Racial Minorities

115th Congress To Open, On Heels Of Three Worst, Most Unproductive Congresses In Modern History Since World War II!

Ronald 19 Comments

Today is the opening day of the 115th Congress, on heels of the three most unproductive Congresses in modern history since World War II, and we are on the way to the most corrupt, disgraceful Congress in all of American history, including the Gilded Age years of the late 19th century.

It is as if the Republican majority in Congress is out to repeal the 20th century, going back to the 1920s Congresses that came before the Great Depression, caused by Republican policies, and rectified in great measure by Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal in the 1930s.

The whole concept of a national government that was concerned about the economic status of its people, promoted by the New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, as well as the reforms brought about under later Presidents, including Barack Obama, seem about to be wiped out in great measure by the nasty, vindictive, uncaring right wing Republican Party, which is not even embarrassed about getting rid of their ethics committee, brought about by Congressional scandals a decade ago. Now the thought is, who cares what the public thinks about sex and financial scandals, as we will simply push them under the rug!

That is why the news media, particularly the major newspapers and periodicals and electronic media MUST not allow themselves to be cowed into silence, as it is only the responsible news media that will be able to inform us of the truth and preserve light in a time of darkness.

This is a time for mourning, but one can be assured that the Republicans will pay the price long term for the sins, misdeeds, and even crimes they are now about to perpetrate in harming women, children, workers, the poor, the elderly, the sick, the disabled, the environment, racial minorities, gays and lesbians, immigrants, Muslims, and all other oppressed groups who now are faced with the most right wing extremist Congress in nearly a century.

Trump Appointments That Declare “War”: Health And Human Services, Education, Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, Interior, Justice, Energy

Ronald 2 Comments

Donald Trump has made a horrific list of cabinet and other appointments that have declared “war” on domestic concerns that extend from the time of Theodore Roosevelt through to Barack Obama, with particularly great threat to the heritage of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society.

The appointment of Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services endangers Social Security. Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamps–affecting the poor, elderly and sick.

The appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education endangers public education at all level, and concerns about college debt burdens for millions of college and university students, and promotes the “Christianization” and charter school movement against American traditions of two hundred years.

The appointment of Tom Puzder as Secretary of Labor endangers the whole labor movement advancements of the past century, including unionization, minimum wage, sick leave, overtime, and safety conditions.

The appointment of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and of Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior endangers the environment, and our national park and national forest system in massive ways that are incalculable.

The appointment of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General of the United States endangers the enforcement of civil liberties and civil rights, and will be particularly dangerous to the rights of racial minorities, women, and gays and lesbians.

The appointment of Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy endangers the nation, as Perry is totally ignorant of science and nuclear energy, and wanted to destroy the department, based on his statements during Presidential debates in 2011 and since.

We are faced with a nightmare scenario, as probably the most that might be expected is the blocking of potentially one or two of these nominees at the most, but the clear cut possibility that all of them will be confirmed by the Republican majority in the US Senate, and the Democrats will not be able to stop any of them from destroying our domestic future!

Final Reflections As America Votes In Midterm Elections Of 2014

Ronald 8 Comments

As America votes today in the Midterm Elections of 2014, polls indicate that the Republican Party will win control of the US Senate and will gain seats in the House.

As far as Governorships are concerned, the indications are that the Democrats are likely to gain a few seats, and defeat some Tea Party leaders.

To a great extent, this election is more negative–that is, throw out the rascals—as there is great disillusionment with government and with politicians.

Not that this is something new, as many Americans are ignorant about politics, and just think change for its own sake is good, which is often NOT the case!

The reality is that midterm elections generally favor the opposing party to whoever is President. But with the strange situation of a split Congress, rare in American history, it becomes much more complicated.

If the Democrats do, indeed, lose the Senate, which this blogger does not believe will happen, it will be seen as a defeat, which it would be, but it is a forerunner of a certain regaining of the Senate majority two years hence, as two thirds of the seats up in 2016 are Republicans, many of them winners in the major GOP gain in the midterm election of the first Obama term.

