Boehner's Monster

Well, looks like the monster lovingly called Teabag has broken his chains and escaped, and Speaker of the House, John Boehner can no more control his right wing creation than the fabled Dr. Frankenstein could control his.

Neither monster, Boehner's nor Frankenstein's is really human....has no human tendencies or compulsions or understanding or any emotion with the exception of pain. They may look human...have the requisite number of fingers, toes, heads, legs and arms...but that doesn't make them human.

Some philosopher once said that you lose your humanity...if you ever had it in the first place...when you stop caring about others...Boehner's monster crossed that line a long time ago.

The Frankenstein monster didn't really want to hurt anyone. He killed accidentally when attacked by the fearful villagers, who were scared of what they didn't understand. Frankenstein's monster didn't try to destroy his surroundings. He tried or wanted to live peacefully within his surroundings, in harmony.

Boehner's monster, however, is a different story. It is mean, vindictive, possessive of all it surveys, selfish and unempathetic toward anyone who does not resemble them. Boehner's monster is intent on destroying anyone or anything that prevents it from having its way. Boehner's monster bears a closer resemblence to Ripley's Alien or Arnold's Terminator.

"It doesn't eat...it doesn't sleep....it won't stop...ever...until you are dead!"

Boehner's Speakership is on the line because he can't control his monster, which isn't all that big, yet. But he needs some help from the gazillionaires who financed his experiments in the first place. Cutting off the money is the same as cutting off the head. The Teabag monster will follow the duckets right over the cliff, if they act quickly enough. Boehner may have to sacrifice himself. But it's looking like any action taken will be too late for all of us.

-0-

Another Attack Ad in Ohio

Ohioans are currently being subjected to yet another vanilla faced attack ad created by some rich guy with too much money and time on his hands. This one comes from Crossroads, GPS and is aimed at Senator Sherrod Brown and President Barack Obama. It claims Brown has voted for trillions of dollars in tax increases that will drive up the deficit.

Really?  I wasn't aware that our taxes have gone up. In fact, taxes under Obama have gone down if I'm reading the statistics correctly.

Can't attack Sherrod on health care. He voted to help the people keep their kids insured and enable those with pre existing conditions to finally get coverage. All this while forgoing government health care himself.

Brown in fact, is the only member of Congress who does not take congressional health care...never has...says he won't until health care is available for all the people.

And since the government is in such dire straits....why aren't more congressmen and women giving back their health care benefits, retirement and salaries.

They're gonna get paid regardless of whether the Country tanks on August 2nd or not. Congressional salaries are considered to be emergency funds that must be funded, empty treasury or not....check it out!

-0-

John Boehner, The Gutless Wonder

Well, it's official. We now know that John Boehner has shit for brains. Still playing Polyanna, President Obama threw Speaker Boehner a lifeline, and the fool stepped up to the plate and callusly threw it back.  Again and again, Obama reached out and attempted to pull Boehner into the light. But it didn't work. A smart leader could have used Obama's words to lead the teabaggers to clarity as well as an understanding about what they are doing to America.  It could have been a teaching moment and a reality check by the GOP to the Teabags. Instead it was more posturing on the part of the Speaker of the House, who somehow views himself as co-president to Barack Obama.

 Boehner's  response to the President could have been written three years ago. Based on the same talking points, lies, myths and innuendoes that the GOP/teabaggers have been pounding him with since his election in 2008. He didn't bother to listen to what Obama said. He refused to see the olive branch imbedded inside the speech. He ignored the bipartisan plea housed inside the rhetoric.

Boehner simply followed orders from his puppeteers and said "no." Strawman..no brain...no heart.  John Boehner is no leader. He is no patriot. He doesn't give a damn about the American people. But he sho love him some tea, apparently.

For the first time since the last election, Obama verbally bitch slapped the teabaggers, attempting to jar them awake to see the dangerous precipice upon which they stand. He put the blame where it rightfully belongs smack on the teabaggers in both houses. Obama said the American people may have voted for a divided government...but they sure as hell didn't vote for a dysfunctional one. Obama implied they are either totally stupid or totally insane to think they can play chicken with the world financial industry and that America, in its weakened state will still survive.  Obama all but told them it was time to grow up and to realize that a sustained temper tantrum is no way to govern, but it is a way to destroy the USA, no jihad terrorist needed.

Further cuts without increasing the revenue base via taxes on the wealthy will only add to the deficit, not reduce it. The social safety net that protects the poor and the now destroyed middleclass, will be gone. What little progress that has been made over the past couple of years in putting people back to work will cease and probably reverse. The stock market will probably tank. Interest rates will go up. More people will lose their 401k funds..that is if they still have them in the first place.

Signs of the impending meltdown can already be seen with the most recent report issued by the US Census. Minorities have never really been allowed to take part in  the good times in America and this recovery/recession is no different. The recovery reversal has stripped away what little financial progress Blacks and Hispanics have made, with the net worth tanking close to zero these days. Whites collectively have a net worth north of 100,000-dollars per household,  while minority net worth is between 5 and 6 thousand dollars per household. The rule remains "last hired...first fired." The insidious grasp of institutionalized racism prevails, unchecked, even during the reign of America's first Black president.

