Now that the budget cuts have been released for public viewing I am reminded that we have a Democratic president who enjoys passing Republican policies.
This budget as it stands now is the gutting of America and the road to ruin. Slashing every domestic program in sight and leaving the wasteful military spending alone is the sort of move I would expect from a Republican, but if this is indeed the budget Obama supports then it amounts to yet another huge failure of this president to stand up for progressive values.
Gutting $415 million from state and local law enforcement, $438 from energy efficiency and renewable energy, $786 million from FEMA first responder grants, $1,045 million from HIV AIDS, viral hepatitis, STD and TB prevention -- all of these proposed cuts represent a desire to see Americans suffer and to see this country fail as a competitive nation.
Combining these facts with the $5 billion increase in military spending illustrates to me that the whole of Washington DC is hell-bent on turning America into a war state with permanent rampant poverty. I expect such destructive and illogical policies from Republicans, they maintain the role of the uninformed saber rattlers, but to see such a ruinous and hideous budget plan being endorsed by Democrats is disgusting.
It's obvious to me, as things stand now, that Obama along with the Democratic Party have thrown the middle class and the American worker under the bus. All the while holding up the bloodthirsty military industrial complex and the heartless desires of corporate America as paramount.
It is nothing short of a lie that the nation is "broke" and if either party was serious about trimming waste without gutting vital social services the first on the chopping block would be the Pentagon budget.
What this country has is a tax revenue problem. As any conservative will tell you GE paid nothing in taxes last year. That is only the tip of the iceberg, but a good place to start. Closing all the corporate tax loopholes combined with raising income taxes on the wealthiest Americans would free more than enough tax revenue to manage the debt while at the same time avoid gutting important government services in the process.
The failure of American Democracy is perfectly represented by the non-choice of Democrats who cave on if not directly promoting anti-American policies and Republicans who pander to racists if not openly endorse fascist laws. The choice between moderate conservatives calling themselves Democrats and extremist conservatives calling themselves Republicans is no choice at all.
For one-hundred and twenty years The State of New York’s 23rd Congressional District has been maintained by The Republican Party.
This has come to an end.
The voters have rejected Conservative-Republican ideals, once again.
This in no small part due to their infamous venom spilling forth unto their own kind in their quest of hatred of all who do not met their standards of ideological purity.
They have destroyed themselves in this district and they will continue with this pattern of crypto-fascist politics to destroy their chances of being taken seriously by any thinking person in the United States.
Some blowhards are crowing about minor Republican victories in races projected for their position to win in the first place.
The fact remains that the NY 23rd was uncertain up until this point.
Then the Conservative Party candidate, Hoffman, could not gather enough votes. He flopped with the voters, just as I had thought he would.
Just as we saw beforehand, America is ready for a change for the tired politics of conservatism.
Be is from the Republican side or the Conservative side, does not matter. People are sick of an ideology that empowers Wall Street at the expense of Main Street, and in the same breath of speaking of war & conflicts they seek to weaken & spread lies about the U.S. Government.
Not once has any major Republican party figure come out to distance themselves from these shameless attempts to drum up anti-black sentiment against Barack Obama.
While Jimmy Carter expressed what I thought needed to be said, the larger part of my personal feelings on the matter is that of the unwillingness to question those that present themselves as conservatives or Republicans but in truth engage in viscous race-baiting.
It is the lack of togetherness around combating racism that leads me to such reasoning.
If their movement was so invested in racial equality, wouldn’t they want Limbaugh thrown off the air? Or at very least to stop calling himself a conservative and just admit to being a Race-baiter more than he is anything else?
But, no.
He is a mainstay in conservative-talk and even the Chairman of The RNC, Michael Steele, wouldn’t stand up to him on a matter as simple as if Limbaugh was an “entertainer“ or not.
Obviously Rush Limbaugh is a Radio Entertainer, but these quotes are examples of exactly what kind of entertainment his program really offers. Race-baiting against African-Americans and vile, political hatred for all who disagree with him all wrapped up in one package.
