Month: August 2013

A Great Historic Moment: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter At Lincoln Memorial Today To Commemorate 50th Anniversary Of March On Washington!

Ronald 3 Comments

Today will go down as one of the most historic days of speech making in American history, commemorating one of the greatest speeches and events in American history—the historic speech of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington fifty years ago today!

We will see three Democratic Presidents–Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter—speak at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the event, along with Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, the older daughter of Lyndon B. Johnson, and the one surviving speaker of the March on Washington, Georgia Congressman John Lewis!

As wonderful as all this is, one has to wonder where is George W. Bush? His dad, George H. W. Bush, is in poor health and in a wheelchair, so he gets a pass, but why is the son not expected to be there? And what about the Republican leadership in Congress and Republican Governors? Where are they, and will any show up? If so, there is so far a deathly silence, as if they do not wish to be part of this historic event, even though many Republicans were supportive fifty years ago.

If no leading Republicans show up, it will be a total disgrace, and a sign of the terminal illness of a party that had Lincoln, TR, and Ike, along with many Senators and Governors historically, who made the Republican Party proud!

105th Birthday Commemoration Of President Lyndon B. Johnson!

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Today, August 27, is the 105th Birthday Commemoration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, a President who had a massive effect on our nation’s history.

We live under the influence of LBJ on Civil Rights, Medicare, Education, NPR, PBS, Environmental Laws, Consumer Protection Legislation, Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation, and the War on Poverty that so desperately needs to be revived after 45 years of ignoring it!

Yes, this President is blamed, and carries the burden of the Vietnam War, but his legacy in domestic affairs lives on!

And tomorrow, his older daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, will join Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, which led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 during the Presidency of LBJ!

The Immorality And Lack Of Ethics Of Republicans And Conservatives On ObamaCare!

Ronald 4 Comments

It is the season for people to be signing up for ObamaCare, and the GOP and conservatives are doing everything they can to try to convince young people NOT to sign up, and discouraging and manipulating and misleading other Americans with their hateful propaganda, claiming that ObamaCare will not work, and that it is going to cause rate increases and undermine the nation’s long term future, all a bunch of hideous lies and mistruths.

One has to wonder how do these people sleep at night, being happy at denying millions of Americans of health care, unconcerned that people will die as a result of NOT having health care coverage!

The Republican Party and conservatives are praying for failure, but ObamaCare will succeed, and the GOP will be at a disadvantage when the American people come to grips with reality, and realize what they have been doing!

And then, the Republican Party will face a gloomy future, as no one who gains health care is going to, unless they are purely stupid or insane, vote for a party that worked to deny what every civilized Western nation offers; decent health care at a much lower cost, saving lives in the process!

Senator Lindsey Graham Faces Whacko Tea Party Opponents In Republican Senate Primary In South Carolina!

Ronald 35 Comments

Anyone who follows American politics KNOWS that South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is a solid conservative.

Graham tends to be critical of President Obama on most issues; was one of the leaders of the fight to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998, while a member of the House of Representatives; and is always a strong supporter of defense and foreign interventions, as is his good friend, John McCain.

But that is precisely the problem he faces now in the upcoming battle for the Senate nomination of his party for a third term election in 2014. That is, he SOMETIMES agrees with the President; is TOO GOOD a friend of John McCain, seen by many conservatives as not conservative enough; and infuriates those who are isolationist and non interventionist in the libertarian movement led by Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

So therefore, Graham is labeled not acceptable to the Tea Party whackos who want to defeat him and put someone more right wing than he is in the Senate! Graham also has the gall to support immigration reform, and support the President on civil liberties policies..

So we have South Carolina State Senator Lee Bright taking on Graham, and this Tea Party activist has gone off the deep end, and demonstrated total insanity in his assertions that Graham is a “Community organizer” for the Muslim Brotherhood!

Think of how crazy and looney that assertion by Bright is, and it is clear that Bright is far from “bright”!

