Month: August 2009

What Are The Chances For a New Party?

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  American History/Political Science

The GOP is floundering on the rocks of political destruction…..they have no direction other than to be in opposition to the Dems….they have NO energy plan other than drill baby drill, or NO health plan other than savings accounts and tort reform, or their answer to the economic crisis is tax cuts, which have been discredited as a stimulus to a economy in dire straits.  The members in Congress are using misinformation and lies try and halt the health care debate and they have signed on to such idiocy as socialism, nazism, fascism citizenship etc, etc…….they are not governing with intelligence and resolve, instead they use slogans, buzzwords and outright lies to try and motivate the people……yes, it is working somewhat, but those that are signing on to the Repub BS would hate without any help from the GOP.

With that said is there an answer?  Yes, there is but it will take guts and resolve….sad to say I do not see much guts in the Congress anymore.

Let us step into the “way back machine” with a special thanx to infoplease.com

Liberal Republican party, in U.S. history, organization formed in 1872 by Republicans discontented at the political corruption and the policies of President Grant’s first administration. Other disaffected elements were drawn into the party. Among its leaders were Carl Schurz and B. Gratz Brown, both of Missouri, who had defeated the regular Republicans in the state election of 1870, Horace Greeley, Charles Sumner, and Lyman Trumbull. The party convention, held at Cincinnati in May, passed over Charles Francis Adams (1807–86), David Davis, and others to nominate Greeley for President; Brown was named for Vice President. In their convention at Baltimore, the Democrats also accepted these candidates. The party program called for civil service reform and an end to the strong Reconstruction program of the radical Republicans; so as not to offend the party’s divergent segments, it avoided adopting a position on the tariff question. Greeley’s nomination was not popular with many of the party leaders, who supported him without enthusiasm, and Grant was easily reelected.

In the past I have writing about what it would take to be “liberal” Republican.  And yes, I think there is enough disatisfication within the GOP for a splinter party to break out and redefine Republicans for the 21st century.

Why not give it a try?  It could do no harm….the GOP, as it is now,  is doing all the harm to itself…….it is crushing itself under the weight of its own fecal matter.

How To Handle The Health Protesters?

This is a paper by the Inkwell Institute:

The townhalls have been going on for about a month now and surely everyone has heard the BS coming from both sides of the political spectrum and yes there is a way to handle the protests, the shouts, the accusations……..

Please gentlemen and ladies do not use the Rep. Barney Frank technique of insulting and antagonizing your questioner that leads to more anger and more accusations and even more anger…..

In the last couple of weeks and months there has been much debate on the Dem health care bill.  Some of it is legitimate and some of it is pure fantasy.  But beyond that the people protesting the bill have come armed with posters and shouting.  The Dems are not handling the protesting very well….they are impotent in selling the bill as a good bill.

We have talked it over at the Institute during our monthly Agitatus Round Table and we have agreed that the Dems need a bit of assistance on the matter.

The question is how do we handle the townhall protests?

The townhall format is an old established way for the reps to meet and answer questions of their people.  These days they, the Dems, have let the townhalls become nothing more than shouting matches of accusations and misinformation.  No one in attendence has learn anything useful from most of the meetings.

We offer the following technique to dampen the protests.

If protesters start heckling and shouting…the rep should get on the mic and say that they may have their day if the rep is allowed to continue when they are finished.

After the protesters are through the rep should:

1–ask are you anger with the bill or the ideas?  ask for a show of hands and have someone recording the count

2–ask, have you read the bill–show hands and a count

3–ask where they got their information that they are basing their objection.

4–ask if they believe that bill is socialized medicine–show hands and count

5–ask who here has Medicare–show of hands and count

6–ask are you happy with your Medicare?  show of hands and count

Once the count has been taken and the questions asked, reps should then begin explaining the bill, always have a copy of the bill with so that sections can be read out loud or copies made for anyone who wants to have them.

