Politics 1st, country 2nd
Markos Moulitsas (Kos)
| In early October 2007, as the two parties locked horns in Congress over the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Michigan Republican Rep. Thaddeus McCotter defined the battle as central to the very existence of the GOP.
“If our Republican Party is daunted by the politics of SCHIP and shrinks from reaffirming its defining principles, social welfare programs will never help poor Americans escape governmental dependence,” wrote McCotter on his blog. “Instead, the Democrats will continue their push to shackle Americans with a bureaucrat-centered healthcare system and other insidious forms of governmental dependence; and our Republican Party — the party of the Great Emancipator — will not only lose the next election. It will lose its soul.” There is, indeed, a genuine fear in conservative circles that greater government-run healthcare opportunities will warm middle-class voters to the idea of a more interventionist government, much as Social Security is now considered the third rail of politics. In fact, much of McCotter’s sentiments were derivative of William Kristol’s now-famous secret memo to congressional Republicans during the battle over President Clinton’s 1993 healthcare reform plan. Warning his comrades to shun compromise and kill the Clinton plan, Kristol cautioned that any sort of universal healthcare would “re-legitimize middle-class dependence for ‘security’ on government spending and regulation” and “revive the reputation of … the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests.” In short, the more that people felt government was their ally, the more they would be compelled to vote Democratic in future elections. Hence, Republicans were forced to stand in the way of the common good, lest their future electoral fortunes take a turn for the worse. Those fears are as salient today as they were 16 years ago. The Libertarian Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies, Michael Cannon, wrote a blog post last November titled “Blocking Obama’s Health Plan Is Key to the GOP’s Survival.” And it’s a fear so ingrained that McCotter and his merry band of conservative dead-enders drew a line in the sand and worked with President Bush to derail a program to extend healthcare to lower- and middle-class children. |
The Obama Presidency: Here Comes Socialism
by Dick Morris
2009-2010 will rank with 1913-14, 1933-36, 1964-65 and 1981-82 as years that will permanently change our government, politics and lives. Just as the stars were aligned for Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson and Reagan, they are aligned for Obama. Simply put, we enter his administration as free-enterprise, market-dominated, laissez-faire America. We will shortly become like Germany, France, the United Kingdom, or Sweden — a socialist democracy in which the government dominates the economy, determines private-sector priorities and offers a vastly expanded range of services to many more people at much higher taxes.
Obama will accomplish his agenda of “reform” under the rubric of “recovery.” Using the electoral mandate bestowed on a Democratic Congress by restless voters and the economic power given his administration by terrified Americans, he will change our country fundamentally in the name of lifting the depression. His stimulus packages won’t do much to shorten the downturn — although they will make it less painful — but they will do a great deal to change our nation.
In implementing his agenda, Barack Obama will emulate the example of Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Not the liberal mythology of the New Deal, but the actuality of what it accomplished.) When FDR took office, he was enormously successful in averting a total collapse of the banking system and the economy. But his New Deal measures only succeeded in lowering the unemployment rate from 23 percent in 1933, when he took office, to 13 percent in the summer of 1937. It never went lower. And his policies of over-regulation generated such business uncertainty that they triggered a second-term recession. Unemployment in 1938 rose to 17 percent and, in 1940, on the verge of the war-driven recovery, stood at 15 percent. (These data and the real story of Hoover’s and Roosevelt’s missteps, uncolored by ideology, are available in The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, copyright 2007.) READ MORE
Birth of a Nation
Tuesday is a day that will live for the ages. Decades from now, we will be telling true stories about what we did during these historic hours.
I walked to the Mall on Sunday with two elderly black ladies who asked me for directions and we walked together to the celebration. They were dressed beautifully for church. Their eyes were as bright as the evening star on a cloudless night, their smiles as radiant as the sun on a springtime morning. They had American flags on their Sunday hats and hearts that were bursting with joy because the dream that Kennedy said would never die came true before their loving and astonished eyes.
God put these wonderful ladies on earth some seven decades ago, but today they are young again and this is the story of America.
