health care!

So plaudits to Nancy Pelosi for her fantastic accomplishment! 🙂

Sarah Palin And The “Inexperience” Of Barack Obama

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Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin came out over the weekend, critical of the Obama Administration’s Health Care plan, claiming that the whole matter demonstrated that President Obama was “too inexperienced” to hold the office of President of the United States!

This is an astounding statement for someone who quit the governorship in the middle of her first term, and whose only other experience as an executive was as mayor of Wasilla, a town of about 8,000 people!

What has Sarah Palin ever said or done with her education or her political positions to make us believe that she is “experienced” enough, and has good judgment to lead even a town or a state the size in population of a congressional district?

What has Sarah Palin ever done that makes her intellectually qualified to be President? Who is she to judge President Obama’s experience when she showed absolutely no qualifications even to be Vice President?

It is amazing how Sarah Palin can be delusional about her own abilities, and thinks she can judge the experience level of others who have accomplished more than she could ever hope to achieve! 🙁

The Futile GOP Attempt To Repeal Health Care Legislation

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The Republican party is moving ahead to attempt a repeal of the just enacted Health Care reform legislation. It is an exercise in futility, and further disgraces the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and even Ronald Reagan!

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Congressman Steve King of Iowa in the House, and Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina have introduced bills to repeal the legislation.

For them and other Republicans, including John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Eric Cantor to endorse such action, only further marginalizes them in history and in the future political debates!

In order to accomplish the repeal over President Obama’s veto would require a two thirds vote in both houses, meaning a swing of 26 Republicans in the Senate and 113 Republicans in the House in the midterm 2010 elections.

That kind of swing has NEVER happened, and is not about to occur under the most optimistic scenarios! While there will be some gains by the GOP this November, to believe that history and the political atmosphere is on their side to bring about the impossible–a turnover of the legislation–is delusional, to say the least!

If the Republicans had any dignity, they would stop their ridiculous behavior! But what it comes down to is that the GOP has met its “Waterloo”, as Jim DeMint predicted Obama would meet. The tables have been turned on the GOP, and they are Napoleon, and Obama and the Democrats are Wellington!

To promote fear and hysteria, and to expect they will win power on such a basis, is a false strategy that the GOP will come to regret, unless its leaders are smart enough to move on and stop a bitter fight that cannot be won!

The Republican Party Shamed Itself : John Boehner And Randy Neugebauer

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The Republican Party will look bad in history by the way they conducted themselves in the Health Care debate over the past year.

Being the party of “NO!” and obstructionism, they resisted any cooperation with the Obama Administration, and even at the end yesterday, they acted in a disgraceful way!

John Boehner, the Minority Leader, shouted at the top of his lungs in anger that the bill was being voted on, making himself look very mean spirited and nasty, which seems to be his basic public persona.

At the same time, Congressman Randy Neugebauer of Texas did a “Joe Wilson”, shouting “Baby Killer!”, as Democratic anti abortion Congressman Bart Stupak spoke up in support of the legislation after an agreement with President Obama to issue an executive order banning any public funding of abortion under the legislation. Doesn’t Texas have enough embarrassment by the conduct of its governor, Rick Perry? Now one of its many outrageous Republican congressmen has further disgraced the state, which in many ways is becoming second to South Carolina for reputation of having politicians that destroy the state’s image!

Add the racist, sexist, and homophobic comments of Tea Party activists as they demonstrated against the bill’s passage, and one has to ask: Is anyone in the Republican Party NOT embarrassed by their membership and their followers? Can anyone be proud of being a Republican?

Memo To Rush Limbaugh: Start Packing For Move To Costa Rica! :)

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Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh declared in the past week that he would move to Costa Rica if Health Care reform passed into law.

Since that has now happened, it is time, Rush, to start packing!

You are very welcome to leave, and to access the public health care system that Costa Rica and every other democracy in the world already possesses!

Finally, at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, the United States is joining the other democratic nations in promoting a basic human right–health care!

So, Rush, hurry up and leave, as we are sick and tired of your poisonous, polluted rhetoric which only enriches you and divides the country and promotes hate!

