Month: March 2015

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton Becomes A Politician To Watch!

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Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who is in his first year in the US Senate, after only two years in the House of Representatives, is a man to watch.

He has rapidly gained notice by his organizing with 46 other Republican Senators to send a letter to Iran, making clear that any agreement between the United States and Iran must gain backing of Congress, which actually is not the case, as many agreements between nations do NOT require Congressional approval. The action of these Senators is a violation of the Logan Act, however.

This outrageous action arranged by Cotton puts him on the front pages, a notable achievement for the youngest member of the US Senate, being only 37 years old.

And when one looks into the background on Senator Cotton, it is shown that he attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School, and had Professor Elizabeth Warren as a professor in law school.

Additionally, Cotton served in the military in both the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War between 2005-2009, and very few members of Congress have ever served in a war zone!

Cotton is intelligent, handsome, well spoken, and will rapidly become adorable to the right wing and the Tea Party, and he has good relations with both already.

Do not be surprised if his political stock rises rapidly, and it is not beyond possibility that Tom Cotton could be a “dark horse” candidate for the Presidency in 2016, as he has all the proper credentials for the right wing to promote, boost, and finance his candidacy.

And if one says, hey wait, he would be only 39 at the time of the Presidential Election of 2016, the answer is that he is old enough under the Constitution to be President, and would be, of course, the youngest President in American history, were he to be elected.

However, William Jennings Bryan was 36 when he ran for President on the Democratic party line in 1896, so Cotton would not be the youngest major party nominee in history.

This is not an endorsement in any sense of Tom Cotton, but simply pointing out that one should not assume he is a lightweight who can be ignored, and there seems no possibility that he could actually be nominated or elected President.

But stranger things have happened such as . . . .Barack Obama!

Foreign Policy Is Made By Presidents, NOT Senators! The Gall Of 47 Republican Senators To Interfere In Diplomacy With Iran, Encouraging War!

Ronald 7 Comments

The insults to President Barack Obama continue to mount up, with the Republican Senate, at least 47 of the 54 sitting members, having the gall to interfere in diplomacy of the Obama Administration with Iran over its nuclear program and development.

Can one imagine a Democratic Senate interfering with Richard Nixon as he negotiated with the Soviet Union or China?

Can one imagine a Senate interfering with Jimmy Carter as he negotiated with Egypt and Israel in the late 1970s?

NEVER does a Senate have any right to give input to negotiations of our government with any other government in process, and to promote war with Iran, rather than try to prevent war, is a reprehensible act by these 47 Republican Senators!

Basically, these 47 Senators have interfered with and broken the Logan Act of 1798, updated in 1994, and should be condemned for illegal interference with the Executive Branch. They could be prosecuted for violating the Logan Act, and could be expelled from the US Senate!

If war was to break out, the Republican Senate would be held responsible for provoking it, and their sons and daughters should be first in line for military action that their own fathers and mothers have recklessly backed!

Kudos go to the following seven GOP Senators who did NOT sign the letter, and keep their dignity: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Bob Corker of Tennessee (chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee), Dan Coats of Indiana, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Jeff Flake of Arizona!

If Hillary Clinton Flounders, What Then For The Democratic Party?

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Behind the scenes, there is growing trepidation that Hillary Clinton might have damaged her candidacy over the private emails issue, and also, the foreign contributions to the Clinton Foundation.

So there are whispers about the issue: What then, for the Democratic Party, if Hillary Clinton flounders?

There are those who think it is time for Vice President Joe Biden to decide to enter the race.

There are those who think it is time for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to stop stating she will not run, and to enter the race.

There are those who think that former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who has been hinting he would run no matter what Hillary Clinton does, to do just that.

There are those who hope that the hints that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders would run are going to lead to his actual candidacy.

There are those who think that former Virginia Senator Jim Webb will offer himself as the more conservative alternative within the Democratic Party, as he has hinted earlier.

But now there are other whisperings, including Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and or New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand thinking of entering the race, with women particularly looking to Gillibrand as the younger version of Hillary Clinton.

And, believe it or not, there is a “blast from the past”, with three former Presidential seekers thought to be considering getting back into the competition for the Presidency: Jerry Brown, John Kerry, and Al Gore!