First, Graham Is NOT a community organizer, while Barack Obama was, but somehow these right wing nuts think anyone who helps poor people in urban neighborhoods is, somehow, not legitimate. Apparently, only if someone is involved in the corporate world and makes tons of profit and steps all over workers and consumers, is a person worth anything!

This is a very sick, twisted way of looking at fellow human beings, wishing to do nothing to help those less fortunate, and yet, one can be sure that Bright think of himself as a “good Christian”, which he most certainly is not, as if he examines the life of Jesus Christ, what does he think Jesus was?—A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER!

And to say that Lindsey Graham is working for the Muslim Brotherhood, when Graham is one of the most outspoken critics of that Middle Eastern group, makes Lee Bright certifiable to be committed for a mental examination as to his sanity! It is a totally preposterous idea, but just as much to say that Barack Obama is a Muslim or a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, when Obama has been responsible for the death of more Islamic terrorists and, sadly, some innocent bystanders, than George W. Bush did in his eight years in the White House!

As one observes the total lunatic nature of the Tea Party Movement, one realizes that there is a serious mental illness prevalent among people who claim to follow Christianity, but have no clue as to the teachings of their Lord and Savior!

The only blessing for Graham is that Bright is only one of three primary opponents, all nuts and looney, and that should help him to gain the nomination for a third term, by the division of votes among his opponents!

The “Biased” Media: The Right Wing Much More Powerful Than Many People Realize!

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The Republican Party and right wing conservatives LOVE to claim that news media–including newspapers, periodicals, radio, television, cable–are all distorted toward liberal and progressive viewpoints!

This is a great farce and lie, total propaganda!

Yes, of course, there are media which are promoting the viewpoint of the left side of the political spectrum!

But the right wing has built a solid, powerful media empire, as well as having “think tanks” that spew forth propaganda on a daily basis!

Some examples, incomplete, of the right wing influence in news media follow, in no special order:

Rush Limbaugh
Glenn Beck
Michael Savage
Sean Hannity
Bill O’Reilly
Mark Levin
Ann Coulter
Michelle Malkin
Laura Ingraham
Michael Reagan
Fox News Channel
Wall Street Journal
Washington Times
New York Post
News Max
National Review
The Weekly Standard
The American Spectator
The American Conservative
The Heritage Foundation
The Drudge Report
The Cato Institute
Family Research Council
Red State
Christian Coalition
The John Birch Society
Freedom Works
Tea Party Express
Tea Party Patriots
Judicial Watch
Conservapedia
Republican National Committee

Here we have 32 leading examples, but there are many more, so the idea that the right wing has little influence or impact is certainly NOT true!

“What Ifs” Of Presidents Defeated For Reelection

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The game of “What If” is a fun game, trying to imagine what would have changed history!

An example is to wonder what changed circumstances would have caused Presidents defeated for reelection to have won reelection.

Since World War II, three Presidents have been defeated when running for another term—Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush.

What are the common bonds among these three Presidents that caused them to lose?

Presidential Primary Opposition—Gerald Ford from Ronald Reagan in 1976; Jimmy Carter from Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown in 1980; George H. W. Bush from Pat Buchanan in 1992.

Bad Economy and Recession—Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush

Third Party Candidate Opposition In Election Campaign—Jimmy Carter from John Anderson in 1980; George H. W. Bush from Ross Perot in 1992.

Communication Problems With the American People—Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush.

Additionally, Gerald Ford had the problem of the Richard Nixon Pardon, which hurt him; and Jimmy Carter had the problem of the Iran Hostage Crisis, which dogged him through Election Day and beyond.

Finally, all three Presidents had the problem of an opponent who became very appealing as an alternative—Gerald Ford with Jimmy Carter; Carter with Ronald Reagan; and George H. W. Bush with Bill Clinton. Carter and Clinton represented a generational change–eleven years between Ford and Carter, and 22 years between Bush and Clinton, while Reagan represented a charismatic actor who had a loyal following able to overcome doubts by the perceived weaknesses of Carter.