Goodbye and good riddance! (as if you really will leave, which we know will NOT happen, as you are, as always, a damn liar who cares for no one but himself)!

A Great Moment In History: Health Care Reform Becomes Law! :)

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It has finally happened! 🙂

Health Care reform is now law as of this minute!

There will be time to analyze this event, but at this point, plaudits are due Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and President Obama, for sticking to their guns and not caving in to the conservative and Republican lies and propaganda over the past year.

The campaign of 2010 is in full swing, and we will see how the American people react, but I think they will not wish to repeal this path breaking, historic moment bringing health care to millions of more people, as a basic right of all human beings!

This is indeed one of the great progressive moments of reform in our republic’s history! 🙂 HOORAY! 🙂

Anti Obama T Shirts Reach A New Low : Is This Religious Terrorism? YES! :(

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The opposition to President Obama has been fierce, and all kinds of crazy assertions about him have multiplied since he has resided in the White House, and as he has fought for Health Care reform.

But when Bill O’Reilly can ask Lou Dobbs if Obama is the devil, and this weekend, we discover that anti Obama T shirts that quote the King James version of the Bible, Psalm 109:8–“Let his day be few; Let another take his office”–and Psalm 109:9–“Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow”–are being sold online, it is time to say: “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” 🙁

How can anyone, who claims to be “religious”, preach violence and death on our President, no matter who he is? 🙁

We have been working against Islamic religious terrorism for the past nine years since September 11, and now, in our midst, we have Christian religious terrorism! Are we to stand by and say that is ok, because it is Christianity?

NO religious terrorism, whether it be Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or whatever is EVER acceptable!

For a “religious” person to promote hate and pray for death is a sickness that MUST be condemned and worked against! Any preacher, talk show host, or political leader who advocates violence and death for anyone in public life has gone beyond the pale, and must be ostracized, and in many cases, prosecuted, as this is “speech” which presents “a clear and present danger” that is not to be protected by the First Amendment.

If we allow this hatred to spread as a poison in our society, one day we will wake up and be facing another Kennedy type assassination that will be a great human tragedy for our nation! We do not want to go through the trauma of the 1960s, when we lost three gifted men–John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.–, and we must as a nation make it clear we will NOT tolerate the kind of hate and threats that religious extremists of any faith advocate!

Religious conviction cannot be a license for violence and hate, and all decent people must deplore it and call for action NOW to stop it before it destroys our nation! 🙁

Stewart Udall, Outstanding Secretary Of The Interior, Dead

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Stewart Udall, one of the most outstanding Interior Secretaries in US history, passed away on Saturday of natural causes at the age of 90.

Father of New Mexico Senator Tom Udall, and brother of the late Arizona Congressman Morris “Mo” Udall (who challenged Jimmy Carter for the Presidential nomination in 1976), Udall was in the cabinet during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations in the 1960s.

He stood out as a advocate for the environment, much like FDR’s earlier Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, in the 1930s and 1940s.

Udall’s death marks the last person to pass away of the Kennedy cabinet, and makes us realize how indeed it has been 47-50 years since the Kennedy Administration, and that is hard to accept! 🙂

A Fantastic Idea: A Public Debate Between Conservative And Progressive Talk Show Hosts For Charity!

Ronald 1 Comment

A movement is developing online on Facebook to promote a public affairs debate for charity, to be provided to families of war veterans, between leading conservative talk show hosts and leading progressive talk show hosts, and it should be definitely encouraged!

The debate would pit Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck from Fox News Channel versus Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC and Jon Stewart of Comedy Channel, with Stephen Colbert of Comedy Channel as the moderator.

This would be a great opportunity for a serious debate on political issues, and would put all six talk shows hosts’ “feet to the fire” to prove that their viewpoints are legitimate on the many political controversies dividing this nation!

The question that arises is whether all of these talk show hosts would be amenable to such a challenging debate. This could be the “debate of the century” in the sense that since none are running for public office, it could be a very productive discussion that would be educational to the millions of Americans that would, hopefully, watch and listen to the debate!

I call on all of these talk show hosts to accept the challenge, and to show the public the abilities and talents they possess, and let the people decide for themselves who is to be believed and trusted!