D.W. Griffith’s film “Birth of a Nation” was made in 1915. He used techniques of cinematic brilliance that defined the future of the motion picture industry, but: This racist movie demonized blacks and led to the revival of the Ku Klux Klan some 140 years after Jefferson declared that all men are created equal and 50 years before bombs, bullets and bullwhips struck heroes asking nothing more than to redeem what King called the promissory note of the American idea. READ MORE
Mossad The Root of All
By Richard Burk
(Editors Note: This article was originally published on the WeDemocrats.org discussion site, in answer to another post called “The Horror of Gaza” changes are mine alone, the Title is also of my making since this post was in answer to the aforementioned post.)
It is just so much fun watching the debates between support for and against Jews when none of this is really about the Jews other than the largest intelligence gathering network on the planet is the Mossad (sp?).
Back when the victors were deciding where to put Israel and figuring out how to manage Nuclear Weapons, it was decided that the Mossad fit the bill as the most objective intelligence gathering network on the planet then (and now.) Somebody had to keep watch on everyone and the Mossad literally had the largest network around the world primarily because of the Holocaust as they fled Germany and anywhere else during WW2 where Jews were otherwise being systematically exterminated.
The Mossad had large infiltrations around the world with the biggest in the CIA and KGB as well as an office or multiple offices across nearly every sovereign state on the planet. Their intelligence network could keep an eye on nearly anything and everything. However the ability to fund such an extensive intelligence gathering network is expensive. So in order to justify such costs and subsequently hide said costs, Israel was placed where it was and is today as a result.
If the Mossad needs more funding, then start up more violence at home. This keeps their intelligence network well funded. Why do you think the USA gives Israel so much money? We have too. Unfortunately over time the Mossad grew much larger and faster and became wholly uncontrollable though they usually stay within limitations. For instance they weren’t able to convince US to officially invade Iran, but they worked hard at it.
Now if you extend this idea of the Mossad and their intelligence network and apply their needs for funds and apply it to Israeli war you will note considerable correlation. You will also note that others take advantage of this correlation. If you want to stop violence with respect to Israel and the Middle East, you need to do one of two things, either eliminate the need for intelligence via the Mossad network (not gonna happen IMO) or fully fund it so that they don’t need a reason for violence (not officially going to happen either). So we are left with what we are left with.
The Bush administration did actually try to circumvent the Mossad by dickering around with the non-proliferation test ban treaty and accepting India and Pakistan as world actors in the nuclear realm but also dickering with North Korea and Iran as well because both Societies were showing particular signs of a common good democracy rather than retaining a totalitarian society that could be controlled.
Give a nation-state freedom and you can’t control them, they control themselves. So in order for the world balance of power to be brokered/blackmailed by the Mossad and upholding the non-usage of nuclear weapons in an official capacity, all nuclear powers are bound by this shadow NPT for which the NPT was the public face. The Bush administration tried to mitigate the Mossad and effectively lost. The only surprising thing that occurred as a result is that official statements of usage of Nuclear weapons against the USA were then made by our leaders.
Never before except when Kennedy threatened the usage of nuclear weapons per Cuba had an American leader/figure head been so bold. We all know what happened to Kennedy as a result. Bush and his administration allowed their underlings to do the work so such retaliation against himself would not happen. As a result they were forced to threaten that we were and are under threat of nuclear annihilation. How long did that last? For many months. It still gets repeated by the media. This is/was all unprecedented before Bush. I suspect that the reason that the Iraq war has lasted as long as it has is primarily as Mossad and the members of the NPT punishing the US.
So to throw a big wrench in your discussion, chew on that. You can call me a conspiracy theorist if you like, and I may have some details or conclusions off kilter, but the essence of the argument is rooted in observation and discussions with others as well as research into the media and how Henry Luce and his peers brokered such a deal to control/prevent usage of nuclear weapons around the world.
The White House could not be trusted with such control, but those institutions such as world leaders in media could as they would stick around for years/decades and would/could mentor others as their eventual replacements in order to make sure such NPT agreements were kept. Rupert Murchdoch and other new entrants to the media and the media explosion of citizen journalism has threatened it all as has the Bush Administration which did not care about the NPT but rather about money, which has caused us such world turmoil. Both the new media elite and the Bush administration were forced by their new found positions to come around but at what costs? Now we as a nation believe that anybody could sneak in a mini-nuke that is undetected and thus we are now a nation fearing control.
As the Obama Administration comes in and hires the old establishment back into power, the shadow NPT will likely become the de facto standard again and we may or may not return to the good times of 1990s. But one thing is for sure the world balance has shifted with the new administration. Isn’t it odd that Israel and Gaza are supposedly going to make peace now? I say follow the money and follow the retribution of the members of the NPT and shadow NPT.
