Month: May 2010

The Anti-Incumbent Mood

Or could it be a anti-Washington mood?  Maybe it is ant business as usual mood?  Or is it an anti Obama mood?  Americans will take away what they want from the latest elections in Kentucky or Penn or Arkansas.  They will see the Tea Party as a growing movement or a rise in GOP support or a decline in the support for the Dem Party.  And there will be those that see it process lately as a revolt against the entire process in Washington.  These are the races that the GOP will be spinning…….but there is NO spin in Kentucky…..the main GOP backed candidate lost real BAD to a Tea Partier and Penn may be spun as a weak candidate for the Dems in a year when the people are tracking more closely with the Repubs…

All that is true…the people are tracking more conserv and the people are fed up with Washington games, from both sides of the aisle….but the one that they will avoid is the 12th District of Penn special election…..a Dem in a 94% white district, a overwhelmingly conserv district, and blue collar working class district went to a Dem…….now if the the people are tracking more in line with the GOP, how is it that a heavy backed Repub candidate could NOT win in such a district?

It has been said that if the Repubs could not win in the 12th District, how will they possibly take over the House when there a 435 seats up for grabs?

Personally, I see all this as a anti-incumbent mood of the people….they are sick and tired of the games these people play, especially with their lives.  The GOP will have to keep playing the partisan game until November and then hopefully will have enough people in Congress to keep playing it with the hopes of defeating Obama in 2012.  All it will take is some really good news on the economy, not the piddling crap they give us now, and the GOP will be in deep fecal matter in 2012 and partisan games will come back and bite them in the ass….but the sad part is that the American people will be the losers no matter which way the political winds blow.

I am still not convinced that all this is for the better….not for the people and not for the government…..this will be MORE polarizing politically….and even less will get done than now….and we are at a virtual standstill now…..so this bodes bad for the country…Just a thought……

The Class of ’94

I remember the day, as if it was yesterday, wait it was yesterday or a couple of days ago, or…….anyway, another sex scandal, another Repub and another Class of ’94 alumnus…..

The Class of ’94…..the GOP was swept into office in the Congress by a tidal wave of ultra-conservatism on the backs of “family values” strong words during the presidency of Clinton and his many sexual accusations……Newt and the boyz went about changing the game in Washington…to the point of shutting the government down for awhile…..this was the beginning of the hyper-partisanship on the Hill and it eventually lead to the lies, misinformation and BS from both sides……and it trickled down to the masses, where they insult anyone who does not think like the ultras…..and it continues today….

Now that the history lesson is over….let us speak on the “Class of ’94″…….What have these whacky guys been doing for the last 16 years?  Well, let me see……(pause for effect)……..about 15 of those members of Congress seem to be doing as many people as they can…..what do you mean Professor?

It seems that the class of ’94 and its family values repartee was just that…….a lie to gain political advantage….huh?  At least 15 GOP members of the House of Representatives have been caught with their pants down…not literally but actually….names like Foley, who want to play hide the pickle with male staffers and Sanford, who hikes the Appalachian Trail and Ensign, who plays around with a staffers wife and then tries to bri9be his way out of the situation and now the latest Mark Souder.

Newser, I thank you for the excerpt……

Souder, a strong “family values” guy who made videos preaching about abstinence education with his married mistress (see video here). In one, he equates sex with smoking, and laments how tough it is to get them to abstain. “Nothing works very well,” he says. She nods sympathetically. She can relate.

In his resignation news conference he went about blaming the toxic atmosphere in Washington as the cause of his adulterous actions…..once again it is NOT his fault…it is the atmosphere in the Capital……yet again another Repub that will NOT take responsibility for his actions, but yet wants everybody else to do so.

The people that believe this a/hole need to demand their money returned from his paycheck….and next time try not to be so damn gullible!

Rand Paul, Electoral Surprise?

Not really!

But in case you have been asleep after eating a drugged apple, let me refresh your memory…..just two days ago the son of Rep. Ron Paul won the Repub nomination for the senate seat in Kentucky after beating the fav of the GOP…this in a state that the Senate Minority leader is from and endorsed the other candidate……it was big news that he went against the established leadership of the Party and won the nomination……

But that is NOT the surprise!

Just hours after his win he had a couple of interviews and was asked if he believed segregation was okay in the private sector…..basically, he said it was fine if a privately owned company wanted to discriminate and that it was none of the governments business (I am paraphrasing)….

