Month: August 2010

The Supreme Court And Democracy: Clear And Present Danger! :(

Ronald 4 Comments

The conservative Supreme Court has done an excellent job in the past decade of undermining democracy and a fair playing field, as shown by two specific situations among others!

First, in the year 2000, in Bush V. Gore, the Republican dominated Supreme Court intervened where they had no business interfering, by deciding to settle the contested Presidential Election of 2000 by stopping the vote recount in Florida, and awarding the electoral votes of that state to George W. Bush over Al Gore, despite the fact that Gore had a national popular vote lead of 540,000! For a Court that claimed to believe in limited federal power and strict interpretation of the Constitution, they claimed the right to decide a presidential election, an arrogant and revolutionary grab of power, which by precedent now, could be utilized again in the future if a presidential election is close! 🙁

Then in January of this year, in the Citizens United case, the Supreme Court decided to overcome nearly a century of laws that prevented corporate intervention in national election campaigns, as destroying a level playing field in politics! They decided that special interest groups should have no limit on campaign spending to manipulate elections in their favor!

Both cases helped to promote the Republican cause, instead of the Court acting as a neutral arbiter! And now the news comes that an estimated $400 million will be spent by corporate groups to affect the midterm Congressional elections, as corporations work to prevent regulation and taxation, and bring about a Republican Congress favorable to them! 🙁

If this manipulation of politics, that the Supreme Court has been engaged in promoting, is not somehow overcome by legislation, the likelihood is that Congress, and also the Presidency, may become a permanent GOP majority that will continue to promote the rich and the powerful, and set out to destroy the reform legislation and regulatory laws put into place under Democratic administrations and Congresses since the 1930s!

This country could revert to the Gilded Age and 1920s mentality, and negate the Progressive Era, New Deal, Great Society, and the Obama reforms of the past year and a half! 🙁

This country could potentially become a nation that destroys Social Security, Medicare, and programs that benefit average Americans! As ordinary Americans come to realize that the rich elite are exploiting them and undermining much that has been done to promote equality and opportunity and fairness, the danger of bloodshed and violence and civil war based on economics increases, and destroys the American dream that has sustained us as America has become a better place for all of us! 🙁

90th Anniversary Of Woman Suffrage: The American South Tradition Of Human Rights Discrimination Remembered!

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Today, August 26th, marks the 90th Anniversary of Women Suffrage, the right of women to vote!

Somehow, when we look back, it is hard to believe that there was such strong resistance to this, as far back as 1848, right after the Seneca Falls, New York, Equal Rights Convention which started the suffrage fight!

The struggle went on for 72 years, and only came about as a result of World War I military contributions by women, and President Woodrow Wilson backing away from his earlier opposition to the 19th Amendment, finally endorsing it!

But still it took to 1920, and the final battle to win the 36th state, Tennessee, which was won by a state legislator who listened to his mother and cast the decisive vote!

What is often forgotten is that there were still 12 states that refused to accept the adopted amendment by ratifying it for a long time after 1920! They had to obey it and enforce the amendment, but they took decades to ratify it! 🙁 And nine of them were Southern states!

Imagine: Maryland in 1941, Virginia in 1952, Alabama in 1953, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina between 1969 and 1971, and Mississippi in 1984 finally ratified woman suffrage! 🙁

Notice that it was also the South, which was, of course, openly antagonistic to African American civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, and is still in many hidden ways working against it, now in the Republican party, instead of the Democratic party!

And what area of the country is most opposed to gay rights? Again, the South, which talks about “family values” and connects it to religion, wanting us to forget that it was religion that worked to keep women, African Americans, and poor people from voting in the South, and is now actively working against gay equality! 🙁

These “family values” in the South mean to keep women, African Americans, immigrants, and gays as second class citizens, unless the federal government interferes against “states rights”, meaning the power to discriminate! 🙁

The South may have lost the Civil War, but they have had tremendous impact in a negative way against the rights of women, African Americans, immigrants, the poor, and gay Americans over the decades since! Thank goodness that the US government has used its power and its influence, often belatedly, to enforce basic civil rights and civil liberties, overruling the false premise of “states rights”! 🙁

John McCain Survives, But Has He Lost His Dignity And Principles? Sadly, Yes! :(

Ronald 2 Comments

Arizona Senator John McCain, the GOP Presidential nominee in 2008, has successfully won his party’s nomination for a fifth term, overcoming Tea Party favorite, former Congressman and talk show host J. D. Hayworth by an overwhelming margin!