It is time for  some people in this country to admit that institutionalized racism exists and that the war on Iraq was absolutely the wrong move, coming on the heels of the deregulation frenzy of the financial system by the  Clinton and Bush administrations. And it isn't the healthcare act that is so destablizing to the economy...it's the big pharma drug payoff that Dubya and the GOP passed in 2007.  Obama's health care law has not yet taken full effect, and won't until 2014. Nor can the stimulus be laid at the feet of Barack Obama, either. It was implemented by Obama, but passed by Bush and company. John Boehner was in Congress and on board for all of this spending being done by his party. He gleefully helped dump it on the desk of the incoming president, Barack Obama. Now he is apparently attempting to smother him with it.

And yes, I am going to play it again and again and again until it sinks in....no white president would have to deal with this type of disrespectful surliness....ever.....EV-VER! Ronald Reagan increased the debt ceiling 17 times and never once met the kind of opposition Obama gets just for saying "good morning."

Feel like I'm caught up in an abusive marriage, where the husband has decided..."if I can't have you...no one else will!" So the wife and kids all have to die...just so he can make his point one last time. Get ready for the late, great America!

Gutless son of a bitch!

Obama-Boehner Smackdown The Thrilla Outside Wasilla

Talks have once again broken down with Boehner walking away from the table and the deal. This time around President Obama was visibly pissed off. You could see it on his face and hear it in his tone. He has summoned the parties to the White House for a rare Saturday session.

As we wait and watch helplessly from the hinterlands...Here are some things to consider:

TRUTH-America is in an unsustainable deficit situation coupled with massive unemployment.

TRUTH-The present deficit/economic situation has never been seen before in the history of the USA.

TRUTH-President Obama inherited this mess. He made it worse by not increasing revenues allowing the Bush tax cuts to go forward, unchallenged. He has allowed himself to be caught inside a dangerous game of "good cop-bad cop" being played by Cantor and Boehner. The people are suffering.

TRUTH-Obama has moved so far  right of center that his policies resemble those of Richard Nixon, rather than any Democrat living or dead. There will be no compromise, only capitulation on the part of the Democrats.

TRUTH-Repeated White House cave-ins are not compromise nor bipartisan behavior.

TRUTH-The past election was not a mandate for teabag policy changes. It was an election that most voters sat out, thinking the problems of the past, were past....or a waste of time from the point of view of so called progressives who remain in the midst of a gigantic temper tantrum because they didn't get their way as quickly as they think they should...

TRUTH-John Boehner is protecting his own ass rather than representing the American people. Teabaggers have made it plain to Boehner that he will lose the Speaker of the House position if he compromises and strikes a deal with the White House.  What happened to "taking one for the team?"

TRUTH-Teabaggers have the power to force Boehner out of office...they have the power to reshape America into it's own bizarro view, but only if we the people allow it to happen as we did during the past election. The teabaggers aren't just playing politics...they are playing crazy politics and they are willing to destroy America in order to get their way...

TRUTH-Ronald Reagan raised the debt ceiling 17 times during his tenure in the White House, but you'd never know it listening to conservative republicans. Dubya raised it 7 times during the last administration.

TRUTH-Giving rich people tax cuts does not  generate jobs. Never has...never will. Statistics have shown over and over that the rich people hide and save their money, while the poor and middle class spend their money, putting it back into the economy.  Trickle down economics is a myth....pure and simple voodoo..or doo-doo...take your pick...

TRUTH-You can't have full economic recovery without increasing the revenue base. Reagan raised taxes, Nixon raised taxes, Daddy Bush raised taxes...Got to be done...Dubya sent the country into a spiral by cutting taxes and spending our resources on two illegal wars actions and a big pharma deal that gave a bunch of money to his corporate cronies...leaving us holding an empty bag...

TRUTH-When asked how to jumpstart the economy a few years ago, Dubya said "everyone go buy something."  That's a paraphrase, but the gist of how the economy really works. Cutting everybody but the rich cats a $10,000 check would go a long way in re starting the recovery.

TRUTH-Think a non-regulated totally free enterprise capitalistic system works?...take a look at South America...several countries tried it for a while, before the people voted socialism back in. The totally free enterprise system made five or six people rich and completely ground down everybody else...the same thing is going on here in America, albeit, at a slower pace.

TRUTH-Obama has said he is willing to cut a big deal, even if it means he loses the next election. He's got the American people bent over...wondering if his latest deal comes with or without vaseline. There has been no reciprocation on the part of the teabaggers.

TRUTH-At no time have the congressional teabaggers offered to share the pain of the American people...they still have their health care...they still have their salaries...they still have their merit raises...they still have their retirement....

TRUTH-teabag recalcitrance on Capital Hill is also tanking the states...will the governors speak up? If the USA credit line is lowered....so is  the credit line for the states....The states are caught between a rock and a hard place...

TRUTH-In an effort to get this deal, there will be no tax increases or closures of tax loopholes...but you can bet there will be lots and lots of cuts to programs that matter.....The Republican party....the GOP is dead....snuffed out by teabags...

So when do  we start this revolution?