Immediately the media was all a gaga at his answer…they were caught by surprise….instantaneously they began to condemn him for his beliefs and saying that he needs to get out in front of the story…..

They were surprised!

(Thinking…..thinking……thinking…..)  What part of Libertarian do they NOT understand?  Do any of these “well informed” journalist ever pay attention to what is going on around them?  Where is the surprise?

Rand Paul is a Libertarian!  While there are some of their positions that I can agree with, most notably….anti-war, anti_IRS and anti Federal Reserve…..but that is where I cease to agree with them……other beliefs, of which there are many, that I cannot understand is their belief that capitalism will end racism or that capitalism will end poverty or CEOs deserve their massive bonuses or cheap imports do NOT destroy American jobs……just a few of the beliefs that I have a problem with….

Rand Paul is a Libertarian and he believes in some if not ALL of the things that I mentioned……So where is the surprise?  I am NOT surprised in the least…and the morons making the big bucks should be less surprised than me…..But then I do not search for a sound bite on which to make a story…..

FinReg And You

Just like health reform, Financial reform is taking heat from both sides….some want less other want more and in the end we will get something that is neither reform or change…the bankers will continue their gambling ways and the government will continue to look the other way while appearing to care what happens to the Main Street gang…all that said….the vote on FinReg is quickly approaching….the debate is raging and of course, it is slowly being watered down but as it stands now, how will the FinReg as it is today effect you?

From an article from the AP:

1. Free credit scores

2. Make FDIC insurance increase permanent

3. Extend fiduciary duty to investment advisers

4. Ban the use of credit checks for employment

5. Exclude non-financial merchants

6. Set rules for payday loans

7. Credit card interest rate caps

These are the proposals in the FinReg bill that will effect the normal person….most are good ideas and should protect the people from the predators on Wall Street….because they are pretty good, they will most likely be either watered down or eliminated in the final version of the bill when it is voted on by the Senate…..

In the meantime, the GOP is working hard to prevent anything from passing that would stop the BS the banks did that caused the massive economic meltdown……and it will effect YOU if this happens again…why?  It is YOUR money they are giving away to the banksters (banks + gangsters)……..

Senate Republicans yesterday blocked three amendments Wall Street hates. The first and most controversial, known as Levin-Merkley, would have banned commercial banks from trading for their own benefit with taxpayer money. The second would regulate payday loans, while the third would ban the type of credit default swap linked to the financial crisis, notes the Huffington Post.

You may be a conserv or a liberal…does not matter….we are talking about allowing a group of people to gamble with YOUR money….they keep the profits and stick YOU with the losses…..is that what you want from these reps in Washington?  If so, at least make them kiss you will they hump you!

The American People May Not Be In A Coma

Have you heard the news coming out of Arizona?  No!  Not the immigration thing that has everybody’s panties in a twist….I mean the sales tax thing….as reported by the LA Times:

Voters in this famously tax-averse state Tuesday night approved a temporary hike in the sales tax to stave off brutal budget cuts.

The veteran Republican had shocked many in her party last year by advocating the penny sales tax increase, arguing that the state couldn’t simply cut its way out of a deficit that rivals California’s. Critics said it was economic suicide to raise taxes in a recession.

Political observers have noted that because the governor was defying GOP orthodoxy by pushing the tax increase, she had little option but to sign the immigration bill, which is strongly supported by most Arizona voters and an overwhelming proportion of Republicans.

It seems that the American people, at least Arizonans for now, agree with me that some form of tax increases are needed to save needed programs.  The residents voted FOR the increase; this was not some sneak attack on their lives by some shady, back street deal made with politicians.

Given the facts, as best as a politician can give the facts, and the people can make a decision that effects their lives……a plus for more direct democracy.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Primary

2010 Election series

Yesterday was the BIG test, the mini mart of political contests…..the 2010 primaries…..are the American people angry enough to throw the bastards out?

In Kentucky the GOP endorsed candidate loses to Tea Party candidate Rand Paul; Penn. Dem fav Spector loses to up start Sestak and in Arkansas the Dem fav has a run-off with a more progressive candidate….so to answer the question……it appears that the voters, at least in the minin mart of primaries, are tired of business as usual in Washington….