Imagine a candidate who last ran in 1992 against Bill Clinton, running against his wife 16 years later, and having first run for President in 1976 and 1980 against Jimmy Carter!

Imagine the Democratic Presidential nominee of 12 years ago choosing to leave the State Department and decide to run, possibly against the brother of the man, George W. Bush, that he lost to in 2004!

Imagine the Democratic Presidential nominee of 2000, who won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote in a Supreme Court decision, Bush V. Gore, that gave Bush the Presidency, now coming back nearly a generation, and possibly running against the man, Jeb Bush, whose state gave his brother George W. the Presidency.

Realize that only two Presidential nominees ran for and won the Presidency as long as 12 years after being on the national ballot–Henry Clay in 1844 after 1832, and Franklin D. Roosevelt losing as Vice Presidential nominee in 1920 and coming back to win the White House in 1932!

For history and political junkies, the possible scenarios are totally fascinating!

A Disturbing Reality: Military Suicide Rate Of 22 Per Day Is Primarily Due To The Bush-Cheney Wars In Iraq And Afghanistan!

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The alarming statistic that 22 military personnel commit suicide every single day is clearly tied to the Bush-Cheney wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,

Not all veterans or military personnel who kill themselves come from these recent wars, but a very high percentage do, and it is because the Bush-Cheney Administration was too loose and easy to send troops to war, and not concerned enough about their treatment when they came home scarred from their war experiences.

It is important to realize that it is not just combat situations that have caused Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but also the growing evidence that the torture and abuse of detainees in both Iraq and Afghanistan was part of the requirement given to many of these military personnel, beyond the day to day combat.

One could conceivably fight and kill in a war and learn to deal with it, as a concept of “us or them”.

But making many military units, including those not in combat, torture and abuse detainees in the most heinous fashion, of which we had only a hint of what happened at Abu Ghraib in 2003, is the real culprit, as it is clear that Abu Ghraib is just the tip of the iceberg on this matter of torture and abuse.

It is much harder to justify in one’s mind the use of torture and abuse, when compared to actual combat situations, where one can rationalize the horrors that occur. For anyone to engage in torture and abuse and NOT feel guilty would require someone of very strong mental and physical constitution, or else demonstrate that we have troops that have major mental illness which allows them to enjoy and bask and prosper in hurting other human beings in the most despicable ways.

So Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld et al are indeed, as the New York Times has declared, guilty of war crimes, and rightfully should be charged in international courts, but that will not, of course, ever happen.

But each time after just a little more than an hour, when a soldier or former military personnel sees his life destroyed and has tremendous guilt and chooses to end his life, the guilt and burden of this reality falls on our government leaders who allowed such torture and abuse to go on, and have worked to keep as much of it secret as possible.

But over time, the truth shall come out, as it is starting to emerge now on news stories on National Public Radio and elsewhere, and it will condemn the Presidency of George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and many others to the conclusion that we have had true war criminals in charge of our government.

They have used the September 11 attacks to justify actions and motivations that have poisoned our reputation as a nation for the long haul, and for that, they will never be able to be forgiven!

The Shame Of Alabama, The Republican Party And the Supreme Court On The 50th Anniversary Of The Selma To Montgomery March!

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This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March of 1965.

On this significant anniversary, three things are clear.

Alabama has NOT shed its image of bigotry!

The Republican Party, many of whose members supported the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is not sending anyone to commemorate this event. Late news reports indicate that former President George W. Bush and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy are to show up, but few other Republicans, and none other than McCarthy in the leadership of the GOP.

And the Supreme Court has contributed to the withering away of the Voting Rights Act by its 2013 decision permitting new voting rights restrictions!

Not only is racial discrimination still very obvious in Alabama and much of the South, but now Alabama is the center of a so called states rights struggle over gay marriage, with the state Supreme Court, headed by George Wallace like Chief Justice Roy Moore ordering that gay marriage be stopped, after a federal judge ordered it go forward, and with the Supreme Court poised to consider the case, which will be decided by June.

So prejudice, discrimination, and the false argument of states rights still reigns in the original home of the Confederate government!

And for the GOP to bypass major representation at this premier civil rights anniversary is to the shame of the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike!