Forget the Nuke Meltdowns. Jesus is Coming on the 21st

The end of the world is less than two months away, give or take a few days, according to some preacher out in California. He's told his followers and everyone else who'll listen that the Son of God will once again walk the earth starting May 21, 2011. Shortly after that, he says, the fire and brimstone will fall from the sky.

It's the end of the world as we know it.

No need to prepare for the ending as predicted by the Mayan Calendar, which says the world will end on December 21, 2012. Now in full disclosure, the Calendar doesn't predict the end of the world. It just ends, period. Doesn't necessarily mean the world may end. Nobody knows for sure why the calendar stops at December 21, 2012. It just does and since there aren't any Mayans around, any explanations about the abrupt ending are coming from scientists, sky watchers, and the superstitiously deranged who keep track of this kind of stuff.

The guy out in California, meanwhile, is so sure of his prediction that he's put up billboards so that even the non believers will know the day of reckoning and be ready.

Of course, he's done this before. He's prepared at least four other times for Jesus' return. But I guess somebody forgot to tell Jesus. Or maybe JC just wasn't ready. Or maybe JC is a diva who loves keeping folks waiting breathlessly for his big entrance.

Don't know. But preach says JC is really, really coming this time. Really.

End days predictions have become a cottage industry since Barack Obama was elected president. The first Black man to occupy the White House has prompted comparisons to the anti christ and as a first sign that the end as talked about in Revelation is nigh. Some churches have seen their ranks swell as sometime Christians start planning for their future in heaven, like they're part of the chosen few who will actually be raptured and  see heaven.

Rapture occurs when the chosen few are snatched away into the afterlife, while the rest of the uncivilized fall into chaos and ruin down here on earth. Rapture people point to all the natural disasters and wars currently plaguing earth as a sign that end days are upon us.

Maybe it's time to grow dreads so JC can get a good hold, the better to snatch folks up to heaven.

Honestly, I can't wrap my head around the world ending suddenly...just like I can't imagine committing suicide, simply because there is no reason that I would deprive this world of me... Ya'll don't deserve that.

I can' t really conceive that one morning I'm gonna wake up and by noon the earth is going to be torn apart, taking all of humanity with it.

Until I'm dodging asteroids, earthquakes, radiation from a Japanese nuke meltdown,  or looking out my window and see  Jesus walking down Victory Parkway, I'm not going to believe it.

It's one of those things that will happen, when it happens...but not yet...I don't plan on worrying about it until it happens.

Besides, Christians have been predicting the end of the world since they became Christian. There are so many end of times signs and predictions, including one involving the current Pope Benedict. Ya'll better hope the Pope lives an extra long time and he's already really old, now.

What? You say...

St. Malachy, an Irish priest made some end of world predictions back in his day circa 1590. These prophecies are sometimes attributed to Nostradamous, and that Malachy was simply an alter ego of the great prognosticator. Gossips back in the day claimed "NO" passed this one off on Malachy because he didn't want to be blamed for bringing down the Catholic Church.

Whatever...

According to Malachy/NO...This one says there will be 112 Popes and then The Holy See (Catholic Church) will end. It reads like it's talking about Rome and the Catholic Church and not the rest of us, primarily because the rest of us didn't exist. In 1590 there wasn't much to the world at that time.

In fact, the world  was flat according to most...is still flat according to Sherri Shepard, despite the wayward Chris Columbus and the other ancient explorers.

My point is that according to St Malachy, the world is presently seeing it's 111th Pope, Benedict who will reign through the ultimate persecution of the Holy Church.

Benedict will then be followed by the last Pope, referred to as Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep through many tribulations, and when he's done, the City of Seven Hills will be destroyed and the fearsome Judge will Judge his people. The End.

Hmmmm....Cincinnati is built on seven hills, just like Rome...Maybe I should just leave Ohio.

Maybe JC is coming back to earth to be Oprah's last interview. She's set her last show date as May 25th. Maybe that's what California preach is reading in the signs.... not the end of the world.

Maybe it's the end of  the Oprah show as we know it....Don't know.

So, who are you going to believe....The California billboard preacher or St Malachy/Nostradamous?

Me, I'm going to do what I always do on a Sunday, which is what the day after May 21st is...I'm going to watch CBS This Morning with Charles Osgood...do some exercise...some meditation....walk my dogs and maybe pick up a hoe to work my garden.

Fear infested America

The events in Arizona are not a surprise to anyone who has lived and grown up here in America. In fact, most Black people my age have lived with a collective knot in our stomach since 2008 when Barack Obama was sworn in as president. It will hurt deeply if someone gets close enough to harm him or his family, because while we are used to the constant eruptions of violence, both verbal and physical, from those who fear us, as neighbors, classmates, co workers, supervisors and leaders, it won't be a surprise And no one of us will sleep easily until he safely leaves the White House.

That same fear now surrounds our government, infecting our political discourse, strangling all debate turning any and all difference of opinion into a nasty verbal free for all. All congressmen have been painted as evil and uncaring bastards whose only reason for working on Capital Hill is to enrich themselves at our expense. I am guilty of this myself, having openly wished on this blog for someone to “drop a bomb on Capital Hill” so the country can start over. Being a writer, I fully and completely understand the gravity of my words. I was thinking nuclear, knowing full well the near impossibility of my vision. But I take full responsibility for what comes out of my mouth and like most, should sometimes tone it down, or write after I've cooled off a bit. Civility, empathy and understanding should always guide what we do toward each other.