In that much alone, bringing no other examples, I could say almost the same words the former President Jimmy Carter spoke that have sparked controversy except more directed on to the shoulders of mainstream conservatives than the anti-Obama forces.
This failure to reject the racialist statements of a popular political-talker on any real level begs to question if indeed many support these untrue and racially divisive statements.
In short, it is this defense of figures like Limbaugh or the defense of racist cartoons that promotes the idea in minds of some that perhaps racial motivates do exist far more strongly than political motives in minds of others.
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PORTSMOUTH, NH - AUGUST 11: Police stand near protesters outside Portsmouth High School where U.S President Barack Obama is holding a town hall August 11, 2009 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. President Obama is in town to speak about the need for health insurance reform to a crowd of eighteen hundred. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
“We have to take our country back!”
“Get your government hands off my Medicare!”
There are two reasons why I believe some of the extreme sentiments in The Health Care Debate are perhaps more than merely political partisanship from the right.
(1) The Patriot Act expanded federalism and government power, as well as government involvement in our lives, without anywhere near the same level of intense resistance from these same groups who claim to stand only for limiting government power.
(2) Republican President George W. Bush initially expanded federalism, once more in a single presidency, to include market recovery spending again without anywhere near the same level of personal attacks on his character.
The ideals of conservatism state that we should have let the market fall and just let the chips fall where they may. The ideals of conservatism state that creating more government is always the wrong direction and only limiting it is the correct course.
If this resistance was in fact some ‘grass roots’, ‘bipartisan’, ’community event’ based on conservative ideals then these same people would have held protests and thrown tea parties at the actual expanse in federalism, and not at this late stage.
This talk of revolution and talk of oppressive government certainly begs any level of credibility with even the most elementary review of facts. A disconnect exists between the level of outrage and the stances they claim to have hold dear.
‘Astroturfing’ is a political term you don’t hear often. It means that a big entity, like a medical insurance company, is funding the protestors by means of paid-provocateurs and organizers usually working as private contractors.
I am not trying to belittle or demean those that have issues with the Health Care bills or issues with the very notion of government Health Care Reform.
I am only saying that in my view all these events don’t add up.
The problems in Congress and the deficit issue or the many other points I have heard made never include addressing why these issues, that have been this way prior to the election of Barack Obama and during the presidency of George W. Bush, are suddenly such strong points of contention.
I would remind everyone of the Obama Stimulus and how a very similar message was present in those speaking out in public and in the media but none of them ever explained why they neglected to protest or even voice their opinion when Bush issued a Stimulus Check and bailed out the banks.
Non-explanations combined with a specific rejection of specifically this president combined with intense pre-judgments, like the charges of “indoctrination” or despotism coming from people on the right wing when Obama merely addresses school children, are the reasons that I support Jimmy Carter in confronting the issue instead of shying away.
Was anyone else paying attention, or was it just me?
The last thing we need these days are people running a fast game and rolling out the carpet of corporate lies for anyone put in front of them.
What we need is an army of intelligent and savvy business people who can stand behind what they do and not become fast talking cheats.
I stand here in a world of sales and marketing to tell you that certain people push you toward something you don't really want and all they really see when they look at you is a big dollar sign with feet.
We are not all this way. And I would like to say I'm proud to tear myself from the mold and stand on my own two feet of integrity.
There is still many things that I don't do, that I could to help others out in their sales endeavors, that might be an ultimate factor in proving just how I am playing the sales game over here. But holding onto trade secrets and keeping things from rebounding back to the office is hardly the same thing and trying to get you to buy something you don't really want or need.
I stand here the Last Honest Salesman in America. And when you deal with me you deal with the truth.
It occurs to me that many people in America care little to perceive and discern political partisanship in both the media and coming from representatives of their party.
Partisanship, better described as political hatred, is the driving force in the televised media and has been the bread and butter of radio broadcasting for as long as one cares to recall.
No person who advocates bipartisan coverage in the media is asking others to forego their own conclusions nor to silence their tongue in terms of political commentary.