McCain spent more than $20 million in his renomination campaign, but in the process he lost his dignity and his principles! 🙁

McCain, always seen as an independent type maverick, had stood for campaign finance reform, for a fair immigration reform, and for climate change legislation, among other areas of courageous policy stands over the years! He was proud to call himself a maverick, and loved defying the establishment Republicans much of the time!

But he totally abandoned everything he had ever promoted, in the heat of the renomination contest, and became a shell of his old self! 🙁

In the process, he disillusioned many people who had seen him as unique and special, and now realize he has no principles except his own ego being stroked by holding a Senate seat at an age when he well might have decided to retire and spend time with his family!

The image of Senator John McCain has been damaged for good, and even if he reverts back to his old self as a maverick, which J. D. Hayworth has predicted, and is certainly possible, he will never be seen in the same light again!

Ambition and ego have won out over dignity and principle, and that is a sad commentary on the American political system! 🙁

The Power Of Personal Fortune In Florida Politics: Yes For The Republicans, No For The Democrats!

Ronald 1 Comment

Florida has just seen what everyone should have realized all along! 🙁

The Republican Party is beholden to big money, while the Democrats reject it! The Republicans have just nominated a crooked health care executive, Rick Scott,who has no shame, and no limit on personal fortune investment and self aggrandizement, having spent $50 million to win the nomination for Governor!

Meanwhile, billionaire Jeff Greene, who spent $14 million of his own fortune to compete against Kendrick Meek for the Democratic Senate nomination, lost by 25 percentage points, a whopping defeat!

The concept that a crooked, arrogant health care executive who was involved in Medicare fraud, is now the Republican nominee for Governor of the fourth largest state is an absolute outrage! The idea that a man who basically has “bought” the nomination by dividing and splitting the party he wishes to run, and will find it difficult to unite the GOP for the fall election, due to such bitter feelings by party leaders toward him, is a welcome sign for Democratic nominee, Alex Sink, the state’s Chief Financial Officer!

Kendrick Meek will become the only African American nominee for the US Senate, and made a great comeback, despite the heavy spending by an arrogant, corrupt stock market manipulator, Jeff Greene, and it gives Democrats hope that the voters rejected someone trying to buy the job!

The Florida results are a sign of the battles raging across the country in November, a clear cut choice between a candidate for Governor (Rick Scott) who is strongly anti abortion and in favor of bringing the Arizona immigration bill to Florida, against a Democrat (Alex Sink) who is a uniting and healing force for the Democrats, and gives them a real chance to win the Governorship, due to the split in the GOP and the horrific background of Rick Scott!

Meanwhile, the three way race of Kendrick Meek-Marco Rubio-Charlie Crist for the Senate will be one of the most watched races, with Crist in the lead for now! The question will be whether Meek can be a serious challenger and hurt Crist, or whether Crist will win many Democratic votes and be able to overcome conservative Marco Rubio!

The Danger Of The Right Wing Attack On Hispanics, Muslims, And African Americans! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

The United States is facing an alarming scenario! The country is being split wide open by right wing assaults on Hispanics, Muslims, and African Americans, and this is a great danger for the future security and safety of the nation! 🙁

The Arizona immigration law, which antagonizes Hispanics; the emotional attacks on the issue of the so called “Ground Zero Mosque” and mosques being built anywhere in the nation, which enrages moderate Muslims; and the Tea Party paranoia about African Americans as expressed in their rallies, and in their guide to Tea Party people attending the Glenn Beck-Sarah Palin rally at the Washington Mall on the anniversary of the Civil Rights March of August 28, 1963, to avoid African American areas of the District of Columbia; –these are all alarm bells ringing in the night! 🙁

These right wing forces in the Republican party and the Tea Party Movement fail to understand that this is not a nation of just white upper class and upper middle class Christians! We are a diverse nation, and rapidly becoming less white and less Christian, whether one likes it or not!

To antagonize, victimize, and scapegoat Hispanics, Muslims, and African Americans is an exercise in futility, and can turn law abiding, moderate citizens of these backgrounds into radicals and extremists to our detriment!

These right wingers are spewing hatred and poison, and if they do not watch their rhetoric and action, could provoke a race war, a civil war in this country–an absolutely terrifying concept! All this does is help promote an image in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, that the United States is a nation of bigotry, racism, discrimination, and prejudice!

It actually helps fuel the terrorism we are trying to prevent and neutralize! If young men and women in this country, of these various backgrounds, feel threatened, they could become the enemy from within and undermine the future of this country!