The reps can fight the misinformation and they can win the argument if they treat the people with respect even if the people cannot do the same.  The rep must realize that people, most notably the elderly, are afraid and confused….every opportunity should be made to reassure them that there is nothing hidden or deceitful in the bill.

The Dems can win this argument but they must have a unified plan not a bunch of willy nilly comments on television or radio.  They must talk with one voice with one answer to the questions that are plaguing the people in their districts.

PETA Does It Again

I the last couple of years PETA has gotten weirder and weirder….but this is just about the weirdest they have come up with…this program and ad is really sick…..

A PROVOCATIVE television commercial called “Sex Talk”, produced by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) which hoped to run it in communities across Britain, has been banned by the advertising authority Clearcast.

The advert, which makes a satirical comparison with teen sex in order to promote the spaying and neutering of dogs and cats who face an uncertain future in severely crowded animal shelters, was considered “unacceptable on the grounds of offence”.  The 30-second spot – which Peta claims has aired in several markets across the US without any problems – features a couple who encourage their teenage daughter to become sexually active.

The horrified girl asks: “But what if I get pregnant?” and her parents urge her to have “all the kids you want. We can leave them in the shelter, dump them in the streets… whatever!”

The advert concludes: “Parents shouldn’t act this way. Neither should people with dogs and cats. Always spay or neuter.”  So far I have not seen this in the US but since they are obviously whacky, how long will it be before it arrives?

A Party To Believe In

The Liberal Lion is buried…….the yahoos in Congress are having their little meetings…..Washington is semi-quiet……the hot weather has little competition from the hot air coming from politicians…..with all that said it is a Sexy Sunday…..

World politics has taken a turn for the better with the introduction of a main stream political party that takes sex seriously, the Australian ‘Sex Party’.

The Sex Party is responding to gender inequalities in politics, antiquated and ad hoc laws around sexuality and sexual expression, and political hypocrisy around sex.

While Australian politicians are supportive of the need for law reform they are not prepared to risk losing votes by supporting the Sex Party’s agenda. With Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, set to address the Christian Lobby’s National Conference in November you can see that family values votes are a valuable commodity in Australia.

How does one become so passionate about sexual rights that they make it their mission to get sex into parliament. Patten’s history is as interesting as the party itself, she began with a successful fashion business. Many of the clients were sex workers and this led her into the sex industry and on to run for election on a sex industry platform in the Canberra local body elections. Her unlikely bedfellows in the elections were a Monk and a disgraced former Government Minister, all united in their belief in an individual’s right to choose. She then went to a career as lobbyist and President of Australia’s adult goods industry organisation, The Eros Association which is involved in running Australia’s highly successful Sexpo’s . Patton has had a history of making sexual politics visible.

I would vote for Fiona Patten. It’s time that sex policy reflected reality. Attitudes towards sex have changed a lot in my life time. Sex was for marriage, masturbation was best not talked about and homosexuality was illegal. I remember the homosexual law reform protests at Christchurch’s Cathedral Square in the 1980’s and my father’ attractive pant-suit wearing female boss lived with her ‘very good friend ‘. Now-a-days we won’t go blind if we masturbate and a lifetime spent only having sex with one person is no longer the norm. But if we want things to continue to change we need to consider how law change might improve our sex lives.

I was not that impressed with Australia when I was there many years ago, but they do have some good ideas….from time to time……A Sex Party…..political not an orgy…..now there is an idea worth considering.

Katrina’s Human Debris?

Gulf South Free Press

A Daily Agitation

Warning:  This post may be offensive to some.  Read at your own risk.

It is time to shut the fuck up!

I have heard a lot of crap coming from the right,  Neal Boortz.  He has over the years demonized many groups from women to blacks to Latinos, but his attacks on the Katrina refugees is unparalleled for hate and vile comments.

When he heard of the Pres promise to rebuild New Orleans he tweeted (or whatever the obsession is called):

Rebuild New Orleans?  Why?  Build it and they will come?  They?  The debris that Katrina washed out?

