2012: The Year Of Paulsterity

I listened in to the last Raw Dawg Buffalo Radio Show on Thursday night. I had spent a couple of hours reviewing information I was gathering for this post… a post to explain just what I believe will happen as TPTB mind-muck all us rednecks with their dazzling bullshit into accepting the harsh austerity coming in the next year or two.

The first thing that stood out was the fact that most, if not all, the call-ins were pro-Paul (and likely members of the PPPP page of Facebook that I referenced a while back). This is the page that Kelso and Yancey started, in which Ron Paul is the main object of discussion. I was asked to join and did, knowing full well that my opinion would not be welcomed and that since I knew quite a few of the posters there, I also knew their modus operandi when it comes to debate. I did it to be part of an experiment that I knew up front would be bad for me… but I did it anyway.

I was immediately met with obfuscation, mis-direction, dead-end points, straw men arguments, and then the onslaught of the Rothbard Freaks who apparently haven’t enough brain cells to realize that this planet (nor the USA) can ever be that Idyllic Place they (and their freak leader, Rothbard) seem to think we live in. I tried to explain to them at the time that Paul is the “Austerity Bait and Switch” to the previous POTUS fools we have endured over the past several decades or more. I tried to show them that Paul’s platform will be hijacked, if they can’t squash him outright in the prelims. I tried to show that TPTB are not afraid of a Paul’s presidency, for it will play right into the meme. As a matter of fact, I would not be at all surprised to find out that Paul is THEIR man all along.

Why would I feel that, since so many seemingly smart people have totally swallowed the “Change” portion of his platform (they all want to bring us “change”, don’t they?). Why is it that these smart people, many I respect for their thinking ability, can be so gullible and sycophantic? How can these smart people (smarter than I) fall for ANOTHER “sElection” within the corrupt two-party system? How can these same smart people dog the bogusly single-minded, faux two party monstrosity and STILL believe that a solution could EVER come from that very system they disdain so much?

I didn’t want to call in to the show, for I felt I would be met with a knee-jerk negative reaction and that these “smart people” would not want to discuss or even entertain the facts I had to present. So, I fed some detail to Sista GP and Jackson Douglas via the chat window and hoped it would get some discussion as I listened in.

Man o man, did the fireworks light up the sky on the last show (from what I had heard, this was the best show I had ever been a part of or had ever heard on that channel).

To get the details, I cannot recommend enough to listen to this Guns and Butter Interview with Webster G Tarpley:

Critique Of Ron Paul’s Austerity Plan

Mr Tarpley evaluates Paul’s “Plan To Restore America” and does some math. It is here where the “smart people” on the show started to see where this old dumb-ass redneck might be on to something after-all (altho Kelso did his best to simply poo-poo the entire argument, by saying the numbers were off… its Paul’s numbers… heh).

In a nut-shell, Paul’s plan intends to cut $1TRILLION is spending. He tells us about how we need to cut the military and stop “policing the world” (which, of course, I agree with). We need to stop the illegal wars (duh?). We need to cut ALL foreign aid, including (and I applaud) aid to Israel.

Sounds good, huh?

But let’s discuss the OTHER things Paul wants to cut and compare some numbers so that you will understand precisely where I am coming from in my open disdain for the Paul platform (this was initially not the case… I actually liked most of his platform, until I get the numbers). To me, it is not the dollar amount that is the most critical for this explanation, but for us to look at the percentages of cuts to the social network, and THEN compare that to the overall dollar amount.

Cuts:

15% from military

40% from SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program)… insurance for poor kids

35% Medicaid ($276B to be cut by$95B)

63% cut to FoodStamps (cut $53B from the $83B line item)

(I broke this down for the listeners… assuming 50,000,000 Americans on food stamps equals $180/month/person… to be cut to $60/month/person… equals $15/week/person)

Do I have to ask you if you believe (even for a second) that you could feed yourself or child for $15/week?

Paul’s Plan Caters To The Rich and to speculators… kills off poor folk

Paul wants to keep the Bush Tax Cuts

Abolish Capital gains

Abolish Estate Tax

Cut corporate taxes from an estimated 35% (that many never pay to begin with) to 15%

Wants to entice corporations to “come back to America” and will not tax for their foreign profits

(All the above will NOT help a single poor person/family I know. It is simply tax relief for the rich and corporations, but not for individuals)

Cut Foreign Aid

We might initially all applaud the tactic of stopping ALL foreign aid, especially when it is related to continuing the support of the murderous apartheid Israel. But what if you knew that America provides about 57% of the aid that goes to feed starving children in the world? Is it the sign of a “Christian Nation” when we starve the children that need the help, when we are spending arguably $1TRILLION/year in military alone? Can we not see the ludicrousness in spending all that money to maim and kill innocent children and THEN to also take away what little support we offer for the starving and sick ones?

Deregulation/Privatization

We have gone thru a few decades of continual deregulation and privatization. To a point now that we are experiencing the repercussions of those decisions. Paul would have us believe that we need to dismantle even MORE regulations. To free up these criminal assholes to steal even MORE of your money.

It is the deregulation that led to this very financial crash and your newest Hopey Changer wants MORE.

Libertarian Versus Progressive

One of my favorite “progressive” writers is Stephen Lendman. He wrote an excellent piece today that delves into this very subject. Please read:

Ron Paul’s Anti-Progressive Agenda

That is an excellent article and approaches some of the same details I wrote of here.

Sure, he keeps talking about abolishing or reigning in The Fed. But in my opinion, The Fed is on its last legs, anyway. The entire system is being brought to a crash, after they squeeze as much out of it as they can. I have no doubt that ending The Fed could very well be part of the overall New World Order Agenda.

And don’t you worry your little self over those poor bankers who will seemingly take a hit when The Fed goes down and is replaced by some international banking cartel. Believe me, they will be eating just fine as you and your children suffer what could culminate in this.

A Bushie equals an Obama Maniac equals a Paul Bot.

’nuff said.

Let’s make a deal… let’s decide we are going to do things differently. Let’s decide that we cannot trust the reTHUGlican and demoRAT Parties. Let us never allow a R or D to be elected in office again. Something different is needed and us doing the same old same old is a sure sign we have become insane as a country.

You want something different, right? Some change?

How about you and I grow us some “Big Balls” and send these maniacs packing?

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We Are The Patriots…They Are The Terrorists

It’s all about the divide and how you and I keep falling into line with it. Even those of us who see the reality of the false paradigm have long held, brain-washed ideologies that can be difficult to break. It is ingrained in us, but that doesn’t make it impossible to break.

Every President since Kennedy has been hand picked by the Trilateral Commission. As a matter of fact, every candidate on either Party that made a November election were members of the Trilateral Commission and hand-picked to be the POTUS. The Elitists within this group doesn’t give a rat’s ass who wins, for they are all owned puppets and will carry forward the agenda prescribed for them.

Kennedy was the last POTUS to not be a member of this group and see what it got him.