No one it seems across the world wanted McCain; they wanted Obama. The world is/was tired of the Bush administration and having to constantly punish them and us by extension. They were willing to send the world into an economic recession in order to punish us for our sins of allowing Bush/Cheney to rise to power.
Now for sanity to return, I will wait and see how Obama conducts himself. So far, so good.
That means that we are going to have fervent supporters of Israel and fervent opposition to all that Israel seems to embody, but that is the intention dating back to managing nuclear usage around the world such that they would never again be used on or against a nation ever again. You cannot even threaten the usage of them. The USA is unique in our word-smithing as we have used so much depleted nuclear material in Iraq as to make large areas virtually uninhabitable within reason.
[Editors Note: the opinions of the authors in WE! Magazine Online are theirs alone, WE! Does not necessarily endorse those sentiments.]
44th President Its Official!
By Ron McBride
Chief Justice John Roberts, swore in Barack H. Obama as the 44th President of the United States today (Tuesday), making him the first African-American president in the history of this country. This followed a history-making run for the White House that lasted two years. With his wife, Michelle holding the Bible, Barack Obama, 47 year old son of a white mother from Kansas and black father from Africa, took the oath some 5 minutes late.
President Obama called on Americans to join him in confronting what he described as an economic crisis caused by greed and by “our collective failure to make hard choices”.
Following is the full text of his Inaugural address, provided by the Presidential Inaugural Committee. 20 Jan 2009 (Transcript)
“My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
“Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”
(End of Speech)
Estimates are that 1.4 million Americans were on the Capitol Mall to watch the swearing in of the nation’s 44th President. It is also an estimate that 240 Million watched on TV. But the Mall estimates did not include the additional hundreds of thousands who lined the parade route, and were in area’s around the Mall. People gathered together across this country to watch and hear President Obama. In Selma, Alabama, in Memphis, Tennessee, in San Francisco, Chicago and San Antonio they gathered, black and white, shoulder to shoulder, shedding mutual tears of joy and hope.
Reuters just reported that as Barack Obama was sworn in, the in the sleepy fishing town of Obama, Japan the temple bells were ringing and fireworks were being fire off, the residents were dancing the hula all in celebration of the election of a President in another country, a President who shares his name with this Japanese village.
Before I close, I want to repeat a line in the President’s speech, “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.” For the first time ever, an incoming President acknowledged and delivered a message to Muslim nations. He also had a message for the terrorists: “We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”
In the Public Interest
by Ralph Nader
January 16, 2009
In the long sixty-year tortured history of the Palestinian expulsion from
their lands, Congress has maintained that it is always the Palestinians,
the Palestinian Authority, and now Hamas who are to blame for all hostilities
and their consequences with the Israeli government. The latest illustration
of this Washington puppet show, backed by the most modern weapons and
billions of taxpayer dollars annually sent to Israel, was the grotesquely
one-sided Resolutions whisked through the Senate and the House of
Representatives.
While a massive bombing and invasion of Gaza was underway, the resolution
blaming Hamas for all the civilian casualties and devastation—99% of it
inflicted on Palestinians—zoomed through the Senate by voice vote and
through the House by a vote of 390 to 5 with 22 legislators voting present.
There is more dissent against this destruction of Gaza among the Israeli
people, the Knesset, the Israeli media, and Jewish-Americans than among
the dittoheads on Capitol Hill.
The reasons for such near-unanimous support for Israeli actions—no matter
how often they are condemned by peace advocates such as Bishop Desmond Tutu,
United Nations resolutions, the World Court and leading human rights groups
inside and outside of Israel, are numerous. The pro-Israeli government lobby,
and the right-wing Christian evangelicals, lubricated by campaign money of many
Political Action Committees (PACs) certainly are key. There is also more than
a little bigotry in Congress against Arabs and Muslims, reinforced by the mass
media yahoos who set new records for biased reporting each time this conflict
erupts. The bias is clear. It is always the Palestinians’ fault. Right-wingers
who would never view the U.S. government as perfect see the Israeli government
as never doing anything wrong. Liberals who do not hesitate to criticize the
U.S. military view all Israeli military attacks, invasions and civilian devastation
as heroic manifestations of Israeli defense.