Congresswoman Giffords is a victim of our collective refusal to tone down the public discourse. She was targeted in the past for her vocal support for Health Care Reform. Following her vote she was vilified, and the windows of her office were shot out in 2009. Anyone who agrees with the “other” side is “defriended” on Facebook, or forced to undergo an electronic lynching or smear campaign via the internet, for all to see. Now, I guess, they risk being killed for speaking out and exercising their first amendment rights.

24 hour news is filled with  so called pundits who make millions of dollars spewing vitriol against any issue and any person, solely in the name of profit, power and ratings. What this ultimately leads to is the lesser brains among us, who don't distinguish between literal and figurative speech...between hyperbole and calls to action. This is the dangerous world in which we live. The crescendo of hyperbole has reached deadly ear shattering levels and must be silenced.

It's not just political rhetoric. It's all things, like the weather for instance. One word from the local weatherman can cause a stampede on grocery or hardware stores, or cause airlines to cancel flights before the planes are affected by bad weather. Pitchmen daily attempt to scare everyone into buying insurance....life insurance... pet insurance...health insurance....flood insurance. Parents are cautioned to strap their two year olds to a chair in front of a computer and drill them for hours on the latest baby genius program or risk having your little einstein fail to get into kindergarten. Hyperbole needs to be dialed down in all phases of our lives. Is it any wonder that heart attack is the leading cause of death among human beings?

The treadmill of fear keeps us running away from each other, running from our neighbors in other countries, branding anyone with a different skin color, culture or religion as the enemy to be smashed and destroyed rather than met with compassion, understanding and welcome. 

The events in Arizona should lead us to ask the question of when is enough, enough? When do we stop trying to solve every problem with violent acts? When do we stop fearing each other and start working toward common goals? It is not a game or sporting event or war. It is not a competition. The person who ends up with the most toys doesn't win....he or she dies like the rest of us...It is our life, people and like it or not, there are 5 billion of us sharing this planet. We all need to get a grip.

My thoughts, prayers and blessings go out to the Congresswoman, her family...the families of the victims and the wounded. May you find peace....

Compromise and Capitulation-Another White House Cave-in

(Open letter #4 to President Obama)

“we cannot play politics at a time when the American people are looking for us to solve problems.” -Barack Obama

Dear Sir,

This statement, like all of your other statements are very high brow and noble and full of pristine thinking. However, the GOP has been speaking and communicating in layman's terms since you took office two years ago.

What they're saying in common speak is “fuck you” Mr. President, “fuck you” middle class and all this time you've been singing background harmony.

They went into the meetings daring you to call their bluff and you blinked. Again. You even gave them more than they said they wanted. Lowering the estate tax more than they've ever asked..that's a wet dream for a rich man...doesn't help the poor man in any way shape or form.

None of this decreases the deficit. And by the way, where are the teabagging deficit hawks? Still waiting to hear from them. They can't vote until January, but, hell, they're not even talking.

Wha sa matta u Teabags...GOP got your tongue, too?

The GOP is not having any trouble playing politics with the lives of American people. We feel like we're in a fight but our hands are tied behind our back. We have to stand there and be pummeled by the no brained thug brought in to beat us into submission.

Where's the fight, Mr. President? Where's the change from Washington politics business as usual? Where's the change that we can believe in?

So far, all we have is Bush policy 2.0 except it has BHO in the signature line, these days. It's not compromise when you're always on the losing end.

That's a flat out ass whuppin', stomped and bloodied.

Extending the Bush tax cuts for two years, unnecessarily drains the federal coffers of more money but also puts the cuts into play in an election year, 2012. The country couldn't afford the tax cuts when Bush created them. We can afford them even less in addition to two illegal wars, a recession weak economy and a massive big pharma authored drug plan.

So what is this? You setting yourself up to fail? If you don't want the job, then don't run. Step aside and let somebody else with a stomach for street fighting take a crack at it.

Would it have been so hard to call the GOP's bluff and let the tax cuts expire? The money saved could have been used to fund stuff that needs fixing.

And what about the START treaty? Is that going to be signed or is the party of NO going to work to destroy the world in a nuclear holocaust now that it has effectively trashed America?

More important, are you going to stand by and continue to co sign on their actions?

What about DADT...is it dead? How about the DREAM Act or DOMA or ENDA? All dead because the GOP told you NO? You can't get them to compromise now...with a majority in Congress. What happens come January when they control the House? Do you really think these bills are going to pass?

Walking the walk is much more important than talking the talk, Mr. President. Don't need no more pretty speeches and soaring words....need some action....need  to throw some punches ...need to bury your size 12 in somebody's GOP ass...

It feels good to sweat....C'mon Mr. President...time to sweat for something other than a pick up basketball game on Sunday with your chums.

Hey Homes, You Pissin' Me Off, Man!

(Open letter # 3 to President Obama)

"These people are saying we are going to insist on tax cuts for the richest people in the country and we don't care if they are paid for, and we don't think it is a problem if it contributes to the deficit, but we are not going to vote to extend unemployment benefits to working people if they aren't paid for because they contribute to the deficit.”-Ted Strickland

WOW!