But the world gobbles it up. White against blackany color, Rep vs Dem, Abortionist against Right to life, Liberal vs conservative, sugar vs hugh fructose corn syrup, just name it and claim your “side”.

Fall into the divide and help keep it that way. Focus your efforts on the “side” you dislike the most, barrage the Tea Partiers with your “progressive” rage, defend the current POTUS in lieu of all the bald faced lies he said to get elected, because God knows John and the reTHUGlicans would be worse (worse than what, B’Man asks). You think Papa Walnuts (as my buddy Tengrain calls him) would “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”? You think he would have pulled the troops out of Iraq just to send them to Afghanistan? You think he would have put Big Money and Big Banking in their place? Do you REALLY believe there would be ANY damned difference, except the color of their skin?

Seriously, in your need to protect and defend your favorite “side”, can you NOT see they are playing you like a fool? Have you not the mental ability to know when you are being conned? Being played as a chump?

We MUST stop this shit. We must disallow them control over our every thought.

And it doesn’t help to keep silent… to not rock the boat. To just get along.

Complacency is as bad as participation in their circus.

We MUST stand up and as a nation of patriots (not Sheople) and take back the Republic. I am telling you that one of the fastest ways is to never vote R or D again. Of course, you cannot allow the thieves to leave R or D and gain control of any other “Party”, as the Tea Partiers are wont to do.

We can start anew, but it will take a concerted effort that is NOT impossible. IF enough people feel the real pain.

I feel it.

Do you?

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

B’Man’s Patriot Watch: US Rep. Marcy Kaptur

She is the longest term congresswoman in office right now. That means that her peeps like her. I can see why.

She said the following in an interview with Bill Moyers on Friday night:

* The Federal Housing Agency used to insure 1 in 50 mortgages. But FHA now insures 1 in 4 mortgages, as the debt for bad mortgages has been dumped on the American people

* “Banks have the power to create money”. This again confirms and verifies that banks create money out of thin air, not based on the amount of reserve deposits on hand. See this and this

* While – on paper – there are reserve requirements, banks have gone from 10 to 1 leverage (where they could lend out 10 times their reserves) to – in the case of JP Morgan – 100 to 1 leverage. But with derivatives, leverage might be much higher

* Instead of holding hearings on the core problems with the financial system, Congress is holding hearings solely on arcane, peripheral issues

Let me explain this to those who believe that their particular congressperson cares about their constituents: they would act like this woman does, if they actually gave a rat’s ass about you. If you rdnecks think that Marsha Blackburn gives even half a rat’s ass, you are sadly (and stupidly) mistaken. Goes for 97% of them.

h/t Washington’s Blog

The Hunt: And Other Miscellaneous B’Man Babblings

Folks,

It is high time for the nut cuttin’.

Many people who visit here don’t really know how to take the place. Supposedly a redneck from the south who is anti-corporate, anti-Republican (and anti-Democrat, for that matter) and who cannot idly accept what the minions in government tell us, when it is obvious that their purpose is money and protecting those that give it to them.

I have had links (on the side over there ——->) for various places that are truly Progressive (“Progressive” Does NOT Equal Democratic party, btw) and also linked to some Conservative blogs (“Conservative” Does NOT equal Republican party).

I also have linked and appreciate as much or more than any others, blogs that are written by Black folk, Latinos, Europeans, Canadians, Afghanis, Iraqis, and even by an American in Seoul. The reason for this (other than appreciating their work) is that it is my opinion that these “fringe” groups (as some would describe) are being played against each other and against the white establishment (which the establishment wants me and other rednecks to think we are a part of).

Fat, rich white people against the rest of humanity, to a certain degree and they don’t care what color you are.

Any sane, thinking redneck must understand that we aren’t any part of that elitist group. It is simply the divide and conquer game that the richest of the rich use to control us: keeping us attacking, even killing each other over bullshit that means so little in perspective of the truth, that it astonishes me that we still fall for it.

My buddy (and contributer here), kelso’s nuts, says often that it will be the Black Power activists, the Socialist Parties, and the Southern Christian libertarians and Town Hallers that will make change happen. Rednecks, black folk and other minorities must be able to connect, make amends, and devise a way forward that will eliminate the Corporate Control of the majority of politicians. It is truly these few groups that recognize that American Exceptionalism is BS. It will be the people that are raising the most hell about Obama’s lies and deceit that will eventually hold him (them) accountable.

I like this that Kelso commented once:

There are but two sides: those who favor peace and freedom and those who don’t. The serious White Southern monetarists are very committed. The militant Black Power movement is really committed. The (real) socialist activist left is really committed. The world Green Parties are really committed.

It is this dance of the Republicrats and their blind hate and fear and perversion of Christianity and patriotism and the wealthy, indifferent, Big Government Liberals who are in lock-step to oppress.

It will NOT be those at the Huff Po, C&L, Daily Kos, etc. They are too invested in the system and Obama’s Ass (as in tonguing his ass). Too much clout, too much ability to rub elbows with power, and monetary gain from the very ones who perpetuate the shackling of us “peons”.

Nor will it be the Tea-baggers and the ravenous right-wing freaks whom only consider defeat of the “other party” as the goal. They are playing into and are likely a part of the mind games played on an American public who is scared to death about the future of this country and for their families.

I already know places that I want to highlight and you should get to know these folks, for truth is rampant at their blogs:

Losing The War on Humor

One of my newer Favs. 2truthy’s blog that addresses my favorite topics and is damned funny, as well. They, “are dedicated to drop-kicking truth and justice, laughers and screamers, strange and terribly real stories about living out the death of American civility and the hubris soaked perps who profit from it.”

Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon’s blog that addresses America’s Empire and organizing against it. Powerful stuff from a dedicated Patriot.

Jay Midnyte

Jay is a young black man who has his shit all together regarding the financial crisis we are in. His knowledge is impressive. Also note that if you are a redneck (like me), this may be a good place to begin to learn about Hip Hop (whether you like it or not isn’t the point). Understanding a culture that you have been brainwashed to fear is paramount to making this work. As an example, Hip Hop sells more to white folk than black folk.

Steve Lendman’s Blog

Powerful writer and radio host that focuses much time on the Empire and many other like-minded subjects.

The Disbrimstone Daily Pitchfork

Excellent assembly of writers (where I first read Kelso’s writing). The site is definitely NSFW (not suitable for work) and for some who have an aversion to porn, you may want to avoid it. However, the information presented here is well reported by quality, professional writers.

Chycho

This man is a freaking genius. He posts about math (which goes over my head, at times), but posts even more about politics and the empire that reigns. Marijuana legalization is one of his key interests and is about to embark on a Sabbatical to help Marc emory’s case in Canada. One of my favorite sites on the entire web.

Raw Dawg Buffalo

Torrance is absolutely brilliant. Depending on the particular post, he speaks in different voices (he can speak with a redneck, a politician, black folk or a king). He is one of the most insightful Professors, Authors, THINKERS that I have encountered. Well worth the visit.