The inversion of history and the scope of amnesia know no limits. What about
the fact that the Israeli government drove Palestinians from their lands in
1947-48 with tens of thousands pushed into the Gaza strip. No problem to
Congress. Then the fact that the Israeli government cruelly occupied, in violation
of UN resolutions, the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 and only removed its soldiers
and colonists from Gaza (1.5 million people in a tiny area twice the size of the
District of Columbia) in 2005. To Congress, the Palestinians deserved it.
Then when Hamas was freely elected to run Gaza, the Israeli authorities cut off
the tax revenues on imports that belonged to the Gaza government. This threw the
Gazans into a fiscal crisis—they were unable to pay their civil servants and
police.
In 2006, the Israelis added to their unrelieved control of air, water and land
around the open-air prison by establishing a blockade. The natives became
restless. Under international law, a blockade is an act of war. Primitive
rockets, called by reporters “wildly inaccurate” were fired into Israel.
During this same period, Israeli soldiers and artillery and missiles would go
into Gaza at will and take far more lives and cause far more injuries than those
incurred by those rockets. Civilians—especially children, the infirm and
elderly—died or suffered week after week for lack of medicines, medical
equipment, food, electricity, fuel and water which were embargoed by the
Israelis. Then the Israeli bombing followed by the invasion during the past three
weeks with what prominent Israeli writer Gideon Levy called “a brutal and violent
operation…far beyond what was needed for protecting the people in its
south.” Mr. Levy observed what the president of the United Nations General
Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann called a war against “a helpless and
defenseless imprisoned population.”
The horror of being trapped from fleeing the torrent of the most modern weapons
of war from the land, air and seas is reflected in this passage from Amira Hass,
writing in the leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz:
“The earth shaking under your feet, clouds of choking smoke, explosions like
a fireworks display, bombs bursting into all-consuming flames that cannot be
extinguished with water, mushroom clouds of pinkish-red smoke, suffocating gas,
harsh burns on the skin, extraordinary maimed live and dead bodies.”
Ms. Hass is pointing to the use of new anti-civilian weapons used on the Gazan
people. So far there have been over 1100 fatalities, many thousands of injuries
and the destruction of homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, pharmacies,
granaries, farmer’s fields and many critical public facilities. The clearly
marked UN headquarters and UN school were smashed, along with stored medicines
and food supplies.
Why? The Congressional response: “Hamas terrorists” everywhere. Sure,
defending their Palestinian families is called terrorism. The truth is there is
no Hamas army, airforce and navy up against the fourth most powerful military in
the world. As one Israeli gunner on an armored personnel carrier frankly said to
The New York Times: “They are villagers with guns. They don’t even aim when
they shoot.”
Injured Gazans are dying in damaged hospital corridors, bleeding to death
because rescuers are not permitted to reach them or are endangered themselves.
Thousands of units of blood donated by Jordanians are stopped by the Israeli
blockade. Israel has kept the international press out of the Gazan killing
fields. What is going on in Gaza is what Bill Moyers called it earlier this month –
“state terrorism.” Already about 400 children are known to have died. More
will be added who are under the rubble.
Since 2002, more than 50 Arab and Muslim nations have had a standing offer,
repeated often, that if Israel obeys several UN resolutions and withdraws to the
1967 borders leaving 22 percent of the original Palestine for an independent
Palestinian state, they will open full diplomatic relations and there will be
peace. Israel has declined to accept this offer.
None of these and many other aspects of this conflict matter to the Congress. Its
members do not want to hear even from the Israeli peace movement, composed
of retired generals, security chiefs, mayors, former government ministers, and
members of the Knesset. In 60 years these savvy peace advocates have not been
able to give one hour of testimony before a Congressional Committee.
Maybe members of Congress may wish to weigh the words of the founder of Israel,
David Ben-Gurion, years ago when he said:
“There has been anti-Semitism the Nazis Hitler Auschwitz but was that their
[the Palestinian’s] fault? They only see one thing: We have come here and
stolen their country.” Doesn’t that observation invite some compassion for the
Palestinian people and their right to be free of Israeli occupation, land and water
grabs and blockades in the 22 percent left of Palestine?
People’s Stimulus Package
by Ron McBride
There are 49,122,624 Americans on Social Security and Disability in
this country. If the rumors about the Obama Stimulus Package are true,
they will not be eligible for this Stimulus Payment. This is approx 50
million Americans who are more in need than any other group, and they
will be discriminated against. It would be a crying shame if this is
true. These are the backbone of this country.