One has to wonder what might have been had Ford been elected in 1976, preventing a President Carter; what might have been had Carter been reelected, preventing a President Reagan; and what might have been had Bush been reelected, preventing a President Clinton.

Reagan might still have succeeded President Ford, but after what would have been 12 years of Nixon and Ford, one wonders?

Would Ted Kennedy have had an open season to win in 1980, or Jerry Brown, or who else, as a result? If Reagan had not been President, would Bush have been so, and if not, would his son, George W. Bush have been President? Unlikely, but also if father Bush had defeated Clinton, who would have been the likely front runner for the Democrats in 1996, after what would have been 8-16 years of GOP control?

And would we be speaking about Hillary Clinton as a likely Presidential candidate, and even winner, now in 2013?

This is all food for thought, and a fun game, and a great novel, in the lines of Jeff Greenfield”s book on a “Second Kennedy Term”, due out on the book market very soon!

Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter And Human Rights Vs Ronald Reagan

Ronald 20 Comments

President Lyndon Johnson overcame his Southern past to promote the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 through Congress, because he knew it was the right thing to do in his time!

President Jimmy Carter took a strong stand on human rights in Haiti, the Philippines, South Africa and elsewhere when he was President, because he knew it was the right thing to do in his time!

On the other hand, Ronald Reagan did everything to work against advancement of civil rights in America and human rights overseas in his time, refusing to condemn the governments of Haiti, the Philippines, and South Africa!

Only when Haiti and the Philippines overthrew their governments in 1986 in revolution, did Reagan, belatedly, endorse the changes and say he was for human rights in those nations, only five years late, and only when the deed was done to overthrow both dictatorships!

And when Reagan had a chance to condemn apartheid in South Africa, he threatened to, and finally did veto, a resolution passed in Congress to start sanctions against that racist regime. The Congress went ahead and overrode the veto, the first time in the 20th century that Congress had overridden a President on a foreign policy matter, with many Republicans joining Democrats in overriding the veto. This is so well depicted in the fantastic film, THE BUTLER, one of the best films in many years to come from Hollywood about history and politics!

In the film, the actor portraying Reagan shows insensitivity to the main character, black actor Forest Whitaker, on this issue, but then asks, is he possibly wrong in his decision to veto? Forrest Whittaker does not answer, but the resounding answer is YES!

So despite the adulation of Ronald Reagan on the far RIGHT of the Republican Party and the conservative movement, Reagan is correctly depicted as NOT being an advocate of civil rights and human rights, and did not have the courage and foresight of Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter, who were principled men for good, unlike our 40th President!

Barack Obama, Ted Cruz, Chester Alan Arthur And “Birtherism”

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President Barack Obama has been constantly accused of being born in Kenya, and the “Birther” myth will not die, despite the fact that his birth certificate shows he was born in the state of Hawaii.

Now Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who seeks to run for President, is being questioned as to his right to run for President, since he was born in Canada of an American born mother from Delaware.

But actually, the first “birther” dispute, much hidden, but occurring in the 1880s, was over the right of Chester Alan Arthur to become our Vice President under James A. Garfield, and then to succeed him in the Presidency, after Garfield was assassinated in 1881.

It turns out that at the tim, there was publication of a political diatribe, accusing Arthur of being born in Canada, 45 miles away from Fairfield, Vermont, where it is claimed he was born, and even the birth year is debated, officially 1830, but thought to be actually 1829!

The fact is that Arthur went on to be President for three and a half years, and signed the Pendleton Civil Service Act, courageously vetoed the Chinese Exclusion Act (although passed over his veto by Congress), and initiated the Steel Navy. He turned out to be not a great President, but certainly not a terrible President.

Barack Obama has been President, and has accomplished a lot, particularly considering constant opposition to the extreme, by the Republican Party.