The American people must not allow themselves to be exploited and divided in this fashion by the right wing propagandists on talk radio, Fox News, and in government, as all this does is embolden these whackos to further incite hate and paranoia! 🙁

The way to overcome this is to have the people in November repudiate the right wing hate mongers in government; and boycott these propagandists on radio and cable, by demanding that corporations stop advertising on these hate shows, or begin a boycott by consumers, as has started with Target Corporation over the promotion of a right wing politician in Minnesota, Tom Emmer, who is spewing hate and division in his race for Governor! 🙁

This is a country for ALL Americans, not just white, upper class Christians who fail to understand that the future is not in their hands! Reality requires that we all learn to live together in peace, and with tolerance for each other, if we are to keep this nation stable, secure and safe for the long term future!

The Trend Is Overwhelmingly To Keep Incumbents In Office After All The Hype!

Ronald 1 Comment

One of the big stories of 2010 has been the belief that the country was ready to rebel against all incumbents in office, both in Congress and the Governorships, because of citizens’ disgust with the economic recession, and anger at government’s reaction to the crises the nation faces!

So therefore, it was supposed to be through the primary system that the “rascals” would be thrown out and replaced by “rebels” who would radically change the way the states and the national government operate!

So as we await the challenges to incumbents John McCain in Arizona and Lisa Murkowski in Alaska tomorrow, we should stop and observe how has the primary system gone so far!

The shock is that the grand total of SEVEN incumbents have been defeated in primaries, but 317 incumbents have been renominated!

So a little over TWO PERCENT of incumbents have been retired by the voters, and it is highly expected that Senators McCain and Murkowski will be renominated and likely win their contests in November, after all of the expectations that J. D. Hayworth would overcome McCain, and that Sarah Palin’s support of Joe Miller in Alaska would defeat Murkowski! But that is apparently not to be!

So all of the talk and discussion has led to little change, and it makes one wonder: Could the same thing happen with Congress and in some states in November? Could it be that the Republican Party might not gain that many seats from the Democrats? Could it be that Barack Obama will be seen as gaining an endorsement for his actions as President despite the public opinion polls?

No one can possibly know the answers now, but it certainly makes following the campaign for Congress and the Governorships more interesting, and makes one look forward to see what will happen on November 2!

It may be, as the author has indicated in other earlier entries, a very different result than many have predicted!

Presidential Vacations: Hypocrisy To The Extreme By Republicans! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican Party is criticizing President Obama for going on vacation while the country faces high unemployment!

Meanwhile, the Congress is on vacation, and many Republicans, as well as Democrats continue to go on “junkets” at taxpayer expense, but apparently they and everyone else, but not the President, are entitled to time away from the office! 🙁

One must remember that a President is NEVER truly “away from the office”! The job goes with the President everywhere he is, but the change of venue is a healthy thing for him, as well as anyone!

For the Republicans to claim that Obama does not “deserve” time away is outrageous, as Obama has spent less time in his first 19 months in office “away” than George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan! Bush had 14 so called “vacations” in his first 19 months, a total of 115 days, while Obama has had 9 “vacations” and a total of 48 days!

The stress of the job of President shows through, as evidenced by the obvious aging of every President, with even Obama at a youthful 49 graying very evidently in the past 19 months! To deny time away when the job follows you everywhere you go anyway, is just petty hypocrisy! 🙁

The Word “Radical” And American Presidents: An Abused Term!

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President Barack Obama has been called “radical” by many opponents because he had the “gall” to tackle tough issues, including Health Care Reform and Financial Reform, and to take bold stands on many other issues in his first 19 months in office!

Somehow, if a President takes leadership and tries to make life better for the citizens of this nation, he is labeled by those who want no change, and to keep an elite wealthy group in control of government, as being extreme–and the words “Socialist”, “Communist”, “Fascist”, “Nazi”, “Liberal”, “Progressive”, and any other term that can be thrown at him that is derogatory in nature is utilized! 🙁

So therefore, Abraham Lincoln was “radical” because he dared to challenge the South’s secession from the Union, and moved to abolish slavery!

So Theodore Roosevelt was “radical” because he dared to engage the government in regulation of big business; proceeded to promote regulation of food and drugs; promoted conservation and the environment; and became the first President to see labor and working people as a group that should be considered as having basic rights!

Woodrow Wilson was “radical” because he moved to regulate corporations by anti trust legislation and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission; created a national banking system through the Federal Reserve Act; and promoted the first national labor laws!

Franklin D. Roosevelt was “radical” because he promoted government intervention and action to deal with the Great Depression through his New Deal; dared to challenge the power of big business; and promoted the first “safety net” for the poor and the middle classes!

Harry Truman was “radical” because he dared to promote civil rights in the military and in the nation’s capital, and suggested the importance of health care and education on a national level!