Tight! Perfect soundbite....but it didn't come from you, Homes. It came from my soon to be ex governor who took the bullet for you, man. He's gone..too late to save him. What you sayin'.. sorry?

Naw..all we got from you was more of the same BS you been talkin the past two years...you apologized to the wrong people on Tuesday, after another so called bipartisan sitdown in your office... what did you say...”sorry I haven't done enough outreach to the GOP.”

What the hell was that?

Where's the outreach to the people who elected you, Homes? You know the ones who are losing their jobs...their houses.....their ability to look their families in the eye and tell em it's gonna be okay?

Where's the apology to them for not standing up to the crazies who are trying to destroy this country rather than let the rest of us live here with them?

They have been telling you since day one, they are not going to work with you. Their only purpose is to destroy you. They ain't lyin' to ya bra.

THESE... FOOLS... ARE.... SERIOUS!

Talk about a high tech lynching...Man you sittin' on a horse with your hands tied behind your back, waiting for them to locate the perfect tree for you necktie festivities.

What don't you understand about that?

There can be no compromise....There should be no compromise....It is perfectly plain....permanent tax cuts increase the deficit....

It's a no brainer, man...
Even Jose Feliciano can see this...

Since you're a sports junkie...let me paint a picture that you might understand....comes from the old Burt Reynolds movie called The Longest Yard..

During the climactic game against the guards...word trickles down that the QB has once again sold out...the team...angry...stops playing...and let's golden boy take the hits..

This is where you are Homes...you're in a team sport....but due to your seeming lack of leadership...your team is quitting on you..because they no longer believe in you..

Reynolds does ultimately beat the guards in a perfectly scripted Hollywood ending...

But this ain't the movies, Homes...this is real...

Homes...you need to make some moves...call out some signals...change the game...or you're going to be sacked and penalized..

Think of it this way....4^th down and inches.....your name is Franco Harris...or 4 seconds on the clock your name is Michael Jordan and you're playing against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round...and the ball has been inbounded to you..........

What you gonna do Homes?

Huh?

Barack Obama, The DINO in the White House

President Obama's election as president came with a giddiness that most of us still can't explain and a happiness that finally, finally things would change in this country for the working man.

After all, he was a Black man, a working man who had pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He was not born to the manner, so to speak. In other words, his daddy didn't hand it to him on a silver platter.

One would imagine that thinking outside the box would come natural. In fact, most people thought that outside the box solutions would become the norm when Barack Obama took over.

However, the election of Barack Obama proves two things. First, that white people in America are not inherently racist and are more than willing to elect a Black man who seems to have a plan to lead them. Second, that Black people can be just as comfortably conservative as most whites who make their home inside the right wing of the Republican party.

From jump, I have been concerned about President Obama's choices to help him right the economy and bring down the deficit. He has repeatedly chosen clueless academics more comfortable addressing theory rather than dealing in the reality of living with those theories. I didn't doubt their abilities. What I doubted was their empathy and understanding of what is happening on main street to the middle class, rather than on wall street and in Manhattan or the upper East Side.


Today, I'm not a happy camper. In fact, I suffering major “buyer's remorse,” after reading this preliminary report, because to sum it up in popular terminology, this plan simply says "Fuck you, America."

The President put together a think tank to address the deficit. It is called his Deficit/Fiscal Commission. Right off the bat, he puts two right winged Republicans in charge. There is not a democratic bone in the body of either Erskine Bowles or Alan Simpson. They don't understand the term “middle class.” If Erskine Bowles changed his name to Glen Beck, nobody would know the difference. He is that far right of center. From jump street, all republicans and most spineless blue dog Democrats were happy at Obama's selection of Bowles and Simpson, and I'm sure they're absolutlely ecstatic after this first preliminary report release.

Caveat....this plan is preliminary. It is not the final plan. Honestly, if this is the blueprint, middle America is about to be deep sixed permanantly, because this plan has declared war on medicare, on social security and every other social service safety net for helping those who can't help themselves, while allowing the true culprits, guilty of tanking this country to get off scott free.


Cutting Social Security-While the GOP has promised not to cut the benefits of those who are retired or those who are close to retirement, the deficit commission wants to immediately increase retirement age, limit yearly cost of living increases, tying it to inflation rather than wage growth. This would drop benefits right now, by 3% for those who have been retired for 10 years or more and 6% after they've been retired for 20 years. For those who don't know, retirement age is already going up to 67 by the year 2027. By 2050 retirement age will be 68 and by 2075, it will be 69.


Cuts Taxes for the Rich-Cutting taxes increases the deficit, so why is it part of a plan to lower the deficit, huh? This deficit commission wants to drop the tax rates on the highest tax brackets to 23%, down from 35%. Corporate rate would decrease to 26%.


Bend over Middle Class-The biggest cut in this plan is to change the benefit formula to start at the 50th percentile which is the real middle and hurts the most people. The biggest amount of decrease would happen here, dramatically reducing what few benefits exist for the Middle Class.

