Boehner's Dilemma

You just can't get there from here, Mr. Boehner.

You say the first thing you want to do in 2011 is have the Republican controlled House of Representatives cut $100 billion in spending from the federal budget. When asked for specific areas he plans to cut, he says he will start with the budget of Congress -- in other words, the legislative branch. So here's what you need to know. If he succeeded in cutting out the entire legislative branch, that is, fire all 535 members of Congress and their staffs, and all the people who work for them at the Library of Congress and turn off all the lights, he would barely save $4 billion. So, John, you have only $96 billion more to eliminate in order to fulfill your pledge. YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE, JOHN, SO PLEASE QUIT TRYING TO SELL THIS CLAPTRAP TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

Until members of Congress tell you that are seriously ready to address the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and that old sacred cow, Defense Spending, there will not be a serious attempt to get federal spending under control. He knows it, his Republican members know it, and now you know it. When are we going to stand up in Town Hall Meetings and tell these people we are NOT BUYING ANY MORE of their empty politically expedient promises?

And when are we going to tell them to quit trying to return us to the time of Washington and Jefferson, a time when we had the interests of only 4 million citizens to consider. Today we have nearly 309 million citizens, according to the latest Census, and their interests are diverse, their problems complex, and our nation's role on the international stage has changed.

Mr. Boehner, do you really want to help?

Get off the stage and take your little tea party with you.

Let some grown ups, willing to take the political heat take your place, do the hard work, make the difficult decisions and get our nation's house in order. That's what Thomas Jefferson and George Washington would want you to do.

Christmas greeting from Murrow

As most of my readers know, Ed Murrow is one my heroes in the world of journalism. As we approach Christmas 2010, I thought I would use Mr. Murrow's words to send a Christmas greeting to a few folks.

To Democrats and Republicans:
"We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late."

To Glenn Beck:
"Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."

To Rush Limbaugh:
"No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices."

To the Rest of Us:
"Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live."

Merry Christmas to all and to all, "Good night and good luck."

American Exceptionalism Indeed

My good friend Joe Fab sent me his thoughts on the idea of "American Exceptionalism" that is being used as a foundational principle for Republican presidential candidates in 2012. The Wash Post did a piece on this unfortunate development yesterday and it prompted these thoughts from Mr. Fab:

I'm proud and feel very fortunate to be an American. But I know that I'm here by good luck, not because I myself am exceptional in an earned sense of any consequence. What I have done and am doing with my own life is the measure of my worth, and I feel a heightened responsibility to make that worth register positively in part because of the chance combination of time and geography that led to my birth in this country.

That's a far cry from the sense of entitlement that these new American exceptionalists (may we call them AEs?) often seem to feel. You'd think they'd fought the American Revolution themselves the way they wrap themselves in the Declaration of Independence. If one were to appropriately employ the hyperbole so popular in recent years -- the comparison to Nazi Germany -- this might be just the occasion for it. No matter what the AEs think, America is unique as in "one of a kind" and exceptional as in "set apart by certain unusual qualities." But we are not the kind of 'exceptional' that automatically gives Americans a seat above and before all others on the planet.

None of us living today created that unique aspect of this country. We are the beneficiaries of what some amazingly thoughtful people cooked up many generations ago. We are the trustees of their wise design. The design is what is exceptional; we are not. And the only way for us to strive toward being exceptional is to treasure, respect and responsibly carry on the values and principles contained in both the Declaration and Constitution.

A clear and precise distinction must be made between that mission and the shallow flag-waving, placard-carrying tantrums in evidence in AE America. To me, today's use of the idea of American exceptionalism is frightening and smacks of desperation and immaturity.

Mel Brooks' Two Thousand Year Old Man captured the AEs perfectly when he reminisced about the Stone Age and how neanderthals began to group together into tribes. He remembered with relish how everybody thought his own gang was the absolute greatest, just because, well, it was the gang to which he belonged. His group lived in Cave #7. Their rallying cry may sound primitive, but is it really any different from what the AEs are saying?

"Everyone can go to hell except Cave 7!"

Well said, Joe, well said -- and thanks for sharing.

Confidential Memo to Republican Voters

Alert! Alert!

I have just intercepted a confidential memo to Republican voters from their Senate leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Here it is in its entirety:

CONFIDENTIAL MEMO TO REPUBLICAN VOTERS

FROM: US SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL

DATE: NOVEMBER 28, 2010

SUBJECT: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?

Yes, what the hell are you doing???

Why are you out there spending for Christmas? Retails sales were great on Black Friday. They continue through the weekend to be up. Online shopping is soaring off the charts.

I'm trying to limit Obama to one term and you are not helping.

The stock market is up and may go up another 300 to 400 points in 2011. If you keep up this pace of helping him recover the economy we may see a 30-40% growth in the stock market next year.

You small businessmen: why are you hiring? My thanks to large businesses who continue to sit on their trillions in cash but you small businesses are not doing your part. I see that private sector hiring has been growing steadily upward for the past four quarters.

And while I'm at it, many of you are decrying spending via earmarks while writing me urging that I slip in an earmark or two for your special projects. Don't you think the hypocrisy of your position is a bit obvious? I can't cover your hypocrisy forever, you know. The Democrats like earmarks, too, I know, and you have been great to point that out, but they usually insert about 4,000 per year when they are in charge. Republicans, on the other hand, have been trying to keep quiet the fact that we insert about 14,000 each year, We do it for you. What are you doing to help us cloud this fact?