We can talk about ideology or we could talk about pragmatism or we could talk about the weather…..

Is it just me or does the GOP wait for each new poll before they have an opinion on any given issue?  Especially with the next election.  They seem to be very flexible or is it they are just pragmatic?  Pragmatic…now there is a word that haunts politicians….

Maybe that what a pragmatist is….someone that has NO really ideology but someone that chooses one that is most advantageous to their political aspirations.  I am sure that there are those that think that a smaller less expensive government is their main belief….if so, what happen between 2000 and 2008?  I guess we could say that they have seen the err of their ways, right?

I think NOT!  Thanks to Obama and the Dems, they now see they have an opportunity to dismantle ALL programs that they do not like….most namely the ONLY retirement fund that most Americans have, Social Security or the ONLY medical plan that they have, Medicare or Medicaid.  These two programs have been the most uncomfortable for the GOp since their beginning and the GOP has worked for decades to lessen or eliminate them all together.

Sorry, I digress…….

Repubs are going with the flow to get elected so they can jump on their dislikes with both feet.  They are trying to tap into the populist feelings of the electorate…..especially the economic populism.  They are embracing the anti-incumbent feelings and the Tea Party mentality….this could backfire on them as it may in Kentucky where the GOP backed candidate is losing to the Tea Party back candidate…..

Because of the latest election, the GOP has a good chance to pick up control of at least one house in the US….but they are making the same promises that they always make and do not deliver…..so any gains will be short lived, but that gives them time to attack the working people of this country in favor of the corporate shenanigans of the past.

It does appear that the American people are truly angry and tired of the BS in Washington……but will the anger continue until the November elections?

From Russia With Love

Inkwell Institute

International Studies Group

The big news the other day was that Iran may be close to a deal to ship their enriched Uranium to Turkey for processing….which if true could help eliminate some of the impasse there is in the Iran nuke debate….

The deal was reached in talks with Brazil and Turkey, elevating a new group of mediators for the first time in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities. There was no immediate comment from the United States and the other world powers that have led earlier negotiations as to whether the new deal would satisfy them and stave off a fourth round of UN sanctions.

The deal goes to the heart of international concern over Teheran’s nuclear activities. Earlier negotiations led by Germany and the five permanent UN Security Council members — the US, Britain, France, Russia and China — have sought to stop Iran from enriching uranium altogether, and thereby deprive it of a possible pathway to nuclear weapons.

Cool?  Right?  Turkey will be the neutral arbitrator…….really?

That is sort of good news……..but there was other news last week that did not get any attention in the US media…..as reported in the CS Monitor:

Turkey moved closer to becoming a nuclear energy nation after inking a deal with visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to build a nuclear power plant on the Mediterranean coast.

The energy deals are part of NATO-ally Turkey’s broader strategy to expand its influence in the region and become an energy corridor between East and West, while also serving as an increasingly important diplomatic player seeking to help resolve Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This is all so much good news……but is Turkey stable enough or will it become another Pakistan?  What a coincidence!  Turkey cuts a deal with Russia for a nuke plant and the next week they are the big cheese in the Iran stand off over enriched Uranium.  Is Turkey capable of play this important roll?  What the rise in Muslim fundamentalism in Turkey?

Sorry, this does not pass the sniff test!

Greece 2–The Domino Theory (Again)!

Inkwell Institute

International Studies Group

European Desk

I have listened to all those nay-sayers that see our rising deficit as a problem that will turn the US into another Greece….but is it possible that the US could face the same problems as Greece?  In the 60’s there was a popular theory, the Domino Theory, that stated that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to Communism, they all would….this is just an update of that old belief….if Greece goes, then Spain, Ireland and Portugal will follow…and because of a global economy and the rising debt in the US…it will fall too…..

According to David Leohardt of the NY Times:

The numbers on our federal debt are becoming frighteningly familiar. The debt is projected to equal 140 percent of gross domestic product within two decades. Add in the budget troubles of state governments, and the true shortfall grows even larger. Greece’s debt, by comparison, equals about 115 percent of its G.D.P. today.

But how accurate is that analysis?  Personally, I do not think it is that accurate….I feel it is just a conserv way of using the fear card yet again…..Greece is NOT having any form of recession recovery…the US is…while it might not be a great recovery, there are still signs of the economy trying to make a come back…..Greece is having NO such activity….