Word is that the Obama plan calls for a tax rebate to approximately
150 million workers making less than $200,000. The tax breaks would be
worth $500 for individuals and $1,000 for couples. Secondly, any
relief for consumers won’t be available till March/April at the
earliest as the new President tries to get his near $800 Billion
stimulus package (over 2 years) through congress.
Obama’s advisers said that they would not duplicate the rebate checks
sent last year. “Most people spend their 2008 Stimulus check on
services, merchandise or just repaid debts”, claims many on the
Republican side of Congress, but I say so what, money is money and
when it is spent for any of the preceding it is going to help the economy.
At moneycentral.msn.com they estimate that the average debt per
American household with at least one credit card was $8940 in 2002,
the last year for which figures are available to me. I haven’t
included mortgage or vehicle payments or debts here, just the
revolving credit debt.
Commonsense tells me that if I owed $8940 in Credit Card Debt, and the
US Government in its wisdom were to give me $7,500 in a stimulus
package, then I could pay this debt down drastically, thus saving me
monthly payments and loads of interest. The resulting payments made on
these cards would save the issuing banks, and reduce their exposure
and default rates. It is a win-win situation.
I believe that a stimulus pkg that amounted to $7,500 per household,
regardless of income, would be the main engine to drive our economy
back onto a positive track.
We handed out $750 Billion to banks and Big Business (the second half
was released yesterday Thursday) and we the people, are in worse shape
than before. Now they are discussing another $825 Billion to revise
the economy. And yesterday new worries over Citigroup and Bank of
America surfaced, they are already lining up and holding out their hands.
By US Census estimates there will be 113,567,967 households by the end
of 2009, when mutiplied by the suggested $7,500 we get an amount of
$851,759,752,500. This is doable without a doubt just look at the
previous paragraph. It is equivalent of the Corporate handouts made to
Big Banks and other Big Business entities.
Even if only 50% is used for repayment of debts, the remaining 50%
would be used to purchase things either wanted or needed for the
household, thus further stimulating the economy.
Based on a standard multiplier of 6, which most economists use, the
“People’s Stimulus Package” (another entry under Economy) would
generate $5 Trillion for the economy.
In addition to this one time Stimulus Payment, I believe that we
should formulate anti-usury laws that will regulate the Credit Card
companies and the Banks that issue them… I have seen interest rates
of 28.99% right here in Illinois, it may even be higher in other
states such as CA or NY. There is no reason on God’s green earth for
anyone be it credit and loan companies or Federal and State Banks to
charge more than 12-14%. Put a stop to this white collar crime, pass
the laws and regulations needed, then enforce them with jail time for
those who violate the public trust.
Perhaps we could establish special bank accounts for each household
that would receive the Stimulus checks, and the bank would then issue
a special debit card for use of the recipent. The reason for this is
that only products made here in the USA or from other domestic
manufacturing companies would be elgibile to be purchased with these
special Debit Accounts. It wouldn’t cause a much bigger workload, and
banks who recieve help with their liquidity and benefit from the use
of OUR dollars at the same time.
It is on the backs of the poorest and middle class Americans that this
recession (we are toying with a depression as well), is hurting the
most. Many of these people do not make enough to even file an income
tax form, I know my wife and I are two of those. We are not only the
history of the last 6-9 decades, but we are the foundation of America,
it is our Social Security dollars that Congress has siphoned off over
the years, and spent on their pet pork barrel projects. It was our
sweat and labor that provide the foundation for the workers today who
receive many times more income than we did at the same age.
We have given out 350 billion (estimates are that with the additional
incentives it will amount to 8 trillion dollars) to banks who not only
didn’t need it, but who rub our faces in it by taking espensive
corporate holidays and paying ridiculous salaries to executives who
basically fill a chair and figure ways to screw the average citizen
out of a few more pennies.A little known TARP provision provided banks
with a $250 billion tax break (You want proof?, check Pg 53).
Appropriations Committee chairman, Representative David R. Obey,
Democrat of Wisconsin, said that the bill would create a board to
oversee how the stimulus money was being spent and that money
allocated under the recovery bill would be tracked on a new Web site.