Dwight D. Eisenhower was “radical” because he dared to intervene with federal troops at Little Rock to enforce federal court orders on school integration, and promoted federal intervention in setting education standards nationwide!

John F. Kennedy was “radical” because he promoted civil rights, federal expansion of education initiatives, and suggested a Medicare system for the elderly of our nation!

Lyndon B. Johnson was “radical” for promoting the Great Society programs in civil rights, health care, education, the environment, consumer protection, and the War on Poverty!

Richard Nixon was “radical” for promoting advancements on the environment, consumer protection, labor protections, and other domestic reforms!

If these actions are “radical”, we need more of them, and more Presidents having the guts that these men and President Obama has had!

Understand, this is NOT saying that all of these Presidents did not have faults and shortcomings, and that they cannot be criticized for these areas of failure!

Lincoln violated civil liberties during the Civil War; Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were white supremacists; FDR tried to “pack” the Supreme Court, and interned Japanese Americans during World War II; Truman is blamed by many for starting the Red Scare to protect his administration; Eisenhower is judged as slow to react in the area of civil rights, before sensing a need to intervene at Little Rock to back federal court orders; Kennedy is perceived as ineffective in accomplishing much of his domestic programs; Johnson is interpreted as promoting too many reforms without careful consideration as to their long range effect; and Nixon is seen as violating civil liberties, and as crooked in using power, leading up to Watergate!

Obama has been criticized as being too moderate by many progressives and liberals, and as too slow to react against conservative attacks!

But all of these Presidents made a long range impact on America, and should be acknowledged for such “radical” change!

Democratic Party Strategy Against The Republican Party: Finally Playing Hardball! :)

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The Democratic National Committee has finally decided to play “Hardball” against the opposition Republicans, something they have been lacking in for many years, going back to the time of Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John Kerry!

The Republicans have never had any problems with setting out to destroy the opposition, showing no ethics in their attacks on Democratic opponents at every level up to the Presidency! Now the DNC has decided to make clear to voters that there is a direct connection between the Tea Party Movement fringe and the GOP, so much so that at many rallies, the Republicans stand by as Tea Party extremists use racist, anti semitic language, and promote hate and division as they seek to repeal much of the Constitution and set back progress!

The message of the DNC will be that the GOP is linked to these anti government fanatics, and are outside the mainstream with candidates such as Rand Paul and Sharron Angle, along with other Tea Party favorites around the nation who have captured the local control of the Republican Party!

Tea Party extremists have called for the end of Medicare, repeal of the Obama Health Care legislation, privatizing of Social Security, extension of the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy, repealing the 17th Amendment and the 16th Amendment, modification of the 14th Amendment to take away birthright citizenship, abolition of the Department of Education and the Department of Energy, and the destruction of the Environmental Protection Agency! 🙁

It is hilarious that the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, is now asserting that the Democrats are promoting the “politics of fear”!

The Republican Party has long been the party of fear, a master of using scare tactics going back many years, including the years of Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s! Who are they to use that term against the Democrats, when the GOP is the master of distortion of the truth, lies, deception, and character assassination! 🙁

The Republicans have done everything in recent months to show the American people that they are willing to do and say anything, no matter how divisive and manipulative it is, to regain power and do the bidding of the corporations and the wealthy! 🙁

Under the circumstances, the Democrats have no choice but to respond in kind, as regrettable as that is! It would be preferable to have an honest, sincere debate of differences, but the playing field does not allow that! So, as the old saying goes, “what is good for the goose, is good for the gander!”

Joe Biden’s Prediction For The Midterm Elections: Control Of Congress Assured!

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Vice President Joe Biden gave a “pep talk” to the Democratic National Committee yesterday, predicting that the party would retain control of both houses of Congress in the November 2 midterm elections!

Smartly, he did not give any numbers as to the party balance, and did not state that the party would retain the same number of seats, as that would be foolhardy, when one looks at the history of midterm elections!

But he pointed out that the Republican party has offered no real alternatives other than “repeal and repeat”, and that the American people, going through the roughest time since the Great Depression, would come to their senses after Labor Day, and realize that slow progress has been made, and it makes no sense to go back to the failed policies of the George W. Bush years, which led to this economic disaster!

The Tea Party activists running on the GOP line will weaken the party, Biden predicted, and with all of the propaganda going around that the Democrats are going to lose many seats, it is a fact, well known and reported, that the Republican National Committee is running low on campaign funds, while the Democrats are in much better financial shape!

So the media reports that are widespread, making it seem as if the Democrats are in retreat, may not be the case, as the author feels! But, of course, it is essential that all who believe that a return of the Republicans to control of Congress would be devastating, to get out there and work for the party and vote!