Boortz, who regularly mocks Latinos, women and the poor — even calling Rep. Cynthia McKinney a “ghetto slut” — made an expansive case that the combined natural and human disaster of Hurricane Katrina actually helped the city of New Orleans on his June 24, 2009 radio show. Although Katrina’s devastation cost this nation $80 billion, killed thousands, and displaced a million people, Boortz believes “Katrina cleansed New Orleans“:

Katrina cleansed New Orleans. It just washed out a lot of debris, including human debris.

Boortz has also called the overwhelmingly black and poor victims of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans “human parasites” and “deadbeats,” even suggesting that a victim of Hurricane Katrina consider prostitution instead of “sucking off taxpayers.”

Thanx to thinkprogress.org for the above information.

Wait a goddamn minute!  Me and my friends and family were effected by the storm,  homes were lost, legs were broken, and lives lost;  but maybe Boortz is not talking about me because I am white.

I am sick of sanctimonious assholes making judgments they have no fucking knowledge of, to begin with.  I am sick of hate filling bastards making judgments while sitting on their million dollar bank accounts.  Katrina was a horrible disaster that destroyed lives and property and to think of it in any other context is just show one’s true racist colors.

These fucking cowards did nothing to help their fellow countrymen and in turn spend inordinate amount of time spitting on the victims of Katrina.  I have had enough of these mealy mouth, yellow belly asaswads.  Time for these dickheads shut the hell up!

I have had enough!  The stories that people (I use the term loosely), like these racist pricks are the ones about any crime or similar thing……more people had their lives destroyed than committed any crime….I do not hear these buttwads mentioning anything about the assholes that were ripping people off while doing repairs….why is that?  The pricks that ripped off the victims of the storm are more like trash and parasites than anyone that Mr. Boortz would be talking about.  Shut the fuck up!

If this post offended anyone then I have done what I set out to do….you were warned!

And The Lies Live On…….

A Daily Agitation

You know I have been watching, writing and analyzing politics for about four decades, but I can safely say that this year, 2009, is the worst case scenario for political lies and misinformation trying to sway a public on a specific issue, in this case it is health care reform.

We have heard all the crap…the death panels…a death book……creeping socialism….or was it creeping fascism?  But yesterday I read the best lie of the season, it came from Clark County, Washington:

Raymond and Louise Denny of La Center were surprised last week to receive a mailing from Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, entitled “2009 Future of American Health Survey.”

After reading it, their surprise turned to outrage.

They were especially irked by the following:

“It has been suggested that the government could use voter registration to determine a person’s political affiliation, prompting fears that GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system. Does this possibility concern you?”

The GOP cannot help themselves, apparently….they cannot stop the partisan BS…..they feel they have to make up stuff to influence the people to their way of thinking…….cool….but try coming up with an alternative plan….or possibly telling the truth……I know those are novel ideas and may be a stretch for the party….but to continue along these lines of lying and misinformation does nothing to make the GOP look like a viable alternative to the Dems.

It is impossible to come up with an alternative as long as they have members that think like this:

One of the most vociferous opponents of health care reform has been Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), who previously promoted blocking reform because it would be a “huge gain” for the GOP.

At a town hall meeting Wednesday Sen. Jim Inhofe told Chickasha residents he does not need to read the 1,000 page health care reform bill, he will simply vote against it.

“I don’t have to read it, or know what’s in it. I’m going to oppose it anyways,” he said.

And Repubs get irrate if it is said that ther GOP is the party of NO…..but what else could you call it when members say things like that?  The GOP attacks every position the Dems have and they are truly pissed about the possibility of the Dems using reconciliation, that is the use of 51 votes in the Senate to pass legislation.  The Repubs are calling it everything but what it is…legal and lawful.