Those who request a more bipartisan government and a more bipartisan media are only asking that the rancor and untruths spread by both sides be called out as such. We only ask that a person of any political stance be mindful of the simple fact that using slander, propaganda, and biased reporting does not contribute to the body politic of the nation.
The need to declare one’s self as part of any group is also an element of bipartisanship known as ‘full disclosure.’ This fact does not allow any person to call themselves ‘balanced’ and ‘fair’ in their dialogue while they proceed to make vast assumptions and baseless assertions about another group that they do not belong to nor share any common ideologies with.
The value to the nation is lost. These endless left versus right debates with no mutual respect and no interest in reviewing facts in the process is only serving to tear the nation further away from attaining mutual goals.
We the people did this to ourselves, lest someone feels the urge to blame the media.
The people of America seem to enjoy staying perfectly ‘safe’ within their respective spheres of politics and dare not to stray away from the ‘status quo’ generated by whatever biased programming they choose to absorb.
The media only responds to what it perceives the public wants. The public seems to want to drowned in slanderous, untrue, and vague reporting coming from pundits who make their careers off of lying and obfuscating facts about politics.
The bottom line is that media pundits have tied their own noose around their neck. If even one of them were to admit that they say these slanderous remarks and hateful comments to boost their ratings or book sales they would be thrown away by the very people who currently pay them respect.
I assert that if true honesty and true patriotism were to be included in the modern political media that people would reject these current figures in the media and exchange them so others who would not ever be honest and straight forward with the public could take their place.
In a world where each political camp is dedicated to the notion that the other is ‘evil’ and ‘immoral’ we shall never do anything worthy of the name American in this country.
We shall forever be a nation divided and shall never be a nation united.
I have been intentionally over-paying those little everyday expenses like tipping and things like not using the local ‘insider’ coupon clip.
It’s been awhile for me personally since I bought a product online, but supporting eTrade is another way is try to do your little part to shoot some life into the economy while your online.
I plan to buy the next gift for someone special via online.
Net-Trade is complex for the ordinary consumer to understand but there are multiple ways to support domain hosts, web loggers, local businesses and local markets.
Change starts at home.
Making your home more energy efficient in every way possible is a sound investment. Energy costs are not likely to drop in any foreseeable future.
This is just one of many steps I suggest you take to affect real change in your local environment and community.
The federal government can only do so much. Each bailout and stimulus they devise will ultimately fail if the Consumer Markets do not participate.
We need to take the time to educate ourselves enough as citizens to better understand our role at this stage in our national economy.
We all can make some difference.
We all can effect some amount change within our respective spheres.
Rusty Humphries is a disturbed individual. He sought to express to his audience today that for the first time since his wife passed away, a year ago, he felt as if tears would well up into his eyes. What caused him this moment of anguish and misery equal to the loss of a loved one? The images of recently released Guantanamo Bay terror suspects, referred to as Uighurs, to Bermuda.
One more radio pundit has lost his mind in the age of a return to American justice and the US Constitution being enacted under President Barack Obama. The partisan hate and ignorance of the fundamental values of American Democracy is disturbing and leads to only one conclusion: Rusty Humphries supports fascist policy.
RUSTBUCKET: “These guys [Uighurs] had every intention of doing terrorist acts on China.”
One has to prove this in a court of law if you intend to detain any person. Innocent until proven guilty is a fundamental difference between American and Fascist Ideals.
RUSTBUCKET:“China has made it clear they will execute and make example of all terrorists.”
This is true. They are also a nation guilty of endless human rights atrocities. It is clear to me that this particular radio-jockey is a pro-fascist and anti-democratic pundit.
This is the US, not China.
Those who lose their country seek to protect the US Constitution.
Those who love fascism seek to defend torture and detainment without trial.
His hatred for President Obama and all things American is so great, and so vastly partisan, that he continues to jeopardize and threaten the nation with his dangerous and unconstitutional rhetoric.