So, yes, what the hell are you doing to help us defeat this Obama character besides calling him names?

Stop spending, stop hiring, stop investing. What kind of patriot are you anyway?

Some of you have even joined the socialists on the other side of the aisle demanding that we not "repeal and replace" the recently passed health care reform law, but that we "keep and expand" it. Fully 51% of you have abandoned our cause. How do you expect me to get paid this year by my friends in the drug and health insurance industry?

Consider this a wake up call! Do your part.

Next: Coming soon, a confidential memo to discuss your demands for increased spending for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and unneeded, unrequested military hardware the DoD doesn't want without finding a source to pay for them. You know that is an untenable position, don't you. Your grandchildren will question your IQ if you keep this up. I'm serious, do you want that?

Your obedient servant,
Mitch McConnell

Read the Constitution?

During the recent orientation session, new members of Congress were handed a manual that instructed them how to handle the media, how to avoid ethics violations, how to organize their offices, etc. but I was delighted to learn that the number one thing they were encouraged to do was "Re-read the US Constitution."

Isn't that special.

Why would that be necessary? Because many (not all) of the incoming class have never read it from beginning to end, and even more have no knowledge of its meaning, or regrettably, fewer still have no knowledge or understanding of the legal precedents established by it, e.g., separation of church and state doctrine. This is obvious from their recent campaign rhetoric.

Re-read the Constitution?? I would be happy if they just read it.

Tea Party Madness Started Years Ago

As the campaign of 2010 reached its zenith on election day (or its deepest pit, depending on how you view these rituals), I kept asking myself "why are these tea party people so angry?"

When President Obama was elected, he did what he said he would do and what the American people voted for. His Democrats passed the financial reform bill that kept the economy from falling into a well carved and deeply cut Republican ditch. His Democrats passed a health care reform bill that has only begun to pay dividends for the American people. No, it couldn't be all of those things that made them so angry because those Obama initiatives were actually good for the American people. It must be something else.

I am only an amateur psychologist, but I venture to say that their anger is pent up from watching their favorite son, Bush 43, spend and borrow, and borrow and spend for his entire 8 years in office. The tea party conservatives in America kept quiet. To criticize Bush 43 would be out of step with their brothers in the Republican cult. No, the answer goes back much farther. The anger starts with Bush 43, and to some extent, Reagan 40. Bush 43 saved the banks with the $700 billion TARP money.But he did not tell his voters he would favor such an expansion of government. And Reagan nearly tripled the national debt. Not a good thing in the eyes of the tea party folks.

So, under the surface, the tea party simmered. Their subconscious mind told them their favorites had broken from the conservative movement, or horrors, were never really with them. They also knew they had been lied to for decades. Every Republican President in their memory had always said he was for lower taxes and smaller government, but they never delivered. That made the tea party Americans very mad. Heck, that would make me furious. And this year their madness exploded and hit both mainstream political parties, Democrats the hardest, but they were not and still aren't happy with the Republicans.

If you tea party people want to feel better about your participation in the political process, start by telling your candidates to "put up or shut up." If they can't give you a program they would cut to make a difference in the federal budget, tell them not to bring it up anymore. If they can't tell you a major federal agency they would eliminate to make government smaller, tell them not to bring it up anymore. You will find that these people have very little else to talk about. You may then have an opportunity to recruit candidates to your cause who actually know something about governing, starting with an understanding of the US Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson! Where are you?

Somebody needs to consider what it is going to be like in America when Republican Carl Palidino, who sends pornographic e-mail to business associates, gets elected governor of NY; when Republican Governor Jan Brewer, who refuses to debate her opponent and cannot recall her administration’s major accomplishments since she took office, and who thinks beheaded corpses are lying around the desert of Arizona, gets re-elected governor; when Republican Christine O’Donnell, who dabbled in witchcraft, gets elected to the US Senate from Delaware; when Republican Joe Miller, who believes Social Security should be repealed, gets elected to the US Senate from Alaska; when Republican Sharron Angle, who refuses to answer questions on any substantive issue, is elected to the US Senate from Nevada; when Rand Paul, who believes the Civil Rights Act should be repealed, gets elected to the US Senate from Kentucky – to name a few of the nutcases looking forward to running your government next year.

Somebody needs to consider what America will be like once they get their hands of the levers of power. (Can you spell “ditch?”)

According to a new poll, “nearly 20% of U.S. citizens now believe Barack Obama is a cactus, the most Americans to identify the president as a water-retaining desert plant since he took office."

The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found a sharp rise in the number of Americans who say they firmly believe Obama was either born a cactus, became a cactus during his youth, or has questionable links to the Cactaceae family."

Thomas Jefferson! Where are you? We need your help – now – and bring Ben Franklin with you.

How long, America, how long?

I remember when Richard Nixon campaigned on the twin GOP promises of "smaller government and lower taxes." Nixon was elected but did not deliver. Government got larger and taxes went up.

I remember when Ronald Reagan pledged smaller government and lower taxes if he was elected. By the time he finished his 8 years, government was much larger, taxes were higher and the national debt had been increased by three times.