Operation Itch

Davis Fleetwood’s Social Networking Site for progressives. It is “in-your-face” and REAL.

The Black Agenda Report

Glen Ford, Margaret Kimberly and Bruce Dixon (among others, I believe) lay out the truth about African American politics, thought and action. A must read for any American.

One of the most impressive interviews I have seen lately was a Real News interview with Glen Ford:

The Black Sun Gazette

I have featured Nick’s work here several times. Well worth the visit and RSS feed.

The Largest Minority

Manila Ryce’s blog of unadulterated gob-smacking of the idiocy we call American politics (not as active as usual, lately).

Once Upon A Time

Arthur Silber’s Blog. One of the better writers I have encountered on the web. Whether or not you agree with his point of view (I do, by and large), his posts are extremely well prepared, organized and informative.

Mock, Paper, Scissors

Tengrain’s blog who is slowly coming around to my way of thinking (wink). Funny, smart and a great writer.

Washington’s Blog

Last, but not least featured today is a blog that has been very informative for me on a variety of topics, especially the financial mess. But all things “Imperialization” are addressed in a brilliant and well thought out manner. Great Blog!

This is just a small sampling of truly progressive sites that see the overall picture, much like I do (I link and visit many others, but they are not necessarily political in nature, so I haven’t featured them in this post… like one of my favorite women bloggers that addresses blogging in general, Roschelle at Inconsequential Logic). There are many others that you should visit, like, “After Downing Street;  “A Tiny Revolution“; Sam Smith’s UnderNews (the blog for the Progressive Review); Glen Greenwald’s Blog (just a few among several you can click on over on the right panel). I have not formally set up Blog link exchanges with these, but they are a part of my daily read.

So here is what I am looking for. I want to expand on this by having you suggest similar sites, especially those that focus on the southern white portion that I have been discussing (I have a hard time finding them). I want to find sites that I can link to and share their ideas here that will help make this connection that is needed NOW, especially from that southern, white perspective.

It boils down to this: We MUST come together and fix this shit. We will never be whole until we take back the control. We will never be able to do that unless we work things out between us, without the diversions and horseshit divisional tactics that have worked for so very long.

And don’t be fooled by the name of a blog (like the “Pine Belt Progressive”, as an example). There is nothing “Progressive” about a site dedicated to ass-kissing the status quo and continuing the fake two-party divide.

And please don’t blow smoke up my ass. I can do that on my own:

Tobacco Enema

h/t Vital Signs and their article called, “20 Scary Old School Surgical Tools“

Arrested Development by Ralph Nader

Senator Dick Durbin said last week that the banks own Congress.

That’s true.

But they don’t come close to the hammerlock their brothers in the health insurance and drug companies have over the place.

The drug companies and health insurance companies control every nook and cranny on the Hill.

If you doubt it, look no further than the events of the past two weeks at the Senate Finance Committee.

Committee chair Senator Max Baucus called a full 28 witnesses for two hearings on health care reform.

Senator Baucus called on the Business Roundtable.

He called on the Heritage Foundation.

He called on the lobby known as America’s Health Insurance Plans.

But not one of the 28 witnesses called by Baucus supported what the majority of the American people want.

And what the majority of doctors, nurses and health economists want.

Single payer, full Medicare for all, everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital health care.

And so, Single Payer Action decided to act.

Last week, eight citizens – including three doctors – led by Single Payer Action – simply demanded that Baucus add a seat at the table for a single payer advocate.

Instead of adding a seat at the table, Baucus called for the police.

The eight were arrested, handcuffed, and charged with so-called “disruption of Congress.”

The police left behind undisturbed the horde of corporate lobbyists accustomed to “the purchase of Congress.”

This week, two doctors, two nurses, and a citizen from Maine – inspired by the actions of the Baucus 8 – rose and simply demanded that Baucus add a single payer advocate to the witness list.

Again, Baucus refused.

And again, Baucus called for the police.

Now it’s the Baucus 13.

Single Payer Action will not rest until America gets what every other Western industrialized country has – universal, not-for-profit, health care – everybody in, nobody out.

More efficient.

And more humane.

Thanks to your generous help, the launch of Single Payer Action is one of the more successful launches of a citizen action organization in recent memory.

Single Payer Action has gained widespread publicity – on National Public Radio, Democracy Now, in Politico, the Associated Press, and the National Journal.

Opportunity is knocking.

Now we must open the door.

Single Payer Action will pick it’s battles wisely.

And use its resources frugally.

To defeat the insurance and drug industries.

And secure single payer national health insurance for all Americans.

Sooner rather than later. (Because at least 60 Americans die every day from lack of health insurance.)

If you have donated already, thank you for being part of this great launch.

If you have not donated, please donate now – whatever you can afford – $10, $20, $50, $100.

And remember – this is the last day to take advantage of our great two-book offer.

If you give $100 or more by midnight tonight, we will send you two galvanizing books that concisely detail the case for single payer in America.

• Health Care Meltdown by Robert LeBow, MD, revised and updated by Dr. C. Rocky White – a Republican doctor so fed up with the needless suffering caused by the insurance industry that he became a leading advocate for single payer.

  and

• Ten Excellent Reasons for National Health Care, edited by Mary O’Brien and Martha Livingston.
  

Remember, this two-book offer ends tonight at midnight.

So, donate now.

We’re building one million Americans strong for single payer.

Let’s get it done together – for all Americans.

And for future generations.

Onward to single payer

Ralph Nader

Reaching For The OTHER Side

I would start by saying that any viewpoint of “across the aisle” plays directly in to the game. It is this two party system which has become, if it wasn’t always, corrupt. The real owner/masters are the elitists: like bankers, political power players and those that control the media. People who run lobbyist efforts that form the government agenda, even when apparently against the will of the people (CFR, PNAC, AIPAC, etc); or, worse, lie and deceive them into policies that are not just unwise as a country, but immoral. Entities like the Fed Reserve and the IMF and the bullshit council Obama just attended. All that is what is driving the agenda for America.

What should be driving the agenda for America? First and foremost, The Constitution. Secondly, the citizens. It shouldn’t be money, power and world domination.

Why would I blame Bush for the past issues? He was in the driver’s seat. But just look around. I haven’t cut Barack Obama a bit of slack. I am one of his worse critics, imo. This has nothing to do with “across the aisle”, “them or us”, “Dem or Rep”. This is simply holding those that lie to us with abandon, accountable for their lies.

I am sick of those that do not have my, or most Americans’ best interest at heart, making decisions and lying to/brainwashing my compatriots to go along. I am sick of the hypocrisy and apparent lack of attention by most Americans… or those who only take their news from the MSM of the USA. I am even sicker of those who now claim the mantle of progressiveness, when in fact, they are nothing more than water carrying sycophants for the Demorat Party. I explore that more here with kelso’s nuts help:

“Progressive Blogs” have really become nothing more than water carriers for Obama and his administration, no matter what new lie is discovered or new negation of a promise made. The C&L’s, Daily Kos and ThinkProgress seems to be much more interested in playing to the MSM (you are seeing the “left” take over the airwaves slowly but surely).