Seeing as how American Society has decided that racism against blacks is anathema there leaves little room for modern racists and bigots in which to move.
Clear evidence of this is the fact that most anyone who reads this knows what racial slur I refer to the “N-Word” but no such complete verbal bans exist within any other racial slurs or forms of hate speech.
More evidence of the intolerance in American Society would be found in classrooms, schoolyards and off-record public gatherings. Time and time again I find my strongest divide with my peers is that of bigotry and racism. Even in some who no doubt assume themselves to be ‘free’ of cultural hate.
Brown Racism seems most strongly found in the older generations of racists. Very possibly the remnants of the Anti-Civil Rights Movement. I imagine many of these individuals have much of the same prejudices against all minorities and they are seemingly focusing their hate toward illegal immigrants from Mexico. Using the political stance of border reform as a guise for their radical and often completely absurd notions regarding Mexican-Americans. These are clear examples of American Racism.
Gay Bigotry seems most strongly found in the young generations of bigots. Not in any way unique from any group that hates another for a belief except that this belief is not a religion but rather a concept that sexuality is unbound between genders. Philosophical considerations are not made, for or against, and openly expressed prejudices go unchallenged as any non-heterosexual person is declared a ‘pervert,’ ‘immoral,’ ‘abnormal,’ ‘evil,’ or ‘flawed.’ In my perception this is the most commonly found example of American Bigotry.
The implications are simple. These forms of thought are purely destructive to American Society. Allowing the fears of the past to dictate our future will only lead to failure.
Carrie Prejean (Miss California): ”I think it‘s great that we live in a country where you can chose same-sex marriage or [gay-marriage]. .. In my country, and in my house, marriage is between a man a woman,”
I see these words as fair and respectful statements to make, in such a position. In her country, her state and her house she views marriage as an exclusive right for heterosexuals. Unfortunately, the state laws of California currently reflect her point of view over my own. Just as she said herself, I also believe the true beauty of American democracy is the right to chose. The right to chose to repeal the ban on gay-marriage in my case. This battle is yet to fought.
Another vital element of this American Beauty lies in the fundamental Freedom of Speech found not exclusive to this single event, by any means. It can be found all around us.
In the media-aftermath, Perez Hilton (pageant judge) revealed that he desired a more educated response.
Hilton: “What she should have said is: .. ‘We live in a country where the states decide on some laws and the federal government decide on other laws.’”
Hilton is most likely unaware that recent statistics on civic education in America are at all time lows. I doubt he intended to be so, but the question was asking for civics knowledge in a time when such an item is a precious commodity.
Ever reviled, accursed, ne’er understood, Thou art the grisly terror of our age. “Wreck of all order,” cry the multitude, “Art thou, and war and murder’s endless rage.” O, let them cry. To them that ne’er have striven. The truth that lies behind a word to find, To them the word’s right meaning was not given. They shall continue blind among the blind. But thou, O word, so clear, so strong, so pure. Thou sayest all which I for goal have taken. I give thee to the future! Thine secure. When each at least unto himself shall waken. Comes it in sunshine? In the tempest’s thrill? I cannot tell -- but it the earth shall see! I am an Anarchist! Wherefore I will. Not rule, and also ruled I will not be! - John Henry Mackay
I draw your attention simply to the first nine lines of this quote, and have included it in it’s entirety for a full perspective.
I believe we have suffered this current Global / American Recession in a large part to the economic strategy of ‘greed is good’ and more specifically the enactment of Anarcho-Capitalism in our banking, mortgage and credits markets the United States of America.
A lack of sound order and a lack of logical policies will only ultimately lead to a lack of accountability from authority.
A populist does not reject authority, or rule, outright. Rather a populist is prone to ask:
“By right to do govern? Whom do you serve?”
While I will express a degree of fondness for Pure Anarchism in which all property is outright theft; I find the whole ideology unworkable and only expressly attainable in small, sustainable and highly isolated communities. Much like Marxism is all looks good for an intellectual discussion and quid-pro-quo debating but in a real world setting the whole underlying concepts quickly become revealed as nothing but an ideologist’s dream work.