I remember when Georgia Bush said "Read my lips" for the first time. Video tape was ubiquitous by that time and so politically he could not live by the lie of "No new taxes" and he lost his re-election bid. Taxes did, indeed, go up, and yes, government got bigger.

If you are going to lie to the American people, be sure not to let anyone videotape you at a political convention promising smaller government and lower taxes.

Bush 43 and Cheney promised the same thing. Taxes went down for the very rich during their two terms but that's all. Government got bigger, taxes went up, and the national debt was quadrupled.

For 50 years, the GOP has run on the same pledge (lie): "Elect us; we will lower your taxes and reduce the size of government." Members of the loyal GOP: THEY NEVER DO WHAT THEY PROMISE. Why? Because the government of the US is already large and must be so in order to meet America's responsibilities at home and abroad. And taxes must be paid in order to pay for those responsibilities. We cannot go back to the time of our forefathers when we had a country of 4 million citizens. Today we have 322 million and counting. We are large and getting larger. You and I better pray that someone is planning on a government that can meet the demands of a citizenry of that size. Who else are you going to turn to when there is a hurricane in your backyard, an oil spill on your beach, an unsafe car in your driveway, unsafe meat in your refrigerator, a pandemic sweeping the nation, terrorist beating down your door. You better hope the government is large enough to meet the challenge and has a full team of pros at the ready.

Stop expecting something for nothing. Accept the fact that these people will continue to manipulate you as long as you let them. But may I ask you: please stop letting them get away with manipulating you with simple Simon solutions to complex questions. Please stop.

In Virginia, the current GOP governor said we can save $500 million and apply it to our budget if we sell the state owned liquor stores. Now, he realizes that was a short term fix and he still needs to raise that money on an annual basis to balance Virginia's budget so he is proposing a fee (he can't say the word "tax") on liquor sold at wholesale and in restaurants. He is not a full year into his term and already he is proposing a new tax. Where is the outrage from his fellow Republicans? Oh, I see, you supported him not because he may actually try to do what he says, but because it puts the GOP in charge.

Our government can't survive this approach to preserving the Republic at the state or federal level.

How long, America, how long?

Obama's Approval Rating

This morning I saw a new poll that says President Obama's approval rating is down a point from last week, to 43%. And on the radio, I heard a candidate for Congress out West say, "President Obama is the worst President in American history."

Is there no one in the middle or on the right who is "using their heads for anything but a hat rack," as my dad used to say???

Obama saved the auto industry. He passed a stimulus package. He passed financial reform. All of which helped save jobs and kept the economy from sinking into the abyss.

Obama passed a health care reform bill which will insure million of Americans now uninsured, and the bill has a chance -- a chance -- to slow the growth in individual health care costs.

Obama has brought the ill-conceived Iraqi war to an honorable conclusion with no promise that the centuries old Sunni-Shia conflicts will not return the country to the chaos it has known in the past under the strong man rule of the latest despot.

Obama has turned America's military focus to Afghanistan to stabilize the country while continuing to search for the 9/11 perpetrators who remain at large.

Obama has presided over a massive federal response to the worst environmental disaster in American history, and has forced BP to put $20B in a kitty to compensate Gulf Coast victims.

All this, in less than 18 months in office!!

And he is still willing to tolerate the belief of 24% of Americans that he is not a "real" citizen.

We do not deserve someone of Barack Obama's intellect, talent, patriotism, and commitment to strengthening America in all its diversity -- but we have him! Thank God, we have him.

So, why IS Obama's approval rating dropping to 43%?

Obama Defends Constitution

"Who, among my conservative Republican friends would disagree with the idea that government should play no role in decisions regarding one's choice of religious faith or place of pursuing that faith?"

I asked myself that question as President Obama spoke from the White House in reference to the controversy over whether or not a mosque should be permitted near the site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. I could not think of even one in the right wing of the GOP who would disagree with that. Surely, there is not one who calls himself an American who would disagree.

It is perhaps the most fundamental protection included in the US Constitution. If one believes in strict adherence to the Constitution, one cannot find fault in President Obama's remarks regarding the right of any faith to be practiced unfettered by restrictions of any sort from government at any level. Obama, after all, taught Constitutional law. He is not likely to make a mistake in its interpretation.

But I was wrong. there are plenty who, for purely partisan purposes, or perhaps because they have never read the Constitution, disagreed with the President. For them, I present the First Amendment of the US Constitution to consider:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.”

President Obama spoke as a citizen as well as our President because it is his duty to defend the Constitution. He spoke because he must speak against anyone who would twist the Constitution to one’s own political purpose. He spoke because we must stand for religious tolerance or nothing at all.

Some on the left believe his remarks amounted to a “gift to the Republican Party.” I disagree. You and I have an obligation to make sure his remarks do not have legs in a political sense. Sure, the Becks and Limburgers will have fun with his remarks in the short run. But they are wrong on this issue…and it is up to real patriots to tell them so.

Admittedly, the emotional scar in lower Manhattan is still quite visible, and deep. The wisest decision would have been to wait, delay the announcement of a decision on the mosque until cooler heads everywhere could prevail. I don't like the idea of the mosque so close to the WTC but I also recognize the principle of religious freedom upon which this country was founded.

The President is right. Very right. He could not state this sacred principle of our heritage more clearly; nor could I.

The truth, nothing but the truth...