The sad part is that it is so damned obvious that many of these are simply enamored by the attention they get, the power of the TV appearance, the search for more hits on their website, drawing in more money that they would back Barack Obama’s policies and lies, no matter how atrocious. It is virtually no difference between their ilk and the ones who defend Bush. The modus operandi is the same. Protect the party, and to hell with those that disagree.

Just yesterday, C&L’s David Neiwert (a favorite of my fake progressive attack dog, Gene’O) posted a congratulatory and agreeable post to Glenn Beck. Honoring him for “debunking” the FEMA camps set up. David and the Democrats at C&L posted a similar piece a few days before and now, all the sudden, these water-carriers are best buddies with Beck because he did the same piss-poor investigation into this issue that The Elite’s mouthpiece spouted.

Damn, David (and John Amato), you must be very proud that you are on the same erroneous page that Glenn beck is on. Nice work, geniuses.

Did it ever occur to you that a real investigation would actually investigate the paper trail of the government’s outline of the programs or the fact that Halliburton was give the contracts to build these FEMA camps? Why, of course not. Methinks that these “crack investigators” learn how to use that sleuthing tool called a Google Search, perhaps. Maybe even just for jollies. Google “PDD51″ to see that we could be arguably under a form of Martial Law right now. Google Executive Order 11,000 or go here to see that they have implemented a contingency plan for mobilizing a civilian work force, can take over the electrical grid and every other utility in the nation, or any other myriad of actions that take over the country and put people in to a controlled situation. Or try “H.R. 645″ to see the outline for such “Emergency Centers” and their implementation. Maybe this paper, “Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support” may give you something to “investigate”.

In other words, these crack “investigators at C&L, the ones who give Popular Mechanics all sorts of back pats and suggestions that they are some sort of viable debunking source (why on earth this is assumed is beyond me, especially after their “debunking” of the 9/11 conspiracy… another area David and the Demorats from C&L will likely agree with the right-wing idiot now).

I have no patience for those who defend the past atrocities, most especially through their silence, like is Barack Obama’s tact. I hold him accountable now for those past atrocities and lies, because he will not honor his constitutional pledge and obligation to this great country of holding these thieving, murderous bastards accountable. But those who defend Bush now appear to me to be either party brainwashed, ignorant, or idiotic. Anyone who looks at what he allowed, even if he is a nincompoop, and not consider something horribly wrong, perhaps even downright evil may have occurred, is suspicious. I’m sorry, but that is the truth at this point.

But it isn’t just Bushies… now I see the exact same sheople-like following of Barack Obama by “the other side”. As a matter of fact, it is far worse with the Cult of Obama. People have invested themselves into a liar and now (just like the Bushies of past) are not willing to admit the mistake, much less actually scream and hold the man accountable for his lies and rhetoric that took their money and votes. I can think of no other description except “fools”. The “lesser of two evils” meme has gotten us a real Corporately owned master, but that was the plan all along, yet these “Progressive investigators” are too stupid to understand this simply issue.

Now, let me describe the moving target of my self-applied label (for my world view has changed over my lifetime):

Am I Liberal? On many issues regarding social welfare and the health of American citizens. Yep. Even “Progressive” about it.

Am I Conservative? When it comes to financial issues, especially regarding the MIC, the pork, and all the shenanigans… most especially the expansion of the American Empire. A resounding YES, I am Conservative.

But, we should not even be thinking about those wedge issues when the very heart of our Union is being torn apart by thieves and murderers (or covering up for them making them complicit). We should not be playing into their games of division and look more deeply at the issues that matter the most and then, you and I (Conservative and Liberal, whatever) can truly get shit done.

Who knows, if you strip away your “conservative” label, you may even realize that you are “liberal” in some ways.

Wouldn’t that be some shit?

Why Am I So Radically Pissed Off?

I am angry for a lot of reasons and for the life of me, I can’t see why more Americans aren’t angry, just as I am. This fuels my ire. But first, this thought came from this exchange Lynda (my cohort) and I had. I thought it a good way to explain some of my situation and give you my point of view from my dire perspective.

Lynda, I am about to embark on a very similar situation after having insured myself (paid 100% since 1996) The premium price has steadily gone up and in the past few years substantially. Also, we have pre-existing conditions between the two of us (BuelahGirl is in pretty good health) that would add to far more per month in meds than our premium.

It is a lose-lose.

BuelahLady has 5 meds she takes from a quack who told her that it is a “guessing game” on how to treat her. Her condition is getting worse and after 2.5 years of a menagerie of drug concoctions, he told her Friday that she probably needed to go into the hospital to “level her out”.

WTF?

We discussed it and she is going to find another doctor (she has to drive 1.5 hours one way to see this quack and others aren’t really any closer). She wants to dose off, so she called the pharmacist and he would not help her, telling her that she should do what the doctor is telling her.

So they have her captured and want more. They have ravaged her body and mind (she is 75# overweight, cannot sleep, and now sort of blanks out for a few seconds every now and then). She is getting “stupid” when she is actually a brilliant person… forgetting shit, etc.

Seriously, as far as finances, I haven’t had an order and no commissions coming, so I am whatever is in the checking account away from losing it (with probably $50K in debt on top of that). I have not paid taxes for last year and have no money to send.

I am going through each and every expense today and see how I can cut back even more. I wouldn’t even pay for an ISP, but it is crucial to my business.

Simply put, we are fucked. I see no way out. My initial profession, engineer, is so damned hard to find a job done here, anywhere near, that I don’t see that as an option. All I know to do is plant one hellacious garden, break out the guns and fishing rods for meat and do the best I can until someone comes to put me in debtors prison.

We are blessed to live in BuelahLady’s father’s rent house and told us to skip the rent until we get our feet back on the ground.

To put this in perspective, 2000 thru 2006 I made over $100K year (having fallen for the American dream of a big house, lifestyle, etc). It is not I who squandered away manufacturing which made that lifestyle possible and considered (at the time) unending. Even the disastrous 2001 was a good year for me financially.

I am such a fool.

Yes, a fool. A fool because I have not been even more vocal about this, since I have seen it coming for so long… hoping for the best, but denying what is apparently inevitable. I have worked hard to shift the focus of automation solutions to markets that were supposedly safe… yet, even those are beginning to seriously decline.

A wise man told me the other day that some of his counterparts in the woodworking machinery business, some strong for many decades are basically bankrupt with no solution. Automotive- DEAD. Even medical and food packaging is slowing. General Industry is dying a slow, torturous death.

So I don’t want to hear any Wheeping Willow, pansy ass, “progressive” wannabe, bitch for an apology about anything I write or think. Disagree, stay the fuck away or do whatever floats your boat, but DO NOT expect an apology for my views and feelings. They are right here, in your face, bountifully pissed off and full of rage. This is what you get, baby (thanks, Mr Steele).