Yes the deficit is high and needs some control, but I do not see it banging the country down like that of Greece…as Paul Krugman wrote in the NY Times:

The U.S. economy has been growing since last summer, thanks to fiscal stimulus and expansionary policies by the Federal Reserve. I wish that growth were faster; still, it’s finally producing job gains — and it’s also showing up in revenues. Right now we’re on track to match Congressional Budget Office projections of a substantial rise in tax receipts. Put those projections together with the Obama administration’s policies, and they imply a sharp fall in the budget deficit over the next few years.

The US is NOT Greece!  For one thing Greece does not have its own currency that it could manipulate to help the problem, which would be one way to help, but instead they, Greece, will suffer through years of zero growth and massive cuts in services.  One reason is the Euro.  If you notice that the countries that are having the most problems, Portugal, Spain, etc have NO other currency other than the Euro….something to consider.

What Is The Big Deal?

And the winner is……….Rima Fakih…Miss Michigan

Did you hear the news?  An Arab-American won the Miss USA pageant…and now the crap begins….while the news should be that a beautiful, intelligent woman won the pageant on her abilities as a runway model and able to chew gum and walk at the same time…but instead of giving this woman her due, after all she has a BA in economics and is a perfect example of what America stands for, the “lame” stream media (a Palin term that someone wrote for her) is focusing on the answer that Miss Oklahoma gave to the question about Arizona’s new law……

Basically, they are saying that her answer to the bill thing was unpopular and for that reason she lost the contest…….she replied to the Law:

“I’m a huge believer in states’ rights. I think that’s what’s so wonderful about America,” Woolard said. “So I think it’s perfectly fine for Arizona to create that law.”

She has an opinion and voiced it…..I am not saying that she was wrong, only that it is being used as an excuse for her losing to Miss Michigan……they are saying that her answer was a trap akin to the one set last year for Miss “whoever” and her views on same sex marriages…..on that point, she was NOT wrong in her answer and it should have NEVER been a news story…..

Back to Miss Michigan……does politics play a part in the judging?  Only the judges can answer that….but the media is making it so…not the contestants.  Instead of giving Miss Fakih her time in the spotlight….the media is looking for something dark and sinister….

All we need to know is that she is 24, a grad of U of Michigan in economics, beautiful and a winner……

Come people….give it a rest…not everything is a left wing plot!

In The Eyes Of The Beholder

Inkwell Institute

Subject:  Democracy/Political Theory

Paper #15

Democracy is a word that is used liberally these days…all sides of the political spectrum seems to think they have a monopoly on what it is and how we get it…..I do not mind a closed mind but these most people have closed theirs and boarded up….in other words…they have NO idea what they are talking about….why?….because they will not accept a rational exchange of views……that then makes it a moronocracy not a democracy…..and a democracy may not mean the same thing as you mean when you use the word….even Aristotle thought democracy was a bad idea, he considered it to be “leadership by the stupid, who make unrealizable promises to the ignorant”…that sounds more like our US Congress!

But these days it is in vogue…everybody wants to live in a democracy….but what does it all mean?

Liberals understand it in individualist terms as consent expressed through the ballot box, democracy being equated to regular and competitive elections.  Democracy constrains the abuse of power, it must always be conducted within the constitutional framework in order to avoid majoritarian tyranny.

Conservatives endorse liberal-democratic rule with exceptions like the need to protect property and traditional institutions from the untutored will of “the many”.  The New Right has linked electoral democracy to the problems of over-government and economic stagnation.

Socialists traditionally endorse a form of radical democracy that at its basis is a form of popular participation in the governance of the people…They desire to bring the economic activity under the thumb of government and dis miss modern liberal democracy as just an extension of capitalism.

Anarchists endorse a direct democracy and call for a continuing popular participation and a radical decentralization.  They see electoral or representative democracy as a facade to hide the fact of elite domination of the masses.

Fascists embrace democracy, but a totalitarian democracy that holds that a genuine democracy is an absolute dictatorship, where the leader monopolizes ideology and is the sole person that can articulate the interests of the people.  So, Party and electoral activities are corrupt and degenerate.

(Thanx once again to Andrew Heywood and his book “Political Ideologies” for the simplifies definitions)

There you have what the most popular political ideologies believe about the concept of democracy.  Democracy is in the eyes of the beholder…all good or all bad…..