In the early years of the 21st century when Bush passed his tax cuts reconciliation was used and it was said of it back then….remember the Repubs had a majority in the Senate….

quote from Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH):

“Reconciliation is a rule of the Senate (that) has been used before for purposes exactly like this on numerous occasions.” … “Is there something wrong with majority rules? I don’t think so. … The point, of course, is this: If you have 51 votes for your position, you win.”

Interesting eh?  How they want to change the rules to suit their interests.

The BS gets deeper…….the stakes are high….and the lies live on…..

2009 Anal-Ocity

As I have said in the past….it has been a great year for anal statements and sadf to say that they just keep rolling in….eventually, these morons. both parties, no one is excluded, will realize that in this day of youtube, whatever they say will come back to haunt them.

This little bit of wisdom came from the mouth of a US representative, as reported by the AP:

U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins told a recent gathering in northeast Kansas that the Republican Party is looking for a “great white hope” to help stop the political agenda of the Democratic party and President Barack Obama.Videotape shows Jenkins, a Republican, making the comment at an Aug. 19 forum. She was discussing the Republican party’s future after Democrats took control of the House and Senate in the 2008 elections, when the presidency went to Obama, the nation’s first black president.

It shows that what I have been saying for months now…that the GOP was the party of rural white people holds true.  (Kansas is pretty rural, right?)  Rep. Jenkins has apologized for her choice of words, but Sen. Trent Lott made a similar comment and was chastised heavily.  But to be fair, the GOP is the white party in Congress and they seem to think that all discrimination is against white people.  And since the civil rights battles the GOP has not changed much from those days….so Jenkins was just parroting the obvious.

She may have apologized but that does not change the fact that all analysis points to the fact that members of the party feel that way.

When Did The Hate Begin?

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  American History/Politics

Sen. Kennedy died the other day and I was surfing the web for stories and posts and I found that many right wing sites were filled with stories about his past, the drinking, the women and that damn bridge.  I thought just how moronic this was…why?….the man did a lot for the people of this country from kids health to civil rights to cancer research, on and on….and yes he made many mistakes and had many victories, but regardless what you thought of the man personally….to think only of his failures and mistakes is just pathetic.

When did the US become such a hot bed of hate?  When did American society move from a society of the poeple to a society of vile, disgusting people?

There will always be some form of hate in the US, whether it is racial hatred or gender hatred or whatever…but the hate that I question specifically is the political hate or also fondly known as partisanship.

My question is:  When did the vile and deep hatred of the opposing party begin in Washington?  Good question, right?

Political hatred or extreme partisanship has been festering for decades in Washington and among our different political parties, but the vile, disgusting and festering zit we know today came to a head in the early to mid 90’s.

It began in earnest when Bill Clinton was elected as president after it more or less hijacked the GOP for its own …his life and attitudes became a focus of the far wing of the GOP…this revolt brought the likes of the Newt to power and mouth organs like Tom DeLay and the hate served as a platform that swept conserv Repubs into control of the Congress in 1994.

The hatred played well with mid America and because it did many conserv jumped unto the bashing bandwagon to gain political advantage….and as they attacked liberals the tone became more and more vile and hate filled.  I am old enough to remember the days after Watergate and I cannot remember this much hate and name calling done by anyone.  That dark corner of America history was handled with intelligence and like adults.  Today’s hatred and handling of issues is like a couple of 7 year olds fighting with each other at day care.

Because the hatred was working and working very well the misinformation and lies became a constant part of the attacks on the opposition.  It began with the antics of Clinton and he gave his opponents lots to use against him and slowly as the Washington claptrap got louder and louder the people picked up on the hatred and it has snowballed to where it is today.  All the hatred began as opposition to a person and now it has morphed into hatred of ideas and those who work with them.  It is damn silly!

There comes a time when our elected officials have to start acting like adults.  Right now one party has lost so much support that it may NEVER return to its past glory.  One day an adult will step forward and start whacking these kids on the pee-pee.