America of 2009 needs real solutions and not simply an outpouring of sentiment to ’make AIG pay-you-back,’ but rather a hopeful outpouring of people willing to listen. People willing to engage.
The Presidency of Barack Obama is but a stepping stone in a much larger and much longer road. We must begin to demand the highest standards of our leaders. On both Wall Street and Capitol Hill.
It is not wrong to want justice. It is not wrong to want fairness. It is not wrong to question authority.
I am a Populist-Liberal! Wherefore I will.
Not to rule, but to question the value of our rulers to us.
Can you say: media scapegoat? Can you say: easy target?
No fan of AIG or anything. Bunch of suits passing around paper that doesn't move one piece of anything that helps even one worker. Let them all pick crops, I say.
But I am a media-watchdog and have had my eye on the government like a hawk. Bonuses for these jokers is not the right 'aim' of this new American-frustration we are all experiencing.
Bemoaning the continuation of old and backwards thinking will not move us on. We must come to readily expect ourselves for many things and remain unphased. America must quite literally reach a No Bull State of Operation extremely quickly if we are regain any of what has been lost.
We can expect the economic guru's to come out of the wood-works. We can expect our former leaders in business and government to try to interject themselves and contort the matter at hand.
Just as every peoples before us we may use this moment to strive or use this moment to relent. A demand for accountability is but a beginning. The true goal must always be to bring forth the individuals who will operate as honest brokers and stewards of the economy while tossing aside corporatist and those who played us all for fools.
They are the true enemy of the common person.
Not any specific group but the whole entity of continued corruption.
I have never presumed to have any more means by which to judge of others but by their actions and their words, just like any other man. For my part I take a rather wide surveillance of the modern American media and open-outlets of public opinion that is simply an attempt to balance my own politics and avoid misinformation.
In the process of this I have long known what Holder said so frankly to the American public yesterday to be a simple fact of American life.
The greatest of comedians help us laugh about the differences between us and the greatest of dividers desire us to hate each other for the same differences.
I always attempt to speak within my own experience as often as possible and I am doing just that when I say I have personally encountered racism in my life in the form of Neo-Nazi groups approaching me.
I am blonde hair and blue eyes so these misguided individuals saw me as a ‘good catch’ when was an adolescent.
I am disgusted every time I hear people speak the perspective that we have conjured the race issue or that America has all-but completely balanced racial tensions.
In a free society there is no other compromise than to allow the pro-segregation or groups like these Neo-Nazis to exist in so far as The Freedom of Speech allows, but not many Americans today understand that it means to look one these individuals right in eye and tell him you don’t agree with the prejudiced statements they made.
I have never said that racism is isolated to white racism and the reality of racism in all the colors is present. Personally I do not try to keep some grand tally of how much racism is in each group at any given time, due to fact that all racism is founded in same place of ignorance and hate.
Even in risking my life to disagree with real life racists in rare instances I would still call myself a coward as Holder suggests. I have very little to speak on outside of my own comfort zone regarding race and politics.
I am certainly prone to the overreaction and quick accusations of racial motives but in my case it is at times just previous experiences shading my perception. This was foremost in my mind as I first saw this now political hot-potato New York Post cartoon of a gunned down chimp associated with authoring the stimulus.
I still see this image at the top of this post as racially influenced and designed to degrade Black Americans.
Not Congress or the Speaker of the House. As the cartoonist has since implied.
I cannot stress enough that each American can take easy steps to help our nation in tough times.
Many believe that spending the stimulus package funds exclusively on American products and services will serve to boost our markets more directly.
This may be true, but the bottom line is that using the funds along with savings to make wise investments or spending the money in American retailers and outlets is the only method by which any future packages would show any results.
Informing yourself on not only the best prices on the products you enjoy but which major retailers, energy companies and industries are of the best interest to our nation can lead not only to more stable markets but a greater degree of national security.
Economic strength and stability provides the higher quality intelligence services and personnel staying within the American interests.