Using “Caps” to cut medicare and other social programs designed to keep people from falling into poverty-Items in this part of the plan involve increasing fees and asking doctors, lawyers, insurance companies and health care providers to “play nice” and voluntarily go easy on raising costs of a procedure or treating pre existing conditions or kicking grandma and grandpa to the curb or in front of a death panel. Just no more nasty restrictions on big pharma or health care providers such as Wellpoint. This plan caps expenditures at no more than 1% of the GDP. Can you say “Rationed Health Care.”


Cut the Defense Budget- This is a good thing. However it does not go nearly far enough. The plan calls for a reduction of 20% of the Pentagon's budget, mainly by freezing salaries and cutting the manufacture of useless and weapons and equipment. But it is just a drop in the bucket and needs to go further. Doesn't address ending the wars or shuttering useless military bases around the world.


Hurts Veterans-It's not enough Vets and servicemembers get shot up and wounded in illegal wars, when they come home, the deficit commission wants them to pay for their treatment by adding co-pays to TRICARE, freeze noncombat pay for 3 years, and shut down all schools on military bases, making the kids go to public school.

Federal Workers- The plan calls for freezing federal salaries, bonuses, and other compensation for 3 years. The deficit commission wants to cut the federal workforce by 10% as well as eliminate 250,000 non defense service and staff contractors.


What this plan does not do: It does not address spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, those two illegal wars that pushed us over the brink.

It does not address the low tax rates paid by the rich-after all the Bush tax cuts are at the root of the problem and due to add even more money to the deficit if extended, as apparently President Obama is on the verge of allowing, if current reports are true.

This plan does not address the excess of Wall Street and the Banking Industry, or the Medicare prescription drug bill written by Big Pharma.

It was not Medicare, Social Security, the Middle Class, the Poor, Veterans or Federal workers who screwed this country. Yet it is us who will be forced to pay the price, if Obama allows any parts of this plan to see the light of day.

Is this Your America?

The GOP plan for the future...

Campaign rhetoric is off the charts since the mere threat of a Black man taking the White House crystallized from talk to reality. The calls from the right have often bordered on sedition, secession and in some cases, outright treason. As November 2^nd draws near, the rhetoric has turned to violence, as witnessed outside the Conway/Paul debate of a couple of nights ago.

Groups of men beating up and stomping on minorities and women exercising their rights is sadly, all too common throughout American history. The only thing new about this latest occurrence was the fact that it was a white woman being stomped.

If you listen to the national news media, the so called pundits and talking heads, as well as read the polls conducted by these same entities, you get the feeling that the Democrats and Obama by proxy, are cooked. There is no chance to return to power.

You also get the feeling that America will return to “normal” whatever that is, as soon as the bums are tossed out.

Ego driven rallies are being held across the country like the one here in Cincinnati by Governor wannabe John Kasich, who conducted a GOP “victory “ rally this past Monday, when we don't vote until next week.

Congressman John Boehner has already reportedly picked out the new drapes for his new office as Speaker of the House, replacing the vilified Nancy Pelosi. Again, the people have not yet spoken.

Kentucky Congressman Mitch McConnell has already said there will be no bi partisan governance nor compromise WHEN the GOP returns to power on November 3^rd.

The GOP has laid out a number of things that will happen following their swearing in:
John Boehner will make the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% permanent, thereby increasing the deficit that he rails about now, by 3 trillion dollars....He has no plan to pay for those tax cuts, by the way.

In fact, all GOP members of Congress are on record wanting to increase the deficit by extending the tax cuts.

Boehner will have the age limits changed on social security. He wants you to work longer before you get your money...and it is your money..you worked for it and saved it. Boehner will also vote to privatize social security, placing it at the mercy of the winds of wall street.

Boehner will cut non defense federal spending, taking it back to pre stimulus 2008 levels. This move will stifle any growth that has been achieved since implementation of the stimulus package...a package created by the Bush Administration and passed by Boehner and company before Obama came to power.

The stimulus was good thing when Bush was in office...now it's a bad thing...regardless of how it is helping the economy recover....because it was put into effect by Obama.

No the stimulus did not create jobs as promised. But then it really wasn't big enough either. However it did keep things from getting worse.

The bloated defense budget complete with spending on two illegal wars will remain tact, according the GOP, siphoning money away from the needs of the American people. It's like pouring sand down a rat hole...useless.

The GOP says it will stop illegal immigration....how? Don't know...their billion dollar boondoggle of a security fence is not working and will probably be dismantled, according to recent reports out of Homeland Security.

Increasing troops along the border is one way...but then you come back to that problem of raising taxes to pay for it.

Some members of Congress just simply want to close the borders and deny citizenship to children born on American soil to undocumented people, which flies against the very definition of American.

The real truth is that fewer people are coming to America due to the lousy job situation here and better enforcement along the borders. The question always has been what to do about the 12 million undocumented already here, who work and pay taxes by the way.

The GOP in congress says it will repeal the health care reform law....block campaign finance reform....repeal wall street regulations.....deny further unemployment benefits to those still out of work....keep DOMA in place as the law of the land....refuse to make ENDA law....keep DADT as the rule for the American military.