In all my years of working in the Washington DC environment, I have never read a more accurate statement than the one made today by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) in the Washington Post:

"Unfortunately, I think some, and I hate to say this, but some want Obama to fail, period.  And unfortunately, Obama's failure would be the country's failure.  In a way, some of them are rooting against the country.  They want political power."  -- Sen Conrad (D-ND)

Americans who live beyond the Potomac and enjoy watching Fox News all day should read that quote every morning and ask this question: Where is the real threat to this nation's future?

GOP Tagged by President Wilson

While searching for a quote today, I stumbled across the following by President Woodrow Wilson that perfectly describes the GOP difficulty in persuading voters they should be trusted to handle the complex problems of the 21st century:

"Conservatism is the policy of make no change and consult your grandmother when in doubt."
Well said by our 28th President in 1914. In the ensuing 96 years, GOP policy has never been explained more eloquently.

Palin invents word 'refudiate,' compares herself to Shakespeare

Sarah Palin apparently does not know that "refudiate" is not in the English language.


44-Palin invents word 'refudiate,' compares herself to Shakespeare

What did you expect?

Barack Obama promised change if he was elected. So, when he got to Washington, he passed a health care reform bill (which people said they wanted), he passed a financial reform bill (which people said was needed to keep Wall Street from repeating its manipulation of the financial markets), he passed a stimulus bill to keep the country from falling into an economic abyss (which it would have). Obama said the real battle against terrorism started in Afghanistan and America needed to finish the job there to protect its national security interest. And so he stayed (as most Repubs wanted him to) but he has made clear it is not an open ended commitment. Nor can it be. Some President must display the leadership necessary to extract us at the right time. Is there anyone better prepared to do that than this President? It certainly would not be John McCain or Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee.

So why don’t the polls show his approval ratings at a sky high level?

Because the pundits are yelling and screaming that nothing he has done has made a positive difference, and as if to make all their points with one reference, they conclude by reminding the electorate that the “unemployment rate is still 9.5% and Obama is doing nothing about it.” People like Charles Krauthammer (in today’s Wash Post) point regularly to the Reagan years as the joyful pages of our history. He forgets to tell his readers that Reagan gave us 10 consecutive months of unemployment rates exceeding 10% in the period of 1982-83. He forgets to tell his readers that Reagan tripled the national debt. He forgets to tell his readers that Reagan’s tax cuts did not save the country from TWO recessions in Reagan’s eight years.

Let me be the one to break some sad news to these pundits: The capitalist system on which America runs has cycles. Really? Yes. We are in one now. The economy is retrenching, reshaping, recharging – (capital is chasing goods and services in the same efficient manner it always has), and the economy will come back stronger than before. I would rather have the slow but steady growth that is in the offing than the artificially high growth the Repubs gave us when they encouraged a “hands off” approach to regulation by government agencies in the period of 2001 to 2008.

Obama’s major mistake is this: When Obama came to Washington, he actually thought the Repubs would find some common ground on which to cooperate with him on some issues. He did not realize that the Gingrich acolytes had been schooled well: they were not ever, EVER, going to cooperate with Obama. How else did they expect to regain the power they so desperately seek? If they cooperate, they make him look reasonable (AND he is, of course), and they could not abide that. Obama did not realize that it is power they seek – and only power – and not effective government for the Nation.

Voters, listen carefully to the loudest voices criticizing President Obama right now if you must, but ask yourself these questions: Do you want to re-install the “do nothing party” that brought the Nation to its knees by the end of the Bush years in 2008? Do we want the Gingrich students, who learned “we will NOT compromise” at their master’s knee, put in charge of the Congress again? Or do we want to continue to productively address the major issues that have confounded Americans for decades. That would be asking for leadership. And what’s wrong with that?

Misinformed like it that way...thank you.

The Boston Globe reports that, in a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger."

In other words, don't confuse us with the facts, don't bother us with the truth, we vote GOP.

Crossroads of Life

I love coffee. Some say I am an addict, but that’s not true. I could stop cold turkey anytime I wanted to.

I just don’t want to.

I do spend a lot of time in coffee shops – one in particular. I was there this morning. In addition to great coffee, the little coffee house offers every customer an open ear on the world. We customers have only to tune it in.

This morning, a lady in line behind me was on her cell phone: “I just want one reason to wake up in the morning and not feel like a loser,” she told someone. I didn’t turn around. “But I had 11 interviews this week,” she explained to her phone mate, trying to sound optimistic, but failing.

Two college age girls chatted in front of me: “You didn’t? No! Does your mother know?”

I recognized three elderly men in the back corner. Friends for a very long time, they drive to this little coffee house each Saturday – one from as far as 30 miles away – to share memories of good times enjoyed together long ago. Sometimes they work on world problems. This morning, they are engaged in a conversation about how to solve the mile deep oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Oil and water don’t mix, do they?”

“No, of course not.”

“Well, if that well keeps gushing, what are they going to do with all that water displaced; when the Gulf fills up, won’t the water flood New Orleans?” (I wonder where they heard that one.)

And just about every day, I observe two women deep in conversation off to one side. Not the same two women, mind you – just two women. (Never two men.) One is usually unloading her soul to the other. The second just nods understandingly and pats the first on the hand, arm or shoulder -- often all three during their time together. And each time, it is clear to me from the scraps of conversation picked up that the first is getting a divorce, or a separation – or maybe the husband “just doesn’t understand me anymore.”