By all means setup a strong oversight system to ensure that American
dollars remain in the hands of Americans, not in off-shore accounts.
Also there should be public reports provided to the American people
that not only keep them informed of what is going on but couple it
with an education program on how to better care for ones money and
credit. I believe that the accounting of TARP and other rescue
measures should be included in the aforementioned public reports, not
in legaleze but in away that the average person could understand, this
alone would encourage people to look at thier own expenditures and
earnings and gain better control of their family finances.
Lets provide $7,500 to every household, regardless of income,
everyone, let us allow them to bail not only themselves but our
country out of what promises to be a decade of recession and yes even
a depression is possible.
I just dug out and re-read “The Crash of 79″ by Paul E. Erdman, it
does an excellent job of presenting how big banks work, and is quite
entertaining as well. Read it you will be amazed.
But back to the Stimulus Package, increase it to $7,500 per household,
do it NOW, and then guide the American people as they make the CHANGE
that President-elect Obama promises, happen.
Got to love “Hot Rod”
by Ron McBride
Regardless of what you think of “Hot Rod” Blagojevich, The impeached embattled Governor of Barack Obama’s and My home state of Illinois. Regardless of whether you are a Republican, Democrat or Independent. One has to love the way he plays the political game.
Personally I am no fan of Blago’s, and that stems from when I worked for Danny Stover in 2006 as one of his coordinators in his run for U.S. House of Representatives in the IL-19 district.
Being from the Southern Illinois area, we are all but forgotten by those in Springfield and Chicago. During the 2006 State Fair in Springfield the Democrats in power didn’t see fit to even acknowledge our entourage that accompanied Danny Stover to the Governor’s day at the fair. Instead they were gathered around the Governor, Barack Obama, Emil Jones and others from Chicago, and of the 17 Democratic members on the stage all but one came from the Chicago area… a virtual slap in the face to those bus loads who came from southern parts of the state to show our support.
But back to why “Got to Love, Hot Rod”, his appointment of Roland Burris to fill Obama’s vacant seat in the U.S. Senate was one of the smoothest one upmanship moves I have seen in Politics in my 62 years.
This move put the Senate Leader Harry Reid in a position of looking like a racist if he didn’t seat Burris who would be the lone black on the Senate Rolls, as was Obama before his election to the Presidency.
Burris who has a sterling record of service for over a quarter of a century, is not one to lay down and roll over just because Harry Reid thinks he should, he like Blago has the gonads to standup for what he believes in and isn’t afraid to take the fight to you.
A political maneuverer, such as Blago, is something refreshing in the Democratic Party, one a scale with Bill Clinton, imho. I mean look how he made Harry Reid the most powerful Democrat in Washington (after Barack Obama) eat crow. Reid had said just days before that in no way would the Senate seat a Blago appointee.
When one remembers that in politics or the movies perception is 99% of the ball game, then Blago has won this round, hands down.
The Taft/Hartley and Right To Work bunch are back at it again
by Leo C. Helmer
For anyone who must work for a living to afford food on the table, sending your kids to school, paying ordinary every day bills, paying for car, medical, home, and all the various insurance needs, and a few entertainment moments., you should read this and understand it well.
Those of you who are rich enough to afford all these things without any problem whatsoever may think the corporate owners and CEOs are right. But read this anyway and consider what the guys and gals who have to work every day for less than decent wages are up against.
First of all any CEO or Corporate Biggie worth his/her salt will always have a contract before they even consider the job. And even if they are the worst bunch of the lo0t, they will not get fired without their golden parachute going out the door with them. So you may wonder why they think so little of their workers who made them rich.
Second, in order to even get close to succeeding at such a job, they have to show the stockholders each year that they made a profit and thus made a few nickels or dimes per share. But what do they do to make these few nickels and dimes? They eliminate all the jobs in the plant and send them overseas. And, any worker they do keep for whatever reason they want to pay the minimum wage, which they also try to fight when it becomes necessary to increase because of the inflation caused by them in the first place. Prices must remain at the highest price possible for the products produced even if they are made by slave labor in China or wherever at the lowest price on earth.
And, finally, you all wonder, why the hell do about the top 5 or 10 percent of the richest folks in America or for that matter on earth need the biggest and most tax breaks. If you make more than you will ever use up or that your kids will fight over when you kick off, then what is the point? Is it so necessary to horde and lay away millions for lawyers to get rich over too? Did these morons of sorts really think they were going to be like the Egyptian Pharos and take it all with them? Even though they tried to seal themselves up in Pyramids with their possessions, over the centuries most of it was stolen anyway.