If many of the so called progressives who name themselves that actually acted progressive instead of regressive and owned by the system, change might come. You might even see me calm down a bit. Until then, I feel almost like a lone screaming street corner preacher, warning the world as it falls around your and my feet and so many just walk by oblivious.

And then there is Gene’O crying about not being able to post here or link here in his diatribe against me, apparently in hopes to save his readership and stay in the good graces of “real” bloggers like Digby or whomever. As far as I am concerned, anyone like him, more dedicated to Barack Obama than the constitution can kiss my fat ass. To watch you cowardly fucks capitulate certainly is not patriotic, but complicit in our demise. In other words, you are just as much part of the problem as any right-wing tool is. No real difference in mentality.

I don’t give half a fuck about Digby’s blog (although she appears to be a very nice person) or any other Democratic Party Sycophantic illusion. That is good enough for Gene’O, but it ain’t good enough for me, a REAL progressive. A REAL Liberal.

Gene’O, on a personal note: I don’t let you link or post here anymore because I don’t fucking like you or trust you. It is that simple. You showed your true colors and I’m done with you. I hope I don’t have to tend to so many desparate spam posts by you (6 so far). And this from a guy who must have worshipped me, at least from his comments and invites to post everywhere (now asking everyone to take me off their rolls or apologize for endorsing me). That must really be embarrassing among your sycophantic friends.

It all boils down to this. This blog was set up for a purpose… to counter the right-wing brainwashing. Apparently, I should have said neocon/neoliberal brainwashing (or maybe even the Big Two Party brainwashing… which is little different because it is the “neos” that run them both). For this is what has captured the likes of Gene’O, Kos and Digby and made them into near worthless sycophants of the system. The real issues get little to no attention, while the misdirections get all the attention.

My blog is the opposite. The meanigless things (in perspective) get mention, but little more. I harp on the shit that will change the country and the world. If the other so-called Progressives actually acted progressive and attacked the REAL issues, we might make some headway. But as long as you asslicking, ball cuddlers keep avoiding them just for your moment in the blogosphere sun, NOTHING will get better.

You people are a hindrance to Progress, not a help.

Get that through your fat skulls.

Centrism is For Chumps

… and the biggest Chump Is Barack Obama. But he is surrounded by them. And they are screwing us all.

And I have some news for you, you “centrist” idiots. We aren’t supporting you centrist move, anymore. Don’t you get it? We are sick of it. We want REAL change. We don’t want to kowtow to conservative ideologies when it has been those very ideologies that have sunk us. Do you thing we are all as stupid and gullible as you are?

I’m getting sick and tired of the sad “centrist” theory of Mr Obama, too. Besides the fact I think it is a hoax to fool the American Sheoples into falling for the “hope” of “change”, what we need is for him to truly push progressive moves. We have had way too long of conservative rule and it has virtually sunk our beautiful ship of State. This includes Clinton, the “centrist” president who was truly a republican Lite in the mold of HW.

We haven’t had a progressive individual running this country in a very long time. Much less liberal.

Well, let me tell you about this proud old progressive redneck “Liberal”. I am a liberal and I am proud of the fact. I am proud that my liberal views have been correct and the conservative views (especially neo-conservatism) has been plainly put to its sad defeat, soundly. They are just wrong and bogus. I believe in helping people, especially Americans with American Tax dollars. I do NOT support unending wars and lies to get us there. I would venture to say that most of this country agrees with me. But a “Centrist” won’t. A Centrist will fall all over themselves to try and please the most aggressive assholes on the “other side” who are only trying to protect their party… not me.

Centrism is a political game… a manuever to try and win over votes from an opposing political party, but necessarily a competing political ideology. In other words, centrists can be centrists just to be different. It is not for the best interest of the country, but for the show.

And don’t give me any conservative lip. You have been wrong and you sidled up with a movement that destroyed the real conservatives and their ideology. What you have become, Mr Conservative, is a joke that isn’t funny. Circling your wagons to defend against the most stupid rationale in every aspect of government and world aggression. Doing anything to stop progressive policies from taking place. Trying, desperately, to prove that your failed and ignorant ideology is still meaningful and pertinent.

It isn’t. Get over it and move on to the soup lines, you worthless pieces of shit.

The fact is that today’s “conservatives” are blind, lemming-like, fools. Following their leaders over the cliff and screaming all the way down. If you can’t see that your objects of wonder and worship are evil idiots, it is too late for you, as well. Please jump the cliff, so we won’t have to deal with your stupidity, anymore, either.

I laugh at your folly and spit on your demise.

Good riddance and I hope that the Newts, Bushes, Cheney’s, et al, drop dead as soon as hunamnly possible and that those who step into their places have some semblance of a thought process going on (in this, I know not to hold my breath). Until then, allow one of the leading economists, a Nobel Proze winner, at that, explain how Centrism will cost us… and cost us big.

I keep telling you a Depression of immense proportions is heading this way. By Obama’s centrism (and the centristic ideology of the many congressional leaders) he will help usher it in even quicker. Read Paul Krugman’s letter (originally at The NY Times and reposted at Alternet).

Progressives and Liberals: Grow some balls, dammit. You are embarrassing me, a real progressive and liberal.

Call Yourself a “Centrist” and Magically Get Away with Selling out the American People

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times

What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses?

A proud centrist. For that is what the senators who ended up calling the tune on the stimulus bill just accomplished.

Even if the original Obama plan — around $800 billion in stimulus, with a substantial fraction of that total given over to ineffective tax cuts — had been enacted, it wouldn’t have been enough to fill the looming hole in the U.S. economy, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will amount to $2.9 trillion over the next three years.

Yet the centrists did their best to make the plan weaker and worse.

One of the best features of the original plan was aid to cash-strapped state governments, which would have provided a quick boost to the economy while preserving essential services. But the centrists insisted on a $40 billion cut in that spending.

The original plan also included badly needed spending on school construction; $16 billion of that spending was cut. It included aid to the unemployed, especially help in maintaining health care — cut. Food stamps — cut. All in all, more than $80 billion was cut from the plan, with the great bulk of those cuts falling on precisely the measures that would do the most to reduce the depth and pain of this slump.

On the other hand, the centrists were apparently just fine with one of the worst provisions in the Senate bill, a tax credit for home buyers. Dean Baker of the Center for Economic Policy Research calls this the “flip your house to your brother” provision: it will cost a lot of money while doing nothing to help the economy.

All in all, the centrists’ insistence on comforting the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted will, if reflected in the final bill, lead to substantially lower employment and substantially more suffering.

But how did this happen? I blame President Obama’s belief that he can transcend the partisan divide — a belief that warped his economic strategy.

After all, many people expected Mr. Obama to come out with a really strong stimulus plan, reflecting both the economy’s dire straits and his own electoral mandate.

Instead, however, he offered a plan that was clearly both too small and too heavily reliant on tax cuts. Why? Because he wanted the plan to have broad bipartisan support, and believed that it would. Not long ago administration strategists were talking about getting 80 or more votes in the Senate.