Speaking of marital discord, a not very happy couple came in yesterday afternoon. As the man slumped in a chair, the woman got out a notebook and started taking notes. My first thought: “Uh-oh. I’ve seen this before – and it is not good.” It became clear they were already separated and the purpose of this meeting in a “neutral spot” was to make decisions with respect to the children. How was it possible to learn all that? Easy. As they talked, the decibel level of their voices increased progressively and soon everyone within earshot learned the details of their lives. Thankfully, they are not regulars.

The regulars are easy to spot. Every morning, a lady sits against the wall near the electric outlet writing a novel. She’s been there every day for several years. I still don’t know the plot. Also among the regulars is a small group who meet weekly to participate in Bible study. At least, I think it is Bible study; their conversation is entirely in Korean.

The counter is now in sight. “Have you tried their homemade breakfast muffins,” a customer asked me. “They are glorious.”

“No,” I said, “I just come for the coffee.”

She looked at me as if to say: “Black coffee? Whoever heard such.” About that time, her cell phone rang and she was soon engrossed in new conversation. The last thing I heard her say: “I have this life coach who talks to me every day. He has the answers to all my problems. I’ll give you his number.”

What is a life coach anyway?

As I approached the counter, one of the baristas came out of the back with a 9 pound bucket filled with something that looked like wallpaper paste, and these words were written on its side: “Frozen Gourmet Muffin Batter.”

I love homemade breakfast muffins, don’t you?

Forget Facebook and Linked In, my coffee shop is the best social networking site I have found. The crossroads of life are there as well as the best coffee in town.

Protecting all the little shrimp

Many very good brains are working on plugging BP’s oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, so I am not focusing energy on solving that problem. Instead, I have moved on to another and potentially far more catastrophic result of this environmental disaster – and it must be addressed soon: A Gulf filled to overflowing with oil instead of water.

If the well is not plugged until August (and some say it may not be plugged until December), could the water in the Gulf be in danger of being displaced someday soon by all the oil that continues to spew forth in every increasing quantities? This is NOT a spill or a leak; it is a well that could be pumping via nature’s own pressure at full volume for an unknown number of years.

If it is true that oil and water do not mix, Gulf water has to go someplace, and so might it cause water levels to rise in the Gulf? I mean – and let’s get to the bottom line quickly – might the water level be pushed up to the front door of the governor’s mansions in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida? And while we’re at it, is the ranch in Crawford, Texas in any danger? These are the big questions, at least, the serious questions. After all, who cares about the shrimp that live underwater, we have other shrimp to protect!

Flying High and Doing his Job

A Republican friend called to complain that President Obama seems to be flying here, there and everywhere as if on a continuing campaign. He wishes President Obama would stay home and save the taxpayers the cost of operating that very large airplane.

I told him that as far as I am concerned, the President can stay in the air all the time as long as he keeps addressing or attempting to address our nation's very real problems. The economy has had three consecutive months of real growth (3.2% for the last quarter). Unemployment is down (only stayed above 10% for two months unlike Reagan who had 10 consecutive months of 10% unemployment or higher). New Home sales are up. The stimulus package is working. Most importantly, the regulatory arms of the US Government are working again. The FDA is working, the SEC is working, FEMA is working, NHTSA is working. No one is trying to dismantle government these days. Bobby Jindal of LA is asking for more help from the FED not less. Speaking of the Gulf, this morning there was a news report that federal regulators did nothing in 2004 when they were told by BP that the safeguards built in to their deep water wells might not work. Nobody from the Bush administration asked, “why?”

The saddest thing continues to be the Republican insistence on bringing Obama down by sticking to their strategy of denying him any success whatsoever. They were opposed to Wall Street reform until their own polls said "you have got to be kidding," and then they couldn't turn around fast enough. Government is supposed to work when elected officials do what is best for the country, not what the fickle weathervane of public opinion tells them is the "safe" thing to do. Governing is hard. If an elected official doesn't understand that and is not willing to ignore the polls and exert the necessary intellectual and personal energy to do the job, they should get out.

"What if we are wrong -- again?"

The Old South is truly the heart of the Republican Party. The 11 states from the old Confederacy are represented in the US Senate by 15 Republicans, or 2/3 of the 22 Senators from the South. Republicans dominate the state legislatures in nearly all of the Old South states. The head of the Republican Governors Association is Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

Does that mean we are on the cusp of a new enlightened age? Hardly.

As every school child learns early, the Old South states were wrong when they seceded from the Union in the 1861; they were wrong when they opposed civil rights legislation in 1965; they were wrong about the need to go into Iraq in 2003 when we should have focused our national energy and military resources on finding bin Laden in the mountains of Bora Bora.

Could it be these same states and their Republican representatives are wrong about President Obama? What if he is not the anti-Christ; what if he is a US citizen? What if he is more of a Christian than they are? (Ask yourself who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ closer?) What if he is right about climate change? What if he is right about health care reform? What if each of us received our “bailout” when he took steps to keep the entire economy from collapsing?

In short, what if you are wrong – again? What if you are missing the opportunity to support the best President – popularly elected by the people -- in a generation?

What will you tell your grandchildren?