This is what the GOP is promising to do. Add these promises to the list of things the GOP/Tea Party candidates want to do, such as:

Change the United States Constitution

Implement a National religion

Shut down the Depts of Education, Veterans Administration, Environmental Protection Agency

Gut the social security surplus

Do away with medicaid and drastically cut back on medicare

Repeal the minimum wage

Repeal Roe v Wade

Impeach Obama

You have to ask yourself....is this the America that you really want to live in?

Vote November 2nd!

Sarah “I Have the Power!” Palin

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Earth Calling Tea Party-You May have a Problem Come Nov 2nd

If Sunday's crowd at Ohio State is any indication, the teabaggers, GOP and their faithful legion of professional pundits, pollsters and neighsayers may be a little off in their predictions of the election outcome on November 2^nd.

The traveling village that is Obamaville was on full display yesterday, harking back to the giddy days of the campaign trail when the Obamas first rose to prominence in their Shermanesque march to DC. Obamaville is not your usual campaign rally. It's not the one that most national writers recognize when covering politics, such as this jaded professional master-of-the-universe-type, from the Politics Daily.

Like all of his compadres of the MSM, this writer went looking for business as usual politics and instead, finding Obamaville, concluded that Obama was literally spitting into the wind, with no chance in the midterm election in two weeks. They question the crowd count, and paint the laid back festive atmosphere as nothing more than a lack of engagement and passing interest, which will translate into no one showing up at the polls.

Yes, 35,000 uninterested people stood several hours in a field at Ohio State University, with no where to sit and nothing to do except talk to strangers, and share an absolutely perfect autumn day, waiting for the Commander in Chief, who was more than an hour late in arriving. However, the crowd was still filing in past security and protestors fully an hour and a half after the official start of the rally. As usual, the MSM looking for past signs and symbols of the old, missed the big picture of the change from 2008, painted on the canvas of 2010 displayed directly in front of them.

The MSM, the GOP and the teabaggers seem to be believing their own hype. In other words, if they tell us the lie long enough, that we will believe it, be demoralized by it and react accordingly, by staying away from the polls, and obediently hand them back their country. Hand it back, because they really have no plan to take it back legitimately.

There is nothing “usual” about an Obama campaign rally, and this one was no exception Obama rallies are more of an emotional ground swell that build slowly and increase exponentially until he steps into the spotlight. Even his wife, who introduced him takes second place when he takes over. Together they are a very potent force. One wonders when the MSM will see this and finally take note of their power.  

Kids play, teenagers wander, parents wait, patiently talking amongst themselves until time to listen to the message. Quietly fired up and ready. Determined not to allow the GOP and their mini me teabagger wannabes take this country down a disastrous road of destruction. It's a quiet, steady confidence of what's right and should be, versus what's wrong and allowing it to continue unabated.

Sunday's theme was “Moving America Forward” away from the disastrous policies of the previous administration, and crafting an America that will be fruitful for coming generations. Obama was talking to the kids in the crowd and they heard him. To be sure he talks to voters, too. However the main message is about the future and the lives of the children and what it will take to reclaim the American dream for them.

Many of them in the crowd are too young to vote, but it didn't matter. They were listening now. I watched as rowdy, seemingly attention deprived kids ran around and played, amusing themselves with anything and anyone available, until the Obamas took to the stage. Then they stopped being potential discipline problems and started straining to see and hear. They asked their parents to lift them up so they could see their president.

I watched an Hispanic man with three kids lift one at a time to his shoulders to improve their view and having to rotate, first one child, then the next, then the next, simultaneously demanding their dad's attention. They wanted to see. Watched a little girl in purple dance enthusiastically to the music of McFadden and Whitehead, while seated on her dad's shoulders, lost in her own tiny revelry of happiness.

Kids perched in trees, taking pictures with their cell phones. Kids perched on temporary fences and barriers attempting to get a leg up for a better view-at least until the secret service or campus police chased them down.

Obamaville is a peaceful, happy village, exhibiting none of the fear and horror of the place daily portrayed by the MSM and the conservative right wing money groups funding the vitriolic wall to wall attack ads blanketing the media. This is not to say that Obamaville is ignoring or is ignorant of the activity of the GOP/teabaggers/MSM.

But it is like what the late, great Nina Simone said one time..”it's not that we don't like you...it's just that sometimes, we choose to ignore you.”

In other words, Obamaville knows you're there and will take the appropriate steps to deal with you and your fear mongering silliness, when the time comes.

We ain't sweatin' it...but you should be...

Friday Rap

All the polls....you know those conducted by the professional pollsters among likely voters come November....in other words...all those people who still have land lines, are usually over the age of 60, overwhelmingly white and non hispanic and vote republican...tallying no more than 1000 people max....

Those polls say....Democrats don't have a snow balls chance in hell of winning anything in November.

Yep...they say it's going to be just like back in the day when Barry Goldwater swept to power...Ohio is going to lose its democratic Governor....all of its democratic representatives and gain a new GOP senator.....

Obama is going to be totally embarrassed and put back in his place....yeah..that's the ticket...and then, come 2012, they are going to take back the White House, too....can ya dig it?

I got one question.....Do ya'll really think ...all 16% of you.... that all black people, all brown people, all gay people, all native Americans, and all sensible progressives are going to stay home on Election Day?