It is suppose to be about what is best for the people of the country….not about who said what and why.  Demonizing is NOT the answer to our problems….all it does is waste time and money and accomplishes NOTHING but a continuation of hate.

Maybe the pea brains on the far right are correct in using Jefferson’s quote….but it should be the people rebelling against ALL politicians who are not working on their behalf…I mean both of the parties….not one of these stuffy pricks has Americans in mind as they go about their daily spewing of hatred.

Elderly Get Screwed ……Again!

Everyone is talking about the “death panels” or the “death book” and how the health care reform will effect them either for the good or for the bad….but little was said about a new attack on the seniors in this country.

Msnbc.com is reporting:

The news that Social Security benefits will likely be frozen next year dismayed many older Americans, who said they feared that rising expenses for medication and other necessities would drive them into retirement poverty.

But with the economy in a deep recession, there’s officially no inflation for the program to keep up with, said Dane Partridge, a management professor at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville.The problem is that senior citizens, who make up most of America’s 50 million Social Security recipients, pay a disproportionate amount of their income on health care — which isn’t reflected in the Consumer Price Index, the main measure of inflation that’s used to calculate the annual Social Security increase, Partridge said.

That means a freeze in Social Security payments will translate into a drop in real purchasing power for many seniors, said Jo Wiejahn, a senior citizen in South Bend, Ind.

Because premiums for the Medicare prescription drug program are expected to increase, checks for Americans who have their premiums deducted directly from their Social Security payments will actually be a little smaller.For Americans on fixed incomes, which includes many retirees, that will be particularly tough, said Tricia Gorden, director of community resources at REAL Services, a nonprofit service agency for the elderly in South Bend.

As the economy keeps sliding…..in reality not the fantasy world of the investor…..the elderly will be hit harder than most…..people living on a fixed income will be hit a bit harder by the recession than others and that means seniors will be in jeopardy yet again.  So the cost of living for the elderly will get a little more expensive.

More Good News On The Economy….NOT!

I was told that by Bloomberg.com:

In another sign the worst of the U.S. recession is over, a gauge of current conditions showed the economy steadied last month.The Conference Board’s coincident index was unchanged in July after falling in 17 of the 19 months since the contraction started in December 2007, figures from the New York-based private research group showed yesterday. The more closely watched gauge of leading indicators, which shows the outlook for the next three to six months, climbed for a fourth month.

The coincident index tracks payrolls, incomes, sales and production, which — combined with gross domestic product –are the same measures used by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based National Bureau of Economic Research to determine when contractions begin and end. The NBER announced the current recession, the deepest since the 1930s, had started one year after the fact.

Do any of you buy this crap?  I mean does you life seem to be getting better?  We keep getting good economic indicators and all the pundits want to call the recession over….but I have a problem with the so called experts and their opinions.

To me we have a statistical recovery at best……but there is no recovery inreality.  By reality I am talking about the indicators like forclosures, unemployment and consumer confidence these are no where near recovery levels.

Unfortunately for us on Main Street…we are forced to live in reality and reality is telling me that our short term future still sucks!

In case no one is paying attention:

When 2008 census data is released next month, it is expected to show a dramatic increase in the number of Americans living in poverty and without health insurance, according to Rebecca Blank, undersecretary of economic affairs for the Commerce Department.

The number living below the official poverty threshold increased in 2008 by 1.5 million people to 38.8 million, a number equivalent to 12.7 percent of the population, the census is expected to show.

The poverty rate is telling, but it is far from the only measure of the impoverishment of broad sections of the population. According to the Center for American Progress, between June 2007 and December 2008, personal wealth declined in the US by nearly 23 percent, the sharpest decline on record—far more than the 12 percent decline triggered by the oil crisis of 1973-1974. Family wealth declined by a similar proportion, wiping out some $15 trillion.

Just another indication of how bad reality is on Main Street…….thanx to Tom Eley of wsws.org.