Lock, Stock and Barrel

You are a conservative, loyal member of the Republican Party. You are not in favor of the Federal government bailing out Wall Street or anyone else for that matter.

But your party’s leaders in Washington don’t care.

They have been bought lock, stock and barrel by corporate interests, especially Wall Street bankers and brokers.

One thing you can say for them: once they are bought, they stay bought. On Monday, April 26, 2010, they objected en masse to moving forward with debate on a US Senate bill to reform Wall Street and reign in the greedy barons of Manhattan whose actions threaten your job and the jobs of your friends.

How does it make you feel to know that you are loyal to a party that ignores your views, manipulates your loyalty and generally disregards your best interests. How does it feel to be in a political party like that?

Bush 43 did his best to dismantle government

Let’s go over this one more time: The Bush 43 Administration was opposed to government.

The Bush-Cheney regime displayed as much contempt for the government with which they were entrusted as the extremists of the current Tea Party movement.
Long time political observers of Washington saw it up close every day…and wondered if the country would survive. It did, but just barely.

I talked about it and wrote about it as often as possible. So did others – and all knew nothing would be done. Why? The Republican machine that preserves the Reagan mystique was in full throttle to protect the Bush Administration from the obvious: they were incompetent.

The saddest fact: Responsible Republicans ignored the misfeasance of the Bush 43 regime, holding fast to the idea that maintaining their ruling influence was more important than serving the people.

Bush 43 propagated EVERY agency of the federal government with individuals who adhered to the philosophy that “the government is best that governs least.” That may have worked in Thomas Jefferson's time when the total population was under 4 million, but it does not work today when the population is 324 million.

A big government is necessary to serve the people in 2010. Anyone who does not agree with that has no interest in seeing government succeed at any level...and thus their motives are suspect.

So what happened during the Bush era? From 2001 to January 2009, regulators were told the free market will make the correct and best decisions. Don’t worry about fulfilling your regulatory duties. They didn’t. For eight years, one federal agency after another was stripped of the funds to support its lawful activities, and populated with individuals who knew they would be rewarded if they did not interfere in the free market or spend money the law charged them to spend in support of citizen needs.

We paid the price for 8 years but veteran observers also knew we would pay the price for many years after Bush 43 left town. We are. It will be many years before we are able to say we have recovered as a nation.

President Obama has made a good start on health care reform, Wall Street reform, immigration reform, energy innovation and climate change. He is not being applauded broadly for his aggressive agenda…but he should be.

We are living in the 21st century. It is time we as a people decide to do something about the problems from the 20th century that we brought with us and have refused to address for a decade.

Can you think of a single American alive today who could do a better job of addressing long neglected issues than this President? Just one??

Feeling Sorry for the GOP Today

They are flailing about looking for leadership like no other time in their history. They are desperate! Right now, they are trolling television looking for that someone with the RR charisma that includes twinkling eyes, consistently colored hair and the ability to deliver beautifully crafted sound bites in 10 seconds or less.

They thought they had that someone in Bush 43 but we all know how that turned out. The man was not even comfortable in the English language. So they took a close look at Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, until he proved in his weak attempt at a rebuttal to the State of the Union speech that he had the oratorical skills of a gnat. Next it was Sarah Palin who, by the way, continues to demonstrate daily that she is about ready to take an 8th grade history class. But with those cute legs, who cares: "Pay her the dough and let's go watch the show." Then there was Scott Brown, the Tea Party darling of Boston who won Ted Kennedy's Senate seat (through ineptness of the candidate, AG Coakley). Scott Brown has proven to be an independent thinker and the GOP can't have any of that, so scratch him off the list. And so, along comes Marco Rubio, who is about to crush Governor Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination to the Senate from Florida. Rubio hasn't even won the nomination in Florida and already the GOP is pursuing him for the national race in 2012. He is embarrassed by his party's desperation.

Here's my suggestion: Go back to Hollywood. Pick out someone like Ronald Reagan who will make you feel good even as he triples the federal debt and presides over an unemployment rate of above 10% for 10 consecutive months in 1982-83 (that's correct!!) and also watched government expand its reach exponentially during his two terms in office. And you didn't care. In fact, you idolize him for all that. He is the "morning in America" President, who watched government grow and neither you nor him cared a bit. Don't you wish you had someone like that for 2012?? Of course you do. Look, start with the tape of celebs on the Red Carpet at this year's Oscar Awards Ceremony. There's got to be a candidate there for you. Don't start with Charlton Heston. I understand he is not available anymore....but there are many who are.

You're welcome. No problem at all.

They Eat Their Young

Did you see where David Frum, former Bush speech writer was forced out of his job with the American Enterprise Institute for saying some slightly critical things about the GOP loss on health care reform? Frum says it appears some of the donors had something to do with it. Make that the GOP Pure Police. You have to be pure to be a Republican these days. If you vary from the party line, if you dare think for yourself, if you dare talk about bipartisanship, you are in deep trouble.What will happen, you say? Well, if you are a lobbyist, you lose your job; if you are a member of Congress, you get a primary opponent next time. "We will weed you out" seems to be the governing dicta of the Pure Police. "We pull all weeds."

I'm concerned. I think we should all be concerned to see that the intelligent people have been forced out of the GOP by extreme elements (tea partiers) of the GOP.