For an informed American to claim they have their end of the economy handled in share, they would do well to understand a concept rarely addressed in any media format. The overall strength and robustness of any economy comes not from what is tracked as the DOW JONES or other market averages but rather within the actual number of jobs produced and inherent to that economy.
Also understanding that you are indeed putting real assets into the market by paying bills, or with a highly modest fiscal investment, and need not make rash expensive purchases or risky investments to help build the economy up. In fact such actions may further degrade the once monolithic American markets.
Building a smart economy from the ground up is not outside the ability of any single American to help contribute towards.
Starting a small business, taking on a second or third job and hiring on more staffers to an existing business are not easy options for most Americans in the recession of 2008.
Nonetheless, these three options pose the greatest chance of enhancing the American economy in a very real way in days to come.
The last aspect of the market discussions in American newsmedia that is mainly unaddressed, is that each President cannot be held as strongly in referendum over the number of jobs created or lost under their Presidency as to the issue of the national budget or foreign policy affairs.
Job loss, or creation, is a vital element of reviewing how well any President has governed over the United States of America but an epidemic of job loss, or explosion of jobs, could occur well outside the powers of office and at any time.
It is not to say that actions in office cannot hamper or stimulate job creation but rather that each job market is wholly unique.
Easter ‘08, yet more tragedy struck the Iraqi people as they came to the end of fasting under religious observance and were killed in large numbers while crowding to the supermarkets. In so far as a discussion of current Iraqi / American affairs, these bombings counter the strongly held contention of some that Arabic Extremism stems primarily from the Muslim faith. This story took only passing notice in newsmedia and is completely under-referenced in discussions of Middle-Eastern affairs.
In the 2008 presidential campaign for The White House there was something referred to as a ‘polling anomaly’ surrounding Barack Obama.
The evangelical and Born-Again Christians, that took polls, showed significant support of the candidacy of Barack Obama and held numbers higher than Bush’s numbers from 2000 and 2004 to a very significant degree. [PEW Research]
Those who were watching closely know exactly why Obama picked up a recordable amount of support in these religious fundamental communities, in fact it is fairly obvious.
Obama, unlike McCain, never once shied away from the topics of faith in the media circus. Beyond that his words and visible convictions regarding religion, Jesus and God have been forward and direct instead of evasive and vague.
In the mind of many evangelicals the resistance to speaking openly about Christ translates to a resistance to Christ’s message in your life.
Essentially, if the name ‘Jesus’ or the word ‘God’ cause you any discomfort then you must be against spreading The Word.
Obama has never once spoken directly to the evangelical and born-again movements of America in his national rhetoric, yet he has somehow gained some amount of notable political support from them.
Any politician worth his salt takes every advantage afforded to him when it comes to being able to represent the people that elected him into office. Obama saw all the same numbers I did and I imagine found it confounding for a time that a group which normally doesn’t support Democratic Party agendas was showing support for his presidency.
This is a question I would ask of him among others should I ever have some of his time.
Rick Warren, along with hosting the second Presidential Debate, is a strong advocate for evangelical ideology and fundamental views of religion.
His rhetoric doesn’t provide equality for the gay community or for the views of the so-called radical religious movements of America (New Age ideologies.)
I completely disagree with his political positions and his opposition of Proposition 8 in California which I personally voted against.
This is what my point is in regards to the disgust expressed to his inclusion in coming public national events:
“Since when does agreeing with someone have anything to do with loving them?”
-Rick Warren, 12/21/2008
Rick said it for me. Since when does loving one another in a lawful and peaceful nation have anything to do with agreeing with your neighbor’s politics?
I believe that given time we will have legal same-sex marriage but it could take awhile. In the meantime we need to not rip each other’s throats out every time something like this happens in America.
If Rick Warren were to be presented with a ‘Religion Czar’ or ‘National Spiritual Adviser to America’ position or anything smacking of that … well then I’d be out in the streets throwing a whole big fuss about it.
Much love, as they say these days. Nobody gets left out when I say that.