And Ted Cruz, as horrible a candidate as he is in the minds of progressives and liberals, will not be stopped by “birther” myths, but only by the resounding repudiation by the American voters if he is the GOP nominee for President in 2016!

50th Anniversary Of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech And The March On Washington!

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It is hard to believe that this weekend, and specifically next Wednesday, four days from now, marks the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington by a crowd estimated at a quarter of a million people, calling for racial equality and justice.

It was a peaceful march, with a crowd of people of all races, an historic moment on the way to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

It was a time of the greatness of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther, King Jr, and his brilliant “I Have A Dream” speech, one of the few greatest speeches ever given by any American in our entire history!

It was a time of hope and optimism, before the tragedy of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr himself, as well as the tragic war in Vietnam, which took 58,000 lives!

It was a time of optimism and a sense of progress, and now, sadly, the same battles fought over race and voting rights haunts us, as the Supreme Court majority, created by Republican Presidents who represent a desire to move backwards on the subject of race, seem to believe that denial of voting rights and the issue of race no longer is of importance in America, when it continues to be a divisive matter that prevents the full development of justice and equality in this nation!

This is a sad time when the Republican Party, which in large measure supported the civil rights legislation of the mid 1960s, now has adopted the old Southern Democratic racist policies that the national Democratic Party repudiated fifty years ago, and the GOP seems unembarrassed that they have become the “poster boy” for racial prejudice and nativism!

So while we celebrate the anniversary, we are still having to fight the battles won, and then lost, due to the party that once boasted of Lincoln, TR, and Ike, and now boasts of despicable leaders who have no shame, including Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, et al, and their ilk!

Town Hall Meetings, Senator Tom Coburn Et Al, And Pandering To The Mob Mentality!

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Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, who this author has very little respect for, including regarding him as one of the worst Senators in American history, actually was starting to make me think that maybe I had misjudged him. He had begun to sound rational and reasonable on issues that he discussed on MORNING JOE on MSNBC, and I have always thought that his fellow Senator James Inhofe, who denies climate change, was far worse.

But lo and behold, Coburn has gone off the deep end, lost all credibility he had gained in my eyes, as a result of pandering to a mob mentality at a Town Hall meeting in Oklahoma, and this is not the only Republican to have done so this month!

Coburn is now claiming that Barack Obama, who has been very nice to him, and had meetings with him, is “perilously close” to meeting the standards for impeachment! And other Republicans are saying that they think they have the votes to impeach Obama, and one wishes that he could author the bill to impeach Obama, as if this is a laughing matter, a light matter, an action that if taken is no big deal, when it is INDEED a big deal!

The problem is that there is ABSOLUTELY NO BASIS for impeachment, as Republican strategist Nicole Wallace, who worked for John McCain in his 2008 Presidential campaign, has clearly stated, and any rational Republican, with the number diminishing, KNOWS this to be a fact!

These town halls are becoming an example of democracy gone amuck, where racists, nutcakes, whackos, lunatics, show up and demonstrate the worst elements of ignorant people thinking they know what should be done in government. And disturbingly, it is often women who spew forth hatred and venom and poison unbecoming a decent lady, let alone gentlemen!

Where is this going to stop? When are we going to have Republicans recognize that appealing to the ignorant mob rule is dangerous, and that responsible political leaders must take a stand against such craziness, even if, by so doing, they lose their coveted seats, which should not matter more than doing what is right and moral?

And if Colin Powell, the esteemed former General in the Persian Gulf War, and Secretary of State, can, rightfully, condemn the North Carolina Voter ID law as counterproductive and outrageous, and right in front of North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, who signed the despicable legislation, just one of the many discriminatory Republican laws on voting rights, it is time for decent Republican voters who are dismayed by what has happened to their party, to make clear that they are abandoning any Republican such as Tom Coburn who speaks and talks in a reckless, irresponsible manner about our President and our government!

Do the Republicans look to promote anarchy and chaos, and follow the lead of demagogues Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and their ilk?

If so, they should be denounced and repudiated by all sane Americans!