Did you see Sarah Palin introducing John McCain to a partisan crowd in Arizona today? I have never seen John McCain so uncomfortable. He kept looking at his notes (When is she going to finish), and off to the side (Where is some aide who will come to my rescue), she embraced the tea party movement entirely and said if you are supporting John McCain, you are part of the tea party movement (Help, is there no one who will get her off the stage for me). After a while you began to feel sorry for him. But that leather jacket with the zippers on it in strategic places was fetching, wasn't it. Wouldn't she make a good President?

Watching the Debate and Vote on Health Care

As I watched the debate last night preceding the historic vote on health care reform in the House of Representatives, I played a game: I substituted social security every time one of the Republicans said health care, thereby giving me a chance to step back in time to 1935 to catch a soundbite from the historic Social Security debate. I gained a new respect for those courageous legislative pioneers of 75 years ago who set the stage for Sunday night's vote.


And when the dust settles, the loud clamor against health care reform will fade into the background quickly. No one is going to succeed in challenging the constitutionality of the process. Are you kidding? Congress can pass any bill any way it wants to. It is one of the co-equal branches of government. But the Republicans would know that if they read the US Constitution. The Courts will have nothing to say about "the process" used. That is clearly the prerogative of the Congress as set forth in the Constitution. Nor will any other attempts to roll back the vote be anything but a waste of energy.


I regret the R's chose to roll the dice this way. I wish they had been willing to do as Repubs have done in the past: compromise on the issue so they could go home and tell their constituents they "won" something for them. Soon, it will be evident to all Americans, including the Repubs, that the minority party does not wish to advance the American cause; they just want to govern for the sake of perpetuating their position in power. So sad.


Watch for the growth in an Independent Party movement if the two major parties do not learn how to govern together. We are not far from such a victory and that may be the best thing for America. It will get us back on a track closer to what the Founding Fathers had in mind. They did not have the current "process" in mind, that is, where one party says "NO" and the other says, "I guess we got to do this without you." That's not representative democracy. In a true representative republic, the two sides are expected to work together for the good of all.

Media Bias: Not Liberal, Not Conservative

I commend to you an article in the January 25 issue of The New Yorker by Ken Auletta. I hope you will read it...and if you have time, read it again, because it contains the essence of the governing problem faced by today's leaders in Washington. Here's what Auletta says about the impact of the 24/7 news cycle:

"The news cycle is getting shorter -- to the point that there is no pause, only the constancy of the Web and the endless argument of cable. This creates pressure to entertain or perish, which has fed the media's dominant bias: not pro-liberal or pro-conservative but pro-conflict."

When the goal is not to inform or illuminate but to stir the pot of "conflict" constantly, there is little room for reasoned heads to be heard, understood, and God forbid, followed.

I know. The media are a favorite whipping boy for those in power who don't like what is being said about them. But this is different. This is the continuing and growing cacophony of uninformed voices coming at us from a thousand directions -- some with an ax to grind (NRA, NARAL, etc.) and some just seeking to entertain (Limbaugh, Beck, etc.).

The Internet has opened the flood gates and now everyone is a "Presidential Advisor." The power they have found is sometimes incomprehensible to those who only recently have discovered how to use their blog, their Twitter account, Facebook, YouTube, etc. But just because they are there does not mean we should listen to them, must less adopt their point of view. If anything, it means we should read all of it with the largest grain of salt we can find and use our heads to think through as carefully as we can what the truth is and what the next course of action should be for our leaders, our government, ourselves.

Several years ago, a lady slipped by the telephone screeners on the Rush Limbaugh show (she was not the typical sycophant that let on the air) and she caught him in an outright lie, a total contradiction of the facts and she knew it, he knew it and it was clear to the audience that he had lied, too. He gave that now trademarked Limbaugh chuckle, "heh, heh," and finally said to her, "Madam, you must remember, this is only entertainment.

Trouble is, Rush, governing is not entertainment, serving the people's best interest is not entertainment, and to put it in terms you might more easily understand, love of country is not entertainment, it is our duty.

This genie is so far out of the bottle, the genie has forgotten where he put the bottle...and as a result, I fear for our country.

The gridlock in Washington has been imposed upon it by the people -- the people who were supposed to elect representatives to go to Washington and vote their best judgment when issues were laid before them. But now, we don't permit them to fulfill that duty. Instead we use the various communications tools at our disposal to tell them, and tell them over and over, loudly, how to vote and what we are going to do to them if they don't vote today exactly how we feel they should vote today. That is not the representative republic envisioned by our founding fathers. It is not!

What the Supreme Court Did Today

Here's what your Supreme Court did today according to a report just received from the New York Times:

The Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that corporations may spend
freely to support or oppose candidates for president and
Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in
federal campaigns.

Here's what it means:

Any nut case CEO with his hands on his company's treasury can dip into unlimited sums of money from the corporate treasury to support a candidate.  that makes you contribution of $100 non-existent to the body politic and any one's contribution of $1,000 or even $5,000 totally insignificant in the eyes of an elected official. Such unbridled, unrestricted corporate influence over the ignorant and uninformed voter will no doubt lead in the near future to electing candidates on the order of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and yes, perhaps even another George Bush.  Good luck, America!

The Power! Who's Got the Power?

I had lunch yesterday with a Republican friend who told me his wife has been diagnosed with a serious illness and although the doctors caught it early, the immediate future is full of tests and uncertainties. “At least we will Medicare,” he said. “She turns 65 in the summer and will be covered by Medicare for most of her treatment.”