Just askin'

-0-

Up in Delaware...one day after Pandora climbs out of her box..... Palin clone, Christine O'Donnell tries to put a lid on some of that other stuff that was in the box with her....things like masturbation is the same as adultery...or gay people are scum (does that include her sister, too?).....or you can legislate morality....People who like legislating morality usually like being called “dear leader” or “dur fuhrer” too.

One day after O'Donnell wins all the GOP is sucking up to her in their efforts to return to power. Goes to show the politics of the GOP is nothing about the people, but all about the power.

No surprise on the Karl Rove flip flop...He's spent his entire professional life kissing somebody's ass...usually male...but you do what you gotta do to live down to the nickname Turdblossom (another name for a stinky fart)

But back to Christine...

Question: Why can't a good christian girl find a good christian man? Girlfriend is single..even her gay sister has a girlfriend...what's up with that? Maybe she should a been a nun...married Jesus...

Question #2: what up with all these pictures used by the MSM of girlfriend with her mouth wide open? Looks like an audition for the part of Linda Lovelace in the Deep Throat movie. Thought Lohan had that wrapped up?

Is this a subliminal message about how guys really think of Palin and her army of cheerleader clones?

-0-

Did you know that “Kenyan” is this week's code word for nigger.....as in Kenyan Anti Colonial World View? ….it's another way of saying “that nigga's crazy” without saying it that way...

-0-

Bill Maher gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and drops the N word during an interview with Larry King....BFD...I mean...it's Bill Maher, right. He makes his living being controversial and besides he dates hood rats which makes him in his mind a card carrying member of the black community, soooo let's move on shall we...

-0-

Acid attack girl did it to herself......so what is this Munchausen Syndrome without proxy? Should have known it was fake from jump....the sunglasses were just too convenient.....and what about the chick in Arizona? Is that one phony, too?

-0-

Pope Benny is in Great Britain this week....likens atheists to Nazis.....I thought Nazis were nationalistic and xenophobic...not atheists...besides wasn't Benny a Nazi when he was younger?

And he's still pretending he had nothing to do with the priest abuser scandal raging for decades with the church..

-0-

Sacha Baron Cohen to play Freddie Mercury in a Queen Bio-pic? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Shirley Sherrod lied and we can thank Jeffrey Lord for setting us straight......

Who is Jeffrey Lord, well he writes for The American Spectator and is a former Political Director in the Reagan White House, which means he is just this side of dead by now. However he still has enough life in him to roll out a convoluted defense of Andrew Breitbart and Fox News for their hatchet job on Sherrod.

You can read his column, here in its entirety. 

According to Lord, Sherrod lied about her relative, one Bobby Hall, who she said during her now infamous NAACP address, was lynched. Not so, says Mr. Lord. Bobby Hall was beaten to death by the County sheriff and his deputies with solid bar blackjacks and their fists, while he was handcuffed and defenseless. The beating went on for 20-30 minutes. The case went all the way the United States Supreme Court, and in their ruling cited by Mr Lord, the Justices agreed that Hall was beaten to death.

To bolster his argument Lord points out that all of the Justices, or most of them anyway were put on the court by that liberal jack-a-napes, FDR, including the lifetime membership KKK card carrying Justice Hugo Black.

Therefore Mrs. Sherrod is a bald faced liar who is attempting to stir up racial hostilities by invoking terrible lynching images. She should have told the truth and said her relative was beaten to death by a group of white police officers.

Why is it not a lynching? Well in most minds, including Mr. Lord's apparently, lynchings only happen when you string somebody up with a rope and choke the life out them after you've brutalized them in other ways. After all, we've got all kinds of pictures of some 4700 people hanging from trees or light posts in America.

However, the dictionary definition of a lynching is simply this: Putting a person to death by mob action without due process of law..

Don't need a rope to have a lynching. That is why the 1998 killing of James Byrd Jr, a Black man who was tied to the back of a truck and dragged to death is considered a lynching.

She did not lie. But then we knew that. And what the hell difference does it make if someone is beaten to death with iron bars or hung from a tree....Does it really...really matter?

Lord also takes issue with how Mrs. Sherrod described the killing of her father, as a means of questioning her veracity.

His senility really becomes apparent when he tries to defend Breitbart. According to Lord, it must have been some sort of mix up.

In other words, Breitbart had the tape and he edited it, creating two tapes...one good one and one bad one. Somehow this expert blogger...I refuse to call him a journalist....managed to post the wrong tape on his website...and....it was the wrong tape that was used to indict Shirley Sherrod.

Further, according to Lord, Fox News didn't know that Breitbart screwed up when they looped the wrong tape in their 24 hour cycle. It was all a mistake, no harm, no foul...especially since Shirley Sherrod and her Obama-lovin' ass is such a liar to begin with.

If she hadn't lied all this never would have happened. This old white guy swallows his foot even more when he says the only reason she worded her speech the way she did was out of her obsessive love for  Barack Obama. She was merely protecting him, like all good Black people do, along with  his liberal agenda.

So, it's all her own fault that she got fired....just like all this talk of racism and the stuff that happens to Black people is our fault as a people...we just love kicking ourselves in our  collective black ass...so we can stick it to the masters of the universe to make them look like big bad men.

Right!