Day: January 8, 2011

The Recklessness And Irresponsibility of Sarah Palin: The Background Of The Shooting Of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords In Tucson, Arizona! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin promoted a campaign against the Democratic Congressmen who voted for the Obama Health Care bill last year but whose districts also voted for John McCain in 2008, and used an advertisement on Sarahpac.com which displayed a graphic with crosshairs on a map.

One of those members of Congress was Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson, Arizona, who was shot and seriously wounded today at a Tucson area supermarket while holding a Congressional citizen meeting with her constituents.

The graphic, having crosshairs on a map representing those congressional districts, was an extremely reprehensible action by Sarah Palin! 🙁

Just the suggestion of guns and violence is enough to place at least some blame on Sarah Palin for having encouraged violence against opponents of her views on health care or any other issue. No sane, responsible person would have done such a thing as she endorsed and backed!  🙁

If this does not by itself cause sane people to see Sarah Palin as totally lacking in judgment and sanity to be President, then indeed we are in for a disaster in the making that will be the greatest in our history! 🙁

There was absolutely no excuse for what Sarah Palin did during the 2010 election campaign, and there is no excuse for any future stupid, reckless, insane statements by this woman who should not be admired, but rather informed to go home to Alaska and leave this nation alone! She has done more than enough damage as it is, and if Gabrielle Giffords passes away, she will have blood on her hands by what she promoted by her sick rhetoric last year! 🙁

Another Outrage From Arizona State Government: Banning Of Mexican American Studies Program While Retaining Asian American, African American And Native American Studies Programs! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

Arizona is indeed becoming the new Mississippi or Alabama, gaining the horrible reputation both of those states gained in the civil rights era of the 1960s.

The new Attorney General of Arizona, Tom Horne, who used to be the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state, has banned the Mexican American Studies program in the high schools of Tucson, while continuing to allow Asian American, African American, and Native American Studies programs to continue.

This is adding to the image of Arizona, which is now the DEATH PANELS state, cutting $1.2 million from the budget of Medicaid, and therefore preventing 96 transplant patients of all kinds of organs from getting necessary surgery, and two patients already passing away, while it would be easy to find that small amount if Governor Jan Brewer really cared about life! 🙁

This ethnic discrimination is being appealed, and the decision of the attorney general, enforcement of a law he originated as education administrator, should be reversed as also illegal conflict of interest by the man who claims to enforce the law, and then shows totally outrageous prejudice on the level of Bull Connor, Birmingham Police Chief in the 1960s, or Governor George Wallace of Alabama!

A case on this issue may have to be brought to the Supreme Court eventually, as now we have demonstration of a new racism against Mexican Americans, as we had in the past against other groups. This issue, along with the new Arizona law, on checking for illegal status of anyone who looks Hispanic, is in the worst traditions of racism and hatred that we would like to think had already passed into history, but sadly is alive and well! 🙁

New Chief Of Staff William Daley A Good Choice By President Obama?

Ronald 1 Comment

The appointment of William Daley as Chief of Staff to President Obama is a very controversial selection.

Certainly, Daley has the smarts and the contacts that a Chief of Staff should have.

He is a friend of the business community, and his appointment has been applauded by Republican leaders and the Chambers of Commerce, ironically two groups which worked to overcome the Obama agenda and put the GOP in control of the House of Representatives and state governorships and legislatures.

The brother of outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and the son of former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, the new Chief of Staff brings a background as former Secretary of Commerce for President Clinton, and also opposition to the Obama Health Care legislation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headed by his rival, Professor Elizabeth Warren of Harvard University.

It is hard for progressives and liberals to accept and tolerate such an appointment, as it seems to contradict the Obama agenda, and it makes one wonder if Obama is truly becoming another Bill Clinton, moving toward the center, and trying to make friends with those who have bitterly opposed him.

Is such a strategy going to work? It just might, and could help secure Obama a second term in the White House.

But will it lead to more progressive legislation in the next two to six years, or will Obama disappoint those on the left who expected more aggressive pursuit of major progressive goals based on Obama’s 2008 campaign?

Is Obama selling out his supporters to be re-elected, or is this just the reality of American politics, that too much change cannot be accomplished under our system of government?

Do we have to be happy for what has been gained, and be satisfied, or should we be skeptics and be concerned about the direction of the Obama Presidency?

The feelings of the author are confusion and concern, as so much more needs to be pursued, but the re-election campaign gets in the way of such goals.

Of course, if Obama fails to win re-election, then none of the goals of the progressives will be attainable, so it leaves progressives in a “no man’s land”! What alternatives do progressives have but hope for the best from Obama? Probably none, sad to say! 🙁

The Silly Season: Rudy Guiliani Running For President Again?

Ronald Leave a comment

This has been a really crazy week, with suggestions that four new names should be added to the list of potential Republican nominees–Jon Huntsman, Jeb Bush, Michele Bachmann, and Donald Trump.

But now the ultimate crazy suggestion has cropped up–former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani! 🙁

What a preposterous idea, that the former Mayor, who has been out of office for a decade, flopped dramatically in the 2008 Presidential campaign by failing to win Florida, and has contributed absolutely nothing to politics except his big ego and ambition and more and more stupid statements, seems to think that magically he can utilize September 11 as his campaign issue after it has already failed once!

Trying to claim that his so called “moderate” views on gay rights and abortion give him a counterweight against other much more conservative candidates, is clear evidence that Guiliani lives on some other planet!

To believe that the Republican Party will nominate a person with his views shows he does not know or understand the impact of the Tea Party Movement, which already is a threat to moderates in the Senate and to Mitt Romney, arguably the front runner at the moment in the Republican race.

Romney is way ahead of everyone by far in the polling of the New Hampshire primary, and yet he has a lot to overcome to be the GOP nominee.

So Guiliani is living in “LA LA LAND” if he hallucinates enough to believe he will be the GOP nominee in 2012!

The suggestion of the author to Rudy is “Get a life”! 🙁

Senator Richard Lugar: Endangered By The Tea Party Movement In The Republican Party! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

America benefits by having two strong political parties, which understand that compromise is part of politics, and that “crossing the aisle” to work with the opposition party is not treason!

Unfortunately, with the rise of the Tea Party Movement, the Republican Party has been radicalized to the far right, unwilling to accept any Republican who does not follow the extremist agenda of the Tea Party Movement.

Therefore, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Richard Lugar of Indiana are all facing likely challenges in the primaries in 2012, when they all have a difficult re-election contest for their Senate seats.

The one who seems the most endangered is Lugar, truly one of the rare gems of the Senate.

Lugar is certainly a conservative, but he is a “respectable” conservative willing to cross the aisle and work with Democrats.

Acknowledged as a true expert on American foreign policy, and as a thoughtful individual, the author has always had respect for Senator Lugar, and he is well regarded by his own colleagues, and has often been seen as a potential Secretary of State.

Lugar cooperated with Barack Obama in the Senate on various issues, and just recently, he supported the DREAM Act, the START Treaty with Russia, and voted for both of Obama’s Supreme Court nominees–Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

For this, he has been condemned by Tea Party activists in Indiana, admittedly a state which is much more conservative traditionally than other Midwestern states.

So it seems clear Lugar will have a major primary challenge and might lose his seat, which would be a tremendous loss for his party and the Senate’s reputation.

We need more Richard Lugars in the Senate, if that body is to retain an image of being a serious minded, respectable institution. There are too many firebrand extremists in that legislative body, embarrassing the Republican Party and insuring deadlock and stalemate.