And for the Supreme Court and African American Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Chief Justice John Roberts to promote a weakening of the Voting Rights Act two years ago, and see what it has wrought on voter suppression, is to the shame of the top Court of the land, which has not done its job to uphold the Constitution of the United States!

The Inevitability Of Hillary Clinton Is No Longer Active! Doubts Are Rising!

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It has been pointed out that any candidate for President who is ahead in public opinion polls in the second year of a Presidential term has never been elected President, since the age of polling became active after World War II.

If it was, Thomas E. Dewey, Robert Taft, George Romney, Edmund Muskie, Ted Kennedy, Mario Cuomo, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton would have served in the Presidency after elections in 1948, 1952, 1968, 1972, 1980, 1992, 2000, and 2008.

Instead, we had Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama!

So now it is clear that the inevitability of Hillary Clinton as our 45th President is far from certain, due to various factors!

Hillary Clinton is seen as too close to Wall Street billionaires and millionaires, and too close friendships with major corporations, while mouthing the support of overcoming income inequities.

Hillary Clinton is seen as a “hawk” in foreign policy, even a neoconservative to many, having backed the Iraq War and coming across as much more hardline than many Democrats on recent events in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Hillary Clinton has supported the Patriot Act and National Security Agency surveillance and spying.

Hillary Clinton has not been a strong supporter on environmental issues, particularly in supporting fracking.

Hillary Clinton has come across as secretive, and now has the new scandal of having all emails being private, rather than on government emails while Secretary of State for four years.

Hillary Clinton has also allowed foreign contributions to the Clinton Foundation, including Arab countries in the Middle East, not a wise or thoughtful idea.

Hillary Clinton has the history of earlier questioning of her ethics, both as First Lady and as Senator and Secretary of State, and many see her marriage to Bill Clinton as a sham, designed to promote her insatiable desire to be the first woman President of the United States.

The Smartest Presidents Based On Intellect, Not Success!

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Being smart, being intelligent, being brilliant is something that in no way guarantees success, but can be noticed for what it is, and we have had our share of Presidents who have been among the brightest public figures we have been blessed with.

Chronologically, this select list would include:

John Adams (1797-1801)
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
James Madison (1809-1817)
John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)
James A. Garfield (1881)
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)
Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
Bill Clinton (1993-2001)

Notice that only three or four of these Presidents are seen as having been successful, including Jefferson, Roosevelt, Wilson and Clinton.

Notice that Hoover, Nixon, and Carter are seen by many as failures or certainly as being in the bottom half of the Presidents.

The two Adamses and Madison are saved by their other massive accomplishments, so are rated in the second ten of our Presidents by most historians.

Garfield, considered the most brilliant between the second Adams and TR is the great unknown, being shot after four months in office and dying after six and a half months in office, but believed to be brilliant and an unknown factor as to his potential for greatness.

Notice that George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy, all rated very high in rankings of Presidents, do not qualify on intellect or pure brilliance, and yet some, particularly Lincoln, FDR, and Kennedy have long been highly honored and respected, despite not fitting the definition of being part of the most brilliant intellects we have had in the Presidency!

March 4th: A Day Which Will Live In Presidential History!

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March 4th is an historic day, the day every fourth year was the Presidential inauguration date through the inauguration of 1933, and then superseded by the 20th Amendment, which changed the inauguration ceremonies every fourth year to January 20, beginning in 1937.

So March 4, 1789, was the inception of our Constitution, but George Washington was not present in New York City, and was not to arrive until April 30, 57 days late, therefore making his two terms in office short of eight years, being approximately two months less than that!

March 4, 1801, was the inauguration of our first opposition president, with Thomas Jefferson succeeding his election rival, John Adams, who he had served as Vice President, and the beginning of peaceful transition from an “in’ party to an “out” party.

March 4, 1829, was the inauguration of the “people’s President”, Andrew Jackson, who represented the voice of the “common man” of the times.

March 4, 1861, was the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln to his first term, in the midst of a crisis that soon led to the Civil War.

March 4, 1865, was the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, about a month before the Civil War ended, and this was the greatest inauguration speech yet devised. And today marks exactly 150 years since that fantastic speech of reconciliation.

March 4, 1905, was the inauguration to an elected term of Theodore Roosevelt, who had succeeded the assassinated William McKinley, and was the first Vice President succeeding to the Presidency who was elected to his own term, and had the greatest popular vote percentage in election history up to that date.