But these rich guys and gals want to horde it anyway, regardless of the rest of humanity and human needs. Greedy SOBs ain’t they?
It recent news it was reported that most of the Southern Republican Senators voted against a bail out for the automakers. They tried to point out that these car makers did not need a bailout because their workers were not union. However they did not point out that each state that had a foreign car maker was forced to put up a hundred million or more to get the foreigners to even consider moving to their state. So figure it out. 3 or 4 states spend a half billion for themselves to benefit or America spends less than 25 billion to save the car makers who have been here since 1900 and thereabouts. And the UAW has already made concessions necessary to help in the recovery.
And, you may have also heard that a Union Plant in Chicago was being forced to shut down because a ‘bailed out bank’ refused to lend money to it to pay for ongoing expenses, however the Union workers locked themselves in the plant until Bank of America gave in and paid the company. That is amazing isn’t it, the Union got the workers earned wages by doing what Unions do. Fight for their workers, and make business pay for legi9timate claims. Do you think these workers would have been paid a cent if they had no Union to fight for them?
Now the question is do we really need Employees Free Choice Act? Well without it in another few years all jobs will be gone from America And without it we will be no better than the slave laborers in other countries. All our jobs will be gone. America will be broke, for sure. And even Wal-Mart and Big Mack will be out of business because no one will have a dime to spend on anything. All jobs will be slave labor jobs just like the big bosses want it, but when that happens they won’t be making big bucks either, because there won’t be big bucks anywhere. All this legislation will do is make it easier to join a Union and help spread the wealth. Companies right now can browbeat employees who want Union representation in their workplace. Most fire Union organizers on the spot. And make it almost impossible to hold a ’so called’ free election. Free elections can be had when workers have Free Choice.
Now read this and make your own choice.
WASHINGTON — Intent on blocking organized labor’s top legislative goal, corporations are quietly contributing to lobbying groups with appealing names like the Workforce Fairness Institute and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.
N. Y. Times Topics: Organized Labor
These groups are planning a multimillion-dollar campaign in the hope of killing legislation that would give unions the right to win recognition at a workplace once a majority of employees sign cards saying they want a union. Business groups fear the bill will enable unions to quickly add millions of workers and drive up labor costs.
The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a federation of 500 business groups, ran a full-page advertisement on Wednesday that sought to discredit the legislation, called the Employee Free Choice Act. The advertisement said that if secret ballots were good enough to elect Barack Obama then they should be good enough for union members, too.
Richard Berman, a Washington lobbyist, has created a business-backed group, the Center for Union Facts, that is planning to run millions of dollars’ worth of television spots over the next few months to pressure moderate Democrats to oppose the bill.
During last fall’s presidential campaign, groups opposing the legislation spent more than $20 million on television commercials in Colorado, Maine, Minnesota and other states in an effort to defeat Democratic Senate candidates who backed the bill.
At a confirmation hearing set for Friday, Republican senators are expected to challenge Representative Hilda L. Solis of California, President-elect Obama’s choice for labor secretary, over her support for the legislation.
Business leaders denounce the bill because it would largely eliminate secret-ballot elections to determine whether workers want a union. (The union win rate has traditionally been far higher through majority signups than elections.)
“If you know anything about politics, it is a game changer,” said Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada. “It is a total game changer for the next 40 to 50 years if the Democrats are able to get this legislation that eliminates the right to a secret ballot. We are fighting it hard.”
Senate Democrats have not decided when to bring up the measure. Given its divisiveness, it will not be one of the first bills they bring to the floor. But the legislation has the strong backing of Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, who is expected to bring it up once Democrats are confident they can overcome any filibuster.
In 2007, the House passed a similar bill, but it failed in the Senate on a procedural vote.
Republican leaders and business lobbyists say the Democrats do not have the 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. But union leaders voice optimism, noting that Mr. Obama has endorsed the bill and that Democrats have close to 60 seats in the Senate, though two remain in dispute. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who once was a co-sponsor of the bill, has not decided whether he would support it this time, an aide said.
Whether it is Wal-Mart or the National Restaurant Association, many companies and corporate groups financing the opposition fear that their companies and industries will be among labor’s earliest organizing targets should the bill become law.