Mr. Obama’s postpartisan yearnings may also explain why he didn’t do something crucially important: speak forcefully about how government spending can help support the economy. Instead, he let conservatives define the debate, waiting until late last week before finally saying what needed to be said — that increasing spending is the whole point of the plan.

And Mr. Obama got nothing in return for his bipartisan outreach. Not one Republican voted for the House version of the stimulus plan, which was, by the way, better focused than the original administration proposal.

In the Senate, Republicans inveighed against “pork” — although the wasteful spending they claimed to have identified (much of it was fully justified) was a trivial share of the bill’s total. And they decried the bill’s cost — even as 36 out of 41 Republican senators voted to replace the Obama plan with $3 trillion, that’s right, $3 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years.

So Mr. Obama was reduced to bargaining for the votes of those centrists. And the centrists, predictably, extracted a pound of flesh — not, as far as anyone can tell, based on any coherent economic argument, but simply to demonstrate their centrist mojo. They probably would have demanded that $100 billion or so be cut from anything Mr. Obama proposed; by coming in with such a low initial bid, the president guaranteed that the final deal would be much too small.

Such are the perils of negotiating with yourself.

Now, House and Senate negotiators have to reconcile their versions of the stimulus, and it’s possible that the final bill will undo the centrists’ worst. And Mr. Obama may be able to come back for a second round. But this was his best chance to get decisive action, and it fell short.

So has Mr. Obama learned from this experience? Early indications aren’t good.

For rather than acknowledge the failure of his political strategy and the damage to his economic strategy, the president tried to put a postpartisan happy face on the whole thing. “Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands,” he declared on Saturday, and “the scale and scope of this plan is right.”

No, they didn’t, and no, it isn’t.

© 2008 The New York Times

Travelling again today. Limited posting.

B’Man’s Patriot Watch: The French (Arrogant, Pompous, and My New Heroes)

Why are “The French“, those high-nosed European assholes, my new heroes? Because they understand their place in their country. They understand and exercise their authority over those that “serve” them. Us rednecks could learn a lot from these hooty-McTooties. We could learn to recognize our place in this country. That it is ours, NOT the government’s. That they are elected to serve us, not be our “Commander in Chief”. They are “REPRESENTATIVES” of us and it is US that puts the criminals in charge to abuse us.

Does anyone else see a problem with this scenario?

We should be doing precisely the same things as these “Frenchies” and then show our representatives who is boss by electing people that are independent of the TwoOne Party System… people who will truly “represent” their constituency (not Lord over it). The people in France, no matter how “inferior” they are to us Americans, are apparently much smarter than us. They know when they have been screwed and are LOUD and poignant in their response.

Police and demonstrators have clashed after thousands of protesters took to the streets in France to protest about the government’s handling of the economic crisis.

LiveLeak.com – Crowds Riot in France Over Economy

more about “LiveLeak.com – Crowds Riot in France …“, posted with vodpod

More than one million French workers downed tools yesterday in the first general strike to hit a major industrialised nation since the start of the global financial crisis.

Unions said more than two million public and private sector workers took to the streets across France to protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s handling of the economic crisis, saying too much had been done to bail out fat cats and banks, and not enough to protect jobs and help workers make ends meet…

There must be some French in me somewhere, because I’m SCREAMING at the top of my lungs. And so is Suzie-Q! <<<—Read the rest there.

Changing the tune…

Of the many remarkable words uttered by America’s new president during his inauguration Tuesday, perhaps the most exceptional were the first: “I, Barack Hussein Obama.”

There was a palpable catching of breaths among the masses of onlookers crammed in front of the towering white US Capitol when he spoke, and then tears of emotion and joy from supporters who knew they were witnessing a triumph of history at hearing that name adorned with the title of president of the United States.

For it encompasses a first name more easily pronounced by Israelis than Americans; a last name with a cadence in striking contrasts to the Johnsons and Adamses and Bushes that proceeded him; and a middle name shared with an arch-foe of America.

And thus, as the first black man to take over the White House, with a moniker that can’t conceal his otherness, he had only to recite his name while taking the oath of office to begin the change he made a central campaign slogan and promise.

And he did not stop there. He spent the 18.5 minutes of his inaugural address attempting to break with his immediate past by taking a different stance from his predecessor on issues, well packed in code terms, ranging from global warming to torture to Iraq. He spoke of the need to “begin again the work of remaking America” and that “we are ready to lead once more.”

Still, in the few policy prescriptions he offered Tuesday, there was little new. Instead, he echoed campaign promises of more international engagement and bold work to stabilize the economy, or further sketched out the moderate pragmatism demonstrated by his personnel choices, such as his promise to leave Iraq “responsibly” rather than immediately, despite a quick withdrawal’s being a central demand he heard on the campaign trail. Actually, the withdraw date of ‘combat’ troops had already been established by the previous administration.

 

In fact, despite the criticism Obama faced during those many months, that he would be a weak defender of America and abruptly change the way national security is approached, his inaugural address merely gave a softer version of his predecessor George W. Bush’s own articulation of America’s determination to prevail against its enemies. “We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense,” he maintained. “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.”

SO, CONCEIVABLY, his freshest departure was the extent to which he laid the blame for these problems not at the door of the past administration or evil outsiders, but at the feet of the American public.

“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,” he said at one point, adding that “a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.”

At another, pushing Americans to move past “the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas” of politics as usual, he reminded them, “in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”

If he staked out one specific theme in this address, it was his call for sacrifice and ownership of the challenges ahead. “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.”

He struck a sober tone in comparison to the rhetorically soaring form that he honed on the campaign trail and brandished as a key weapon in the arsenal that allowed him, a largely unknown freshman senator, to slay the giants of his party and the dragons of the opposition.

SOME PUNDITS panned the address for failing to live up not only to the inaugural speeches of the greatest presidents who preceded him, but also to the campaign speeches of his own pen. But Obama is no longer looking to stir up Americans; he is seeking to sustain them.

While his words of being “in the midst of crisis” and of blame for Americans’ own role in their misfortune might have seemed a jarring notion for the candidate who made hope a centerpiece of his campaign, his focus on the “we,” on the shared obligations of the population, actually pointed to the real engine of change.

If the American people are the ones who need to effect change, rather than forces beyond anyone’s portfolio, it provides some degree of hope, because it offers a course for action to be taken.

“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,” he declared.

And the success of shaping that uncertain destiny will depend more on collective action than individual will, even when that individual is one Barack Hussein Obama. 

 

 

 

By SHMUEL ROSNER

Jerusalem Post

 

 

http://www.jpost.com/

Shall we oust the electorial college?

“In 2000, Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, seen here campaigning in Miami Beach, won more votes nationwide than his opponent, George W. Bush.”

MIT: 10/08

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Is the Electoral College, America’s quirky system of choosing its presidents, on its way to extinction?

Americans do not vote directly for president. They vote for slates of electors in each state.

Collectively, the electors are called the Electoral College. Each state gets a number of electors equal to its membership in the House and Senate. (The District of Columbia gets three.)