March 4, 1913, was the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, who would accomplish more domestic reform in his first term than any President before him, and only surpassed by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson after him.

March 4, 1933, saw the last inauguration on that date, and it was the coming to power of Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the worst days of the Great Depression, and his inauguration speech was the greatest since Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address in 1865.

Classy Senator Barbara Mikulski Of Maryland To Retire After Longest Service Of Any Woman In Congressional History!

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A true giant of the US Senate, willing to fight for her liberal beliefs over 40 years, Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, has announced her retirement in 2016, joining another outstanding woman Senator, Barbara Boxer of California, in choosing to retire.

Mikulski will have served five terms, 30 years in the Senate, the all time record, and also served ten years in the House, making her 40 years an all time record for women in Congress. She surpassed the 35 years of Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, Republican of Massachusetts, who served from 1925 to 1960 in the House of Representatives.

Along the way, Mikulski has “raised hell”, and always been there for her constituents, the average people of her state of Maryland, fighting the good fight as a leading progressive on all issues. She began her career as a community organizer, the same activity that Barack Obama was engaged in, and often ridiculed, which is horrible, as community organizers work with the poor. Why should anyone deplore such people, who truly commit themselves to those less fortunate? And yet, we live in a nation in 2015 where this is seen as a negative, rather than the positive impact that it has on those not privileged in our society!

The likelihood is that former Governor Martin O’Malley, who wants to be President, but has almost no chance to seek it now with Hillary Clinton far ahead in all polls and O’Malley hardly registering at all in the polls, will seek to go to the Senate. However, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Congressman Elijah Cummings, and Congresswoman Donna Edwards are likely to compete for the seat as well, with the latter two being African Americans.

The US And Israel: Support For Israel, But Not Benjamin Netanyahu!

Ronald 2 Comments

The United States has been a strong supporter of Israel throughout the 67 year history of the Jewish nation, whether it has been Democratic or Republican Presidents in office, and that will not change, and should not change!

But that does not mean that our policies vis a vis Israel must always be in lockstep to every Israeli Prime Minister.

There have been disputes and differences between Israeli governments and American governments throughout the history of the relationship over strategies and tactics, but in all circumstances, when Israel has needed American support, it has been there from Harry Truman to Barack Obama, and that will continue.

Just like relatives, there have been and will be fights, sometimes even public, that are embarrassing, but occur, because that is the nature of families, and Israel and America are like one big family, with certain relatives very annoying in their assertion of their personalities on the overall relationship.

But when crisis arises, when so called “push come to shove”, family is together, and that includes the assurance that America will always be there for Israel at crucial moments. And one must remember that it is Barack Obama who has provided more funding for the IRON DOME system, which has been used by Israel to protect its security with its dangerous neighbors, including Palestinian terrorists.

This moment, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coming to the US to speak to a joint session of Congress without advanced approval of President Obama, and with Netanyahu long a public and private critic of President Obama, and in cahoots with the Republicans in Congress, is not good. With Speaker of the House John Boehner breaking the Logan Act, which bans private diplomacy of anyone outside the executive branch of government, a law passed in 1798 and updated in 1994, only adds to the problem.

Yes, the threat of Iran is present, but it is not an imminent threat, and the attempt of the US, along with Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China to negotiate on nuclear issues is worthy of follow through to see if Iran is willing to accept the idea of no nuclear weapons development.

If Iran reneges on such an agreement, then Israel would be backed in any potential confrontation with Iran. But the need to TRY to avoid another Middle East War, which would lead to more deaths and destruction in Israel, and make the area ever more dangerous, is worth a try to avoid war, before committing to a war that would be devastating to the entire area.

The US would be engaged in another major war, and not an easily won war, but the world would see the reality of Iran, if they reject an agreement with the six major powers.

Netanyahu has been known to lie and exaggerate, so it is worth a chance for peace, and avoidance of war, and that is why many Jewish Democrats in Congress are boycotting this speech on Tuesday, and it is why many Jewish organizations and spokesmen are condemning the speech, and calling for its delay until after the elections in Israel in two weeks.

A good solution to all this would be the defeat of Netanyahu and his Likud Party, much too ready to go to war, when peace should be tried first!