“But,” I said, “You and your party were opposed to Medicare; it was and is a socialist program, don’t forget. It is unacceptable.”

“Yeah, well, I’m glad we failed,” my Republican friend said, smiling..

Today, I wouldn’t blame President Obama if he pulled the health care bill under consideration and told Republicans and those who think they might be Republican, “You’re on your own. When the insurance companies keep raising premiums by 18-20% a year, you’re on your own. When you can’t find a doctor who takes Medicare patients, you’re on your own. When you find you must stop buying bread to assure the pharmaceutical companies enjoy 400% profit on life saving drugs, you’re on your own.”

“Well, wait a minute,” said the Republican. “I don’t think he ought to go that far. We do need health care reform, just not Obama’s health care reform.”

The election in Massachusetts yesterday notwithstanding, the current debate is NOT about health care reform or whether it has done secretively or heavy handed, etc.

IT IS ABOUT THE POWER – ONLY THE POWER. DEMOCRATS HAVE IT; REPUBLICANS DON’T…AND THAT IS SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE TO THE REPUBLICANS. Therefore, they object to everything, even much needed health care reform, because THEY MUST HAVE THE POWER BACK. NEVER MIND THE PEOPLE. “WHO CARES ABOUT THE PEOPLE? WHO CARES ABOUT GOVERNING? WE DON’T. WE MUST HAVE THE POWER.”

The truth is our government depends on shared power in order to succeed. I am now convinced the best arrangement of votes in the Senate is 50 Democrats, 50 Republicans. Such balance promotes a bipartisan approach to every issue. Nothing will pass, in other words without a few votes from the other side, and that is always a good thing.

When we have 60 votes in one party, or 70, there is no incentive for the minority to work with the majority. Their view is they have nothing to gain in such an imbalance and therefore, to oppose everything, regardless of how much the country might benefit, is to help restore the balance they seek, if not the power they crave.

The filibuster exists to protect the views of the minority from being steamrolled by an unbridled majority. It works. The Republicans are enjoying its use today. But they are a shortsighted bunch. When they get back in power – and they will – they will try again to get rid of the filibuster rule, because it will again block their attempts to control all aspects of government. That’s not a representative democracy, that’s a dictatorship which they would know if they ever read the Constitution.

Not enough of the American people understand how the Republican party manipulates their thinking with their Simple Simon approach to complex issues.

“Just balance the federal budget; I have to balance mine at home.” (Yes but you are not responsible for the welfare and common defense of 322 million people.)

“Banks got their bailout, where’s mine?” (You got yours when the banks did not go belly up. If government had let them sink in their own mire, you would be out of a job not just for a few months, but for many years.)

“Government is just too big. We need to vote for someone who will reduce it.” (We are not a nation of 4 million people anymore. Our government will never be small again because it must, of necessity, grow in order to meet the needs of 322 million people. It is pure demagoguery to suggest we can succeed with a smaller government or by cutting taxes without a commensurate cut in spending. In addition to promoting the common welfare here at home, our government takes the lead in solving political disputes worldwide and meeting every natural disaster worldwide with immediate assistance, because we are an interrelated community of souls on this planet and our Judeo-Christian ethic teaches us we are our neighbor’s keeper. Knowing that, almost all other nations on this planet look to us for global leadership.

So, this is not about the defeat of the Democratic woman in Massachusetts or the election of the most junior Republican member of the US Senate. This is about the power. This is not about the people, as it should be. This is about the power. And that, to me, is very sad. We cannot survive for very long unless we change that view by electing new members who have actually read the Constitution and understand their role is to represent the best interests of the people, not their own, not their party, not some narrow interest – but the people’s interest.

Where is the reason?

Martha Coakley is a fundamentally flawed candidate. The latest gaffe has her criticizing her opponent for shaking hands outside Fenway Park. Not even the rankest of amateurs would make that mistake. Not even Sarah Palin would make that kind of mistake. Regrettably, the Democrats will lose this seat.

What does it mean for the current debate on health care reform?

The people want health care reform. The Republicans in Washington want health care reform. (Yes, that is not a typo. The Rs really do want health care reform; they just don't want to tell you that -- ever.) The people, however, are being told by the Republicans that the current bill in conference is the wrong one. And that is too bad...because now –with the loss of Martha Coakley in MA— a bill may not pass with the coverage of the original and the regulatory structure needed to make it work.

Make no mistake about it: the Rs want this bill. They want it to pass without their vote so they can campaign against it and complain about it for at least a full decade. The Democrats have to have the stomach to see this through one way or the other, even if it costs them seats. The Rs never wanted Social Security; the Rs never wanted Medicare for the elderly. The Rs, indeed, never want any basic reform that "promotes the general welfare" of the people. They want the Democrats to vote such measures through so they can sit back and yell "no" from the back bench where they are most comfortable. If we reach the day where the yelled "no" carries the day, well.....I hope we never reach that day.

No one, I repeat NO ONE wants to repeal Social Security; no one wants to repeal Medicare. We did not become a socialist state when they passed in 1935 and 1965, respectively, and we will not become a socialist state when health care reform is passed into law this year …or whenever. I just want reason to prevail. Is that too much to ask?