Labor leaders say they are setting their sights on several industries, like banks and big-box retailers like Wal-Mart or Target, where unions have had virtually no success.
“We’re going to organize in the basic industries of our unions: construction, hospitality, health care, retail, food production and manufacturing,” said Tom Woodruff, director of strategic organizing for Change to Win, a federation of seven unions that includes the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers. “Those are jobs that are going to stay in the country. The question is whether those jobs are going to be decent middle-class jobs.”
Mark McKinnon, a media adviser to the presidential campaigns of John McCain and George W. Bush, is a spokesman for the Workforce Fairness Institute. Mr. McKinnon said the institute was focusing on drumming up grass-roots support from business. He would not say which companies are financing the institute, founded by several longtime Republican operatives.
“This issue has really become very high on the radar screen,” he said. “Businesses are hearing about it, and they are ready to riot in the street about it.”
The measure “is the most radical rewrite of labor legislation since the 1930s,” Mr. McKinnon said. “It is a political nightmare and a public policy disaster.”
Opponents fear that the legislation will enable labor to become a wealthier and more powerful political force. Union leaders see the bill as crucial for reversing labor’s long decline — unions represent just 7.5 percent of private-sector workers, down from nearly 40 percent a half-century ago.
John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said that if Wal-Mart’s United States work force of 1.4 million were unionized, that could mean $500 million in additional union dues collected each year — tens of millions of which might be used to support Democratic causes and candidates.
Acknowledging that Wal-Mart presents a formidable challenge, labor leaders say they hope to unionize up to 100 of Wal-Mart’s more than 4,000 United States stores for starters, which might add 30,000 members.
“We are against any bill that would effectively eliminate freedom of choice and the right to a secret ballot election,” said a Wal-Mart spokesman, David Tovar. “We believe every associate” — Wal-Mart’s term for employees — “should have the right to make a private and informed decision regarding union representation.”
Labor leaders say they do not oppose secret-ballot elections, but rather the bitter two-month management-versus-union campaigns that often precede elections. Union leaders say those campaigns are usually unfair because corporations often fire union supporters and press their anti-union views day and night in one-on-one sessions and large meetings while union organizers are prohibited from company property.
Labor leaders said that last month they won one of the biggest unionization victories in years for the nearly 5,000 workers at the Smithfield pork processing plant in Tar Heel, N.C., by insisting on what they said were fairer rules.
If the bill is enacted, unions say they will try to organize workers by quietly getting a majority to sign pro-union cards before companies can begin an anti-union campaign. In theory, a union organizer or pro-union employee would have an easy time signing up a majority of, say, the 25 workers at a McDonald’s, the 15 baristas at a Starbucks or the 50 aides at a nursing home.
Corporations also oppose a provision of the bill that would allow government arbitrators to determine the terms of a contract when no agreement has been reached within 120 days of a union’s winning recognition. Defending that provision, labor leaders say companies often undermine newly formed unions by dragging out contract talks for months, even years.
“The idea of negotiating a contract and turning it over to an arbitrator who has no interest in the company or the workers’ future and then can dictate the terms of a contract, that’s a pretty reckless way to go,” said Mr. Engler of the manufacturers’ association. “This is the one issue that everybody who’s an employer agrees is a bad idea.”
McConnell is Arrogant and just Plain Silly
By Ron McBride
When Mitch McConnell (Ky.) showed not only poor sportsmanship, but once again showed why he is so hated in parts of Kentucky, especially in lesser populated western KY.
Today was the official count of the electoral votes that named Barack Obama as the winner, although all the networks and major newspapers had done so long ago. When the rest of the Senators stood and applauded the announcement by Vice President Cheney, McConnell stayed in his seat the only one to do so.
Eventually he stood, and took his time buttoning his suit coat, when the applause continued, rather than clap, he shoved his hands in his pockets. Making him look silly. Finally he sat down.
John McCain and two-thirds of the Senate didn’t even bother to show up for the formal vote. Forty-one of the Republicans failed to show.
Bad manners, you bet. If one of us was to get up and walk out on a meeting, it wouldn’t cause much of a problem, and it would be bad manners, if we failed to show up at all, it would be arrogance, but to do as McConnell did today is plain silly, and made him look like the bully who is losing and takes the ball and goes home.