That fact, of two thirds of the 2016 seats being Republican, and the strong likelihood, that a Democrat will be heavily favored in the Electoral College in 2016 and beyond, as things stand right now, we can expect a massive gain of seats by Democrats then, hitting the high 50s, if not the magical 60 to overcome all filibusters.

The Republicans might win the majority tonight, but they will then have the onus of producing a record of accomplishment over the next two years to give them a chance to keep control of the Senate in 2016.

Based on their negativism and obstructionism for the past six years, that scenario is highly unlikely.

Instead, one can expect the Tea Party whackos on the right, led by Ted Cruz in the Senate, to do everything to prevent any progress, any action, any accomplishments, that they will be able to use in 2016 for Senate races and to support the GOP candidate for President.

Expect instead blockage of Presidential appointments to the cabinet and the courts; loads of phony investigations that will get attention, but accomplish nothing, except to demonstrate that the GOP are a group of showboats with no substance; and probably a move to impeach and put President Obama on trial, to besmirch his record, which will cause further stalemate and bitterness, and prevent any kind of positive action on so many signature issues.

And the GOP, continuing its racism, nativism, misogyny, and homophobia, will therefore self destruct and put themselves into the grave of history, instead of being a party that offers a bright future to more than just the elite one or two percent of whites who vote their interests, while middle and lower class whites vote against their interests because they are drawn to the disgraceful appeals mentioned above, even while many claim to be “religious”, but promote discrimination against minorities, immigrants, women, and gays and lesbians!

What The Midterm Elections Will Tell Us About America And Its Future!

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We are now three days away from the Midterm Elections of 2014, and any political junkie is, by this time, worn out, and sick and disgusted at the constantly changing public opinion polls and the projections on Governorship and Senate races.

America has a choice to make, whether to move forward, and have a compassion and concern about those less fortunate, those who have been subjected to discrimination, those who simply want acceptance and respect, those who want a piece of the “American Dream”, and those who want to restore the middle class, which reached its peak in 1973, and has been in rapid decline since then.

If the Democrats lose the Senate and fail to throw out most of the seven Tea Party Governors who have been a nightmare to their states, then we have become, without any doubt, a nation moving toward the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, an American where racial minorities and immigrants were mistreated in horrible ways, women were second class citizens, and there was a monopoly of wealth and power by the elite wealthy over society, including exploitation of working people not treated with respect, and promotion of lower pay for women, exploitation of child labor, and the wholesale perpetrating of long lasting degradation of the environment.

It will also demonstrate that lack of knowledge, lack of education, lack of common sense, lack of caring about anyone other than oneself and close family and friends, leads to a reactionary society where there are no values other than greed and selfishness, and yet the victims in the long run are not just “others”, but these ignorant people who vote against their own advancement and welfare!

It is normal for a midterm election to promote some losses for the party in the White House, but to give the Republican Party massive rewards for obstruction, narrow mindedness, refusal to do what is good for the nation, and the promotion of pure hate, would be a sign of the failure of American democracy.

It would tell us that the goal is to confuse and divide the nation, while a small elite enriches itself and promotes wholesale destruction of the 20th century–including the New Deal and Great Society!

It would tell us that having provided millions with health care who never had it; has lowered the unemployment rate to the lowest since the Great Recession; has seen the stock market more than double; has eliminated Osama Bin Laden from the earth; has seen gasoline prices lower than in the past four years; has seen the deficit lowered by two thirds; has provided a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and has done so much to make lives better in many other ways, has failed to convince Democratic and Independent voters that it is worthwhile to fight for what they believe in, rather than just sit home and let the enemy of all this take over, all based on lies and talk radio and Fox News propaganda!

If the Democrats lose, a lot of the blame will be on Democratic office holders unwilling to defend the record they have achieved and to defend Barack Obama, and instead to allow fear and panic and anarchy and hate and prejudice take over the American psyche, and allow a party with no ideas and no ethics or morality to govern us, and take us down hill as they have done so often in the past!

Dr. Benjamin Carson: Stick To Neurology, Not A Warped View Of Politics!

