Dan Rather’s latest book reminds us what a scurvy little slime our last president was and makes one wonder why the GOP wasn’t glad to replace him with anyone instead of being furious that we now have a charming, hard working replacement.
The main story is about George Bush who was placed in a Champaign unit of the air national guard because of personal political connections and then not satisfied with that deserted into hiding. It’s a cautionary tale of how, when Rather and his people reported this story they found paper work that had mysteriously disappeared, eye witnesses that were suddenly gone or recanting, and how they were all fired by a terrified and cowardly network that couldn’t stand up to the political pressure.
Unfortunately, his sort of thing didn’t disappear with the Republican’s leaving office. It’s still happening under a president that they hate and have tried everything to get out of office.
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In a recent Times article Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and former White House advisor has come up with what looks like a very viable plan to extend Social Security benefits into the distant future. This is rather amazing considering that Mr. Emanuel doesn’t seem to understand that SS money does not come out of the general tax fund but from direct payments from wage earners. Regardless, it’s a good idea based on the income of the individual, a system already identified as, means sharing, but which will work. People in higher brackets just don’t need this money so why should we endanger the whole system to give it to them. Our do nothing lawmakers should pay attention.
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Watched the NATO demonstrations in Chicago today. These brave young men and women seem to have a clear understanding that they have been taken advantage of by their leaders but they are dead wrong in where they place the blame. NATO is as much a victim of the Iraq & Afghanistan wars as they were. A corrupt, administration, made up of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld & Rove was responsible for those wars, not NATO. NATO was dragged into them by this disgraceful cabal of U.S. leaders, men who wanted a war and got one. Accusing NATO is just not right. Yes the wars were unjust but if these honored veterans want to accuse the ones who are rightfully responsible for their sacrifice they should have their demonstration outside the Republican convention. Let the GOP know that they understand that wars for the benefit of big business are no longer acceptable.
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Poor Mitt. He finds the problem of explaining the far right’s flawed concept of how to solve the employment problem so taxing that even he can’t get it right. Speaking in a 5/23/12 interview with Mark Halperin of Time magazine he inadvertently blurted out the truth of a situation he has been trying to lie about for months. Halperin asked him why he wouldn’t put severe spending restraints into effect immediately upon taking office if he won.
Romney: Well because if you take a trillion dollars for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5%. That is by definition throwing us into recession or depression. So I’m not going to do that, of course.
Romney is explaining that austerity during a recovery from a depression would cause catastrophic damage to the economy. Of course his problem is that this is exactly what the Ryan budget, which he has enthusiastically approved, demands. The GOP leadership is committed to imposing austerity. John Boehner has threatened a repeat of last year’s circus over the debt ceiling in order to blackmail the Democratic leadership into going along with austerity. Maybe they should try to get on the same page. Either that or they should seriously suggest to Romney that, like Michelle Bachman, he not speak without a prepared text in front of him.
I know how the right has continually complained about the left and media calling them dumb but they make it really hard to cease and desist.
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The Florida politicians are at it again. Governor Rick Scott, the latest slime to be elected by the state of senile voters is trying to disenfranchise 180,000 voters just five months before the presidential election.
This thief thinks he’s Katherine Harris, the low life bimbo who wrongfully scrubbed over 7000 voters from the list just before the 2000 election. Among those wrongfully emitted from the voter roles that time were a judge and a county elections supervisor. The total, illegally lopped from the voter roles amounted to 13 times George W. Bush’s margin of victory at the point when the Supreme Court halted the post election recount and handed Bush a stolen victory. 88% of the voters removed from the roles in 2000 were black. 93% of black voters cast a ballot for Al Gore.
Of course if Gore had had the balls to follow the process through to its end American history would have been much changed. Where would we be today if the Iraq and Afghan wars had never happened? Where would we be today of the Bush tax cuts for the rich had never happened? Where would we be today if all the bank regulations had remained in force? Where would New Orleans be today if George W. Bush had never stained the steps of the White House?
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Rush Limbaugh recently stated that, “We’ve arrived at a point where the president of the United States is going to lead a war on, traditional marriage.” Really Rush? Which of your marriages was traditional, the first, second, third or fourth? Between you and Gingrich a fresh approach might be needed.
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An interesting stir in a usually quiet part of the world, recently when the scientific community got itself all bent out of shape over the investigative reporting of climate scientist Peter Gleick. It seems that Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute and a well respected water scientist got fed up with the lies and misinformation that the Heartland Institute, a right wing science denier and butt boy for oil interests, has been shoveling through the door and spreading all, over the yard. He used a phony name to dupe the, already not too bright, think tank, into sending him confidential board materials that exposed them for the lying scum that they are. He then sent the materials to campaigners and journalists.
Now, after doing something really functional, Glieck is having an attack of false conscience. He claims his judgment was blinded by his frustration at the way Heartland was producing and promoting scientific lies. Of course it was. Relax, you are a hero. You shouldn’t be beating yourself up over your methods. That old, “the end doesn’t justify the means,” argument only applies when an innocent is hurt and in this situation no one was even close to being innocent. You were dealing with a bunch of self-serving liars whose only ethical concern is; can it help the likes of the Kochs in their application of false science.
A number of Gleick’s , scientific fellows, commented negatively on his actions from the sheltered world in which they exist. None of the naysayers seemed worried that Heartland had been lying and promoting false science for decades. Kevin Knoblach, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists was dumb enough to state out loud; that “there is no excuse for fighting deception with deception.” Really, Kevin, how would you fight it, or don’t you bother?
Kevin’s wrong, he couldn’t be more wrong if he were twins. Any means available to fight lies and self-serving jingoism is permissible. Heartland’s policies and proclamations are actively damaging the information platform, upon which our youth base their opinions and decisions. If that isn’t to be fought on any level by any means then nothing we do has any meaning.
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Saw an interesting statement from Bertolt Brecht in which he excoriates those who like to brag that they have no interest in politics. “The worst illiterate,” he claims, “is the political illiterate. He doesn’t know that the cost of living … depends on political decisions… He doesn’t know, the imbecile, that his political nonparticipation causes… corrupt officials, the lackeys of exploitative multinational corporations.”
He didn’t just write good musicals.
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Watched John Kasich ® governor of Ohio in a debate on Meet the Press recently. He spoke of all the great things he was doing in his state, like increasing employment and passing legislation and then he accused Obama of failing to do the same thing. Fair enough John but did you have all the Democrats in your state congress stonewalling you or did you get cooperation from them on the bills that made sense?
See, that’s the problem in Washington and across the country. The Republicans don’t want to cooperate in anything that would be good for the country because, God forbid, Obama gets credit for anything before the election. The GOP has abandoned any concept of doing heir job in a vindictive attack on the President.
They tried to do the same thing with Clinton but he hadn’t been facing the economic problems that Obama faced upon taking office. The dad had left the country in a better position for Clinton than the son did for Obama.