Minnesota, for instance, gets 10 electors. If Republican candidate John McCain wins the most votes in Minnesota on Nov. 4, the slate of 10 Minnesota McCain electors is chosen.

All but two states (Maine and Nebraska) use the winner-take-all system. This means that the candidate who gets the most popular votes in a state gets all of its electoral votes.

The next president will be the candidate who gets at least 270 of the total 538 electors.

The system can be idiosyncratic. Four times in the nation’s history, the winner of the largest number of popular votes did not win the largest number of electoral votes, and therefore did not become president.

It happened in 2000, when Al Gore got more popular votes, but lost the election to George W. Bush.

It also happened in:

1824, when popular vote winner Andrew Jackson lost the presidency to John Quincy Adams.

1876, when Samuel Tilden lost to Rutherford B. Hayes.

And 1888, when Grover Cleveland lost to Benjamin Harrison.

A relic of the early republic
The system is a relic of the early days of the republic when electors were supposed to be independent agents exercising their judgment in choosing a presidential candidate from a list of several contenders.

Today, electors are party loyalists who almost always vote for their party’s nominee.

On Friday, a group of legal scholars, political scientists, and systems specialists gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a conference on the Electoral College. Their focus? How to better engineer the system.

Scrapping the electoral vote system would likely require a constitutional amendment since the Constitution itself created the electoral system (Article II, section 1).

But a group called National Popular Vote says it has found another way.

So far, it has persuaded four Democratic-controlled legislatures (in Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, and New Jersey) to pass a law which commits those states to give their electoral votes to whomever wins the national popular vote.

The accord takes effect once states with a combined 270 electoral votes agree to it.

The states would pledge to award their electoral votes to the popular vote winner even if he or she had not been the majority choice in their state.

Take Maryland as an example. Say 80 percent of voters in that state cast their ballots for the Democratic presidential candidate. But if a Republican candidate wins the national popular vote, under the state law, Maryland’s 10 electoral votes would go to that candidate.

Women, are you voting!!???

Just askin’…

This ever so short time until the historical November Election is a good reminder of the women’s suffrage movement–

[and if you haven't seen Iron-Jawed Angels yet, you should definitely see it-- I heard it's excellent! But I haven’t a clue where in Knoxville I would get to see it…. And I do not have HBO!]

Did you know that the movement was the first to picket the white house?  Did you know that it was inspired by the women’s suffrage movement in Great Britain, which taught and inspired Gandhi when he was studying law in Britain?  Definitely an amazing & inspiring tale–pass it on!

And really think about this—-
WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. Many shunned by their families and many lost their jobs.

During the first night in jail…………….

(Lucy Burns)

…………and by the end of that night, they were all barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of ‘obstructing sidewalk traffic.’ They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the ‘Night of Terror’ on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women’s only water came from an open pail. Their food–all of it colorless slop–was infested with worms.

{Alice Paul)

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, the men tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid in to her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections … soners.pdf

So, refresh my memory…. Some women won’t vote this year because–why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn’t matter? It’s raining?… did you even register TO VOTE yet??? I guess we won’t talk about being an ‘informed voter’. That is another topic.

The articles about HBO’s new movie ‘Iron Jawed Angels‘… and it’s graphic depiction of the battle these women waged , just so I; all women– could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have our say… reminded me of Women’s History Class in College– and my own living history growing up in the DC area. I am ashamed to say I needed this reminder of how hard fought my right to vote was– and I didn’t bleed once, someone else did.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. It has never been just a right I have, it is also a responsibility and priviledge. Even if sometimes is inconvenient.

‘What would those women think of the way we use, or don’t use, our right to vote? All of us take it for granted seemingly, not just younger women. I am hoping your American right and obligation becomes valuable and priceless ‘all over again.’

It was also jarring to recall that Woodrow Wilson and his cronies had tried to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And thank God that doctor refused. Alice Paul was strong, the doctor said, and brave. That didn’t make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: ‘Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.’
It was also due to many courageous women like this– [women in your families pasts] — that contributed to another cause that needed addressing– The Civil Rights of ALL MANKIND! And their right to have a voice also!

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party – remember to vote.

History is being made. Set an example for your children and grandchildren. It is their future we are talking about.

The Essential problems with Palin

Think of an American president being inaugurated. What image comes to mind?

Almost certainly this one, eh?

“what does a Vice president do?”

This picture embodies what is perhaps the essential difference between the qualifications for the presidency and the qualifications for the vice presidency. In a perfect world, we would all like a president who is Ready on Day One (TM); it is not uncommon for a newly-elected president to face a major crisis almost immediately upon taking office. But more commonly, a president takes the Oath of Office under relatively calm waters, allowing them something of a learning curve.

On the other hand, when a vice president takes over for a president, the nation is necessarily undergoing a crisis, because the death (or resignation) of a president is perhaps as traumatic an event as can reasonably be imagined (in the “best” case resulting from a slowly-developing illness, and the worst, an attack by terrorists or foreign adversaries).

From Lincoln though Clinton, Americans have frequently been willing to gamble on a relatively inexperienced President, exchanging some assurances of near-term readiness for longer-term upside (what might be described as “vision”). But the optimal skill set for a vice president is somewhat different. “Vision” hardly matters; a vice president taking over for a president will not get to name his own cabinet, and will initially at least be left to execute upon somebody else’s agenda. Instead, the readiness component is rendered more important.

I suspect most Americans grasp this on a gut level, even if they aren’t quite able to articulate it. Which is why, to my gut instinct, I think Americans can feel sympathy for Sarah Palin, can believe she’s the sort of person they’d want to have a beer with — and still find her a detriment to McCain’s case for the White House.