Ronald 8 Comments

Dr. Benjamin Carson is a renowned, and now retired, neurosurgeon, applauded for his great work with children, particularly for his accomplishment of separating conjoined twins joined at the head. Everyone should applaud his achievements, and his obvious genius, in the medical profession.

However, Carson has become the center of controversy ever since he decided to get involved in politics, and showed an extremist view of reality and public affairs.

Rumored to be thinking of running for President, the African American surgeon has taken stands for the past few years, which put him on the far right of the Republican Party, often sounding like the conservative talk show hosts that have undermined the historic, mainstream GOP.

The Tea Party finds Carson fascinating, and that alone should alarm any sensible thinking person.

Carson now says that progressivism, the Progressive Era, and everything that progressives and liberals believe, is similar to Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler! He also says ObamaCare is the worst thing since slavery!

This has been said before by right wing ideologues, but has no basis in truth and reality!

What Carson and his extremist believers are promoting is that the advancement of women, racial minorities, immigrants, labor, and the environment are a conspiracy against the American people, when in reality, this is simply code language for the exploitation by corporations and the top one percent, in the name of unbridled capitalism.

So the battles of the Progressives, New Dealers, and Great Society advocates of the 20th century against the backwardness and exploitation of the Gilded Age, is back in full swing with Benjamin Carson and others who speak for the ruling class, including the Koch Brothers, and many other multibillionaires, who could not care less about the middle class and the poor, and the oppressed groups among us!

Republicans Are Declaring War On Students: Doubling Of Student Loan Interest A Month Away!

Ronald 14 Comments

The Republican House of Representatives has voted to allow a doubling of student loan rates on July 1, and unless they change their tune, that is what will happen, as action needs to be taken to prevent an automatic increase!

This is a new declaration of war, adding to that on women, immigrants, racial minorities, labor, senior citizens, the poor, the middle class, and the environment!

Bob Dole and other sane Republicans of the past generation KNOW that the GOP is on a maniacal path, which leads to long term doom for the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan! The GOP is committing suicide, but meanwhile, is making victims of vast numbers of the American people!

The Voter ID Laws: Based On Lies And A Denial Of The Voting Rights Act Of 1965!

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Many states, all controlled by Republican Governors and legislatures, are systematically violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in an attempt to fix the Presidential Election of 2012 in favor of GOP candidate Mitt Romney!

After having manipulated the results in the Presidential Election of 2000, with the help of the partisan Republican Supreme Court, now strict photo ID laws are being imposed to cripple the ability of the elderly, the poor, the young, and minorities to vote, knowing full well that these groups would be likely to vote Democratic for Barack Obama!

Claiming that there has been voter fraud in the past, when there are almost no such examples, now the state of Pennsylvania has openly admitted there is NO evidence of such fraud, but still they want to disenfranchise people, a violation of the civil rights laws, and a disgrace to the idea of democracy!

So the Republican Party is saying that the only way they can win is by denying people the right to vote, and also spending inordinate amounts of money to “buy” the election!

What a disgrace for a political party to be stifling the will of the people!

Virginia: A “Swing” State, Or Democratic In 2012 Presidential Election?

Ronald 1 Comment

Virginia is typically considered a Southern state, but as Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia terms it, it has become more like a Mid Atlantic state.

The reasons for this include:

1. Northern Virginia has become a substantial part of the population of the state, tends to be more liberal than the rest of the state, and many of the people living in Northern Virginia work for the federal government, are more educated, and tend to vote Democratic.

2. The minority population of the Virginia, of all ethnic groups, has gone up from 20 percent to 30 percent of the state, so if a large percentage of them vote, it is bound to benefit Barack Obama.

3. Virginia voted for Obama in 2008 by about six percent margin, and if the economy continues to improve, it is unlikely that the state will vote against Obama, when one considers the above two factors.

So the likelihood at this point is that the “swing state” of Virginia will stay in the Democratic column this fall, even though the state government is controlled by the Republicans. Presidential elections and state elections do not always synchronize in many states across the nation.