Article Washington Post>
Palin’s Pregnancy Problem
My first reaction was shock. Then anger. John McCain chose a running mate simply because she is a woman and one who appealed to the Republican’s conservative evangelical base. Now, with news that Palin’s 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant, McCain’s pick may not even find support among “family values” voters.
It has happened before, of course. Geraldine Ferraro was chosen as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984 because she was a woman, but that was 24 years ago. I thought we were past this. Apparently not. McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate is a cynical and calculated move. It is a choice made to try to win an election. It is a political gimmick. And it’s very high risk. I find it insulting to women, to the Republican party, and to the country.
This is nothing against Palin. From what little we know about her, she seems to be a bright, attractive, impressive person. She certainly has been successful in her 44 years. But is she ready to be president?
And now we learn the 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. She and the father of the child plan to marry. This may be a hard one for the Republican conservative family-values crowd to swallow. Of course, this can happen in any family. But it must certainly raise the question among the evangelical base about whether Sarah Palin has been enough of a hands-on mother.
McCain claims he knew about the pregnancy, and was not at all concerned. Why not? Not only do we have a woman with five children, including an infant with special needs, but a woman whose 17-year-old child will need her even more in the coming months. Not to mention the grandchild. This would inevitably be an enormous distraction for a new vice president (or president) in a time of global turmoil. Not only in terms of her job, but from a media standpoint as well.
McCain’s cynical choice has created a dilemma for many women. For still-angry Hillary Clinton voters, they will have to decide if they want to vote against their concscience and political interests by voting to elect a Republican woman who’s even more conservative than McCain.
Evangelical women also will have to decide if they will vote against their conscience by voting to put the mother of young children in a job outside the home that will demand so much of her time and energy.
Southern Baptist leaders like Richard Land and Al Mohler have praised McCain’s choice. But these are the same men who support this statement from the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message:
“A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.”
Palin’s lack of experience and her family situation are both valid and vital considerations here, especially when she will be running with a 72-year-old presidential candidate who has suffered four bouts of a deadly cancer.
And by the way, how can McCain call Barack Obama unqualified, inexperienced, not ready from Day One, not able to be commander in chief, and then put someone like Palin in a position that is a heartbeat away from the pesidency?
I don’t blame Palin for accepting the position. How could she or anyone turn down such an opportunity? I was once in a similar position. After four years of reporting at the Washington Post, I was chosen by CBS to be the first network anchorwoman in America, to co-anchor their Morning News. I had never been on TV a day in my life. I was 32. There were women at CBS who were much more qualified than I was and certainly other men. They chose me because they wanted a woman. I didn’t even want the job, but I didn’t feel I could turn it down. Of course it was a disaster. I lasted four months. I wasn’t ready for Network TV. Palin isn’t ready to be leader of the free world.
The calculation on the part of the McCain people is clear. Palin’s candidacy could draw some of the 18-million Hillary Clinton voters who are not happy she lost and who want to vote for a woman on a national ticket. Palin is not of Washington and that will be appealing to some. Most importantly for McCain, Palin is decidedly anti-abortion and that will keep the Republican base under control and appeal to some evangelicals who might be considering Obama. She has a son who is headed to Iraq.
Those are positives for a McCain-Palin ticket, but what about the negatives?
She has no national political experience, especially in the area of foreign policy. That fact that she is not of Washington also will be difficult for her. Barbara Bush once told me that her husband had been a congressman, UN ambassador, ambassador to China, and head of the CIA and they thought they were prepared for the vice presidency (under President Reagan). But she said nothing can prepare you for the criticism and scrutiny of being in the White House. Sarah Palin is not prepared for that.
Is she prepared for the all-consuming nature of the job? She is the mother of five children, one of them a four-month-old with Down Syndrome. Her first priority has to be her children. When the phone rings at three in the morning and one of her children is really sick what choice will she make? I’m the mother of only one child, a special needs child who is grown now. I know how much of my time and energy I devoted to his care. He always had to be my first priority. Of course women can be good mothers and have careers at the same time. I’ve done both. Yes, other women in public office have children. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has five children, but she didn’t get heavily involved in politics until they were older. A mother’s role is different from a father’s.
These are dangerous and trying times for the entire world. This is no time to to play gender politics. The stakes are too high. And given McCain’s age and history of health issues, the stakes for choosing a qualified vice presidential candidate have never been higher.
Maybe this will work. Maybe McCain will win with Sarah Palin as his running mate. But if he does, it will be for all the wrong reasons.
Source:http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/sally_quinn/2008/08/sarah_polin.html

Stop Calling The Legislators

Hey, Progressive:

Are you tired of calling the legislators and asking them to support your cause? How long have progressives been doing that? Progressives lost in 1996.  Progressives lost in 2000. Progressives lost in 2004.  With Obama determined to send more troops to Afghanistan, and now reversing his stand on immediate pullout of Iraq, it’s pretty damn obvious that progressives will lose in 2008. Stop calling the legislators.  Stop begging crumbs from beneath the master’s table. It’s time to do something different. Make them call us. United, we can. When we’re united, we won’t have to ask them for their vote; they’ll beg for ours. Are you sending your money to the ACLU?  To MoveOn.org?  Democracy for America?  Stop.  And don’t send it to us, either.  Stop trying to buy the politicians. That’s what just a little of your money does. The rest goes to support the song-and-dance bureaucracy that buys politicians. You’re just contributing to the corruption. Unite. United, we don’t need to call anyone. United, we don’t need to buy anyone. We will have the power to elect. That’s really what buys a politician. A politician only needs money to make a public appeal to get your vote.  If progressives control the swing vote in any election, we control the election. That should make a politician pretty honest. Unite with us.  Join our free membership. Stand with us. Let’s win in 2012 and  kick the bums out. Judy.

Judy Ramsey
Co-Director/Administration/Public Affairs
jramsey@unitedprogressives.us

United Progressives
44 Music Square East
#702
Nashville, TN 37203
http://www.unitedprogressives.us

Tax Cuts For The Rich Don’t Work

B’Man: Another in the series of emails I received from CAF’s (Campaign for America’s Future) Making Sense 2008.

John McCain and many other conservatives say they would solve our current economic problems by expanding George Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. For example, McCain has called for making the Bush cuts permanent and for cutting the corporate income tax rate from 35 to 25 percent. This is a recipe for economic disaster. Tax cuts for the rich have not and will not help middle income Americans.

* Bush promised that his tax cuts would create jobs, but they didn’t. A conservative-dominated Congress enacted two sets of Bush tax cuts, in 2001 and 2003. Job creation was a major Bush selling point, especially in 2003 when the Administration asserted that the tax cuts would create 5.5 million jobs from July 2003 through the end of 2004. Instead, only 2.4 million jobs were added during that period—1.7 million fewer jobs than the economy was expected to produce without any tax cuts. Today, the impact of the Bush tax program is clear: 8.5 million Americans are unemployed—2.5 million more than when Bush took office.

* Bush promised that his tax cuts would pay for themselves, but they didn’t. Conservatives persistently repeat the myth that, as Bush put it, “You cut taxes, and the tax revenues increase,” or as John McCain declared in March “tax cuts…as we all know, increase revenues.” But as Time Magazine reported, “Virtually every economics Ph.D. who has worked in a prominent role in the Bush Administration acknowledges that the tax cuts enacted during the past six years have not paid for themselves—and were never intended to.”

* Bush promised that his tax cuts would help the middle class, but they didn’t. During the 2000 campaign, Bush said his tax cuts would focus “on low- and moderate-income families,” and would provide the “greatest help for those most in need.” But in fact, the Bush tax cuts gave an average tax break of $118,000 to those who make over $1 million per year and only $740 per year to middle income households. The bottom 20 percent of households received an average tax break of only $20.

Progressive solutions:

Shut down loopholes and roll back the Bush tax breaks for the rich. End tax incentives for companies that move jobs offshore. Use the hundreds of billions of dollars saved to make our tax system fairer and invest in areas vital to our economy—fixing bridges and roads, becoming energy independent, developing new “green” technologies, and providing every child with a high quality education.

For more on progressive taxation, including key facts, talking points, polling, the progressive solution, and more, click here to visit the Making Sense 2008 website.